CATACLYSM || X-Men

18| wuthering heights

Xavier private jet, Westchester private airfield, 1973

"Peter, thank you very much," Charles offered his hand, Peter shaking it with a small smile.

    "You take care," Erik added, doing the same before he and Logan made their way up the steps with Charles, and once Hank shook his head, they left Rose behind with the boy.

    "Does he know?" he asked her.

    "I don't think so," she shook her head, reaching into her jacket's inside pocket, offering him a card. "If you need anything and your mother doesn't want to contact me," she offered, Peter immediately taking it.

    "This is the card Charles had," he looked up at her with furrowed brows.

    "The number works," she smiled. "Look, your abilities are partly my fault, so that makes you family to me. You need anything, you've got it. Take care of yourself, Pete," she offered her hand, Peter reaching out to shake it.

    "Hey, I saw your flight plan in the cockpit. Why are you going to Paris?" he asked before she could go up the stairs. She turned around, smile widening before she let out a quick chuckle.

    "Stay out of trouble, Maximoff," she grinned. Pulling out the keys to the car, she threw it at him, watching his hand zip up to catch. "Return it for us, will you? And take it slow," she said, his arm giving a wave before she closed the plane's door, and watched through the window as he got in the car, and drove off.

    The tension in the cabin kept building, Rose mostly ignoring it as she sat across from Logan, reading Huxley's Brave New World. Logan wanted to ask, but found it better to stay quiet as she tried to disconnect from her two friends who sat mere feet apart. Although it was starting to really annoy him, since he knew their future.

    And then Erik opened his big mouth.

    "How did you lose them?"

    Rose winced at his voice, keeping her eyes on the printed lines, but she was listening now. She couldn't ignore it. She knew Charles was watching Erik, she could hear him breathing in attempts to calm himself down since take off, and she could see Erik avoiding all of their eyes since then too.

    "The treatment for my spine affects my DNA," Charles replied, eyes still trained on Erik. Rage was coursing through his veins, but he didn't want to create a problem. Well, he did, just not one that may potentially endanger them all.

    He kept some of his sanity after all.

    "You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?!" Erik asked, unable to comprehend what kind of person would do that.

    "I sacrificed my powers so I could sleep!" Charles snapped back, but Rose closing her book with a loud noise made him check his town. Clenching his jaw, he looked away from Erik, eyes watching the clouds they were soaring above. "What do you know about it?"

    "I've lost my fair share," Erik assured him, Rose turning her head to watch the moment unfold, in case she needed to step in.

    "Huh," Charles scoffed, "Dry your eyes, Erik," he glanced at Rose. "It doesn't justify what you've done."

    "You have no idea what I've done," he shook his head.

    "I know that you took the things that mean the most to me," the professor seethed with teary eyes, red replacing the white as Rose turned in her seat, both feet on the floor, just in case.

    "Maybe you should have fought harder for them," Erik replied, even Rose feeling the dagger that it must have felt like to Charles, right in her gut.