CHAPTER NINE —
( Training. )

────────────────

        Once everyone arrived at the Xavier mansion, the whole group (minus the three people who resided there) stared up at it in awe.

"Well, mi casa es tu casa," Lydia said, gesturing towards the building.

"So, this is yours?" Sean asked.

"No, it's ours," Charles corrected him.

"Honestly, Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship," Erik sarcastically said.

"Well, it was a hardship softened by Lydia and myself," Raven said as she walked up and stood besides Charles. Charles kissed the side of her head and then kissed the top of Lydia's head. "Come on. Time for the tour."

After touring around the mansion which ended out being forty minutes, Charles spent some time alone with Erik, Alex, Sean and Hank to teach them how to control their abilities. Hank joined up with Lydia as he began to make some gliders for Sean so that he would be able to fly using his scream.

Charles and Hank placed bands around Sean's wrists. "And you're sure that this will work?" He wearily asked.

"Anything is possible," Hank started. "I based this design..."

"Hank, stop talking," Charles immediately said. "Come on." Charles led them towards one of the windows on the third floor and opened it up. Sean sat on the ledge with Charles, Hank and Lydia beside him. Alex, Erik and Raven decided to watch from the window beside them.

"Just remember to scream, like how you did it back at the CIA base," Lydia told him.

"You need the sound waves to be supersonic," Hank continued. "Catch them at the right angle and they should carry you."

"They should carry me," Sean mimicked. "That's reassuring."

"Don't worry, you can't possibly die," Lydia patted Sean's back. "But you can break some bones from this height, and—" Charles placed his hand over her mouth.

"Good luck!" Charles patted Sean's back and they all stood back inside. "And don't forget to scream."

Sean did the cross symbol against his body before leaping out. He didn't use his supersonic scream and just screamed normally, causing him to land into the bush bellow.

"Wasn't that motivational," Lydia chuckled lightly.

This time, they decided to test his ability whilst standing on top of the satellite, meaning he had to use his supersonic scream or else he would land on the ground like a bug on a windscreen.

"And you truly believe I'll fly this time?" Sean asked.

"Unreservedly," Charles told him.

Lydia shrugged. "Maybe."

"Probably not," Erik said.

"That's reassuring," Sean sighed. "But I trust him," he pointed at Charles.

"I'm touched," Charles said.

"I don't trust him," Sean pointed at Hank.

"Say nothing," Charles said.

"I'm gonna die!" Sean exclaimed.

Lydia stood behind him. "Not today!" She then suddenly pushed him off of the satellite.

"Lydia!" Charles exclaimed as they all watched as Sean fell.

Sean originally screamed like a normal person, before he calmed himself and then spread his arms out wide and used his supersonic scream to fly high up into the air and then dived back down. His laugh could be heard from a mile away as he happily flew around the yard in glee. Charles turned around and gave Lydia a look.

"What?" She shrugged. "I knew he could do it."

"You were totally thinking the same," Erik said to Charles, then turned to Lydia. "Now your turn."

"Wait, what?" Lydia asked before Erik shoved her off the satellite as well. Knowing she didn't have the supersonic scream or any flying abilities in general, Lydia screamed as the ground began to get closer and closer to her.

"Lydia!" Charles exclaimed but was soon drowned out by Lydia's scream. "Lydia, if you don't concentrate you are going to die," Charles voice suddenly sounded in her head. "Concentrate on your energy in your hands and use it to soften your landing."

Lydia quickly closed her eyes and concentrated on her energy flowing through to her hands and not the ground nearing her. Just as her body neared the ground, she held her hands out in front of her and watched as her magic flew out of her hands and slowed down her fall. Lydia landed onto the ground on her hands and knees with tears in her eyes, just being thankful that it worked.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god," Lydia quickly mumbled to herself, feeling the grass beneath her fingers. "Jesus Christ, I'm alive." She then looked up and at the three people who were looking down at her from the top of the satellite. "You were apart of this!" Lydia yelled in her head and she watched as Charles flinched.

"I didn't know he was going to do that. He never thought of that idea until he was doing it," Charles said back.

"I'm going to kill him!"

"Come up and get him then!"

Lydia looked down at her hands in front of her and then back up to the top of the satellite. The green magic began to spread throughout her hands and then she slammed them into the ground, quickly shooting up into the sky and towards the men. She nervously bit her lip and concentrated solely on making surely her hands stayed by her side until she landed onto the platform. Lydia noticed Erik, Charles and Hank's astonished faces as she gracefully landed in front of them.

"That was brilliant!" Charles exclaimed. "Absolutely brilliant."

"That was pretty impressive," Hank smiled.

Lydia turned towards Erik and smacked his arm. "What the hell! I could have died!" She yelled at him.

Erik smirked. "But you didn't, and you're thankful that I did that to you because now you can fly."

Lydia paused, knowing that he was right. She did always want to fly. "But-but what if it didn't work?"

"Charles was sure it was going to work, so I believed him. You're welcome," Erik smiled cockily and then began to descend down the ladder and off of the satellite.

Lydia glared at his retreating figure. "I'm going to kill him one day."

"You might, but I don't think you will," Charles patted her shoulder. "You have too big of a heart."

↠↠↠

Charles and Erik met up with Lydia on a patch of lawn with several different sized objects in front of them.

"Hank and I did the research and we believe that there is so much more to your energy manipulating abilities," Charles told Lydia. "You can't only just fly or create magic, you can pick things up with it too and move items around. This ability is called telekinesis."

Lydia grinned. "I already know this. I helped clean up the base with this ability."

"Sure, but we're thinking that you could possibly pick up anything in the world, no matter the weight."

Lydia rose an eyebrow. "Anything in the world?"

Erik shrugged. "Maybe."

Charles gave him a look and then nodded. "Yes, you should, but we are going to start off with the basics." He stood to the side besides Erik, revealing a can of soda, a lawn mower and a car.

"So, if Erik annoys me again, I can just pick him up and fling him away?" Lydia asked Charles.

"In theory, yes, but you aren't going to do that," Charles said.

Lydia glared at Erik. "You never know."

"Well, um, before you, we have three objects. A soda can, a lawn mower, and a car," Charles looked back at her. "Focus all of you attention onto the object you want to pick up. Start off with the can. Guide it into Erik's hand."

Lydia held her hands out in front of her and watched as green magic wrapped itself around the can. She focussed all of her attention on making it go up and the can soon flew up into the sky and towards Erik, landing softly into his outstretched hand.

"Thank you." Erik opened up the can and took a sip.

"Now, the lawn mower."

Lydia changed her stance and then held her hands out. Her magic wrapped itself around the lawn mower, however, when she tried pulling it up off of the ground, Lydia found it much more difficult than the can. She took a deep breath, rid her mind of any thoughts other than to get the lawn mover to go up, and soon enough, the lawn mower rose into the air. Lydia directed it to the side and then dropped it onto the grass

"Wonderful!" Charles grinned. "Now onto the car."

Lydia gulped as she held her hands out in front of her, knowing she was going to struggle if she struggled with the lawn mower. Her magic wrapped itself around the car, but when she tried pulling it up, it was way too heavy and didn't even move an inch. Lydia let out a groan as she used all of her strength to try and get it to go up, to no avail. She then released her hands in defeat and the magic went away.

Charles sighed softly. "Lyds, stop concentrating on making the car move. Instead, use your emotions. Let that guide you instead. It'll make it easier to conquer than focusing solely on the object alone."

"But I'm scared to use my emotions," Lydia replied back. "Normally when I do, bad things happen. Like when I have my episodes where the whole room shakes and things fly around."

"That's the key: we need you to start relying on your good emotions instead of your bad ones, like when your sad or angry," he said. Charles walked up to Lydia and stood in front of her. "This worked on Erik to get him to move the satellite, so I can only assume it'll work with you also, considering your mutations are slightly similar to a certain extent." He placed his fingers onto her temple. "I'm going to reach into your mind and find your most happiest memory."

"That's very original, Charles," Erik sarcastically said.

Charles ignored him. "It'll include me going into your mind that you made me promise not to do again. So, do you mind?"

Lydia snorted. "Cute pun." Charles grinned and she nodded. "Yeah, it's okay. Go ahead."

Charles closed his eyes and began to try and navigate his way to the corner of Lydia's very complicated mind to find her most valuable and happiest memory.

A week had passed since Brian Charles Xavier and Maria Jayde Xavier died while on a couples retreat to Paris, leaving Charles and Raven at home to look after their three-year-old sister. Charles was in mourning, but despite the pain he felt from his father and step-mother dying, he had to push all of that aside and look after Lydia, who didn't fully understand the whole concept of dying and still had the brain of an innocent child.

Charles sat on the edge of Lydia's bed, tucking her in after having already finished reading her a bedtime story. He smiled softly at her and patted her hand. "I love you, Lydia. Good night." He went to stand up to leave, but Lydia lightly held onto his hand.

"Charlie, will you ever leave me like mummy and daddy did?" She asked him.

Charles frowned down at her, not really knowing how to respond because he didn't know what his future had in store for him. However, he pulled on a smile, one that eased his younger sister immensely. "Of course, I will never leave you," he told her. "Who else will be around to play dress ups with you while Raven has her friends around?"

Lydia giggled. "You're right. And Raven's friends are mean."

Charles hummed. "That is true, but that's only because their twelve and think you're too cool to hang out with them."

"But I'm not!" Lydia quickly said. "I'm not too cool for them, and I promise I'll be a good girl forever!"

Charles chuckled softly. "I believe you will," he said, and he honestly believed it. "Now it's sleepy time. Don't want you being tired tomorrow during Princess Tulips tea party!"

Lydia's eyes widened. "She will be sad! I don't want to make her sad!"

"Then go to sleep!" Charles grinned before kissing Lydia's forehead. "I love you, Lydia."

Lydia smiled back at him. "I love you, too, Charlie."

Charles removed his fingers from Lydia's forehead with a smile and opened his eyes, only to see her smiling back at him in return. "I love looking after you, Lydia," he told her. "I always have and I always will, even when you made me dress up in princess dresses."

Lydia chuckled softly. "You were the best looking princess I had ever seen."

Charles grinned back at her before stepping back to stand beside Erik. "Now, just concentrate on that memory and think about how happy you felt and channel that energy into lifting the car up." Lydia closed her eyes for a brief moment, took a deep breath and then opened her eyes back up. She let her magic fly over towards the car, enclosing itself around the vehicle in one swift motion. Lydia struggled lightly in lifting the car up, so she bent down slightly and raised her hands up. The car, although shakily, began to rise up off of the ground and Lydia controlled it to fly around the yard.

"Marvellous! Well done!" Charles laughed as he watched it fly around. Lydia then directed it to land back softly onto the ground, and huffed with a grin after doing so.

"Impressive," Erik hummed.

Charles walked up to Lydia and pulled her into a massive hug. "That was amazing! I'm so proud of you!" He then pulled away and gave her a grin. "And I didn't know that all of your happiest memories were with me."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Who else would it have been with? It's not like I do anything special or have anyone special in my life besides you and Raven."

"Hey!" Moira's voice suddenly called out from the back doors of the mansion, causing everyone to turn around. "The President is about to make his address."

The three of them then headed inside and stood behind the group of mutants who had already been watching the television. "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line that surrounds Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union..." JFK spoke.

"That's where we're going to find Shaw," Erik said.

"How do you know?" Alex asked.

"Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War 3. He won't leave anything to chance," Charles shook his head.

"So much for diplomacy," Erik sarcastically said.

"You're just full of sarcasm, Erik," Lydia smirked at him.

"I suggest you all get a good nights sleep," Erik spoke and then walked out of the room.

AUTHORS NOTE