Work Text:
~beginning~
charles was beyond lost, he couldn't think about anything aside from loosing the love of his life, it felt like yesterday that he had lost her.
~one week ago~
The fight was getting harder, Charles was trying harder than ever to try and defeat Apocolypse within his mind, putting up one hell of a fight. but he wasn't winning the fight and reader was becoming ever more fretful of the outcome, her anxiety skyrocketing. Apocalypse was fighting raven and cyclops, and though nightcrawler and reader had gotten Charles out of the temple before apocolypse could do virtually anything to Charles. That didn't mean they were done fighting. reader watched as apocolypse began walking towards were they were hiding, the wall began to disintegrate revealing them all to apocolypse. "jean keep watching Charles, I have to do something. I don't want you getting hurt, protect him please" before jean could protest, nor Charles, reader was walking towards Apocolypse. he seemed unenthused by her portrayal of self sacrifice but was soon to come to the realization his abilities were not working on her, none of them. she was getting closer and closer, and soon they were both fighting, reader winning as apocolypse was weak without his abilities. Charles was now sitting up and yelling at reader to stop or she's kill herself along with apocolypse. "STOP! YOULL DIE WITH HIM! (NAME) NO!" Charles yelled. trying to use his telepathy to get her to stop. he couldn't lose her. he had only just gotten her back. apocolyse was brought to the ground, reader using his own abilities against him. they watched as she used the power to tear apart his very molecular structure. causing him to disintegrate, however with that her own body began to rip itself apart. "your lucky I didn't have the time to make you suffer" was the last thing apocolypse heard before he was fully gone. reader created a force field around herself. they watched as she was ripped apart by the mutant abilities she took from apocolypse. she looked at them and smiled before she disintegrated just like apocolpyse had just seconds prior. the sob that came from charles was heartbreaking, they all knew the professor had such a deep love for (name) but the battle was over, and it looked as though everything was going back to how it was, reversing around them it seemed. maybe it was ne last gift from (name) to undo all the damage apocolypse had done.
~ present day ~
it had only been a few months since reader had given her life to save the world and Charles couldn't be more grateful, but he was grieving his lover, the woman he wanted to marry. he was inconsolable for days after she died. he would say the same thing over and over " I don't even have a body to burry, there was none of her left...." But soon he began going back to his usual self around the teachers and students. however those who were close to him, could see the man was heartbroken. when no one was looking his eyes drooped, saddening. However, today the professor seemed quite happier, he was wearing a soft knitted cardigan, its color a soft dull brown. The pink thread of the embroidery of (name)'s initials on the sleeve cuffs, stood out. it was her cardigan, the one everyone would see her put on the professor when he would get cold and didn't want to go to him room to get a sweater. he taught all his classes and even went to have lunch out in the garden with Erik and raven. whom were both a bit confused at how he seemed to no longer be grieving. Charles was always odd with grief, but this was just way to weird for anyone to be comfortable with it.
"so Charles, how have the classes been?" raven asked softer than usual before taking a bite of her farm salad. Charles smiled, " well they've gone quite well, all of the children seem to have been doing well in their assignments, I believe they're ready to move onto or next course, how have the training sessions with the trainees gone?" Erik could see it on Charles face, the man was still grieving, he was just replacing the emotions with different ones. ignoring that (name) had even died. "Charles.. how are you holding up? its almost been a month are you okay to talk about it now?" raven asked. charles happy demeanor quickly changed to that of sadness. his eyes watered as he looked down at his hands. "i... i don't think I can talk about it just yet... one month isn't a very long time and I just... it .. I'm sorry i-i feel ill I think I'm going to go rest before starting the next class." he swallowed before he was gone and going into the school. raven and Erik sat there for a few moments before speaking. "he is going to break soon. he's holding it all in and its not going to benefit him at all Erik" raven complained with a sigh, Erik just shook his head. " you must give him time raven, the man just lost the love of his life... let him grieve for as long as he needs."
~ later ~
it was late at night, charles had been unable to sleep so he got into his wheelchair and went to the garden. specifically the spot he and (name) would share many late night conversation when neither one of them could sleep. he sat there quietly, the silence was comforting after a long day of teaching. he looked at the moon longingly, he remembered a story (name) had told him when they were just children. a story about a great fox and deer. the story told that no matter how many times the deer would loose the fox, it would come back to the deer. the fox making a vow to never leave the deer alone in the dark forest they lived in. "and if the fox was ever not present, the deer would wish upon the moon to let the fox find her way back." he whispered to himself. the moon was full, not a single cloud in the sky as he watched it for what felt like was hours.
^MEMORY^
it was a late night, charles had been unable to sleep due to the thoughts of other people keeping him up. he walked out to the garden and sat down on the bench, it was freezing cold, snow covered the ground and the moons glow radiated off it in an iridescent glow. "you know you should have shoes on" a small voice spoke, charles head turned quickly to see it was a girl. she had snow boots on, however they did not match the purple nightdress she wore, nor the quite oversized brown cardigan she was wearing."who are you? my name is charles" he spoke, he had just read her mind she was harmless at the moment. " my name is (F/name) (L/name), here your probably freezing." she took her cardigan off and handed it to him. he cautiously took it into his own hands. it was warm from being on her body. "why are you out here? where is your home (name)" charles asked worriedly. the girl never stopped having the soft smile she wore on her face while she spoke. "I don't have one. my family left me behind. but its okay, I know how to live on my own... charles can I tell you a story?" she asked taking a seat next to him. he nodded with a hum. she was his age, but a little taller he noticed. "There is a story about the fox and deer. it says that there was a deer who had wished upon the moon for a friend, the moon heard his wish and gave him a friend in the form of a fox. she was always around when he needed, and the two looked out for one another, one day the fox told the deer that 'no matter what happens to me, I will always come back to you deer' the deer didn't believe the fox at first, but soon the deer realized the fox never lied, every time the fox was missing, she would find her way back to him. my grandma use to say its because they were soulmates, and that the moon only allowed for them to find one another because it itself couldn't experience love, so it experienced it through the fox and deer... its a nice story right charles?" she asked turning to look at him from looking at the moon. it had started to snow lightly, she was quite pretty in the glow from the moonlight charles had thought to himself. " That was a nice story.. I've never heard it before." the two sat there for awhile longer watching the moon and stars. "you know.. i wouldn't mind being your fox. you seem like you need a friend charles" (name) whispered looking to the moon with a smile. charles looked at her with a smile "I would like that (name), I don't have very many friends..."
^END MEMORY^
charles was deep in thought, reminiscing on past memories he had with (name) like how they first met. Then the sound of a twig snapping brought charles out of his thoughts. he looked towards the sound, he saw a fox watching him from the other side of the garden, a special looking fox as it had (e/c) {eye color}, it carefully made its way to charles sitting down in front of him. tears slightly weld in his eyes. "what a messed up way to tell me you're still here..." he spoke as the fox jumped up onto his lap, licking his tears away before it hopped off, as the fox walked away, charles felt something lift off his chest, his grief that once buried him.. seemed to have dissipated. maybe he would be okay after all.
~the end~