STEEL-MINDED | erik lehnsherr

CHAPTER ONE

Grace still hadn't grown used to a real bed. She wasn't used to how soft it was, how it dipped when she lay down, how she could hide away inside of it and shut the world out. She preferred it to the old, torn mattress she'd slept on in the Sanctuary of course but it felt too perfect, just like everything else.

The fact that when she turned the faucet on and hot water poured from it was a miracle, the idea that she could go downstairs at any time and fill her body with food was unbelievable and the knowledge that she shared this home with tens of young, hardworking mutants made her believe there was good somewhere in this brutal world.

She tied the laces on her shoes, making sure to double knot. With classes not starting until ten, Grace had just enough time to go for a walk.

She came down the stairs, dodging the still sleep-weary students as they plodded back to their rooms from breakfast. She was at the bottom, one foot on the wooden floor when she looked up to see a man standing aimlessly in the middle of the room

"Hi," Grace said stepping up to the man, "Can I help you?"

He turned to her, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

"I'm looking for Charles Xavier," he said. He seemed familiar but she couldn't quite place his face.

"Are you a parent or..." she asked.

"Just an old friend."

"Right."

She nodded to herself for a second.

"Do you want me to get him for you?" She offered. He was about to response when a friendly cry came from behind him.

"Erik!" Charles said as he rode down the hallway, "It's been too long, my friend."

"Indeed."

Erik. Grace knew that name. She'd heard Charles and Raven talk about him, Hank too.

"You're Erik Lehnsherr?" Grace said. Both men looked at her. "Sorry, I'm terrible at the whole name to face matching thingy."

"It's perfectly all right," Erik said, "Pleasure to meet you..." He took his hand out of his pocket extending it to her.

"Grace Denton," she said introducing herself. His grip was firm as she shook it.

She was surprisingly unfazed by the fact that he was a mass murderer. As she smiled at him, his bright blue eyes smiled sadly back. They seemed to hold all of his brokenness and sadness as well as his determination and strength.

"Grace here is our newest addition to staff," Charles told Erik as their hand shake broke apart, "She's a wonderful teacher and a much-needed nurse. Hank may be a Doctor but he's not exactly your go-to for first-aid."

Erik nodded, only half listening to what Charles was saying. He was too busy focusing on the strange energy he was feeling radiate from Grace. He couldn't explain it save from 'the feeling of weakness after your adrenaline goes away'.

Whether she was a telepath or something entirely different, he wasn't going to trust his instincts on this one. Who knew what kind of insane pheromones she gave off that influenced people.

"I used to work at an emergency hospital in Vietnam during the war, when I came back the only place I was accepted into was a mutant sanctuary," Grace explained, "The world had been exposed to mutants and my family had taken a more opposing viewpoint."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Erik said.

"Well they'd seen you," Grace said, "They didn't know what I was capable of."

Erik wasn't sure if she was about to hit him or laugh. She stated the fact of his attempt to kill Nixon without emotion or distain and yet it directly affected her life. Anyone would have blamed him for their struggles but she wasn't. 

"Well, I must be off for my walk," She said, "I need to be back in time to teach the health class."

With what Erik could have mistaken for a skip in her step she walked out the front door past the two men. Erik turned to Charles, mouth open to say something but closed it and nodded to himself.

"I know," Charles said, knowing exactly what Erik was thinking even without needing to read his mind, "She makes everyone feel like that at first. It's why she makes such a good doctor, she's the school's unofficial counsellor."

"But she's..."

"She's one of a kind, my friend," the professor said, "One of a kind."