Standing Trial for Your Sins

A/N: HI GUYS! So I fell in love with Banshee the moment I saw him in X-men and just had to write a fanfic, I just had to. I'm super excited to write this and I'm just bursting with ideas, I'll still be continuing my other story though, so no worries! :D

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any X-men Characters or anything affiliated with X-men, but June LaClaire is an original character. Thanks!


"This is your last chance, Julia." He folded his hands across his stomach, a look crossed his face, but she couldn't tell what it was. Disgust? Disappointment? Frustration? Maybe all of it at once. Maybe even relief at an opportunity to get rid of her.

"H-he was being rude! He was mocking m-"

"I don't care!" He bellowed, sitting up in his rickety desk chair, struggling to sit upright with his beer gut in his way. He leaned slightly forward, elbows on the edge of the desk with a stern look on his face.

"They are customers, and as long as you want to continue working here and you don't want me to call animal control on you…" She stiffened, her jaw tightening clenching her fists in her lap, out of his line of sight. Her dark brown eyes glared at him behind thick glasses with hostility that was foreign to her soft look and usually gentle and calm face. Her long dark brown hair that had been tucked back in a neat bun had fallen in front of her face; it had come loose out of the clip that held it in place.

"…Then you will do as I say." He glared back at her with equal intensity, so intent on winning the mental battle that he didn't notice the papers and books on his desk begin to tremble, and slowly rise, floating off his desk as if gravity had no effect on them.

"Am I clear?" The fat man hissed, his greasy hair flopping about on his balding head. Suddenly the books and papers dropped to the ground with an abrupt 'thunk!', causing him to jump in surprise, clutching his heart more dramatically then necessary.

"Yes, sir." She stood up stiffly, pushing her chair back as she did so and nearly knocking the wobbling thing over as she stood still for just a moment. A dark look crossed her face as several pens began to drift out of their dusty mug on his desk. She reached out, grabbed them and slammed it down on his the edge with more force then necessary.

"Here you go, boss." She forced a smile, her voice like venom as she forced herself to calm down before she did something rash or got out of control. The brunette turned and walked out of the room, surprisingly composed although you could practically see her boiling in frustration. The door clicked awfully softly behind her for the seething rage she was feeling, she thought with a grimace. She leaned on the door, taking in a deep breath and trying to fill her tense lungs with air, only to get frustrated with being unable to.

"Bullshit, jerk, fatass…" A slew of profanity flowed from her lips underneath her breath as she turned and stalked down the hall, her head hung low with her fists gripping the end of her t-shirt so tight that it tugged down on her shoulders. She stopped as she came to a tall wall length mirror; it was ordered and custom made to be extra wide so her boss could see himself completely in it. She snickered to herself, and proceeded to take out the remainder of her bun, her long brown wavy locks of hair falling piece by piece over her shoulders. She had let it get pretty long now, about halfway down her back, and her bangs had also begun to grow out to the point that she could sweep the to them to one side and they suddenly became a side-swept fringe instead.

The lighting in the hall was dull and dim and constantly flickered but it would suffice. She tilted her head back, pulling her hair into a ponytail and then twisting it into a bun and pulling her loosening hair tie around it. She tilted her head forward again, turning her head side to side and analyzing herself in the mirror. On the other side of the dusty mirror was a tall lanky girl, dressed in a rather baggy t-shirt with light blue basketball shorts and beaten up sneakers. Not to mention the thick wire glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose, she was the epitome of a nerd or a "freak" right there. She looked like she was practically swimming in her clothes. Not the most attractive attire, but what did it matter? So what if she had a pretty face? It wasn't like she was trying to attract some boys so it didn't matter how she dressed.

"Julia!" The brunette spun around, startled by the abrupt shout from down the hall, where a curtain was lifted and a dark slim figure stepped in and waved her over.

"People are lining up at your event, go do your job!" She half hissed and half whispered, not in anger; but more like concern for her friend. The brunette nodded and jogged up to the blonde haired girl who, frankly, looked much prettier than herself and she would never admit it, but she was jealous. Maybe it was just the way she dressed; the showgirl outfit, or maybe it was her ethereal appearance, light blue eyes and pale blond hair with the freckles sprinkled lightly across her nose. In her mind, she looked plain in comparison to her friend.

"Thanks Anna, you're always looking out for me," She smiled at her friend, who just rolled her eyes and slapped her on the back to get her moving.

"Just get going you lazy bum. I need to take you shopping when we earn enough money, you look like a boy." Anna smirked and nodded towards the brunette's tent. But then she hesitated, and her friend noticed so she stopped and waited for her to explain. But Anna just smiled.

"It's John…" She meekly admitted, a faint blush quite visible across her pale face. The brunette sighed, crossing her arms in front of her in exasperation.

"I'm telling you, he's no good for you. He's only going to hurt you. I don't know why you like him so much."

"I don't like him, Julia, I love him. And I can't help it, one day you'll understand," She smiled sadly at her friend, "You don't get to chose who you fall in love with. It's not an option."

The brunette frowned deeply at her, reaching out for her friend's hand and holding it in between both of hers. "I don't plan on falling in love with anyone, ever." She looked up with a decided smile on her face. This time it was Anna's turn to frown as she looked her friend in the eye and immediately noticed it, that faint ring of gold around her pupils right before she shut her eyes.

'Think of something happy, think of something happy,'

She could feel her arms, her hands tingling, like pins and needles when your legs fall asleep. And she tried her hardest, tried her hardest to feel happy because whatever it was that she did, she frankly didn't know what, she always managed to make her friend happy again just by feeling it herself. But she had to be in physical contact with her, she'd tried otherwise. It was just strange to her. Her brown eyes flickered open, the ring of gold quickly vanishing away and was proud to see that her friend looked better now, looked like the energetic, happy girl she usually was.

"Okay, I'm going to go now or Chester's gonna to fire me." The brown haired girl smiled at her friend, and they waved to each other before going their separate respective ways. She always went down a separate way from everyone else. As much as she didn't wish it was true, she was different from everyone else and it made her feel isolated, cold, and painfully lonely.


"Welcome~ I'm Julia, the gravitational magician!" She put on her best smile, standing up and clapping her hands to the side; starting her usual opening routine. Make the pen float, take it and give it to the little kid, or the old lady, or whoever it was that came in to try and 'expose her tricks'. They never succeeded and most just left amazed, others left scared and some wouldn't leave at all.

"What's your name, little guy?" She asked as she seated herself again at the makeshift table, a crate with heavy red cloth haphazardly thrown over it. She sat cross legged on the floor atop a lumpy cushion in front of the little boy who had begun to take a seat as well on the opposite side of the crate. He had a big broad grin on his face, clutching the pen she had handed him.

"Tommy!" He chirped in delight, bringing a smile to her face. These were the kinds of kids she loved to work with.

"Well, Tommy, what would you like to see me make float?" She chirped back, propping her elbow up on the crate, and leaning her chin against the heel of her palm. He looked around, his little red head jerking to and from, his bright blue eyes wild with excitement. She couldn't help but notice all his freckles, across his face, on his arms. It was cute.

"The candles!" He pointed to the tray of candles at the side of the tent, which were placed there in an attempt to make the tent feel more mysterious. She smiled, glancing over at the candles and away from the little boy and his mother, who stood over him, looking just as excited but slightly less comfortable. She focused, feeling the familiar rippling feeling in her head, the same tingle as before all over her body, only gentler, calmer. Maybe because she had gotten so used to the sensation already.

That ring of gold began to appear around her pupil again, faint and difficult to see in the dim lighting, but it was there. In a couple more slow blinks and bounces of excitement from little Tommy, one by one, the candles began to float off the tray, surprisingly steady as they drifted to and fro, like little boats across rippling water. And suddenly they became still, and slowly they dropped back onto the tray as Tommy squealed in delight, clapping his hands together in amazement. But his mother, she just looked shocked; she looked scared. And those were the kind of looks that really hurt her the most when she first started working in the circus. That fear in the eyes of other people, or their taunting looks. It hit close to home each time, no matter how often it occurred. Which it did.

"Come on Tommy, we should go now, let this nice lady show the next customer," She said, tugging her little boy to his feet. She was trying to hide the franticness in her voice but it was bluntly visible and was like a slap across her face. Tommy whined a bit, but soon gave up at the offered prospect of cotton candy and in the blink of an eye, the two disappeared behind the curtain.

She sighed, running her hands through her hair in exhaustion, and breathing into her hands with disappointment, trying to shake it off. The curtains swung open again, and two men came in, surveying the tent quite briefly. The shorter of the two had his brown hair combed to the side in a rather aged hairdo, but still looked appropriate on his charming face with his overwhelmingly charming smile. He had on a light brown tweed jacket and meticulously ironed brown pants and those brown leather shoes, whatever they were called, she forgot. And the taller of the two looked slightly more intimidating with his strong bone structure and his dark brown hair combed back and out of his face. His black turtleneck hugged his figure quite closely and his gray pants were held up with a black belt, his black leather shoes squeaked as if they were just shined.

These were the kind of people she hated serving most; the kind that looked like skeptics and were out to try and embarrass and expose her. But she took in as deep of a breath as she could and she put up her act.

"Welco-!"

"Hi, I'm Charles Xavier," The shorter man flashed her a charming smile that suited his thick English accent, reaching his hand out for her to shake. She looked up at him, hesitant at first, but slowly, she lifted her hand to shake his. He nodded and stepped back, allowing for the taller man to step forward.

"Erik Lensherr" He nodded with a weak smile to her, holding his hand out for her to shake as well. She gave the two an odd look as Charles peeked outside the curtains at the rest of the people in line. And Erik scanned the room, eying the candles that frankly were actually a bit too close to the tent curtains for comfort.

"Uhh… We-welcome! I'm Julia-"

"Julia? That's an interesting alias, June, m'dear." Charles turned to her, smirking as he noticed her eyes widen in shock and fear all at once. Who were they? What did they want?

"I don't know what you're talking about." She quickly recovered, smiling up at them and tilting her head to the side in mock curiosity.

"You don't need to put up an act, it's okay." Erik shuffled out of the way for Charles to step up to her and sit down on the cushion in front of her.

"You're among friends, June LaClaire."

She jumped, scrambling to her feet and backing away from the two. Charles looked up at her with the smile on his face that hadn't budged since he had sat down. His lips didn't move, how did she hear that? Erik crossed his arms across his chest, tilting his head slightly to the side, wondering what it was that his shorter friend had said.

"W-who are you?" She stuttered, slowly backing away from them.

"We're like you, June. We're what they call 'mutants'." Erik turned towards her, looked her up and down as if searching her for something. He then unraveled one arm, reaching out towards her, and suddenly she felt her glasses begin to lift from her face and off the bridge of her nose, floating over to him and landing calmly in his hands. Her heart raced, blood pumping through her veins, her head was becoming light and her ears were starting to ring.

"So, we have a proposition for you, darling. How would you like to work where people don't threaten to call animal control on you?" Charles was looking down at his hands as he lifted himself to his feet, and slowly looked up at her.

"I know you don't like it here, I don't even have to read your mind to know." He smiled at her, his lips curling up into a charming and all at once tempting smile.

"What do you say?"

She hesitated, wringing her hands nervously in front of her.

"We can leave out through the back curtains without getting caught." She motioned to the back of the tent, but kept looking at Erik or what she saw of him, the blur of black and gray and a bit of flesh tone.

"Can I have my glasses back? I can't see." She stood still as he walked towards her, gently placed her glasses on her face and suddenly she could see the world clearly again.

"You look much prettier without glasses." He said quietly. She was offended.

"We can get her contacts later." Charles interjected, and rushed the two towards the back, of the tent.

"Let's get your bags and go before we run into trouble."


A/N: One chapter down, several more to go! :D I'm so excited for this you guys, you don't even know, more about June's mutation will be revealed later on, and I purposely kept using "her" and "she" in the beginning so I could let Charles and Erik reveal her true identity, sorry if it confused some of you guys! Reviews and constructive criticism, please! Let me know what you think! (: