Chapter Ten
I had been sleeping in the chair beside Logan when Charles and Erik started talking again. I cracked an eye open, but they seemed fine, so I just relaxed and listened. They talked about Raven killing Trask, something I had no knowledge about as I was a little girl and in the other timeline. This whole timeline thing was weird, and Logan's explanations still didn't make sense. I smiled happily as they started to play chess, and drifted back to sleep.
Once we arrived in Paris, we got into yet another rental car, and drove to wherever the Peace Accords Celebration was. This is where Raven is supposedly going to try to kill Trask. As we drove up to the gate, Erik easily got the guards out of the way and opened the gate with his power. Once inside, we had to walk up all these stairs. After the first flight, I gave up and cheekily used Erik's ability to fly up. Hopefully, none of the cameras picked that up. When we got to the room, we watched as guards hauled the Vietnamese leaders and such to safety. Inside, we saw Raven knock out some man, and point the gun at a really short guy. I read his mind. 'So this is Trask?' I mused. 'He's six feet of evil in a four foot man.' Looking away from Trask, I stared at Raven. She was in her natural blue form, I smiled sadly. I had missed her all these years.
"Raven." Charles called as we walked into the room. Raven hesitated, and a man on the ground tased her. She fell onto the table, shaking. Thankfully, Erik pulled the barbs out and stuck them into the man.
"Charles." She gasped, still feeling the effects of the taser. Charles smiled, stroking her forehead.
"We've come for you, Erik and I." I coughed. "And Crystal." He added, amused. "Together." Beside me, Logan was staring at the man on the floor, looking disturbed. I frowned, and with a wave of my hand, the barbs were removed, and both them and the taser were shot across the room. Logan still didn't look good, but my attention was soon diverted to Erik, who pulled the gun Raven was going to use on Trask into his hand.
"Erik." I warned, placing my hand on his arm. Raven echoed me on the table, fearfully staring at him as he pointed the gun at her. Charles whipped around.
"Erik, what are you doing?"
"Securing our future." He responded grimly. "Forgive me, Mystique." I cringed, we need to stop using our code names in conversation unless we're in a battle. Maybe not even then. Erik kept going. "As long as you're out there, we'll never be safe." This was a scene from the future, and I knew how it ended. I froze Erik and Raven, who was poised to jump out the window, as Hank tackled his boyfriend to the ground. In his ear, Hank told Erik to stop being an idiot.
"All of you, calm the hell down before I knock you out." I growled through gritted. In the corner, Logan was wigging out. I had half a mind to knock him out to calm him down, but I had to keep all of my energy on keeping Raven and Erik frozen. I wasn't as good at this as Charles was. I floated Raven into a chair on the other side of the room, and she stayed there when I let her go. I glanced at Hank, who was poised to hold Erik down, so I let go of Erik as well. I panted, I hadn't used this much of my power in so long. In yet another corner, Trask was staring, terrified. I flashed him a toothy smirk that could rival Erik's in sharkyness, and entered his mind.
'I mean you no permanent harm, but you are an awful person.' He looked confused, right before I slammed the lamp I had been levitating behind him into his head. His knees buckled as his eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the floor. Logan stared at me, his future consciousness no longer inhabiting his body.
"What the-, where am I?" He asked, eyes wild as he tried to stand. Charles looked at him confused, but figured it out.
"Oh, ah." Charles thought quickly, then kneeled in front of him. "You're on acid." I snorted. "Someone gave you really bad acid, yeah?" I snorted again, Charles was a really bad liar. Soon, Logan's future conscious returned to his body.
"Woah." He groaned, rubbing his head. Ignoring him, I looked to my two friends, who I love dearly.
"Can you two promise not to try and kill each other?" I looked pointedly at Erik, who was still recovering from my mental freeze. He glowered.
"We have to keep her from causing the future he," He motioned to Logan. "told us about." I nodded, carefully, then turned to Raven.
"Raven, please come back to the mansion with us." She looked shocked.
"Wait, you want me to come back?"
"Of course! You're one of my best friends! And, I need another female in the mansion, the amount of testosterone is much too high." I joked and she laughed softly, then nodded. "Good, and you got some mutants out of the army?" I asked, and she gave me a surprised look. I waggled my fingers by my temple, and she rolled her eyes, then nodded again. I grinned. "And I know where most the kids we sent away live." I looked around, hoping someone would get what I was hinting at.
"You want to reopen the school?" Hank took the bait, and I beamed.
"Exactly!" I glanced over at Charles. "But we may need to use Cerebro to find some of them." He frowned, and shook his head.
"Crystal, I can't." I huffed, but didn't press him.
"Fine, I'll use it then. Now, how are we getting out?" I looked around the group. "Any ideas?" They were silent, and I sighed. "Fine, but I don't want to push my luck by teleporting again, so I'll try to make us invisible to the guards." I pressed two fingers to the middle of my forehead, a rendition of Charles's signature pose. I usually didn't need to use a gesture, but this was going to need almost all of my focus. I readied my mind to get into all the minds of the people we encountered. "Ok, let's go." It was a bit hard to see with my hand covering my right eye, but my telepathy gave me heightened senses, so it was all good. We walked easily out of the building, and the hardest part was figuring out how we would all fit in the car.
"We didn't plan this far…" Hank groaned.
"Charles and I can take a cab." I offered. "Hank, can you keep the two of them from fighting?" He nodded, and Charles and I left them to hail a cab. The ride was awkward, and the driver opted not to talk to us, other than asking for where we wanted to go. I sat beside Charles, our legs touching in the slightly cramped cab. Though we didn't talk, Charles had my hand in his, his thumb brushing the back of mine. I leaned my head on his shoulder, glancing down at the rings on my left hand. I remembered our slightly silly engagement and beautiful wedding. I must have been projecting, because he squeezed my hand and kissed the top of my head. Sighing happily, I relished this long overdue intimacy.
"What should we name them?" His sudden, slightly cracky voice surprised me.
"Um, what do you think?" I stammered, not expecting this. With telepathy, I could tell if the baby, now babies, were ok, but I hadn't thought about what to name them.
"Hm, we'll have to give them fitting names." We thought carefully.
"I'd like to name one after you." I said slowly, watching his reaction. Charles was both surprised and elated.
"Really? Even after this?" He waggled his fingers at his head. I laughed softly.
"Yes, but that is a discussion we need to have later." I gave him a pointed look. He rubbed his neck sheepishly, and changed the subject back to the twins.
"What if they're both girls?" He asked, stroking my side.
"Then we'll name her Charlotte." I booped his nose. "And call her Charlie." He chuckled, giving me a one-armed hug.
"Sure, dear, what about the other one?" I giggled at my new pet name.
"Hm, I've always like the name Anastasia. If they're both boys, we can call one Hank, darling." I said simply, emphasizing the 'darling'. Charles nodded, and brought my hand up to his lips, kissing it softly. This is one of the many reasons I love Charles, even when we've been apart for so long, our love never wavers. Though, if he keeps up drinking and taking that 'medication', I'm going to throttle him.
"Hopefully, Raven and Hank will be up for babysitting." Charles mused.
"What about Erik?" I teased, and he winced jokingly.
"You know he's not that fond of kids, dear. Besides, he'd probably lock them in a cage or something." We laughed, the awkwardness between us gone.
"True, true, babe." I agreed. The rest of the drive and the plane ride went by in a blur. All I remembered was that I really needed to sleep, but Raven kept raving about being an aunt. She had recovered quickly, and though she and Erik avoided each other, they were on decent terms. I doubted they would ever be as close as they once had been. Thankfully, Charles got her to leave me alone so I could sleep. I had forgotten how great a pillow he was. We got back to the mansion in record speed (or so I thought, I was still asleep when we got there), but as soon as we got in, Charles collapsed, his head in his hands.
"The voices…" I rushed to his side, stroking his hair.
"It's ok Charles, just let them in, don't fight them." I could feel the pain and fear radiating off of him. He started to ask for the 'medication', then stopped and did as I said. I tried my best to help muffle the pained cries, whispering comforting words into his mind. I shifted in front of him, and held his head in my hands. "Charles, darling, look at me." Slowly, he raised his head and opened his eyes. "It'll be over soon, the initial rush of voices will pass." I whispered, searching his sky blue eyes. His labored breathing soon normalized, and I kissed him. Pulling him into my arms, I murmured calming words into his ear until he stopped shaking. Soon, I felt his familiar buzzing in my mind, and a goofy grin spread across my face. My Charles was fully back.
"Hello, luv." He croaked, and stood shakily, then helped me up. "Let's go find our students." He soon was supporting a matching grin. We all went to Cerebro, but Hank and Erik waited outside, as I helped Charles get the headpiece on. Logan, Raven, and I watched him try to use it, but all those thoughts soon grew too overwhelming. He flung the thing off, hyperventilating. "I, I can't." He stood quickly, and tried to leave, but I stopped him.
"Babe, you can do it." I pressed a hand to his cheek, and Logan offered his help. We turned Cerebro's chair around, and Charles went into Logan's mind. Curious, I entered Charles's to watch. Charles sat up on a table, and he was in a room with people I didn't recognize. On closer inspection, I realized the man in the wheelchair was an even older Charles, and behind him, an older Erik. The other two, a man and a woman, I didn't recognize. Everyone but young Charles was frozen. With a touch, the older Charles started to move.
"Charles." He said, his eyes shut.
"Charles." Young Charles grinned. At first, the discussion between the two was tense, present Charles was more for Erik's ideas, but future Charles showed him the right way.
"Charles, we need you to hope again." Present Charles nodded, leaning back. "I'd say give the past Crystal my love, but I believe she's with us now." The two chuckled, and in the edge of my peripheral (sort of) vision, I saw a very familiar figure with three unfamiliar ones, but we were out of Logan's mind before I could get a good look at them. Back in our time, we got Cerebro going again. I kept my mental connection with Charles, I loved being in his mind while he used Cerebro. I didn't have the mental control he did, so I needed him to use it. I helped him stay in control, and we went through our list of students and teachers, one by one, and told them to come back. After all of them, we looked for Alex. We found him on his bed, curled in a ball, his thoughts on the death of Sean. Erik had told us he was dead, but we didn't know if Alex knew. They were veryclose.
"That's enough." I helped Charles take off the headpiece. We had convinced Alex to come back, after he had shared some choice swear words with us. I helped Charles stand, his legs get wobbly after using Cerebro. Beside me, Logan clutched his head with a painful grunt.
"Sorry guys, but the timeline is changing, so I've got to go soon." I cocked my head, and he easily read my question from my face. "I'll be back to my past self again, so you'll have a very confused me on your hands." He shrugged and I got an idea.
"I could get you wherever you want pretty quickly, and it'll test a theory of mine." He nodded, slightly hesitant. I walked over to him, pressing a hand to his cheek, and closed my eyes. Reading his mind, I visualized where he wanted to go, and projected my teleportation onto him. I stood still, wondering if it had worked. I cracked an eye open, and Logan wasn't there. "It worked!" I whooped, and the others laughed. Charles and I checked to see if Logan where he was supposed to be (he was only a town over), as Hank got Raven and Erik settled. Afterwards, we stood together outside Cerebro.
"Do you want to go check on the others, or rest?" I asked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"I need a shave." He mused, rubbing his chin. "Then a nap." I laughed.
"Yes, a shave is definitely in order, but keep the hair, I like it long."
"Does it remind you of the other me?" He teased, stroking my cheek. I furrowed my brows, pouting.
"Well, a bit, but I think it suits you." He chuckled, and kissed me softly. I scrunched my face at his slightly scratchy beard.
"Alright, I'll keep the hair and lose the beard." Chuckling, we nuzzled each other. Once we got cleaned up, we laid out on the bed. I traced swirling patterns on his chest, thinking about all I had done since I had accidentally gone back in time.
"Charles?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think I've changed too much?" He pushed himself onto his side.
"Why would you ever think that?" I shrugged, and he sighed, brushing his thumb over my lips. "Crystal, you did what you thought was right, that's all you need to know." I opened my mouth to argue, but he kissed me deeply, effectively silencing me. 'Luv, there's no need to have a deep moral discussion right now. We can talk about it all you want later, but now, we both need rest.' He rested his forehead on mine, staring into my eyes as his voice echoed in my mind. With a sigh, I relaxed.
'Fine, I love you Charles.'
'I love you too, Crystal.' He laid back, and I snuggled up onto his chest. Charles gently stroked my cheek, until I drifted off. Seemingly only a few seconds later, I awoke with a start. I glanced around, getting my bearings. Under me, Charles was twitching, his face scrunched up. 'So that's it.' I smiled softly, and got up onto my elbow, shifting up the bed. Level with his face, I stroked his hair, using my telepathy to calm him down. He had been plagued with nightmares ever since the war started, but pushed me away when I tried to help once he started taking the 'cure.' 'I need to get rid of all of the serum Hank made just for Charles as soon as I can.' I made a mental note. Slowly, his twitching ceased, and a soft smile replaced his scrunched up look. I gently brushed his hair from his forehead. He looked so calm when he slept, so relaxed. He has had too much weight on his shoulders, and it showed. I had teased him that he would get grey hairs at 30. Pressing a tender kiss to his temple, I hugged close to his side, but I must have been thinking too loud, because he cracked an eye open.
"Hello luv." I hummed in response, pressing closer. "I must say, this is a marvelous way to wake up." He rolled over to his side, pulling me to his chest. He yawned, and buried his face in my hair. I giggled a bit, kissing his neck.
"You're adorable, you know that, right?" I teased, copying his accent. He just shook his head, nuzzling further into my hair.
"Hush."
"Sure, sleepyhead."