-Three-

"Charles, wake up."

"Urrrngh…" Seriously? He wasn't ready to get up yet… and why was he so uncomfortable? Something was poking him in the stomach and in the forearm. He opened his eyes and found himself in a tree. He blinked. Yup, still in a tree. The sun was high in the sky. It must have been at least 10am.

"Time to head back Charles. Sorry to wake you, I know you've needed sleep."

Charles looked down and saw, standing at the foot of the tree, a tall dark-haired man. "Erik?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No, I'm not. I just look like him. Apparently his form is the most comforting for you. For us." The man pulled a face and shrugged.

"Who are you then?" Charles asked, frowning slightly.

The not-Erik beamed up at him uncharacteristically. "I'm you!"

Charles was momentarily unsettled by the image of Erik grinning like that, then processed what had just been said to him. "Okay… how can you be me, if I'm up here?"

"Well you're a telepath, aren't you? You talk to people in their heads all the time. Now you're talking to yourself! Or me. Or I'm talking to you. Or me. Or I'm crazy. Or you are. Or-"

"Right, right I get the message." He cringed slightly. Yes this is apparently what his great mind was coming up with to entertain itself. "So how come you're here, talking to me, now? Why haven't we chatted before? Is this a normal telepath thing?"

"Well how would I know if you don't know? I'm you after all." Erik smiled happily up at him, apparently pleased at how irritatingly cryptic he thought he was being.

"Well yes, but you're apparently pretending to have some kind of different perspective or knowledge about what's going on, or we wouldn't be able to have a conversation." Charles reasoned.

"Yes that's correct. I think I'm embodying some part of your sub conscience. And if you think back to that time you were in Paris, there was some magazine headline about a telepath discovering her inner secrets in a discussion with herself so I would guess this isn't unusual in telepaths."

Charles thought for a moment. "Oh, that's right. I do recall that we were too busy to stop and purchase the magazine and I never got round to going back…"

"Right. So I'm here because of the whispering. Because it's starting to creep me out too."

Charles turned to stare at the Erik-him. "So they're not just in my head?"

The other man huffed out a small laugh. "Well they're not here now that you've distanced yourself from people. So I'd guess not."

"So…?"

"So they're in the others' minds or being projected into your mind."

Charles frowned at the branch of his tree. "How do I deal with them? What do they want?"

Erik-Charles shrugged and looked away out over the park to where the sun was. "You need to get back. The others will be worried about you. Come." He tugged sharply at Charles' arm and he fell with a yell.

"What are you..?!" And he kept falling through the grass, and the earth, and then he was falling from the sky and he was above his house and the pavement rose up to meet him, slowing in its ascent so his feet gently landed on the cement. "What the…? He looked over his shoulder at his other self, who was worryingly translucent in the late morning light of his garden. He smiled and waved. "Time for me to go…"

"Wait! How do I find you again?" But the other Charles was gone, and the real Erik emerged from behind the house at the sound of his call.

"Charles! Where have you been? I- we were worried about you!"

Charles stiffened as he felt the other mind brush against his awareness and with it came the faintest hint of a whisper. Charlesss…

He pulled his mind in tight and close and took a small step away from Erik to keep out of range. "I went for a walk and then found a nice B&B to have a sleep. I just needed to get away, to think." He told him.

"Nice try, but we called all the B&Bs in the area and…" he paused. Charles' eyes widened. He must have been up half the night trying to look for him. He hadn't needed to do that. Upon closer inspection, this Erik looked much less rested than the Erik he'd spoken to in the park that morning… he had bags under his eyes and his mouth was pulled into a thin line. His eyes narrowed as a thought apparently struck him. "But of course, you didn't want to be found." His expression hardened. "Well I'm glad you're all right." He finished coldly. "Mystique wants to talk to you. She's inside". He turned and wandered back to the house.