1995, March 17th:
Erik could feel the blood on his hands. Literally, not figuratively. One advantage of having such a non-physical ability meant he did not often require getting literal blood on his body. Today had been a rare exception.
So when he realized that he had told Amaya he would be there later that day, he was fairly annoyed.
This was a bad day.
But he had promised.
It would be his first time seeing Lorna in four years.
He had seen her a few times when Amaya was starting on the farm. He had helped with furniture a little more than he liked to admit, but this was his daughter. If he could not shower her in love, he could at least give her some of what his father gave him. No one except Charles knew he was a carpenter anyway. He had visited once after that four years ago, but Amaya had no idea.
She would be old enough to remember him if she saw him now.
He went out of his way to wear a plaid flannel shirt, jeans, and loafers. Less suspicious that way. He slipped a hat to cover his greying hair in a manner different than his helmet would frame his face.
With a smooth shift of posture, he transformed into a human Lorna would never connect to mutant terrorist Magneto.
Then he just closed his eyes. He reached out with his powers, focusing on the girl fiercely climbing a tree.
There was a buzz around her.
To his powers, she was a giant electromagnetic he could not control, only sense.
She had green hair too, it started at the roots and was only a few inches in, but it was replacing her brown hair steadily.
His daughter was a mutant.
The tips of his mouth curled in pride.
His daughter was a mutant.
Her powers were developing, and they were a spitting image of his own. Not the exact same, but similar.
She created. Everything she would do when she was developed enough to truly use them, she would create from her body. She would create magnetic fields. It would limit her power; she could never reach Erik's level without the aid of Earth's magnetic fields.
But she would be a mutant.
A mutant that would be persecuted and feared in this era.
"Hey!" she called, seeing him standing at the edge of their road. "Who're you?"
Her voice was a melody. "Just an old friend of Amaya passing through." He tipped his head in her direction. "You must be her niece."
She swung to a sitting position on one of the branches.
"Yup. That's me."
"It's wonderful to meet you, Lorna."
"You too." They were clearly empty words. Not that he cared.
"I suppose I must be going."
And then he left.
He heard her call out, asking what his name was. It took every ounce of his self-control not to tell his daughter the truth.
Instead, he just walked away. He could not trust himself to lie.
He would call Amaya later, let her know her niece's abilities. First, there was one mutant he needed to recruit. Getting her on their side would be a… challenge to say the least, but he was confident she would come running with sufficient motivation.
Erik thumbed the piece of metal he tore off from his helmet. It was imbued with enough of his power to block telepaths, at least if it was on someone's head.
He molded the piece of metal into a medallion subconsciously, altering the surface to his symbol before he realized what he had been doing.
It was the perfect birthday present.
Giving it to his daughter was already tempting.
He could not.
Not yet.
Not when it was too unsafe.
When she was so young.
He silently promised himself to give it to her when she reached adulthood. She would grow to hate him, he knew that. Nothing he did not deserve.
But she deserved to know the truth.
He did not care if he was hated. As long as she was safe.
2001, March 17th:
She was throwing nails into the ground repeatedly.
He was far too high for her to notice.
He had a couple dozen slips of paper in his pockets, all scrap from failed attempts to figure out what to say.
Miss Dane-
Happy Birthday
was one of the worst. What happened to the days he was good with words?
Well, they never existed, but that was besides the point.
The final selection was written in his most elegant writing. He would have preferred to do it in German, but Lorna did not know the language.
It was frustrating, knowing his daughter did not know her heritage. Amaya was Catholic, making it more frustrating. He was not going to tell her how to raise her niece in mundane aspects like religion. Especially seeing how he would never raise a child Catholic and there were absolutely no synagogues in less than an hour's drive.
But none of that mattered.
His daughter was now a young woman.
He set the gift box down as Amaya stepped out off her porch, the timing almost on cue.
"You're here."
"She deserves a gift on her birthday." He carefully stood back up. Yes, his final decision had been made hours ago on the wording and penmanship style.
"She's currently blowing off steam. Did you see her on the way in?"
He nodded, answering the question softly. "Near the diner."
Then he left.
He could not be there to see his daughter open her Bat Mitzvah present from her father. It was too risky. He could not be seen. He just… could not.
To Lorna
My North Star
November 31st, 2012
"Magnus, it's Amaya."
"Did something happen?" Her voice was nowhere near urgent enough to be concerned. Merely annoyed. Figuring out what it was, that was nothing but indescribably easy. "Or would you prefer I take a guess?"
She sighed, explaining the situation. Not much different than he expected.
"Yes. Thank you for informing me, Amaya." He paused, trying not to let his worry for Lorna show in his voice. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine, just got a little angry."
"That's the fourth time this year."
"I know. I know, Magnus. She's just… having a hard time."
He closed his eyes. She was still a teenager. A bipolar mutant teenager with awful self-control and loads of anger. Not that he could blame her. She definitely got the anger from his side of the family. Specifically, him.
"Okay. I'll make the call."
"Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me, Amaya. She's my daughter."
Their call ended. He flicked his wrist to change the numbers.
"Emma."
"Magneto. What do you want?"
"I need you to get Dane out of jail again."
"Again? You picked a really bad mutant to help out. What was it this time?"
"She picked up a car. Violently."
"Ooh, I see why you like her."
"Emma."
She sighed. "Consider it done."
A/N: I tried to put in every single time Magneto was mentioned to have done anything. Feel free to let me know if I missed anything. Still one more chapter, but it's going to be more of a conclusion.