The Blood Phoenix 3: An X-Men: Apocalypse Fanfiction

Chapter 3: The Conversation

It was the middle of the night in Poland. Nina, Magda and Charlene had gone to bed and I assumed Erik had as well. I was having nightmares, though, so I was staying up. I was contenting myself reading a book when Erik came in. He stopped dead in the middle of his tracks when he saw me.

'Adelaide. Good evening.'

'You can't sleep either?'

'However you look at it, yes,' he answered matter-of-factly. I gave a little smirk before he went into the kitchen to get himself a drink. There was a little bit of silence between us before I spoke to break the silence.

'Erik, what am I to you?' He looked up at me and for a minute, I saw the endearing eyes that I had grown to love and yet hate at the exact same time. I could see him struggling to think. 'I can hear you thinking, Erik. And it's loud.'

'I forgot you were a telepath. Just like Charles.'

'You didn't answer my question. What am I to you?'

'You're my daughter.'

'What more? Don't make me read your mind, Erik. I don't want to have to, but I will if it enables me to see what's inside that head of yours.' I could, again, tell that he was struggling to tell me something. Then, he came over and sat on the couch next to me, taking me into his arms.

'Ever since I met you, I knew that there was something between the two of us. I figured that I could train you... train you to become more than what Charles wanted you to be... more than what you were becoming.'

'What, Erik? What more are you talking about? Where are you going with this?'

'I wanted to use you as a weapon. I saw your mutations, every last one of them. I knew that you could be like Raven... more than what Charles was training you to be. On that day in Cuba, I wanted to help you. Help you reach your full potential. Be stronger. Be something more. I thought Charles was conforming you to his ways, but I see that you are happier with him. He's not changing you, he's just trying to protect you from becoming me.'

'And it's very well that he should be protecting me. I never wanted to become you. I still can't believe how you would abandon me.'

'Don't go where you're going with this. Please.'

'I'm tired of living life like this... with you.'

'You must understand, by leaving you, I was protecting you and your mother. Everything I did, I did out of love.' I shrugged away from his arm and got up off the couch and walked towards my bedroom. Before I went, I turned and spoke.

'Do you know how long I've looked for you? Do you know how long I've wanted a normal dad? The dad that would support me when I needed to make a tough decision, the dad that would hold me in his arms when I was sick and would lull me to sleep when I was upset. You know, the kids used to tease me in school because I never actually had a dad, at least, one that wasn't a freak like me.'

'Adelaide, I've only-'

'Shut up. You have no idea what it is like to be made fun of because you're different. Because you're not normal. Because you are loveless. I was that girl, the girl that no guy would ever want to dance with, the girl that no guy ever wanted to date. Everyone hated me and I knew it. Charles was the only man to ever treat me like I was worth something. He was the only man who ever thought of me as something more than a family relation to his best friend, more than a weapon that could unleash hell upon the world. More than his wife. More than a best friend. A real person. The first man to truly see me eye to eye on a personal level. A man who didn't try to change me.'

'Do you wish you saw that in me?'

'I wish I did, Erik. I really do wish. But I don't see it in you. Goodnight.' As I walked down to my room, I didn't know that Erik had followed me, but when I got to my room and tried to shut the door, I looked up and saw my father struggling to keep the door from closing. 'Get the fuck out of my life, Erik.' It was all he didn't want to hear, but it dropped his fight instantly. Shutting the door, he left me to my own. When I was sure that he was gone, I dropped to the floor, my knees drawn up to my chest and began to cry.