Holy moly-chapter 6 already! Can I get a hhhoooyeaahhhh? Anyone? No? Just me? Alright listen-here's your daily reminder that I don't own Xmen nor anything that comes from it's franchise. I take ownership of Zezelia and her alone. I really REALLY hope you guys are enjoying this story as much as I am. Things should really start speeding up now that we are pretty much caught up to the movie timeline! Thanks so much to all who have made it this far-YOU DA BEST! Xoxo-NickyLynn

Later that evening Zezelia lay on her bed, sprawled out staring at the ceiling above her. The rest of the day had past without event, and she found herself actually enjoying the company of the other mutants. They were all easy to get along with and she soon understood why Erik had chosen to align himself with them in his fight against Shaw.

She closed her eyes, listening to the soft whispers of voices surrounding her. It was getting easier to handle the change in her powers, but she still found it hard to block them out. Charles had told her that he would work with her tomorrow and help guide her through their newly shared powers. She was excited with the possibility of gaining some control over it, but she was also terrified of the telepath. Not that Charles was a terrifying man, quite the opposite really. It was just the idea of him delving into her head that terrified her. There were a great deal of things that she wished to keep him from knowing just yet.

As she laid there, unable to sleep, the voices began drifting away one by one as the other occupants of the house fell asleep. A strong, familiar voice suddenly cut through her mind. "She's probably sleeping. I should let her sleep." It said.

Zezelia rolled her eyes, sitting up on the mattress. She twisted the doorhandle with her powers and pulled the door open to reveal a surprised Erik outside her door. "Come in Erik." She told him.

He stepped through the threshold, closing the door quietly behind him. Zezelia scooted over on her bed, making room for Erik's body, patting the spot next to her. He stalked over, sitting down on the space she provided. "Sorry." He said, having a hard time looking at her in his nervousness.

She smiled at him, scooting closer until she was pressed up against his side. She tilted her head to rest of the crook of his shoulder, taking his arm in between her hands, sliding her fingers into his until they laced together. They spent a great number of days of their childhood comforting each other much like this. It felt so natural to her. "It's okay, Erik." She said, staring down at their joined hands.

Erik relaxed into her touch, feelings and memories long forgotten stirring deeply inside him. For a moment, they just sat together in silence. Erik used his free hand to run his fingers up and down her forearm, sliding across the numbers forever etched into her skin. His fingers stilled and he took a deep breath. "What happened to you?" he asked her quietly. "After I left."

Zezelia pushed herself off his shoulder and looked up at him. "It doesn't matter Erik. It's in the past." She told him. She knew that guilt ate away at him from having left her behind. He used to be filled with guilt over leaving to die in that place. Now, finding out she had been alive this whole time….well, he was now filled with a whole new guilt over what she must have gone through. Alone. He reached over to her, his finger pulling down the neckline of her shirt until her bare shoulder was visible to him, displaying her marred white flesh where the bullet tore through her skin.

"Tell me." He said, letting his fingers trail over the raised skin. She shuddered under his touch. "Please."

She took in a deep breath as he dropped his hand. She swallowed thickly, her fingers fidgeting nervously with the blanket below her. "Well, right after you left, I….well I didn't think I was going to live much longer anyways, so I just wanted to cause as much damage as I could to that hellhole. I couldn't tell you how many men I killed. How many buildings I took down. I wasn't even thinking clearly. I just lashed out at everything I could until I collapsed. I thought I was dead. And I was so happy just to be done with it all. To be free." She took another breath, bringing her eyes up to his. "But I woke back up in that place, and for a moment I wondered if it really was hell. Schmidt had saved me. Brought me back from the brink of death. Oh, Erik he was so mad. But I didn't care. I told him that he could torture me however he wanted, but I would never do what he wanted of me ever again. I wouldn't eat. I wouldn't sleep. I just wanted to die, just like I should have. I thought there was nothing left he could do to me."

Tears started to pool in her eyes as the memories washed over her all over again. "But I was wrong. He brought her in one day. This little girl. She was so small and so scared." She said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Who was she?" Erik asked, his voice thick.

Zezelia was quiet for a moment, trying desperately to control her emotions so she could continue. Finally she took a breath and went on. "My sister." She said, looking away from him and off at something much further away than the room. "He had found my Mother and when he found out she had another child, he used her as leverage over me."

"Was she…" he began to ask, wondering if she, too, was a mutant.

Zezelia shook her head, having heard his thoughts, finishing his sentence. "No, she was just a sweet innocent little girl. She looked so much like Mama. Schmidt used her against me for the next few years. If I didn't do as he asked, he would kill her, he said. He knew where her and Mama were living. He kept it a secret from me. Told me that he always had people waiting just outside in case I decided to do something foolish again. I did what he wanted. I hurt people. I….I killed people. 'mein kleines haustier' he would call me. I did so many bad things." She said, whispering the last part, running a hand through her hair. "But one day, I was searching through his things and I found it. I found where they were living. And I thought if I could just get to them in time….so I did. I escaped and I ran there as fast as I could. Schmidt wasn't even in town, so I thought…." She trailed off as her voice broke. "But I was wrong. I…" She shut her eyes and the image of her sister's mangled corpse burned into her eyes. Tears fell from her eyes in heavy waves.

Erik reached out and pulled her into his chest, holding her against him as she cried. "I've been running ever since." She sobbed into his chest. "I wish I could have been brave like you. I should have gone after him. I should have stopped him from hurting anyone else." She let out in between gasps. "But I was just so scared and alone." She finished, giving into the tears as she shook with the pain and grief she had kept buried for so long.

Erik wrapped his arms closer around her, resting his chin on top of her head. He ran his hands up and down her back, giving her as much comfort as he could. "It's okay." He told her. "It wasn't your fault." He tried convincing her, tears falling from his eyes as well. She shook harder upon hearing those words. The same words she so desperately needed to hear for far too long. "It wasn't your fault." He said again.

It was in that moment, as Erik held the broken pieces of his friend, trying to comfort her from all the torment and pain she had been forced to endure that he made a silent vow to himself. He would never again let anything hurt her.

They soon fell asleep, Erik never releasing the hold he had around her body. He held her as she cried, and as she fell asleep, and as she slept. When she woke up the next morning his arms were still wrapped securely around her, her back pressed against his front. She took a moment, listening to his steady breathing behind her, before she turned herself around, jostling him into alertness.

"Good morning." He groaned out, voice still thick from sleep.

She smiled, slipping a hand under her head to prop it up. "Morning." She said, looking down at him. She took a minute to watch him, wondering how after all this time they had managed to find each other again.

"It's rude to stare." He said, cracking an eye open at her.

She rolled her eyes, smirking as she grabbed her pillow and brought it down on his face as she sat up with a triumphant grin. He looked up at her with round eyes. "Did you just hit me with a pillow?" he asked her in mild disbelief.

"Maybe." She said, sliding off the mattress. "Now get out so I can shower and get down to the kitchen. I'm hungry." she told him, padding her way over to the bathroom. She felt movement behind her and she squealed as she seen the same pillow flying through the air straight towards her. She slammed the door closed, hearing a soft thump against the wood as she did.

She turned to her reflection, eyes drawn to the grin that was unconsciously cemented onto her face. She shook her head, pulling off her clothes before jumping into the shower. Once she was clean and fully awake, she returned to her room to find Erik gone. She pulled a few layers of clothes out of her dresser before getting dressed. Once she had most of her skin covered, she pulled on her gloves, brushed and threw her hair into a ponytail then made her way down to the kitchen.

It was still quite early, so when she made it down to the kitchen, she was not surprised to find only Charles, who sat at the table in his usual spot with a newspaper, nursing a cup of tea, and Hank who bustled about the kitchen cooking breakfast for everyone.

"Morning." She greeted the two of them, squeezing in behind Hank to grab a cup of coffee.

"Hey." Hank said, moving over to the stove to flip a pan of bacon.

Zezelia walked over to the table and took a seat next to Charles who put down his paper upon her arrival. "Good morning Zezelia." He said, flashing her his usual smile. Just then Erik joined the trio, muttering his own good mornings before grabbing a cup of coffee as well and dropping himself down in the seat next to her.

She looked over at Erik and opened her mouth to greet him when instead a giggle fell out of her mouth. He paused, the cup of steaming liquid an inch from his mouth. "What?" he asked, his eyebrow arched in question.

"Your shirt's inside out." Charles said, with a smirk, his own cup of tea at his lips, eyes back on his paper.

Erik looked over at Charles then back to Zezelia. "No it's-" he began to protest before looking down at himself to realize that, yes, his shirt was, in fact, on inside out. He let out an exasperated sigh, putting his cup back down on the table with a clank. He pulled at the fabric of his shirt, pulling it up his torso and off his head.

Zezelia's smirk fell as she watched his movements, eyes drawn to his chest and the rivets of muscles it was filled with. And holy hell was it a nice chest. She stopped breathing as she watched his muscles move and twitch as he turned the fabric back right-side-out and pulled it back over his head and regrettably, back over his body.

Zezelia took in a sharp breath, forcing her gaze away before he could notice her staring. She cleared her throat, pulling her mug of coffee up to her mouth and taking a drink. She noticed Charles out of the side of her eye, an amused smirk lining his face. "What?" she bit out.

His eyes twinkled in amusement, while continuing to read his paper. "Nothing." He said, brushing of her curtness.

Zezelia realized with a flood of color to her cheeks that he had most likely caught her staring, and more embarrassingly, had heard what she had been thinking. "Oh shut up." She threw out at him from inside her mind. His smile grew wider, but he just kept looking at the paper like nothing had happened.

Thankfully, Erik seemed blissfully unaware of what had transpired between the two telepaths as he continued drinking his coffee. Raven and Alex chose that moment to enter the kitchen, being handed a plate of food by Hank to take the table on their way. As they all sat down, piles of pancakes, bacon, fruit and eggs being laid out before them, Hank looked down at Sean's seat. "Sean still sleeping?" he asked.

Alex laughed as he pulled a large stack of pancakes and bacon onto his plate. "I wouldn't count on him being up any time soon." He informed them. "Erik here laid into him good yesterday. He'll probably be out till noon at least."

Zezelia looked over at Erik with a disapproving look. "Really?"

Erik blinked back at her innocently. "What? It was training."

"I didn't realize that beating up children became a past time for you." She said, reaching across the table to grab her own set of pancakes.

"Well to be fair he's not a child." Erik said, piling food onto his own plate.

"Well, he's still smaller than you." She reasoned, pouring syrup on top of her pancakes.

"Everyone's smaller than Erik." Raven said across from her with a smirk.

Zezelia cut a piece of off of her plate and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "I bet I could take you." She finally said, pointing her fork at him. Erik raised his eyebrows.

"Now there's something I'd pay to see." Alex said, grinning.

"Twenty bucks on Zezelia." Raven chirped, taking a bite of food.

"Oh, I'll take that bet." Alex said in retort. "Twenty on Erik, because no offense Zezelia, but he's built like a mountain and you're well…." He trailed off gesturing to her. "you."

"None taken?" she said, stating it more like a question.

"What just happened?" Erik said from beside her.

"You and Zezelia. Deathmatch. Only one winner. Which I have twenty dollars riding on being you, my man. Don't let me down." Alex said, shooting him a thumbs up.

"As entertaining as that sounds, I'm afraid Zezelia's schedule for today has already been booked. We are going to be working on her telepathy." Charles said having put his newspaper to the side as he loaded his plate with food and ate.

"Rain check." Alex said, stuffing an entire piece of bacon into his mouth.

After breakfast Charles had led Zezelia to a quiet drawing room down away from all of the others. They sat in oversized chairs, opposite each other, Zezelia gripping onto the arm rests tightly. Charles leaned closer to her, bringing their bodies within touching distance of each other.

"It's alright Zezelia." He told her, sensing her apprehension. "I promise there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Look," she said, rubbing her hands together. "There's….there's things in my head I don't want you to see….that you won't want to see." She told him honestly.

"Zezelia, there's nothing you could show me that would change my perception of you." He told her reassuringly. "You can trust me." He told her reaching out his hand towards her.

Zezelia searched his eyes for a moment, before deciding she could trust him and slipping her ungloved hand into his.

"Good." He said, smiling. "Now, close your eyes." He commended. Zezelia crinkled her nose at him, before complying. "Good. Now I want you to focus only on my voice. On my mind." he spoke into her mind. "And keep your eyes closed." he admonished, as she cracked an eye open to peek at him. She quickly shut it again and did as she was told, readjusting herself in her seat and taking a deep breath in. She could feel his fingers inside her hands as her own fingers twitched ever-so-slightly.

"Focus on my mind." she heard him say again. And she did. She thought of his face and the mind hiding behind it. As she focused on it, she swore it was as if she could feel it reaching out and brushing against her like tiny wisps of tentacles. It gave her an almost tickling sensation at the forefront of her mind. "Good." He said as she felt the tiny wisps of his mind wrap in close around hers. Instinctively, she tensed up, trying to block them from gaining entry. Charles flinched in front of her and adjusted his hold on her hands.

"Calm, my dear. I need you to bring down your walls. Remember, trust me." He spoke again, and this time she did her best to do as he told her. She envisioned a brick wall built up around her mind and slowly pictured bringing those brinks down one by one. She could feel his presence brush against her mind again and it was as if he were pushing himself through the hole she made sliding into her mind. "Very good." He said.

One moment she was marveling at the feeling of his conscience connecting with her own and the next, she was cascaded with thoughts and feelings and images all flashing together in such a rapid succession that it made her dizzy. She could feel Charles shifting through the contents of her memories, pausing every so often on a memory that stuck out in her head like a beacon. The ghosts of her past flashed through her head as faces and voices echoed loudly though her mind. The panic in her rose as she was flooded with the memories of all the terrible things that had happened to her and all the terrible things that she had done. All the memories she had kept locked away in the deepest parts of her mind. It was like Charles had ripped the lock off the gate she kept them trapped behind and they all rushed out at once. The screams all joined one on top of the other, her vision swimming red as memory after memory was laced with blood.

Her breathing had begun to come in and out in rapid secession and she screamed inside her head, mustering all her strength, using it to push Charles from her mind. Though, she pushed too far and was unprepared as she accidently pushed him out of her mind and they fell into his.

It was a strange feeling to say the least…being inside someone else's head. She thought maybe it would be like reading a book. That she would be able to flip through memories like flipping through the chapters of a book. But it wasn't. It was so much different. Truth be told, she had no idea what she was doing. People and places she had never seen and never been flitted across her vision. The sound of screaming that had been prominent in her mind, were instead replaced with laughter and happiness. She found herself lost as memories full of joy, love, pride and so many other foreign feelings to her wrapped around her and she realized that this was what a normal life was like. It was fascinating to her.

Soon her conscious shifted from the feeling of drowning to the feeling of soaring. There were so many endless thoughts, emotions and feelings to explore that she couldn't help but delve into each and every one she came across. She didn't think there would ever be an end to the discoveries inside his head, but eventually there was. She felt herself fall out of his mind and back into her body with a loud gasp.

She fell back against the chair, her body tingling and chest quickly heaving up and down. Charles fell back against his chair in a similar fashion. His breathing was also labored but a broad smile lit up his face. "That was…." He said, not being able to formulate a proper adjective.

"I don't even know what just happened." Zezelia admitted, her breathing slowly coming back down, but her heart still beating erratically.

"You've just rifled through the contents of my mind in it's entirety." He told her, sitting up again, brushing his hair back into place with his fingers.

"Oh. I didn't-I didn't mean to-" she began before he interrupted her.

"Oh, don't be sorry!" he said, knowing she was about to apologize. "It took me years to be able to do what you just did. I'm not mad, Zezelia. I'm impressed."

"Oh." Was all she could think to say. She chewed on her lip, processing what just happened. "It feels weird." She finally said. "Knowing everything about you. Everything you've ever seen. Or felt."

Charles nodded in understanding, before leaning back over and taking her hands into his. He looked into her eyes and pushed his mind into her so she could feel his sincerity. "Zezelia, I know you think of yourself as a monster," he began, her face falling at his words. "but the things that you have lived through….the things that you have done…they make you a victim not some beast."

Zezelia pulled her hands from his and glared at him. "I am not a victim. I've hurt people. I've killed people. I'm a murderer Charles." She bit out.

"You didn't have a choice." Charles said softly.

She was quiet for a moment, eyes drifting to the side. "We always have a choice." She said somberly.

The room filled with silence as Charles contemplated what to say. "Then make a choice." He finally said, pulling her attention and eyes back to him. "Right now, make a choice. You can either keep choosing to live as the monster they made you into, or…" he said pausing. "You can choose to be something different. Something more. You said yourself that you can't die. Well, it seems to me that you have an awfully long time ahead of you to make amends for your past and help change the world."

Zezelia froze as she listened to his words. Her vision blurred as tears fell down her cheeks. "I don't want to be a monster anymore." She whispered