Sorry for the wait guys, I've been on holiday and I've also been dealing with a lot of personal problems. It also doesn't help that I've been getting headaches almost every day and my chronic nosebleeds are back.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, more to come soon I promise you! And my other fics will also be updated soon too don't worry!
Please do tell me what you think, it honestly means the world to me! Plus, comments/reviews give me so much motivation to write and satisfy the fans of the story!
Also, sorry for any typos/grammatical mistakes/ect, I'm not in my best mind at the moment to find all the mistakes.
Until the next time! Enjoy!
Peter zoomed into the kitchen in a blur of worry, "I can't get ahold of my mum."
"Are you sure she'd be in the house at this time?" Erik asked.
"I saw how worried the woman was Erik, I highly doubt she would even have even wanted to leave the house while Peter was missing." Charles frowned.
"How long have I been missing?" Peter asked him.
"Longer than your mother would like. I'll get Hank to set up lunch for the others. I'll attempt to contact her through cerebro."
"You can do that with non-mutants?" Erik asked.
"We'll see." Charles muttered wheeling himself out of the room, mentally requesting for Hank to take over lunch.
"What's cerebro? How does it work? And don't forget Lorna. And can you check on Wanda? I just-" Peter rattled off quickly before being interrupted by Erik.
"You're worried. It's understandable. But unless you stay calm you'll be of no use to them " Erik pointed out to him sternly.
"Just because you're suddenly my dad doesn't mean you can tell me what to do." Peter pointed out.
"I'm not suddenly your father, I've always been your father. Regardless of the fact neither of us knew it. And I'm not telling you what to do, I'm asking you to calm down." Erik replied.
The lift pinged open and Charles wheeled himself in, "If you could both kindly argue the technicalities of your relationship another time that would be much appreciated. Now get in." he said and the two men followed him into the lift, Erik begrudgingly so.
"Why is it that whenever you get the two of you into an elevator there's suddenly more tension than air?" Peter asked in a vain attempt to distract himself from thoughts of his family.
"Because your father is an arse." Charles muttered, wheeling himself out of the lift and down the blue-lit hallways towards cerebro.
"You flatter me, Charles." Erik said shaking his head with a chuckle as he and Peter followed him into the cavernous space.
"Whoa… this is cool." Peter mumbled in awe as he looked around the giant spherical room,
"What is it?"
"It amplifies my telepathic powers, allowing me to touch the minds of every mutant on Earth, and perhaps, every human too. Now, Peter, I'm going to attempt to contact your mother. If you can attempt to not be a nervous ball of energy, then you can stay in here whilst I do it."
"Just do it man, I won't bug you just can you hurry up?" Peter whined, drumming his fingers on his crutch.
Charles ignored his whining and placed the helmet on over his head, "Erik, if you could." he said and Erik moved over to the controls, flicking all the correct switches.
Charles gripped onto the armrests of his chairs as all the minds in the world were opened up to his own. He sifted through them, mutants and humans alike, searching for Magda Maximoff. And then, there she was.
Mrs Maximoff? He asked tentatively, Charles Xavier here.
Oh good god, how in hell are you doing that?! Magda exclaimed in return.
We found your son. Charles replied, He was unable to get ahold of you.
Oh thank god, Magda exclaimed mentally, relief flooding through her like a raging tide, Where is he? Is he alright? Oh please tell me he wasn't hurt...
He sustained a few injuries, though nothing he can't come back from, Charles assured her, He's worried for you, he tried to phone but only reached your answerphone.
We had to run. There were men...
I know, and there are more about ten or so minutes behind you. You need to get yourself to the nearest small town and keep yourself and your daughter hidden. We'll come get you with the jet. I'll delay them as best I can. Charles instructed.
Please be quick, my Lorna, this isn't good for her.
We will Mrs Maximofff. Charles assured her.
He shut off their connection after hastily arranging a place to meet and land the jet. Charles' mind reached out towards the men, Magda had done well in her attempt to evade them, though these men were a trained militia, a force to be reckoned with. His mind locked onto the human Merriot's and he delved within, sifting through his short term memory to discern his location before diving into his working memory, searching for his orders. And there they were. Hastily, he set about altering them.
She's heading South West, not East North East. She's in a black BMW, not a red Mazda. She's alone. She's not a threat nor an asset worth obtaining. Abandon your mission and report back to your boss.
Charles carefully retreated from the man's mind, hoping he had all bases covered. Merriot's new orders were to abandon the mission, but were he to pass it onto the others, he would end up sending them on a wild goose chase.
"So?" Peter asked impatiently as Cerebro's helmet was calmly removed by its wearer, "Did you find her? Is she okay? And Lorna? How's Lorna? Is she okay? Do they know I'm okay?"
"Your mother and your sister are fine. A little shaken, but unharmed. She is in no danger Peter, I promise you. And now I'm going to get her." pressing two fingers to his temporal vein, the telepath prepared to summon Hank.
"You needn't call Big Blue down here." Erik interrupted causing Charles to raise an eyebrow, barely hiding the scowl that crossed his face at the mention of Erik's pet name for Hank, "I'm capable of flying your jet."
"I didn't know you had a pilot's licence Erik." said Charles sarcastically.
"I don't. But I have powers, or had you forgotten, my friend?"
"Dudes, do you really need to get into your sexual tension spat now? I kind of wanna go get Lorna and my mum." Peter interrupted, appearing between the two of them.
"Someone needs to watch the other mutants." Erik said as a smirk crossed his face, blatantly ignoring the small remark over the type of tension that always seemed to hang in the air between him and Charles.
"Fine Erik, but crash and I promise you I'll make you think you're a six-year-old ballerina. I don't need to lose any more of my limbs." Charles huffed petulantly.
"Noted." Erik nodded with a slight chuckle before addressing his son, his son... it still felt strange to think of him like that, "Peter, you're staying here."
"What?! No way! That's my family!" he spat, protective rage boiling through him.
"You're injured, don't think I haven't noticed you're limping everywhere. And you haven't eaten a proper meal or had sufficient rest since we got you back."
"I slept on the way here!" Peter pouted, "And I can run up to the kitchen and eat something before either of you have even managed to make it onto the plane! You're not going without me, they're not your family! They're mine!"
Erik held his gaze for a moment, a moment that seemed to endlessly stretch on, before conceding, "When we return you're to eat a proper meal and sleep. Understood."
His reply would have been argumentative, but he quickly realised that if he started an argument then he wouldn't be allowed to go at all. "Fine." he huffed, "But only after I know they're safe. And only because it's what I'd do anyway, not 'cause you're my dad or anything."
"Go get something to eat Peter, we'll meet you in the jet." Charles said with a nod, "And take it easy on your leg, we wouldn't want your father's handiwork to be ruined."
"Catch you later Xavier." Peter said an instant before disappearing in a rush of wind, a clinking of a crutch and a streak of silver.
"I wonder where he gets his stubbornness from." the professor asked, a smirk playing on his lips, as he looked up at Erik.
"Don't start Charles." Erik muttered rolling his eyes, it pained his to admit it, but he seemed to be going soft for the annoying little speedster, who actually, wasn't that little, around the same height as he was in fact.
Charles chuckled to himself, wheeling his chair down the bright silver hallway towards the aircraft hangar. Erik swiftly opened each door they came to, striding alongside his friend turned enemy turned frenemy. A silence hung between them, though not one of discomfort, it as the sort of silence that hung between friends who were more than comfortable in each other's presence, friends who had endured so much together.
They hadn't even reached the steps up into the craft when Peter appeared before them once more, crutch discarded, clearly favouring his uninjured leg and still dressed in Erik's clothes, "You know, at some point we're gonna need to go shopping, you don't have anything sweet in your cupboards and I need a pair of jeans, and shoes." he added wiggling his bare toes as he finished his haphazard sandwich, "Told Hank where we were going and he was on babysitting duty by the way."
"What did he say?" Charles asked.
Peter simply shrugged, "Came down here before he could answer, "You want me to go back up and check? Because you could probably do it from here with your mind powers."
"No no, it's fine." he assured the speedster, "But yes, we'll find some time to get you some clothes." he said with a nod before glancing back up to Erik, "If you could." he said gesturing to the stairs, I can't bloody well get up these myself now, can I?
Erik's only response was to flash him a smirk as he lifted the chair into the air, sending it cruising calmly into the inside of the plane.
The interior of the aircraft was still a mess, littered with the remains of the shock collar and Peter's bloody bandages. A dark train of his blood still smeared onto the table Erik had propped his leg up onto.
"Fun." Peter muttered under his breath, deliberately walking, no, limping, past them towards another armchair towards the back of the jet and flopping down into it, not truly realising how tired he actually was until he felt the soft leather beneath him. Curling up like a mouse and burrowing his silver head into the gap between the chair and the wall, he was asleep in an instant.
"That surely can't be comfortable." Charles murmured as Erik pulled the door shut and made his way into the cockpit.
"I'd clean up the blood if I were you, Charles. You may end up giving Magda a heart attack otherwise." Erik said pulling the door of the cockpit closed behind him, casting a warm glance towards the calm form of his sleeping son. How many birthdays had he missed out on? Seventeen? Eighteen? He really ought to ask the age of his son, after all, that was something a father should know. Raising the plane into the air kept his mind occupied, a welcome distraction, but once they were cruising he no longer needed to concentrate so hard and so his mind began to wander once more. How would Magda react to seeing him again? Only time would tell but even so, he couldn't help but play through all possible scenarios. He doubted she'd be pleased to see him, and he doubted she'd be pleased to find out about his paternal connection to the twins. He shook his head and exited the cockpit, sliding into the vacant armchair across from Charles, casting an amused glance towards the sleeping body of his son, sprawled out on the armchair. Suddenly Peter began to toss and turn, the occasional whimper escaping his lips as his head thrashed from side to side in a blur.
"Charles!" Erik voice raised in concern, "Charles what's happening?"
"No no no no! Fuck off Doctor Psycho!" came Peter's broken voice through the air, "Stop! Stop it! No!"
"Nightmare." Charles muttered, brow furrowing in concern.
"What are you waiting for? Stop it!" Erik snapped moving over to his son as quickly as he could. He knelt on the ground beside the chair, struggling to keep his mind on the metal jet.
The plane lurched downwards.
"Erik!" Charles yelled gripping onto the wall for dear life, "Level the bloody plane, Erik! Let me see to him!"
It took two treacherously long seconds for Erik to snap out of it and pour his concentration into the outer metal shell of the jet.
"Let me deal with this." Charles said softly once the plane was level, heartbeat gradually returning to normal after it lurched with the plane.
Erik nodded, continuously casting worried glances towards Peter, the boy's moans of pain and fear penetrating his heart.
Charles carefully attempted to ender his mind, but it was moving too fast, he couldn't latch onto a single thought, let alone the chaotic nightmare he was suffering through. He pushed himself further, trying to wade through the screaming torrent of consciousness, but to little avail. Everything moved far too fast. Each time he thought he'd found the nightmare he was torn away from it by the sheer speed at which the boy's brain worked. He worked harder, forcing himself to latch onto the nightmare, causing pain to sear through his own head as he forced a dreamless sleep onto the boy's trembling and chaotic mind.
He emerged from Peter's mind breathing heavily, a pounding pain beat out its rhythm on the inside of his skull. He gazed towards the, now still, form of his friend's son, a trail of blood leaked from both their noses.
"Charles, what happened?" Erik asked, voice dripping with concern for both.
"His mind moves fast, remarkably fast." he replied, grabbing a tissue to stop the blood dripping from his nose, "I put him into a dreamless sleep." he told him, tossing his tissue into the bin in the far corner that also housed the remains of the collar and the bloody bandages.
Erik nodded, sighing in relief, "Good." he said slowly, "Good."
The pair sat in silence, Erik focusing his powers on directing the plane, Charles quietly nursing the headache he'd earned from his trip into Peter's head.
Erik silently moved back into the cockpit as they approached their destination, mind calm enough to land carefully, happy in the knowledge that his son was okay.
Peter awoke as the change in pressure popped his ears, "We there?" he asked the professor as he sat himself upright in his seat.
"You may want to wipe your nose." Charles said tossing the box of tissues over to him with a nod.
Peter caught it with one hand and wiped the blood away, raising an eyebrow in Charles' direction when he realised what it was, "Why?"
"You were having a nightmare, Erik was so concerned he nearly dropped the plane." he added with a chuckle, "I entered your mind to give you a dreamless sleep but... well, it moves just as quickly as your legs do, took a lot to even latch onto your dream." he explained, "I came out of it with a bloody nose and a headache, although it looks like you managed to get off with just the bloody nose."
"Ah, right. Well uh, sorry about that." Peter mumbled, tossing the tissue into the bin, grinning to himself when he didn't miss. What? After the few days he'd had he'd earned the right to enjoy the little things in life.
"Don't be, it's quite remarkable." Charles praised, "You needn't even use Erik's helmet to be protected from telepathic attacks."
"There's other telepaths out there?" Peter asked.
"Plenty, I'm sure." he nodded, "Now, fasten your seatbelt, it seems we're about to land."
The jet door opened as Erik stood beside Peter, steps unfolding out into the ground.
"You know, you really should install a ramp." Peter's voice came from the grass below, causing both men to smirk at his impatience as Erik lowered Charles out of the plane and onto the ground.
"So where is she?" Peter asked impatiently, tapping the foot of his good leg up and down in a blur onto the grass.
"She should be in there." said Charles with a short nod towards the log cabin, second from the left hand side of the row, "We need to be quick. I can't sense any of Stryker's men from here, but that doesn't mean they aren't on their way." he said, intending to address the both of them. Instead he ended up only speaking to Erik and the empty space where Peter had stood a second ago. He heard the door fling open and a warm smile spread across his lips as Magda pulled Peter into a tight hug. Lorna scampered out the door and wrapped her arms around his legs, leaning her head against his hip as she squeezed him tight with all the strength her eight-year-old arms could muster, which, surprisingly, was quite a lot.
"My Pietro, oh I've missed you. I've been so worried. I didn't know where you'd gone I didn't know if you'd been taken or anything!" Magda exclaimed stroking her son's hair, crying tears of happiness into his shoulder.
"I'm okay" he assured her, wincing slightly as her tight hug put an uncomfortable amount of pressure over the healing wound on his chest, "Mostly okay." he corrected.
"Don't go away again." Lorna huffed, "I don't like it when you go away. Wanda already went away. Don't want you to go away too." she pouted. Peter broke free of his mother's hug and carefully lifted Lorna up onto his hip.
"I won't. I promise." Peter smiled down at her, brushing her hair back out of her face.
"Pietro... what happened to your neck?" Madga asked noticing the top of the white bandages sticking out from beneath his hoodie, "My boy, what did they do to you."
"It doesn't matter Mama, I'm okay now." Peter said with a reassuring smile as Lorna hugged him tightly.
"I'm dreadfully sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid we really ought to go. There are more soldiers, ten minutes away from here." Charles told them, wondering how on Earth he's missed them in his search for possible threats to the Maximoffs.
"Yes yes, of course." Magda nodded, quickly dashing back into the house and grabbing the only bag she'd brought with her, "I can't thank you enough for bringing him back to me." she said filled with gratitude as she turned towards the plane, the sight she saw made her freeze, blood running cold as memories flooded back.
Erik had opted to remain by the plane, hoping to remain unnoticed for as long as possible. His heart couldn't help but sink slightly when he saw the look on Magda's face as their eyes locked.
"Erik." she said, gaze tunnelling in on him, "What are you doing here."
The metal bender held her gaze briefly before looking over her shoulder towards Peter, "I came to help reunite my son with his mother."