"Still the little boy, begging for love?"
Charles paused in his pacing. They had all seen this with Natasha, Loki's uncanny ability to find the weakest point in a person and push it until it broke them. Charles would have thought Loki was telepathic except for the fact he clearly wasn't.
Charles turned to face Loki. "Yes." Charles paused to enjoy the brief expression of surprise and annoyance on his face, "I've long ago accepted my flaws, Loki. But we were talking about you." Charles walked until he was face to face with Loki, the glass barrier meaning nothing, "The little boy begging for love. Because you are aren't you? Or you were. The little boy in the shadows, forever trying to impress them with your tricks but always coming second best to the golden boy."
In the control room Thor shifted uncomfortably, I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness, that was what Loki had said. Was that was what it had meant to be his brother? A shadow. It couldn't excuse Loki, but perhaps how learning his heritage had seemed like a betrayal. How his relationship with Thor had turned to madness.
Charles had to stop himself from reaching out to comfort Loki. To help him he had to expose his soul, to see what he had done.
Well, it seemed he had a bit of a soft spot for broken megalomaniacs.
"But you could never got it," Charles continued, "you could never get the affection you longed for. Oh, you had affection but there was Thor, always glowing brighter than you. And so you decided you didn't want love. If you couldn't get love you would have attention. They may hate you, they may curse the day you were born, they may reign a thousand missiles down on you and you would only smile, because finally, finally somebody was noticing."
"You think you know me now, telepath? You think if you save me you can somehow make your life worthwhile?"
Charles backed off slightly, "I think you're a little boy looking for love and who doesn't realise he has it. If my real family" he stumbled, "or even my fake family loved me as much as your fake family loves you I'd be a very happy man." He started to walk away, "Oh and Loki?" He said with his back still turned, "your mind is irretrievably Asgardian, no matter whether your body sometimes betrays you. It's been shaped by Asgardians and now is built like an Asgardian. You're Asgardian whether you like it or not." And with that he walked out.
It was hopeless and futile to have gone to talk to him. Charles knew his words would have made no difference, but, he thought as he rubbed the base of his back where the small device lay that imitated the nerves that had been severed, he could never stop trying.