“Are you sure we’ve got the right place,” Logan glanced around the posh landscape, his discomfort palatable as he straightened his ragged jacket. “These rich types rarely support random visitors dropping in out of the sky.”
Dan rolled his eyes as they strolled up to the front door. The house of Xavier was imposing, but even now there were few safer places for mutants and metas. A little investigation since his arrival in this universe showed Charles was twelve years old and already orphaned.
“This one is different, a mutant like yourself,” hand raised, Dan knocked on the double doors. A wave of psychic energy rippled against the wards in his mind, inexperienced but powerful. “Charles Xavier has a good heart, even if he’s a bit heavy handed when it comes to poking about in people's minds.”
Logan snorted, but the door swung wide before he could respond. A young boy, side by side with a woman in a white dress. She smiled, while Charles flicked his gaze between Dan and the dishevelled soldier.
“Hello?” The woman tilted her head, smile somewhat forced as she took in Dan’s costumed figure. “This is private property, I’d appreciate it if you both…”
“Don’t worry Raven, Charles,” Dan smiled as the woman jerked back at her name, surprise on her face as a blue wave travelled over her skin. A small, sapphire girl took the woman’s place. She ducked behind the older boy, fear in her eyes. “I’m here to ask for your help, and offer you a path to a better future…”
“You want to open a school…” Xavier tilted his head, eyes unfocused as he scanned Logan’s mind. The main reason Dan brought the gruff fellow along was so Charles could access his memories. “You're the one that put an end to the war… so many people fell to your hands, I heard their deaths from here.”
“I offered them a choice, something they never gave to their victims,” Dan shook his head, an apologetic half-smile on his face. Head turned to the side, a true smile appeared as he waved to the lawn behind him. “In fact, you can meet one of those impacted by Germany’s hands, another mutant like yourself.”
A flare of light cast gold flecks over the grass, herald to an ovoid portal. Stormy pranced through the magical gateway, runes in his eyes as he leapt onto Dan’s shoulders. An excited Eric Lenchner staggered after the cat, hands filled with every possession he owned.
“Is this Krypton’s school for gifted youngsters?” Eric set his overstuffed pack onto the ground, face red as he panted from exertion. His eyes flicked from one person to another, until they fell onto Dan. “Superman! Thank you so much for saving my mother… and inviting me to your school!”
Charles lost focus, no doubt deep within Eric’s memories of Dan and the others. Dan smiled at the young Magneto and laughed.
“Saving people is the right thing to do,” Dan waved Eric forward and introduced him to the group. “This is Logan, your… history teacher, and these two are potential students and future teachers of Krypton Academy.”
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“I’m not sure about all that,” Charles frowned a bit at the introduction and turned empathetic eyes to Eric. “But he’s right that we have something in common… I understand what it’s like to lose family.”
Eric’s face flickered, a mixture of pain and grief. His mother had been saved, but his father was gone. Nothing could bring him back, except perhaps the powers that stood level with the infinity stones.
“I owe everything to Superman and Stormy,” Eric pushed down his sadness and turned a shaky smile towards Charles. “They saved the family I had left and now they’re willing to help me understand my powers.”
Xavier shot Dan a mildly suspicious look, but waved Eric and the rest towards the inside of his massive home. Dan ushered Logan and Eric forward and followed behind, into the iconic structure.
“I’m not sure about the name ‘Krypton Academy,’ but I think a school for people like us is a wonderful idea,” Charles led the group through the expansive halls and into a large kitchen. “Help yourself to anything you’d like, Raven can show you where everything is… I’d like to have a private talk with Superman.”
Dan nodded to the serious twelve year old and left Stormy to manage the others. Xavier marched through the house and up a flight of stairs, before they entered an expansive study. Thick books covered the shelves on the walls, while photos of a much younger Charles and his parents graced the large oak desk at the room’s centre.
The boy took a seat behind the desk and Dan followed his lead. The cushioned chair that sat opposite Xavier creaked under his weight, built for a different time and smaller people. If he had to guess, this was Charles’ father’s private office, left unchanged after his death.
“Who are you, and why can’t I read your mind?” Xavier placed a finger at his temple, lips turned in a frown as psychic power battered at Dan’s mental shields. “I’ve never met someone that I couldn’t read at all, not since my powers awakened when I was six… your mind is enveloped by a fortress, interlayered labyrinths that carry on forever.”
“It’s a magical technique, one that Superboy or I would be more than willing to show you,” Dan smiled as he ignored the psionic pressure. Every time he entered the phantom zone, he spent countless hours focused on the fortification of his mind. “I’ve lost count of how many layers of warding I’ve got in place, but as a telepath you should understand their importance.”
Charles shook his head and the mental force vanished. A sigh escaped his lips, body slumped into his father’s chair. For the first time since their encounter, Xavier had the appearance of a normal child. Lost and tired, looking for the comfort of parents that were beyond his reach.
“I can hardly believe the memories of the others, the feats of strength and speed you showed against the Germans and the atomic bomb,” Charles rubbed his temples, eyes shut against some personal pain. “I can feel a change, your actions have quieted the despair, the fear… but it’s only a drop in the ocean, so many people are suffering.”
“I can hear them too, no sound, breath, or word on Earth is beyond my ears,” Dan waved his hand and a small chain of golden runes wrapped a circle around them. It blocked out the mental voices of the world, quieted the sounds of the lost. “You can help them, WE can help them. Their pain can be our motivation, a reason to better the lives of all that we can.”
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Xavier’s face relaxed as the countless human minds fell silent for the first time in years. After the birth of his powers, his greatest burden was the empathic connection he had with everyone around him. He’d shared his mother’s pain, known his stepfather’s greed and rage.
Now, all was silent. A peaceful return to the time before he was cursed with the private knowledge of others. Superman sat in the chair across his father’s desk and smiled at his relief.
“Our abilities can be a burden,” The blond haired, blue eyed man smiled. “My own mind processes information much faster than most people, and my senses are strong enough to encompass entire worlds… yet these burdens also let me challenge the injustice I see around me, a responsibility that comes with power.”
“How do you bear it… hearing all the suffering and pain?” Charles shook his head, moisture trapped behind his eyelids. His childhood ended the day his powers awoke, tears reserved only for his mothers death. “It only gets worse every day, more and more voices added to the ocean.”
“I don’t bear it,” Superman’s smile widened as he leaned forward, palms placed flat on his father’s desk. “I change it!”