Chapter 9: The Demon of the Past, Discovered

Xavier Mansion

At the mansion, we can see Will had returned and looking through some documents in locker files and some boxes. And he wasn't alone. Carnage in his cat form was moving a few papers around the table and looked through them, looking for anything that ties to what Magneto had informed them. Emma was reading a file, with details on students, and figured out that would be the best place to start. Betsy was putting the files back so nothing would be missing or out of place.

When Will got back to the mansion, he went to Emma and Betsy asking for their help after explaining to them his meeting with Magneto. They were suprised and a bit worried about Will meeting one of the most powerful mutants alone like that but relaxed once he explain everything and was wondering what past the professor was hiding.

Emma was sometimes, the grey area than others regarding Charles and wonder what past demons he wasn't telling anyone.

Betsy wondered the same thing and this danger that Magneto informed Will got her attention.

Lucky for them, everyone was busy today due to the majority of everyone here was doing something. Charles was meeting with two of his old students, Scott went on a drive after his fit with the professor from what happened, Jean teaching a class, Ororo was grading papers for the next classes, and Logan was working out in a gym or rather a vision of the Danger Room can setup.

"Damn, there are so many students," Carnage commented, moving from the next file and onto the next one, which caused him to frown on that mutant he read and his main power being fire. He would hate that guy for sure.

"Some stay and some move on. You would be suprised at how many students we don't know that Charles keeps on file," Emma remarked as she finished one file and move on to the next one.

"Indeed but some are more familiar than others," Betsy said with a small frown, seeing some files that were possible students for the school but never came.

"Huh?" Will said as he read a file that got his attention and got the trio's attention on what he found.

The white-haired teen had a file, marked with the name, Jason Stryker, and hummed in thought as the last name sounded a bit familiar to him but couldn't put his finger on that.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"A file on Jason Stryker but...huh, how strange," Will commented as he open the file but became suprise to find a good number of summaries of said student were blacked out, their first clue was here.

"Indeed. Hmm," Emma said, rubbing her chin in thought, and took the file to find what area this one came from as there could be more information on this student from his fellow classmate.

"I wonder if Jason has any relation with that army soldier Stryker on the news," Betsy said, recalling the news of Senator Kelly's supporters by his side and one of them was an army soldier.

"Maybe," Will said, wondering about that as well.

"Talk about irony on that. That colonel hates mutants and yet his possible relative is a mutant. A cruel twist of fate," Carnage commented as put the files back in order, thanks to his three tails for help.

"Indeed, Carnage. Indeed," Will admitted, helping Emma on getting the file on Jason's fellow classmates.

Betsy was putting the files they took out earlier and back, cleaning up after themselves and not having anyone catch them in doing this. She did wonder about Jason Stryker and if he was related to Colonel Stryker. It's very possible and wonders more about his young Stryker's classmates as well. And she saw her friends getting a few out.

"Only five students in that class and all of them won't close but only one," Will said, bringing out the file of the student that only mentions the student earlier serval times.

The file only had one name, Vecna, and it suprised them at such a name on the founder.

"Vecna?" Carnage was puzzled by such a name.

"Vecna is an anagram for Vance, an ode to fantasy author Jack Vance. His works were the inspiration behind the magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons," Emma explained.

"Huh?" Carnage asked.

"A board game," Will simply explained.

"Oh," Carnage understands.

"Is that his code name or birth name?" Betsy asked.

Will hummed as he open the file which Emma saw and the pair frowned, seeing nothing on this Vecna person either. In fact, nothing was written about this student or anything, like a blake and clear state. Betsy and Carnage came over, frowning as well, and saw nothing as well on Vecna's file.

"It was no suprise that Charles would remove everything on Vecna," A voice said, surprising the four as Magento was in the same room as well and didn't notice or sense him coming. His helmet is more than just for looks, shields his mind from telepaths and has a number of years on his side on getting into place unnoticed.

Carnage hissed a bit and was ready to attack the unwanted guest but was stopped when Will petted and relax him down.

"Come back and rest up," Will advised.

"...yeah but I don't like this," Carnage admitted as he jumped onto Will and formed back into his host/friend's body.

"Same," Will thought, agreeing with his friend.

"How did you know this kid?" Emma asked, crossing her arms.

"I have...a history with him," Magneto admitted.

"What makes him so important to remove everything about him?" Will asked, not understanding how there's no information.

"Before that, how did you get in here? The mansion system and defense mechanism would have stopped you," Betsy said, bringing up a good point.

"I have my ways, Psylocke. I have my ways," Magneto said, being his own answers and won't reveal how he got in. He had used the code to not activate the systems, a unique one that only Charles and himslef knew. He wasn't suprised that his old friend would keep that code and not change it, not changed since they first created the school together.

"As to why I'm here, I came here as I know William would inform someone he trusts about the coming danger and how it ties to Charles's past, his demons. To fully understand this danger, you all must fully understand Charles. You need to see and live the life he once had, his best and worst. His legacy and most importantly, his mistake that leads to the creation of this great danger rising. A member of our own kind," Magento explained as he then the most shocking thing ever, bring his hands up and took off his helmet in front of the trio. The rarest thing anyone sees of the Master of Magnetism doing and this means he's deeply serious.

And the hidden meaning of what he was telling them or rather Emma to do next.

"You want me to enter your mind and links to see this threat?" Emma asked or rather guessed.

"Yes but only memories I show. I would guild you all to the creation of Vecna and the great danger he has," Magento or rather Erik replied, putting his helmet on a desk nearby.

"Very well. You two are willing to do this trip?" Emma questioned, being sure.

"Yes. There's no point in stopping now," Will replied.

"Indeed," Betsy agreed as they have now reached this far, and would seem a bad choice to stop everything they are doing now.

Emma then placed her right hand on the side of her head, gathering her focus and turning her telepathic powers to link up the three of them to enter their thoughts of Magneto to see what he wanted to show them. Betsy would have no problem getting in as she's a telepath and would be most helpful in getting Will inside.

Erik's Mindscape

Will blinked a few times until he saw that in work as he saw the area around the room was deeply different from the mansion and his mind felt like traveling a good mile.

"Are you alright?" Betsy asked as she stand next to the white-haired teen and was the support to keep him in Magento's mind.

"Yes, just a bit sudden to enter into someone's mindscape," Will said, rubbing his forehead a bit.

"Yes as we mostly done this in your mindscape and for health rather than discovering on someone's mind. You would only feel that for a moment and would be a bit relaxed once we travel away. Come, let's meet up with Emma," Betsy said, offering her hand for Will to take which he took, and soon the pair transported to a different part of the mindscape, the main section to see the White Queen there.

"Ah good, it works. Magento should be coming in soon," Emma informed.

And on time, Erik appeared before them, wearing a bussiness suit and looking more like a man filled with wisdom than a king from earlier.

"Come along. I shall show you about Vecna and Charles's connection," Erik said as a white door appeared, opening and allowing the group to walk in to see a memory before them.

The three X-Men soon saw a hospital where a young woman with red hair and brown eyes, wearing some hospital recovery clothes and wasn't alone. She was holding a child in her arms and show signs of being worn out from giving birth to the child, of hers and her husband who was a bit late.

Soon enough, the trio soon saw a young man with black hair and filled with life bursting into the room in a rush worried but soon became happy on seeing his wife had made a successful delivery. And start of the family coming along. They didn't need to be explained as they saw what was going and answers were in front of them as clear as day. This was Charles and his wife, Yui, and the day that their son was born.

"Yes, this is the day of Charles Xaiver II was born, son of Charles and Yui. I was later named as the godfather," Erik explained as the next memory showed Charles talking to Erik at the mansion when it was still in progress of becoming a fully opened school.

This surprised and shocked the three deeply but kept quiet and allowed Erik to explain more as the memories run its across.

The next memory showed a young Erik watching Yui enjoying life and watching her son reading while understanding different things. Charles came in and enjoyed the time he had with his wife & son, making his friendly smile and happy for them.

"It was peaceful and Charles was happy, much more than his first wife before & after she left him with their son. Yui meet us during a trip to Japan and she was a good doctor. Human, she was, but she didn't care, she had a rare gift to see what's underneath people and something I believe no one would gain again," Erik said, as the next memory flashforward onto a next memory, that seems to be some years later.

The next memory showed Charles II having wounds on his body, being a victim of bullying, and because he was different, being a mutant. He was a telepath and had other abilities that were growing over time. Erik had tried to talk with his godson about controlling his powers as he took him home to talk with his parents about the problems at school. Sadly, he never told them and kept working on his projects & powers.

The following memory showed Charles II growing up, trying to believe and live by his father's ideology, that humans and mutants are equal, and that there will be peace between the two. But sadly, that wasn't the case.

"He never saw it that way. He tried to understand his father's ideology but there's so much someone could withstand in life. Being bullied, and seeing other mutants suffering because of humanity and their actions didn't trigger his dark path but rather push it and the last one came in the most striking one," Erik said with his head down and a sad look was seen on his face, rarely too as the next memory showed a rather painful and sad one.

The next memory showed human police troopers bursting down a normal school to take some people, those that looked different and were mutants. Charles II acted by using his powers to break and rip out the minds of those bastards but Yui stopped and told him that it was wrong. Erik then used his powers to push the guns away and take them, but another until came and didn't see the full picture. They acted and open fire which the Master of Magenitms acted by using his powers to stop all the incoming fire of bullets.

But he didn't stop one, the one-shot that shot Yui in the heart.

Charles II saw the whole thing and felt his mother dying in his arms, feeling her mind completely gone and unleashed a powerful psionic scream outwards, destroying all the police officers, school teachers, and classmates' minds in one wave of telepathic energy.

Charles was saddened by the loss of Yui and Erik had stayed to help his friend mourn a bit before he took his leave. The professor remained strong in his mindset, but his son wasn't, starting to see humanity as cancer so he began to think of an idea to truly make them pay and also help mutant-kind. This led to his path, falling into darkness fully and taking the name Vecna or better known to many as the master of mind, Mastermind.

The memory ended and caused the three to be deeply shocked, surprised, and saddened by what they saw. They now understood the deep meaning, and they, especially Emma, knew that Charles didn't have the easiest life, and his second wife's death to his son left him one of them.

"So the great danger is Charles's own son?" Will asked or rather stated.

"Yes...Vecna came to me, wanting to help and I give him a home but he didn't want that. He wanted to gain the means of pushing forward his vision of a new era for Mutants. I was betrayed and lost track of Vecna. That took place two weeks ago," Erik explained.

"Then he would most likely have a head start in what plan he has in motion," Emma said, being the most logical response.

Erik nodded his head in agreement.

"Should we confront Charles about this?" Betsy asked.

"Eventually but not now. We don't have much proof of Vecna returning and acting on his plan. When or if he appears, then we will confront the professor about it and why he hid it from all of us," Will replied.

"Good and don't be hard on Charles. He may have demons in his past but most of them are reasonable and he does his best as I do as well," Erik said before waving his left hand out, ending the mindscape and allowing them to come out of it and back to the real world.

"Yeah," Will agreed which Emma and Betsy did as well and some of them know half of that.

"Now, I must be going. I am needed elsewhere," Erik said, using his powers to bring his helmet back and put it on, before opening the window and taking the flight back to the county he's ruling.

Will, Emma, and Betsy soon sat down on the same sofa, remaining quiet and taking everything in. Carnage soon saw what his host had seen and frowned at what happened to the professor those years ago. He also wonders if his own parent left him or he left. He wonder about it for the past three, close to four months. He only knows of his race and bonding for a perfect host but other than not, nothing, and his memories were damaged as well, much like his host.

Carnage had a feeling that one day, both he and Will, would get more of their memories back, One day and was hopeful about that but now, now there are bigger things to worry about, and what sinister plan does Vecna has in store for everyone. Only time will tell.