fade away.

seventeen.

. chapter seventeen

1941 .

August knew exactly where they were the moment everything around them became clear. The long dirt road only led to one house, and that was the house she used to live in.

Ben took a deep breath, wincing as he stood up straight. He looked at August, who was staring down the road with tears still fresh on her cheeks. Ben knew exactly what she was feeling. He's witnessed leaving his lover, and he was devastated to say the least, but August had a chance to see Professor Xavier again. And now, after so many years of waiting, Benjamin had a chance to save his wife.

"Alright, listen," he grumbled, "this is how it's going to work. I brought us back four days before Elizabeth's disappearance. What you have to do is go up to that house and act like the damsel in distress. Once you gain Elizabeth's trust, you flash her back to your present time. I'll be waiting there for you."

August stared at the gravel beneath her shoes. "Isn't all this dangerous? Won't it effect me?"

"It won't effect you," Ben said. "You'll take Elizabeth at the exact same time she faded away, so the events will be somewhat the same."

"How am I supposed to get around you?" August asked, finally looking up from the dirt. "The you that's in the house, I mean."

Benjamin smirked, "you don't have to worry about that, I already took care of it. Just go."

August watched as Ben disappeared, leaving her in the middle of the dirt road. August groaned.

Thinking quickly, August took off down the road toward the house. If she remembers correctly, there was a small stream on the side of the road. There, she could prepare herself for the confrontation.

Coming up on the side of the stream, August lowered her duffel bag in the grass. She ruffled her hair until there were knots tangled within the locks. She bent down to scoop up some mud onto her fingers, smudging it on different places on her body. She splashed some water on her and threw some dirt in her hair. August did her best to make herself look disgruntled and beaten up by the wilderness. Maybe this disguise would convince them to allow her stay.

She walked along the bank of the stream for a while, gathering her thoughts. She thought about Charles, Erik, and the war. She was aware now that she would be absent in the time the fighting would begin. Perhaps that was the real reason why Charles let Ben take her, but August knew that wasn't the whole truth.

As the two story, classic white house came into August's view, she realized just how much she missed her mother. Of course, the mourning never came to a complete stop, but she never really felt the kind of heartache that she's experiencing now. Her mother is in that building, and at that thought, August picked up the pace of her walk.

As she trudged up the brick drive, something occurred to her. An injury, yes, that would most definitely seal the deal. Her mother couldn't allow someone to walk off with an open wound. Perhaps this was August's mind getting ahead of herself, but her feet tripped her before she could forget about it.

She winced as her hands came into contact with the hot brick, feeling the stinging feeling throughout her body. She groaned, pushing herself up into a sitting position and analyzing her scraped kneecaps and bloody elbow. That will certainly do the trick.

She stumbled onto the large wooden deck that stretched around the house. August remembered as a child when she would run around in circles, laughing and enjoying her youth. Shaking her head of the distant memory, she knocked on the bright red door, and her heartbeat increased just the slightest.