Charles Xavier without a doubt happens to be lucky bastard. Intelligent, good looking, sharp, with thirst for knowledge, heart of gold and good manners. Even his cheesy one-liners work well on ladies and his arrogance is disturbingly charming. He comes from well-off family and even though his parents divorced and his mother got married once again, they're still good friends. Charles lives in quite big, modern apartament which he shares with younger sister. She has some serious issues, but overall, their common life is surprisingly good, at least from Charles' point of view. You won't hear him grumbling about his life, because why would he? Only his parents seem to be a bit concerned by the fact that their only son is still single, but for him it's not a problem – he has friends and loving family, he doesn't feel lonely. "Just let me enjoy university life", Charles replies usually, a bit tired of hearing about parents' hiddling concerns.

And today is another day of Charles' a little bit too idyllic life. It's April; flowers are blooming, birds are tweeting, people are romancing and he's just laying on the wide lawn by the university, reading book in peace. That's exactly how he loves to spend breaks between lectures – on learning even more interesting stuff. Even fellow students walking around, talking and laughing can't distract him. Apart from this one tall, awkward guy with nerdy glasses and indispensable red backpack, who walks towards him.

"Where have you been?" Charles asks from over the book. "You disappeared after the lecture." "Yeah... I had a chat with professor Keaton..." Hank sits on the grass next to his friend. "He lent me few books about genetics." He reaches red backpack and takes out three thick volumes which he passes to Charles. "God bless biochemistry!" Recently they both developped fascination with the genetics, but deepening theory is not enough for two young, bright minds.

"Also, I asked Keaton if we could do our own research in academic laboratory." Hank clearly has difficulties with hiding excitement. So does Charles; he puts off the book on a grass and moves up to sit in front of his friend. "And...?" "And he said that he needs to talk about it with professor McLeod, but in general he..." "Hello boys!"

Their scientific and totally geeky conversation is suddenly intrrupted by feisty brunette with armful of manuals and large cup of coffee in her hand.

"Here comes our favourite lady!" Charles doesn't seem annoyed by the fact that their conversation has been disrupted. "How you doing, Moira?" "Thanks, Hank, I'm fine..." She lurks next to them and says with serious voice: "We need to talk about Raven." "Why?" Charles lives with his sister long enough to know that serious discourse about her will not bring anything positive into his life. "Did something happen?" "I met her in the morning, in cafeteria. She was sitting alone, so I sat with her. We've been chatting for a while... And at one point, sleeve of her jumper rolled up. I noticed few fresh scars on her forearms... I'm so sorry, Charles." "Again?" Hank asks like he couldn't believe in what he has just heard. Both him and Moira are the only friends of Charles who know about Raven's problems, mainly because he met them in high school and they immediately became his best friends.

"I can't believe she still cuts herself and I didn't notice it..." Charles says quietly, as if he suddenly languished. "It's not your fault." Hank pats him on the shoulder. "He's right. Maybe you promised your parrents to support Raven, but after all you don't know what she's thinking about. You can't read her mind, so stop blaming yourself."

Moira's right, but it doesn't stop Xavier from being sure that he failed as older brother who has been supposed to help his sister. And, what's weird, he could have sworn that lately Raven felt surprisingly well.

"Anyway, I will talk to her at home." Charles doesn't feel like continuing small talk about his sister; he reaches his hand towards Moira's coffee. "May I...?" "No way!" She hides the cup behind her back. "I've just finished my today courses and I'm going to spend whole evening and night on reading some super interesting files that professor Chang gave me. I need extra energizers and I won't share it with anyone. Don't even try these puppy eyes on me, Charles." "You're a brutal creature." he says as Moira stands up. "Yes." she replies with undisguised pride. "Yes, I am. Bye, boys, have fun with your biochemical stuff!" "And you have fun with your criminological stuff!" Charles says loudly as she's walking away.

"I'm pretty sure we also should go, pal." Hank looks at his watch. "Lecture begins in ten minutes." "If you say so... Let's go then."

When extremely boring lecture is over, Charles urges Hank to not wait for him and go home, simply because he needs to go to library which is on the other side of the campus and it may take a while. Finally afteen about fifteen minutes walk (during which he met and greeted with polite smile great amount of his acquitaintances), Charles reaches quite big, storied building of academic library. He visits this place at least twice a week, so smell of old paper and dust on ancient bookstands feel like home. But today there's surprise waiting for him. When he approaches the librarian's position with two quite thin books in his hand, instead of worthy, middle-aged miss Collins he notices good looking man in his twenties, sitting by the desk and reading newspaper. He's wearing beige trousers and navy blue turtle-neck and his face expresses nothing but indifference; apparently he didn't realise that someone have just entered the library.

"Excuse me?" Charles tries to sound politely and firmly at the same time. "I would like to return the books..." After hearing these words, stranger puts off newspaper on the desk and reaches hand towards surprised Charles. "Your card" he says with weary voice. "Oh, right!" Xavier passes his card and books to the man. He literally feels in his guts the insolent gaze of the librarian's bright eyes. "What about miss Collins?" Charles can't keep this question only for himself. "She had an accident" the librarian sighs as he's scanning codes inside the books. "Broken leg and twisted wrist, she's having few weeks off and I'm her substitute." Charles nods and suddenly notices ID lying on the desk, saying: Erik Lehnsherr, the librarian.
"Aren't you a bit too young to be a librarian?" he asks almost unconsciously before thinking over the question, even though it may seem nosy or maybe just stupid. But what is done cannot be undone; Charles is waiting in silence for any reaction. Seconds are passing slowly and finally, Erik Lehnsherr replies: "Aren't you way too nosy to be well-educated Englishman, Charles?" And before Xavier has a chance to deny, he adds: "I finished some courses."|
He gives the card back to Charles and none of them says anything until he leaves library in a hurry, feeling way more silly than he actually is.
Sometimes Charles feels guilty that he and his sister live in an apartment big enough for family with two kids, while Moira rents a room in dorm ("Student living in his own apartment? Are you kidding me, Charles? I'm going to continue a beautiful tradition of dormitories. It's gonna be fun, I suppose.") and Hank shares flat with potential junkie slash misunderstood musician, currently unemployed former soldier and taxi driver slash almost professional fish breeder. Actually Hank was living with Charles for almost two years, but when Raven began her studies and parents asked Charles to take care of her sister, Hank moved out insisting that "he doesn't want to interrupt Xaviers' family buisness". He seems to like his current cotenants though.
But today is not a day for guilt; at least for that kind of guilt (he's still thinking about his tomfoolery in library). Charles feels luxuriously comfortably in his not-so-little kingdom, when he finally can have a word with his sister. He finds her sitting on a couch in living room, watching television with no interest on her face. She's wearing clothes from Typical Raven Spring Collection: grey, definetely too big jumper, denim shorts and artistically riddled black tights. Her blonde locks contrast with dark, a bit sloppy outfit.
"Hello" she greets older brother with subtle smile on her face. "Hi, Raven, we need to talk..." Charles says as he sits next to her. "Could you turn off the tv?" She does what she was asked for and looks at him questioningly. Charles knows that asking about what Moria told him is pointless – she would lie anyway. So he just grabs her hand and, leaving her no time for reaction, rolls up a sleeve.
"Hey, what are you...?!" Raven breaks free, but it's too late. Charles has already seen what he was looking for. Few new scars among the old ones.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" she yells. "Better tell my why are you doing this." Charles replies, trying to sound calmly. "It's not your buisness..." "Oh, believe me, it is my buisness. We've already been through this, remember? I know it's hard, but at least try to get over it!" His trembling voice is becoming louder and louder; he hardly controls his emotions. "Do you really think it's so easy?" Raven asks and her voice cracks. "Raven..." Charles tries to calm her, but it doesn't stop her tears. "I'm so scared" she says quietly. "You shouldn't be. It's over, right? They won't hurt you again, I promise." Charles embraces his sister and keeps saying the mantra: "Everything's going to be alright, just calm down. Everything's going to be fine..." Her trembling body suddenly seems much smaller and more delicate.