Normalcy at the school had gone out the window fast. Classes had been suspended and only physical training for some of the students had been continued. It helped work through the shock of Erik's near-fatal encounter with an unknown mutant and the creature. Charles was trying to be there for the children, but he spent a lot of time with Erik, always close, mind brushing over the unconscious one of his lover.
Raven had been with her brother whenever she could. Most of the time she was looking out for the younger children. At night she sought refuge with Hank, snuggling up to her boyfriend who just held her.
The mornings were spent forcing Charles to eat normally. Raven went down into the medical area, dragged him up into the sunlight, and fed him. He was too pale for her liking, looking mostly absent, and she had seen him touch his temple more often than not when he wasn't with Erik.
Raven curled her fingers around one wrist, squeezing gently. "Charles, please."
He blinked, looking confused.
"I can't imagine what you must be feeling, but you can't run yourself into the ground while Erik is getting better. Let him recover. Cecilia said you need to be strong when he wakes. He's alive, he will wake up, and you have to be there for him."
Charles closed his eyes, looking so young and so defeated. "I never thought to have someone like him, Raven," he said softly. "I can't lose that."
"You aren't losing him! He's going to be okay."
Raven pulled the unresisting man into a hug, noting in dismay that he had gotten thinner. Charles was a light-weight to begin with and all the muscle he had built had been due to Erik pushing him into physical training. He had filled out nicely and when she had once seen him at the pool, Raven had been stunned to discover a very athletic looking professor.
"Charles, please." She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Don't do this to yourself. Erik will need all of you when he wakes."
She ran the back of her fingers tenderly down his temple.
"You'll feel it when he comes to. He'll need you then. You can't break down."
He swallowed, tears brimming in his eyes and she pulled him close once more.
"We can do this," she vowed. "We're here for you. All of us."
When the tears came, Raven simply held on, stroking over his head, a soothing, repetitive gesture. For Charles to lose it like that… she knew he had to be in agony over Erik. This was worse than any of them could imagine and like everyone she prayed that Erik would pull through.
Walking into the kitchen, Alex Summers stopped, met Raven's eyes, took one look at the man in her arms who was falling apart, and gave her a brief nod. He grabbed Sean, who was just about to enter as well and pushed him back, whispering to him.
Raven was grateful for their tact and understanding. Everyone knew how bad it was and this was just another reminder that right now, nothing was as it had been before.
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Charles knew about the injuries inflicted on his lover. He had been there when Reyes had given them a first run-down. He had read the medical report. He had been present when the bandages had been changed. That had been almost too much to bear. Seeing the torn flesh, the dried blood, the disinfectant discoloring the skin… He had nearly bolted. But only nearly.
Cecilia was positive that the shoulder would heal completely. It would take a while and there would be scars, but she didn't expect complications. The monster's claws had been razor-sharp, like a scalpel. While it made Charles sick to think of the thing, he knew it had also been their luck that those weapons hadn't been serrated or hooked.
Clean slices.
While in the artificial coma, Erik didn't dream. It was only when Cecilia was slowly bringing him out of it that flashes of nightmares and memories came through. Charles knew it was his own fault for being so receptive, but the moment he felt Erik's mind-presence increase, he latched onto it like a drowning man.
So pathetic.
He called himself worse as he sat in the medical wing's trauma room, watching Erik breathe. Whenever something skittered over the other mutant's mind he tried to catch it, even if it was the horror of the creature that had done this to him. Charles quickly learned to weather the impact of each terrifying recollection, sending reassurance and safety and warmth.
::I'm here, Erik. You're safe. Everything's okay::
Sometimes the long fingers twitched and Charles stroked over them, smiling when his own were weakly grabbed.
In those days he had enough time to go over the puzzle of the mutant and the creature over and over again. Maybe not the first two or three days, when everything was a haze of pain and loss and need and confusion, but as he finally shook off the shock of nearly losing Erik, he became clearer. It helped that he was rarely ever alone. If it wasn't Hank or Raven, one of the others would drop by.
Reaper's cold words that he had to get his head out of his ass and stop being a victim had Charles chuckle. She was adhering to Dr. Reyes orders not to start a feeding line with Erik, but she was hard-pressed not to. It was instinctual. She loved Erik like a brother and seeing him like that was breaking her, too.
Talking with Azazel about the creature had given Charles a few interesting new tidbits. He was still trying to make sense of it all.
"Talk to me," Raven simply offered throughout one visit when he had mentioned that it made absolutely no sense.
Charles leaned back in his chair, feeling knotted muscles protest. He always had a hand wrapped around Erik's good right hand, feeling the gentle beat of his pulse, his thumb sliding over the dry skin. It was an unconscious gesture and he was almost embarrassed when he caught Raven's pointed look.
He didn't remove his hand, though.
"From the beginning," she added.
So he did. About the signal he had found through Cerebro. Seeing not a particular person, but feeling a strong gift. Usually Cerebro gave him an inkling as to whether the mutant was male or female, younger or older. This time it had been this power, this strange shadow.
"I couldn't even pinpoint it while we were in Shadowside Creek."
"That's a first," Raven agreed.
"Since the others were stuck at the airport and there was only Hayes and me helping Erik, we split up. Something caught Erik's attention…" Charles frowned. "Well, he said it was a little girl."
Raven frowned as well. "Little girl?"
Charles nodded. Erik's flashes hadn't included much of a description, but he had caught a general image.
"No older than maybe ten. Maybe even younger. I'm not sure."
"That's really young for a gift to come through."
"Yes. And no. Genetics isn't that simple, Raven. Your mutation was there since birth, as was Hank's."
"It's physical, Charles."
He smiled at her, noticing with pride that she didn't appear reluctant any more, that she had fully accepted her difference. She never wore a disguise at the school anymore and Charles had come to understand it. Finally. It had taken him long enough and he could have lost her over this, he had realized almost too late. It had been Erik who had pushed him into this understanding. It had been Erik who had accepted Raven as her physically different self.
Erik…
He pulled away from that line of thought, concentrating on the girl again.
"It's only a theory that mutant powers manifest throughout puberty. Maybe this is something else. Maybe the girl isn't the mutant. This creature… Azazel thinks he saw the girl at the cabin and Erik's memories, while jumbled, show her as well."
Raven gave him a quizzical look and Charles ducked his head like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"You're with him?" she asked.
"Uhm…"
Raven rolled her eyes. "Oh, Charles…"
"I'm not fully there," he protested weakly.
"Enough to see his nightmares," she stated. "And the memories. Of monsters and him getting hurt. How much into punishment are you?"
He sighed, looking at his hand holding onto the unconscious man. "It's not punishment. He… I want to tell him that he's safe, with us…"
Raven slid her chair next to him and curled closer, interlacing their fingers, resting her head against one shoulder. "You'll make a good Mom one day," she teased softly.
He laughed, a soft breath of air. "Erik told me so before. Azazel called us parents already."
"And he's right. I'm the aunt, by the way."
Charles smiled and squeezed her hand.
"Now, back to the monster," she said.
"It didn't feel real. Not like you or me or anyone else I ever met. It was like a projection."
"Projections aren't physical. They can't touch, Charles."
"That's what confuses me. According to Hayes the creature went after Azazel when he got Erik out of the cabin. By all laws of physics it shouldn't have been able to get into the cabin without tearing the structure apart. It did anyway. And then it was outside like… like someone had flipped a switch and relocated it. I never got anything off it, Raven. No anger, no rage, no pain, nothing. Azazel attacked it and his weapons didn't injure it."
Raven was silent, gazing at the monitors around Erik.
"So you think what?" she finally wanted to know. "How can a projection be real? And what is the girl? Another projection?"
"I don't know. If she's the mutant… if she projects this thing… her powers are incredible."
"And if she's a projection as well?"
"Then maybe the mutant hides within her image?" He frowned at the wild idea.
Raven sat up, not letting go of his hand. "You're not planning to go back there, right?"
"Not now."
"Charles…"
"Raven, if the girl is the mutant and she lives in the cabin… we can help her. Talk to her."
"Erik tried and look what happened!" she snapped.
Charles closed his eyes, looking a little more pale.
"Charles, promise me! You're not going back there!"
"Not without back-up."
Raven gave a growl of annoyance. "She nearly killed Erik! For no other reason than the fact that he was there!"
"She had a reason. A reason she understood and acted upon."
"You're impossible!"
Charles smiled and pressed a kiss against her temple. "Probably. I'm not going there any time soon, though, Raven. That I can promise."
"Send someone else. Azazel can handle himself."
"Do you really think that, if she was already frightened by Erik, Azazel will win her trust? He physically attacked the creature."
Raven sighed. "Okay, okay. But you will take protection with you."
"You have my word."
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Azazel cocked his eyebrows when he found Raven waiting for him after a training session with the more advanced students. Dressed in his habitual black coat and pants he shot her a quizzical look.
"Should my brother ask you to get him back to Shadowside Creek, don't do it."
"And why should I?" he rumbled.
"Because he will get himself killed if he goes alone."
He chuckled. "Maybe you underestimate him."
"Maybe. But I know he's not back in shape at the moment and whatever he says or does, it's influenced by Erik's condition."
His tail moved back and forth. "You think I would simply follow his orders?"
"He could make you, Azazel."
He grinned, showing white teeth. "He could, but he won't."
"You underestimate him again. This is personal and he will compromise ethics for personal things." Raven met the impossibly light colored eyes in the fiery red-skinned face. "Don't take him. Please."
He nodded slowly. "You have my word I won't, Raven. But he will go back to the place of his partner's injury. Because of the girl."
"I know. And when they're both strong enough I won't even try to stop him. Right now they need to take it easy."
"Agreed."
Raven looked at him once more, then smiled. "Thanks."
And she was gone.
Azazel chuckled to himself, then cast a brief look into one corner where the familiar figure of Riptide was leaning against the wall, hand shoved into the finely tailored pants that had probably cost a small fortune. If nothing else, Riptide loved fine clothes.
Both men left the gym, heading for the mansion.