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“Charles?” Erik races into the tomb, anxiety pulsing through his veins rabbit quick. “Charles, are you still in here?”
He hasn’t seen him anywhere outside, so he must be. Rounding the corner, he finally gets a visual on the man, so far from what he wanted.
“Charles!” He exclaims upon seeing the telepath sprawled on the floor. Pacing quickly, Erik reaches Charles in seconds, kneeling beside him and gathering him into his arms. “Charles,” he whispers, stroking a thumb over the soft fabric of his lavender tee.
The other mutant is unresponsive.
Looking accusingly at the children in the room he demands, “What happened?” taking pause between the words to glare, teeth bared.
The young mutants stutter out uncertain responses, none of which are good enough answers for the magnetist who’s growing increasingly frustrated. To make matters worse, they crowd in, hovering over Charles, staring, muttering, arguing amongst themselves, hands flailing about.
“Step back!” Erik commands. “Now.”
Thankfully they listen. Going a step further, they scurry out of the tomb entirely.
Later, Erik will think back, hoping he hadn’t scared them too badly. Right now, though, he can’t bring himself to care. He redirects his attention to the man in his lap who’s still refusing to wake up.
“Charles,” He frets, shaking his love ever so gently. “Charles, please. Don’t do this,” he begs as he closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “Wake up, dammit! Come on, come on. Wake up for me.”
Charles’ upper body shifts against Erik’s hold, legs as immobile as ever.
“That’s it,” Erik encourages, eyes crinkling just a bit. “Come back to me.”
Charles whines, blinking his eyes open directly into Erik’s gaze. The bright blue of his irises has never looked so beautiful.
“Erik?” He wheezes, voice strained.
He’s been screaming, Erik reasons, filing the anger that brings up away for later. He has a telepath to soothe.
“Shh. It’s alright. Just breathe.” He goes automatically to stroke the mutant’s hair, one of both of their favorite things, noticing fully for the first time that it’s all gone. He gently rubs his hand over Charles’ head, familiarizing himself with the new sensation. Through no fault of Charles’ own, Erik hates it. Hates any physical reminder that his partner has endured pain and suffering.
Charles furrows his eyebrows at the feeling.
“Your hair,” Erik supplies. “It’s… Oh, schatz, what has he done? What did he do to you?”
The telepath blinks in confusion, seeming to have a hard time gathering his thoughts. “I don’t… I can’t…”
“Shh. That’s alright. Let me in?” The magnetist poses, a solution they’ve used many times when words felt like too much. Over the years Erik has become much more comfortable with the sensation of their minds entwining, sharing thoughts, feelings. There’s a trust there he can’t even begin to reach with a single other person.
Charles, ever the considerate one, still asks, “Are you sure?”
Erik loves him for it.
“Yes, Charles.”
“Alright, darling.” His voice is still raw and it breaks Erik’s heart. He tampers down his anger once again. He will address it later, he promises himself. For Charles. The man encourages him to express his emotions and not suppress them any longer. It’s difficult but he’s getting better at it.
Suddenly his mind feels the glow of Charles’ own knocking at its door. He lets him in and then it goes supernova, a rush of energy and light.
Hello, my darling. Charles smiles softly through the sharp aches Erik can now feel twitching through his own body. Erik knows how much Charles loves this, and he does too, but now that he can feel his pain…
Erik winces, frowning. Charles… You’re in so much pain.
Charles looks away, curling further into him.
Hey, Erik projects. Come here. He kicks his legs out, then folds them in. He pulls Charles fully into his lap, holding him close and brushing a hand over his arm as the telepath tucks his face into Erik’s neck. “There we go,” he soothes out loud. “Shh. I’ve got you.”
Charles sighs, relaxing as he snuggles closer. I’m tired, Erik. Want to sleep.
Erik closes his eyes at the confession. For all that Charles demands the magnetist express his emotions, Charles himself often hides his own, especially when he’s feeling weak. He must truly be exhausted to admit it like this.
Not just yet, schatz. I promise I’ll take you home and we can sleep for a week, but I have to know what we’re working with here. I must know what happened. Show me.
It’s going to hurt you, Erik. Charles tenses.
I don’t care. I want it. If you had to endure it, I will as well. I don’t like you suffering alone. Please, Charles. Erik grips Charles’ hand, lifting it to press a kiss to the back. He doesn’t let go.
Alright , Charles acquiesces.
In an instant, the glow of their intertwining minds becomes lava, sizzling and burning with bolts of lightning crashing in to electrify the sensations even further. Erik feels his energy draining, an evil voice chanting, echoing around the room. His entire body is on fire from the inside out, every muscle engaged and taut.
The combination of it all is unbearable and he writhes against it, seething out desperate breaths and grunts through clenched teeth.
Charles shakes in his arms, occasional full-bodied jolts startling the both of them.
Charles, Erik reaches out with all his might, hoping he can get through to him. In all the times they’ve done this he’s never felt something so intensely dark coming from Charles’ mind. Even just the memories are incredibly powerful. It concerns him. Charles, that’s enough. Relax, Charles. Let up! Let me out!
At last, Charles severs the connection between them.
Erik is left panting, wide eyed, his entire body aching. He groans, feeling absolutely miserable. If this is even a fraction of what Charles went through, is still expiriencing, it’s a miracle he isn’t still passed out or worse.
“Charles?” The magnetist questions, clutching harder at the man who’s still shaking in his arms. It takes him a moment too long to realize the telepath is crying, silent sobs wracking his upper body. “Oh, sweetheart, schatz, baby,” he soothes. “I’m right here.”
He readjusts Charles so he can rub his back in wide, sweeping motions, splaying his hand and engaging the muscles in his arm to give his partner as much strong, focused physical contact as possible to ground him.
He repeats this, as well as whispering endless sweet nothings in English and German for ages until Charles settles, relaxing against him.
“Erik,” Charles gasps between hiccups.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“Please, I want to go home.”
Erik murmurs, “Of course,” pressing kisses into the telepath’s neck. “Of course. We’ll go this instant. Would you like me to carry you?”
Charles nods. “Please.”
Erik smiles. It’s not often Charles allows him to do this. He’s fiercely independent, which Erik loves, but there are certain times he just wants Charles to relax, to accept help without a fight. He’s thankful he isn’t fighting now, though with how utterly exhausted he is, Erik isn’t surprised in the slightest.
Not letting go of his partner for a second, the taller mutant rises to his feet. “Ready to go home?”
“God, yes,” Charles sighs, closing his eyes and resting his head against Erik’s shoulder.
“We’ll be home before you know it. I’ll make you whatever you want for dinner, and we can play as much chess as you’d like. I promise.”
“After we sleep for a week, darling.”
Erik laughs lightly. “Yes, after we sleep for a week.”
Charles yawns, clearly ready to get a head start on that long, well-deserved rest.
Erik gazes fondly at him. He could watch Charles forever.
Absently, he wonders where his partner’s wheelchair ended up. That’s definitely going to be a problem. He’ll send some of the kids to find it. If they can’t, he’ll fashion another one as soon as they’re home.
Home.
He takes the first step towards that journey, taking care to watch where he’s going amidst the ancient stone rubble.
The moment they get outside, Erik will have instructions for the children, taking on the role of leader while Charles sleeps. He’ll assign a few to search for the wheelchair, a few to fire up the jet, and the last one to blink just the two of them home in an instant. He’s seen what the young mutant can do. He just hopes it’s not too far a distance. Training may be in order. There’s never a shortage of training to complete.
But for now, the magnetist carries the telepath out of the tomb, one careful step at a time.