Chapter 3

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It was Thursday morning in the late of August. Professor Charles Xavier, a man who had dedicated his whole life to helping mutants, felt concerned. The television in his office had just shown a report from the white house. Surprisingly the report had shown a sequence of senator Kelly leaving the oval office. This was particularly peculiar since had died from the effects of Magneto's last invention that turned Homo sapiens into mutants. The senators' body had rejected the mutation and he'd died only hours after arriving to the mansion, and yet there he was on the screen. Only it wasn't the senator, it was Mystique, Magnetos right hand.

The middle-aged man raised his head as he sensed a presence outside his office door. It was Christine, and she was early.

"Come in dear child."

Chris who'd raised her hand to know let it slip down to the handle. She forgot that the professor was a telepath, just like she forgot that everyone else in this school was also a mutant. Gently she pushed the door open and stepped inside. As soon as she saw him, she knew what this meeting was going to be all about. She felt a stone sink to the pit of her stomach. She closed the door behind her and went to take a seat by the professors' desk.

"Now Christine, I suspect you know why you are here." Truth to be told, he knew that I knew why I was here, and we both knew it. The professor was a great man, in his deeds and his philosophy, but he was so concerned for the big picture. Sure, he cared for the students here, very much, and he would sacrifice his life to save us. But when there's so many of us here, it's hard to see them all, to know and nurture them all. The reason why I was here was because of the awfulness I held within. A terrible, godforsaken force and now he wanted me to "learn to control it." Just the bare thought of controlling it was ridiculous

"I can't discuss it with you professor. I'm sorry but that's the way it is."

His eyes wielded nothing about how he felt. His whole presence was calm, he was a father figure to many of these students, a leader and a patriarch.

"I am sorry to hear that Christine. You know, many students come here resenting their powers. Many of them lack both hope and courage, but not you. I have never had one student so determined to suppress their powers, so determined to erase who they are. And yet, though you want to run from yourself, you have hope, and I believe you even have courage.

Maybe you are right if you say that your ability cannot be controlled. What if I say that even if I can't change who you are, maybe I can help you understand."

Chris looked into his eyes, and she knew he did want to help her. But she also heard that voice in the back of her mind. The voice screaming that she couldn't do it, she couldn't let herself slip again. If she began, who knew where it would stop? If it ever would stop… But Xavier was right, she had hope. And then she decided.

"When I begin, there is no way to undo it. If I am lucky, maybe I can stop it before it's too late… otherwise we'll just have to kill it."

Christine got up on her feet. She backed away from the desk to make sure the professor wouldn't be to close to her. Then Chris braced herself and made a silent prayer that all would go well. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.

A dark shadow appeared on the carpet by her right side, then a dark shape began to grow out of it. It became taller and taller. At first it was ghostly transparent, you could almost see through the cloaked figure, but soon it seemed to begin to materialize as well. Christine's features became strained, she was trying to stop the thing from materializing by straining the connection to the source of the power. It stabilized and the thing stopped developing somewhere between being transparent and a real body.

It stood silent. The thing was at least 6,5 feet tall, its breathing was heavy and hissing. The silence lay thick in the room, the only sound breaking it was the things heavy breathing. Its ominous presence seemed to make the air go cold inside the professors' office. Chris knew she had to end this soon, if she held on to it any longer she would lose her power over this creature and it would break loose and stray into this world. The professor notified her struggle just in time.

"That's enough Christine, you can let it go."

Christine broke the connection in her mind and with a ghostly sigh, the shape turned into smoke and disappeared. She felt weak and totally drained. Producing them was easy, trying to control them was a whole different thing, and they didn't like being restrained. This one had been different than the first. The first had been a miserably looking huge creature with a lipless mouth filled with sharp teeth. Its skull was cracked open revealing a surprisingly large brain and they eyes were two slits in the parchment skin. Its body was light with very long legs and the whole body looked emaciated. This one had been something entirely different, something much stronger.. and malevolent.

The first one had come the day of her birthday. Her mother came in that morning without knowing of her daughters' condition and found that Chris's hair had turned to silver gray and her eyes were white and empty. The rest of her family had come into the room, and there had been an argument. Her mother insisted she was to be thrown out immediately whilst her father pleaded that she would stay. Her mother dragged her down to the kitchen, shrieking something about how they would talk this over to find a solution. She was told she would be better off alone, fending for herself. The terrified Christine suddenly felt something blossom within her… and then it came.

It felt like a relief to Christine, she knew it wouldn't harm her, she knew that she was its master. But then her mother uttered a terrified scream and the creature turned to her. A hellish growl rose within its throat, and its eyes began to glow like burning bits of coal inside its head. And now Chris understood that the creature was beyond her control, it would kill her mother, and then the rest of her family. She felt disgusted and relieved at the same time. If it killed them she wouldn't have to see that look in their eyes anymore, they would become hollow and unseeing, like empty caves.

She heard a door slam, and hasty footsteps came running down the staircase, and then her father entered the kitchen with his rifle. He placed it leaning against his elbow, and then he raised it. She saw the same fear and loathing in his eyes that she saw every time he looked at her, and then he shot it, three times. It didn't die at first, just raised its clawed hands to the hole in its gut. A squealing cry escaped its throat, spreading a small cascade of black blood over the kitchen floor. Cramping and twitching, the fourth shot brought it down on its knees. The cries became pleading and Christine felt something in her heart crack. Then her father shot it in the head, and it died staring at Christine like a child is looking at its mother. Then Christine was left to clean up the mess, crying. She had been afraid of it, but it still felt like her family had murdered a piece of her. This was the feeling of a mother who had been forced to watch her only child die. It was then she promised to never do it again, it hurt too much to kill another one, but it was too malevolent to be left alive. So she cleaned, and wept.

The professor listened to her story silently. He was a good listener and his excellent mind was processing the events while she told him. After she finished her story, he sat quiet for some minutes. Chris sat down again, waiting for him to speak.

"I believe that your power is your ability to conjure these creatures and then master them, but at that time you were too young and too scared. But the purpose of this school is to train you to control your gifts, and with training, I do believe it's possible. You know, most mutants are too young to handle their powers during the first years, especially since you developed them at such an early age. But I do have faith in you Christine.

As I said before, I see courage in you."

She left the professors office feeling relieved and maybe a tad excited. They had decided that she would have private sessions with Jean until she was ready to use her powers in the Danger Room-sessions. Until then she would have to rely on her combat skills, which unfortunately were limited, but she was fast and flexible, so she felt confident. Things were improving every hour she spent here.

She met up with Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and John a short while later. They agreed to eat lunch outside since the weather was so stunningly wonderful. The others chatted cheerfully as they walked down the grassy slope and passed by the pond. Chris noticed that there was some tension between Rogue and Kitty. As soon as Kitty addressed Bobby a little frown appeared on Rogues face, and her eyes became uneasy. Christine didn't understand why Rogue felt threatened by this girl who was two years younger than Bobby but looked another two years younger than she actually was. But maybe Rogue sensed something Chris didn't, after all she didn't know these guys all that well.

The perfect spot lied just by the brink of the forest beside the oak tree where she'd first seen John stand. They all sat down in the grass and began to feast on their lunch. There were other students doing the same thing scattered all over the school grounds. Christine noticed the others threw her small glances now and then. It was Rogue who spoke first and as usual, she went right for the core.

"So, how was your meeting with the professor?"

Chris was just about to tell them what she and Xavier had decided when she heard a very familiar sound behind her. A flute, but not just any flute. She knew that this one was small and looked like it was made of glass, and she knew this because she had one herself. It had been a gift from the Angel of Music, and in a way it was how they communicated, he played a melody and she followed.

Quickly she got on her feet and fished for the flute in her pocket. She knew this melody very well, it was their expression of joy. She found the flute and began to answer him. There was something in the melody that was different today, it was faster, much more tempting. And then she knew it was a lot closer than ever before.

A smile suddenly graced Christine's lips. Her eyes began to glow and she dropped the sandwich she was holding. The change in her was remarkable; her whole being seemed to light up. She climbed to her feet and turned to face the forest. Bobby and Rogue exchanged a quick glance. Her features held the shimmer of a girl in love and the way she was scouting the edge of the forest suggested excitement. John took his eyes off his lighter and looked up at Chris. He slightly tilted his head to the side. There was something odd about the way she acted, the intensity in her eyes before she got up. Then the last shivering tone died out and the spell lifted off Chris. She turned back to them and sat down again. She had this really satisfied expression in her unnaturally blue eyes. Kitty leaned a bit forward, smiling.

"So, what was that?" Her eyes were glowing with excitement. Bobby threw John a glance and raised one eyebrow. This began to sound like girl talk. But then she surprised them all.

"I have never seen his face…" she began, and then her eyes became distant again. And then she opened her mouth and sang, with the voice of an angel "But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound... In that night there was music in my mind... And through music my soul began to soar! And I heard as I'd never heard before..." she finished. Then she looked at them all, witch such piercing intensity they felt like looking away, but were unable to do it.

"He's the Angel of Music." Chris exclaimed with a dreamy expression.

"Wow, awesome! I wish I had a mysterious gentleman who would sing beautiful songs for me." Kitty's eyes were spelling "R, O, M, A, N, C, E" with huge letters. Rogue pulled her boyfriends sleeve.

"Bobby, can you sing." She joked, and Bobby explained that if he ever tried to stun her with his song there would likely be two huge guys coming here in no time. They would probably take him straight to the insanity asylum, throw him inside a closet and poke him with wooden sticks. They all laughed to that and Rogue gave Bobby a small hug, reassuring him that it didn't matter that he couldn't sing, he was just fine anyway.

"So John, do you sing?" Chris suddenly burst out. John laughed and held his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"No way," he snorted. This confounded Chris somehow. For a second there she could have sworn that he had a nervous sway in his voice. The others didn't seem to notice it however, and they just went back to eating their lunch. Brushing it off her shoulders, Chris told herself that she had just imagined John's insecurity.

Hours later that day after classes were done for today, Chris headed for her room. She was just going up the stairs to the third floor, trying not to bump into anyone when she thought she saw a familiar face standing by the rail looking down over the common room. It was Kitty and she wore this odd flustered look. She was just standing there by the rail with her books pressed against her chest leaning against the rail with a somewhat distant look in her eyes. Chris had a feeling about this, and her feelings were often proven right, so she decided to look into this.

Carefully she approached Kitty, making sure she wouldn't scare her off before she knew what this was about. When she was only five feet away, she dropped the sneaking act and just casually walked to the rail and leaned on it in a relaxed sort of way. She immediately saw what Kitty was looking at; Rogue and Bobby were cuddling on a sofa down in the common room. And suddenly she understood why Rogue was so tense around Kitty. She sensed the danger, even though Bobby was totally oblivious to the fact. Maybe Rogue was sharper than Chris first had thought?

"It's Bobby, right?" She asked Kitty with a whisper. The noise the other students were making was enough to hide her words even if she'd spoken aloud, but Chris wanted to show some discretion and tactfulness. Kitty flinched as though she hadn't noticed her standing there at all. She looked like someone who'd been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

"Oh... eh, well you know. He has Rogue. I don't think he want anyone else than her." She sounded sad, and Chris actually felt sorry for her.

"That sucks… but you know, many things change with time. Maybe you'll get your chance one day." Christine said and blinked to Kitty before she turned away and wandered off.

Critique? Anything... please?