abcnovels
Chapter 121: Require
Chapter 121: Require
Chapter 121: Require
If you want to support me check out my patron at /athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them
I would like to thank my beta, Lucodarkknight G, for his help in this chapter.
Like I said, I felt like the story is really starting to drag on, and that I haven't been able to get to the arc I really want to do. So, I'm going to try to upload as frequently as I can, to get things moving a bit.
Hope you like this.
---------------
27th February 2006, New York City
(Jean Grey POV)
Ms. Sayre shook her head with a sad look on her face, "Sorry, Kiddo. Magic is something you are born with. Although, there is a branch of magic called sorcery that anyone can do, which is what Jean's teacher is specializing in, but it needs a lot of dedication and study, time you do not have. Jean here simply learnt a single spell in months. The journey to become a proper sorcerer is a very long and difficult one. You'll have to leave school, leave the X-men, leave your parents and just focus of magic. Something that I feel you will be pretty reluctant to do. Especially if it turned out that you don't have an affinity for sorcery."
Jean could see it too, Kitty would not jeopardize her future, her friends and family, her education to learn a few magic tricks.
Ms. Sayre continued, "But enough with the depressing stuff, let me show you in!"
The immortal witch got out of the car and walked towards the main entrance. The front door opened by itself, revealing the interior. Funnily enough, the interior kinda reminded her of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, especially with the large staircase leading to the probably more secure floors, and the weird knickknacks, armors and paintings, that decorates the entire ground floor.
Did all wizards have the same taste in decorations or something? Anyway, if the redhead hadn't been to the New York Sanctum, she would have been uncomfortable dealing with this type of luxury. Don't get her wrong, she lived in a mansion with the rest of her teammates and that was plenty extravagant already, but here, like the sanctum, a lot of artifacts and art pieces seem to actually belong in museums, not just hanging around someone's home. Kitty obviously felt the same, considering how uncomfortable she looked.
Before any of them could say anything, their host spoke up, "Alright, kiddos, I have some papers that I have to finish grading, so I'm going to get going," she then turned towards her ward, "Wanda, I added them to the wards but they're only allowed to go to this floor and your bedroom, nowhere else. There's pizza under preservation charms in the dining room in case you get hungry, and if you need anything at all, let me know. Got that, kiddo?"
Wanda nodded, and Ms. Sayre ruffled her hair. Wanda's chest seemed to swell at the small act of affection.
"Alright, have fun!" The redhead's history teacher just walked away, leaving all three teenaged girls alone. They just stood there awkwardly for a minute before Wanda asked, "You gals want to just go to my room."
They jumped at the idea. Jean didn't was to stay near the obviously precious artifacts, especially since she knows first hand how dangerous they actually could be; Jean had snuck to the artifact room at the sanctum once and accidentally ended up bound in some weird full body restrained when she touched some weird metal. The redhead learnt her lesson and now knows not to touch magical artifacts without knowing exactly what they do. She doesn't need to be accidentally sent to an alternate universe just because she wasn't careful about what she was doing.
The two X-men walked up the giant staircase and followed Wanda to her room. When they got inside, they were pleasantly surprised with how normal it looked. It just looked like a typical teenager's bedroom, although with a really big bed and a giant closet, and shelves of books. Alright, it was still pretty odd for the average teenager, but comparing it to the rooms full of moving paintings, weird glowing artifacts, and actual pieces or medieval armor, this was the least odd room she had seen since walking into the mansion that Wanda calls a home.
The teenaged witch just jumped over the bed, her friends following her, and sighed contently. Jean could see why; the bed was very comfortable. Their host spoke up first, "I'm starving. Wanna get something to eat?"
After they confirmed, Wanda just spoke up, "Blinky, can you send up a few pizzas, please?"
Before they could ask who this 'Blinky' was, three pizzas appeared on the desk out of nowhere, "Thank you, Blinky."
Kitty and Jean just shrugged at the oddness, who were they to criticize a mage's home.
Quickly enough, the conversation returned to their usual messing around and they forgot that they were in a strange place. However, Jean was still curious about Ms. Sayre. She knew of her identity as the Morrigan and as Death's avatar, but not much more. And now, she had a veritable source of information in the form of Wanda, "So, how is it like, living here?"
The teenaged witch shrugged, "It's amazing! Jasmine is amazing, she's so knowledgeable and kind. When she found me, I had given up to despair, and my misery. And rightfully so, I was abandoned by my family, forgotten by everyone outside my cell. And the few that actually knew of me, just wanted to use me for some purpose, to achieve their goal. I was a weapon, not a human being. Jasmine just came in one day, flipped my life upside down and taught me how to control my powers. She helped me go through years of trauma and more than a few repressed memories. She was patient, knew how to motivate me without being too demanding. She was strict when it mattered but she was also kind, she was always supportive. And I always feel like I want to make her proud. I lived through hell, but I would do it again just for the chance to meet her."
Jean blinked at the answer; Wanda was really passionate about this. Did the redhead worry for no reason? Was the Morrigan's fearsome reputation only reserved to her enemies? The redhead will think on this further.
Kitty was the one who continued to press for answers, this time, "So, when you weren't allowed to leave, what did you do all day? Ms. Sayre did need to go to school every day."
Wanda nodded, "She usually left me homework. I had to catch up on my actual education, since I wasn't going to any classes in the vault. Sometimes, I would practice with my powers. But if I was really bored, I'd just watch a movie in our home theater or just read a good book. There's like an entire section of the library filled with nothing but comics and fiction books. What about you guys, what do you do, when you're at Xavier's. I tried asking Jasmine but she won't tell me. Said something about a breach of privacy, the meanie."
Jean actually burst into laughter at this, "Well, outside of training sessions with our powers, and the Danger room, our lives are practically the same as normal teenagers."
Kitty gave the redhead in a warning look, the teenaged witch questioned, "Danger room. What is that?"
The redhead answered, "Relax Kitty, we're at a witch's house, there's no need to actually hide this. The danger room is a room that can be programmed to whatever we want. We use it for training drill and scenarios."
Wanda nodded, "Huh, like a technology version of our Room of Requirement."
Kitty interjected, "Wait, room of what?"
"Room of requirement. It's a room that Jasmine created that can turn into anything you want. Well not exactly anything. When project a thought, or an image, the room picks it up and turns into what you need. It bends space so that the room takes up any size you want, Jasmine said it could take the size of a small town. The room then uses conjuration and transfiguration to create the physical objects in the room. They are not permanent, so you can't really take them out. The rest is made with clever illusion magic. The entire thing is supposed to be revolutionary, something about programmable magic. I'm not even close to even try to understand it, so I'm taking Jasmine's word for it."
Jean brightened up at the room, "So, there are no limits to what you can turn the room into?"
Wanda shrugged, "It all depends in your mind. The room is not omnipotent. If you want the room to conjure a book that you haven't read yet, then it will just conjure an empty book. Although technically, you can connect it to the library and it can conjure copies of the books for you to read but I don't think Jasmine did this."
Kitty looked in awe, "This sounds amazing. It's so much better than the danger room."
"Yeah, do you guys want to take a closer look? We did say that we wanted to go bowling this weekend, we might as well do it in the room. The room on the ground floor so you should be allowed it."
Kitty brightened at this, "Absolutlely, come on, Jean let's go!"
Jean sighed, Bowling does sound nice, "Fine, show us the way Wanda."
Both members of the X-men followed the teenaged witch back to the ground floor. She took them to an empty wall. They were both looked at her confused.
Wanda looked like she was stifling a laugh, and the redhead looked at her accusingly.
"Don't give me that look, Jean. It's just I just realized what I looked like when Jasmine showed me the room. Alright Jean, I want you to put your hand on the wall and send a picture of the bowling alley you usually go to."
The redhead did as she was told, and closed her eyes imagining the bowling alley while touching the wall. Suddenly, the wall felt different, when she opened her eyes, there was a door in front of her that wasn't there a few seconds ago.
Wanda motioned them to come in.
When they entered the room, the redhead felt like gaping and her teammate looked no different. In front of them was an exact replica of the bowling alley they usually go to. How is that possible. Jean had learnt from Dr. Strange that magic could do wonderous things, but a part of her was still skeptical to Wanda's claims about the room. But now, Jean was seeing with her own eyes how wonderful it can be. The redhead slowly walked forwards, towards a lane, and picked up a bowling ball. It was the exact same weight as the ones in the actual bowling alley. She took the ball and threw it towards the pins, they were knocked off exactly like normal bowling pins and her score was immediately put on the screen.
The redhead had only word for this, "How?"
Wanda grinned, "Magic! No really, I have no idea. Jasmine made this before she took me in, so I didn't see her do it, but I took a look at some of the rune work, to call it difficult would be un understatement. I'm pretty sure a proper explanation could take up an entire section of a library. The theory needed on space manipulation alone would take people decades to learn, not to mention the magic needed for the conjuration must be taken from a Ley Line to accommodate for magically intensive requests, so we need to make sure that it doesn't interfere with the wards. Adding on the illusion magic needed for this, it would take most people a lifetime just to be able to make one. That is if they're extremely intelligent and have the magical theory on hand. Magic may look like a fairy tale but you can't just point your wand and wish for stuff to happen; there are a lot of theory and calculations needed, especially for something as delicate as this. This is, without a doubt a masterpiece."
Jean was gaping at the explanation. Wanda sure learnt a lot about magic. The witch may claim her inexperience and ignorance but she has a good grounding on magical theory to understand the magic needed to create the room.
Wanda just picked up a ball, "Alright, let's get to bowling. I know the rules from watching movies but I still have never tried this. So, please, take it easy on me."
The redhead smiled; all thoughts of magical theory set aside. She was just there to have fun with her friends.