After the beach, the screaming of missiles, the loss of friends and family alike, the agony of a bullet to his back and a coin through his mind well Charles was obviously distressed. Confined to bed and physical therapy by Hank and the physical therapist that glared at him occasionally, he was left with nothing but pain medication and his own thoughts. Occasionally the sound of work being done to the mansion would reach his room, ramps, bars and lowered benches were all being put in and the sound was sometimes all he could hear. He blocked out the thoughts of everyone, after Hanks first guilty pitying thought that floated his way. Losing his legs would not be the end of him, he was going to make sure of that, but hearing people wonder made it just a smidge harder.
Sitting in bed propped up by a plethora of cushions, and left with a ream of paper, pens and pencils, scissors and instructions to entertain himself whilst creating something (Hank was determined not to let him slip into his mind) he pondered exactly what he would do. Then struck by the idea of a myth he had heard once, and encouraged on by the very thoughts he was meant to be avoiding he began.
His nanny when he was younger taught him about various cultures, and once when it was late at night and he was crying after hearing yet another argument she sat him down and carefully showed him how to make a paper crane. "There is a legend that if you make a thousand cranes you get a wish" she had said as he tried to follow her instructions "and I think you could use a wish" He hadn't made a thousand back then, only reaching five before being told he was wasting paper. This time though, he had a wish in mind and he was the one buying the paper, so carefully cutting it into squares he began.
The first crane was a misshapen thing, but it was a start and by the tenth one his fingers hurt and the cranes looked a lot better. He had to stop by the twentieth because apparently his hands were not used to this way of moving and needed a break, he hid them in the drawer next to his bed. He wasn't sure if other people knowing would mean the wish wouldn't come true but he wasn't taking any chances.
Hank seemed pleased that he had used some of the paper, although he didn't ask what he had used it for simply smiling setting his dinner down and asking how his therapy was going, and if he had an appointment the next day. So it went, he would make them in secret, attend physical therapy (his arms ached all the time now) and talked to Hank. His drawer got full and he began using the one below it as well.
By the time he reached one hundred cranes he was in his wheelchair, and the freedom it gave him made the sore arms and physical therapy worth it. They installed the handles and hanging bar in his room and finally the endless noise ended, his house was empty apart from him, Hank and now Sean and Alex as well. He was on number a hundred and seven when they all had dinner together for the first time since the beach. Sean made a surprisingly good stew, and Alex refused to treat him any differently both were appreciated. No one brought up the beach.
He moved the cranes to a drawer in his desk because that's where he made them now, in between researching what he would need to do to set up a school and trying to convince Hank that his new look wasn't freakish. By one hundred and forty two Sean had broke a window trying to master a pin point sonic scream, Alex had beheaded a statue trying to trim the hedges, and Hank was finally starting to appreciate his new look. There was nothing on the news, and he had started cooking again. No one mentioned it but they all missed the others.
He made the two hundredth to the two hundredth and twenty seventh out of a newspaper, it was symbolic he guessed since it contained some news of Erik and Raven. They had crashed a political meeting about the incident with the beach and thankfully no one was overly hurt. They were all a bit misshapen since his hands shook making them. No one mentioned it at dinner, and he wished they would.
A mutant toddle was left on their doorstep at number two hundred seventy four, she shyly pronounced that she was four and the rain stopped when she settled in. Her name was Ororo Monreo and she had no parents, she said a strange woman who looked just like her had dropped her here and told her she would be safe. She was beautiful, and so sensitive to others and it snowed lightly when she realised she was allowed to stay forever. The clouds formed shapes when she got him to read the adoption letter that he signed to be her caregiver (no one would take her away from her new home). Number three hundred and two was made by paint covered fingers and the paper became colourful with it, Ororos painting was sitting on his windowsill next to his still drying and she was fast asleep on the sofa. It was made with hope.
Ororo was lonely, sure the adults (and Sean) were great company but she wanted someone closer to her own age, and she told him so shyly a tiny grey cloud floating near her. So therefore number three hundred and sixty six was made opposite Ororo, helping her make her first one. "It's said that if you make a thousand of these you will get a wish" he said as he watched the small cloud fade away, and the sunshine on her face come out. He bought her a pack of colourful paper and cut it into squares so hers were colourful, then they sat for an hour making them together, he figured that her knowing he was trying to get a wish wouldn't matter since she was working towards her own. She hid them in a basket on her shelf in his office and at dinner they felt like spies keeping a huge secret.
Number four hundred and twenty two was made with wrapping paper, the garish colourful kind that hurt your eyes and proclaimed HAPPY BIRTHDAY! It was the paper he had wrapped Ravens present in for the last two years, he hoped her birthday was a good one and that she was safe.
It was on Alexs birthday that the secret slipped, Ororo had made him a paper crane in his favourite colour (a bright blue) and told him that it would help him get his wish. Then she explained the legend and Alex hugged Ororo so tight no one thought he would let her go. He said he didn't need a wish because he had all he wanted, but he would keep it in a safe spot. Sean approached her nervously and asked her to teach him how to make one, and his first one was made with Ororos favourite colour (a glowing orange) he kissed her head to thank her. Hank allowed her to make him one, refusing to make one himself proclaiming "I'm pretty content little storm!" So she sat on his lap and made one whilst smiling, he felt like she was a lot more self less than he was when he thought his might not come true if he told others.
He heard of Raven and Erik again whilst making his five hundredth paper crane, the phone rang and he pressed it to his ear whilst keeping his eyes on the half finished crane. "Charles" came the so familiar voice on the other side, a small chocked gasp escaped him "We are gonna deliver another child tomorrow" then the phone clicked off and he was left shaking. Raven was okay, another child was coming and the paper crane took half an hour to finish.
Jean Grey was a bright eyed child, and her mind was so full of energy and questions, she opened doors with her mind and smiled so wide at Ororo that it was blinding. They hit it off immediately, asking if they could share a room and giggling at dinner about what they had been up to. Ororo stopped making paper cranes after that, donating hers to Sean as she figured that it would still count towards his wish, and he was slower than them at making them. He made his six hundredth and five to the soundtrack of laughter and tiny feet pounding up and down the hall, he smiled and hoped that him and Seans wish would come true as well.
By Christmas he was at eight hundred and seventy two, and he made one for each day of Hanukah, he made one in the Christmas wrapping paper he always used for Raven then he put it on pause. Their mansion was full of tinsel, and lights and it was all too easy to forget the desk full of paper cranes. Jean and Ororo woke him up at four o'clock and together as a family they opened presents together. Dinner was a loud affair, and Jean finally mastered feeding herself without her hands, Hank sat in Ravens usual chair and he couldn't find it in him to argue. He made two more that night and hoped that Raven and Erik were safe and happy.
They were in the news more often as he neared the finish line. Nine hundred 'mysterious group cause destruction at a government facility', nine hundred and thirty four 'mysterious group calling themselves the brother hood', nine hundred and sixty six 'Military base crushed by brother hood, unsure how'. Until by nine hundred and ninety nine he was in shreds, he hated the newspapers and how there was never enough information to make sure they were safe.
He made the one thousandth one and then he closed his eyes and wished. Wished that he would see Raven and Erik again, that they were safe. Then he opened his eyes, swallowed hard and went about his day, fingers twitching with anxious restlessness. "Brotherhood come out as new strain of humanity, calling themselves homo superior" was todays headline, he crumpled it into a ball, put his head in hands and allowed himself to cry. It was a hopeless wish, and no amount of paper cranes would bring them back to him.
Then, exactly three days later when he was sitting in the library with Ororo and Jean, reading them a book he heard the front door open and close. He cast his mind out to see who it was and promptly dropped the book from numb fingers, he was too frozen to move and it was all her could do to stutter out a "I'm fine" to a worried Ororo and Jean. Then a minute later two figures stood in the doorway, both giving him a shy smile. "We missed you" Raven started "And we are so sorry Charles" finished Erik.
Things weren't back to normal, it was tentative and they didn't know how to make it better. It had been a long few months, and they had all changed. It was however a start. That was obvious by the missing helmet that had became Eriks signature, and in how Raven immediately shifted into Jean then Ororo to entertain them. No they weren't where they were before the beach, before the screams and the pain. They were starting again though, and he thanked the paper cranes and the universe that had granted him that.