philia

Ghost

Ash Cyrus Theme : No Time To Die by Billie Eilish

Charles Xavier Theme : Believer by Imagine Dragons

Chyrus / Xyrus Theme : Our Song by Anne Marie and Niall Horan

It had been years since Charles erased Ash's memory. She may have forgotten him, but there didn't come a day, a moment, a second, where he didn't think of her. She lived in every cell and fibre of his being, like an tattoo left permanently on his skin. His fingers kept finding its way to his ring that painfully reminded him of her eyes, and the memories that he treasured that threatened to tear him apart from the inside. The fact that he was still standing reminded him of how she selflessly threw herself in front of a speeding bullet to ensure his safety. He somehow still felt her mind, no matter how far she was, as if he still had a connection with her. He'd feel her emotions, how she had a new life, how much more cheerful she was. How she didn't remember him. Often the ring would alert him whenever she was in danger, but when he went to Cerebro, she was always coming out alive, the other men left unconscious at the scene. After a while, he found it in himself to know that she didn't need his help. So he stopped. When he was plagued by voices of those he didn't know of, he heard Ash's voice the loudest. It was sometimes what she was doing then, like she was in a meeting or on a mission, sometimes it was the dark feelings underlying beneath her skin, screaming to be consuming her body again, but sometimes it was the memories between them he cherished like no other, trapped in an unknown corner of her mind with no escape. Then Jean came. Upon seeing Jean Grey he knew that she was Ash's sister. He knew that her name used to be Ashlynn Harriet Cyrus Grey. And Jean reminded him of her every day. They shared the same laugh, the same fragility, the same edge in their eyes that he loved so much. He'd sometimes mistake Jean for Ash, almost actually calling her by her name once. So he cared for her like a daughter, sometimes crying himself to sleep because of how much it hurt to give Ash's little sister beside him the love that her sister couldn't. And how she wasn't beside him to tell him, reassure him that she's fine. But he knew she was happy.

"Her nightmares were different this time." He worried, briskly strolling beside Hank.

"Well, it could have count for something I saw while I was in my lab earlier. There was some kind of tremor. Like an energy surge. I picked it up on one of my meters." Hank replied, tapping on his tablet. 

"You're saying Jean created it?"

"No, I'm saying something else did."

"Maybe she reacted to it."

"But the Epicentre was halfway around the world."

"Halfway around the world?!"

"That's why I was hoping you'd take a look." They entered Cerebro, Charles sitting in the chair and putting the helmet on, Hank entering the coordinates.

"The signal came from Cairo. I've entered the coordinates." He sifted through the inhabitants, eyes coming to rest on one figure. He couldn't believe it.

"It's her." He breathed, a goofy grin appearing on his face.

"Who?"

"Ash."

"What?!"

"Mhmm."

"You're talking Ash Cyrus... Ash Cyrus, right?"

"Mhmm." He kept his eyes glued on her, overjoyed.

"Can you give me some details?"

"Well, she looks stunning. Barely aged a day. And she's done something with her hair and it looks ho-" 

"No, I mean, can you give me details about the situation? Why is the CIA involved with this? What is she doing there?" Hank interrupted impatiently, tapping his foot on the floor.

"She's going back to Langley to deliver a report. I'm going to go there, see if she knows something about the tremor." He stood up, walking with Hank.

"You'll wind up seeing Ash."

"I want to go check her out- check out... the situation." Charles blurted, quickly correcting himself.

"Ash Cyrus. It's like a ghost from the past."