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All was well. The group ate breakfast and laughed. Sean choked on his food twice, Alex cried from giggling too much. There could be no better paradise than in the kitchen of Karina.
But, everything must come to an end. With stingy eyes, and trying to ignore the pull at her heart, Irina must say goodbye and leave. So she did. No tears were wept, just bright smiles. It irked Erik, he'd never seen Irina give anyone a toothy smile. It seemed like the beautiful grin costs more than any bar of gold.
That's why, as the two stood outside Charles' marvelous mansion, the smile no longer bore her face.
"So, this is yours?" asked Sean. No one blinked an eye at him, their heads still craned to look at the house.
"No, it's ours," Charles replied.
"Honestly, Charles, I don't know how you've survived, living in such hardships," joked Erik. Irina muffled a giggle but kept her face resting.
"Well," Raven pushed through the crowd and shoved herself between Erik and Charles. "It was a hardship softened by me."
Charles' eyebrows lifted, "And..."
"Father!" a tiny voice screeched. Everyone whipped their head toward a young girl who ran out the door that led into the mansion.
Her ebony hair flowed in the wind. Her smile touched everyone. She was radiant, filled with joy. The little girl, who could be no older than five, jumped into Charles' arms. She was short and baby fat clung onto her cheeks. Her skin a fine sepia, reddish-brown. She held onto Charles as if he would disappear under her grasp.
Everyone's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Except for Raven. "Where's my hug?"
"Auntie Raven!" The girl leaped out of Charles's arms and into her aunt's. Raven ran her hand down her floral, sleeveless, dress. "How come you didn't write to me you wanker?" Her voice a soft, nice, natural British tone like Charles's.
"Gaia, do not call your aunt a wanker."
"Alright," muttered Gaia.
Her face went red when her somber eyes took notice of the rest. She climbed off of Raven in an instant, her body language screaming embarrassed.
"My apologies," she said, rapidly glancing between the adults and her father. She first went to Erik, and extended her hand, "I'm Gaia Xavier, a pleasure to meet you."
Erik grinned in amusement, "I'm Erik Lehnsherr." She continued to move around and introduce herself. Moira and Hank seemed to be the only ones shocked at the tiny girl who held her hand out. Sean and Alex on the other hand wore a giant smile on their face and said hello to her like Irina thought older brothers do.
Finally, Gaia gave her hand to Irina. "Hello, I'm Gaia, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a proud smile.
Irina gripped her hand and smiled back, her eyes lit with interest, "Irina Smirnov, nice to meet you."
Gaia's smile broadened as she started to say, "You're Russian! I'm currently learning Russian right now, and can't seem to get the accents down. Would you mind helping me?"
Before she could reply, Raven pulled on her shoulder, "We don't want to bore the guest." She gave Gaia a warning look, yet the love was still there. "Who wants a tour?"
Everyone said yes and followed Gaia, Charles, and Raven inside. While Charles and Erik wandered off, and Raven went down a hallway to the left, Irina caught Gaia glumly going to the right. She trailed behind Gaia, but not before sending a duplicate with the rest.
"Would you still like my help with your accents?" she asked.
Gaia turned around faster than the wind, her eyes illuminated like fire. "I'd appreciate it." So, Irina stood in her spot for a few seconds until Gaia came back with a sandwich, overfilled with pink and brown. "Come on." She scurried away, making Irina trail behind her. She watched as the younger girl opened the dark, wood door to a library.
Rows stacked with multi-color books on wooden bookshelves, a long wooden table stretched in between them. The room was humongous, it joyed the learner side of Irina. On the table, in the middle were stacks upon stacks of Russian books, Irina saw some that Karina had read to her as bedtime stories, and she saw simple learning books.
"Welcome to my humble abode," said Gaia with her arms wide open. She skipped to the area crowded of Russian literature. As she pulled out two chairs she asked, "May I ask why you all are here?"
"Did your father not tell you?"
"My father barely remembers me." Irina heard her mumble while she shook her head.
Irina cleared her throat, "Well, we're mutants in need of training. I'm guessing you're a mutant too?"
Gaia hummed with a smile. "Of course, I wouldn't be my father's daughter if I wasn't. May I ask what your mutation is?"
Again, the word mutation sent a weird sensation down her back, Irina did not like the word. "I can duplicate, and move place to place."
"Well, like teleportation? I think. I read it only in fiction, let me go-"
Irina smirked and teleported to one of the aisles with the word fiction engraved onto its bookshelf. "Would it happen to be in this aisle?"
Gaia's mouth was opened wide, her eyes almost bulging out of her skull.
"Wow," gasped Gaia. "I've known my aunt and my father to be mutated, also really they're the only people I know but that's brilliant. Far greater than anything I've ever seen. What, what can the others do?"
And so, Irina rambled on with what the rest could do. Gaia taught Irina the word teleport, turns out it was a very popular superpower in hero fiction books. She was the most patient child Irina had ever met, she held onto every word, almost as if she kept them hidden in a safebox inside her mind.
That was until a shout echoed through the house, "Gaia! Why is my will on your bedside?"
She scrambled out of her seat and hurried out the door. She gestured for Irina to follow, and so she did. They went up the main stairs and saw a crowd surrounding a room filled with aesthetic knick-knacks. Gaia left Irina behind and walked into her room.
Irina went to stand next to Erik, but couldn't due to Raven slapping her arm. "You sent another you?"
"Apologies, but from what I got, the tour was seemingly boring." Irina summarized the events her duplicate went through. She moved closer to Erik and in the process: gripped onto her duplicate's wrist. She was about to arrive next to him, but Charles shut the door and everyone dispersed.
"You were right. The tour was pretty boring," Erik told her, forcing her to walk beside him.
