Standing Trial for Your Sins

DISCLAIMER: I do not own X-men or any of its characters in any way whatsoever, though June LaClaire is an original character.


"This is incredible! Your mutation- Excuse me, your mutations. I didn't know this was possible." Charles's incredulous smile was infectious, and June found herself unable to suppress an amused smile.

"So basically you're saying that I'm more screwed up than normal." She joked, leaning back in the chair and crossing her arms in front of her.

"No, of course not! Do you know what you're capable of, June? Not only can you manipulate gravity, but you're also semi-telepathic." Charles was practically bouncing in his seat in excitement.

"So I have two mutations? Angel was like that too." June raised a brow, unimpressed. At least she was learning more about herself, that was a plus.

"What you told me about your friend Anna and your miraculous ability to cheer her up when she's in the dumps? That's you manipulating the amygdala of the brain. I bet you that with a bit of practice, you could press into a person's cerebrum. You'd be able to read minds like me. This is fantastic! You're capable of such incredible things!"

"I'm capable terrible things too." The words automatically flowed right out of her lips before she could stop herself. Her hands flew to cover her mouth as she turned away from Charles and his excitement over his discovery quickly turned into concern. He lifted his index and middle finger to the side of his head as he leaned forward on his desk, probing into her mind.

All at once he was hit by the overwhelming rush of raw emotion. He saw her memories and felt everything she felt, felt the way her heart slowed the blood pumping through her veins, the familiar sensation of aching; of guilt. She jumped to her feet, kicking the chair back as she grabbed his hand from the side of his face frantically.

"Stop." She muttered, glaring into Charles's eyes. His blue hues looked up in her brown ones and were surprised to see not anger, but fear. But he had already dived into her memories and it took him not more than a split second to see and feel everything.

"It wasn't your fault." Charles broke the silence. He could feel her mutation subconsciously doing its job, accidentally passing her emotions onto him. She was scared, absolutely terrified and the adrenaline-her adrenaline pumped through him. "You didn't know."

She released his hand, her shoulders rising and falling in time with her labored breathing. Her face was reddening and her eyes were watering, a dead giveaway to her sudden change of emotions.

"I will teach you to control your mutation, June. You can use your powers for good." He began to rise to his feet as well, placing his hands on the edge of the desk to support him.

"No." She blurted.

"No?" Charles paused for a moment, looking up at her before he straightened himself out to his full height.

"Nothing good can come from it. You know it yourself."

"I don't believe that, you're just scared, June. You have to overcome that fea-"

"That's easier said than done, Charles." She snapped and immediately after she regretted it, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I'm sorry."

'Don't apologize, you've done nothing wrong.' Charles looked serious as he projected his voice into her mind, his mouth twisting into a frown.

"Nobody is persecuting you but yourself, June. You're forcing yourself to stand trial for a sin that you're not guilty of." Charles placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and felt her cringe, felt her want to pull away, but she didn't.

"You have to learn to forgive yourself." She looked up at him with a miserably defeated smile.

"I wish I knew how, Charles."

There was a brief silence punctuated by shallow breaths from both June and Charles before she quickly wiped the tears on the verge of spilling from her eyes and turned away from him.

"It's late. I should go." She uttered under her breath as she walked to the door, glancing over briefly at Charles who nodded, but looked distractedly deep in thought.

"Sleep well, June."

"Good night."


June took in a deep breath, trying to fill her lungs with air, but found it to be an unusually daunting task. She couldn't tell if it was because the air was unusually hot and thick with moisture, or if it was just tension. The kind of tension she had always felt before the people she lived with now walked into her life.

The hallways were empty, and rightfully so, considering it was almost midnight and everyone was probably deep in sleep from exhaustion from training. But June couldn't sleep. She wasn't particularly tired, which was strange because although she hadn't started her training yet, she always fell asleep rather early. (It was habit from only being allowed about 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night when working at the circus.)

She was making her way to the bathroom down the hall, a towel draped over her arm because she had decided that a quick shower was exactly what she needed right then. She wasn't expecting the door to swing open, just as she reached for the doorknob and nearly knock her over. She wasn't expecting the wave of heat and moisture to pour out of the bathroom so suddenly. And she certainly wasn't expecting a pale, freckly and shirtless Sean in just his boxers to be on the other side of the doorway. His wild red hair looked even more untamed when it was wet, pushed back and out of his face and dripping water down his bare neck and shoulders. And he looked just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"Oh, hey June! Not asleep yet?" He asked casually, rubbing his hair dry with his towel before just letting it sit sloppily on top of his head.

"I…" She was stunned into silence. What was it with them and walking in on each other without clothes on? He raised a brow at her before he smirked, and clicked his tongue.

"Jeez, I know I'm pretty but you don't have to stare." He joked playfully, leaning forward so his face was awkwardly close and his cocky grin and freckles and sharp blue eyes were all up in her face. She felt her face flush a deep red before she snapped out of her daze and shook her head.

"You have no shame, Sean Cassidy, just walking around half naked." She shot back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She refused to give up without a fight, even with the odds stacked against her. He chuckled to himself as he quickly formulated a rebuttal.

"But weren't you doing the same thing back at the CIA base?" He raised a brow crossing his arms and mimicking her posture. She tensed up and reflexively smacked him on the arm, hard. He pulled away from her with a laugh, rubbing his arm where a bright red handprint began to appear.

"That was in the privacy of a dorm! And you're the one who walked in on me." She scowled.

"Hmm, well you're the one who didn't lock the door. How could I have resisted?" He crooned, crossing his arms again and leaning slightly forward. Her face flushed an even deeper red and she busily readjusted the towel on her arm, glaring up at him from behind her glasses.

"Jesus Sean, put on some clothes. And what are you two bickering about? You're so loud." A half awake, mumbling Alex stumbled upon them, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness of the hallway lights.

"Nothing much, June just thinks I'm a total stud." The red head smirked, pulling the towel on his head around his neck like a scarf.

"Shut up, no I don't." She crossed her arms in front of her.

"Do to."

"Do not."

"You don't have to be shy, darlin'"

"I'm going to strangle your little red head, Sean."

"Wait…" Alex raised a hand and for whatever reason the two obeyed, silencing themselves and turning their heads to look at him. Their facial expressions contrasted with each other's quite nicely, Sean's amused, and June's annoyed. Alex blinked, glancing to the side at the wall paper and then finally turned back to face them.

"You walked in on June half-naked?" He raised a brow at him, and Sean laughed. "When was that?"

"What the hell is going on?" A door creaked open and a lazy eyed and messy haired Raven shuffled out into the hall, running her fingers through her blond locks. She glared at the three and lifted her finger, pointing to each of them.

"Go to bed or shut up before I murder each one of you and bury you in the back yard." She turned around and slammed the door shut hard enough to make them jump. Alex shrugged and turned to return to his room while Sean laughed to himself, rubbing his hair with the towel one more time before he pulled it off and playfully dropped it on June's head.

"Hey-!"

"Have a good shower!" He chirped, and he disappeared back into his room before she could protest.

"Che." June yanked the towel off her head, holding it gingerly between her thumb and index finger.

"Stupid Sean." She muttered, but she found herself fighting back a little smile. Stepping into the steamy bathroom, she carelessly tossed the towel into the hamper and turned to face the mirror. The brunette wiped her hand across it, leaving behind a streak of clear mirror and took off her glasses, staring at the blurred reflection. She leaned in, tilting her head to the side so the features of the figure's face became clearer.

'Maybe I should get rid of these glasses…'


A/N: Harharhar, second ability revealed. June is semi telepathic, she can partially access a person's brain, but is unable to access the cerebrum, and thus unable manipulate their conscious thoughts and memories and yaddayadda. I'm not a neurologist or a doctor so sorry if I get a few things wrong! Bear with me here! Haha. Anyways, thank you guys all soso much for the reviews and the favs and the alerts and for reading in general, you guys make me so happy. And remember, reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome in my book! :D