Almost a month had passed since Virginia, a month during which the outside world prepared for the uncertainty of another war.
But at the Xavier mansion, things had never been better for the mutants. Evie and Erik were starting to grow tentatively closer, and she could now admit that she thought of him as perhaps her closest friend – in some ways, more so than even Raven or Lisa. While the older blonde mutant was really sweet and Lisa fun to chat with, it was easier for Evie to be around Erik now that they each knew the other's 'deep and darkest' secrets. Not only that, but Erik was somehow better able to help Evie in understanding and controlling her powers, taking what Charles had taught him and passing those lessons onto Evie in a way that made more sense to her than Charles's 'don't let fear govern you.'
She had yet to warp physics, but she'd made leaps and bounds in her projection of visions. Charles had also started to work with her on controlling the only reality warp that she had shown herself to be able to produce so far – the mirror 'dimension', a name change that Erik had suggested. While it wasn't really a different dimension, it helped Evie to face her fears knowing she could control it rather than viewing it as the cage she'd always found it to be.
Evie wasn't the only one showing progress: the training was finally starting to pay off for all of them and each of the others also began to steadily improve.
Hank had finally let go of enough of his doubts that easily beat Charles in his runs; and it made them proud that he was slowly accepting who he was. Alex too had finally managed – with some help from a rather risky but confident gamble on Charles's part that had involved a far less willing Hank – to get the hang of aiming his plasma blasts, now having 100% accuracy though he still needed help from Hank's gadget.
Lisa had told Evie and Raven all about it (accidentally revealing that she had occasionally spied on Alex's training sessions in doing so); but Alex hadn't minded. Although, from what Evie had observed between the pair over the last month (when she wasn't stressed or being a zombie), she doubted Alex would mind most things Lisa did. Which was rather sweet, in her opinion… especially since Alex was always more tolerable when he was around Lisa.
And finally, Sean too overcame his hesitance to spread his wings – literally.
That had been one of the most interesting and exhilarating moments to watch during their time training at Xavier mansion. Sean, convinced by Charles to try again, had allowed himself to be dragged atop the enormous satellite dish that sat in the middle of the Xavier grounds.
A curious Erik and Evie had followed while the others stayed back at the mansion to practice their own powers; and the pair had watched as Hank helped Sean set up his gear before the redhead took position at the edge of the dish, all of them standing at the highest point of the satellite dish while the rest of the dish dipped below them.
"And you truly believe I'll fly this time?" Sean asked shakily, unable to tear his eyes off from the ground far below.
"Unreservedly." Charles answered without missing a beat from where he stood beside the nervous redhead, while Evie and Erik watched with great interest from behind.
"I trust you." Sean began, and Charles replied smoothly, "I'm touched."
"I don't trust him." Sean finished flatly as he pointed at Hank, who started to protest but Charles held him back as he advised instantly, "Say nothing."
Sean took several more deep breaths as he stared down below in terror, before he yelped, "I'm gonna die!"
"Look," Charles said soothingly while Erik rolled his eyes, "we're not going to make you do anything you don't feel-"
"Here, let me help." Erik interrupted abruptly, and before any of them could react Erik pushed Sean right off the edge of the dish.
"Erik!" Charles shouted as he made a hasty grab for the falling ginger, but it was too late and for a moment the shorter brunette man watched in utter terror as Sean fell.
Hank and Evie also leaned over in equal alarm, watching as Sean screamed in pure fear. However, his hours of practice kicked in almost instantly, and the ginger's screams went supersonic in the next second, pushing his wings up.
They watched in awe as Sean began to fly, actually fly, and they heard the redhead start to laugh and whoop as he too realized he could do it. Evie laughed with the boy as she watched him, while Erik gave Charles an innocent look as the shorter man tried – key word, tried – to look stern.
"What?" Erik asked innocently. "You know you were thinking the same."
Charles had to laugh then, shaking his head at his friend as he turned back to watching Sean as the boy whizzed about the dish, laughing and whooping even as he periodically released a sonic scream or two to keep him aloft.
Erik meanwhile glanced surreptitiously to the side, watching Evie from the side as she laughed delightedly while watching Sean proudly. And the smile on Erik's face widened as he too turned to watch Sean with the others as the redhead soared above and below them.
"You, old man, are trouble." Evie chuckled as she examined the designs in Charles's library – one of them, anyway. The mansion was filled with various study rooms, all stocked generously with books to make small libraries in almost every nook and corner of the large building.
"Oh come on, he's fine; no harm done." Erik shrugged, and Evie pretended to shoot him a scolding look though she couldn't keep the smile off her face.
"He could have been killed." She said, though she knew Sean would have been fine regardless.
Charles would never have let the redhead fall to his doom. And Sean had been wearing metal all over his upper body because of the wing suspenders, which meant if necessary Erik could have easily caught the ginger as well.
However, Evie decided it was best not to encourage that kind of behaviour so she said to Erik sternly (though she still couldn't quite get the smile off her face), "What would you have done if Sean hadn't managed to control his power?"
"Well, since you can alter the laws of physics, maybe that would have been the push you needed to activate your own power to stop his fall." Erik observed casually, and Evie grimaced.
Erik persisted in casually mentioning what she might achieve, deciding that constant exposure to the idea that she one day could do it might help her confidence. Evie wasn't sure if it would necessarily boost her confidence – but, his constantly saying things like that had made her more immune to hearing the idea at least.
"Hey, what's 'book' in German anyway?" Evie asked, changing subjects.
"das Buch." Erik answered, letting her switch the topic. He wasn't trying to pressure her, after all, just trying to slowly bring her around to the idea through continued exposure.
"das Buch." Evie repeated thoughtfully. She had asked Erik to teach her German, just for fun, and he'd started by teaching her the basic grammars and sentences, as well as translating any words she asked.
Like now.
"And this?" Evie asked, pointing to the window, and Erik answered, "das Fenster."
"das Fenster." Evie repeated, going over the words again. "das Buch, das Fenster."
"Very good, Schatz." Erik praised, smirking.
"Shut up, old man." Evie shot back with a playful jab.
He just laughed as he dodged her elbow, before he grabbed her arm.
"You'll have to pay for that one, Evie." He informed her, and Evie shrieked as Erik began tickling her mercilessly.
Both of them ignoring the hammering in their hearts that had nothing to do with the rambunctious laughter coming from both of them as Evie twisted away from Erik's attacking fingers but not quite from his arm's embrace.
"So, you and Erik have been going around together a lot lately."
Evie glanced up warily from her book on Renaissance art, eyes narrowing in apprehension at the identical smirks on Raven and Lisa's faces as the other two girls stood before her.
"He's been helping me train." Evie answered as she slowly closed her book and placed it aside, and Raven snorted.
"Right, I'm sure he is - just like Alex is 'helping' Lisa train." The older blonde teased, and Lisa protested, "Hey! He does help me train."
"And he also checks you out while you're lifting weights." Raven pointed out. "Not to mention you two get quite cosy during your hand-to-hand combat training."
"Shut up." Lisa blushed, before throwing herself down onto the bed beside Evie. "Besides, we're here to grill Evie, not me."
"Ah, Evie." Raven teased as she turned her eyes on the other blonde next and Evie groaned. This wasn't going to be fun for her, she could feel it. "So, you're into older guys?"
Evie threw a pillow at Raven, but Rave easily caught it and she continued with mirth-filled eyes, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. If it's any consolation, I think you two suit each other very well."
"Would you stop it? It's not like that." Evie groaned, but Lisa chimed in slyly, "It certainly looked like it, especially when you two go on a date out on the lawn together and you learn German for him."
"Ok, so not true." Evie protested. "We do not go on dates, and I'm not learning German for him - it's just interesting to learn new things."
"And a hot tutor has nothing to do with the sudden interest, I'm sure." Raven answered sarcastically, and Evie threw another pillow at her friend.
Raven just laughed as she flopped down on the bed as well, whining, "Come on, Evie - we haven't hung out, just us girls since..."
She trailed off and the smiles dimmed all around as they all heard her unspoken words. They hadn't chatted, just them, since Angel had left; since Darwin's death.
"So, how about a girl's night?" Raven wheedled, moving on quickly. "We can do each other's hair, and nails-"
"But let's not do another 'food fest'." Lisa piped up, looking rather green just remembering, and Raven went on, "no food fest, but definitely some food, and we can relax and talk. Just us girls. What do you say?"
She looked at her two friends, and Lisa beamed and nodded in agreement while Evie sighed but couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as she said with false resignation, "Oh, all right. If you insist."
And that was how, two hours later, the three girls sat giggling in Raven's room. Each had their hair in rollers, and fresh nail polish on their toes while they munched on chips and sweets as they chatted lightly about how things had been and their lives in general.
Of course, that couldn't last forever especially not with Raven around, and the blonde finally insisted as she looked at Evie and then Lisa, "So, come on - spill. What's going on between you two, and Erik and Alex?"
Lisa and Evie paused, looked at each other, and then looked back at Raven.
"You first." Evie countered, and Lisa added with a smirk, "Yeah, Raven - what's going on between you and Hank?"
Raven rolled her eyes but she answered easily, "I like him, I think he's into me... but nothing more. Yet."
She grinned, suddenly looking a little bashful, and Lisa applauded.
"Cheers to that." She sighed, and the older blondes eyed the dark haired girl shrewdly.
"Well?" Raven asked, borderline demanding. "What about you and Alex?"
"I don't know." Lisa sighed, leaning back. "It's… kind of complicated."
"Everything between a man and a woman s complicated." Raven dismissed with a wave of the chip in her hand. "Make it simpler for us."
"Well… I like him." Lisa admitted quietly. "I think… I might even love him."
Instantly the two older women sat up straighter, fixing their full attention on the youngest girl.
"You do realize you're only eighteen and you've only known him for a month, right?" Evie said carefully, not meaning any disrespect but feeling that it needed to brought up. After all, love was a powerful word.
Lisa nodded.
"Yeah, and that's why I… I'm not certain." She explained, looking down at her now-dark red toenails. "But I've never felt this way before, not for anyone else. He's different; but the thing is, I don't know if it's because of what we are and how we got to get close. And I don't know if he feels anywhere near the same way for me."
Lisa's head fell forward dejectedly, and Evie and Raven exchanged looks.
"Look, Lisa." Raven sighed as she settled in beside the younger girl comfortingly. "I won't say what you're feeling is probably love because it could be or might not. I fell in love before eighteen," both Evie and Lisa glanced at her, "but lots of people also don't. What I can say is that I don't think us being mutants is necessarily what drew you two together."
"And I can say that Alex does feel something." Evie added. "I'm the same as Raven - I can't say how deep either of your feelings are, nor will I pretend that I understand because you're right - it's not that simple. But anyone with eyes and a brain can see Alex does care about you, Lisa. And only you can decide if you want to find out if it's more or not."
"No, you don't understand." Lisa said quietly, staring back at her toes morosely. "He might just be gravitating to me because I could understand his pain on an equal level."
"You mean losing Darwin?" Raven asked with a frown, and Evie added, puzzled, "But, I saw it too and you don't see him coming to me."
"Yes, but he didn't really know you have nightmares about it, too." Lisa answered with a sigh. "And, well… it's more than just that."
"What is it?" Raven asked, cocking her head and Lisa finally looked up at the pair with troubled hazel eyes.
"I haven't told everyone the full extent of my powers." She admitted, and both Raven and Evie blinked. "Although, to be honest, it could also just be a 'me' thing and not necessarily part of my mutation."
"What are you talking about?" Evie asked, and Lisa sighed again.
"I have photographic memory." Lisa explained reluctantly.
"Wait, really?" Raven asked, eyes going wide, and Lisa nodded.
"Yes." She sighed, while Evie realized, "So then, the moment when Darwin died..."
"I remember every last detail." Lisa finished morosely. "And I will remember it for the rest of my life - that's the catch with a photographic memory."
"Wow." Raven whispered, and Evie murmured, "I'm sorry."
Just the idea was horrifying to her; Evie already had enough nightmares from her memories (and now Erik's as well) but she could only imagine how much harder it would be to remember every exact detail of those horrors. Time had blurred a few of the older memories in her case, but if what Lisa was saying was true then time had no effect on the teenager's recall.
"Wait," Raven piped up, frowning slightly. "But what does this have to do with you and Alex?"
"Because," Lisa sighed, "the reason I felt so sympathetic to him and tried to help him at first… was because I can't forget his face. I saw the look on his face right as Darwin died, and..."
She trailed off, and Lisa and Raven nodded in understanding, not needing to hear the rest. Evie herself could remember (more vaguely than Lisa probably remembered it, but still relatively clearly) the look of stricken guilt and horror that had crossed Alex's face in the moments before Darwin had died from Alex's powers.
"I couldn't ignore that and I wanted to erase that expression from his face forever." Lisa explained quietly. "No-one should have to live feeling that kind of guilt… especially since it wasn't even his fault."
"You did the right thing." Evie encouraged, but Lisa's shoulders slumped as she asked, "Yes, but now the question is: am I projecting that feeling onto myself too much? Is that why I think I'm falling for Alex? And what if Alex was only staying around with me because I wouldn't let him be miserable? What if he doesn't want anything more than to stay friends?"
Evie and Raven exchanged looks again, and Evie pointed out, "Well, if you're worried that he doesn't feel more for you, I think you've answered your own question about how you feel."
Lisa looked up, looking a little surprised and quite thoughtful, before she looked at Raven as the blonde agreed, "Yeah, and it's like Evie said earlier - trust us, Alex isn't just hanging around you because he has to or anything. I've seen the way he looks at you when we're training and he thinks no-one's watching. And he's definitely interested."
"How are you so sure?" Lisa asked doubtfully, but Raven answered with a small sigh of her own, "Oh, trust me. I know the signs when a guy is interested… and when he's not."
Both Lisa and Evie raised their brows slightly, but Raven obviously didn't want to discuss her feelings for Charles and she said quickly, "So, just let things flow, Lisa. If things were meant to be, they'll come together in the end."
"But if you really think you're in love with him," Evie advised. "Tell him. It's better to have the closure, don't you think?"
Lisa nodded while Raven sighed, "Hear, hear."
Evie gave Raven a sympathetic pat, for it had been clear to her and Lisa early in their acquaintance with the blonde girl that Raven harboured feelings for Charles - at least, until Hank - and had likely kept it hidden for years. Raven gave the other two a small smile and Lisa nodded.
"Right," the dark haired girl said, changing subjects. "I think I've talked enough. So, Evie."
She turned gleaming hazel eyes, sparkling with curiosity and teasing, on Evie as she said, "Your turn to tell us: what's going on with you and Erik?"
"Yeah, Evie." Raven teased while Evie sighed and shook her head. "Come on, don't try and be shy now after Lisa and I have told all."
"The thing is, mine's simple." Evie returned with a shrug. "Erik and I are just friends."
"Oh, please." Raven rolled her eyes, but Evie insisted, "No, really. We… well, after the accident when I made Erik angry, we made up and I guess you could say we found out that we get along pretty well. That's it. Really."
She stressed the last word at Raven's skeptical look, while Lisa noted thoughtfully, "You know, you never did tell us what the accident was about."
"It's not my secret to tell." Evie admitted. "You know I'd tell you two anything; but this is Erik's secret."
"And it wouldn't be right for anyone but him to tell it." Lisa nodded. "Well, I guess Raven and I will just have to die not knowing because there's no way I'm asking Erik to tell me. You might get on with him, Evie, but he still scares me at times."
"He definitely has a temper." Raven agreed. "But, I don't know, I see the appeal from your side too, Evie - he's sexy, in a dark kind of way. And if he's sweet to you-"
"Okay, stopping you right there." Evie groaned. "I don't want weird images in my head - he's my friend."
"A line said by so many great women in history." Raven said with a straight face, and Lisa agreed, "And yet, so few women seem to learn from our predecessors' mistakes."
"Ha, ha, very funny." Evie deadpanned while Raven and Lisa dissolved into giggles. "You pair of clowns."
"Well, it's certainly interesting, isn't it?" Raven mused as she picked up another chip from the nearly empty packet. "We all came here with nothing… and yet, we've all found something."
"You know, it's true..." Evie said thoughtfully, while Lisa teased, "Something or someone? Because I think Sean would beg to differ on the latter."
"We've all found friends." Evie reminded pointedly, and Raven and Lisa just laughed.
But they grew serious, and their smiles warmer as Evie continued, "And, I like to think we've all found a family."
Raven and Lisa smiled and nodded, and the three girls hugged each other impulsively at the same time. Of course, that resulted in more than a few bumps, and with more laughter the three girls spent the rest of the night relaxing and enjoying life as any three, normal young women might.