A/N: I've been prowling around the X-men fandom for a week or two, and I just love the idea of having a soul mate, and then this happened. The story popped into my head last night, and so I started writing it. I think I explain everything pretty well, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. Don't be shy. Rated T for language, and violence. Anyways I hope you like the first chapter of this story.


No one is sure where along the evolutionary line having your soul bound to another's happened, or when having their name on the underside of your forearm came into the equation. The only thing that was certain was that it had happened, and this left many people staring at their arms, in delight, in despair, in curiosity, in every emotion possible as they thought of their perfect match.

Charles Xavier, had never seen the name written on his forearm, and not for a lack of attention or trying. Ever since he could remember, it wasn't a name on his arm but rather an atrocious burn that spanned some of his left hand, most of his forearm and climbed past his elbow in some places.

It was meant to look like an accident, because it was illegal to mess with the name of someone's soul mate, their soul mark. However Charles knew the ugly truth behind his nearly crippled limb. His father had done it on purpose, breaking the law, all because the name on his arm had been another man's name.

Brian Xavier could not stand the idea that his son, his own flesh and blood, could possibly have been so unnatural to have a soul mate in another man. That wasn't going to continue on his family, it would end it, and with such disgrace too. No, Brain Xavier couldn't have that, so he did what he must to ensure that his son would never find the man he was destined to be with.

After the deed was done, he had all records of the name that had been on his son's arm destroyed, burned just like what he had done to his son's arm. All baby pictures where the name was showing, any and all official documents with written proof of the name's existence. Charles knew nothing of the name other than that it was a man's name, and he could only hope to one day find the man whose arm had his signature.

Once Charles started school, he quickly learned to always wear long sleeves and to wear a glove on his left hand. It got him strange looks, especially during the melting summers, but it was better than the looks of pity anytime caught sight of his scared arm. Once his powers manifested it was clear the long sleeves didn't really do the trick for knowing adults. They still all pitied him, pitied the boy who would never know true love.

His life brightened up once he found Raven attempting to steal from the fridge. Charles had seen through her disguise the moment her eyes had lingered on his arm for a second too long. His mother had never cared about what her husband had done to him, she thought it was just another reason to reinforce that writing with his left hand was bad.

Raven had apologized after she had caught herself staring at his arm. Charles had grown used to the states and was simply curious as to what a soul mark was supposed to look like. His father and mother had never shown him theirs, and he suspected that they weren't a match. That's why his mother had remarried so soon after his father's rather fitting death. He'd died in a lab fire.

It was an unspoken agreement between the self adopted siblings that they didn't mention their soul marks. The chicken scratch handwriting of Raven's soul mate was almost entirely illegible, the pair thought their might have been a 'z' in the name, but it honestly could have been anything. Charles still wore long sleeved shirts, mindful of his stepfather and stepbrother, who both shared his father's idea regarding same sex soul mates.

Charles would have been lying if he had said he wasn't jealous of Raven's power. She could change her appearance, she could blend in anywhere. She didn't have to deal with the thoughts that his deformity brought to people's minds. Charles hated his father for what he'd done, but he'd learned very quickly that he'd have to put up a facade of nonchalance to make people believe that everything was right in the world.

It wasn't until he met Erik that someone immediately saw through the falsehood that shadowed his every day. Erik understood the pitying states and the frustrating nights staring at his arm wishing something would change. Something would happen and the name would suddenly appear. Erik had also had his soul mark taken away from him.

Erik's missing mark wasn't as visible as Charles', his was one thick burned line over where the name was supposed to be. However the situation in which he lost his soul mark was much more violent. His soul mark was taken away at the same time a number was burned into the underside of his left forearm, a cruel mockery of a soul mark. Burning away the soul mark of the Jews was just another illegal thing in a long list against the Nazis.

Erik might have been fourteen when his soul mark was taken, but he didn't remember it. He knew that it had been written in elegant, looping cursive, and in english, preventing him from really reading the name. He vaguely remembered his mother once telling him what the name was, and he was sure that it was another man's name, but he couldn't be sure. Erik wasn't very concerned with finding the name of his soul mate, he was more focused on killing the man who murdered his mother. If he found his soulmate while doing this, that was just a bonus.


Charles was nervous, and he honestly wasn't sure why exactly that was. Raven came up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He relaxed marginally, but still was tense as he kept a lock on where Shaw was.

"This is the U.S. Coast Guard. Do not attempt to move your vessel. Stay where you are." As Charles watched small motor boats speed off towards the boat, he found himself being shoved away from Shaw's presence. The telepath took a small step back as he gasped.

"I've lost… I've lost Shaw. There's something blocking me. This is never happened to me before. I think there's someone like me on that ship."

"Like you?" McTagert asked this and Charles was quick to explain.

"I'm sorry a telepath." He let out a shaky sigh, but had a little smile on his face. "This is incredible. I could actually feel her inside my mind." He glanced at the suit behind him. "I'm very sorry, but I don't think I'm gonna be much help to you tonight. You're on your own."

All they could do was stand there and watch as two small tornadoes came from the ship they were pursuing, and wiped out the small boats that had been headed towards the ship. Charles stood frozen in place even as somebody tried to get him to move inside. Raven tried pulling on his arm, but he wouldn't budge.

"Charles' what's going on?" Raven had just asked this when the telepath jolted forward in shock, a hand immediately at his temple.

"There's somebody else out there." As he said this, the anchor of Shaw's ship started to rise in the air. "There." They watched in horror as the anchor then slammed into the ship, tearing it up. After nearly a minute of destruction the anchor broke off the chain and splashed into the ocean.

Seconds later it was clear that Shaw had a hidden submarine inside his ship and was now using it to escape. However Charles was more focused on the thoughts he was getting from the one who moved the anchor. He was determined to stop the submarine at all costs, even though at the moment he was just getting dragged through the water.

"Let go!" Charles shouted this at the top of his voice. "You have to let it go!" It was clear as day that the man either couldn't hear him, or was ignoring him. "You've got to get someone in the water to help him!" Charles briefly glanced at the government officials behind him, but quickly turned his attention back to the water. "Let it go! You have to let it go!"

Charles continued to scream this as the man got dragged closer and closer to where their ship was. He didn't see anybody else in the water trying to save him, and his breath was taken away when he saw the man disappear under the water.

After a second's hesitation, Charles bolted towards the other side of the ship, stripping off his jacket as he did so. He came to a stop by a break in the railing for half a second before taking the dive into the freezing sea water.

It was perfect timing. Charles landed directly on top of the other man, and immediately grabbed a hold of him. The other man struggled in the telepath's grip, his only thoughts being about pulling that submarine to him.

"You can't, you'll drown." Charles hated bursting into the other man's mind, but it was a life or death situation. "You have to let go." Images of how much the man wanted to kill Shaw and why flashed through Charles' mind. "I know what this means to you, but you're going to die. Please, Erik," Charles hated pulling information out of the man's - no Erik's - head but he felt this was the only way to get through to him. "Calm your mind."

At that point Charles felt the man give up and his body was not getting enough oxygen, he took that to his advantage. Fixing his grip on the man so his arms weren't around his neck, he kicked up towards the surface of the sea. As soon as they broke the surface and they had both breathed in a huge breath of air, Erik was once again struggling against the telepath.

"Get off of me! Get off!" Charles let the man tread water on his own, but was ready to dive after him if he tried to go after the sub again.

"Calm down. Please." Charles spared half a glance towards the boat as he called for them. "We're here!" Most of his attention was focused on Erik.

"Who are you?" It was a fair question, after all Charles knew practically everything that fueled the man in front of him to live.

"My name's Charles Xavier."

"You were in my head." Another fair point. "How did you do that?" Charles had to do his best not to flinch at the waves of emotions that were rolling off of Erik, anger and confusion being the most prominent.

"You have your tricks, I have mine. I'm like you. Just calm your mind." The man didn't smile, but Charles felt a wave of relief come from him.

"I thought I was alone." That hit home for Charles, remembering how he felt before he met Raven, and he knew mutants all over the world probably felt the same way.

"You're not alone. Erik, you're not alone." Charles couldn't help but smile as he said this, and the small smile and almost overwhelming sense of relief and joy was definitely worth it.

A few minutes later they were being pulled out of the freezing sea and into the deck of the ship. Charles was immediately wrapped in a towel as Raven practically lept into his arms. The telepath tensed when he got a wave of disappoint from Erik as he saw this. He gave a kiss to Raven's forehead and asked her quietly to go find where his jacket had ended up. He then turned towards Erik who managed to look menacing with a scowl on his face while wrapped in a fluffy towel.

"Raven's my sister." Immediately Charles felt the disappoint fade away, and he wasn't sure how he felt about Erik liking his sister. He quickly decided he didn't like it. "That still means she's off limits." In response he got a small snort from the taller man.

"That's okay, she's not really my type." Charles had to stop himself from taking a step back at this information. The shock still must have been written on his face as Erik smiled a little. The metal bender then quickly covered the space between them, and grabbed onto Charles' left forearm.

The reaction was immediate from both. Charles jerked his arm away as quickly as Erik released it. The telepath kept his eyes on the ground, refusing to lift them to meet the disgust that was no doubt written on the other's face. His heart ached slightly at the idea Erik didn't accept him. He was also suddenly aware of how his wet clothes stuck to his skin, making his deformed arm obviously clear.

"Charles." The telepath bit his lip slightly as he continued to stare at the ground. After a few seconds of silence, Erik gently lifted the shorter man's chin up until their eyes met. "What happened?" As Erik asked this his eyes flickered towards the other man's left arm. Charles debated what to do, and finally decided to go with a half truth.

"There was an accident when I was little." Charles' voice was small and he knew he was trembling slightly, and not just from the cold. He didn't know why he was ashamed of Erik knowing the truth, but he was. Gently Erik took a hold of his wrist and pushed his sopping wet sleet and pushed it up to his elbow, showing off his badly burned arm and the nonexistent soul mark.

"This was no accident." Erik said it with malice in his voice, and that along with all the assumptions that came flooding in from everyone around him was too much. It had certainly gotten harder as he got older as other people started to assume that it hadn't been someone else who had burned him, that he'd done it himself. That he was ashamed of who his soulmate was, or they had already died. Charles was brought out of his thoughts by Erik's voice. "Charles?"

"I was really young when it happened…" Almost immediately he felt everyone else stop staring at him when Erik glared at them. "Thanks." Charles barely whispered this and if Erik heard him, he didn't acknowledge it.

"Do you know who your soulmate is?" The telepath shook his head ever so slightly as he felt tears start to trickle down his cheeks. Erik moved away slightly, and Charles felt like a hole had opened up in his heart. "I don't either." The metal bender said this as he pulled up the sleeve on his right arm, showing off the bar of burned skin on the underside of his arm.

In the back of Charles' mind he had already known that the man in front of him didn't know his either. He'd seen it happen in the man's memories, but actually seeing it with his own eyes brought the pair to an understanding. After a few seconds of staring at the other man's arm, Charles was wracked with a shiver as a strong icy wind blew past them. In a second, Charles found himself wrapped in the other man's embrace in an attempt to keep the cold at bay.

"Let's get inside." The telepath didn't object as the pair walked together, Charles' left hand intertwined with Erik's right hand. Once inside, the pair were given some towels to sit on and were left alone. They sat in a comfortable silence, simply leaning against each other, enjoying each other's presence. When Raven walked in to tell them they had arrived at the shore and return Charles' coat, that's all she did. She didn't comment on how close they were or their still intertwined fingers.

Charles didn't remember the car ride home, mostly because he'd fallen asleep curled up against Erik. Erik smiled at the picture, but it was immediately dropped when he realized this wasn't supposed to be his, and he couldn't try and deal with this while he was still hunting Shaw down. Once they reached the government building they were staying at, Erik carried Charles into his room, and left Raven with him to help him get ready for bed.

Once he had been directed to his own room, Erik wanted to punch the wall or something. Where had all these emotions come from? Why did he care so much about Charles? A little voice in the back of his mind suggested that maybe they were soulmates. He quickly pushed that thought away as he fast as he could. The probability that they were was astronomical, and was not something that he would bet on.

Still he couldn't quite shake the feeling they were meant to be. He blamed it on the fact Charles was the first person to be truly nice to him in a long time, and was somebody else like him, not completely normal.


A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews would be appreciated. Please tell me if you'd like for me to continue this story. I already have some of the next chapter typed up, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to get up another chapter.