X-Men First Class: The Fox's War

Chapter 3: Xavier Mansion

Symphony yawned and stretched when she felt Erik shaking her lightly, trying to wake her.

"We're almost there." Charles answered Symphony's unasked question when she looked at Erik in sleepy annoyance.

Symphony just yawned again, not regretting the fact that her lips curled up to show off all her sharp teeth.

Earlier in the car, after getting off the plane from Russia, Symphony had felt extremely tired from the whole excursion, especially with having the stress of hearing Emma Frost all throughout the trip, and had started falling asleep in the car.

Not wanting to end up falling asleep on either of the boys, Symphony had changed into her fox form to curl up in the middle seat, nose tucked under her fluffy tail.

Charles smiled at the unmatched eyes looking up at him, but quickly turned his attention towards the rubble of the building outside his window, and the group of teens in front of the ruins, looking absolutely miserable.

"Raven!" He called urgently, getting out of the car.

They'd received a call earlier on the plane that there had been trouble, but no one had suspected that it had been this bad.

Raven stood and enveloped Charles in a hug.

"Darwin's dead." Alex Summers piped up after a few minutes of conversation.

"I know" Charles nodded with a frown, "and that's why you're all going back home."

Sean looked up with his strawberry blonde curls hanging across his forehead, and Alex grunted.

"No we're not." Alex responded.

"He's not going back to prison." Sean reiterated.

"Nonetheless, I should never have dragged you into this. It's far too dangerous!" Charles told them, feeling a little alarmed and frustrated at their stubbornness in their current surroundings.

Raven however, tugged his jacket a little, making him look at her. "Darwin's dead Charles, and we can't even bury him." She finally said, making sure that each word weighed down on Charles with meaning.

Everyone went silent for a moment, mourning their fallen friend.

"We can avenge him." Erik finally spoke up, making everyone look over at him, Charles in annoyance, Symphony in foxish curiosity, and everyone else in some form of hope.

"Erik, a word." Charles muttered, pulling his friend aside.

Symphony morphed back into her human form and gave Raven a hug as Erik and Charles talked.

After a moment, Charles turned back towards them with uncertainty.

"We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?" He asked, cocking his head.

Everyone agreed, but then Hank brought up one important fact.

"But where do we go? I'm sure they'll have the facility back up and running, but even then, it won't be safe. We have no place to stay." He pointed out.

Charles smiled. "Yes we do." He answered.

Raven smiled, knowing exactly what was running through his mind, as everyone else looked at him quizzically.

*****

The drive to Xavier mansion was a long one, and Symphony whined a little, finding herself squeezing under a bench to make room for all her fellow mutants.

Little foxy Symphony was not pleased, much less comfortable.

Charles... She mentally whimpered, looking up at him from under the bench, giving him her best puppy eyes that she could manage.