In an apology for my lack of updating, here is a chapter that is full of Havren interaction. Yay. But first I figure I should reply to some reviews, not that you've all probably forgotten what you said. Oops.
Guest: I'm glad you're enjoying! I hope you're still around to read!
Rosiegirl52: I am very sorry to report that I am not meaning to have any Erik/Charles pairings. I've never really been about that. While I have nothing against gays (that would be a bit hypocritical lol) I've just never really seen them as a likely pair. But I'm happy that you like!
SpiritKiss: I love Sean, haha. He might actually be my favourite.
Penpal678910: I was hoping it wouldn't be too cliché, haha.
Urgh: It's unfortunate that you hate Lettie. I wish you could have been a bit more constructive as too WHY you hate her. Is she Mary Sue-ish? Boring? Stupid? But, since you said you'd stop reading on Chapter 3, I suppose this is pointless. So I ask my other reviewers, is Lettie any of those things?
ZabuzasGirl: Well, almost a month later is almost immediately, right?
Rainyrainicorn: Oh my lord. I just. You don't even. I can't. I love you.
BlackStar422: I'm taking 'Yeah' to mean, 'OH MY GOD YOU'RE FLIPPING AWESOME AND YEAH I JUST DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY SO HERE HAVE A FREE PUPPY', to which I must ask, where the hell is my free puppy?
My reviewers and supporters and followers and alert-ers are all awesome and I love you all so much. I've been rubbish at updating, I know. This is probably the most rewritten chapter yet, and I'm honestly still not all that impressed with it. It has an awkward being. But I figure it's been entirely too long since I've updated and I'll just have to grin and bare it. So please, don't hate me for this rubbish.
Hank clapped Lettie on the back reassuringly while chugging his orange juice. 'Good luck' rang out of the kitchen, as well as a suggestive, 'you two have fun!', as the three mutants headed out to train.
Ignoring Sean, Lettie asked, "Where are we going?"
"We'll be down in the bunkers." Charles explained as he led them to a set of stairs just outside the back door that led to a door.
"A bunker?" Alex questioned.
"Oh, yes. My father took the idea of nuclear war very seriously." Charles laughed. The door that had led to a hallway ended in another door.
"And are you sure these walls can hold me?" Alex was unsure and nervous about using his destructive powers. Lettie grabbed on to his arm in what she hoped was a reassuring way, but the truth was, she was nervous as hell. Not only because she had seen how powerful and dangerous Alex's powers were, but also because Charles had brought her down here in hopes she could use her powers to overpower his. And she wasn't so sure she could do that.
The bunker was huge. A half cylindrical shaped room that had no windows, no furnishings, and, apparently, no heat. It was bloody freezing and Lettie was, once more, grateful for the sweatsuit that had apparently been given to all the mutants.
"I'll be back in a minute." Charles told the two as he went back out of the room and up the stairs.
Watching him leave with a slightly concerned look on her face, Lettie started walking to the other end of the bunker before turning to Alex.
"You okay?" She asked him. He looked at her and began walking beside her to the other end, checking the place out.
"Fine, yeah. What if I blow through the walls? Or, I don't know, hurt you?"
"Alex, you're powerful, yes. But I don't think you're nuclear bomb powerful. Not yet." Lettie laughed.
"And hurting you?" Alex reinforced.
"Water overcomes fire. Remember that." Lettie winked playfully.
"I'm just not so sure about this."
"Neither am I." Lettie admitted. "But here we are. And while I'm not sure about this, I trust Charles."
Alex was quiet for a minute before he whispered, "Yeah, I trust Charles, too. Lettie, are you sure about this? You're nervous to use your powers. I know you'll be fine. Charles and all the others know you'll be fine, but you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
Smiling at his concern, Lettie walked closer to him and was about to open her mouth when Charles walked in carrying a mannequin. "Charles... What the hell are you doing? Haven't you heard that three's a crowd? Four is just unnecessary." She joked.
"Funny. But, no. This is Alex's target." Charles told the two, setting the plastic woman down. "Alex, you'll be standing down there at the other end. We'll leave the mannequin here. Your goal is to hit her with your … powers. Got it?"
The three mutants walked down to the other end of the bunker. "Yeah, I got it. Are you sure about this?"
"I'm positive." Charles said with a smile.
"Well, if you're serious about this, you might want to get out." Alex warned him.
"Alright." Charles nodded his consent and began stepping towards the door. Lettie followed quickly after. Before the door shut between them, Lettie whispered a quick, 'Good luck.'
She and Charles looked at each other, both wondering what they would see on the other side. The alarm blared quickly, alerting them that there was fire on the other side of the door. Charles smiled widely as the opened the door, but it quickly turned to a shocked expression. Lettie gasped as she walked through the door and saw the fire strips all along the bunkers were burning. The walls and floors and ceilings. But not the mannequin. The plastic woman that before looked indifferent and emotionless now looked smug.
"Oh my God. Lettie, if you would?" Charles requested.
Lettie made eye contact with both Charles, who was smiling at her, and Alex who was simply staring at her. He smiled a bit and nodded, wordlessly telling her that he knew she could do it.
Lettie closed her eyes. She could do this. She hadn't attempted to use her powers in over a day. They were well rested. There's no way her powers were BROKEN. It wasn't possible. Her powers were HERS, not something that could be taken away. As Lettie began to focus on the power in the atmosphere, the foggy morning and the condensation, as she began to imagine the fire surrounding them being extinguished, Lettie felt the familiar tug in her gut, a feeling that caused her relief. At least her body was attempting to work. She pulled on the tug, harder and harder, the pull becoming stronger and stronger. More and more intense.
She could feel it. Feel the water forming, waiting to do her bidding. She imagined the fires out, imagined the room soaking wet. Okay, no. Not soaking wet. But damp. She felt her body burst forth energy and power and opened her eyes.
Shit. Everything was soaking wet. The walls, the ground, the ceiling, the smug ass mannequin, even Charles and Alex. But the fires were gone. Looking over the room slowly, Lettie turned to Charles who was watching her with a shocked, yet proud look on his face.
"Well done! A tad bit excessive, but brilliant, none-the-less!" Charles said with a clap to her back.
"Yeah, great job, Lettie." Alex chimed in.
Still slightly shocked, Lettie stood for a minute more looking at her handiwork.
"Lettie? Are you alright?" Alex asked. Lettie turned to look at him with a huge smile on her face. She threw her hands up in the air in a fist pump and jumped for joy.
"WOOO! I'M NOT BROKEN! MY POWERS WORK! HA!" She celebrated, overjoyed that her powers had worked. Not only had they worked, they had kicked some ass.
"Yes, yes. Your powers are just fine, love." Charles laughed at her celebration. "And as for you, Alex. Don't worry. I will teach you to control yours, just as we have to teach Lettie to control hers. You both will learn to have complete control. I need to talk to Hank."
And with that he was gone, leaving the other two to walk up to the mansion on their own. They took their time, walking in silence until Lettie broke it.
"Alex?"
"Hmm?"
"Next time... Can I watch you?"
Alex stopped dead in his tracks. "Are you insane? You are, aren't you? You want to stand in the room with me while I blow energy filled fire rings out of my body? Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"
"We've already been over this. You're fire, but I'm water. Alex, I'll be fine. It'll be fine." Lettie argued back.
"Why would you want to stand in there anyways?"
"I just... I'm curious. I want to see how it works."
"How it works? Lettie, this isn't a science project. This is dangerous. I don't know how it works and it happens to me. I swing my body a bit and rings shoot out. Rings that can cut a statue in half and set an entire room on fire."
"Right. I'm sorry. Forget I asked. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just curious." Lettie started to walk again, but Alex stopped her.
"Look, it's just really dangerous. You know my powers have killed people before, Lettie." Alex was staring her straight in the eyes. No blinking, no looking away.
"I said forget it, Alex. Really. It's no big deal. Just a weird whim." Lettie walked back to the house and into the kitchen. Grabbing a cup of water, she turned to Alex, who had followed her and was leaning up against the kitchen counter. "I'm going back to bed. I'm tired." Alex still hadn't said a word, but followed her upstairs. As she went to her door, he followed her still, past his door. "Seriously? Are you just going to follow me everywhere without saying a word today? If I go jump in the shower, will you be there right behind me? When I get in the bed, are you gonna join me? Or are you just going to stand over me and watch me sleep?" Alex looked like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." She walked in her room and went to shut her door, but Alex stopped it.
"Can I join you?" He asked quietly.
There was an awkward pause. "You want to join me in bed?"
"I don't want to be alone right now. I don't know where the others are, but I don't want to be around them either. I just... Can I join you?" He sounded pitiful.
"Whatever, Summers. But you keep your hands to yourself." Lettie moved back to let him through the door. "And not a damn word to Sean."
There was no sign of the others as the two young mutants walked silently up to the third floor of the house. When they got to Lettie's room, Lettie instantly walked in and crawled into her bed. Alex stood awkwardly by the closed door as if unsure as to what he was suppose to do.
"You gonna stand there like a fish out of water, Summers?" Lettie snorted. "Either get in the bed or go away."
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Alex asked.
"It's not like we're going for a roll in the hay. Either get in the bed or leave." Lettie said shortly. She was a bit tired of his... gentleness. Where was the big bad Alex Summers that didn't seem to have any emotions and didn't care what others thought? The one that would have never asked if he could join her in bed simply because he didn't want to be alone. He slowly walked over to her bed and sat awkwardly. "Well, you're halfway there." She rolled her eyes as she propped herself up against the wall.
Alex leaned back and seemed to be focusing on relaxing. "Tell me about your family." He said quietly.
"Did you miss the whole point of coming to bed because I'm tired? I'm not feeling the pillow chat right now." Lettie quipped as she slid down the wall and on to her pillow. Alex didn't respond, and there was silence once more. Lettie was tired and unreasonably angry and it hurt to think about her family. She thought she had been a bit unfair to Alex. He wasn't one to open up or attempt to get close to people, from what she had seen. So, still facing away from him, she began to speak quietly. "We had a fairly good life, in Ireland. Me mam and pap were happy and loved each other. They loved me. We weren't excessively rich, but we had what we needed. A little cottage on a farm in the bay. I loved that place. The water was amazing. When I was 15, my pap died unexpectedly. Well, unexpectedly for me, at least. Cancer. Bone cancer. He had been battling it for years and I never knew. My parents did everything in their power to keep me from finding out. They thought he'd beat it. I only found out when I was unpacking a few boxes and found a few reports filed away. Me mam still doesn't know that I know. After pap died, the memories of our family in the house became too much to bare. Ma was going crazy and I stayed gone a lot. When I was home, I was reading or spending all my time in the water. So we moved. Got out of the cottage, out of the bay, and out of Ireland. It was hard, leaving my home. But it was for the best for the both of us.
We weren't sure where we wanted to go. We weren't sure where there was to go. But my pap had always talked about coming to the States, so that's where we ended up. Ma got her a job at a hospital. I finished out schooling over here, got a job at a bookstore, and started school for cosmetology. We were just living our lives like normal people. Me mam and I were close. She's all that I really had here. And I'm all that she's had. I've tried to talk her in to dating again, she's still young and beautiful and full of life, but she thinks it would be a dishonor to my father. I hope that now that I'm gone, she'll reconsider. Maybe she'll find her a nice partner and he'll make her laugh and smile like my pap use to. I'm a lot like my pap. I've got his temper, his hair, his eyes. We both love books and animals and water. Picnics and stargazing. We were an average family, before he died. Nothing adventurous or abnormal or interesting. Just your average family."
Lettie flipped over in the bed so that she was facing Alex, who was propped up against her wall but was looking at her.
"Your family sounds nice." He finally spoke.
"What about yours?"
"You know about mine. I killed my sister." He deadpanned.
"There's more to your family than that, Alex. There's more to you than that." Lettie whispered. Alex sat in silence, and Lettie thought that he wasn't going to answer. Wasn't going to open up to her.
"My parents worked a lot. Dad was a doctor and mom was a professor. They were gone a lot, but when they were home we were, like you said, your average family. I was always the trouble maker. My temper got in the way a lot. Not to mention I had a tendency of lying and getting caught. My sister, Julia, was the good kid, I guess you could say. Got good grades, had good friends, never broke curfew. She was a good sister, too. No matter how many times we fought and argued, I knew that she had my back. I would get picked on a lot, and get in a lot of fights. But if she was ever around when I got picked on, she would stand up for me. Make the other kids back off. I remember this one time that I almost got in a fight with the neighborhood bully. She walked up to him and punched him in the stomach because he hit me. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Then she took me out for ice cream. We got in our own fights, but she was the only one that was allowed to be mean to me and pick on me, in her eyes.
The kids had started to pick on me for having my sister as a protector and it got to me. I didn't appreciate it the way I should have. That's what we were fighting about. I told her to stay out of my business and let me fight my own battles and she told me to stop being stupid. I ran out of the house, and just lost control. I didn't mean for it to happen. I never wanted to hurt her. Not when she had protected me for so long. And just like that, in one second of snapping, she was gone. And it's my fault."
Alex was talking as if he had a lump in his throat, and Lettie was speechless. She didn't know what to do or say, so she just scooted up beside him and pulled his head down to cradle him comfortingly.
"You're not a murderer, Alex. You're not a bad person. It was an unfortunate accident. It has affected you in ways that I can't even begin to imagine. But you're not a bad person. And you can't let that mistake ruin you. Let that be your guide, your inspiration. Learn to control your powers for your sister. For Julia. You have more of a reason that any of us to learn control. You're not a bad person." She cooed softly, hoping that she was being at least a bit comforting. Alex didn't say anything, though Lettie thought she felt her shirt becoming a little wet. She certainly wasn't going to point that out. If big, bad Alex Summers needed a cry, then she wasn't going to embarrass or intervene, dammit. Laying her head on his, she fell asleep to thoughts of her mam and pap, and of Julia, a friends protective sister that she never knew.
... yeah.
-Moe xx
P.S., I'm moving into my dorm this week-end and classes start on Monday. If this semester is anything like my first two, I should have a good amount of time to write and I will hopefully get on a good schedule. But for this week, I shall be packing everything up and getting ready for the move. Wish me luck on University: Attempt 2!