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Raven was there for everything. The god, the bad, and the ugly. She stayed when nobody else in their right mind would have-- should have. Essentially, she was Charles's first love, even if Charles didn't always deserve her.
The duo did always reconcile, they always forgave, but if you asked Charles he would say he didn't deserve it. Raven was always the best thing in his life, and Charles always managed to mess it up.
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⍮ PART ONE: THE G O O D ⍮
Charles, however optimistic he may seem today, cannot pinpoint many good days. There are, of course, many decent days. Days in which the man can't complain. But, few of those decent days file under good days. Charles considers good days those days that you go to when you need to be reminded that life isn't all bad, that giving up isn't worth it. The first good day Charles could remember was the day that Raven walked into his life. Of course, then they were young. Neither of them had any idea how important the other would grow to be.
Following that day, most good days involved Raven one way or another. When Charles won the spelling bee in middle school, Raven had been the one who had quite literally studied the dictionary with him.
When Charles got his first date, he had used a pick up line that Raven had given him.
When Charles had been accepted into Oxford, Raven had dropped everything to move away with him.
When Charles fell in love with a handsome metal bending mutant, Raven had been the one to hide her feelings as best as she could.
Anytime anything went good in Charles's life, Raven was there, even if it was at the cost of her own personal feelings.
—
⍮ PART TWO: THE B A D ⍮
Charles was not always so kind and forgiving as he is today. Once, he was a bitter man. He has quite the temper, too. Raven, seeing as she was always there, often had that anger taken out on her. The girl lost count of how many times Charles had just blew up, and yelled at her. Raven tried to not yell back, tried to understand how stressful his mutation could be. As Charles grew older, the range of his telepathy would broaden, and often left Charles quite irritable.
After Charles would yell at Raven, he would often apologize. He'd take her out somewhere, and grovel for forgiveness. In the end, Raven always forgive him, but his slurs always echoed in her mind.
—
⍮ PART THREE: THE U G L Y ⍮
If Charles had to use one word to describe his adolescent and young adult years, it would be ugly. He was far different than what he is today.
Charles experimented a lot with drugs and alcohol. How Raven dealt with him, is a mystery still unknown today.
Raven never abandoned Charles, not even when she definitely should've. Charles had taken her loyalty and love for granted. Many years later he would apologize for it a hundred times.
As Charles attended Oxford, Raven was there the whole way.
Raven was the one who held Charles's hair back when he puked all over her lap after drunken nights.
Raven was there when Charles had yelled drunken slurs at her, and often insulted her natural skin hue. She would bat back that tears and just tell Charles he was drunk.
Raven was there when Charles's powers got to be too much. Sometimes it would get to be too much to handle. Raven was there during the handful of suicide attempts.
Raven was there when Charles found himself in the ER after some man found out that Charles was a queer. That happened more than once.
—
Raven was /always/ there. Her love and devotion never faltered.
Which is why, when she wanted to leave with Erik, Charles told her to go. Charles knew that he didn't deserve her. He had caused enough pain, so who was he to hold her back?