"Um...uhhh... are you guys alright?"
I heard the voice, but my eyes felt stuck together. I shifted my weight making me realize I had slept in Eric's bathtub with him. I heard Raven's voice again; the boys always sent her to do the dirty work.
"Charles it's one o'clock, get up!" Her voice was frimer that time making the sound spike through my head, straight to the center of my hangover. I jerked awake trying to make sense of the mess of limbs I was wrapped up in. Eric was out cold, which really was for the better right now.
"Stop yelling..." I groaned at her, trying to find the will to move my cramped body out of the bathtub.
"What happened to the two of you last night? You switched rolls."
Alright, fair enough. I liked drinking games and going a bit too far, I worked hard so I liked to play hard.
Eric on the other hand, lived inside his head more then anyone I had ever met. Whenever I had searched his mind I always encountered a laundry list of things he disliked for no reason what so ever. He was a mental horder of disdained which fueled a lot of his anger. For all I know he could have gotten angry because he simply didn't like the way someone laughed at the party.
Breaking my train of thought Eric lunged awake, wide eyes starring Raven down in a way that made her take a step back.
"Eric..." She began holding out her hand, a brass towel hook flew off the wall buzzing past her head crashing in the other room. Another fixture broke off the wall, hurling at her but it dropped half way as Eric took his head into his hands groaning.
"Get out of here! Both of you!" He shouted into his hands, in the blink of an eye Raven was gone. I now stood in the door.
"Get out!" He barked at me, I felt my jaw square and my brow come together.
"Do you enjoy driving yourself crazy?" I snapped back watching him pull a bathrobe on and stumble out of the bathroom past me.
"I... I can't do this Charles..." His anger melted into fear at a rate I don't think he even expected, he rubbed the side of his face as he held onto his bedframe for support. I shook my head crossing my arms across my chest.
"Every time you realize this is something you want you get scared and reject me... you're... you're not a coward Eric, stop acting like one!" I cleared the space between us pushing him down to sit on the edge of his bed. I took his face in my hands and kissed him deep, I could no better hold water in a coffee filter then convince Eric things were better off this way.
"Please just tell me why you're so afraid..." I whispered breaking our mouths apart for a split second.
"I just..." He said breathless his hands coming up to my shoulders to push me away, but I refused pushing them back to the mattress.
He allowed it for several more moments before I found myself being shoved out of his room, the oak door slamming in my face.
" The man is lighting..." I grumbled looking up at the door I was now face to face with, I banged on the door several times before giving up.
I was with the children in physical form but not mentally, they all noticed but did their best to act as if they were clueless.
"Charles." Eric's voice came from behind me, I turned to him. He had a bag in hand.
"I'm leaving... for a little while." He softly said, breaking the news to me as gently as you could stomp on a person's heart I suppose. I made a face, but fought it back as I looked in a direction other then him.
"Yes well..."
"I'm coming back, I just... I need to think about things." He said as he looked in the opposite direction I was looking. My throat was growing tight, I felt a panic in me that I had never felt before, once again I recrossed my arms.
"Where are you going?" I asked my voice as even as it could be.
"Brazil, I-"
"You can go duck hunting in Maine if you need to clear you head, not Nazi hunting in South America." I only heard my words after they were out of my mouth, his head jerked back as if it stung. His mouth parted and he shook his head slowly, his gaze looking right at me.
"You know more about me then anyone in the world... so why do you want me to be someone I'm not so badly?
"Because I want you to be happy!" I snapped trying to keep my voice down "I want you to be happy... happy people don't go on vengeance killing sprees, or... or reject people they claim to care about. I want to have the ability to make you happy because you're the most important person in the world to me!"
I felt something stir inside of him, and maybe for a moment he debated staying. He took a step closer to me, his mouth parted as if he was trying to find the words he wanted to say.
"I'm...difficult. I know this. I'm going to come back Charles." He softly said with a nod, his hand came up and squeezed my shoulder.
I watched him walk away until he rounded the corner and vanished, I had a terrible feeling about him leaving.
I had been on auto pilot the last several days, I dove into my work to keep my mind busy but when ever there was a pause I'd stop and wonder if he was alright. Raven did her best to take care of me and help with daily practice but I couldn't hide the fact something was wrong from them.
Evenings were the worst part, his chair that sat empty in the study was a blaring reminder of him. A month back he had began making his way through all the teenage easy reads I had. Watching his expressions as he made his way through all the classics had become the highlight of my evening.
"Oh, this is such bullshit..." I could hear him in my head as he would go off on rants about the tactical errors of "The Hardy Boys" He'd have me in stitches laughing, until he had to remind me he wasn't trying to be funny.
"I'm serious! You can't lure a bank robber with a trail of quarters to the police station!" He started to laugh himself, but attempted to dedicate to his frustration.
"Is this why American's are the biggest bunch of lunatics I've ever met? They've been spoon fed this garbage since they were little and- Ha! Ha! Stop it Charles!"
I had been attempting to recreate a spy glass with a rolled up magazine and glass coaster as he ranted.
"No! It will work because the Hardy Boys did it!" I laughed looking at him through the makeshift spyglass that worked very poorly. I loved making him laugh, my life seemed so much less complicated when he was happy. When he let me lean against him on the sofa and make light of the evening I felt as if I didn't need to solve all the world's problems. I felt I had everything with him.
My memories shifted, the image swirled in my mind as I drifted into a memory of the younger boys explaining a new device they had made to aid us in the field. Eric was never sure of the children but something always entertained him about them.
"Ok, so not all of us can fly so we were thinking you could make us fly if we wore metal shoes!" Said Sean pointing to an improvise pair of shoes made of two old toasters. Him and Alex made their presentation standing in front of a seated Eric who was wearing a grin.
"You're still wearing toasters on your feet, if I was Shaw I'd zap your feet right off." Was Eric's response, giving them a harder time then necessary. He liked to tease them, he always played a bit rougher with them then I did. Eric always told them what he thought, said it was healthy not to fill their heads with "fake positive reinforcement". The tall man was better with them then he gave himself credit.
"These are prototypes!" They defended
"You look like the Hardy Boys!" He laughed gesturing at their feet, they groaned in response.
"So what do you want to do? Try them out? Well... alright boys line up at the balcony."
"Eric! Come on!" I said standing from my seat ready to prevent a mishap, innocently the taller man shrugged with a knowing grin.
"You threw one out the bathroom window last week..."
"Completely different, there aren't any bushes outside the balcony"
Charles... Charles!
I sat up out of my chair, hearing Eric's voice interrupt my day- dream.
Eric?
Charles! Charles! His voice sounded ragged and panicked, as if he had been running for a long time.
I closed my eyes trying not to let my own panic settle in, I caught flashes inside of Eric's head. What I saw was vague as if Eric himself was having a difficult time seeing what was in front of him
Eric please try to tell me where you are...
I dont... GET OFF OF ME!... Charles!...Off! Charles!
My adrenaline surged through me giving my mind a boost as I reached out for Eric trying to locate him. He was over run and exhausted trapped in a location with conveniently little to no metal objects, a trap I'm sure.
I can't... see, I feel... can't breath...
I didn't stop to wonder or worry what has happened I jumped out of my seat moving into action. As I assembled my things I felt a spike of pain run through my head.
Can you hear me Charles? A chill ran down my back hearing a voice that wasn't my friend's in my head. Shaw. I saw a vague image of him and Emma Frost standing over Eric's body as he gripped his chest.
Thank you for taking such good care of him Charles, but it's time Eric came back home.
I heard Eric protest calling out for me then my mind went blank of anything, my blood boiled.
