1962 - charles xavier

T H R E E

"The night before Russia was the first time we had a real conversation together. Do you remember, Charles?" I inquire as he raises the water glass to my parched and trembling lips.

"Yes, my Darling," he smiles. "You were so lovely. But nowhere near how lovely you are now."

"False compliments will get you nothing." I laugh, knowing that I was much more beautiful as a young girl than I am now as an old woman.

"I speak nothing short of the truth." He chuckles, suavely pressing a kiss to the back of my frail hand.

"You looked so handsome that night," I sigh, remembering our first day of knowing each other. "I never believed in love at first sight until I met you."

꧁꧁꧂꧂

Moira and Platt had a meeting to attend in D.C., so Charles, Erik, and I decided to spend the day in the city. We meet up with Moira after her meeting and make our way back to our base.

"The plane leaves for Russia in an hour." She says shortly as we walk quickly towards the courtyard after we arrive back home.

"I'm telling you, these kids are not ready for Shaw." Erik says almost angrily.

"I think they're going to surprise you," Charles defends them as we begin to round the corner, hearing the excited shouts of the kids. "They're an exceptional bunch of young people."

"What the?" Moira exclaims as we enter the trashed courtyard.

There are huge burn-like scratches along the concrete walls, and the statue in the center is broken in half. We see Raven dancing on the couch inside the room they were to be getting to know each other in as Sean holds a chair in his hand. We walk closer to the broken window, seeing Angel dancing in the air and Henry is hanging upside-down from the light fixture. Darwin develops hard scales on himself as Sean hits him with the chair, breaking it. Alex begins to hit Darwin with a baseball bat, but the armor-like scales that he has created prevent him from harm.

"Harder!" Darwin provokes Alex, who swings it with more force.

The four of us stand in a shocked state until Moira steps forward, planting her hands on her narrow hips.

"What are you doing?" She shouts maliciously, making me flinch. The kids give her a shocked look as Angel and Henry drop to the ground. I give Henry a long stare, knowing that he'd never act this way if it were just the two of us. He's being influenced to act a certain way by these rambunctious young teens even though he's a grown man. "Who destroyed the statue?" She points to the severed figure behind her.

"It was Alex." Hank says, but Raven turns back to face him.

"No, Havok," She corrects him before turning back to us. "We have to call him Havok. That's his name now," she begins to approach the busted window. "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X," she points to Charles. "You should be Silver Spectress because of your hair and you move things like a ghost," she points at me excitedly. "And you should be Magneto!" She points to Erik.

"Exceptional." Erik says drily, mocking the word Charles has used to describe the kids just moments ago before walking away, Moira not far behind him.

"I expect more from you." Charles directs at Raven before walking off, leaving a crowd of broken kids behind him.

"He's not mad at you, Raven," I comfort her after seeing the devastated expression on her face. "He's just disappointed."

She nods sadly and I lift my hands towards the shards of glass all over the ground, moving them all back into the proper place until the window looks like new again. I send Henry a look before turning to walk away.

"Savvy!" He calls out after me through the glass, but I raise my hand.

"We will talk about this later, Henry." I say as I catch up with Charles, who walks with his head down and his hands in his pockets.

"I'm beginning to think that Erik is right," Charles spits bitterly, the frown on his face distorting his handsome features. "They're nothing more than petulant children."

"Charles." I say seriously, my tone immediately drawing his attention.

"Savannah." He sighs with a tired-looking smirk, leaning against the wall of the hallway we were in.

"You and I both know that they are so much more than that," I softly correct, leaning against the wall opposite him. "They're special."

"You saw them in there! It was like a college party with a much larger magnitude of destruction!" Charles begins to raise his voice, but he stops himself when he sees my expression.

"We can't act like we've never done stupid things in the past, Charles," I say. "Yes, they were reckless. Yes, they were destructive. But instead of looking at them and judging them for what they did, I look at them and see what they could do as a team," a small smile forms on my lips. "I mean, if they could cause that much destruction to a courtyard, just think about what they could do to Shaw's team after they've been trained a little bit more!" Charles' eyes sparkle in amusement as a laugh escapes his lips. "Sure, they used their abilities recklessly tonight, but it's probably because it's the first time they've been around other kids like them and they're able to be themselves. Our mutations are who we are, Charles. We shouldn't be so quick to suppress them."

"You're absolutely right, Savannah," Charles agrees with me. "But what they've done was inexcusable. They could have hurt themselves or even hurt a human-"

"But they didn't hurt anybody," I point out. "Unless the statue has feelings, that is," I joke, eliciting another charming chuckle from him. "I believe that they've learned their lesson from this, and I believe that it won't happen again... You should have seen their faces when you walked away."

"I-" Charles sighs. "I suppose I was a little too harsh on them, wasn't I?" He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Raven especially... One second, I'm telling her to live a little and have more fun and the next, I'm scolding her for doing exactly that. She must hate me right now."

"No, she doesn't," I insist, stepping forward a bit to grab his forearm, moving his hand from his face to reveal his eyes, which are full of regret. "I talked to her... She's learned from this, Charles."

"Do you think so?" He looks at me hopefully.

"I know so." I nod.

"Well," Charles sighs with a cheeky look on his face. "I must say that you are wise beyond your years. The nickname Savvy suits you very well."

"I think you mean Silver Spectress, right?" I joke with a raised eyebrow, making him laugh.

"Whatever you say, Savannah."

꧁꧁꧂꧂

"That was a good night," I smile, remembering how the courtyard had looked. "I can't believe those kids managed to slice a statue clean in half."

A chuckle fills the room as Charles' blue eyes light up with a smile.

"But they were so much more than just kids," Charles recalls what I had told him so many years ago. "They were special."

"You couldn't be more right."