And suddenly, Xavier could touch the other mind.

- "The real enemy is out there. I can feel their guns moving in the water. Targeting us."

"You said it yourself, Erik. We're the better men."

"I've been at the mercy of men who were only following orders. Never again!"

He closed his fist around the bloody bullet, the tiny metal object biting into his skin. He felt every edge, every fold, ever lethal molecule.

Bile rose in his throat.

Blue eyes, bright with pain, met pale gray ones.

"Stop," Charles requested, voice hoarse and laced with the pain that raced through his body. His face was sweat-streaked, lined with the agony he must be feeling but ignored.

"They won't," he replied evenly. Anger and pain and sheer hatred coursed through him.

They had been betrayed.

By the ones they had tried to protect.

He had given them a chance to prove to him that humans could be different, but they weren't. They would kill what might threaten them. Their first strike had been thwarted. His counter-strike had fallen short because of…

Erik stopped.

Because of Charles.

A tired smile tugged at the telepath's lips. "They will."

"If we give ourselves up. If we go peacefully into incarceration, let them lock us up, use us, experiment…"

The old memories rose, the torture and pain of his 'education', his training at the hands of a madman.

"They're just waiting for us to surrender!" he went on, pushing the memories back.

"We won't surrender," Charles whispered, breathing more labored now. Controlling the pain. Fighting to stay in control.

The others, allies, friends and former enemies, stood all at a respective distance, unsure what to do. Even the only one who could leave by teleportation was frozen in place by the events. Out in the ocean, the combined forces of the Russian and US fleets waited. They were probably celebrating their survival, but Erik felt their metal weapons, knew they had missiles left.

"Trust me, Erik," Charles said softly, looking into the almost feral eyes.

He shuddered. He did. He already did. Like he had never trusted anyone before. This man had, in just a few weeks, gone past all his defenses and accomplished more than Sebastian Shaw had ever managed. He had won the trust of the deadliest weapon ever created, and Erik would follow him, would give him everything. He had given Charles Xavier the benefit of a doubt at the beginning, had stood back and watched, waited for a reason to leave again, but the doubt had turned to respect and then to trust.

Charles squeezed his hand. "Trust me."

"I do," he replied roughly.

The blue eyes became intense, the pain momentarily chased away. "Enough?"

Enough to remove the helmet? Enough to lay his mind into Charles' hands? Enough to face him without any defenses against such a powerful mind?

He raised shaky hands, encountering the smooth, non-metallic structure of the helmet, and then lifted it off his head. Expecting a telepathic strike, felling him; expecting a cool touch that could control him; expecting offense or defense, whatever.

None came.

Charles gazed at him with a smile that spoke of so much and that had Erik tremble.

Trust.

He trusted like he had never trusted anyone before. And probably never would again.

The helmet landed in the sand with a soft thud.

::I'll never betray your trust, Erik:: he heard in his mind.

It had him shiver.

In the real world, his hand was squeezed once more. It was a spasm of pain that told Lensherr just how close his friend was tethering on a complete shut-down, physically as well as mentally.

"I betrayed you," he blurted.

"You did what you had to do."

"You saw it."

"I was there. With Shaw."

Charles' eyes reflected endless pain. He had fucking felt it, Erik realized in horror. He had felt the coin go through Shaw's brain… He had been there, right there.

"Why?" Erik whispered, horrified.

"I can't leave a mind like that, like taking the next door outside. When I'm there… it's intense. I wanted to reach you. I tried to stop you."

"You froze him." Erik stopped. "Why not unfreeze him?"

"It doesn't work like that. It's a command I can't just undo." A tear ran down Charles' cheek. "It was your demon. You had to exorcize it."

Erik bent forward, foreheads almost touching. He had never even thought about it. Charles had paralyzed Shaw, kept him trapped inside a body that was no longer under his control. He had been there, had looked through Shaw's eyes… and he had felt Shaw's pain. He had screamed the scream that Sebastian Shaw had been unable to voice.

"He had to be stopped," he rasped. "I had to end it. I had to end it, Charles!"

"Has it?" ::Can you start living now?::

He closed his eyes, shivering with the gentle contact. There was so much worse Charles could do to him; so much, much worse. But he wasn't. His mind-touch was like a caress, like an embrace. It was almost loving. Now that he listened he could feel the raggedness, the edge. Xavier was fast approaching the limit. Fuck, he had already gone past it!

"Yes." His voice cracked. "Yes."

Charles smiled openly, with relief, then he suddenly groaned and tried to curl up, but it only evoked another moan of pain. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Erik felt a rush of panic, one hand resting on the too quickly moving chest of his friend, the other still curled around his neck to support the head. Charles was starting to pant more harshly as he tried to control the pain.

::Mind over matter only works so much magic:: he heard in a weak attempt at mind-to-mind communication, laced with faint humor and a lot of agony.

Too much had battered at the telepath's shields before his own injuries had forced him to up the ante on his mind, too. He had overdone it, stressed his brain to the limit, and now it was shutting down.

"Charles…"

He touched the tears, horrified by what he had done to his friend. He had hurt him body and mind. The psychic side was already a mess, torn and shattered from feeling Shaw's death, from fighting for such a prolonged time in a way Xavier had never fought before. Now he had been physically injured, too.

::I trust you, Erik.::

How could he? After everything…

::I always trusted you::

His breath caught at the words. Too much. It was too much. The emotions were boiling up, seeking an outlet.

The blue eyes were filled with them, too. And slid shut.

Then Charles' body went limp.—

Xavier blinked, overrun by the very clear and sharp images he was suddenly able to receive. He saw himself, his other self, through Erik's eyes, felt the emotions, the pain and guilt and hope, and he knew things. A summary of events that had happened, but which Erik's mind didn't feature prominently.

Like the fact that Erik had convinced Azazel to get them home. All of them. No betrayal. The red-skinned teleporter had simply nodded, his eyes unreadable, but he had clearly been in shock over what had happened. He had bowed to the power of Erik Lensherr and where Magneto had exercised that power, calling him into service, this Erik had only asked one thing of the teleporter. Shaw's body had been destroyed. Riptide and Azazel had left without further comment when the others had been back, safe and sound and mostly unharmed.

Charles had spent the first night in medical care. Moira MacTaggart had found a way to get him to a hospital, then pulled a whole lot of strings and flashed her CIA badge at everyone who might argue. Their visit was kept a secret. Xavier's name was never on any medical files. For one night Charles had acquiesced to staying, then he had wanted to go home to Westchester.

And he had gone home.

In pain, barely able to walk, sit or stand comfortably, but he had persevered. The bullet had torn a deep path across his lower back, without touching the spine, and had been lodged in the hip bone when Erik had had removed it. The doctors had cleaned the wounds and stitched them, but scarring would remain.

But he could move. For now under a lot of pain and very carefully, but he wasn't paralyzed.

Xavier closed his eyes, feeling tears rise at the very thought that somewhere luck had been on his side. Not here, in this world, but somewhere. He was forever wheelchair-bound and he had accepted it, but knowing that it might have gone differently, just a fraction of an inch to the left or right…

He pushed the emotions away.

But more rose. Different ones. In the other world, Erik had stayed. Despite the blame, despite the rage, despite everything. He had stayed.

tbc...