Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A deafening blast was heard, and as the dust settled, a dull blue light streamed into the now open chamber from above.

“How's everything look?” a distant voice called.

A head belonging to a blue humanoid creature peeked into the site where the ceiling had been blasted through, who began digging about in a pack attached to his back. He looked almost to be like a hybrid of a human and a cat-like being with giant, muscular limbs and torso. The glasses on his eyes, however, lessened his threatening exterior and made him seem more of the gentle creature he was. Retrieving a small metallic orb from it, he pressed a button on the sphere and dropped it into the open space below. A light erupted from it as it fell but the object did not hit the floor and instead hovered just above the ground, illuminating the inside of the foreign craft. “It's all clear,” he called back with a hand gesture for the others behind to follow him downward. Adjusting the pack on his back and tightening the straps, the creature leapt inside with a loud thud.

There was an eerily hollow silence that almost seemed to echo in his ears as the blue beast glanced back and forth down the long dark hall in either direction. A few others jumped down from above to join him, landing beside the blue beast. These two were closer in appearance to human —a female with red hair and what seemed to be scales across her blue skin, and a male whose chocolate dark skin became even darker as he began to blend in with the shadows while inspecting their surroundings. There was another that appeared beside them with a puff of red smoke whose skin was a crimson color. A tail matching in color swished in annoyance behind him as he stood with folded arms.

“It's so quiet,” the female among them whispered as she looked about the inside of the ship with her yellow eyes.

“Let's try to keep it that way, Raven,” the blue beast uttered with a soft tone as he removed his glasses and wiped them clean of dust. “If there's anything alive on this vessel, they'll know we've arrived by now from the sound of the blast.” The orb that had illuminated when they first entered was hovering above them now, guiding them along the long stretch of hallway.

“The power's been out for quite a while, Hank. Do you really think anything could survive out here that's not from this planet?” The red-skinned male looked about with distaste as he followed the others.

The blue beast-like creature—Hank—tucked his glasses into the front of his blue and yellow jumpsuit. “It's possible. We've got to remain hopeful, Azazel.” Raven and the male with dark skin wore similar attire but Azazel, the red devil-looking creature with a long scar over his right eye, wore entirely black garb.

They began to move through the ship, exploring the many rooms together. The first they came across was filled with metallic crates. “Be careful,” Hank cautioned as he opened a crate with a hiss to reveal some type of cloth. “You never know what you may find in here.”

“Where's Darwin?” Raven asked as she attempted to pry open one of the containers.

There was a creaking sound as Azazel used his tail to break the seal on the crate he stood over. “He went ahead to scout.”

Raven gasped audibly and recoiled from the contents of the box before her, more in surprise than anything. “What is this?” she asked, her nose curling as she looked down inside.

Hank approached cautiously and peeked inside, lifting up a pack of strange clear-looking liquid with a label across it. “I'm not sure... Water, it says. We'll take it back and run some tests.”

“I've found some food over here, whatever that is,” Azazel called out, tossing a bag of strange-looking substance.

Hank caught it and inspected the contents, unsure of what to make of it. “Hm,” he hummed, tucking both of them into his pack.

The next room was filled with what appeared to be monitors and an endless amount of buttons. Perhaps a room to monitor the activity of the ship? There was a cabinet in the corner filled with papers giving details about some things that he had never seen or heard of before. Being the scientist that he was, Hank tucked one of the many folders into his pack for later research. He could always come back for more.

The other more human-looking male appeared in the doorway, his skin changing color from charcoal black to its usual milk chocolate as he jogged forward with a smile. “You guys need to see this.”

The other three followed him to a doorway further down the giant hall. "What is it?" Hank asked, the anticipation dripping in his voice.

"You'll see!" Darwin replied with a wide smile. He pressed a button to open the door with a strange hissing sound, and Hank's mouth hung open as he entered the giant chamber.

The room was massive, its walls filled from edge to edge with cryopods with cases of them filling the space of the floor like bookshelves in a library. Each pod had something in it but Hank was having trouble seeing what they were from this distance. A large mound of earth had flooded into the room between them, probably from the time the ship had crashed many, many years ago.

“Humans!” Raven whispered as her eyes widened upon the sight before her, her voice echoing through the cavernous room.

“There—there must thousands!” Hank announced in awe as he ran forward with the orb following him inside. It drifted upwards to better illuminate the room from the ceiling as he turned this way and that with his expression still reflecting the amazement he felt. “No, hundreds of thousands! Darwin, do you know what you've discovered?!” Hank grabbed his friend and squeezed him in excitement as he laughed, causing Darwin to groan. “This could change everything!”

Azazel was standing in front of one of the nearby cryopods, inspecting it with interest. “Hank,” he called, barbed tail swishing slightly. “You may want to look closer.”

The smile on Hank's face slowly faded as he approached, putting his glasses on and wiping some musty substance from the glass to look at what lie inside. Recoiling slightly, his heart sank. “No,” he whispered and began wiping off the fronts of the nearby pods. “No, this can't—” He was becoming more frantic now as he moved from pod to pod. “No, no, NO!!” Clenching his great fist, he roared in frustration and smashed one of the sheets of glass before dropping to his knees in silence.

“What? What happened?” Darwin seemed confused as he stepped forward, Raven just as puzzled as she watched at his side. Her eyes narrowed as she squinted to see what was inside. Whatever it was looked similar to them in its basic structure but the skin was withered away and gray in an unnatural way, hair frazzled and wild. There were no eyes in the sockets where they belonged, and it looked like they had been missing for quite some time.

Hank's head hung low as he held his face in his hands in despair. He made no move to reply. Instead, Azazel turned and dropped his arms that had been folded across his chest as he walked past them, muttering, “They're all dead.” Darwin's mouth hung open as he looked around the room in disbelief that after such a miracle, after the humans had come all this way... it was all for naught. “Come on, let's leave this graveyard in peace,” Azazel called and left the room.

After watching him go, Raven turned to approach the beast before her and set a hand gently on his shoulder. “Hank,” she whispered as he sniffled. “Maybe we can collect some samples... see what we can find out about them.”

He nodded, and she helped him stand while he removed his glasses to wipe the wetness away from his eyes. “Yes... You're right.”

Darwin's eyes settled on something across the room, and his eyebrows furled. “Hey, Hank... Didn't you say there's no power source here?”

“Yes,” he replied, turning to look at his friend with curiosity.

“Then what's that?” Darwin asked, pointing to the far end of the room.

Just barely visible beneath the rubble and dirt was a faint blue glow. Hank's eyes squinted and he moved forward quickly to find out what the source of the light was with Darwin and Raven at his heels. The cryopod was buried beneath the pile of earth that had flooded part of the chamber but Hank was able to climb it slightly and leaned down to look at the control panel that the light had been coming from. His eyebrows furled as he leaned forward to inspect it and pushed a green button out of the select few options.

“Identification,” the machine began as the three of them jumped backwards from the sound and was followed by the recorded voice of a man:

“Charles Francis Xavier.”

Hank's heart was pounding as the voice returned to its automated tone.

“Age at depature: 23.”

There was a chance...

“Place of origin: London, England, planet Earth.”

He began digging away at the dirt desperately to uncover the pod.

“Blood type: O-positive.”

He needed to see inside.

“Condition...”

There was a chance this human could still be alive.

“Oh my god,” Raven whispered.

Hank was breathless as he stared at the sight before him.

“Stable.”

“We did it,” Darwin whispered in disbelief, a grin appearing on his face. Raven turned to him and began to laugh from the excitement. “We did it!” They both laughed and whooped excitedly together.

Hank's giant hand lifted to set against the glass as he smiled faintly at the human frozen in cryosleep within. It was a human; a real live human. He was shorter than most of the droids Hank was familiar with, and his skin was pale, but there was a beauty about him with his chestnut hair whisped across his forehead as he lie there motionless in his deep sleep.

Climbing down from the pile of earth, Hank cleared his hands off and handed Raven his communicator. “We've got to get a team out here to excavate the cryopod. Hurry, send word! Let Genosha know what we've found!”

Raven turned to begin her report on the communicator as Hank and Darwin began to dig at the mound of earth to clear it out of the way. “What do you think Erik is going to say?” Darwin asked with a strained voice.

Hank didn't respond for a moment as his huge hands clawed away at the dirt. “... I don't know.”

Chapter Text

Entering the room, Hank's large hands were holding a transparent tablet as he pressed a few buttons with the ends of his claws to verify his identity on it. “Is he still sedated?” He glanced upwards over the brim of his glasses and into the room before him through the glass panel where the human subject was.

The boy lay motionless on the table with a thin sheet draped over him. His eyes were still closed as his chest rose and fell with every breath took with little effort now, as opposed to his near-death experience of suffocation after being removed from his pod because of the differing atmosphere than what his body was accustomed to.

“Yes,” the redhead beside him replied as her fingers seemed to fly across the touch-board in front of her. “The implant seems to be functioning properly but... wouldn't hurt to test it.” She brushed some hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. “I'll be in here running diagnostics. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Jean.” With that, he entered the room and closed the door behind him with a click, and the world outside was silent. Hank pressed a button on the wall panel, and the human raised into the air off of the table with a whirr, as if he were floating. Hank circled him to get a closer look at the small device embedded in the curve of his neck, long and slender triangular in shape but no bigger than half the length of Hank's thumb. He tapped a button on the tablet in his hand and the small device beeped. The human began to convulse and gasp for air. Quickly, Hank tapped the button once more, and the human lay flat on his back once more with steady breath. Hank nodded his head, satisfied, and entered some notes in the tablet. “Looks like it's working fine,” he announced, giving a slight wave of his hand in Jean's direction. He wasn't able to see her through the one-way glass from this side, so he'd hoped she heard him.

His eyes settled on the boy's face and he sighed softly. With one of his claws, Hank brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen into his eyes. There was so much that they could learn from him, so much of their lost history. Hank began to wonder if this boy had anything to do with their creation.

It was so long ago that they learned how to develop on the planet they had landed on... but much of the data of their history had been lost when their data banks were damaged in their crash landing. The droids only knew that the humans who created them had sent them out into space—but for what purpose? For 2,000 years they wondered this, unsure of the reason of their origin.

“Hank,” Jean's voice sounded over the intercom, interrupting his thought process. “You should come see this.”

He froze, eyes flickering upwards slightly as a feeling of dread washed over him. Was something wrong? Was the human damaged? Hank exited the exam room through the door he'd come through and leaned against the counter next to Jean, who chewed her lip anxiously. “What's the matter?”

“Look at this.” She pointed to a diagram of the human's brain activity.

Hank recalled the medical information he had downloaded from the data base and, from the information they had on file, it did not seem that the brain was functioning normally. Hank was afraid to ask, but he did so anyway. “Has he been damaged?”

“No, not at all! Look at these images.” Jean swiped sideways, “This is an average human brain that we have in our records. The colored areas are signs of brain activity.” Swiping back the other way, she brought back the live feed of the human's brain. “This is his brain activity.”

Hank blinked, nearly unable to process what he was seeing. The colored parts appeared much richer in variety and volume, and also covered a larger region of the brain. He scratched his head in confusion, unsure of what to make of it. “I don't understand.”

“I don't either. His brain function is... off the charts. He's a genius, Hank. We may have to allow him to become conscious before we know what he's capable of.”

Hank gave her a nervous sideways glance and shook his head slightly. “He's going to be very frightened. I don't think this world is anything like his own.”

Nodding, Jean swiped away the diagrams and began inputting information once more. “Yes, we'll have to keep an eye on him. Anyway, other than a small abnormality in his chest cavity, he seems to be in perfect health.”

“Anything potentially serious?”

“Not that I can predict.”

Hank nodded. “Good. Now... perhaps we should think of a gentle way to wake him up.”

“Well...” Jean pulled up what seemed to be a medical chart on the screen. “He last received a dose of sepramin roughly two hours ago. It should wear off in the next hour or so.”

“Perfect. That may give us enough time.”

“Time for what?” Her eyebrows furled.

Hank tried to give her a friendly smile but only ended up seeming as though he were baring his teeth. “To come up with some introductions.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “This should be interesting.”

–-

It was cold. That was his first thought upon becoming vaguely conscious. So cold that he began shivering faintly. His eyes cracked open but everything around him was so bright and blurry. Where was he? Why did whatever he was lying on feel so strange? It was soft but firm at the same time, as if it had molded to the shape of his body but still cushioned him. Charles wasn't really sure where he was, and his brain was too muddled to be able to recall. He remembered his father and the ship...

But something dawned on him that caused a wave of fear to wash over him.

It was quiet.

Since his earliest memories, it had never been quiet. Charles was what some referred to as a freak. He could hear other's thoughts. He could communicate to them without speaking a word aloud. He'd been able to do this since he was very young. He'd even been able to project his feelings and needs before he knew any kind of language. But almost never had he ever had utter peace and quiet.

Charles tried to reach out but found no one. There were no minds nearby for him to tap into or listen in on, and honestly it was beginning to scare him. He tried his damnedest to focus his eyes as he looked about frantically but no matter how much he blinked and strained, they simply refused to do so. A small moan of pain slipped through his lips as he tried to sit up with his weak limbs, all to no avail. The panic was beginning to grip him. The more he tried to breathe, the harder it was to do so.

It took him a moment but finally when his eyesight began to focus and his muscles didn't seem so weak, Charles pushed himself off the side of the table he lay on and stumbled to regain his balance as he leaned against it. The floor was cold and smooth against his feet. Looking down, he took note of his attire, which seemed to be similar to sweat pants. At least he wasn't naked?

Charles examined the room he'd awoken to. It almost seemed similar to a hospital but there were no monitors of any kind around him, nor any IVs anywhere in his skin. Clumsily, he crossed the room and tried to open the door; he even tried prying it open, but the damn thing was locked and didn't seem to want to budge.

He gasped softly as it swung open in his direction and something entered that he had never seen or imagined before in his life. It was a blue monster-looking creature with fur and sharp teeth... but it was dressed as a human and standing upright as a human. It even wore glasses. He could barely believe his eyes as he stared, while the creature seemed to be staring at the empty table that Charles had been on. Before thinking twice about it, Charles slammed the door hard against it, and the creature let out a loud grunt before it collapsed and he escaped swiftly past its motionless form on the ground.

Unsure of where he was at or where he was going, Charles drove himself forward in his heightening state of panic. The hallways seemed so long and narrow as he ran. There were so many doors that he burst through while making his way through... whatever the building was. A science lab? A hospital? He couldn't tell, and it frightened him even more.

There was a person walking down one of the hallways—a woman with brunette hair—who stopped with a rather surprised expression on her face as he grabbed her arm with his trembling hand. “What—“

“Where am I! Please, can you tell me where I am?!” She simply stared at him, too shocked to say much other than some stuttering, and Charles abandoned the small amount of hope he had that she might be able to help him and ran past her. His heart was hammering in his chest as the pace of his breath quickened. His senses were on high alert.

He didn't understand. Why couldn't he hear her thoughts? Why couldn't he hear anybody?! Had they “fixed” him? Had they rid him of his abilities?

Finally it seemed he found the door to exit the building but as he ran into the middle of the what seemed to be similar to a street, he could barely comprehend what he was seeing. Where there seemed to be only a single color, he was able to see multiple colors at once—a rainbow effect as he stared at the metal of the buildings around him on the street. There were so many people and so many strange structures and strange things and none of it made sense and it was so quiet and so loud at the same time and—

Charles was reaching up to his neck in an attempt to calm his breathing, but it caused him to panic even more as he let out a sound of surprise. There was something attached to his neck. Whatever it was had been embedded there into his skin. Was it a tracking device? Was this what was suppressing his powers? His fingers clawed at it useless as he sobbed from the fear flooding through him. He took a deep breath and grabbed the device with a firm grip, pulling as he began to scream from the sting of the pain.

It was out! But suddenly he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe, no matter how much he gasped for air. Everything was going blurry once more as he dropped to his knees, hand at his throat that had become slick with blood. He couldn't scream for help. He couldn't ask where he was or what was happening as he sank to his knees. The people on the street were surrounding him to watch in awe at his display of hysterics.

Charles collapsed, still trying to breathe to no avail. The blue monster that he'd seen inside only moments before was suddenly over him. “Charles!” he called, and Charles was scooped up in his massive arms as if he were a child. “Hold on, Charles,” was the last thing he remembered hearing before he slipped from consciousness.

Chapter Text

A loud crash was followed by a grunt, and Azazel clutched at his throat as he hovered above the ground. “How could you let this happen!” the droid standing before him roared, an arm outstretched as if he were holding Azazel by the throat from afar. His clothes suggested someone of power, somewhat similar to a lightweight armor that was wine in color with a cape flowing over his shoulders. “You've ruined everything!”

“Have you even seen the creature, Erik?” a female droid behind him cooed softly. She was clad entirely in white, blonde hair falling gracefully over her shoulders as she wandered to the window to look down upon the city below. “He's harmless.”

“I have seen a planet at the mercy of harmless men,” the male dubbed Erik snarled as he turned his cold gaze to her. “Never again.” With a frustrated growl, he slammed Azazel onto the ground and began pacing across the room.

“I did what you asked,” Azazel began as he picked himself up from the ground with a groan, and a hand smoothed back his black hair. “I destroyed all the power sources.”

“Not all of them,” Erik hissed.

“This could be good for our people, you know,” the female suggested as she leaned against the railing, smirking faintly as Erik sat on what seemed to be similar to a throne. It was made from a strange metal that had a primary color of silver, but if one were to look closely, a large variety of colors could be seen. Truly a boggling concept for the human eye to process. “Let them see the human for what he is. They've always wondered what their creators were like, and eventually his true nature will show itself. Humans always succumb to greed.”

Erik released a sigh as he removed the wine-colored helmet from his head and set it aside. He was silent for a moment, though in his eyes one could see the gears turning in his mind as he gazed out the window absent-mindedly. “Emma,” he finally said as he gestured for the female. She approached, setting her hand in his outstretched palm. “You are my voice of reason...” Erik pressed the back of her hand to his cheek with eyes closed a moment, as if savoring the touch before releasing it as he sighed once more. “I want you two to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't begin meddling.”

“There's nothing to worry about, Erik.” Her gaze lifted to meet with Azazel's, who stood before them in silence as he watched. “Everything will be as it should.”

Erik gave a flick of his hand and opened the doors with his power for Azazel to exit. “Leave us.” The red-skinned droid did as he was told and exited the room without another word. The doors slammed shut behind him.

When they were finally alone together, Emma turned back to look at Erik, who bent over groaning with hands pressing to his abdomen. “Hurting again?” she asked as she set a hand on his shoulder.

He shot a glare in her direction but was unable to hold the gaze as his eyes closed from what appeared to be pain. “It's getting worse.”

“Don't worry.” Erik leaned against her, and Emma tucked some strands of hair behind his ear as her gaze shifted out the window distantly. “The answer will come to us soon.”

–-

This time upon waking, Charles sat upright with a gasp, sweat beading his forehead as his fingers grabbed at his neck to find that the strange device was back where it had been—but he was only able to do so with one hand. Charles turned to see that his other hand was somehow being held to the bed he lay in by invisible bonds and tried to pull it upward to no avail. He searched his surroundings frantically and found that it seemed to be the same room that he'd been in before. Instead of the table he woke up on the first time, he was now in a bed that would have been extremely comfortable had he not begun panicking again.

The door swung open with a click, and a woman entered the room. “Hello, Charles.” Her red hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she wore a black jumpsuit with a silver “X” embedded in a circle in the center of her chest. “I understand you had a little bit of a fright this morning.” His hand flew up to his neck and tugged slightly at the mechanism in his throat as she gasped and held her arms out to stop him. “No, no! Wait! You won't be able to breathe without it. The oxygen levels here are not high enough for your body to utilize on its own.”

Charles eyed her suspiciously as he lowered his hand and began listing questions in his mind that he would need to ask to assess his situation. First and foremost: “... Who are you?”

She composed herself once more with a friendly smile. “My name is Jean Grey. I'm one of your attendants.”

“Attendants...?”

“Is that not the right word?” She glanced sideways, as if running something through her mind before her face lit up and she smiled. “Caretaker. That's better.”

The door opened, and the blue beast that Charles had seen earlier entered the room. “Charles, it's good to see you're awake.... I'm Hank McCoy. My team and I found you in the wreck of your ship and have been monitoring your health while we brought you out of cryostasis.”

Charles gawked rather stupidly in astonishment as the creature spoke, blinking several times. Embarrassment flooded him upon remembering that he'd attacked Hank earlier. “I don't mean to be rude but... who are you?”

Jean gave a small laugh. “We were hoping that you could tell us.”

Charles shook his head. “I don't understand. I've never seen you before in my life.”

The woman and the blue beast shared a look for a moment that seemed to be filled with uncertainty before turning back to Charles. “We were created a very long time ago by humans, like you.”

Eyebrows furling, Charles looked back and forth between them before his eyes landed on Jean. “You mean you're not human?” The question was directed at her, since it was fairly obvious that the blue beast, indeed, was not.

“All we know is that our people are what you might call cyber-droids. We were created as synthetic versions of human beings with certain changes and mutations to our physicality and sent into space. The extent of our knowledge beyond that is very limited as our data banks were damaged when we crashed on Jerusem.”

Charles gasped softly as his mouth hung open in surprise. “You... You're the droids?”

Hank's eyes lit up as Jean glanced sideways at him. “You know us?”

“Oh my god. I can't believe it worked!” Charles exclaimed as a smile began to grow on his face. “You have to find my father. I know he can repair the damages and restore your corrupted data. Shaw—His name is Sebastian Shaw. If we could just find him—” The fear that had filled Charles was suddenly gone as relief took its place and he began to laugh in amazement. “Have we really made it to a new planet?” Hank and Jean exchanged a look of silence, and Charles' heart began to sink as a million questions ran through his mind. “... What is it? What's happened?” He became frustrated with himself when he remembered that he was unable to read their minds. Apparently his powers only extended to the human brain.

“This isn't going to be easy to hear,” Jean began and turned to Hank as if asking him for help. Charles swallowed thickly, glancing between the two of them as it occurred to him that something rather bad had happened. The extent of how bad... well, he was sure it was something that he could cope with.

“A few days ago, some of our excavators found your ship. We don't know how long ago it crashed here but...” Hank sighed and removed his glasses to rub his eyes as he paused for a moment. “Charles... you were the only one that survived the impact.”

The news hit him like a ton of bricks and left him breathless. Charles stared at him in disbelief, slowly beginning to shake his head as a feeling of dread and nauseousness filled his turning stomach. “No, that's not—...“ His gaze dropped away as he attempted to process the information.

“Your cryopod had its own power source and was able to remain stable, but... the others...”

His vision blurred as tears welled up in his eyes, and his eyebrows were drawn together. His father, his sister, every person he had ever known and ever person he never met... they were all gone. This strange, unexplainable anger began to fill him. Charles felt his hands beginning to tremble and clenched them into fists. “So you're telling me that out of the hundreds of thousands humans on that ship, I'm the only one that made it out alive.”

Hank nodded his head. “We swept the ship twice. The power source was damaged in the crash and I'm afraid the life support along with all cryopods but yours were powered down.”

Charles bit his quivering lip as the anger flooded through him. He didn't understand. He literally could not comprehend what he was being told. The only one left alive? But how? Why? He was the only human on this alien planet? This had to be a dream, some kind of nightmare that he would soon wake up from—a Wonderland of sorts that he'd created in his own mind.

“Charles—” Jean reached forward in an attempt to comfort him but Charles moved away from her in a sharp jerk.

“Don't touch me... please.” A tear rolled down his cheek, and his trembling fingers wiped it away quickly as he attempted very poorly to maintain a strong exterior.

“Come,” Hank said softly as he set a hand on Jean's shoulder. “We'll leave him be for a little while. He may need some time to process everything.” Jean nodded and allowed Hank to escort her out of the room. After hovering in the doorway for a moment, he turned and said in a soft voice, “Charles... you're not alone.”

When the door clicked shut, Charles turned onto his side and began to curl into the fetal position as the sobs racked him. There was almost no sound coming from his mouth from hard he began to cry, his fingers clutching into the material of the sheets below him as he wheezed for breath. The despair filling him was like nothing he'd ever felt before, even through the minds of others. How could this have happened?

Hank was wrong. He was alone.

He was so painfully alone.

Chapter Text

“So it's, what, like an air-maker?”

“Yes, that's right,” Hank replied with a hint of a chuckle, his eyes never moving away from the tablet in his claws that he typed out notes on. “The simple explanation is that it converts our atmosphere's elements into breathable oxygen for you.”

Charles muttered, “Mm, this place isn't exactly human-friendly, is it?”

“You could say that again,” Hank replied absent-mindedly as he re-read the information he'd typed in.

Charles was hovering over the bed he'd initially woken up on, suspended in mid-air by some strange force with Hank and Jean on either side of him. Charles had to admit it made him nervous; he feared he may fall to the bed at any moment but attempted to relax himself to ease the process of Jean's medical analysis. She stood at the nearby wall where she'd summoned a holographic panel upon beginning her examination. There were tiny hovering machines scanning him in all sorts of places, and Charles assumed that they were taking notes of his anatomy as they clicked and chirped.

“How long did it take you to design it?” he asked after a moment of silence.

Hank paused, lifting his head to meet Charles' gaze. “Well, let's just say I was in a bit of a hurry when we realized you couldn't breathe our atmosphere.”

Charles gave a nervous laugh at the thought of surviving everything all the way up to leaving his cryopod only to end up suffering the same fate as the others because of atmospheric differences. At least he was still alive. That was all that mattered at this point.

"How do you breathe?" he asked curiously.

"To put it simply, we don't." Hank lowered the tablet into his lap as he began to explain, "Or rather, we don't need to; not in the way you do. Oxygen isn't necessary for us to survive. It's sort of an automatic function for us to mimic 'breathing' but it's more of a process of naturally keeping our inner systems cool with the airflow."

Charles nodded, his curiosity seeming to be sated... for now. He wished to know more about the complexities of their anatomy, but he was sure he'd have plenty of time to ask those questions later.

“So, Charles... Tell me what you can about Earth.” Hank scooted up beside him on a stool, hand at the ready to take notes on the tablet.

A small scoff slipped out of his lips. “Where to even begin?” Charles asked himself aloud, his thoughts racing about as they tried to pinpoint a topic on which to start.

“Well, why not with you? Tell us about you.”

“Actually,” Jean interrupted as she tapped a button, and Charles was lowered onto the bed slowly, “there is something I'd like to ask you about.”

“And what's that?” Charles asked, swinging his legs off the side of the bed as he sat up.

“When I ran a scan of your brainwaves while you were unconscious, they came back with... well, some unusual readings.” She pulled up an image of her findings on the panel she stood at. “Your brain is functioning actively, consciously, in areas that it shouldn't be capable of, according to the information we have of other human brains. Do you know anything about this?”

Inhaling deeply, he heaved a heavy sigh. “I'm what's known as a telepath. I can enter people's minds, hear thoughts,” Charles replied as his gaze lifted to meet Jean's astonished expression. “Well, more specifically, human thoughts. I know you were made of similar matter to humans but it's been rather quiet since I arrived here...” He paused a moment, fingers picking at the edge of the blanket. “I was born with a certain mutated gene that caused some sort of change in my genetic makeup. My father called it a mutation. It's what inspired him to create all of you.”

Hank sat straight upright in his chair, looking as though he'd nearly fallen out of it. “Us? Your father created us?” he asked, pulling off his glasses as he stared at Charles.

“Yes,” he replied after a moment of hesitation. “I-I'm sorry, I thought you knew—“

“Why did he create us?” Hank asked as he stood up, rushed with excitement. “What is our purpose?”

“Hank, please,” Jean cut in with a stern voice as she touched his arm, although there was a gleam of the same curiosity in her eyes as she turned back to look at Charles. “Give him some space.”

Charles held up a hand, reaching out to touch her. “No, it's alright...” He paused a moment, knowing the impact the words he was about to speak would be huge for their entire people. “I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question. It seems you know more about yourselves than I do, but I know that you had a great purpose.”

Hank couldn't have hidden his disappointment if he'd wanted to as his gaze dropped away. “... I see,” he replied after a moment, typing in something on his tablet.

Charles' brow pulled together in concern, and he reached forward to set a hand against one of Hank's giant blue paws. “I'm sorry, my friend,” he whispered. “I wish I had more answers to give you.”

Hank gave a simple nod. “It's fine, it's fine... Now, let's talk a bit more about you. Where are you from?”

Charles inhaled sharply and began. “My father and I lived in a house in a city called Salem Center, located in the state of New York, which was inside a nation called the United States of America.” Hank said nothing as he looked up at Charles, as if waiting for him to go on with an explanation. “Mn, let me explain... The United States of America is a country on the planet Earth. There is certainly too much history there to go through right now. I'm sure I could write it out for you in the future, but the basic definition I can give you of a nation is that it's a territory of a historically constituted community of people. Basically, if you think the same as others in the territory you live in and have the same psychological makeup after living in the same place generation after generation, it will eventually become its own nation. They make up their own rules about everything, all the way from what size their country is to laws about religion and belief to employment and so on. There have been many countries taken over by other countries because, well, man is never really satisfied with what he has, is he?” Charles smiled faintly, feeling rather bashful at having just explained something as simple as a country in such a complicated way.

Hank didn't seem to have any problem keeping up. “Employment...” he muttered as he typed away. “And you, were you employed? Surely your father was a significant person in this 'nation', so you must have offered some kind of important service to your community?”

Charles chuckled softly. “Well, yes, I suppose you could say that. I was employed, though not because of my father. Not entirely. I worked as a nuclear physicist for some time until I left due to some... disagreements I had with the staff.”

“Did you say nuclear physicist?” Jean asked, her eyebrows raising as she looked up.

“I did,” Charles replied, glancing between the two of them as Jean and Hank exchanged a look.

“There's someone that I think you should meet,” Hank began slowly, the words careful as they fell from his lips. “His name is Erik, and he's the leader of our community. Humans would probably refer to him as a patriarch.” Charles' head tilted as he listened. “I'll set up a meeting for the two of you after I report our findings to him.”

Hank's lips turned up into a smile but before Charles could ask more about Erik, there was a rather loud gurgling sound that erupted from his stomach. His cheeks turned a light pink as he cleared his throat. “I'm so sorry... I suppose didn't realize how hungry I am.”

Jean gasped softly. “I'd completely forgotten. Hank, he needs nutrients! Humans can't survive without nutrition and dihydrogen monoxide.”

“Oh dear,” Hank mumbled as he turned to look at Charles, who was slowly lowering back onto the bed. “I recall coming across some consumables stored at the crash site, but I'm not really sure what dihydrogen monoxide would look like...”

“We call it water,” Charles offered hopefully as he sat up. “It's a clear liquid necessary for humans to live. You might have seen it in one of the storage rooms on the Hail Mary?”

“Ahh! I think I know exactly what you're talking about. Raven opened a crate of it before we found you. She was a bit disturbed by how clear and... well, liquidy it was.” He gave a soft laugh as he turned to Jean. “Will you pass a message to Storm? I'm going to try to ask Logan to come with us as well.”

“Let me come with you,” Charles asked quickly as he hopped down from the bed.

“I'm not sure that's a good idea,” Jean replied in a soft tone.

“I can help. I may even be able to take a look at the engines or the power source and see if I can get them working. If it's possible, there may be information in the data bases that would be useful to you and your people.”

Hank glanced at Jean, hesitation blatant as she met his gaze. “... If you'd like. But I'm just going to warn you that there may be things down there you don't want to see.”

Charles paused a moment, his gaze dropping away. “I know.”

–

“What the hell am I doing here? Babysitting?”

The black-haired man that trailed behind them up the incline of loose bluish green soil had been introduced to him as Logan. The very first words he'd spoken were “Go fuck yourself”, but somehow Charles couldn't bring himself to dislike Logan. Their initial meeting honestly had made him laugh, and his reaction seemed to surprise the android. He had this loner charm about him that Charles related to and had come to like almost immediately.

“What would we do without such enjoyable company as yours?” the other newcomer quipped sarcastically. She was beautiful, with dark skin and long strands of white hair flowing in the wind as she seemed to float along without much difficulty.

Ororo was her name, but the androids called her Storm because of her peculiar powers of weather control. Charles wondered if the clouds overhead and the wind that had picked up during their journey had anything to do with that or if they were simply a natural occurrence in the atmosphere. Curiosity had plagued him since they met of how her powers had been successfully programmed but he wasn't sure that she would even know the answer, so he never asked.

They finally reached the peak of the hill and came upon the entry site of the Hail Mary. It was half-sunken into the uneven terrain, and a massive hole had been blown into the side of it.

“Be careful,” Hank warned. “Looks like it's sunken in a good bit. I'll climb up and have a look.” Claws embedded into the side of the hull as he scaled across it to keep from slipping. A little metallic ball was pulled from his pack, and Hank pressed a button to power the light of it on before dropping it down into the depth below. With a sigh, he leaned backwards. “We have a bit of an obstacle. Some of the earth sifted into the ship and is blocking our way. Storm, may I ask you for your services?”

“Always a pleasure,” she replied, and Charles turned in time to see her eyes begin glowing a bright white light. “You may want to get down. It's about to get a little... windy.”

Hank hurried back down the side of the ship and grabbed him by the shirt to yank him down to the ground between himself and Logan. Charles shook some of the turquoise sand out of his hair and lifted his head, eager to watch Storm in action.

Thunder sounded overhead as she began ascending into the air, her arms held out near the chasm below. A small whirlwind began to form in the opening until it grew to the strength of a raging tornado, and out with the air came the earth that had spilled into the ship's hallways (as well as the small light Hank had dropped in a moment ago) while Storm's hair whipped about in the air. Despite the danger, Charles found the sight before him to be quite magical.

It took only a moment or two for the cyclone to clear everything away before Storm lowered herself back to the roof of the hull, her eyes returning to normal once more. “All clear,” she called as she glanced down inside.

“Perfect,” Hank replied as the three of them stood to brush dirt off of themselves. “Thank you, my dear.” Storm gave him a nod with a faint smile and descended down below into the ship. Before he entered, Hank glanced over his shoulder just as the small levitating ball of light returned with a small chirp.

Hank had Charles climb onto his back before he and Logan jumped down after her. Memories flooded back to him from the day he entered the ship as he brushed some of the soil off of his clothes and straightened them with a look around.

Charles didn't recognize this particular area they began to explore, but he remembered the “loading” zone where hundreds of thousands of people lined up back on Earth to enter their cryopods that were sorted into the depths of the ship. The emptiness, the silence... It was haunting.

“The crates are in here,” Hank uttered softly as they moved through the near-dark, illuminated only by the small orb that hovered above them.

Charles moved past them down the hall. “I'm going to see if I can make some progress with the computers.”

“There were some panels and screens in a room a few doors down,” Hank offered before disappearing with Logan into the storage room.

“Here, take this with you.” Storm tossed one of the light-producing balls into the air as it powered on.

A nod of thanks was given to her as he began down the hallway, the light trailing along like a silent companion. The sound of Hank and Logan hauling out the crates echoed down the empty hallway. Charles began to wonder how they were going to retrieve them, but Storm's powers were probably strong enough to lift them if she could clear out an entire hallway of soil from such a large ship in only a few seconds.

Being here in this ship now, knowing that no one that had traveled alongside him made it out alive... Thinking about it caused him to shudder as he walked along. Charles quickened his pace and finally came upon the room that Hank had mentioned, but seeing the modems in the state they were in, he wasn't sure he could do much. Charles gave a shot at booting up the computers but there wasn't even so much as a whir within the machines. He tried to flip a few switches here and there and mess with some of the electrical components but still nothing.

Fingers tapped at his chin in thought as Charles' eyes wandered aimlessly around the room until he spotted the filing cabinets in the corner. The light companion hovered over his shoulder as he sifted through them carefully and within a moment or two was pleased to find exactly what he was looking for – a diagram of the ship. Based on where they entered, he was able to judge roughly where he was and mapped himself a way to the engine room in the base of the ship.

His light companion followed him out of the room as he hurried through the empty hall to a set of stairs that led him to the basement. As he descended the stairwell, Charles cried out in fright as a nearly deafening groan accompanied a trembling of the entire vessel, and he scrambled to grab onto the railing firmly. It was over mere seconds later but it still left him rather shaken as his heart pounded against his chest. Charles exhaled deeply in an attempt to calm himself as he moved through the lower part of the ship to the fusion cores.

The door to the engines was giving him some difficulty. While he attempted to pry the door open, he wondered if maybe the reason it was so hard to open was that the structure had been damaged. Finally with a loud squeal from the metal hinges, Charles was able to pull it open after working up quite a sweat. Expending that much energy on such an empty stomach made him feel a bit lightheaded and even a little dizzy, and as such, it took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at. “Oh my g...” His stomach dropped, and Charles lifted a hand to cover his mouth in astonishment. All of the fusion cores and even the backup generators had all been totally and completely demolished, smashed into the pieces that now lay all across the floor.

Charles' knees grew weak, and he fell to kneel in the rubble and pick up some of the pieces that lay near him as his mouth hung open in disbelief. How had this happened? Most of the other parts of the ship had been left intact with minimal damage. Surely this was no accident... Had someone done this with the intent of killing the people inside the ship...?

His hands were shaking as he dropped the pieces, and they clattered back on top of the piles of many others. Fear was suddenly clutching him from within as he pushed himself up to his feet. He felt a great sense of danger as the realization washed over him -- if someone had intended to kill everyone on this ship, they would not be very happy that he was still alive. Charles felt like he couldn't breathe as the thoughts of paranoia bombarded him. He needed to get away; away from the engine room, away from this ship. Another wave of vibrations through the ship tossed Charles this way and that. He felt ill, as if he were going to vomit, and he nearly did so as he stumbled out through the dooway. Someone had killed every human on this ship, and Charles had so many questions aside from the most prominent one in his mind: Why?

“Charles?” Storm's voice made him jump as he turned to face her. He hadn't realized the uncertainty and suspicion that had begun to grow in his mind until he found himself keeping his distance from her. “Are you alright?” There was concern in her eyes as she came down the stairs.

“I'm--I'm fine,” he replied and held a hand out to stop her from approaching. “Don't. I may be a bit sick... I'm not sure you want to come any closer.”

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion, as if she was unsure what he meant, but she nodded her head. “Have you had any luck with the power or collecting any data?”

“No,” he replied, his head shaking as he leaned against one of the nearby panels. “No, I can't turn on the computers...” He gave a quick glance over his shoulder and lied, “The power source of the ship was destroyed in the crash.”

Disappointment flashed across her face but she offered a seemingly sad smile. “That's alright. Maybe we can have Hank tap into the power lines next time we come back, but he's insisting we leave as soon as we can.” She made a gesture to the stairs. “The ship is unstable where it is right now.”

With a quick nod of head, Charles forced a smile. “I'll be up in a moment, I promise. I just need to catch my breath.” Storm nodded her head and returned the way she'd come.

After he was sure she was gone, he breathed a heavy sigh while leaning against the panel, and his eyes wandering back to the door of the engine room as he wondered again:

Why?

Chapter Text

The door slid open with a whir, and Erik glanced up to look at the unexpected visitor. “Hank,” he greeted as he closed the book with the gleaming metal cover in his hands with a faint smile. “Always nice to see you.” A lie through his teeth, of course. Usually it would have been true but he had come to talk about the human, and that was the last thing Erik wanted to speak about. He replaced the book back on the shelf before him as he moved toward his desk.

“Good morning, Erik.” Hank nodded respectfully to him and then glanced sideways at Azazel somewhat nervously, who'd accompanied him into the study. Azazel leaned against one of the bookshelves with arms folded, watching on silently. “I wanted to report to you the progress we've made and discuss some things with you. Do you have some time for me, or should I come back later?”

Despite how much he wanted to excuse him, he would humor Hank. It would be best to have this over with as soon as possible. “Take a seat,” Erik replied as he sat down behind his desk, leaning forward onto the surface with his forearms.

Hank was beaming as he took a seat in one of the chairs, his excitement quite apparent. “We've recovered a large amount of information from Charles,” he announced proudly, “and there's still so much more to learn. It's fascinating!”

Disgust was all that Erik felt as Hank continued to talk about the information that the human had provided. How could he be so delighted about this? If only he knew the truth that Erik knew.

He remembered them. He remembered the selfishness, the carelessness, the superiority they boasted over each other throughout the years. How could they not see that they were all the same, all equal? No man was better than another, regardless of their skin color or their religious beliefs—yet it was this perceived belief of supremacy that drove them to end the life of the only planet they had called home.

He remembered the horror he felt when he'd heard that out of the trillions upon trillions of planets in the universe that humans had managed to crash to the one he had chosen for his people. They should have died upon impact and been wiped out from existence yet still, they survived and even after an attempt to exterminate them, the species still persisted. At least he could take comfort in the fact that they couldn't breed with only a male left. They were pests, and Erik was so close to being rid of them.

If Azazel hadn't failed his mission, the androids would have been able to live in peace without ever meeting a human. But due to their lack of knowledge, there was an ever growing curiosity of humans among his people, and Erik made a point to speak out against any sort of worship of humans that androids had begun to perform. Now that there was a survivor, they would know the truth of what horrible creatures humans were, and they would come to know their destructive nature. It was best they knew so they would stop looking to the past and instead focus on their future as their own society. In the end, the androids the humans created would be the better men. He would make sure of that.

Erik leaned back into the chair with his gaze cast downward as Hank finished speaking. There were many things he could have said in response to the long-winded report. “Interesting,” was the only reply he gave, although he couldn't have seemed more uninterested.

Disappointed by the reaction, Hank's eyebrows furled. “Erik, it's no secret you think ill of humans but... We have all the data in the lab if you'd like me to transfer it to Emma. It would keep you occupied if you ever have a moment to read over it. It might even change your opinions about them.”

He nearly let out a laugh. How silly Hank was that he would think Erik would ever want to read of them again. He had enough information of them. “What has he told you about the earth itself?” Erik's fingers laced together as they fell into his lap.

Hank had to scan back through most of the information until he was able to summarize it. “He's explained some of the wildlife and the change in the atmosphere over the years—”

“What about the condition of things when the humans left Earth?” Erik quirked a brow. “About what caused them to leave?”

“He's made no mention.” Hank seemed puzzled by his question.

A nod of his head was given as Erik chuckled softly, not surprised at all by the deception. “Just as I thought.”

Hank looked expectantly at Erik for an explanation. “I don't understand—”

“I wouldn't expect you to,” Erik replied, pushing up from his seat to walk around the desk. Erik wasn't surprised in the least. It's not as if the human would want him to know anyway.

Hank rose from his chair as well, his eyebrows furled as he tried to comprehend everything. Before he could ask further questions, Erik turned to him. “Do you want to know why man took to the stars? Why they left Earth behind in favor of a new place to call home? It's because they destroyed it.”

The blue features of Hank's face twisted into many emotions at once: confusion, horror, disbelief.

“They weren't intent on discovering and exploring the stars. They needed a new place to live, another planet to conquer and destroy with their greed and their lust. They were always at odds with each other, always at war, killing each other uselessly and being quite proud of inventing new ways to do so. I admit I was concerned when their ship crashed here, but it's a relief that only one survived. With as many humans were on that ship, there's no telling what they would do to this planet—or more importantly, to us.”

For a moment, Hank was too stunned to speak as he sat once more in the chair. “That... None of this can be true...”

“Hank, you must understand... Humans are selfish, vile creatures and have no place in our society.”

With eyes widened, Hank was taken aback as he struggled to form a response. “Are you suggesting we kill him? We would be no better than the monsters you claim humans to be.”

“We are better.” Erik's expression remained stoic, unaffected by the accusation. “If it is for the greater good, it must be done.”

Hank stared at him, appalled by his answer. “You'd sentence him to death for the sins of his species? Charles is a good, pure creature. He'd never hurt a soul—”

“Is that really what you think, even after he attacked you?” he interrupted.

“He was frightened! It was instinctual to protect himself. Erik, if you'd only just meet him—”

“I don't need to meet him,” Erik snapped. “I know his kind already. I remember. I remember them and what they did, and I don't intend to let even one human pose a threat to my people.”

“We can't kill him, Erik,” Hank pleaded as he pushed himself up from the chair once more.

He had expected resistance but was intent on ignoring it. Hank would eventually come to understand why this had to be done. “When you learn what you need to know from him, the human will be disposed of. He's a danger to us all.”

Panic was beginning to overtake Hank as he wrung his hands. “He-he could be of use to us—”

“This is not a discussion, Hank.” Erik's voice had begun to raise in his frustration. “It has to be done!”

“Erik, he was a nuclear physicist!” Hank shouted desperately.

Stunned, Erik glanced to Azazel who seemed just as surprised by Hank's outburst. Suspicion lingered in his eyes as he turned back to meet Hank's gaze. “How do you know?”

“He said he was employed as one before he left Earth,” Hank replied quickly, his eyes pleading.

Erik fell silent as he turned away, conflicted and quite frustrated by the sudden revelation. It wasn't true. It couldn't be. It must have been a trick, something he'd fabricated to ensure his own survival. Then again... How would he have known to say such a thing? It's not something someone could pretend to know. From what Erik knew about nuclear physics, it would take years for a human to study the subject, even with the guidance of a professor. Still, if it were true, this could be his only chance...

Hank must have taken the silence as a small victory and continued to further his argument. “Erik, please... There's a chance that he may be able to fix you.”

Erik wandered back to his chair once more and fell back into it with his elbow leant on the desk, hand supporting his forehead. “I'll consider it,” he replied in a low voice, his dark eyes becoming hollow. “You're dismissed.”

Hank turned to exit the room but hesitated for a moment. “Charles is being moved to his own living quarters at the metropolis today... The excavation team and I will be giving him a tour of Genosha afterwards, if you'd like to meet him.” He paused, hands wringing slightly. “He's not our enemy, Erik.” There was no response—not even a movement—from the man who sat behind the desk. Without another word, a last pleading glance was thrown over Hank's shoulder as he exited through the door.

It was silent for a moment as Erik went back and forth in his mind, unsure of which decision would be for the best of Genosha, until he heard the soft voice of Azazel from across the room inquire, “What are we going to do?”

“I don't know,” Erik replied softly without turning to look at him.

What a sick twist of fate, that the one thing he despised the most could be the key to his survival... and in turn, the android population he'd fought so hard to protect.

Chapter Text

It didn't take long for Charles to realize that his life on Jerusem would be nothing like his old one. Since early childhood, he was able to look for answers in other people's minds if there was something he did not understand or wanted to know, but in this world, his gift did not exist. He was ordinary in a world full of unique, an irony that he had not overlooked.

Charles was fascinated by the abilities that each one of them possessed. By using them, the androids were able to thrive so flawlessly, flourishing and blooming where they were planted and becoming so technologically advanced in such a comparatively short amount of time. It was amazing. They had constructed their own cities and adapted into their own society and culture in their time on Jerusem, though it still had recognizable similarities to the world from before. To learn everything about this new world was an opportunity that Charles did not plan to waste, and every once in a while he had to remind himself that this was not a dream.

Every now and then, Charles found his thoughts turning to the engine room of the Hail Mary. Who would do such a thing? From what Charles understood, the androids were fond of humans and wanted to learn about them as much as they could. But the truth was that there might have been some who held the belief that humans were dangerous. Understandable, but to go to the lengths of attempting to kill all of them? It didn't sit well with Charles. Those were innocent people—men, women, and even children—that had paid the price. He tried not to think about it, but it was always there in the back of his mind, reminding him of how powerless he truly was.

When it came time to leave the “infirmary”, Hank informed him he would have his own home, and Charles could not have been more grateful. The layout seemed like any other home he would find back on earth with as many rooms as necessary, including a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. When asked about the plumbing system, Hank admitted it was part of the information they had left over from Earth but that he'd made a few tweaks to better improve the system.

Jean and Hank sat on the couch patiently as Charles readied himself for his first venture into the city. They sat patiently on the couches in the living room while Charles splashed his face with water in the sink. “This is amazing,” he commented as he dried his skin with a towel made of material softer than anything he'd felt before. “This place, everything—Thank you. I've been meaning to ask... How am I to pay for all of this?”

“We don't have a currency system,” Jean explained with a smile. “Genoshans take and use only what we need or what is proportionate for ourselves, so there is no need for it. Our payment comes from out contributions to Genosha, I guess you could say.”

A smile formed on Charles' face as he hung up the towel. “It sounds like the perfect economic system. I hate to say it but something like that would never be possible on Earth. It's been tried many times in the past but greed always takes precedence.” He sighed softly as his eyes became distant, memories of his life from before racing through his mind of money and credit cards and all of the people no longer left to use them...

Jean's knowledge of currency only fueled his curiosity more. He wondered what other information they had maintained but his thoughts were interrupted when the front door opened, surprising Charles as he turned to look at the guests that had let themselves in.

He found himself startled by the first to enter, a female whose skin was a deep, midnight blue and littered in patches of scales of the same hue. Her eyes were a piercing yellow, contrasted strongly by her dark red hair. It was extremely odd that she struck him as familiar, but since he could not place from where, he simply smiled at her and greeted, “Hello.”

She looked just as surprised as he did, and delight overtook her features as she turned to the male that entered behind her. His skin was dark as well but a more familiar shade to Charles, a smooth dark brown. “Oh my god,” she whispered in her excitement, clutching the male's arm that seemed just as elated to see Charles. “Look at him! Look, he's so beautiful!” Charles gave a bashful chuckle as he felt a blush begin to warm his cheeks.

“Raven, don't be rude,” Jean scolded, though it didn't seem to affect the blue woman's excitement.

“She's alright,” Hank responded, giving her an encouraging smile.

“I've always wanted to see a human!” Raven admitted as she stared at Charles.

“Are we ready to begin?” Hank asked as he pushed himself up off the couch.

“I think so,” Charles replied, looking himself over. Luckily, some of his personal belongings were able to be retrieved from the Hail Mary, including his clothing, and Charles had to admit it was a relief to have something from before. He'd never been so happy to see a pair of jeans in his life.

“Charles, this is Raven,” Hank began as he approached, setting a hand on the blue female's shoulder.

She offered a smile to him as they shook hands. “Hi.”

Hank reached back to usher the male forward. “And this is Darwin.”

“Pleasure,” Darwin said as they shook hands as well.

“I'm so happy to meet you,” Charles said as they all headed towards the door. “Hank tells me you were with him during the excavation.”

“Did he fail to mention I was the genius that found you?” Darwin asked playfully, his eyebrow quirking.

“That he did,” Charles replied with a small laugh. “Thank you, my friend. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't had such a keen eye?”

As he stepped outside, Charles noticed another male standing not too far off, a few yards or so. His skin was red, his long hair black, and a barbed tail swished side to side behind him slowly, calmly. A glance over his shoulder revealed a scarred face, something that Charles did not expect.

“You're looking rather red today, Azazel,” Jean greeted the stranger in a teasing tone.

“No more than your hair,” he replied, an impish smile on his lips. She gave a roll of her eyes as they all gathered before him. “Erik has instructed me to escort you,” Azazel explained as his piercing, mischievous eyes met with Charles' gaze. The look gave him goosebumps, and he quickly turned away to instead examine what he could see of the city around him.

His new home was a unique structure among the many taller buildings. Their architecture was indeed a beautiful sort of unique, reminding him of a futuristic Ogee style. The structures in Genosha varied in shape and size (most of them oval or round), yet they all fit together as if they were puzzle pieces. The streets between them still resembled the ones he knew, but there were no vehicles driving back and forth on them. Instead, some sort of tram system was built that curved in between many of the buildings. Despite having this public transportation, most citizens walked about instead.

“Ahh, Charles, I should warn you... There's an event taking place today in the citadel that Genoshans were hoping you would attend.”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise as he turned to Hank. “I'd be honored,” he replied, giving a nod of his head. “I did have a question I'd like to ask before I forget. What is this colorful metal I see everywhere?” Charles asked, pointing to one of the nearby buildings.
“We call it ethalium,” Hank replied as he began to walk down the street to have a better look at one of the nearby buildings. Charles hurried to catch up to him, and the rest of the group trailed along behind them.

As he explained how they found the ore beneath the blue soil, there were scattered whispers here and there (mostly between Raven and Darwin) that Charles tried to ignore. He was sure they weren't mocking or teasing him but Hank was about to explain many things he would need to know about Genosha, and Charles needed to pay attention more than usual. Normally, Charles would lock onto someone's mind and only listen to the basic first layer of their thoughts in a situation like this, but that wasn't possible with androids.

Throughout the tour, Charles found himself surprised again and again as he learned more about their culture. They had libraries and workshops and trading posts, but the most interesting to see was the art center. The creations inside alone were proof that Genoshans were truly their own entities, capable of not only unique creation but emotions and thoughts. How humans were able to design such beautiful creatures was beyond him.

“This is the citadel,” Hank explained as they stopped in front of a very prestigious building. It was the largest by far, with more detail put into its design than most others. “This is where many people gather for various reasons, including announcements and celebrations, much like the event taking place today.”

The building appeared as if it were packed full, laughter and chatter sounding from within. Charles' hands began to tremble in excitement and anxiousness as he tucked them into his pockets.

“I don't want to overwhelm you, Charles. We can come some other time,” Hank offered as he set his hand on Charles' shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Charles looked to the open doors up the stairs with an enthusiastic smile, giving a faint nod of his head. “I'd love to meet them,” he replied as he began to climb the stairs.

In truth, his heart was already racing. Charles was generally skilled with small talk and the like, but he found himself nervous. This was his first impression in front of what seemed like a good portion of Genosha, and he hoped to make it a good one.

-

Charles couldn't remember the last time he'd met so many people. It reminded him of his first day at work at the Corvega Nuclear Plant, but without the advantage of his telepathy to aid him in remembering, most of the names he learned would just be giant blur. He might be able to remember if he were to see them walking down the street, but for now, he had trouble recalling specific names and matching them with faces. It was honestly so overwhelming that Charles needed to step outside for some fresh air (in a manner of speaking).

The night air was cool as he walked out under the light of the nearby moons, brushing strands of hair across his forehead. There were two of them visible, and Hank mentioned a third earlier in the night that Charles couldn't see. The two before him glowed with unique patterns and colors, the first being a warm orange color and the second demonstrating a gaseous blue-green. He wondered what would cause colors like that, and the scientist in him desperately wanted to travel there to find out. But, alas, he wasn't going to be going anywhere any time soon.

His eyes dropped down to the turquoise grass-like moss that was spread across the front of the building like a lawn, and Charles smiled faintly when he saw that it had begun to grow onto the ethalium. Whatever components the metal was made of seemed to be bio-friendly. It took him a moment to realize that there was a faint blue glow emanating from beneath the moss as it moved faintly in a small breeze. Charles crouched to run his fingers across a section of it, which left a trail of light in the moss that faded away. His eyes filled with amazement at the wondrous sight. “Wow...” A small chuckle left his lips as he shook his head, thinking of all the different kinds of plants and life there might be on the planet.

As he stood, Charles yawned and rubbed his suddenly very tired eyes. His muscles were sore, and he wasn't sure if it was difference in gravity or if being in cryosleep for all that time had weakened him. He wanted to go to his new home but he didn't want to pull any of his friends away from the laughter and fun inside. Charles convinced himself he knew the way and began his journey back to where he imagined sleeping in the comfort of his own bed and in his own home.

“Leaving so soon?”

The unfamiliar voice caused him to stop in his tracks, and Charles turned to look over his shoulder to see someone that he did not recognize. Still, he offered a friendly smile as he began, “Hello. I... don't think we've met. I'm Charles Xavier, th—”

“The human,” the stranger finished for him. “I know.”

The way he carried himself coupled with the design of his attire suggested someone of great importance, with a faded wine-colored asymmetrical cape falling over the back of his shoulders. This was attached to what seemed to be a unique design of a protective metallic breastplate of the same hue. It dawned on Charles that this man was the only person he'd seen wearing any sort of armor and wondered for what reason he wore it. It was peculiar that he wore no other protective equipment atop his black trousers and boots, but it was possible he only wore it as a symbol of higher status.

“Hank has told me so much about you, Charles,” the male said as he took a few slow steps forward.

“Oh... You must be Erik,” Charles greeted in surprise. His chiseled features looked familiar to Charles but he was almost certain they'd never met. Charles would remember a sharp gaze like that anywhere... and the handsome face it accompanied. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

A faint tug at the corner of Erik's lip was given in response as he began to walk past Charles. “I hope your time in Genosha has been comfortable.”

“Yes, it has,” Charles replied, turning to walk beside him with hands tucked into his pockets. “This place is beautiful, nothing like I've ever seen. I'm very impressed with such a rapid development of this metropolis, and I understand you're the one who led the Genoshans to such a success.”

A look of pride flashed across Erik's face as he gave a faint nod of his head, but it was gone as quick as it'd appeared. “We've been given a second chance. When we came here, I promised my people I would lead them down a path to live, not just to survive.” There was a glance in Charles' direction, but Charles couldn't read his expression and felt that there was a hidden meaning behind those words. “I feel I have upheld that promise. Genosha flourishes, and there has never been war or unrest in our city since its founding.”

Charles couldn't help the feeling of wonder and fascination that washed over him, replacing his uncertainty. He'd always wondered what it would be like to live in such a society. No greed, no suffering – just peace. His eyes wandered around the city above and around him, fallen under the blanket of night, and he released a heavy sigh. “This feels like a dream,” he whispered softly. “It's all so beautiful here. The buildings, the people, your way of life... It's better than anything I could've imagined.”

Erik did not respond. Rather, he looked as though he were in pain for a moment with a flinch flashing across his face as he stopped in the street. The street lights flickered around them, but Charles hardly noticed. Concern flooded Charles' face as he hesitated to reach out towards Erik. “Are you alright?”

“Of course,” Erik responded as if nothing had happened. There was an intense look in his eyes, one that seemed impossible to look away from.

It took a moment for Charles to realize they'd stopped in front of his new residence. He hadn't recognized the area in the dark and quite honestly, he was grateful that Erik had stumbled onto him by chance. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to find the place by himself. Charles swallowed thickly and glanced up the steps to look at the door before he turned back to look at Erik with uncertainty. “Thank you for escorting me. It was very kind of you.”

Erik's lips pulled slowly into a faint smile. “I wouldn't want you to wander off and get lost or hurt,” he replied. “Hank would have an aneurysm.”

Charles giggled once he realized it was a joke, knowing full well that was impossible. The sound of his laugh seemed to draw a genuine smile to Erik's face. He held his hand out towards Charles in a way that seemed to ask for his hand.

Charles cautiously obliged, and Erik lifted his hand to plant a gentle kiss on the back of it, never breaking eye contact. “Good night... Charles Xavier.”

And with a swish of his cloak, Erik turned away without another word spoken to disappear down the street and into the night.

After watching him for a moment in awe, Charles looked down at his hand and realized something. Erik's breath had been hot as he drew Charles' hand to his lips... Not warm like a regular human's breath but almost hot like steam off a boiling kettle. It troubled Charles as he climbed the steps to his front door and entered. Something didn't seem right about Erik. It was like he was hurting somehow. Charles didn't think that androids could feel pain but now he wasn't so sure. There were so many questions running through his exhausted mind as he flopped onto the bed in his room, drifting off to sleep as his thoughts lingered on the heat he'd felt on his skin...