Another short chapter… Well, most of them are going to be about this length for now. There's just a lot happening in some parts and not a lot happening in other parts. But, as consolation, there are equal amounts of hurt Charles and hurt Erik in here for your consideration…
Also, I have been extremely busy lately, so I apologize ahead of time for not responding to your reviews. I will catch up on that tomorrow! I promise!
The Perks of Being a Telepath
Chapter 11: Where Have You Been?
Charles woke up the next morning to find Erik gone. It wasn't that he hadn't expected it—it wasn't in Erik to say a proper good-bye to anyone. It just hurt to know that his friend was gone without a trace once more.
Or maybe not without a trace, Charles amended himself, as he glanced at his bedside table and found a note, a chessboard, and the cursed helmet sitting there.
I'm coming back. Call if you need anything. It's your move. I'll be in touch.
Erik was furious when he finally located Raven, Sean, and the other small group of mutants they had managed to recruit.
The moment he had made sure that all twenty-six rescued mutants weren't going to be recaptured, Erik had gone straight to the last known hideout of Charles' merry band of mutants and started searching until he had found them in a dinky motel an hour outside of Washington, DC.
"Where the hell have you been?"
He wasn't entirely sure if he was speaking English anymore, but his meaning was more than clear.
"Erik."
Raven sounded mortified and angry all at the same time.
"It has been twomonths and you never showed up! Where the hell have you been?"
Sean looked pale as Raven grappled from a proper response. Erik didn't let her begin.
"Charles is still a prisoner."
Raven's eyes went from narrowed to wide in the space of a heartbeat.
"What?"
"He—I don't know what happened, but he's still there."
"We have to get him out!"
"Why the sudden change of heart? For the past two months, you have sat and done nothing."
"Erik-."
"I expected more from you. Both of you."
With that, he turned and stormed out of the miniscule hotel room they had been holed up in, not realizing the impact he had had on them.
Erik never returned.
At first, Charles merely thought that Erik was taking his time disbanding the 'Brotherhood'. But when a week gave way into a month, Charles realized that Erik wasn't going to come back.
He refused to believe that had been Erik's choice.
"Professor-."
Both Sean and Hank firmly believed that Erik had made the decision to leave once and for all, which fit into their image of Erik as the bad guy.
Charles knew different.
"I don't want to hear it, Hank."
It had been exactly one month, three days, six hours, and twenty-five minutes since Charles had last seen Erik.
In that time, there had been no contact whatsoever.
That wasn't completely abnormal for Erik, given that he had once gone six months without speaking to Charles, but the telepath had hoped their friendship had moved beyond that.
Of course, he had been known to be wrong before, especially when it came to Erik.
Charles was sitting in his study, glaring over the chess game that they had started, but never finished, before the Cuban Missile Crisis. He had reset it when Erik promised to come back.
Erik had been winning. The irony of what that symbolized in the grand scheme of things, given how the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis had played out was not lost on Charles.
"Professor."
"I don't want to hear it, Hank."
"It's—I'm—I—I'm sorry."
Charles raised an eyebrow and looked up. He studied Hank intently, trying to find a reason for what the scientist could possibly be apologizing for.
"About what?"
"About Mag—Erik. I think he's in trouble."
It seemed like everyone was out to surprise him lately. First Erik, with his broken promises, and now Hank using Erik's actual name and not making it sound poisonous.
"Why the sudden change in heart?"
It felt as though that was all he could say lately.
"I—have you seen today's newspaper?"
Charles took a brief glance into Hank's mind to figure out the point of this conversation. Normally, he would have never done such a thing, but this was a special circumstance.
What he found in Hank's mind was horrifying.
Charles lost track of how long he drifted in and out of consciousness. He was vaguely aware of someone else—probably Hank—checking his wounds every now and then and growling.
Other people came and went—it's either that, or Hank started having arguments with himself about Charles' absolutely dismal physical state.
"His wound's infected! If you don't want him to die, then you should start doing something about it."
"We can't. We don't have the authorization!"
"Well you better get it or otherwise, he's going to die and you're not going to have a telepath to run your machine!"
There were a few times when it was just the two of them and Charles projected so much that it was all Hank to do not to pass out from the pain.
"M'sorry."
Charles could barely get the words past his lips.
Hank was slumped against the wall, his head cradled in his hands.
"It's not your fault, Professor."
Charles drifted back into unconsciousness.
Erik groaned as he picked himself off the floor. Blood seeped from new bruises and cuts, courtesy of the CIA and their imaginative ways to get him to talk.
"Magneto!"
Raven—Mystique's concerned voice rang out from across the corridor. Erik closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before turning to face her.
"I'm all right."
She was in her natural blue form—she rarely shifted out of it, nowadays. Her yellow eyes were wide with horror.
"What did they do to you?"
Erik shook his head.
"Nothing."
It was times like these when he understood why Charles went to the lengths he did to keep Raven safe. It wasn't that she couldn't handle it—she was stronger than anyone Erik had ever known, with the exception of her brother—but it was because she shouldn't have to. None of them should.
Erik hated it when Charles was right.
"Don't lie to me."
They were the only two left of their renegade mutants now. They didn't know what happened to Azazel, just that he hadn't lasted very long at the CIA base. Angel had disappeared three days ago. She had been dragged away for questioning and had never returned.
Erik didn't have to be a telepath to know that they'd take Raven next. It was their way to break him.
He hated the fact that it would probably work. Raven had grown to be more than just a fellow mutant to him—she had become the sister he never had.
"I would never lie to you."
"You're doing it now."
"It's nothing that you should be concerned about."
Raven glared at him. Erik almost laughed when he recognized it as the same look she used to give Charles.
"I hate it when you say things like that."
"I know."
She sighed angrily and crossed her arms.
"We need to get out of here."
"We can't. Not without help."
Erik didn't need to be a telepath to read the thoughts on Raven's face. She was the only one who knew about Erik's run-ins with her brother and Erik knew that she hoped Charles would come through for them.
He wouldn't admit to having the same hope. Not when he had literally vanished from Charles' life again after promising to return.
"Charles will come for us."
Erik wished that she was right.
Hank was gone the next time Charles woke up. He didn't come back for the entire half an hour Charles was conscious, either.
Charles tried to pretend he wasn't alarmed by what Hank's absence meant.
Note: Angel isn't dead. She just isn't going to be in here for a while. Same with Azazel.