It had been a week since the Kennedy incident.
Symphony tired easily, feeling the grief of the people around her, and struggling with her powers to keep them under control, as two different futures raged inside her head.
She hadn't been out for a long time, and Symphony was starting to feel cooped up.
Charles wouldn't let her go anywhere outside the mansion without him, let alone off the property. Since the incident, he'd turned extremely protective wanting to ensure that she wasn't going to get hurt.
Today though, she needed out. She needed to see different scenery.
Walking into the study, Symphony found Charles reading a book to one of their many young students, trying his hardest to help them learn to read.
She smiled at the sweet sight, loving how good he was with the kids.
They were like adopted family to them.
Charles looked up from the book and smiled at Symphony, lifting one finger as he finished the book.
"The end." He proclaimed, closing the book with a cheeky little grin.
"Now then Gabriel... Go find your math teacher. I need to talk to Symphony."
The young boy nodded, rushing to push his glasses back up his nose before he opened his eyes again. "Yes Professor." He replied, sliding down from Charles' lap, and running off to find the specified teacher. "Morning Miss Symphony!" He greeted, running past the young woman.
"He's going to be a handful one day, you know that right?" Symphony said, turning back to Charles with a wry smile.
Charles nodded. "You would know, now wouldn't you?" He offered, holding out a hand for Symphony to come sit with him.
Symphony took the hand offered, and knelt by Charles' chair. "But he'll save your life." She whispered fervently. "More than once. And for that I am grateful."
Charles grinned, touching a finger to her nose. "Not too much, remember Symph?" He jokingly reminded.
Symphony nodded. "Charles, I'm feeling a little cooped up." She finally let out with a pout playing across her lips.
Charles frowned. "Let's go out in the garden then." He suggested.
Symphony shook her head. "I want to go out. I need different scenery." She hinted.
Charles groaned.
"You knew this would happen Charles. I can only handle being in one place for so long. I need to be able to be out." Symphony chided.
Charles nodded. "I'll go find Hank, and we'll take the car. The teachers can handle the students for a couple of hours." He sighed, moving to direct his chair out of the office.
Symphony raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't expecting you to agree so readily." She admitted.
Charles chuckled. "How can I resist a pretty little bean with various mutated genes?" He teased, flirting a little to make Symphony smile, for old time's sake.
Symphony giggled with a smile.
"Any place in particular you'd like to go?" Charles asked.
Symphony shrugged. "There's this nice little park near the Pentagon, that's lightly wooded around the edges." She suggested.
Charles smiled with a nod, unaware that Magneto was currently in the plastic underground cell, in the middle of the pentagon.
"I'll go get Hank." Charles repeated, wheeling out of the study. "Meet us at the car."
*****
Symphony bounded happily through the leaves on the ground in the park, happy to just be a fox again, though she was fully aware of Charles and Hank watching her as Hank pushed Charles in his wheelchair to follow her.
Setting up a block, Symphony started what she'd come for.
Erik. She reached out, connecting with Erik's mind.
Symphony. Came the response. Come to torture me for hurting Charles? Magneto asked spitefully.
Symphony hopped on a pile of leaves to avert suspicion. No. Erik, I came to tell you that I know you were trying to save Kennedy. I even know why. She answered.
There was a pause. Can you get me out?
No. That would interfere with the future, and create a third timeline, and I can't handle that. I'm barely handling the two already. Symphony sighed mentally.
What do you mean by that? Symphony, what aren't you telling me? Erik came back, turning from Magneto to the man Symphony had known, if only for an instant.
Symphony sighed. I see the future Erik, and all the possible courses it could take. Here and now, there are two courses, and I have to try and keep it that way, for all our sakes. She explained.
Is that how you know I didn't kill him on purpose? Erik asked dolefully.
Symphony ran up to Charles, and then dashed away. Yes. I foresaw it. I saw the bullet curve. I saw you trying hard to stop it. I saw your panic stricken face when the president died. She answered.
Erik sighed. So why are you here? He asked, knowing there was more.
To assure you that you won't be here forever. Both timelines, you get out, but in one you get out sooner than you do in the other. If I can do anything to help it, I'm going to try and get that timeline to happen, though it will take great effort, and it'll cost all of us our lives, in one way or another. She finally admitted, snatching a stick from the ground, and carrying it to Charles. I have to go now, before Charles figures out that I'm in telepathic contact with anyone. He doesn't know that you're here yet.
Erik chuckled. How long?
Ten years if I have anything to do with it. Just hold tight. We'll get you out.
With that, the contact ended, and Symphony chased the stick as Charles threw it with a grin, no idea as to the conversation that had just gone on, right beneath his nose.
Down below, Erik looked up at the ceiling with a smile.
Knowing that he'd see Symphony soon, made ten years seem worth the wait.
After a while of running, Symphony changed back into her human form, and laid gasping in the leaves, grinning happily.
Charles chuckled. "I haven't seen you this alive in a while." He admitted.
Symphony looked over at him with her bright mismatched eyes. "I haven't been off the property in a while." She tossed back teasingly.
Charles just smiled, looking at his watch. "It's been almost three hours. We should head back to the mansion before the teachers start pulling their hair out." He joked, nodding for Hank to start taking them back.
Symphony turned into a common red fox, and trotted alongside Charles, obediently leading the way back to the car.
It wasn't until much later that night, when Symphony started dreaming again, that Charles even remotely suspected that their visit to the park had been about more than just getting out.
What tipped him off, was the fact that Symphony was dreaming about Magneto getting out of his cell at the Pentagon. That, and the intriguing fact, that Magneto was on the news, having been arrested for killing the president.
Rolling into Symphony's room, and sitting there watching her as she stirred violently in her bed for quite some time, Charles followed her mind as closely as he dared, without awakening her.
It wasn't until she cried out in fear, that Charles made a move to wake her.
You're dreaming. He gently woke her, moving closer to the side of the bed.
Symphony sat up in bed, eyes wide, and tears streaming down her face.
Charles felt sympathy for her, even though he was a little angry.
Symphony could feel his anger with her.
"How much did you see?" She sobbed quietly.
Charles leaned in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Enough." He answered coily.
"Charles, it was the only way to ensure the future, and you asked me to not tell you too much about your own future. The future at stake that we're going to have to fight for... I can't tell you about it, or it won't play out the way we need it to. Many lessons are going to be learned Charles, and I can't interfere with that. All I can do is try to give our history a push in the right direction where I can." She explained, trying to make amends.
Charles was stubborn though. "Symphony, I'm not mad that you tried to give the future a little nudge. I'm mad that you lied to me. You used me Symph, when you could have just told me why you wanted to go out. I still would have helped you!" He scolded firmly.
Symphony looked down. "I'm sorry. I should have trusted you." She whispered, refusing to meet his eyes.
Charles sighed, and turned to leave the room, letting an emotionally distraught Symphony to sit alone, crying.
The next morning, Hank came downstairs, and found Charles trying his best to make breakfast from his wheelchair, barely able to reach the stove.
"Where's Symphony?" Hank asked, taking note of the fact that Charles was the one cooking, and not Symphony, like she normally did.
"Still in bed I assume." Charles answered, obviously not fully caring.
Hank sighed. "She must be tired." He mused.
Charles shrugged. "I would expect so."
Hank noticed how quiet Charles was being towards the matter, and decided to partially change the topic.
"I isolated another genetic marker." He mentioned, moving to take over the cooking.
Charles looked up. "That's good." He nodded. "How soon will the serum be ready?"
Hank frowned. "It may be quite a while. I don't even know if this is the right marker, or if it's just another bogey." He explained, unsure as to why Charles wanted the serum done so soon.
Charles turned to move to the table, giving Hank more room to maneuver.
"How long?"
Hank shrugged this time. "Anywhere from a few months to a few years." He answered honestly, looking up as he heard a thump and a cry. "Sounds like someone fell out of bed."
Charles nodded, looking up as well. "Symphony will handle it." He said with confidence.
Hank watched Charles for a moment, as he stirred the food.
Three minutes later, and Alex came down the stairs, carrying a young black haired girl. "She had a nightmare." He informed Charles. "I'm surprised Symphony's not up yet."
Charles just reached out for the poor child. "Go get her up Alex, breakfast is almost ready."
Alex and Hank looked at him strangely, before Alex moved to head back up the stairs.
Knocking on Symphony's bedroom door, Alex listened for any sign of life beyond.
When there wasn't even any shifting, Alex opened the door.
Everything beyond that door was floating, and Symphony was sitting in the middle of it all, holding her head as she sobbed quietly, not bothering with control.
Alex walked through the mess of flying objects, and knelt next to Symphony.
"Symph?" He asked, pulling a hand away from her face. "Hey, it's okay." He whispered, seeing the tears falling down her face.
Symphony shook her head. "No it's not Alex. So much is going to happen, and I'm going to lose Charles. I'm going to lose him because I lied to him, and it's coming soon." She hiccuped.
Alex looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about? He's just downstairs with Nat, and Hank." He tried to assure her.
Symphony looked up at him, with her eyes glowing eerily. "The future Alex. I'm talking about the future. I can see it." She finally told him.
Alex sat there stunned. "Is this what everything's been about?" He wondered, feeling a little insulted that no one had told him.
Symphony nodded. "The nightmares, Hank trying to make the serum work again, the worry." She whispered. "All of it."
Alex frowned and pulled her up. "Put the furniture down." He instructed firmly, making Symphony put everything back in order. "Now. Listen very carefully. If you can see the future, you know that it's uncertain. Things can change, and we decide our own paths." He explained. "You don't have to lose him."
Symphony smiled a little at Alex's encouragement.
"You get to choose. Do you lose him, or do you go down there, let him see how sorry you are, and get him to stay?"
Symphony gave Alex a hug. "Thank you." She whispered, before rushing down the stairs to the kitchen, pausing at the door to take a breath, and nervously looking in, only catching Charles' eye for a moment before looking away and moving to help Hank with breakfast.
It wasn't long after breakfast, that Charles wheeled out of the mansion, and into the garden, in search of the arctic fox that had headed out there a few minutes before.
Heading down the ramp that had been installed, Charles headed towards the small forest on the property, knowing that Symphony had a burrow somewhere along the tree line there.
It was just a matter of finding it.
He didn't get far though, before he saw her standing on the path, leaning on the wall as she stared at the satellite dish that Erik had turned all those months ago.
Wheeling over, Charles called to her.
"Symphony!" He called gently, making her turn to face him.
The look on her face broke his heart.
"I'm sorry Charles." She told him, traces of tears in her voice.
Charles frowned. "I know. I'm sorry too. I could have at least tried to be a little more understanding than I was." He told her. "Let's just call it even, and talk for a bit?" He suggested.
Symphony felt a tear slide down her cheek. "You're not leaving me?" She whispered.
Charles scrunched his brows. "Why would you ask that?" He wondered, before realizing.
"You just changed the future, didn't you?"
Symphony looked down at her feet. "It was either change the future, or lose you." She admitted.
Charles frowned and rolled forward to take her hand. "Well then for both our sakes, I'm glad you changed the future, just this once."
Symphony smiled, and then sensed something on his mind.
"Are you afraid of me?" She asked.
Charles looked at her confused. "Why would you ask that?" He wondered.
Symphony pulled her hand away and leaned on the wall again, refusing to look at him.
"You're having Hank fix the serum." She intoned.
Charles looked down in shame. "Yes." He answered honestly.
"So you're afraid of me."
Charles shook his head. "No Symph. I'm afraid for you. Back on the 22nd, when you lost control, we didn't know what to do, how to help you, or even what was going on. Hank and I thought it would be best to get the serum working so we could help you, should you lose control again." He told him.
Symphony looked over at him, accepting his answer. "I trust you." She assured him, letting him know that they were still okay.
It would be a while before either of them realized just how extreme things were going to be soon after.