A/N: Just a tiny take on a particular scene in the first movie that has stuck out to me ever since seeing First Class. Almost all the fics I've seen that try to reconcile all the movies (pre Days of Future Past of course), focus on Erik and Charles' relationship, neglecting a sibling bond that existed for years. This is my attempt to shed some light on what that bond might have become.
Breaking into the mansion is as easy as it was when she had a key. Charles' idealism has always made him soft.
(There was a time when she appreciated that softness, but the mansion is not home anymore. He is not home anymore.)
Her body flickers through human shapes, and smiles, as needed until she is bending and presenting Charles' distinctive blue eye to the retinal scanner.
(The first time she assumed his shape, she was nine and trying to startle him. He laughed instead and then they had to hide in the pantry before Cook saw, smothering giggles with their identical hands.)
Cerebro is white and vast and impressive, a legacy of cooperation that has long since faded into war.
(Like many things since she was last in this house. War consumes.)
Despite being intimately aware of her abilities, Charles has never updated his security protocols and it is far too easy to sabotage Cerebro's inner workings.
Charles will not be able to interfere, but he will live.
(She and Erik have many things in common. An inability to kill Charles is the most dangerous. It is also the most important.)