A/N: Hey, guys! I'm so sorry that I haven't written in so long! I'm starting a new grade at a new school and life has been hectic beyond belief. But, I have had some time in class to write a prequel of sorts to my story "The Sorcerers' Apprentice" (I'm calling it "The Wizard and I" The wizard being Xavier and the 'I' Being Jessica) and I hope you guys like it and forgive my absence from one story, even f a few shorter ones pop up before my latest chapter can arrive.
I love you all to bits for reading my works and I hope you enjoy this piece
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Marvel, but I DO own the Wade Family and their household… appliances *sigh*
It had started when two people came to the door that she hadn't been allowed to see yet, but she knew they had asked for a moment alone to discreetly argue in their bedroom over something. She had heard them fight before. They fought like a bear and a lion over certain matters; usually matters of great importance. But, to fight over her, that was something that hadn't happened before- at least if it did, she wasn't in the next room and hearing their every word. "I'm not going to let her go with some... gang of freaks, just so she can be around people like her!" Came her father's voice from the far end of their bedroom, though his voice was crystal clear through his anger and resentment at what they were trying to talk him into.
A freak? Daddy, is that what I am?
"Javier, they can help her! Teach her how to control it so that she doesn't hur-" Her mother's defense was interrupted by Javier's response.
"Madelyn, there is nothing anyone can do. Their entire existence was a mistake that probably originated in a lab somewhere. My daughter is infected with a disease and I intend to find out how to cure it." His volume rose with every syllable, most likely ending in him grinding his teeth together in seething enragement.
Her mother's voice dropped low and sounded to be choked, most likely holding back tears. "My daughter is anything but a mistake. She is a wonderful little girl that I know will one day make a difference in this world with the blessing God has sent her. I don't know about YOUR daughter-" The words stopped for a moment before her voice morphed into being whispered around her tears. "But, Jessica Samantha Wade is my oldest child and she will always be a blessing in my eyes. Not some mutant freak, but my daughter."
Jessica couldn't take hearing anymore of the conversation. She got up from the wall adjoining her room to her parents' room and snatched an OD green bandana her mother had given her from her Army service years before she had been born to wipe her eyes. "I'm just another one of those mutant freaks who weren't supposed to have been born. Even Daddy agrees with the kids at school now, I'm a monster and I belong in a zoo." She whispered through the shaky hands that cupped the handkerchief to her tear ducts as she knelt next to her bed.
"No, Jessica, you are so much more than that-" A male voice whispered kindly to her, he had a proper English accent accompany his soothing baritone and, uniquely, sounded as though he believed his words.
"Wh-who's there?" She stood nervously, eyes racing around the room to find the source of the offending voice.
"Miss Wade, my name is Charles Xavier, and I am a mutant, just like you."
"L-l-like me? H-how?" The small girl asked the emptiness of her bedroom as she sniffed herself back into control of her emotions. She scrubbed her face with the cloth in her hands to rid herself of her poor complexion and allow her to put on a face for whoever it was who was in her bedroom.
"If you open your door, I would be delighted to demonstrate. Do not be afraid, young one, I can hardly harm you if I did want to, which is the last thing that I would want to do." The voice was earnest, slowly convincing her to open the door and abandon her fears. The door silently turned inwards toward her small frame as she pulled it to open inwards. The gentle looking man in front of her was much older than she, looking to be close to her father's age or a few years older. He was bald, with rewarding, soft eyes that almost twinkled when he saw her for the first time, though; his view was of nothing special. A young girl with messy brown hair parading loosely down her back to reach just below her mid back, puffy red rings surrounding stormy grey/blue eyes that she had obviously tried to force away only a moment before. The voice spoke again, this time with a mouth to accompany it. "Hello, Jessica. I'm Charles. Would you mind if we came into your room for a moment?"
She wiped her nose gently with the back of her hand and glanced up at the man moving the wheelchair behind him, who looked sterner, but still understanding of her pain, as if only hating the people who had made her feel so inferior. Jessica nodded, ever so gently as she stepped aside to make room for Charles' wheelchair and the man piloting it. The standing man still brought out her nervousness, even after he introduced himself, extending a hand once Charles was parked.
He knelt down to her level to become her equal as he smiled with his entire face, including his eyes. He seemed to be older than Charles, though his now greying hair was still intact. "Hello, young one, my name is Erik Lehnsherr, but you may call me Erik."
The glint of a tattoo under his slightly rolled up sleeve startled her, knowing through her mother's many history lessons what the code meant, though most children her age didn't. Still, his unexpected kindness brought a nervous smile to the face of the 8 year old and she shook his hand cautiously, as if she expected to be stung by his touch. "I'm Jessica Wade. Folks just call me Jess or Jessi, though."
Erik's smile broadened at her apparent intelligence. "Look, Charles, she seems like a small adult even in her youth. I can see potential, especially in our little program." His voice was also a mix of baritone and bass as he dropped his pitch on certain syllables of certain words in his obviously European accent, though she couldn't seem to place it.
"Jessica, we have come because we know how special you are-" Charles began, leaning slightly towards her but not encroaching in her personal space.
The newly discovered mutant shied away from both men at the mention of such skills. "Yeah, I know. I'm a freak. I should just go with the two of you so the government can dissect my brain to figure out what new biological weaponry can be made using my blood."
Both men quickly raised their bows, obviously impressed with the knowledge her sarcastic wit had offered, but furrowed them immediately afterwards. Erik's kind chuckle was rewarded by Charles' glare as he corrected the female in the room. "No, no, my dear-" His mouth stopped moving but his words continued, causing the youngest of the three to whirl around in alarm. "We are almost just like you. I can use my mind to complete several different tasks, such as read minds, change them, or even control them if I had the wish. Though, I make it a vow never to do such things without a person's explicit permission. At the moment I am merely communicating with you, and from what has been reported, you've accidentally done the same."
Almost as if trained to take his cue, Erik continued from the moment Charles left of. "I can bend magnetic fields to my will, make them move, and work machines made of magnetic metals with my mind." He demonstrated by lifting a pen in the air from across the room and scribbling a calligraphic 'Hello' upon an empty post-it note.
Jessica was speechless. Totally still in her actions as she prepared to gather her jaw up off of the floor. "S-so I'm not alone? W-what am I?"
"We are, in total, mutants. We are a new evolution of mankind - advancing in certain aspects that our normal human kin haven't evolved-" A glare from Charles sent Erik re-voicing his statement. "Your powers developed because of something in in your blood we like to call DNA-"
"DNA is your genetic code, right?" The statement surprised the two men again, both nodding cautiously in affirmation. The young girl flushed as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "My mom and I are science fiction nerds. She explains stuff like that to me when we watch Star Trek and stuff." Blue eyes widening, almost in horror, she gasped. "Does that mean that my code was rewritten like some computer?"
Warning his friend with a hand on his, the man in the wheelchair began gently reassuring her. "Oh, my dear, not at all. You were destined to be this way, to do good in the world. You are special in an absolutely beautiful way. What Erik and I would like to do would be to take you to a special school with people just like you, and we could teach you how to control your powers. And, from what we've heard, you have more than one?" The comforting had evolved into a gentle hug by the time she pulled away and half-heartedly snorted.
"If I wasn't so scared of what I'm becoming I'd think that it was pretty cool. My life is starting to become a comic book and I'm not even getting paid! It starts-" Jessica paused when Erik jumped defensively as her younger brother tugged on his pant leg. "Michael, what are you doing in here?"
The child that had now walked in front of Charles to confront his sister looked approximately four years of age, with golden blonde hair and a different facial structure, but the exact same blue/grey eyes that his sister possessed. "Je'ca, who are they?"
"Michael, they're my friends. Why are you here?"
"Why are they here, Je'ca?"
Charles was about to interrupt, but Jessica took the liberty of introducing Erik and Charles to her little brother and kindly (yet still exasperatedly) escorted him back to his bedroom. Upon her return, Charles smiled gently. "Je'ca?"
Again, Jessica blushed. "He can't pronounce the double 'S' yet, so he skips it."
A door was heard from next door as Madelyn and Javier came out of their room and stormed into Jessica's. "What are you doing in here?" Javier exclaimed, his wife putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him as Jessica began to speak up.
"Mommy, Daddy, Charles and Erik were telling me about how they want to take me to a new school with people just like me!" The youngest of the five beamed as she ran to her parents. "I'm not alone, Daddy! I'm not freak! I'm special in a beautiful way!" Jessica, the 8 year old, giggled and hugged her father's waist as her mother hid the tears forming in her eyes.
Javier sighed gently as he knelt to hug his daughter back. Charles and Erik had both turned to face the family now and both smiled warmly at the sight. "How is the security at this, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Mr. Xavier? I need to know how secure, my baby girl will be while she attends."