*Author's note*

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men movies or comics or any of it's characters. If I did, i'm sure they wouldn't be as great as they are right now. But at least Cherik would be canon. I just kind of have this OC.

Sooo.. this is my first time writting a fanfic in English, and my first time writting a Cherik story. So please, be nice?

At first I wasn't going to publish this. I mean, I actually didn't write it for other people to read at all. I just needed to express myself somehow, and what better way than writing, right? I was doing it for myself. So forgive me if you find it boring at some time. You can always just stop reading, can't you?

Well, I don't really know why I decided to do it in the end, but here I am. I'm just putting it out there because, well.. I love Charles and Erik, and I have no idea what you guys might think about this story, so let me know. And just tell me if you think I should keep going with it.

Oh, and by the way, I just wanted to tell you that this is actually planned as a Cherik fic, no matter what's going on with the OC situation. I hope you like her at least a little.

And I hope you enjoy, or something.

Love, Agus.

When Erik felt the first bullet come, he was a little worried. Not that he was ever going to say that out loud. He stood up, turned around and raised his hand. It was instictive. He deflected the bullets almost effortlessly, but they kept coming. He didn't really know what else to do. A part of him hoped things would've turned out differently, but he was not going to back down now. And he was going to make that human pay for what she was doing.

A sudden scream stopped everything. Moira wasn't firing anymore, and he didn't know where the sound came from, so he turned his head and looked. It took him a few moments to understand what he saw.

A little girl- well, she wasn't a kid, but she looked like a teenager, so Erik didn't give it much more thought- was on the ground, Charles beside her. He was on the sand, too, but looked unharmed, apart from their fight a few moments before. The girl, on the other hand... She was bleeding from a spot just below her chest, on her right side. He didn't do anything until he saw Charles was kneeling at her side, with a hand on the wound. He understood then, but he didn't know what to think- had Erik done that? Was she hurt because of him? Because of the bullets he deflected? What if it had been Charles instead and- oh god.

And then he came out of the shock, and made his way to where they were.

"I'm so sorry. Try to stay calm, everything will be okay" he heard Charles saying. The girl was crying, though it looked like she was trying not to. She looked shocked, like she didn't know what was happening, and confused, and... resigned.

"He- hey, don't worry, it's fine. I'm just really happy you're not hu- hurt. Oh my god, you're really okay" she said. She was trying to smile, and reaching her hands to touch Charles' face. He was a little surprised. Why on earth would she do that?

Erik got there and went to kneel at Charles side, who was holding the girl now.

"Erik, god. She needs help. What do we do? We can't leave her like this." Charles told him. Erik lifted his hand and got the bullet out of the girls body. The missiles were deep in the water at this point, so Erik decided to let that go, for the moment. It didn't matter now.

"I- I don't know. This is Moira's fault, I should-"

"Erik, no. She didn't do this. You-"

"No- Charles, stop. It's not his fault, it was an accident. It doesn't have to be anyone's fault" the girl interrupted them, and they looked at her, taken aback.

Erik was sure he hadn't seen her before, but maybe Charles had. That's the only reason she would know his name, because he doubted Charles had intoduced himself in the last few minutes, all things considered. But that didn't explain why Charles looked as confused as he did.

"Do... do we know each other?" Charles asked her, and Erik knew there was something wrong.

"I- No, we don't. I mean, I know you. But you don't know me, no" she said.

"Charles..." Erik started. He didn't understand and it was frustrating.

"But- how do you know me? I don't get it-"

"Just read her mind, would you? Maybe she's just playing with us and this was part of her plan. I don't think she's a mutant, after all" Erik interrupted him. Charled sent him an annoyed look, but raised his hand to his head anyway. He closed his eyes and stayed like that for a moment. The girl looked worried now- other than that she didn't seem to be getting worse, at least.

"What? Wait-" she started, but Charles opened his eyes and stared at her with a weird expression.

"So? What did you find?" Erik asked. Charles just kept looking at the girl, staying silent. His face gave nothing away, it was like he was trying to process the information.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" he asked the girl when Charles didn't answer.

"I don't know how- I just wanted to-" she babbled.

"Are you with the humans? You were trying to save them, weren't you? Look, I don't know how you got here and I don't care, but I swear-" he stopped, and looked at her. For the first time he realized she didn't look like she was bleeding anymore. She followed his gaze and understood what he was looking at. She pulled up her shirt a little and gasped.

Erik was a little surprised, too. Where there should be a bullet wound, there was just skin. No hole, no scar, nothing that showed she had been harmed at all.

So, she wasn't human after all. Erik shouldn't have made assumptions. He looked around- Charles was right where he was before, but he was paying attention now, like he had gotten out of the thinking phase he was before. The others were just there, watching. Raven looked like she wanted to do something. She didn't move, though.

"Erik..." the girl said, making him put his attention on her again. She was trying to sit up. But how- how did she know his name?."I wasn't trying to save them. I know what you think, but I wasn't. I don't like killing, I don't know if I could ever do that.. but I don't care about them. I care about Charles. And you may not know me, but I care about you, too" she said. And just- what? He didn't understand, but chose to let that last part go, as if she hadn't said it.

"Are you going to tell me I should be the better man and all that, too? Because I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about here-"

"No. Look... you already are the better man." She said, and that made Erik stop. He hadn't been expecting that."They were in the wrong here, I know that, okay? I'm not stupid, jeez. But you have no idea what it would mean to kill them, what would happen if you actually started a war, Erik. I- I'm on your side, you have to believe that."

"She's saying the truth, Erik." Charles suddenly said, and they both looked at him. "She's not lying. About any of it" he remarked the last part, as if it was something important. And then something crossed Erik mind- she said she cared about them, but...

"Charles, would you please tell me what's going on?" It was Raven's voice. She had come closer and was now just behind them with a curious expression.

"I don't know what to say. There are a lot of things that I don't understand. Her mind was a mess but i went deep down enough to get a lot of things. It seems like she's not... from around here-" Charles started saying. And just what exactly did that mean?"Somehow it looks like she's from a completely different place. Well, like a parallel world, another dimension" He looked at the girl then. "What's your name? I'm sorry, I saw it in your mind but I don't really know- was it Zoe?... I don't want to-"

"I- it's fine. You, um, you can call me Zoey...That's- that's it" Charles looked at her, unsure, but nodded after a moment.

"Okay. Zoey... do you have any idea of what's going on?" Charles asked with a softer and calmer voice.

"I really don't- The last thing I remember is going back home from school yesterday.. and that's it. Maybe I fell asleep? And then I was here. I'm dreaming, right? There isn't any other logical explanations. I mean, look, I'm supposed to be injured, but I'm not -how am i not injured? Though I guess it's kind of cool that I'm not- anyway, and you're here; which shouldn't be possible either, so I must be dreaming. I just wanted to do the right thing and-" she said. Charles looked worried, Raven looked lost and Erik didn't really know what to think of all this. Everything was way too crazy. How is it possible that she comes from another dimention? And isn't it normal for her to heal fast, what about her mutation?

As if he was reading his mind, which he probably was, Charles said "She's not a mutant, Erik. She's human. Or at least she was, where she comes from. And I'm as confused as you are, I don't know how this is possible." He looked at Zoe, then. "From what I saw in your mind, I know this must be really weird and hard for you, but I really don't think you're dreaming".

Erik couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, I need someone to explain. Now"

"I don't know what's going on. I just- it shouldn't be possible for me to be here. No matter how many times I thought about it, I never-. The world I come from- the only world I thought existed- well, we don't have mutants there. Evolution never happened, not this way. And none of you exist in that world." Zoe announced.

"But then- how do you know about us?" Erik asked, but she didn't seem like she wanted to keep talking.

"I'm still confused about it" Charles said instead. "It concerned me at first how much Zoey really knew about us, because it was quite a lot, but then I saw the reason, which confused me even more. Like she said, mutants doesn't exist in that world, but we're not completely unheard of-" he stopped. Like he didn't how to say what he wanted in the right way.

Zoe sighed. "You're fictional characters" she said. Wait, what? There is no way-

"We're what?" Raven asked, coming back to the conversation. Zoe gave her a quick glance, but nothing more. Erik and Charles shared a look at that, but the girl was talking again.

"You're fictional characters" she said again. "From comic books and movies. You came out of a guy's head, you're not real" Zoe said, she looked exasperated. "What I'm trying to say, is that a while ago I watched the movies, and started reading the comics and now you could say I'm... quite fond of you. So it doesn't make any sense. Is this really happening? Oh sweet jesus."

"So, you're saying you think you care about them because you watched a movie about us?" Raven uttered. Zoe looked annoyed at her, and Erik would surely find that amusing if he knew what the reason was.

"It's more complicated than that, I think." Charles answered, calmly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... She took a bullet for me. I'm sure that-" Charles kept saying. Erik cut his speech.

"Wait. She did what?"

"Charles was going to get hurt. I wasn't going to let that happen if I could stop it. I could, so I did. I pushed him so the bullet wouldn't hit him" Zoe expressed.

Erik felt his heart stop for a moment. Oh god, i was going to hurt Charles- what if she hasn't been there to stop it.

Charles looked at him, and he looked sad now, which probably meant he had read his mind.

"Charles-"

"Don't worry, my friend. It's fine. Nothing happened. We should go back. If you want to-"

"I'm not sure I should-"

Zoey cut him. "Erik. I know what you're thinking, but, please. We can do this. I know you don't think it's possible, but we can find some middle ground. You can help mutants, and you will, but you need to stay together. I can tell you everything I know, please. Just..."

Erik was speechless after that. He surprised himself when he said nothing more against the idea of going back to the mansion. He just wanted to leave the beach.

Somehow he didn't remember he had taken the helment off while helping the girl until a few hours later. He didn't realize that Azazel, Janos and Angel had left, either.

The whole situation gave Charles strange feelings. He had been on shock when he read Zoey's mind. He saw things that almost gave him a heart attack.

Even if he was already mad at Erik for betraying them, knowing that things only got worse from there made the situation so much more serious. Erik was going to leave, and he was going to take Raven with him. After everything they've been through. Charles was going to lose his legs; and he wasn't sure how he felt about that part yet.

He was at the breaking point. He hadn't been able to make Erik stay. He had been doing things wrong with Raven for a long time and he hadn't even noticed. How could he not notice? The guilt was eating him alive. But a part of him was also so angry. He wanted to think that his Erik wouldn't leave, and his Raven was happy here, with him. But he knew he would just be lying to himself. It had been there, so clear, in Zoe's mind. And he could feel it rolling out of Erik's mind, too; his need to leave, after he saw Erik didn't have the helmet on anymore.

And then Zoe herself. Her mind was crazy; but underneath the surface, it was so pure. Her memories of her silbings were what stood out more, but it wasn't what really caught his attention at first. It was something else. When she thought of Charles, her mind was just so full of... love. Love so pure it didn't make sense and it took him a while to get used to it. It wasn't the kind of love he felt rolling out of couples that were in love with each other, but it was love nontheless.

In the end, it took a few hours for someone to get them out of Cuba and back to Westchester, but nobody really talked on the way back.

When they arrived, everyone went to their rooms, except Charles, who went to the studio, where he used to play chess with Erik.

After a while of sitting there alone, thinking, Charles heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" he said. The door opened and Charles watched as Zoey nervously made her way in. "Hello" he smiled at her.

"Hi. Were you busy? I can come back later-"

"No, no. It's okay. Come, sit down." Zoe went over to the table and sat on the chair opposite him. He saw her watching the chess set.

"Do you play?" he asked. She nodded slowly.

"We can play, if you want to" he continued.

Zoe laughed a little, which took Charles by surprise. "No, it's okay. I would make a fool out of myself. Maybe some other time"

"I'm sure you're not that bad" he chuckled. "But of course we can play some other time. I wanted to talk to you, anyway"

"Talk? About what?" she asked curiously.

"Well... I never really thanked you properly for what you did"

"Thank me? You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. So, thank you. So much. You have no idea what it means to me."

"Okay. You're welcome. It's nothing, really..."

"It's not nothing. You put yourself in danger for me" he said.

She smiled. "In my defence, I thought I was dreaming. I still do. Don't give yourself so much credit." She joked. Charles laughed.

"You're right. I won't. My bad"

"Now, seriously... I know you read my mind. I know what you saw, it's okay."

Charles didn't know what to say to that. His telepathy was usually a complicated subjet. He considered his answer for a moment. "So, you still think you're dreaming?"

"I don't know. I guess so. It's just so weird. I can't really believe this is happening. I still can't get over the fact that I healed so fast. Do you think it will happen everytime while I'm here? That'd be so weird, and awesome. Other than the fact that I'm here, of course."

"Yes, it's true. I think it would be better if we don't test that theory, though. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if you hadn't healed"

"Well- I did heal, so..."

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Save me"

"Oh. I already told you... I thought I was dreaming-"

"So, you're telling me you wouldn't have done it if you didn't?"

"That's not really what I said, no" Zoey said, lowering her head.

"Zoey...I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me. It's fine"

"What do you want me to say? All I know is that I'm practically in love with you, or whatever. But you already know that, don't you? It's okay if you think it's silly. I mean, I didn't really know you until today..."

"I don't think it's silly. It makes sense-"

"You mean a lot to me. And it's not just because you're cute or something, but because you're a great person and you helped me a lot. That's why I saved you, and i would do it any day, because you matter. You... helped a lot of people, and you will keep doing it in the future, and even if it's not in a future where I exist, it matters. You could use some help, too, you know?"

Charles stayed silent for a minute.

"I- It's a nice sentiment, really. Thank you. Either way, saving me wasn't the only thing you did today. Erik was going to... leave, wasn't he? So was Raven." His voice broke a little at the end.

"Yeah... they were." Zoe said saddly. "I'm so sorry. I mean it. I really didn't want anything bad to happen to you. Or Erik. At all."

"I'm aware. Thank you for that. And you... you got Erik to stay. I'm really greatful. Somehow that's something I didn't manage to do."

"Charles, you know I'm on your side, don't you? And you know I want to help you..."

"I know"

"But Erik... is right in some things. I don't really aprove of his methods. I don't like killing, but you do have to defend yourselves. At least when it's necessary-"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you think there's something good in everyone.. or almost everyone. I mean, okay, you have to show the humans that they don't have to be afraid of you, that there's no need to fight. That's the best way to avoid a war. But not everyone will understand. They will fight either way. Some people are just... bad, and they are beyond saving. That's how the world works." Zoe said. Charles was a little taken aback by her point of view. He stared at her, and for the first time he actually saw her.She was short- like, a lot smaller than most 17-year-old-girls. Her eyes were green, and her hair a light brown. She wasn't a model, but she had her own beauty, and she was really pretty.

"I don't know. You already know what's going to happen. I saw it. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm too naive and trusting..."

"You are. But it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Most of the time, at least. It's what makes you who you are. What I'm saying is that maybe you could... tone it down a little? Or try to understand where Erik's coming from. So it's easier for us to find some middle ground with him"

"Yes, well.. I just wish he could see it that way"

Someone cleared their throat and Charles and Zoey jumped in their seats. Erik was standing in the doorframe.

"Erik" Charles said, trying to smile. "How long have you been there?"

"A while." Erik said, walking into the room.

"So, you heard..." Zoe started.

"I heard enough"

"Okay. Maybe I should go..." she continued.

"No. Stay. We should talk" Erik cut her off. He grabbed a chair from the other side of the room with his power and put it beside the table to sit down. "I see you've been talking about me"

"Erik..."

"It's okay, Charles. What I wanted to say is, that if I'm doing this, I would like for you to be by my side. We could do this, together."

"That's what I want, too. It's just... I can't do what you do. I'm not like that"

"I know. But I heard what Zoe here said... and she made me think. You should show me what you saw in her mind, about us. Maybe that way I can understand better"

"Are you sure? Zoey, do you-" Charles asked.

"Yes, Charles, do it. It's fine" she said.

He stayed still at first, but then his hand made its way up to the side of his head, and he closed his eyes. Erik just stared, with his eyes unfocused for a moment.

Then they went back to normal.

"Mein gott..." Erik whispered. "Did all that really happen?"

"Yeah, it did" Zoe answered. Erik looked at her and then his eyes went back to Charles.

"I'm sorry. For everything. I-"

"I don't blame you for my legs. You didn't mean to do it. We don't have to talk about it now. And not everything that happened was your fault. Either way, we can do things differently. We can still do something to stop it."

"Yes. We... we need to talk about what we're going to do. Because I can't promise not to kill anyone. Charles, you knowit's not possible. And you have to understand why"

"I know. I swear I'll try. I'm trying to understand. But maybe you can promise other things? Like killing only when it's really necessary. And I can promise I won't try to stop you."

"I- okay. I can try that."

A moment of silence passed and then they were both looking at Zoe.

"We may need your help. I don't know what your abilities are. Or if you have any at all. But you have information.. and experience we can use." Erik said.

"We would be glad if you decided to stay with us and help, Zoey" Charles continued.

Zoe stared at them, and then smiled.

"Well.. lucky for you, I don't have more important places to be right now "

Charles just smiled back at her.