Again, let's thank Romanec for proof-reading this and practically saving the whole chapter.
You know, I love writing Xavier. He just seems so...awesome.
Writer: You need a new word. I think you over-used awesome.
Tch, who cares! Awesome-ly (don't care if that isn't a word) using the awesome word awesome to awesome-ly describe everything awesome is just...Awesome.
Writer: *Sighs*
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
"Why am I here?" I clenched my hands and forced myself to keep calm.
We're going to have a nice chat.
"Define nice."
Xavier's expression darkened and his blue eyes turned blood red. He put two fingers against his temple and smirked.
Actually, I prefer to simply show you how nice our conversation will be.
Pain flared up inside my mind, and I clutched my head in an attempt to lessen it, a screaming erupting from my mouth. Xavier broke down my mental barriers as if they were never there, probing around, anything but gentle, tearing at anything he could get his hands on. He forcefully accessed my memories, pulling them out, broadcasting them before my eyes. They weren't re-enactments.
They were enactments.
The burning sensation when the marking numbers were permanently imprinted on my arm...
"This won't hurt a bit son." The man strapped me to a table and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. He brought out a needle.
"I'm sorry."
I screamed when the needle contacted with my skin.
214782...
The panic when I was torn from my parents' grasps...
I was just walking with his parents when I was suddenly grabbed by a man. I yelled in surprise and struggled against the man's hands as my parents were pushed further from me. He was joined by several others and together they started to drag me away.
"Mother!" I frantically called out. I fought against the men who tried to keep me away from my parents.
I could see me mother turn around.
"Mother!"
The gate closed shut behind them.
A gate made of metal...
The sorrow and anger when my mother died...
When I heard that gunshot, my world fell apart. My mother was so innocent, so kind...what had she done to deserve this?
If only I had moved that coin...Then Mother would still be alive.
This is all your fault. You killed her. You killed her by being a pathetic little boy who can't do anything to save his own life. Or anyone else's for that matter, a voice taunted.
Anger built up inside me. This wasn't my fault.
Yes it was.
No, this was their fault. They were the ones who killed her. They're the ones guilty!
Then prove it, show them punishment for their sins...
The guilt and remorse when I was forced to kill my father...
"Kill him." Schmidt ordered as he pushed the knife into my hand. My father watched us both.
I looked at Schmidt in defiance, "No."
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough. Kill him."
"No." Not my father too.
Schmidt sighed and shook his head. He made a motion with his hands and nine children were brought in. All were covered in grime, dirt and tears, their skin clinging to their bones, a sign that they were being starved. They all shook in fear when they looked at Schmidt's wicked grin.
"You know, Erik, nine is the biblical number for judgement. Why don't you chose who lives and who dies?"
"Erik," my father finally spoke, voice shaking. I looked back to him. "You know I love you very much, and I know that you love me too. But please Erik, do not let these innocent children die. Just...kill me. Kill me. Alright?"
I shook my head no and wiped away the tears that were forming.
My father told the guards that were holding him to bring him closer to me. The guards looked at Schmidt, who shrugged. Once Father was close enough, I hugged him tightly, but while I was distracted, my father took the hand that held the knife and stabbed himself with it.
"Father!" I yelled desperately, struggling to hold him up.
But his body fell limp...
The satisfaction when I drove the coin through Shaw's head...
"I'm going to count to three and I'm going to move this coin."
Schmidt's frozen body didn't answer.
"Eins." (One.)
The coin floated above my hand, and on command began to move forwards.
"Zwei." (Two.)
It was touching his forehead now.
"Drei" (Three.)
The coin moved through the head with ease. It sliced through the skull and shred the fragile tissues, eventually slipping out the back, stained ruby red with blood. It made a small ping when it hit the floor.
Justified revenge.
The distress in Charles' voice when I sent the missiles flying towards the humans...
"Erik, you said so yourself, we are the better men. Now is the time to prove it. There are thousands of men on those ships Erik! Good, innocent men. They're just following orders." Charles yelled at me, trying to get me to stop as I turned the missiles to face the humans.
Why does he care about them? He's seen that they will not hesitate to kill us all, simply from fear.
"I'm been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again." I replied in a soft voice, looking deep into his eyes. I faced the missiles and sent them flying.
"Erik...stop this now!"
I'm sorry Charles, but I just can't forgive them.
I can never forgive a homo called sapien. (Man called wise)
Never again...
The feeling of blood running through my fingers when I held Charles in my hands...
Charles looked up at me with eyes filled to the brim with pain and tears, and yet he still smiled at me. He grasped my shoulder in a comforting gesture.
Charles...God no, not you.
Don't die Charles, don't die.
'I don't blame you.' His eyes said.
Blood oozed out of the gunshot wound in his back, coating my hand. I held him even closer to me.
'No, but I do.' My eyes said back.
The fear that shone in Charles' eyes when I tried to comfort him...
"Please...please don't hurt me."
Then it was all gone.
I collapsed, feeling boneless and tired. The pain just disappeared, as if it were never there in the first place.
My, my. Seems like you still haven't conquered your own demons Erik. How are you going to help Charles if you cannot even help yourself?
"Shut up." I said weakly, panting. It was so hard to catch my breath.
Xavier chuckled darkly and knelt down to where I was sprawled on the floor. He grabbed me by the hair, forcing our eyes to meet.
I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.
"Shut up." I forced the words a little stronger.
I don't see why Charles even bothered to save you.
"Shut. Up."
After all, if you died he wouldn't be in a wheelchair.
"Shut up!"
Pathetic.
"I said shut up!" The words roared from my mouth, red filling my vision as I bolted up. Drawing a fist back quickly, I punched him in his gut without warning, reveling as he staggered backwards and doubled over. I kneed his chin and slammed my fist into the side of his face, watching as he fell to the ground. I turned away, unable to believe that he could be so easily toppled, but needing to find Charles. I needed to find Charles.
A low chuckle stopped me in my tracks, and slowly I turned to see Xavier on his knees, wiping away the blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, a sly smile on his face.
Come now Erik, really. Is that all you've got?
The comment infuriated me, and I lashed out a kick to his ribs. I heard the satisfying crack of breaking bone, and I kicked him in the same spot, feeling it give way as more blood came spurting out of his mouth.
But I wasn't done yet.
Reaching out I grabbed the collar of his shirt, forcing him to stand up. He wavered slightly, trying to gain his footing, but I didn't give him the chance as I threw another punch, sending him back to the floor. The rage coursing through me, I hadn't felt for days, and I knelt over him.
"Who's. Pathetic. Now?" I whispered dangerously, pulling him up so that his face was inches from mine. Xavier weakly stared at me through half-lidded eyes, that smirk slowly reforming.
Still you.
I growled, prepared to punch him again.
"E-Erik?"
The red faded and I dropped Xavier. I turned around slowly and faced the source of the voice. Charles, staring at me with wide, fearful eyes.
"Charles..." I said softly. I didn't know what else to say.
Run Charles...Run...
To any calm person, the fake sincerity in Xavier's voice would have been easy to detect. But Charles was far from calm.
I took a step forward and he took a step backwards in response.
Charles for the love of God, run!
He hesitated before turning on his heel and running away. The darkness swallowed him out of my sight.
"Charles!" I called out desperately. Not again, I was not going to lose him again. I started to run after him when I heard laughing.
Evil, wicked laughing.
You won't catch him.
"And why not?"
This is his mind. He can do whatever he wants. He can even walk...unlike in the real world. If he doesn't want to be found, then you will not find him.
Xavier faded away.
And I was left alone to deal with my actions.
"God...What have I done?"
*~***~Peace~***~*
He was right. He was right all along.
Erik was just like Father.
He tried to suppress the memories that were building up, but it was a futile effort.
Charles knelt on the floor with his father circling him like hawk. He trembled in fear knowing exactly what was going to happen.
He was going to get beaten again.
"You see Charles, the world is full of freaks and monsters." His name rolled off his father's tongue as if it were venom. Charles looked into his father's eyes and searched for anything relatively close to love or kindness.
But there was nothing.
'What did you do you wrong this time?' Charles asked himself, his mind in chaos.
"You, are the king of all freaks."
'Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt,' he silently prayed as his father knelt down in front of him, speaking in a low, angry voice.
"But that doesn't give you the right to disobey your own father."
Charles didn't even have a chance to defend himself when his father's palm came crashing down on his cheek. His head snapped to the right, tears prickling his eyes as his left cheek stung with pain.
But that was only the beginning.
He fell to his knees and hugged himself as he shook uncontrollably. He could still feel the pain, even now.
I can make this all stop.
Charles looked up but he couldn't find anyone. He was surrounded only by darkness.
Just let me help.
A hand touched his cheek, and Xavier appeared in front of him.
You don't have to suffer anymore.
"I...I want to forget. I want to forget them all." He mumbled, his voice filled with fury and sorrow.
Xavier smiled.
And forget you shall.
*~***~Peace~***~*
Xavier placed two fingers on Charles' forehead and concentrated. He delved deep into his look-alike's mind and breached the memory logs. There he erased everything and anything that he could find about Charles' friends, leaving only the fear Charles felt whenever Erik was around as insurance. Once everything was erased, Charles' eyes slid closed, and he collapsed to the ground.
Finally, this piece of trash is gone and out of the way.
He smirked and kicked the body for good measure. It didn't respond.
Good.
"Charles! Charles, where are you?" A voice called out not too far away. He frowned when he recognized the voice as Erik's.
That's right. Now that Charles' mind-self is unconscious, that fool can easily find him now. He will ruin everything...
An idea popped into his head. Xavier smiled viciously, knife appearing in his hand.
Perfect.
He rolled Charles' prone body over and stabbed him in the stomach. It wouldn't kill him. After-all, if you kill the mind-self of a person then that person became quite literally brain-dead.
But it wouldn't leave him unharmed, either.
Not only will this ensure Charles' memory loss, it will prolong Erik's suffering even more.
He sighed happily when blood spurted out of the wound. Xavier took out the knife and tossed it over his shoulder not really caring about where it would fall. He walked away from his 'clone' and debated his next move.
He could take over Charles' body right now and move onto phase two. Then again, it would be very amusing to see the reactions of his look-alike's friends. To deal with memory loss once was painful enough, but to deal with it twice ... would just be breaking. Especially to that Raven person.
Xavier smiled with glee when he thought about Raven's crestfallen face when her brother, who had remembered her before, forgot every single thing about her existence.
Phase two can wait. This will be much more fun.
*~***~Peace~***~*
I dropped to my knees and put my head in my hands. I let my anger get the best of me. Again.
'What are you doing Erik? Did you really give up on Charles! Again? Don't lose him Erik!'
That was right, Charles doesn't need a pity party right now. He needed a friend.
He needed me.
I jumped to my feet and began to run in a random direction. To hell with what Xavier said about not being able to find Charles.
"Charles! Charles where are you!" I called out. No one answered me, but I kept running, kept calling.
I found Schmidt. I could certainly find Charles.
With the darkness surrounding me, it seemed as if I were running on the spot. It felt like I wasn't getting any closer to Charles.
'Maybe Xavier was right. Charles really can't be fou-'
My thoughts were cut short when I heard a strange sound. I looked down at my foot and I saw a pool of blood underneath it. I followed the blood all the way to it's source.
Charles.
*~***~Peace~***~*
"Helloooooooo. Wake up! Wakey wakey!"
"Charles!"
I bolted up, my head colliding with something equally hard. I heard a groan and craned my head to see what I had hit.
Alex, shaking his head to clear the pain as he looked at me with incredulous concern. "You alright? You passed out in the hallway."
Hallway.
Charles.
I growled and pushed him away to stand up. But I immediately regretted it when my head began to spin.
"Hey, calm down!" He huffed, slightly annoyed even as he reached out a hand to steady me.
"Have to...Have to help..." I started, pulling away. I placed a hand against the wall.
"Erik? Erik. Help who? What's going on?" I slowly began to walk down the hall towards a room I knew all too well
"Charles. Charles is in danger."
Romanec is just awesome.
The fight scene in the middle was so horrible when I wrote it but now...
It's just epic.
Oh and not to mention that all my spelling/grammar mistakes were fixed only by the amazing ROMANEC!
THANK-YOU!
See I.E., it's not that you aren't a good editor. It's just...um...
I.E.: I hate you...GUILT GET OVER HERE!
Oh no, don't you dare I.E. Guilt don't sit in the Chair of Co-
Guilt: *Sits in the chair of control*
...I feel guilty now...