𝘈𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘢 | 𝙀𝙧𝙞𝙠 𝙇𝙚𝙝𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙧

Chapter 8

"You know, our powers are fueled from our intense emotions"

Reaching the ground of the now destroyed clearing Ella Xavier exhaled in relief, she finally got over her fear of her powers. There's nothing holding her back now, she was her own person. But still, she had many things to learn.

The mutant girl looked at the large hole on the ground, she didn't want to leave it like that. Closing her eyes, she slowly started to feel her surroundings again. Concentrating solely on the particular destroyed spot, she started to reproduce the earth itself by turning the atoms of the air into atoms of solid ground. What she didn't notice, was a figure coming towards her as she was too preoccupied.

Once finished, the red head reopened her eyes. Seeing that she had made it she smiled, proud of her work. She was going to return back to the manor when someone spoke up scaring the hell out of her.

"You know, that was cool" Ella turned around with a surprised look on her face.

"Erik! Hey, what are you doing here?" she said a little out of breath. Her heart started beating rapidly in her chest, why was she acting like that? This had never happened to her before, especially infront of a guy! Could this mean... No, she only saw him as a friend, nothing more.

Nothing more...

Somehow, this didn't feel right.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something... about what Charles said earlier" the metal bender said awkwardly. He didn't know why he was there. He could have waited for her to return but his feet had dragged him towards the large ice slide without him noticing. It just felt right to be there, with her.

"Oh" the Xavier girl couldn't form any other words. She knew exactly what he was referring to. It was something she didn't really want to talk about, something that made sure she knew just how much she could harm others without her wanting it, something that she feared talking about to anyone except her brother, even Raven didn't know it as she wasn't there that day. But somehow, Erik made her feel like she could tell him everything. She didn't exactly know what that weird feeling meant but one thing was sure, she was probably going to regret it later... "It's going to be a long walk back to home"

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"I don't really remember what had happened that day, I wasn't in complete control or consciousness" Ella told him as they were walking on the vast land that surrounded the manor "I was having a nightmare and probably didn't react well" the red head looked down at her hands, a serious expression on her face as she tried to recall what had occurred "You know, our powers are fueled from our intense emotions; anger, happiness, serenity, fear... mine don't really differ"

Erik looked down at her, a sympathetic look on his face. He too, had gone through some tough years of learning how to control his, lost many precious things from him, being enslaved by his anger for so long "So, you couldn't control them"

"That's one way to say it" the Xavier girl said and nudged him playfully making the metal bender give her a small smile.

Turning to look at the manor Ella sighed before continuing with her story "Charles said that he woke up after hearing me scream, he had rushed into my room and saw me floating in the air twisting and turning like I was trying to run from something but that wasn't what shocked him the most. He said that the walls were constantly reforming, taking various shapes and showing him different scenes of chase and destruction"

The mutant girl looked at Erik, a saddened look on her face "He got inside my head and woke me up but before he did, he saw a glimpse of the nightmare and said that it was the exact same thing as what the walls were forming into" she looked down at her hands again "Probably saw the end of the world and if he hadn't woken me up I could have destroyed the house with him in it"

As Erik went to say something Moira opened the window "Hey! The President is about to make his address!"

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All the crew had gathered around the small television in the living room, they were listening closely to what the President was saying. Knowing what his answer would be Ella sat casually on the armchair looking at everybody and thinking back at the conversation she had with Erik.

"That's where we're going to find Shaw" the said mutant spoke up as he pointed his gun at the small box while snapping the red head from her thoughts by doing so.

"How do you know?" Alex asked confused.

"Two superpowers facing off..."

"And he wants to start world war three, he won't leave anything to chance" Charles finished his twins' sentence while looking seriously at the television.

The metal bender scoffed "So much for diplomacy" he then looked at everyone "I suggest you all get a good night's sleep" and left.

Ella sighed and got up from the chair "I'm going too" she bid her goodnights before exiting the crowded room and heading towards the stairs.

On the way to her bedroom she passed Erik's opened door, she paused. She wanted to say something to him, thank him for listening to her even though he had asked her first. She somehow felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders just by opening up to him. Mastering all the courage she had, Ella knocked gently on the door.

Erik turned towards her, surprise evident on his face "Ella, come in"

She did as she was told and closed the door behind her "Hey"

"Is there a problem?" the metal bender asked concerned.

"No, no! I-I just wanted to thank you about before" the red head said shyly.

"Oh, about that... never mind it, I should be thanking you for trusting me" he wanted to say more than just that, wanted to do more than just look at her.

"Anyway, I should leave you to sleep then. Tomorrow will be a tough day" as she went to leave Erik grabbed her hand gently, stopping her from moving.

"Wait"

"Wha-what is it?" Ella asked, her heart hammering inside her chest as she looked down at her feet.

"I wanted to try something first" he said and lifted her chin with his free hand making her look at him in the eyes, Erik closed the gap between them and touched his lips with hers.

Ella closed slowly her eyes, strangely relaxing with this action, it was something she wanted to do for a long time now, she just hadn't acknowledged it. The red head had slowly grown feelings for the metal bender as the time pasted, she didn't know if it was about the compassion and understanding he showed to her or his charming personality. But, being her first kiss was something she would treasure for the rest of her life.

Or so she thought...