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

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[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.

[rancored]

"I love you too, Charles. And I don't want to hurt you, but that's all I ever do now." It's his turn to rest against Charles' side, his feet drawn up on to the couch as he makes himself as small as possible. It's quiet where they are, and as far as he's aware, they're safe. At least for the rest of the night. "Can we stay here? Just the two of us."

[xprofessor]

"It doesn't matter. If you ever hurt me, I forgive you. I always will." He slips fully into this fantasy, this childish fantasy. "All you have to do is forgive me back." His hand squeezes Erik's. "Will you? If I do something bad, will you promise?"

[rancored]

"You aren't capable of doing anything bad." The fighting, the killing; none of it means anything to him. That's just a way of life for the two of them now. But he knows that isn't quite what Charles is talking about. On the other side of that door is a future he isn't ready to see, despite having lived through it once. One day, they won't be standing alongside each other as friends, despite all they say here. "I can't stay angry at you, even when I think I should."

[xprofessor]

"Good." Charles is reassured, now. It seems to him that some disaster has likely been averted by having this conversation, as children.

[rancored]

"I don't want you to leave me, Charles." His fingers tighten around the others' hand, gaze fixing on the seat of the couch. It would have been so easy to leave things where they were; with the conversation left in more comfortable areas. But this is a point he needs to get across, no matter how many times it has to be said.

[xprofessor]

"We don't have to talk about that." Charles doesn't want to talk about that. Leaving Erik means ripping a hole in his heart, a raw and aching wound.

[rancored]

"Then just stay with me. We belong with each other." He slides back long enough to press a friendly kiss to Charles' cheek, his expression sad as he settles back to rest against the couch instead. Despite that added distance, he hasn't let go of Charles' hand just yet. "You're the only one I have left, and even you are going to leave me."

[xprofessor]

His mouth is tight, his hand too tight on Erik's. "I won't want to," he whispers. "Erik, it's because I have to. It's not because I want to."

[rancored]

"I don't understand why. We were meant to stay together, no matter what." His own hand slackens in response to that grip. It'd be so much easier if Charles had really chosen to leave. He could've simply chosen to hate the other boy- man -for making that decision. But he knows there's more to it than that, even now. Erik is just as responsible for them falling apart as Charles is.

"You should have left me there." At the post on the beach. Or maybe even in Düsseldorf. He wouldn't have ever known what it is he'd be missing that way.