2) Meeting Moira and Erik, X-Men First Class
Charlotte was certain of one thing as she gasped and watched the suspended anchor destroy its yacht from the U.S. Coast Guard ship: Oxford did not prepare her for this.
After graduating from the University of Oxford and partying with her adopted sister Raven like tomorrow would never come (despite all the unwanted attention at her favorite bar), a CIA agent approached her and intrigued her. There were two reasons for that.
The first was that this woman, Moira MacTaggart, was kind of cute to Charlotte. The fact that she was attracted to a woman did not bother Charlotte. (She was bisexual since her teenage years but would not dare to disclose such information to even Raven. Bisexuality was taboo in the groovy sixties.) It was the fact that the attraction hit her so suddenly. However, Charlotte speculated that the alcohol in her system probably played a role in that.
The second was that Moira sought her advice on mutants because she had found a certain group of mutants who plan on initiating a nuclear war and ultimately wreaking havoc. Charlotte had to slip into Moira's mind to find out what asking she was asking of her. And when she did, Charlotte knew she should have been terrified, but she was honestly fascinated, no, enraptured when viewing the mutants and their unique abilities in Moira's mind.
Fortunately, Moira could not read minds. So she saw no trouble in bringing two seemingly harmless mutants to the CIA and, with their assistance and "magic tricks", convinced the CIA that they had certain, not all, mutants to deal with immediately and cautiously.
Then, the CIA found their man, Sebastian Shaw, and his posse on a yacht in Miami, Florida. It started calmly until the motorboats approached the target's yacht. Tornadoes, from a fellow mutant no doubt, showed the boats no mercy. And there she was: useless, since some unknown telepath blocked her mind, and flabbergasted as the anchor and its chains suddenly destroyed the ship and possibly killed Shaw and his lackeys.
Charlotte and Moira were about to head to safety when Charlotte felt it, the intense, burning anger from another mind. It stung tremendously and shook her skull, causing Charlotte to rub her throbbing temples and desperately identify the source of the rage.
Then, she found him, Erik Lehnsherr. Thoughts full of dread and suffering swarmed her senses as her mind's eyes witnessed the man's desperate attempts to take control of the sinking submarine. Survivor. Child. Fatherless. Motherless. Orphan. Pain. Death. Suffering. Experiments. Hatred. Shame. Humiliation. Vengeance. Blood. Shaw. Alone.
Charlotte gasped as realization dawned on her. He was drowning. Erik was drowning. Erik was going to die if he did not let go. Charlotte called for help, but no one wanted to take any risks by rescuing him. So, she quickly doffed her jacket and plunged into the waters below.
xxx
Arms. Erik stiffened as thin arms wrapped around his chest and tugged him closer to the surface. He could hear her imploring him to let go or he would die. Her soothing voice almost made him comply. Still, Erik would not budge. He had to do this. Shaw deserved to suffer like he did, like his mother and millions of others did. But then, the strange woman addressed him, as if they were old friends.
Weakly and reluctantly, Erik allowed the woman to slowly lift him up to the surface. Then, they were both gasping for air and bobbing in the ocean. That gave Erik a moment to look at his rescuer or grievance, depending on how one looked at things. She had dark brown hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. She was pretty but not striking. Yet, Erik could not help but gaze at her in both admiration and fear. She was inside his head.
After an awkward introduction and her assuring him that she was like him, Erik felt something foreign. Anger and sadness were all he knew, all he felt, that he felt like a walking corpse for eighteen years. But then, this stranger shed some light, showed him that she, too, was different, and therefore he was not a lone monster. Because of all this, for a moment he felt complete and utter happiness.
And when she guaranteed that he was not alone and smiled a certain, genuine smile, Erik knew that he had just met his life or his death. Charlotte Xavier. He did not know it yet, but for years he would think solely about her red lips, her honeyed voice, her blue eyes that anyone could drown in, her benevolent ideas, her generosity, her fury, her pain…
But as the two floated that night, all Erik could really think about was the woman's eyes and how much he really, really needed a drink.
May God bless all who endured suffering, suffering akin to the tortures of the Holocaust. May God bless all who endured the tortures of the Holocaust.