ALL CHAPTERS EDITED 14/10/2016

For the life of me I couldn't find anything with a solid timeline to follow. So the time will be like the movies and this takes place a few years before X1, there will also be inserts of characters from the comics. Hopefully it won't be much of a bother to you and I can make the merge seamless. Warning: this a slow burn.

Enjoy.

July, 1989

Life.

It is a gift for some and a burden for plenty more. I watched my Mother fight her cancer day after day with my Father beside her- yet I had never heard her complain about the disease. Not even once.

She passed away at the ripe age of 39, taken young with her beautiful impression pressed against our lives forever. Father was never the same, he took to working long shifts at the hospital and handing me over most days to our neighbour Mrs. Fran- a sweet old woman who had more cats than she did common sense.

She treated me well, gave me warm glasses of milk when I was sad, taught me how to catch crickets with a coke bottle and made me eat apple slices most of the day to 'keep the doctor away'. She had always been a friendly woman. But when I turned 12 she had been diagnosed with the same illness that had taken Mother and could no longer look after herself, so she had left and been put into a housing system that Father said would benefit her more.

I cried for her. I cried for Mother. I cried for myself.

Father never knew what to do with me but he had to cut down his shifts again until I turned 14 and could look after myself. I took to walking to the shop on the corner by myself a lot, ate the apples from Mrs. Frans old tree and kicked rocks. We lived in a safe and suburban area so it was perfectly fine in the eyes of most for a young girl to wander. I remember always seeing kids from school playing at the park with dogs and friends daily in the late afternoon, laughing and hollering at one another. I never felt a piece of myself yearn for their companionship, I think I was born a recluse underneath it all.

It was at that time of my life I realised that something was different.
And it was also somewhere between those summer days when I first met the Professor sitting in his silver chair donning an everlasting warm smile outside of my front door with a man who I now know as Erik Lehnsherr, standing at his side while peering down at me with a look of sheer curiosity.

Father had died. A part of me had been buried with him three days later.

February, 1999

"-good morning Ainsley," a beautiful young woman waved toward me as she passed with a group of students. I smiled in return as she made way. Some of the newbies staring awkwardly as they followed behind, a few others saying hello. This was a normal occurrence at the school for me now and I was more than accustomed to the discomfort of new blood. Dr. Jean Grey showed them all around the library before heading back through the doors and giving tour to the rest of the manor, one of the kids said good bye.

It was quiet again.

Throughout the day I tided up where I had to, helped a few of the older students find certain books for their studies and ate my lunch alone in the back room with the company of an old statue head. There was a certain smell about the Library that made me feel calm, and I liked it this way. Once it had hit 5:30pm I put my coat on and told the last of the teenagers it was closing. With the doors locked I slid the key into my dress pants and walked to the front doors of the school, saying good bye to three little ones as I exited out through the courtyard and aimed for the small silver car parked around the back.

Goodnight Professor, a moment had passed.

Goodnight Ainsley, drive home safely.

It wasn't too cold this evening and I was happy for that.

Unlocking the car door and sliding onto the leather seats, I shut it behind me and placed the key into the hole beside the wheel, I tried three times before the old girl roared to life. The drive home had been uneventful other than the traffic.

"Morning," a fresh faced Scott Summers rounded the corner, a box in his arms and hair as immaculate as it had always been. I nodded.

"Summers, how may I help you?" At the words he placed the box onto the counter in front of us both with a slight grunt from the shift of weight.

"Professor wanted me to give these to you, he said you would know what it was for.." He trailed. I knew what he wanted, he wanted to know what they were.

I put down what I was holding and took the box from the counter, with a quick lift and a drop I put it beside me and out of sight then reached for one of the books and the dewy decimal labels again. "Thank you." He looked at me for a brief moment before sending a friendly smile and nodded, "not an issue Ainsley, have a good day." Then with that he left.

I had always made sure to keep myself one step away from all of those around me, I wasn't rude, I wasn't cold. But I preferred to be alone. They knew that. I spent years within the walls of this institution and through that time we had all learnt what we needed to about one another- I loved to be uninterrupted with a good book, they accepted that. Once lunch had come around I decided to invert back toward my little room taking the heavy box with me. I knew what it was of course, and as I poked through the box with a gherkin sandwich in one hand I felt something creep up onto my face. A smile.

They were my books. All of them.

The books that I had read in the first months I had come to the manor, I had almost forgotten about them. When the Professor and Magneto had first brought me here I was disgusted and confused within my own being but had nowhere else to go like a lot of the others who arrive here. The shock of being what my Father had once called 'a monster' and the fate that I had dealt to my loved ones kept me awake at night and had me questioning my own will to be alive, books were an easy way to disappear.

Sadly for myself however, the Professor had powers with reading minds and had one of the tutors at the time- Hank, watch over me for a week before he deemed me 'fit'. I didn't mind so much. The man had the same idea of socialising as I did and let me read different books from his shelves as he went about his day.

I reached for another book, one about chess, the one Magneto threw at me when I bugged him a little too much one evening. "You have a beautiful gift Katherine, a gift someone would want to exploit yet would not want to have. Find strength within it- do not be afraid."

They had been the last words he had said to me before he left the Manor due to a disagreement with the Professor. It didn't change the way I felt about my condition, but it helped soothe the loss I felt when one half of the duo who saved me left. For an odd reason that only the Professor seemed to understand- I found Magneto to be a mesmerizing creature. He was strong, collected, spoke what he thought no matter who was listening and held a strength about himself I could never fathom.

I wiped the past from my mind before I fell back into its open arms for a moment and looked over the first few books I had pulled from the box with a sigh. Leafing through the pages I noticed there were quite a few torn out it made me a little annoyed actually, more so that I had done it. And also because I couldn't remember why.

"The Professor would like to see you after your shift." The words were so sudden, almost jumping from my own skin I jerked my head toward it while throwing the book- luckily my aim had always been terrible and I missed my target by a mile. A kid around 14, a bloody giant one, with short hair and a slightly open mouth stood next to the door, stunned.

"Oh- Oh crap, I'm sorry. Thank you, are you okay?" Putting down the food and walking towards him hesitantly he nodded slowly and then turned to jog away. Shit. Picking up the book I put it back into the pile of others and placed the box into a deep chestnut cupboard next to the door. Time to work again.

I repeated the same routine as the night before. I tided, grabbed my coat, ushered out the stragglers, locked the doors and slipped the key into my dress pants. However instead of making way toward the front doors I went the opposite way toward Professor Xavier's office. Opening the mahogany doors into his room had never been less magical as time went on, like walking into a beautiful dream. Everything was immaculate, inviting and warm. As I had imagined, he sat in his silver wheelchair beside the window- side on to me with his fingertips pressed together while touching his lips.

"Katherine, take a seat if you would like," he smiled as turning his attention toward me, hands now at his lap. I accepted the gesture and fell into one of the plush black seats beside his desk.

"Thank you." He only smiled again. Using the toggle on his arm rest he made way toward the opposite side of the desk.

"I trust you enjoyed the books Scott brought to you?"

"Of course sir, I thought they were lost in all honesty." He reached his destination and rest his arms against the table.

"Good- good, well my dear I will ease your mind of any questions as to why you have been called here. The reason why I asked young Piotr to send you a message-," I wonder if he knew what happened, he sent me a slightly amused look causing a bristling throughout my being- he knew, "-and I asked you to come here because I wanted to be the first one to tell you."

My eyes involuntarily squinted. "Tell me what?"

'He's finally firing you for yelling at the younger kids and making them cry when they drew on the wall..' He effortlessly held a jug of water, and poured two glasses, handing one over toward me, when I made no attempt to reach for it he looked toward it and back at me. I recognized the signal accepted the glass taking two sips before placing it down. He took none.

"You have been with this school for 9 years now." He spoke while staring directly at me, this was no news to me.

"And I have loved every moment," I assured him, he looked down briefly before looking back up.

"You have been a loyal member since day one Katherine Ainsley I have watched you flourish from a young girl to a strong woman. From the day we met until today you have always been a willing student and friend, helping those around you and keeping our Library overly-organized," I snorted softly, he took that moment to pause. "But you have never let yourself leave the seclusion of these walls other than to go home, and this pains me. You blame yourself for your mutation-." He stopped as my mind wandered briefly to my family and old baby sitter. I knew he was inside of my head at that moment. "As I am sure you are aware my dear, there has been an ever pressing concern that a war will take place with our kind against the humans, at which I want no part of other than to keep our world at peace." At this he took a sip of his water, "Of course there are plenty of small attacks behind closed doors, but some of our- brethren- have not taken too kindly to this." I knew what he meant, I had seen the news and heard the stories from kids in small groups.

"Professor, I am happy here." I pressed again. I thought I had saw a smile- but I may have been wrong, he cleared his throat.

"Katherine. Erik has contacted me, and I know of the small attachment you grew with him as I myself have done the same thing. So I gave him my word that I would let you know. Please think this over, there is no rush. You are my family and you are always welcome in my home, your home…"

I swallowed hard, where was this going? Why was Magneto suddenly interested after all these years?

"He would like you to join him Katherine, he would like you to fight for a cause that I know may interest you with him and his people-."