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Charles put his pen down with a wearied sigh, scrubbing his hands over his face before rising from the desk to walk to the large bay window. 'How in the world are we going to make this work' he wondered as he gazed out over the expansive lawn. Movement at the far corner of the lawn caught his attention though as he watched in jaw hanging disbelief as Alex raised a pistol to Erik's head and fire a single shot. What horrified Charles wasn't the fact that the shot had been fired at point blank range nor was it the fact that Erick stopped the bullet just as it began to touch his skin, It was the fact that as Alex fired the gun he had screwed his eyes shut and all but screamed mentally that he was so very sorry and did not want to do this. Erik had forced, ACTUALY FORCED, poor Alex into doing this. Taking a deep calming breath Charles decided that enough was enough. Erik had taken this obsession with near death experiences far too far. Gently reaching out Charles taped Erik's mind, 'Erik a word if you please.' Charles watched with a small smirk of satisfaction as Erik jumped a few inches at the unexpected voice in his head. Now all he had to do was to figure out how to deal with this situation.

Erik barged into Charles's office and glared at the young professor. "What was that all about Charles? You nearly scared me half to death. A few moments earlier and you might well have" the last was said with a humorless chuckle. Meeting the hard eyes of his friend Erick began to get the feeling that there was a problem. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, something is very wrong Erik" Charles said through clenched teeth. "And I am well aware that you very well could be dead at this moment. Did it ever occur to you how that poor young man would feel if you had died?" Charles said as he advanced on Erik. Stopping arms length from his companion Charles crossed his arms and put on his best angry teacher face.

"Ah! saw that did you?" Erik asked with a hint of annoyance. "I thought you wanted us to practice honing our skills?"

"Not when it could be potently fatal or psychologically harmful. Not when it is a deliberate attempt at suicide."

"Oh Charles, I told you I can stop it"

"I know that and as I said before that is not challenging yourself. Honestly Erik I don't know what has gotten into you."

…

"Well? I am waiting for an answer Erik. I want to know why every time you train you attempt to kill or maim yourself."

"I… It's… it's complicated Charles. You wouldn't understand" Erik muttered as he walked past Charles to stand by the window.

"Try me"

Spinning around to face Charles Erik's eyes blazed with barely contained fury. "Fine, you want to know why I do what I do, why I have to train like I do. It is the only way I know how to! Shaw TORTURED ME! He killed my mother because I couldn't move a GOD DAMN COIN! He shot innocent people to teach me how to stop a bullet and every time I couldn't someone died. I would rather it be me than someone else." Turning back toward the window Erik whispered "At least dead the pain would stop."

At this a light bulb went off in Charles head. Incredulously he asked "you are trying to kill yourself? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

This was not the answer that Erik had expected. Turning back to face a rather angry looking Charles Erik was forced to take an involuntary step back when face with the irate telepath.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself Charles looked around the room to clear his mind. As his eyes fell on the umbrella stand in the corner an idea came to him as to how to deal with this situation and hopefully get Erik to stop trying to kill himself. Turning back to face Erik Charles took a deep breath. "Erik I understand that you are hurting, that life has been extremely unfair to you, But, I will not have you involving the students in your self destruction and I will not stand by and let you kill yourself. Now I have told you time and time again not to use that be-damned pistol. You have repeatedly ignored me and I have reached the limits of my patience. I will always be here to help you Erik but if you refuse to live by the rules of this house then I will have no choice but to ask you to leave. You will have to choose, either accept the consequences of your actions or leave."

As Erik listened to Charles's speech he became increasingly uncomfortable and ashamed of himself. 'How could I have been so selfish as to involve Alex?' the concluding remarks of Charles speech caused the Hair on the back of his neck to rise. "Consequences Charles? And what exactly do these consequences entail? More practice? Or lines perhaps?" Erik let out a soft chuckle. 'Always the prim and proper professor aren't we Charles.'

Smirking slightly at the unspoken thought Charles said in a deadly calm voice. "Of course not Mr. Lensherr, seeing as how more practice would only increase the already present issue of your practice habits. Lines on the other hand should serve very nicely to correct your little problem. " as he spoke Charles went to the umbrella stand and retrieved something that Erik couldn't make out.

As he turned back around Erik sucked in a breath as he caught sight of the item Charles was holding. A 31 inch long rattan cane was held by the firm grip by the Telepath. "Surely you can't be serious Charles?"

"Oh I am dead serious my friend. Your complete indifference to anything I say and your total lack of concern for your own life has left me with very little choice."

"So you think that the way to get me to listen to you is to beat me?"

"I am not going to beat you Erik, I am going to cane you. There is a difference. Ultimately the choice is up to you though, you can accept your punishment or you can leave… Chose."

Swallowing hard Erik weighed his options. He couldn't believe that Charles was actually going to do this but at the same time he didn't want to lose his only true friend. 'How bad could it be? Shaw used to beat me with a studded strap how much worse could a twig be?' "Fine, what must I do?"

Nodding slightly Charles set the cane down on the edge of his desk as he removed his jacket "Come to the desk." and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Once he was standing in front of the desk Charles began to explain the rules. "What I will have you do now Mr. Lensherr is lay flat over the desktop and grip the opposite side. I will then administer one hundred lashes to your buttocks. During your punishment you may not stand up, you may not swear, and you will call me sir. You will also count the strokes as they fall, if you miss a count the stroke will be repeated."

As he listened to Charles explain the punishment he began to understand just how upset Charles was. When he heard the number of strokes he nearly had one. 'Is he crazy' Erik thought to himself.

"Do you understand everything I have told you Mr. Lensherr?"

"yes"

"Yes?"… SWACK! Charles wacked Erik on his thigh

"OW! Yes sir"

"Better, break any more rules and the number of strokes will be increased. Assume the position"

Slightly horrified at the idea of a hundred lashes and wondering exactly what he had just agreed to Erik lowered him over the desk stretching his arms out to grab the other side. He felt Charles approach his side and heard a soft swish as the cane was raised.

"I am sorry my friend, that it has come to this" as he finished his sentence Charles brought the cane down squarely on Erik's backside.

WACK! "One" Erik grunted, not prepared for the pain that accompanied the strike. WACK! "Two" he hissed. WACK! "Th…three". WACK! "Four" Erick ground out. It was taking all his strength not to call out and he was only at four.

THWAK! "Twenty" Erick yelped as the cane connected with the top of his thighs. WACK! "Twenty-one" WACK! "Twenty-two" Erick gasped as he griped the desk hard in an attempt to control the pain.

WACK! "F..F..Fifty-n..n..nine" Erik wheezed as he silently cried into the desktop. He still had forty to go but he doubted he could take that many more. His ass was on fire and he had long since lost the strength to stand.

WACK! "eighty-five" "Pease… no more. I can't…" WACK! "eighty-s..s..six" "can't take…anymore. Please...Charles."

Chares paused mid swing, "what was that?"

"I can't even stand Charles please just stop." Erik took advantage of the slight lull in his punishment to attempt to plead his case, completely forgetting that he was not supposed to call Charles by his name.

"Mr. Lensherr you were warned about calling be by name. For your infraction you have just gained five extra strokes."

"What, I… but Cha…Sir please you can't" WACK! "Eighty-seven" Erik yelled as he readjusted his grip.

WACK! "ninety-eight" Erick all but whispered, his throat long since raw from his cries WACK! "Ninety-nine". WACK! "one-hundred" Erick just lay on the desktop sobbing his legs having long since given out.

"Now Mr. Lensherr, you have five more lashes left for your misbehavior during this punishment. You do not need to count them as they will be administered in rapid succession. Do you understand?"

"y..yes Sir"

"Brace yourself"

WACK! WACK! THWAK! THWAK! WACK! Erick arched off the desk with a strangled scream as the last five lashes landed on his butt and upper thighs. Collapsing back in the desk Erik barely even registered Charles laying the cane down and rubbing his back and making shushing sounds.

"There, there, it's done now my friend. I am sorry I was so hard on you but I had no other choice. I hope now you will understand just how important your life is."

Erick began to cry harder at Charles's words, finally realizing what his friend had been trying to tell him all along. "I am…s..sorry too Charles, so v..very s..sorry"

"It's forgotten my friend, come now up we get"

Erick groaned as he was guided into a standing position. 'I won't ever sit again' he thought to himself.

"you will sit again, no worried my friend. It will just be rather uncomfortable for a while" Charles laughed as he heard his friend thoughts.

Limping over to the lounge and laying down on his stomach a thought occurred to Erik "so did you ever get caned?"

"Yes, occasionally my stepfather would cane me for a minor infraction, not often mind, and I never got more than three at home."

"what about at school, I remember Raven saying you went to a boarding school"

"yes I did, it was a preparatory school for boys. I was only caned once at school. I let some frogs loose that were destined to be dissected. I got quite a walloping from Headmaster Lorton over that"

"Really! What did you get?"

"Fifty. It would have been one hundred but I admitted my crime and didn't attempt to evade my punishment. you had best head up to bed Erik and sleep this off. You will be sore in the morning but you will be able to sit better."

"Right". Erik rose from the lounge and went to leave turning back as he reached the door, "Charles?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome Erik."

Turning back to the door Erik headed upstairs vowing to try harder and listen to Charles' advice.

END