The Ghost Woman and the Huntsmen
Note and Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything from X-Men, but the extra characters are mine. This is the first story of two (so far) of the series, "Unspoken". I also give credit to the quotes before, both from the original movies and from Chris Claremont's novelization of X-Men 2. I also apologize ahead of time if this is slow at first, but I am going by character biographies from both the movies and comics. Introduction will be a few chapters, but I'm hoping to get to the present day characters as soon as possible, probably by chapter 3.
Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence, they have been regarded with fear, suspicion and often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages: Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain…or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way, one fact has been historically proven: Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute…
August 1, 1984
Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr have been on several trips to persuade parents to have their children with mutant powers sent to Xavier's school, although the latter was bent more on a mutant brotherhood than a school. Although the school was said to be for the gifted children, it boasted of many mutants, finally educated, with a family amongst new friends and able to harness their powers with responsibility. Some took more time than others to adjust and become adapted to a world that did not scorn them, nor try to treat them like they had an illness, but Xavier savored every successful student he had, mourning all those who he could not help.
Erik Lehnsherr, however, could not say the same thing. Scorned as a mutant who can manipulate the magnetic field and metals and sent to seen one of the worst atrocities man and mutant had ever seen, he lived his life in bitterness. Numbered as an animal, on the run with his parents and then later watching as his family was killed, Erik Lehnsherr was nothing more than a man who was blamed for nothing for than being either a mutant or a man. He went down a darker path than most people, but he was a gentleman at heart…if only Xavier could reach him better.
Later, Lehnsherr had separated himself from Xavier when he had achieved his goal of killing the one man who had pushed him to revenge. Often harassing Xavier himself after the accident on the beach, the two were both friends and enemies. While helping to build Cerebro and locating some mutants to build up the school, Lehnsherr wanted to decimate the human race using Xavier's powers, but was denied that opportunity time and again. The two split once more, but Lehnsherr was keen on keeping tabs with his old friend, dangling Mystique (or Raven, as Xavier known her a long time before) in front of him on occasion or joining Xavier on his quests to find hope, if he felt there was some.
On this occasion, Xavier had found something extraordinary. Well, one his students had.
Jayden Mitchell, whose little sister Danielle was some years younger than he was, was the target of their mission today. Jayden, mostly called Jay by his friends and instructors alike, had developed his powers as he was a child when he was frightened into a corner by his father, a Vietnam veteran and a mutant going by the name of Chameleon. Fifteen and intent on a military career when he turned eighteen because of the good he thought it would do, Jayden protected his sister with a fierceness that surprised Xavier, also the same focus he put into his studies and his powers.
Xavier knew that mutant families, especially parents who were both mutants, often passed the gene to their children, but he didn't expect Jayden to have a power that rivaled his schoolmate some years younger than him, Jean Grey. Not only did Jayden have some teke powers, but he also was a telepath and could block anyone from reading his mind, even thought he was not as powerful as Jean or Xavier himself. In addition, Jayden could turn himself invisible, almost like a ghost, flashing red eyes on occasion when he wanted to be seen.
Worse yet, Xavier thought as he and Lehnsherr parked the car and walked up to the porch of the small countryside farmhouse, was the family curse, one that passed from his mother, Shannon. Other than the human disease of depression that everyone in the family had, Shannon's mutant family (stretching back several generations, Xavier figured) passed on a power that slowed down their age naturally. The family could also choose when they could die, even when not sick or injured. They could let nature and a human calendar follow its own course and allow chance to let them live and die, but the choice to die was always theirs.
"Why does the Grim Reaper seem to visit this home so often?" Lehnsherr asked Xavier with a shiver as the latter finally knocked on the door.
"Maybe your imagination, Erik?" Xavier suggested humorously, smiling when he saw that Jayden answered the door. "Ah, Jayden, it's nice to see you here."
The words sounded awkward, especially since Jayden was on a small summer vacation from school and was expected to be home, but if Xavier saw anything in his eyes that showed it, it was not there. Instead, the teenager moved aside so that the two elderly mutants could come into the door. Although Xavier was without his customary wheelchair, he chose to use his powers in the home that did not have the space to cater to his wheelchair. Walking with Lehnsherr into the home and landing in the Mitchell's kitchen, the two looked around, expecting to see what Jayden had in store for them, but they could not possibly fathom what he told Xavier over the phone just the other day concerning Danielle.
Xavier was tempted to use his telepath powers to see what was going on because the tension in the room was severe, but chose not to. Instead, he looked to Jayden for some answers. The teenager already was squirming under Xavier's gaze, the usual even when he was in school and some attention was paid to him, and he excused himself to get his sister Danielle. He yelled that the two settle themselves in the living room, where there was some hot tea and condiments, and to wait until he could coax Danielle out of her room.
"Coax the child?" Lehnsherr exclaimed sarcastically as he and Xavier eased into the living room, sitting down on the couch together. "If this is all this visit is about, why all the fuss? I thought little Danielle was only a child. She shouldn't have powers, if that's what the case is."
"Five years old, I believe," Xavier replied, ignoring Lehnsherr's cynicism as he poured himself some tea. Sipping and then pouring a cup for Lehnsherr as well (knowing that his friend would ignore it), he added, "There was something in the tone of Jayden's voice that made me pause. He said it was urgent that I come over and see his sister."
"And you didn't try to read him?" Lehnsherr sneered, almost snorting in his English accented voice picked up from years abroad. "What makes this one so special? Jean Grey you thought was special, although you've had to restrict her darker powers. Jayden Mitchell? The boy's a military fanatic, intent on joining the human race in destroying his own species."
"With all due respect, Erik, the boy is trying to bridge a gap, from humans to mutants, by his joining the Army," Xavier corrected calmly, sounding as if they've had the conversation before. "He thought that he would start in the same place his father had, even though his father had disappeared some time ago."
"And good riddance to him, Charles. The man was a menace to his family, conning that young Congressman there to eradicate his own flesh and blood."
"Congressman Leon Ellis, you mean?"
"Yes, that man. He is the same one who is reintroducing that Mutant Registration Bill, the one that will chain us down with nothing but numbers on our arms."
Xavier knew that the bill was pushed on them time and again, but nothing came of it. He also knew that Erik might be exaggerating a little bit, but his fears were not unfounded. Congressman Leon Ellis was a man to be handled and one to be handled with care. He had been in Vietnam with Chameleon, in the same unit in fact, and the two had been friends, buddies that slept back-to-back in the mud, rain and jungle. However, somewhere during the tour or shortly afterward, Chameleon had admitted to be a mutant, saving Ellis' life on several occasions with his abilities without Ellis knowing what had happened, and he was scorned for it. While Chameleon literally disappeared time and again, permanently just a couple of years ago, Ellis had rose as a prominent Congressman from New York, shedding his friendship with the mutant and speaking out against them.
When Lehnsherr was about to retort again, Jayden had come to the living room, swift and silent as the ghost he was. Behind him, a chubby shadow hiding behind his lanky teenaged legs, was Danielle. With dark auburn hair, hazel eyes and a girlish figure already (and one that showed her to be more like nine than five years old), the child promised to be a great beauty like her mother before her, but hid all of it behind a mask of timidity.
"And who do we have here, Jayden?" Lehnsherr asked, but he knew who was behind the young teenager.
"This is Danielle," Jayden replied, moving aside so that the little girl was front and center to the two men.
Xavier immediately saw the blatant fear in Danielle's eyes. Without moving from his seat on the couch, he leaned forward, teacup on the table. He stared at her gently, caressing her face as if his hand had been next to it, and calmed her greatly. Instantly, he then felt her mind wandering, not penetrating anyone else's, and knew the power she held if she had. It was as if Danielle was running in circles, as she normally did as a child, but without knocking on anyone's door.
Or the mind, in this case, Xavier thought.
"It's ok, Danielle," Jayden said to encourage her. "Show them what you can do. Be responsible about it, just like I told you."
Without warning, the child disappeared into thin air. Within seconds, red eyes matching her brother's appeared without a body to match it. Then, she popped back into the living room, normal as can be.
"Amazing," Lehnsherr commented, folding his hands together, as if in prayer. He was contemplating something, but Xavier had no desire to know what it was…yet.
"The same abilities you have, I take it?" Xavier asked, still keeping Danielle quiet with the gentleness he surrounded her with.
"Yes, and more," Jayden replied, shaking his head nervously. "There's more, Professor."
"What do you mean?" Xavier asked, still keeping his eyes on Danielle.
Jayden then looked at his sister, taking her hand. Nodding to her, the two concentrated on some power within them. Soon, the room turned cold. The two had since disappeared, but two sets of black eyes showed instead of red. A telepathic and then a telekinetic power, much more commanding than Xavier's ever will be, showed itself as objects lifted themselves without warning. A shield of blue and silver surrounded the two. Xavier and even Lehnsherr felt forces inside of their head, never penetrating their thoughts or memories, but letting them know of a presence that had to be reckoned with.
Xavier put a stop to the small menace the two were causing as soon as he regained some control of himself. Quickly squashing the one into two, the siblings reappeared, their shield gone and warmth back in the room. Objects soon dropped back into their original places, some of them breaking. The teapot had been smashed even, landing near Lehnsherr's feet. Tea splattered all over the floor.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Jayden said, embarrassed as he let go of his sister's hand. "I had to tell you. I mean, I had to show you."
"No, Jayden, you did fine," Xavier said. Then, as he looked to Danielle, he smiled. "Danielle, would you like to join your brother next month?"
"Me?" The little girl was incredulous, not knowing what to say.
"You will be with Jayden," Xavier replied as Lehnsherr gaped at Danielle and Jayden with plain interest. "You'll be learning, just like you do in school, and to also learn to control your powers."
"A little young, I'd say, Charles," Lehnsherr commented quietly, but it was not loud enough for the children to hear.
"Regardless of age, I see a potential in you and Jayden both," Xavier continued, ignoring Lehnsherr's remark. "Even as powerful as you both are, you can learn to work as a team together, then with other people who have powers just as strong as yours."
Danielle did not know what to say. So much was happening so fast for her. She looked to Jayden for answers, but he had none for her except his usual "Follow your instincts" line written on his face. He knew her obligations to their mother, but this was a chance to be away from all of that and to be happy. She had a chance to be a normal child, with others who were just as strange as she was, and to start an education that was going to waste being raised by her mother.
Xavier felt her worries radiating through him, despite the calm he cocooned her with. Getting up from the couch, he kneeled in front of Danielle, using his powers to keep from collapsing in front of her. Later, she will learn and understand what had happened and why it was important to control a power that held so much responsibility. She would soon know why it was so important to be in control of something as powerful as she and Jayden were and to not be used as weapons of destruction against others.
"We'll take care of your mother too," he reassured her as he put his hands on her shoulders. "You'll see."
"Promise?" Danielle asked, squeaky as a mouse.
Xavier smiled. "I promise."
