Chapter 24

The Brotherhood House

Ellie sat on the cold edge of the bath tub with her X communicator resting limply in her hands. Eli had not answered when she tried to contact him and she assumed the only reason why was because of their encounter earlier. Her knees clicked together as the bathroom door opened.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you were in here," Lance said as he gripped the bottom of a mauve towel draped over his shoulder.

"You're fine," she assured him as she snapped her communicator back on her wrist.

"Well I'm in no rush to shower or anything so go ahead and take your time in here."

"I'm finished in here." Ellie stepped into the hallway.

"Okay." Lance eyed her awkwardly, noticing her eyes were a bit hazy. "Are you, uh, feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, enjoy your shower."

Lance watched as Ellie made her way down the stairs and he rolled his eyes. Here he was, trying to be a nice guy and he failed.

"And I thought dealing with Kitty's mood swings was tough," he said to himself before entering the bathroom.

The X-Mansion

"Eli, you big jerk!" Kitty yelled as the tall boy shuffled through the front door. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" he asked.

"That you and Bobby were going to the Brotherhood House to look for your sister."

"Well Bobby sure has a big mouth."

"Well?" Kitty folded her arms across her chest, waiting for an answer.

"Well what?"

"Did you get to talk to her?"

"Yes."

"…and?"

"And nothing. We talked, I left and that's it."

Kitty studied his tired eyes. She was certain that something else had happened but she couldn't decipher what on her own. She wanted Eli to give her something to go on, but his tone indicated clearly that he wasn't going to help her out any. Logan passed through the room and Eli ran after him, leaving Kitty as quickly as he had joined her.

"Hey, Mister Logan?" Eli said as he placed himself next to his professor.

"Whaddaya want kid?" Logan asked.

"I think I need to talk."

"So? Talk then."

"I think I want my powers taken away."

Logan stopped walking and turned toward Eli. He had a desperate but certain look in his eyes that Logan couldn't ignore. Something had riled him up or else he wouldn't be talking about this.

"Oh, that kind of talk," Logan said. "Well Waterboy, let's get you to Charles and see where this conversation goes."

Charles pressed his fingertips together and rested them against his lips. Eli sat quietly on the couch in front of him with Storm comfortably seated on the couch's arm. Logan stood in the doorway, still close enough to be considered a part of the conversation, but reserved from the other people involved in case he needed to leave the room. Charles listened to Eli's request, but was uncertain as to how he should continue the impending conversation with the young boy.

"Eli, what prompted you to make this decision?" Charles asked.

"You already know about the incident with that Sabretooth guy," Eli explained. "I lost control. I would have killed him if professor Logan hadn't-"

"Sabretooth has been thrown around plenty of times kid," Logan interrupted. "He'll be fine. So don't let one little fight pressure you into making a choice that you don't need to make."

"I'm the only one who can make this choice!" Eli yelled. Storm quickly placed a soothing hand on his shoulder and he calmed down. "I haven't been given the chance to make many decisions for myself throughout my life. I know what I am asking for. I know how much my life will be impacted."

"Let us help you learn to control the side of you that you cannot control on your own," Storm urged. "That is our goal here. We are here to help you learn discipline, and how to properly control the powers that you were given. Give us a chance to help you, Eli."

"Storm is right Waterboy. You haven't given us a chance to help you out." Logan looked to Charles for words of encouragement or for him to back him up on this. "Work with the other students, rely on them to help you during the next battle you're in and you'll see that you can control yourself. You just need to be in the right situation."

"I do not believe that this want and your eagerness to eliminate your powers stems solely from an altercation with Sabretooth," Charles said, finally making his presence known in the conversation. "I am happy to meet with you on a daily basis to try and decipher why you have such a strong distaste for your gifts, Eli. But I will not be the man who steals those gifts away from you.

Eli tensed in his seat and he started digging the heel of his boot into the carpet. He was trying to stay calm. He didn't want another incident like what had happened earlier to occur in front of these three adults. All he knew was that his one request had just been denied, and although he was not going to accept that, he wasn't going to make a spectacle here.

"I don't need any therapy sessions with you Professor," Eli said.

"It isn't therapy Eli. It's just a time for us to get to the root of your emotional connection to this issue," Charles explained.

"There is no emotional connection. I just want to be a normal guy for once, you know? I want to be able to pick a rose without it growing or dying at my touch. I want to take a shower without fearing that I'll turn into water and somehow fall down the drain."

"That is an emotional response to your powers though Eli," Storm told him. "That's what Charles wants to help you with."

"I'm just going to take Logan's advice. It was a stupid idea for me to bring this up with all of you," Eli stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry for bothering all of you. If I need to talk I'll find you."

Logan remained in the doorway as Eli stopped in front of him. The two locked eyes and remained silent for too long. Eli shrugged and motioned to the doorway. Finally, Logan allowed him to leave, but he kept an eye on him until he disappeared down the hallway.

"Somethin' tells me that he ain't exactly happy with your answer Charles," Logan said.

"I fear that you're right Logan," Charles agreed. "Let's just hope he doesn't make any rash decisions and doesn't go looking for someone to help him achieve his goal."

"We'll need to keep an eye on him," Storm added.

"That we do Ororo. That we do."

A/N: Hey. So long story short I haven't updated because everything I was writing was crap. I lost my vision for my work and had to step away from it for a while. I'm sorry I didn't let you guys know until now, but I didn't want to post a filler chapter or something awful. An agent contacted me a while ago and wants a manuscript from me for possible publication so that's thrown me off my game a bit too. I have a clear head now, so I'll start updating frequently. Thank you to those of you who didn't abandon the story, I'm sorry I left you hanging. Feel free to get on my case every now and then and I'll be sure to update faster ;)