Hey everyone. Here's the fourth chapter. It's been a busy week so I might not get the fifth one up and running till after a couple of weeks. I can't believe so many of you reviewed. Thank you to all those who offered advise for my writing. That's what reviews are for. I ran this chap through a very fine toothed comb this time. Hope you like it. Keep 'em coming.
After the Fall: Chapter Four, 'Invitation to a Freak Show'
A bald man in a wheelchair, a tall black woman with dazzling white hair, and a pretty girl with bright ruby-red hair entered the room.
"Hello, Dr. Davis. I'm Charles Xavier." said the man, extending a hand which the doctor shook, his smile returning.
Both of the girls glanced at Beth. She was suddenly very aware of her weight ( which neared the two-hundred pound mark) and felt her face heat up.
"We are here to see a patient of yours. Bethany Bancroft." Baldy continued, "We were told she was here."
Davis rose from his chair.
"Professor Xavier, of course. Wonderful to see you. Me and my colleges are very familiar with your work in genetics."
"Thank you." replied the cripple.
"This is Bethany." Davis said. "I was just finishing my check up on her."
"How is she?" the professor asked politely. Why were they talking about her like she wasn't there, sitting on the bed, staring back at them? She tried to be angry, to feel offended, but found she didn't care. The aching hole in her chest was all she could feel.
"She'll be fine. It's amazing really." he said, eyes looking perplexed again. "Never seen anything like it in all my years at this hospital."
"Interesting." said the professor, faintly. "May we speak to her?"
Davis looked from him, to Gran, to Beth.
"You'll have to ask her, Professor." he said, turning to Beth. "Would you like to talk to them, Miss Bancroft?"
Beth shrugged her shoulders and starred down at the floor. Anything to keep her mind off of Mom.
Gran, who had been watching these new people, spoke up.
"I don't think she is ready for company yet, doctor." she said, trying (and failing in Beth's opinion) to give a kind smile.
The crippled man turned to Gran, a half imploring, half stern look on his regal face.
"Please, Miss–,"
"Ms. Bancroft, and I'm Bethany's grandmother." she cut in, her eyebrows knotting.
"Please Ms. Bancroft, we're here to help your granddaughter."
Gran opened her mouth again, ready to protest, when Beth interrupted.
"Shut up, you hag."she said, not caring that Gran looked ready to kill. "I don't care if they stay."
Everyone went quiet. Dr. Davis looked from Beth to Gran, as if he was watching a tennis match. The two women glanced at each other, sharing uneasy looks. Baldy looked at Beth, calculating, his hand cupping his chin.
For some reason, she suddenly felt an eerie sensation in her head, as though little ants were marching around and picking at her brain. Maybe it was the IV.
Gran looked the worst. Her fists were clenched in her black lap, her face turning a nasty shade of pink, and her jaw clenched. Beth knew she would catch hell for that comment later but right now she just couldn't muster up any kind of fear.
"Would you excuse us, doctor?" asked Baldy, finally pulling his gaze away.
Davis, who looked relieved to finally be able to leave, nodded his head.
"Of course." He headed toward the door, stopped and turned to Beth. "I'll check on you later tonight, Bethany."
She nodded, starting to wish everyone would leave.
When the door had closed, Baldy rolled next to the bed. The two women sat down in the chairs next to the window, their vibrant hair shining in the dying sunlight.
"Who are you?" asked Gran, clasping her purse with her clawlike hands.
Baldy surveyed Gran with his rich brown eyes.
"My name is Charles Xavier." he said, extending his hand again (which Gran starred at from down her nose). "I run an Institute for children. These are my associates, Ms. Ororo Munroe and Jean Grey." he said, gesturing casually to the women. "We are interested in enrolling your granddaughter."
That made Beth look up.
"What?" she asked, gingerly sitting up.
Xavier turned that brown gaze to her. She felt the 'ant' feeling in her head again.
"I would like to invite you to join our institute for gifted teenagers, like yourself." he said.
"What do you mean, 'gifted'?" asked she, heart pounding.
"Gifted in many ways." he said, propping his chin on peaked fingertips. "Possessing. . . abilities that the general public does not."
"Why do you want me?" asked Beth, tugging at the bed sheets, (as she was prone to do). "I'm not special."
Even while she said this, the memory of the bubble crept up in her mind. Okay, that was strange, but who says she created it. It was from God, not her.
"I'm afraid you are, Bethany." he said, watching her solemnly. "Very special. Tell me about the 'bubble'."
"What?" replied Beth, weakly. How could he have known?
"On the plane. I believe you saw a bubble?" he said, as serious as a judge upon giving his ruling. His clean scalp shined in the overhead light.
She looked down at the floor, yet again. Should she tell him? He obviously (and unbelievably) knew what had happened. Should she trust these people, who she had met just minutes ago, with something she herself did not understand? Why did she have to do this now? Her mother has just. . . . She couldn't say it, not yet.
"Miss?" Xavier's voice drifted into her thoughts and brought her back to the present.
"I don't have to answer that." she said, surprised at the hollow tone of her voice.
Xavier was silent, his face somber. It was true, she didn't have to talk to him at all, she could just send Charley and his angels back to wherever the hell they came from and she could go back to. . . . Well, she had nowhere to go, but she wasn't going to be institutionalized. They could find some other freak to put in their 'school'.
"No, you don't." said Xavier, leaning closer. "But we are here to help you."
Gran's voice snapped like a whip in the quiet room.
"Help her?", she said, mouth crimped. "Help her with what? And what is this 'bubble' you all keep talking about?"
Xavier turned his head to Gran. The girls by the window exchanged worried looks. With a deep sigh, the professor explained.
"It appears that young Bethany here," he said, "is a mutant."
"What?" exclaimed both Beth and Gran.
"What's a mutant?" asked Beth. Did he just call her a monster? True she was fat but she was hardly a monster.
"You are a carrier of what is known as the X-gene." said Xavier, polite and serious as ever. "This gene is rare and normally manifests in adolescence. It gives the carrier, the mutant, an extra ability."
"What kind of ability?" asked Beth, getting more confused and sick with this conversation by the minute.
"It varies from person to person." Xavier turned to the girls by the window and gestured with his hand. "Jean."
The redhead stood and walked over to the three of them. "Yes, professor?"
"Jean," said Xavier turning back to them. "is one of my students. She is also a mutant."
"Hello." said the girl, looking calm yet nervous; like a person who had to walk across a train track and still felt uneasy even though there was no train in sight.
"Would you show them, please?" Xavier asked her with a wave of his hands.
"Of course." she replied. Then she lifted her right hand and touched her temple, her gold bangles jangled slightly. Her eyes scanned the room and finally settled on Gran's purse. Beth wondered what the hell she was doing.
While she starred at Jean, Gran gasped. Turning to her, Beth watched, mouth hanging open, as Gran's heavy black purse left her harpy's grasp and floated about six inches in the air. Then the bag slowly sank back down onto Gran's lap (who promptly knocked it to the ground, nickels and her onyx bead rosary spilling out onto the speckled tiles).
"Thank you, Jean." said Xavier, eyes following a nickle as it rolled by his chair.
The girl lowered her hand and walked back to her chair. Apparently Gran's reaction had scared her off, but then Beth was pretty sure she'd have done the same.
"What was that?" she asked Xavier. "Was that her 'ability'?"
"Yes," he said, hands folding in his lap. "Jean has the gift of telekinesis. The ability to move objects with her mind."
"That's impossible!" exclaimed Gran, as she scooped the rosary and change back into her purse.
Beth would have been glad to point out to Gran that it obviously was possible since it had just happened right in front of them, but she decided just to ignore her (which always seemed to be the best method when handling Gran).
"How do you know I have an 'ability'," she asked Xavier, pulling at the white sheets, "or that I'm even a mutant?"
Xavier gave a facial twitch that she supposed was to the closet to a smile he would give.
"I know what you are because of my own 'ability'." he said, added the same lilt to the word that she had. "I am a telepath, which means I can read minds. With the help of a machine that strengthens my telepathy, I was able to locate your mutant signature."
So that's how they found her. A machine and his brain. But if he could read minds, was he reading hers now? Do not think bad thoughts. Do not think bad thoughts.
"That's all well and dandy," piped Gran from her chair (which Beth noticed had been secretly scooted back farther and farther away from the bed), "but what does this have to do with my granddaughter?"
"Bethany, we believe, posses this X-gene." said Xavier, head turned to Gran, his eyes solid yet distant.
"You have no proof of that." stated Gran, her chin sticking out.
"I'm afraid I do." replied Xavier, turning back to Beth. "Bethany, I think it's time you told us about what happened on the plane."
He had read her mind, that's how he knew about the bubble (that must have also caused that ant-like feeling in her head). Should she? Fk it. She didn't really care what happened now.
"Well," she said slowly, looking at anything but their faces. "I was sitting in the plane and my head started to hurt. Then I went to go to the bathroom and it got worse. That's when the plane stopped and I fell down. When I got back up there was this bubble around me."
"Bubble," Gran interrupted, "What bubble?"
"Please, Ms. Bancroft." shushed Xavier, listening keenly "Continue."
"It was a weird bubble, I couldn't pop it. It was all clear and seemed to hold the air in like a force field or something. But anyway the plane started falling and the hatch flew open and I got sucked out. That's all I can remember." She said the last part of the story quickly. "I think the bubble saved me."
"Hmm," hummed Xavier. "It certainly seems so."
"Professor Xavier," she asked, "what is my ability? You're a telepath, you should know."
"Well," he said, hand resting under his chin. "That bubble, as you called it, was an abstract form of telekinesis."
"So, I'm like her?" she asked, pointing to the redhead, who looked like her polar opposite.
"Yes, it seems so."
"What does this mean?" asked Gran, subtly rubbing her hands (as she was prone to do).
"It means I'm a freak." replied Beth. It was true.
"No, it's not." said Xavier, his face stern.
"What?" piped Gran, confused.
"What would you call me?" she asked, her voice cracked ( which surprised her since it had stayed remarkably steady throughout the conversation). All of the pain and anger welled up inside her and wadded in her throat. She had been forcing herself to not breakdown, to wait until everyone had gone before she cried, but now that she had started, she couldn't stop.
"I'm a freak, a monster." she said, eyes burning. "I caused the crash. It was my fault."
"What?!" exclaimed Gran, a lock of her silver hair falling out of its rigid curls.
"If I can move things with my mind then I must have caused the crash. The plane had been fine until my head started to hurt."
"Bethany," replied Xavier, "you don't know that for--"
"Shut up!" she yelled, her hands balled up in her greasy hair. Her mind was spinning around in her skull, trying to hang onto a single thought and failing. Everything flashed in her memory; the headache, the nausea,the crunch the plane had made, the Ladies Home Journal bouncing off of her bubble. It had all been her fault. All of those people, the little girl, her mother, the old man, Mom. They were all dead now because of her. She couldn't take it.
She looked around the room, eyes not taking in anything, head throbbing. She heard the sound of the window and chairs rattling.
'Stop!' shouted Xavier's voice, only it hadn't been shouted out loud.
'I can't!' she thought back.
"Yes, you can." he said, aloud. He had his hands to his temples, eyes closed. 'Just listen to my voice.'
She closed her eyes. It was too much, it was just like being back on the plane. The more she tried to calm her mind, the more it sped up. Ants were marching around her brain, taking tiny information with them back to the hive.
'Relax.'
'I can't'
'Shhh.'
'No.'
'Calm down, you will be alright.'
Slowly, the ants multiplied, covering her whole skull. They smothered it until she couldn't think, couldn't feel. She laid back down in the pillows, suddenly feeling more tired than she'd been since she'd woken up. Her eyes drifted open and shut, trying to stay awake.
Jean was standing from her chair, which was now three feet above the ground along with all of the other chairs in the room. Her hands were outstretched, using her mind to control the chairs. Carefully she brought them back down, but neither she nor the black woman sat in them.
Xavier leaned back in his wheelchair, beads of sweat rolling down his long square nose. He opened his eyes, their deep brown depths were oddly comforting to Beth (maybe because they matched Mom's).
Gran stood trembling by her newly grounded seat, purse clenched tight in her hand.
"That is enough!" she shouted, her pale face turning pink again. "Get out!"
"Mrs. Bancroft," said Xavier, wheeling slightly away from the flushed woman, "please. We were only trying to help Bethany. You've seen her powers. She needs to learn how to control them."
"I've seen nothing!" she said, her back straightening. "None of you have either."
"She needs guidance. She needs assistance. We would be happy to help her."
"She does not need your help! Nothing is wrong with my granddaughter!"
"Is everything alright in here?" asked nurse Mary, poking her head around the door.
Gran turned to the nurse, apparently glad that someone normal was there.
"Nothing, these people were just leaving." she said, pointing her wrinkled finger at Xavier and the women.
"Ms. Bancroft, please don't do this."
"You heard me."
Beth watched all this through a haze of sleep and headache. Wishing everyone would leave, that she could leave.
"If you insist. I do hope you will reconsider our offer." he said rigidly, spinning his chair around to face the door. It was a strange movement. Done by any other man, the gesture would have appeared weak and embarrassing, but Xavier made it look strong and regal.
He paused before rolling to the door, reached inside his olive jacket, and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Take this." he said, handing the paper toward Beth. "Use it if you need us."
Gran made to snatch the paper away, but Beth reached out a shaking hand, grabbed the sheet, and hugged it to her chest (a place where no one would dare to go).
"Let's go." he said to the women. "It has been . . . nice meeting you. Good-bye."
He exited the room first, his chair making a slight mechanical hum, followed by the black woman (who nodded her head at Beth before leaving). Jean was the last to go, grabbing the doorknob, halfway shutting the door. She looked back at Gran, then at Beth.
"Hope you feel better." she said softly to Beth, before closing the door with a gentle snap, their footsteps echoing from the hall.
"Well," said Gran, tentatively sitting back into her chair. "Thank goodness that's over with. Can you believe those people? Like I would really let you go with those--"
"Get out." said Beth, quietly.
"What?"
"Get out!" she shouted, her throat scratching and tearing.
"How dare you!" said Gran, holding her purse as though she would sling it at her. "After all I've put up with. How do you think I feel about all this? My daughter-in-law dying in a plane crash! Leaving me to raise her daughter!"
"Get out!" she shouted again.
Gran stared at her for a moment, as though seeing her for the first time. Then stood up from the chair.
"Fine, if that'swant you want." She patted her hair and straightened out her skirt. "I'll come back once you've cooled down."
"Fine, go."
Stomping more than she had to, Gran clacked out of the room and into the hallway, (her heels had to have made marks in the floors), and Beth was finally alone.
Pulling out the paper from under her chest, she read what it said.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters
Providing support and direction for the countries many gifted children.
181 Westchester Ave.
Bayville, New York 12614
Phone # (616) 555 - 4651
She stared at these words, blurred from the tears that were beginning to well up, then stuffed the crumpled paper under her pillow and laid back down. All she wanted was to go to sleep, to shut her mind down and not have to think anymore. Tired (probably more so than she'd ever been) and raw, she closed her hot eyes and let her mind slowly drift away. The last thing she remembered hearing was the beeping of the hospital machine and, (strangely) the roar of some kind of engine before finally dozing off.
Two thousand feet in the air, Professor Xavier sighed.
"How is she, Charles?" asked Ororo, next to him in the pilots seat.
"She's asleep now."
"Well, that went well." said Jean from behind. "That grandmother of hers is a peach."
"What are we going to do, Professor?" asked Ororo, elevating the Blackbird a few hundred feet. "Her powers are out of control, making those chairs fly around the room like that."
"There's nothing else we can do." he said, brow knitted. "All we can do now is wait. It's her choice."
"I'm sure Ms. Bancroft won't help any." said Jean, legs crossed and her head in her hand.
"We will just have to wait and see." said Prof.
"I guess." she sighed, looking out at the cerulean blue waters of Lake Michigan.
As the Blackbird roared into the east, millions of kids were settling into their beds, some already asleep. Kids who never knew what it was to be different or strange, who never had to train or fight, who never had to feel the raw ache of loss in their chests. Millions of these kids dreaming of being superheros. As the Blackbird soared across the almost black sky, millions of these kids never knew what it was to be alone.
This had to be the longest chapter I have ever written, ever. A whopping 3000 something words! Hope it wasn't too long, (I personally like to curl up with a nice long fic). Keep reviewing and tell me what ya think. See ya in a few weeks! ;)
Review Response:
To DreamerLady: First of all, I would be proud to have you as my muse. I do need someone to research X-Men and accents especially. I don't want to get into everything here (it would spoil the story) so I will email you later, don't delete it. Second of all, I'm so glad you like it! Hope you read this and review. Talk to ya soon, Lo.
To Absolute Omega: I'm starting to look forward to your reviews. I'm so glad so many people like that Beth is fat (I too like characters better when they are normal). I didn't try to make Gran wholly evil (lets face it, no one is) but I couldn't have her being completely nice. I'm gonna go on a little hiatus too. Tell me when you come back. Lo ;)
To Idiot: God, I'm glad someone had the blls to tell me how to improve my fic. Thanks for not being just one of those 'Great fic, keep it up' kind of reviewers. It was not my intention to be obnoxious. I keep mentioning Beth's weight both to keep the image of a fat girl in the reader's head and to give the story a certain sense of absurdity (I read far too much Nabokov, hint to my name).
Sorrel, (as I read somewhere) was a term for reddish-brown, but your right, that word is a little confusing. Carmel is a term for light-brown skin, I guess I need to work on my color descriptions.
The whole 'five reviews' thing was a big mistake. That is why I stopped putting that at the end of my chapters. The whole 'can't except anymore mutants' thing was just me being realistic. I saw one episode in which the mutant race was multiplying so fast that I didn't think Xavier could keep up with all of them, so I thought he would have to draw a line somewhere (but I couldn't have him not except Beth or where would my story go?). With Gran's outfit I just didn't have the space to fill in a full description but I did want to give the readers some sense of Gran's fashion style (she never wears pants for one thing). The 'one single tear' was a slip up. I just got carried away with the drama and slipped into cliche hell. I will change that. You're right, I hate it when fics depict Scott and Jean as total jerks (I try to stay as close to character as possible as a general rule for this fic). Hope this review wasn't too long for ya (I just seem to be on a writing binge or something). Thanks so much for the review, and I will go back and make changes to those first chapters someday. Thanks. ;)
To Manga-faerie: Glad you like Beth. It's always nice to know that people don't think your fic is a Mary-Sue. Hope you keep reading and reviewing. Luv, Lo ;)