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Charles was in a panic, he couldn’t feel Erik’s mind anymore and he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to say, to make Erik stop. To make him understand that killing all those soldiers would be wrong. Charles had to do something, he had to. He couldn’t let Erik go down this path that would ultimately only lead him to become the very monster that they were all fighting only moments before. He had to do something and talking wasn’t working. It was simply too easy to say all the wrong things when Charles could not even get a glimpse inside of Erik’s mind. His mind had always been his greatest weapon, but now, with that helmet on Erik’s head, Charles had never felt so helpless. But, he had to do something, and so, he charged towards Erik with a yell, tackling him to the ground. Charles didn’t want to hurt Erik, but what else could he do. He pushed Erik to the ground and made an attempt to remove the helmet from his head, but was roughly pushed off and flung to the side. Charles' head hit against a hard rock and he had to take a moment to get his bearings.
Of course, Charles had known before today that there was a possibility that Erik would try to kill Shaw. He had known that there was a darkness in Erik’s mind, but he could not stop himself from falling for Erik so completely and he had been sure that Erik had felt the same. Perhaps Erik was right and he was naive and arrogant. Naive in the belief that Erik would love him back and arrogant in the belief that Erik would love him more than his hunger for revenge. Perhaps, after all those chess games, long walks, meaningful conversations, and nights spent together, Charles had fooled himself into believing that he and Erik would be by each other's side forever. Had he just imagined the trust and love in Erik’s eyes? Or had he loved him, but just not enough? Charles would not have a chance to find answer to these questions, for as he stood up, Eric defected Moira’s bullet and it curved right through his neck.
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Erik was horrified, in a twisted scene that mirrored his mother’s death, yet another loved one had been shot down behind him. Erik rushed over to Charles and turned him over to see that the bullet had gone through his neck and he was bleeding out. Erik placed a hand on the wound and pushed down hard. Charles grunted in pain and blood seeped out from his mouth and down the side of his face. Charles was opening and closing his mouth as though he was trying to say something. Erik shushed him and told him that everything was going to be alright, he just had to hold on, and he was going to be okay. Weakly, Charles lifted his hand and attempted to grab a hold of Erick’s helmet. Erick realized he must be trying to communicate telepathically and quickly ripped the helmet off and threw it to the side. As soon as he did, Erick was overwhelmed by the amount of warmth and love and comfort that was coming from Charles' mind. He didn’t feel any anger like he expected, and even disappointment. It was like Charles was attempting to sooth his mind by wrapping it in a blanket made up of his love for Erick. It was so overwhelming that tears gathered in Erick’s eyes.
Just as quickly as the feelings had come, they left seemingly pulling Erick’s emotions away too. Leaving Erick feeling numb as he looked down at Charles and realized that he was dead. Raven seemed to unfreeze from her shocked and horrified state and lunged towards Charles' body, roughly pushing Eric away with a yell full of rage and grief. Eric didn’t think he would be able to forget the image of Raven holding Charles' dead body close to her cheats or the sounds of her sobs as she yelled that he had killed her big brother. Despite the vitriol in her words and the betrayal in the others' eyes as they looked at him, he still only felt numb and he briefly wondered if indeed he would never feel again. Perhaps all his feelings had perished along with Charles as he took his last breath, part of his heart certainly did. Raven screamed at him to leave and never come back and he found his body obeying as if she were the one with the mind controlling mutation instead of Charles. He gathered with Angel and Azazel and they teleported away.
A week later, Erik would have Azazel teleport him to Charles' grave. He did not go to the funeral as he had a feeling his presence would have been unwelcome after all he had done. Erik took a moment to take in Charles’ grave and then carefully placed a bouquet of white roses gently down by the headstone before teleporting away once again.