South East England - February 10th, 1958
Finding his feet feeling like lead against the floor Charles stuttered, "E-Excuse me? How do you know me sir?" Running the name Sebastian Shaw through his mind Charles tried to remember if he'd ever met a man with that name, from his past, or school, at the bar, nothing was ringing a bell. Yet he had this undeniable sense that he should know who this man was on the other end of the phone.
"I'm like you, I have a Cluster, or I did. If I'm right you've met Emma Frost recently haven't you, and since then you've met your little Cluster-mates?" Had this man been in a type of relationship with Emma the same way that Charles had with his three connected companions he had to wonder. Emma had only given off feelings of wanting to protect and mothership when they'd met, yet talking to Shaw purely over the phone gave Charles almost the opposite type of squeeze in his stomach.
"Indeed I have, she failed to mention you." the suspicion in the young man's voice was prominent more so than he'd wanted to let on. A deep rumbling laugh echoed over the phone, "Smart of her, the less you knew about me and the less time she spent with you makes it much harder for me to find any of you. Is it just the four of you, by the way, quite a small Cluster if I do say so myself."
Clenching his hand around the middle of the phone tighter Charles answered back, "That is none of your business, nothing about us concerns you. I don't even know who you are other than apparently, you knew Emma." Keeping himself under control he had to keep telling himself that getting angry at this stranger would amount to nothing. Obviously, Shaw was fishing for information on something so Charles could do that right back.
"The closest thing I could describe myself to you as would be...hmm, your father? Let's just say if Emma was your mother who gave birth to you, I'm your father because she used my energy and resources in order to create you. No idea why she wanted to keep you four from me, but I'd love to meet my so-called children. What do you say about a face to face meeting Charles?"
"I have no need for a father figure at this age, and I don't trust you. Let's not beat around the bush here, I can tell you want something that isn't just a meeting and I know you don't care about personal relationships here. Just be honest with me what you want Mr. Shaw." Charles was careful with his words, he didn't want to say anything that gave away Hank, Raven or Erik in their lives or their locations.
"Good, you're sharp. Emma and I were from the same Cluster, we worked together for years creating new ones to help them grow and use their powers properly. That is all I wish to do for you and your Cluster Charles, just to help you awaken every bit of power you can. What sort of gift have you received?" the curiosity in Sebastian's tone peaked towards the end of his sentence.
All Charles wanted to do at the moment would have been to hang up the phone and go to bed, but he refrained. "Nothing yet. What sort of power did you get?"
"I can absorb energy of all kinds, isn't that fascinating? Surely the four of you will gain great strengths also, I've seen many kinds over the years ranging from creating fire from nothing all the way to speaking to animals." There was a short pause between the two men before Sebastian continued, "Strangely enough I'm having trouble locating your Cluster-mates. I have many connections to medical sources throughout the world, yours was the first I'd found and a recent possible one named Raven Darkholme who lives over in the States. Though I'd decided to talk to you first since location-wise I am much closer to the UK."
All of that made no sense to Charles, how could Shaw find them through medical records alone? There were millions of people in the world so how had he picked them out and why weren't Hank or Erik on his radar yet Raven and he was? "Oh? And where are you located Mr. Shaw?"
"Please, call me Sebastian. We're practically family even if you don't want to admit it. Right now I'm using my base in London." this time there was a purposeful pause, the man was waiting to see what Charles would say and how to determine how close they actually were. When he got no answer the man continued, "No, I don't have your address I couldn't get that information. My records are old and somehow I doubt you still live with your mother and step-father at your age, probably off at college at nineteen aren't you?"
"So...you have old records of me? That means you've been keeping your eye on me for quite some time right?" Charles asked back and finally leaned his free arm onto his coffee table where his phone sat and started to tap an impatient finger. "Correct. There is a gene carried by all individuals who are capable of becoming part of a Cluster one day, really hard to find unless you're looking for it. So I've got stacks of people from around the world that I keep my eye on, but not everyone has medical records." Genetics, of course, Charles had always been fascinated by that aspect of science and just happened to be what he was majoring in.
"I think I've heard all I need to Mr. Shaw." the young man stated, refusing to call this man by his first name. "Very much I would like it if you would leave me and my companions alone, I'm sure none of us want any complications that I'm positive come with your...help."
"As I said, you are sharp. Well then, I'll be in touch Charles." Quickly pressing his fingers onto the buttons to hang up the phone Charles let out a sigh of relief before setting the phone back into its place and pulling the cord to straighten it. "Finally..." Walking into his bedroom Charles curled up under his covers but for the time being, he couldn't get himself to close his eyes.
His thoughts raced, if Shaw had his phone number then he either had been lying or easily could find his address. There was also the possibility that he could find Raven, or potentially Hank or Erik even if it took more digging to find them. Charles was scared, this whole situation had started off worrisome and turned into something exciting between the four of them and made a quick turn to terrifying. Someone he didn't know wanted something from him, something serious.
It took so long for Charles to relax that his eyes eventually adjusted to the dark, he could make outlines of familiar objects in his room and constantly looked around as if Shaw would be standing in his doorway at any minute. His biggest hope, was that Emma would show herself in his dream that night. Eventually, sleep did take Charles slowly and trapped him inside of his exhaustion. Charles was left mostly disappointed, for all he dreamt of that night were two warm arms hugging up to him from behind.
Southern Wisconsin, US - February 10th, 1958
Talking, there had been a lot of talking going on inside of Raven's apartment during the last day, so much so that she had phoned in a favor from a work friend to cover her shift for the day. She and Hank had talked about everything going on with them and more than once the young man had attempted to get into the science of it all, only to realize he had lost Raven's attention and apologize and smile.
His enthusiasm was cute she did admit and listening to him prattle on about psychic powers using parts of the brain that usually didn't activate for normal people was engaging even if she didn't understand most of it, which had been why she had never verbally asked him to stop. She had just let him go on until Hank came back to his senses and they would move on from the point they stopped.
Irene had been sitting in on most conversations, trying to make sense of this herself and being pretty understanding. Raven did suspect she had been sticking around their conversations a lot more because she still had that worry deep down that her best friend was alone with a strange man that had shown up out of nowhere, and both of them were claiming to have a psychic connection.
Though they had many interests that weren't in common Raven couldn't stop herself from feeling completely interested in Hank as a person, it was cliche but it felt like they connected on a personal level. He had always felt like an outsider because of how smart he was, just as Raven had almost always felt like an outsider because she was an orphan. In her neighborhood growing up orphans usually only did two things, get adopted and grow up to make something of themselves, or go into a life of petty crime, she had refused on most occasions.
The only person who had ever respected that decision had been had been Irene, Bobby and Kitty were great too but they hadn't grown up the same way. Both of them had left home for their own and very different reasons.
Hank had insisted he had time to stay for the day and finish their talks, get everything out into the open that they possibly could and that he would leave the girls to their lives that night and get back to his own. He'd spent the night on the couch, insisting that he'd slept in more uncomfortable places before and Irene had snuck over into Raven's bed during the night muttering something about not wanting to sleep alone with a strange man in the apartment. It hadn't been the first time they'd shared a bed.
Raven awoke that morning to having a horrible coughing fit and pushed herself to sit up quickly trying to be in a better position to breathe. "Fuck fuck fuck!" her raw throat gasped out, it felt like it was burning, Raven tore herself out of bed and ran into the connected bathroom to turn on the sink faucet. Taking a large mouthful of water she gargled, spit it out and took another mouthful and swallowed it, hoping to put out the fire inside of her throat.
The smolder dulled in that area but did not disappear, it felt more as if the ignited fire inside of her was moving further down her body and into her chest next. Hunching over the sink the young teen managed to lift her head and look into the small and partially cracked mirror. "IRENE!" Her loud voice screamed in pure horror, Irene made a dash to the bathroom and almost screamed herself as what she saw.
Raven's face had gone pure blue, there were black almost scale-like markings on her face, her hair was still long but turned an orangey red and her eyes...her eyes had gone from their cute brown to a piercing yellow with black iris'. "Oh god, what is happening?" Irene asked unsure what to do but stepped forward and touched Raven's face, turning her face side to side and checking to see if this was a trick.
It all felt real, nothing picked off like makeup or a prop, it all felt completely real. "I don't know what is happening to me Irene, I-I know get Hank! Maybe he'll know what to do, he's smart!" Raven started pulling her long sleeve nightshirt off, leaving her in a tank top as her yellow eyes watched the blue color coiling down her chest, changing her pale skin into a blue matted and rough skin instead.
When the two rushed back into the bathroom Raven was staring into the mirror almost unblinking, just watching the blue as it moved down her lower chest and her arms at the same rate. Stepping forward Hank looked her up and down, "How do you feel?" and immediately Raven snapped back, "I'm scared and it hurts what do you think!?"
"R-Right I'm sorry! Ok so-! So I think the best we can do right now is get you to lay down, try to deal with the pain and let it all pass. There won't be anything we can do until it's done doing...whatever is happening to your body." he insisted.
Feeling similar emotions as to when she had been anxious in the hospital and getting the bad news from her doctor Raven nodded and let Irene guide her shaky body back to her bed. "We'll figure this out Rave'...we will." the brunette girl soothed. Shaking her head Raven pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her back to the wall behind the bed, "This is different than anything before, look at me...I'm, I'm going to try to contact Charles if I can."
Charles was also smart, in different ways than Hank was and he had such a soothing tone and had a way with words that just seemed to put Raven at ease when they spoke. Closing her eyes she tried for a long time, but every time she thought of the man Raven for some reason only saw a brick wall, a few tears bubbled in her glowing yellow eyes and she sniffled, "It's like I'm being blocked out."
Almost five hours later of no response from Charles, Raven had tried more but even Hank had attempted to visit him and neither of them knew if they were being blocked or simply not doing it right. The only one who had gotten visiting down pretty well had been Charles so far, the rest of them still only did it by accident or passed on feelings to each other.
Feeling abandoned Raven had finished crying earlier and all of that energy had focused more into anger as she watched her toes finish becoming blue, whatever had happened was complete. "Hank, you said you'd been working on something while this was happening right?"
The young genius had taken over their kitchen table, and some of their kitchen countertops with papers that he had laid out in a specific pattern and been scribbling things on furiously the whole time. "Yes I think so, I mean it might take some time but I am technically a Doctor and a genius. If I can figure out exactly what's changed inside of you then there is always the possibility to repress whatever changed your appearance. I'm still saying you might change your mind once you get used to all of this."
Raven snapped though, "I don't want to be a blue freak! I'm about fed up with this, looking like a freak, having this connection when half the people won't even answer or show up when I want to see them! You're the only one that has really been here for me so far Hank." Maybe Raven was being dramatic but at the moment it just felt like all of the worst things were happening to her. Hank had started learning that although things like this scared Raven but given some time she would let it all sink in and calm. She just didn't know it at the moment.
Gandering over to her Hank didn't hesitate to touch her new and blue shoulder, "Raven please, look I didn't want to scare you more so I was just trying to ignore it but...I'm going to show you what changed for me during the night." Leaning himself against the nearest wall Hank started to pull off one of his shoes and socks, revealing that his feet had become deformed and monstrously enlarged like quadrupedal creatures. "I haven't tried them but from what they look like, they're good for running and holding onto things...kind of like a...like a monkey." he sighed at the end of his sentence.
He had always worked so hard to be smart, to be the furthest thing from their closest evolutionary species, and yet there he was with practically monkey feet. "Mine is easier to hide but I'm sure your power whatever it may turn out to be, will be better than running away from things."
His words sank in and Raven deflated, "Hank I'm sorry...I didn't know what you were going through while I was whining about myself. You're sweet."
Berlin, Germany - February 13th, 1958
Unbeknownst to the others' issues, Erik had worried only slightly when three days past and he hadn't heard a word from Charles, had he really come on too strong and made the smaller man feel that uncomfortable that he hadn't come to visit. In the meantime to keep himself busy Erik had been practicing his new power and with every day that passed, he felt as if he could extend his reach on metal objects and manipulate them tenfold compared to previous times.
His new power had really come in handy when it came to work, just the previous day Erik had practiced on some of the doors in his house picking the locks with his powers alone. Erik was sure with practice he could do the same to any safe, or even just crack them in half if he became too frustrated with it. Doing his burgling jobs quietly was more important so he would try to keep a lid on his irritation.
Something else Erik really wanted to attempt would be to visit the others through their link, Charles seemed more in control of that aspect than he was but then again so far Charles didn't seem to have gained any strange powers. For now, Erik's worry was with the metal control since that interfered with his everyday life and sleep.
With no one visiting him and just a wish to practice, Erik had been taking lots of small jobs group together. That day was no different, a little after lunchtime he headed out to the other side of the city and parked a few blocks away. Expertly Erik made his way into the apartment building of that day's choice, an average one yet he'd been hired by a repeat client so it was a very safe taking with good pay.
Having done his job and true to his research the doorman took her fifteen-minute smoke break at the time, leaving the front undefended and headed upstairs in his casual clothes. Most jobs he would do during the evening but in a building like the one he was in the security became tighter at night, and with his new magic door unlocking gifts Erik could simply wave his hand and walk into an apartment without looking very suspicious.
Stepping into apartment 5C Erik closed and locked the door behind him with another graceful twiddle of his fingers. He'd been told that the safe would be an expensive one hidden behind a painting in the bedroom, classic and cliche, whoever this guy was who owned the safe had obviously watched too many films. Movies had never been something Erik had indulged in but even he knew that a safe behind a painting was way too obvious and in his line of work that situation had been the first the young man had ever seen that attempted it.
Lifting a foot to stand on the king sized bed in the bedroom Erik pulled off the three small paintings hanging above, the third one albeit small and to him just a bunch of amateur squiggles of a sunflower. Yet such a mundane looking painting was where the wall safe had been hiding, Erik started to rub his hands together to stimulate his fingertips. It was a trick he had learned recently, it brought more feeling to his fingertips and allowed Erik to feel not further, but more accurately like for inside of the safe.
Touching his right hand directly to the safe, gloves on to prevent fingerprints, Erik could feel every metal piece inside of it. Just getting them all to move properly to let him in without issue was what he needed to actually do. There were very little pieces inside of the safe not too dissimilar to the ones inside of the door locks at his apartment, so concentrating Erik moved piece by piece. When he only had one left Erik needed to really focus so he could push the piece just gentle enough not to break the entire metal box.
"Riiiiight...there!" grinning to himself a voice from beside him asked, "Erik, did you break into this apartment?" Flinching from surprise since the room had previously been absolutely quiet, suddenly the entire safe crackled and split open. From the movement, the wall itself cracked upwards in a non-linear line or two. "Nn dammit Charles!" he hissed in a hushed tone, "You aren't around for days and this is when you choose to pop in, when I'm working?"
"Working? I had a feeling you didn't do something entirely respectable but I'd never guessed you were a thief." Charles said and didn't move from his place, Erik hadn't spared him a single glance. "Either way you're interrupting me right now. I have to get out quickly now that I've made suspicious noises..." Yanking open the safe he took the contents and stuffed it into his bag.
Literally hopping off of the bed the thief stepped passed Charles, "Let's go." but when he wasn't followed directly Erik stopped and turned around. Not having noticed since he hadn't given Charles much of a glance, the young man was leaning back against the wall and fiddling with his hands, eyes turned towards the ground. "Hey, Earth to Charles, are you in there?"
When blue eyes finally looked up to meet Eriks, right away the young thief could feel something was wrong. Not even just from the eyes, but deep into his chest. "Something happened, didn't it? And it wasn't just me flirting too hard with you. Look I want to hear everything but let's get back to my apartment first alright?" Getting a quick and jerky nod from the other man they stepped out into the living room.
Charles jumped when there was a loud knock on the door, "Is someone in there? I have a gun!" Sucking in a quick breath Erik stepped into the nearby small kitchen and grabbed the first thing he could think of, a large knife. With a gasp and wide eyes that stared unbelievingly, Charles took a hold of his wrist and forced him to put the knife back into its container. "Haven't you ever snuck out of somewhere before using a window?"
Erik then felt like he wasn't in control of his body, moving to the counter and crawling up to twist the knob on the window and try to pull it open. The wooden window moved up until it stuck about halfway, which would be enough for Erik's slender lower body to get through but not his upper and broad shoulders. "Are you doing this to me?" He received no answer but Erik knew what it would be, and he knew instantly that if he didn't want to be doing what he was then the act would immediately stop. It wasn't forceful, just an urge inside of him that felt like Charles trying to help him get away.
"I'm calling the police right now!" the female voice called from the front door. "I'll give you to the count of three before I barge in there guns blazing, they'll have to scrape your blood off of the walls!" Obviously, the woman had been cut short on her smoke break and was very displeased with it.
"You really haven't snuck out have you, seriously? Not even as a teenager out your bedroom window?" Charles asked and that influence spiked through Erik's veins again, telling him what to do without him realizing. "One!" the woman called. Starting to move the window up and down to get movement and momentum slowly the window moved further up until the stick of it was free and the window shot up fully open. "Two!"
Slipping out feet first Erik grabbed onto the windowsill, briefly forgetting in his rush that he had gone up to the second floor to get to the apartment. "A fall from this height can sprain or break something, try to land on your butt. It might break your tailbone but in my opinion, it's better than-hey!" Charles called after as his companion let go and did as he had been told, trying to land on his ass. Being half successful, Erik landed on a mixture of his ass and his hip as a spike of pain shot up his back and down one of his legs.
When Erik didn't get up, Charles reached to help him answer a single question that he had been wondering, just how here was he, was he physical enough to help move things or help someone stand up that couldn't? "Hurry, hurry!" Charles' beautiful voice urged him on and helped him hobble down the thankfully empty, cold and snow covered street and ducked through an alley before the woman upstairs could break in and peek her head through the open window.
Making it back to Erik's car they sat there panting. "Fuck fuck fuck Charles, what the fuck!? It's fine if you want to disappear for days but then you show up when I'm working of all times!" his voice was harsh and loud but Erik wasn't about to stop. Looking down like he had earlier Charles now held a piece of paper in his hands that he was worrying away the edges with his fingers frantically.
"I've never been almost caught like that before, ever. So just tell me whatever the hell you want so I can get it over with!" It wasn't long before the silence got to Erik and he grabbed Charles' arm with one hand, his other literally ripping the page out of the brunette's hands. Only the very bottom had ripped off where Charles' fingers had attempted to keep hold.
- He likes you, just ask him on a date.
- If you get scared bring up his powers, see how the practice is going?
- If you're still scared try asking him more about himself?
- Damnit Charles just ask him on a date, stop being a coward!
- Should I bring up Sebas
Only the last bit was cut off so Erik disregarded it fully. Blinking with his steely eyes the young thief lost his words and anger like it had blown away in the cold wind. "Charles-" but in a blink, the young man was gone, and so was the paper that Erik had been looking at. As a shudder made its way through his shoulders Erik pushed his head into the steering wheel and causing it to beep loudly.
Jumping at his own action Erik turned on the ignition and started driving away, luck was on his side and the fuzz seemed off their game since Erik only briefly heard sirens as he was plenty far away. Locking himself tightly into his safe apartment Erik froze as his thoughts consumed him, he had time to make things right. He wouldn't have to go out until the next morning to turn in the goods he'd stolen to his client, by then he would know if anyone had really seen his face or not.
If there was a number one rule to what Erik did for a living, it would be not to bring fuzz sniffing around a good, reliable and well-paying client. Or you would never get a job again. Sure he could just steal things for himself but Erik was lacking in skills on the actual black market, that was why he just stole and took hard cash for what he stole instead of selling the items for their higher prices and taking that extra risk.
"Ok, ok..." he said to himself, "I have time. Charles can visit me no problem, that means I can too if I just try hard enough. It's just like practicing anything else, I can do it eventually and I have until tomorrow morning. Yeah, yeah..."
Moving into his living room Erik tossed his bag of illegal contraband into a corner, forgotten for the moment. He would make it up to Charles, would apologize for yelling and grabbing him and even for the extreme flirting.
Now that he thought about it, Charles hadn't looked alright in the first place before Erik had started yelling at him...yelling at him for helping him escape that apartment without killing someone...Yeah he felt like a bastard, Charles deserved a grand date and whatever he wanted at this point from Erik. "I'll make it up to him."
South East England - February 13th, 1958
His mind had just returned to his body back in England and all Charles wanted to do was curl up in the shower and let hot water rain down upon him, to wash away everything like a natural disaster. There was no doubt in his mind that Erik hadn't meant to be so angry, and normally that wouldn't have bothered Charles much, or at least he would have handled it nicely.
The visit had been stressful for him, the last few days had been worrying with lack of good sleep. Charles had never been so scared in his life, not even when he had lived with his step-father and stepbrother in the big house in Westchester. Everything felt like it was going wrong, the Shaw fellow was the beginning of that fear. What he had said, or the lack of things he had said meant that Charles and his Cluster were about to get dropped into something beyond what they were prepared for.
All four of them had just been awakened two weeks ago and were barely getting a grip on things as it was, he felt the need to protect them at all costs. So he had cut himself off from visiting anyone for several days as a result, which might have been the wrong decision because Charles had physically and mentally felt a tinge in his body that Raven had been trying to talk to him. Still, he ignored her and Hank when he'd tried to do the same thing, they would understand. Or he hoped.
Only three days in Charles hadn't been able to control himself, living his life like nothing was wrong by going to school, seeing people and doing homework made him want to tear his hair out until he was bald. It seemed impossible and in his weakness to not turn to what felt like easy comfort, his Cluster-mates. When he had opened himself up as he had learned to do when he wanted to visit, Charles felt a mixture of negative emotions towards him and decided against visiting in America.
Finding himself in the middle of a break-in and robbery wasn't his intention either, but that was where visiting Erik in Berlin had gotten him. Ruining the man's day had been the last straw, seeing disappointment clear in his companions' eyes at the end before Charles had ducked out like a coward had felt like a sting that didn't just go away so easily.
"They just need some time...and maybe for me to explain things. They'll understand I'm sure once I do that, I just need to get ahold of myself." The time was early afternoon so when the doorbell rang Charles thought nothing of it, he lived in a wonderful flat building and was very friendly with one of his neighbors. They often traded different bottles of moderately priced wine as a sort of game.
"Coming!" he called and tried to cheer his voice up before opening the door. "Oh, can I help you?" the young scholar smiled at the stranger at the door. The tall man smiled back handsomely and in a deep and gravely, sickeningly familiar voice said, "Yes, yes I think you can help me Mr. Xavier. My name is Sebastian Shaw."
A/N: I rewrote this chapter twice because I felt like I was making Raven too whiny and a bitch. I'm hoping she doesn't come off that way and instead is coming off just overwhelmed for the time being. Then as I was rewriting it the third time FF Net fucked up and I lost about 3k of words of the ending.