Forgive Us Our Transgressions 5/?
“Can I meet the others?” Erik asks when Charles brought him breakfast the next morning.
“What?”
“You said everyone else in the house was…different. Like us. Can I meet them?”
“Oh.” Charles hesitated.
“For instance, there was a doctor, wasn’t there? Someone taking care of me besides you. I remember someone being here.”
“Yes. There was someone else. My friend Hank. He isn’t a doctor, but he’s very intelligent and capable.”
He’s also blue, Charles thought. They hadn’t worried about keeping Hank out of sight until Charles realized that Erik truly didn’t remember anything about before. Not about meeting Hank for the first time, or his transformation, or the number of times he had come up against Beast wearing an X-Men uniform. Luckily Erik had been dazed and delusional, when he was even conscious. Charles had been half-sure the man wasn’t even aware that anyone but Charles had ever set foot in this room.
“I’d like to thank him,” Erik prompted eagerly.
Charles wasn’t so sure. Hank could be trusted to be polite, although probably gruff. He wouldn’t let Alex within shouting distance of Erik. And Sean was almost as bad-Charles could never predict what would come out of the young man’s mouth. And yet, Erik’s enthusiasm was catching.
“There are-” he began hesitantly. “This is-a school.”
“A school?” Erik echoed with a frown.
“For people like us,” Charles agreed. “Children with special abilities.”
“Oh. That’s…incredible.” Erik smiled, a bright, unreserved grin. “You are really a very good man, aren’t you, Charles?”
“Well…” Charles ducked his head. He would have agreed, once upon a time. Before he started withholding information from Erik, for one thing. “Would you like to meet some of the children?” he offered, rather than addressing the claim.
“I would love to.”
Charles was fairly certain it would be safe. The children knew Magneto, of course. How could they not? Right now, Magneto and his Brotherhood were the X-Men’s biggest threat, far beyond humanity. Not because Erik attacked them directly, of course not, but because Charles felt compelled to counter their every move, to stop every demonstration of power, every attempt to intimidate and dominate the humans. It was his responsibility, his fault that Erik and Raven had walked away.
But they didn’t know Erik, had no idea about the man behind the helmet. They wouldn’t recognize his face or his name.
Magneto’s history was strictly verboten in the mansion, and so none of the younger mutants were aware that he had once been Charles’ best friend.
And so much more.
And so he led Erik down through the winding hallways, to the one room he felt would be safe.
He called out a mental warning to announce their arrival.
“Professor,” Hank said gruffly, meeting him at the door.
“Hank,” Charles replied evenly.
“Hank?” Erik repeated, admirably taking only a moment to gape at the man’s huge, hairy, blue form. “You’re the one who looked after me!” he said happily, reaching out for Hank’s enormous paw and giving it an enthusiastic shake. “Thank you so much.”
And now it was Hank’s turn to gape, Charles noted smugly. “You’re-“ he faltered. “You’re welcome.”
“I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” Erik continued, finally releasing Hank’s big blue paw.
“Don’t mention it,” Hank grumbled. “Please,” he added under his breath. Charles hid a smile behind his hand.
“And I guess I don’t have to ask what your mutation is, do I?” Erik laughed.
“Ah, there’s more to Hank that meets the eye,” Charles replied. “He’s extremely strong and fast. Not to mention the more intelligent person I’ve ever met.”
“Professor,” Hank complained, ducking his head.
“Well, then it is an honor to meet you,” Erik said. “Although,” he paused. “I suppose I knew you…before?”
Hank’s eyes narrowed. “You did,” he confirmed gruffly.
“Ah, well. It will come back to me one day,” Erik said, shaking off his troubled look.
“I hope not,” Hank muttered. Charles shot him a sharp look.
Please, Hank, he projected. Don’t make him unduly suspicious.
Hank gave him a long look in return. I hope you know what you’re doing, Professor.
“Erik, let’s meet some of the children,” he said, laying his hand on the man’s arm to guide him inside, and trying to pretend he didn’t see the way Hank’s yellow eyes narrowed at the touch.
Inside the classroom the children were learning basic biology-a subject Hank was more than fit to teach. They were young enough that the subject had to be kept fairly general, and yet it had a strong emphasis on genes, mutation, and evolution.
“Hello, children.”
They turned, faces surprised. Surprised, but not frightened. It was unusual for a stranger to be on campus, and that was enough to draw stares. Charles did a quick, non-invasive sweep of their young minds, ensuring that none of them knew Erik for who he really was.
There were more thoughts about what was for lunch than the identity of the stranger in their midst. Charles suppressed a smile.
“Hi, Professor,” they chorused back uncertainly.
“This is my friend, Erik,” Charles smiled, guiding Erik forward. “He’s come to visit the school.”
“Hello,” Erik grinned. Charles couldn’t help but marvel at that grin. The same face, the same lips stretching over the same teeth, and yet it looked so different. There was no sharp edge to it, no hint of bared teeth.
But there was also none of the manic joy he had been privileged to witness, moments where Erik really let go and opened up.
His mind flashed back to that day on the terrace, the toothy grin of pure joy Erik had given him when the satellite dish had moved.
“I hear you all have extraordinary powers,” Erik said. The children gave him an uncertain look. “Why don’t I show you what I can do, and then you can tell me all about your powers?” he offered, just the right give-and-take to get the children to open up.
Charles gave him a wondering look. The old Erik hadn’t ever had the patience for teaching. His one technique was to push them and hope they didn’t die (quite literally in Sean’s case).
But here he was, being gentle and patient. Charles had always known that Erik had the capacity for kindness, for compassion, within him. It had merely been driven out by necessity, by the ever-present will to survive. Now, with those fears and dangers swept out of his mind, he was able to reveal what had always been lurking within him.
Not the core of rottenness he always claimed, but a good, kind man.
Charles felt his heart swell as he watched Erik levitate several of the small, metal objects in the room, making them perform a complicated dance in the air that had the children laughing with delight.
“I wish I could do something like that,” Lorna said with a pout. “My only mutation is this stupid green hair.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid,” Erik said, very seriously. “I think it’s exquisite. People can tell how special you are just from looking at you.”
Charles watched a blush blossom on Lorna’s face with interest. It was a sentiment he had heard from Erik’s mouth before-when the recipient of his compliments had been another young girl, frightened of her natural appearance and longing to be normal.
Raven had gone with Erik, and the frisson of sexual interest that had sparked through her in that moment cut Charles to the core. He had refused to find out whether Erik returned her feelings.
The idea of his lover replacing him with his sister was too much to bear.
Lorna, of course, was just a child, and yet Charles felt something akin to jealousy rising up within him as the girl blushed and smiled. Erik was proud to be a mutant-both the old Erik and the new shared that trait. He embraced everyone’s mutations, especially the physical ones. It hadn’t slipped past Charles’ notice that Erik tended to recruit the more…unusual looking mutants. First, Angel and Raven and Azazel, and then Sabretooth and Toad joined his ranks.
Charles wondered if having a physical mutation of his own-even one as simple as bright green hair-would have made Erik more hesitant to leave him.
As he frowned over those troubling thoughts-not for the first time-Erik had turned his smile on young Scott Summers, complimenting the boy on his dark glasses. Scott was less susceptible to Erik’s charms than Lorna, but he dutifully explained his mutation and the purpose of his ever-present glasses. Charles caught himself before he explained that Scott’s mutation was nearly the same as Alex’s, just directed through the eyes rather than the chest.
Erik didn’t know who Alex was, after all.
“What about the two of you? What amazing things can you do?” Erik turned to the two remaining children in the room, gently encouraging them to share their powers. Charles could see what he was doing; creating a safe space for them to show off. It was what the Academy was supposed to be, and yet he had always known that Erik’s Brotherhood was probably more adept at it than he ever would be. He was too concerned with safety and discretion to allow the children’s power full reign outside of the underground bunkers. Whereas Erik flashed them an open, welcoming smile, and told them it was fine to use their powers however they saw fit.
“Me first!” Ororo crowed, darting forward. “Let me show you!”
“No fair,” Bobby complained from behind her. “Mine’s just as cool.”
Ororo shot him a mischievous grin. “Together?” she asked.
Just like that it began to rain over their heads, a cloud gathering out of nothingness and shedding down moisture upon them. Charles threw up his arms, but before the drops could even hit their skin, Bobby shot out his hand, and they fell, hard little balls of hail, bouncing off everyone’s hair and clothes, skittering across the floor.
“Hey!” Lorna complained, brushing the tiny pellets out of her wild hair.
What are you doing in there? Hank grumbled from the hallway, indignant.
“Marvellous!” Erik clapped his hands, a wide smile on his face. “I had no idea such things were even possible.”
The children grinned back, and Charles shook his head. He could see-all too clearly-what life would have been like if Erik had stayed. The two of them, teaching and training together, shaping these young minds.
“And more, so much more,” he told the other man. “There seem to be a limitless number of possible mutations, giving people the most extraordinary powers.”
“Phenomenal. Thank you for showing them to me,” he said to the children.
“You’re welcome!” Ororo said boldly, while Lorna peered around her, a blush still colouring her cheeks as she gazed at Erik.
“Thank you, children. Now, back to lessons,” Charles commanded. He ushered Erik out of the room as the students groaned, allowing Hank to reclaim his class.
“They really are extraordinary,” Erik murmured as they headed for the stairs. “I can see why it’s so important for you to train them, however. A power like Scott’s, or even Ororo’s. They could be dangerous, if not controlled.”
“Indeed they could,” Charles agreed. “Imagine them in the wrong hands.” Hands like Erik’s. It was hard to remember that part of the purpose of the Academy was to protect these children from Erik himself, from being converted into weapons, just as Shaw had done to Erik.
“I shudder to think,” Erik said, and where it would once have inevitably been sarcasm, now he was entirely sincere.
“I’m glad you met them,” Charles said, just as sincerely. See, he wanted to scream. They are just children. Young, innocent children, who have no place in a war.
But for now he kept both the words and the thoughts to himself.
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Chapter Six
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