Chapter 26

(Charles' POV)

As soon as the first tall buildings of the city came into view, Charles realized the severity of what he was doing. His heart sped up and he found himself scanning every corner and every detail in sight as the car moved towards the store where Logan had brought him.

"Turn left here," he instructed the driver. Erik glanced at him carefully in between his own long stares into the passing alleyways. Neither had spoken a word to each other since they'd left the Sanctuary hours ago.

"It should be right around..." Charles breath caught in his throat. He pointed the driver to pull over.

The front windows of the store were smashed in, and the heavy drapes and pieces of cardboard once covering them lied torn and scattered on the ground. Charles could hear his own heart beat against his eardrums.

"Do you need me to take you somewhere else?" the driver asked kindly.

Charles shook his head and thanked him. There was no reason for him to stay in the city with them any longer. It put him unnecessarily in danger. As the car drove away and out of sight, Charles and Erik cautiously entered the post-battle scene of the store.

Pieces of shattered glass crunched underneath their shoes, and Sean's pyramid of shoeboxes had fallen and provided small obstacles for them to tread around. Charles allowed a small wave of relief to wash over him temporarily as he saw plenty of tears and claw marks, but no blood or bodies. Erik crossed the room a few times, sniffing the air as he went.

"I think I they at least got out of here," he offered helpfully.

Charles smiled but didn't feel all that comforted. Just because they made it out of the store, didn't mean they were still alive and well. He pulled out the phone he hadn't turned on since he'd left and powered it up. Finding Alex' number on the top of his list of contacts, he called him up. It rang for a long time before finally playing the voicemail recording.

"Hi Alex. It's Charles. I'm back home. Could you give me a call when you get this, please?" he spoke, his voice breaking at the end and making it more a plea than manners. He felt a warm presence behind him as Erik wrapped a pair of arms around him.

"Try one of the others," he suggested into Charles' hair.

Charles did. He dialed Logan's number but didn't even wait for it to go to voicemail before he spun out of Erik's embrace towards the approaching cloud of aggression coming their way.

"Wait, Logan, don't!" he called out as the man made a move to pounce on Erik from the other side of a broken window.

Too late, Logan had already pushed Erik to the floor, the redwing just barely managing not to get clawed by the sharp pieces of metal grown from the man's knuckles. Charles tried pulling the man off Erik but he was far stronger than he was. Erik tried rolling out from under him, his instincts loudly struggling with his mind's decision to not let his inner hunter take over.

'Stop fighting!' Charles commanded Logan, astonished to see both of the fighting figures to obey.

Erik looked relieved to have his inner turmoil settled, but Logan was fighting him internally with everything he had.

"Please don't hurt him, Logan. He won't hurt you unless he has to," Charles pleaded.

He knew he could easily forbid Logan permanently from attacking Erik, but found himself unwilling to do so. The choice should be his. Charles didn't want to further violate his free will.

"How do you expect me to believe that?" Logan growled, still holding on firm to Erik's shirt but otherwise not moving.

Charles sighed. There was really no way to explain it in a way that Logan could accept. So instead of trying to vocalize his trust in Erik, he opted for the only other means of expression he truly mastered.

"Erik, I'm sorry. This is going to violate our privacy a bit," he said and put two fingers to his temple.

As Erik watched in perplexed silence, he shared his memories with Logan's mind. He pulled all of his history with Erik out of his own thoughts and crashed them mercilessly into the man holding the one he loved. From the day of their first meeting, to the day they discovered each other's true natures, to the day Erik saved him from the man who murdered his mother. Every part of his mind labeled with Erik's name was shared with Logan. He had to know, he had to understand.

Logan's face when through just about all the expressions it was capable of as he had no other choice but to watch the memories forced upon him. Eventually though, as the last memory faded away, he let Erik go.

For a moment the man was absolutely still. Then he nodded in understanding to Charles and sneered at Erik.

"You hurt the kid, you're dead. Remember that."

Erik nodded solemnly and let Charles help him to his feet. Knowing he was still on thin ice with Logan, Erik moved to stand behind Charles and keep silent.

"Why did you come back if you were safe at that house?" Logan asked in reference to the memories taking place at the Sanctuary.

"I had a … feeling that Alex is in big trouble," Charles explained. "I fact, I'm rather sure of it. Do you know where he is?"

Logan shook his head. "I haven't been able to contact him in days," he said gravely. "I went by his folk's apartment but no one was home."

Charles' heart sank. Alex didn't answer his phone, he wasn't at home, and Charles still couldn't identify the room he'd seen in his dream. If they didn't figure something out before long, he was afraid his vision really would come true. He shook his head to rid it of the thought.

"The others?" he asked.

"Alive as far as I know. They're hiding close by, staying in crowded areas. I can call them if you need?" Logan pulled his worn and outdated phone out of his pocket in demonstration. Charles nodded.

"Please. If I'm right, we need to find Alex soon. The others might know something we don't."

Hank, Raven and Sean all stared at Charles in disbelief as he explained Erik to them. As none of them made nearly as aggressive an entrance as Logan, he actually had the opportunity to explain rather than show them why he trusted the redwing. That didn't change the fact that they now all believed he'd lost his mind. Erik kept quiet through all of their questions, even if he did raise an eyebrow as Sean ventured into greatly inappropriate territory.

"Alright, that's about enough, Sean!" Logan finally interrupted. Sean opened his mouth but shut it as Logan gave him a stern look.

"We had to meet because Charles has reason to believe that Alex is in danger," the man explained. "Have any of you got even the slightest idea where he is?"

Sean shook his head, and Raven and Hank exchanged looks before doing the same. They all looked terribly worn, and Charles knew from his dreams that they had been hunted far more intensively in his absence than when he'd last seen them.

"His little brother went back to the hospital not too long ago. Maybe he went there?" Raven suggested.

"No, I already called. They haven't seen him there for two days," Sean spoke with uncharacteristic maturity. "But his parents haven't reported him missing yet, either."

"Can't you search for him?" Raven asked him pleadingly. "You know, telepathically. Like you did with Darwin."

Charles furrowed his brows and ignored the way Erik had flinched at the mention of Darwin. It wasn't Erik who'd killed him personally but it had been his goal for the day, so it might as well have been him to claw the boy's heart from his chest.

"I might," Charles said. "But I haven't been in contact with his mind for weeks so I'm not sure it's possible."

If Charles' own fear and guilt hadn't been enough reason to try to use his gift, the look of fatigue desperation in Raven's face definitely made the decision for him. Once more he put two fingers to his temple and focused all his energy into locating Alex. He spread his mental view as far across the city as he possibly could, calling and searching for even the smallest familiarity to appear.

Then he felt something. A sharp pain bore into his temple and he lost his footing. He heard the others call out to him but wasn't able to answer them back. There was something calling to him. Something desperate and hurting, begging him to hear. Even as the pain increased, he poured every ounce of his attention to figure out where the distress call was coming from.

"The Stadium!" he cried out and finally let go of his mental map of the city. He felt nauseous and faint from all the effort and pain but rose to his feet with fearless determination nonetheless.

"There's someone calling me from the Stadium."

A strong sense unease of filled Charles as they crossed the large parking lot surrounding the Stadium. He knew the others felt it too, it echoed off them. Erik seemed to feel it the worst, scrunching his nose as if smelling something unpleasant.

They entered the lobby. Like the outside of the building, it was nearly completely deserted. A single guard stood still in the back, not sparing them a glance. Charles tried picking up the signal that had led him there but found nothing but silence. Logan picked up on Charles' loss of direction and took the lead. He took slow and calculating steps past the nearest hall leading to the tribunes.

As they entered the top of the many rows of chairs and were able to gaze around the circular stadium, Charles finally reconnected with the signal they were tracking. And it felt wrong. It was definitely not Alex but it was still familiar, he realized now that it stopped pretending to be in distress.

"Out!" Charles yelled and turned to the others to make them run.

'Too late' Emma's voice sang triumphantly in his head, and the others', judging from their flinches.

Steel shutters closed down the entrance they'd entered through, and all the other exits too. Instinctively, Charles looked to the sky above them, but aside from seeing the sudden appearance of red wings he also noted the open roof was closing, efficiently shutting them in.

They were trapped.