A/N: Hey all... Here's Chap Four. Enjoy!
Chapter Four - Midnight Meeting
Dismissing his final class of the day Charles filed away the test to be graded later and straightened his desk before leaving to join Jean in the control room of Danger Room Three. Watching as Cyclops and Rogue trained together his mind drifted back to Tranquillity. 'Why was she so silent for the first week?' he wondered. 'What happened to her? How did she end up in Thaddeus' care?'
"Professor?" Jean called for the third time.
"Yes?"
"Is everything all right? You seem preoccupied. I can finish this on my own if you'd like."
"No, no thank you. I'm fine."
Shaking his head to clear it Xavier focused on Cyclops and Rogue, pushing all thoughts of Tranquillity to the back of his mind for now. There would be time to think of it later.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dinner was almost complete and Charles though of what question he would begin with. 'When did you discover you were a mutant?' or perhaps 'Have your eyes always been like that?'
Before he could broach either one Richard approached Tranquillity and asked her to join them in their game tonight. It was the night of the children's weekly board game. They had opted to play Twister and he wanted Tranquillity on his team. Smiling at him she stood and, with a wave to everyone else, was pulled away through the door and out to the main lawn where the game was to be set up.
"Well that hardly seems fair. With her on his team they'll win for sure," Jubilee protested. "Come on, Kitty. Let's go even the playing field."
The two girls left to join the game and it soon began to draw a big audience. Though the smaller children began the game it was soon taken over by bigger ones as Jubilee, Kitty, and Tranquillity were challenged to name champions amongst themselves. Beginning a new game Richard called out "Left foot, Green" and the game was afoot. Soon the three competitors were twisted and weaved around one another it was difficult to tell them apart. The crowd laughed when Jubilee fell, leaving only Kitty and Tranquillity. Egging the duo on the audience cheered.
"Right foot blue." Each put a foot on a blue dot.
"Left hand red." Bending over they put their hand on a red dot. A few whistles rang out and both women rolled their eyes while Charles sent the whistlers a meaningful word or two.
"Left foot green." Stretching out they both put a foot on the closest green dot they could find, Kitty just barely making it.
"Right hand yellow."
"There is no way I can reach that!" Kitty cried out as she tried to bend backwards to reach the dot under her back. Falling to her back she scooted off the mat, leaving Tranquility as the winner by default.
The audience cheered the winner but she wasn't done yet. Hefting herself up a little she bent over backwards, almost in two, and placed her right hand on the yellow dot. A grin of triumph broke out on her face and she opened her eyes, now the same color as the dot her right hand was on. She didn't see the children coming and. Before she could move, she was attacked by dozens of tickling fingers. Falling to the ground she squirmed under the children as they mercilessly tickled her, payback for all the time she'd gotten them.
Breathlessly she laughed as the torment continued, a crystal clear sound that rang out across the lawn pausing more than one person in their cheers. Jean looked and Hank and he back at her before they both looked to the Professor.
~ Her name is Tranquility. ~ he 'told' them simply. ~ I just found out today. ~
Smiles broke out on their faces as they realized that they had done it. It had taken over a week but she had finally learned to trust them. Their laughter once more joined that of their friends but this time it was a little sweeter with the knowledge of the breakthrough that had been made.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
With a frustrated sigh he threw the covers back and sat up in his bed. Unable to sleep Xavier pulled himself into his chair and gave up on trying to force his mind to shut off. Since the moment she'd spoken to him he'd wanted nothing more than to find out why Tranquillity had stayed so silent for the first week she was here. But between classes all afternoon and her being occupied by the children all night he'd never had that chance to speak with her again. Resigning himself to wait he found that he was unable to keep his mind on anything else but his curiosity and the questions piling up in his mind.
Deciding he needed a midnight snack he rolled to the elevator, down to the first floor, and on into the kitchen only to stop short with surprise at the scene that lay before him. Sitting there in the breakfast nook of the spacious kitchen was none other than the one person that kept him from sleep, Tranquillity. She glanced up from her mug when she heard him enter, her face unreadable, and stopped stirring for a moment before she resumed. He could smell the hot chocolate and it made him want some for himself. Seeing that the water was still piping hot Charles made himself a mug and sat opposite the silent woman.
"I know you have many things you want to ask me," she said after a few moments of silence. "I'll answer them if I can."
Xavier watched her for a moment trying to put into words his first question. "How did you end up in the river?" he asked, starting off with what he hoped was an easier question.
"I was being hunted by the people of the small town I had lived in for many years. I came to the river and had to cross it but I was swept away with the current and that's the last I remember." Meeting his eyes she asked a question of her own that she had been wondering. "What happened? How did I end up here?"
"A friend of mine named Thaddeus found you on the river bed. He tried to warm you by the fire but you were very sick. He called me and you were brought here for medical treatment."
Tranquillity nodded and resumed stirring her cocoa. "What do you want from me?" she asked quietly, not meeting his eyes.
Charles furrowed his brow. "I don't want anything from you. You were sick and you needed help. At the time we didn't know if you were mutant or human so a hospital was out of the question."
Cautious of the heat she took a sip of her steaming treat and thought for a moment. "So you're not asking for any payment? Nothing in exchange for what your people did?"
"There is something you could do." He could see her tense and kept speaking, hoping to absolve her fear. "All I would ask, and you may refuse if you wish, is that you speak to me. Tell me who you are, how you came to be a mutant, perhaps even the extent of your gifts."
Raising her eyes she stared at him for a moment and he could see that her eyes were a light lavender color; he wondered what that color meant.
"My name is Tranquillity," she began after a few moments of hesitation. "I was born just outside of Trenton, New Jersey in a small town that no one has ever heard of. When I was fourteen I discovered that I had mutant powers. My parents were appalled and fled our home while I was in school. I have no clue where they are. The people of my town hated mutants and I had to flee. Some time after that I have moved to a small town near the Canadian border where I have lived ever since. I got a job and lived on my own, passing myself off as a very capable blind woman. I... helped someone I shouldn't have and the townspeople got upset. They killed him and tried to kill me but I ran."
Never once did she meet his eyes, telling her story to her mug, but he didn't mind. He could tell it was hard on her to speak of it. 'Turnabout is fair play' he mused.
"I too was born a normal child. I discovered my gift while I was in college. Since that day I have been bound to this wheelchair, unable to walk, but I would not change it for the world. My parents have been dead for many years now and the only family I have is the one that lives here at the mansion," he offered. "I have the ability to read and control minds however I will not force anyone to do something they do not wish to."
"Telepathy?"
"Yes."
You have the power of the mind," she stated. "And I have the power of the heart. I can feel what other people feel, their sadness, their pain, their joy, or their love. When I concentrate I can move their sadness to the back of their mind and replace it with joy from a memory."
"Like what you did with young Richard."
"Yes. It took a lot of concentration at first but as time went on I got better at it. There's times when, if I let my guard down, I can be overwhelmed by a large group or just one person whose feeling something very strongly. But I sense more than just what they're feeling at that moment. I can sense everything about them. Like with Richard, he loves it here, but he misses his mother very much. At the same time he's a little scared for her because he remembers what his father does to her, he would hit her if he got angry and it scares Richard that his mother might be hurting. He's proud that you take the time to notice him, even if it's just a small smile in the hallway or a nod as he passes by. And though he is frightened by the world that hates mutants, like his father and other's he knows of, he is determined that he won't let them win, that he's going to become just like his hero and fight for equal right for all mutants."
"His hero?"
"You, Charles. He looks to you as his hero."
Tranquillity could feel the humility and awe that surged forth from her companion at this piece of news. He hadn't known that they saw him in that light. Xavier had always assumed that when they wanted a hero they would turn to one of the X-Men, not an old man in a wheelchair.
"You don't give yourself enough credit Charles. You are a hero to everyone you've taken in, just because of who you are; myself included. You open your home and your heart and you have given them a chance they never would have found elsewhere."
Silent as he tried to take in this knowledge he sat, staring into nothing, for a few moments. "I never knew."
"I'm not surprised. You make it a point not to delve into anyone's mind against their will, so how could you know something they've never said to anyone else?"
Storing that moment in a treasure chest he kept in his mind Charles Xavier moved back onto the topic that he still wanted to discuss. "Why were you silent for that week? What did you have to be scared of?"
"I wasn't scared so much as I was reluctant. I'd allowed myself to trust someone before and it almost got me killed. I needed to know that you were worthy of my trust before I was willing to offer it." She could feel him stamping down his curiosity and swallowed a smile. "He was a man I considered a friend, someone I had almost confided the truth to. The same man that turned on me, riling up the crowd until they wanted to kill me and I had to flee into the forest."
The pain from the memory choked her and she looked down trying to regain her composure. The concern she felt from Charles helped some, though not enough as tears were soon spilling from her eyes, sailing down her cheeks following a silent path down her face.
"Time heals all pain," he offered to her, the only words he could give knowing how much she had been hurt by her friend's betrayal.
Brushing away her tears she gazed up at him, a watery smile playing upon her lips. Looking at Tranquillity he saw that her eyes had become a dark gray. "What do the color of your eyes mean?" he asked softly.
Taking a deep breath she explained. "They are my emotions. Black is pain, both physical and emotional. Anger as well. Yellow is joy and Red means love. Green is... refreshed or renewed and Blue is sensitivity, loyalty. It comes out most when I deal in a mothering way. If my eyes are Purple than that means respect, sometimes leadership. Orange means I'm excited about something."
"And white? That is the one I've seen most often."
"White means I'm relaxed, at peace, calm. It also presents itself when I'm reserved about something. If there is something I'm not ready to share."
"'The eyes are the windows to the soul'" he quoted.
Tranquillity smiled at him, her eyes taking on a pale, pale, yellow hue. "Never were such words more true than in my situation."
Taking a sip of her now cool cocoa she made a face and stood to dump it down the sink. After rinsing her cup she stood in the doorway and faced the man she had finally opened up to. "Thank you for listening and for being so patient, Charles. Goodnight."
Smiling up at her he replied, "Goodnight, Tranquillity."
He watched her disappear and turned his thoughts inward. She had revealed a small chunk of herself to him tonight and he was grateful for it. But he knew there was much more to the woman than she was letting on. Though he knew it would take time Charles Xavier also knew it would be well worth the effort. Emptying his mug of the thick chocolate drink he placed it in the sink and went back upstairs to his room to try and sleep now that his head no longer rang with so many unanswered questions.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
End Chap Four
On to Chap Five...
Chapter Four - Midnight Meeting
Dismissing his final class of the day Charles filed away the test to be graded later and straightened his desk before leaving to join Jean in the control room of Danger Room Three. Watching as Cyclops and Rogue trained together his mind drifted back to Tranquillity. 'Why was she so silent for the first week?' he wondered. 'What happened to her? How did she end up in Thaddeus' care?'
"Professor?" Jean called for the third time.
"Yes?"
"Is everything all right? You seem preoccupied. I can finish this on my own if you'd like."
"No, no thank you. I'm fine."
Shaking his head to clear it Xavier focused on Cyclops and Rogue, pushing all thoughts of Tranquillity to the back of his mind for now. There would be time to think of it later.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dinner was almost complete and Charles though of what question he would begin with. 'When did you discover you were a mutant?' or perhaps 'Have your eyes always been like that?'
Before he could broach either one Richard approached Tranquillity and asked her to join them in their game tonight. It was the night of the children's weekly board game. They had opted to play Twister and he wanted Tranquillity on his team. Smiling at him she stood and, with a wave to everyone else, was pulled away through the door and out to the main lawn where the game was to be set up.
"Well that hardly seems fair. With her on his team they'll win for sure," Jubilee protested. "Come on, Kitty. Let's go even the playing field."
The two girls left to join the game and it soon began to draw a big audience. Though the smaller children began the game it was soon taken over by bigger ones as Jubilee, Kitty, and Tranquillity were challenged to name champions amongst themselves. Beginning a new game Richard called out "Left foot, Green" and the game was afoot. Soon the three competitors were twisted and weaved around one another it was difficult to tell them apart. The crowd laughed when Jubilee fell, leaving only Kitty and Tranquillity. Egging the duo on the audience cheered.
"Right foot blue." Each put a foot on a blue dot.
"Left hand red." Bending over they put their hand on a red dot. A few whistles rang out and both women rolled their eyes while Charles sent the whistlers a meaningful word or two.
"Left foot green." Stretching out they both put a foot on the closest green dot they could find, Kitty just barely making it.
"Right hand yellow."
"There is no way I can reach that!" Kitty cried out as she tried to bend backwards to reach the dot under her back. Falling to her back she scooted off the mat, leaving Tranquility as the winner by default.
The audience cheered the winner but she wasn't done yet. Hefting herself up a little she bent over backwards, almost in two, and placed her right hand on the yellow dot. A grin of triumph broke out on her face and she opened her eyes, now the same color as the dot her right hand was on. She didn't see the children coming and. Before she could move, she was attacked by dozens of tickling fingers. Falling to the ground she squirmed under the children as they mercilessly tickled her, payback for all the time she'd gotten them.
Breathlessly she laughed as the torment continued, a crystal clear sound that rang out across the lawn pausing more than one person in their cheers. Jean looked and Hank and he back at her before they both looked to the Professor.
~ Her name is Tranquility. ~ he 'told' them simply. ~ I just found out today. ~
Smiles broke out on their faces as they realized that they had done it. It had taken over a week but she had finally learned to trust them. Their laughter once more joined that of their friends but this time it was a little sweeter with the knowledge of the breakthrough that had been made.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
With a frustrated sigh he threw the covers back and sat up in his bed. Unable to sleep Xavier pulled himself into his chair and gave up on trying to force his mind to shut off. Since the moment she'd spoken to him he'd wanted nothing more than to find out why Tranquillity had stayed so silent for the first week she was here. But between classes all afternoon and her being occupied by the children all night he'd never had that chance to speak with her again. Resigning himself to wait he found that he was unable to keep his mind on anything else but his curiosity and the questions piling up in his mind.
Deciding he needed a midnight snack he rolled to the elevator, down to the first floor, and on into the kitchen only to stop short with surprise at the scene that lay before him. Sitting there in the breakfast nook of the spacious kitchen was none other than the one person that kept him from sleep, Tranquillity. She glanced up from her mug when she heard him enter, her face unreadable, and stopped stirring for a moment before she resumed. He could smell the hot chocolate and it made him want some for himself. Seeing that the water was still piping hot Charles made himself a mug and sat opposite the silent woman.
"I know you have many things you want to ask me," she said after a few moments of silence. "I'll answer them if I can."
Xavier watched her for a moment trying to put into words his first question. "How did you end up in the river?" he asked, starting off with what he hoped was an easier question.
"I was being hunted by the people of the small town I had lived in for many years. I came to the river and had to cross it but I was swept away with the current and that's the last I remember." Meeting his eyes she asked a question of her own that she had been wondering. "What happened? How did I end up here?"
"A friend of mine named Thaddeus found you on the river bed. He tried to warm you by the fire but you were very sick. He called me and you were brought here for medical treatment."
Tranquillity nodded and resumed stirring her cocoa. "What do you want from me?" she asked quietly, not meeting his eyes.
Charles furrowed his brow. "I don't want anything from you. You were sick and you needed help. At the time we didn't know if you were mutant or human so a hospital was out of the question."
Cautious of the heat she took a sip of her steaming treat and thought for a moment. "So you're not asking for any payment? Nothing in exchange for what your people did?"
"There is something you could do." He could see her tense and kept speaking, hoping to absolve her fear. "All I would ask, and you may refuse if you wish, is that you speak to me. Tell me who you are, how you came to be a mutant, perhaps even the extent of your gifts."
Raising her eyes she stared at him for a moment and he could see that her eyes were a light lavender color; he wondered what that color meant.
"My name is Tranquillity," she began after a few moments of hesitation. "I was born just outside of Trenton, New Jersey in a small town that no one has ever heard of. When I was fourteen I discovered that I had mutant powers. My parents were appalled and fled our home while I was in school. I have no clue where they are. The people of my town hated mutants and I had to flee. Some time after that I have moved to a small town near the Canadian border where I have lived ever since. I got a job and lived on my own, passing myself off as a very capable blind woman. I... helped someone I shouldn't have and the townspeople got upset. They killed him and tried to kill me but I ran."
Never once did she meet his eyes, telling her story to her mug, but he didn't mind. He could tell it was hard on her to speak of it. 'Turnabout is fair play' he mused.
"I too was born a normal child. I discovered my gift while I was in college. Since that day I have been bound to this wheelchair, unable to walk, but I would not change it for the world. My parents have been dead for many years now and the only family I have is the one that lives here at the mansion," he offered. "I have the ability to read and control minds however I will not force anyone to do something they do not wish to."
"Telepathy?"
"Yes."
You have the power of the mind," she stated. "And I have the power of the heart. I can feel what other people feel, their sadness, their pain, their joy, or their love. When I concentrate I can move their sadness to the back of their mind and replace it with joy from a memory."
"Like what you did with young Richard."
"Yes. It took a lot of concentration at first but as time went on I got better at it. There's times when, if I let my guard down, I can be overwhelmed by a large group or just one person whose feeling something very strongly. But I sense more than just what they're feeling at that moment. I can sense everything about them. Like with Richard, he loves it here, but he misses his mother very much. At the same time he's a little scared for her because he remembers what his father does to her, he would hit her if he got angry and it scares Richard that his mother might be hurting. He's proud that you take the time to notice him, even if it's just a small smile in the hallway or a nod as he passes by. And though he is frightened by the world that hates mutants, like his father and other's he knows of, he is determined that he won't let them win, that he's going to become just like his hero and fight for equal right for all mutants."
"His hero?"
"You, Charles. He looks to you as his hero."
Tranquillity could feel the humility and awe that surged forth from her companion at this piece of news. He hadn't known that they saw him in that light. Xavier had always assumed that when they wanted a hero they would turn to one of the X-Men, not an old man in a wheelchair.
"You don't give yourself enough credit Charles. You are a hero to everyone you've taken in, just because of who you are; myself included. You open your home and your heart and you have given them a chance they never would have found elsewhere."
Silent as he tried to take in this knowledge he sat, staring into nothing, for a few moments. "I never knew."
"I'm not surprised. You make it a point not to delve into anyone's mind against their will, so how could you know something they've never said to anyone else?"
Storing that moment in a treasure chest he kept in his mind Charles Xavier moved back onto the topic that he still wanted to discuss. "Why were you silent for that week? What did you have to be scared of?"
"I wasn't scared so much as I was reluctant. I'd allowed myself to trust someone before and it almost got me killed. I needed to know that you were worthy of my trust before I was willing to offer it." She could feel him stamping down his curiosity and swallowed a smile. "He was a man I considered a friend, someone I had almost confided the truth to. The same man that turned on me, riling up the crowd until they wanted to kill me and I had to flee into the forest."
The pain from the memory choked her and she looked down trying to regain her composure. The concern she felt from Charles helped some, though not enough as tears were soon spilling from her eyes, sailing down her cheeks following a silent path down her face.
"Time heals all pain," he offered to her, the only words he could give knowing how much she had been hurt by her friend's betrayal.
Brushing away her tears she gazed up at him, a watery smile playing upon her lips. Looking at Tranquillity he saw that her eyes had become a dark gray. "What do the color of your eyes mean?" he asked softly.
Taking a deep breath she explained. "They are my emotions. Black is pain, both physical and emotional. Anger as well. Yellow is joy and Red means love. Green is... refreshed or renewed and Blue is sensitivity, loyalty. It comes out most when I deal in a mothering way. If my eyes are Purple than that means respect, sometimes leadership. Orange means I'm excited about something."
"And white? That is the one I've seen most often."
"White means I'm relaxed, at peace, calm. It also presents itself when I'm reserved about something. If there is something I'm not ready to share."
"'The eyes are the windows to the soul'" he quoted.
Tranquillity smiled at him, her eyes taking on a pale, pale, yellow hue. "Never were such words more true than in my situation."
Taking a sip of her now cool cocoa she made a face and stood to dump it down the sink. After rinsing her cup she stood in the doorway and faced the man she had finally opened up to. "Thank you for listening and for being so patient, Charles. Goodnight."
Smiling up at her he replied, "Goodnight, Tranquillity."
He watched her disappear and turned his thoughts inward. She had revealed a small chunk of herself to him tonight and he was grateful for it. But he knew there was much more to the woman than she was letting on. Though he knew it would take time Charles Xavier also knew it would be well worth the effort. Emptying his mug of the thick chocolate drink he placed it in the sink and went back upstairs to his room to try and sleep now that his head no longer rang with so many unanswered questions.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
End Chap Four
On to Chap Five...