~Charles~

I jog over to Raven "What happened?" I ask her "Shaw attacked and Victoria used her telekinesis to strangle him. She's still unconscious." Raven says pointing over to where Victoria lay on a bench with Sean standing near her. I walk over to her and kneel down next to her. I bring my fore and middle finger to my temple and look into her mind. 'Victoria. Are you alright?' I ask in her mind 'Charles? When did you get here? Why aren't I waking up?' She asks panic easing into her voice 'Shaw attacked. You tried to stop him but you passed out just before he left.' I say softly to ease her distress 'As for why you aren't waking up I believe that is a your mind telling you to rest.' I say before leaving her mind "She's alright her mind is just exhausted. I'll make arrangements for you all to be sent home." I say looking up at everyone "No. We aren't going home." Sean says from next to me "And Alex isn't going back to prison." He adds "Shaw almost killed Darwin. If it weren't Victoria we wouldn't have a body to bury." Raven says crossing her arms "We have nowhere to go." Darwin says "Yes we do." I say smiling at Raven "Alright split up between cars. Raven you go in the one I'm not in." I say lifting Victoria's slight form into my arms. I walk over to a car and lay her on the backseat "Charles I'll drive you sit with Victoria." Erik says pushing my hand away from the driver's side door "Fine." I say climbing into the backseat shifting Victoria's head so it's laying in my lap.

~1 hour later~

We drive for an hour before Victoria's eyes flutter open. "Where are we?" She asks looking up at me "We're going to my house to train for the fight with Shaw." I say looking down at her. She sits up slowly so she's sitting next to me "How far away are we?" She asks "About an hour." I say looking out the window "May as well go back to sleep then." She says resting her head on my shoulder. I look down at her to see she's fallen fast asleep. "You like her don't you?" Erik asks "I don't know." I say looking at him "You do I can tell. It's in your eyes." He says smiling slightly "It's either she's oblivious or she thinks she's seeing things." He adds turning his gaze back to the road and continues driving.

~Victoria~

"You like her don't you?" I hear Erik ask Charles "I don't know." Charles answers "You do I can tell. It's in your eyes." Erik says "It's either she's oblivious or she thinks she's seeing things." He adds. I just brush it off as my mind messing with me and let darkness claim me. After roughly an hour I feel Charles shake my shoulders lightly. "What?" I ask annoyed "We're here." He answers smirking "Oh." I say getting out of the car "Holy smokes." I breathe as I get a good look at the house "Charles I don't know how you survived such hardship." Erik says teasingly "It was a hardship softened by me." Raven says pulling Charles into a one armed embrace. Charles smiles and kisses her head lightly. "Come on time for a tour." Raven says walking towards the house "Impressive." I say falling into step with Charles "I really hope everyone likes it." He says worriedly "They will." I say smiling up at him "Maybe." He says before adding "After dinner meet me in the library to start working on your telepathy." "Alright." I say quietly before jogging to catch up with the others. After we were all settled in and fed we all scatter to either our rooms or the family room. I walk into the library and see Charles standing quietly at a window "Charles?" I say making my presence known "Alright can you please take a seat?" He asks turning around to face me. When I'm seated he walks over and kneels in front of me "I'm going to try and enter your mind. You have to keep me out." He says softly "Build a mental wall around your mind." He orders. I slowly build a wall built from peace and good memories. When it's finished I nod then I feel Charles place his fore and middle fingers on my temples. After a second I feel him push against the wall. It holds. He pushes harder. It holds. He pushes with all his strength. It cracks. I reinforce it will pure will. He slams his full strength again harder. This time the wall falls but I push him out of my head almost as soon as he enters but not before he gets a glimpse of the car crash the killed my family. When I open my eyes Charles is breathing heavily "Well done. I don't think you need help with that part of telepathy." He says cracking a smile "I know you saw the crash. What do you want to say?" I ask looking down at my hands "That I feel very horrible that I saw that. I cannot believe you had to go through that." He murmurs as he wraps his arms around me "I don't know how I survived. The doctors said that I should have been paralyzed at the very least." I say against his shoulder "Tomorrow I want you to talk to Hank about him having a look at your blood. But for now we need some sleep." He says drawing back from the embrace "I had a brother. He was staying with my grandparents for the week. He would be about 24. I don't know where he is." I say softly "We'll find him I promise." He says cupping my face in his hands before he presses a kiss to my hair. "Get some sleep." He says before he stands and leaves the room.

~Next morning~

When I wake up I quickly have a shower and change into one of the outfits Raven gave me (Pic minus sunglasses and scarf and beanie). Once I'm dressed I walk down the hall to Hank's lab. I knock on the door and walk in after the muffled "Come in." "Hey Hank can you take a look at some of my blood?" I ask "Sure." He says picking up a sterilized needle and some antiseptic "Take a seat." He says gesturing at a stool. I sit down and hold out my proffered arm. Hank gently dabs on the antiseptic and draws the blood quickly and hands me a band aid to put on the small puncture. Hank puts my blood in a petri dish and places it under the microscope. "Is there any sign of another mutation?" I ask as he looks through the scope "It looks like you have some form of a healing factor. It's strong enough to heal fatal wounds, like a bullet to the heart. It looks like its not strong enough to grow back body parts." He explains looking over at me "That explains it." I say under my breath "That explains what?" Hank asks confused "Nothing. Thank you Hank." I say before leaving the room to hunt down Charles.

To be continued...

1226 words wow