A/N Just a few things. Canon will not be changed in this story. Not until the attack on the vineyard when Immortal Xander and his Cordelia show up. Mostly this is going to be Xander and Willow's thoughts and feelings as they become the people Immortal Xander met. Which means Willow will seem like the bad guy. And if you've read the Immortal series then you know there's three possible explanations for her behavior. 1. She's a mutant herself and an unstable one at that (mentally, emotionally). 2. She's not a mutant, but does have a split personality and Magic allows it to manifest separate from Willow. Or 3. She's possessed and the being possessing her feeds her obsessions so she Willow, will feed it Magic so it can grow and eventually separate from her. She's going to be having alot of internal debates. But so will Xander as he tries to understand things that happen and his own behavior isn't going to make sense to him because he won't know Willow's responsible for it.
None of the Sunnydale mutants are normal mutants, if there is such a thing as a normal mutant, I mean. This will not become known until after they finally reach Xavier's Institute.
Xander's mutant abilities will activate in stages and yes, right now his mental abilities have been activated. But he doesn't know that yet and he is suppressing his emotions so much that he's also suppressing his as yet unknown mental abilities. His physical abilities will manifest later. His mental abilities will flare in times of emotional stress, which means Jean will become aware of him each time and glean more impressions as time goes on.
For the record, this is not meant as a Willow bashing fic. I get that some people like her and I don't. It's just her canonical behavior makes it believable, to me at least, that she could be responsible for certain actions of Xander's, as well as Faith's and Giles. This fic attempts to understand why she'd behave that way. So please, refrain from sending me more nasty PM's saying what a horrible person I am for being mean to sweet perfect Willow. Gag me, she's not. None of them are. But Xander was the only character not allowed to grow, even if he was the only one, besides Giles, to be financially successful. Construction pays well, after all. Why do you think I keep trying to analyze their behavior and figure out hopefully believable explanations? Who knew there were so many different possibilities?
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April 7th. The Pack episode. Xavier Institute.
Jean burst into the Professor's office again without knocking.
"Professor, it's happening again. A connection has formed again. All I'm getting is an impression of terror. It's blocking anything else I might get."
Charles wheeled his wheelchair over to Cerebro. "It's ongoing this time?"
"Yes, it hasn't stopped. Just that feeling of terror. Something bad is happening. Very bad."
"I'll scan, since it's ongoing, hopefully I'll be able to pick something up this time."
"Anything, Professor?" Jean asked anxiously as she became aware of something else.
"No, I'm sorry, Cerebro is not finding any new mutants being active."
"Professor, I'm getting a different kind of familiarity sense this time."
"What makes it different this time?" He asked curiously.
"I think whoever I'm connecting to, is experiencing something I've experienced. Something that terrified me."
"Something you've experienced that terrified you could be any number of different things. From witnessing the death of someone you love to the Dark Phoenix event."
"Since all I'm getting is impressions at the edges of my consciousness, I can't be sure on anything, but it could be either of those possibilities." Jean agreed. "The sense of terror is blocking everything else. I can't get a sense of who this person is or where they are or what is actually happening. Last time it was just a momentary flare, this time it's ongoing."
"Then whatever is causing the terror hasn't abated. We should check the news, see if there's a disaster happening somewhere. Our systems alert us to certain key words, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things that might cause issues."
"True, I'm going to go to my quarters and try to relax. Maybe I can connect from my end and gain more information or try to help this person in some way."
"Good idea, I'll let you know if I find anything as well. This grows more worrisome as time goes on. Why can't Cerebro finds this person? Something must be blocking this person from my systems being able to find them."
"Whoever this person is, Professor, he or she has to be strong themselves to be able make contact at all, unless they're nearby, but especially if something or someone is attempting to block him or her."
"Probably. We'll speak later."
Jean nodded and headed to her room. One thought was on her own mind. 'What was this person experiencing that made it seem familiar to her?' Once there she laid down and tried to relax.
'Hear me, you're not alone. Let me help you. Let me in.' She sent the thoughts through the thread of connection and got...confusion? Was whoever it was confused by her, the connection or her offer? Before Jean could figure it out or get any more impressions, the connection stopped as abruptly as it had started. She got back up and went to find the Professor.
"I was able to make contact from my end." She told him. "Whoever it was, was confused by my contact. Why they were confused, I'm unsure. It could be they weren't aware a connection had formed or they could have been confused by the offer of help that I sent. Either way, the connection was severed from their end."
"The news programs aren't reporting any type of disaster either." The Professor reported. "So not something big enough to register on the national or international news programs. I've set the system to scan small local events that might be responsible. At this point, I think that's all we can do, unless this person makes contact again."
"I'm worried, Professor. Mutant abilities normally activate when we're teenagers. Which means there's a teenager, possibilty a mutant, out there, possibly with no one to help him or her, who's terrified."
"We won't give up, I promise you that." Charles assured her.
