An Unexpected Visit
Whumpy fic set in an alternative universe where science is banned, the government become suspicious of Charles Xavier.
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965204
Or keep reading here:
Charles stepped outside. The breeze had a cool nip which would usually warrant a jacket but he proceeded without one as he was heading to the greenhouse. As he approached he could see a splattering of colour amongst the green of the plants inside. This quickened his pace. His orchids had bloomed!
As he opened the door that familiar smell of soil, leaves and collected carbon dioxide hit him. Gazing around he saw what most people would see as a higgledy-piggeldy hotchpotch mismatch of shape and colour. Flowers of indeterminate variations amassed into a small space with no apparent thought to organisation and order. Charles wasn't most people. As his eyes flitted about the glass room his brain was carefully picking out unique traits. A vast network in his mind knew exactly where the plants were who were the parents of other plants, manually selected for colour, size and shape. The emergence of these features exaggerated because of this selection, making the variation seem all the more diverse and random to the untrained eye.
These plants weren't organised into rows of heredity, as might seem more intuitive for someone wanting to track these things. This wasn't because Charles thrived in the apparent randomness of it all, although he did, but because organisation was banned. If any hint of order or scientific method were detectable in your actions they'd be onto you, but Charles was too clever to let that happen.
He skipped over to the nearest plant. He raised his half moon glasses, which hung from a long string around his neck, to his eyes and inspected the petals. This particular plant had originated from from an orchid with thin stripes but these petals now showed thinker stripes which resembled red and yellow inks blotting into one another. This effect pleased Charles and he whispered under her breath, 'beautiful.'
If Charles hadn't been so captivated by this flower, he would have heard the raised voices in the drive. He wasn't alerted to the presence of the guards until the door of the greenhouse opened. He swung around, panicked. Upon seeing the two men wearing government uniform he feigned relaxation though really none of the tension had left his body at all. 'Oh!' he cried, raising a hand to his chest, 'you gave me such a fright!'
The guards narrowed their eyes and didn't smile. They clearly didn't believe that Charles should be calm and neither did he. They both had their arms stretched diagonally across their bodies, their hands on their batons. A threatening pose which Charles had no way of responding to other than just to stare.
'We are looking for a Charles Xavier.' One of the guard barked.
'Yes, that's me, what's this ab-'
He didn't finish his sentence before the guard on his left had swung his baton from his belt, and the one on her right had taken action to grab his arm and pull it behind him. He cried out before he could stop himself and this seemed to give the guard with the baton license to use it. He swung it at him. Charles' reflexes caused him to lunge backwards to avoid contact. This action caused his glasses, still perched on his nose, to drop from his face. The guard swung back again and this time made contact, catching the glasses, Charles heard the tiny lenses smashing before the intense pain swept through him. His arms were both firmly gripped behind his back now. Despite the fact that he was fully restrained, the guard came in to hit him again. The next blow made contact with his head and the world swam slightly. He stumbled on his feet but was kept upright by the guard behind him.
The pain in his head had caused tears to raise in his eyes 'What are you doing?' he pleaded. The guard with the baton responded with another heavy blow to his side and the sharp pain which ensued convinced Charles that it must have broken a rib. This made his already laboured breathing nearly impossible and every breath was caught short in agony. This shortage of breathing was causing a shortage of oxygen resulting in his head swimming even more than it had been. Before long, the colours of the flowers around him were all blending into one another. The blend of colour was overtaken by the predominant green before descending to black.
