One-shots/Short Stories

Charles Xavier

His Childhood Friend
Charles stood in front of a run-down apartment building with Hank, Logan and Peter. The three were staring at Charles confused as to why they were in front of a suspicious-looking building. "Hey uh. . .why are we here?" Peter asked him. "I thought we were going to break into Pentagon?"
   "We will." Charles nodded. "I just have another idea on who might also help us."
   "Who?" Logan asked curiously.
   "You'll see." Charles smirked.

***

They stood in front of the door that said 221b. Charles took a deep breath in, before knocking on the door. He even went as far as to remove the sunglasses he was wearing, fix his hair a bit and attempt to straighten his dirty clothes. The others behind him stared at him amused. "I'm guessing this person is a 'she'."
   Before Charles could reply, the door was pulled open, revealing a woman. She had pitch black hair that was pulled in a loose ponytail, eyes a chocolate brown, her skin pale, lips plump and red. She wore all black; long-sleeved black shirt, black ripped jeans and she wore black hand fishnets. She stared at them all with a blank face, no emotion in sight.
   "Can I help you?" she asked sarcastically, her voice low and sultry. Peter couldn't help but give the woman a flirtatious smirk. Logan frowned at the teenager and whacked him behind his head. Peter glared at him, rubbing his head.
   "Lilly," Charles said politely, "nice to see you again."
   "No one calls me tha-" she narrowed her eyes at him, taking a step towards him. She took a step away in shock when she realised who Charles was. "You. . ." she whispered. "You. . ." she glared at him. Without any warning, she reeled her hand back and gave him a very good slap to the face. The three other men took a step back in warning. Charles huffed out a small chuckle, moving his jaw around in pain.
   "It's good to see you again -"

SLAP!

Charles' face was snapped to the other side from the second slap. Charles groaned in pain. "Really, Lilly? I - MOTHERF. . ." Charles kneeled on the ground cupping his groin in pain. 'Lilly' had went and kicked him where the sun doesn't shine.
   "Ten years." she sneered. "Ten years you have been out of my life. Ten years since you just suddenly disappeared from me - and it has to be when we were going to get married in a week, you dirty man-whore -"
   "Whoa-whoa-whoa, back up!" Peter quickly interfered. "What did you just say, hot lady? Wedding?"
   "Did I forget to mention?" Charles groaned out. "This is Lilliana Cushing, my childhood friend and fiancée -"
   "Ex-fiancée and childhood friend." Lilliana interrupted, giving the kneeling man a glare. "He no longer became part of my life when he left all those years ago."
   "Lilly -"
   "No one calls me that." she snapped. "It's Lilliana."
   "Look, I don't want to interrupt this quarrel or anything. . ." Logan spoke up. "But we don't really have time for this."
   "What do you mean?" Lilliana asked him hesitantly.
   "We need your help." Hank told her.
   "Mind letting us in?" Charles asked her from the ground. Lilliana glared down at him, walking back into the apartment. The men glanced at each other warily.
   "Do we go in? Or. . ." Hank trailed off.
   "You coming in or what?" Lilliana called out to them. "Hurry up before I change my mind."

***

"You're doing. . .well." Charles looked around at her living room that was littered with stolen items. He was disappointed in her, actually. What happened to his happy, innocent friend? His lover?
   "Can't say the same to you." Lilliana scoffed, eyeing his clothes. "What are you doing here?"
   "Charles said that -"
   "Why are you stealing?" Charles interrupted Hank, picking up a stolen diamond. Peter eyed the diamond with intrigue. "I thought I left you a good amount of money -"
   "Why would I use your money?" Lilliana gave Charles a look. She then turned to Peter. "Don't even think about stealing that diamond. It's my goal to getting away from here."
   "What's stopping you?" Logan asked her.
   "The stupid humans." Lilliana sneered. "All afraid of us 'freaks'. People in this apartment building think I am one -which they are right- they want to get rid of me, but are scared of me."
   "How do they know?" Hank asked her.
   "They saw me use my mutation." Lilliana motioned to the floating diamond that Charles previously held. "Saved a person that lived here from a falling light. Moved the light away from the person just in time. Scared them though."
   "What's with the stolen items?" Charles asked again.
   "I'm a kleptomaniac." Lilliana shrugged. "Sue me - if you can."
   "If we can?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
   "Telekinesis is just one of my talents." Lilliana smirked. She pointed to her temple. "Telepath happens to be another talent of mine."
   "Sweet." Peter whistled lowly. "Awesome mutation and hot." Charles snapped his head to Peter with a glare.
   "Oi!" he retorted. "Watch what you're saying!"
   "You have no say in what he says." Lilliana snapped. "And I don't need you controlling my life."
   "Lilly, please. . ." Charles sighed, closing his eyes. "Can we leave our past behind for a moment and focus on why we need your help -"
   "It doesn't look like you're moving from the past." Lilliana raised an eyebrow at him. Charles clenched his jaw.
   "Get out of my mind." Charles said through clenched teeth. Lilliana smirked at the sight of his thinning patience.
   "You got rid of your gift?" Lilliana frowned, for once showing seriousness in the situation. "Why - oh. . ."
   "I said, get out -"
   "Raven. . ." Lilliana murmured. "Raven's gone rogue. . ."
   "We need your help to stop Raven from killing Trask." Hank quickly jumped in. "That's why we're here. We need your help."
   "How would I help?" Lilliana shook her head. "It's been years since I last saw Raven and Charles - she probably doesn't even remember me."
   "Lilly. . ." Charles gave her a sad look, sitting beside her on the couch. He turned to the other men. "Do you mind giving us a moment?"
   "Sure, sure." Logan nodded. When the three left, Charles turned back to Lilliana who was looking down at the ground sadly.
   "Raven was a lovely girl." Lilliana said quietly. "Happy, bubbly. . ."
   "Lilly -"
   "It's Lilliana -"
   "-I didn't mean to leave you like that. Both Raven and I." Charles continued like she never interrupted him. "When we celebrated my thesis, a woman came up to me -"
   "I know, I saw her." Lilliana said darkly. "What was her name? Maria?"
   "Moira." Charles corrected, not that Lilliana cared.
   "Whatever," she waved off, "she came to you, heard you flirt, felt offended and hurt and left." She sighed and glanced at him fleetingly. "Next day you and Raven were gone. Probably off with that 'Moira' girl."
   "That didn't happen - I mean, it did, but not in that way." Charles rushed out. "She read my thesis about mutation. She wanted Raven and I to come with her to the CIA about it when they met paths with some bad mutants -"
  "And you just got up and left?" Lilliana stared at him appalled. "Did you even care that the week after your celebration on your thesis we were going to get married? Did you even care about me?"
   "Lilly -"
   "You didn't even contact me or anything!" she exclaimed, standing up angrily. "You just disappeared from my life!"
   "Lilly -"
   "And now you come here when you need my help. Not before to reunite or anything." she scoffed. "Get out. I don't want anything to do with you."
   Lilliana went to leave, only for Charles to call her back. "I kept an eye on you." Charles told her. "Even though I didn't contact you, I used Cerebro to check up on you. Raven also wanted to know how you were going. She didn't forget about you." He gave her a sad smile. "I-I wanted to talk to you, but the situation I was in. . .there was a telepath like us. Way more powerful than us - if I had contacted you, I was sure she would have seen you and used you for leverage."
   "And after that?" Lilliana turned her back to him, staring out the window. "Why didn't you contact me?"
   "I lost Raven, I was grieving not only for losing her, but also losing my legs."
   "That's right," she murmured, "you're walking now."
   "A serum Hank created." Charles told her. "Takes away the sounds of people's cries of pain and helps me sleep -" he sighed, burying his head in his hands. "My mind was kind of pulled away from you and instead focused on Raven leaving and the school -"
   "School?" Lilliana turned to him with a small smile. "As in, the school for mutants like -?"
   "Like we'd talk about back at university." Charles smiled. Charles gave her a small smile and stood up to make his way to her. "Lilliana," he said quietly, "you never left my mind for more than a day. Everyday I thought of you. I wished I could have contacted you -"
   "Then why didn't you?" Lilliana croaked out, a tear escaping her eye.
   "I was scared." Charles whispered, a tear escaping his eye as well. "The state I was in - I am in. . .I didn't want you to see me like this. I swear I was going to change and see you again, it's just. . ." Charles leaned his forehead against hers, quiet sobs taking through his body. "I was lost." he whispered. "Leaving you behind, and then Raven leaving me, the school going down. . .I thought this was the end."
   "I could have helped you." Lilliana whispered to him, cupping his face with her hands and wiping the tears away. "I would have forgiven you and helped you."
   "I know, I know." Charles chuckled humourlessly. "My mind wasn't working."
   "I've missed you." Lilliana brought him into a tight hug.
   "I've missed you so much." Charles whispered to her. "So, so much. I love you. I still love you, Lilliana Cushing."
   "And I still love you, Charles Xavier." Lilliana gave him a small kiss on the lips that he accepted happily. "I'll help you save Raven, yeah?"
   "After this, we can start new, okay?" Charles told her. "I promise you, we can start anew - get our wedding again. Just. . .promise that we won't lose each other again?"
   "I promise." Lilliana promised him.
   "Good." Charles grinned, giving her another kiss. "Now, let's go save our Raven, yeah?"

The End