Don't know what prompted this. To be honest this came out of nowhere.
Yeaaaah. This was done at 2 in the morning so expect a lot of mistakes. :P
My take on what happened to Charles after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Moonlight streamed into the dark hospital room, casting a light blue glow. Charles looked out his window and stared deep into the eyes of the moon as if it would give him answers. Answers that he had been seeking since that day.
Two weeks.
It had been two weeks since that day at the beach. Two weeks since the day he had lost not only his legs, but two very important parts of his soul.
His sister and his brother.
Both were ripped and torn away from him, leaving him broken.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He had nightmares everyday.
Most of the time, they're of them (he can't bear to say their names now, it reminded him to much of everything he once had) walking away from him while he was stuck in the same spot.
Paralyzed.
Sometimes, it was about Shaw's death. He could still feel the coin moving ever so slowly through his head. He could still feel the raw pain and agony he endured for him because if he had let go, he would have died. Every time he closed his eyes, he could still see the cold, emotionless eyes of the man he called friend.
Other times, it's just him floating in an abyss of darkness. There was no up, no down, no left nor any right. Just the darkness of his heart that slowly consumed his soul.
It is said, if you die in your dreams then you are truly dead. If that was true, he should have been dead a thousand times over and more. Much, much, more.
Charles had barely slept ever since his soul started wither away.
*~***~Broken~***~*
Today was the day he was coming home. It had been exactly one month since his life started spiralling out of control.
He assured everyone that he was fine and well. They believed every single word that came out of his mouth. They told him of their excitement over the school he planned on starting. They tell him that they will always be there for him.
He smiles and laughs with them.
But when he is alone, his mask falls and he cries.
*~***~Broken~***~*
Charles sits in his wheelchair and silently wonders, 'What have I done to deserve this?'
He rolled up to the chessboard in his room and looked at it with sad eyes. The black king and the white king were on opposite sides. Their armies were in front of them, ready to protect their kings at all costs.
He reached up and pushed the white king over.
His eyes followed the king until it hit the board with a resounding clunk. He shifted his gaze towards the black king which was standing tall and strong at the other side.
The black king seemed to whisper an answer to him, 'You have done absolutely nothing to deserve this. It was all my fault.'
But the fallen white king says otherwise, 'The question should be, 'What haven't you done?'
*~***~Broken~***~*
The book was on the floor again.
He couldn't bend down to reach it and he had too much pride to asked someone to help him. Gently, he moved himself from his chair and to the floor (a skill that had yet to be mastered). But the chair moved away from him and he soon found himself on the floor, his book just out of his grasp.
Charles made no move to get up, he didn't see the point in it anymore.
He had lost everything that mattered to him.
And it was all his fault.
He had come to accept that but his pain didn't lessen whenever he thought about them.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He visited him one night.
He was lying in his bed, awake and afraid to go to sleep because of his nightmares. The nightmares were so real that sometimes he forgot what was reality and what wasn't. He was contemplating the use of sleeping pills when he heard the window open.
He sat up and stared at the floating figure outside his window.
A metal helmet, a red fluttering cape and guilt-filled green eyes.
He stared back at the figure with blank blue eyes.
No words were said between them, their eyes talked for them.
They were locked in each other's gazes for what seemed like forever before Charles lied back down on his bed, pretending to go back to sleep.
He was not ready to forgive him just yet.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He wheeled up to the door leading to his study.
The memories that were tied to the room resurfaced in his mind. All the chess matches he had with him. Also, the times that he played hide-and-go-seek with her. He could still feel the happiness and pure joy he felt when he was with them. But those feelings usually overshadowed by his real emotions.
Hate. Guilt. Betrayal. Sorrow. Anger. Blame. Grief.
He sighed and hung his head in sadness.
He sat in front of the door for hours (or maybe it was minutes) before he wheeled himself away.
He never entered that room again.
*~***~Broken~***~*
His tears had dried up a long time ago.
The nights he spent crying himself to sleep were gone. All he did now was look out the window until he passed out from exhaustion.
Sometimes he stared at the pictures of them for hours on end before he turned away from their smiling faces.
But no tears were ever spilt.
That's why it made him wonder why he broke out in tears when he saw her for the first time ever since that day.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He came back.
This time he entered his room and walked up to him. He had always been the taller out the the two of them but since he was in a wheelchair, the height difference was much more defined.
He knelt in front of him and placed his hands on his own hands. He rested his head against their hands and whispered endless apologies.
Forgiveness. His forgiveness.
That was he asked for but he could not give it to him. As he kept repeating his mantra like a broken record, he stared at him with an indifferent expression.
He pulled his hands away from his grasp and wheeled towards the window, away from him. But he followed him.
He stared deep into his eyes. But all he saw were emotionless, blank eyes. A ghost of what they once were.He searched and searched, trying to find something, anything, that resembled human emotion. Be it sadness, blame or even hate. He didn't care.
But he saw nothing.
Charles had long since forgotten what emotions felt like.
Finally he took off his helmet, opening his mind to him. He was free to roam inside the familiar mind once more.
But he didn't.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He was outside for the first time since that day. He was reading a book in the park when he heard a scream. He immediately forgot his book and wheeled towards the scream and that was when he saw a child, no older than six, disappear under the surface of a pond.
No one was around but him.
He didn't hesitate as he launched himself from his chair towards the child. Once in the water he soon found the child just above him. He grabbed the child and shook him gently. His eyes were closed and he didn't respond. Determined to save the child, he used all of his strength to push the child towards the surface. The child floated safely to shore.
It was then that he realized what he had just done. His legs were dead weights and there was no way he could swim up to the surface fast enough to save himself.
So this was how he was going to die.
He sacrificed his life to save another.
But it wasn't that wasn't it?
This wasn't a sacrifice, this was an escape.
Water filled his lungs and he closed his eyes in acceptance. He could feel his heart slow down and everything began to shut down. 'I welcome death's embrace and I say goodbye,' he thought as he released the breath he was holding.
But hands grabbed him and pulled him away from his escape.
He opened his eyes and stared deep into the golden eyes of his savior.
Against all the emotions he felt, he said, "Raven..."
Then his world turned black.
*~***~Broken~***~*
Charles was in his room, as usual, sipping his tea when he felt something wet run down his cheek.
He set down his tea cup and rubbed his eyes. But no matter what he did, the tears just kept coming. They streamed down his face and he gave up trying to wipe them away.
Faintly, he could hear a voice in his head, 'Charles...Charles...Charles...I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry...'
"Erik..."
The name sounded odd on his lips but once he said the name he couldn't stop.
*~***~Broken~***~*
He could feel the sun beating down on his head and the soft caress of the fall breeze.
It had been so long.
Too long.
"Charles..." He turns his head sideways towards the source of the voice.
For the first time in a long time, Charles smiled a real smile.