Isolation [Erik Lehnsherr]

Chapter Ten

Three months passed quite slowly for Scarlett. The mansion was even more of a hell than usual, and even Sean's random humor wasn't enough to cheer her up. She hadn't heard from Rory since about a week after the incident in California, and that was to say neither her or Erik could come anytime soon. Scarlett missed her best friend, and she hadn't heard much from Alex either, and she was fully aware that the war in Vietnam was getting a lot worse. With the two people she was closest to basically AWOL, she was extremely lonely.

It was just a regular day, and she wasn't expecting much be different. She woke up at eight, like she normally did, and headed downstairs to make herself some breakfast. While she was at it, she would make a plate of whatever she made for either Hank or Sean to take to Charles, as neither boys were exceptional cooks, and had begged her to make food for the telepath. Scarlett refused to even go up and visit Charles though, as the mere sight of the man was enough to make her blood boil.

As she made her way down to the kitchen, Scarlett's mind wandered around the mansion. She normally didn't let her mind wander around and read others' minds, but today she couldn't help it. It wasn't even the lack of control, as she'd gotten a lot better at it during the past seven years, however, it was more because she couldn't care today to keep her mind closed off from others. The only people here were her, Sean, Hank, and Charles, and Hank and Sean never really cared too much if she read their minds. And she refused to touch Charles' mind with a ten foot pole.

It didn't take long to locate Sean's mind, and Scarlett giggled as she realized that the mutant was sleeping in his room, and his mind was off in dream world. He was dreaming of food, which made the telepathic female giggle. She left his mind off to dream peacefully, and searched for Hank's mind. She found him quickly as well, locked in his work room, banging on some metal, as he tinkered on a few of his inventions.

Happy to know that her friends were safe, Scarlett made her way to the kitchen, and started to make breakfast. She hummed a song as she worked, in a slightly better mood than normal. There was no particular reasoning to her good mood, besides the simple fact that it was a new day. She would have no idea if she'd receive a letter from Rory or Alex, and that was enough to make her happy.

It wasn't long before Sean showed up, as the boy always seemed to appear whenever food showed up. There had even been the one time when Scarlett was pretty certain that he'd been in the middle of a shower, as his hair had been wet and full of shampoo, and he'd only had a towel on.

"What are you making?" he questioned.

Scarlett chuckled. "French Toast and bacon," she responded with a smile.

Sean made a sound that half sounded like a moan. "When will it be done?"

Rolling her eyes, Scarlett pointed to a plate that was already half-full of French Toast and bacon. Sean made a quick jump for it, but before he could start serving himself a plate, Scarlett stood in front of him.

"Take some up to Charles first," she told him. "Then you can eat."

Instead of responding, Sean just rolled his eyes at her. However, he did serve a quick plate for Charles, and then left the room to give it to him. Within five minutes though, he was back, and serving himself a heaping plate of food for himself.

Scarlett quickly stretched her mind until she found Hank's subconscious us again. Hank, she called telepathically. If you want food, you might want to get up here before Sean pigs out on all of it.

While he didn't actually confirm he heard her, Scarlett followed Hank's thoughts as he put aside his invention he'd been working on, and left his lab. Knowing she'd be seeing him in just a few moments, Scarlett retreated from his mind. While waiting for Hank, she got his plate ready, and when he showed up in the kitchen, she handed it to him.