WOW! SEVEN REVIEWS! Be proud of yourselves everyone! This is epic! Other than my first chapter that last chapter had the most reviews! Congrats! Again, thanks to lynx-panther for the fifth review. She got this chapter up… again. Also, please don't be mad at my theory of how telepathy works. This isn't an exact science and I've only done like 20 minutes of research on it. This is just my crazy mind trying to rationalize the epicness of this mutation.
Disclaimer: If I owned X-Men: First Class, Charles and Erik would have had sex in the stripper bar when they got Angel.
Recap: "But after what happened yesterday," Ms. Anna said, "I knew I couldn't leave you alone. I couldn't make you face this alone."
Charles looked at her then, "Face what alone?"
"Charles," she said sadly, pulling his hand into hers. "You formed a mind link."
"What?" Charles asked, his expression the epitome of confusion.
"Let's start at the beginning," Ms. Anna said wearily. "Do you know how telepathy works?" Charles shook his head in the negative and Ms. Anna pause for a second, trying to think of the best way to explain. Finally she seemed to settle on something. "Bear in mind that there's no exact proven science in this. All of this is simply my theory. Telepathy is a mutation. It is formed while an embryo is in the womb. During development the embryo is flooded with brain waves constantly. This exposure causes a shift in the child's developing mind. When the child is born they are able to control the brain waves they produce on an exponential scale. By doing this, the child develops differently from others. They have an unexplainable affinity to people. They can sense the minds of others. Then they can control their minds to match the wave output of another."
"What do you mean?" Charles asked.
Ms. Anna paused. "How would explain it when you link to another mind?" she asked.
"It's like I'm diving into their mind, becoming a part of them. From there I can access their thoughts and bend them. But it's exhausting. Is that normal?" Charles asked, looking at her inquisitively.
Ms. Anna nodded. "Your mind is working in a way it isn't used to. It will get easier with practice."
"But I still don't get it," Charles said.
"Perhaps it would be better if I showed you," she said, reaching to Charles' head and placing two fingers on each of his temples. He nodded and shuddered as something happened. Do you feel that? Ms. Anna's voice asked. My mind is sending delta waves into yours, making it return to a state like that of deep sleep. It allows my mind to break into yours. Charles tried to block his mind from her, but couldn't seem to do it. Another shudder ran through him. Then a medley of theta and alpha waves make you relax. Next some beta waves to balance your mind out and promote a quick connection. Your mind then lets the foreign mind start to produce its own brain waves and your mind synchronizes with theirs. Charles relaxed, still feeling weird at having someone else in his mind instead of the other way around, but he was finding this entire situation very interesting. It was very eye opening and he was intrigued at having the process he'd done a million times broken down and dissected for him to understand. Then bursts of alpha waves act as a search navigator and create those visualizations you see. Then to pull out of the mind, she said, you create a burst of beta waves to kick start the mind. Charles felt a jolt as Ms. Anna pulled out of his mind and broke contact, both mentally and physically. "That's the mechanics of telepathy. Unfortunately," she said sadly, "anyone other than another telepath can't understand this no matter how many times I explain it. So this is all just theory."
"This is brilliant," Charles exclaimed. "I would have never thought this could be explained so simply." Ms. Anna smiled shyly. "So now that I understand telepathy," he said, "can you explain what a mind link is?" Ms. Anna's face fell, the smile fading. Charles felt guilty for having asked it. Ms. Anna let out a sad sigh. It sounded so old and broken. Her face lost its youthful glow and she looked much older than any other woman he'd ever seen. Even though Ms. Anna was only 25, the sadness in her eyes looked eons old. "Ms. Anna, what's wrong?" he asked, placing a hand on her knee in concern.
She looked him in the eyes, putting on a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I'll tell you some other time," she said. "But as for your question, I suppose it's only fair I let you know what you're in. A mind link is a telepathic bond so rare and powerful, there have been few in history that we know of. I only know of three cases. In essence, it is a bond created during childhood between two individuals, both mutants. It is one of the most advanced forms of telepathy and I haven't been able to figure out the mechanics of it. But I know that the power it takes to do this is immense. You know how exhausted and drained you feel after connecting your mind to another person's?" She asked. Charles nodded his head in the affirmative. "Well this is so much more. We're talking linking two minds that could be across the world from one another and binding them. Except unlike other bonds, this bond is indefinite. There is not a recorded way on how to break these bonds. The people bound are telepathically linked together for the span of their entire lives."
Charles was silent, letting all the information sink in. His brows furrowed together in concentration as he thought. "But Ms. Anna, the power needed to seal this bond and continuously hold it, wouldn't that kill the people involved?"
"The telepath who does it is in the infancy of their mutation. Their powers are manifesting and they hold no training. The raw power produced has no outlet, nothing controlling it from running rampant. For telepaths this can manifest in many ways. The way yours did was it spread around you. And it searched. It searched for somewhere to release itself. It built up so much that it reached this other person in your bond and it stuck to he or she. The power you possess is beyond that of almost any telepath I've ever met before. I would guess you were a class four telepath. Now this power latched onto the other person and created a tie between the both of your minds." She paused, biting her lip as she debated whether to tell him or not.
Charles could feel she was holding something back. "Please Ms. Anna. I need to know everything I can about this. I need to know what it is I'm facing."
Ms. Anna struggled with herself for another moment before looking resigned. "You were right in assuming that the power needed to create and upkeep this bond would kill the two. But that's only if you try to do this with a random person. See, the reason it's so hard to link two minds is that every mind is so complex and different from one another. It takes so much energy to merge two dissimilar conscious minds together. The only reason this bond can be formed is because…-"
"Is because what, Ms. Anna?"
"Is because you and the other person are soul mates," she breathed out.
Charles' jaw dropped. "Pardon me," he said defensively, "but what are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting," Ms. Anna said, placing her hand on top of Charles' comfortingly, "that you and the person you are bound to are meant to be. I know it's a lot to take in, Charles, but it's the truth. You and this person's minds are so similar to one another that your mutation was able to latch onto his or her's mind and then join your mind to his or hers with little effort. The reason you won't die from holding this link is because your minds are so alike that the energy required to keep them bound is minimal. Only under great stress do your minds differ, which is why during your dreams you wake feeling more tired than you did falling asleep. I assume the person you are bound to undergoes great amounts of strain regularly. That's why you lapse in your consciousness when something happens. The stimulation on the other end pulls you through the bond to witness what is disturbing the balance in your bond." Charles looked at her uncertainly. "I know it's a lot to take in Charles, but I want you to know I'm telling you as much as I know. I'm telling you this because I know what you're going through. It's scary and confusing. And it's frustrating as hell to be told that there's only one person you're destined to spend your whole life with, but I need to tell you that it's so much better when you accept it. It's so much better to accept that this person is your other half and that you need them to be in your life for you to be happy. Because you do, Charles. Whoever it is that you're bound to, now that you know what it's like to be with someone who is so like you, so similar to you in every way, nothing will ever compare. And I'm here to tell you that I'll do everything in my power to bring you two together. Whatever it takes, I'm here for you," she said, holding his hand and staring at him sincerely.
Charles felt unnerved as those blue eyes, the same hue as his own, stared at him with complete understanding and sorrow. He wanted to be angry, to scream and rage at Ms. Anna for telling him this, for making him realize with every word she said that it was all true. Charles couldn't imagine being with someone else, not after all he had been through with Erik. It felt so completely wrong and made his stomach knot. Then something came back to him. "You said you knew of only three cases of this happening," he said, leaning forward. "You're one of them aren't you?" He saw as Ms. Anna tried to close herself off. He leapt into her mind with great difficulty as she tried to push him out. You're like me, aren't you? You've been tied to someone else like me, he pressed. And then images flashed before his eyes, Ms. Anna's whole story playing out before him like a movie and he watched them. Sometime while he was watching her past, Ms. Anna had stopped fighting him and simply sat at the corner of her mind, curling in on herself while building walls to keep him away. Charles didn't pay any attention to them as he watched Ms. Anna's life of struggling and defeat. He watched as she faced something like what he did, watched her as she found her other person. Watched her fall in love, get married, and have a child. And then the war came. Ms. Anna's child was killed before her, her beloved surrendering himself in exchange for her safety. He felt all her pain as her soul mate was taken away from her. Then he watched sadly as she picked herself back up from all the rubble and devoted her life to solving the mystery of telepathy, dedicating her time to helping people like her not follow her into despair. He didn't know he
was crying until the end. Only then did he notice how quiet Ms. Anna's mind was. He couldn't seem to feel her presence anywhere. He felt the barrier she had built and slowly, carefully deconstructed it, pulling them both out of her subconscious. He opened his eyes to see her looking at him, tears openly flowing from her eyes. He took her in his arms and held her close, hugging her. The woman before him had faced so much in her short life and had never been able to lean on anyone, to let anyone support her since her husband had been wrenched away from her. Shaw, the thought murderously. That was the name of the man that had taken her Michael away. He felt murderous rage wash through him as he recalled the young man's face. How he wished he could pummel the man. Then a shiver ran down his spine. He'd seen that man before. Wasn't that Erik's Shaw. And oh god, Michael—Anna's Michael. He'd seen that face before. And those eyes, he'd know those eyes anywhere. He'd seen them enough times in his dreams. Though they had changed slightly over the years, hardened, they were undoubtedly the eyes of-
"Ms. Anna," he croaked out, his throat dry suddenly. "I know where Michael is." He felt Ms. Anna freeze in his arms. She pulled away slowly and he saw that her eyes were hard. "I know where your Michael is," he repeated.
She pursed her lips. "How do you know?"
"Because he's with my soul mate."
Haha! I know that's not much of a cliff hanger and it's pretty obvious who Ms. Anna's soul mate is, I love the end. What will Charles and Ms. Anna do now? Reviews are love and once I get 5 pieces of love, I'll update. Till then!