I.
His fathers home for once, which is odd. Uncomfortable, even. Charles isn't used to waking up and seeing the man sitting at the dining room table. He clings to his bear Francis at night, as he hears glass shattering in the living room and his mother's eyes look tiredsadlostangry in the morning when her makeup fails to cover the bruises. He sits there across from a man he doesn't know and quietly eats his cereal. His legs are too short for their ornate dining tables – mother and him always preferred to eat in the smaller dining rooms, where they weren't separated by lengths of wood and fifteen candle sticks. His father coughs quietly and sets down his paper.
"Charles"
"Yes Father?" The man looks cold, but when the maid comes in, Charles can see his father's eyes watching her, see the little leer he gives her. The spoon tightens in his grasp when anger washes over him. Charles ducks his head.
"Perhaps it's time we discussed a boarding school for you" Panic then. His father wants him to leave! His mother won't be happy – why? Why does his father want him to go?
"I believe that your mother is a … gentle influence. She doesn't really have the grit to make you into a man" His father says more, but Charles is too busy screaming in his mind, crying out against his father. His father finishes his speech and sits there.
"Right then, I'm glad we had this talk"
Eight year old Charles Lottner raises his head and says
"I want to you to go away. I want you to leave my mother alone, and I want you to never come here again"
His father goes blank eyes for a minute, and his jaw slacks. Charles panics and runs out of the room.
It's only later, when his Mother comes in with tears of joy in her eyes that he realizes that his father has left them. His mind twinges a bit, unease at it's corners before he pulls his mother into his arms and kisses her forehead. When he falls asleep that night, he dreams of endless golden fields and a red finch.
Eight year old Charles Lottner dies and is given a new name in a ceremony that he isn't part of. It's okay though, because he likes his new name better – Charles Xavier sounds like a person who's going to be special.