Family Dynamics
Raven proud herself on being a prepared woman. It was one of the only perks of being a survivor, she usually told herself. The ability to be cautious and exploit the posibilities ahead of herself was one of the many qualities she shared with her adoptive brother, Charles Xavier.
So Raven knew she wasn't crazy when she decided to prepare for the day something happened to Charles. Not and “if” situation, she believed, but a “when”. And she knew it was coming, because his brother was, unlike her, too naive and trusting, something she could never understand giving his older brother could read people's minds. She thought he relied too much on his gift being invisible to care about being extra cautious, and was sure it would come to bite him right in the ass the least expected moment.
She didn't account for it happening during a party.
Hank and Alex both hated when Raven was in charge, because she could be pretty ruthless and didn’t take any objections. She locked all three of them inside of her own room as soon as Charles was out of her sight, away from the rest of the guests that, she guessed, were all under the telepath’s command to stay out of the way. Raven used a chair to block the door and then went straight to check on both teens, and let go a sigh of relief when she reafirmed they were alright, a bit shaken up if anything.
“You know the drill,” Raven spoke in a firm yet low voice. Even from the inside, they could hear the distant boom from the cannons down the bay, but she didn’t dare to raise her own volume because she didn’t know if there were intruders in the Mansion. “We stay together no matter what, and wait for Charles to make first contact. Until then, we hide. Alex, I’ sorry but I need you to be ready”, she added as she looked at the blonde teenager, who tried his best to show no fear even though he knew exactly what she meant. They all did.
Alex straighetened his back and nodded to the unspoken request to protect them altough Raven could notice the tremor on his fists. The kid was terrified. To return the courtesy, she did her best to hide her concerns as well. Raven hadn’t felt Charles’ presence inside her mind checking on them, and the longerit went with no contact, the more nervous she got. But she couldn’t afford to let them down. As much as she found Alex and Hank annoying, she had the responsibility of seniority over the two adolescents, and that meant something.
That's how she was brought up in the Xavier Family.
Raven was, in Charles’ own words, the most stubborn twenty two year old woman he had ever met. Their paths crossed when Raven was nine years old and her parents tried to kill her after they got scared by her gift, a rare occurance that allowed her to shapeshift at will. Her parents believed it to be an act of the Devil, and Raven was forced to escape her home and never come back. As a runaway, she learnt to use her skills to blend in and survive, and she took in multiple identities as she traveled across towns.
Raven had adopted the role of a cleaning lady of a mental institution to have access to some medical supplies she needed when young Charles Xavier was forcibly admited, a thirteen year-old rich boy that was kept under heavy sedation. Raven didn't mind him much until she ran into him in the middle of the night. They must’ve skipped one dosis, she thought.
“They did.” The words that Raven heard so loudly that she could swear they came from inside her own head sturtled her, making her drop the supplies she had taken from the infirmary. Busted. The kid in front of her raised an eyebrow and, without moving his lips, he added: “Why are you stealing medical supplies? Nevermind stealing is wrong, what are you doing here of all places?” Before she could even articulate an answer, the child gave her the most concerned, devastated look she had ever seen in her short life, and he finally spoke with his own voice: “Oh my God, Raven. I am so sorry for all that you’ve been through.”
She couldn’t understand why, but Raven found herself almost trapped in that hallway with that strange child, both looking at each other with watery eyes and trembling lips. Raven failed to stop a sob as she felt how the piercing blue eyes that were staring back at her were filled with a compassion she didn’t believe possible, much less for a damned child like herself.
“You’re not a damned kid”, she heard imediately inside her own mind again, as the teen finally approached her. She broke down in tears as her body changed back at her original form and Charles held her in a tight hug, one that she didn’t know she was so deprived of. In that first safe space she had in the longest time, Raven trusted Charles and showed him some bruises and wounds she had gotten at her last stop, a town not so far away that had caught her stealing some bread. Charles mended her wounds and conforted her until she stopped crying, and they talked about their lifes until sunrise. By then, Charles had already decided he was taking Raven back home with him, and so he did. With a better understanding of his own abilities and now someone like him to protect, he easily convinced everyone that Raven was his younger sister, and raised her as such.
“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?”
Alex, Hank and Raven went all together down the harbor in a carriage as soon as the first ray of sunshine hit the bay, a couple hours after the whole attack had ended and they still couldn’t find Charles. Both children, who’d stayed inside the carriage at one warning glance from Raven, almost fell sorry for General Stryker, who had been quickly cornered by her even though she was at least one head shorter than him. Alex would laugh if it wasn’t the most unreal scenario they could’ve ever imagined. Charles, gone? He couldn’t just be gone like that, could he now?
“I mean exactly that, my lady. If he didn’t stay back at the Xavier Mansion, and he wasn’t found among the men we lost on that vicious pirate attack, it is safe to assume Charles Xavier is missing”, Stryker admited reluctantly. He was well aware that he had been charged to protect the area and get support for his enterprises against the sins that were attacking the New Continent such as that crew of demons, but he was taken by surprise and had failed. “We have heard reports of similar assaults in other cities and it is safe to assume that your brother was taken hostage by these pirates, or worse. I am sorry to give you such terrible news, Raven.”
“Only my family can call me that”, she cut him imediatelly, giving him the coldest of glances. Where had he found the audacity to loudly speak of his brother in such manner, as if he was dead? And in front of the children, no less. Alex and Hank exchanged a quick look of panic, as if the possibility of Charles being actually dead was a weight that they suddenly felt. They looked around from the windows and saw the destruction that the attack had caused, all the ashes and the smoke coming from so many buildings, all the debris on the ground, all the blood that had stained the streets. Hank took Alex’s hand in an impulse, looking for some comfort, and Alex squeezed in response, as if he was quietly saying they were together on this.
“What are you doing to find my brother, General Stryker?”, demanded Raven, in absolute denial about the possibility of him being gone forever. She would have felt something like that in her guts, she was sure. That’s how she was certain he was alive. But her determination was mistaken for grief by the General, who was feeling sorry for her.
“Apologies, my lady,” the General was quick to answer and lowered his head for a moment as a sign of respect. He understood that Raven was completely capable of calling the shots of that family given an emergency as the one they were facing, and although he found that strength admirable, Stryker was also quick to catch that now Raven was in charge of the Xavier’s fortune and she had more than enough motivation to invest on his quest, if that meant finding his brother alive. “I’ve instructed fifteen vessels to patrol this and all nearby ports and marine routes. I will join in the search with my crew as soon as I finish the reports on the attack.”
The dread of feeling helpless made Raven sick, desperate to help find his brother. But she had to trust him to survive on his own and go back home, to them. She had the major responsibility to look over Hank and Alex, to guide them and help them navigate their gifts just like Charles and Raven had done with each other for so long. Charles counted on her to take care of their family as much as Raven counted on him to return. She sighed heavily and pressed both of her temples with her hands in a similar manner that Charles did when he was overthinking, and looked back to the teens for a moment before speaking: “Please, bring him home. Bring my brother home.”
Charles was not a man with many regrets. He was overconfident and rarely second-doubted any ideas he could have, and he often relied on his sister to “not do anything stupid”, as she so kindly would say. What could he say? It wasn’t on him that reason would be on his side more often than not. Some might call it stubborness, and even ego, but Charles chose to believe it was his self-confidence.
His enthusiasm made him make a mistake that would haunt him for many days to come. Charles decided that he would like to start learning the ways of the Brotherhood as soon as he perceived minds waking up around him, mainly due to the exchange he had with the captain last day. He had to prove he could and would endure the circumstances and whatever else to come his way, because he was determined to go back home.
Filled with this renewed determination, and so much more at ease and well rested than the former 48 hours, he had no issue using his abilities more freely, catching on the daily routine and everyone’s tasks and duties. He found out that the captain -Erik, he reminded himself- was the first one to start his day, and was on the way from the kitchen to the bridge of the ship. Charles got properly dressed and went out looking for him, and he couldn’t help but smile when the salty air and a soft morning breeze met him whe he stepped outside.
Erik raised both eyebrows with a mix of surprise and amusement when he saw Charles up so early in the morning, used to be alone for some time before the crew joined him on the deck. “I didn’t take you for an early bird”, said Erik, with a playful smirk on his face as he took a sip of a steaming cup. The wind ruffled his ash brown hair and she early sun brightened his steel blue eyes. Charles chucked as he approached, he was more of an owl, but had no trouble waking up early when he had things to do.
“Not really”, Charles countered with a soft smile. “It will take me some time to get used to all these new minds. Dreams are something else, even in my own home sometimes I can’t sleep at all.” Erik listened his explanation attentively and nodded along, emphatetic. As the leader, comforting his crew when their powers felt more like a burden than a gift was part of his responsabilities and it showed. “I’ve had to learn to block out every mind around me all the time, or else I’d be constantly listening all their thoughts at the same time like if I was on a very busy street.”
“I see. It must be exhausting to do that constantly”, Erik responded sincerely. “Wanda has described something similar, but only when she’s stressed or scared. I love that even when we’re all the same, we are also so different. It’s sad that people don’t understand that and so many would destroy us for our uniqueness. Anyways, I digress. Are you prepared for today?”
“Absolutely, whatever you have prepared I am acing it, captain”, Charles responded with confidence and a smug smile on his face. He had picked on his previous mind swiping that Erik had decided that, due to the pristine weather they had for the day, they’d play a game. And Charles was ready for some bonding activities.
It was a good thing Charles knew how to swim.
The game the crew was so excited about was nothing else than throwing each other overboard with their powers in a crazy all against all. The only one that didn’t participate was Caliban, because the sun hurted his skin pretty bad, but even Erik’s twins played with the rest of the Brotherhood even though they were just kids. There were two winners: whoever threw the most people off the ship and whoever was thrown off the least. Charles thought the rules were simple enough, until the game started and he was the first one to end up on the sea with two quick poofs of Azazel, who grinned like it was payback time. Charles swam back to the ship and worked his way up one of the ropes Erik had left hanging down the deck.
Charles did his best to avoid being thrown off again, but failed many times since the rest of the group were used to the dynamics of the game. Azazel was the responsible for at least half of the times he had ended back in the water, and even Pietro had startled him and pushed him off the ship with one high speed impact. And when the telepath was finally getting the hand of the game and had managed to make Blob throw himself off the ship with Toad and Pyro, Rogue touched his hand and made him fall into his knees from the pain and left him defenseless to the girl’s unexpected strangth when she flinged him off like he was nothing.
By mid day, Charles could barely feel his arms after climbing so many times and his hands had some blisters, his abundant brown hair was a wet mess with algaes strangled among some strands, and he had a terrible headache that just wouldn’t leave him alone. He was so fed up that when he perceived Azazel poofing on his back, he sent out a telepathic “jump into the water” so strong that the whole crew ended up doing it, even a very flabbergasted Erik. That move alone gained him an honorary mention during lunchtime after the game was done, but that didn’t erased the previous humilliation of being played with the whole morning.
The afternoon was reserved for sparring and physical training, but Charles could barely keep up. His arms were burning and that made so much more difficult to spend the following hours fencing with a sword and running around. It was his stubborness that allowed him to push through the pain and fatigue, his cramping legs and the heat of the sun over his skin during the whole day. And all of that under Erik’s surveillance, who was equally determined to test Charles’ limits and, most importantly, his character. He expected Charles to end up throwing up somewhere out of exhaustion, but got pleasently surprised when that didn’t happen.
“Your crew is really strong”. At night Charles walked back to the bridge with a slow pace that amused Erik, who was almost expecting him to show up there again.
“Or you’re extremely weak”, he countered, making Charles roll his eyes and then looked over the bridge’s rail, appreciating the calm ocean surfice and how it shined with the many stars above them. That night there was but a glimpse of the moon, and Erik had lighted a lantern to keep him company.
“Hey, I didn’t do so bad for my first day”, Charles responded, and he meant it. Leaving out the sentiment of having to prove himself in front of the captain and the crew out of self-respect, he was fairly proud of his performance during his first full day on the ship -the first one fully conscious anyways. He wasn’t one for physical labor, and for a moment he feared he couldn’t climb back to the ship with his sore arms and heavy, wet clothing.
“You’re better than I expected. And you can wield a sword, who would’ve guessed”, commented Erik with an annoying smile. “And throwing all of us to the water at the same time? Genious, really. I applaude you, Charles. Now I understand so much better why Azazel is so mad.”
Charles frowned and stared back at Erik with regret. He couldn’t look past the many ways that outburst could’ve gone wrong, and he felt even worse about it after getting to know the Brotherhood. He pressed his lips and had to take a deep, slow breath before muttering: “That was an accident.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Excuse me? Are you calling me a liar?”, countered Charles in disbelief. He would never attack someone like that on purpose, as he felt doing such harm went against every principle his family had raised him in.
“Azazel is the most experienced of us all, and you, out of nowhere, not only commanded him over his own gift, but blocked him of going back? And that powerful display of today, like it was nothing? You’re restraining yourself. I don’t know why, and it’s not any of my business”, Erik observed with no hesitation. He had spent the day watching Charles carefully, after all. And most importantly, he had seen others act like Charles had during the game. The look on someone’s face that is scared of hurting others was very easy to identify once you’ve seen it enough.
“That’s right, it is not.” The words sounded harsher that Charles had meant. Erik was direct, with no second intentions hidden under facades, and Charles wasn’t used to that. There was no judgment, not really, on his words. Just a man stating a fact: Charles had a firm grip over his gift, as if it was some sort of monster that could get lose any second, he just was very good at hiding it under his undenying charm and good looks. He got defensive, and hated it. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t… but you’re out of place.”
“I get it. We all do. Hell, we probably are the only ones that get it, Xavier, whatever “it” happened to you. Do whatever you want with your powers, they’re yours after all. But you are in my ship, and as your Captain, I will warn you this,” Erik added as he walked towards the stairs that lead down to the deck. “Holding back is a privilege that will get you killed.”
Charles felt that as a death sentence, but couldn’t be mad. Erik was right, once again. He was in uncharted territory, inside a wanted pirate ship, who knew how many miles away from his home, his family and his only way back was to mend what he had done. He could not afford to hold back, but ever since a certain incident that had happened a few years ago, he couldn’t use his powers as freely as he used to. In a way, he had blocked himself from reaching his full potential, and he had the feeling he would have to face that episode to undo what he did to Azazel. He wasn’t looking forward to that.
Erik stared at him with an unreadable face before leaving him alone, and Charles sighed as he looked up to the stars, wondering whad had he done to deserve such a complicated life.