Chapter 60
Being kissed is not something Wanda has great experience of. Ok she has zero experience of it so therefore she has no idea if the sensations she is feeling means if it is good or not. It feels good if that means anything. Really, really good as matter of fact. There's this sort of rush of warmth perforating through her.
"Relax," he whispers as he gently nibbles on her lips.
'God, that really feels good,' Wanda thinks to herself.
Kal smiles inwardly as he feels Wanda slowly start to melt under his ministrations. He is just about to up the ante when he is enveloped in a blue/black hex field and goes flying across the hallway and through the opposite wall. "What the fuck?!" he exclaims as he picks himself up and dusts himself down. He steps back through the hole his body made to see Wanda's expression is almost incandescent with rage. Her hands are still glowing as they are clenched tight into fists.
"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Wanda yells at him.
"What?" Kal asks, clueless about what he did.
"You have a girlfriend, dumbass!" Wanda reminds him and that, by the way, was what spurred her to hex him. She suddenly remembered Rogue.
Kal rolls her eyes. "Right. The ol' ball and chain. Well we're not exactly on speaking terms at the minute. She refuses to speak to me until I'm back to 'normal'," he says with air-quotes. "She has no idea what she is missing out on," he points out with his usual cockiness.
"I can't blame her!" Wanda says, in total agreement with Rogue if this is any indication of what 'Evil Clark' is like.
"Women," Kal says disparagingly. "You're so damn touchy and moody," he complains.
Wanda growls at him. "Why the hell did you kiss me?!" she demands to know.
Kal shrugs. "It just occurred to me that you had most likely never been kissed and I thought if you're going to get a first one it should be the best one possible. Sure this means that every other person you might date now has an impossible standard to reach but those are the burdens huh?" he says with a smug self-satisfied grin.
"Don't flatter yourself. It wasn't that good."
"No of course not. Those moans you were making were obviously ones of repulsion," he says sarcastically.
"I did not moan!" Wanda insists...or did she? She can't remember.
Kal chuckles amused. "Oh I must be good if you were so into it you can't even remember the sounds you were making."
Wanda's eyes narrow. "You...you..." she is now so mad she can't think of a word to describe him but her temper has started to cause the entire floor to warp in response.
Kal is almost knocked off his feet as the floor shifts under him. He just about manages to keep his balance. "I was so right about the moody part. Is it your time of the month or something?"
A moment later there is a second hole in the wall next to the first as Wanda hexes him again and then storms off before she levels the building or kills him. Both are tempting options right now. The second one more than the first.
Kal picks himself up and dusts himself off once again. "Women," he mutters. "I really need to start being more picky," he says before he pauses, thinks that over and shakes his head. "Nah," he decides. His way of choosing women is just fine.
Wanda, after a quick bathroom break, ends up knocking of a certain fellow Goth's door. It is opened a few moments later.
"Wanda?" Rogue queries, with audible surprise at seeing the girl in scarlet red. Her eyes fall on Wanda's new top. "Girlz Rule?" she asks at the writing emblazoned upon it.
Wanda shrugs with a small smile. "It's true."
Rogue manages her own small smile. That was true. "What brings ya here?"
"The Professor's messages," Wanda explains.
"Oh."
"Can I ask a question?"
"Sure."
"What is going on? I mean I just met Clark..."
Rogue stops Wanda right there. "What did he do now?" she asks with a sad, resigned tone.
"Beyond being a colossal jerk?!" Wanda snaps angrily. Although she spares the details of what he did for the moment.
"Ah'm sorry. He's not himself," Rogue feels she should apologise because at the moment Clark is incapable of even thinking that.
"Don't apologise for him," Wanda tells her. "Just tell me what is going on," she requests.
Rogue sighs and ushers Wanda inside. "Ah guess no-one evah explained ta ya about red kryptonite and Clark's alter ego," she can assume.
"There's a red kryptonite?" Wanda inquiries, a puzzled expression on her face. She knew of the green variety that was fatal to him but didn't know it came in red. She sits down on the chair at Rogue's dressing table.
"It's a little more complex than that this tahme but that's a good starting point," Rogue says as she sits down on her bed and begins to explain everything that has been happening lately.
Along the corridor, not too far away, Martha and Jonathan are helping Claire, particularly, settle back into her new room. Her old room having been literally blown up when Lionel destroyed the mansion. Ororo was there helping Marie. For now it seemed the best arrangement to help Marie make the big jump from defecting from the Hellions to joining the Institute was if she stayed with Claire...although rules may have to be laid down on behaviour considering how close the two girls apparently are.
"Knock, knock!" Kitty's cheerful tones announce her arrival. The word of Volcana and Tarot's appearance had quickly spread round and she thought she would come and greet them. She really didn't have anything else to do. Peter had had to go home, having already spent more time with them than he really should have considering the other obligations he has. The fact he spent that much time with them...with her was what really showed Kitty that Peter was special.
Kitty is not alone. Kurt had joined her in deciding to welcome the 2 girls. "Willkomen!" he greets them.
"Kurt. Kitty," Claire greets them back, finding she is genuinely pleased to see them although she is worried about the reaction she will get considering what she did to those MRD guys. It was still a worry she couldn't shake despite making her decision to return.
"Ve vould have brought zhe velcome gift baskets but I'm afraid ve're all out," Kurt jokes.
Marie giggles at that.
Kurt smiles at the fact he made the French girl laugh.
"It's like so good you decided to come here," Kitty gushes to Marie. "I've been like missing a shopping buddy ever since Jubilee left," she gripes.
Claire rolls her eyes. "Kitty could you not try and corrupt her. She's been here 5 seconds," she tells the Illinois native off.
"But I like shopping," Marie points out.
"Ooh we'll have to go to the mall!" Kitty says excitedly in almost a squeal of excitement. "I'll show you all the good places!" she offers.
"Well it will have to be before my parents cut me off," Marie proposes with a pained expression.
"Vhy vould zhey cut you off?" Kurt inquires.
"Because I haven't told them yet that I've ditched Ms Frost for here," Marie admits since this was a very impulsive decision.
"Marie," Ororo address her. "I think it best you contact them as soon as possible," she says because the girl's parents have to know where she is.
"I know. I know," Marie accepts. Although she doubts that'll be a fun conversation because her parents liked Ms Frost. "Is there a phone I can use?" she asks because her cell phone battery is dead. "I might as well get it over with," she says, her face filled with dread.
"It'll be alright," Claire says, more in hope than expectation. After all, Marie and her haven't been dating very long so she doesn't know what Marie's parents are really like. She knows they're well off because when Marie buys she buys expensive.
"From your lips to God's ears," Marie says as Ororo takes her where she can speak to her parents in private.
Kitty and Kurt leave as well which leaves Claire alone with her mother and Mr Kent. "So...how are we doing this?" she asks, not being someone to let things hang awkwardly. She wants to know how this will work.
"However you want," Jonathan tells her. He knows that careful steps need to be taken until they all have had time to adjust to this new situation.
"I don't know what I want except that I want to be here."
"That's a start," Martha says with a smile as she gazes at her daughter. It's still amazing to her to think that the girl in front of her is her own flesh and blood. "Claire, Jonathan and I...we aren't going to push you or judge you or anything else you might think but when you are ready to talk we will be here," she says.
"Absolutely," Jonathan agrees. The situation has to be handled delicately.
"Thank you," Claire says.
"Sooooo tell me about this girl you're seeing?" Martha queries with a teasing expression.
"Mom!" Claire protests, now slightly embarrassed. In fact she may just be mortified beyond description.
Jonathan laughs with a shake of his head. "Martha," he gently rebukes her.
"It's a legitimate question," Martha defends her nosiness.
Claire buries her head into her hands. This wasn't what she was expecting at all. She raises her head and asks a question. "Where's Clark?" She hadn't seen him since she got back and since he is her brother she supposes she should speak to him or something.
Martha and Jonathan look at each other as they suddenly remember what Clark said about Claire not being able to remember about him being Superman. She's seen him but doesn't realise she has. Not with Clark still strutting around in Kal mode.
"You may want to sit Claire," Jonathan advises.
"This will take some explaining," Martha follows on.
"Is Clark alright? Has something happened?" Claire asks. Sure she is a guarded person but she liked Clark as far as she can remember...although now she takes a moment some of her memories of him do seem slightly...fuzzy. Claire sits on the edge of her bed and waits as Martha and Jonathan attempt to explain.
In the Professor's office he and Dr Strange are conversing about recent events over some tea. Stephen's expression is grim and a bit apologetic. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. If I had known you had met Selene I would have been."
"Do you know her?" Charles asks.
"I know of her. I also know of her relation to the Countess Thoreaux. Wong found some old records detailing that relationship. I did not expect the Countess, though, to seek her mother out. From our records they had a...fractious relationship at best."
"How so?"
"You know how the Countess died?"
"Yes. She was burned at the stake."
"There were witnesses. All recorded by the local magistrate. These included one Selene Thoreaux as she went by at the time."
"She watched her own daughter burn?" Charles queries in total horrified shock at that.
Stephen nods. "And did not lift a finger to aid Isobel when she could have done so with little more than a snap of her fingers."
"I only wish that was the worse thing I have heard about that...woman, assuming you can call her that," Charles says with plenty of dislike for Selene.
"She is capable of great evil. You were lucky."
"How so?"
"You heard of Pompeii?" Stephen asks.
Charles pales. "That was...?"
"Yes. That was her," Stephen confirms that Selene was in fact the one responsible for the famous destruction of that ancient city. "When enraged she is capable of such a level of destruction." Stephen sips on his tea. "I am sorry Charles," he repeats his sincere apology. "I never expected you to meet her."
"I understand," Charles accepts his friend's apology.
"It does explain why I can't trace Isobel though. Selene is easily more than capable of cloaking herself and anyone she wishes from my sight," Stephen sees some of the mystery fading away.
"Will Selene have survived what happened to her?" Charles asks, in reference to what Clark did.
"Oh no doubt. Selene is immortal. It'll take her awhile to recover. A few months maybe but it will not be the last you see of her I'm afraid," Stephen has to give the grave warning.
Charles was afraid of that. He moves on to the next most pressing issue. "I need your help with Clark, Stephen. Can you do what Isobel did and help me enter his mind so I can undo Emma's meddling?"
Stephen sips on more of his tea as he thinks over the possible spells. "I know a couple of spells that I can try that might be analogous to what Isobel did. Although knowing the exact incantation she used would be most beneficial."
Charles ponders that for a moment. "It's possible Clark remembers what Isobel did and said. The problem is I don't know how willing he would be to share that information. His current personality is...rather difficult," he describes it and that is putting it mildly.
"You can but ask, Charles," Stephen says to that.
Charles nods slightly in agreement to that. "Clark," he says into the air. "I need to speak to you. Can you come to my office?" he requests.
Nothing.
"He's being difficult," Charles has to admit with resigned tones.
"Allow me," Stephen offers as he chants a teleportation spell since it is rather easy to find Clark due to the boy's enormous power.
A flash of light signals Clark's arrival.
"What the..." Kal starts to say before he spots Dr Strange. "Oh. It's you. You know I really don't like magic," he says with an unhappy frown at being teleported here in that manner.
"My apologies," Stephen says to try and placate the boy. "However it was urgent we talk to you."
"So you can what? Put me back in my box?" Kal guesses. He shakes his head. "Nu uh. Not going to happen," he refuses to go along with it.
"Clark," the Professor says. "If that were true you wouldn't still be here."
"You've been talking to dear old dad haven't you," Kal assumes with a small dirty look.
The Professor remains calm but firm. "Clark," he says simply. "Deep down I think you know that you can't remain like this. This personality is...an unbalancing. A side of you unleashed without the normal controls."
"But it's so boring!" Kal whines childishly. "The farmboy doesn't know how to have fun. He barely ever lets me out!"
Stephen could now see what Charles meant when he said this personality was difficult. He was like a stroppy, huffy child...which would not be so bad if it wasn't for the fact Clark possesses immense power.
"Clark," the Professor repeats, calmly but firmly, radiating an aura of authority, as if he is a teacher trying to discipline a misbehaving student.
Kal throws his hands up. "Ok. Ok," he relents. "If only because Rogue won't otherwise talk to me. It's so not fair of her to cut the tap off...and boy is she something I really miss tapping."
That was too much information.
"Please sit, Clark," the Professor offers.
Kal does so, reluctantly and not looking very happy about it but sit down he does.
"Now to start with Stephen requests if you can tell us what you can remember about the spell Isobel used."
Kal snorts. "I wouldn't use that. She's pretty useless," he insults Isobel.
"Still it is best I know. Spells can linger for some time within the subject after they are cast and I would not wish to use something that might an adverse reaction upon you," Stephen calmly gives a reason he needs to know.
"I hate magic," Kal mutters.
Claire is just listening to Martha and Jonathan explain about Isobel, the other 2 witches, Clark and everything that has happened when she suddenly feels very dizzy.
Martha and Jonathan are instantly to her side with deep concern as Claire comes close to toppling over.
"Are you alright?" Martha asks as she holds her daughter.
"Yeah. I'm fine. I..." Claire stiffens. "I remember," she says in hushed tones.
"Remember what?" Jonathan asks.
"Everything. I was listening to you talk and then just...poof! It all came flooding back."
Martha and Jonathan had to say they didn't expect that. Then again no-one knows exactly what it was Wanda did. She did it out of the best of intentions which both Martha and Jonathan deeply appreciate from the girl.
"Should we leave the room?" Jonathan asks, making a joke in reference to Volcana's short temper. That earns him a punch to the arm from his wife.
Claire snorts out a laugh which she tries to smother with her hand over her mouth. She just found that very funny.
"So we don't have to leave the room?" Jonathan asks innocently, which earns him another punch.
"I..." Claire coughs to stop her laughter. "No. I'm alright. I am," she says a little weirded out that she really doesn't feel any anger at all. Her life is screwed up in so many ways but she's here with her mother...her actual mother and the anger just isn't there. "So...um...that colossal, unfeeling jerk I met is really Clark?" she asks, totally confused by how it can be him. Clark's so...vanilla. It doesn't seem possible that this almost complete opposite persona is within him.
Martha and Jonathan both groan lightly. "At the moment, yes," Jonathan has to confirm. "We're sorry about him. Hopefully we'll figure out to restore him to normal soon."
"You shouldn't be too angry. Without him I wouldn't have come back," Claire says in Clark's defence. Yes, she's actually defending him like...like a sister would she guesses.
"That'll cut a week off his lifetime grounding," Martha says, sounding dead serious about that.
"Clark is Superman," Claire says it just to get her memories back in some order. "By the way Superman?" she inquires about the name.
"The Bugle came up with it," Jonathan answers that one.
"What about Marie?" Claire suddenly remembers her girlfriend. "Does she get told?"
That raises the issue Jonathan was worrying about when Sean and Moira showed up.
"If you feel she can be trusted then yes. Otherwise we're going to have to let everyone else know not to speak of it. You will have to choose," Martha leaves the decision to her daughter.
"I...uh...we...we haven't been dating that long. I know she chose to come here but we're still trying to get to know each other," Claire tries to explain where she and Marie are or in other words she doesn't know if Marie can be 100% trusted.
"Well take a little time to think it over," Martha suggests. "We can keep it secret for now. When Paige came we gave it a day or two to be thought over before deciding."
"Paige?"
"Sam's sister," Jonathan explains who Paige is.
"She's a mutant?"
"Yes."
"And Wanda's a real life witch?" Claire gets back round to that.
"I think we use the term sorceress in training."
Claire shakes her head. "This place is crazier than I remember," she mutters.
"And we haven't even gotten around to explaining the fact there were an earlier team of X-Men that included Magneto and Mystique," Jonathan jokes dryly.
Claire's mouth opens but no sound escapes it. She just doesn't know what to say.
Just then Marie returns with Storm. Marie's face is tense looking.
"How did it go?" Martha inquires kindly.
"Well they didn't demand I immediately go back to Ms Frost's so that's a plus," Marie says. Her tone gives away that there must be a negative.
"Tell them what else," Ororo encourages the girl. She ended up having to talk to Marie's parents for a bit.
"They're...um...they're catching the next flight over to talk to Professor Xavier and inspect the Institute," Marie says with dread. Telling them over the phone was one thing. Explaining this in person to them is a terrifying prospect.
"Oh jeez," Claire mildly swears, knowing that this place is a madhouse. She rises to her feet, walks over to Marie and wraps an arm around the petite girl's waist. "Well it'll be fine," she tries to sound reassuring.
"You think so?" Marie asks with trepidation.
"Sure. We just have to get everyone to promise to behave. Then it will be fine...just as soon as I kill Drake," Claire says with a disturbing gleam of enthusiasm in her eye as she prepares to resume her never ending war with Iceman. There's even the maniacal chuckle she always makes when she's about to get him.
Marie looks at her girlfriend strangely having never seen this side of her.
Ororo, Jonathan and Martha simultaneously groan at facing the prospect of Claire and Bobby resuming their hate-hate relationship.
"We're going to have rebuild the mansion again aren't we," Ororo says with a resigned tone.
"Yep," Jonathan confirms morosely. He then looks at how happy Martha is at being united with her daughter and concludes, "But it'll be worth it."
Once Kal had decided to cooperate it hadn't taken Stephen long to recognise the spell the boy was describing and he was soon able after that to cast his own spell. That led to him being able to help Charles enter the boy's mind .
Charles now stands inside the mind of Clark Kent. He is standing, outside a door when had been sealed with seams of diamond, alongside Kal. "One of Emma's mental blocks," Charles recognises the work. His mental projection leans in closer and examines it.
"The other mes are inside," Kal says, still sulking but helping.
"Emma locked them up where they locked you up, leaving you solely in charge," Charles can deduce.
"Well it was what we let her think."
Charles pauses and looks at Kal. "You set her up didn't you. You let her think she was getting what she wanted," he interprets Kal's words to mean.
"Of course we did. How shallow do you think I am? She's not that hot...especially not to someone who can see the surgery scars no matter how well hidden they are."
To see the surgery scars he would have had to x-ray her, Charles realises. He won't comment. He turns his attention back to Emma's work. She was good. Really good but still she was only his student and he is her teacher and he knows how she works and the flaws. He reaches into his pocket and produces what looks like a tuning fork. He hits it against the diamond growth making it ring. The fork then alters in shape and length, altering the tune until it hits the resonating frequency. Emma had done this in a hurry from what he can see so it wasn't a defence built to last. The noise from the fork grows. The diamond growth vibrates louder and louder until it shatters to pieces.
"There," Charles pronounces. "Now let us talk with these other yous shall we?" he proposes as he reaches for the knob and opens the door.
Kal and the Professor are transported into a bedroom where they find a Superman dressed in black, floating, cross-legged, mediating and one in a red jacket sitting on the bed playing cards. "Clark?" Charles queries about the one on the bed believing it to be the real Clark.
Clark looks up. "Oh hey Professor! Welcome to my mind...or as I like to call it the Institute for the deranged, disturbed and dullards."
Kal snorts with laughter. "That's pretty good," he praises the farmboy version of him.
There is a painful sounding groan as Kal-El makes move to stand up straight. "You have been living amongst humans far too long Clark Kent," he complains.
"Says you!" Kal derides him.
"Professor may I reintroduce Kal-El of Krypton. I believe you at least had a brief encounter with him," Clark explains who the 3rd figure is.
"Greetings Professor Xavier," Kal-El says with a small bow of his head.
"Greetings," Charles says back with a small bow in return. He then takes a moment to try and get a handle on the situation within Clark's mind. "Clark, please explain to me what has been going on?" he requests.
"Well I'm pretty certain this mess is all Jor-El's fault," Clark says first off.
"Everything is Jor-El's fault," Kal says bitterly, being the vessel for many of Clark's angers and frustrations at their father.
"In what way?" the Professor asks Clark to elaborate.
"He let me out early. Before he was finished," Clark repeats a remark he made about the amnesiac state he had been found in after the summer.
"He's left your mind fractured into disparate personalities," Charles comes to understand. Jor-El not finishing his work may have allowed them to reach Clark and bring him back but it also has left his mind in a not very sound condition. He should have realised this sooner, Charles berates himself.
"I do my best to keep them locked up but only Jor-El can help me...what was it you said?" Clark asks Kal-El.
"We must be reintegrated," Kal-El repeats his words.
"Yes. That. Not in any rush to do that," Clark says with no enthusiasm at all to see Jor-El. For all he knows if he allows Jor-El back in he might try and finish the job of turning him into a brainwashed puppet.
"Our father only wants the best for us," Kal-El insists.
"So says the brainwashed puppet," Kal mocks him.
Kal-El shoots Kal a glare. "I do not take advice from repressed emotional induced aberrations. Now be silent or you shall not like the consequences."
Kal holds his hand up and makes it mock shake. "Ooh. I'm so scared," he says sarcastically.
"Please. Enough," Charles says sternly as he tries to bring the bickering to a stop. This is also not a sign of sound mental health that he is going to have to concern himself about. "Clark I want to know how this came to be. You tricked Emma, why?" he asks, wanting to understand Clark's thinking.
Clark sighs. "I had time to think while I was strung up in the dungeon and my conclusion was a question; how do I get the Inner Circle off our backs long enough to retrieve the stones?"
"Your answer?"
"Get them to let me in, lower their guard and then strike at them using the very object they so coveted."
"A cunning strategy, don't you think?" Kal-El asks, his tone one of praise for the plan the 3 of them concocted.
"So we," Clark gestures at himself and his other 2 selves, "had a talk and planned it out. We would let Emma see what we wanted her to see and make it seem like I was at war with myself, in the process revealing a personality she would see as malleable to her whims," he points at Kal. He continues. "Once done the next stage was obvious. Deliver the X-Men as proof of my betrayal and get you exactly where we needed you to be. In the process you were a distraction while all the time we plotted with Sage."
"Yes. What did you and Sage agree?" Charles asks, seeking clarification.
"It wasn't too hard to find a private place for us to talk. I revealed I knew of her true allegiance and we came up with a plan. One, she would make sure the security cameras would not see anything that would give the game away. After all at some point I did have to free Peter from his chains and have no-one notice."
"He would retrieve the stone from the vault...after the door had already been ripped off making it easier for him to sneak in unnoticed," Charles starts to unravel Clark's plotting.
"Yep."
"Peter also freed Wolverine," Charles knows from what Logan had said.
"Yep."
"I think I need to have a talk with him about his side of this," Charles decides since Peter had had to rush off home, understandably and they never really had time to discuss Peter's part of it in detail.
"Oh sure, lets give Peter an excuse to talk. That can never be bad," Clark says with an eye roll.
"Sage was the one who released the collars, yes?"
"Yes."
"What was the point Clark? What did you hope to achieve?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Kal asks, as if it should be. "We humiliated Shaw," he says with great glee at doing that. "We showed him up as incompetent in front of his fellows. It'll take him weeks to explain this off and defend his position and while he's busy doing that we'll get the 3rd stone, unite them and then...uh not actually sure what happens then. In any case no-one but us will have them."
"As it should be," Kal-El says. "Humans are not ready for such power."
"And Selene?"
Kal laughs. "Oh God. That was priceless. That almost makes up for having the icky, icky image of her and Jor-El stuck in our head."
"She is dealt with for the moment," Kal-El states calmly and coldly, bereft of emotion.
"Clark?" Charles asks for his reaction.
Clark shrugs. "It gets her off our backs."
"Clark. I wish to speak in private," Charles requests.
The room vanishes and Charles finds himself and Clark standing in a dark space.
"They're locked back up," Clark explains about where his others are gone. "Now what do you wish to say Professor?"
"Clark...your reaction about Selene. You are not that uncaring. I am concerned," Charles explains why he wanted this discussion.
"I am concerned about the whole world Professor. People like Isobel, Selene, Shaw, Magneto, SHIELD, Lionel...heck even Lex, must not get the stones. They would lead to this world being left in ruin. If I have to...bend the line over which I would usually not cross then I guess that is what I will have to do. My friends will no longer be put in danger because of me...because of what comes with me wherever I go."
"Clark...this is not your fault," Charles says and he can hear Clark blaming himself.
"China. That was a small taste of the chaos that will come if I do not find those stones. I will not allow it."
"Clark we have two now," Charles points out and if you have two they lead to the last one. Their quest is all but over.
"I'm not uniting them Professor unless I have no other choice."
"Why?"
"Because it activates the 3rd stone, the Crystal of Water, and I have no idea what power that stone has. Something about transference," he says with a puzzled expression because he doesn't know what that means. "I would rather not take the risk."
Charles can see Clark is in a dangerous place. He walks forward and places his hands on Clark's shoulders as he attempts to pull Clark back before he does step over the line. "Clark, I understand your concern for people but in your desire to protect them don't forsake what you believe in. This burden is not yours alone to bear. We agreed to share it. Let us. If you wish to try and solve the puzzle for the Crystal of Water as the means to locate it then we will aid you."
Clark is torn. He doesn't want his friends put in any more danger because of Krypton's legacy, whose burden falls upon him yet it is a weight he doesn't desire to carry by himself either. "I never wanted any of this," he says in a strained whisper, guilt pouring from him.
"Life rarely gives us what he want, Clark."
"And I know that better than most," Clark says with a sad resignation at how he almost never gets what he wants.
Charles looks at Clark. He is visibly stressed looking. Thinking on it Charles can see that since Clark returned after his imprisonment over the summer it had been one thing after another and at no point have they really just stopped, sat down and discussed what happened to him during the missing 3 months which must have been quite traumatic to have had his mind torn down and then rebuilt.
Charles mentally berates himself. Clark is so good at hiding his true self Charles has missed it. Missed the strains Clark must be going through that has led to this. He can even remember Scott mentioning once about Clark admitting he doesn't always sleep. In fact as Charles examines Clark's expression closely you can just about see the weariness creeping in at the corners of his eyes. When was the last time Clark actually slept properly is a good question.
Ideally Charles should insist Clark take a break but they must find the 3rd stone first. Too many other people are searching for it and Fury only gave him a short window. The best Charles can do is to try and make sure Clark lets him and the X-Men assist him and share the burden. Once the 3rd stone is found and safe Charles will see about getting Clark to ease down and take some time to deal with what has been done to him. "Clark," he says. "Lets not make any hasty decisions today, hmm? After all you have a sister now you have to get to know," he says to allow some time to pass and for Clark to think over what he has said.
A smile cracks through Clark's exterior as he remembers that. He has a sister. He's always wanted a sibling. "Ok, Professor," he agrees.
"Good," Charles says with a small feeling of triumph before he exits Clark's mind and returns to his body still sitting in his office.
Clark blinks. It's weird being back in charge after being confined to a corner of his mind. He can remember everything Kal did like he did it, only it wasn't him, except it was him in a way. Like he said it's weird. He takes a breath and then his eyes widen in horror as he suddenly remembers what Kal did.
Kal kissed Wanda. Really, really kissed her.
Clark's head drops into his hands as one resounding thought plays over and over in his head. 'Oh dear God. I'm dead.'
Author's Note: So as I said before Clark has issues which doesn't help but in some ways I think that maybe it was brushed over too easily on the show what Jor-El did to Clark that summer. Surely it has to have had a longer term effect on Clark's mind. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; just the final little tidy-up of this adventure.