"Departure"

the action of leaving, typically to start a journey.

Anything in italics and underlined is in French

The following morning found Marianne awake about an hour before she normally was. She wasn't sure how early it was, exactly, but the sun hadn't risen yet, and usually when she woke up, sunlight would be streaming in through her curtains. It was dark, and except for the sound of a dog barking in the distance, it was quiet. She lay there in the dark for a few minutes, absorbing the sounds and smells of her home. There was always the faint smell of books in her room, and she was never sure if it was just the natural smell of the room or if it was a scent she carried with her. Her bed sheets were soft and worn, and they were warm. She curled in on herself, pulling her knees closer to her chest. She breathed in. She breathed out. Her heart was pounding. She clenched her sheets tight in her fists and buried her face in them.

It's going to be fine, she reminded herself. It will be fine.

It was going to be fine.

Figuring she would not be getting any more sleep, Marianne pulled herself out of bed. She examined herself in her mirror. Whatever she wore today, she would be wearing when she met the other mutants, to use the word Charles had used the previous day. She would already look beautiful, as she always did, regardless of what she wore, but it was important to dress to impress. As her bed made itself behind her, Marianne selected a deep blue knee-length skirt and a loose white blouse. It was one of her favourite outfits, and it looked only slightly more amazing on her than her other outfits, and it could be worn in either a casual or formal setting.

As she brushed her hair and applied her makeup at her vanity, clothes flew from her dresser and into the small suitcase she had open on her bed. She looked over her shoulder once to give her bookshelf an examination, before deciding to bring Sense and Sensibility with her. It had been a while since she had read Jane Austen. She didn't know how much spare time she would have, but it was always better to be safe than sorry, and it was better to bring one book instead of an entirely separate bag for only books.

For this specific situation. For any other situation, bringing a separate bag exclusively for books was entirely acceptable, and she would stand by that rule for.

Only half finished with her preparations for the day, Marianne pulled the notebook on her vanity towards her, flipped it open to a random page, and made a list.

- X. and L. will arrive at around 9 am

- Henry wakes up at 7:30, goes to school at 8

- it is 5 am and I am awake - do not want to be awake - cannot go back to sleep

- 6 am should open shop but I can not open up because I will not be at home for who knows how long a week? Maybe more?

- I can still back out of this

- I cannot back out of this

- after school Henry will come back home to get anything he needs, then will go to Fallon and Patrick Cassidy's -and he will be safe there-

- need to thank them again, should bake them something -if- when I return (?)

- ?

Marianne found herself scribbling question marks over the page, for lack of anything else she could write. It was all so simple, really, and yet everything could go wrong so quickly.

Even if nothing else would be, at least Henry would be safe. Marianne had been friends with Fallon and Patrick ever since their son had wandered into her store. While they were not extremely close, they were friends enough to know they could trust the other with their children. She could trust them with Henry.

It was a shame Sean would not be there with them. Henry and Sean had always been close. When Marianne had called Fallon the night before, Fallon had commented on what a coincidence it was that both Sean and she would be gone for the next little while. Sean's class would be going on a research trip for the next few weeks or so, apparently. Marianne had agreed, it was, indeed, a coincidence.

Marianne wondered, just for a moment, if Sean could possibly have been the other mutant Charles and Erik had mentioned being in the city. She quickly brushed it off. Surely they wouldn't have recruited someone as young as Sean for this.

Marianne wondered if she should make a list of Henry's allergies - then she remembered he didn't have any. She set to making a list of all of the information the Cassidy's would need to know about Henry, from his school hours to his preferred foods to the phone numbers of his friends' mothers, just in case they needed to get in touch with someone in case of an emergency, as well as the number and address for his school. When she finished that list, she tapped her pen against the paper, staring at it for a few minutes. There was nothing else that needed to be said, and her stomach turned over.

She needed to eat breakfast. She tore the list of Henry's information out of her notebook and brought it with her into the kitchen. Marianne set about making breakfast with her hands, rather than using her powers. She needed to focus on something other than her own thoughts or she might do something she regretted. She made crepes and ate them with maple sugar and syrup.

Some of the stereotypes of Canadians were accurate.

Henry woke up on his own at around six-thirty and surprised her by coming out of his room fully dressed and ready to face the day.

"Mon loupe, what are you doing up so early?" She had asked him.

He had responded, "I wanted to spend some time with you before you left."

Marianne had kissed his forehead and both cheeks twice each and let him put more sugar and syrup on his crepes than might have been necessary. She was not going to stop him this time, even if watching him drown them in syrup and cover them with sugar made her cringe.

"You know all of the plans for today, yes?" She asked him when he had finished.

Henry nodded, wiping some sugar off the corners of his mouth with his sleeve. Marianne didn't comment. "I'm going to school like normal, and when it's over I come back here, get anything I need, lock up the apartment and the store, and then go to the Cassidy's. Easy peasy."

"Put this list in your backpack, and give it to them when you get there." Marianne passed him the list. Henry took it and set it on the table for later. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded into quarters, hiding the message from her.

"Give this to those guys, when they come to pick you up, please," he requested. "And don't read it."

Marianne's eyebrow raised as she took the paper, but didn't comment. She set it on the table. She asked Henry what would happen at school. Henry brightened and began to tell her about what his teacher had told his class they would be doing. Their class would be going to the chemistry lab, to do an experiment of some sort. Henry would do the preparatory notes at recess before they had to do the experiment, so everything would be alright and he would be allowed to do everything.

"You didn't finish it?" Marianne asked him.

"I forgot about it," Henry admitted with a shrug. "But I can finish it, it's all okay. I finished my other homework. And the experiment is easy, everyone in the other class said so. I wish they would let us do more chemistry, but the teachers all say we have to wait until high school to do anything cool." He rolled his eyes.

"You could do the notes now." Marianne checked the clock on the wall. "You have plenty of time, and you won't have to rush."

"Mom-" Henry caught the stern look Marianne gave him and nodded. "I'll do it now."

While Henry quietly finished the homework he had forgotten about, Marianne went around the apartment, cleaning things that she had already cleaned and fixing things she had already fixed.

"Mom," Henry said as Marianne washed a plate, "you already washed that plate. Twice."

Marianne looked down at the plate in her hands. She had, as Henry pointed out, washed it already, only fifteen minutes ago, and another time half an hour ago. "Yes, I see that, thank you, mon loupe."

"Are you nervous?" Henry asked.

Marianne inhaled in a controlled way. She turned to face her son with a smile. "Not at all. No need to worry. Everything will be fine."

"I know that," Henry said. "I'm not the one going off to fight some supervillain who might be trying to start a war."

"Finish your homework."

"I finished it."

"Then read your book."

"Are you nervous?"

Marianne sighed. She walked over to Henry and cupped his face with her hands, looking him in the eyes. "No," she said. "I'm going to be fine. It's going to be alright, I promise."

She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. Maybe the both of them.

Henry stared up at her. He looked so much like his father. "Are you worried?" She asked him.

Henry looked at her hairline instead of her eyes. It was something he did when he wanted to avoid a subject or when he was about to lie. He didn't say anything, so she knew it was the former.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "It will be fine, you'll see. I'm going to come home." Her insides, which before had felt fluttery and nervous, settled. She was calm now for the first time today. Marianne could not pretend to be okay knowing Henry was not okay, and knowing he was not okay gave her the strength to actually be okay. "And I'm going to come home soon," she added, giving him a hug. "And we can tell Sean all about how I saved the world. How about that?"

Henry hugged her back. It was a tighter hug than he normally gave. "He won't believe us," he reminded her. "Since he doesn't know the truth."

"We can tell him I'm a super secret agent trained in the Canadian wilderness to save the world. How about that?"

He laughed as he pulled out from her arms. "What about your powers?" He asked. "Do you think they'll be strong enough?"

Marianne gave him another smile. "Do not worry about it. Go read your book. What are you reading?"

"A Wrinkle In Time. I'm almost done."

"Read it to me, Henry, will you?"

"Sure, mom."

"You will stay safe."

"I'm just going to school. Will you stay safe?"

Marianne stroked his hair. "I will stay safe. I promise. You be good. And stay safe."

Henry looked offended. "I'm always good."

"That's a lie."

"I'm mostly good. I'm very good for other people."

"That is true. Most of the time," Marianne allowed. Henry adjusted the straps of his backpack. Marianne fixed the fringe of his hair. He half-heartedly tried to swat her hands away. Neither of them truly knew how to say goodbye.

"Give those guys that message," Henry requested. "Please."

Marianne patted her skirt pocket. "I'll remember, sweetling, don't worry. Remember to..."

"Thank the Cassidy's?"

"Yes, exactly. And do your homework. If Theresa asks you for help with something, you help her, alright?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "You only met her yesterday, mom, and I've never met her."

"She's darling," Marianne insisted, "and she's Sean's little sister. And he's not going to be around for a while. She'll need someone."

Henry sighed. "Fine, I'll do it for Sean." He paused, frowning. "Do you think Sean has," he glanced around, but no one was in the shop except for the two of them, "powers? Like you?"

Marianne smiled. "I doubt it. Fallon said he was going on a school trip. And if he did have powers, don't you think he would have told me?" Sean was not what anyone would consider good at keeping secrets.

"That's true," Henry allowed. He glanced at the clock on Marianne's desk. "I have to go, or I'll be late."

"And we don't want that, do we?" Marianne put her hands on his cheeks and kissed his forehead. "Au revoir, mon loupe."

Henry smiled and lifted his hands to cover hers. "Au revoir, maman." With a wave over his shoulder, Henry turned and walked out of the store.

Marianne took a moment to stare at the front door. It was possible that everything could go wrong and that would be the last time she ever saw him. She felt a painful squeeze in her chest at the thought.

But no, it would not be the last time she saw him, not if she had (what was the phrase) any say in it.

She still had an hour before Erik and Charles were meant to arrive, and so she pulled a book off the top of a nearby stack and flipped it open. It was a book of poetry, one she had yet to put on the shelves because she had wanted to read it for herself. What a struggle it was to not try and read every book in her store! But she had long since come to peace with the fact that she would never be able to read everything, and so instead took comfort in the fact that what she could read, she had all the time in the world to read. She simply took it off the shelf and kept it to herself until she had finished. Lawrence had always teased her for her hoarding tendencies.

The book consisted of French poems. Books in her mother tongue did usually not sell as well as ones written in English (and the same could be said with any book not written in English), so if she ended up liking the book there would be little harm in her keeping it. Marianne flipped it open and began to read...

The jingling of the bell startled Marianne. She looked up to see Charles walking through the front door and towards her desk. "Sorry to startle you," he apologized. "Good book?"

Marianne glanced at the clock on her wall and then down at her book. An hour had passed and she was more than halfway through her book. She hadn't noticed the passing of time.

"Very good," she answered with a nod. She shut the book and slipped it into a pocket of her suitcase. It was better to bring it with her than to wait for who-knew-how-long to return to it. Now she had two books to read.

Marianne slipped off of her stool and gave Charles a smile. "How has your day been?"

Charles, looking a little surprised at her change in attitude from yesterday, answered, "It's been very pleasant, thank you for asking. And yours?"

Marianne merely shrugged as she began to close the open drawers on her desk. Charles nodded in understanding (perhaps reading her mind so he could understand). "You're very brave," he said, "for choosing to follow us. Really, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing."

Marianne walked around her desk, suitcase in hand, and put her hand on his shoulder as she passed by him. "It isn't bravery, not really. No thanks are necessary. I am just simply doing what I need to do."

"Did you get all of your things in order?" Charles asked as they made their way to the front door.

Marianne nodded. "I arranged for Henry to stay with some friends of mine, I've told him where the extra key to the shop will be if he needs to come home for any reason and he has lost his key, I have everything I need, everything in the apartment is off... everything is in order." She picked up a "Closed" sign from a bench next to the front door and propped it up against the window, so anyone passing by would see it. "It is a shame, though," she continued. "One of my favourite customers is the son of the friends he will be staying with, but he won't be around. Apparently, he is going on a trip with his classmates from school."

"This customer is also a friend of yours?" Charles asked, smiling like he knew something she didn't.

Marianne couldn't help but smile. "I suppose you could call him a friend of mine, yes." It was hard to consider Sean a friend; she had known him since he was a young boy and had watched him grow into a young man. He was dear to her, of course, she would never say otherwise, but to call him a friend didn't seem right. If anything, he was a second son to her.

"Oh, that is a shame," Charles agreed.

Marianne gave him a quizzical look. He was acting strangely. Shrugging it off, she picked her suitcase off the ground and pulled open her front door. The bell jingled, and she tried not to think about how she might not ever hear the sound again. She held the door open for Charles - using her elbow rather than her powers - and when he had passed her, she closed the door behind her and locked it up. She slid the key to the store into the pocket of her skirt. Exhaling quietly, she turned around and then blinked in surprise.

Charles was leaning up against a car and grinning; Erik was standing next to him, expression unreadable; but more importantly, Sean was standing next to Erik, eyes huge in confusion.

Their equally confused voices blended together.

"Sean?"

"Mrs. O, Charles said you were-"

"You are-"

"A mutant?" They said at the same time.

"Sorry for not telling you, Marianne," Charles called from where he was getting into the back seat of the car. "Wanted to surprise you!"

Marianne didn't look at Charles. "You-" she began before she shook her head. "Sean, you are not-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sean cried, looking hurt. His eyes widened in realization. "Those kids all said you could do magic! Tree said-"

"What do you think you are doing with these men-"

"Can you talk about this in the car?" Erik didn't ask it - he requested it as he got into the driver's seat. Marianne gave Sean a pointed look she knew told him they would be continuing the conversation in the car. Sean gave her another look that spoke volumes about his sudden realization that the many kids who had claimed she was magic had not been lying or tricked.

The minute Marianne had slipped into the passenger seat and Sean had climbed into the back seat, Sean was bursting with questions. As Erik pulled out into the street, Sean was practically vibrating with newfound excitement. "So you're a mutant, too? How long have you known? When did Erik and Charles come and find you? They found me at the aquarium, it was so cool, when did they find you? So this is why Henry is staying with Mom and Dad until you get back? Wait, does Henry know? What-"

Marianne twisted in her seat to stare at him. "Sean, they told you what we are doing, didn't they?" She demanded. "How could you say yes to this?"

"Yeah, they told me what they're doing, it's fine-"

"He's eighteen," Charles spoke up. "Legally, it's all perfectly fine. He's an adult now, and he chose to do this."

Marianne gave Charles a withering look. "He is barely an adult-"

"I'm eighteen!"

"- and any argument that starts with 'legally it is okay' is not a good one."

"Marianne," Erik said, drawing her focus away from Charles and onto him. "We told Sean everything we told you. We told him he could say no. He said yes." They came to a red light and he turned to look at her with piercing eyes. "We gave everyone a choice, just like we did with you. You were the only one to say no."

"You said 'no'?" Sean cried, aghast, before realizing the implications of this. He turned to Charles. "Then why are you here?" He demanded, still speaking to Marianne but looking at Charles with stormy eyes.

"I changed my mind, Sean, it's all okay," Marianne sighed. "No one forced me to do anything. They managed to convince me, but I agreed to it on my own. No need to worry."

Sean's face immediately went back to his cheerful expression. When Marianne looked into the backseat, Charles seemed to be a little rattled from Sean's glare.

"Sean, this is going to be dangerous," she said softly. "And you are so young. You shouldn't be-"

Sean smiled at her. "I know it'll be dangerous. They told me. But I'm eighteen, I can do this, I know I can. And it's a chance to find out what I can do! And there are others like me! How could I say no?"

Very easily, Marianne thought, but she didn't say that. She sighed. He was legally an adult, after all, despite still being a child in her eyes. She could do nothing to stop him. She could tell him off all she wanted, but Sean was allowed to do this no matter how much she disagreed with his choice. And, of course, she wanted him to meet others like them. Knowing there were other mutants made her feel not so alone, and she was thirty-one. She remembered being his age and feeling like she was the only one like her - meeting other mutants would be good for him. And, she thought, if anything threatens him, I will protect him. She hoped she could count on the other mutants to help her protect the youngest member of their group.

A thought occurred to her. "Did you tell your parents about any of this?"

The sheepish smile was the only answer he gave her.

"Sean!"

"I'll tell them when I get back, It's not a big deal!"

"Of course it is!"

"What about Henry, does he know?"

"That is completely different! Henry is my son - and yes, he does know. Your parents are your parents! How can you leave them in the dark about something like this-"

Sean interrupted her angry questioning to turn to Charles and ask where they were going. Charles, who had been looking more and more alarmed as Marianne's voice had risen, was quick to respond. "Richmond, Virginia."

Turning around to face the front, Marianne looked into the rearview mirror and stared at Sean. "We'll be discussing this later," she promised. Sean nodded. She heard Erik chuckle next to her, and when she looked at him, he was smiling and looking ahead. "How are we getting there? We're not going to force Erik to drive the entire way, are we?"

"Charles doesn't know how to drive on this side of the road," Erik told her with a smirk.

"That's not true."

"He doesn't know how to drive well."

"That's also not true. We'll be driving to the airport, and we'll be taking my family's private plane to get to the CIA base."

"A private plane," Marianne repeated. Naturally.

"A private plane?" Sean repeated at the same time, only in a much more excited tone.

If Charles responded, Marianne did not hear him - they were passing by Henry's school. It looked the same as any other school, but knowing her son was inside made it much more important than any other school.

I am doing this for him, she reminded herself.

"Henry will be fine, Mrs. O," Sean said. She glanced back at him. "He'll be safe with my parents. You know that, right?"

Marianne stared at him for a moment. She smiled. "Of course, he'll be fine."

"So, how long have you known about being a mutant?" Sean asked, going back to the questions he had asked her earlier.

"Since I was twelve or thirteen."

"And you never told me?!"

"It was something I had learned to keep secret. You never told me about you. Well done, by the way, keeping it a secret, you know you're not the best at it."

"You showed off to all those kids."

"Children are special. Adults cannot be trusted with something so important. Besides, children are usually ignored when they say things such as 'the lady from the bookstore has magic.' I showed you when you first came in, don't you remember?"

Sean frowned for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! That was so long ago, I almost forgot."

"So, you two have known each other for how long?" Charles asked. He probably already knew the entire story, Marianne knew, but she smiled as Sean began to tell him.

As Sean entertained Charles with the story of how he and Marianne had met ("-so I was pretty young, I don't remember-" "Henry hadn't been born yet, you were five or six." "I was five or six, and her store was still pretty new, and I had never been inside, and she had baked this amazing apple cake-") Marianne interjected with details Sean couldn't remember but otherwise stayed quiet. Halfway to the airport, Erik spoke to her in a low tone, so the boys in the backseat couldn't hear him.

"You can still change your mind," he said.

Marianne nodded. She knew she could. "Thank you," she said. "But I'm not changing my mind." There were too many things depending on this choice of hers. She needed the money. Of course, stopping Shaw was important as well, if he was even half as bad as they had told her, but keeping Henry safe was more important than anything else.

The thought of Henry reminded her of the note he had given her. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. She held it between her index and middle fingers. "Henry gave me this note to give to you both. He told me not to read it."

Erik was driving, so Charles took it. She watched him read it in the rearview mirror. He looked torn between amusement and confusion. "What does it say, Charles?" Erik asked.

"'Keep my mother safe," Charles read, "or all the mutant powers in the world won't be enough to keep you safe.'" Charles looked up at Marianne. "Quite a protective boy, isn't he?"

"I'm on board with Henry with that," Sean said seriously.

Erik chuckled quietly.

Marianne smiled.

Marianne is under the impression that the other mutants will all be adults closer to her age. She is completely wrong about this and she will not be happy to find out the truth.

I don't know what the canon ages of the mutants are, but I don't think they're the same ages as the actors were when this movie was released. I'll be posting their ages in the next chapter.

Also, my sister insisted I keep this line in, so I compromised and made it a deleted scene:

"A private plane," Marianne repeated. She had thought Charles looked like a privileged piece of shit, and it looked like she had been right.

Hope you liked this chapter! Don't be shy, leave a comment, please. Let me know what you thought - if you liked it, why you liked it, whether or not you thought the characters were In Character (that's definitely important, so let me know your thoughts on that), your thoughts on what may come in the future? Anything. I appreciate all and any comments left on my stories.