Charles looked to the sky, his eyes widening as he did so. He felt fear run through his body as he placed his hands either side of his mouth and looked above.
"Erik!" he roared his name. "Erik! Stop this!"
Erik didn't listen and the stadium lowered further and Grace felt her hands touch the concrete. Charles watched as her body bent, but she was managing to hold the stadium. She was yelling in pain at the weight of it, but she was doing her best to channel her powers. Charles continued to yell at Erik before he moved over to Grace.
"No!" she yelled at Charles. "Don't...don't help me...I can do this..."
"No, Grace," Charles shook his head. "It is too much for you. You're not ready!"
"I am!" Grace yelled back at Charles and she looked into his eyes as he looked back to her. "I have to be."
It was then when Charles saw her move one hand from the concrete she was holding. She slowly dropped it down to her side and then pushed it back up. As soon as her fist made contact with the concrete, it went flying into the air. Erik's control of it was lost and the stadium hurtled hundreds of feet above them.
Erik looked down to the ground as Charles grabbed Grace by her waist and pulled her from her previous spot. She allowed him to take her further into the discarded chairs before she looked up to Erik. She knew that throwing the stadium would not help, but she only hoped that she could stall Erik.
"Go inside," Grace roared when she saw Logan and Hank. "Go inside and find Raven."
"What about him?" Logan asked, motioning to Erik who was too focused on stopping the stadium from falling hundreds of feet from the air.
"I've got him," Grace promised them.
"I'm not leaving," Charles assured her.
"You are the only one who could possibly stop Raven," she responded to Charles. "She will listen to you, but you need to go now. I can manage Erik. I've managed him for long enough."
Nodding, Charles looked as Erik held the stadium above them again. He quickly kissed Grace on the lips and rushed off with Hank and Logan. Grace remained stood where she was, but she soon found that Erik's hand was stretched in front of him and pointing down to her. Grace's brows furrowed at the sight, but she only understood when she felt herself being lifted into the air.
The metal from the belt which looped around her dress was enough to drag her upwards. She shrieked loudly as she soon found herself inside of Erik's arm. He held her by the waist whilst she placed her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, fear taking hold of her.
"You know I hate heights, you asshole!" Grace roared at him.
"Almost as much as I hate you trying to ruin my plan," Erik seethed to her and she longed to reach for his helmet and pull it from his head. She failed miserably as she was too frozen to even comprehend doing anything. "But I do like your body around mine like this."
"Shut up," Grace muttered. "You can lower it to the ground, but I can absorb its energy again."
"I don't think so," Erik muttered as the stadium hit the ground and engulfed the White House. "I did tell you to stay away, Grace. It would have been for the best. Now look at us. We're stuck floating in the air and you are paralysed with fear."
"I'm warning you, Erik..."
"With what?" Erik asked; keeping one hand outstretched as his other arm wrapped underneath her thighs. "You cannot hurt me, Grace. Hurting me has never been an option."
Grace was thankful as they slowly made their way back down to the ground and her grip slackened on Erik. He finally stood on his feet as Grace unwrapped her legs from his waist, her arms still around his neck as he grabbed hold of her hips. She had been waiting for him to touch her. She absorbed his energy and pushed him in the chest, watching him hurtle backwards and into the cameras on the podium.
"It seems you're wrong," Grace called out. "I'm able to do a lot more than you thought, Erik."
Grace watched as he pushed himself to his feet and moved his hands again. She waited for some form of metal to come hurling to her, but she soon found herself being moved closer to Erik by her belt again. He caught her by the waist and pushed her to the ground, pinning her hands above her head as he did so. She kneed him in the groin before punching him off of her, rolling them over so she straddled him.
"My, my, Gracie," he whispered as her dress rode up her thighs and Erik felt blood in his cheek as his fingers danced over her upper thighs. "You really are a lot stronger than I had thought."
"And you know it," Grace muttered as she slapped his hands from her. "So you can either give up and go...or we can continue this..."
"I think that I would like to continue this," Erik said as he quickly sat up and grabbed her waist, tossing her over his shoulder with haste.
Grace punched at his back before tugging his hair. A hiss of pain escaped him and she pushed herself from his arms, falling to the ground before she saw Logan and her brows furrowed. It was only then when she saw him in the corner of her eye.
Charles was trapped underneath a metal structure. His legs were stuck and his head was twisted to the side as he looked to Grace, blood pouring down his forehead. She forgot Erik momentarily as Logan advanced towards him, his claws now pushed out from his knuckles. Erik watched Grace run to Charles with haste, wondering just how deeply she felt for the telepath.
"Charles!" Grace shrieked his name. "Charles...it's alright...I'm here...we'll get you out..."
"I was going to stop Raven," Charles promised her. "I didn't get there quick enough."
"It's fine," she promised him. "Hank and Logan are here. I'll try to lift this."
Grace reached for the metal, but she felt no energy flowing through it. She looked over to Erik, but he was too busy fighting Logan to spare her any thoughts at that moment in time. Grace knelt back down by Charles and stroked his hair from his face. Charles managed to take her hand and he kissed the back of it lightly.
"Try to stop him," he urged her. "Go and try to stop him."
"But you need me."
"But I need you to do this," Charles responded in a soft voice. "I need you to do this, Grace. He will listen to you...he won't hurt you..."
"Will he?" Grace scoffed, noting how Logan had disappeared and Erik had his hands stretched to the White House.
She covered her ears as a sudden metal box hurtled through the wall to the White House. Her screams echoed at the sound, but she was more concerned with stopping Erik at that moment in time. She looked to Charles and he nodded to her. She kissed his forehead and stood up, wondering where Hank was for a few moments before she moved over to Erik.
"Erik!" she roared his name as he pulled the door from the metal box which housed all of the President's men and the President himself.
Grace lost her footing on some rubble as Erik looked to her for a brief moment.
"This is it, Grace," Erik assured her, grabbing the guns and holding them high in the sky, pointing them at the men in the box. "There is nothing else to the matter. It has to be done."
"No, it doesn't," Grace whispered to him. "Yes, these men would have killed us all. They would have used the Sentinels to destroy us. I know that and so do they. They fear us. They fear us because we are the more evolved people. We have extraordinary abilities which they cannot understand, and they worry for us."
Erik smirked as Grace moved towards him slowly and he wondered if she was coming around to his way of thinking. She had her dress askew on her body and she had lost one of her pumps on her feet. Her hair was like a bird's nest and her face had scratched and some bruises from where she had tumbled. But she had never looked so perfect to Erik when she agreed with him.
"But it is fear in the first place which led for them to create the Sentinels," Grace continued.
"And they will always fear us," Erik said. "We need to come out of the shadows. We need to show humans that they cannot get away with treating us like this. And we start today."
"No," Grace shook her head. "The humans will understand a lot more if we show compassion. Compassion is the greater emotion...it will show them that they do not need to fear us...killing them will only cause more fear..."
"They had no intention to spare our lives," he responded to Grace, his hand still in front of him. "They would have killed me...you...Charles...Raven...all of us..."
"And do you think that they try to devise another plan if you kill them now?" Grace demanded from him. "It will be a continuous cycle of nothing but death and destruction. Killing brings no one any happiness. We should know that by now, Erik. You know that."
Erik regarded her for a moment and he shook his head at her.
"I can't do that, Grace," he whispered.
"Don't then," Grace replied in a small voice and she stood in front of the loaded guns as Erik watched her with annoyance.
She kept her chin high and her gaze set firmly on Erik. It was only then when he noted the blue creature move to stand next to Grace. Raven stood next to the girl and continued to glower at Erik with annoyance.
"One death was never enough for you," Raven called out. "And it never will be, but I am with Grace on this matter. I don't want all of them dead."
"Do it," Grace challenged Erik. "I can absorb their energy. You know that, but would you dare risk it? Would you risk my life? Raven's life?"
Erik ground his teeth together and moved his free hand to make a grab for Grace again. She fought against him as Raven acted with haste. She grabbed hold of a gun which he had let go and shot at Erik, hitting him across the neck. Erik fell to the ground as the bullet grazed his skin and Grace rushed over to his side, pulling his helmet from his head as he remained still.
"Did you think I would shoot you?" Erik dared to ask Grace as Raven aimed her gun at Trask.
"I knew you wouldn't," Grace whispered, "but this ends today, Erik."
She looked over to Charles, urging him to use his powers to control Erik and lift the metal. He did no such thing. He chose to keep his mind on Raven, his gaze focused on her as she demanded for him to get out of her head. He ignored her and Grace watched as Raven stood tall. Grace stood too, but she waited for her to do something before she made a move.
But Raven didn't do anything.
She tossed the gun to the side and looked behind to Grace and then to Charles.
"Charles," Grace called his name and he finally manipulated Erik's body.
Grace rushed over to him to help him to his feet, her arm around his shoulder as Hank came into the picture and took some of his weight. Erik remained stood on his feet, his hand on his head as Raven reached for his discarded helmet to keep it from his grip.
"If you let them have me then I'm as good as dead," Erik called out. "You know that."
"I know," Charles agreed and Erik looked to Grace again, waiting for her to come over to him.
But she didn't go. She remained stood where she was, her arm around Charles as Raven moved over to them, limping slightly as she went. Grace shook her head at Erik and he knew that he could not have her. He felt rejection swim through him as he did so, but he kept silent.
His hands moved and he began to float into the air. He was silent, closing his eyes as he went.
It was only when he heard the sound of gunfire beneath him did he look down again, screams entering his ears as he did so. Fear pulsed through him at the sight, but he could do nothing but stay where he was, paralysed with anger.
...
A/N: Sorry for another cliffhanger! Thank you to everyone reading and do review! All shall be explained in the next chapter!
