Erik always expected that, eventually, Charles would break him out of his prison underneath the Pentagon.
Surely, at one point, Charles would read his mind and realize that he was innocent, that he had not killed Kennedy, that he was being held here for a crime he had not committed.
However, Charles never came, never even contacted him, and Erik's frustration grew in tandem with his disappointment and desperation.
He had already given up ever escaping, actually, when, unexpectedly, someone did come.
Imagine his surprise when the young mutant who broke the glass, and carried him past the guards, and took him to meet a rather dishevelled, almost feral man – when he never once mentioned Charles, nor did the growling, moody mutant with the metal-covered claws.
And while he was still enjoying the delicious tingle of feeling metal again, while he listened to Logan's plan about stopping Mystique from killing that bastard of a human, while he was already updating his own schemes as the plane Logan had organized them was taking them towards Paris… all the while Charles was suspiciously absent from all the plans and explanations.
Well.
If that Logan was really from the dark future he had told them about – surely Charles was the one to have sent him.
It would be so very typical for him, trying to prevent a war by stopping someone from being killed, instead of just taking out all those who might be a danger.
Would he ever learn it?
So, Erik just asked, tired of long explanations and beating-around-the-bush. "I guess Charles sent you here?"
The boy – Peter? Pietro? Pedro? – was occupying himself with a game of chess against himself, clearly bored. Of course, he would not know Charles.
What confused Erik, though, was how the bewilderment in Logan's eyes seemed genuine.
"Charles Who?"
For a moment, Erik's heart stopped, but – maybe their paths had finally parted, or rather would part, after all? Then, however, he remembered what the supposed time-traveller had told him.
"But – you did mention X-Mansion, and the school! How they were destroyed, and so many students killed- …"
"So what?" The wild-eyed man was still staring at him uncomprehendingly.
"Is it not called Xavier's School For The Gifted?"
"Yes?"
"But – Charles Xavier, the founder and headmaster of the school. What about him?"
"How would I know? I never met him. You were headmaster when I turned up there."
"But- …"
There was nothing more to say.
Erik felt all his plans and dreams of the future dissolve as he understood. There was only one possible scenario that would feature him taking over the school, and it meant that he would have to give up everything he had been fighting for up to now, if only to change that one tiny disaster that meant the apocalypse to him.
Because what future would there be for him, without Charles?
No matter their differences, a world without Charles Xavier – was not one he wanted to live in.
He did not even try to supress the tears as they started spilling, not caring about the wide-eyed look the time-traveller was giving him. For a moment he considered attacking him, but the urge disappeared as quickly as it had reared its ugly head. Logan was just the messenger, hurting him would not change anything.
"When?" he, somehow, managed to ask, voice hoarse and tired.
For a moment confusion darkened Logan's eyes, but then understanding dawned in them.
"I- … to be honest, I've got no idea what you're talking about, but your older self told me to give you one certain date. He wouldn't spill what it was all about, but I gue-"
"When?" Erik interrupted him impatiently.
"August 5th,1973."
"What's today's date?" he asked, almost hysterically. He had lost track of time in his plastic prison below ground.
Quicksilver was the one who answered. "July 30th, 1973. Why?" Quite obviously, he was still terribly bored.
Erik did not care about that, however. Desperate relief was quickly replaced by frantic hurry as he did the counting. Six days. So little time, and so much that needed to be done before he could set to saving Charles Xavier's life.
"We need to find him."
"What?"
"We need to go, and find Charles. Mystique… Raven… she is his sister, kind of. Also, he's telepathic. We need his help. And we need to save his life."
"Save his life?"
"Yes." Erik was impatient. "Now turn that damn plane around and get us to Westchester, New York."
"We don't have the time for that."
Erik had no idea how dangerous he looked that moment, when Logan told him that they could not go to save Charles Xavier.
No matter Quicksilver's velocity (wherever he had learned how to fly a plane), the machine changed its curse across the Atlantic, back towards the mainland, even as all the metal shook with Erik's rage.
He managed to propel the plane with his control over most of its structures even farther and soon they were landing vertically on an untended lawn.
Erik had left the vessel before even Quicksilver, rushing for the door of X-Mansion.
Without bothering to knock he ordered the metal within the knob to turn and make way for one hysteric man.
What he certainly did not expect was to be attacked by Beast the moment he reached the first floor.
The fight was as short as it was unequal. Within minutes Hank McCoy found himself made a rolled roast, what the manor had to offer of metals wound around him; and Erik was making for the second floor. He did not care for the puzzled look in Logan's eyes, nor the fact that Quicksilver was jumping up and down next to him, excited that something was happening at last.
Erik finally burst into the room that used to be Charles' when they had been living here together, absolutely expecting the other to stop him – he was not wearing a helmet, after all.
Well.
What he encountered was not what he had expected in more than one way.
First, Charles was standing in the corner of his room, no wheelchair in sight.
Second, he looked more than unkempt.
Third, the room was a mess – but not one of books and scripts, but one of clothes and empty bottles.
Fourth, Erik did not even want to think about the smell.
And fifth – the look in Charles eyes was as dismissive as it had never been.
"What are you doing here?"
For a moment Erik allowed himself to enjoy the British brogue he was not about to admit he had missed as much as was the truth, then he returned to business.
"We need your help."
"Why would I help you?"
"Because this is about Mystiq- … Raven."
And about your life. He did not say that aloud, but the other one would certainly hear it.
"What about her?"
"She's about to shoot a man named Trask, which will eventually lead to the ultimate extinction of mutants," Logan spoke up for the first time.
"And what would you know about that?"
Never had Erik heard Charles' lovely- ... whatever voice that angry – that hateful.
"Because I was there." Something dangerous was shining in Logan's eyes. "Not when she shot him, of course. But I saw one after another of our kind die, killed by the superior weapons humans will develop."
"And, pray tell – why should I believe you?"
The rumble that came from Logan's chest could only be described as a snarl. "Right now, my people are sacrificing their lives, protecting the one mutant girl who sent me here so that I can prevent what will happen. Right now, they're dying, because I'm their last hope. So don't you dare doubting them. I've got no idea who the fuck you are, but Erik said we needed your help to reign in Mystique. I don't care about you, to be honest. Whether you come with us, or stay here and rot – that's not my problem. But you won't soil the sacrifice of those I love a second time."
Erik, quite impressed by Logan's speech to be honest, was distracted by the stiffening of Charles' stance when the time-traveller told him he did not know him.
No matter how dark and twisted, Charles Xavier was not stupid.
He connected the dots as quickly as Erik had, the metallokinetic saw it in his eyes when the realisation of his upcoming death dawned.
Don't worry, Charles, he thought. We'll stop whoever it is in time.
He did not know, of course, that Charles could not hear his thoughts, or that he had understood just that quickly because thoughts of dying were never far off in his desperate mind.
"What do we need to do?" he asked, hoarsely. "About Raven."
Logan stared at him for a few long moments, before explaining. "She'll shoot Trask, the person who's launched the program for the weapons that'll eventually destroy us. That'll give others the chance to capture her, though, and to torture her. The experiments that will be conducted… will give them the key to equip the weapons – called Sentinels – with the ability to adapt to any situation and mutation."
"So – we stop her, and then what?"
Logan squinted his eyes. "Didn't Erik say you were telepathic?"
"Did he?" Charles did not even bat an eyelash as he returned the inquisitive stare.
"Couldn't you… I don't know, change their memories, or their goals?"
Erik wanted to nod, knowing very well that this was the only option the younger one would accept (every other one would, of course, include lots and lots of killing), but Charles was faster.
"Nope."
"But – why?"
"Because."
With that he turned around, and grabbed a small box waiting on the table next to his bed. "Are we going or not? I thought we had a deadline. Oh, and free Hank, will you?"
With that he had left the room.
Erik was staring after him, dumbfounded.
What-
"A nice chap you recommended there," Logan commented dryly, and made for the door as well.
So Erik did the only thing he could, following him and relieving Beast from his metal shackles on his way towards the plane. The boy stared at him for a few moments, before moving to follow them.
Erik let him.
What else would he do?
The flight for Paris passed quietly.
There were many fights Erik would have started, many accusations he would have made, in another life; but as it was, he was occupied with observing Charles as unobtrusively as he managed to, and making plans for any scenario he could come up with that might kill the person who used to be such a dear friend and so much more-
He did wonder why Charles would not react to thoughts like those, but did not dare investigate it.
Paris – Paris was a disaster, and he also found out why Charles had not reacted to any of his thoughts. To exchange his mental abilities for the ability to walk… well, maybe he could understand it, if only a little. However, it also explained how any person would be able to kill him, and, oh, Erik was beyond angry.
It was the bigger part of why he left them, unable to watch as a Charles that self-destructive seemed to be running towards his own demise, without caring. Also, and he did not even dare think about that, it hurt him in ways he was not going to give a name to, seeing Charles like that.
In order to distract himself, he worked on ways to destroy those super-weapons Trask would be introducing all too soon in Washington. The others would also be there, obviously, in order to stop Mystique, and, well-
It certainly would not hurt to show those humans who were trying to kill them what exactly mutants were capable of.
Moving the stadium seemed like an excellent idea, then – until he heard Charles' voice from underneath a pillar, and Charles' name being torn from Logan's and Hank's lips. He had not put a helmet on again, but Charles had never approached him, not once, despite the fact that he had stopped taking the serum. (Of course Erik had kept track of what was going on at the manor, still trying to figure out who would the man he- ... him in the end.)
After disabling the prototype Sentinels – those things were supposed to kill them? – he tore the safety room the President was hiding in from the earth, even as he was lifting the stadium once again. Seeing where Logan and Hank were rushing he dropped the rest back down, not strong enough to hold it and safe the President at the same time, while twisting away the parts where Charles had to be.
Tearing open the metal (how stupid) safety chamber he rushed forward, easily finding the politician Mystique was pretending to be. He was limping, and Erik quickly tore metal the gun from her hands even as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," he whispered. "But you can't kill him. We need to talk – I need your help. Logan, the wild-ish guy, came from the future. If you kill Trask, they will take you captive, and receive the means to extinguish us all. Also… Charles will die, the day after tomorrow. We have to save him. I need your help… please."
At first frozen, she quickly relaxed in his arms, until he dared release her.
"Let me go," she demanded.
"I will," he promised, "if you swear not to kill Trask."
"Erik- … you didn't see the pictures. All those mutants he tortured, and killed, as he was trying to create that weapon…"
It was then that Erik realized that cameras from all over the world were still pointed at them, and that everyone was listening. He also saw Trask pale from the corners of his eyes.
"No, I didn't. But if you kill him… they'll think he was right."
Mystique – Raven – gulped, and her yellow eyes were glistening.
"Alright. I swear not to kill him," she said, before walking away the moment he let her go.
Erik stared after her. She stopped to talk to her brother for a few moments, and then she was gone.
It was a pity he did not see the devastated look in Charles' eyes when Raven left, or how his lips turned into a thin, white line when Erik, too, took his leave. There was still so much to do, to prepare, and he had little more than two days left if he wanted to save Charles.
Little did he know that his leaving would be what smoothed the way for Charles' death.
Erik turned up at the manor at midnight of the date Logan had given him, staying hidden. He was sure that the telepath was well aware of his presence, but- … well, if he was, Charles did not let it on.
Soon the metallokinetic realized that Hank was out of the house and for a moment wondered how stupid Charles could be-
When a terrifying thought hit him.
Not really believing that it could be true, but needing to make sure none the less, he rushed for Charles' bedroom, heart racing with fear.
It only got worse when he found the bedroom empty, and the chair unused in the corner.
As he sent his sixth sense out to find Charles, and the iron in his blood, his eyes fell upon the empty syringe and the evenly empty bottle on the night stand.
God-
Then he localized the warm sensation of tiny particles rushing through a human's body, driven by a beating heart.
With a speed he did not know he possessed Erik made for the attic, bursting through the door the moment Charles was raising another syringe filled with what his senses identified as concentrated arsenic.
Tearing it from the man's shaking hands with his control over the metal Erik rushed forward, wrapping his arms around a perplexed and clearly drunk Charles even as he started yelling.
"What do you think you're doing? Do you have any idea what your death would mean to me? Logan told me the date – the one date my future self must have given him. I'd never forget that day! How- … Why-"
Only then did he realize that he was crying, and that Charles had stopped shaking in his arms.
"What my death would mean for you?" the younger one asked, and Erik had never heard him sound that bitter. "What my death would mean for you? Well, nothing apparently, judging from how you left me – once again – without looking back. After dropping a frigging stadium on me, I might add! How about what that meant to me?"
Erik could only stare at him.
Realization dawned, and he remembered feeling this shocked and sick only once – after Shaw had blown his mother's brain out.
Reeling, he tried to talk through his panic, explain his reasons because-
Charles-
He could not even articulate it in his thoughts.
Gulping, he tried to explain.
"What- … what was I supposed to do? I knew that I had only two days left to save your life, without any clues as to what would threaten it in the first place, and with you taking a goddamn serum that suppressed your telepathy – which may have helped you against whatever enemy, I might add – and I had no idea how to protect you, because I couldn't just let you die-"
Now Charles was the one doing the staring.
"I-…"
Charles seemed unable to answer, but he did finally wrap his arms around Erik who was still holding him close, and his eyes began to glisten as well.
He seemed to be almost back to sober.
Erik buried his face in the younger one's messy hair.
"I'm sorry I left after Cuba, god, I'm so sorry. I- … you mean so much to me, Charles, and when you told me that we didn't want the same things, that we'd have to part ways… I was angry, and spiteful, yes, but most of all I was hurt. I didn't want to lose you… and I was feeling terribly guilty, too, for having shot you. I- …"
Suddenly, everything was obvious.
"I love yo-"
"No!" the younger one suddenly shouted, pushing Erik away with surprising strength and angry eyes. "No, you don't. You can't. You- … stop feeding me this shit, Erik, and just leave me alone!"
With that he jumped to his feet, and made for the door – but stopped dead when it burst open.
Hank came running in, fear in his features. He was sporting blue fur, and still breathing heavily. Whatever he had done, it must have been quite exhausting.
His eyes were wild, darting across the room, until they settled on the frozen Charles and his shoulders dropped with what seemed to be endless relief.
"Thank god," he breathed. "I almost thought I was too late."
Charles seemed to understand what he was talking about, for his eyes widened and he made for the door again, but Hank was faster than him. And stronger.
The young professor had barely moved when Beast's blue arms were wrapping around him like vices.
Erik could only watch, dumbfounded.
"What-"
Hank took a deep breath, before staring at Charles who was not even trying to escape from the tight hold.
"Would you shackle him? There's gotta be some metal around."
Staring at this Hank, who seemed to be so different from the young, shy man he knew, Erik complied, ignoring the way Charles was trying to struggle. He had no idea what this was all about, but judging by the panic that had flared up in Beast's eyes when he had arrived he did not want to know – he was still too shaken by Charles' suicide attempt, and the way the younger one had quashed the confession he had only just made to himself, too.
When Charles was set on the floor, held by metal bands, Hank motioned for Erik to sit down with him.
Hesitantly, the metallokinetic complied.
He really did not want to know.
Hank, however, seemed to be hell-bent on having this conversation, whatever it would be about.
"Charles," he began, and his voice was as determined as it was shaken. "Do you have any idea… what this will do? To you, me, all of us? To Erik? I-"
"How did you know, and why aren't you looking for Raven, like we agreed?" an angry Charles demanded to know, interrupting the young man.
Hank's eyes turned cold.
"I just ended up in a body way too young for me, sent here the moment Kitty was strong enough for bridging that long a time, and not killing me in the process. This… is our third attempt to make things right, and you better not ruin it again, for I swear, Charles – I will be coming back until you pull your head out of your ass and stop hurting everyone like you did. You-"
"What-"
"No, you don't get to talk until I'm done."
Erik had never seen Beast look that dangerous.
"I- … So much went wrong, with the Sentinels, and all of us almost being extinguished… So you sent Logan back to make everything right. And we did manage to stop Raven… and you sent me to find her… Imagine my surprise when I returned here a few days after saving mutantkind, her in tow, and you were dead. Or what Erik must have felt… when he found out that you had killed yourself. So, he made Kitty send Logan back again. He arrived a few days earlier, this time, and told Erik the date, and Erik- … again, I returned to you being dead when I came back with Raven, and Erik was… He, too, took his life, a few years later. Because you had killed yourself after he had told you that he loved you. Do you have any idea how screwed up the world is without you two? Apart from what it meant to me, and Raven… and everyone else."
He closed his eyes then, and Erik could tell that he was trying not to cry.
Still shaken by the reveal that he, too, would commit suicide (he could certainly imagine that, now that his love for Charles was like an open wound in his mind) there was only one question he managed to ask, although thousands were whirling through his head.
"How- … Logan explained that no one would remember the old timeline… but the one who had changed it. How… how is it possible that you know all this? Or that he remembered the Sentinels?"
He, too, tried his best not to let his tears show.
Hank stared at him, eyes shining.
"Kitty remembers," he said simply. "The mutant who sent us back. She seems to know everything… that happened in other timelines, as long as the change is done before her birth. And she's able to project it. Logan was actually feeling it, when she took him through her memories, because he was there, in that other reality. That's why he was so angry when he thought Charles was belittling the sacrifices of those who died for him and Kitty. How I know – well. Kitty showed everything to me, although for me it was like a movie without the emotions, because, the first time around - I was dead. This time... where I come from... there was no one else left she could show it."
He sounded bitter, and Charles' eyes widened when he understood, while Erik sucked in his breath.
Hank gave the two of them a grim smile.
"Exactly. The two of us are what's left of the school… and Kitty wouldn't even have been there, had Raven and I not kept searching for her after Erik's death, because we knew that we'd need her if we wanted to go back. The two of us… raised her, and as many other children as we could, until… Raven- … they got to her, and most of the kids- … well. Like I said, in the end it was just me and Kitty. So."
He was addressing Charles now, staring him down, but Erik could clearly see the terrible pictures reflected in his eyes. All those innocent mutant children...
"If… if Erik, and me, and Raven…if we aren't reason enough… for you to live… if we aren't enough, is the world? Because if we lose you, we lose Erik, and if we lose both of you… we lose everything."
He gulped, and gave Erik an uncertain glance, before continuing.
"He does love you, you know? If that was why- … Erik told me, before he… went crazy with pain- … he told me, how you had seemed better, until he told you that he loved you, and you denied it, running away. He never found out of course… but he always thought that you killed yourself because he said that, and he never stopped regretting it. He thought… that you were disgusted."
Erik paled, and opened his mouth to stop Hank, for he definitely did not want to have this conversation.
The young man, however, was still staring Charles down – and his gaze had rarely been that intense.
"I, on the other hand think that you-"
Now Charles was the one trying to stop him, but Hank did not let him.
"-love him back, and thought that he was lying to you in order to placate you, and you couldn't stand that thought."
It was Charles' turn to pale.
Some of the knot Erik's stomach had turned into eased a little.
Deciding that this was his moment to be courageous, he turned to look right into Charles' eyes which he had avoided when Hank had started his explanation.
"I do love you," he said as calmly as he managed, and now that it was completely out in the open he felt a lot better. "And if you just wait long enough for the serum to wear off… you will find that to be completely true."
Well aware of what he was offering, Erik continued to look at Charles, face as open as he managed.
The younger one stared at him, but in the end deflated, and nodded.
Hank hmm-ed, clearly relieved. "So – if we set you free, do you promise not to do anything stupid at least until you have your telepathy back?"
Charles sounded as defeated as he sounded hopeful when he agreed.
"I promise."
As Erik silently commanded the metal shackles to back off he continued to stare at the young man, who did not look away, either.
Forgetting about Hank, and the future, and Raven, and everyone else, Erik slowly extended a hand.
Charles hesitated, but then took it.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I… didn't want to hurt you. I'm just… I should see a doctor, I guess."
He did look away then.
Erik squeezed his fingers, and then attempted to pull him into his arms.
To his surprise Charles did not struggle, but instead wrapped his arms around Erik's neck, hiding his face in his shirt.
"We can do this," Erik promised, although he was still not that sure, as he held the younger one close. "I… I'll help you, in whatever way I can. We'll reopen the school… and help all those other mutants, too. Logan said I was headmaster, after you- … so, I can do it. And you can, too. We'll make it through this."
Charles raised his head and gave him a teary smile.
"Hank was right, you know," he whispered, so lowly that Erik barely understood the words. "I… love you, too. It was why I wanted to… kill myself" he gulped, and Erik choked "in the first place. I just couldn't stand it, that you had abandoned me yet again… as I thought. And then… when I thought you were lying… and, well. I guess I'm not exactly the mentally most stable person on this planet."
He hid his face again, and Erik could only imagine how hard it had to be, to admit something like that.
The older one sighed, but could not supress the tiny smile that wanted to break through as his hope flared up.
Maybe they could really do this.
Once again he buried his face in Charles' messy hair, pressing a shy kiss to the telepath's scalp.
This time the younger one did not shove him away, but sighed contently and held on tighter.
They finally had everything they ever needed, although neither had ever dared voice it aloud – which might have saved them quite a lot of pain, as Erik thought fondly while breathing Charles in.
Neither of them realized as Hank got up and left for Raven again, sure that – finally – he would wake up in the right future.