Hey! I'm alive! I know it's been months since I've last published anything, but writer's block is the biggest bitch in a writer's life. That and I've also been busy with school, work, and my new internship to even think about writing. However, the new trailer of the Dark Phoenix helped spark something. I hope you all enjoy this.

Set after Apocalypse but before Erik leaves the school.

Talks with a Witch

The sound of birds screeching filled the air.

An arrow flew and pierced a woman and her child, silencing their screams.

He felt their cold bodies in his arms.

No, please. Not again. Please not again!

Not Magda. Not his precious Nina.

He picked up the locket that had been his daughter's, but when he opened his hands it was not the locket he had lovingly made for his only child, it was a bullet, crumbled and bloody. He looked back down only to find the bodies of his wife and daughter had shifted into his old love, Charlotte. Tears shed from her eyes as she looked at Erik with such pain he felt as if his heart was being ripped from his chest.

"He didn't do this, Erik. You did."

Like mist, her body evaporated, leaving Erik with nothing but the bullet in his bloody hands.

No! No please!

Erik didn't want to be alone. He couldn't be alone.

Magda! Nina! Charlotte!

Erik woke up gasping, his heart beating rapidly. As soon as he realized where he was he calmed down. He was in the room Charlotte had given to him in the newly built mansion during his stay. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sweat on his body. Another damn nightmare. Would they never stop? He needed a drink. A strong drink.

Getting out of bed, he made his way out of his room, down the halls towards the kitchen. He hoped Charlotte still kept her alcohol in there.

He must not have been fully awake enough to see the light on in the kitchen before he realized that he wasn't the only one in the school awake.

Wanda Strange's blue eyes met his steel ones as she sipped her drink from a mug.

She said nothing as Erik went over to the pantry where he remembered Charlotte kept her scotch. Nothing. Erik was annoyed.

"Does she hide it these days?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow. "If you're talking about alcoholic drinks, you should know that this is a school, and as far as anyone here knows, the only alcohol you can get here is the cough syrup under lock and key in Dr. McCoy's office."

Erik sighed, closing the pantry doors.

"I did make some tea over there," Wanda motioned towards a kettle by the stove. She watched as Erik hunted for a mug to fill his tea in.

She was still hesitant to trust him after his part in Apocalypse, and knowing his history, but since the Professor, Mystique, and even Dr. McCoy seemed to be okay in his presence she was willing to give him a shot. That, and she could also feel the pain and self-loathing coming off of him. She suppressed the shiver she felt.

Erik found a mug and proceeded to pour himself some tea. Sipping it, he tasted a sweet substance in it. Raising an eyebrow at the young woman, he asked, "Honey?"

Wanda shrugged, her face blushing a bit. For a moment, Erik thought he was looking at a young Charlotte, but the idea seemed ludicrous. Ridiculous.

"My father would always make me a cup of tea whenever I would have a nightmare," Wanda explained, looking down at the tea in her mug.

Erik remembered meeting her father. Dr. Steven Strange. Some kind of sorcerer.

Just after Erik, Jean, and Wanda had finished rebuilding the mansion, everyone had begun resettling in when a portal seemed to appear out of nowhere in the yard. A man had stepped out, wearing some kind of monk outfit and a red cape. At first, Erik had thought him to be a mutant, but that had quickly vanished away. The strange man had started shouting, "Where's my daughter?! WANDA!" The embarrassed young woman had to calm him down, assuring him that yes she was fine, no she wasn't hurt, and it's a long story. Charlotte had to explain to Erik that the odd man was Wanda's father, and that while he wasn't a mutant, he carried extraordinary abilities. Erik didn't know what to think of the man who wasn't a mutant, and yet didn't seem human either, but when the man noticed and recognized him, all hell broke loose. Wanda had to keep her father from lashing out at him, and Charlotte and Raven had to keep Erik from retaliating with Wanda reassuring her father that Erik was safe, and that Charlotte wouldn't have allowed him to be around the students if he wasn't. The sorcerer obviously cared deeply for his mutant daughter, and was very protective of her, but he relented. Erik had left quickly, the interaction between father and daughter reminding him too much of him and his own daughter Nina.

Erik narrowed his eyes, observing the mutant witch more closely, noticing the dark shadows around Wanda's eyes from lack of sleep. "You look tired."

Wanda snorted. "Obviously from a nightmare or something."

At his glare, she sighed tiredly. "I didn't want to wake up Jean or Ororo so I came down here."

"Apocalypse?" Erik asked. All the other kids in her group had been affected deeply about it.

Wanda shook her head. "Not exactly. It's just something I've had for as long as I can remember: fire. Fire everywhere. Consuming everything. Since Apocalypse, the dreams had become more frequently," she confessed, leaning against the table, a hand coming up to fiddle with the necklace she wore.

Erik frowned, surprised to feel actual concern. Why? He barely knew the girl. Maybe it was because in some way she reminded him of Nina, and what she could have been like had she been given the chance to grow up. Yes, that had to be it.

Wanda suddenly looked at him, and Erik was nearly struck by her sapphire blue eyes. "You had a nightmare too," she said.

Erik narrowed his eyes further. Wanda did so as well. "I didn't have to read your mind for that bit of information. It's quite obvious."

Erik slammed his mug down, spilling some of the tea in it and was getting up to leave.

"I saw you," Wanda's voice stopped him.

He turned around and looked at her. "Saw me where?" he demanded.

Wanda's hand gripped the necklace around her neck, her eyes becoming unreadable to Erik. "Before Apocalypse, I saw you in the forest… with them. I could feel your pain and agony."

Erik's blood had run cold, and his fists clenched tightly, his nails digging into his skin. He could feel all the metal in the room. All the utensils hidden away, the pots hanging above their heads, and the refrigerator and stove nearby.

Wanda felt his anger building up like a rising storm, but she continued to sit in her seat, not backing down. He can try to hurt her. No projectile ever touched her unless she wanted it to.

Erik saw her watching him, her eyes showing him no fear. For a brief moment, he wanted this insolent girl to be afraid of him. But even as the pots above them began to shake, the utensils moved around their cubby hole, and the stove and refrigerator shook, there was still no fear in Wanda's eyes. She merely raised an eyebrow, and that's when Erik realized what she was doing. The refrigerator stilled, and pots slowly stopped moving.

Erik narrowed his eyes at the young woman. "You were testing me, weren't you?"

Wanda shrugged, her hand holding her necklace releasing it from its grasp. "Where I grew up, you had to be careful who to trust and watch your back." Wanda could remember Mordo, her father's former friend who had lost his way and betrayed them. In a way, Erik kind of reminded her of him, so forgive her for being cautious.

She didn't trust him, Erik realized. Well, she was certainly smarter than her teachers and classmates. He respected her for that.

His eyes noticed the necklace hanging around her neck. A rose. It was red like iron, and the petals looked smooth not sharp. As if they were done by hand, or… "What is that?"

Wanda was startled by his question.

"This?" she pointed at the necklace. "I've always had it ever since I was baby. I believe it belonged to my birth mother."

"Birth mother?" Erik asked, leaning forward on the table to get a closer look. Where had he seen that?

Wanda shifted, embarrassed. Why did she tell him that? The only person she had ever told about her adoption was Jean. Not any of her friends, Dr. McCoy, or even the Professor. Maybe because she felt guilty for testing him.

"Yeah, I'm adopted," she admitted, letting Erik take a closer look at her necklace. "My father rescued me from a cult when I was just a few days old. He deduced that I had been taken from my family immediately after my birth, but he couldn't find enough clues as to who or where they might be."

Why was she telling him all this? Her parents, Wong, and her best friend were the only people she had trusted with this secret, and here she was telling this man, this stranger who had tried to destroy the world. What was wrong with her? But Wanda couldn't feel any malice or deceit as Erik took a hold of her necklace.

Nobody understood metals better than Erik. Over the years he had created and manipulated all kinds of metal pieces. He felt the metal rose pieces, too smooth even for a professional jeweler who made it by hand. Almost like the metal had been smoothed out on its own. He remembered another necklace so similar to this. When Charlotte was in the hospital after he… He had made a necklace out of the bullet he had put and taken out of her spine without even thinking. A rose symbolizing all the beauty she saw and the beauty she herself carried in. The petals smooth without any sharpness to them. Come to think of it, just like the one Erik was holding right now. How-?

They were both startled by a black cat jumping up on the table, meowing.

"Ebony!" Wanda cried out, laughing a bit.

The cat went over to her mistress, demanding her attention and to be pet. Erik glared at the feline as it hissed at him.

"She doesn't like many people," Wanda told him, picking up her cat and began to scratch her head.

Erik shook his head as the cat immediately began to purr in Wanda's arms. He sighed. "You're not going to go back to bed are you?"

"Nope. Are you?" she looked at him with her blue eyes.

"No." He remembered studying her while they had rebuilt the mansion. He remembered thinking how her auburn hair reminded him of his mother, and the way her eyes squinted that reminded him of Nina when she was concentrating on something. Now, with those blue eyes sparkling and those lips smiling mischievously he was reminded of Charlotte whenever she was up to something.

"You know how to play chess?" he found himself asking.

Wanda shrugged, placing her cat back down. "A little. I use to play with my father when I was younger.

A grin appeared on Erik's face, the nightmares he had dealt with earlier slowly fading to the back of his mind. "I think Charlotte still keeps a set in her office."

A grin appeared on Wanda's face as well. "You're on."

And that's how Charlotte Xavier found them that morning. Still in their nightclothes with mugs of tea beside them, and Ebony curled up in Wanda's lap. Charlotte smiled as she watched her former love and one of her top students in the middle of an intense game of chess. Wanda with a bright smile on her face, and Erik with a peaceful one.

000{{*}}000

So what do you guys think? I thought about giving Erik and Wanda some father/daughter bonding even though they don't know it yet. I don't know when the next update will be givin how chaotic and stressful my life is right now, but I'll try to update whenever the inspiration strikes.

So excited over the new trailer that's come out. And kind of nervous about how it is going to play out.

Thank you all so much for your support.