[fic] Trees.
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairing: Charles/Erik
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Child abuse, character death, implications of incest.
Length: ~2100
Summary: Fill for this prompt on firstkink. A loose Cherik adaptation of The Juniper Tree by The Brother's Grimm.
----
Once upon a time in the mysterious land of southern Missouri there was a man and a wife. The man and the wife lived in a cabin by a lake, and their home was very beautiful, and they were very miserable.
The wife wanted a child, a boy, that was as fierce as a lion and as nimble as a cat. The man wanted no child, and wanted no responsibility. The man insisted that a child would complicate their lives, and the man insisted that a child would make them old. The man insisted that if they had a child, even the perfect child, he would leave the wife for someone, anyone else.
But the wife’s wants were great, and soon she did bear child, a boy, and she could tell by his red hair that he would be as fierce as a lion, and she could tell by his abnormally thin frame that he would be as nimble as a cat.
The wife was happy, and so she named her child Erik.
The husband, however, was not happy, and so on the eve of the son’s first words, in the frost and snow and cheer of December, the husband moved the last of his things from that beautiful cabin by that beautiful lake.
---
Erik was a year old when his mother happily remarried to a man that referred to himself as Sebastian.
Nine months later, his mother gave birth to another child, Sebastian’s child, and she could tell by his brown hair that he was not as fierce as a lion, and she could tell by his small, normal frame that he would not be as nimble as a cat, but he was hers, and so he was beautiful, and so she dubbed him Charles.
---
As the boys grew, they learned together and played together, Erik the explorer, the adventurer, and Charles the observer, the bookworm. What one did not grasp, the other would teach, and soon they became closer to each other than they ever were to their parents. Erik grew tall and thin. Charles grew short and healthy. And on many occasions the boys would admire each other’s frame and list off the ways in which it was helpful. Erik could always reach what they weren’t supposed to have, and Charles could always crawl into spaces where Erik would bump his head.
They had their spot in the yard, their maple tree, and they visited it every day. As they taught each other baseball, how to climb, how to run, their tree was always their base, and their tree protected them from the elements - from the rain when it was wet, from the sun when it was hot, from the snow when it was cold. In the summer it would grow lush with leaves, and they would lie under it and laugh. In the fall the leaves would grow bright red, and they would pile them up and play in them. In the winter the tree was bare, but still they flocked to it and used it as a base to build every fort and every snowman. They loved their tree almost as much as they loved each other, and it became a staple of their relationship as brothers.
Their mother was ecstatic that Erik and Charles were getting along, and said that it meant that it solidified her relationship with Sebastian.
Sebastian hated that Erik and Charles were getting along and blamed Erik for taking his son, his prodigy, away from him. Sebastian blamed Erik that his son was short. Sebastian blamed Erik that his son was nerdy. If there was a flaw in Charles, Sebastian blamed Erik, and day by day he grew to resent his step-son more and more.
---
Erik was seven when Sebastian ruined his hand with the car door and Charles sobbingly tried to mend it with his shirt. The shirt was forever tainted a dark, dark red, and Erik never regained the proper use of his hand.
---
Erik was eight when Sebastian cracked a wine bottle over his head and Charles tried to keep him awake by reading to him. They had not been able to make it up the stairs to their room, and so Charles had dragged him outside, propping Erik up against their green, green maple tree as he read him stories of knights and princesses and Einstein’s thought-experiments. Erik had slumped against Charles’s shoulder, but he’d stayed awake until their mother had driven him to the hospital. Charles thought it was a miracle.
---
It wasn’t long until Erik started to avoid Sebastian entirely. It wasn’t long until Erik knew that a visit from Sebastian meant a new cut, a new bruise, a new visit to the hospital. It wasn’t long until Erik started to fear walking home from school, started to fear entering his house, started to fear going anywhere where he was by himself.
It wasn’t long until Erik cried more often than not, and it wasn’t long until even in his sleep he was tense and terrified and pleading, pleading for his life and his limbs, and pleading for someone to help him as he tossed and turned and kicked in his sheets.
It wasn’t long until the only way Erik could get a good night’s sleep was when Charles was curled behind him, holding him, protecting him, and promising him that where Erik was, Sebastian could not find him. On days when even that didn’t work, on days when Erik would still toss and turn no matter how much Charles begged, Charles would hold Erik’s scarred and ruined hand between his palms, and he would kiss it like their mother had done to ease the pain of their cuts and bruises. Charles wasn’t sure why it helped ease the pain of Erik’s nightmares, but he never complained, just held his hand between his palms and kissed it until Erik feel back into a deep and soundless sleep.
Charles slowly fell into the habit of staying in bed with Erik until he woke, and when Erik woke, Charles slowly fell into the habit of guarding Erik while he was in the house. Sebastian would not hurt Erik in front of Charles, they both agreed, and so slowly, slowly, Erik gradually became more comfortable around Charles, and when Erik became more comfortable, Erik never let Charles out of his sight.
Charles enjoyed the extra attention and thrived on the feeling of importance that Erik was giving him. They had always been close, but this felt different. Charles felt special. And he could tell by the way Erik clung to him that Erik felt the same way.
But Charles could not always be there, and when Charles was not with him, Erik still suffered. When Charles was not there, Erik still suffered cut and bruises and broken bones. When Charles was not there, Erik still suffered trips to the hospital. And on one perfect summer day, Erik suffered more.
Erik was eleven when Sebastian broke his ribs with the blunt side of a shovel.
Erik was eleven when he crawled from the muddy outside to the second story of his house, into his and Charles’s room and into his and Charles’s bed. Erik was eleven when he curled up as tight as he could, wet and muddy and crying, and wrapped his arms around his legs so tightly that it hurt.
An hour later, Charles found him, and after closing the door behind him he quietly crawled onto the bed and over to his older brother. He put a hand on Erik’s shoulder. Erik sobbed. Charles squeezed Erik’s arm, and Erik moved closer.
---
When Sebastian found them, Erik had fallen asleep with his head in Charles’s lap, and when Sebastian found them, Charles was planting a kiss on Erik’s forehead.
Sebastian was furious. Charles was terrified.
With a few swift steps, Sebastian had crossed the length of the room, and before Charles could move to stop him, Sebastian had grabbed Erik by the collar of his shirt, shaken him awake, and forced him over on his back. Charles shouted in protest. He hit Sebastian’s arms. He cried. But Sebastian knocked him away and pinned the squirming and Erik down by his shoulder. When his hand was unoccupied, Sebastian snatched at the pillow that was on their bed and held it over his step-son’s face.
Erik cried out, but his screams were muffled.
Charles tried to tackle Sebastian, but Sebastian ignored him.
Erik died with his hands wrapped around his step-father’s wrist. The last thing he heard was Charles’s screaming.
---
When Erik stopped squirming, Sebastian removed the pillow. When Charles finally stopped clinging to him, Sebastian picked up Erik’s body and brought it outside. When Sebastian made it outside, Sebastian dropped Erik into the mud, and when Erik’s head gave an unexpected crack as it collided with a hidden rock, Sebastian smiled with sadistic glee. Because Erik deserved this. Erik deserved all of this: for stealing his son’s genetics, for stealing his son’s attention, for stealing his son’s sexuality. Erik deserved to be robbed of his future because he had already robbed Charles of his.
From the window of his second-story bedroom, Charles heard an axe cutting into flesh and mud, and from the window of his second-story bedroom, Charles cried into his brother’s pillow until his tears ran dry.
---
When Charles went downstairs, his father was cooking steak. Charles wanted to vomit.
He ran outside, into the mud and into the rain. Erik’s bones were still in the mud. Erik’s feet and hands and head were still in the mud. Charles felt a sob forming in his throat, but as he heard the thunder crack and watched their lake’s water swell with rage, Charles found a shovel and dragged Erik’s remains to a tree, their tree, and Charles started to dig.
The ground was soaked through. For every shovel full of earth Charles removed, half of it always seemed to wander back, and the mud flowed like sewage into Erik’s makeshift grave as Charles continued to dig in the rain and in the thunder.
By the time Charles was done, he could smell murder from the kitchen. It was dark. He was cold. He was soaked through to the bone, with sweat and with rain. By the time Charles was done, he was panting and exhausted. But by the time Charles was done, he knew Erik was safe.
Before he went in, Charles plunged the shovel into the ground, under their tree, and prayed. He prayed that Erik would be happy, and he prayed for strength. He prayed for his mother, and he prayed for lightning. He prayed for lightning to strike his father.
---
Charles’s mother came home and smelled something delicious. Charles’s mother walked into the kitchen and saw dinner. Charles’s mother doted on Sebastian for being such a good husband and a good father to their children.
Charles said nothing.
They sat down to eat, and Sebastian gave them all a plate. Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to generous portions of the meat in front of them.
Charles ate nothing.
Charles’s mother asked about Erik, and Sebastian said that he had gone to stay at a friend’s house over the weekend; he would be back on Monday. Charles’s mother was upset, but nodded her understanding. She couldn’t complain. Sebastian’s food was delicious.
Charles balled his hands into fists.
---
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to second portions, lightning struck outside their house. The mother immediately ran outside to see what was wrong, but found only a small patch of singed grass on their back lawn. She returned and sat down in her chair.
“Nothing serious,” she said, and continued to devour her dinner.
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to third portions, lightning struck outside their house. This time Charles bolted up and ran outside, but found only a small patch of singed grass on their back lawn. He returned and sat down in his chair.
“Nothing serious,” he said, and continued to sit there in silence.
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to the rest of their dinner, a peal of thunder ripped through the sky. This time, Sebastian got up and walked outside. He saw nothing, and so he walked further, into the mud and the rain. He saw his shovel under the tree, that evil tree, and so he went to retrieve it.
As Sebastian put his hand on the handle of the shovel, lightning struck, and Sebastian was enveloped in flames that no rain could quell. Charles and his mother jumped from their seats and ran outside in just enough time to see Sebastian crumple in front of them, charred and dead.
Beyond the flames there was a figure, a boy, and as soon as the flames died Charles ran to embrace him. Erik wrapped his arms around Charles with the strength of a lion and ran both of his nimble hands through Charles’s sopping wet hair.
Pairing: Charles/Erik
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Child abuse, character death, implications of incest.
Length: ~2100
Summary: Fill for this prompt on firstkink. A loose Cherik adaptation of The Juniper Tree by The Brother's Grimm.
----
Once upon a time in the mysterious land of southern Missouri there was a man and a wife. The man and the wife lived in a cabin by a lake, and their home was very beautiful, and they were very miserable.
The wife wanted a child, a boy, that was as fierce as a lion and as nimble as a cat. The man wanted no child, and wanted no responsibility. The man insisted that a child would complicate their lives, and the man insisted that a child would make them old. The man insisted that if they had a child, even the perfect child, he would leave the wife for someone, anyone else.
But the wife’s wants were great, and soon she did bear child, a boy, and she could tell by his red hair that he would be as fierce as a lion, and she could tell by his abnormally thin frame that he would be as nimble as a cat.
The wife was happy, and so she named her child Erik.
The husband, however, was not happy, and so on the eve of the son’s first words, in the frost and snow and cheer of December, the husband moved the last of his things from that beautiful cabin by that beautiful lake.
---
Erik was a year old when his mother happily remarried to a man that referred to himself as Sebastian.
Nine months later, his mother gave birth to another child, Sebastian’s child, and she could tell by his brown hair that he was not as fierce as a lion, and she could tell by his small, normal frame that he would not be as nimble as a cat, but he was hers, and so he was beautiful, and so she dubbed him Charles.
---
As the boys grew, they learned together and played together, Erik the explorer, the adventurer, and Charles the observer, the bookworm. What one did not grasp, the other would teach, and soon they became closer to each other than they ever were to their parents. Erik grew tall and thin. Charles grew short and healthy. And on many occasions the boys would admire each other’s frame and list off the ways in which it was helpful. Erik could always reach what they weren’t supposed to have, and Charles could always crawl into spaces where Erik would bump his head.
They had their spot in the yard, their maple tree, and they visited it every day. As they taught each other baseball, how to climb, how to run, their tree was always their base, and their tree protected them from the elements - from the rain when it was wet, from the sun when it was hot, from the snow when it was cold. In the summer it would grow lush with leaves, and they would lie under it and laugh. In the fall the leaves would grow bright red, and they would pile them up and play in them. In the winter the tree was bare, but still they flocked to it and used it as a base to build every fort and every snowman. They loved their tree almost as much as they loved each other, and it became a staple of their relationship as brothers.
Their mother was ecstatic that Erik and Charles were getting along, and said that it meant that it solidified her relationship with Sebastian.
Sebastian hated that Erik and Charles were getting along and blamed Erik for taking his son, his prodigy, away from him. Sebastian blamed Erik that his son was short. Sebastian blamed Erik that his son was nerdy. If there was a flaw in Charles, Sebastian blamed Erik, and day by day he grew to resent his step-son more and more.
---
Erik was seven when Sebastian ruined his hand with the car door and Charles sobbingly tried to mend it with his shirt. The shirt was forever tainted a dark, dark red, and Erik never regained the proper use of his hand.
---
Erik was eight when Sebastian cracked a wine bottle over his head and Charles tried to keep him awake by reading to him. They had not been able to make it up the stairs to their room, and so Charles had dragged him outside, propping Erik up against their green, green maple tree as he read him stories of knights and princesses and Einstein’s thought-experiments. Erik had slumped against Charles’s shoulder, but he’d stayed awake until their mother had driven him to the hospital. Charles thought it was a miracle.
---
It wasn’t long until Erik started to avoid Sebastian entirely. It wasn’t long until Erik knew that a visit from Sebastian meant a new cut, a new bruise, a new visit to the hospital. It wasn’t long until Erik started to fear walking home from school, started to fear entering his house, started to fear going anywhere where he was by himself.
It wasn’t long until Erik cried more often than not, and it wasn’t long until even in his sleep he was tense and terrified and pleading, pleading for his life and his limbs, and pleading for someone to help him as he tossed and turned and kicked in his sheets.
It wasn’t long until the only way Erik could get a good night’s sleep was when Charles was curled behind him, holding him, protecting him, and promising him that where Erik was, Sebastian could not find him. On days when even that didn’t work, on days when Erik would still toss and turn no matter how much Charles begged, Charles would hold Erik’s scarred and ruined hand between his palms, and he would kiss it like their mother had done to ease the pain of their cuts and bruises. Charles wasn’t sure why it helped ease the pain of Erik’s nightmares, but he never complained, just held his hand between his palms and kissed it until Erik feel back into a deep and soundless sleep.
Charles slowly fell into the habit of staying in bed with Erik until he woke, and when Erik woke, Charles slowly fell into the habit of guarding Erik while he was in the house. Sebastian would not hurt Erik in front of Charles, they both agreed, and so slowly, slowly, Erik gradually became more comfortable around Charles, and when Erik became more comfortable, Erik never let Charles out of his sight.
Charles enjoyed the extra attention and thrived on the feeling of importance that Erik was giving him. They had always been close, but this felt different. Charles felt special. And he could tell by the way Erik clung to him that Erik felt the same way.
But Charles could not always be there, and when Charles was not with him, Erik still suffered. When Charles was not there, Erik still suffered cut and bruises and broken bones. When Charles was not there, Erik still suffered trips to the hospital. And on one perfect summer day, Erik suffered more.
Erik was eleven when Sebastian broke his ribs with the blunt side of a shovel.
Erik was eleven when he crawled from the muddy outside to the second story of his house, into his and Charles’s room and into his and Charles’s bed. Erik was eleven when he curled up as tight as he could, wet and muddy and crying, and wrapped his arms around his legs so tightly that it hurt.
An hour later, Charles found him, and after closing the door behind him he quietly crawled onto the bed and over to his older brother. He put a hand on Erik’s shoulder. Erik sobbed. Charles squeezed Erik’s arm, and Erik moved closer.
---
When Sebastian found them, Erik had fallen asleep with his head in Charles’s lap, and when Sebastian found them, Charles was planting a kiss on Erik’s forehead.
Sebastian was furious. Charles was terrified.
With a few swift steps, Sebastian had crossed the length of the room, and before Charles could move to stop him, Sebastian had grabbed Erik by the collar of his shirt, shaken him awake, and forced him over on his back. Charles shouted in protest. He hit Sebastian’s arms. He cried. But Sebastian knocked him away and pinned the squirming and Erik down by his shoulder. When his hand was unoccupied, Sebastian snatched at the pillow that was on their bed and held it over his step-son’s face.
Erik cried out, but his screams were muffled.
Charles tried to tackle Sebastian, but Sebastian ignored him.
Erik died with his hands wrapped around his step-father’s wrist. The last thing he heard was Charles’s screaming.
---
When Erik stopped squirming, Sebastian removed the pillow. When Charles finally stopped clinging to him, Sebastian picked up Erik’s body and brought it outside. When Sebastian made it outside, Sebastian dropped Erik into the mud, and when Erik’s head gave an unexpected crack as it collided with a hidden rock, Sebastian smiled with sadistic glee. Because Erik deserved this. Erik deserved all of this: for stealing his son’s genetics, for stealing his son’s attention, for stealing his son’s sexuality. Erik deserved to be robbed of his future because he had already robbed Charles of his.
From the window of his second-story bedroom, Charles heard an axe cutting into flesh and mud, and from the window of his second-story bedroom, Charles cried into his brother’s pillow until his tears ran dry.
---
When Charles went downstairs, his father was cooking steak. Charles wanted to vomit.
He ran outside, into the mud and into the rain. Erik’s bones were still in the mud. Erik’s feet and hands and head were still in the mud. Charles felt a sob forming in his throat, but as he heard the thunder crack and watched their lake’s water swell with rage, Charles found a shovel and dragged Erik’s remains to a tree, their tree, and Charles started to dig.
The ground was soaked through. For every shovel full of earth Charles removed, half of it always seemed to wander back, and the mud flowed like sewage into Erik’s makeshift grave as Charles continued to dig in the rain and in the thunder.
By the time Charles was done, he could smell murder from the kitchen. It was dark. He was cold. He was soaked through to the bone, with sweat and with rain. By the time Charles was done, he was panting and exhausted. But by the time Charles was done, he knew Erik was safe.
Before he went in, Charles plunged the shovel into the ground, under their tree, and prayed. He prayed that Erik would be happy, and he prayed for strength. He prayed for his mother, and he prayed for lightning. He prayed for lightning to strike his father.
---
Charles’s mother came home and smelled something delicious. Charles’s mother walked into the kitchen and saw dinner. Charles’s mother doted on Sebastian for being such a good husband and a good father to their children.
Charles said nothing.
They sat down to eat, and Sebastian gave them all a plate. Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to generous portions of the meat in front of them.
Charles ate nothing.
Charles’s mother asked about Erik, and Sebastian said that he had gone to stay at a friend’s house over the weekend; he would be back on Monday. Charles’s mother was upset, but nodded her understanding. She couldn’t complain. Sebastian’s food was delicious.
Charles balled his hands into fists.
---
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to second portions, lightning struck outside their house. The mother immediately ran outside to see what was wrong, but found only a small patch of singed grass on their back lawn. She returned and sat down in her chair.
“Nothing serious,” she said, and continued to devour her dinner.
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to third portions, lightning struck outside their house. This time Charles bolted up and ran outside, but found only a small patch of singed grass on their back lawn. He returned and sat down in his chair.
“Nothing serious,” he said, and continued to sit there in silence.
As Sebastian and his wife helped themselves to the rest of their dinner, a peal of thunder ripped through the sky. This time, Sebastian got up and walked outside. He saw nothing, and so he walked further, into the mud and the rain. He saw his shovel under the tree, that evil tree, and so he went to retrieve it.
As Sebastian put his hand on the handle of the shovel, lightning struck, and Sebastian was enveloped in flames that no rain could quell. Charles and his mother jumped from their seats and ran outside in just enough time to see Sebastian crumple in front of them, charred and dead.
Beyond the flames there was a figure, a boy, and as soon as the flames died Charles ran to embrace him. Erik wrapped his arms around Charles with the strength of a lion and ran both of his nimble hands through Charles’s sopping wet hair.