Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. Real life is killing me at the moment, but I do still write when I get the chance.
Fortunately for Alex's peace of mind—what had happened to him and Scotty might not be a secret any more than the crash was, but it wasn't exactly topping his list of favorite subjects, either—Erik said nothing else as he turned around and started walking again.
The library was only a few more turns away, and despite the fact that there were only two or three logs on the fire, the light was still bright enough that it took Alex's eyes a few moments to adjust.
"Oh, there you are," Charles greeted, smiling as they entered. "I was starting to think that I was going to have to send out a search party. Just put those logs in there please," he indicated a bin beside the fireplace, "and help yourselves to whatever you'd like for dinner."
It was mostly sandwich supplies, Alex noted as he glanced at the side table, sandwich supplies and a jug of what looked like lemonade, but there was also a collection of chocolate and marshmallows and graham crackers beside the jug so s'mores were obviously going to happen too. He grinned slightly. He hadn't had s'mores in years.
"Alex, drop that and give me a hand," Sean called from the shadows.
Alex put his armload of wood in the bin on top of Erik's and then went back to help Sean move a second couch from the wall to a spot near the fire as Erik built the fire up further.
The couch wasn't particularly heavy, and with a little bit of work he and Sean managed to drag it into place near the other, forming a vaguely triangular shape in front of the fireplace and shoving the uncomfortable looking chairs aside in the process. Unfortunately, by the time they'd made their sandwiches, Erik and the professor had claimed it. And the first couch was already occupied with Moira on one end and Hank on the other and Raven sitting so close to Hank that she was practically in his lap.
"Hey, no fair!" Sean objected when he noticed the seating arrangements.
Alex ignored Erik's smirk, debating for a moment taking the spot between him and the professor before grabbing a pillow off one of the chairs and flopping down on the floor. They really should have seen that one coming. But there was plenty of space between the couches, and the rug was comfortable enough, and at least this way he didn't have to worry about spilling his drink on the furniture. Of course, the rug was probably still ten times as expensive as anything he'd ever dared to eat on before, but….
Sean joined him on the floor after a little more completely ineffective grumbling, and then silence fell as they inhaled the sandwiches and turned for the s'more supplies.
Hank and Raven ended up joining them on the floor in front of the fire, and Raven produced four metal skewers with wooden handles for their marshmallows. Alex stared at his for a minute, wondering why, exactly, someone made professional marshmallow-roasting skewers when normal people just used sticks, and then decided that it didn't matter and started loading his up.
Banshee squeaked—it definitely didn't qualify as a full scream, for which Alex was very grateful—knocking a burning log aside and revealing a nice set of coals for them to start with, and Alex shoved his marshmallows into position before the others could take up the whole space.
"Have you always been able to do that?" Raven asked Sean. "I mean, I know I've always looked like…me, and I don't really remember not being able to change, but did you used to take out ceilings when you were a little baby or what?"
"Me? Nah," Sean grinned, shaking his head. "No, I was probably thirteen or so the first time it happened. I was horsing around with a couple of my cousins, and Tom twisted my arm back a little too hard. I screamed, and Mom's china cabinet just went blam." He waved his free hand. "Caved in the doors and smashed the glasses and the plates and everything. Talk about a mess. At first Tom and Danny just sort of stared at me, but then I think all of us realized how dead we were going to be when Mom found out—we weren't even supposed to be playing inside—so we sort of put it out of our minds and spent the next three hours trying to put the thing back together. It didn't work, of course, and man, you should have heard her scream when she saw what we'd done. And she's not even a mutant. But after that I started playing around with it sometimes, and…well, here I am."
Alex pulled his marshmallows clear of the file and built two s'mores quickly before debating what to do with his remaining marshmallow. He'd apparently calculated that just a little bit—
The fork shifted backwards suddenly, pulled out of his hands, and he would have jumped if it hadn't occurred to him that Erik was behind him. The fork returned a moment later, devoid of marshmallow, and he decided that it wasn't worth arguing about. At least Erik hadn't taken his finished s'mores.
"How about you, Professor, when did you start reading minds?" Hank asked as he assembled his own snack.
"I'm afraid that I haven't any interesting story to tell," Charles said with a shake of his head. "I honestly can't recall a time when I couldn't read the thoughts of those around me. It's certainly become stronger over the years, and the ability to project didn't manifest until I was perhaps eight or nine, but in my case, it was more a matter of realizing over time that others couldn't do what I could to know that I was different. Oh, no thank you, Raven, but perhaps Moira would like one?"
"No, thank you, that's a little too much sugar for me."
There was no such thing, as far as Alex was concerned, but his mouth was too full of melted chocolate and marshmallow to object.
"What about you, Hank?" Raven asked. "I'm guessing you were in the same boat as me."
"Yes, I was born with my mutation," Hank agreed. "It's…I do have vague memories of visiting several different doctors when I was very young, which seemed strange because we had very little money, but nothing ever came of it. Probably because there was no money for surgery which I assume they all recommended. And then one day that I heard my mother complaining to one of her friends that when other parents said that their children were climbing the walls, they didn't mean it literally. That's when I realized that something was genuinely…different…about me."
"Your turn, Alex," Sean asked as he loaded up his stick with another set of marshmallows. "Let me guess, you were trying to hula-hoop, took out half your school, and the other kids worshiped you for months." There was a moment of silence from everyone, and then, "What? I totally would have."
That got laughs from the others, and Alex was tempted to just go with it, but his lack of laughter had apparently given him away, because Raven elbowed him lightly. "Come on, spill."
"There's not a lot to tell. I torched a guy who tried to gut me." He put the two marshmallows that he'd been about to put on his stick back into the bag. He suddenly didn't feel like eating any more tonight.
"Uh, no, that sounds like a lot to tell," Raven said after a minute.
"I concur," Hank said.
"Yeah, what do you mean, 'gut you'?" Sean asked.
He should have known better than to think that he'd get away that easily. "Your marshmallows are burning," he warned.
Do you want me to end this? a voice whispered at the back of his mind.
The professor, Alex realized after a moment—he should have realized that immediately—and he shook his head slightly. As long as he'd said this much, he might as well finish. If he didn't, they'd corner him and ask again later. If he'd had any brains at all, he'd have laughed about hula-hoops and had it done with. "I was about twelve," he started, shifting to stare into the fire. "I'd taken Haley—my foster sister—to the park that afternoon."
"Why'd you have a foster sister?" Sean interrupted.
"Because I was in foster care." How did he think people ended up with foster siblings? "Anyway, I got into a pickup game with a couple other guys there and lost track of time, and it wasn't until it started raining that I realized that we were going to be late. It's…my foster parents were a little crazy about being in on time. Their son Todd had been murdered about a year before—found sliced and diced in an alley a couple days after he went missing—and…well, crazy, like I said. We weren't supposed to use the alleys either after what had happened, but everybody knew that they was the fastest way to get anywhere so when I grabbed Haley and took off, that's the way I went. And then all of a sudden I go from dragging Haley along to lying on the ground feeling like my head had been cracked open."
"Somebody hit you?" Raven guessed.
"Yeah. It was this guy—a kid, really, he couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen—that I'd seen around the neighborhood a few times before. He dropped the two-by-four when he saw me looking at him and pulled out a knife." Alex shook his head. "I don't even think knife is the right word for it it; I didn't know that blades that big existed outside of the movies. But, anyway, it's pouring rain, Haley's crying, I'm trying to get up but my head is bleeding like crazy and I'm about ready to puke, and this nut job is waving a knife around telling me how Todd had screamed when he'd cut him."
"Todd as in your foster parents' murdered son?"
Trust the geek to pick up on that. Alex nodded. "Yeah. And then he goes from telling me about how Todd screamed when he cut him to about how I was going to scream when he cut me, and I just grabbed Haley's hand and tried to run. I didn't get far; like I said, my head hurt really bad and he barely had to touch me to put me on the ground again. So the next time I managed to get up, I took a swing at him. Which didn't do anything either. And then he cut me, like he said he was going to." Alex drew a finger across the upper portion of his chest, and when he glanced sideways, he was unsurprised to see comprehension in Hank's eyes. "And I screamed, like he said I was going to. And then all of a sudden I felt hot, and there was a flash of red, and then I must have closed my eyes because the next thing I know there's this horrible smell. I can't even describe how bad it was. When I opened my eyes again, he was…well, half of him was here and burning," he gestured to one side, "and the other half of him was here and burning." He gestured to the other side. "With a couple other flaming bits scattered around. I mean, he was two feet away from me. Even I can't miss at that range."
"Did anyone ever find out?" Raven asked.
"Oh, yeah. After I saw him on the ground, I started screaming again and couldn't stop. I guess someone must have heard, and like I said, everyone knew the alleys were dangerous. By the time the siren stopped there must have been a dozen policemen standing around me."
"What did they say?" Sean asked.
"Well, according to the official report, he was hit by a freak lightening strike." Alex snorted. "Act of God."
"I don't think lightning cuts people in half," Raven said.
"Yeah, well, tell them that. Besides, he was mostly ash at that point, and what else were they going to say? That a half-hysterical twelve year old with a giant knot on the side of his head cut him with magical red light like I was insisting? And Haley was making even less sense than me. Hell, I don't think they wouldn't even have listened to me when I told them what he said about Todd if the knife hadn't been right there."
"At least your foster parents must have been happy," Raven said after a moment. "I mean, that the guy that killed their son was gone."
"Mostly I think they were just pissed off that I survived and Todd didn't." Alex shook his head and then shifted awkwardly and looked back at Erik. He was the only person—well, except for Moira, obviously—who hadn't spoken yet tonight, and Alex wanted their attention off him. "So what about you, when did you first use your powers?"
Erik stared back at him for a moment and then pushed himself up out of his chair and walked out of the room.
"Yes, I think it's probably time that we all turned in," the professor said after a moment. "Everyone may feel free to take a candle, if you wish, but please make sure that you blow it out before you go to sleep. If we haven't power back by the morning—"
"We get ice cream for breakfast," Raven cut in.
Leaving out some stuff with Sinister, Alex's background is basically correct here. Less so with regards to the others, but I tried to work in what I could.