Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely for fun.
Warnings: AU, slash(but mild).
A/N:I don't wish to reveal much about the plot but I can tell you it links the X-men Last stand movie with the First class. I have no other knowledge of X-men aside the movies and the one episode I happened to see when I was little and all I remember from it is that it featured the phoenix so I am taking liberties. Please forgive any OCC that may occur and please point it out, my fear of it almost made me unwilling to post this.
The inspiration behind this fic is an errant thought expressed by my brother that the Origin movies where set in different AU from each other and the other movies because otherwise some things could not be explained. So I am working with that in mind. I have planned for 2 parts at least and will expand but it depends largely on the feedback.
Beta-ed by RainingSkittles
'thoughts'
"speech"
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause. - Voltaire
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oOo part 1 oOo
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The park was a place of recollection. The small tables with the chessboards were always inviting. People would lose themselves in the game and conversation would be scarce but through the game another sort of communication would occur. Erik would come there, even before the recent events, seeking solitude and searching for something that has now unreachable.
There were few memories of his past that weren't filled with violence and suffering. One of them was the moments he spent with Charles, over another chess set. He remembered them with fondness and a certain longing. There were moments where they would talk about a variety of things or argue about other things. There would be moments where the silence would reign, either because they were focused on the game or they simply felt at ease to sit opposite each other without the need to exchange words. Never would such a silence be uncomfortable between them, it always held a deeper meaning, a sensation that even if they didn't speak, there was still a connection, binding them together. That tie had formed from their first meeting and had continued to strengthen throughout their lives, whether they were together or on opposite sides.
"We are brothers you and I," he remembered saying to Charles one day.
He was wrong. They were so much more than that, always. Two sides of the same coin, co-dependent. And now Charles was dead and Erik could feel the absence of that connection, like a void that threatened to pull him in if he contemplated on its existence for long. The thought of what had transpired was a particularly difficult one. Even if Erik was never one to shy away from the reality brought about as a result of his actions and choices he had to admit that this was one particularly difficult truth to bear. He had played an integral part in Charles's demise. That was one thing he was not capable to come to terms with, certainly not now that the grief was so near, but he suspected, not ever. He should never have provoked Jea- no Phoenix as he did. He was in part responsible for Charles's death.
Throughout his life, from the moment he first met the telepath, only one persistent need existed, unchanged by time and by everything else. His need to protect Charles. Even when he had left his side, unable to walk the same road that Charles was so invested in, there never was a moment when he had thought of hurting Charles. Deep in his mind there was the hope that once everything had settled, he would been able to return to Charles's side. That was a hope he had held on to even as the years passed.
The war had come. As he had foreseen and as he had planned, because Magneto had never believed that peaceful cohabitation would occur. He had not feared war, having lived through one already. He had thought however that the day after would be more gratifying. It wasn't. The end found them broken, beyond repair. He was Magneto no longer. Charles was dead and Erik had lost everything.
A tear glided down his cheek as he was overwhelmed by thoughts of broken dreams and hopes.
The tragedy of it all was that he had once before felt such pain and despair that could have broken him, but it didn't. He had found a goal, a reason to keep going. Revenge had been his motivation for many years and when that had been accomplished, he had aspired to help people like him, he had found Charles and in him he had found hope.
"You are not alone."
Charles had told him those four simple words when they had met and they had opened his eyes to new possibilities. For the first time in his adult life Erik had been able to aspire to something other than retribution. Because Charles had been his light. He had given him back the ability to dream, to imagine and wish for a future. If happiness was something real and not an abstract notion, he was certain his depended on the other man who never gave up on him. Now...there was nothing. He was a shell of his former self. He was alone.
A few sobs escape his lips and he brings his hand to his mouth in an effort to contain them. It is too late, sobs wreck his body as the dam brakes and all his thoughts and feelings materialize in the form of tears, falling freely from his eyes.
With his free hand he lashes out and scatters all the pieces off the chessboard he has set to recreate one of the games he and Charles had once played.
That causes surprised looks by the few people, distracting them from their own games.
He doesn't care.
His mind is assaulted by images as he squeezes his eyes shut in an effort to contain his tears.
The meeting...their first handshake...their first kiss...their first night together...the mornings they woke up together...the school...the kids...their last kiss as they parted ways. Charles eyes were clouded with sadness but also with understanding. He had never blamed him for not seeing things his way. He always wore his heart on his sleeve, he always believed in people and he always held on to hope. He remembers the good days and how radiant Charles's smile was.
A flash and then he finds himself staring at a site of disaster, everything around him come apart but his eyes cannot leave one pair of blue eyes. Charles's face is almost peaceful as his form disintegrates before his very eyes. He is being ripped apart, in front of Erik's terrified eyes and the metal-bender is unable to do anything but watch as another person he loves is killed in front of him. Just like his mother.
He doesn't blame Jean, she was a victim as well, of a power perhaps too great for her to handle. In retrospect he has no choice but to accept that Charles may have been right. No, Jean is not responsible. If anyone is at fault it is Erik himself. Everyone around him have died violent deaths and it is hard not to wonder if his presence was the catalyst. What if he was his presence in their lives that had caused it? What if something about his abilities somehow derailed so many fates, so many lives? He realizes how ridiculous such a thought is, Charles would have gave him his unique disapproving look just for thinking it, he is certain. Still, he can't help but question why he is still here.
'Why am I still alive?'
Out of nowhere, or perhaps it feels like that because he had been so wrapped in himself, Erik feels a soft sensation envelop his shoulders as if someone leans down on his back to embrace him. He gasps as he is assaulted by powerful feelings of regret, pain and misery but they are not his. Erik feels as if he is caught within a whirlwind, being tossed all over the place and pulled downwards towards the center. The air has left his lungs and the sensation of drowning becomes overwhelming.
A jumbled thought, not his own, comes to the surface halting his movement, suspending them in mid air, nothing but darkness all around.
'I am sorry.'
'Cha-'
The question dies on his lips as he falls.
Darkness wraps around him and he knows no more.
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oOo End part 1 oOo
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