The Dance

                                    

                                          
Charles Xavier had no time to waste. Now more than ever he had to concentrate on finding his sister. It's been too long already. He's conducted more of his own fruitless searches, he still had people looking for her all over the country and yet it's been more than half a year without any information about her. It was troubling, to say the least, and no matter how hard Charles tried to push the negative thoughts to the back of his mind they stubbornly kept reemerging and haunting him. Sebastian Shaw's arrival in a week was the only good news that Charles could hope for in his attempts to find Raven. 
                          
In the meantime, Charles was working now harder than ever just to keep his mind occupied and feel less useless. Therefore, Charles Xavier definitely had no time to waste. And yet he was being forced to attend a stupid dance at the Town Hall.
                          
"This is ridiculous, Hank. Why must I go too?" he pleaded one last time 
                          
"It's good publicity for the school. We may convince a few more people to send their kids to study instead of keeping them at home working." Hank said and of course it made sense. It was actual campaigning to get people to send their children to school. But there was this one huge setback.
                          
"But they don't like me, Hank." Charles said
                          
"Nonsense." Hank waved it off
                          
"You know perfectly well they don't like me." Charles crossed his hands on his chest.
                          
"People didn't like their meat cooked at first but look at us now."
                          
"Wow! That's inspirational." Charles said sarcastically
                          
Hank chuckled and tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, my friend. We need to do this." he said and Charles surrendered. "You might even get to enjoy yourself a little."
                          
Charles rolled his eyes, perfectly aware that enjoying himself - especially on some stupid party - was hardly possible. Still they were at the Town Hall by sunset. 
                          
Charles had to force himself to smile. Being polite was in his nature, he never wanted to offend or insult people. However he also was getting bored. He couldn't really see the point in social events like this. Even if he was on his 'secret mission' to convince more people of the importance of schools, it was all useless when he knew all his efforts were in vain. 
                          
And yet here he was now, trying to fit in, trying to be sociable and trying to look as if he was actually enjoying this when in fact all he did was doing his best to ignore the looks the town folks were giving him and shield himself, lock his telepathy from overhearing their thoughts. He didn't really need that to know what they were thinking. It was rather obvious. He wouldn't want to be here even if he weren't constantly worried about Raven. 
                          
Music was echoing in the hall, couples were dancing on the dance floor, joyful and in high spirits; old ladies gossiping, old gentleman drinking and discussing (which was their way of gossiping); the whole place was vibrating with excitement and entertainment that Charles felt so foreign to. The musicians were too loud and the table with the food was too far away from Charles to reach it in all this crowd. 
                          
Hank had disappeared from Charles' sight, Moira was busy dancing - a good publicity for the school, no doubt - and all the other conversations Charles had were centered around questions about his past which he found most unsettling. 
                          
Finally his eyes captured a familiar figure, walking among the masses, making his way determinedly through the endless cluster of people in the stuffy hall.
                          
"Mr. Lehnsherr!" Charles whispered to himself, unable to help the smile on his face at the sight of the one man he knew would not bore him! Whatever their misunderstandings were, Charles felt a happy flutter in his stomach at the sight of the blacksmith. This surprised him but he decided not to dwell on the reasons.