Second chapter. Finally finished it. Got some time and decided to write it. I hope you like it. I don't know if it's as good as the first chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyways. Here it goes! I kinda like the ending just cause it gives the contrast between the way Raven views things and Charles views things. Anyways... please enjoy my horrid attempt to be a good author.

Disclaimer: I don't own X- Men or X-Men First Class

Erik awoke to see several men towering over him dressed in Nazi clothing. Eyes widening, he tried to push up, to get away. But he was restrained by something. Looking down, he realized he was strapped to a table, the cold metal digging into his bare back as leather straps encompassing his body restrained him. Thrashing more out of instinct than will, Erik knew it was over. He had no chance of escaping. He was helpless, a prison to the wills of the men standing over him. And he was a Jew. He knew no matter what they chose, it wasn't going to be good for him.

The men over him grimaced as their attention snapped to him. One of them reached a large hand out and slammed his fist down into Erik's side, knocking the wind out of him and causing a rather unhealthy crunching sound. Choking, Erik desperately gasped for air, only to aspirate on his blood.

"Shut up you worthless swine!" the man shouted, raising his fist for another strike.

An arm shot out, quick as lightning, catching the other man's arm. It was a man dressed in a dark suit. His greased back black hair and pressed attire gave him a look of wealth. The imported gun from Britain proved he had authority. "Shaw wants him alive," he said, his voice fluid in comparison to the other's guttural German, "unharmed." The look he gave the soldier had the other man's face draining of color and his legs shaking in fear.

"Of course, sir," the Nazi said, staring up at the man in fear, "right away."

"That's a good little soldier," the man said, smirking as he released the other man's fist and ruffled his hair in a demeaning fashion. "Now," he said, brushing his hand against his pants like he'd touched something repulsing, "be a dear and leave us alone."

The soldier's face grew hesitant, "But sir," he said softly, his voice slightly cracking, "we were told to keep watch over the boy."

"Are you defying me soldier?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow at the Nazi threateningly. When the Nazi hurriedly shook his head in denial, the soldier straightened up to his full height, a good 6'3" and glared down at the man two heads shorter than him. "Then are you suggesting that I can't hold my own against a measly boy?" he asked, his voice laced with anger and disgust. Rapidly shaking his head back and forth in refutation, the soldier looked like he just wanted to die and get it over with. Instead, the man simply smiled down at him, relaxing his stance and patted him on the shoulder. "Glad we settled that," he said cheerfully. "Now leave us."

The soldiers fled the room as fast as humanly possible, tripping over one another in their haste.

When they were all gone and it was just the two of them in the room, the man let out a chuckle and turned to Erik. "Let's get you out of those chains Metallmanipulierer," he said gently, moving over to the table Erik lay on. Working the straps out of the clasps, he released Erik. As soon as the last restraint was off, Erik leapt off the table, dashing for the door. Slamming into it, he twisted the handle, trying to pry it open, but it held shut. Spinning around, Erik scrunched up, tensing his thin body up, trying to become as small as possible, readying himself to either fight or flee. But the other man simply smiled at him, held up both hands in surrender, and said, "Easy there Metallmanipulierer. I'm trying to help you."

Erki glared at the man, eyeing the pistol on his belt in suspicion. Following his gaze, the man chuckled. "This? You fear this Metallmanipulierer. It's useless against you," The man said as he slowly pulled the gun out and set it on the floor, straightening up to look at Erki again. "Come now Metallmanipulierer," he said, gesturing

"Understand this, Erik..." Shaw said as soon as Erik was ushered into the room for his third session. Shaw knew today was the day. The first two times had simply been to warm the boy up to him and explain what he wanted. Now the boy was going to deliver. One way or another. "These Nazis. I'm not like them." Pausing, Shaw looked towards Erik and saw the skepticism. Choosing to change the subject before he lost the boy completely, Shaw said, "Genes are the key, yes? But their goals? Blue eyes? Blond hair? Pathetic." Staring at Erik as if the boy was to understand and completely agree with him, Shaw was surprised at the blank look on the boy's face. Trying to relate to his inner child, "Eat the chocolate. It's good," he said, taking a bite, trying to tantalize the boy into saying something. "Want some?" "I want to see my mama," the boy responded resolutely. The sentence was short, but underneath his words was a strength that said he wasn't going to cooperate till he got what he wanted.

Sighing, Shaw wondered why they all had to be so whiney. It was always 'I want to see my mom.' 'I'm hungry.' 'I hate you because you killed my parents and tried to use me in your insane experiments.' These people couldn't look past it all and see that what he was offering them was greater than their petty wishes. "Genes are the key to the door leading into a new era, Erik," he said, getting to his point since he saw no way to soften the boy up. "A new future for humanity. Evolution." At the confused look on Erik's face at the word, Shaw wanted to groan. Hadn't this boy been educated? "You know what I mean? I'm not asking for much. A small coin, it's nothing compared to the huge gates. Isn't that right?"

Erik knew what Shaw was hinting at. The man had slowly been building an idea in his mind. An idea about mutants and supremacy and an advanced race in which he would be royalty. All he needed to do to secure a spot for him and his family was to move this coin. Eyebrows scrunching in concentration, Erik tried to find the spot in his mind he had felt all those days before. Feeling nothing, he raised his hands, hoping that it would help someway. After a minute of trying, Erik gave up, feeling the tension of a future headache coming through. "I've tried, sorry Doctor. I cannot...I do not...it is impossible," he said, struggling to find words to express how disappointed he was. He wanted nothing more than to do what the man wanted. He wanted a good life for himself and his mother and father. A life where they didn't have to scavenge and flee the Nazis just to survive. A life where they were the ones people cringed away from. A life of power.

Shaw sighed. He didn't want to do this. His guard had grown to like Erik and he knew doing this wasn't going to get him points with his already rebellious soldier. And the man was so talented he didn't want to go through the hassle of finding someone only half as good as him to replace the man. But Erik was giving him no choice. He needed results and he needed them now. "The only thing I can say in favor of the Nazis is that their methods are producing results," He paused here, looking at the boy before him. He was so small, so fragile. They would have to fix that. "I'm sorry, Erik."

Shaw called the soldiers stationed outside to bring their secret weapon in. Erik's face lit up when his mother walked in. They ran to each other, embracing for the brief moment they could. Then when the soldiers dragged them apart, Erik's fingers twitched as he tried to keep from reaching for her. "Now this is what we will do," Shaw said. "I count to three, and you move the coin. If you do not move the coin, I'll pull the trigger. Do you understand?"

Erik's arms reached out and his face screwed together as he concentrated as hard as he could. He felt strength flood through him. He wanted this so much. He wanted more than anything to show his mother what he could do and make her life so much easier. "One." Panic flooded through him as nothing happened. "Mama!" he explained, praying she had the answers to make his power work. "You can do it," his mother said, trying to send him her love even though she knew she was going to die.

Erik turned back to the coin, pulling at all the power within him towards his purpose.

"Two."

Instinctively looking at his mother, her face looked drawn and resigned. "It's alright. It's alright. It's alright!"

Erik pulled and pulled, sensing something in the center or his mind that he couldn't seem to reach no matter how he tried. He pulled at it but it seemed to slip from his grasp.

"Three." Bang!

The shot rang through the room. Silence followed. Erik felt his stomach drop and a lump form in his throat as he stared straight ahead, the coin left unforgotten. It was several moments before he regained control of his limbs and slowly, very slowly he turned his head. The sight he met made his body feel like it was weighed down by lead. His mother lay in a pile, her lims unnaturally spread out across the floor and scarlet blood seeped from the gunshot in her chest. Her clothes, the clothes she had worn since they had been put in the ghettos, was ragged and stained. She was slowly losing the color of life: the soft pink in her cheeks, the gold tint to her face, and her warm, loving eyes.

Then the screams started ripping from his throat. The power he couldn't seem to grasp before came rushing at him in waves. Wherever he turned, all the metal would bend and twist. They screamed with him as they morphed to become twisted and broken just like Erik. They snapped as his control snapped and they matched his anguished screams one by one. By the end of his rampage, Erik had destroyed all the metal in the room and the room adjacent to it. Standing there panting, Erik felt the fire die in him leaving behind a deep sense of numbness and hatred. Hatred towards the Nazis for tearing his life at its seams, hatred at Shaw for killing his mother, and hatred towards everyone else for not saving him.

"Unbelievable, Erik," Shaw said, walking up behind him to place his hand on his shoulder. "We have opened your gift with anger. Anger and pain. You and I are going to have a lot of fun."

Erik couldn't bring himself to look at the man. He wanted nothing more than to drive the metal rod lying next to him straight through the other man's eye, but he held back. No, Shaw would die later. He would let Shaw believe he had his personal soldier. He would stay and learn all the other man had to offer him, grow as powerful as he could, then show the world that Erik Lensherr wasn't going to take shit from anyone any longer. That he was the one with the power. That he was superior to them all.

Charles gasped, sobbing as his eyes refocused.

"Oh thank God, Charles," Raven said, hovering over him in her blonde girl form. "I thought we lost you."

Charles, having never heard Raven say such a thing since his first attack with her in the room, was immediately worried. "How long have I been out?" he asked, his fear imminent. The longest he'd been under while still conscious was an hour. Four when he was sleeping.

"Six," Raven said as she fluttered around him, trying to check his temperature and vitals. Charles didn't even bother trying to swat her off. He was just sitting there, shocked, as her words sunk in. Six hours. This dreaming had continued every night and at least twice a week during the day ever since that first one two years before, yet Raven always acted as if he were going to never come back. But six hours. He had never even spent that long while dreaming.

"It was bad," Charles finally forced out, "the dream I mean. Almost as bad as the first one. I forgot how bad those felt until now," Charles said, pressing a hand against his heart as he felt it start tearing to shreds. He had watched Erik for two years; watched as he was forced into training camp after training camp where people would dissect his mind with their questions and push his body to its limits. He watched as Erik was starved and beaten within inches of his life. But none of the pain or the agony he had felt during those dreams could come close to these ones. These ones cut deeper than the sting of physical beatings. He had literally felt Erik's mind twisting and breaking and becoming deformed as his hate burned deeper and deeper. And Charles could feel part of it within himself. The part of him that had always held disdain towards his mother for her constant absence in his life simply because he was different had turned into loathing. He could feel dark energy within his mind, finding purchase in every negative thought he had every had. And he didn't like it.

"You need to tell someone, Charles," Raven said. When Charles looked at her in complete horror, she waved her arms around as she tried to ammend her statement. "I'm jsut saying that perhaps they could help you break this link. It can't be healthy. I say you should tell the doctor about this. He'll know a way to fix it."

Anger swelled within Charles at her word. A life without the link was pointless. He had grown so dependent upon the constant access to another mind so like his, so similar in all ways that mattered and in many ways that didn't. He needed Erik. He had come to know the boy, come to know his life, his struggles, his thoughts, his dreams. They fueled him to do all that he did. To aim to become a professor to guide those like them so that they would never have to endure what Erik had. To make a difference. To fix the world so that Erik could stop hating everyone and just live his life the way he wanted. And he wanted to be a part of that life. "If you ever suggest that again," Charles said, his voice grim and his eyes harsh, "I will throw you back out on the streets. Am I clear?"

Raven flinched from his look, scared. Charles had never looked at her like that. It was Erik. He always made Charles bad. He wasn't a good influence, and Raven would do anything to keep them from ever growing closer than they were. Because she loved Charles and didn't want to see him get hurt.

And this Erik Lensherr was nothing but a road of pain and suffering.

Charles hated hurting Raven, but she had no right. She should have never spoken about the link like that. It wasn't bad for him. It saved him. And he would never break it, because in his heart he wanted, more than anything else, to meet Erik.

Because Erik Lensherr was the only person who would ever understand.

So... did you like it? Please review! -hides from any fruit chucking-