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Raven was like no one that Erik had ever met before.
She liked him, for one. Most of the people that Erik met seemed to avoid him as much as possible after their initial introduction, probably due to the lack of interest or sheer unrestrained hostility that Erik projected in their direction. It wasn’t that Erik was unlikeable, however; it was merely that he had no interest in being liked.
Raven, on the other hand, seemed to see it as all part of Erik’s natural charm.
‘You’re like this cross old badger,’ she told him bluntly one afternoon as they were sitting in a small café that she had forcibly dragged him to. ‘You huff and growl and prefer to stay holed up in your grubby little burrow all day and only come out at night when there’s no one around.’
‘Sett,’ Erik corrected her absently. ‘Badgers live in setts, not burrows.’
Raven wrinkled her nose at that.
‘Christ, you sound like my brother,’ she said in a slightly disgusted tone.
She had immediately clammed up, however, when Erik had enquired after this brother. As Erik had only been asking out of a misguided sense of politeness, he hadn’t pursued the matter and had merely shrugged and gone back to glaring at his over-priced, overly-sweet cup of coffee. Raven wasn’t much better. She had gone on to spend the rest of the afternoon in a vicious temper, hissing and sneering at absolutely anything and anyone that happened to fall under her unfortunate gaze. Erik would have felt an odd sort of kinship for her if her change in behaviour hadn’t been so very abrupt and mystifying.
That was another thing about Raven that Erik had noticed – apart from her infuriating persistence and her inability to take no for an answer, that is; she was impossible to predict. Her moods swung about as frequently as a pendulum and the oddest things would set her off. Erik, who wasn’t especially tactful to begin with, found their interactions a veritable minefield that he despaired of ever finding a way to navigate.
And it wasn’t just what he said. Sometimes Raven just seemed to be a bit … off, with her moods shifting and changing dramatically within seconds. If he was honest with himself, Erik found this more than a little off-putting; as a man whose moods fluctuated mainly between ‘grumpy’ and ‘pissed-off’, Raven’s mood swings were completely new territory. More often than not, she ended up in a tantrum after speaking to him and most of the time Erik had no clue whatsoever about what he had done to set her off. She always came back though, smiling and laughing at him, and it was almost as if her outburst of the afternoon before had been erased from her mind – as if it had never happened.
Erik often didn’t know how to react to this. He wasn’t looking for a friend. He didn’t particularly want one. As far as he could see, having a friend would only make investigating the Dollhouse more difficult, taking up precious time that he would much rather spend hunting for Charles than chatting about … whatever friends chatted about. Raven was incredibly persistent, however, and somehow managed to worm her way into his life before he’d even realised that she had done so. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Eventually, though, he learned that it was best to just sit back and let things happen when it came to all things concerning Raven. And so it was that he ended up being dragged to things like ‘brunch’ and ‘coffee hour’ and other such irritations that Erik had very, very little interest in.
The one thing that he did stand firm on, however, was his flat. By now, every usable inch of his flat – tables, desks, walls, floors – were covered in papers and notes and photographs … everything that he now had on the Dollhouse. It was ridiculous, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. The Dollhouse – Charles – had taken over his life, and there was little that he could do about it.
He was perfectly aware of how his obsession would look, however, and that was one of the reasons why he firmly refused to let Raven set foot into his flat. The other reason, of course, was that Raven would undoubtedly ruin everything; even though it may look like a mess, Erik knew where everything was and the last thing he needed was for someone to come in and trip over a bundle of papers that had been arranged exactly so and ruin all chances of Erik ever finding Charles. Raven, he was sure, who had more than enough to curiosity to kill a hundred cats ten times over, would definitely ruin things. He could tell.
Unfortunately, Raven was quick to notice his reticence in letting her anywhere near his flat.
‘Oh come on!’ she whined. ‘You come into my apartment all the time! You’re always over for lunch and stuff!’
‘That’s because you make me,’ Erik responded dryly, feigning boredom. ‘You come and hammer on my door and then physically drag me out when I open it.’
Raven just rolled her eyes and waved him off.
‘It’s for your own good,’ she said primly. ‘I know it’s a foreign concept to you, but people do actually need human companionship.’
Erik scoffed at that. He’d been getting on just fine on his own, thanks.
As if on cue, his treacherous mind chose that moment to conjure up the image of the picture on his wall. Slightly unnerved, he quickly shrugged it away and went back to concentrating on Raven.
‘But it’s weird,’ she was saying. ‘Why don’t you want me to see your apartment? I swear I won’t break anything.’ She suddenly frowned, her expression serious. ‘You don’t like – keep anyone there, do you? Like – chained up or anything?’
Erik choked.
‘I don’t know whether to be amused or alarmed at the fact that you think me capable of that,’ he said at last, when he had regained the use of his tongue.
Raven raised an eyebrow.
‘You really have no right to feel either,’ she sniffed. ‘You do remember how we met, right?’
‘As if you’d let me forget it,’ Erik grumbled, but there was a smile in his voice even if it wasn’t apparent on his face.
‘It’s like you know me so well,’ Raven sighed, the corners of her lips tugging upwards.
Not well enough, it seemed, for it was merely two days after this that Erik, returning home from an unavoidable day at work, walked into his flat to find Raven there, standing in the centre of the room with wide eyes and a gobsmacked look on her face.
‘Oh my god,’ she breathed, sounding almost awe-struck.
‘Raven,’ Erik growled, dropping his briefcase down and stalking towards her. Upon reaching her he roughly grabbed hold of her arm and shook her. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Spying on you,’ Raven replied dazedly, her voice taking on a duh tone.
‘How’d you get in?’ Erik demanded, shaking her again in his fury. ‘And don’t tell me that I left the door open because I won’t believe you.’
Raven blinked then, and looked sheepishly down at her feet.
‘I … may have picked the lock,’ she said reluctantly.
Erik stared at her. For a moment it seemed that he actually might hit her.
‘Oh for – why, Raven?’
Raven pouted and pulled herself out of his increasingly painful grasp.
‘I just wanted to see,’ she said earnestly before pausing. ‘And also rescue any prisoners that you may have had locked in here.’
Erik raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, causing her to shrug in return.
‘Well, it was the only way I was ever going to get into your apartment,’ she said, all traces of remorse now gone from her voice. ‘What with you acting like some sort of creep who was hiding a shrine to the devil in his front room. I actually dated one of those – don’t ask.’
‘I wasn’t planning to,’ Erik said through gritted teeth. ‘Dammit, Raven, this is my home. I am a police detective and you are breaking and entering. What the hell is wrong with you?’
Raven didn’t seem to be at all affected by Erik’s anger or accusations.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ she snorted, casting a deliberate look around the room. ‘What’s wrong with you?’
Erik clenched his fists to keep from doing anything drastic.
‘Right,’ he said firmly. ‘Get out of my flat.’
Raven ignored him.
‘Raven, I swear to god, if you don’t leave now, I will-’
‘Who’s this?’
Erik froze mid-tirade as he saw Raven standing in front of his desk, her eyes fixed upon a very familiar photograph. Her hand was stretched out in front of her so that her fingers were gently brushing the smiling face in the picture.
The blood drained from Erik’s face.
‘Get away from there!’ he snarled, moving forward to push her away.
Raven didn’t move.
‘Who is he?’ she asked, and the softness in her voice caused him to pause. ‘To you, I mean?’
Erik opened his mouth but nothing came out. He didn’t know how to answer that question. Who was Charles Xavier to him?
‘He’s – he’s Charles Xavier,’ he said at last, not knowing what to say. He was surprised to find that he had somehow calmed down, his rage having mellowed at the thought of Charles. ‘I’m looking for him.’
Raven’s eyes were still on the picture.
‘Did he do something wrong?’ she asked lightly, her finger tracing the curve of Charles’s jaw. She had an odd expression on her face.
Erik shook his head.
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Not at all. He’s – he’s missing. I’m searching for him. That’s all.’
Raven turned away from the photograph then, and cast a slightly amused look at the mess around her.
‘Looks like you’ve been looking pretty hard,’ she murmured, and she was unable to hide the look of curiosity in her eyes. Her fingers fluttered around one of the folders on his desk, brushing against the papers inside.
Moving forward with a growl, Erik snatched the papers out from under her hand and quickly placed them elsewhere.
‘That’s confidential,’ he snapped, angry at Raven’s blatant disregard for his privacy. ‘And absolutely none of your business. Now get out!’
Raven’s fists clenched at his words and she appeared almost angry for a second. She calmed down after a moment, however, and instead turned to face Erik with a determined expression, her arms crossed over her chest.
‘Confidential, is it?’ she asked coolly. ‘Is it really? Only that surprises me, considering that all of it seems to be here and not with you at work.’
Erik’s eyes narrowed.
‘I brought it home with me,’ he said, scowling. ‘And like I said, it’s none of your business.’
‘Hmm,’ Raven watched him thoughtfully. ‘Are you sure that’s what you did?’
‘What?’ Erik snapped. ‘Of course I’m sure!’
‘Only,’ Raven blinked innocently at him. ‘I’m not so sure that that’s quite right. It doesn’t explain, for example, the fact that you spend – what? – about two days of the week at the police department? Or that when you do, you always come back and complain about the fact that they’ve got you doing the grunt-work and that the most exciting case you’ve come by in weeks was a little old lady who turned out to be a porcelain-figure nabbing klepto.’
Erik didn’t say a word but just kept glaring at her.
‘And given all the files and notes that have practically taken over your apartment,’ Raven continued, casting an unimpressed eye over the room, ‘I’m going to go with the idea that this investigation of yours is more of a private one than an official one.’
Erik brought his hands together in a slow clap.
‘Outstanding. Maybe you should be the detective here, not me,’ he sneered.
‘Oh, I’m sure the field is big enough for the two of us,’ Raven said airily, still not seeming at all intimidated by the obvious anger in Erik’s eyes.
‘I wouldn’t be sure about that,’ Erik muttered darkly.
Raven merely smirked before spinning around, picking up the thick sheaf of papers that was on the nearest armchair and, without paying the slightest bit of attention to Erik’s curses and snarls of irritation, promptly plopped down and made herself comfortable.
‘So,’ she said when Erik finally paused in his colourful swearing in order to take a breath. ‘Are you going to tell me about it or not?’
That made Erik pause.
‘… Tell you about it?’ he repeated.
‘Yes,’ Raven said patiently, waving a hand around. ‘The case you’re working on. What you’re doing. Who you’re after.’ A pause. ‘Who the guy in the picture is.’
Silence fell.
Erik began to shake his head. ‘It’s not any of your concern,’ he said gruffly. ‘It’s really not all that important.’
‘I disagree,’ Raven said smoothly, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms over her chest. ‘It obviously means something to you. And who knows – maybe I can help.’
Erik thought that very unlikely, but he couldn’t help the stir of longing that flared in his gut at the thought of sharing his findings with another person. He scowled, staring down at his feet in contemplation.
‘Does it by any chance have anything to do with the Dollhouse?’ Raven asked innocently.
Erik’s head jerked up.
‘How did you know that?’ he demanded.
Raven rolled her eyes.
‘Because the wall opposite me has a huge spider-diagram with the word “Dollhouse” right in the centre of it?’ she answered, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
Erik stared at her for a moment before sighing.
He may not know Raven all that well, but he knew enough to understand that this was not something that she would let go of. She was almost as bad he was, in that way. He could even now see how this would play out: she would keep on hounding him and bothering him and repeatedly breaking into his apartment until he finally, finally caved and told her everything.
Coming to the conclusion that he may as well bypass that whole stage and make things easier on himself, Erik sighed before turning to the seat opposite her, clearing away the mess on top of it, and then sitting down.
‘Fine,’ he said once he was comfortably seated, his face giving nothing away. ‘What is it that you want to know?’
Raven watched him carefully for a moment.
‘Everything,’ she said at last, her eyes boring into his and without the slightest trace of levity about her. ‘I want to know everything.’
Erik’s eyes flickered over to the picture of Charles Xavier on his wall. The face in the photograph smiled back at him encouragingly. Taking a deep breath, Erik opened his mouth.
‘Right then,’ he said, ‘What do you know about the Dollhouse?’