CHAPTER TWO...

Charles raced down the steps, trying to keep his mind closed off from the other telepath on Shaw's boat. It was incredible, he had never met another telepath before, and he could actually feel her inside his head.

They had another mutant on that ship, and he had just destroyed the US Speedboats with wind. Charles' mind was reeling, trying to figure out what this meant.

Suddenly, two other presences entered his head. Charles stopped dead and placed two fingers on his temple. They were in the water and one of them was controlling the anchor to the yacht. And the other... Charles turned around, calling Moira's name.

"Charles?" Moira said from behind him as he winced in pain. "Are you okay?"

"There's others in the water." he said.

"What?" Moira exclaimed. Charles raced past Moira and up to the boat, where sirens were going off. They walked to the side of the ship where the two presence were strongest. The mind Charles entered was unlike any he had ever been in before. Darkness shrouded their head, pulling and tugging at him, beckoning him closer, then tearing him apart. It was a storm of their own thoughts and the emotions of others. Hate, fear, contempt, and mind-numbing, burdening cold. He thought of the name for this mutant's ability; Empath. A terrifyingly powerful one, with something more to her ability. Something darker.

"There." he pointed, and Moira gasped as the anchor floated up on it's own accord and smashed into the side of the yacht.

"We need to get the people in the water." Charles said. Moira looked at him like he was crazy. "One of them is a child."

⭑✶⭑

I watch as the anchor and chain destroy the yacht I was on just moments ago. Erik uses both his hands to control the metal, and sparks fly as it levels the top of the boat. With some satisfaction, it crumples. I hope Shaw is dead.

A light in the water snags my attention, and I look down to see a submarine detaching from the bottom of the boat. He's not dead. My stomach twists.

"Erik!" I yell over the sirens of the coast guard. "Look!"

"Keep hold." Erik says, and thrusts out his hands towards the sub. Metal groans and I feel Erik tense. He's covered in water, but I know he's sweating. I don't need to look through his head to know he's angry, too, but I don't know why. How does he know Shaw?

As the sub continues to float away, a pull lurches us forward, and I hold on tighter as we move through the sea. Salty water sprays up my nose, and I tilt my head to the side to keep from swallowing any. We continue to go with it, but more and more water splashes into my face and mouth and eyes. It stings like hell.

Suddenly, I hear a strange voice inside my head. An actual voice, that is not my own.

Let Go! Let Go!

He has an accent, and he's screaming into my mind at the top of his lungs.

What? I think back. Who is this person?

Leena! I gasp, how does he know my name? Leena, make him let go!

I look at Erik, and realize this man is right. The sub is going deeper, and Erik is spitting out water just like me. If we don't let go soon, we're both going to drown. I am just able to tell Erik to stop and let go before we're dragged under water once more. My throat quickly seizes up, and I try to keep my breath in. My lungs are on fire. I hear the voice again, and I think he's talking to both of us.

Let go! You must let go! If you don't, both you and the girl will drown!

I try to pull at Erik, but he won't stop. Finally, when I can't take the weight on my lungs, I let out the air. Bubbles float upwards. I pull at Erik again.

I know I should let go of him and float up, but if I do, then the man who rescued me will surely die. I can't let that happen, so I try to reach out through the depths, attempting to grasp onto the anger driving him. If I can tame his rage, I might actually be able to bring some sense into him. But the moment I enter his mind, the anger burns through me, a hot flame that pains me too much to look at. His emotions are too much, and I'm too busy suffocating to try more of my ability.

At that moment, I feel another weight on top of me, and when I look up, I see the face of a man I know to be the one in my head. He is young, like Erik, with black hair and soft eyes.

Let go, He says in my head, and I do. Slowly I float up, the weight of my clothes making it hard to swim. I break the surface and gasp, gulping in the air like it is something precious. In this case, it is.

Someone else breaks the surface beside me, and I turn in the water to see Erik struggling against the other man.

"Get off me!" Erik yells, pushing the man towards me. "Get off me!" The man lets go and takes my hand, as if he senses how exhausted I am. Erik is still flailing. I think I'm going to pass out. The cold is biting.

The man says. "Calm down! Just breathe!" He raises both mine and his hands up. "We're here!" he's calling the coast guard.

"Who are you?" Erik asks, finally gaining a grip on himself.

"My name is Charles Xavier." the man says.

"You were in our heads." I say, breathing hard. "You're a telepath." Charles nods.

"How did you do that?" Erik asks, still cautious.

"You have your tricks, I have mine." Charles replies. "I'm like you, just calm your mind."

I do as he says, but the darkness creeps into my vision. Fear and panic rise up like bile. I close my eyes, straining to keep them at bay. I feel a hand on my temple, and when I open them, Charles is touching my forehead. He takes in a breath, and I gasp as the shadows ease. The cold releases, leaving my ears ringing, but I don't feel so lost anymore. 

"How did you do that?" I ask. Charles looks at me with saddened eyes.

"I'm so sorry." is his reply. "For what you've been through." I gape at him. Erik turns to me as well, his face confused.

"I thought I was alone." Erik says, looking from me to Charles.

"You're not alone." I say. "You're not alone."

✶✶✶

When we are hauled on board, I choke up more water, and someone throws a blanket over me. A pretty young woman with long, auburn hair helps me up.

"Come inside." She says to us all, and us three shivering souls walk into a small cabin, with a little wood table and a built in sofa. The walls are peeling and everything smells like the sea.

I sink gratefully into the couch, and Charles sits next to me, rubbing his hands together. My teeth are chattering, and my nose is so cold it's numb. I wonder how I must look; a scrawny teenage girl with tangled hair sticking to her sunken cheeks. I shake my head. I've been around gorgeous Emma for too long. Erik stands beside us, eyeing everyone wearily. I pull the blanket closer to me.

"I'll go grab something to drink." the woman says. "Something hot."

"Thank you, Moira." Charles says, and the woman, Moira, leaves the room. Now it's only Erik, Charles, and I.

After a minute of silence, broken only by shaky breaths and chattering teeth, Erik speaks up. "Why did you stop me?" he directs this question to Charles.

"You were going to drown yourself." Charles replies. "You both were."

Erik gives a small laugh. "I had him, and you made me lose all over again."

"Did you not hear what I said?" Charles asks. "If I hadn't stopped you, you would have been responsible for Leena's death as well as your own."

Erik whirls on me. "Why didn't you let go?"

I look up at him. "Because if I let go, you would have drowned." Erik sighs.

"Why were you on that boat?" Erik asks me. "Why were you with Shaw?"

"It wasn't my choice." Erik freezes. Tears fall down my face once more. I take a deep breath to stop the darkness.

"She's like you, Erik." Charles says. "She was taken by Shaw." Erik points a warning finger at Charles, his face twisting into something between rage and disbelief.

"How do you know about that?" he growls. That is when I remember where I know Erik from. The answer is so clear that I want to laugh at myself. I stand up.

"You're the one he talks about." I say.

Erik shifts. "What?"

"Shaw." I say the name with as much contempt as possible. "He talks about an Erik who he lost years ago." I walk over to Erik, and before I can stop myself, wrap my arms around him and pull him into an embrace. Erik is so stunned that he doesn't move. He is like me, he knows. I feel as if I have just crested a tall and impossible mountain to find a short walk down. I'm free.

"I thought I was the only one he ever experimented on and survived." I say into his shoulder. Erik tenses, but places his arms around me. "But you know. You know what it's like."

"Yes."

"Thank you for saving me. Thank you."

Erik is silent for a moment, then says. "You're not alone." We release, and I can see tears forming in his eyes. My eyes glisten as well.

Charles stands. "Moira is with the CIA, and we believe Shaw is behind a ploy to launch missiles in Turkey. I've just been there with my friend, Raven, she is also a mutant. They're transferring us to a covert CIA base until they can figure out what to do. We would be relieved if you joined us."

"Shaw killed Colonel Hendry." I say. "He was talking about some sort of arrangement."

"Good God." Charles says, running a hand through his hair. "We knew Hendry had made a deal with Shaw, but this... this is bad."

"Shaw's a mutant." I say. Erik turns to me. "He can absorb energy and distribute it however he wants. It's how he kept my power under his control."

Erik gives me a look. "What is your ability?"

I gulp. "I don't really know how to explain it." More like I can't without bursting into tears.

Charles cuts in. "Leena is an Empath. She can control emotions and manipulate them into  energy. Dark energy. " When Erik looks dumbfounded Charles explains more. "The  memories or feelings in someone's head. Where as I can read and communicate with your whole mind, Leena can only bring out the emotions in thoughts."

"Pain and anger. Sadness..." I finish. "Those kinds of things. The emotions are easy to control, but the darkness, it's hard to hold onto. I can almost never contain the energy for long."

"Incredible." Charles says.

"That's a lot." Erik remarks.

"Believe me." I reply. "I know."

"We can help you, Leena." Charles says. "I promise." He comes over to me and kneels down until we're eye level. His eyes are warm and inviting.

I shift on my feet. "I don't have a home."

Charles gives me a sympathetic smile. "I know. Don't worry. You'll be safe there."

"How old are you?" Erik asks me. His question is so abrupt I have to think a moment before I respond. How old am I? Shaw never celebrated birthdays, and I was never allowed a calendar. I remember Shaw saying that because of my ability I age slower, something to do with the dark energy, but I know that I was born around 1947, which means I must be...

"Fifteen." I reply, my voice wavering. "I think. I believe my ability allows me to age slower, so I'm not sure."

"Age slower?" Erik asks.

I nod. "But I'm fairly certain I'm 15."

"Leena, I promise you, we will do everything to keep you safe." Charles says. I swallow.

Where else am I going to go? I think. These people are like me, they can help me.

I turn to Charles and nod. "Alright."

✶✶✶

The car ride is cramped and stuffy, even if all the windows are open. After we were all dry from the water, the CIA operative Moira drove us to what I assumed was Charles' apartment. We slept there for the night, and left the next day with a beautiful blonde woman. Her name is Raven, the mutant friend Charles was talking about. When Raven got into the car, her eyes went straight to me, the only child in the vehicle.

"Who are you?" she asked me, even though Erik was closer to her on my right.

"I'm Leena." That seemed to be enough for her, and she clambered into the car, never asking for Erik's name.

Moira has given me clothes because my other ones were soaked through, and as we clamber out of the car, I pull at a thread on the plain blue dress and matching cardigan, my dark curly hair is frizzy in the midday sun.

Erik slams the door behind me, making me jump. In front of us is a wide building made of plain stone. Strange cement sculptures sit in the middle of the walkway, and flowers bloom in cement planters along either side. We begin walking up to the entrance, and Erik places his hands in his pockets, striding next to me. Seeing as Raven and Charles stick together, we both silently decide to keep close to one another. I'm grateful, because he seems like the only one who is as skeptical as me.

"Welcome to my facility." The man who I've come to call Black-Suit tells us. "My mission has been to investigate the application of paranormal powers in military defense."

"Or offense." Erik says beside me. I smile.

Black-Suit says. "This guy Shaw, Schmidt, whatever you wanna call him -- he's working with the Russians. We might need your help to stop him." Black-Suit looks at me. "Or, you know, the adults." I frown.

"Marvelous." Charles says. "So we are to be the CIA's new Mutant division, yes?"

"Something like that." Black-Suit says.

Inside the facility is sleek and modern, with walls of light grey and open spaces filled with antique rocket ship looking things. Black-Suit leads us to a railing, where a fighter jet hangs suspended in the air. A memory pops into my head.

Shaw and I were sitting on the porch in a house somewhere in Argentina. I was only 13 then, and had been with Shaw and his men for 3 years. The worst of the experiments were over, but I still cried every night. As we sat, me trying very hard not to run -- for if I ran he would kill me -- a fighter plane flew overhead, making it's way past the mountains and speckles of houses. Shaw then turned to me, his eyes glinting like they did when a new idea popped into his head.

"Leena." He said my name as if it were something precious. "Never forget that those planes once shot down men. Ending their lives for good."

I yelped in surprise, the memory of World War ll was still fresh. "Never forget that you could end at any moment. We must take what is ours now, before death snatches it out of our hands." I had nodded, not understanding, but over time I realized that Shaw applied this idea into everything he did. He wanted the world, and he was worried that he would die before he got it. Maybe that was why he had convinced the US to plant missiles in Turkey, maybe that was why Emma always left on long trips and came back exhausted. She was convincing everyone their cause was just.

"It's, uh, supersonic." a voice says from beside us. I turn to see a man, younger than Erik and Charles, in a white lab coat and large glasses. He fiddles with his hands as he walks towards us.

"The most advanced plane ever built." the man says. "You should see it in real life. It's incredible."

"Hank." Black-Suit says. "These are the special new recruits I was telling you about. This is Hank McCoy, one of our most talented young researchers." I cross my arms and lean against the rail as Charles makes his way to Hank. I haven't met any new people in a long time, and even meeting Erik and Charles has left me squeamish and stumbling. How do you interact with new people and get them to like you? I still haven't figured it out.

"How wonderful." Charles says, taking Hank's hand. "Another mutant, already here." I freeze, and judging by the look on Hank's face, he is also surprised.

"Why didn't you say?" Charles asks Black-Suit. A wave of panic and fear hits me before I have time to brace myself, and I gasp and fall back even more, the shadows crawling through my veins. Erik turns to me.

"Are you alright?" he asks. I nod through gritted teeth, pushing down the darkness. Every time I take in another's emotion, the sensation feels as though a hundred little ants are crawling over my body.

"Say what?" Black-Suit asks Charles, looking from Hank to the telepath.

Charles' face falls. "Because you don't know." he turns to Hank. "I am so, so terribly sorry."

The pain eases, and I gulp in air. Black-Suit goes to Hank, his back turned to us.

"Hank?" Black-Suit asks.

"You didn't ask so I didn't tell." Hank replies.

"So your mutation is what?" Raven asks, leaving Erik and I behind. "You're super smart?"

"I'll say." Charles says. "Hank here graduated Harvard at the age of 15." My eyes widen. I can't even imagine graduating from any school at my age. I'm terrible with numbers and even worse with keeping information inside my head.

Hank and Raven stare at each other for a long time, and Erik shifts beside me. "I wish that's all it was." Hank says.

"You're among friends now, Hank." Charles says. "You can show off."

Hank looks among the group now surrounding him, and I go to them, my curiosity peaked. From the edge of the group I can't see much, but I watch Hank take his shoes off. When he pulls off his socks, his feet seem to grow, and they become larger than my head, with hair and nails like claws. Charles chuckles.

"Splendid." he says. Hank looks at Raven again, and I can't help but smile at the way they stare at each other.

Hank makes a motion for us to step back, and I go back beside Erik. I watch with amazement as Hank goes underneath the jet. He looks up, then jumps, and I gasp as he hangs upside down and holds onto the wing of the jet with his feet. He hid it so easily, but how painful is it to stuff his feet into those shoes every single day?

"Ta-da!" Hank says. Raven, still laughing, makes her way over to Hank until they're only inches apart. Erik stiffens next to me. I look from him to where Raven and Hank are. I want to laugh, thinking about what kind of drama might occur within these walls. I won't complain, however, as long as I'm free from Shaw.

"You're amazing." I hear Raven tell Hank. I smile. They look really good together. The only other couple I've seen in a while is whatever Shaw and Emma had, which I don't think even counts.

"Well, I'll show you to your rooms." Black-Suit says. We walk to the back of the building, where a long hallway is lined with closed doors. My room is at the back, across from Raven's and beside Erik. When I open the door, I'm immediately blinded by the light coming through the huge window on one side of the room. My bedroom is large, bigger than anything I've had before, with a grey quilted bed and a giant wooden dresser opposite it. I have a large oak bedside table and there is a floral board where I can change behind in the other corner. Slowly, I make my way to the bed and run my hand through the blanket. It's so soft, like the velvet that Emma would sometimes wear on nights out.

That is when it hits me, the realness of it all. I am free. Shaw isn't here, and according to Charles, he won't be. What I've wanted for years has finally happened, so why do I feel like I want to cry?

Because I can still barely control my powers. Because Shaw is still free and he wants to end the world. Because every step I take my mind goes back to him. The darkness takes over, like with Hank back in the jet room. I sit on the front of the bed and tug my knees up to my face, burying my face into my hands. The darkness clouds my every thought, drowning me in sorrow.