Um. Two chapters in like, less than twenty four hours? Damn.

Anyway, I know there were a lot of questions raised at the end of the last chapter, so here are some answers! And only a little cliffhanger.

I keep saying this, but we really are nearing the end of this story. Whether or not you believe it, we are.

And not only do you get two updates in a day, you also get some mostly naked Erik for your enjoyment. And a lot of Erik and Charles. A lot. Like, the two just wouldn't shut up, and honestly wanted to keep talking, but I figured this stopping point was as good as it was going to get.

I cannot even begin to say how much your reviews mean to me. Thank you all so much!

The Perks of Being a Telepath

Chapter 58: Arches and Coffee

Erik knew he should feel guilty for deceiving Raven like this. He knew that he should just come clean, tell her that he hadn't, in fact, betrayed Charles, and that he was here entirely on her brother's wishes.

But he didn't. She needed to work things out, come to the realization that killing wasn't the way to accomplish things, on her own. And she needed someone to watch her back that wasn't going to actually let her kill someone.

So, Erik became that person. He helped her figure out the best plan of attack, Azazel and Angel's strengths and weaknesses, and how they would both manage to get out of there alive.

It helped that this was the sort of thing Erik was good at. A lifetime of experience taught him how to strategize and he did his best to help Raven along.

She was far too trusting of his act to betray Charles, though. Erik didn't blame her for it—he had mentioned on several occasions how he wouldn't mind killing Azazel and Angel for all of the shit they had done—but it still rankled in ways that he couldn't even begin to explain.

They were taking a break from their planning and strategy sessions and had instead gone sight-seeing. Raven had ended up in St. Louis, Missouri, and so, they decided to go see the St. Louis Arch.

Raven was cautious enough to wear her blonde woman persona. And while Erik hated the fact that this was necessary, they could not afford to take any risks at this point in time.

She perched herself on a rail and fixed Erik with a steady look.

"I know you're not here to help me kill Azazel."

Erik blinked, surprised.

"Come again?"

Raven smiled knowingly at him, a look that she surely must have stolen off of Charles.

"I know that you're here because Charles wants me to come home."

"Don't be absurd, Raven. I've told you—I want Azazel and Angel gone as much as you do."

She shrugged.

"That may be true. But when it comes down to it, you're not going to kill them. And you're not going to let me kill them, either, are you?"

Erik leaned against the railing, folding his hands in front of him.

"No."

He had never really been able to lie to her. Not for long, anyway. She was too much like Charles in how she managed to finagle the truth out of him.

"I thought as much. Charles really has done a number on you, hasn't he?"

Erik couldn't argue. It was the truth.

"Your brother has saved me in more ways than I can count, Raven. I owe him the world."

Raven shook her head.

"Don't you think the best way to repay him would be to save his life? To keep him safe?"

"Charles is fully capable of keeping himself safe. He's done it for years without our help."

The words were altogether too harsh, a reminder of not only the months Raven had spent with Erik after Cuba when they had abandoned Charles at his weakest moment, but also of all the times Raven hadn't been there when Cain and Kurt had their way with her brother.

She looked away, but not before Erik could see the hurt on her face.

Erik sighed heavily.

"Raven, look at me. We are going to stop Azazel and Angel; we just aren't going to kill them."

"They can't be stopped, Erik!"

"Yes, they can."

"You have been spending far too much time with Charles."

It was meant as an insult, but Erik found he didn't care.

"He taught me how to be the better man, Raven. His way is the right way. You know that—you've seen what happens when we go against that."

Raven growled.

"Charles is an idiot."

"Well, yes, but tell me, what exactly do you think is going to happen when you kill Azazel? Or Angel? The two people, outside of me and Charles, that you use to rely on and trust the most?"

She was quiet, clearly never having thought of this.

Erik pressed on.

"You think taking a life is easy. That killing someone that you believe deserves it is simple, because you have convinced yourself that it's the right thing to do. And maybe it is. But the guilt of taking someone's life is something you will have to live with for the rest of your life. It changes the very core of who you are, Raven."

"Do you feel guilty?"

Erik was confused.

"What?"

Raven stared at him intently.

"Do you feel guilty for killing Shaw?"

The honest answer was no. He didn't. He felt guilty for what his actions had caused—the pain Charles had to go through on account of it, the way that one action had destroyed everything that Erik had held dear to him—but he did not feel guilty for taking Shaw's life.

"That is an entirely different situation."

Raven snorted.

"You are so full of shit, Erik."

"It is."

"How? Angel and Azazel plan on doing exactly to Charles what Shaw did to your mother. How is my wanting to stop that from happening any different than your revenge?"

"Because Charles is still alive!"

The words were half-shouted, drawing attention from the crowds of people walking by.

Raven glared at him as he continued more quietly.

"You think you're trying to do the right thing, and I admire your courage, Raven. But Charles is alive, and your using what Shaw did as justification for your own actions is crass. Shaw was a monster and he needed to be stopped. Angel and Azazel are scared, running for their lives, and they don't know who they can trust. All they do know is that they think Charles is the reason for why they're in that position and they will do whatever it takes to rectify that. But they aren't monsters and they don't deserve to die for being scared. If you choose to take their lives after knowing that, then you are no better than they are."

It would hit Erik much later just how much he sounded like Charles in that moment. But for now, as he turned around and walked away, all he could think of was that he hoped Raven would listen to him. He knew she wouldn't, but he hoped she would.

It wasn't that surprising when he returned to their hotel room a few hours later to find that she had vanished.

Damn it, Raven.

How they made it back to the mansion, Erik wasn't entirely sure. He did vaguely recall practically having to carry Charles to a car because the telepath had been severely injured. And he did distantly remember being surprised as hell at the sight of Alex (but not Alex) at the entrance to the mansion.

But after that, it became a blur, because that was about the time Erik's body decided to shut down on him for all of the mental and physical hell he had been through, and he barely made it up to his room before he crashed.

He woke up on the floor, having been unable to make it to the bed, sometime later with the sound of rain pounding against the window panes. Erik blinked and sat up, groaning as his body protested the abuse.

He coughed violently, having still yet to recover from the pneumonia that had plagued him even before Cain. The smoke inhalation certainly hadn't helped.

Erik forced himself into an upright position, swearing softly as the world swam violently around him. He stumbled over to his dresser and pulled out a clean pair of clothes, before somehow managing to make it to the bathroom.

The hot water helped clear his head and enable him to breathe. Erik lost track of how long he spent underneath the glorious spray before he finally was able to think somewhat clearly. He killed the shower with a flick of his powers—a thrill of surprise and contentment running down his spine as he once more realized that those horrible memories of the future had been nothing more than a dream.

Steam billowed around him as he stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel around his waist. Erik paused by the sink to steady himself for a few moment; while the hot water had been relaxing, it did absolutely nothing for his vertigo problems. He took a couple of deep breaths before pulling on his change of clothes.

Unsurprisingly, Charles was sprawled across Erik's bed when he walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later. The telepath looked like complete shit, with dark circles underneath his eyes and his skin was entirely too pale, and his usually carefully styled hair was sticking up all over the place. He was still dressed in his clothes from the night before—was it the night before? Erik wondered—and he was fast asleep.

There was a mug of coffee on the night stand, one that was still steaming. The rich aroma made Erik's stomach growl.

He smiled slightly, knowing that he should probably be more upset with Charles than he was for Onslaught and Cain and, well, a lot of things, but Erik had never been able to be pissed off at the telepath for longer than a few hours anyway.

Erik gently pushed Charles over a few feet and sat down on the bed next to him. He couldn't resist the groan of relief that escaped his lips as he did so.

He picked up his coffee and sipped at it, waiting patiently. It wouldn't be long now.

Charles opened his eyes slowly, entirely unsurprised to find Erik sitting on the bed next to him.

"Good morning."

Erik gave him a rather toothy smile.

"Morning, sunshine."

Charles grimaced at him and sighed.

"Are you all right, my friend?"

That was a rather loaded question, all things considered.

"I'm okay."

Charles snorted.

"Sure you are. Because everyone who almost has their entire memory erased and then smashed back together less than twenty four hours ago is perfectly all right."

"Says the telepath who not only astrally projected last night, but also smashed my memory back together on top of breaking into a CIA facility and rescuing the second coming of Alex."

Charles blinked owlishly.

"I didn't claim to be okay."

Erik scowled.

"You are being singularly difficult, Charles."

Charles flashed a grin.

"Always."

He sobered.

"Erik. Are you sure…. Are you, well, you?"

To anyone else and in any other circumstance, the question would have been absurd.

Erik nodded.

"Thanks to you, my friend."

Charles let out a loud sigh, followed by a soft curse. He pressed his hand against his side, looking pained.

Erik was alarmed.

"Charles?"

The telepath shook his head, his breathing shallow.

"I had a run in with the floor last night, that's all. Nothing to be worried about."

It was pathetically obvious that Charles was hiding something, and it was borderline insulting that he thought he could actually get away with it.

Erik growled.

"Charles."

The other man gave a quick grin, but it vanished quickly and never reached his eyes.

There was something going on. Something big.

Erik tried again.

"Tell me what happened last night."

"I did."

Well, that was more or less the truth. Charles had given a rather hurried summary of what went down between Onslaught and Cain—who knew that Charles could astral project?—and that Charles had done some impressive telepathic trick, dived into Erik's brain, and somehow had managed to grab ahold of whatever little humanity Erik had had left after Cain tried so hard to destroy it, and push it back to the surface.

But there was a lot more that Erik knew he was missing, like what happened to Raven, what happened during the CIA mission, and how the hell Charles had wound up with what appeared to be broken ribs and a pretty nasty head wound.

The latter, of course, had been cleaned and stitched—probably by Hank—and was now hidden underneath a sporting white bandage that really did absolutely nothing for Charles' overall decrepit appearance.

Erik sighed.

"I'm not in the mood for playing games, Charles."

"That's why I didn't bring the chess board."

"Whatever happened, you can tell me you know. I'm not going to be angry."

Charles was quiet for a moment.

"It's not your anger I fear, Erik. It's your guilt."

Oh.

Oh.

The only explanation for that was that Erik had done this to Charles.

"Charles…"

"If you apologize, I swear I will punch you. You weren't yourself, Erik. Cain did this. And he's gone now."

Erik honestly thought he was going to be sick. The memory he had had the night before then, of throwing Charles across the room, had been real.

Schibe.

The metal bender closed his eyes.

"Thank you."

Charles' confusion was palpable.

"Come again?"

Erik opened his eyes and met Charles' intense blue gaze.

"Thank you. For saving my life. I don't know why you keep thinking I'm worth it… but thank you anyway."

A soft, sad look crossed Charles' face.

"You do the same for me, my friend."

It was true. They only had to look at the not too recent past for proof of that.

Which forcibly reminded Erik of one of the other things he was confused about.

"I thought Onslaught died after Stryker."

Charles swallowed audibly and looked away. When he spoke, he spoke to the wall.

"I should have said something about it sooner…. But he never really went away, Erik. Not that time, at any rate."

"And you never told anyone?"

"It didn't seem important at the time. I had him under control."

"Didn't seem… Charles. I thought you were over your suicidal tendencies."

The telepath looked back, his face hard.

"I had it under control, Erik. Besides, we needed him last night. I would never have been able to defeat Cain and save your life if it weren't for him."

"He damn near killed you the last time you set him free!"

"We were working together for a common cause this time."

"And you thought you could trust him?"

"I never once trusted him to do anything but destroy. And that's what he did. Onslaught killed Cain. He did what I could not, and in the process, he saved not only you, but myself as well."

It hit Erik then, what killing Cain would have done to Charles. The telepath had never fully recovered from killing Emma, and while Cain had fully deserved everything that he had gotten last night—and more—Erik knew that that reasoning would never have been enough for Charles.

He swallowed hard.

"You could have told me, Charles."

"I couldn't risk Cain finding out. It was almost not enough as it was. If Cain hadn't already slowly been falling apart, I don't think I would have been able to handle him, with or without Onslaught."

The fear in Charles' voice almost broke Erik's heart. Charles really wasn't scared of much, except losing those he cared about. And while he was not on his list of people he cared about, Charles knew exactly what would have happened had Cain proved too powerful and beaten Onslaught. Or if Onslaught had been too powerful and overcome Charles.

Erik put his coffee down on the nightstand.

"What happened to Onslaught? Where is he now?"

Is he going to get loose again? Are you strong enough to beat him down once more?

The questions were on the tip of the metal bender's tongue, but he didn't ask them, sensing that Charles would take that as Erik not trusting him, and that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Charles ran a hand through his hair.

"He's gone. For real this time. He and Cain mutually destroyed each other."

There was another lie wrapped up in those three sentences, one that Erik could sense. But the metal bender also heard the unspoken warning, the plea for him not to ask what the hidden story behind that was.

So Erik heeded it, for now, trusting that Charles would tell him about it when it became time to.

So he changed the subject.

"And Raven?"

He distantly remembered Cain talking about how he had destroyed Raven's mind, the same way he had almost succeeded in destroying Erik's.

Charles' broken expression said it all.

"She attacked me last night, when I came back here to look for you."

It was only then that Erik noticed the ring of bruises around Charles' throat and the slight rasp the telepath had that Erik had contributed to the smoke inhalation the night before.

"Charles…"

He wasn't sure what he was going to say. I'm sorry didn't even begin to cover the grief that was slowly starting to take root in Erik's heart.

Charles closed his eyes and looked away again.

"She's in Hank's lab, downstairs. He's keeping her sedated for me until I can figure out a way to fix her mind. If there's a way to fix her mind."

Erik felt slightly reassured, knowing that if anyone could fix Raven, it would be her brother.

Charles glanced back, clearly hearing the optimism in Erik's mind.

"While that is very kind of you, Erik, I don't know if I can do it. She was completely gone and her mind is full of traps. If I set even one of them off, it could very well destroy her."

And me.

The mental thought was projected before the telepath could fully clamp down on it, which caused him to flinch.

Erik reached over and gripped Charles' wrist gently.

"I have faith in you, my friend. If there is a way to save Raven, you can do it."

After all, you keep saving me, and God knows how you manage to do that.

"And if I can't save her?"

"Then we will accept her as she is."

"She wants to kill me."

"Everyone does. You should be used to this by now."

"Erik."

Charles' voice was lost and sad, heavy with the reality of what losing Raven would mean.

Erik understood.

"It's going to be okay, Charles. It's going to be okay."