Ever Met A Mutant? - Charles Xavier

Chapter Two - Telepathic Conversations

Reminder: anything written in Italics is telepathic speech or thoughts.

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Raven was on the verge of killing Charles and she had lived with him for over 8 years but at that moment he had never been so annoying. He had become obsessed with this other mutant (as he had coined the word). This mutant that Charles swore had copied his power. At that moment Charles was in the living room of his rented home with Raven, who was sat upon the brown leather couch clearly bored of hearing Charles' rant. The man himself was stood by the large windows looking out at the blustery outside that looked as dreary as nighttime despite the fact it was the morning.

"Charles what I don't understand is why didn't you stop her in the first place?" Raven argued. Charles frowned as he looked towards his sister. He had no idea what she was talking about?

"What?"

"When she used your power against you, why didn't you just fight her, take back your mind, enter her mind?" Raven asked, rattling off all the questions she had wanted to ask. Charles chuckled as he moved over to Raven and took a seat beside her, his arm hooked around the back of the couch.

"She was scared Raven, had I fought with her she would have ran or been paralysed by fear. I want her to trust me, not be scared of me" Charles explained simply. He had been impressed by the woman's control over his power. From the moment of their encounter Charles had started reading her mind; the connection to her mind had been instantaneous. He heard her fear, though why she feared telepaths and others like him was beyond him. Among the fear he had found that she had copied his power; the power of replication was astounding. Charles had never thought it was possible and now he knew it existed he wanted to know everything about it. He truly didn't know what to say on the topic. He was flummoxed. He really wanted to meet her, see her, study her, help her - and it did not hurt that she was beautiful, no that did not hurt at all.

"She clearly doesn't want to be found" Raven said. However, Charles just couldn't let it go. He had only ever known one other mutant and that was Raven. Of course, the man had wondered about the other mutations that must exist and the discovery of them all was something that had become a desire of Charles'.

"I have to find her" Charles replied. The truth was that Charles just felt compelled to find her, help her; there was just something about her. "I know its obsessive but she is so fascinating."

"You saw her for less than five minutes" Raven argued. She did not understand Charles' obsession, his need to find this mutant. Raven too wanted to meet more mutants but Charles was just something else - but she guessed that determination was what made Charles, Charles.

"And I'm hooked" Charles admitted freely with a smile. Raven rolled her eyes; a part of the shapeshifter believed Charles just liked the girl for her looks. However, Raven had a much more negative view of this mutant.

"She could be really dangerous Charles" Raven said with concern, "As you keep saying she has the ability to replicate any power. God only knows how many powers she has." The girl had copied Charles' powers and had learnt how to use them almost instantaneously. She was either a genius or her powers were even more powerful than they knew, either way this mutant was dangerous.

"If she wanted to hurt us she would've" Charles replied, "instead she ran. She's scared Raven, perhaps she's scared of her abilities or of us ... you were scared once, should I not have helped you?" Raven sighed as she ran her hand through her long blonde hair. He always had to bring that up. Worse still he always had to be right.

"Alright, I will leave you to your ... obsession" Raven said as she stood up and moved towards her bedroom. Charles said good night to her before he sat back against the couch and lifted his fingers to his head. He had to find her. Closing his eyes Charles allowed himself to get lost inside his mind and the minds of others. Unfortunately, Charles' mind could only stretch so far, he could reach many of the students within the university's buildings with great effort but some areas he just could not reach from his home.

As usual Charles could enter many minds but he couldn't find the one mind he wanted. After twenty minutes of searching, Charles went to give up when suddenly he noticed something strange, something he had never felt before whilst he was in other people's minds. He could feel a warmth, a bright sensation in the nexus of minds. Following the feeling, Charles suddenly found it was coming from one particular mind. A mind that was clearly attached to every other mind in a way he had never seen before. With great strain, Charles entered the mind and found himself staring through the eyes of a young woman ... thee young woman. Looking around Charles found that she was sat in a grand auditorium watching a smartly dressed professor talking about ancient Egyptians. She was a historian!

Suddenly, Charles felt himself being forced out of her mind. He was not ready for such an attack and was thrown out of the nexus of minds he knew so well. She had panicked and her fear had fuelled her power! Taking a moment and a breath, Charles dived back into the minds and found her again. This time he merely entered her thoughts and stayed out of her mind, he did not take control. He just wanted to have a telepathic conversation.

"I didn't mean to scare you" Charles started softly, he felt her flinch and the panic begin to run through her thoughts. "Please just calm down. I will not hurt you, I swear."

"What on earth do you want?" she asked in her mind, the fear in her voice clear. Even though he was only in her thoughts he knew she was sitting incredibly still, ready to run at a moment's notice.

"I just want to meet you" Charles replied carefully, she could so easily be spooked and Charles really believed that she had enough power to hurt him.

"Well I don't want to meet you" Evelyn replied quickly. Charles sighed at her response. He didn't know how to put her at ease, how to make her see that he wouldn't hurt her. He racked his brain for an answer to it all and he finally came up with one.

"My name is Charles Xavier, I am student just like yourself, I am 21 years old, I have a sister named Raven - the blonde woman I was with when you used my power against me, I-"

"Why are you telling me this?" Evelyn interrupted, she was completely confused as to why Charles had started to tell her stuff about himself. Charles laughed lightly.

"I want you to know me, know I'm not a threat, I'm a mutant just like you" Charles explained. People were often less scared of things when they understood things better, knew what they faced.

"A mutant?"

"Someone whose X-gene has mutated giving them powers, mutants." For a moment there was complete silence. "Trust me." Charles fought back the urge to read her thoughts; he didn't want to intrude anymore than he already had. Unfortunately, he did not get the reaction he wanted.

"If you want me to trust you, get out of my head and stay out!"