Chapter Text
Things had been quiet around the school for a while now. Quiet being a relative term for a school full of mutants of course. There were still accidents, yelling, screaming, people losing control, and endless paperwork for Charles. But there was a significant lack of trouble from the outside world.
Even more specifically, Charles hadn’t heard from Erik in over a month. Not that this was particularly a bad thing, for now, anyway. He had been dismissing it for a couple of weeks, sure the Great Magneto was out planning something for his next attempt to talk some ‘sense’ into his children, maybe he’s out somewhere rescuing mutants from research facilities, maybe he’s just taking a vacation.
But the longer time goes on, the less Charles is sure it’s any of these things. It’s been a month and a half and the man had made a habit of showing up once a month or as close as he could. They had all come to count on it, the kids finding it to be a new kind of excitement, getting to see Magneto and Professor X face off up close while knowing that there were enough people around to keep them safe from the anti-hero (though Charles knows that he’s not there to hurt the children and if anyone did get hurt it would be a complete accident. He also knows Erik can cause people to get badly hurt on accident).
It’s never been this long before though and, while Charles is sure he should be thankful there haven’t been any interruptions in classes or the routines they’ve all established, he can’t help but be concerned about just what is to come.
It’s almost like a sixth sense to know that something is wrong somewhere but he finds himself putting it off more and more, blaming the feeling on being concerned for his old friend, the man he’s loved for decades. It couldn’t be anything more than that, right?
“Professor?” Hank asks, opening the door and sticking his head into his office.
Charles looks up from the stack of essays on his desk, “You know to knock, surely, Hank,” He replies.
“I have been, for ninety seconds, you weren’t saying anything. I wanted to make sure you’re alright.”
“I’m fine, Hank,” He replies, arms going out in a ‘you see’ gesture, shaking his head a bit.
Hank nods slowly before stepping further into the room, closing the door behind him and Charles has to fight back the urge to sigh and roll his eyes. But he wouldn’t do that to his friend. Not where he can see, at least.
“I know there’s more than that,” Hank says, sitting in the chair across from his desk. “You’ve been…different lately, distracted, as though there’s something more on your mind.”
Charles chuckles rather loudly, “Oh, Hank. I’m a telepath, there’s always a lot on my mind,” He replies.
There’s an unimpressed look that crosses Hank’s face, “I hate it when you get like this,” He says, bluntly, “You laugh off everything, don’t take anything seriously, and then explain every concern away.”
This time, Charles does sigh, years of abusive parents and having to convince people he’s fine before his powers manifested to blame for that.
“I just can’t help but notice we haven’t had an interruption from Erik in almost two months now,” He replies. “You know he always shows up once a month, if not to terrorize the children then at least to talk to me about my ideology, as though it might have changed in that length of time.”
“I think this is a good thing, Professor. Maybe he’s finally seen that you’re not going to change your mind. He could be done bursting into the school through an open window.”
Charles wants to scream and shake Hank. Doesn’t he understand that it’s less Erik actually waiting for him to change and more the meaning behind it? The two of them get to see each other, catching up. Time between two old friends, two lovers. Sometimes they play chess, sometimes they scream until both their voices are giving out and they both love it. Neither actually wants the other to chance and Charles isn’t too sure Erik is really trying to take the kids from him either.
“I don’t think that’s is,” Charles says instead, “It just doesn’t seem like something Erik would do. If it wasn’t for that bloody helmet I would be trying to contact him, make sure he’s alright.”
Hank sighs and shrugs a little, “You know he’s alive. If he wasn’t there would be news of it everywhere. If he was injured there would be news of it, whatever happened, that he’s in a hospital.”
“Erik wouldn’t go to the hospital. And if they got him in one then there wouldn’t be a hospital there for long,” Charles interrupts quickly without thinking about it. But Hank has a point. There hasn’t been anything in the news. That’s a problem as well though. “There hasn’t been anything in the news about him at all in two and a half months.” He says, rubbing his hand over his eyes, feeling a headache building.
Hank nods, “Maybe try Cerebro. Even if you can’t find Erik, maybe you can find Raven or…whoever he has with him these days.”
Slowly, Charles nods, he knows this is the truth, but at the same time, he’s not sure he can convince himself he should seek the other man out. The worry about him evening out with the worry about the school, not wanting to be the one crawling to Erik if the other is trying to avoid him, maybe he’s just trying to stay away from Charles and the school. Maybe he’s happy somewhere now with someone else, someone who made him give up being Magneto. Someone better than Charles.
The possibilities are endless and enough for Charles to make up his mind. They haven’t heard from the brotherhood, it’s because the brotherhood doesn’t want to be heard from. It’s not up to him to go seeking them out.
“You’re right, Hank, but I think I should leave this one alone.”
Looking conflicted about the decision, Hank nods, “Well, if you need anything, professor,” He replies, standing up giving a nod before walking back out of the office.
Watching him walk out, Charles sighs, falling back against his chair and running a hand through his hair, trying to mess it up as little as possible. He can’t just let this go but there’s nothing he can do right now all the same. All that’s left is to sit back, wait, and hope that sometime soon, something happens.
That something comes a couple of days later when they receive a letter, there’s no address on it, other than the schools, but Charles can tell immediately that it’s in Raven’s handwriting. It’s just further evidence that something is going wrong, something that Charles isn’t sure he wants to be in the middle of but it looks like he’s about to be pulled into.
He reaches for a letter opener and slices through the envelope and pulls the paper out, unfolding it and letting his eyes scan the words.
Charles,
I had expected you to come looking for us or send someone else long before now. It’s been, what? Over two months since you last heard from any of us. I really didn’t think you’d leave it that long and I can’t decide if I should be impressed or pissed at you.
I can’t say what the problem is, and yes, there is a problem, at least not through a letter and it’s hardly my story to tell at all. What I can say is I think you need to get back to being as nosey as you normally are and come looking through thoughts of the brotherhood. I know how stubborn you both can be.
Raven
The letter is short and vague, but enough to tell him that something is definitely going on and, going by the end he can tell that whatever it is, it has something to do with Erik, even if she didn’t mention his name. He wonders if she was being this vague on purpose or just being herself. She always was good at saying a lot and nothing at the same time.
After reading the letter over a second and third time, he knows there’s nothing in the letter that he’s missing, nothing hidden within. He rips the paper and throws it into the fireplace in his study to burn later before returning to his desk.
For hours, he sits there and stares at papers he was grading before receiving the mail, only to look up and realize it’s been thirty minutes, not even a full hour. And he’s only graded one paper, not even sure if it was done properly. That’s all it takes for him to know he’s not going to get any more work done and pushes himself away from his desk. Instead of sitting and doing nothing, he makes his way to Cerebro.
He only hesitates a moment once there, looking around the large round room before putting the helmet on and starting to look. Things would have been so much easier if Raven had left an address, a state, country, anything, at this rate he knows it could take hours, days even to cover the entire planet, thinking Erik would have them out in the middle of nowhere, hiding away from the work, from the humans.
He’s surprised when he finds them quickly, over in New Jersey, not exactly nowhere, especially in the middle of Princeton. Two hours away from Westchester.
If he hadn’t known before that something was wrong, learning where they are staying would be enough to convince him. Quickly he pulls away, removing the helmet, not wanting any of them to know he was there, though he’s certain that if anyone does notice it will be Raven, at least now that Frost is gone.
He turns and rolls out, going to find Hank, knowing that he needs to go and find them. Raven has something to tell him or Erik does one and he needs to be there to hear it.
“We have to go to Princeton,” He announces when he reaches the kitchen where Hank is sitting eating a sandwich.
“Why?” Hank asks, laying the half-eaten sandwich back on the plate.
“Raven sent me a letter. Something is wrong, she didn’t say what but told me to find them. I thought they’d be in a place Erik usually chooses, secluded, safe. They’re in Princeton, hardly his normal place. That’s two strikes for something being wrong and not them just giving up on this. We need to find out what’s going on and I don’t feel like making that long of a journey on my own.” Even with a car, he can drive himself with hand controls he doesn’t like driving for more than half an hour and still doesn’t feel entirely comfortable with his ability to drive.
Hank nods, “Get ready, we can leave in an hour,” He decides and Charles nods, turning to leave the man to finish his shower while he runs through some things he needs to get done before going on the trip, even if it is only two hours there, who knows what they’ll encounter on arrival.
Three hours later they were driving through Princeton and Charles had reached out until he found Raven, communicating with her until they got the directions and knew they were on the right path to the hotel they were staying at and learned their room numbers.
After that it was another fifteen minutes until Charles was knocking on the door to Raven’s hotel room, being told to come in as soon as he knocks once.
“I just wanted to see if you’d knock,” Raven admits, sitting on the bed with a magazine in her hands.
Charles rolls his eyes as he goes over to hug his sister, “You look beautiful,” He tells her softly.
Copying his action, she rolls her eyes as well, “You look a bit rough,” She says back with a smirk. “I’m glad you decided to come though. You really need to go next door and talk to Erik. He's alone in there, has been for a couple of days now.”
Charles nods, taking a breath, questions racing through his mind, “What’s going on? Is he alone? Where is the rest of the brotherhood?”
“Save some questions for him,” She says, listening to his list, “He’s alone, I just said, the rest of the brotherhood have left. I’m going as soon as you two talk, but I’ll keep in touch this time if you’d like.”
“Yeah, I would like it if you would,” Charles replies, “What’s going on, Raven?”
She shakes her head, “That’s not my question to answer. Go talk to him and let him answer it.”
With a deep breath, he nods, turning to leave, “Hank is waiting outside the door, by the way, might want to get him in here before the police are called.”
“Hank!” She calls out, “Get in here,” She calls to him.
Charles laughs softly as the other man comes into the room, as he leaves out of the room to go over to the next, knocking on the door.
“Come in, Charles,” Erik calls out to him.
For a moment, Charles pauses, taking a deep breath. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen when the door opens, what he’s going to see, how Erik will be. But he needs to know, he wants to make sure the other is okay. And then he opens the door, wheeling into the room, closing the door behind him before he dares look at the other man.
Immediately noticing the lack of his helmet, Charles is quick and careful to reign in his power.
“Hello, Charles.”
“Erik,” He whispers, looking at the other, “What’s going on, my friend? I know something is, I haven’t heard from you in months and Raven tells me something is going on.”
Erik sighs and stands up off of the bed, laying his book to the side. “That’s a complicated one, old friend.” He says softly.
“Whatever it is, whatever is wrong, we can do something about it. All you have to do is tell me what it is. You’re not alone Erik, you weren’t since we first met and you certainly aren’t now.”
There’s a pause where Erik looks at Charles, not quite meeting his eyes, then he looks to the floor and takes a breath, looking as though he’s trying to find the courage to speak before whispering out in a breaking voice, “I’m sick, Charles.”