January 1, 1956
"So, a new year," said Erik, his voice flat.
"As of two minutes ago," Charles said.
He passed Erik the bottle of wine that they had cracked open between them. In the abandoned mine that they were hiding in there were a few muted celebrations. He could hear the chattering from outside of their room, looking at the new year with more hope than they had in quite some time. Erik grabbed the bottle and spilled some of the wine on the map below it.
Thus far they had managed to free two of the three facilities. The second had been a long siege. They had known they were coming, but their numbers had been greater that time. In the end though they had had to dig a tunnel beneath the front gate and blast open the front gates. Some of the mutants inside had also escaped and were fighting their way out, tooth and nail. Many had been badly injured as a result.
Now there was just the third facility to take care of. With their swelled ranks they would probably have less trouble dealing with it. A large chunk of the mutants were too ill to fight, and some had mutations that simply weren't practical. Those would be left behind in the mine under the guardianship of a select few mutants.
He'd been sure to make sure that Raven was one of the ones who was staying behind. He didn't care how useful her power was; she had just crested thirteen. His relief had been palpable when Erik had, despite his willing use of fairly young mutants, agreed that Raven should be left behind. She was, in a way, his family as well.
Across from him Erik rotated his shoulder. He'd hurt it in their last engagement but it had healed back to a useable state. Even so it still gave him trouble on occasion.
"Three days," said Erik, "In three days all the mutants on this god-forsaken island are going to be free."
Charles nodded.
"After that it's a matter of planning our next move," he said, "You know we're having trouble supplying ourselves as it is. Right now we have a force of-"
"One thousand one hundred fighting fit, three hundred injured, and one hundred far too young," Erik said, "I'm aware of our tactical shortcomings Charles. We sound more like the population of a small town in the mountains."
"Or a mining community."
Erik smirked and took a swig from the bottle. He paused before speaking again.
"I've been talking with some of the others," he said.
"Oh?" asked Charles.
"Yes," said Erik, "and they're under the impression that our next move should be to march on the capital to dethrone the king and oust parliament."
Charles laughed, bending double and pounding his fist on the table.
"That might be the funniest thing I've heard all day. Whose idea was that?" he asked, still choking on his laughter, "Was it Clarice? She just can't be serious."
"It was Azazel's," Erik said, his voice stiff, "And he was dead serious when he suggested it. And Emma, Creed, Neena, Clarice, and Janos were too when they seconded him."
He blinked at his friend, trying to wrap his head around what he was hearing.
"Before we continue," Charles said, "I'm going to need the wine bottle back for a minute."
Erik passed it to him and Charles took a deep drink. He placed the bottle on the table between them and sat up straighter, lacing his fingers together.
"And from the fact that you've discussed it, you obviously agree with it," he said.
"I believe that it's a viable course of action, yes," said Erik.
Charles shook his head.
"Erik," he said, "You are taking the word of six people, three who are more vicious than anyone has a right to be and one who is mentally imbalanced."
"Emma was in control of her faculties when she agreed," Erik said.
He shook his head again.
"We've discussed this," he said, "She's not all there Erik. I don't think she's been all there since she lost these siblings. She's intelligent, yes, and a good strategist even if I think she's too young to be on the council. But something like this."
Charles made a vague gesture.
"It won't work. And Creed...good God," said Charles, "Are we listening to him now?"
"Not entirely," Erik said, "I'm not a fool. but he is older than both of us combined and does actually have workable ideas how it could be done."
"I don't care if he's a thousand," said Charles, "He's vicious, tempermeantal, and completely unpredictable. I was operating under the happy thought that you didn't like using him any more than I did."
"I don't," sighed Erik, "I'm just saying-"
"-that you came by this idea from people you don't entirely trust?"
"It doesn't matter how I came by the idea," said Erik, "Just think about this for a moment Charles. We could turn Genosha into a safe haven for mutants, a homeland for our kind."
"Like a mutant Israel, is that what you're thinking?" Charles said.
His friend cocked his head in consideration. At least he knew it wasn't an insult. Charles was one of the few people who knew Erik was Jewish, not because he hid his religion, but because few people ever got close enough to Erik to know it. Few people even knew he was German, but everyone knew he'd been in a concentration camp. It was part of his motivational speeches, though he still kept it in vague terms.
"Exactly like Israel," he said.
"Israel, while a very brave country, has a target painted on it," said Charles, "It's surrounded by hostile nations."
"And they survive by being able to repel anyone who even thinks about hurting them," Erik said, "We can simply take that approach."
"With no backing," said Charles, "With a country that we've stolen. Our situation isn't very good at all when you put it in practical terms."
Sighing Erik shook his head.
"I knew you'd only see the plan negatively," he said, "The others did too. That's why they had me broach it with you."
"Oh, because they think you can 'handle' me?" asked Charles.
"Yes, to be frank," said Erik, "And don't take that tone. I know you get approached a lot more than I do about 'handling' the other."
"Maybe if you shouted a bit less," said Charles.
"If someone has proved their incompetency then I see no reason why I should not-" Erik said, raising his voice.
"Alright, alright," Charles said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "We're getting off subject. The truth of the matter is that we are in no position to take over the country right now. I'm not…adverse to the idea exactly, but not right now. You yourself said that we sound like the population of a small town-"
"We'll have more in three days' time."
He sounded somewhat frustrated. Charles wondered where the edge was coming from, but decided to plow on.
"If we succeed then yes, yes we will," sighed Charles, "But then we would have around two thousand fighters total, if everyone was good to go in this last facility. After what we've seen do you really think they'd all be in a condition to fight?"
"Of course not," Erik said, "But our injured will heal, and I believe there are more mutants out there who haven't been caught. Not all of our soldiers come from the facilities."
It was true enough. Some had heard rumors and come to them seeking to free friends and family that were imprisoned. Others had just come to prevent themselves from facing the same threat as the rest of thier kind.
"How many do you think would rally to our banner?" asked Erik, "And they're weak right now, as weak as they'll ever be."
Charles pinched his nose harder.
"Yes, that's true enough," he said, "And I suppose we could do it. But what then?"
"What do you mean, 'what then'?"
"Just that; what then? It's a lovely dream Erik and I believe that yes, we should make a safe place for ourselves," he said, "But a homeland for mutants? What would we do, expel all Genoshan humans?"
Erik smirked.
"You're not a telepath for nothing Charles," he said.
Charles let go of his nose and looked at his friend with shock.
"Good God Erik, have you lost your senses?" he asked.
"More like gained them."
He took a deep breath.
"Slow down for a minute, just slow down. Now, let's just look at this impartially for a moment."
His friend rolled his eyes, but Charles could tell that he was listening.
"Now, most of this island nation is unpopulated because it's a small country," he said, "So it has a population of fifteen thousand. A small one, but big when you think about it in what I'm about to say. Most of the people here have the x-gene in some form or another. And you're right, there are more who will come to us. So let's say that half of the island is populated by mutants."
"I think it's more than half," Erik said.
"Just listen to me," said Charles, holding out his hand, "And you are suggesting that we forcefully remove over seven thousand men, women, and children from their homes?"
Erik shrugged.
"They'll be welcomed elsewhere," Erik said, "Mutants won't be."
"Listen to yourself!" Charles said, "Erik, humans give birth to mutants! We'd be separating parent from child-"
"I didn't say we had to deport parents who have mutant children," Erik said sharply, "Don't you dare put those words in my mouth."
Blinking Charles leaned back. He digested his friend's angry face and tried to backpedal.
"Why does that idea offend you so much?" asked Charles, "You just said we should remove all humans."
"Special exceptions can be made if they have children that are mutants," said Erik, "It's…not right to separate them."
So his friend hadn't completely lost his mind. He was glad.
"Okay, so we don't do that," said Charles, "What if mutants give birth to humans?"
"I doubt that will happen. You told me the x-gene was dominant, not recessive," Erik said, "They'll most likely have children who are mutants."
"The key words are 'most likely'," Charles said, "I haven't had time to fully explore this. There's too much we don't know about this for us to make assumptions."
Erik crossed his arms.
"How do you suggest we do it then Charles?" he said, anger lacing his voice, "We'll never have this opportunity ever again."
"I say we wait."
"I can't wait goddammit!" Erik yelled, pounding his fist on the table, "I'm out of time!"
Charles jumped back, knocking the bottle of wine off the table. It fell with a crash, spilling its contents all over the floor. Neither of them made a move to clean it up. For a moment they both stared at each other, neither speaking. Finally Erik leaned back into his chair, looking shaken.
"I'm sorry Charles," he said, "But…I'm out of time."
"What do you mean, you're out of time?" asked Charles slowly.
Erik sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I…I've never told anyone this," he said, "If I didn't trust you…God."
He closed his eyes, steepling his fingers and bowing his head. Charles waited patiently, his head tilted to the side.
"I…you know of my time in the camps," he said, "Now…imagine what I was like after. A broken, relationless boy being tossed from convalescent home to convalescent home, no one with any idea what to do with me."
Erik took a shuddering breath.
"Now imagine you meet a girl who has had loss in her life. Her parents were killed at the hospital they worked in, some stray bomb," he said, "But, she's still smiling. And more than anything, you want to understand how she does that. And if she can do it, then why can't you?"
He rested his head on his hands, his eyes still closed and his words halting.
"I wanted to learn, I wanted to see how my life could be different," he said, "To get that from her. And I wasn't…careful."
Inside his head Charles put two and two together.
"Oh Erik," he said.
"And then," Erik said, his voice somewhere between a laugh and a gasp, "you find out that things are changing. Your family was taken from you in a hellhole of human misery in Poland. Now you've been given another one."
Charles remained quiet, feeling his friend's silent anguish in his words.
"And…I wanted things to be good," he said, "To take care of them. But I was still so careless. One argument with my manager, one simple loss of temper, and suddenly the world knew I was a mutant. And I had to run."
He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"And they ran with me," he said, "But…it came to the point where I realized that I was endangering them. And I had to go. And I'll be damned if every night I don't see her crying, begging me to stay, then tucking my child in for the last time."
Charles looked away as Erik's hand clenched into a fist. He knew his friend was crying silently though, could see out of the corner of his eye that his shoulders were shaking.
"Charles, I promised I would send for them when I found some place safe," Erik said, "And she knew it was a hollow promise. But I want to make it real. My child…Charles, they may manifest their powers, be a mutant because of me. And then what? Should I just let the MRD come? No. I'll be damned if my child goes through anything like what I did."
Silence reigned between the two of them. In the distance Charles could hear the sounds of celebration. It all sounded so distant to him, so surreal.
"I suppose," Charles said at last, "that that's everyone's wish."
Erik looked up. Charles looked him in the eye, wanting him to understand what he was going to say.
"So many of our people have families," said Charles, "And…we don't know what happened to Emma's siblings. But…if they were still alive, she would be trying to bring them to a safe place. If I didn't have Raven..."
The thought made him shudder.
"I know others have family scattered everywhere," Charles said.
He took a deep breath.
"I will not exclude humans," he said, "I think a high concentration of mutants will be enough to keep things equal, but it will not be by edict. But I will help you make Genosha a homeland my friend."
Erik nodded silently. Outside the door there was the sound of music and he turned his head briefly. Charles swallowed.
"Your child," he said, "What's their name?"
Erik looked back. Despite his red-rimmed eyes he mustered a smile.
"Lorna."