The Puppeteer - X-Men

Eight

"Alright, I'm not sure on how to train your abilities" Charles admitted. "Well, I'm best at forming thoughts, as you've seen already" Lily said. "Yes, you are. I want to focus more on the image side of that thought control" Charles said and Lily frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I think that, if you focus hard enough, you may be able to form an image inside someone's mind, make them see something that isn't there" Charles explained and Lily looked down. "Like pulling up memories" she said and he nodded.

"Try it on me" he cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back. "What?" she breathed. "Try it on me" he repeated and Lily stammered slightly. "You won't hurt me, Lily. I promise" Charles said. "You can't promise that, Charles" Lily shook her head, stepping backwards.

"You can't hurt me with a memory or an image or a thought" Charles stated simply. "Yes. I can" she looked up at him. "How?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. "I don't know how, but I've done it before. I've...I've hurt someone by putting thoughts in their head" Lily said.

"Hurt them how?" he pressed and she looked away. "I went into my friend's head because he wanted to help me control my ability and I felt his mind snap. Something snapped and he never woke up" Lily snapped, breathing heavy. "You killed him" Charles said and Lily inhaled sharply, rage burning in her heart.

She glared at him and went inside his mind, pulling a memory from his past up. Charles inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, his fists clenched. "How's that for an image, Charles?" she spat, exiting his mind. "Extraordinary" Charles said after a moment and Lily faltered.

"That memory you just made me see, did you watch it?" he asked. "No, of course not. Memories are private" Lily shook her head. "Let me show you" Charles said, lifting two fingers to his temple and Lily saw a memory appear in her vision that she didn't recognise.

"Charlie! I don't wanna go! Mother, don't let them take me! Mother!" a little girl cried as two men dragged her out of the room. "Charles!" the girl cried as she forced outside and thrown into a van.

It was night outside now as a young man ran up to the girl's mother. "Mother, where's Elizabeth?" he asked harshly, knowing something was wrong. "She's gone, Charles. There was an accident and she passed" the mother said bluntly and Young Charles stumbled backwards. "No. No, she can't be gone! She's only seven! Elizabeth!" Young Charles cried as he ran through rooms, looking for the girl.

He ran into her room, freezing when he saw the mess of her room: books were thrown around the room, pillows laid on the floor and there was a small blood stain on the pale yellow carpet. He collapsed to his knees, sobbing as he hugged her giraffe toy close to his chest.

The memory ended and Lily was back in the present, a tear rolling down her cheek. "That was the memory you brought up the day I met you and then again just now. There are so many dark memories you could have chosen but you chose that one both times. Why?" Charles asked, wiping at the tear in his eye.

"Because it's the one that hurts you the most" Lily mumbled. "Get in my head" Lily said after a few moments. "What?" Charles blinked. "Get in my head. A memory for a memory. Choose whatever one you think hurts me the most and watch it" Lily said, determination in her eyes.

"Lily, I'm not going to put you through that" Charles shook his head. "If you don't do it, I'll force you to watch it" Lily shrugged and Charles sighed before placing his fingers on his temple once again, plunging deep into Lily's memories.

She felt him rifling through, looking for the one that hurts her the most and he stopped, a memory igniting in front of her eyes.

"Hold her down, you idiots!" a man in a lab coat yelled at two other men as they held down a girl with chestnut brown hair and dark blue eyes. "Get off me! Leave me alone!" Young Lily screamed, thrashing about. The man in a lab coat grabbed a syringe and held the girl's arm down.

"No! No!" she screamed as the needle punctured her skin, plunging deep and she cried out as her body flooded with red hot pain. She screamed in agony as her back arched, her bones cracking as her body jerked around.

Present day Lily felt Charles try to leave the memory and she instead shifted the memory into his head so he couldn't leave.

The memory refocused as blood dripped down from Young Lily's nose, staining the metal table. One of the men holding her down screamed in pain and collapsed, holding his head as the other one simply passed out.

Young Lily let out an ear-piercing scream as her hair changed to a bright white, each strand shifting color individually. Her eyes snapped open, revealing her irises lightening to an ice blue and she sobbed as she fell off the table, causing the man to remove the syringe before he could inject her fully.

The man wearing a lab coat grabbed her, pushing her down against the concrete floor, causing her to scream even louder. She writhed on the ground, her body in an unfathomable amount of pain and suddenly, the man stood up and grabbed the syringe, jabbing it directly into his temple, killing him instantly.

Three guards ran into the room and they all immediately shot themselves with their pistols, falling to the floor as blood splattered the wall. Finally, Young Lily laid still on the floor, barely breathing with her eyes shut.

The memory ended and Lily focused on Charles, who was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. "Just breathe, Charles. It's alright, I'm here now" Lily said softly, leaning against Charles' desk. "A memory for a memory, that was the deal, wasn't it?" Lily said sadly.

"How...how can someone do that to a child?" Charles asked, his voice breaking as he let tears fall down his cheeks. "I wasn't a child to them. I was a freak. An abomination. An experiment" Lily said simply and Charles looked at her.

"I am...so sorry you had to go through that" Charles said and he stepped towards the girl. "It's in the past" she shrugged and Charles grabbed her shoulders. "No! It isn't in the past, Lily! I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it, this hurts you" Charles gripped her shoulders tight and Lily just looked at him.

"It's in the past" she repeated, her voice quieter this time and Charles let his hands fall from her shoulders. "From the moment I saw you in that bar, I knew you were special. And I couldn't figure out why until I saw you standing in Elizabeth's room last night. And I knew I was right when you smiled at me this morning on the porch" Charles admitted and Lily frowned.

"You are special because I know you, Lily. That room? Upstairs. The room you were drawn to? That's your room" Charles revealed and Lily's eyes widened. "You are my sister. Your name is Elizabeth Xavier and you were born on June fourteenth 1946. I was fourteen years old the first time I saw you, the first time I held you" Charles continued and tears welled in Lily's eyes.

"You are my baby sister and I finally found you" Charles' voice broke and Lily didn't say anything, just stood there as tears blurred her vision. "They wiped my memory. Made me think...that my family gave me up. Because I was a freak. For nine years, I've thought no one cared about me. But you were looking for me this whole time" Lily's voice broke now as she let the tears fall freely.

"My little sister" Charles whispered before they both hugged each other as tight as they could, Lily's head buried into his chest as she cried. "God, I have waited for this moment for what feels like an eternity" Charles breathed, his hand resting on the back of her head as his chin rested on her head.

"Does this mean you're gonna call me Elizabeth now? Cause I kinda hate it" Lily said after a moment and Charles laughed, tears staining his face as they both pulled away. "I used to call you Lily anyway. It was the only name you liked" Charles shrugged. "I had good taste as a kid" Lily joked and Charles just smiled at her.

"Can I call you Charlie now?" she smirked mischievously. "Absolutely not, Charlie is a little kid. Charles is the name of a professor" Charles scoffed playfully. "But you look like a Charlie" Lily teased. "I do not!" he protested and she laughed.

"So, Charlie, are we going to train more?" she said teasingly and Charles scoffed. "Please stop" he glared at her playfully. "And yes, we are. I'm still not sure how to train your other ability but I'd like to work on conjuring up an image that isn't derived from a memory" Charles continued and she nodded.

"Alright. Let's do this" she nodded before entering his mind.