Sparrows and Iron

Chapter 10

-Xavier Mansion, 1978-

The next morning, the two revenant X-Men found themselves in the familiar kitchen, along with their friends. They talked about old times and caught up with each other, discussing what had happened over their years apart.

As they laughed at one of Sean's outrageous stories, little Jenny entered the room. She was lacking her usual bounciness, however, which did not go unnoticed by her father.

"Is everything alright Jenny?" he questioned.

The attention turned to the tired girl, who sighed and slowly blinked the sleep from her eyes.

"It's nothing, Papa..." she yawned.

Charles gave her a stern look.

"You know you can't lie to me, Little Sparrow," he said, tapping his temple. "No tell me what's troubling you."

"Well," Jenny started reluctantly, "After I went back to sleep last night, I had the dream again. But then, everything started to hurt. I could feel the people's pain like it was my own... I saw nothing and everything at the same time. It was like a hundred visions bombarded me all at once..."

Charles's face dropped into a frown. He moved over to her, looking her in the eyes.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked in concern.

Jenny nodded.

Charles thought for a moment.

"Hank, come with me. Just get something to eat, Jenny. Sean and Alex will look after you for a bit.' he said, with a pointed glance at the pair.

After the scientist and the professor were gone, the girl made her way over to Alex, who looked unsure of what to do.

"Don't worry Uncle Alex, I'm not very high-maintenance at all."

Havok was slightly caught off guard by her "Uncle Alex" comment, but he brushed it off.

"You're pretty smart for your age, you know that?"

Jenny nodded, smiling. Then, she suddenly frowned, moving towards the kitchen doorway.

"Someone is here to see Papa."

Sean and Alex exchanged a glance.

"Let's go see who it is then, kid."

---

The front doors opened to reveal... Erik, with Raven in her disguised form at his side. The metal manipulator looked confused as he saw who had opened the door.

"Havok? Banshee? I--"

"Thought we were dead?" Alex interjected. "Yeah, we've been getting that a lot lately."

Sean glanced down at Jenny, who was frowning in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he questioned.

"That's not her..." the girl whispered.

Sean glanced over to the two mutants at the door.

"Who, Raven?"

Jenny nodded in confirmation.

"That can't be the lady in my dream. She's not all..." Jenny trailed off as if she couldn't think of the word. She held up her hand to demonstrate. "She's not all pretty."