Work Text:
My dear friend Erik,
I hope this letter finds you well, though I know it most likely may not. I’ve laid awake and thought about our conversations during the past weeks. Our conversations about power, humanity, and the future of our kind. I believe that we can coexist peacefully with mankind. Despite their flaws, there is potential for growth, understanding, and unity with mutants. I know you carry your scars.
You have scars that are both physical and emotional, from the horrors you’ve endured. I understand why you see humanity through the lens of your past, the loss of your mother, the death of your people, but I hope that you do not to let that hate cloud your vision of what could be.
You have such strength, Erik, such potential to lead. But you are treading a dark path, one of anger and retribution that will only cause suffering to those around us. Please, before you make decisions that could set us on opposing sides, reconsider what we’ve started together, consider what we are.
Yours in hope,
Charles
Dear Charles,
You are, as always, a man of good intentions. But the world we live in does not bend to kindness or diplomacy. You talk of coexistence, but you want us to coexist with people who have hunted us, tortured us, and treated us as less than human?
Have you seen what they are capable of, Charles. How can you continue to believe that they will accept us? My path isn’t full of hatred, but rather, survival. We are the next stage of evolution Charles,
We are meant to rule the world next. If we do not take control, they will kill us. I refuse to stand around and our people suffer as I did years ago. You ask me to reconsider my plans, but what you’re asking is for me to surrender. You want me to have mercy in people who have none for us. We are destined for something greater. We are the next stage.
I will not stand idly by while you cling to your naïve dreams. I know you cannot follow me on this path, so I’ll walk it alone. But when the time comes, remember, I do what I do for our people. For our future.
Your friend,
Erik Lehnsherr
Dear Erik Lehnsherr,
I don’t blame you for what happened in Cuba. I still understand the reaction you had but I can not stand with you in your mission to take down humans. Our bridge is burning faster than I had hoped.
I understand your ideas, but I cannot abandon my belief and my students for the possibility of peace. I’ve seen it, Erik, in the hearts and minds of people, not just mutants. There are people who want to understand us, those who wish to stand alongside us, not against us. Your pain has shaped you, but it doesn’t need to define you, Erik.
Our powers do not make us gods who walk along side mankind. They make us responsible for shaping the future and protecting humans. I will continue to fight for a world where mutants and humans can coexist, it pains me to know that you will not be by my side.
I will always consider you a friend, Erik, no matter where you go. Should you ever need me, you know where to find me.
Goodbye, old friend.
Professor X
Charles,
You may call me friend, but we are not children playing a game on the playground. The war between humanity and mutants has begun. Humanity fears what it doesn’t understand. Fear leads to violence. If you believe in your dream of peace, then fight for it Charles, do not stand in my way. I’ll show you no mercy.
You may be able to see hope in mankind; I see only danger. Perhaps one day you will understand that your faith in them is misplaced and you will decide to join me. Until then, please know everything I will do and have done was to protect our kind. Even if that means we must become enemies.
There are no hard feelings, Charles. I know that the future will prove me right.
Good luck, Professor,
Magneto