Iridescent ↳ Peter Maximoff

2 | night terrors

"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality."
—Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody

***

CHAPTER TWO
NIGHT TERRORS

-

BRIANNA COVERS HER EARS, trying to ease the endless wave of pain rushing through her head. She squeezes her eyes shut and a few tears streak down her face. Her body shakes with quiet sobs and she stays crouched against the wall in the dark bathroom. Her attempts to not be heard by the other mutant children failed.

Alex is not surprised to find her like this. This is not the first time she has had a frightening episode in the middle of the night.

He hushes the small crowd of children who have gathered outside the bathroom door, ushering them back to their rooms and pleading them to go back to sleep. He then goes inside, quietly and reluctantly, and walks to Brianna, the trembling ball on the floor.

"Hey, kiddo," Alex says in a hushed voice, not wanting to alarm her. "Come on." She stays like that still, until he wraps his arm around her shoulder and helps her stand up. He slowly takes her back to her room, half-carrying her up the steps.

Alex brushes a loose strand of hair out of her face before kissing her sweaty forehead and tucking her in. "Good night, sweetheart," he whispers, smiling sweetly at his little sister figure. She attempts to return it, but she is far too tired and drained.

Alex leaves shortly after Brianna starts drifting off into unconsciousness, a little uneasy about leaving her alone.

The next morning, Brianna awakes with a dull headache and sore throat. The sun shines through her window and hits her face, causing her to cringe and turn on her side, away from its glare. She is definitely not a morning person.

She stretches her arms across her bed, loosening the muscles that remained stiff through the night. She then glances at her wristwatch, seeing that it is actually earlier than she thought it was and sooner than she normally wakes up.

Brianna lazily stumbles out of bed and dresses, once again not planning on going to any classes today. Instead, she would go to her safe haven; the library, where she can be alone and surrounded by various fictional worlds that deem themselves better than the real one.

On the short journey to the library, Brianna's magnified hearing allows her to hear Alex's voice in another room, speaking with Hank. Curiosity gets the better of her and she wanders closer to the source of the voices. She stands hidden outside the door and does not dare to peek inside in fear of being seen.

"I'm just saying, it might not be a bad idea," Brianna hears Alex say, voice slightly muffled by the distance between them. "I mean, aren't you worried about her?"

"Of course, I am!" Another voice says, one that belongs to Brianna's father, the Professor. "But I'm not going to go inside her head! I promised I would never do that." Brianna furrows her eyebrows as the realization hits her that she is the one they are discussing.

"You wouldn't have to be in there long," Alex tries again, "just long enough to see if she's okay." A short silence follows and Brianna considers leaving, but then Alex speaks up again. "Come on, even Hank agrees with me."

"Hank?" The Professor says, sounding confused. Brianna hears someone sigh, probably Hank.

"Well, it's not the worst idea," Hank says quietly, and Brianna's heart sinks. Hank is one of her favorite teachers, one of her friends. She doesn't want anyone to go prowling around inside her head, and she's disbelieving of the fact that Hank thinks it's okay.

"Bree hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in a long time," he informs the Professor, "and, like Alex said, you wouldn't have to be in there very long." Brianna's father seems to consider this idea for a moment, before once again rejecting it, for the sake of his daughter.

"No, I can't do that," he says, "I won't invade her privacy like that." Alex and Hank seem satisfied with this answer, because they don't say anything else regarding the subject. Brianna slowly walks away and retreats to the library, where she can be alone once again.

•••

In the night, Brianna Xavier refuses to fall asleep. She has no intentions of disrupting the rest of the students' slumber again. Instead, she pulls her favorite silver sweater around her shoulders and takes a walk, double checking whenever she feels she strayed too far from home.

It's a bit cold out in the middle of the night, but it's not so bad that Brianna cannot bear it. Her mind is elsewhere, anyway, so she doesn't take full notice of the temperature.

Suddenly, a voice speaks up in her head, one that most certainly does not belong to her.

It's very late. You should try to sleep.

Brianna freezes in her steps as Charles' voice speaks to her, in her mind. She almost feels panic as she thinks of all the things her father is seeing inside her head, except she is far too sleepy to worry about it. She continues to walk and replies to the voice, out loud.

"I'll wake the others," she says quietly, staring at the ground in front of her. The sky is starlit and the full moon shines down on the ground in front of her, allowing her to see without a light. "You said you wouldn't read my mind."

I was worried, Charles says in her head. You spend so much time away from others; it seems like a pleasant conversation could do you some good.

Brianna freezes in her tracks as she senses an intense wave of emotions flowing from the mansion. She knows exactly what it is, it happens every other night.

"You should check up on Jean," Bree mumbles, heart sinking when she says the red-haired girl's name. Ever since Jean Grey arrived, Brianna has been ever so jealous of her. It seems as if there is no limit to her powers, even if she can't quite get a good hold of them yet. But that's not what Brianna is really jealous of.

No, mostly, she is jealous of the rather individualized attention that her father gives Jean. She notes that these are silly teenage hormones and tries to ignore them, but for some reason, she can't. It's almost as if she is forced to feel what she doesn't want to feel.

She misses the old days, before the school was up and running, when it was only her and Charles. They only had each other, and he seemed oddly fascinated by every little thing she tried to accomplish. Brianna would do everything in her power to try to impress him, but she didn't have to try very hard, at least until the other mutants began to arrive.

Now, it seems the more she strays away from him, the more concerned he is. These are very confusing times.