A/N: OHH NO! I'm soooooooooo sorry! I've literally been learning the meaning on busy lately, and haven't had the time to update! So this is a longer chapter-ish, so hopefully that's a sort of make-up? I'm so sorry! :(
The sun had set hours ago, and Charles and Erik were just finishing up their seventh room of the day. It was one of the two sitting rooms on the floor, decorated with a couch, a few chairs, and a coffee table.
"Seven down, 21 to go," Charles said.
"Ugh. Don't remind me," Erik said sitting on the couch, "How do you think the others are doing?"
"I'm sure we're ahead by a landslide. Move me to the couch Vicar?"
"Hey! That's your name, not mine!" Erik said jokingly, carrying Charles to the couch and setting him next to himself.
"Don't tell Hank, but that chair can be quit uncomfortable for extended periods of time," Charles said, leaning his head on Erik's shoulder.
"That's the first thing I'll tell him when I see him next."
"Oooo, how I hope you don't."
"Don't worry , my lips are sealed," whispered Erik, smiling wide with his lips falsely closed tight. Charles let out a small chuckle.
They sat there for five minutes; until it was obvious they had visitors on their floor.
"Charles?" Pause. "Erik?" The voice was obviously female – leaving only Raven or Moria.
"So who do you think it is my little telepath? Raven or Moria?" Sometimes Charles thought Erik was the telepath instead of himself.
"Well, unless Moria is back from shopping for things for the School, I'd say Raven," Erik rolled his eyes.
"Hey Charles?" said the voice again, clearly right outside their door.
"Raven," the two agreed simultaneously.
"Hey Charles, are you in her…O." Raven stopped, seeing the two sitting next to each other. "I'll come back…" she started for the door.
"No Raven, it's fine. What were you going to say?" Charles asked.
"Uh, well…wait. Is this seriously all you guys have gotten done? Hank and I only have like 5 rooms left or something." Charles tried to calm Erik, as all his blood rushed to his face, causing it to turn red with anger.
Don't worry Erik, we will find a way to fix this…
"Now Raven," said Charles, returning to his sister, "I'm sure that's not the real reason that you came up here. Is something wrong?"
"Nooo. We have well…er…a visitor." Charles picked up on the way she had said 'visitor.' He hadn't heard her use the tone of voice since Danny, her high-school cru-.
O boy.
"Is that so?" Charles said, raising an eyebrow at Raven. "Well we had better go greet him then. Help me downstairs, Jaws?"
"Any time my little lab rat."
"Gosh guys," Raven whined, acting like the teenager she wasn't. "I know you love each other and all, but do you seriously need these pet names? Especially around people?"
"Hey Vicar, should I close the window before we leave? I think I just felt a breeze and it sounded like it was trying to tell me what to do. I didn't like it."
"Of course my handsome shark."
Raven rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to know where those came from."
"We'll be down in a couple of minutes sweetie," joked Erik, acting like he was much more than a couple of years older than her. "Well that was fun," cheered Erik after Raven was gone. He let out a wide grin baring all of his teeth. "Don't look at me, you know it was hilarious."
Unable to hide his smile, Charles caved, "Alright, yes it was, can we go downstairs now? I'm rather curious at who this visitor is."
"Couldn't you just…ya know…?" Erik said, waggling his hands next to the side of his head.
"I could, but I won't. Can we go now?"
"After you," Erik replied, cheesily swinging his arm out after opening the door.
xxxxx
By the sounds of things, Charles would have not placed anything out of order as he approached the sitting room. He could easily hear Raven chatting loudly to one of the boys. It wasn't until he was much closer that he realized it wasn't one of his boys. He sent a sideways glance at Erik with caution.
The man Raven was talking to had a very distinct Russian accent.
"Well this is a surprise," Charles stated blankly.
"The nice kind?" asked the red, devilish mutant in front of him. The last thing the mutant said caused Raven to lock eye contact with Erik and burst into a fit of hysterics. Erik's eyes went wide, and his face showed an expression of shock – almost as if he was hiding something he hadn't want to come up. Charles made a mental sticky note to mention this later.
"Why should we trust you?" growled Erik. "You worked for him."
Calm your mind, my Überlebende. The unspoken German seemed to ease Erik's pain.
"Raven, I think it'd be best if you left Erik and I to talk to Azazel here. So if you wouldn't mind…" Charles said to Raven. She put on a pouty face and trudged through the door.
Charles returned to Azazel, "Now. I believe there is a story that needs to be told."
xxxxx
If it was up to Erik, he would have sent Azazel back to the same place he came from. However, with Charles being the good Brit that he is, Azazel was allowed to tell his tale.
"What has brought you here my friend?" Why does Charles always call people 'his friend.' Especially this traitor…
"Would you like the short version or the long version?"
"Which ever you prefer."
"Well, when we left you that day, we went back to the base at the Hellfire Club. For a few weeks everything had seemed normal. We acted like we had before Cuba, and we never mentioned anything about Shaw. It took the rest of us weeks to realize it, but Emma was slowly pushing herself on top of us. And Angel was slowly rising to her right hand women." All of it was spoken with a perfect Russian accent.
Azazel continued. "Janõs and I spent the next few months planning how we could escape. Last night we did it. We were free to go where we wanted. At least we were…until she looked for us. And she found us. Well…more so she found Janõs…and she wasn't happy. And with her power she…" Azazel stopped and took a deep breath, "…killed him."
Erik's jaw dropped. He looked towards Charles, "Can you…?"
Later.
"I'm very sorry for your loss, but where were you planning on staying may I ask?" Charles said, very calmly.
"Actually…" Azazel paused, and looked down as he rubbed his hands on his legs, "…we were hoping we could stay here. If we were welcome of course…"
"My friend!" Charles exclaimed, Erik growled, "Of course you may stay! I'll find Moria and have her prepare you a room!" Erik watched Charles roll himself through the door.
Erik glanced up at Azazel and back down to the floor. Then something hit him.
Wait. He's letting him stay?
Erik tried not to look too rushed as he stood up and headed toward the door. In the hallway he saw Charles 20 yards ahead of him. He felt for the Xs on the chair's wheels. They came to a halting stop, sending Charles tumbling to the floor.
Shocked, Erik darted towards the crumbled telepath. "What was that for Erik?" Charles screeched in a low whisper, not wanting to attract any attention.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean too, but… Are you seriously letting him stay? Here? With us?" Charles nodded as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. "But he worked for…him."
"I touched his mind Erik. All of his thoughts are good. He is no threat to us," Charles said calmly, trying to comfort Erik. Erik didn't want to admit to how much it was working.
"Alright. If you trust him…"
"I do."
"Then, as do I." Erik began to reach for Charles to help him back into his chair.
"No Erik, I'm going to do this by myself," Charles said, not sounding the least bit harsh. Charles grabbed the arm of his chair and attempted to pull himself up. It resulted in him sitting on the ground again. Erik stood and let him try a few more times.
"Please?" Erik asked kindly.
Charles frowned and looked down to the ground. "If it's the only way…" he mumbled. Erik kneeled down once more and gave Charles a strong hug. He picked up the telepath and placed him in the chair.
Before letting go of him, Erik leaned over and whispered into his ear. "I love you." Charles pulled himself away, and rolled down the hall.
Erik bit his bottom lip, and felt the corners of his eyes begin to sting. As he watched Charles roll away, he made a very important decision.
I need to save him.
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