Chapter Text
The sun beating down at him even from his lightly layered clothing and hat, the warmth of Israel could not be contained. With humid hot air coming into his lungs with every breath, Charles worked away treating patients while he could. In the summer, it was brutal work under the small temporary white tents sitting out in the open but Charles could not change that fact. Doing as he could as a doctor, mentally helping those in need, his work proved welcome and began to truly help those constantly pooling into the hospital from a nearby war. Realizing the help he could do with his powers, Charles chose to volunteer in Israel when the war started in the beginning of sixty-three.
As the summer days wore on, the white tents slowly became less needed and Charles and his fellow doctors were able to treat people inside the local tall brick hospital building instead. Away from the scorching sun that tanned his usually pale complexion, he found himself being told to meet a new doctoral aid that he was to keep under his wing.
Welcoming the man, Charles shook his hand and gave him a tour of their floor of the hospital wing. “Your help is going to be wonderful to have, Magnus.”
During those days, Charles grew fond of Magnus and they were together as a pair. With his own mental abilities able to help those trapped in their own minds or mentally scarred from the war and Magnus’ ability to do surgery the pair made quick work of their own hospital wing. Though limited supplies, the duo went to work on the floors of above and below them till only their work consisted of the newly admitted. When the day that the war had come to an end officially, they could not be more joyous.
Mood lightened in the hospital as a whole. The reaction of telling each patient of the update was something that Charles could never forget as those sobbed from both loss and joy. Charles and Magnus found themselves focusing their work on helping those who suffered from the war return to normalcy as the wounded stopped streaming in. As other war aids began to trickle away from the area, Charles chose to stay on his own accord and so did Magnus much to his own surprise. Becoming more of a rehabilitation doctor than their previous roles of medical physicians, the pair helped the survivors see the beauty in life again.
Teaching the newly orphaned children, Charles found Magnus creating small trinkets out of wood he carved as toys for them. Playing with the children always seemed to Magnus’ secret gift Charles would poke fun at as he worked better with the older patients. Bringing flowers to the elderly every other day, Charles never knew how Magnus managed it but he found the kind gestures from the man slowly helped him fall in love with him over the many months of working side by side through a war that would haunt the pair till they die.
In the after hours of the medical supervision and rehabilitation of people, Charles had found an old dusty chess set in a locker of a previous war aid who had left. In the warm small shared room turned into a public recreational area for the doctors and nurses alike, they soon created a late night habit of playing against one another. In the low lamp light from a gas lamp, Charles discovered more about the younger man who had fascinated him so much due to the mystery always shrouding the man.
Always wearing long sleeves or having his medical coat on, Magnus had always chosen to remain covered when in the company of others. As only the two awake in the recreational hall, Charles moved his white knight absentmindedly asking of this topic.
“Magnus may I ask a question?”
With a chuckle, Magnus shrugs as he moves a black pawn from across the board. “You already have, my friend.”
Chuckling at his own failure to realize such, Charles smiles at the man lit in the warm fire light highlighting the man’s wavy hair. “Then a second one.”
Encouraging him with a nod, Charles moves one of his own pawns to capture Magnus’ own. “Is there a reason you choose to remain covered no matter how uncomfortable it must be? In the warmest days where we were drenched head to toe, you always remained in your own coat.” With a pause as Magnus holds his queen in his hand, Charles looks up at the Cerulean eyes of Magnus with shame at his own realization.
“I apologize if I was too forward, I have never been good at keeping my thoughts to myself.” He says quickly as Magnus shakes his head at the man and places down his queen carefully.
Uncrossing his legs, the man leans forward and slowly touches the button on his long sleeve button down. With a small popping from the button, Magnus slowly rolls up his sleeve to reveal a messily blur on his arm. Gasping, Charles reaches out causing the man to jump in surprise.
Stopping as he ghosts over the serial number on the man’s arm, Charles sighs in realization of why the man he cares so much for has always chosen to remain mysterious and quiet. “I am truly sorry if this has brought up any foul memories my friend. I regret asking so much of you.”
Holding out a hand, Magnus’ stops over Charles’ and holds it over the numbers etched into his skin pressing Charles’ warmer hand onto his arm covering the numbers. “Without asking, the memories follow me no matter if you were to have asked or not. Curiosity is natural, nothing to be ashamed of.”
Keeping their hands together, Charles sorrowfully looks up from their hands and onto the man’s face whose eyes show much more than he appears. Full of memories flashing behind the man’s Cerulean eyes, of a terrible war Charles was privileged to not have experienced or seen. “I grew up there, Auschwitz.”
“And your family?” Charles whispers, as Magnus keeps their hands as his focus.
“I have no family, Dr. Xavier. Anymore.” Magnus stays motionless stuck in his own mind. With his own, slowly Charles reaches out to find the man’s mind closed to him with surprisingly large psychic defenses occurring in the man naturally though he is clearly not a telepath. Stopping himself from continuing to reach out, as then it would be obvious as the mental guard Magnus has created is so large that Charles chose to attempt to calm the man with words rather than his own mental feelings.
“It may not ever cover that pain but one can always create a new family. You do not have to be blood related to care deeply for someone as if they are your own.” Placing his hand over Magnus’ own that lays on his other hand he softly squeezes it as he finds those eyes he has fallen in love with staring into his own softening and wrinkling at the corners.
“And what shall happen if I have someone I care for more than family? Something more special.” Magnus mutters with faint pink on his features as the flame light almost disguises it.
“Then we shall see where it can lead. If you are willing to try with this.. special person.” Charles responds as he takes his hand back to move his white bishop across the board. “Check.”
Looking down, the man laughs at the realization. Smiling at the deep hearty chuckle, Magnus’ head fell back as he continued to laugh as Charles looked up at him fondly.
It was late in the night when Charles found himself hearing the screams of a nearby patient. Coming down in his medical coat over his pajamas he found himself being hit over the head into unconsciousness with the butt of a large weapon. With a crash, Charles found himself waking up to Magnus softly shaking him and wiping the blood away from his cut forehead.
“What happened?” He asks groggily as Magnus sighs and helps Charles slowly sit up from his position on a cot.
“I was going to ask you the same question Doctor, but it seems you do not know who attacked you. Many patients are gone and those left here are heavily injured.” Brushing a hand through his messy hair Magnus sighs as he grips his fists and slams one down on the cot next to him. “Damn this. The war should be over.”
“It is, these are just misguided people, Magnus.” Charles mutters as he swings his legs over the cot to face the man. Clearly disagreeing with him, Magnus stands up and turns away from him.
“You’re a fool, look at what has occurred. After all these years peace is still unable to be achieved. Peace was never an option Charles.”
Taken back by the sudden change of character in Magnus, Charles stands and reaches out to the man and brings him into a hug from behind where he stands tensely in. With Charles wrapping his arms around him, the two men stand quiet together as something deep between them begins to break. After much silence, Magnus speaks up.
“I’m going after them. I’m going to get our patients back no matter the cost.”
Deep and serious, Charles’ internal dislike of violence makes him feel conflicted but looking at the man before him he could not deny the man’s feelings. “Then wait for me, I shall change and I shall go with you.”
At the hospital exit stood Magnus pacing, his arms crossed as he held a security guard’s small handgun. Seeing Charles emerge dressed in his own white doctor coat, he pulls Charles close and presses the gun against his chest, eyes pleading at him. “Keep this close.”
“But what about you?”
“I am able to take care of my own. Now come, we cannot waste anymore time.”
As the pair found the remnant soldier’s camp so easily, Charles was unable to find himself to question it as the two quickly found themselves being attacked. With bullets spraying towards them, an invisible wall stopped them as Charles raised his hands covering his eyes. Slowly lowering his arms, he found Magnus extending his hands seemingly stopping the bullets and letting them rain back upon those who fired at them.
Beginning to flee, Charles chose to reveal his own mutant status to his lover as he gripped his own head and began to make the men fleeing stop in place. With some mid run, they fell to the ground like frozen army soldier toys fear and hate pouring off of them. With the men frozen, Magnus raced forward and began to untie the large group of hostages with a knife. Fleeing back towards the hospital, Charles kept the men stationary and discovered himself watching his lover begin to levitate all the guns from the floor and point it at the large group of men he kept captive.
Beginning to release his control over the men, he tackles his lover to the ground as he’s shoved back onto the floor with Magnus kneeling over him. Begging, Charles grips Magnus' uniform as the man kept his Cerulean eyes trained on the men full of rage. “Magnus, don’t! Your violence will solve nothing, it will only shed more blood.”
“There is no changing these monsters. Look at them, it has been years and yet humans cannot change to stop fighting one another. How can you look me in the eyes and say that these people who murdered my family should not die?”
Unable to gather words, Charles keeps his tight grip on the man attempting to lower his outstretched arms and hands holding the wall of weapons. “We can bring them back to the light, like all the people we help every day at the hospital. Please Magnus, listen to me, don’t do this.”
Gazing down at the man below him his soft gaze Charles normally found was completely gone, replaced with rage and pain. “I’m done with people just following orders. They chose their paths.”
Ears ringing, Charles screams out as he feels the mental anguish of those he held in his mental grasp still. Letting them go, he holds his head as Magnus continues to rain bullets upon the men unmercifully. The tang of copper in the air, Charles finds himself looking up at his lover unable to recognize him. Pushing him off, Charles crawls backwards as the other stands up with his face stern and unchanging.
“What have you done?” He whispers as Magnus examines him and his reactions.
“I did what I had to. You should understand that Doctor more than anyone. If I did not do what was called for, they would have hurt more.” Magnus responds coldly, his rage turning his mental shields cold like steel to the touch as he walks away from the scene into the darkness.