Like a knife through water [OPEN]

[xprofessor]

WHO Charles and OPEN
WHAT Nightmares.
WHERE This log takes place (probably) on the astral plane. Charles, though, is in his apartment.
WHEN Saturday
NOTES Feel free to tag into Charles' dreams at any point, or to have your characters' dreams invade his, or to come into his room and be like HEY DUDE WAKE THE HELL UP (if your character is in his

Comments

[rancored]

Further along the beach is a young boy, tied to a post and seemingly left to bleed out. His clothes are already dark with dried blood, the trio of crushed bullets hidden in the sand being the cause of it all. Yet despite having draw the fragments free from himself, he hasn't used that source of metal to make his own escape.

He knows better than that.

He isn't supposed to be free.

Not yet. Not until that figure in the distance- the one he can't make himself look away from -is there to guide him through it. There's only two ways to escape Schmidt's plans for him; one leaving him nothing but a pile of ash, forgotten to all. And the other... The other he doesn't know yet. The other involves a nameless face and a wordless promise.

[xprofessor]

He breaks through the stinging sand and sees the boy, there.

Recognition is slow. Slow and painful. Something inside him is raw, bleeding, in such pain.

He kneels in front of the boy.

"Erik," he whispers.

[rancored]

There's the faintest trace of relief that crosses his face, gone almost instantly. He knows better by now. He knows that it isn't over yet, and it won't be until the two of them are miles away from there and on their own again, free from being used as weapons. The Telepath may symbolize his escape from Schmidt, but it's Charles that equates to their freedom.

He can feel a wetness covering his hand, even as it slips free from the bindings to reach out for the man in front of him. The slow spread of bright red tracing its way up his arm, starting from the fingers that press against the side of Charles' face isn't his own though. It's a sign of what he knows will one day follow.

/You lied to me./

[xprofessor]

The blood drips. Tickles as it slides down Charles' skin, his neck.

/I didn't,/ returns Charles, immediately, reflexively, and then he reconsiders.

"You can free yourself," he says. "Why don't you?"

Fffff my finger slipped >[

[rancored]

/You promised that I wouldn't be alone again./ His attention has alread dropped to the ropes, the sand between them shifting as he pieces the bullets together to form a blade. It wouldn't take any effort at all to lift it up and cut clean through those bindings. But that isn't his job, and he knows it won't ever be. Not while he has Charles with him.

"He's coming." That shadowy figure in the distance that turned him from a boy and into a weapon. His words are hissed out, his hand sliding away and smearing more of that blood across Charles' cheek. "You can't be here."

[xprofessor]

Charles takes the blade and slices the ropes, one by one.

"I would fight him a thousand more times if it meant I had you back," says Charles, tightly, combing the ropes away from Erik's arms. "I mean it. I would feel his death over and over and over again for you." I love you, I still love you, if I hadn't loved you so much I never would have--

He doesn't finish the thought.

Erik is skinny and light. He lifts the boy into his arms. "We'll find somewhere safe."

[rancored]

"But you're still scared of me." His arms wrap tightly around Charles, refusing to let go now that he has him in reach. It's something he's missed, even in the waking world. That ability to simply feel the other mans presence, at all times. To have him constantly within sight. But he already knows that, once he's grown up, that feeling will be lost to him again.

He isn't ready to grow up yet.

"I'm safe with you, Charles. No one can touch us when we're together." His gaze is fixed on the approaching figure, the coin in his pocket is a comforting weight right then. But it's only thanks to the man holding him that he's even willing to consider this an escape. With Charles, they could do anything.

[xprofessor]

Charles can't find a way out. Each way he turns, there's more desert. Like the sand shifts under his feet and leads him back the way they came.

He holds Erik close, desperately, but his fear grows with every step.

Finally, he pauses.

"Erik," he says, "Erik, I need you to trust me. You have the power to get us both somewhere safe." As soon as he says this, he believes it. Of course: this was the answer all along. Charles is too weak to save everyone. Erik can. Erik always could. "Close your eyes and we can escape."

[rancored]

Sharp eyes and a wicked smile. Despite the rapidly closing distance between the two of them and Schmidt, Erik doesn't make any attempts to leave. The steel of his boots would be enough to get the two of them out of there, but it would only be a temporary escape. No matter where he goes, Schmidt- no, Shaw -will always be a part of him. It's something he can't ignore. But if there's a way to keep Charles away from all of that, he'll do whatever it takes.

"Don't leave me here." His words a mumbled against Charles' shoulder, his eyes finally sliding shut to lock out Shaw's image. it's meant to be just the two of them. Alone. Even once they go to England and get their next set of orders, it's still the two of them against the world. It's all he wants.

[xprofessor]

Charles covers Erik's eyes with his hand. And then --

They are.

Alone, that is. Alone someplace different, in the ruins of a cathedral after a bombing attack. Some of the rubble still smolders.

Charles pulls Erik under a stable overhang.

"We can hide here." His fingers run through Erik's hair. There's blood, matting and tangling. He curls up next to him. "We escaped back to the Blitz, it seems."

[rancored]

The change of location is taken with ease. It makes sense for the two of them to be there, so he doesn't question it. But while he doesn't fight against Charles tucking them both away in a corner, his attention is on the wailing siren in the distance, drowned out by the buzzing of engines and explosions nearby. He can feel just what's going on outside, and he knows that this isn't where they're meant to be. They've done this before. The German's were their enemies, and they needed to be stopped.

He doesn't move though, despite his feelings being all too clear. He wants to tear each and every plane flying overhead apart again. He wants Charles to crush the pilots minds in to nothing. He wants them gone, in every possible way. But he isn't ready to leave their makeshift safe haven just yet.

Curling his own arm tightly around Charles, he forces his attention across to the other boy instead. "We've stopped this."

[xprofessor]

"Not here. Here it's always happening." 'Here' means a corner of his mind, Charles knows, in some buried portion of him. Right now, though, 'here' seems a portion of the world, like there's a pocket of time caught in 1941 that won't manage to leave.

[rancored]

"It doesn't have to." He settles himself back down, back against the wall and his hold refusing to loosen just yet. It'd be so easy to just stay here, tucked away from everything else that's going on in their lives. Here, they're still just two boys who don't know any better than to follow the missions ahead of them.

"The war's over, Charles. It's your turn to close your eyes."

[xprofessor]

Erik wasn't always the stronger one, was he? The realization startles Charles. How could he have forgotten? There was a time when Charles was the stronger. When Charles took care of Erik. When Erik was about to break and Charles pulled him back from the brink.

His fingers hook in Erik's shirt; he rests his head on Erik's shoulder.

"I love you," he whispers, and he closes his eyes.

[rancored]

The scene shifts, even as his other arm comes up to join his first in holding on to Charles. He's the one constant throughout all this. His new life is one born from meeting the other boy, and Erik isn't ready to lose that yet. Not when he already knows that, one day in the future, their friendship will be in tatters. Or that the simple act of really opening his eyes will put an end to it all.

They're in a familiar office now, empty, and locked with a little more than just the usual bolt. They aren't meant to be there, but Charles is the only one with the power to stop him these days, with words alone. Erik doesn't waste time in heading toward the overly plush couch, tugging Charles along with him. Outside the room are the sounds of people still celebrating, despite just how late it is. The war has been over for days; their fight is done with for the time being. But for the two of them, he knows they aren't finished yet. This is just a reprieve

[xprofessor]

"Are you sure?" The young Charles sounds as though he doubts it, as he slides onto the couch next to Erik. "I think that I'd be alone if I hadn't found you, and I know that I don't want that." His reality is fuzzy. He can't remember if he's supposed to be old or young. It seems like he should be young, so he's choosing that.