The Puppeteer - X-Men

Nine

When Lily woke up in the morning after an hour of sleep, her head was pounding. She knew it was from the training yesterday and also the fact that she had slept a total of two hours in three days. But, surprisingly, she was hungry so she went downstairs quietly, intending to make herself a slice of toast and a tea.

However, when she walked into the kitchen, she saw everyone was already there. "Morning" Raven smiled cheerfully and Lily grimaced at the loud noise. "Jesus, don't yell" she mumbled, rubbing a hand down her face. Charles handed her a plate with two slices of buttered toast with sugar sprinkled on top and a tea. "Thanks" she smiled softly, sitting down at the table.

'Let it cool down first' Charles spoke in her mind and she gave him a look before taking a bite out of her toast. She smiled at the familiar taste and she remembered that he would always put sugar on her toast because she loved the sweetness.

"Lily, when you are finished, I would like for you to train with Erik. I've already spoken to him about the plan, if that's alright?" Charles spoke and Lily nodded. "No problem" she spoke after swallowing her mouthful. "Alex, if you would follow me?" Charles requested and Alex nodded, standing up and walking out of the room with the professor.

"I'll be waiting outside" Erik spoke before also walking out. "Damn, sucks to be you" Sean chuckled and Lily frowned at him. "Why?" she asked. "You have to work with Erik" he said as if it was obvious.

"There's nothing wrong with Erik. Sure, he can be a bit...psychopathic sometimes but he's nice" Lily shrugged, gulping down her tea. "Nice?! That's not a word I'd use" Hank commented and Lily laughed. 'Lily, can you hear me?' Lily heard Raven's thoughts and she looked at her.

'Yeah, what's up?' she asked. 'You and Charles are kinda close. What's up with that?' Raven asked. 'I think that's for Charles to explain when he's ready' Lily said before finishing her toast and tea. "Right, I'm going outside. Don't have too much fun" Lily said as she washed her plate and mug, setting them in the drying rack before walking outside.

She found Erik quite quickly and walked up to him, hands in her pockets. "So, what does the professor have planned for us today?" she asked and he turned to look at her. "He wants to see if you can control a mutant's powers. Make them use their abilities" Erik explained and Lily nodded. "So, you're the guinea pig" she smirked and he rolled his eyes. "Yes" he stated.

"But I had another idea" Erik said. "It's obvious you can fight, that was quite the chokehold you put me in the other day" Erik continued. "Sorry about that, by the way" Lily said and he waved her off. "After we figure out if you can control my powers, I say I throw things at you and you try to stop them" Erik said and Lily smiled.

"I like it. I take it you didn't tell Charles about that idea?" she assumed. "No, I did not" he admitted. "He'd probably pop a vein if you did so let's not tell him" Lily smirked and Erik smirked along with her. "Make me pick up this coin" Erik pulled out a small coin and dropped it on the floor.

Lily stifled a laugh as she entered his mind and told him to bend down and pick it up. He stood back up and looked at her. "Seriously?" he said sternly and she started chuckling. "With my powers" Erik dropped the coin once again. "That was your fault, you never specified" she shrugged and Erik drew in a long breath.

Yet again, she entered his mind and made him think about using his powers, getting him to raise his hand and the coin slowly started lifting off the ground. The higher it got, the more Lily's head throbbed but she ignored it, forcing the coin to float into Erik's hand.

"That's extraordinary" he breathed as she exited his mind, breathing heavily. "How was that?" she asked, blinking as the pain slowly dissipated. "Again" Erik dropped the coin on the floor and Lily took a deep breath, entering his mind again.