Alright! After a nice refreshing break, I'm back! School is out to so I have loads of free time.
Thank goodness.
Once again, this chapter would not be so aw... I mean amazing if it weren't for the wonderful Romanec!
I.E.: *Plots something evil*
...I'm banishing you to the Dark Cornor!
I.E.: What! Why!
Because you're planning to murder Romanec.
I.E.: Grrrr...How'd you know?
You're part of my psyche. I know everything you do!
Moving on...
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot
Help Charles.
I repeated the words over and over in my head; they were all that kept me going. Kept me pushing past the pain.
Help Charles. Help Charles. Help Charles.
I had only walked a couple meters and my muscles were already protesting each step I forced them to make. But even as my body screamed at me to stop, I pressed forwards. Black spots decorated my vision, threatening to paint my whole world black. My energy and strength were slowly being drained away from me. Each breath I took only fed the fire raging in my lungs. Another few steps, and my legs decided that they had enough.
My knees buckled, and I hit the floor with a resonating thud that danced painfully through my bones.
"Erik!"
In a flash Alex was by my side.
He knelt down beside me, pulling and slinging my arm over his shoulders, supporting most of my weight as I staggered back to my feet. When I was finally standing, he adjusted his grip on me with a concerned look that was not usual for him.
"Are you alright? Maybe you should sit down for a minute-." But I shook my head firmly, even as my vision swam.
"No. Charles. I'm going to get to Charles." Help Charles. Alex looked ready to protest. "With or without you, Alex." Help Charles.
It came out a little harsher than intended, but the concern fled from his face, and with a curt nod, he was leading me. He took slow, careful steps, straining slightly even as he made sure I was steady. A far cry from the rebellious kid we had pulled from the prison cell not so long ago. I was disoriented and exhausted from the sudden snap back to the physical world from Charles' mental vortex, but I did my best to keep my weight off him.
Unfortunately, I could not do it for long.
Only a handful of steps in, my body fell limp, and I heard Alex mutter a range of colourful curses as we both went down.
"I can't carry you, Erik," he said breathlessly, panting as he pushed himself up. "You're too heavy. You're going to have to wait here while I go check on the professor." Hands on my arms, he pushed me into a sitting position against the wall. I shook my head again.
"No." No. Help Charles. "I'm going with you even if I have to crawl the rest of the damn way." Help Charles.
"Screw that! Erik, you can barely keep your head up much less crawl."
"No." I answered with finality, pushing against the floor, trying to force my body to stand. But Alex's hands were suddenly on my shoulders, forcing me back down with a growl.
"Erik, stop! Stop. I need to help the professor and all you're doing is wasting time!"
I froze. He was right, I was wasting time. Time that Charles couldn't afford.
He sighed in relief, giving my shoulder a brief squeeze before shooting down the hall towards Charles' room.
...all you're doing is wasting time...
"Even when I try to help you, I always hurt you in some way." The black spots from before were suddenly consuming my sight as my mind tilted in vertigo. "Forgive me, my friend."
And it went dark.
*~***~Peace~***~*
Ornate doors and fanciful paintings blurred together as Alex increased his speed. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as the professor's door came closer and closer, Erik's words echoing in his mind. "Charles is in danger."
'Why does his room have to be all the way on the other side?' He demanded silently, irritated; it was taking too long just to get to the room.
When he finally reached the door he flung it open, not caring about the damages the action was sure to cause as the handle slammed against the wall on the other side. The light of the hallway barely bathed the entrance, leaving the rest of the room in the pitch of darkness.
"Professor?" He called out.
No one answered.
He took a small step into the dark room and called out again, "Professor? Are you okay?"
Silence.
Carefully, wincing at the image of a confused, irate Charles being abruptly woken up, Alex flipped the light switch beside the door. A small lamp on the far nightstand flickered to brightness, revealing a wheelchair in the corner, and a still, pale figure in the middle of a grand bed. The professor, eyes closed and undisturbed, tucked beneath expensive quilts.
'Why are you so worried? He could just be sleeping.' Alex thought as he slowly, quietly, drew closer. Even though the bed was just a short distance away, he felt as if he had run a mile just to get to it. 'He's just really tired, nothing worth worrying about.'
'Really? For all you know, he could be dead.' He pushed that thought away violently, pausing at the side of the bed to study Charles' face.
The professor had a peaceful expression.
'Too peaceful to just be sleeping...' Alex's breath hitched at the thought. He shook his head and scolded himself, "No, focus Alex. Focus."
Years of juvie and prison fights had taught him quite a lot. Quickly, he placed two fingers on the artery just below the professor's jaw and felt for a pulse.
Nothing.
He tried the other side.
Nothing.
"There has to be a pulse somewhere," he growled in frustration as he peeled the covers slightly off the professor's still body, exposing an arm. Again, he placed two fingers on the vein in the wrist, a little more frantically than before, and felt for it.
Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub
A pulse.
'He's alive.' Relief flooded his body as he gently placed the covers back. He briefly wonder if he should wake the professor up, just to check, just to make sure, but decided against it. The older man needed the rest.
He turned to leave the room. 'Alright, tell Erik that the professor is fine and then get Hank to help Erik and then sleep.'
But he stopped just at the doorway, his lips curling into a frown, and looked back at the professor.
For some reason, something seemed...off, like there was something demanding his attention, but he couldn't exactly determine what it was. It felt as if a dark fog was hanging in the air. There was a name for it...something that started with 'm.'
Something or Someone was watching him... Watching them all...
'Just my imagination.' He snorted, shaking his head, brushing it off as he closed the door. But for a second, his hand lingered on the door knob, not quite closing it, almost as if he should turn back even has he stumbled away.
'Maybe I should go back...just to make su-
Crash!
Alex hissed in pain when his are foot came into contact with the shattered glass shards of the vase he knocked down.
'Awesome Alex. Running into a vase, nice job.' He checked his foot for any glass shards that might have embedded themselves into his skin, but there was nothing, and he sighed loudly before bending down to pick up the pieces. The vase seemed like one of those worth-more-than-your-life vases the professor seemed to covet. No good in letting anyone know he was the one who broke it.
He had gathered up a majority of them when a yell from down the hall exploded in sonic blast.
"Whoever you are, show yourself!"
He dropped the pieces in his hands and clutched his head, his ears feeling like they were going to burst.
"Damn you Sean!"
*~***~Peace~***~*
Sean was past panic, he was in full blown hysteria.
It wasn't often that one found an unconscious person laying in the hallway in the middle of the night when sneaking to the kitchens for a snack. Let alone that said person be Erik Lensherr himself.
He had tried to wake Erik up, he really had, but he was too scared to do anything more useful than prod the magnetic mutant with his foot and call his name. Erik was not generally someone you wanted to mess with, he knew first hand.
And there was no way he was going to let something like the satellite incident happen again.
He considered using a very long stick and poking Erik but there were two things wrong with that. One, there weren't any sticks inside, and two, he was reasonably sure there was no stick that would be long enough for him to poke Erik with and still have a chance to run away.
Crash!
Startled, Sean jumped at least half a meter up in the air, eyes as wide as dinner plates. During their first tour, Raven had mentioned the mansion was haunted by ghosts even Charles couldn't talk to, ghosts that didn't like their nights disturbed. He had thought she was only joking - Charles had said she was only joking - but...
Mustering up all his courage, and in a slightly higher pitch than intended, he yelled out, "Whoever you are, show yourself!"
Sounds of glass shattering and a string of curses that even made Sean's ears burn called out in response. Alex. Not a ghost.
"Damn you Sean!"
Seconds later, Alex stumbled from the darkness of the hallway, one hand rubbing his forehead as the other felt along the wall. He shot him a glare of annoyance. "I swear, if you wake up the professor..." He trailed off as his gaze fell on Erik. "Again?"
The redhead looked at the blond with confusion, but Alex gave him a disgruntled look before kneeling down, slinging one of Erik's arms over his shoulders.
"How you didn't wake him up, I don't even know," he grumbled. "And don't just stand there, moron, help me. We need to get him to Hank."
*~***~Peace~***~*
"One more piece should do it..." Hank mumbled quietly to himself as he drilled a hole in his latest creation. He could hear the sigh of his companion, and, absently, glanced at the clock.
2:46 A.M.
He blinked, surprised. That late already?
"Hank. I think it's time to turn in for the night." Raven urged with a tired voice from somewhere behind him.
Turning back to his work, he replied, "Soon. I'm almost done." He could practically feel the roll of her eyes.
"For a genius, you sure act like a child."
"Raven please, I need to concentr-"
Crash!
Hank nearly dropped the drill in surprise. He quickly switched it off, turning towards Raven who had dashed to his side. She looked at him with concern.
"Are you okay?" She demanded. He nodded and stood up from his workbench.
"Whoever you are, show yourself!"
He snarled when the short sonic wave hit his sensitive ears, exiting the lab and heading quickly towards the source of the noise, Raven on his heels.
"Damn you Sean!"
Great. Alex too.
"They're going to wake up Charles!" Raven hissed, and Hank nodded in agreement as they rounded the corner, prepared to let the girl unleash her wrath on the two without interference. They knew how crucial it was that Charles get his rest right now.
"Sean. Alex. What in the world are you..." He began, but the words died when he saw the unconscious form of Erik between the two struggling teens.
"Hank! Thank God. What do we do?" Alex demanded, not missing a beat. The older mutant blinked, but even though his appearance had changed, his instincts had not. He was beside them instantly.
Lay him down on the ground." He ordered. "On his back - easy, Sean! - I think he's dehydrated, but how ...? Someone go get some water - thank you, Raven. Prop his head up, Sean, into the recovery position - oh, move then, I'll do it!" He shook the German gently a couple times, frowning at the lack of response. "What happened?"
"I dunno, man. He was just ... laying there when I was heading to the kitchen." Sean seemed to be shaking, though whether from nerves or shock, Hank didn't know. "Like he just fell asleep." But Alex was shaking his head.
"No. I found him like this earlier, not too far from here. Completely out of it. Like he'd been in a fight or something. But he woke up for me. Going on about some nonsense about the professor being in danger-."
"What?" Hank and Sean spoke together.
"Hey, calm down okay? I checked on him and he's fine. Just sleeping. Like, deep sleeping, but still. Sleeping." Hank was frowning, even though the words were reassuring. There was something ... wrong about this.
About everything...
"Here's the water, Hank." Raven reappeared, golden eyes wild as she placed the glass in his hand.
"He was so adamant, though," Alex continued. "He was obviously sick, but he kept going towards his room..." Hank pressed the cup against Erik's lips, slowly trickling some of the liquid inside, before splashing some soothingly onto the overheated skin. Instantly, the man flinched in response, stirring, eyes fluttering open. Alex nudged his shoulder with his fist before Hank could protest.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. Again."
*~***~Peace~***~*
The first thing I noticed was voices. Muffled, incoherent voices. It was like white noise all around, and it did nothing to quell the headache inside my head.
Then I felt hands supporting my head.
Furry hands.
Something wet splashing on his face.
Wait. What?
My eyes snapped open, and all I saw was a mixture of colours and blobs. There was one big blue blob hovering over me, a blob with a mouth, a mouth that was moving but with no words coming out. At least not any words I could hear.
I grunted and pushed myself into a sitting position, squinting my eyes as the world began to get into focus. I looked the blue blob and this time, I recognized it as Hank.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. Again." A voice to my left greeted.
Alex.
I muttered something in German as I tried to calm the storm inside my head.
Xavier...
Anger...
Danger...
Charles...
Help Charles.
Alex.
Help Charles.
"Alex!" God! "Is Charles okay?" I asked, my words slurring together.
Alex nodded, shooting a glance over my head towards, I assumed, Hank. "Yeah. He was sleeping. No danger there. He's fine, Erik."
But I shook my head. "No, that can't be right. I saw him. He was bleeding. I know he was." Blood, all over the place, all over the floor, all over him. All over Charles. Help Charles.
"Erik, I think you should lie back down..." Hank started as he began to push against me. Push me back to the floor - no!
"You're wrong! He's in danger! Charles is in danger!" I yelled, my voice starting to get more and more frantic with each word.
"Calm down!"
"Let. Me. Go!" Charles! But Hank was a lot stronger than I was, and I didn't have enough energy to tap into my power. He pushed me back, even as I was pushing up.
"Stop. Hank, stop."It was Raven. Everything went quiet. "I...I think he's right. I think something's wrong."
"R-Raven?" She was looking at me. Hank's grip fell away, and I forced myself up, but her eyes did not leave me, and I could not ignore the dawning look of horror in them.
"Charles has always a light sleeper, even after ... even after the accident. The crash from earlier should have woken him up, if not then Sean's sonic yell. He would've called out, or tried to see what was going on. It's his natural instinct to worry." She was already beginning to stand. "If he still isn't awake, then something must be wrong. Very wrong."
This time, it was Hank who pulled me to my feet, and I wasn't the only one who was rushing to Charles' door.
Help Charles.
I'll try to update soon but no promises!