Charles kept working with me in the car until we reached Division X, and managed to keep me alive. The voices stayed quiet, and my skin no longer burned like a fire. It was still warm to the touch, but not to the point where Charles needed to bring my temperature down with the ice.
When we did reach Division X, Charles got out of the car first, as Erik went to collect my baggage from the boot.
Holding out his hand, Charles helped me out of the car, supporting me as I wobbled, still not fully back on my feet, but able enough to not be carried to the infirmary.
It took a few moments for me to realize that there was a blond haired girl running out to meet us.
"Charles!" She called, making Charles look up from ensuring that I wasn't going to fall.
"Raven!" He answered with a small smile.
"What happened?" Raven asked, coming to stand in front of us.
I waved with a small smile. "They kept me off the streets, that's what happened." I told her quietly.
Charles chuckled and looked between me and Raven. "Raven, this is Symphony. She's a telepath, like me, but she's also psychokinetic. Symphony, Raven's my sister."
I smiled at this, already knowing that she was a shapeshifter.
I'd learned it during the time that Charles spent in my mind. "Nice to meet you." I told her politely.
Raven grinned solemnly before looking at Charles. "You still haven't answered my question." She chastised.
Charles sighed, shaking his head. "I'll explain on the way to the infirmary." He told her.
Raven nodded, and started following us, leaving Erik with my things. Charles grinned for a moment as he remembered Erik.
"Put her things in my room for now Erik, I'll find an empty room for her to stay in when we're done in the infirmary." He instructed, and Erik passed us to follow those instructions.
Raven walked slowly beside us as we headed for the infirmary.
"Okay Charles, I'm listening." She finally spoke.
Charles sighed again, adjusting his arm around me to keep me on my feet. "Symphony's powers were a little more out of control than we expected. She disguised it well, until we got to the car, and she fainted." He started explaining.
I bit my lip in mild irritation that I'd fainted.
I was glad that it was Charles though. Anyone else and I might've been in trouble.
Charles smiled, overhearing some of my thoughts. "We decided to bring her straight here of course, but I had to help her along the way. Her telepathy is under a small amount of control for the moment, but I'm afraid I'm the one keeping it that way. I'll have to help her learn to control her telepathy after we solve whatever's going on with her mutation."
Her very groovy mutation. I overheard. Or was I supposed to hear that thought?
Was he flirting with me?!
I looked up to see his eyes directly on me, with that kind, though goofy, little smile of his.
"So there wasn't a fight?" Raven confirmed.
Charles smiled with a chuckle. "No Raven, there wasn't a fight." He laughed as we reached the infirmary. "Hank!" He called out, hoping that the young scientist was there.
Sure enough, a young man came scurrying out of where he'd been working on some sort of formula.
"Professor," he responded, coming forward to help get me over to a table, where they promptly had me lay down.
"Hank, we need you to run some tests. Something is happening, and we think it might have something to do with her mutation. We need to be sure." Charles immediately started talking.
Hank nodded and obeyed, walking over to a tray to pick up a needle.
I have a fear of needles. I have for a long time, and I can't remember why. Or rather, I choose not to remember why, but in the instant that I saw that needle, it all came flooding back, and I was terrified.
My heart rate jumped, and my body started to shake as my blood ran cold.
"Don't think about it Symphony." Charles gently whispered, putting his hand over mine. "Think of something else."
I looked at him with wide eyes as Hank came closer with the needle. "Like what?" I asked.
Charles smiled and went into my mind, to try and guide my thoughts.
It didn't help though. The needle was there, and I was scared. I started to squirm, not wanting that needle to come any closer, and Charles sighed, shaking his head as Hank prepared to take the blood he needed.
I didn't have time to think, I didn't have time to see or feel the needle go through my skin, as Charles leaned over and crashed his lips into mine.
I'm not kidding when I say that the world, and the time in it, completely froze, and fireworks erupted throughout my whole body, right from my lips to the tips of my toes.
If I hadn't already been laying down, my knees would have lost all support.
I forgot all about the needle until I winced from its retraction from my arm, making me pull away from Charles.
Charles and I didn't even care that Hank was awkwardly turning away, redder than a beet. All we saw were each other's eyes.
"Do you always move that fast with a girl, Professor?" I asked quietly, forgetting my pain for the time being.
Charles smiled sweetly and shook his head. "Only when I absolutely see no other way of gaining their attention." He whispered kindly, cupping the side of my head with his gentle hand, blocking my sight from the new needle that was coming my way.
I smiled and winced again as the new needle went neatly through my skin, this time a sedative being injected into my system, knocking me out.
*****
Charles sat quietly in the infirmary, watching Symphony as she laid peacefully sleeping, under the influence of the medication Hank had administered about an hour before.
It was now heading into the evening time, and Charles was going to admit, watching Symphony sleep was making him a little bit tired, but he had to stay alert, incase she had anymore nightmares, or the block he'd set up started to degrade.
It took a moment for him to realize that Raven was standing in the doorway.
"Raven." He greeted her in a tired whisper.
Raven smiled at him gravely. "I brought you some dinner." She answered, handing him a plate of food she'd swiped from the table.
"Thank you Raven." Charles chuckled, glad that his sister had thought of him.
Raven smiled and looked over at Symphony.
"You left after Hank helped me put her on the bed. Where'd you go?" Charles asked, concerned that something had happened to his sister.
Raven shrugged. "I went to talk to Angel. She's been working in a club for a while, so I figured she could use some normal girl time." She answered honestly.
"Is Symphony gonna be okay?" She asked, switching subjects as Charles prepared to ask how Angel was doing.
"She'll be fine." Charles said hopefully. "She just needs a bit of time. Hank ran those tests I asked for. He says that her genes are continuing to mutate, but only because they weren't finished in the first place. Her powers aren't at their full strength yet, and Hank says that she might change in appearance just a small bit, before her mutation is complete."
Raven smiled. "If she's going to be fine then, why are you still here?"
Charles sighed, taking a bite of his food. "She'll be fine physically, but most of her life from the age of 15 has been emotionally traumatizing. I'm here as a fellow telepath to help her abate the nightmares, and keep the voices from getting too loud for her." He answered, hoping Raven wouldn't question it further, because the truth of it was, in the past three and a half days he'd known Symphony, he'd started falling in love with her, and he wanted to ensure for himself that she'd be alright.
Raven nodded. "So you're trying to be kind of an emotional buffer." She stated, trying to put things in terms that she'd understand.
Charles nodded in confirmation. "Something like that, yeah." He told her.
Raven sighed quietly. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked.
Charles smiled. "You could get me a book or something. I know you want to help, but right now the best way to help Symphony, is by helping me and Hank stay alert." He explained, before Raven could protest. "I need to stay awake so I can be ready, should she start having a nightmare, or a bad memory."
Raven nodded in understanding, now lacking some of her previous enthusiasm. "I'll go grab that book you were reading earlier." She decided, leaving the room to fetch the book she'd seen Charles studying intensely earlier in the day.
She assumed it had something to do with genetic mutations.
That was after all, his biggest obsession in life.
Coming back though, Raven was partially shocked to find Charles leaning over Symphony, with both his hands on her face, seemingly concentrating very hard on something that no one could see.
"Charles?" She asked, taking a tentative step forward.
"Not now Raven." He muttered, wincing at the break in concentration.
After a moment, Charles stood up straight with a sigh, and went back to his seat, retrieving his book from Raven. "Thank you Raven." He mumbled, sitting down.
Raven frowned and looked over at Symphony. "What was that about?" She wondered, before turning back to Charles for an answer.
"She's still struggling a lot with her powers... I'm going to admit, it's a bit disorienting when things around the room start floating whenever someone has a nightmare." Charles admitted with a small smile.
Raven looked at Symphony with confusion. "So she's like you... But more powerful?" She asked, hardly daring to believe that there could be anyone more powerful than Charles.
"Something like that, yes. By the end of whatever she's going through... She may prove to be even more powerful." He answered.
Raven's face fell in sadness and respect. "So what will she be able to do?"
Charles sighed and shook his head. "I wish I knew Raven. I wish I knew."
"Well you're going to have to wish somewhere else now. We've got a meeting." Erik announced his presence, leaning on the doorway.
Charles nodded. "Right. Raven, go get to know the rest of the group. I'll try keeping tabs on Symphony from a distance."
Raven nodded and left, leaving Charles and Erik together.
Charles started to stand, as Erik moved to let Raven out, slowly shifting to lean on the table Symphony was laid out on. Looking down at her face as he leaned over her, Erik thought about what he'd just heard Charles say to Raven.
"You do have an idea, don't you?" Erik asked, looking over at Charles.
Charles frowned. "Lift her right eye lid." He told Erik.
Erik nodded and did as he was told, finding beneath it, a startling sight.
When they'd first found Symphony, she'd had two bright green eyes. Now her right eye was half green and half brown.
"She's slowly changing Erik. What you see there is a late appearance of Heterochromia. Her left eye is still bright green. I've already had Hank run tests... Her genetics are in such a state of flux that it's no wonder she's in so much pain. As far as Hank and I can tell... She's changing into something far greater than she already is. Erik, we may have found more than we were expecting."
Erik frowned. "Makes you wonder if we've bitten off a piece more than we can handle." He muttered, looking down to see that Symphony's eye had already changed some more, before he let her eyelid drop back down. "Come on, we'll be late for that meeting." He told Charles, moving out of the room to lead the way back to the main compound.
Charles shook his head and turned his back, just in time to miss Symphony floating in mid air.