Memories

Chapter Six

After about two weeks of traveling all over the country to match children up with caring adults- telepathy does wonders to make sure adults really care- he'd adopted out all the human children. He left the children his phone number- just in case something happened- and had been dreading having to tell the mutant children that they would not, in fact, be getting a new family.

Gathering everyone into the living, Charles stood in front of all of the mutant children with Hank, Sean, and Alex standing beside him. Charles looked on at all of the children, praying they took the news better than he expected. He had low expectations for today- as in, all-of-the-children-manifesting-their-powers-in-a-rage-all-at-once-and-destroying-the-world kind of low expectations.

In all, there were eight children. There was Ororo Munroe, a sweet, smart, and beautiful girl with dark skin and white hair at age thirteen. She's the oldest, and her powers should come in soon. There's Marie, a quiet, angry, depressed girl at the age of eight who prefers to be called Rogue. Next was Bobby Drake, also eight, intelligent and strong.

Pietro, or Peter, and Wanda Maximoff, the quiet twins, were five and very close. They haven't left each other's sides since arriving, except to use the bathroom. Kitty Pryde, a sweet little girl at the age of three, was slightly underdeveloped for her age, probably owing to her poor care in the foster home. Scott and Jean completed the pack of eight children, Jean being eleven while Scott was the second oldest at twelve.

"Hello, children. I've gathered you all today to tell you that you are all being adopted, just not leaving this house," Charles said tentatively, trying to word it right. At the children's confused looks, he elaborated.

"I am adopting all eight of you. We're going to be your family," Charles said, smiling warmly. "Why didn't you adopt the other children?" Rogue asked accusingly, clearly having her doubts.

"I am adopting all of you because you all are gifted. The other children were not like you- they didn't have your capabilities. You're mutants, gifted with a power, whatever that might be. We won't know until it manifests itself," Charles said, and at his words, he noticed Rogue pull at the gloves covering her hands. He wondered if perhaps hers had already come in, but Charles didn't attempt to dive into her mind to find out. He hoped she would talk to him in her own time. He wanted to build trust with these children, so he needed to respect their privacy as best he could.

"Yay!" Kitty cheered, bouncing excitedly in Jean's lap. Clearly, Kitty was overjoyed at the news of her new family and powers. Jean had taken to being an older sister to the younger kids quite well- most of the children accepted her motherly behavior, except for Rogue. Marie was cold and distant to everyone.

Charles smiled brightly at the three-year-old. The twins were sitting to the right of Jean and to the left of Scott. "You don't mind our... Powers?" Bobby asked hesitantly- someone must have left him when he was younger. It was not uncommon for  humans to become alarmed and abandon their mutant loved ones, no matter how much they loved them before. Fear drove humans to extremes, overriding any previous emotions and logical thoughts. Most mutants had a similar experience with abandonment.

"I have powers too, child," Charles replied, then sent a mental message to all of the children. Their faces lit up with awe, except for Rogue, who still looked upset.

"So cool..." Bobby murmured, wonder in his voice.

After a while of the adults showing their powers to the children, including Charles taking down the illusion of Hank so they really saw him. At the sight of the big, furry mutant, Kitty had cried out "Teddy!" and ran to hug Hank. The children weren't afraid of his looks- startled, perhaps, but not fearful.

Once that was done, the family went back to doing what they had been doing, the children's behavior almost completely undisturbed by the new knowledge- except for a few more smiles and Kitty clinging to Hank for the rest of the day.

Charles, though, wasn't able to shut himself in his study, the library, or even his own room as much anymore. Now he had students to teach. He'd just been throwing himself into teaching and Cerebro ever since Jean had arrived, and it had only progressed since.

Today was no different; he was in the training room, Beast and Jean with him. Charles and Beast were testing to see how powerful Jean was. Jean was mainly a telekinetic, so they wanted to see how heavy an object she would lift and for how long.

Beast had gotten some of the gym's weights, leaving Raven's alone- just in case she came back. He and Charles both wanted everything of Raven's to be exactly the same way when she comes back as how it was when she and Erik left.

"Now, try to lift this. Don't worry if you can't," Charles urged gently, motioning to the hundred pound weight. Jean looked uncertain but tried anyway. It didn't even budge, no matter how much effort she put behind it. Her mind strained, but she wasn't strong enough yet.

"That's enough, Jean. Let's try with a smaller weight." He had Hank put a fifty pound weight in front of her. She again tried, and the weight moved slightly, but didn't quite get off the ground. Charles allowed her to continue trying for a little while longer before having her try her power out on a twenty pound weight.

After a moment of mental strain, she was finally able to lift the twenty pound weight. It floated in the air for a minute before falling on the ground, Jean sweating and panting from exertion.

"Good work, Jean. This is a good sign," Charles told her, hugging the girl. She smiled proudly, and Charles had her continue practicing for a few more hours. He had her continuously lifting up the twenty pound weight, trying to get her to hold it for longer and longer. By the end, she could hold it up for twenty minutes, and Charles Xavier was just as proud of her as he had been of his boys when they'd first learned to control their powers.