Little Things
XMFC. Cherik. PG13. 1300+ words (for this chapter). AU. Shark!Erik & Lab rat!Charles (with their powers eventually). Crack/humor. Angst. Non graphic experiments. Possible violence and gore.
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II: Sebastian Shaw
And so there he was—Sebastian Shaw. He was a tall, intimidating man, with his long white lab coat, and his tray of many syringes and ironically, a little red bag with a picture of small light brown blocks of mixed food on it—for Charles, most likely.
Erik watched Shaw warily, with a barely suppressed urge to kill, as the man walked over to them and stood in front of the rat cage. He was smiling a cryptic smile. He set the tray aside and unlocked the cage. He grabbed the bag and opened it, pouring the food into the rat feeder.
Erik turned his eyes to Charles. The rat was staring at the feeder, wrinkling his nose, probably trying to scent the food. Despite the grainy noise of the food going into the feeder, a dark, foreboding silence had inundated the white room. Erik truly hoped that Charles wouldn't do anything stupid like thinking out loud or whatever it was that he had done with Erik just a few moments ago.
Then Shaw began to talk.
"Hello Charles," he said, looking curiously at the rat. Charles stayed huddled in his little corner of the cage, refusing to move. "You don't seem to want to eat today, hmm?"
He reached out and stroked the pad of his finger on top of Charles' head. Charles only continued to stare at the feeder. It looked as though Charles was trying to concentrate on something. Maybe the rat had a plan. Maybe he had already figured out this strange new way of communicating.
Shaw gazed at the syringes for a moment and then back to Charles. "Maybe I've done enough for today." There was that cryptic smile again. His cold blue eyes had a strange glint on them. "Wouldn't want you to die too soon, Charles."
And just like that, he locked the cage, picked up his tray and walked out of the room, with those damning steps echoing throughout the endlessly long haunting hallways. It was strange. Erik had been watching Shaw and then Charles just now, but save for Charles' name, he didn't understand any of the words that had come out of Shaw's mouth.
He'd seen that mouth moving, those hands and fingers feeding and petting Charles, those cold blue eyes looking thoughtful at the syringes and just thinking about it all was causing his tail to lash out against the waters again. With Shaw gone, however, the foreboding silence seemed to have been lifted like a mist clearing out as the sun shone upon a beach, though a certain stillness was flowing into the room now, giving it a temporary sense of tranquil.
Charles let out a soft sigh of relief. 'He didn't hear anything.'
Erik grinded his teeth together. 'You think so?'
Charles looked down at Erik and smiled. 'I know so.'
'Oh?' Erik inquired, narrowing his eyes into slits. 'How did you do it then?'
The rat shrugged. 'I just thought really hard.'
'That sounds stupid,' Erik said frankly.
'Thank you for your honesty,' Charles said with biting sarcasm, 'it's deeply appreciated.'
'You're welcome,' Erik said gruffly. There was another awkward pause between them, but this time, Erik chose to be the one to break it. 'This is serious, Charles. If he finds out—'
'You worry too much,' Charles said mildly, smiling again. 'I didn't want him to hear and so I didn't talk. I willed myself not to say anything.'
Erik gasped. He must looked appallingly silly now, with his mouth hanging wide open, even with those glittering sharp teeth of his. 'It can't be that simple— just from the power of pure will?'
Charles didn't say anything for a moment, mulling over something, it seemed, as he stood on his hind legs. 'No, I really didn't want him to hear—because you were right. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if he did find out about this. He'd probably stab more of those needles into me, so I calmed my mind and thought of nothing.'
'You were afraid,' Erik said slowly, realizing it. 'Interesting.'
'What?' Charles asked, looking scandalized, which was hilarious for a rat, with all his fur prickling out like a puffer fish. 'Well, not all of us look like— well, like a shark, you know.'
'But it worked, didn't it?' Erik said thoughtfully. 'Fear can be its own strength.'
If you feared something, you hated it. He'd already heard the stories of domesticated animals, of pets from the smaller fishes in the ocean, and to think that he was one now… He wasn't stupid. He knew that sharks were the greatest predators of the sea, but the kind that was greater than they, as much as it angered him, were the humans.
(But it was only for now, just for now. )
He remembered how they'd fished him out, how he'd thrashed, gasping, trying to breathe, biting any limb he could reach, but to no avail. Like Charles, he'd been injected with something and his will to fight and kill had been washed out of him. It had been replaced by something else, that familiar sinking, sickening feeling of horror, as he'd stared at the man who became known as Sebastian Shaw, not knowing what was going to happen to him, not knowing how he would survive, drowning in that grasping feeling of uncertainty. Fear.
But it kept him going, that fear, that hatred, stopped him from killing Shaw immediately when he realized that at the very least, Shaw was feeding him. It wasn't easy, biding his time, trying to control himself, but he was a predator. He knew when to strike and how.
He turned his back on Charles. He had things to think about. A while ago, he wondered if he could have human feet. That obviously didn't work out. But then there was Charles and his strange ability to speak into his mind. He could do the same with the humans. But then, that was the point, wasn't it? If he talked to humans, then the humans would find out about Charles and who knew what they would do with him. It was why this particular encounter and the future encounters with Shaw was and always would be especially dangerous.
'What?' Charles asked doubtfully. 'What are you talking about? Where are you going?'
'Going to stalk Shaw,' Erik said. 'I need to know what he's doing right now.'
Charles gasped. 'You're not going to kill him, are you?'
Erik laughed. It was a horrible sound. 'Not yet.'
Charles let out a loud squeak of dismay. 'What?'
'You worry too much,' Erik said, using the same words against him. 'Go to sleep, little Charles. Rest.'
'Don't patronize me,' the rat snapped. Erik chanced to look back and once again, he laughed. Charles was actually baring his teeth at him. It was strangely endearing.
'I wasn't,' Erik said softly. 'In case you haven't noticed, I've been watching you for a while now. You've already been through a lot, especially today...'
'Yes, I have noticed,' Charles said with a huff. 'Then I wondered whether Shaw was feeding you right because personally, I doubt I'd taste very good to you.'
Erik chuckled in grim amusement. 'Oh, at the very least, he feeds us right. Is that the real reason why you think he'll eventually stop what he's doing? Over time, he'll kill you. I think he almost did today. I hope that you're just as aware of it as I am.'
Charles grimaced. He looked away for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, and then turned back to Erik. 'He's not like the others…' he paused and then sighed as though to calm himself again. 'But thank you for your concern, my friend. That, I actually really appreciate.'
Erik gave him a puzzled look. Friend? He simply didn't want Charles to go through what he had, being kept here as a pet, but he supposed that it was already too late for that.
Once again, he turned around. 'Sleep, Charles.'
Finally, he swam away.
To be continued?
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A/n: This fic is starting get serious. Lmao. Uh, this fic is a lot darker than it looks now, I guess. I should probably warn for that.
Lmao, I was actually looking up stuff for this, like how to take care of sharks and rats. Maybe I should get a rat someday. Hmmm.
Next chapter's gonna feature Charles' pov, finally. I wasn't able to get to him with this one 'cause lol, like Fassbender, Erik pretty much stole the show. *shifty eyes*