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pallorsomniumTitle: In which Charles actually has a twin brother, who now wants to kick Erik's ass (5/?)
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
Chapter 5 - Wesley
“Wesley!” he heard Raven shout after him. He ignored her, leaving the apartment and heading for the stairwell.
When he had first arrived at the apartment, following the directions from the Broker, he had made sure he wouldn’t be bothered by Shaw’s former underlings. The deserter Angel, he’d simply checked to make sure she was asleep, and then propped a chair under the door knob, keeping the door from opening. As for Azazel and the Spaniard, Wesley had been slightly startled to find the two in bed together, but knocked them both out with swift hits on the head before they could fight back.
But after all the racket he’d made with Lehnsherr, he wasn’t sure how long they’d be out, and he’d rather not be around to find out. If Raven wanted to talk to him, then she’d have to catch up with him outside.
Entering the stairwell, he bounded down the stairs several steps at a time.
“Wesley, get back here!” he heard Raven call after him still, heard her footsteps on the stairs above. He continued down to ground level.
Exiting the stairwell onto the sidewalk, Wesley planted himself under a streetlamp, leaning back against the pole to wait for Raven. Standing outside in the open set his teeth on edge, but he was fairly sure he wouldn’t get into any sort of trouble in the next ten minutes at least. His talk with Raven would have to be shorter than he wanted it, but Charles was upset at him enough as it was.
Soon, the door to the apartment stairwell slammed open, and Raven came charging out the moment she spotted him.
“What the fuck, Wesley?” She practically stomped up to him, blue…and still fucking naked.
If Lehnsherr had any role in getting Raven to walk around as naked as the day she was born, then Wesley would have to go back and knock the man around some more, but he also remembered the very first time he and Charles had seen her, blue and naked before they’d found some clothes for her to wear.
“How did you even find us?”
“You know I have my ways,” Wesley replied, scowling.
Raven glared at him, and Wesley simply glared back, waiting. Gradually, her anger and irritation slipped again, leaving behind uncertainty.
“Is Charles…?”
“Like I said, his legs are paralyzed,” he said.
“But can’t you…can’t you do something?”
Wesley had forgotten the last time she’d looked at him like that, trying so hard not to look a little lost and a little frightened. It just made him more irritated at the moment.
“I’m trying. I don’t know if he’ll get better,” he hissed. Because the whole point of him being here was to be vicious, he then said, “And what do you care? I still can’t fucking believe you left him on Cuba without a second thought. You chose that asshole—” he gestured back at the apartment complex, “—over family.”
“He broke his promise, and he told me to go!”
"Please, from just his memories, even I could tell you wanted to leave. He didn't need to read your mind. He told you to go because you obviously wanted to, and because he didn't want to guilt you into staying. Charles was paralyzed, Raven. Think. Has he ever asked you for help? He rarely even asks me for help."
“It’d not like he needs to ask you for help. You’re his twin,” she said.
“Yeah? And you’re our sister. He shouldn’t have to ask you either. Family is there for one another, no matter what, and you weren’t there. You heard what I said to Lehnsherr; the same goes for you. You left him. You left him defenseless against two fucking superpowers. For all you know, he could have died on that beach. If it wasn’t for MacTaggert and McCoy, he might have.”
Raven was pale under the street light, yellow eyes wide. Her body flickered for a moment, flashing almost imperceptively to the blond form he was used to seeing and then back. It was something Wesley had seen before, a defensive mechanism, though before now, it would have been Raven losing control of her blond form and reverting to blue.
“I just—I had to leave. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I just wanted to be me,” Raven said.
Wesley looked at her silently for a moment before sighing. He pushed aside all of his residual anger.
“Look, I can’t apologize for him, but I can at least explain what was going on in his head. I knew you made Charles promise not to read you, but I figured you two would work things out.” He shifted his position against the streetlamp, crossing his arms and settling in a bit more comfortably. “You'd think that after all these years with the two of us, you'd learn that Charles needs his telepathy.”
Raven frowned, looking about to open her mouth and comment, but Wesley continued on.
“I get that he has really sketchy lines on what he will and won’t do with his powers, which is frustrating, but he doesn’t actively read minds unless he feels he needs to—for serious matters, at the very least. He gets the surface thoughts and what people think really loudly about because he can’t exactly shut off his powers. He messes up sometimes, but he tries not to read someone deeply unless it’s serious or he has permission, especially you and everyone he considers a friend.
You told him not to read your mind at all. Since you’re our sister, he already had a bond connecting your mind with his, and he had to cut that link—which got him sick as fuck for days, just so you know—and then put a wall around you strong enough to keep everything from you out. And he doesn’t realize it sometimes, but I’ve noticed that if he can’t feel your mind, he doesn’t think of you as a real person. It’s fucked up, but it is what it is. I've been in his head. He gets better readings off of animals, for fuck’s sake. It's like you're this blank wall—or one of those sci-fi robots. He relies on what he knows about you from before, but he doesn’t know how to deal with you right now, especially when you two can’t seem to even talk on the same level.”
Raven’s brow furrowed, as if unsure what to say in reply.
“I just wanted my privacy,” she finally said. “And he doesn’t understand. I don’t want to hide anymore.”
Wesley huffed. “Have you ever heard of talking? I haven’t really been a good example, but sometimes with Charles, you have to tell him these things, because knowing doesn’t always means understanding. And I don’t count the time you ambushed him in the kitchen before Cuba, because no, it doesn’t work like that. Honestly, have you met Charles? Did you think for one moment that the reason he didn't like you running around blue was because you ran around fucking naked?”
He gave her a pointed once over—a very quick one because yeah, he appreciated a woman’s body as much as the next guy, but she was his sister and just, no.
“You're beautiful, Raven, even if Charles and I didn't seem to tell you that enough recently, and I’m sorry about that, but even I don't like seeing you run around without any clothes on. If you want to be blue, that’s fine with me. Charles is fine with it too, just with actual clothes. He wanted you to hide in public because he was afraid you’d get hurt, and then he let that fear get ahead of him.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m not a little girl anymore,” Raven replied, trying to sound snappish, but he had enough practice to read the narrowing of her eyes and contradictory release of tension in her crossed arms and figure that she was preoccupied, re-evaluating her actions and reorganizing her thoughts.
Regardless, he said, “So it was about time that you wanted to leave the nest and strike out on your own. I’m not too surprised; it’s been eighteen years after all. But your best idea was to run off with Lehnsherr instead? He’s fucking messed up in the head right now.”
“At least he accepted me!”
Wesley briefly wondered how everything went wrong, wondered if it had started when he got pulled into the Fraternity, or after Charles came back from service. Maybe he should have been around more. They should have spent more time together, all three of them, like they used to do as kids.
As if he’d beckoned for him, Wesley felt Charles creep into the back of his mind.
Wesley? Is everything all right?
Jesus, Charles, what a family we make, he sent to his brother, giving him implicit permission to read from him the last several minutes of conversation.
He then said to Raven, “You’re our sister. Charles and I will always accept you, no matter what kind of shit happens. That’s what family does. Stay with Lehnsherr if you want. You’ve already heard what problems I have with what he’s going to do, but if it’s what you want, then I won’t stop you. Just don’t let others tell you who to be, what you should do. Got it?”
Raven’s lips pressed tightly together, but she nodded.
“Good,” Wesley said with a nod of his own.
Oh Wesley. Charles’ mind wrapped around Wesley’s thoughts, a little sad but warm as always. Will you please tell her I’m sorry?
Yeah, I will.
Please come back soon?
I’m heading for the airport after this.
All right. I suppose I’ll nap a little more until you get here.
With that, Wesley felt Charles ease out of his mind. He blinked, waiting for his mind to stretch and fill the spaces Charles had left behind.
He then said, “Charles just now also wanted to say he’s sorry. I need to get going. If you’re going to visit the house, then as soon as you’re there, you and Charles need to have a real, one-on-one conversation. I’ll even lock you two up in a room together if I have to.” He pushed off the lamppost, standing up properly. “Once I get Charles back to Westchester, I’ll be beefing up security, so just call ahead. I’ve got a plane to catch.”
He left Raven under the street light and wound his way through the parking lot, heading for the rental car he’d picked up to get to the apartment. He’d stop back at his father’s old apartment, change into better clothes and maybe collect a few things, before heading back to the airport—and to Charles.
Chapter 6 - Erik
Pairing: Charles/Erik (eventually)
Rating: PG-13
Chapter word count: 1799
Warnings: explicit language
Summary: Wesley didn’t want much out of life, but what he wanted the most was for Charles and Raven to be safe and happy. So he was rightfully displeased when he heard the message left on his emergency line, and by someone distinctly not Charles or Raven.
(XMFC/Wanted crossover)
Notes: Still unbeta'd.
For some reason I found myself working on chapter 7 instead of chapter 5 like I was supposed to, and now the story is getting a lot more complicated than I first planned...
For some reason I found myself working on chapter 7 instead of chapter 5 like I was supposed to, and now the story is getting a lot more complicated than I first planned...
There's a lot of talking in this chapter, and not much else, sorry. :/
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
Chapter 5 - Wesley
“Wesley!” he heard Raven shout after him. He ignored her, leaving the apartment and heading for the stairwell.
When he had first arrived at the apartment, following the directions from the Broker, he had made sure he wouldn’t be bothered by Shaw’s former underlings. The deserter Angel, he’d simply checked to make sure she was asleep, and then propped a chair under the door knob, keeping the door from opening. As for Azazel and the Spaniard, Wesley had been slightly startled to find the two in bed together, but knocked them both out with swift hits on the head before they could fight back.
But after all the racket he’d made with Lehnsherr, he wasn’t sure how long they’d be out, and he’d rather not be around to find out. If Raven wanted to talk to him, then she’d have to catch up with him outside.
Entering the stairwell, he bounded down the stairs several steps at a time.
“Wesley, get back here!” he heard Raven call after him still, heard her footsteps on the stairs above. He continued down to ground level.
Exiting the stairwell onto the sidewalk, Wesley planted himself under a streetlamp, leaning back against the pole to wait for Raven. Standing outside in the open set his teeth on edge, but he was fairly sure he wouldn’t get into any sort of trouble in the next ten minutes at least. His talk with Raven would have to be shorter than he wanted it, but Charles was upset at him enough as it was.
Soon, the door to the apartment stairwell slammed open, and Raven came charging out the moment she spotted him.
“What the fuck, Wesley?” She practically stomped up to him, blue…and still fucking naked.
If Lehnsherr had any role in getting Raven to walk around as naked as the day she was born, then Wesley would have to go back and knock the man around some more, but he also remembered the very first time he and Charles had seen her, blue and naked before they’d found some clothes for her to wear.
“How did you even find us?”
“You know I have my ways,” Wesley replied, scowling.
Raven glared at him, and Wesley simply glared back, waiting. Gradually, her anger and irritation slipped again, leaving behind uncertainty.
“Is Charles…?”
“Like I said, his legs are paralyzed,” he said.
“But can’t you…can’t you do something?”
Wesley had forgotten the last time she’d looked at him like that, trying so hard not to look a little lost and a little frightened. It just made him more irritated at the moment.
“I’m trying. I don’t know if he’ll get better,” he hissed. Because the whole point of him being here was to be vicious, he then said, “And what do you care? I still can’t fucking believe you left him on Cuba without a second thought. You chose that asshole—” he gestured back at the apartment complex, “—over family.”
“He broke his promise, and he told me to go!”
"Please, from just his memories, even I could tell you wanted to leave. He didn't need to read your mind. He told you to go because you obviously wanted to, and because he didn't want to guilt you into staying. Charles was paralyzed, Raven. Think. Has he ever asked you for help? He rarely even asks me for help."
“It’d not like he needs to ask you for help. You’re his twin,” she said.
“Yeah? And you’re our sister. He shouldn’t have to ask you either. Family is there for one another, no matter what, and you weren’t there. You heard what I said to Lehnsherr; the same goes for you. You left him. You left him defenseless against two fucking superpowers. For all you know, he could have died on that beach. If it wasn’t for MacTaggert and McCoy, he might have.”
Raven was pale under the street light, yellow eyes wide. Her body flickered for a moment, flashing almost imperceptively to the blond form he was used to seeing and then back. It was something Wesley had seen before, a defensive mechanism, though before now, it would have been Raven losing control of her blond form and reverting to blue.
“I just—I had to leave. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I just wanted to be me,” Raven said.
Wesley looked at her silently for a moment before sighing. He pushed aside all of his residual anger.
“Look, I can’t apologize for him, but I can at least explain what was going on in his head. I knew you made Charles promise not to read you, but I figured you two would work things out.” He shifted his position against the streetlamp, crossing his arms and settling in a bit more comfortably. “You'd think that after all these years with the two of us, you'd learn that Charles needs his telepathy.”
Raven frowned, looking about to open her mouth and comment, but Wesley continued on.
“I get that he has really sketchy lines on what he will and won’t do with his powers, which is frustrating, but he doesn’t actively read minds unless he feels he needs to—for serious matters, at the very least. He gets the surface thoughts and what people think really loudly about because he can’t exactly shut off his powers. He messes up sometimes, but he tries not to read someone deeply unless it’s serious or he has permission, especially you and everyone he considers a friend.
You told him not to read your mind at all. Since you’re our sister, he already had a bond connecting your mind with his, and he had to cut that link—which got him sick as fuck for days, just so you know—and then put a wall around you strong enough to keep everything from you out. And he doesn’t realize it sometimes, but I’ve noticed that if he can’t feel your mind, he doesn’t think of you as a real person. It’s fucked up, but it is what it is. I've been in his head. He gets better readings off of animals, for fuck’s sake. It's like you're this blank wall—or one of those sci-fi robots. He relies on what he knows about you from before, but he doesn’t know how to deal with you right now, especially when you two can’t seem to even talk on the same level.”
Raven’s brow furrowed, as if unsure what to say in reply.
“I just wanted my privacy,” she finally said. “And he doesn’t understand. I don’t want to hide anymore.”
Wesley huffed. “Have you ever heard of talking? I haven’t really been a good example, but sometimes with Charles, you have to tell him these things, because knowing doesn’t always means understanding. And I don’t count the time you ambushed him in the kitchen before Cuba, because no, it doesn’t work like that. Honestly, have you met Charles? Did you think for one moment that the reason he didn't like you running around blue was because you ran around fucking naked?”
He gave her a pointed once over—a very quick one because yeah, he appreciated a woman’s body as much as the next guy, but she was his sister and just, no.
“You're beautiful, Raven, even if Charles and I didn't seem to tell you that enough recently, and I’m sorry about that, but even I don't like seeing you run around without any clothes on. If you want to be blue, that’s fine with me. Charles is fine with it too, just with actual clothes. He wanted you to hide in public because he was afraid you’d get hurt, and then he let that fear get ahead of him.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m not a little girl anymore,” Raven replied, trying to sound snappish, but he had enough practice to read the narrowing of her eyes and contradictory release of tension in her crossed arms and figure that she was preoccupied, re-evaluating her actions and reorganizing her thoughts.
Regardless, he said, “So it was about time that you wanted to leave the nest and strike out on your own. I’m not too surprised; it’s been eighteen years after all. But your best idea was to run off with Lehnsherr instead? He’s fucking messed up in the head right now.”
“At least he accepted me!”
Wesley briefly wondered how everything went wrong, wondered if it had started when he got pulled into the Fraternity, or after Charles came back from service. Maybe he should have been around more. They should have spent more time together, all three of them, like they used to do as kids.
As if he’d beckoned for him, Wesley felt Charles creep into the back of his mind.
Wesley? Is everything all right?
Jesus, Charles, what a family we make, he sent to his brother, giving him implicit permission to read from him the last several minutes of conversation.
He then said to Raven, “You’re our sister. Charles and I will always accept you, no matter what kind of shit happens. That’s what family does. Stay with Lehnsherr if you want. You’ve already heard what problems I have with what he’s going to do, but if it’s what you want, then I won’t stop you. Just don’t let others tell you who to be, what you should do. Got it?”
Raven’s lips pressed tightly together, but she nodded.
“Good,” Wesley said with a nod of his own.
Oh Wesley. Charles’ mind wrapped around Wesley’s thoughts, a little sad but warm as always. Will you please tell her I’m sorry?
Yeah, I will.
Please come back soon?
I’m heading for the airport after this.
All right. I suppose I’ll nap a little more until you get here.
With that, Wesley felt Charles ease out of his mind. He blinked, waiting for his mind to stretch and fill the spaces Charles had left behind.
He then said, “Charles just now also wanted to say he’s sorry. I need to get going. If you’re going to visit the house, then as soon as you’re there, you and Charles need to have a real, one-on-one conversation. I’ll even lock you two up in a room together if I have to.” He pushed off the lamppost, standing up properly. “Once I get Charles back to Westchester, I’ll be beefing up security, so just call ahead. I’ve got a plane to catch.”
He left Raven under the street light and wound his way through the parking lot, heading for the rental car he’d picked up to get to the apartment. He’d stop back at his father’s old apartment, change into better clothes and maybe collect a few things, before heading back to the airport—and to Charles.
Chapter 6 - Erik
