Chapter Text
I don't sleep that much.
I'd rather be doing things around this big mansion I'm trapped in, practically alone. I mean it was a school so there's this vast academic library with no one to read its books, it would be a crime to waste that.
Other times I'll be on the field levitating rocks-it's the only outlet I have to teach myself about my mutations; I was sent here by my family to stay with my cousin Charles who would help me control the powers I have, and he did for a while but the draft took a good chunk of his students and he started to take this medication that gave him the ability to walk again but in exchange for his mutation, he's just gone further downhill since.
Hank, however, I am much closer to him, we spend a lot more time together whether it's at meal times or he's doing my homeschooling. Sometimes he'll try to quiz me on whatever subject he's trying to teach me but I can just read his mind to see the answers. To this day he still doesn't know.
The fact I'm always so tired explains why I woke up in the library- but it doesn't explain the loud noise that woke me up.
I could only describe it as if two people had fallen down the stairs.
Sitting up sharply and pulling open the double doors, I run towards the main hall and see Hank, in his blue, beastly form, hung by his feet on the chandelier and a man in a leather jacket lying on the table.
"Hank?" Charles says, coming down the stairs "What's going on here?"
"Professor?" The leather jacket guy spoke up
"Please don't call me that", Charles murmurs, he looks like a trainwreck, with dishevelled hair, stubble on his chin - and clutching a bottle of caramel-coloured liquor.
"Why? You know this guy?" Hank questions, pointing at the man below him.
"Yeah, he looks s-slightly familiar. Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank." Hank does so but stays close by keeping his guard up.
"You can walk." The mysterious man said, his tone full of confusion.
What? does he know?
Charles replies sarcastically, "You're a perceptive one."
"I thought Erik.."
Does this guy know Erik?
"Which makes it slightly perplexing that you managed to miss our sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend," Charles spits at him with a loud and annoyed tone, then points at Hank, "I'm going to have to ask...him to ask you to leave."
I walk out from the corner I was hiding in "Uhrm...Good morning?" They all look my way.
"Uh mornin' " leather jacket guy says. As he does, I read his thoughts
'Is that (y/n)? She looks so young' what is he talking about?
Searching further through his mind I learnt his name, Logan.
Hank speaks up, a slight growl in his tone, Due to his mutation, "(Y/n), you're up early,"
I raise an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, I heard some loud noises...you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" I say sarcastically, Logan and Hank's faces both contort into cringed expressions.
"Anyway, I'm afraid I can't do that because.. because I was sent here for ya." Logan continues
"Well, tell whoever it was that sent you that I'm... busy." My cousin just rolls his eyes, I can tell his patience is wearing thin.
"That's gonna be a little tricky. Because the person who sent me...was you."
What?
"What?" Charles says, echoing my thoughts.
"About 50 years from now." Logan Persists with so much confidence I almost believe him.
My cousin does nothing but stare at him in disbelief, "50 years from now? Like in the future, 50 years from now?" Logan nods, "I sent you from the future?" Charles looks at me and Hank to see if we're hearing the same thing.
"Yeah," The supposed time traveller confirms.
In angsty Charles fashion, he reacts with, "Piss off."
There is a beat of tense silence before Logan calmly says, "If you had your powers, you'd know I was telling the truth"
What the hell? How does he- Who is this guy? There is no way he could have come from the future; is he some kind of spy or just a drugged-up lunatic?
"How do you know I don't have my... Who are you?" His eyes widen at the statement; mine do, too.
"I told you-" he's interrupted; "Are you CIA?" Xavier snarked, glaring at logan, who tried to tell him 'No'
"Have you been watching me?" Charles accused, continuing to interject, the paranoia practically pouring from every word.
"I know you, Charles. We've been friends for years. I know your powers came when you were 9. I know you thought you were going crazy when it started, all the Voices in your head. And it wasn't until you were twelve that you realised all the voices were in everyone else's head. Do you want me to go on?" Logan exasperates; the room is still as we all try to process everything that was just said.
There seriously is no way...Charles has only told me that, and that was when I was when I first moved here to live in the mansion.
"I've only ever told one person that," Charles says locking eyes with me,
"So far, yes", Logan replies,
My cousin eyes him suspiciously, "Alright, you've piqued my interest what do you want?"
"We have to stop Raven. I need your help" The animalistic stranger announced.
Raven darkholme. The Shapeshifting woman from my family's past, who Hank has been hopelessly devoted to for years, and who Charles loved like a sister. the mention of the blue woman I've been told about but have yet to meet makes the room's atmosphere cold.
Charles sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I think I'd like to wake up now" he thought aloud then walked into his office.
Hanks's blue skin and fur begin to return to the natural brown hair and light skin I've grown accustomed to, speaking softly, "What does she have to do with this?"
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After following Charles into his office, Logan recounts the events of his future; he talks of the creation of these things that hunt mutants and how they've ultimately led to the ends of human and mutant life on Earth.
"So you're saying, That they took Raven's power and they... weaponised it?" Charles speculated,
Logan replies quickly, "Yep"
"She is unique" Hank adds awkwardly and I turn to look at him knowingly,
"I'm sure she is, Hank," I say smirking.
"Look, in the beginning, the sentinels were just targeting mutants. Then they began to identify the genetics in non-mutants who would eventually have mutant children and grandchildren. Many of the humans tried to help us. It was a slaughter, leaving only the worst of humanity in charge. I've been in a lot of wars. I'd never seen anything like this. And it all starts with her."
I pick at the skin around my nails, nothing like a stranger from the future to give you the worst feeling of anxiety about the world 50 years from now. "How did you survive?" I question.
"We haven't, kid; not yet, at least. We move from place to place, hiding out, but we can't keep it up any longer. Sending me back is our last attempt at surviving." Logan responds, kinder than how he's been talking with Charles.
Charles, now sitting on a different chair for some reason, says "Well let's just say that for the sake of... the sake that I-I choose to believe you, that I choose to help you. Raven won't listen to me." he sighs, staring off into the distance deep in thought"No, her heart and soul belong to someone else now." Hank glances down at the floor sadly.
"I know" Logan starts, seeming to not empathize with the two men, "That's why we're gonna need magneto, too."
Charles starts to laugh whilst I look at Logan confused and say "Erik? You do know where he is?"
"Yeah, "Logan claims, but I'm not sure I believe him. No one would act this nonchalantly if they knew they were talking about the man locked in the deepest part of America's highest secure facility.
At this point, Charles is laughing hysterically but eventually calms down "He's where he belongs." He growls as he picks up his bottle of whiskey and starts leaving the room.
"That's it? You're just gonna walk out?" Logan raised his voice after him.
"Oh, Top marks, like I said, you are perceptive." Charles quips back in his drunken and hysterical state
"The professor I know would never turn his back on someone who lost their path. Especially someone he loved." This makes Charles stiffen up and turn back to glare at Logan.
"You know, I think I do remember you now. Yeah, we came to you a long time ago seeking your help. And I'm gonna say to you, what you said to us then." with each word, Charles makes the gap between the two smaller, his eyes alight with anger, "Fuck off."
Suddenly, Logan reached out, grabbing Charles by the collar of his shirt. I stood up from my chair just in case anything got out of hand.
"Listen to me, you little shit. I've come a long way and I've watched a lot of people die. Good people. Friends. If you're gonna wallow in self-pity and do nothing then you're gonna watch the same thing, you understand?" Logan chastised, his patience clearly gone- but he quickly composed himself, then let go of him.
"We all have to die sometime," Charles says, slowly backing off and up the stairs, and all we can do is watch as he disappears back to his bedroom, once again isolating himself.
"Told you there was no professor here," Hank says softly.
"What the hell happened to him?" I look at the floor with a blank expression as Hank moves to talk.
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As Hank tells Logan about Charles's sad story I start to zone out, I don't need to listen I've already lived through that mental spiral. Instead, I start to play with a few books, floating them back and forth between my hands.
Having to watch the man who taught me how to embrace my mutation reject his own was heartbreaking; the way his hope for mutant-kind slowly abandoned him as the government took the young students as soldiers to fight in a pointless war.
Then, unexpectedly, Charles came outside the office and called out, "I'll help you get her." I stand up and smile widely at him. "Not for any of your future shite but for her."
"fair enough." Logan nods at him.
"But I'll tell you this-- you don't know Erik. That man is a monster, a murderer. Do you think you can convince Raven to change? To come home? That's splendid. But what makes you think you can change him?" Charles asks sternly, his mind obviously isn't made up but I can see the hope in his eyes.
"Because you and Erik sent me back here together."
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We're now around the circular table in the main hall making a plan, scraps of paper and some blueprints that Hank found of the pentagon layout cover the surface.
It's a dangerous mission but I'm just happy about the fact they're letting me come.
"The room they're holding him in was built during the Second World War when there was a shortage of steel. So the foundation is pure concrete and sand, no metal." Hank explains, gesturing to the blueprints
"He's being held a hundred floors beneath the most heavily guarded building on the planet," Charles added.
"Why's be in there?" Logan asked with genuine confusion
I, Hank and Charles look at each other knowingly.
"What, He forgot to mention...?" Charles laughs
After a beat of silence, I say, "JFK," gritting my teeth at him.
Logan looks at me in shock and uncertainty "He killed--"
"What else explains a bullet miraculously curving through the air? Eriks always had a way with guns. You sure you want to carry on with this?" My cousin responds sassily
"This is your plan, not mine." Logan Quipped back
Hank interupts to two to bring up a good point, "We don't have any resources to get us in."
"Or out. It's just us three" I added.
Logan thought for a second "I know a guy. Yeah, he'd be a young man now. Grew up outside of DC. He could get into anywhere, I just don't know how the hell we're gonna find him."
Hank and Charles lock eyes, "Is Cerebro out of the question?" He asks Charles but he looks down, saying no. Disappointing.
Then I remember a crucial piece of information,
"We have a phone book!"
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A/N: made some edits that made this chapter easier to read. If you did make it this far I promise it only gets better from here.