Prompt: Imagine Charles dying after trying to save Erik from drowning
Charles watched as the man stretched out his hands andlatched his power onto the metal of the submarine. The immense sub barreled onward, dragging theman behind him. Water splashed into hisface, choking him, but he didn't let go.
Charles shoved past the crew, racing to the edge of his ship. "Let go!" He screamed. "You have to let him go!" He turned to the people beside him. "You've got to help him – you've got to get someone in the water to help him." But no one knew what to do. Charles rammed his palm against the railing, shouting, "Let it go! You have to let it go!" He tried to reach his mind out to the man, to calm him, to reason with him, but the man was too agitated. Flashes of red flew in front of Charles' eyes, recounting a life of pain and rage unfair for any one man. For Erik.
Charles didn't think any more – he did what he had to do. He pushed past the people by him and leapt over the railing of the cruiser, timing it perfectly so he would meet the man in the water, falling for what seemed like a lifetime before he hit the water with a painful slap, stabs of sharp pain and shivers racing over his body. He opened his eyes underwater and wrapped his arms around Erik, holding on tightly as he was dragged through the clear water.
Charles reached his thoughts out, gently tapping into Erik's.
You can't. You'll drown. You have to let go.
Erik wasn't responding. Charles dug deeper, burrowing into the memories of Erik's mother, of Sebastian Shaw, of the monster that he had created and the pain that that man felt every day. I know what this means to you, but you're going to die. Erik thrashed in Charles' tight grip, but he couldn't shake Charles. He was running out of air, but his vision was so clouded by frustration and determination that he didn't notice. He didn't let go.
There was something else – something Charles couldn't quite grasp. A feeling, an idea – something about this man, something that told Charles he was special. That he could not die. That Charles couldn't let him. Please, Erik. Calm your mind.
Charles' eyesight was beginning to get cloudy. The fire he felt in his lungs fought against the cold seeping into his flesh. He rubbed his hand down Erik's arm, which he held pinned, trying to calm him. Please.
Finally, Charles knew that Erik felt it too – something between them, something that he could not fight. His mind relaxed just enough for Charles to fill it with murmured words of comfort, with ease, with serenity.
He didn't notice that his lungs were empty. All he knew was that he needed to help Erik. And when he did notice, he didn't care. Because Erik had started to kick for the surface – Erik was going to live. And that was all that mattered.
He relaxed his grip on Erik's shoulders and finally let his body do what it wanted to – he opened his mouth wide, his lungs screaming for air but filling rapidly with water. He kept his eyes open through every second of it, looking up at Erik, who had just noticed Charles wasn't with him and was trying desperately to fight against the waves and help the man who had saved him. He kept his eyes on the man he had just met and had instantly fallen in love with. They stayed open as his legs stopped kicking, his mouth relaxed, and his heart shuddered to a stop. They stayed open as Erik got to him just one moment later and reached out for the surface. And they stayed open as Erik lifted his lifeless body onto the boat, as he thanked him over and over with a voice shaking too hard to speak clearly, and as he said goodbye to the man he had barely known.