All my thoughts go out to everyone directly or indirectly struck by the horrors done in Norway.

The Escape

He held him upright the best he could, managing to half lean against the table while letting him rest against his shoulder. The effort of sitting upright and talking had been too much for Charles and Erik had found him falling into a deep sleep against him. His instincts told him to check on him, to see if he really was just asleep or that he was slowly losing consciousness, but he hold back. Even if he had fallen unconscious, there was nothing Erik could do. Nothing at all. And that fact hurt him more than anything else.

If only he had never let it happen.

He should never have listened to him, leaving him so vulnerable and alone at that beach. Anyone with only a minor intelligence could've seen that nothing good would've come out of that, but Erik had failed to see it. Too much driven by emotions, by his anger, by the rational words of Charles Xavier while he probably thought he was dying. He had never ever seen someone so selfless as the professor. He should've known it was going to be his death sentence in the end..

He heard a slight moan next to his ear and he carefully shifted so he was facing Charles. Every time he looked him over, his heart almost stopped, the agony too much to bear. But he needed to keep going, to keep his promises to Charles, but also to Raven and the others. And even to himself.

When he felt his heartbeat going to normal again, Erik dared to speak up.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Charles' breaths seemed even shallower and faster than when he first found him, his physical state clearly altering. He didn't answer and Erik found him going limp again. He now pushed him completely off of him and held him by his shoulders.

"Don't fall asleep again, okay? I need you to stay focus. Mystique will return soon and then we need to move fast. You hear me?" Charles did indeed straighten himself the best he could, holding his head upright while slowly opening his eyes.

"Okay…"

"Okay."

"Erik?"

"Yes?"

"You… need to… promise me… something." Erik's brow furrowed.

"After last time, I don't like making promises with you again, Charles." Knowing that it'd hurt both men too much to remember the events on the beach, he quickly added.

"But I promise I'll consider it."

"Promise me… Raven won't… see me… like this." Erik's eyes saddened. Always thinking about someone else.

"Charles… That's impossible. If you want us to be saved, she needs to see you. She's grown up now, Charles, and she's strong. Stronger than you can imagine. It's not your job to protect her anymore. She is perfectly able to do that herself." Erik watched as the telepath's ragged wrist moved towards his uniform, weakly grabbing him.

"You don't… understand. I failed." Erik was at the point to knock some sense back in the Professor's head.

"You failed? Failed what?"

"I failed… to protect her. She's… so beautiful… in her own form… I failed to… tell her that. I failed… to make her… strong. She deserves… so much and… I failed to… give her that. I failed… in everything. And now…"

"Charles… in all honesty… If we weren't here in this position, in this room, I would've knocked you unconscious with your own hands." This earned him a low chuckle, probably since Charles knew he was actually capable of doing that.

"I know you're completely crazy right now, so I'm not going to bother arguing with you. But you're deadly wrong about everything you just said." Charles looked at him with the eyes of an old man, a man who had seen too much in his way too short life.

"Please… Please promise me." The begging hit Erik hard and formed a knot around his torso. He was the one who needed to beg, to beg for forgiveness, to beg for the returning of some resemblance of a friendship with this almost perfect man, now only a shadow of the man he once was. He slowly nodded.

"I'll promise, Charles. Don't worry… I'll promise."

Neither men missed the knock on the plastic door.

Raven walked as fast as she could while keeping track on her environment. She had been so relieved after hearing Erik telling her Charles was safe. Her brother was safe. She was so eager to see him, to hold him and to never let him go. It had been foolish of him to let him take the blame for everything. He had always been so stubbornly selfless that it was beyond the point of being smart. He was the one who had told them every time again that they were stronger together. They could rule the world, achieves their goals, if only they'd stick together. And he had done to exact opposite.

When Raven rounded another corner, she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard footsteps pacing up and down. She slowly and silently made her way forward towards the room where the noise came from. When she carefully stuck her nose around the doorway, she saw a man around fifty, indeed pacing up and down the room in a very rapid pace. He suddenly stopped, grabbed a nearby table with his both hands and held his head down. She heard him curse underneath his breath. Mystique squinted to zoom in on the ID on his shirt. L. Herzlicher. This must be the doctor. Without another thought, she stepped into the room.

Leon quickly straightened up, a random object of the table now in his hand. When he saw the guard in the uniform stepping into the room, he felt his anger rising.

"Who are you? You're not allowed in here! Get out!" He was stepping forward, the object what seemed like a pipe raising up.

"Are you the doctor of Charles Xavier?" He suddenly stopped, the pipe still lingering in the air. Before he could think straight, he blurted it out.

"Yes. Who's asking?" He took a look at the ID card, but didn't recognize the name. Then, all of the a sudden, the man in front of him changed into a wonderful blue female creature. His mouth dropped, the pipe landing on the ground with a loud noise.

"What the…?" The creature stepped forward, holding out her hand.

"I needed to make sure you were him. I'm Raven. I'm Charles' sister." His mouth dropped even further.

"Y-y-you're t-t-the sister of… C-charles?"

"Not by blood. He found me when I was 11 years old and he took me into his protection and into his house. We've been family since." The doctor's sanity slowly returned to him and took in what this Raven just told him. So it's true… Charles is indeed the good man he thought he was. Only now he took notion of her hand reaching out and he quickly shook it.

"I'm Leon. I'm sorry for the… threatening words." Raven smiled broadly.

"Don't bother. You wouldn't have stand a chance anyway." Leon smiled too and quickly offered her a seat which she gladly took.

"You were the one hitting the alarm? How did you do that?" She kept smiling.

"I'll explain later. It was kind of cool, actually."

"But how did you come in here? You shouldn't be here, it's way too dangerous for people like you." Raven was getting pissed off.

"You don't actually think I was planning on leaving him here, do you?" Leon quickly shook his head.

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant. Of course not. But if they catch you, you'll probably end up just like him. I'm sure that's not what Charles would've wanted." Raven was getting furious now, standing up and angrily looking down upon the doctor.

"What do you mean, end up just like him? What have they done to him?" Leon carefully swallowed. She doesn't know. She hasn't seen him. He couldn't tell her.

"Nothing, really. Relax, relax. You know, just, locked up. Locked up is what I meant." He saw her slowly relaxing again, but she remained standing up.

"You… you need to help me save him." He stood now too.

"Is it…true that…"

"Is what true?" He wasn't sure how to put it and he felt ashamed of asking it, but he needed to know.

"Is it true what they say about your brother? That he killed a cop and what happened to those missiles?"

"NO! No, that's not true. He was the one who tried to prevent it all from happening. He's innocent. Of course he's innocent!" Leon sighed with relief.

"Thank God. I knew it. I just knew it."

"You need to help me."

"Absolutely. What's your plan?" Raven now shifted uncomfortable.

"Um… I was hoping you had one."

"I don't have a card to his room, but the guards in front of it have one. We could…" Raven cut him off.

"There's been.. a sort of complication."

"A complication?"

"My friend… I didn't come alone. He… he knocked those guards out and took one of their ID's." Leon was now getting confused.

"So, you already saved him?"

"Well, practically no. I was waiting outside and then all of a sudden a guy came out of nowhere. He picked up the other ID and burned down the scanner or something…" Leon's eyes widened.

"And you can't get out from the inside."

"Exactly." Raven studied the doctor's face when he was deep into thoughts. Then, he almost jumped up.

"I got it!" The blue female now got excited too.

"What do you want to do?"

"Follow me." They quickly made their way towards the cell, making a slight detour when Leon ran into a room and picked up a fire starter. Raven still didn't know what was going on, but she followed him nonetheless.

The doctor quickly swallowed away the fear when he saw the two guards lying unconscious on the floor. He checked if no one was nearby before knocking on the plastic door.

Erik quickly steadied Charles before walking towards the door. He didn't answer yet.

"Hello? Hello there? It's Leon, the doctor." The metal-bender turned around to face Charles and saw the man slowly nodding. This is it.

"Doc."

"Erik! I found him, he's going to get you out of there."

"Stand back. I'm going to burn down the door." Erik smiled broadly, feeling the excitement of the plan. Burn down a plastic door. So easy yet perfect.

"That's a great idea. Go…" He stopped when he heard Charles whispering softly.

"Erik… you promised." Stubborn telepath.

"Doc… Mystique." Erik didn't see the confused look on Leon's face when he heard the strange name. He faced Raven and she only mouthed I'll explain later.

"What is it?"

"Doc… you know what's going on. You know it's for certain eyes only." Leon kept staring towards the door when he heard Raven talking.

"What does he mean, Leon?" The doctor ignored her for the moment and continued talking to the door.

"Yes, I know."

"Then you know what to do. Burn down the door, then immediately turn around and make way for me to get Charles in safety." Leon nodded before realizing the man on the other side couldn't see him.

"I will. I will try to make a free way to the exit and take his sister with me."

"Promise me, Doc. Promise me."

"I'll promise. Now stand back."

Erik quickly made his way towards the telepath again and sat in front of him, carefully placing his head against his own chest.

"We're almost there, Charles. We're almost there."

"Thank you. Thank you… for coming." Although Erik was surprised, he felt his body react to the simple statement, an emotion floating over him that warmth him up like a heating sun. Appreciation.

They sat in silence when the doctor worked on the door. It was a thick one and it took him longer than expected. Finally, the hole in the door was big enough to let the fire starter into the room. Leon stopped and threw it in, ignoring the shouts from Raven.

"Charles! Charles!" Erik saw the Professor barely able to stay conscious.

"Mystique… He's fine. Just trust me. Go. I'll meet you at the plane okay. Doc.."

"You'll have me word. Just hurry, before they'll find out the alarm is fake." Erik waited till their footsteps died and he quickly picked up the canister. In no time he finished what the doctor had started and soon the door was almost completely vanished.

Between the darkness and the present, Charles found himself picked up, the warmth of another one's body against his forehead. His arms were put around Erik's shoulders. Although the embrace hurt him, he didn't show it and was too weak to yell out anyway. All he could think of was that he was glad he didn't need to tell Erik he couldn't walk. He was paralyzed, probably forever.

They slowly made their way down the white hallways and Charles was finally able to breath in fresh air. He held his eyes closed against the bright light surrounding them, but he felt them closing in.

Freedom was so close.

They never heard the extra footsteps. Never felt the presence of an extra figure. The blast of heat caught them by surprise. Erik was too late and remained powerless against the fireball hitting his head. He fell forward, dropping Charles in his way. The professor ended up on his back on the other side of the hallway, a blinding pain screaming through his spine.

When he cracked open an eye, the light blinded him at first. Slowly, the blurry body of Erik came into vision, lying face down on the floor, blood dripping out of a wound on the side of his head.

Before he went into oblivion, Charles saw a man hovering above him, two big balls of fire coming out of his palms.

And? What did you think? What can happen when the exit is already in sight? Let me know!