Charles hasn't dreamed of the beach in Cuba for a long his dream, almost everything remained the same: the scorching sun that burned his cheeks, the mixed scent of ocean and burning motor oil, the explosion in a distance, the rough sand that touched his skin and the sound of his sister's cry.
The only difference was that he got shot in the heart.
Erik had put the bullet in his heart.
He felt the front of his suit got soaked up in his own blood quickly, and his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and then, he couldn't breathed anymore.
And he sunk into darkness.
Some time later, he reopened his eyes, and realized that he was somehow still alive, and that he was no longer on the beach.
Instead, he was in the ocean.
Instinctively, he swam forward, because he knew that Erik was there. His Erik was drowning.
Soon, his eyes were stung from the sea water, but he saw, there he was, Erik, a blur right in front of him, but Charles couldn't sense his mind.
No no no no no-Charles mustered all his strength to counter the incoming waves, and grabbed Erik with all his might like an octopus with its prey.
Erik didn't resist at all. He was like a puppet at Charles' mercy.
No, no, Erik!
Charles circled an arm around Erik's neck to search for a pulse, but he could only feel the coldness of Erik's body, as cold as the ocean water.
He lost Erik.
The thought of it was enough for Charles to snap out of his dream.
Charles found himself trembling and his face was covered with sweat and tears. But he didn't find Erik's corpse in his hands, only a bottle of iced mineral water provided by the hotel.
Gradually, he sat up but wasn't quite sober yet. Nor did he remember when he fell asleep on the couch while watching TV. A large part of his brain was still trying to process the grief for losing Erik, even though it was just a nightmare.
Charles realized that he never forgot a lot of things-how much the bullet hurt, Raven's accusations, Hank's harsh words after the funeral, how useless he felt, and the emptiness after Erik abandoned him.
He used to think that he had handled all the pain and trauma perfectly, and he thought he had already moved on, but now, it dawned on him, that he never got back on his feet again after Cuba, not in the literal sense.
In fact, he was paralyzed in time.
He was dragged forward by responsibilities. When he had so much to do, he had little time to think, but now he had nothing else to do but to think, tides memories and emotions that he buried down broke through his shields and swallowed him up.
And now, he was back in the beginning.
Before he met Raven, when he was all alone.
He reminded himself that he has had a lot in his life, how he and Raven strolled down the streets in Oxford; the experiments he did with Hank; the road trip with Erik; the smiles he shared with Moira; the children coming to him with textbooks in hand; Jean holding a bow and arrow.
But then, those memories have began to fade.
He kissed Moira goodbye; he left the school and all the responsibility to Hank; he had put the children in grave danger and forgot why he founded the X-men in the first place.
He lost Erik, the one person who truly understood him.
In the end, just like in the beginning, he was alone.
Charles stuffed his face in a cushion, and tried to muffle his broken sobs.

Erik blinked. He was fairly certain that he had heard Charles's voice inside his mind, however briefly it was.
Charles? Erik asked in his mind, but he didn't get a reply.
He tossed the paperwork at hand away and dialed a certain number repeatedly, but the line was busy.
Erik pondered for a few seconds before picking up his jacket and headed out.

Erik didn't avoid the main entrance of Charles' school on purpose, nor did he consciously chose to visit at midnight, but just the thought of having to deal with whoever opened the front door with him gave him a headache. It's just much more simpler and efficient to keep a low profile.
Erik easily manipulated the motion detectors around the school and found Charles's room. He descended onto the balcony and slid the metal bar on the inside to open the window.
He stepped inside, and found the room empty.
It's late, he should be sleeping. Erik vaguely thought to himself.
All of a sudden, Erik realized that something was very wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Just a thought nagging at the back of his mind.

After re-locking the window, he opened the door and walked across the corridor, the headmaster's office.
He saw the light was still on underneath the door, and Erik opened the door without thinking.
Much to his shock, he did not find Charles in the office. Instead, he found Hank, alone.
"Where the hell is Charles?"
"He retired 2 days ago." Hank looked up from piles of documents, and didn't seem surprised to see his presence.
Erik, on the other hand, did not share his chill. "Retired to where?"
"Don't know, he didn't say." Hank said matter-of-factly and returned his attention back onto his work.
Erik finally figured out what was troubling him. Whenever he came near the mansion without a helmet on, Charles would always be in his mind and greet him. But aside from the first calling he heard, Charles was no longer there.
Erik wondered what had taken so long for him to figure this out.
"Why is the telephone line always busy?"
"Ah, that. I was rather busy reaching out to our contacts to clean up the government mess these days."
"How bad is it?"
"Out situation? Pretty much like that," Hank pointed to the coffee table next to Erik, and Erik saw a chess board on it.
The chess pieces were scattered across the board, with the sole exception, the black king, still standing.
"Did you set this?" Erik asked.
"It just sort of happened," Hank stood up and waked over next to Erik, and gently knocked down the black king, "but you do see the resemblance with our situation, no? After aliens invaded us, the government will reassess mutants' status. They can still apprehend us, but they know that they still need our power, and they are afraid that they can't control us. And unfortunately, we don't have enough leverage to go up against human governments now. The government and us are in a painful stalemate, Erik."

Erik stared at the scattered pieces. "How long do you think it will last before things change?"

"I don't think it won't be long before the government reaches out to us to test the waters. But before then, I don't think there's anything we can actively do."

"Nothing at all?"

"Well, that's the price for peaceful coexistence."

"You sound like as if you think Charles was wrong."

Hank snorted. "After all this time, I think I finally understand why you wanted all humans dead in the first place. And really, I have crossed the lines between right and wrong a long time ago. If humans cease to exist, it would really make my life a lot easier."

Erik studied his face. "Do you still blame Charles?"

Much to his surprise, Hank let out a constraint laugh. "Blame him? I'm afraid that I don't have the time for that. And not worth it, either."

Hank lowered his eyes and watched Erik picked the black king back up.

"If you need anything, all you have to do is ask," Erik said, gently.

"I will," Hank replied. "are you going after Charles now?"

"Yeah."

"Go. He shouldn't grow old and die alone, although he thinks otherwise." Hank looked thoughtful. "Looking after him had become an old habit, but I'm really exhausted," Hank sunk himself onto the couch,his words nearly reduced into a whisper. "take care of him for me."

Erik nodded.

Hank suddenly sat back up with renewed vigor. "Great, now get the fuck out. I still have work to do."

Erik smiled in genuine pride. He remembered how timid and young Hank was when he first met him, but he always overlooked how reliable Hank was. But now, Hank was able to shoulder the responsibility and the future of children.

After returning to Genosha, the first thing Erik did was to get his second-in-command to utilize all his resources across the globe to find Charles.

In theory, it shouldn't be difficult at all. He rarely set foot outside of Genosha nowadays but the contacts he made when he was younger still remained active, and Charles was already a celebrity among mutants.

But days passed, all of those who called him were just trying to please him and had not actual intel.

"Lehnsherr, " his second-in-command walked inside his office. "a hotel manager in Paris in on the line, he says that he might have something."

Erik immediately picked up the phone, though he was already starting to lose hope.

"A few days ago, all my customers were demanding to change their rooms because they thought it was haunted," the man on the other line said.

And what the fuck does it have to do with me. Erik rolled his eyes. "I do not know how to exorcise."

The second before he hung up the phone, Erik heard the other line quickly added, "The funny thing is, all the costumers said that they kept having nightmares about getting shot on a beach and then drowning with a dead body named Erik in their arms. This has something to do with the telepath you're looking for, right?"

Charles. Erik drew a sharp intake of breath and grabbed a pen. "Give me the address of your hotel, right fucking now."

-END-

Author's notes: After Erik got the location, he grabbed the chess set and went to bring Charles home, like what happened in the ending scene of Dark Phoenix:)
Also, I truly believe in their bond, even without Cerebro and the distance between them, I do think that Erik is still able to hear Charles calling out to him (in his dream), just like how they first met in the freezing sea water.