A/N: Yes, I suck. This should have been done a long time ago. But it was hard, even though I LOVE uberpowerful!Charles. I might end up writing him as Onslaught too, just because I love him so much.
Also, thank you for all the wonderful reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own the franchise. For crying out loud, it's older than I am!
In the early hours of the morning, a hospital burned to the ground. The alert didn't reach the local fire department until the fire had grown to enormous heights, with flames leaping from windows and the death count rising.
In the chaos, no one noticed the mutants frantically trying to make a plan.
"I'll fly." Sean gibbered. "He's in room 376, it had a window, I could get to it and grab him."
"You don't have your wings." Alex pushed against Hank's restraining arm. "Let me go in! I can just blast the flames out of my way!"
"No! The whole place is collapsing, you have to let the firemen just do their jobs!"
"What, and you think they're going to get to the third floor and carry the professor down three flights of stairs that are on fucking fire?" Alex snapped at Hank. "They can't do anything!"
"Neither can we! He might already have gotten out anyway!"
"The Professor can't even walk, he'll end up suffocating!" Sean looked from Hank to Alex. "We have to do something!"
"Like what?" Hank asked. "Die?"
"He'd do it for us!" Alex snarled back. Hank growled, his claws curling out. Alex scowled and readied himself to unleash a blast. "If you want to stand back and let the Professor die, be my guest, but don't even act like you can stop me!"
"Oh, yes I can." Hank's voice came out savage. "And the Professor would want me to."
"How do you know? You aren't a telepath!" Alex shoved Hank. Sean gulped. "I'm going to save him, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"
"Just watch me!" Hank grabbed Alex's arm. At the same moment, there was a terrific rumble. The firemen fell back, waving their arms and calling for the spectators to run, get out of the way.
"You guys…" Sean stared in horror as the building collapsed. Glass shattered, concrete shook. "I think it's a moot point."
"He can't be dead." Alex snapped. Hank, all his bestiality stripped by the mound of rubble, responded hollowly.
"The Professor couldn't walk." He touched Alex's shoulder. "We need to…"
"Guys!" Sean pointed. Hank squinted. The flames still leapt at the sky, but there was a figure emerging from the ruins. Walking through the flames. For a second, Hank thought he wasn't seeing something human. Just a dark silhouette with two pits of flame for eyes, and every step it took towards them made his skin crawl. The instincts his serum had triggered were pulling at his mind, whispering to him that he needed to run.
"Professor?" Alex bolted forward. Sean followed barely a step behind him. Hank stared.
No. Charles stepped from the fires, just him, not…whatever Hank thought he saw.
"Mom!" It fell from Alex's lips before he could stop himself. Charles turned to him and raised one eyebrow. Alex and Sean stopped short. "A-are you okay?"
The Professor certainly looked fine. He was unscathed, without even a singed sleeve. His hospital gown had somehow been replaced with a suit.
"Never better." Charles walked right past them. "Hank. Keys."
Hank handed them over automatically. This wasn't possible. They had seen the medical reports when Charles was unconscious, when doctors muttered that he had gone into some kind of coma, when his heartbeat jumped erratically, and he'd gone into cardiac arrest a thousand times and the whitefaced nurses would spring up, only for the heart monitor to resume soft beeps before the electric pads could touch his chest. They had thought Charles might die, and that even if he pulled through, there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell he'd be able to walk. "Professor, what…"
"The doctors were wrong. Come. I'm purchasing plane tickets. We'll be back at the manor by this evening." Alex and Sean looked at each other uncertainly. Hank's look mirrored their's. "Are you three going to stand there all day, or follow?"
"I want you to check on him." Emma raised one delicate eyebrow at her new boss. Erik scowled. "You're a telepath, I assume your powers can stretch that far."
"And if the Professor has some objection to my browsing through his mind?"
"Charles" Magneto corrected himself "Professor X isn't likely to do anything to you other than push you away, if he senses you. And you always have the ability to go diamond."
"As you wish." Emma rolled her shoulders. The former Hellfire club was sheltered in an old apartment in California - and as far as Emma was concerned, there were better places in California they could be inhabiting. If they had access to money. Which they didn't. "Is there anything in particular you want me to look for?"
"Make sure he's okay." Ah, and there was that. The fact that Emma didn't even need to use her abilities (not that she could) to see that Magneto wasn't nearly as detached as he needed to be. This was why she detested lover's quarrels.
"How enormously specific." She stared at a wall. "Now let me concentrate."
Emma blocked out the noise of Mystique feeling somewhat uncomfortable nude around Azazel and Riptide, Azazel's bored wonderings about when he could next stab someone, Riptide's running commentary about their boss's taste in headgear, and Angel's bored contemplations of three-ways.
She focused, and there.
Burn.
Emma screamed, her hands going to her head. She shifted into diamond form almost instantly - and didn't stop screaming, little chips of crystal spilling out of her mouth. Erik stared in shock as she was flung back through the wall, flying through three sets of drywall before crashing into a concrete back wall hard enough to leave a crater.
There was a shriek from the other room as Raven scrambled back automatically. Azazel already had a dagger in his hand. Angel was staring in utter astonishment. Riptide, the least affected, began picking pieces of broken plaster off the floor.
With a gurgle, Emma reverted. She was a mess. The normally pristine white suit was torn, with drizzles of blood making tracks against the white. Red rivulets ran from her nose and mouth. Emma clutched her stomach, breathing harshly.
Magneto stepped closer, but made no other move. He was as startled as any of the others.
"What happened?" Emma's face was nearly as pale as her diamond form.
"I…" Emma shuddered. "I did not expect that."
"Is Charles okay?" Emma managed to glare at Magneto. Trust him to be thinking about the psychic entity who walloped her rather than his own telepath.
"I have no idea. Quite frankly, I haven't the faintest if what I just brushed was your friend at all, and if it was, then your time would be best suited worrying about yourself." She touched her lip, smearing the blood. "I'm going to a dark room, and I need medical attention, soon. I think some of my ribs are broken."
Charles Xavier lay on his bed, idly watching sparks trickle over his fingertips. There was no need for sleep. No being of his power needed sleep. Instead he toyed with the fire, simply enjoying moving his toes.
The fire is beautiful.
I know. Charles bent his fingers into a claw, and made a ring of flames leap up around the edges of the room. The mortals are sleeping?
Yes. We could give them nightmares.
Pathetically easy. Charles shot the flames at the window, shattering it. He caught the shards in the air before they hit the floor. Emma Frost tried to touch us earlier.
We took care of her quite well, in my opinion.
She should be further dissuaded. Charles reassembled the mirror, molding the pieces together in an imperfect circle. He proceeded to melt it, letting his mind twist it to whatever patterns came to mind. I have no wish for Shaw's bitch to even think about poking about in my head.
You are a wiser man than you once were.
I've learned.
Indeed. Charles heard a low laugh, as sudden bands formed around Emma Frost's lungs. In a small room thousands of miles away, Emma was heaving for breath, blue flames flickering around her cot.
"Who are you?" Emma choked out. Charles pressed her wrists to the cot.
"A nightmare." Emma had no right to be with Erik. No right to be the telepath who helped him, when Charles was the one who had soothed his nightmares, when Charles was the one who had seen how much good was in Erik, when Charles had been the one who unlocked those magnetic powers and shown Erik how much power he truly had.
But you misjudged. You believed that he was wise enough, good enough to stay with you, and he wasn't. Maybe you only saw what you wanted to see. We both know that Erik betrayed you. He won't even let you see his mind. Did he ever even trust you?
I…I know. Emma doesn't know what she's getting herself into.
No, she does not. For she took us on as enemies.
"Foolish girl." Charles hissed at the blonde. "You have no idea of what's to come. I should kill you now and spare you the pain."
Let's not.
Why?
It's unnecessary. I'm tired of torturing her, she's as scared as she's going to get. With a huff of irritation, the Phoenix pulled away from Emma. She shuddered, trying to keep her mind sane.
Charles snapped his fingers, and sent a lightning strike at the fountain outside. He snickered quietly as it cracked in half. Once, his Stepfather had held his head down in that fountain until he was seconds from death, then yanked him out and laughed at him. It's destruction brought him great satisfaction.
It's wonderful, to wreak destruction like this. Charles focused on the satellite dish, the one Erik had moved, the time he had seen the illusion of goodness in the man's mind, and been too foolish to know that it was a lie.
With a screech, it was pounded into fragments.
"They're scared, you know." Erik folded his arms. Emma was absolutely still on her cot, a spate of new bruises going up her arms. They were very unsettling. Erik pushed his mind away from how they almost looked like claw marks. "Especially Angel and Raven. Pardon me, Mystique."
"Scared of what?"
"They think Professor X has found a telekinetic. One powerful enough to reach across the country to hurt us, and they're right to be afraid." Emma cracked an eye open. "I assume that was all you wanted?"
"The report on the brotherhood's mental state is appreciated, but not the purpose of this visit. I was going to inquire after your health."
"I am in pain." Emma's voice cut like diamonds. "I have been burned, my organs feel bruised, and my favorite suit is ruined."
"Charles must not have very good control over the telekinetic."
"Are you entirely sure he isn't the telekinetic?" Emma pointed out. "Telepathy and telekinesis have always been linked."
"This" Erik waved a hand at her. "Is not the work of Charles Xavier. I know him."
"If you're certain. But I wouldn't be so sure in your knowledge of the Professor." She closed her eyes again. "Surely you have another reason for disturbing me."
"I have a plan. I thought you would appreciate being the first to know."
"Do tell."
"A few thousand miles from here, in Nevada, there's a government facility. It's one of the few places in the US from which you can launch a full arsenal of nuclear weapons."
"Why not just go for the pentagon? It would be just as effective."
"Officially, this place doesn't exist." Erik's lips twitched. "It was designed to be somewhere no one would know about, a fallout shelter for the most important government officials if things were to go drastically wrong. Such as, if a threat like mutants ever surfaced."
"And once you've seized the weapons?"
"Fire on Washington. Fire on London. Fire on Beijing. These weapons have incredible range, we can send a bomb straight to Russia."
"So you're going to do as Shaw tried to do, and start a war." Erik's fists clenched.
"No!" The metal legs of Emma's cot twisted. "I'm going to end every war. The world will be thrown into chaos, and mutants will ride out the wave into victory. The humans will be so crippled they'll never have a chance to recover."
"You paint an intriguing picture." Emma let out a long breath. "If it's my approval you're after, you've got it. Though I didn't think filling your 'gap' would include granting you absolution for your every action."
"I only wanted to make sure no one would be difficult." Emma giggled. "Do not try my patience!"
"Don't expect all telepaths to be alike." Emma shot back. "I'm in no position to coddle you, and if you wanted someone to make you feel better about your plots, you might as well have stayed with the Professor." She dissolved into laughter.
"…what's wrong with you?" Erik stalked around her. Emma's head lolled.
"You don't know what you're doing or what you seek tiny birds on tiny branches peek logic is a little bird tweeting in a field logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad bad like the future." Madness flickered in her eyes.s
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Fire." Emma's eyes danced. "Fire so hot it melts diamonds and cracks ice. Fire to turn bones into ashes."
Erik leaned forward. "He has a pyro?"
"I don't know." The whites of Emma's eyes showed. "Stop questioning me. I can tell you nothing, and if we keep talking about him, it will notice. Do not send my mind down that road."
"Fine." Erik backed up. "Try to get a handle on yourself. Send someone to find me when you can speak again."
He left, feeling deeply disturbed.
"The hell happened out there?" Sean asked incredulously. Hank and Alex crowded behind him, staring out the windows.
The lawn was torn up, as if by enormous talons. One of the fountains was cracked in half, so that water spilled over the ground. The ground itself was so hot that clouds of steam rose up, almost like smoke. A few windows were shattered. Half of the garden had been burned to ash.
"Professor!" Alex yelled.
"I'm right here. There's no need to yell." Hank jumped. How the hell had Charles snuck up on them like that? He had animal hearing, and he hadn't heard a single footstep. "What do you want?"
"The lawn…" Sean gestured. The Professor raised his eyebrows.
"And?"
"It's torn up!"
"I hardly see why you're so concerned." The kids stared at him. Charles's lips twitched up. "No one is bleeding. No one is dead. If a bit of broken turf disturbs you this much, I'd hate to see what happens when a real threat presents itself."
"We're…sorry?" Sean tried. Hank was staring at the Professor. He could never have imagined Charles Xavier saying something like that. Then his ear caught a sound.
"Professor, there's a car coming down the drive." Hank fought back panic. "I should go inside."
"Do so." Charles glared down the driveway, where a black vehicle was approaching. "I'll deal with this."
Charles stood at the top of the steps and watched as the men got out of the car. It certainly didn't take the government long to find them.
Kill them.
Wait. I want to see what they want. But as for Moira…I should have taken care of her before now. As soon as this is over, she's going to burn. Charles glared down at the suited men.
"Is there something we can help you gentleman with?" They were both carrying guns. More men with guns were waiting inside the car, hidden behind tinted windows. Charles could have laughed at the precaution - as if tinted windows would stop the Phoenix from seeing.
"Professor Xavier?" It may have sounded like a question, but they knew who he was.
"Expecting a cripple?"
"You and your team are hereby commanded by the United States Government to come with us, for questioning and detainment." Charles raised his eyebrows.
"And if I refuse?"
"You and your team will be brought in by force." Charles began to laugh. Sean and Alex exchanged nervous looks. "Surrender any and all weapons you carry, and put your hands in the air."
"Neither I nor any other mutant in this manor is going to your prisons." Charles's mouth curved up in a cruel smile. "Are you really sure you want to try forcing us?"
"That's impressive talk for someone so small." The leader had a gun in his hand by the end of the sentence. "Take them, and search the mansion for the others."
"Fools." Charles raised one hand, and the man screamed in pain. Flames shot from his mouth, from where Charles had kindled fire in his stomach. He was raised into the air, blood leaking from his nose, and flung to the side. It happened in the space of seconds.
"The fuck?" Alex scrambled back, yanking Sean with him. Charles rolled his eyes and upended the car with a wave of flame. The men who had gotten out already ducked and covered. Those who had not were lost in fire.
"Try to remain calm, boys." Charles glared at the remaining operatives. "This won't take long."
He flexed his fingers.
This should prove interesting.
See how fragile they are? Nothing but bones and meat. Charles understood. He ripped each and every one apart, until the walkway was spattered with blood. The other leader raised his gun, and Charles had to concede that he was at least a courageous man. A moronic ape. Do not mistake sheer stupidity for courage.
"I don't think so." Charles caught the bullet in a ball of flame and melted it. Alex and Sean, who cowered on the steps behind him, watched in horror. He focused on the sole survivor, the one who had attempted to shoot him. "You led them into this, you know. It's your fault."
He raised the man into the air, disintegrating the gun. Then he entered his mind. The man began to writhe as the burning hot presence soared along the lines of his brain. Charles finally let him drop, making a sound of disgust.
"I suppose we should feel it's a compliment for someone so high ranking on the chain to come for us." He glanced behind him, at Sean and Alex. They were both looking at him as if they'd never seen him before. "Are you two quite alright?"
"We're fine." Alex managed. Sean nodded mutely. Hank hurried out the doors. He'd been watching from one of the upstairs windows.
"Professor…" Hank swallowed and looked at the scraps of human around them. The one surviving operative was curled up on the ground in a fetal position, whimpering. Charles had snapped his mind. "What is this?"
"I've merely taken an option which in the past, I was blind to the value of." Charles smiled coldly. "And I have interesting news."
"Oh. Um. Really?" Sean was still staying slightly behind Alex. Charles didn't notice.
"Apparently, there's only one place the government believes is truly safe in the case of a mutant attack. A stronghold in Nevada, armed to the teeth with all manner of nuclear weaponry." Charles frowned. "It sounds like something Magneto would have an interest in."
"Uh, what's the plan for these?" Alex made a very small gesture at the still-burning car, the remnants of human, and the one living operative.
"Yes, I suppose these can't be left to just waste away on the lawn." Charles concentrated. The burning car disintegrated, along with the remains of the humans. Sean's hands flew to his mouth in shock. "As for you…"
The operative got to his feet, eyes dead.
You will return to your base. You will say that their information is wrong, that this is not a mutant stronghold. You will erase Charles Xavier, Erik Lensherr, Raven Xavier, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, and Hank McCoy from the government's database. You will shoot Moira McTaggert. Following this, you will shoot yourself. The man blinked and nodded.
"What did you do?" Hank asked. The operative had turned around and was walking down the path with a purposeful stride. He knew exactly what his mission was. He knew exactly what he had to do before he would have peace.
"I took care of a few problems." Charles frowned. "But we need to find out if Magneto is going to move on this information. I know he has it." He'd seen it in Erik's mind long ago, that a base in Nevada existed. At the time, he passed over the information as one more scrap of knowledge that Erik had accumulated in his search for Shaw.
"How are you going to do that?" Sean regretted the question as soon as he asked, when Charles turned to him. In the depths of those blue eyes, he could still see flames flickering.
"I'll figure something out." Sean shivered. Those were the same words Charles said whenever there was a problem, but the tone was utterly wrong.
What, exactly, are you doing?
Checking a history book.
And why, pray tell, are you doing that?
I want to make sure I'm right about a date. Aha - and so I am.
Two days from now is the anniversary of a city burning, what of it?
I think that's when Erik is going to attack the base.
What, simply to honor an ancient volcano? That war was nothing compared to the havoc we could wreak in mere days. Or to what Erik would do with the power of a nuclear station in his hands. Why bother to stop him?
Because…because he'll start a hundred wars.
The mortals are always at war.
Yes, I know that full well. I've seen their minds, and it's what they always think of.
Always thinking of hate or fear or selfish desires, and yet they are always weak. They will never understand us. They fear us.
They're right to fear us. And we're not going to stop a war. We're going to stop Erik from making a world that exists on his terms.
You're right, he can't be trusted to shape the world. And he does not deserve the chances you gave him.
Yes. I'm going to talk to Hank about requisitioning another plane from the government, to get us there. After that last attempt to take us, the least the government can do for us is to provide transportation.
Charles looked up from his book as Hank hesitantly stepped into the library. "Hank, just the mutant I was looking for."
"Um, yes. I wanted to ask you a few things." Charles stared at him. Hank looked nervous. "About what you did to the CIA agents."
"They're no longer a threat, I hardly see what more you need to ask about. Does the government have any other high-speed planes?" Hank twitched.
"Yeah, but they're all guarded. We might have been able to get access if we worked with the government, but now that you've gone and slaughtered a whole team of agents…" Hank twitched again. "Professor, um, how did you do that? You hadn't mentioned a mutation for telekinesis, or pyrokinesis…"
"My mind has grown." Charles's voice was very, very, deadly. "Are you doubting me? Do you think that anyone else would keep you here? I could easily throw you back into society, and then your feet would be the least of your problems."
"I-I'm sorry." Hank's voice shook. Charles could read the fear in his eyes. "The planes are all in a hangar at the same base we stayed at before, but none of them are as fast as the other was, and they all have tracers on them. It would take me six hours to fly one to Nevada."
"Erik will attack the base in the day after tomorrow." Charles checked his watch. "Tomorrow we find a plane, and then fly to the base by the next morning." He tossed the book aside.
"Are all of us going?" Hank asked.
"Obviously. You need all the combat practice you can get, if that display on the beach was anything to go by." Charles said disgustedly. The Phoenix had cleared his mind, and showed him just what a display of incompetence Cuba had been. Hank nodded rapidly and backed out of the study.
"I still don't know." Hank whispered. Sean held his pillow to his chest. Alex stared at the bedcover. Hank shivered. "And it felt like he would kill me if I pushed it."
"I don't understand." Sean said miserably. "Ever since Erik left, it's he doesn't even care about us. He just ignores our existence."
"I know. If I wanted to live like this, I could have stayed in jail." Alex said softly. "Not that living with Dad would be any better."
"Yeah. What are we going to do if the professor stays like this? I can't even imagine going home, and neither of you has anywhere to go." Sean clutched the pillow tighter. "I want him to start caring again."
"Me too." Alex didn't seem able to look up. "I never thought I'd see him kill someone. Do you think he caused that fire?"
"I wish I could say no." Hank shivered. "Do you remember when he walked out and wasn't even burned? It was like he was part of it."
"I wonder how many people were in that hospital. I don't think anyone got out." Alex said. Sean sniffled. "And now we've got to go and fight the Brotherhood. How are we supposed to fight Erik and Raven?"
"I'll bet you anything that the professor will take care of him." Hank muttered.
Charles, you are troubled. Charles lay on his back, watching the stars through his window. The flames playing around his hands were forgotten. There will be a battle soon, you should not be so sad.
Charles didn't respond.
It's his fault. The Phoenix's voice was disgusted. The last time before you went to fight, you had him in your embrace. It changed to pitying. Ah, you miss having a bedmate.
The last time I couldn't sleep before a battle…Erik was there.
Poor, poor Charles. No one can deny that Erik knew how to please. It was one of the ways that he made you ignore his true nature, was it not? Charles flushed. You let him have such power over you, and never thought he would abuse it? Such unmerited trust was not rational.
We both know that I was a fool.
But you cannot help missing the comfort of his body. Let me help you. Charles's eyes flew open. He'd felt a lover's caress on his hip. All the sensation comes from the mind, Charles.
That's… The Phoenix worked it's way down, making Charles suck in his breath.
Forget Erik. I am everything you need.
The invasion of the hangar was easy. The guards on duty didn't know they were coming- all they felt was a sudden pressure inside their chests, then nothing. Charles smiled and walked past, kicking one's arm aside as he went.
"Hank, which is fastest?"
"T-the TI-84." Hank pointed to the closest plane, doing his best to not look at the dead body lying by his feet. Sean had gone green the second he saw the blood leaking from the man's mouth. "I can pilot it, but you need a key to get in and to start the engines."
"That won't be a problem." Charles stepped up to the plane. His brow furrowed.
The mechanism is…never mind. I have it. A hatch on the bottom opened, a ladder extending down. Charles climbed up it, motioning for the others to follow. Hank strapped himself into the pilot seat.
"Right. Everyone buckle in, this model isn't as smooth as the other, and we might encounter turbulence." It was a very good thing that the military made sure these models always had a full tank. People were bound to notice that the best plane in the military was missing. "Professor…"
"On it." Charles sat in one of the seats. He saw no need for a seat belt. The engine rumbled to life. Alex and Sean flinched simultaneously. "Take us up."
"Right." Hank flicked the switches to key the engines to the right modes, and began steering them out. Please God no one from the military came to check on the sudden lack of communication between this base and the rest of the world.
Please God none of those dead soldiers had families.
With a soft bamf, the Brotherhood of mutants appeared in the deserts of Nevada. Erik instantly sank into a crouch, scoping out the building. If one didn't know what it was, they might have mistaken it for a simple bunker.
The outside was made of steel plating, with only one story visible above ground. Two guards stood outside the main doorway. Security cameras no doubt broadcasted a constant feed to the weapons room.
A host of other guards were also stationed around, in less obvious foxholes. Erik was willing to bet that for each clump of brush, there was a gun.
Well. Time to let those guards know just how ineffective their weaponry was against the future. Erik got to his feet, gesturing for the rest of the Brotherhood to follow him, and let out a battle cry. As expected, gunfire rattled toward them.
Fools. Erik flung up a hand and sent the bullets back at the shelter.
"Angel, in the air! I want you picking them off from above." Angel nodded and rose up. "Azazel, Mystique, with me. Riptide, winds." A smile curled around Erik's mouth. "Let's show them just how hopeless their resistance is."
Riptide spread his arms, and the winds began to whip around them. They caught Erik's cape and sent it flying around him, a beacon of red against the skies. A human would have noticed that it made him an obvious target. Erik smiled instead.
He wanted them to have something to fire at. The more bullets they wasted, the better.
"Professor!" Hank yelled. Charles whipped his head towards the beast. "Tornado!"
"Steer us towards it." Charles braced himself against his power as the plane lurched. "That's Magneto."
Hank pulled on the controls as the winds caught them, yanking the plane to the side.
"Eri - Magneto!" Raven grabbed his arm and pointed upward. "There's a plane up there!"
Erik looked up. His eyes widened. Caught in Riptide's wind was a government plane-and he just knew Charles was in it. There was no one else in the world who would have guessed that they were attacking this base, and been foolhardy enough to try and defend it.
"It's going to crash!" Raven screamed. Erik flung out a hand.
Alex yelled and grabbed his seat as the plane tipped on it's side. Sean went green. Charles raised an eyebrow, utterly undisturbed. He had kept in position, using his power to balance against gravity.
Hank roared and thrust a lever, trying to bring them to the ground. Suddenly, the plane evened out, though the winds battered it.
"Erik." Charles snarled. His eyes turned to flame, and the plane went into a tailspin.
"What in the hell?" Erik had felt an entirely separate force drag the plane away from him. He stared in horror as it spun towards the ground, entirely outside his control. At the last second it evened out, into a smooth landing.
A new round of gunfire came towards them. Erik flicked it away, staring at the plane. A door opened.
He'd been right. Out raced the X-men. Sean immediately took to the skies with his eyes on Angel. Hank followed, bounding out with a roar. Alex ran behind him, fists braced in the familiar ready gesture.
After them, Charles walked out. Erik stared. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Charles's walk had changed. It was more deliberate, and his features more remote. Raven's eyes followed him, a frown marring her features.
So it wasn't only in Erik's head.
"Charles!" Erik walked towards the base. The soldiers who rose out of the ground - foxholes, he knew it - fired at him. He wrapped their rifles around their throats. "Come to see the new reign of mutant kind?"
"Come to stop you." A wave of invisible force lashed into Erik's chest. It sent him flying into the side of the base. What the hell?
"Charles!" Raven rushed forward. Azazel grabbed her arm, his eyes flickering with alarm. Charles didn't look much like Charles. His eyes had disappeared into twin fires, and little flames traced their way around his torso.
More soldiers were bolting out of their foxholes, aiming and firing at anyone non-human. Erik hurled their guns from them. Charles glared at them, and they became bonfires.
"Charles, what is this?" Erik prayed that none of the Brotherhood was going to get involved in this. Raven had escaped Azazel's hold and was running toward them both - there was no longer any danger from the soldiers, and the base couldn't fire on them when they were so close.
Judging by the way Hank and Alex were hanging back, and the fear on their faces, the biggest threat here was Charles. Or whatever this thing his former lover was turning into.
"You wanted an enemy out of me." Charles glared. "And so you have one." He threw up a hand as Riptide aimed the tornado at him. "Pathetic.
Riptide was blasted backwards. Azazel appeared next to him, grabbing his hand just before the land on which he'd been lying erupted into flame. The two materialized behind Erik and Raven.
"I didn't want you as an enemy!" Erik thought Charles knew that. "I want…the enemy is in there! The humans!"
"You made of me an enemy when you left." Charles looked up. Angel was coming toward them, with Sean in pursuit.
"Charles, no!" Charles raised a hand and yanked her from the sky. Raven's hands went to her mouth as Angel crashed to the ground with a scream. Sean's eyes traced her fall, full of horror.
How had Charles done that? Erik pushed the Brotherhood toward the building. Charles was panting, his face flushed and flames which grew ever-bigger licking around his feet. He looked like he couldn't see the world around him.
Erik had never, ever, seen Charles kill.
Or use telekinesis, let alone telekinesis strong enough to control a plane and pull a girl from the sky. A girl Charles had at one time been responsible for, tried to protect.
Were the kids safe with him?
"Azazel-" Erik couldn't think of what he was supposed to order. Getting into the base wouldn't matter, they couldn't fire any of weapons at Charles, not when he was that close. Something beeped. "What was that?"
"Ze communications." Azazel flicked his tail. "Zey are sending out a message."
"Raven, use the radio." Raven, whose hands shook, took the small device off her belt. They had been monitoring army communications for weeks. Erik saw Hank, on the other side of the field, doing the same to a different model.
"Scritchscritchscirtchgoodbye to our families and our friends. We are proud to make this sacrifice for our country." Riptide and Azazel looked at each other blankly. "Initiate protocol 0."
"Oh my god!" Hank's voice turned to a roar. Hank had worked with the CIA, he knew most of their codes. Erik really, really, didn't like the way that sounded. "They're blowing up the base!"
"What?" Erik whipped around to stare at the stronghold. Hank looked across at them, utterly shocked. Raven screamed. It seemed that someone in the base had realized that they had no hope of defending themselves, and was going to try and take out the mutants with them.
How many tons of uranium and plutonium were in this base? How many explosives? Enough to level the…the desert, which was completely uninhabited for miles and miles, save for 9 mutants and whoever was in that base.
Erik closed his eyes and wished that he could have kissed Charles goodbye.
There was a colossal noise, then silence. Erik opened his eyes.
Every single missile in the base had exploded. Everything inside the nucleus of the blast was gone, in defiance of the laws of mass. But the blast itself, a force that should have reduced all of them to less than cinders, was still expanding. Erik could see tiny flames kindling in slow motion, as an explosion that ought to have lasted a split second was suppressed.
"Gott…" Erik felt the air around him stirring. The dust around them was rising, then dirt. And it was speeding up. He turned his eyes to Charles.
Charles was rising with the dust. His arms stretched out, but his hands hung limp, his head thrown back and eyes unfocused. Fire roared around him. Charles had become the center of a creature of flame, with enormous wings stretching up to the heavens and a body that sucked oxygen from the air. It looked like a huge bird, something made of flame.
A Phoenix.
The land began to shake. The exploding base was falling in on itself.
"Azazel!" Erik yelled. The mutant was staring at Charles, frozen, with a look of pure awe on his face. Erik yanked on his arm. As the winds were they even winds, or just force bending out from Charles? picked up, it was near impossible to hear. "Get the kids out, all of them! Get them as far away as you can!"
Azazel nodded. The earth began to crack, trickles of magma rising to the surface. Raven stumbled forward.
"We can't leave you here!" Erik pushed her towards Azazel. Raven wheeled around, her eyes wide. "I can't leave him!"
"I'll try to break through to him, but you have to go!" The very air around them was being sucked away. Raven's eyes shone with tears, tears that were instantly dragged from her eyes and evaporated. Erik turned around to face Charles. "Charles! Charles, stop!"
Azazel grabbed both of Raven's wrists, and Janos wrapped an arm around the red skinned man's waist. Raven began to speak. They vanished before the words could reach Erik. Through the vortex of matter gathering around Charles, Erik caught sight of Azazel grabbing Angel's body, then appearing before the X-men.
God, those poor kids. The jet they'd come in on was disintegrated, turned into particles that whirled around Charles. Erik stared across at them, gesturing for them to go with Azazel. Raven turned around to him again, motioning to her head with her hands.
Then they were gone. Erik prayed that it was to somewhere far from here, continents away. Then as more lava streamed up from the earth, Erik doubted that even that would be safe.
"Charles! Charles, please!"
"I am outside your influence, Magneto." Charles's mouth moved, though his eyes were still sightless. The wings kept expanding, as if they'd take up the entire sky, cover all the earth in fire.
"Charles! Please, it's me, it's Erik!" He reached out with a hand. "Charles, whatever's influencing you, you have to be in there, and you have to know me!"
"I thought I did." This time Charles's head turned to him, if only fractionally. The land around them shook even more violently. Erik realized with a surge of horror that Charles didn't trust him.
Was this even Charles?
Erik could feel the forces pulling around him, but nothing had spontaneously combusted him yet, Charles could not want to harm him. He couldn't imagine a Charles who truly wanted destruction. Or perhaps his helmet was protecting him…
The helmet. Raven had been gesturing for him to take it off. Charles could read minds, Charles could hear thoughts louder than words, could see a lie from truth.
He fumbled with the straps that kept the helmet on his head, his fingers going numb. Whether it was Charles finally getting under his skin or pure fear, Erik had no idea. He was being a fool to give up his only protection.
Then again, no one on earth could be counted as safe now. With a last desperate tug, Erik took the helmet off. It was whipped away. Erik stared up at Charles, who now hung in the center of bright white light.
Charles! Charles please! Erik took a step forward, feeling the force try to pull him further. Charles, for nothing but my love, listen to me!
Charles's head tipped in his direction, a faint line creasing his brow.
It was not hard to make his thoughts into screams.
Charles, I love you and if you do this you are going to destroy this entire world and yourself! You are already destroying yourself! Charles, please…Erik, for once in his life, didn't care that he was begging. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I could never lie to you in my own thoughts, you know that, come back to me!
"Erik?" The flames abruptly cleared from Charles's eyes, and there was nothing but gentle blue again. Erik held out a hand.
Charles, you will lose yourself here. Stop this.
It was as if Erik had woken him from a deep sleep. Charles's head turned again, staring around him in shock. He shook his head, making the earth around them buckle.
Erik, the children? The voice which came into his thoughts was faint and full of pain, but it was unmistakably Charles.
Away from here. Relief crossed Charles's face. Erik took another step forward.
"I AM THE PHOENIX" Erik cried out in pain as the voice thundered around them. In the center of the beast Charles convulsed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP!"
Erik squinted at Charles. An expression oddly like peace had settled on his face. Charles made eye contact with him, something between an apology and a goodbye in their depths.
"Charles!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP!" A voice louder than thunder, louder than anything in existence, roaring through every part of his brain. Had he strength in his body, Charles would have gone back into convulsions.
He loves me.
"HE'S A LIAR, YOU NEED ME, STOP THIS ."
This is wrong.
"ARE YOU INSANE? I AM YOU, WE ARE ONE BEING, I AM LOCKED ROUND YOUR SOUL. NO MORTAL CAN DESTROY ME!"
I can make you leave though. You lied. You need me, you need me to be in this world.
"I AM BOUND TO YOU." Charles let his eyes flutter shut.
I know.
Erik put a hand over his eyes as the entire world went white, in a flash of light too bright for the eyes of mutant and human alike. A breeze ruffled his hair and sent his cape flying behind him.
He opened his eyes. There was no Phoenix. There was only Charles, plummeting from the sky. Erik rushed forward, and caught Charles in his arms. He was light as a child, and ice cold.
"Charles? Charles!" Erik shook the body. He didn't even look up to see the swathe of absolute nothing that surrounded them, land wiped bare and completely flat all the way to the Rockies. Thousands of miles away humans were stumbling from their homes yelling about earthquakes, about how everything but them had just broken.
Had he known, he wouldn't have cared. Charles was limp. Erik kept shaking him, desperation growing. Charles's head tipped back, revealing a white face and half open eyes which saw nothing.
There a soft sound, and two people appeared. Erik heard the thump of footsteps then Raven flung herself next to him. She must have convinced Azazel to bring her back.
"Erik what - no!" Raven grabbed Charles's side and shook. He lurched like a sack of dead meat. "Charles!"
"He can't be gone." Erik's voice was impossibly blank. "He can't have gone. He beat it."
Azazel slowly approached. Raven had begun to cry, wracking sobs that shook Charles's body every time she took a breath. The devil crouched down and pressed a finger onto Charles's throat.
He looked up at Erik, and shook his head.
"That's not possible." Erik grasped Charles tighter. "He has to wake up. Charles wouldn't leave us. Whatever the hell that was couldn't make him leave, he can't, he won't, he isn't…goddammit Charles, wake up!"
Raven's sobs grew louder. Erik waited. Azazel drew back in silence.
When the sun went down, Erik stopped his pleading. He unclasped his cape and wrapped it around Charles, whose eyes were still blank and who still did not breathe. Raven's sobs had died down to shakes and whimpers.
Erik rose to his feet, still cradling Charles. Raven did not let go of her brother's hand. Without question, Azazel took her other hand and teleported.
"Erik! Professor!" They appeared in what looked like a science lab. Sean and Alex were seated on a couple of benches, shivering. Riptide and Angel, on the other side of the room, got up. Hank, who had called out, froze.
"Where are we?" Erik asked softly.
"Antarctic science base. Most remote place available, short notice." Azazel said. Even he looked shell-shocked.
"P-professor?" Sean stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the motionless bundle. Raven closed her eyes, fresh tears dribbling down her cheeks. "P-professor?"
"He got rid of it." Erik knew the strength was going to go out of his legs soon.
"Brave man." Azazel commented. He retreated to Riptide's side. "Very brave man."
"But he's not…" Alex, for all his muscle, looked like he could keel over. "He can't be…"
"I'm sorry." Erik clutched Charles tighter. "I tried."
"No!" The word ripped itself from Alex's throat. "That's not possible!"
"Made a choice." Azazel sank into a seat. Teleporting across two continents must have taken it out of him. Riptide rested a hand on his shoulder. "Good choice."
"But he wouldn't leave us!" Alex insisted. Erik just shook his head. "He promised!"
"No one keeps every promise." Erik closed his eyes. "We need to go somewhere safe, to mourn."
"Charles w-was going t-to be buried at the manor." Raven looked like the words were causing her more pain than anything in the world ever had. "Not on the family plot in England. B-but we can't just…we n-need to…"
"Azazel." The teleporter wearily looked up. "One more trip."
Erik couldn't remember going to the manor. He had a vague notion that Azazel had gotten them there then collapsed, and Raven had pointed him and Riptide to a room, and that there was something about tending to wounds. All he could feel was the cold in his arms, as if Charles had sucked every spark of life from himself to throw the Phoenix away.
He woke up on the couch in the library. Raven was curled on a chair with her knees to her chest, and her sleep was evidently not peaceful. Erik pushed himself to his feet, and thought that everything had to have been a dream.
Except that Charles would never let Raven fall asleep on a chair without getting her into bed, and would never let her sit there being consumed by terrible dreams. Erik himself couldn't summon the heart to wake her up. Whatever went on in her head, it had to be better than the nightmare they were living in.
Charles had been put in his bedroom. Erik walked into the room. It was deserted, no one had been able to bear being in the room with their dead teacher. Charles looked very small on that bed. He was laid out on top of the covers, but someone had at least made sure he looked comfortable, with his eyes closed and his head on a pillow.
"You know, I remember the first time I met you." Erik sat down on the edge of the bed. Charles might have been sleeping, but that then Erik would have been holding him, and speaking wouldn't have been necessary. "You telling me to let go, that it wasn't worth dying for. I remember feeling you in my head."
Erik reached over to push a lock of hair away from Charles's eyes. "Then there was the first chess game, when we were still working with the CIA. You won. I'd blame telepathy, but you were just that smart, weren't you? And the first time we…" Erik's voice hitched. "I didn't have a single nightmare that night."
"I remember we met, when he offered me everything from this house I wanted." Raven said from the doorway. She was wearing an threadbare robe - one Erik was certain he'd seen Charles wear - and her eyes had turned old. "I spent the whole night clinging to him, while he read fairy stories to me and reassured me that I didn't have to go. Is this our fault? For leaving?"
"I don't know." Erik closed his eyes and tried not to cry. "It seems like too great a price to pay. And it's not even us paying."
"I don't know what to do now." Raven's voice was oh-so uncertain.
Erik drew his fingers over Charles's cheek. "It seems as though the only thing left is the mourning."
Raven sank into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around her knees. Erik realized that his battle with tears had been lost a long time ago. He sat for hours, until Raven's tears had changed back to uneasy sleep.
The first time he'd seen Charles laughing, how he'd been suddenly breathless for the first time he could remember, and he hadn't minded a bit.
The way Charles's eyes sparkled in the light, the way they darkened just a bit when he was feeling lusty, the way they shone in the morning sunlight when Erik was teasing him into waking up early.
The sensation of Charles's mind brushing against his, the way it brought nothing but comfort.
The time when they'd made love - Erik couldn't keep calling it fucking, not when they were so gentle and Erik was thinking of more than simply lust - and Charles had been lying in his arms, and Erik had been caught in the sudden rush of something and Charles turned over and smiled at him, and told Erik that he loved him, and there was a "too" implied but all Erik could do was bury his nose in Charles's hair and try to believe it was all real.
Charles had deserved more than that. Erik lifted one cold hand and pressed his lips against it.
"I love you. I hope you knew that in the end." Erik felt a tear fall off his nose and splash over Charles's knuckle. "I should go wake the kids up, let them know they can stay here…"
Please don't go. Erik froze. The words had been faint but he heard them, he swore he'd heard them.
Was it his imagination, or did Charles's cheeks have just a bit more color than they did the day before? Erik leaned over the body, stroking his fingertips over cheeks that were no longer pure white but just deadly pale.
"Charles, are you in there?" Nothing. But he'd heard it. Erik shuffled around on the bed until he was in a comfortable position, wrapped around Charles. "I won't. I promise I won't leave again."
There was the faintest feel of air over one of his wrists, the one just below Charles's mouth. Erik pressed a kiss to Charles's temple.
If you're trying to come back, or if you're in there somewhere already… Erik held on tighter. I'm here. I love you.
Love you too. That one had been louder. That one couldn't have been his imagination. Erik caught his breath as Charles, Charles who had been cold as ice hours ago, stirred, his face turning to be closer to Erik. You…are you okay?
I'm fine. Save your strength. Erik bent his neck and tipped Charles's head up. Love you.
The lips he kissed were warm. When he drew back Charles had opened his eyes, and two azure orbs, utterly without fire, were glimmering back at him.
"Erik?" Charles couldn't speak above a whisper. "Raven. The kids."
"They're all fine. Raven is asleep." Charles tried to move to look. Erik wrapped his arms around him in a more secure position, shifting so that Charles could see the door and his little sister. "Don't try to move, you need to save your strength."
"Mmhm." Charles sagged back against Erik. The noise seemed to move Raven, who blinked awake. Her eyes settled on Charles and Erik, and widened.
"Charles!" Erik grunted as Raven nearly dove onto the bed. The girl had the sense to grab Charles's hands rather than tackle him at. And she was crying again. "Is…are you…I mean…"
"Shh. I'm okay." Charles whispered. Raven wrapped her arms him. "Just a little tired."
"I'm sorry." Raven kept her hold on his hands. "I'm so, so, so, sorry…"
"It's okay." Charles murmured. "Would one of you wake up the kids? Sean and Alex especially are having nightmares. I could, but…" Charles closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm afraid I don't quite have the energy."
"Yeah, sure." Raven reluctantly got to her feet. Erik nodded to her.
"I'll look after him until you get back." She smiled gratefully and flitted out the door. Charles huffed.
"Erik, I'm not about to go harm myself while lying in a bed."
"Shush." There was a yell from somewhere outside their room. "I think that's…"
"Professor!" Sean bolted into the room and flung himself onto Charles. Erik grimaced, but Charles only smiled, raising a hand to feebly pat Sean's arm. Alex and Hank followed, both pausing to stare at Charles.
"I'm fine, you two." Charles managed to smile. "I feel as though I owe you an apology, for what's happened."
"Oh, no!" Hank protested. Alex nodded vigorously and inched closer.
Erik, budge over a bit to make room for Alex and Hank. Erik, despite his opinion that Charles should've been resting, did as requested. Almost immediately they had Alex sitting on the bed next to Sean and Hank crouched with them, and Raven clinging to Charles.
It was hours later when Erik ordered the kids out of the room, telling them that Charles needed to rest and would be perfectly safe here with him. It wasn't until then that Erik got to lie down and relax just a bit, with Charles secure in his arms.
It wasn't until then that Charles let himself cry, and then later, sleep.
There were no dreams that night.
A/N: I don't do sad endings. This fandom has enough angst, dammit. Review, please?
Also, the volcano thingy would be the eruption of Pompeii, which according to some, was Nov. 23rd, about a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis and the divorce. Never say fan fiction teaches nothing.