The man Xavier had met in the woods led him to his single wagon. It wasn't very big (but big enough for a couple of men to lay down in.) and it was pulled by only one horse.
"Oh Jeremy! I was beginning to get worried! Where were you?" A blonde woman exclaimed as Charles and Jeremy were within sight.
"This man needed help." Jeremy replied.
"You know we can't take anybody else with us though." The woman said almost quietly.
"I know Tal, I know." Jeremy said with a nod.
A boy suddenly peaked his head out of the wagon. He looked around as if he had no idea where he was or what he was doing here.
He jumped out of the wagon and looked as if he couldn't be over eight years old. He began to wonder around.
"You don't understand though! He's magical… or… something!" Jeremy's voice suddenly distracted Charles.
"Even magical people can become a nuisance. He can't come with-"
"Is that your boy?" You might want to stop him." Charles said to the woman. She turned suddenly and looked anxiously at the boy.
"Jacob!" She yelled after the boy. Jacob didn't respond though as Tal ran after him and scooped him up into her arms.
"Please forgive Tal. We just visited her family and they shunned us." Jeremy replied.
"Shunned you? Why?" Charles asked.
Jeremy looked to Jacob who was obviously his son. "The god's have cursed my boy. He hears and yet he does not, he sees and yet he does not."
"What do you mean?" Charles asked.
"It's hard to explain. Thunder frightens him; he can hear it; but when we speak to him he does not look at us or respond. Animals amaze him and he watches them with interest, but he doesn't see us." Jeremy explained.
"So why has her family shunned you?" Charles asked.
"It is said to be a danger to keep a cursed child with you. Cursed children are supposed to be sacrificed to the gods by the parents. Neither Tal nor I could do that to little Jacob. Because we didn't do this, our family's have rejected us. They fear that by not punishing us they would be punished."
Tal came back then, holding the struggling boy by the shoulders.
"I may be able to help." Xavier said. "But I need you to trust me."
"Help us with what? And how are we supposed to trust someone we don't know?" Tal asked.
"I want to help your son. I believe I can. And as for you trusting me-" _What do you have to loose?_
Tal's eyes went wide. Jeremy looked at them confused but didn't say anything.
"Alright, I'll trust you." Tal said, a bit reluctantly.
"Let the boy go." Xavier said.
"What?!" Tal questioned.
"Let him go, I want to see where he goes." Xavier instructed her. Reluctantly she let him go. The boy stood there looking confused for a while, then pranced off. Charles followed him till he came to a stop by a tree. He plopped down and stared up at the sky.
Xavier moved the rest of the way over to the boy with his wheelchair and put a hand onto Jacob's head. The boy didn't respond to the touch.
Charles entered Jacob's mind. Not completely, but just enough to see what the boy was seeing. What the boy saw was much different. The wagon, Tal, Jeremy, and the horse were just meaningless blurs. So was the path. The trees were vived and the bark moved as if it were made up of millions of wriggling ants. It wasn't gross, but rather intriguing.
The sky was amazing though. Purples, greens, whites, and yellows swam together as if in a vast blue ocean. And the wind! It was as if he could see it, but description would be impossible for there was nothing to compare it to.
Suddenly the boy looked at him, seeing him clearly. He then thought; not with words for he knew none, but with expressions and feelings; Who are you? I've never seen anyone like you before.
"_I am like you, just older. I am like what you will become._" Charles responded, but not only with words and telepathy at once, but with feelings. The boy understood those. The physical words didn't take any shape, and the telepathic ones just sounded like a foreign language.
"_Come. Will you look with my eyes and hear with my ears?_" Xavier asked the boy. By now the parents had approached the two.
And what will I see? What will I hear? Jacob asked with his feelings; intrigued.
"_Your makers. People who love you._" Xavier replied. "_But I will only show you if you are willing._"
When the boy Heard(or rather felt) love he knew he wanted to know more about this foreign thing. I am. The boy agreed. Xavier then drew the boy's psyche into his own head to meet his parents.
"He keeps talking as if to someone, but Jacob is not speaking." Tal said to her husband. They then looked back at Charles. His eyes were glazed over, just like their sons had been all his life. Suddenly they cleared, but out of the old man's eyes was a youth; a youth that did not belong to Charles Xavier.
"Jacob!" Tal yelled, throwing her arms around Charles as if he was her son. Jeremy smiled.
At first Jacob did not respond. Vision was so different; so clear. He breathed in heavily and looked at the woman holding onto him. He saw then, real color. There was no blur, his sight was not impaired. He also had something else he liked, liked more then anything else. He felt the woman's cheek upon his, he felt life under the warm skin. Not only his; he was not the only thing that really existed. He loved this thing called touch, though he still did not know that the word touch meant was he was feeling.
"Jacob, can you hear us?" The man behind the woman asked. He didn't understand it though, but he found that sound was even different. It was clear and unmuffled.
There was a tug and hen the boy was gong back into himself. Once he was there he turned to Xavier. I want to see like that! Hear like that! Touch like that! The boy said/felt pleadingly.
"_Look around._" Xavier told him. Jacob did. Everything was still the same as it had been all his life, but the blurs were a little less blurred, the sky swam milder, the moving bark slowed, and the wind was hardly visible.
What did you do? Jacob asked.
"_I did nothing. All I did was show you the real world. You live in a permanent fantasy only you can release yourself from it. If you want to, and obviously you do._"
Will you teach me? To see like you? Jacob asked.
"_Yes, but it will take patience and will. It'll be hard._"
I don't care, I'll do it! The boy replied.
"_Very well, but that is enough for now. If you feel someone lead you someplace, stay there! Can you do that?_"
The boy nodded and Charles left Jacob's head. "Yes, I can help him, but it will take time." He told the parents.
"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Tal demanded suddenly.
Charles smiled. "You already know it isn't, but if you must see, guide your son and where you leave him he will stay." Xavier assured her. "But if you don't want me to help him, by all means leave without me." Xavier offered.
Jacob and Charles sat in the wagon as Tal and Jeremy lead the horse. Charles was holding onto Jacob's hands and talking to the boy. First they worked on eliminating the fantasy world. This was a long grueling process that tired both of them. By the time the boy could see properly it was late into the night and Tal and Jeremy entered the wagon to check on their son. When they lifted the covering Jacob looked straight at them, knowing they were there.
"He can see you now, but not hear; or any other of those things. He's a quick learner and very intelligent, but it will take time still." Xavier explained as Tal excitedly hugged her son.
Jeremy smiled broadly. "Thank you. Tal needs to get some sleep though, so if the two of you could make room… we should be home by tomorrow." He said. He then left, leaving the mother, son, and telepath to celebrate Jacob's progress.
~
Xavier woke up at sunrise the next day. He was still in the wagon and it was trudging along. He was slightly surprised to see Jeremy sleeping next to his son rather then Tal. He figured they had switched over night.
The wagon traveled for another hour or two before it came to a stop. Tal then appeared. She woke Jeremy and he got out. They made a fire and came back to Xavier and Jacob with breakfast. The boy ate vigorously but Xavier sparingly. He was under the impression that the family was running low on food.
When they were off again Tal rode in the wagon for a short nap, Jeremy led the horses onward, and Xavier worked with Jacob to coming to terms with reality. The boy was intelligent though and caught on quickly. For someone who would be learning things they learn at one, at around eight, he was quick. He was almost even to the point of hearing what his parents said. Sure he wouldn't understand what was said, but he heard it with full clarity.
And so they traveled on and Xavier thought of this alternate reality he was caught in. Not only medieval, but magical too; at least according to Jeremy's and Tal's mind. He would have believed it to be just folk tales if this world hadn't been made up of Joseph's mind, but it had.
Storm, Logan, Jean, Scott… where were his students? They had all been in the jet, they should have all come into the same alternate universe, but where were they? He hoped they were okay, but he had no idea where they even were; he couldn't find them when he searched for them with his mind.
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Sorry it took me so long to update. Been Ubber busy. Lol. Questions will be answered as the story mov along.
Kurt's chap. Next.
^Crysala^