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✬ 1962 ✬
“So what can you do sweetcheeks?” Sean (who had declared his new codename as Banshee) asks with a grin.
Y/N stutters, a red flush coming up the back of her neck, “I- um.” She’s still not sure why she's here, honestly. She doesn't want to use her powers to hurt people, but the men who had approached her while she was mindlessly wiping tables at a coffee shop ended up being quite convincing. “Here,” she suggests, walking across the room to where larger shards of glass lay after Banshee’s display.
She bends at the knee, picking up the sharpest shard she could see in the debris. The others hold their breaths. Y/N raises her left hand, taking a deep breath before methodically slicing a long gash down her palm. She watches as the blood trickles down her arm. Stepping forward she displays the wound to the others, before the wound mends itself shut.
The others nod, mildly impressed, before Alex steps forward, pointing a figure at her with his hand still holding a beer, “So you like, have the same power as Darwin… but worse,” he states.
Raven gasps, hitting him with a pillow. “I think it's cool,” she leans forward, resting her head in her hands, “what do you want to be called?”
Y/N shrugs, embarrassed by Alex’s comment, but decides it's better to brush it off, “I don’t know.”
“I think we should call you…” Angel pauses for effect, “Solace! Because like that’s what you’ll be, if you're like, our medic or whatever!”
Alex snorts, earning a glare from the two girls, but a grin from Sean. “Don't look at me,” he raises his hands in defense, “I think it's perfect.”
They girls ignore him, instead opting to look to Y/N for her thoughts. “I really like it, thanks Angel,” she smiles politely, rejoining them on the couch.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
Y/N was screwed. The whole team wanted to know how she could be of use other than as a healer. And now Charles wanted her to practice her power. But she hadn't done this since she was a kid, and even then it was an accident . She had tried everyday since then not to do it again. And now here she stood, somewhere in Charles’ basement, standing in a room with a caged rat. Just her and the rat.
Charles was smart enough to know she would never do it with him watching, even now, she debated letting the rat go and getting some ketchup from the kitchen and splattering it everywhere. But she knew she had to do it. Shaw was evil. He has to be stopped. Or we're all dead , Y/N thought to herself. You can do this .
She approaches the table where the cage sat, stopping a few inches from it. She lifts the hatch at the top of the cage, places her hand in the opening, wincing as her hand touches the poor animal’s body, her powers searching its anatomy. Y/N can feel its heartbeat, the blood rushing through its veins, all its organs working to keep it alive. She scrunches her face tightly, that dark feeling creeping up, the feeling she usually pushes away.
Instead, today she takes a deep breath, before letting the darkness overcome her. The rat squeals, she feels its organs constrict, before imploding one by one. It weeps in pain, but Y/N persists, watching as the rat's bones snap at unnatural angles. She looks into the creature's eyes, before her power rushes to its brain and heart, killing it instantly.
There are tears in her eyes, but Y/N feels no sadness. She brushes them aside, stands up straight, and exits the room.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
“... and Y/N do what you have to,” Charles makes a pointed look at the girl.
Alex snorts, “What’s she gonna do? Heal them to death?”
Instead of retorting to Alex, which she had gotten comfortable doing in the past few weeks, Y/N looks Charles in the eyes, to which he nods assuredly. “Now go!” he exclaims.
Her fellow team members were quick to break into fights with the Hellfire Club. Y/N on the other hand, was dodging stray punches and mostly playing as the distraction. But then, out of the corner of her eyes, she spots Riptide sending a massive whirlwind towards Alex, who tries to dodge it but is trapped by the wreckage of the Caspartina. Y/N quickly judges the distance from where she stood, and decides to take the risk. Thankfully her running towards him distracts Riptide enough to miss Alex by inches. Unluckily, he manages to get a smaller whirlwind out and sends it harshly into Y/N’s chest. She flies through the air, landing on her back. Alex is quick to retaliate, sending a blast towards Riptide, which hits him effectively, sending him flying backwards towards where Y/N was climbing to her feet. Riptide had not been knocked to the ground, and once he regained his bearings he began charging up another whirlwind. Do what you have to , Charles’ words rang in her ears as she rushed from behind the enemy, hand outstretched. As soon as she makes contact, the darkness inside of her reaches out and clenches around the man’s heart, before crushing it completely. Riptide’s whirlwind falters, before he collapses to his knees, falling face first into the sand.
Y/N stands there, hand extended, looking at the dead man on the sand. It isn’t until Alex yelling her name, and rushing to her side that she snapped back to reality. Looking up to see at least a hundred missiles in the sky, aimed right for the beach. He is careful not to touch her but ushers her to where the others are now huddled near Erik and Charles as they yell at one another. None of it registers to her. She can't stop looking back and forth between her hands and the missiles being tossed around in the sky.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
“Are you okay?” this may be the nicest conversation Y/N and Alex had ever had, and Y/N had only said 3 words. Alex nods, but Y/N knows, she's not that stupid, they were just in a huge fight, there's no way he's unharmed, even someone as powerful as Alex. “You know you can't lie to me,” she tries to lighten the mood with a grin.
Alex winces, “Why didn't you tell us about the,” he waves his hand vaguely in the direction of the beach where Riptides now dead body lays, “not-healing thing?”
Y/N looks down at her hands, “It was something I wanted to forget… Push down, never use… But Charles had other plans,” she shrugs, finally looking up at the boy. He nods, reaching out to take one of her hands in his. “Do you trust me?” she whispers.
“Yes,” Alex states, squeezing her hand tightly. Y/N relaxes, a small smile forming as the familiar lightness of her power courses through Alex’s body, healing his wounds. He sucks in a deep breath, before stretching his leg, a laugh bubbling up from within him, “Did you heal my old torn ACL?” Y/N grins, shrugging at him before stepping back and heading to heal some of the other team members.
✬ 1983 ✬
“...You know what Jubliee? I'll look into that for you, okay?” Y/N walks alongside the young girl down the main stairs in the manor.
“Thanks Y/N! You're the best!” she runs off, skipping down the rest of the stairs. Y/N’s eyes follow her before landing on someone she never thought she'd see again. She almost didn’t recognize him in his preppy clothes, but that blonde hair and mole on his neck was unmistakable.
Alex’s head turns to the side, looking to the staircase, his eyes growing wide at the sight of the mutant stopped halfway down. “Y/N!” he exclaims loud enough to shock his younger brother standing next to him. Hank is unfazed by Alex’s lack of interest in what he’d been saying. Instead Beast grins as he sees Y/N rush down the stairs and wrap her arms tightly around the blonde's neck. She leans back, her hands finding a comfortable spot on his biceps, his still resting on her hips. “I-I, um… It’s so good to see you!” Y/N quickly realizes how awkward she had made the situation.
“You too,” Alex whispers, staring intently at her, drinking in all of the changes in her face over the years.
Scott clears his throat uncomfortably, and Hank glares at him despite the boy not being able to see him. Hank’s mad that this kid is ruining what he's been hoping to see all along. He hadn't noticed it at the beginning, no, it had happened sometime around Cuba. But the two had grown quite fond of each other, Hank often caught them being rather intimate, regardless of the fact that they claimed back and forth to only be ‘friends’.
✬ 1962 ✬
Y/N sat on the windowsill in her bedroom, book in hand, the afternoon sun providing the perfect reading light. There’s a soft tap at her door, but before she could even grab her bookmark, Alex has entered her room, taking in the few personal touches and how she had not made her bed this morning.
“Hey,” he steps forward slowly, after spotting her on her perch.
“Hey,” she replies, quickly searching for the bookmark she swore she placed next to her. She smiles triumphantly when she finds it tucked under her leg, and places it in her book. She goes to stand, but when she looks up, Alex has already crossed the room, standing just a few feet from her.
“How are you feeling?” He asks, eyes still wandering the room. Was he nervous?
“Not bad, you?” Y/N steps forward, closing the gap between the two almost completely.
“Good, great, actually,” he nods.
“What are you doing here..?” Y/N asks with a tilt of her head.
“ Do you trust me? ” Alex repeats the question from the day on the beach in Cuba, with just as much conviction as Y/N had. She nods in response, over the past couple weeks the two had talked more than ever and Alex wasn't as much of an asshole as she had previously thought. He leans forward, hands brushing her hips as he connects his lips with hers. Y/N sinks deeply into the kiss at first, a giddy feeling rising in her chest.
Then Alex’s hands snake under her shirt, and a pit forms in her stomach, and not the good kind either. Suddenly she could feel him, or moreso his body, more than she would like, she pulled away, backing into the windowsill, breathless. “Is everything alright?” Alex asks, genuine concern laced in his voice.
“I-,” starts, breath hitching in her throat, she wanted to do this. But she knew she couldn't. Alex steps forward cautiously, hands about to touch her forearms, “I can't,” she gestures towards his outstretched hands, “do this.”
He looks down, towards where she held her hands parallel to his, wanting to interact, but an invisible force stopping her. “Riptide?” he asks, looking up into her eyes. She is quick to look away, ashamed that this kill has taken such a toll on her. “It’s okay,” he assures, hands floating up to rest on her shoulders but stopping just centimeters away. “We'll get through this,” once again, his instinct was to cup her cheek, but instead he opts for brushing a strand of hair out of her face gently, “together.”
✬ 1983 ✬
“So,” Alex clears his throat, as he and Hank walk away from the dorm room they had dropped Scott off in to rest for the evening until supper. “How long has Y/N been back?”
Hank grins, nodding his head to himself, “Since, oh gosh, it's been like 10 years, hasn't it? After Erik’s last scandal, at least.”
“And you two are like… what?” Alex draws his strides longer so the two could chat without the prying ears around the main hallways.
Hank laughs, “Friends? Like we always have been?” He takes a moment to take in Alex, who seems unsettled and unsure, and Hank has an inkling what it's about, “She's missed you, you know. I think she always hoped you would have come back when you got discharged from the army.”
Alex nods, watching his feet intently, regret written all over his face, “I screwed up, huh?” He looks to his comrade.
“Not yet,” Hank claps him on the back before heading down the hall towards Charles’ office.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
Y/N was pissed, mostly at herself. Somehow, due her daydream-filled-head likely, she hadn’t noticed a certain group of kids were missing. “Hank!” she called to the brunette ahead of her in the hall.
Hank turns, he has a solemn look on his face, “Yes, Y/N?”
She frowns, “Is everything okay? I was just gonna ask if you’d seen Jubilee, yesterday I told her I’d look into-”
“Y/N!” She hears her name moments before she is tackled in a hug from behind.
“Raven? What are you doing here?” she turns in the woman’s arms, embracing her just as tight as she had been seconds prior.
“Ah, you know,” she waves off the thought, “Just found a straggler, figured this would be the right place to bring him.” Raven beams down at the woman she considered one of her only friends.
Y/N grins happily, but Hank lets out a disgruntled huff from beside them. Before Y/N can inquire what’s gotten into him, Charles wheels through the front door, Alex and Moira MacTaggert on his heels. “Raven?” he repeats the phrase in a similarly surprised tone Y/N had had moments before.
“Moira?” she responds, eyes barely even glancing at Charles. Moira gapes at the woman, unsure if she recognizes her.
“Will you excuse us for a moment?” Charles asks Moira, “Raven, follow me,” he instructs, and leads her to his office.
Y/N is quick to turn back to the guest in the mansion, “Hi, I’m Y/N, it’s great to meet you.”
“Moira, it’s nice to meet you too,” she extends her hand for Y/N to shake, which she does. Then Moira turns to Hank who introduces himself politely and shakes her hand as well.
“This place is amazing, and strangely familiar…” Moira looks around the foyer, examining the architecture.
Y/N panics, looking to Alex, then Hank for help. “Hahah, yeah, I’m sure you’ve been to a lot of lovely mansions, working so high up in the government and all,” she manages to come up with.
“Yeah, yeah…” Moira agrees absentmindedly, running her hand along the table in the center of the room. “Wait, how did you know where I work?” she snaps back to.
“Oh, haha,” the younger girl chuckles nervously, “Charles has been talking about going to see you for a while.”
Moira nods, then resumes examining the building. A minute or so passes and Y/N looks at Alex with pleading eyes, but before he could get something out, Moira is pondering again, “I swear I’ve been here before.”
“Old houses,” Hank replies dejectedly, “They all look the same.” With Moira’s back still turned from the group, Alex makes a displeased face at the man but he ignores it.
“Would all of you like to come with me?” Charles announces, as he and Raven return from the office. Y/N goes to interject about the missing kids, but the look on Charles’ face makes her silence herself, he was deadly serious.
“Where are we going?” Moira asks as they walk down the hall to the elevator.
“Downstairs… It’s a little… different from the rest of the school,” Charles replies.
Xavier leads the group downstairs and towards Cerebro, an uneasiness settles over Y/N’s form. Sensing her tenseness, out of instinct, Alex’s hand reaches over and squeezes her’s tightly, surprising Y/N. Although, she stops herself from pulling away, instead she looks up at Alex, who is already watching her, and squeezes his hand back, before slipping her hand away and following the group.
Charles uses Cerebro to locate Erik, who has been suffering since the loss of his wife and daughter. But it quickly turns sour, with Hank yelling for him to get out, and when he doesn’t respond, Hank attempts to remove the headpiece, but it shocks him and causes Charles to begin screaming in pain. “Alex!” Charles finally manages to get out, “Destroy it! Destroy everything! Destroy Cerebro!” Alex rushes forward, in front of where everyone is standing and looks back at Xavier for confirmation, “Wreak Havok!” Charles exclaims. Alex lets loose, sending plasma beams from his chest and arms, trying to thoroughly destroy the machine quickly. Finally it catches fire and the hold it has on Charles breaks, Y/N rushes to Alex’s side to help him through the rubble, while Raven helps Moira and Hank guides Charles.
Outside Cerebro, you all attempt to catch your breath, but a buzzing gains your attention down the hall. A force field appears, and within it Erik, alongside a handful of mutants. “Erik-” Raven manages to squeak out before Charles is being yanked down the hall by his metal wheelchair, she screams. Alex is quick to rush down the hall, yelling after them, “Hey! Asshole!”
“All will be revealed, my child,” the larger blue pigmented man replies.
Y/N and Hank run forward when they see Alex stop and begin to power up. “Alex!” Y/N screeches.
“Stop!” Hank yells, before him and Y/N halt and scream “No!” simultaneously, knowing exactly what was about to happen before it did.
The red blast emits from Alex’s chest, and before he could register what was happening, Erik and co. were gone, and his energy was hitting the core of the quinjet Hank had been building. Hank instinctually wraps an arm around Y/N to protect her from the blast.
In the blink of an eye Y/N and Hank had collapsed on the ground outside of the mansion, the eruption sounding behind them. “No!” Y/N cries, “Alex!” she pushes Hank off of her, jumping to her feet, scanning the grass around her. To her right, there he lay, terribly burned and unmoving. She falls to the ground at his side, shaking him lightly, “Alex,” she whispers, tears filling her eyes. She feels the power within her begin to work, slowly, but she has hope when his heart begins to beat a little faster. Hank is talking to someone beside her but she hears only mumbling, her head flowing with too many thoughts as the burns heal slower than her powers have ever worked.
“Where’s Alex?” Scott’s voice cuts through to Y/N, his voice laced with worry, “Where’s my brother?” Soon Scott was sliding on his knees at the side of his brother. “Alex?” he shakes him by the shoulders, causing Y/N to lose focus. Alex’s breathing becomes rugged, causing Scott to worry more.
“Hey!” Hank steps forward, pulling the boy up onto his feet, “Let her work okay? She’s trying to save him.”
Y/N dives back into her work, healing the man she loves one cell at a time. It was tedious work, but she would do it forever if she could only talk to him again. Soon, but not soon enough, the lightness of his skin begins to return, his breathing becoming even, and his heart rate slowing to a steady thump thump thump . When his blue eyes flutter open, Y/N thought her own heart might’ve stopped. “Alex!” she exclaims breathlessly.
“Hey,” he tried to get out but his voice was brittle. She shushed him, letting her powers work a little fast now that he was awake and seemingly well. “I,” he starts before clearing his throat, “I never told you-” he tries.
“Don’t,” Y/N interjects, looking into his eyes and knowing what he was going to say, because she wanted to say it too.
He moves up a little, leaning on his elbows to get a better look at her face, “I love you,” he whispers anyway.
Y/N melts a little, “Alex!” Scott exclaims, seeing his brother is now awake. He practically throws himself on top of the blonde, much to everyone’s displeasure.
“Ow!” Alex exclaims, though there is a wide grin across his face. “What did you miss me or something?” Scott playfully pushes Alex’s shoulder, earning him a glare from Y/N. Scott takes it as this isn’t the moment to have a brotherly bonding moment, and retreats with his hands raised in surrender.
When the two were alone again, Y/N brought her hand up to cup Alex’s face, her thumb tracing his cheekbone, “I’ve always loved you, Alex Summers.”
Fuck it , Alex tells himself, leaning forward and capturing her lips with his, hoping this might actually be his time.