Chapter One:

Lioness. That's what Father named her. Ekka hardly enjoyed the title, and the skin-tight costume that made her feel like she was going to die of asphyxiation at any second.

The act was hardly a pleasant one either. She absolute despised it. It was a cruel act to her friends, making them into mere pets when they should be in big packs in the wild. They deserved more than just jumping through hoops and being lead into circles. Ekka hated how they treated them like dogs — how she had to treat them like dogs.

There was clapping. It sounded excited, which had been her cue. The clowns stepped into the back tent as she exited through the entrance doors. The bright stage lights made her shrink back, squinting. "May I present to you, Lioness, the Lion Tamer!" More applause. It was louder this time. So loud, it shook her very bones. Ekka would have ran back into the room had she not been afraid of the punishment she would endure from Father even more.

She scurried out, her gaze trained on the floor, which was decorated in several colorful swirls and also popcorn thrown out from the audience. Definitely not the friendliest bunch then.

She easily made it to her lions, whom had still been in their cages, staring at the crowd with lazy, beady black eyes. Ekka exhaled, and opened up the cage. She reached out with her ability, easily able to find their minds. Come, she commanded, waving to herself.

The animals easily got up, trotting over to Ekka eagerly. The crowd ooh'ed at her, as she brought them to the crowd. "Say hello," she whispered, but her microphone clipped on her shirt picked her voice up. In response, the lion's roared, and the crowd screamed and cried in applause.

Ekka turned, going to the center of the room, and patting the side of her leg as a order for them to come as well, which they did. Picking up the hoop she had stashed to the side, she held it out, "Jump." The lions answered, bounding through her hoop easily. Again, the crowd clapped, but it wasn't enthusiastic as the first cheering. They had gotten bored now. They wanted something interesting.

Father must have noticed because he began to speak again, "Lioness will now make the lions walk across a tightrope!" The crowd gasped and Ekka looked at Father, surprised. He had brought up the idea once, but she thought he meant it as a joke. Lions don't — no, can't — walk across a tightrope, so she never trained them on it.

Two stagehands came out and set up a small tightrope that was a foot or so above the ground. It was high enough to allow the animal to step unto it, but nowhere near as thick to allow them to actually walk.

Ekka looked back up at Father, who was smiling at the crowd. She saw him glance her way, and in that single gaze that couldn't have lasted more than a second, she saw fury.

Ekka struggled to breath, her heart jumping in her throat. "C–Climb," she stammered, her mouth and her powers not quite matching, so they merely stared at her. The audience jeered at their lack of significant movement, throwing popcorn at her. Their complaints rising in her ears, making her inability to breathe even worse.

"Now, now, I'm sure they just need a little... Encouragement," Father's voice — although sounding cheery — made chills run down her spine. She knew she'd get several lashings for this later.

"Climb! Climb! Climb! Climb...!" The audience chanted, their voices ringing in her ears. She wants to curl in on herself and hide away from them, but knew that wouldn't solve her predicament.

Ekka swallowed the knot in her throat, "Climb," she said, now much more firmly. The lions complied, one stepping unto the small platform that could only fit about one foot at a time, and stepped forward.

Almost instantly, they fell, slipping off as if it were made of oil. The crowd of people laughed and mocked the lions who were frustratingly trying to step unto the line. Ekka could feel their anger of not being able to walk and confusion of the situation, and it pained her with every second.

Had Father not standing where he was, and her not being the center of attention, which she loathed, Ekka would have sobbed right where she was. Instead, a stray tear leaked down her mauled, scarred cheek, but she quickly wiped her face before anyone could see.

~•~•~•~

Just as she thought, Ekka recieved ten lashes that evening dealt by Father, which represented the ten people who had left during her act. Then, she was sent back to the lions cage, where she slept, ate, and spent her free time.

The lions had been sleeping, far too weary from their act earlier to greet her, and she didn't argue. Lying beside one of the biggest ones, she joined them and began to rest her tired, post-adrenaline body.

"Is that not dangerous?" Ekka jumped to her feet, quickly hiding behind one of the other lions who had been sleeping lazily, not bothering to even look at her, even with her sudden movements. "Don't be afraid, I will not harm you." Ekka was shaking, she knew Father would get in trouble if someone caught her sleeping with the lions. That meant he'd take his anger out on her and she would—

"I assure you your father will not find out, nor will he harm you because of it," the man continued. Her eyes widened, how had he known that!? "I can read minds. For example, right now you were scared your father would be cross with you for sleeping with the lions. Like I said, he will not find out."

Ekka still hadn't moved from her hiding place, but it wouldn't do much good since he knew where she was. "You can come out, you know. I wasn't lying when I said I wouldn't hurt you." She didn't move an inch, and when he realized she had no plans on moving either, he spoke again. "My name is Charles Xavier, and this is Hank McCoy. We want to take you to a place far away from here where you'll be safe. Would you like that?"

"No!" She gasped, but not moving from her spot, "No! I cannot leave!"

"Why not?" Charles Xavier asked. He sounded stunned with her outburst. "I know your father is treating you horribly. You'll be much safer were I'm taking you."

Ekka sank farther behind the lion, who now had looked at her because of her sudden loudness. "I... I cannot..." She mumbled, looking apologetically at the lion who was trying to sleep. He hit her in the upper arm with his tail annoyingly, and fell asleep again.

"Would you rather live the rest of your life in fear here, Ekka? Do you not wish to be free of this prison?"

Ekka was silent for a second, then she replied. "I... I want to be free — everyone here does — but I cannot because if I try to leave he will punish someone else because of it. I cannot allow him to do that. I cannot... I do not want anyone else to die, Mister Xavier."

"I will prevent that from happening," he said. "Nobody else will get hurt."

"You cannot promise that," Ekka whispered.

He somehow heard her soft voice and said, "I believe I can, Miss Ekka. I will be back tomorrow, and by then you and every other child here, will be free." She heard the almost inaudible sound of wheels rolling away mechanically, before it stopped. "Oh, and please, call me Professor." And then, he was gone.

~•~•~•~

Ekka could hear Father shouting and swearing loudly the next day. He was angry, furious even, and she noticed he was coming her way.

Ekka wanted to hide, but knew she had nowhere to go, so she sank into the side of her favorite lion, Frais. It was a weak attempt of hiding because he found her easily. "Ekka, get out here. Now," he demanded, his voice tittering on rage. Like a branch with too much weight and would snap even if the smallest of feathers were to land on it.

Ekka scurried out, noticing the all too familiar whip he carried for lashings, and gulped. "Y–Yes, Father?"

He pulled out a sheet of paper, with lines and lines of words on it, but it looked like nothing to her since she couldn't read. Ekka knew that reminding him of this would be a ill move on her part, and just raise the amount of lashings she would receive. Or, maybe, he'd make her give herself her own punishment, like holding her breath until her vision flashed red, or sticking her hands in a bonfire.

He backhanded her, and her head flew to the side, and she fell to the ground. Ekka was shaking, she could feel tears prick at the corners of her eyes, but knew better not to let him see it. Expressing weakness would only make Father angrier.

"Listen to when I speak, brat!" He hissed, picking her off the ground by the back of her shirt like a lioness would her cubs, except he hardly as caring as they usually were. He shoved the paper in her face, "This is a release form, sayin' I have to give you over to a orphanage and then pay a fine of two thousand euros!" Ekka stared at him in fear, her eyes widening. "Who did you talk to last night!?"

"I–I—"

"Did I tell you to stutter!? Who did you talk to!?" His face was red with anger, and Ekka began to cry.

"A–A man," she sobbed. "His name was–was Charles Xavier! I'm so sorry, Father! I will not disobey you again, please don't—" he dropped her, and she fell on her behind roughly. She tried to curl up into a ball, but Father grabbed her arm, pulling a lighter out of his pocket, and handed it to her.

Ekka could feel him in her mind, like a snake slithering up a tree, and she shuddered. "Lit it," he ordered. Ekka was sobbing, as her hand betrayed her, and she lit the lighter. A bluish flame came out, dancing in the wind, but not dying because of it. "Put your finger in it."

"Pl–Please, Father!" Ekka begged. She heard the lions growling and roaring at the man, but couldn't do anything because of the cage.

"Now!" Ekka put her index finger in the flame, screaming in pain as the nerves burned, and the skin around it turned black and crispy. After nearly ten minutes of slow roasting her finger, Father finally allowed her to stop.

Ekka was completely drained afterwards. Her eyes dull and bloodshot. She couldn't move. "I want those lions tightroping by dawn tomorrow or else your losing another finger."

After receiving her lashings, which had been surprisingly minimal pain wise compared to her finger, Ekka was sent back to the cage.

The other lions crowded around her, in a way to comfort her, and she couldn't help but smile. She raised her good hand to pet Frais' furry mane. He laid down, and Ekka sat beside him. The day was rather chilly, but because of his thick fur, he provided her with warmth, along with all the other lions who laid beside her, acting like living heaters, allowing her to sleep soundly.

~•~•~•~

"Are you alright?" A familiar voice asked, and Ekka jumped. She saw the man in the wheelchair, except, now he was in her cage, at the end. Ekka asked the lions to move, which they did, and allowed him to roll in.

"I apologize," she whispered once he was close enough. "I told Father that you... You came."

"No worries," he replied. Ekka studied him. He had a shiny bald head, and a black suit with matching pants. Ekka could see a light blue collared shirt underneath with a fancy tie. Yet despite his serious expression, he looked rather young, maybe in his late-thirties. Beside him was a man with causal attire, jeans, a plain shirt, and a jacket because of the chilly weather. He wore rectangular glasses on his face and smiled warmly at her, which made her look away.

"Are you alright, Ekka?" Charles asked, his voice sounding worried.

"Yes... I am," she muttered, pulling her hand to her chest.

"You don't have to lie, child," Charles said. His voice was soft, but also stern. He wanted her to understand that she really didn't have to lie to him, but she barely knew him. Lying would be much better than completely consenting to wherever he wanted to take her.

The other man, she supposed he was Hank, came up to her, holding a red and white kit in his hands. Ekka instinctively moved away, staring at him. A lion behind him growled lowly, but she calm him down easily. "He is not going to hurt you," Charles assured. "He wants to help your hand."

Ekka looked at the two of them charily, before finally showing him the burnt finger. Hank's eyes widened, "God..." He muttered in English, staring at it.

The skin on the finger was shriveled and blackened, and seemed to harden and crack in different areas. It had began to swell as well, Ekka thought that maybe it had become infected while she slept.

Hank set the box down and opened it, pulling out several bottles and tubes. Ekka sat down beside him, allowing him to use his medicines on her damaged finger. "Do you still wish to stay here, Ekka?" Ekka looked away. "He burned you—"

"I burned myself," she whispered. "I deserved it. I shouldn't have tried to escape... I've been given worse punishments."

"You shouldn't be getting any punishment," Charles said softly.

"I do not want anyone else to be punished like I was," Ekka explained.

"That's very humble of you, Miss Ekka. But, as I said last night, I will say again: Everyone will be leaving. As in, the circus is going out of business. The other children will be sent to different orphanages, your father will be sent to prison for animal and child abuse along with many other crimes. You can go to the orphanages with everyone else, or you can come with me, and we'll take you somewhere safe."

Ekka thought on his words, "Where will my friends go?"

"The animals? They will be taken to other zoos across the world since they are too domesticated to go back into the wild."

Ekka nodded, "Will they be safe too?"

"Very safe."

"And–And they'll be fed? Because Frais gets angry when he doesn't get enough food. And Velu will want to fight him, but since I'm not there, nobody will know how to stop him. And Singe will start trying to climb over the other lions if he gets bored, so keeping him busy will be best, and—"

"I'm sure the zoos will figure that out when they receive the animals," Charles Xavier laughed. "Are you coming?"

Ekka looked at him, then at Hank, who had just finished wrapping her hand up. "Yes. I will come," she said, and Charles grinned.

UPDATE:

Okay, thought should explain this AU a little, because it's kinda confusing me how I want this try to go, lol.

This is post-Apocalypse, meaning Jean and Scott are young, and Prof. X is bald. But, I really—really—need Logan to be in it too. So, basically, Logan came to the School after the Apocalypse incident. Kind of like the first movie, but it's kind of just behind the scene things. Logan will probably be a teacher. Yeaaah.

It feels really weird having to explain this because of the Days of Future Past movie is making things complicated for me to explain! Ugggh. Whatever.

Sorry if this is confusing, tell me if it is and I'll try to explain it more—and probably make us both confused, but whatever.

I'll see y'all next time, and remember...

Don't melt~!

~ Happyritas OOO