A/N: I'm sooo sorry guys, and I swear I have truly no good excuse! Though I'm on the brink of figuring out my next chapter (which is probably why I've been holding off on this one) so I should be done soon! Thank-you to all you out there who are still waiting and having given up:)
"Remind me what we're doing again, exactly?" Hank growled through his animal like teeth as he adjusted the strap on the seat.
"You already know, Hank. There's no need for Charles to re-explain," Raven snapped.
Whenever Charles was on edge, so was everyone else. It was one of the natural occurrence at the Xavier Mansion.
"Now Raven, we don't all have to be defensive, but yes, Hank. She's correct. I really don't have to go through it for the sixth time. I think five should do well enough." The blue mutant still seemed uncomfortable with the situation.
"I know, I know. But you are sure it's completely necessary? I'm still not agreeing to any of this."
"Unreservedly," Charles said, appearing quite confident on the outside. "Right. So, everyone strapped in then?" If they could only see what was going on inside his poor head.
He received a murmur of positive grumbles.
"Right. Um, Langley Virginia, if you would Hank?"
Hank put both fur covered paws on the make-shift steering wheel, hit a combination of buttons, and flipped a combination of switches. Within a matter of 30 seconds, the X-Jet was mid-flight, heading to one place in general.
xxxxx
People will go great lengths for the ones they love. They'll go farther distances than others would believe them capable. They'll do things that they never believed themselves experienced enough to handle.
Almost as if they were on a rush of adrenaline.
Investigation, harming others, risking their own life; it all seems so much easier. Easier to know that they extended the life of someone they truly care about. Even if it means shortening their own.
At least they wouldn't have to face a life wondering if they could have done better, or tried harder.
The best part is, it's all instinctive.
People say that you should keep your loved ones close, and your enemies closer.
The only reason to keep your enemies closer, is to secure the safety of your loved one. If you know your enemies, you'll always know how to protect those dear to you. If you don't know your enemies, for many there is only one solution. Especially if they pose a threat to the ones deepest in heart.
The darker of spirited people find it easier to come to the single term that explains it. The rage within them overpowers any other thoughts. They're willing to protect that other person, no matter the cost.
Even the innocent ones will realize what must be done. Their calmness, and overall serenity will take a seat on the sidelines when the situation so requires. They won't let that one person risk their own life, or morals, to accomplish something they themselves can do.
Both sides know what has to happen. Both sides know how to they can complete it.
They just have to have the right person push the right buttons, triggering the right idea in their head.
They'd know what they have to do.
Cause it's a natural thought to want to bring on a person who has caused someone they know pain.
Death.
xxxxx
The rain was perfect.
At first, it made the roads wet, and therefore the motorcycle dangerous. But with the help of his powers, balancing on the roads became elementary.
And it would make his plan look all that more convincing.
It really wouldn't take that much effort. There are many metal parts of a car. It'd be no sweat for Erik to simply tamper with the car's innards. Just a flick of the wrist. If he was lucky, no one would suspect a thing, and it'd be blamed on the weather.
It almost seemed too perfect.
Erik stood there. Stood there by the bench. By the bench and waited hours. Waited for the Frost Queen to come. To come out and go somewhere. Because she would. Someone of her stature /would/ have somewhere to go. It was after noon by the time she finally flaunted through the revolving door.
At that moment, Erik realized the one (and hopefully only) flaw in his plan.
She wasn't alone.
Of course she would have a personal chauffeur. The day Emma Frost did anything for herself would be the same day she was the only one to survive a nuclear blast. If then.
Now, Erik was beginning to question his plan for the first time. Killing Frost left no guilt anywhere in his heart. But now there was another. Another person in the car. Another person to harm. Someone he would hold guilt to.
God, Charles was really getting to him.
He watched the car stop in front of the hotel. The driver's side door opened, and with it came a middle height man, with chocolate brown hair neatly slicked back. The guy looked normal. He probably had a family. One who would miss him.
Chocolate Brown Hair Man walked around the back side of the car and onto the sidewalk. There he greeted Frost who was standing underneath a canopy overhang. He pulled out an umbrella, held it open above her head and followed her to the car. Once at the door, he bent over, opened the door and allowed Frost to be seated in the car. The door was shut behind her, and the man closed the umbrella after shaking it off. He walked back around the car and got back into the driver's seat.
Now it was Erik's turn.
As the car drove down the road, Erik followed it. His strides were long enough to keep up with the slow moving traffic. He continued stalking the car through a total of three intersections. The mind in his head knew what he was going to do. The muscle in his chest wished for Charles to be here to stop him.
Erik reached out towards the metal in the car. He began to trifle with any and every part that called themselves to him. Expanded something's, shrunk others. Heated some, and warped others. Not everything, just most.
He did it all without even removing his eyes from the sidewalk.
Out of his peripheral vision he saw a black car skid into an ancient looking tree.
His powers instinctively told him he should reach out again. Push the car once more. Ensure the not-so-well-being on the passenger. And as he began to do-
Erik, please!
xxxxx
The X-Jet swooped in above one of the taller buildings in the area in a similar manner that they had done not too long ago in Cuba. Only this time they were much better concealed with their newly added cloaking device.
"Charles, can you find Erik yet?" Hank shouted out from the cockpit of the plane.
Raven piped up first, "Of course he can Hank, it's the first mind Charles' finds. It's like they're alwa-"
"Not yet. I can't seem to...g-aaah." Charles winced back the same way he did whenever he was overwhelmed by a single thought. "He's like practically calling out for me. It's almost like he - he wants me to -" Charles speech stumbled as he began fiddling with his seatbelts.
"Charles! What are you doing? Hank he's..." Raven shouted trying to hold her older brother in his spot. "Alex any help here would be splendid."
Alex, who was sitting on the other side of Charles, reached out to help Raven hold him in place as Hank shouted once more, "Sorry Prof, but they're right! We're mid-flight! You should stay seated!"
The telepath would apparently hear none of it. He used the strength in his arms - which was still there from when he spent how many months in a wheelchair - to break their tight grasp. Once out, he rushed towards one of the small windows and reached out for Erik's mind once more.
It only took a few seconds to find, fewer to enter. . He pulled out, overtaken by the power behind each individual thought.
"Well things are definitely much worse than we had planned." Charles said, still peering outside the window.
"If you'd please sit back down, Charles, it'd make me feel much better," Hank called from the front of the Jet.
And Charles still needed to get his ears checked. "He's much more serious than we had initially thought. I don't think this is a 'just let off steam and take him home' mission. It's probably best if I talk t-"
His verbal speech dissipated once he began to enter Erik's mind again. He began reading his thoughts once more. ...has to be killed. But poor Chocolate Hair Man. What about his family? But Frost... Need to protect Charles. Must kill Emma. Should dismantle the car some more... Ensure that she's really...
It left Charles with a bittersweet feeling. Erik had obviously tamed. He was beginning to question his motives. But he also had those murderous tendencies. And the mention of a Chocolate Haired man brought a pang of jealousy, but it quickly left. Erik was only doing this because of him. It was his fault that Erik was about to kill another person.
Erik, please.
xxxxx
Feeling the hum of Charles mind on the edges of his own felt like a call beckoning him home.
xxxxx
Erik, you don't need to do this.
Charles, I...
You can't kill Emma. You can't kill everyone who poses a threat.
But I need to. She can't be out there, surely you know th-
Pleease, Erik.
No, Charles! She must be- Erik's tone was becoming darker with each word.
But...
Instead of gaining a verbal response, Erik thoughts included I must kill her, and she can't hurt my Charles, and only I should kill her. Worst of all was the one that said I must be the one to kill her.
Charles was ready to hide in the corner and stay there curled up in a ball. It was Shaw all over again. The hatred. The need. The lust to be the one. Charles didn't want to fight for Erik again. Didn't want to risk losing Erik over some unnecessary rage. Didn't want Erik to lose himself in blind rage.
So he did the only other thing he could think of.
He reached out to Emma's mind himself.
She was already unconscious from the impact of the car. He easily slipped into her mind, and did something he'd sworn to himself he'd never do.
He pulled a few strings.
xxxxx
Charles sudden absence left Erik a little on edge. It made him want Emma dead even more, not knowing where Charles was right then.
But Charles was back within minutes.
Erik. You mustn't mess with the car. Please...I...just let me, let us...land. Somewhere. I-I'll explain everything then. Just, please..
Something was off with Charles. He wasn't his usual debating self. He was just a stammering idiot like everyone else in this world. The sound of his voice within his own head almost sounded...broken. For that reason, Erik could only see one correct response.
Okay.
The next ten minutes were some of longest minutes of his life. Sure, there weren't parking structures for aircraft next to every McDonalds yet, but there had to be a field somewhere nearby. Or at least on old house that no one lived in anymore. Or just an old house.
No, Erik's patience wasn't frying.
Police started to show up on the scene. Then a fire truck. Ironically, last an ambulance.
When Charles' silhouette appeared on the horizon, Erik felt his rage turn more serene.
Charles must have felt a similar reaction because, once he saw Erik he began to run forward. Erik began to stand. By the time he was fully standing on two feet, Charles had already reached him and was plowing into him.
"O god, Erik...I really didn't mean to. I thought'd I'd just...and I didn't want you to...so I thought..."
Erik hugged Charles, which silenced his muttering. "I think I'm missing something here, Liebling."
Charles sighed against his chest. He then pushed away from Erik just slightly, and looked up into his currently green eyes.
"I think I killed Emma Frost. I didn't mean to...I had just thought I'd keep her asleep or something. I don't know. It all sounds so stupid now. What was I thinking?"
"You killed Emma Frost?" Charles merely nodded. Erik felt a sudden bit of respect for the young man in his arms.
"You were sounding like you did whe-when you killed Shaw. I didn't want those feelings to eat you, to destroy you, to-"
Erik just hugged Charles tighter. They stood there like that for a few minutes. It gave the older mutant time to let what Charles had said sink in. All this time, Erik had been planning to kill Frost to protect Charles. It the end, it was Charles who killed Frost to save him. To not let Erik dig himself too deep in a hole.
"I still love you, I hope you know that."
The telepath gave a positive grunt and squeezed his arms around Erik's waist a little tighter for a moment.
The two mutants were then interrupted when they heard grunt from somewhere rather close to them.
Charles quickly pulled away from Erik. Right in front of them, a man in a suit gave an apologetic smile.
The police officer then said, "I'm sorry, but could you to please answer some questions about this crash?"
Again, sorry for the wait...but please review! I love hearing what you guys have to say!