Erik and Emma didn't become friends overnight. Depending on how one defines friendship, they may have never truly become friends. But their bond, whatever it was, did grow with time. Erik learned to trust Emma as she earned that trust, and Emma learned to empathize with Erik as he grew kinder toward her. He never stopped hating Shaw, and she never stopped loving him, not completely. Emma never met anyone that had a relationship with her quite like Shaw, and, thankfully, neither did Erik. But Erik and Emma slowly learned to look past Shaw when they looked at each other. Erik learned to look at Emma and not see his tormentor, his mother's killer, and a Nazi. Emma learned to look at Erik and not see the man who took the life of her only true love. Erik saw a woman who, while she had a cold side, truly did care about mutants. Emma saw a man who, while he had an over-emotional side, was willing to do whatever it took for his cause.
They learned to help each other with those goals. Emma helped soothe Erik's nightmares in return for not intentionally over-working her in their training sessions. He still over-worked her sometimes, but he over-worked everyone, himself included.
"I could take the nightmares away permanently."
"I already told you I don't want you to remove my memories. They've mad me the man I am today."
"I wouldn't take the memories away. I could just suppress them. Make it so you only have to see them when you want to access them."
"I never want to access those memories. But they remind me of why we're fighting. We're fighting so mutants don't have to have nightmares like that. I hate them, but they keep me strong. They force me to keep fighting."
"Well, the offer is always on the table."
"Why do you care anyway?"
"Probably the same reason you've stopped treating me like crap."
"It's not beneficial to have an angry telepath on my team."
"And it's not beneficial to be on the team of an angry metal bender."
"You could just leave the team."
"And you could kick me off the team. But this is bigger than us. You always say that. This isn't about me. It's not about you. It's about all of us."
"We have common enemies. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"You're saying we're friends?"
"I don't think either of us knows what that word means."
"You do. Charles."
"He's gone. So I guess I'll have to make do with you."
"I'm flattered, Sugar."
She never did fill the gap Charles had left in his life. He never gave her the respect she wanted from him. He seemed to be more willing to give that respect to Raven. Erik didn't know if Emma respected anyone since he had killed Shaw. But they learned to live with each other. And that seemed to be the best they could hope for.
Author's Note: Thank you all so much for reading this story. It has been a blast to write, so I hope you enjoyed it! A special thank you goes out to Persephoniii. Persephoniii has been following and reviewing this story for a long time. This story would not have become what it is now without Persephoniii's reviews.