Water splashed back and forth as Azazel played with a glass of whatever alcohol he'd managed to obtain. Raven was washing something in the kitchen sink. Angel beat her wings and Riptide conjured some small whirlwinds. It all sounded the same to him.

Metal started buzzing around the room and they all looked up at Erik. His fingers were white while he pressed his hands on either side of his helmet. It was just too much. He broke. "STOP WITH THE GOD DAMN WATER."

Erik tried to remain as calm as possible as a leader, but some things just set him off beyond his control. Water was one of them. As he briskly made his way to another room he tried not to think about beaches or waves. He tried not to think about the first tears he'd cried in years. He tried not to think about being pulled by a submarine to his death until he was stopped by-

He finally made it to his room and his coin was nearly lethal as it rocketed out of his pocket and began weaving through his fingers. He took a few deep breaths, pushing away the memories, the guilt, the-

"God damn it." He muttered to himself. "He was a friend. The betrayal of interest and loss of a powerful ally has gotten to me. Having him against me hinders my goal. That's what's wrong. Betrayal of interest. He's against me. That's all." He repeated that over and over until he forgot what he was originally thinking about and simply focused on the coin's path around his fingers. He sighed, his mind now blank, cold, and bloodthirsty. "None of this would be happening if it weren't for the humans."

He returned to the room. They all stared at him, Raven the only one with concern. Emma came out from wherever she'd been. Erik, no, Magneto cleared his throat. "We're moving it to tonight."

Emma moved toward the sink after sifting through the memories of the others. She flicked the water on and watched Magneto cringe. She remembered seeing Shaw's dead body dropped ruthlessly to the floor. As much of a jerk as Shaw was to her, she still liked him. He was confident, powerful, and kind of sexy for an old guy.

Magneto quickly lowered the handle of the metal sink and continued. "Tonight. We're moving it up, because we all need to get out of this place and away from each other." He glanced at Raven. "Are you sure you want to do this? This is a long term mission, Raven."

She looked up at him sadly, but confidently. She got up and stood next to him. "Anything for the brotherhood." She brushed his lips with her own and grabbed his hand.

Erik's eyes didn't change from their emotionless state. "Azazel?"

Azazel got up and held Raven's hand. He took it quite firmly, causing her to scowl. Magneto's eyes locked with Emma's for a split second before they disappeared with a puff of smoke, but it was long enough to see the combination of hatred and respect.

In a blink of the eye, Magneto, Raven and Azazel were in the cover of darkness outside of the pentagon. Raven tore her hand out of Azazel's grip. Erik squeezed her hand and she looked at him and quickly grabbed his other hand. She placed her lips on his, a little awkward with the helmet on. She held there for a while and he didn't move but he didn't respond. He broke the kiss and looked down at her with the concern of a father or elder brother. "You're sure you want to do this?"

She smiled, but there was some fear in her eyes. "You keep asking that. Yes, I do."

Azazel stood to the side, not saying anything. He just let them have their moment or whatever it was they were doing.

Erik stared at the lovely blue creature in front of him. She really was extraordinarily beautiful. "I don't know when I'll see you again. Or when anyone will see you again." He paused and she stepped back and morphed into Colonel Hendry, who no one knew was dead. He smiled at her, but felt guilty for having inspired such a potentially dangerous idea. "This will bring a great advantage to our side. I…" He grew quite serious. "I will keep you in my thoughts, Raven. You keep gaining more and more of my respect and I'm very proud of you." He looked over at Azazel and beckoned him over. He took Magneto's hand. "Good luck in there."

And then she was alone.

(Perspective Change)

Thunder and lightning shook the mansion, but Charles wasn't woken because he wasn't asleep. He sat very still in his bed and stared at the ceiling. The students' many dreams were floating through his telepathy. Sean was dreaming he was a fish and it was a refreshingly young thing to witness, those innocent dreams of silliness. Meanwhile, Alex was seeing what no one else had seen, the last glimpse of Darwin's face before he died. Charles knew the young man blamed himself for not stopping Darwin and has yet to forgive himself. Charles reached his telepathy toward Raven's room, hoping to catch something. It was a childish and fanciful attempt. He knew she wasn't there. He just thought maybe it was all a dream. Maybe he's finally woken up and they haven't gotten on the plane for Cuba yet. But Raven and Erik's rooms were empty.

Rain poured onto the rooftop. It sounded like waves, like oceans and beaches, like his last moments with Erik. 'My friend!' He called out in his mind, trying without success to widen the radius of his telepathy. 'Surely you can hear me!' Come home.

(PC)

Erik looked up relieved as he finally made it to the mansion, trudging through mud and pouring rain. He'd had Azazel take him to a nearby town so he wouldn't know about the place. Erik knew he was in Charles' radius and that the helmet was all that was keeping him out. He just…hadn't decided yet. He needed to know how much damage he caused. He just wasn't sure if he could face them all. He sighed and tried to find a spot under a tree away from the ever taunting water. He slowly took off his helmet and regardless of the hour, got a response.

'Erik?'

(PC)

Charles startled in his bed. Had Erik heard him? 'Erik?' Through his frazzled shock, he accidently dove farther into his mind than he should've. He felt the connection break as Erik put the helmet back on. Charles was in a frenzy. 'Don't go. Please, Erik, don't go yet.'

He knew Erik couldn't hear him, but he tried to buy some time. He dragged himself to the end of the bed and sloppily fell into the wheelchair. He didn't think about why he was in it or the fact that he couldn't walk. All that mattered was that he had to stop Erik from leaving.

He got to the back door and opened it. From his spot on the porch, he could see to his right a dark figure under the tree. Something wet hit his cheek, he never figured out if it was a raindrop or a tear. "Erik."

(PC)

He glanced up at the open door and wasn't sure what he was seeing. Was Charles sitting down? As he made his way over, he realized what it was and froze. He spoke quietly, but Charles could hear him. "Charles, that's a wheelchair."

The man whose physical scars were now equal to the other's emotional ones, rolled out into the rain. "You couldn't have known, Erik."

He clenched his teeth. "Magneto. My name is Magneto. Your chair is going to rust in this weather."

Magneto turned around but he heard the squeak of Charles following him. "Please don't go. It doesn't have to be like this. We can work together to help this world."

He spoke without turning around. "I don't want to help it like you do. I want to change it."

At this point, both men were drenched and Charles was supposed to be on bed rest. He sneezed and Erik faltered. He was still a friend. A friend he'd hurt. He at least owed him some help. Erik took off the helmet and handed it to Charles. "Hold this for me."

He then turned Charles' wheelchair around and rolled him inside. On entering he took of his cape and jacket. Charles watched with a smile as Erik's jacket came off to reveal a turtleneck. Some things never change.

They stayed in a heavy yet comfortable silence as Erik brought Charles to his room. Charles fiddled with the helmet in his hands, knowing it's what had come between them, quite literally. He wanted to smash it or throw it into the ocean, but he'd asked him to hold it. That required a bit of trust, did it not?

They arrived in the room and Charles brought himself to the bed. Erik rolled his eyes. "God, Charles. You're soaked. Aren't you going to change?"

Charles froze and glanced back at where Erik stood by the door. "It's just harder…now…" He sneezed again.

"Where are your extra clothes?" Charles directed him, feeling useless and weak, but appreciative. Erik helped Charles onto the bed and left the room as Charles changed.

It was silent again except for some rustling. Charles broke the silence. "Erik?"

He sighed from the hallway. "It's Magneto."

Charles hesitated. "Right, of course…why did you come here?"

Erik took a deep breath. There were many things he could say, but he settled for the truth. "I had to know. I had to know what the bullet did. How bad it was. I…I never thought it'd be this bad. The chair is temporary, right? Just for the beginning of recovery?" Charles answered the question with silence. Erik cursed quietly. Charles had finished changing and Erik returned to the room. He stared at his friend's motionless legs. "Never?" Charles shook his head minutely. Erik looked at the puddle on the floor where Charles had thrown the wet clothes and picked them up and brought them to the sink. He then felt stupid. What on earth am I doing here? He sat at a chair that was by the bed. Lightning flashed in the window behind him. "I cannot begin to-"

"Erik, don't. Don't apologize."

"I could've killed you, Charles! This, this is lucky! Do you know how wrong it is to say being paralyzed is lucky? I did this, you said so yourself."

Charles wasn't sure what to say. Yes, it was Erik's fault, but he didn't want to hear an apology from him. Maybe it was childish, maybe it was pride. He was sick of being pitied. He wasn't any less of the man he was before the chair. Why should he be treated differently now? "Just don't apologize, okay? Do that for me and we're even."

Erik simply stared at him. "Even? Even? Charles, I knew your optimism verged on insanity but this is too far even for you. We will never be 'even.' Not unless you're planning on sawing my legs off before I leave tonight."

There were too many silences in which so much hung between them. "In all seriousness, Erik, I can't let you kill anyone." Erik was about to cut in but Charles raised his voice over him to finish. "I don't understand why they must die!" He looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed. "What did they do to deserve to die, Erik? They were born. They didn't choose to not be mutants. It's genetics. Probability, chance. They just haven't had time to understand. Please, Erik. Give them some time."

He stopped correcting Charles about his name. "A year. One year. If they raise a finger against one of our fellow mutants, I will be there to fight. They have a year to accept we are above them."

"Dammit, Erik!" Charles' blood was nearly boiling. "You're being ridiculous! Are you a child at recess playing king of the hill?"

"Charles, you know they're below us, we're the next stage in human evolution-"

Charles sighed. "I swear, Erik. If you try to quote me and use my words against me again. You've killed Shaw."

"It was a shame he killed my mother. In another situation, he would've made a good ally." Erik didn't understand what Charles' problem was. This all made perfect sense to him.

"God, Erik. Shaw wasn't the type to be an ally. And you- …" He stopped himself, unwilling to antagonize his short tempered friend. But it was too late.

"I what?" Erik's lips were a thin line. His eyes were cold as he anticipated the words Charles was about to say.

They stared at each other: Erik daring Charles to say it, Charles biting his tongue. Finally Charles gave in. "You're just like him. You proved that on the beach. You could've easily just dropped the missiles, Erik."

The words were out and they stung Erik more than he expected. A lot more than he expected. He made the only argument he could. "If you'd been in Poland…my family and our friends, we didn't fight. And you see where that got us? If we want to survive being hunted, we have to eliminate those who are hunting us."

There was another silence. Charles remembered what he'd seen in Erik's memories. His argument held some truth. "This is different. They aren't hunting to maintain peculiar ideals. They're hunting because they're scared of what they do not know. And God, Erik. Why do you assume they're hunting? They panicked on the beach. It was the logical military rebuttal for the situation. They were scared. We just have to quell their fear!"

Erik shook his head. "No. I saw your eyes, Charles. You expected more from them." He broke eye contact for a moment. "I knew you expected more from them, but you had to know. You can have your optimism as you relax in your home, but not on the battlefield, Charles. If I hadn't been there…who would have stopped it? Would Azazel have graciously taken everyone out of there or just himself?" Charles had thought about this also. They all would've been dead without Erik. He could've argued more, but he hadn't slept for three days now. He tried to stifle a yawn, but Erik saw it. Charles saw a bit of concern in his eyes but it was gone in a moment. "You should sleep, Charles."

Charles wished he could argue. He wished he had the energy, but he just nodded his head. Erik stood. "Wait, Erik." Erik looked down at his friend, watched him use his elbows to prop himself up and Erik broke again. The calm control fell from his eyes. Charles could see the emotion in his eyes, but didn't say anything. He simply held out his hand. Erik glanced at it. "Friends. Promise me we'll still be friends through this."

The sun peaked through the clouds. Neither of them had noticed the rain stop. A small smirk made its way onto Erik's face and clashed with his guilt stricken eyes. "Oddly symbolic." Charles managed a small laugh, but Erik could see how red his eyes were now that there was some light. And pale. He thought he was pale before but now he looked nearly dead. Erik took Charles hand and shook it.

Charles brought up his other hand and held Erik's hand in his. "Good luck, my friend."

Erik grabbed his helmet and left the room. 'I may be fighting, but I'm fighting for all of us. You're sitting on a battlefield. Someone has to protect you. I'm fighting for you.'

Regardless of the newly arrived sunlight, the room was empty and cold.