So some readers have been complaining that there isn't enough of so-and-so in the story. Don't worry guys; I know what I'm doing. I've got a big idea brewing for Alex/Elisabeth, I've got several ideas for Sean/Lucy, and the section below is what I believe to be a very big moment in Charles and Rosabelle's relationship. Just trust me, I'm getting to it.
"So, who is Erik anyway?" Rosabelle asked, sitting down on the couch beside Charles in his room and curling up next to him. "He seems sort of fishy to me. I know Lucy doesn't trust him."
"That's because Sean told her that Erik is crazy." Rosabelle giggled and rested her head on his chest. "Erik Lensherr had once been arguably my best friend, besides Raven. See, when he was a boy he was sent to a concentration camp in Germany." Rosabelle's eyes went wide. "Erik can manipulate metal, and Sebastian Shaw had wanted him to move a coin. He couldn't, unfortunately, and Shaw killed his mother because of it."
"Bastard," she muttered, and he chuckled.
"Indeed. Since then Erik had harbored a very violent grudge against him. One night, a little after I discovered that there were other mutants besides myself and Raven, I went with the CIA in an attempt to capture Shaw. He escaped in a submarine, and Erik, being the determined man he is, went after the submarine and tried to lift it out of the water. I knew he was going to die and jumped in after him. I was able to successfully calm his mind and pull him back to safety. He was, for lack of better word, pissed at me, but we had formed a sort of bond that night and soon became close friends. After that, we began recruiting mutants to take down Shaw, who was planning on having the Russians launch missiles at the United States."
"That was his fault?" Rosabelle asked and he nodded. "My God, what an evil man."
"I agree. That's how we found Alex, Hank, and Sean. There was also two more, Angel and Armando. Angel could fly and Armando could adapt to his surroundings. But Angel went with Shaw and Armando…well…it turns out he couldn't adapt to everything." Rosabelle winced, and Charles squeezed her shoulders.
"The morning we went to capture Shaw and stop the missiles from being launched, many things happened so quickly that they now seem like almost a blur. I only remember a few important things. I was able to stop the missiles from being launched by taking over a sailor's mind, and Erik had killed Shaw, but unfortunately I had been controlling him at that moment, so I felt the pain as well." Rosabelle kissed his cheek gently, and he smiled. "But, in order to have accomplished his mission, Erik rose the submarine right out of the water, thus giving away the existence of mutants to the Russian and American military.
"They turned on us, just like Erik had predicted. Instead of launching missiles at each other, they launched them at us." She gasped and he nodded. "Erik had been able to stop them, but then he did the unthinkable: he turned the missiles on the ships. I tried so hard to reason with him, I couldn't access his mind because of a helmet he had acquired, but it became clear when he launched the missiles that there would be no reasoning with him. The Erik Lensherr I once knew was gone, and had been replaced by something much darker.
"Moira decided to be brave but stupid, and started firing her gun at him. It stopped him from following through with the missiles, but in return it nearly took away my walking ability." Rosabelle's eyebrows knitted together in confusion and she pulled back as he started to turn around. He pulled up the back of his shirt, revealing on his back a piece of skin that shined in the light. She reached out and gently ran her finger over it. "He had been deflecting the bullets, but one had gone haywire and penetrated my back. Hank said that if I had moved even one centimeter before it had hit me, I would've been paralyzed from the waist down. This is the first time I've seen Erik in two years, and it's safe to say that I was shocked." Rosabelle hadn't heard the last sentence, though, because when Charles turned back around she had thrown her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that," she whispered. "Nobody should ever have to go through that, especially you." He smiled a little and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "I love you Charles. I don't care if you're shocked or you don't love me back. I just want you to know that I love you so much," she mumbled, her voice muffled by his shoulder, but still audible. He pulled back and took her face in his hands, looking straight into her eyes.
"I love you more," he murmured and she smiled, letting him brush away a stray tear. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his with so much passion that it almost overwhelmed both of them. He responded by placing her hand on his waist and moving forwards, making her lay on her back on the couch. Suddenly she stopped and pushed at his chest a little, an odd look crossing her face. "What's wrong?"
"I…" She trailed, placing a hand over her mouth before she bolted up from the couch and into the bathroom, where she barely made it to the toilet. Charles quickly stood and followed her path, holding back her hair and whispering soothing words the whole time. When she finished, he ran a wash cloth under warm water and held it out to her. "Thank you," she mumbled, burying her face in it as he flushed the toilet. "Sorry about that, it was the lunch I had while I was shopping."
"No need to apologize my dear, it's simply the way the human body reacts to bacteria sometimes." She smiled into the washcloth and rolled her eyes.
"I love it when you talk smart," she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. He laughed and kissed her forehead.
"Let's get you to the bed. You're going to rest for a few hours, and then I'm taking you to see Hank." He helped her up and wrapped a protective arm around her waist, walking with her out of the bathroom and towards his bed. After laying her down, he set up a trashcan next to her head and kissed her forehead again. "Try and get some sleep." She nodded and brushed a piece of hair out of his face before she turned on her side and closed her eyes, falling asleep. He sighed and stared at her slumbering face for a moment before turning and walking to his couch, sitting down, and pulling out a book, reading quietly as Rosabelle gently snored in the bed.
xxxxOxxxx
Lucy walked quietly through the halls of the upper floors of the mansion, running her fingers along the walls. Every now and then she would peek inside a room, but never found anything interesting. She was fixing to give up on her little journey when a voice called out, "Hi!" She turned and found herself face to face with Raven. Just the sight of her blue skin and yellow eyes made Lucy fight the urge to clench her fists and belt out the chorus of Sweet Caroline. How dare she cause her friend pain and then expect Lucy to be friendly to her! Sean had said she was wonderful, yet look at what she did to Marianne and Hank's friendship/almost relationship!
"Hello," she said stiffly and Raven frowned.
"Everyone is mad at me for some reason. I don't even know what I did."
"You took Hank away from Marianne is what you did," Lucy said bluntly, and Raven looked shocked. "Why do you look so surprised? I know you've seen the way he looks at her, and yet you keep yourself glued to his hip!"
"What are you talking about? You think I have feelings for Hank?" Lucy gave her a look and Raven laughed. "That's ridiculous! I mean, I used to have feelings for Hank, but I don't anymore. Trust me; I have feelings for someone else." Lucy cut off her argument and she relaxed her hands, which had indeed rolled into fists.
"You…you don't like Hank?" she asked quietly, and Raven laughed, shaking her head.
"No! I did once, but not anymore. I do see how he looks at Marianne, and I would never want to ruin that."
"…Oh." Raven walked up to Lucy and held out her hand.
"Let's start over, yes? I'm Raven Darkholme." Lucy smiled and shook her hand.
"Lucille Baldwinn, but call me Lucy."
"It's nice to meet you, Lucy. Are you up for a burger? I know this amazing place in town that you would just love!" Lucy thought about it for a moment before shrugging and nodding.
"Sure, I like burgers. But you can't go out into public blue. Trust me, Raven, there are people out there who do not like mutants." Raven smiled a little and there was a sound like a deck of cards being shuffled. Suddenly she was a pale skinned blonde with nice blue eyes. "Impressive! Now, shall we?" Raven nodded and looped her arm through Lucy's as the two started walking back towards the stairs. "So who else can you turn into?" she asked as they turned the corner. The shuffling sound repeated. "Whoa!"
xxxxOxxxx
Rosabelle sat uneasily in the infirmary, a bucket sitting on her left and Charles sitting on her right. "So, what's wrong exactly?" Hank asked, leaning against a bed sitting across from the pair.
"I think I might have the stomach flu," she explained. "I keep vomiting."
"Oh, is that all?" Rosabelle thought for a moment before producing something between a nod and a shrug. "Well, it's easy to figure out what you have. I'll just take a blood test and send it to some doctor friends of mine. It should be back in, oh, two days at the most." He tied a rubber tube around her arm and the cold of the alcohol he rubbed on her arm made her other hand instinctively reach out and grab Charles'. He squeezed it reassuringly.
"How much will you take?" she asked.
"Not a lot, though you will be light headed. Like every good doctor, I suggest some rest." He flashed a goofy grin in their direction and she smiled, but it quickly disappeared as he pulled out a needle.
"Oh geez, I don't want to do this anymore," she quickly said to Charles.
"Hey, look at me, okay, just keep looking at me," Charles replied, using his free hand to grab her chin and swivel his head towards her. She noticed Hank approaching out of the corner of her eye and began to panic.
"Pinch me," she suddenly said and he looked at her oddly. She straightened out the arm without the rubber tube. "As soon as that needle touches me I want you to pinch me as hard as you can."
"Rosabelle, I'm not going to pinch you."
"If you pinch me then I won't be able to tell which is which." Hank started lowering the needle towards her arm and Rosabelle slammed her eyes shut. "Charles I swear to God if you don't pinch me-"
"Oh fine!" She felt two pinches at once and, just like she predicted, couldn't tell them apart.
"Okay it's over," Hank said, pulling back the needle. "It wasn't that bad." At that moment it was Rosabelle that felt like the younger and Hank that felt like the older of the two. "I'll just send this over to my doctor friends and will find out what's wrong with you before you know it." He smiled at her and placed a band-aid over the hole in her arm. Rosabelle looked over at Charles, then Hank, and blushed.
"Sorry about that. That was embarrassing."
"Don't worry Rose; I had to deal with screaming children once. Last favor I ever did for that friend." She giggled as he put the blood in a container. The room suddenly started spinning and she gripped Charles' forearm.
"I feel dizzy," she muttered and he nodded, scooping her up in his arms. Hank grabbed the trashcan and the two walked to Charles' room, where he set her down in the bed.
"Sleep as long as you need to Rose; don't get up if you don't feel up for it," Hank told her, but his voice was echoing all around her brain. She remembered a pair of lips pressing on her forehead before she descended into blackness.
It seems that Rosabelle and I share a mutual fear/hate for needles. I'm perfectly fine with vaccines and all that, but when it comes to getting my blood drawn…just no.
I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was more light-hearted than the others (other than Charles' speech or whatever to Rosabelle in the beginning).