Erik watched as his regular visitor came and sat opposite him. The young man pushed his floppy brown hair out of his eyes and gave the older man a slight smile.

"Good morning, Erik."

"Good morning, Scott Summers. I see you have decided to come back yet again."

"The professor worried about you being on your own all the time. It didn't seem right to just forget about you now that..."

The young man trailed off, his eyes reflecting some of the pain that Erik felt. Worrying about him being alone... Yes, that sounded like Charles; utterly unable to ignore anyone in need. It was why he had had a mansion full of poor mutants. It was why he had been so wonderful.

Before him though, sat a mutant who was also in pain. A mutant who had had his ability blocked through no choice of his own, if what he had managed to get out of the young man was true. He had not had his blocked due to the research of humans though, but thanks to a mutant.

Thanks to Jean Grey... He wondered how exactly it had happened. He wondered if it was telepathy or telekinesis that had done the damage. He wondered if it could be reversed.

His own 'cure' was starting to breakdown in his body. He focussed his attention to one of the chess pieces, making it twitch slightly. It was foolish, perhaps, to do so in front the leader of the X-Men, but he almost wanted the young man to see; he wanted Scott to take comfort that things were not always permanent if you put effort in to change them.

Some days, Erik tried to see Alex Summers in the young man before him. Charles had informed him that this was the boy's son. He knew Mystique held a certain fondness for him as well, not only for being Alex's son, with whom she had gotten along well with, but also because Charles had adopted him. Being Charles' sister, she viewed Scott Summers as a nephew. She was a strong woman though, and had not let her familial bonds get in the way of their goal.

He rather hoped her 'cure' was wearing off; she had been quite beautiful.

"Black or white?" Asked the young man, his blue eyes seeking Erik's out. He sighed, feeling exhausted.

"Does it matter?"

"Do you not want to play?"

"Maybe I just want to talk to you today."

"Oh..." He looked confused, but politely laced his fingers on the tables and looked at the older man, his head tilted slightly. It was so reminiscent of Charles that Erik felt another pang.

"There are a few things I would like clearing up, if you don't mind."

"I'll answer what I can." He assured him.

"Ms. Grey had a connection with you."

"She did."

"Charles tried to close it off. It made her angry."

"We thought she had died." His face crumpled. "I was having problems with... I could hear her. The professor tried to help, but it didn't really work. He said it was like I had a hole in my mind that any passing telepath could access... I just know it hurt."

"You had a bond..." He used to have one with Charles. For years, they had been connected. However, he had told his friend to remove it back when the man had started getting more pupils. He had briefly felt the pain the request had caused Charles, but he had done as Erik had demanded.

"Yes."

"Yet you are clearly functioning now."

"Logan helped."

"The Wolverine?" He pulled a face, trying to imagine how such a barbarian could assist in something as delicate as telepathy.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I... He..." The young man was flushed brightly.

"Ah, sex." A great healer, apparently.

"No. I don't- We haven't... He just... helps." The boy looked imploringly at him, but Erik did not really understand what he was getting at.

"Oh, watch out!" Scott jumped to his feet and threw himself in the way of Erik. There was a young woman stood before them, snarling at Erik; she had a gun in her hand and had fired it. Automatically, Erik raised his hand and crushed the weapon.

Scott fell to the ground with a yelp.

Erik froze, staring in shock at the young man. They were not friends; he had, inadvertently caused the death of the boy's adopted father. Why would he jump in front of a bullet for him? Surely Charles hadn't drilled a hero complex quite that deep...

It took him a moment to realise the bullet had only skimmed the boy's arm; that Scott was clutching at his eyes. Curious... It seemed the blocks in their mutations had lifted at the same time. He raised his eyes to the woman who was still angrily growling at him.

"You killed him. He was a good man and you are the reason he is dead."

"Was he a human soldier trying to kill us, my dear?" Erik asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"You're a monster. It's no less than you deserve."

"Don't... hurt..." Gasped Scott. "Erik, please don't- Ah..."

"No? Just this once then." He supposed he did owe the boy, so he used the metal to fasten her hands behind her back and attach them to the metal fence.

That done, Erik crouched down beside the boy. He ought to just leave him here, but he couldn't just leave the boy; he had meant too much to Charles. He helped Scott to his feet and wrapped the boy's hand around the crook of his elbow.

"We'd best be leaving now. Do you have something to press down on that scratch? Excellent." And he walked off to where Scott's Mazda RX-8 was parked. He helped the boy into the passenger seat before sitting down himself and turning the engine on.

"Hmm... How do we change the channel, dear boy? I can't listen to this."

Scott reached a hand over and after feeling around for a moment, he jabbed a button a couple of times. Erik smiled as classical music filled the car, and he headed off to Xavier's School.