Ok, so I came to conclusion that what the beach divorce needed was a decent empath and this is what spawned the idea for this fic. The main pairing is Erik/Charles but I am willing to take suggestions for any other pairings (slash or het) anyone might have.
SLASH! HOMOSEXUALITY! THIS STORY AT SOME POINT WILL CONTAIN TWO MEN KISSING AND POSSIBLY SEXING DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT.
Eve never particularly wanted to be one of them. She wanted to be an artist. A comic artist to be specific, but specifics were for people whose parents didn't ship them off to special school because they couldn't be trusted. But every day she did her lessons, trained her gifts, trained her body, trained her mind and there she was already in a job at the end of it. She guessed lots of people wanted to be in her place given the current economic climate, she had job security. Or at least she did. Until her boss was disintegrated by Jean flippin' Grey. Now Storm was running the shop and it was all messier and deadlier than before. She was twenty-two and she risked her life more times than she cared to count. All because she was Born This Way.
Then the mansion had been attacked. Again. She didn't know who it was, Magneto, Striker any number of people who wanted them dead. And they were weak. Very weak since Dark Phoenix had come to play. And Eve…well she fell through a hole. Not just any hole, a shiny blue hole that had ripped across the training grounds right where she and Nuclear had been running. It happened so fast she didn't have a chance to react: to use her teleportation. There was nothing and then there was blue. Turquoise blue, like the kind you always want the sky to be. She'd been running to a jet with Nuclear, running so he could keep up. But then they fell through a bloody hole.
Eve hit the ground with the amount of grace of a large elephant on ice. A thud next to her suggested Nuclear was there but she wasn't bothering opening her eyes just yet. She wanted the pain to go first. Her bag was pressing uncomfortably into her side. Crap, her bag. She sat up and snatched the backpack from her shoulder and searched inside. She found what she was looking for amongst the knives and guns and first aid. Her kindle. And it was in tact.
'Thank god for that,' she said. Storm had reprimanded her on many occasions for taking the kindle on missions, but really what else was she going to do while the others jabbered on. Besides she was built for spy work, not fighting, and spying involved a whole lot of sitting around doing sweet FA. She looked over to Nuclear who was lying on his back, eyes open and breathing.
Nuclear was a handsome guy if you over looked the fact he smelt like a brewery and dressed like a hobo. He had dirty blond hair that reached about his shoulders and stubble that matched. It was a bit like someone had taken a hollywood model, bathed them in whiskey, and then tied them to the back of a truck and hauled them around for a month. Many of the girls on the team, and the school for that matter, sighed wistfully whenever they passed him; conscious of the waste of such a fine masculine body and probably wishing they could grab him and dunk him in a bath.
Deciding Nuclear was fine, if probably in need of another drink, Eve looked around the place. She was on grass, which was nice, and no one was fighting around her, also nice. She also noticed the mansion up ahead, logistically speaking they were in the exact same spot they were in before they fell through the wall of blue. Which begged the question, where had everyone else gone?
'Oi, you sitting up anytime soon?' she asked Nuclear.
'Do I have to?' he replied.
'Get up,' she said. 'Everyone's gone.'
'I realised,' he said. But he did sit up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask. It was a boring, sort of rusty on the outside, flask. He took a swig before offering her a drink. She shook her head. She didn't know how he managed it, but she could not concentrate on a mission when drunk. She would just give up on the task at hand and go in search of more entertaining prospects. Sometimes that involved reading, sometimes it involved tumblr and youtube and other times it involved finding a bar and a cute man. Either way, it didn't get the job done.
'I guess we should head up to the mansion, we probably were hit with an energy blast or something and got knocked out for a while,' she rationalised.
'Me?' He said with a raised eyebrow. Nuclear was so named for his ability to absorb or distribute energy. Though when he absorbed energy it had the unfortunate side effect of being converted to light energy within his body and released through his pores. It made him sparkle. But regardless, he wouldn't have been taken out with an energy blast, that was for certain.
'Well I did say or something,' she grumbled getting to her feet. 'Come on Edward Cullen let's go.'
'I swear you call me Edward one more time and I'm going to permanently drain the battery of your kindle.'
'You would hurt my baby,' she replied and hugged the electronic device to her chest. 'That would be cruel, even for you.'
'How I ended up with you for a partner I will never know,' Nuclear complained. He started walking ahead. Eve frowned, she was the first to admit she wasn't the world's best or most committed x-men but she wasn't that bad, was she? Then again even if she was Nuclear was right down at the bottom with her, being a drunkard hardly got you into the x-men hall of fame after all. 'Hurry up, Serenity!'
She stepped and was along side him. He didn't jump to her quick appearance, he was used to it by now. As they stepped inside she noticed the place looked different, she couldn't put her finger on it, but something didn't look right.
'Hey!' Eve called out. 'Storm? Wolverine? You guys about? I have to tell you I am most offended about being left out on the grass like rubbish.'
'Garbage,' Nuclear corrected.
'Shut up,' she replied. She was about to head to the kitchen when a teenage girl that she didn't recognise came out of the kitchen.
'Who are you?' The girl asked. 'What are you doing here?'
'We live here,' Eve said. 'Who are you? Did Storm pick you up?'
'No, this is my house, I live here, you're intruding,' the girl said. Eve looked at the girl, she was beautiful, but Eve still didn't have a clue who she was. She could sense the girl was confused, she was also convinced she was right and very scared of them. Eve's mutant powers, other than teleportation, were based entirely around emotions. She could read other people's feelings and to a certain extent she could control them as well. Her code/mutant name was Serenity as the main thing she did was chill out her opponents.
'This isn't your house,' Eve corrected. 'This is Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, though really he should have thought up a better name. Just saying.'
The girl frowned and Eve could sense her confusion was getting worse. 'This is the Xavier mansion but it's not a school. It's our home. Perhaps you've got the wrong place? Maybe there is another Charles Xavier and it's his school your looking for.'
'Nope this is the place I sleep every night,' Eve said. She looked to Nuclear for any sort of back up but he was drinking out his flask again. 'Nuclear do we have any telepaths on board at the moment? I think her mind's been tampered with.'
'My mind is perfectly fine,' the girl snapped. 'It's you two who are crazy, walking in off the streets and claiming this house is a school and that you live here.'
Well Eve was feeling the rage loud and clear now. She was about to correct the girl again when a tall man came into the hallway.
'Are you alright Raven? Who are these people?' the man asked. Eve's heart dropped to somewhere near her stomach. She wanted to run.
'Is he?' she asked.
'It can't be,' Nuclear said. She sensed he was nervous of the newcomer also.
'Did he have a son?' She asked. 'How did he end up here?'
Every instinct in her body was telling her to get the hell out of there. That man, had to be, without a doubt, related to Magneto.
'They think they live here and that this place is a school,' Raven answered the spawn of Magneto.
'Clearly, you are mistaken,' the man said. 'You should leave.'
She couldn't get any initial sense of the man, his emotions were guarded. But it only took a bit of prodding to realise he was incredibly suspicious of them. He was readying himself to attack.
'Look this is Xavier's mansion, it's our home,' Eve said, even though she was definitely considering leaving with Mini-Magneto here. 'Wait are you the Brotherhood? That would make sense. The attack was the brotherhood, they came in and took over and we've been unconscious outside for days and that's why everyone else has gone and they don't recognise us.'
Eve felt quite chuffed with herself for that deduction. After all the Magneto looking man, if he was related to Magneto, would undoubtedly be on the side of the brotherhood. Cool, problems solved.
'Who are the brotherhood?' the girl asked.
'Fuck.'
'Wait,' the man said. 'You said this is Xavier's mansion. Tell me about him.'
'Charles Xavier? Well he's the founder of the school for gifted youngsters. Specifically mutants. He also started the team of X-men. He was an insanely powerful telepath and devoted his life to helping mutants. I don't know what else you want to know about him,' she said.
The man looked to the girl and back at them. 'You say was, like he is dead.'
'He is. Jean Grey went Psycho and lost control of her powers and Dark Phoenix or Phoenix or whatever the hell she likes to call her alter ego these days pretty much pulled him apart.'
'That's impossible,' Raven argued. 'Charles is down in the basement with Havok.'
'He's alive?' Eve asked. 'He can't be, Magneto said.'
'Did you just say Magneto?' The man asked.
'Yes he was there when it happened. You can say a lot about the man but he bizarrely still cares, in his own twisted sort of way, about the Professor. I…The Professor's my boss and if he's alive I need to know.'
'How old is your Professor?' He asked slowly.
'I don't know, never asked,' Eve said. 'But old. Maybe seventy or maybe that's too harsh.'
'Charles! Seventy,' Raven spluttered. 'He's in his twenties.'
'Twenties?' Eve asked. She turned her eyes to the man who looked like Magneto, only younger. 'Nuclear do you remember Magneto's real name, from the meeting yesterday.'
'Erik Lensherr I think,' he said. 'Is that your name?'
The man nodded
'What's the year?' She whispered as dread settled in her stomach.
'1962,' Raven said.
'Fuck!' Eve yelled. 'No! No! No! What? The past? Nuclear we are in the past! The fucking past! I am not built for these kinds of missions. I spy on people. SPY. I don't go time travelling! This is for Storm or Rogue or Iceman or anyone else who has action based powers. Why did this happen? That blue hole! Ha! Nuclear we fell through a time travel portal…like a Stargate only worse. Why were we sent here? Who did this to us and for what? It makes no sense!' Eve was pacing and flailing her arms. She missed the other two yelling about something. She was pissed. How the hell had this happened?
'Serenity,' Nuclear said.
'Give me your drink!' She demanded.
'Only if you calm down,' he said. 'You're upsetting the natives.' She turned to the other two and they screaming at each other.
'Oh crap,' she said. She put her hands to her temples and focussed. What had the professor been teaching her before the battles? Waterfalls and pretty trees, a lagoon. A happy place. She tried to focus on the image to calm her nerves. She had to breathe in and out, in and out. Count to ten, 1, 2, 3 …She risked opening an eye. The two had stopped yelling and were breathing heavily. 'Sorry about that.'
'What?' Raven asked.
'My gifts, I'm an empath, I can sense emotions and I can, with effort, control emotions. Sometimes if I get a bit…well peeved I can unintentionally make the people around me a bit angry too. Again, sorry.'
She turned to reach for Nuclear's flask. She grabbed it and took a deep swig. It burned down her throat leaving a soft peaty taste behind. Whisky. She should have guessed. It was good though. She was about to hand the flash back to Nuclear when she felt something prodding against the edge of her mind.
'No!' She snapped putting her hand to her head. 'You promised!'
'GET OUT,' Nuclear yelled. The prodding stopped.
'Forgive me,' a familiar voice called out. 'I came out of the basement to sense two people in my home that I could not read. I was merely curious, you say I promised?' A man walked into the room. With hair. Walked. Eve found herself drinking the whisky again. There was no doubt the man was Charles Xavier but her brain was falling apart just seeing him walking with hair. He was also…dare she say it…handsome. Oh god she needed help.
'They're from the future,' Raven said with a smile.
'Really,' Charles said.
'Yes,' Eve said. She couldn't believe she was actually saying that. 'You taught us all how to build psionic shields. They aren't powerful but enough to stop our surface thoughts being read by telepaths. You promised as our Professor you would never search our thoughts unless you had to.'
'Did I now. I'm your Professor?' He asked. 'Professor of what?'
'You started a Mutant school,' she said. 'If you reach into the surface of my mind I'll show you.'
Nuclear reached out and grabbed her arm. 'You don't have to.'
'It's okay Nuke. Charles isn't going to go prodding now are you?' She asked. Charles lifted up his hands in mock surrender. She closed her eyes to help her focus inward. She needed to make sure she thought only of the memory she wanted to show him. If she slipped for even a second he could see her entire life. Not only did she not want him seeing that but she didn't know what that knowledge would do to the future. She had to show him something harmless, something that wouldn't make him change his path.
'Ok, I'm ready,' she said. She felt the Professor around the edge of her flimsy shields. He passed them easily and she saw the memory she had called forth with even more vitality. She saw the scene like a movie clip before her eyes. She was fourteen sitting at a desk facing Professor X. Her eyes were sore and puffy from crying.
'I don't want to be here,' she said. 'I want to go home.'
'I'm sorry Eve,' the Professor said from behind his desk.
'Please,' she begged. 'I didn't do anything I swear.'
'I know,' he said. 'But your parents won't believe me anymore than they believe you. They want you at this school. It's not as bad as you may think. It's just normal school with extra lessons to help you with your gifts. You can still draw and do you art. You will be happy here.'
'But there are others here.'
'No one will harm you like that again, I promise, and I will teach the necessary shields to help keep people out your mind.'
The memory went black as Eve fought to shut it down and expel Charles from her mind. She knew if he wanted to the Professor could have stayed and even ripped apart every part of her brain. But he took the push and left. The weight of the memory hung in her chest. The day her parents had cast her out.
She looked to the Professor or maybe it was just Charles now and he was frowning.
'I'm sorry you were forced here,' he said.
'It wasn't your fault, you always did right by us.'
'I hope that was far, far in the future because…' Charles stumbled.
'Yes, unfortunately you do lose-'
'Enough of that,' he snapped. Eve laughed which was refreshing considering the current state of things.
'Are they telling the truth?' Magneto asked. Eve turned to him, how could in all this talk of the past did she not realise he was actually MAGNETO. And Raven…that name. MYSTIQUE.
'Oh fuck no,' Eve said and started to back away. 'Both of them? In your home are you crazy?' She wanted to teleport out but she didn't want to leave Nuclear alone. She'd never yet perfected the art of carrying someone with her.
'Serenity,' Nuclear warned.
'Don't Serenity me Nuke, they're in the bloody house.' But she sat on down on the floor and put her head in her hands and tried to chill out her mind to the fact Magneto and Mystique were so close to them and apparently not hostile. Or at least not yet. Storm had once suggested yoga for her when she was stressed, but she'd only heard of lotus. But that might have been a sex position rather than a yoga pose. Maybe both. Calm. She needed to be calm.
'What is she doing?' Charles asked.
'Yeah and what did she mean by what she said?' Raven demanded.
'She's trying to calm down so that her freak out doesn't cause you all to freak out also,' Nuclear answered.
'Not you?'
'I've been around her long enough not to be influenced by her mood swings. This is the past Serenity,' Nuclear said. 'A lot of stuff hasn't happened yet.'
She sighed and lay down onto her back. 'Tell me this is a dream.'
'Nope.'
'You're welcome to stay here until you find a solution,' Charles said. 'Since this is your home anyway. Plus we're in need of some extra mutants right now.'
'Great,' she said. 'Even in the past you make me work for you.'
'Thank you,' Nuclear said, taking the diplomatic approach for once in his life.
'Oh Fuck!' she said suddenly.
'What?'
'There's no tumblr here!'
