^Devil May Care^ Scott Summers

^yeah yeah, i noticed.^

no time to die: billie eilish

fool me once, fool me twice
are you death or paradise?
———

It was the dead of night. Everyone should be asleep. That's what Max was hoping. But no. Children were chattering outside her door and had effectively woken her up.

She sat up in her bed as she heard the Professor's voice got closer to her room. "Back to bed, my darling. Back to bed, please." There was a knock at her door and she begrudgingly got up and grabbed a long sweater on the way. She put on the sweater over her black tank top and boxers she was using as shorts.

Sitting in his chair was Charles Xavier with Hank a little bit ways behind him. "Max, we need you to help us. It's Je-"

"Yeah yeah, I noticed." Max said grumpily as she pointed to her walls. Because her room was right next to Jeans's, the paint on the wall they shared was starting to bubble. She followed the two men to her friends room.

"She's doing it again." One of the younger kids said.

"Back to bed everyone, please. Jesse, back to bed." Charles said to the kids who were sticking their heads out of their doors. "Come on. Spit-spot, back to bed." The two of them stood in front of Jeans door as Hank opened it for them.

The redheads heavy panting could be heard as they walked in. "Never seen it like this." Hank said as he watched the younger mutant

"Nor I. Don't let any of the children come this way." Charles and Max slowly walked into the bedroom and looked around the room. The paint was burning and bubbling off the walls. Jean tossed and turned in her bed, her eyebrows scrunched up in fear. The Professor wheeled around to that other said of the bed and looked back up, nodding to Max.

She hovered one of her hands to the smoldering wall while the other was in o her side. Red energy covered her hands and spread around the walls of the room and over Jeans blanket, stopping the heat and shaking of the house.

Jean whimpered as Charles whispered her name, trying to wake her from her nightmare. He grunted as he went into her mind, feeling the pain and angry that wasn't hers. Max felt the sleeping girls power intensify, making her turn up her own, the room glowing more red then before.

"Jean!" Charles yelled as he held his head at the pain. The redhead shot up out of bed and looked around frantically. She panted as she tried to regain her breath. Max stopped and her hair faded back to her natural black color.

"I-I saw the end of the world. I could feel all this death." Jean stammered put as she looked at the Professor.

He only sighed and said, "It was just a dream."

"No, it felt real. Max, you believe me, right?" The redhead turned to her friend who had just sat down with her on the bed and was trying to calm her down. Max looked at the Professor for a moment before looking down again and saying, "Yes, I do. I could feel it."

Charles looked at the two girls. They had such a powerful bond. A sisterly bond that made them stronger. "I know." He started, "Your mind is one of the most powerful I've ever seen. It convince itself and others-"

"No, no...it's-its not just the mind-reading or the telekinesis. It's something else. Some...dark power inside and its growing. Like a fire. I thought I was getting better."

Max shushed her softly, not wanting to hear her put herself down. "You are. You will. You just have to be patient."

"No, no. You don't know what it's like to be afraid to shut your eyes. To be trapped inside your own head."

"Oh, I think I do. It's wasn't so long ago that I was plagued by voices, myself. All their suffering. Their secrets." Charles said as Jean let out a shaky breath before saying, "I'm afraid one day I'm going to hurt someone."

Charles sighed and thought for a moment. "Lie back." Both of them did as he said, even though he was really only talking to Jean, and waited. The Professor starting to push himself out of his chair, as unable to use his legs making this harder to do, but Max used her levitation to help him.

He smiled at her and nodded his thanks. "Everyone fears that which they do not understand. You will learn to control," He placed a hand at the start of Jeans hair line and brushed her hair back, "and when you do, you'll have nothing to fear."

As Jean was drifting off to sleep, she moved closer to Max and clinging onto her like a child. The older girl looked at the Professor as she was sure she wouldn't be able to get up without waking the sleeping girl. Max nodded to him with a soft smile and thought in her mind, 'I got her. Don't worry.'

He chuckled quietly to himself and said telepathically, 'It's my job to worry about you. Goodnight, Maxine.' Despite not wanting to be called that, she said goodnight back in her own mind and watched as the Professor wheeled away.

Even though Max wasn't the first kid at the school for the Gifted, she had always had a way of attracting people. No matter how much she tired to push them away, the right ones always stayed. She had always been mature for her age. Taking care of the younger kids, mostly Jubilee and Jean as the others were scared of her. She understood things about the world, as she had lived on the streets once and knew more than most kids her age should.

'Goodnight Jean.' She thought to herself as she pushed calming thoughts from her own mind to her redheaded friend as she pulled her closer.

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