Chapter Three - Not Alone

Charles

When I heard a scream, followed by the roar of wind, then more screaming and yelling downstairs, I knew I should probably go and see what Hank had done this time. Moving over to the window and pulling the drapes aside, I saw the unmistakable bright yellow of a taxi parked outside the gates. Maybe it was that man who came looking for me a week ago. I reached into the cabinet and poured myself a scotch before walking out the door. I just knew I would need it. As soon as I came to the stairs leading down to the foyer, I started to wonder if I had been drinking too much. Everything beyond the threshold, which separated the hallway and the steps leading downstairs, was completely iced over. I should just turn around and go back to my study, but I stepped forward, onto the frozen steps.

"What is going on down here?" I yelled as I held onto the icy railing tightly, trying not to slip. When I reached the landing I looked down to see Hank pinning a man to the ground. Hank froze and looked up at me. "Hank, get off that poor man!"

He stood up and backed away from him. The stranger was dressed oddly. He let out a huff as he slowly rose and straightened his clothes, brushing off the dirt and dust. I looked all around to see the entire room covered in a thin sheet of ice, as well as snow on the ground.

"And why is the whole bloody room frozen?"

"Are you Professor Xavier?" the man asked.

"Please don't call me that, I'm not a professor anymore." I walked over to the steps leading to the ground floor and sat on the first one, ignoring the cold ice.

"Hello, I'm King Agdar of Arendelle." Ah, so he was royalty. Well, that certainly explained the clothes, but what about the room? "I'm sorry about this mess. You see, my daughter—" he began to explain, but I held up a hand to silence him.

"You know what? It doesn't matter, I can have Hank clean it up later." Hank gave a low growl to show his displeasure. "What's even more perplexing than a frozen room is how you managed to miss the sign out front. This is private property, so I'm going to ask Hank to escort you…" As I glanced between Hank and the man and saw the glares they threw at each other, I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to ask Hank to do anything that involved interacting with the man. I really didn't want to have a murder on my hands. It was bad enough the whole room was frozen solid. "Actually, I'll escort you out myself. Come along."

As I gripped the railing and used it to stand, the man took a step forward and held up both hands. "Please, Mr. Xavier, I just need a minute of your time. I've come because—" He trailed off as a door to my left opened and a woman wearing a long, purple gown stepped out, walking over to the man.

"Elsa is fine, dear."

He gave a nod and wrapped an arm around her shoulders before turning back to look at me. "My daughter has powers that she can't control. She did all this—" He gestured to the ice encrusted room, "by accident. We need you to tutor her—to show her how to control it."

I leaned against the railing and watched the amber liquid in the glass swirl around as I tilted it. "I don't teach anyone anymore."

"Please, her powers are only growing stronger. She doesn't know how to control them."

"I'm sorry for your troubles, but that's not my problem."

"We're prepared to pay you whatever amount you desire. Money is no object."

I gestured all around. "Do I look like I need your money?"

"You're our only hope. Please, find it in your heart to give her a chance," he pleaded.

"Your minute is up. Now please leave—" I was interrupted by the woman, who took a few steps forward, clasping her hands together, as if begging me.

"Please, just meet her before you decide." Before I could reply she walked over to the door and ushered out a young girl with snow white hair and big blue eyes. She met my gaze and smiled, her eyes shining with hope. As she came closer she slowed down and just stared at me, her head tilted slightly to the side, as if she was searching for something. Finally, she reached the stairs and climbed, stopping on the step just below mine.

She leaned forward and lowered her voice slightly, throwing a glance at her parents standing only a few feet away. "Are there really others like me out there?" Her gaze was so full of hope and admiration that all I could do was nod. A full blown smile slid across her face.

"All this time I thought I was the only one. I thought I was alone," she whispered, staring down at her hands like she was seeing them for the first time. Those words...so familiar to me. She reminded me of Eric. I bent down to her level and gave her a small smile.

"You're not alone."

"And you—do you have magic too?"

"What you call magic, I call a mutation..." I looked down at my shoes. "And, no, I don't. Not anymore."

She tilted her head to one side. "But you are Mr. Xavier—the wizard who will teach me to control my powers, right?"

My smile faltered and I had to look away. "I'm not a wizard, and I don't know if I can teach you."

Her smile instantly disappeared, a panicked look replacing it. "Please, you have to help me. I have to control them! I don't want to be a monster anymore."

I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head. "Your powers don't make you a monster. It's what you do with them that determines what you are."

Her gaze shifted down to the ground. "They make me bad. They made me hurt my sister when I was young, and I never want to hurt anyone ever again." Her eyes flickered back up to meet mine, eyes pooling with tears. "Please, Mr. Xavier, I hate being confined to my bedroom. I can't leave, I can't see my sister—I can't do anything."

I lifted my eyes to her parents, shocked. "You locked her up inside a room?"

The mother shifted from one foot to another, clearly uncomfortable, but the father took a step forward and spread his arms out wide, as if pleading his case to me. "We had to hide her powers. What else could we do? We couldn't let…if anyone else found out they would have been afraid. They wouldn't understand. We did it to protect her, and our other daughter."

Guilt entered my mind, reminding me of what I said to Raven when I was younger. I'd told her essentially the same thing when she asked why she couldn't show her blue form. I thought I was doing the right thing—I thought I was protecting her, but all it did was make her feel ashamed of herself. It was part of what eventually drove her away. I drove her away because I forced her to hide it. She felt rejected by me, so she went with someone who accepted her—someone who set her on a dark path that even I couldn't save her from.

I reached out a hand to put on her shoulder—to comfort her, but she jerked away, eyes widening in alarm. The ground beneath her feet frosted over, adding another layer of ice, and she looked down at it in fear.

"Don't touch me...I don't want to hurt you," she said, holding her hands close to her chest. I stood up and turned my eyes to her parents.

"All right, I'll teach her, but not for money, and not because of what you said. For her." For Raven, I added silently in my head. If I could save just one mutant from a similar fate, then maybe I wouldn't feel so terrible about failing her. As I looked down into the girl's adoring blue eyes, I made myself a vow. I wouldn't fail this one.

Her father walked up to me and gave me a handshake. "Thank you very much, Mr. Xavier. We'll leave as soon as you're packed and we'll set sail. We can make arrangements for you once we reach Arendelle—"

I held up a hand. "Whoa, what?"

"I assume you'll be staying at the palace, correct? Preferably close to Elsa's room—"

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll teach Elsa here, at the school. I have all the supplies I need right here."

"We can have anything you need brought to Arendelle, and you need not worry about the basic subjects. She has a private tutor for that. All we need you to do is teach her how to control her powers."

"That's not going to work. This house has undergone improvements to help train mutant children. If I tried to teach her in your palace it would end up in ruins. I have the means to train her here."

The man pressed his lips into a fine line, then turned to his wife. "What do you think?"

"Well, if this is the only way…" she said softly, her voice trailing off.

"No!" Elsa cried out, the ice spreading out all around her. Soft snow started to fall all around us. "Please, don't send me away! I'll be all alone here. "

"Elsa, please, calm your mind," I said as I bent down in front of her. I got as close to her as I could without touching her. "You won't be alone here. Hank and I will be here with you. I want to help you learn to control your powers, but I can't do that if you won't let me." The snow slowed down a bit as Elsa visibly calmed down. "That's it, just calm your mind."

Elsa turned to face her mother as she walked up the steps and bent down next to her.

"I don't want to be here without you," she said. Her voice quivered a little, but she was otherwise composed.

"It won't be so bad, darling. It will be like going to a boarding school. You'll be able to come home for holidays, and we'll visit you as often as we can," she told her.

"How long will it take me to control it?" she asked, turning to me.

"It depends. To fully control your powers could take years, but you should show some improvement within a few weeks." I couldn't lie to her, it would take some time.

A panicked look crossed her face. "Years?"

"Elsa, I will do everything in my power to help you," I promised. "The question is, will you let me?"

She glanced back at her parents for a few moments, then turned back to me and nodded.

"We will be back in three weeks' time with her belongings and her private tutor," her father said. "I see no reason why he should stop teaching her. Is that acceptable?"

"Does he know about her powers?"

"He knows about Elsa's powers, but not that there are others like her out there," her mother explained.

I smiled. "Well, he'll certainly be in for a surprise." I turned and gave a nod towards Hank, who was quickly turning back to his normal form. "Might want to warn him about Hank as well."

When I turned my eyes back to Elsa's father, he was shooting daggers at Hank. "I assume he won't be a further threat to my daughter's safety."

"Hank? Oh, he's not dangerous," I said, waving a dismissive hand. The man turned and gave me an incredulous look.

"He attacked me, and wounded my daughter." He pointed to a white strip of cloth tied around her upper arm. Upon closer inspection I could see the tiniest hints of blood seeping through. I had mistaken it as a stripe on her coat.

"I didn't mean to hurt her. As for him," Hank glared back at the man, "He attacked first, and tried to barge in. I thought he might be a threat."

I gave my hands a clap. "Ah, see? Just a little misunderstanding. I can assure you it won't happen again."

Her father paused for a minute, but eventually gave a nod. "Well, we must be leaving now." He reached forward and gave my hand another shake. "Thank you again, Mr. Xavier. We can't express how grateful we are."

Elsa nodded and gave a curtsy. "Thank you, Mr. Xavier."

Elsa

Three weeks later...

I sat on my bed and looked around my room. It had always been plain, but now it looked like no one had ever lived in here, except for the lone bed pushed up against the wall. All my things were packed up in suitcases and were being loaded onto the ship for our trip tomorrow.

The past three weeks had been spent getting ready and convincing my tutor, Mr. Engebretsen, to come with me to Mr. Xavier's school. He was reluctant at first, but when my parents mentioned how grateful they would be, and how much more he would get paid, he quickly agreed. At least I would have someone familiar with me in America.

I wondered how Mr. Xavier would help me control my powers. Would he give me special gloves, or would he help me control my emotions better? I didn't really care, as long as I learned to control it. The sooner I learned, the sooner I could come home and not be afraid of hurting anyone.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door—three short raps. I instantly stiffened up. It had to be Anna, she was the only one who knocked like that.

"Elsa!" came her sing-song voice. "Can I come in? I just want to give you something before you leave tomorrow." I remained silent like I always did, and hoped she would eventually leave, like she always did. Not this time. "Can you at least tell me why you're leaving? No one will tell me anything."

I wanted her to know so badly, but I couldn't tell her. At least, not yet. Maybe when I got back and could control my powers I could tell her. I would be safe then, so there would be nothing wrong with telling her.

"Elsa—" she began again, but was cut off by another voice.

"Anna, I have told you at least a dozen times not to bother your sister. She needs her rest." It was mama.

"I only wanted to give her Princess Marianne, so she could remember me when she goes to America." As if I could ever forget Anna.

"I'll give it to her when she wakes up, okay?"

"Why does she have to go to America? I want to know." Her voice was begging, and I knew mama would give in.

I heard her sigh. "Elsa is going to a special hospital in America where they'll be able to help her with her heart condition."

"Are they going to make her better?"

"We hope so."

"How long will she be gone?" Anna's voice was hopeful, but then again, it always is.

There was a pause. "We're not sure. It might be a…a few years."

"Years?" Anna's voice cried.

"It will take time for her to get better."

This time Anna paused. "Can I go to the hospital too?"

"No, dear, it's only for people with heart conditions, like Elsa."

"I wish I had a heart condition so I could go," I heard Anna grumble.

"Anna, that's a terrible thing to say! You shouldn't ever wish something like that!" I heard mama scold her, and at the same time, I felt like a dagger went through my heart. I wasn't sure if mama was just talking about the heart condition, or referring to my powers as well. I looked down at my hands, remembering the ice that came out of them. It was a terrible thing to be cursed with these powers, I always knew that, but to hear mama say it…

"Will she come home when she's better?"

"Yes, and then you two will be able to play."

I heard Anna cheer at that, and then everything became quiet. For a moment I thought maybe she had walked away, but then I heard her speak again. "Can I write her letters while she's at the hospital?"

I felt my eyes grow wide. We could write letters—of course! Why hadn't I thought of that before? There was no way she would get hurt then, and we would be able to talk to each other. I prayed mama would say yes, and they were answered a moment later when she agreed.

I heard Anna's footsteps run down the hall, and then there was another knock on my door. One soft rap. "Come in."

Mama appeared with Anna's doll in her hand. With two orange braided pigtails on either side of her head and a green dress, the doll resembled Anna. Princess Marianne. She must have my doll, Princess Elinor. They were named after the two sisters in the book mama read to us before bed when we still shared a room, Sense and Sensibility. Anna liked Marianne, while I liked Elinor. The dolls looked just like us, and the characters sounded just like me and Anna, so we named the dolls after them.

My doll was the same as hers in every way, except her hair was white, and her dress was blue. The dolls were a present for Christmas—the Christmas before the accident. When I moved out of my shared room with Anna I accidentally left Princess Elinor in the room. I thought about asking mama to get my doll back, but decided that Anna should have something to remember me by. Now Anna was giving me her doll. I ran my fingers over the orange yarn, and then the tiny plastic crown on her head. I had a doll that reminded me of Anna, and she had the doll that reminded her of me. At least we would have something of each other's while we were a thousand miles apart.

"Are you ready to go to Xavier's school tomorrow?" she asked, sitting down on my bed and patting the empty spot next to her. I nodded as I sat down, my eyes on the doll. "We'll visit you every three months, and you'll come home for Easter and Christmas."

At least I would be able to visit home twice a year.

When we arrived at Xavier's school it looked so different from the overgrown, unkempt grounds we saw only three weeks ago. The plaque was back in its place on the gate, and the sign that warned against trespassing was gone. Instead, the gates were open. The lawn was neatly trimmed, and the trees were cut back. The cracks in the fountain were repaired, and instead of being filled with grass, it was spraying out clear blue water.

"It's very charming," I heard Mr. Engebretsen say to papa. I turned around to see my tutor lugging two very big suitcases behind him. The rest of his luggage was in the truck we rented to transport our baggage. We had to rent a moving truck since all our stuff wouldn't fit in a taxi cab. When we knocked on the door Hank greeted us and led us in. The foyer was ice-free now and looked about the same as it did before I froze it. I turned around and saw the servants we brought along unloading the trunks we had brought in the taxi. Papa said the moving truck should be arriving today.

When I turned back around I saw Mr. Xavier walking down the stairs. He looked different than last time. He had shaved his beard and trimmed his hair. He was wearing a nice black suit instead of the casual clothes he had on last time. It made him look more like a professor.

"Welcome, Elsa," he said with a smile. I returned it and felt that same thrill from before return. I would finally learn to control my powers! Mr. Engebretsen walked up to Mr. Xavier and gave his hand a firm shake.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Xavier. I've heard a lot about you from the royal family. They tell me you will be teaching Elsa how to handle her condition."

The smile Mr. Xavier gave my tutor at that moment was tight and forced. "I will be teaching her to control her powers, yes." He turned to Hank. "Hank, please show our guest to his room."

Hank walked over to him and reached for his bags, but Mr. Engebretsen waved his hands away. "Oh, it's all right, lad, I can manage. I wouldn't want you to hurt your back."

I cracked a smile, remembering Hank's display of strength only three weeks ago, but then remembered that I didn't like him, and forced a more neutral expression on my face. Mr. Engebretsen called everyone younger than him 'lad' and fit my picture of a professor exactly: a tuft of white hair on his head, wrinkles, glasses, and old-fashioned clothes. Mr. Xavier, on the other hand, looked completely different. He dressed like a professor, but he certainly didn't look old enough to be one, and he was missing the glasses. For a moment I wondered how old he was, but my line of thought was interrupted when he walked over to me and smiled.

"Hank and I got you a present to welcome you."

I felt my eyes widen. "A present? What is it?"

He nodded towards the stairs. "Come and see. It's in your room."

He led me up a couple flights of stairs with my parents following closely behind. When we arrived at the end of a passageway he opened a door to my left and I looked inside. It was much smaller than my room back at home, but it would do. There was a plain bed pressed against one wall, and a night table next to it. On top of it was some sort of red, rectangular shaped object with knobs and a big red bow tied around it. That must be my present.

I walked over and began inspecting it. In the middle was a smaller, silver rectangle with small holes in it, and at the top was a thin metal rod sticking straight up. Near the top was a thin strip with numbers running along it. I began messing with the knobs. Suddenly a static, hissing sound filled the air, and I began frantically turning the knobs to try and stop the noise. A hand reached around me and turned the knobs, and music suddenly filled the room.

"When a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothing else…" Suddenly, it clicked.

"A radio!" I exclaimed, turning to see Mr. Xavier standing behind me. He nodded. I had heard of them, but never actually owned one. "Thank you, Mr. Xavier."

"You're welcome."

Mama gave me a smile. "Now you listen to Mr. Xavier just as you would listen to us, do you understand?"

I gave a nod. "Yes, mama."

The sun was just peeking over the treetops. Mama and papa had decided to spend the night since the moving truck arrived late. We had spent half the night unpacking and getting everything settled in my room. Mr. Engebretsen had finally broken down and accepted Hank's offer to help him carry his luggage to his room. After we finished unpacking we went downstairs and ate the dinner that Hank had prepared, lasagna. It had been so long since I had something to eat besides fish—cooked in a variety of ways, of course.

Now it was time for them to leave, but my parents promised to come and visit in three months—just in time for my birthday in July. I wanted to hug them, knowing I wouldn't see them for a long time, but was still afraid I might hurt them, so I curtsied instead, and they returned the gesture.

As soon as they left the whole place felt empty, but I remembered Mr. Engebretsen was here with me. I turned around to look at Mr. Xavier.

"I have been instructed by your tutor and your parents not to give you chocolate." I felt a frown cross my lips. Why was he telling me this? His serious expression suddenly turned into a grin. "Would you like to go and get some?" He gave a nod towards the kitchen. I returned his smile.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.