Part II

Erik is lying on the sand and his head is cradled in someone's lap. He knows it's Charles, but he can't open his eyes. His lips are so dry. Charles, he tries to say anyway.

"Hello, Erik."

Erik opens his eyes. Charles is holding his head in his lap and stroking Erik's hair softly. It's so bright, and Erik has to squint, but he still can't see Charles's face properly. The sand feels hot beneath his back, but Charles's hands are like a cool breeze. He licks his lips. "I'm hallucinating, aren't I?"

Charles smiles. "Well, yes, but it's not your fault."

Erik closes his eyes and sighs. He can't smell Charles; that's the problem.

"Sorry. I don't know what I smell like."

Erik cracks open his eyes again and squints at him. "I thought I told you to stay out of my head."

"Hmm. I don't think you did."

"Yes, I did."

"Well, this is a hallucination, so what does it matter?"

Erik gives up and closes his eyes again. "You're awfully annoying for a hallucination," he mutters.

"Don't fall asleep, please, Erik." Charles's voice sounds almost panicked. "I know it's warm out, but they'll be there soon."

"No one's coming," Erik mutters at him without opening his eyes. "I'm alone." He frowned; that doesn't seem quite right. "I think."

"I'm here."

Erik bats at the empty air in front of his face. As he expects, his hand hits nothing. "Oh, stop it. Go bother someone else." He thinks he can hear voices, but that can't be right. He's somewhere desolate . . . right, the desert. Somewhere Charles wouldn't follow him.

I thought you wanted me to follow you.

"Go away," Erik says, and he's not sure if he's talking to hallucination-Charles or memory-Charles.

"I'm sorry, my friend," Charles murmurs. "You don't have a choice." He bends down over Erik, and Erik can feel his shadow on his face. There are other voices yelling, but they don't matter. Someone jostles him, but he doesn't open his eyes. He doesn't think he can.

He can remember another time when he was on the sand. It smelled like the ocean. It was hot then, too. Someone presses something to his lips and he turns his head away. There's something wet; they're trying to give him water. No, he thinks, and he tries to strike out.

"Peace, Erik, peace," Charles is saying. There is something Erik is supposed to say in response to that, but he can't remember what it is. Then Charles is gone.


When Erik wakes, he is lying in a bed. He opens his eyes and blinks. His eyes are so dry, and his body is so heavy. He feels as though he's slept for a day. His eyelashes scratch his cheeks and he closes his eyes for a moment. He feels dizzy, and he's lying down. That's not good. He fists his hands in the bedsheets to try to keep the world from turning him upside-down.

"Magneto?" someone asks, and Erik's eyes fly open as he turns his head towards the voice. It's Raven – no, Mystique. She looked worried. "Are you okay? Here's some water. We've had you on an IV, but Charles said you'd probably want some water too." She is holding the glass towards him, and Erik looks at it. Something isn't quite right.

He's not wearing his helmet.

Charles? he shouts. He curses at himself; of course, he had taken it off in the desert. It had been too hot for the heavy piece of metal.

"No need to yell," Charles's voice calls from down the hallway, and some part of Erik thinks he's still hallucinating. After all, he has no idea where he is or how he got here.

Raven looks incredibly guilty and she presses the glass to his mouth insistently. "Sorry," she whispers, and Erik automatically takes a sip of the water.

Then Charles appears in the open doorway and Raven has to support Erik's head to keep him from choking.

"You're awake," Charles says brightly, and Erik kind of wants to murder him. "I don't suggest trying to speak; your throat's pretty torn up from all the dust you inhaled and the dehydration. I know you must be thirsty, but don't drink the water too fast. It wouldn't be good for you to vomit on an empty stomach."

Erik props himself up on his elbows, even though they feel raw and like they still have sand embedded in them, and glares at him.

"I'm not in your mind," Charles reminds him as he wheels himself a little closer to the bed. "I don't remember any promises to let you kill yourself." There's a dark glint in Charles's eye that Erik doesn't like. He may not be in Erik's head, but he is in Erik's hideaway –

Isn't he? Where the hell is he anyway?

"Don't worry, I didn't spirit you away to the school," Charles tells him dryly. "But yes, there's a reason why this isn't familiar. This is neutral territory. It's a house of a friend of a friend of Raven's . . . ?" He looks at her and Mystique nods.

"I found it," she assures Erik. "We're safe here."

Who? Erik asks.

"Just the three of us," Charles tells him. "See? You outnumber me."

Erik suddenly feels very alone. "Get me my helmet," he rasps to Mystique. She gives Charles a warning look, but she leaves obediently.

Charles sighs. "Really, Erik?" he murmurs, but it's faint enough that Erik pretends not to have heard. He wheels himself closer, and Erik can see every damn freckle on his nose.

Damn you, he thinks, and Charles smiles sadly.

"I had to find you, you know," Charles tells him quietly. "Raven contacted me. You'd been missing for too long and Frost was . . . indisposed. I had to find you alone in the desert, dying from heat exhaustion and dehydration because you had replaced your water with fuel." Charles hisses the last few words before he pulls himself together. "Please don't do that to yourself again."

"You have no right to ask me for anything," Erik rasps, and his throat feels like it's on fire. "Now get out."

Charles doesn't look surprised; he looks tired. He turns and wheels himself towards the door. You're not alone, he tells Erik just as Mystique arrives with the helmet. No matter how much you might wish it was true.

Erik takes the helmet in his hands and puts it on his head. Everything is darkness, and silence.