THE ROAD TO HELL.

He drifted alone, confined within the vast ethereal realm, trying his best to navigate the steadily shifting currents, that wound their way around his form, reaching out as he did, so close yet so far away.

He could see in the far distance, a flickering spec of light that seemed to beckon him forth.

He answered to it's call, and pushed himself to drift closer. As he did it grew. And as it grew he feared.

The feeling pressed heavy onto his chest, setting panic aflutter within his heart, he attempted to move back, to turn, but something held him firm in place and pulled... It's inexorable gravity drawing him closer to the blinding brilliance that had grown much to his terror, into a bright, burning sun.

He tried to fight of course, but his attempts were futile, an attempt to grasp onto something, anything, to hold him steady, to keep him in place finding no purchase. He was at the mercy of it's majesty, and it's maw called to him. Yearned to consume and devour.

It swarmed his senses, every nerve ending igniting in excruciating pain. His screams echoed like a chorus, magnified by the blistering of his skin which began to peel away in layers.

"PROFESSOR!"

He opened his eyes, a groan escaping his lips as he tried to steady his breath.

He was lying on the ground, wheelchair overturned beside him. The world was steadily coming into focus, Hank was by his side, hand clasped gently over his arm and eyes brimming with great concern. "Professor."

He spared the doctor a quick glance, taking yet another deep breath to try his best at drawing some form of balance and stability into him. A moment later he turned his sights forward, settling them on another gaze.

Bright white...burning, giving way mere moments later to a jade, jewel-like green. A bit distant, but human.

"Professor?" Hank and Isaiah spoke at once, the latter blinking slightly as he drew from his earlier stupor, eyes widening a bit as he took note of the bald man's state.

"Are you-" Xavier raised his hand, effectively cutting the teenager off. "I'm fine." He muttered in a bit to assuage both his and Hank's worries. "Not anything I couldn't handle."

Isaiah bit his lip, fiddling with his hands, silently he watched Hank right the overturned wheelchair before with a considerable show of strength, lifted the professor into his arms and set him back onto it.

"I'm sorry." The red head whispered. "I thought I turned it off, I was sure that-"

"You head." Xavier muttered clearing his throat and straightening his tie. "For a moment it had receded but it seems the...burn, is an innate part of your very being."

At that the teenager stared at him with confusion.

"A secondary mutation dear boy, one for one reason or the other that makes your mind entirely immune to the psychic presence of others."

Hank who at some point or the other had taken hold of a notepad was eagerly jotting everything the professor was saying down, his eyes settling on the redhead after a moment, as a flicker flared in his eyes. "Fascinating, a defense of some sort perhaps from prior psychic interference." He muttered causing both Isaiah and Xavier to turn to him.

"What do you mean?" The former questioned. "Like someone tried to read my mind before and my brain just decided to never allow any more mind reading to work on me."

"Someone or something tried to break your mind before perhaps take it over and your mind sought to defend itself. Keep it and any other psychic threats out...Forever." Hank theorized, earning a dubious look from the teenager.

"Who would try to-"

"Ms. Grey had been routinely trying to access your mind while you were in your coma." Xavier put forward earning the redhead's attention. "Perhaps your brain mistakenly deemed her actions a threat and decided to block off all psychic interference from that point forward."

Biting his lip and staring at his hand, Isaiah thought the men's words over before shrugging. "Maybe." He muttered. "So then what does that mean? You said Jean links herself and the others telepathically when they're on missions right, for better communication and planning, does that mean I'll-"

"Psionics is a broad study with many applications." Raising his hand to once more cut the boy off Xavier offered him a smile. "Communication be achieved in many forms, even mental communications don't always follow the same...course and structure." The man shut his eyes.

"Rather than enter your mind, I will try to project my thoughts to you. Take hold of them, read them and then project your own to me."

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"So...how was it?" Her hand expertly hooking with her brother's own as she appeared by his side Jean offered the boy a smile, her gaze brimming with curiosity as she set it upon him. Immediately his lips quirked upwards as he looked at her.

'Great.'

Jean's eyes widened. "Isaiah..." She whispered abruptly halting her steps, the sudden change almost knocking her brother off his feet as he hurried to do the same.

'Jean!'

"Oh my God!" the girl practically yelled in his ear, jumping up and down. "Do it again!"

Deadpan stare directed towards his sister, Isaiah allowed his lips to stretch into a thin line, slightly narrowing his eyes at his sister, who unbothered whirled round, unhooking their arms and settling her hands on his shoulders. "Isaiah you were in my head!"

'Does this mean we can-'

Her brother visibly paused for a moment before shrugging. "Sort of..." He muttered out loud, resuming his steps. Jean was quick to fall back in line with him, hooking their arms together once again as she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Apparently my brain decided it doesn't quite like telepaths." He muttered knocking at the side of his skull. "So no one can really enter my mind, however you can project your thoughts to me and I can catch and read them, sort of like a text conversation, it's much slower than if you were just speaking directly in my head, but it's better than nothing." The red haired male muttered with a shrug. "The Professor said he'd help me improve on my reading time so that eventually there won't be much of a difference between if you were directly in my mind to me just reading your projected thoughts."

Jean bit her lip before nodding and offering him a wide grin. "That's great, we can still do our twins from the Shining bit, now with actual telepathy." She paused for a moment here face scrunching up, before clearing as she shot him a wink. "Well, pseudo telepathy."

"The day you are purged of your awful dad jokes will be the day the world becomes a better place."

"Your slander has been noted."

"Your awful jokes are slander." Rolling her eyes the redhead ushered her brother along.

"We haven't even done that stupid creepy twin prank in years." Isaiah groused causing Jean to chuckle. "Dad used to hate it, especially when we'd tilt our heads at the same time." She laughed.

"It was kind of cool..." He muttered. "Do you think we were always able to read each other's mind or those were just coincidences."

Jean bit her lip before shrugging. "After everything I've seen, I've come to realize nothing is ever a coincidence, so maybe a small part of us was linked some way psychically and we new exactly what the other was thinking and about to before they did it."

"Now that connection is gone." Isaiah responded a frown forming on his lips.

"Never." His sister protested. "I know you way too much for that to ever change, just cause I can't read your mind doesn't mean I don't know what you're thinking, we shared a womb...I'd like to think I know you better than most."

"I've been in a coma for 8 years, and lived an entirely different life in that world."

"Yet you're still the same annoying dork you've always been."

He didn't dare to dignify her words with a response, simply sniffing in contempt and continuing on his path, from his side his sister chortled, the sight despite his conscious protests tugging his own lips into a small smile.

"Hey guys!" Excitable words laced with a familiar thick German accent echoed before with the poof and the slight scent of sulfur, Kurt appeared right in front of the twins, hands behind his head and a wide grin stretched onto his lips as he steadily and slightly clumsily walked backwards.

"Vase Kurt!" Jean exclaimed causing the blue haired teen's eyes to widen, he fought to stamp his feet down and stop in his tracks but ended up slipping on air instead and tumbling onto the ground. Kurt looked behind him, noting nothing but a wide empty hallway, no vase in sight before turning to Jean who'd exploded into a laughing fit.

"Hardy ha ha, so funny." The boy groused as he slowly rose to his feet, glaring at the girl who coming from her high placed a hand to her lips in a bid to silence her giggles. "Sorry Kurt, I couldn't help myself."

Rolling his eyes the blue haired boy turned to Isaiah. "You guys headed to the Danger Room?"

The male Grey nodded with a smile. "It's the only fun thing to do around here." He muttered with a shrug.

"Clearly you've been spending way too much time with Jean and not enough with me if that's the only fun you can find." A chuckle fell from Isaiah's lips at the boy's words while his sister gave an indignant squawk her eyes narrowing intensely at the other teen who only stuck out his tongue in response.

"Well...maybe we should fix that." Isaiah responded after a moment, causing the teen to grin. "We should and we shall!"

"After the mandatory Danger Room exercise that everyone is required to do." Jean reminded, folding her arms.

"After that!" Spirits still at an all time high, Kurt pointed towards her before shrugging and whirling around and falling in line with the steps of the red haired twins.

"Tomorrow's Monday." Having slotted himself between the two, Kurt turned his attention to Isaiah. "You joining us at school?"

The boy looked at the blue haired boy then his sister and shrugged. "The professor said he was carrying out the paperwork to make that happen so...I might." He shook his head. "Totally unfair if you ask me."

"Unfair?" Jean rose a brow, and though he did not say anything the question seemed etched on Kurt's features.

"I was in college-"

"Writing dissertations discovering new elements." Jean cut in with an eye roll. "As you so love to tell us."

Isaiah shot a glare her way. "I just think I'm well above the whole high school scene."

"Yeah well a large portion of your education." His sister tapped the side of his head. "Happened up here, there are no records of you having skipped classes or going to some Ivy League college."

"There are also no records of me having gone past the 4th grade." He was quick to respond earning a shrug from his sister.

"An 18 year old in their final year of college brings a great deal of attention doesn't it?" Kurt questioned, "People will be asking questions wanting to know how they missed such a talent and stuff like that..." He shrugged. "I think that's mainly what the professor is trying to avoid. No one will really bat an eye at yet another teenager going to high school."

Isaiah bit his lip. "I hate that you're right...I hate it so bad."

The blue haired boy smirked. "Well get used to it, bit of a constant around these parts."

Jean snorted, earning a glare from the teen.

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A serrated metal disc hurtled towards Kurt just as he deftly tricked two cannons into firing upon each other. It was inches from his face. With no time to dodge or teleport, he braced—only for it to burst into a cascade of vibrant blue flowers that gently kissed his cheeks and cascaded to the ground, pulled by gravity's insistent hand.

He turned slowly, catching Isaiah's mischievous grin.

From their vantage point above, Xavier and Hank observed, their focus on the redhead who with arms outstretched, projected a radiant pool of azure energy, shielding himself from the fierce onslaught of concussive blasts unleashed by three menacing cannons.

"He wields his power quite aptly," remarked Hank, turning to Xavier. "It's no surprise, given the depth of his education in that false reality, aimed squarely at mastering it."

Xavier hummed thoughtfully, eyes fixed on the airborne youth who had transformed cannons into spinning blades.

"Though..." Hank hesitated. "He seems... constrained."

"Constrained?" Xavier queried, turning to Hank, who folded his arms, scrutinizing the boy below.

"If what you've said is true, Professor, Isaiah Grey possesses boundless potential. His imagination alone could reshape reality to his every whim. Yet... he confines himself to atomic manipulation, as if that's all he believes he—"

Hank paused, his expression tightening. "You haven't told him the full extent of his capabilities, have you?"

"No, I have not" Xavier admitted without hesitation, still watching the airborne spectacle. Isaiah now hovered beside his sister, surrounded by makeshift shields formed from dismantled laser cannons and scattered debris.

"I must admit to my curiosity being drawn," Brow raised Hank turned to the Professor.

"I've seen such raw power before—limitless and unchecked. In the wrong hands it could..."

"You suspect Mr. Grey's hands to be wrong?" Hank interjected cautiously.

"Not necessarily," Xavier replied, shaking his head. "But he's unstable. Despite his efforts to conceal it, his struggle to reconcile his past with this reality is palpable."

Hank fell silent, contemplating Xavier's words.

"His mind resists psychic intrusion. If he were to lose control it would..." The professor shook his head. "He needs time to acclimate, to stabilize," Xavier concluded. "One crack, one fracture, could lead to catastrophe and there would be no way to reach him if he lost control."

"I..." Hank hesitated, grappling with ethical concerns. "Isn't it... unethical to withhold knowledge of his own potential from him?"

"Our powers are ours to wield," Xavier affirmed, eyes fixed on the arena below where Scott's concussive beams clashed with cannon fire. "But they come with a responsibility—to safeguard others. I want Isaiah to unlock his abilities naturally, in due time, with a sound mind. Bombarding him with the truth of his power all at once..."

Xavier trailed off, shaking his head.

"It's better this way, Hank. Trust me."

Silently, Hank met Xavier's gaze before turning back to watch the teenagers below.

Isaiah raised his hands triumphantly, levitating every cannon from the ground and sending them skyward with a telekinetic burst. They hung momentarily in the air before showering down as confetti. Kurt cheered loudly, prompting a bow and a smirk from the red-haired boy