Welcome one, Welcome all!

It's been a while, I've been incredibly invested with reading books at the moment and not writing my own work :P We all have these moments at times, I reckon.

But no worries, this story isn't abandoned or anything! I've just been slow.

Thanks for all the love this story has been giving and getting. Without further ado, let's begin, enjoy!


Chapter 27 - Secret


Ann wasn't herself throughout the rest of the day. Everything was a mess. A mess she'd created. She felt like a harlot despite not having slept with Charles nor Erik, but she had kissed them both. Accepted their mouths and touches. After her encounter with Charles in his study, where she'd discovered there was more to her power than she thought, Ann had avoided everyone within and outside of the house. Which, surprisingly considered the size of it all, turned out to be quite a task.

More than once someone had called out to her. Raven, Sean, Darwin, even Erik. But she had either walked away, pretending not to hear, or excuse herself by saying she had to be elsewhere. Ann spotted Charles twice, thankfully he ignored her all the same. Knowing him, he probably was fully aware she needed it.

But seeing him only reminded her of what she had done, and what she'd seen. What he had shown her. Ann wasn't sure what made her more upset, the fact that she had kissed him or that she'd relived her sister's death. A death she would never be able to forget, even if she'd somehow done so for a while.

The details had never been as clear as they had been this morning. Her sister teleporting naked into the snow. Right in between multiple soldiers. Soldiers that had been trained with one goal in mind when seeing someone like her. Death. The fact that she'd been able to see her sister's last few seconds on Earth was,- she couldn't even put it to words.

Ann had never registered this part of her gift before. The ability the see a person's last moments before dying. She'd seen Hilde's. She'd seen it from Moira's former partner. An image of Colonel Hendry flashed through her mind. Had he already been dead when she looked through him the first time?

With a shuddering breath, Ann buried her head in her hands and pulled her legs up. Her bare feet touched the cold stone of the water fountain's edge. It was already dark out. Night time. Everybody was inside having dinner. No doubt most were wondering where she was, but Ann had a suspicion Charles would come up with some sort of excuse.

She didn't want to face anyone at the moment. Especially Erik and Moira. But that had nothing to do with taking a trip down memory lane with Charles. No, that had been a whole different kind of journey. One she wasn't planning on walking again.

"Ann!"

Dear Lord.

"Ann,-"

No. Not Erik. Not now.

Quickly, she looked up and turned her head slightly away from where he was coming from. Using the back of her hand, she wiped a couple of tears away from her cheeks. Thank goodness it was dark out.

"Da bist du ja. Endlich." He came to a halt right next to her. "Why are you out here?"

Ann swallowed the lump in her throat and gave him a small smile. "It's a beautiful evening, wouldn't you agree?"

His eyebrows moved up a little and he crouched down in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She answered too quickly.

"I don't buy that. Was ist los?" He asked again.

A quiet spell fell over them and without warning he reached for one of her hands, squeezing it.

"Ann, sag es mir."

She sighed and lowered her eyes. "Charles,-"

His name had hardly crossed her lips and Erik's expression changed in an instant.

"Of course."

"Of course?"

"What did he do?" He held her hand a little tighter. "Did he go inside your head again?"

Ann opened her mouth, but Erik shook his head and went on, "Who does he think he is!"

"Erik, stop." Ann raised her free hand and placed it over his. "It's not like that, he,- we,-...We talked about my powers. Actually we discovered something about my ability."

A serious topic. That was the best way to go now. Nothing emotional. Nothing about that other thing which had happened in Charles's study. But she had to tell him. One way or another and sooner rather than later. Only how? There really was only one outcome, wasn't there? Ann couldn't imagine Erik ever forgiving her for kissing Charles.

"That still doesn't explain why you've been avoiding me all day."

Great. He wasn't listening to her. And he was right, but that was besides the point. Ann cleared her throat and turned more towards him, leaning slightly forward.

"Multiple things." She said. "I mean, we discovered more than one thing. One of them being that I,-" But Ann stopped. She'd almost told him Charles's suspicion that there was a chance she might be able to control the person she was looking through. Some sort of mind-control.

Immediately she thought of Shaw. Shaw and Erik. Erik's hatred for this awful man. It was merely a speculation, but what if Charles was right. No, Ann couldn't tell anybody. Not even Erik. Maybe even especially Erik.

"That you can what?"

"Apparently, I can do more than see through someone's eyes. I can see their final moments." Ann said instead. "If I search for somebody and they are no longer alive, it seems I can still see the last thing they saw."

Erik blinked and stared at her, letting her words sink in. "That sounds,-"

"Awful." She breathed.

"More than awful."

Ann bit her bottom lip. So much for not wanting to get emotional.

"How did you discover this?" Erik then asked. "You didn't know you could do that." That wasn't a question.

"Charles suspected it."

"Based on?"

"Based on something he once saw in my mind."

Again Erik's face fell and Ann groaned inwardly. She couldn't blame him, she felt the same way about Charles. Or used to. Still did. But before she could continue, Erik suddenly let go of her hand and stood up.

"What's wrong?" She asked this time.

"I need to have a talk with him."

"Erik, don't be,- ERIK!" Ann jumped up and scrambled after him, leaving her shoes at the fountain. "Stop." She said firmly grabbing his wrist and pulling him back.

"He needs to learn,-"

"I saw Hilde..."

That made him listen. Hilde. He'd heard that name before.

"Your sister. She was with you on the train."

"Charles asked me about it,- the first time I saw someone's last moment. He helped me remember..."

A heavy weight settled in her stomach as well as in her heart. Unbeknownst to her, Erik was feeling it too. He had seen a lot of last moments, though never through someone's eyes. The closest he'd ever gotten to that was when he saw his mother die. Something Ann had also experienced.

"I saw through her, Erik. Arriving at the camp, getting off the train. Walking to one of the shower buildings,- her and others. So many others."

Erik faced her this time and placed his hands on her upper arms, rubbing them gently. He knew what it looked like. All of it. Everything she described was something he'd seen with his own eyes.

"It was so dark. She got out of her clothes. Her Sunday dress. They went inside and the door shut." Ann tilted her head back and looked up into Erik's light blue eyes. "Pipes hissed, people were crying, Hilde hated crowds. But then,-" She paused.

"Go on." Erik nodded.

"But then she was outside, like magic. Only the soldiers were there too and they,- they,-"

"Shot her."

Ann buried her face against his chest, telling the story for a second time felt even more painful. Without asking, Erik wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly against him. Nothing could be said to soften this kind of loss or bring comfort, even his logical and deductive comment showed just how much aware he was.

Even though it had been incredibly comforting that Charles was there when she experienced this for the first time, it didn't hold a candle to Erik's presence. He would always be the one to understand her like no other. It made Ann feel even more guilty about what she had done. Kissing Charles. She had to tell him.

Ann cleared her throat and pulled back slightly. "Erik,- there's something else I have to tell you."

The metal bender looked down at her, her eyes were shimmering, a tear still stained her cheek. He used his thumb and gently wiped it off her skin.

"I'm listening."

"Erik! Ann!"

Charles's voice cut through the sky, and both of them turned his way. Charles was running out of the house towards them. Ann clenched her jaw, a suspicion bubbling to the surface. How convenient of him to show up just as she was about to tell Erik everything else that had been plaguing her throughout the day. Had he been eavesdropping on her?

"I kissed Charles!" She blurted out before the telepath could reach them.

Erik jerked his head to her. A frown adorned his brow, his mouth slightly agape. He blinked. "What?"

Ann stayed quiet until Charles arrived, which didn't take very long. Only a couple of seconds. But it had been enough time for her to tell Erik the truth, unfortunately Charles had no idea she had.

"Bloody hell, what are you two doing out here?" He panted a little, but noticed the shift in the air immediately. His gaze moved from Ann to Erik and then back to Ann. "What's going on?

"Du hast ihn geküsst?!" Erik raised his voice. Ann winched at the sound of it. The hurt and disappointment shining through.

"I did."

"When? Why?" He took a step back, as if touching her was like touching fire.

"This morning. It shouldn't have happened. It's not fair to you or to you."

Ann turned her eyes to Charles who only now just realized why Erik was looking at him as if he'd killed something precious to him. Which in a sense was exactly what he'd done.

"Oh, come now, Ann. Erik, you too. This is ridiculous. Yes, we kissed. I admit it was something I had been wanting to do for a while and when the moment presented itself, well I,- how could I have said no?"

Whatever Charles was trying to do, it wasn't helping. Really wasn't helping. Erik looked even more upset than he already was. His gaze shot back and forth between the other two.

"But,-" Charles quickly continued. "As Ann stated, quite firmly, it was a mistake. A nice one, but clearly my mouth is not where her loyalties lie."

Ann couldn't help but shut her eyes an press her lips in a tight line at Charles's choice of words. She should have taken him up on his offer of wiping her memory. Forget kissing him, forget kissing him through Moira,- another problem she had to deal with. But Erik was most important now. For this could go either way.

He'd forgive her and move on. Or hate her forever and move on. In both cases, Ann knew her chances of exploring their relationship further were slim to almost none. If he had done the same, kiss Moira or even Raven for that matter, could she forgive him too?

But Erik could only stare at them. He looked at both Charles and Ann for a moment, raised his index finger as if he was going to say something but then made his hand into a fist. Instinctively Charles raised his hands and took a step back. The last thing he wanted was to get punched in the face.

"Erik, Bitte rede mit mir." Ann tried.

He shook his head once and took another step back. Finally understanding why she'd been avoiding him all day. First she tried to soften the blow by telling him about her sister's last moments, but then dropped a bomb he hadn't seen coming. Okay, so maybe the thought had crossed his mind once or twice. Especially after what he'd seen at the green house a few days ago. But now it had actually come true. Turning on his heel, Erik walked away from them. Not looking back.

Ann felt her heart sink all the way down into her stomach. She'd done the right thing by telling him, hadn't she? Charles place his hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"The offer still stands, you know. I can make him forget this conversation ever happened." He looked at her, but when she didn't reply he cupped her face.

"Ann? I mean it, just say the word and I'll make you forget about,- our kiss, as well." Charles stared intensely at her and Ann couldn't help but stare back, her eyes lowering towards his lips for a mere second.

"But you will remember it." She concluded.

Charles nodded. "Vividly." He winked. "Trust me, I don't want to forget a kiss like that."

How like Charles to make a joke out of it. But truth was, Ann didn't want to forget the kiss either and she didn't want to lie to Erik either. No, the truth out there and it had to stay out there. Whatever consequences it would bring along with it. She shook her head and Charles couldn't help stroke her cheek with his thumb.

"Is there any dinner left?" She asked light heartedly.

"Plenty. Let's go."


I'm sorry to end it here. I know it's short but I wanted this confrontation to be just about them. All of them.

So, what will happen next? Will Erik forgive Ann? Or is this the end of a possible romance?

German translations (which is not my 1st or second language!)

Da bist du ja. Endlich - There you are, finally.

Was ist los? - What's wrong?

Sag es mir. - Tell me.

Du hast ihn geküsst - You kissed him?

Bitte rede mit mir - Please, talk to me.

If any of that is wrong, please tell me!

Also I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter and how you'd like to see this triangle progress.

Have a great day!