Chapter 4: I've Been the Archer (I've Been the Prey)

"Sit." The Professor said, gesturing to a chair as he wheeled himself out of his desk.

"Are we starting right now?" Annabeth lowered herself into the plush maroon chair, sitting straight-backed.

"Would you prefer later?" The man said, raising his eyebrows slightly.

She shook her head.

"Excellent. Shall we begin?"

"Sure." She was proud to say that her voice didn't tremor at all, though the look the Professor gave her told her that it might as well have.

"Annabeth, I won't be doing any delving into your mind unless you wish me too."

"You did just that the second I entered your presence, so forgive me if I'm not entirely taking you at your word." She said, just as calmly.

"That was a mistake. I had to make sure that you weren't a threat to my school. As you can imagine, we want to keep clear from unsavory people. If the government ever found this place, most of these children would be... Well, suffice it to say that this is the only safe place for most of my students."

She studied him. Her instincts, built up after years of being betrayed, screamed at her that this man was being fake, was just trying to get on her good side so he could set her up to fall later.

But something else, a part of her that Percy had brought out, whispered that maybe... just maybe, this man meant what he said.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked finally.

He smiled. "Yes, I believe I did."

Then he cleared his throat. "Now, the first and most important thing I can teach you is also one of the most difficult. It's the technique you have been employing to shield your thoughts from others. How have you been doing on that front?"

She remembered waking up this morning. "It could be better." She admitted.

He nodded. "I would have been shocked if something it took me weeks to learn you had mastered in a day. This technique is extremely important for reasons you already know, but there's also something you must be wary of.

"As a telepath, you are open to the emotions and thoughts of others, and a continuous stream of this can be very damaging to your psyche, because if you do not shield your mind properly, you could be influenced by someone with particularly strong emotions without you even realizing it."

Annabeth nodded slowly. "That makes sense." She tried not to let her eagerness show. Learning things like this was fascinating.

"Any questions?"

"Is it possible to shield someone else's mind?" She was willing to give the Professor the benefit of the doubt, but she still would like to know if she could protect Percy's mind.

His blue eyes studied her. "It is. We will need someone else if you wish to practice that, because I already have my own shields, so it would be pointless to practice on me."

"For this lesson, we're going to work on building up your shields. Right now, I can tell that they're weak simply from reaching out with my mind, but that's to be expected. Mutant abilities, like any other muscle, are something that you must work with to build up."

Annabeth picked at the skin on her nails. "So, what are you going to do?"

"With your permission, I will attempt to attack your mind, and you will attempt to repel me with your shields. This could come in useful if you're ever up against another telepath."

"I thought you said that you only knew of one other telepath. Jean Grey, right?"

He didn't exactly avoid her eyes, but he didn't meet them, either. "Jean is the only other that I know of, and her primary power is telekinesis. But you wouldn't want to be caught by surprise."

She suspected he was hiding something, but she wanted what he could teach her. "All right. Go ahead."

So, for the next hour, they trained, and Annabeth could certainly tell how it was helping. Professor Xavier sent mental attacks to her shields, and if she laxed her concentration for even a moment, she was rewarded by a searing headache. It only lasted a few seconds, but she could imagine the damage it could do to her mind if he sent multiple of those at a time.

Finally, when he deemed her shields strong enough that she could sleep without being woken up by others' thoughts, they took a break.

"You did very well, Annabeth." The paralytic man said, his blue eyes sparkling at her. "Another lesson tomorrow?"

"Sure." She couldn't help but feel a little pride.

He wheeled back behind his desk. "I may tell Jean do a few sessions with you. Every telepath's mind is different, and she may be able to teach you a few things that I cannot."

Annabeth stood, wincing a little. Her head ached.

"Ah," He noticed. "Yes, you may feel a little soreness, but it should fade after a few minutes. Drink some water if it continues to bother you."

"I will."

"Feel free to roam the grounds. Meals are served in the kitchen, which you may have passed on your way here. Ask Ororo if you have any questions."

She hummed in acknowledgment, and left, rubbing her temples. If they were going to do that every time, she wasn't sure she that she wanted to have that exact lesson again.

Oh, who am I kidding, she thought, and grinned a little. Having an ability besides her intelligence that she could use in battle?

Maybe the Fates were finally sending something good her way.

Her stomach grumbled, so she found her way to the kitchens for breakfast, passing by students going to their next class. Some of them looked... unique, and others it was difficult to tell that they were mutants at all. They all looked to be between elementary and high school age, with a few older kids in their early twenties. Everyone more aged than that seemed to be teaching a class.

Would she and Percy's presence attract monsters to this school? They both had very powerful scents, after all. She worried that a monster attack here would be disastrous. Would the Mist even cover it up, after what these people had seen? She had a feeling Charles Xavier wouldn't be fooled.

The kitchens weren't like any other school she had been to. There were only a few kids there, and instead of being served food, it seemed that everyone had to fend for themselves. One older girl with dark hair in a bob cut who was a bit younger than Annabeth, was making pancakes.

"Want some?" She sent Annabeth a smile.

"Uh, sure." Annabeth tried to smile back.

"I'm Kitty Pryde. You new?" She tried to wave with her spatula but ended up accidently hitting someone in the back.

"Hey!" The kid frowned at her.

"Sorry, John." Then she swiveled her attention back to Annabeth.

"I guess. I'm Annabeth Chase." She added as an aside. "I'm not sure if I'm staying here for long. Me ending up here was kind of an accident."

Kitty paused and looked Annabeth over. "You arrived with Rogue, right?"

"Who?"

Kitty jerked her head towards a girl who was sitting on a chair, wearing long gloves and looking a little lost. Annabeth recognized her as the girl who had been trapped in the car. "Yes, I did."

"Well, you can stay as long as you want." Kitty flipped a pancake. "Most of us here don't have homes to go back to, and the Professor takes everyone who wants to stay. That kid over there?" She gestured towards the boy who she'd hit with a spatula. "His mom and dad kicked him out to live on his own the second they found out he was a mutant. People here, they don't care." She eyed Annabeth.

"You're a mutant, right?"

Annabeth swallowed. "Yeah."

"What's your gift? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want. Some people are super private about it."

"No, I don't mind." Annabeth hesitated. "Telepathy."

Kitty nearly missed the next pancake. "No way! That's super rare. Has Professor X talked to you about it?" There was a definite fondness in the way she said the nickname. It was clear that Charles Xavier had earned his students' trust.

"Oh yeah." Eager to change the subject, she spoke again. "What about... what can you do?" She asked. She wasn't exactly used to mutants being so open about their powers. For her, the issue had always been avoided to the extreme.

"Oh, I can walk through walls." Kitty Pryde said casually like she was remarking on her hair color.

"Uh... nice." Annabeth wasn't sure about the correct response to that.

"Yeah. My parents didn't like it much, though. Wanted me to be a normal kid." She scoffed. "Like being a mutant is something you can just suppress." She flipped a pancake onto a paper plate. "Here you go. Syrup's in the fridge."

"Thanks." Annabeth couldn't help but smile. Kitty Pryde seemed to draw it from you, sort of like Piper. Then the smile faded. How long would it be before she saw Piper again?

Stop it, she told herself. It's just three weeks. But something in her heart told her that it could—would—be longer than that. She shivered, and the pancake didn't taste quite as good as it had.

Her eyes were drawn to the girl, Rogue, sitting in the shadows. Her brown hair had fallen over her face, and she was fiddling with her fingernails. She was nervous.

Annabeth paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, then sighed and picked up her plate.

"Rogue, right?" She asked as she sat down next to the girl.

Rogue pinched her lips together just slightly. "Yeah. Hey, you're the girl who tried to get me out!" Her brown eyes were wide.

Annabeth studied her. Yes, this kid had been through a lot already, but it was clear that she was just that—a kid. Of course, Annabeth would still be considered a kid, she supposed, but oftentimes she felt like an old woman.

"Yeah. My boyfriend and I were just driving by. I guess it was lucky we were there when we were."

"Mm-hm." Rogue's eyes darted to Annabeth and then back to the ground.

"Hey." Annabeth reached out a hand towards the girl and she jerked it away.

"Please don't touch me." She said quietly.

Annabeth felt her lips thin. "All right."

There was silence for a moment, and then Rogue said, "I'm sorry. It's just... that's my mutant ability. When—when people touch me, I... I suck their life-force away, or—or something."

"That's one heck of a gift."

"It's not much of a gift, trust me." The girl muttered, a bit of a southern accent coming through. "You know, the first guy I ever kissed I sent to the hospital for two weeks." Her voice broke slightly, and she tried to cover it up with a cough.

"It's not your fault." Annabeth told her. "You didn't know."

Rogue let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah. Well, didn't make much difference."

"I'm a telepath." Annabeth said suddenly. "I didn't know I was until yesterday. I'm afraid and I don't know what my powers can do. But, Rogue... it's still a gift. Maybe you haven't found what you can do with your abilities yet."

Rogue's brown eyes were wide. "What's your... Who are you?"

Annabeth abruptly worried that she'd said too much. But this girl... she'd brought something out in Annabeth. "I'm Annabeth Chase."

Rogue smiled. "Nice to meet you, Annabeth Chase. I'm... you can call me Marie. If you want."

A rush of homesickness swept over the daughter of Athena. "Okay, Marie."

A/N In my original planning Kitty made no appearance whatsoever, but all the sudden I needed Annabeth to talk to someone, so... now Kitty's here.

I'm going to have to push the updates to weekly instead of twice a week. Life was busier than I eected.

Just so you know, I generally write chapters in scenes as opposed to word count (Though I do try to keep the chapter lengths at least one thousand words) so if some chapters are shorter than others, that's why. This also keeps me updating faster, so bonus for that.

Idk why but it helps my writing to picture the James McAvoy Professor X?

Anyway. Thanks for those who commented! Please keep doing that, it makes my entire day.