Okay, so this has sat on my computer for ages just taking up precious document memory. It started out as a little 'gift' for my cousin but, alas, I fell in love with it and managed to turn it into an actual thing. Plus I was completely astounded that there are so few Beast/OC's!
I own none of the characters besides my own pitiful OC's, and let's be honest here, if I did own any of the Marvel characters I'd be paying people to write this stuff FOR me.
This is a slight AU where Sean/Banshee didn't die in Day's Of Futures Past. I know, I'm sorry, I promised myself I'd stay as close to the X-Timeline as possible. But I just couldn't help it! My heart broke when I found out they killed him off, so I'm resurrecting our favorite screaming mutant...
There are going to be frequent time skips between the younger and older X-Men. Which both include the ridiculously handsome Nicholas Hoult and Kelsey Grammar as younger and older Hank McCoy. As well as James McAvoy and the amazing Sir Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. And so on and so fourth.
Excuse me horrific grammar (I'm lazy) and I hope you enjoy it...
Present Day.
Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters.
Westchester County, New York.
Logan set out to his usual morning schedule.
Tactical training with the senior students from eight to ten, followed by sparring practice with the projectile gifted students at eleven. An embellished title for the daily sessions that involved one of the most durable teachers of the school to stand in the center of the mansions aiming range to act as a walking target.
Though Logan didn't mind, he'd figured he dealt with a heck of a lot more painful things then occasionally getting grazed by a flaming plasma ball. The more junior students of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters were still reasonably new with their powers and suffered through the initial stage of awkwardness as they worked through their abilities.
The halls were exceptionally jam packed this afternoon, but it tended to be crazier around the school during the spring months due to students eagerly taking on more scholastic activity to end the school year early for their summer break.
"Slow down, kid!" Logan growled, demanding the attention of a green amphibious teen who skillfully scaled the walls overhead at a breakneck speed, those surrounding the Wolverine parting for him urgently.
"Sorry, Logan." The small boy squeaked with a cheeky smile that caused long canines to peak out from beneath his upper lip. Before starting again down the hall on all fours, at a much more regulated pace amongst the crowd of children and teenagers.
"Each of our minds are best described as a…a puzzle, if you will."
Logan froze.
His brow quips once peaking into one of the classrooms. He tried not to address the little voice in the back of his head that reminded himself Jean usually taught this class, but was off today and left this morning with Scott.
But Jean wasn't teaching Psych today.
Instead one of Xavier's veterans and originating sociology and psychology professor would take up the reigns. Ever since the headaches began to become an obvious threat to the class Charles had feared a full schedule would become too much of a strain for Doctor Grey.
But it only made sense, after all, according to Xavier, Jean's initial training here at the school was shared amongst an assemble of both himself and Lily, who coincidently instituted the courses for the school.
Though she rarely ever used her abilities anymore, Lillian Ruiz was best known amongst mutant society as a very powerful level three psychometric, who had been with Xavier and his original team for as long as Logan could care to recall.
He knew the stories, how the initial idea for the school had come about. How it was formed, ho it closed, and how it reopened again. He even knew about the incident in Cuba, even Mystiques origins and deep familial roots with the professor himself. It would turn out though, he would ultimately miss meeting the woman personally back in 74 by only a few months, after Charles would reopen the school to the public.
Leaning against the classrooms opened double doors, he watched on.
With her back facing the door the woman had eased her long strides down the length of the classroom, occasionally tapping the edge of a students desk to risen a particularly absent minded youth.
She was reasonably tall, perhaps two or three inches above the average height for a woman of her age, though the black kitten heels she wore and her slight frame gave the illusion that she was much taller. Her hair, once a solid black, was peppered with equally solid stripes of silver that framed her temples and gathered in a thick straight pony tail that reached well beyond her shoulders.
"…A wonderful, powerful puzzle. That, with the proper training and knowledge, we could so easily harness our most centered, purest being." The ever so subtle remains of an accent rolled her R's with a distinct pronunciation.
A chuckle escaped the Wolverine's lips, gaining the attention of the class. "Is there any particular reason why you're interrupting my class, Logan?" She feigned scolding, her back still kept facing the door.
"Not particularly, no." He bite back a lopsided smirk.
Finally turning to face him she smiled, the signs of her true age appearing in the form of fine lines surrounding her brown eyes. "Then be a gentlemen and go away. This class is for excelling young intellectuals and the telepathically gifted. And you, my dear Logan, are neither." The soft hush of giggles surround the classroom, causing the schools physical education teacher to give them a hardened look.
Lily opened her mouth, before turning to face her class. "Children, our dear friend the Wolverine here, is an excellent example of the complexity of the human psyche. Resilience both in the physical as well as the psychiatric form of the word-" A short cry of the bell dismissing the students interrupted through the circulating speaker system overhead. Followed shortly by the shuffle of chairs squealing against the floorboards. Her lesson had just been cut to an abrupt halt. "Everyone, please don't forget to name and date your papers. Anyone who forgets to do so will fail immediately."
Once the last remaining student had literally flown passed Logan into the crowding hall, Lily began to rush amongst the room collecting discarded test papers and various pencils long forgotten by their users.
Walking fully into the room, Logan leant against the generously sized oak desk situated before the entire room. A floor length black board decorated with various words of encouragement, poems, sonnets, and haiku's by the professors own hand made up the majority of the wall behind her desk. "Is there something you need, Logan?" Lily found herself question for the second time, though now it seemed more of a formality to break the silence.
Logan sighed before crossing his arms, "actually I was looking for the gorilla. Taking some new meat into the danger room today and I need another hand to keep them from killing each other. Pete's off on a mission with Ororo, so that leaves Hank."
The rare crease of disapproval seemed too harsh for the woman's face, "why do you call him that? You of anyone should know what it feel's like to be judged for your appearance."
Logan shrugged, "not interested in sugar coating the obvious. Anyway, doc doesn't seem too worried about keepin' himself lookin' pretty."
Lily stifled a scoff, while collecting discarded textbooks. "Times change, so do the people, Logan, you should know that." She rouse to her full height, sending a absentminded glance that pondered over something amusing. "Beside's Henry had horrible self esteem when I first met him."
A mocking look lifted a questioning brow towards the woman provoking a soft laugh. "He was like a thirteen year old girl, really…"
"My ears burning."
Logan sensed Hank and the Professor before they even entered the room, and from the subtle smile he guessed she had as well but didn't address it. Which only seemed to make the situation that much more amusing to the feral mutant.
A blinding smile brightened her face the instant Hank McCoy had managed his massive blue frame through the double doorway, tailing behind Xavier's motorized wheelchair. "Oh, please, Henry. You know anything I say behind your back I've already said to your face a thousand times over." She stated with a coy smile directed at the fur covered mutant who successfully managed to pull off a complete black pinstripe suit flawlessly. Lily tossed aside a set of weighty textbooks that would land heavily across the teachers desk, missing Logan's splayed fingers by mere inches before sauntering passed him for the doctor.
"You're back from the conference early." A pleased tone catching Logan's attention. The exchange seemed a little too intimate to be shared openly in a classroom, but the pair seemed to ignore this fact regardless.
"Did you miss me?" Hank said with a tone so silent only someone with extremely acute hearing would have picked it up.
"Of course I missed my Beast." Lily chuckled, taking up handfuls of blue fur around the larger mutants face.
It's always been common knowledge that the psych and blue gorilla got all handsy when they were around each other, but it never really seemed to stop Lily or Hank from shying away from any PDA.
"Alrightttttt." Logan broke off, slapping both hands against the desks edge causing it to rattle under the weight. "As much as I'm enjoying this precious moment, I've got some kiddies to potty train. Doc? You wanna take a couple swings with me?"
Removing his attention from the woman now wedged under his arm he straightened the plum colored tie fastened around his neck with a clawed hand. "Hmm, sounds like an excellent way to stretch out some muscles I haven't used in awhile. Lily?"
"Go," straining to lift herself several inches onto her tippy toes she kissed his cheek with a smile. "I have papers to grade. Just don't push him too hard, Logan, he may look tough but he's an old man now and I don't want him pulling anything. He'll just come complaining to me if he does."
Canines bared to speak his rebuttal Hank was promptly interrupted.
"I'm afraid I need to discuss an urgent matter with you." Charles seemed weary once he directed the comment towards the woman. The look of hidden severity she knew all too well, and now she suddenly felt too reluctant to loosen her grip from around Hank's waist.
Hank gave her a sharp reassuring squeeze at her waist before releasing her. Certainly his way of saying, we will talk this over later.
Once the room had been cleared, Lily found herself collapsed in one of the students desk chairs her eyes straining to meet Xavier's. A moment of empty silence followed for some time before she could no long handle it.
Cough it up, Charles! Before I start to really worry! She had practically screamed the thought at the telepath.
Xavier exhaled, before lifting his eyes to meet her waiting gaze. "We've found her, Lily…Cerebro has found her."
1974.
Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters.
Westchester, New York.
Hank woke with a start, while managing to jerk his knee against something solid in the process.
Everything burned. His head, his knee, his eyes, even one side of his face prickled with warm pins and needles.
The nightmares were starting to come back.
His limbs were heavy and numb from poor circulation. It was a struggle to even lift his head away from his desk much less rub away the sting in his left leg.
Swatting away a piece of square notepaper that had semi-permanently pasted itself to his forehead, Hank hissed at the major knot that pulled at the base of his neck when he finally tried to lift his head away from the desktop.
Rubbing away the dried sleep free from his eyes and the tension in his shoulder, the doctor hunched back firmly into the creaking desk chair.
It was the third night this week he had fallen asleep in the lab, and his body was beginning to rebel.
Blinking his unevenly dilated blue eyes Hank waited for his vision to adjust, the poor lighting from the insignificant lamp situated on his desk formulating murky patches of harsh shadows cross the plain walls. A hazy blur of diluted colors and shapes bled together straining his eyes.
He had to remind himself to write a mental note looking into an ethical way of using the advanced vision of his mutation without involving the other unfavorable side effects.
He rifled through spreadsheets and sample beakers that littered his workspace, sucking in a breath of relief once his hand connected with the familiar edges of his frames. Adjusting them to his face he blinked back the tears of exhaustion from his eyes and squinted at the digital clock mounted to the laboratories farthest facing wall.
It glowed a fierce green, while various numbers ticked away milliseconds at a steady rate.
3:25
He moaned.
Not again.
Pushing away from his desk, Hank rouse from his chair slowly before stretching one last time. He promised Charles he wouldn't fall asleep in the lab anymore and that he would give himself at least a seven hour waiting period before hibernating to his lab again.
The complete laboratory had been constructed roughly a year after the debacle with Cuba for Hank and Xavier to further extend their research. The need for a more advanced setup rather then the primitive set of computers and microscopes was made agonizingly clear after having overrun every flat accessible surface in the mansions extended library, much to Xavier's chagrin.
Shuffling in small lazy circles around his work area Hank moved as if gravity had seemed to pull heavier around him. Images of his bed the only thing that kept the young mutant standing upright at the moment while one arm reluctantly peeled itself from the sleeve of his lab coat followed shortly by the other…
He was surprised he initially heard it. After all, sleep deprivation tended to dampen ones senses. Maybe it was his mutation? The inner beast that sensed something was amiss. Something that pricked at his ears and made his skin coat with goosebumps.
Whoever had left the laboratory last hadn't the curtesy to close the pair of double oak doors, and instead left them opened wide.
It stood there, waiting for him.
Just staring.
The familiar image of a massive blue creature whose fierce ember eyes reflected back to him through the insignificant shine of his desk lamp.
There was a sobering silence between him and the beast…
Swallowing back the nervous lump forming in his throat Hank cocked his head to one side.
The anticipation was the worst part. He lived through this nightmare too many times to count, and he already knew what was to come next.
Charles had once said it was a metaphor for his subconscious, the mutation trying to fight for dominance a dominance that he refused to submit to. Or something like that anyway…
The dream always seem to proceed the same way.
The beast watching and waiting just long enough for him to feel safe and comfortable with the idea of such a monster lurking around his work space, his life. And then finally it will let out that familiar blood curdling roar that demands blood before pouncing for him. It's teeth sink into his throat while claws bare down into his chest…
And that's when he wakes.
The beast cocks it's head accordingly, mimicking Hank's movements seamlessly. But instead of a blood thirsty animalistic growl, Hank's heart stops once a sweet feminine voice seeps passed translucent white fangs.
"You okay Hanky Panky?"
The violent jerk of his entire body sent the doctor into his desk, knocking over a slew of objects that clattered to the floor in a unanimous echo that shook the entire room. "Jesus…" Clawing at his chest, Hank heaved out under a shaking breath, his back still pressed tightly to his desk for support. "Anne!"
The blue creature smiled sheepishly, though the expression seemed anything but sheeplike when a full set of sharpened canines break the stark blue of the animals muzzle, " sorry, I keep forgetting…"
The creature took several steps backwards into the hall allowing a significant amount of space to divide them. The transition was much smoother then one would think. Hank watched on with a heaving chest as long blade like teeth shrunk and smoothed themselves into a proportionate smile and the general mass of the creature receded in on itself, before finally settling on the still form of a petite woman. All signs of any animalistic features provoked from Hank's nightmares vanishing completely only warmed by a pleasant smile of apology.
Anne Cromwell, or who the team would affectionately give the title, Ditto, was a young woman with the mutation of power mimicry who was yet to successfully control her abilities.
She had first met Charles and Hank under the impression of taking up a job, a receptionist interested in mutant politics. Who later, would be hired onto Xavier's estate for the sake of an assistants position. Both parties unaware of her abilities due to a dormancy in her genre that would have quite possibly allowed her to go through life completely ignorant of the fact she was a carrier of the mutation.
That is, until she would meet Hank whose mutation was excessively dominant.
"Why are you still up?" He asked her once finally catching his breath, though his chest still ached and heart still ceased to settle.
She shrugged, "couldn't sleep. Keep feelin' antsy, ya know? How bout you?"
He sighed, readjusting his glasses. "Fell asleep over some spreadsheets again."
"Ahhh…" The petite mutant replied. Hank's reputation for his inability to call it a night when involved with his work was widely known amongst the others currently occupying the mansion. "I guess it's just me and Charlie who couldn't sleep then."
"Charles is still awake?"
"Yeah," shrugging one shoulder she walked backwards down the hall, towards her respective living quarters. "He's in his office still. Night, Doctor Hanky Panky." Stopping to give the much larger mutant a flimsy military style salute she giggled before setting off towards her room.
"Oh, ahh," adjusting his glasses once more, he nodded. "G..goodnight, Anne."
Once he was finally able to right everything back onto his desk and he was certain everything was put in its proper place Hank found himself heading for Xavier's office rather then his own room.
The door to the office had been left open and a warm glow of light seeped into the corridor. Hank froze at the doorway once his eyes connected with the rigid back of Xavier's automated wheelchair.
Ever since the schools reopening nearly a year ago it seemed nearly impossible to find a decent hour in the day alone. Of course it wasn't for a lack of space, the Xavier family estate had rooms still left unexplored by Hank himself. It was a little too easy to get lost in extensive wings and halls. The house was yet to be used to it's full potential, but Hank supposed in time…
Charles leant further into his chair, eyes fixated on the cool glow of a full moon that now hung directly above his offices wall of textured ornate windows. The barely inaudible tinkle of ice circling around in a scotch glass the only noise filling the silence. It wasn't until Xavier had finally spoken aloud, that Hank realized his friend knew he had been waiting at the door for quite some time.
"You know, Henry, that moon has been there for thousands of years, and yet, it has taken mankind nearly that long to decide that it's adequate enough for exploration…" He breathed out an ironic chuckle. Pressing a command key at his armrest to enable the motorized chair to circle around he faced Hank.
"Sometimes I feel I need to be reminded. That, like that moon, so big and bright and brilliant, in the sky…Mutants, someday, with enough guidance, will see a similar day." His tongue felt heavy and his shoulders sank but it seemed even now Charles was unable to sleep properly.
Hank shuffled between both feet, sleep deprivation weighting heavy Hank like cotton balls in his mouth. Regardless, knew what was troubling Charles, it often lurked in the dark areas of his own head at times.
The last time either one of them had seen Raven had been during Bolivar Trask's assassination attempt in DC. Which subsequently would also be the last time they would see their strange time traveling companion Logan. Hank figured he was dead, but never shared this assumption with Charles.
Though was there ever a necessary reason when a telepath was involved?
"Where…where do you think she is?" Hank found himself say, his throat instantly going dry.
Lifting the glass to his mouth, Charles knocked back it's remaining contents. "You can never be sure when it comes to Raven." He pursed his lips. It had been the first time he had actually spoken her name aloud to anyone else. It still stung. "Someday she will come to her senses…"
Yet another pause settled in between them, now only seeming to amplify the ordeals of past events that would inadvertently leave both of them with there own variations of emotional scars. The betrayal and death of friends seemed to be common place for the pair.
Several seconds had passed and Hank was fairly certain that Charles had forgotten he was still there, standing awkwardly in the same spot as before. His eyes, though bloodshot from a lack of sleep and the influence of alcohol, had yet to falter from their intent revere of unguarded attention. It wasn't until Xavier had laughed and readjusted his vision to meet Hank's eyes had the doctor realized that, for a moment, his abilities had overcome him. With a bright smile he had said, "of course the most important thing now is to find those who need to be found."
Confused Hank took a step further into the dimly lit office. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Charles sighed with a satisfied smile, "I will be needing you to get the door."
A crease formed between Hanks brow, but his confusion was mortal. A thunderous pound of something solid smashing against the mansions massive main doors escaped down the main corridor and into the office. A broad smile stretched against Charles' lips as Hank exchanged a worried look from over his shoulder.
"Who would be knocking at three in the morning?"
Heading for the door out of instinct, Charles followed Hank's long legged strides at as fast a pace his sluggish chair would allow.
The mansion was a bit challenging to navigate without the advantages of the night vision that accompanied Hank's mutation. And since very few lights were left on he would need to travel by instinct and memory so as to avoid slamming into the massive solid oak table that centered the mansions lobby.
Luckily the faceless stranger on the other end of the mansions main entrance pounded their fist again, putting Hank on the correct direction towards the double doors. And with a relieved sigh, he would feel the cool brass of one of the door handles graze his hand.
Feeling for the deadbolt positioned directly above the double handles, Hank gasped once the world around him without warning had become painfully bright. "My apologies, Hank." Charles' voice called from across the entrance lobby, where Hank could visualize now in his mind where the lobby's chandler switch was located.
The door raddled from another heavy fisted pound. Blinking away tears, Hank forced his eyes to quickly adjust before unlocking the heavy deadbolt and heaving open the door just a fraction. "What the heck is going on-" Nearly swallowing his tongue back Hank held his breath.
The person waiting for him was nothing like what his imagination had created. The mansions grounds were still dark, though the moon helped to illuminate this strangers face.
She was thin and began to struggle to anchor a small child to her hip. The girl lulled her head to the side, a pitiful whine escaping her little mouth. They both looked exhausted. Though Hank had failed to acknowledge the child.
"Please," the young woman breathed, with a weak and cracking voice. "We need to see Xavier…"
The sun had begun to peak from the trees surrounding his office, once Xavier insisted his new visitors come in and take refuge from the chill. Much to Hanks muted disapproval.
Why come now? Couldn't she have waited during regular hours? The doctor thought while following Xavier's chair, eyes still plastered to the woman's back in suspicion.
Charles would address this directed thought with a pointed look from over his shoulder while explaining the origins of the schools opening and the amenities that it held for those with special abilities. This concept, however, seemed foreign to the woman causing Hank to wonder if she was a mutant at all. Or maybe just a runaway hoping to use Xavier's caring nature to get a free ride.
But the thought was quickly cast aside when she muttered something to the child hanging to her side. "It's okay, Liz, we're here. These people can help."
Hank was startled when a pair of irregularly purple tinted eyes met his from over the woman's shoulder, a faint smile warmed the child's chubby face and he was unable to resist his own smile. Reaching out a little hand towards the tall doctor she spoke through a tiny cracking voice, "are you special like me too?"
"Yes." Was all Hank needed to say to send the child into a weary set of excited giggles.
"What can you do?" Little brown eyebrows raised in anxious enthusiasm.
Hank bit the inside of his lip, the question suddenly weighting on his shoulders unbeknownst the small child and her waiting smile. "I ahh…I can do a lot of things."
The office's doors were left open wide and the dim reading lamp that had been left on during most of the night still illuminated a portion of the room that the early morning sun had yet to reach.
Skirting around the room Xavier gestured for his visitors to sit as they had filed into the office. The woman sat with a reluctance but finally collapsed on the offices couch closest to the desk. Pulling both double doors closed Hank took a seat on the couches narrow armrest farthest from the pair.
"I really am sorry about this. I should have called first…It's just I didn't have access to a phone and…" Trailing off she let out a humorless chuckle. Hank was surprised that she had turned to look at him, a sympathetic smile playing on her bottom lip though her eyes remained sad. "You both must think I'm nuts."
"No need to explain, we understand." Was Charles' soft answer, though the statement didn't quite reach his eyes.
Sensing this Hank was unable to resist. "Well…a little explaining wouldn't hurt."
She laughed genuinely for the first time since their brief meeting and he quickly decided he enjoyed the sound, "thank's for the honesty. Uhmmm, I'm Lily by the way. And this is Elizabeth." Patting the little girls head, this would prompt a smile from the doctor.
"Hank."
She smiled with a satisfied nod, "nice to meet you, Hank." Turning to face the professor now she grew rigid. "Of course I already know who you are…"
An explanation was immanent, she knew that, and a decent one at that. But somehow words failed to properly form in her mouth and were simply left to rattle around in her head. Words seemed too difficult to explain what she has been through…
And as though sensing her internal struggle the professor chimed, "try to start with the beginning."
She nodded, "I had read an article several years ago…" Leaning forward she began to trifle through a brown leather duffle that Xavier had yet to notice until that moment. Soon she returned with what seemed to look like a newspaper clipping that had been cut at an uneven angle and was tearing at the edges. Reaching out towards the professor she handed him the clipped scrap of paper, before continuing. "About human mutations and the effects of such mutations to enhance certain…abilities in the human body. The article was written on the philosophies of a college grad from the early sixties. A Charles Xavier, who, coincidently, had recently opened a special school to help these sorts of special people."
Charles smiled down at the strip of thin cropped paper. An article written during his college years on genetic mutations. "I see." Holding out the aged and partially torn sheet, he offered it to Hank. Who stretched his lithe frame between the two to retrieve it. Awkwardly muttering his apologies to an oblivious Lily once realizing he had grazed her shoulder before scooting back to his previous spot on the sofas armrest.
Now seemingly unwilling to continue further on her story, Charles allowed a moment of silence to settle. This Lily person was clearly not from around here, he reasoned. The hint of an accent had given that away rather easily though her physique and genuine look screamed foreign as well. What little amount of skin was left exposed by the navy turtleneck she wore was a rich tanned color, despite the winter months that usually left those around the upper New York area pale from a lack of sun. Her eyes, a simple brown, seemed to be focused somewhere else entirely when Charles looked to her face.
Following where her eyes had managed to wander, the telepath would be greeted with Hank's own profile. Brows instinctively raising in question, Xavier returned his gaze to Lily who remained watching the man still deep in concentration. Xavier's unsustainable curiosity was immediately piqued once she returned her eyes to him with her bottom lip between her teeth.
The temptation was too great for the telepath, and with little effort, Charles was able to concentrate easily on forging his way through this woman's flimsy mental wall and into her unguarded subconscious with ease.
Goodness, so cute… The voice within her mind had mulled, brown eyes returning to Hank's face as he mouthed off certain words he found amusing within Xavier's outdated research. She was patting down her hair within that instant, failing in her attempt at catching fly aways. Could that be a part of his mutation..thingy?…I mean, is that how they even work? Are his naturally blue or is that just his thing? He's a mutant, Lily, not a vampire. Crap, this is awkward. Why did he have to be cute!?…
Charles stifled back a chortle that still managed to escape in the form of a poorly disgusted cough, gaining both their attention. One part worried, and the other equally suspicious with a narrowed glare directed towards the wheelchair bound mutant. "Pardon me," he replied through another forced cough.
Oh god, he's laughing at me…I must have been doing something awkward. Do I look that bad? You haven't slept in two days. Of course you look horrible! God, please don't think I'm some insane person…I can't handle her on my own…
Lily's grip on the girl wedged under her protective arm tightened, drawing Xavier's eyes to the small child.
Charles frowned, focussing further on connecting fully with her mind. But the telepath's grip would become divided by the sharp pull of the thoughts of the man seated beside her calling to him.
Stay out of her head, Charles…Hank warned.
Choosing to ignore his counterparts sharp glare, Xavier obliged the doctor and removed his reaches into the woman's thoughts. Temporarily deciding to resort with spoke words, for now. "Please, Miss…" Resting his elbow against the rest of his chair, Charles thought for a moment. "Forgive me, Lily, but I'm afraid you haven't given your last name."
"Oh, Uhmm, Ruiz, Lily Ruiz." She said through a flustered stammer.
"Miss Ruiz. I suppose it's safe to say that you are here because you need help of some sort, yes?"
She would nod, throat suddenly swelling with tension and a devastating amount of unshed tears she was now battling against. "Yes." She fought out.
"In regards to young Elizabeth here, yes?" Charles inquired, eyes resting on Lily before looking to the young girl beside her. "Can you do something extraordinary, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth's enthusiasm to answer this question made obvious by the rapid nod of her head and smile that was beginning to cause her cheeks to tint a bright pink.
"Can you show me?" Asked the professor with a curious smile. In a flash the child had slipped from the couches fine velvet cushions and padded with naked feet towards him, an excited grin warming the violet in her eyes.
But as though gifted herself in a way that almost caused Hank to flinch, Lily had reached for the child with unnatural speed. "No." She ordered with a clipped tone that would stale the atmosphere in the office. And with Elizabeth's chubby baby arm grasped tightly in the clutches of a shaking fist Lily drew the girl closer before wrapping a rigid arm around the child's shoulders to hold her to against her chest.
"But, sissy?" The girl whined.
"I said, no." Lily seethed sternly through her teeth.
"Miss Ruiz, understand, I can't help you if I don't know anything about Elizabeth's abilities."
Eyes cast to the ornate scroll work on the offices coffee table, Lily sucked in a pensive breath. Grip on the child only slackening partially once she met Xavier's waiting eyes, "c..can't I just tell you what she can do?…Explain it?"
Quirking his brow Charles frowned, this certainly would not be any sort of normal case of a child's mutation, he realized. The look in the woman's eye read obvious panic, and something akin to fright, that would take the professor by surprise.
A further examination of the child, Charles would discover how she rarely held eye contact for more then several seconds before looking onto the next object within the room she deemed intriguing. Narrowing his brow Xavier reasoned with the matter at hand, immediately deciding the dire need to speak with this Lily.
"Hank?" Back straightening from the mention of his name the mutant looked to his friend in question. "Could you please go wake Miss Saunders and have her ready something to eat for our guests?"
"Yeah, sure." Hank rouse to his feet, partially reluctant at being the one having to transfer Xavier's requests at such an early hour. Shay was prone to violent outbursts if she didn't get her full eight hours, namely chucking shoes at anyone who woke her too early.
"No, really, you don't have to go through all this trouble." Turning to face Hank, Lily reached out her hand to gesture for him to sit back down. "I've already imposed on the both of you too much."
"It's no imposition."
Opening her mouth to protest, a weak tug on her shirt sleeve silenced Lily immediately, a peculiar pair of violet eyes greeting her. Leaning in closely to her sisters ear, Elizabeth whispered, "Can I go?"
"Where?" Lily questioned from beneath her breath, now utterly confused.
"With him," with a small finger she had pointed directly at Hank from where he stood, causing her to freeze. "He's special like me."
"I…I…" Willing to force out words that simply would not compute Lily looked to Hank, then, to Xavier in the hopes of finding some sort of dismissal. But instead an encouraging nod and small smirk quirked at the side of the Professors bottom lip. "Only if it's okay with…uhmmm…Hank?"
Hank shrugged and nodded, "sure."
A high pitched squeal of delight caused the entire room to flinch in surprise. A fierce wail that Hank was still not entirely sure was an ability that coincided with her mutation or just the sound of an extremely happy little girl. "Inside voice." Lily seethed through her teeth, the ringing in her ears still making her eyes water.
But she knew the request had been ignored by the girl once she hopped from off her spot beside her older sister and began to bound for Hank's legs with open arms. Surprising him with an immense bear hug to his shins, a set of smiling violet eyes looked up at him warmly. "I like you."
"Th-thank you?" Hank stammered, cheeks warming with a sudden embarrassment due to being the object of this little girls hasty affections for no apparent reason. He was also surprised to find little chubby fingers wiggling their way into his much larger palm that hung at his side. Weaving smaller stubby fingers together with longer more sturdy ones forming a tight fist, Elizabeth hummed in satisfaction.
"You're tall…" Lily heard her sister say from across the room, the child's gaze exclusively fixed to her new friend. Who, Lily couldn't help but notice, seemed somewhat confused with the little girl. Regardless, she was thankful for how hospitable the Professor and his…uhh, Hank? had been.
Her eyes followed them both as her little sister practically lead the way, tethering the man behind her with their conjoined hands. "My sisters tall too. Kids used to call her Stretch when she was little. Did kids call you Stretch when you were little? I bet they did. Cause I think you're the tallest person I've ever seen! Even taller then my sister! And she's tall."
"No talking about me!" Lily cried once the pair disappeared from out of the office. Elizabeth's small voice still audible from the hall beyond as she would proceed to explain to her new friend through childhood logic why her favorite color is 'rainbow.'
Soon enough the small voice had been lost and Lily frowned, suddenly becoming anxious with the separation. "She is quite something." Xavier laughed once sensing the transition in the mood lead towards a much darker tone.
"Yeah…She is." Lily replied with a broad smile. "I hope she doesn't bother uhhhmmm your..uhh…" A blush began to peek at her cheeks, her unspoken question currently readable on her face. Charles lifted a brow, waiting in an inquiring silence as he looked over his guest's suddenly fumbling expression.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." He would finally confess.
"I mean…Uhhh…" Lily stumbled.
Please, don't be gay…All the cute ones are! Please, blue eyed sex god don't be gay! Please…
Charles cringed the instant his mouth reacted before his senses could hold the reflexive answer back. "Oh heavens no!"
She looked startled, a look of utter fright striking obvious suspicion behind her dark eyes, all embarrassment vanishing. "E…excuse me?"
Charles sighed through a soft smile, "I'm afraid I have not been completely honest with you, Lily. You see I, like your sister and my exclusively platonic friend Hank, also carry the mutant genome. I hold the ability to read the thoughts of others." Weaving his hands before himself Charles leant forward in his chair and waited as the initial look of curiosity had washed over Lily's face then, shortly, mortification. Once having realized everything he had told her and the past several minutes had replayed thoroughly in her mind he chuckled loudly once her mouth hung agape with embarrassment.
The professor's laugh grew louder and more genuine once Lily's embarrassment became too much and the burn in her cheeks would cause the young woman to hide her face in her hands. "Oh, you must think I'm such a freak." She muttered through her own embarrassed laugh, voice muffled from behind her hands.
"Well that's certainly the first time someones ever accounted themselves as the freak while sharing the same room with a mutant." Charles chuckled before clearing his throat. Xavier had to admit he was thoroughly impressed with her inability to hold any prejudice or fear against him as a mutant. Judgment was often a daily issue for mutants, hatred for their kind rooted by fear from the public had sent most of Xavier's students running for his institute seeking protection. But this Lily held no such judgments, instead treated the idea of a mutation as an everyday matter.
With a sigh of defeat she removed her hands and met the telepaths eyes for the first time since the startling revelation. "I hope I didn't offend you. But hey, it's twentieth century, I don't know!"
"Not in the least. In fact, I found it quite amusing. And for the record, none of the things mentioned refer to Hank's mutation."
Blue eyed sex god? He shot the mental message towards her easily.
He simply couldn't help himself, fighting back a chuckle he watched with a knowing grin as her eyes grew like two massive saucers. A petrified groan ripping from her throat, "oh gooooooddddd!"
Fighting through yet another set of laughs Xavier said, "there, there, I'm sure Hank has been called much worse things in his lifetime. He would be quite flattered, I assure you."
Lily squeezed her eyes shut willing herself to shrink into nonexistence before saying, "please don't tell me he can read minds too?" The sharp mechanical buzz of a motorized wheelchair drawing closer causing her to reluctantly peek one eye open.
"No, no. As of the moment I am the only telepath who is aware of Henry's sex god statues, and I assure you Miss Ruiz, I will take it to my grave. Confidentiality is certainly something I should like to uphold."
Lily sighed, "thank you." Cheeks still stained a rich pink, she could finally begin to feel her muscles relax.
Finally growing serious, Charles faced the question at hand. "I can imagine you would know what is to come next, yes?"
The slight smile that remained on her lips disappearing instantly from the request, she nodded. "Elizabeth…" Her voice broke before trailing off all together, eyes reflective in thought.
"Elizabeth." Charles verified with a grim look. "Perhaps you could start with something simple, with her gifts?"
Lily floundered, fumbling for words violently she started with obvious frustration for her lack of any sort of adequate definition. "Liz…She…She can make people do things. It's… it's…Uhh!" Groaning she faced Xavier with water brimmed eyes, "it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's terrifying and I'm never certain when she will do it again, and…Ugh, it's just so difficult to describe!"
"Perhaps, I could make this easier on you…" Wheeling closer to her, Xavier held out an open hand. "If you would allow me access to specific memories I should be able to understand fully. But that's only if you would allow me too."
Lily froze, eyes instinctively hanging on Xavier's outstretched palm, the inner war of her own pride battling against her weightier need for help. It would take her several seconds of a struggling inner argument she was sure the processor could detect but she would give in, taking his hand she nodded her silent approval. "Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes." She grumbled passed a wave of nausea.
"Alright," Charles sighed, "take a deep breath, and try to concentrate on something simple."
She obeyed and found herself willing her subconscious to call up a song she would recall hearing at the bus stop only days prior… The Who, Baba O'Riley…And suddenly the chorus began to flow through her mind easing the ache of anxiety and momentarily clouding her of what was to come next.
She enjoyed music. Music was simple to Lily. Music was a world away from the complex mess that ultimately kept her in constant fear anymore.
Xavier struggled to make a decent heading for himself and sense of the muddled thoughts, feelings, and memories that now lingered somewhere off unattended in this young woman's subconscious.
He furrowed his brow, closing his eyes he concentrated harder on identifying the definitive path that would lead him towards what he needed. But, much to his surprise, each path of memory he would follow only lead to a further branch of more distinct scenes and random offshoots of moments that held little significants at all. Like a massive spiderweb, Xavier was forced to trail through each individual strand of thought within time so as to lead him to the heart of what he looked for. He was amazed by the amount of complexity her mind had taken on. Thousands beyond thousands of memories, moments, and fragments. Yet, the strange feeling pulling at the telepaths own mind as he surfed through them had only risen the question, did any of these recollections belong to this single person?
Impossible to say.
Instead of deciphering any distinctive answer, he was forced to scramble backwards in her memory. Traveling in reverse, he followed the path that had ultimately lead the pair of sister's to his front door.
Charles would eventually settle here…
An insignificant, impoverished city.
A family.
Several years before now.
A mother.
Sisters.
Father.
Drunk.
Fighting.
The memory would come to Xavier in a crushing undercurrent of various stimulus, the emotions of the moment almost overwhelming.
'Stop it! You're hurting her! Mom!' The memory had been served to him in that of first person, indicating that he was found in Lily's place. A small girl frightened, and yet so very brave to have taken on such a large challenge. The panic from the scene burned Xavier's chest once the image of a woman being physically stricken by a man, he would presume to be the child's father.
A much smaller child, Elizabeth, stood crying violently in the corner of the kitchen. Tears stain the little girls shirt.
A sharp surge of boldness bubbles forth and Lily is spiraling forward, throwing all her power into blocking her fathers fist. But something goes wrong, and she is sent into a door…
Something sharp and rigid connects with the back of her head and blinding pain causes Xavier to jolt from surprise. The wailing from the other end of the room continues only now mixing with Lily's heaves for lost breath and their mother's cries for her child.
Warmth.
Red.
Blood.
It trickles passed Lily's hairline and causes Liz to squeal with a harsh growl of horror.
'Shut up!' Their father yells to the small child.
Then silence.
Charles finds himself blinking passed the blood that begins to ooze into the eyes of his host and is directed towards the small child who is visibly gritting her teeth at the man. The memory is flooded with pain and anxiety, but some sort of nameless horror fills both Lily and, by extension, Charles when the child's once green eyes began to transition and shift to a haunting violet hue.
'No, you shut up, daddy.'
She strains and howls against whatever inward struggles she is now facing, but the battle is soon over and their father goes lax. Body once tight and somewhat hazed from alcohol, he would stand straight with eyes empty and cast to the wall. Moving around their shivering mother he would, much to Lily's panic, produce a steak knife from the nearest drawer.
'Lizzy! No!'
The connection between the pair within the office collapsed and Charles had returned to himself with a start.
Breathing heavily, both Lily and Charles fought passed the overwhelming surge of shared emotion. A steady stream of tears mirrored the others once the pair had dared to exchange looks.
A fierce tremor shook Lily, her tongue hung heavy like lead. "Thank you for letting me see this…Now I understand why you came to me."
Blinking severely she fought with a dark cloud of blackness that was seeping through her line of sight, a heaviness threatening her ability to concentrate.
She wasn't certain if the professor had said anything else, all sound seemed muffled and miles away. Like she had dove to the bottom of a deep pool of water and someone was calling for her from the surface.
Her mind was spinning, moments of her past overwhelming and seeming to play all at once.
"Oh, dear." She heard herself say, though she couldn't remember ever producing the words. The room pitched in waves and her vision rippled.
And then…