A/N: Thank you for the favs/follows for the first chapter. I hope you read this one and tell me what you think of it! I'm updating "Angel of Mine" next. I'm trying to work out writing both within weeks of each other, I would really appreciate reviews on this story. I'm writing it from a historical perspective so it's a bit of a new territory for me. Thank you!

Aura paid the driver what she owed and pulled her sparse belongings out of the trunk holding them tightly. She took a deep breath before glancing from the bottom garden to the top of the roof where she was temporarily staying. Her Nan said the house was vast but as Aura stared on she didn't realize just how enormous her new home would be. Working to middle class was an atmosphere she'd grown used to.

She mentioned the man she was responsible for - although Ruth had made it emphatically clear she was to help with the household chores - and she was only slightly curious about him. She had heard of Charles' well known genetics research but only small facts. But even so, her business wasn't to know his life story but more to do with his actual abode maintenance than anything else.

Ruth didn't say much other than she'd missed her granddaughter and staying with her was the answer. She didn't understand what her Nan meant but she agreed to stay to keep busy and get her mind off her life in general. Who knows? She might like living here after all.

She checked the time on her wrist watch, in the dark she could barely make out the numbers. It resembled something that came to a few minutes passed 11:30pm. She planned to be here sooner but her train hadn't left on schedule. Ruth would understand. She wasn't Aura's parents.

"Miss...?" She heard behind her and turned around.

The driver held up a purse he must have pulled from the back seat and Aura nearly blushed before she thanked the driver and took it. This wasn't the first time this happened. It was a good thing he was Charles Xavier's driver or else he would have just driven off. Aura was still clutching her belongings tightly out of habit.

When the driver gave a salute and drove the opposite direction Aura grabbed her bags and made her way toward the front door.

The entire place looked like some supernatural habituate. Green vines covering a stone castle-like feel. Ruth promised that this Charles person was going to be her business so that Aura wasn't going to deal with any stress. Cooking, cleaning and maintaining were good distractions, they kept her motivated. They kept her mind off certain things.

She remembered her mother's words before the door swung open to reveal a warm smile.

"Hello Nan. Sorry, I know, but I'm here." Aura smiled genuinely, missing her Nan's face.

Ruth pulled her granddaughter into her arms and held her close for a long moment. "Are you alright?"

Aura nodded and stepped inside as Ruth and her second hand maid began taking in her luggage. She rubbed her shoulders as Ruth gave her a knowing eye.

"I brewed a fresh pot. Adeline started a fire. Go on and relax darling." Ruth said as she gestured to cozy living room that depicted the fireplace alive with fresh flames.

Before Aura sat down to completely relax she stood up slightly, walking toward the kitchen area.

"Do you want some help?"

Ruth's smile lines rose as she begun to prepare everything, "No, Adeline will handle your chores. I know you've had a long day. You should go sit down and enjoy the warm fire."

Even though she felt it was her duty to help, relaxing felt like the best thing for her now. "Very well."

Aura pulled her jacket around her body tighter and slipped off her shoes, trying to get comfortable on the couch. This lifestyle was more than what she was prepared for, it seemed as if generations of families could live here and never have to worry about money, food and warmth. Living in luxury had to be wonderful. It reminded her of all the stories she used to read. Part of this seemed like something out of a fairy tale.

As she stood up to close the curtains, she noticed the bitter cold she was standing outside in turn into soft snow. The seasons came early, she love the snow, she appreciated how it looked when it fell gently from the sky and floated to the ground, collecting in a group. She watched for a few minutes until she felt like someone was looking at her. When she turned around, no one was there. She was sure it was someone but maybe her mind was playing tricks on her.

When she retreated back to her position on the couch, Ruth had come around the corner.

"I was hoping we would meet to talk in the day time but I'm wide awake." Ruth said, setting the tray of tea and food on the coffee table. "Here we are then."

"Thanks Nan." She carefully took the tea in her hand, letting it warm her naked skin. "This is quite strange of me to say but I never call you Ruth, have I?"

"No you always called me Nan - which is what you should be calling me. Don't be like Charles." Ruth commented, picking up her tea and sipping it.

Her Nan wouldn't stop bringing him up since they begun taking about her coming. She wondered, besides being rich, what was so interesting about him that she had to keep his name in the air constantly? She thought about something.

"You mentioned he was brilliant. I could see why you talk about him a lot. Do I-" Ruth calmly interrupted her.

"No, like I said to you, Charles is my business. I am the one responsible for him. No need to be concerned. Charles won't be a problem. And if he is, he knows the consequences."

Aura smiled, almost finding Ruth's disciplinary ways comical. "Good to know. Have you had a long day?"

"Not quite as long as yours but the same like most days. How is your mum?"

Aura bit her lip, apprehension peaked at her throat, controlling the words wanting to come out. "She's doing better. I think she has improved since you last saw her. Personally, well, I wished it was different."

"Your father meant a lot to her. It wasn't her fault he left his responsibilities behind. Earning no respect from me, that's for certain."

"One thing is true; my father leaving was not her fault. Maybe some part of me deserved it."

Ruth's face became startled. "Why are you saying this, child? Your mum loves you. Why do you believe for a minute that any of this is your fault?"

Aura wished she hadn't brought anything up. She needed to change the subject quickly before Ruth pressed on. Her Nan was good at getting someone to open up. It was a good and an unassuming trait Aura knew too well.

"Let's just say it's been really hard for everyone since he'd gone." She covered herself in a vague reply.

She hoped that was enough for Ruth to steer away from the topic.

Ruth's face soften as she placed her tea down and came close to her granddaughter, taking Aura's hand in hers, holding on like the gesture meant the world to her.

"I have never known what happened and I know - I believe you can never drive anyone away. You are too good, too kind a person to make anyone do such a thing." Ruth caressed her cheek before pulling her in a hug. "I know this, child."

As much as Aura liked to believe her Grandmother, some things are better left the way they should be. She wanted to be away from that life and welcome something more peaceful for a change.

When they pulled away Aura began to drink her tea in silence. She wasn't saying much to their talk other than a few occasional small responses. She knew Ruth wanted to talk and she gave her some time but knowing that she could open up areas that Aura wanted to keep closed was what she worried about the most. She kept the conversation light, for her own sake.

Aura ended the talk when she realized it was nearly 1am upon looking at the grandfather clock near the mantle. She was thankful to use her coming late prior as a great excuse to retire to her bedroom. Aura was slightly intimidated looking around the house. Since it was big it would take months to firmly examine every room, including the gardens in the conservatory covered in a glass sheathing that was attached to the home. Charles sure had a lot of rooms and space to do whatever he wants in. Ruth mentioned that he didn't go into all the rooms and mostly kept to himself either in his room or the study. She kept stressing that Charles was her checkpoint and left it as that to Aura. Not that Aura wasn't curious but it was almost as if Ruth was warning her of something in case of a future ominous situation might happen. She chose to believe otherwise.

Aura's understanding of the rich, privileged, high status, WASP like people were the same as society deemed. She didn't think much of them and mostly saw them as movie stars or otherworldly. She thought of Charles, on what she knew so far as someone posh, pious, standoffish and relating to royalty. If he wasn't knighted by the Queen then she would be surprised to know it.

But it was wrong of her generalize. She doesn't know anything about him; she is only judging him upon his image and his exterior way of living. It was wrong on so many levels and she felt bad for pitting him into what she only thought was the reality. Ruth hadn't said much about Charles as a person, more so that he was of a slight introvert in the way he would be in only two rooms of the many as of late.

Aura didn't see that as anything to be scared of. Since secondary school and tertiary education onto her sixth form as of recent, she was caught with her nose in her academics often. She didn't have must time nor genuine interest in a social life and viewed ones that gave attention to it as a monumental waste of time and energy. She wasn't opposed to having fun, she only perceived the idea of fun as something more unorthodox and freak like. Before her mother turned on her for her father leaving she used to call her daughter an old soul. Aura thought being a normal and conforming member of society was taxing; whatever normal means.

Aura brought her favorite books along on the train and leafed through where she stopped reading into one of them. It was a story about romance and the dramatics of witchcraft. Something she knew society was never comfortable with. She took Latin in school but it was predominantly a staunch study of the early pious pioneers and what they stood for. Studying religion was never entertaining but she loved learning about what happened in the 1600s during a time where nearly everybody was religious and you didn't dare speak a word against it. Witchcraft still fascinated Aura to no degree. She wanted to learn more about the practice and in turn find out why Wicca was so condemned by Christianity.

It made her parents frown when they found out she had read books that weren't allowed for educational purposes. She promised to her parents that she would stop and they believed her, more or less. Her mother made it a habit to check her book bag in case she was carrying anything suspicious. Since Aura hid them in other places of the house she had gotten away with it for a long time. It was easy to read them on the train heading toward a place where no one could bother her.

Until her mother found her...she would never tell Ruth but that was the most traumatizing moment of her life. She wanted to die; she wished she died that next day. It just wasn't fair. She used to have nightmares about that day. To go on in order to get her mind off of it she would be studying all hours of the day and avoided coming home. College hadn't gotten easier, she had to leave.

Just barely 21 and now she was beginning to try and figure her life out. She didn't have a clue what she wanted to do but she knew she had to be distracted, the good kind of deterred. Hard work and being around people who wouldn't judge everything you do.

Aura grabbed her diary toward the bottom of her carry on and opened it to the end of the booklet. She had written in there a lot since she knew she was leaving. Writing out her feelings helped for a moment, it was like listening to music, it wasn't going to point figures or reprimand you for anything. It was merely speaking to a blank wall with every thought she could muster out.

When she took the pen she normally used to write with, a feeling of rush and residual pain flowed through the uninhibited words.

Dear Days,
Ruth was concerned again but no matter, personally if I kept busy from now on I won't have to talk about anything much. I know Nan will be alright with that. Unless I appear to be obvious and show my feelings on my sleeve. Don't care. From what I hear about the owner of this home, I figure she will have her hands full preoccupying herself. I came here to stay with Nan and be away from harshness. Sometimes I really feel as if my life has been stolen from me. The very thought that I can manage to live with myself surprises me every day. I realize where I am fortunate and haven't abandoned my good luck. I grew up without much of any. Father worked in politics, mother lived as paranoid political protester. I still don't understand what bought my parents together. I suppose it was love. My mother was certain that love was shattered because of me. I don't want to believe it but I feel like it is all the words I can remember of my mother since she has said no other to me. I thought I lived in those awful memories forever. But that is not what I wanted for my life. I still feel like in the back of my mind I am meant for something. Maybe it's a silly notion I've dreamed up from indulging in all those fantasy novels, somehow I don't think it is coincidence. As long as I am away from the stagnant negativity that used to control my life, I am better off. This home is a lovely one. Charles Xavier is a blessed man. He is surrounded by the one person I grew up admiring and considered a role model. Ruth takes care of everyone, for as long as I've known her she has the ability to see the good in people, no matter what wrongs they have done in their past. Now that I am away, I want to one day find somewhere I can belong. The Xavier mansion, very beautiful, is my distraction. As long as I keep working, become better disciplined, learn and grow, I do think all those times I thought it was the end will be long forgotten bad memory. It would be worth it. Truth is, I never know anymore and yet – it somehow feels right.
Aura

As she closed the booklet and bound the circle with the twine string until it finished, she pulled back from what she wrote. She was partly relieved and the rest of her felt incomplete. It was certainly more positive than what she would have normally written in past entries. Ruth could take credit for her change of mood. Although she was questioning her granddaughter, it was merely out of love and generosity. She never forced anyone to be honest with her; Ruth was the type of person who made things comforting, which had pained Aura to keep some things in. It wasn't as if she thought Ruth might label her, on the contrary, she wasn't like most people. The truth was Ruth would become more burdened with new detriments and Aura didn't wish to be the cause of her anxiety.

Aura shook when she heard a ruckus tumble outside her room. She stood up and went over to peek into the sliver of the door opening. She could only hear faint voices, a gruff tone, harsh and accusative and the other, sounded more like Ruth's. Aura wanted to open the door completely to look upon the scene but she didn't see the point. None of this concerned her and none of it will.

She shut the door, minding her business as she looked at her bed in the corner. This was where she could be private; this was the only place where she would keep to herself until she was needed. The clocks alerted her it was time and she agreed. She combed her hair before putting her books and materials off the bed. She could read herself to slumber but she somehow felt it best to shut her eyes and naturally slip away.

Come tomorrow nobody was going to stop her from finally seeing more to life than judgments.

Aura shut the lights and slipped inside the covers, letting her mind and body drift away to a place resembling something she desired for the longest time: hope.