Part One

Part Two

***

A few hours later he found himself sitting next to Erik’s bed, holding his hand.  He ignored the machines around him.  The sound of the ECG Machine was background noise, telling him Erik’s heart was beating.

The scar was long and ugly down the middle of his friend’s chest, the stitches dark against the pale skin, a few pieces of thread that was holding his chest together.   Charles took a calming breath, swearing to himself that he would make sure Erik had the best care.

“You will need to keep him calm when he wakes.”

Charles jumped out of the chair, tripping into the bed, before turning around and glaring at the intruder.

Azazael gave him a smirk.  “I couldn’t sneak up on Emma.”

“Well I am a bit distracted.” Charles forced himself to calm down, and not lash out at the mutant.  “What are you doing here?”

“Checking on you two.”  He stepped closer to Erik, giving him a critical eye before focusing back on Charles.  “He is recovering?”

“They are worried about infection.”  Charles sat back down, taking Erik’s hand again, not caring about the look he was getting.  “One lung is damaged, the other collapsed under the pressure.  They lost him once, but …”

“Stubborn asshole.”

“It’s like you know him.”  Charles snorted softly.

“A man who hunts for twenty years to find the bastard who killed his mother.”  Azazael walked around the room.  “Stubborn is only the beginning.”

He looked down, not ready to talk about Shaw.

“I will have to thank him for killing the bastard.”  He continued watching his fellow mutant.  “My people can rest easily.”

Charles’ head snapped up, a frown on his face.

“You think we followed him because we loved him.”  His chuckle was rich and dark.  “Some aspects we agreed.  My mutation can’t be hidden, hence I normally stay on my island with my fellow teleporters …”

“You don’t think in time the humans would accept you?”  Charles had always thought Raven was beautiful in her natural form, but then she had the ability to hide, Azazael didn’t.

Azazael shook his head.  “They don’t let black people drink from the same fountain as whites in your country.  What do you think?”  He whipped his tail around, giving him a pointed look.  “As far as good humans think, I’m the devil.”

“But in time they can be …”

“Look at his arm.”  He pointed at the hand Charles was holding.  “I know what those numbers are.  They represent what humans will do to those who are different.”

His fingers ran across the inked numbers.

“Shaw did that, and worse.”  Azazael shrugged.  “He bragged about Erik.  The monster he created.  How he loved him.  The anger.  The hatred.  But he forgot that the story ended when the monster killed the doctor.”

“There was another way, he didn’t have to kill him.”  He stubbornly held his point.

“He will wake up disoriented and likely flash back to his time with Shaw.”  The teleporter looked around the room, eyes laying on everything that was metal.  “Be ready to calm him down.  Do you have a message for your sister?  They demanded information.”

“Are they okay?”

“I took them to your home.”  He smirked, laughing lightly to himself.  “The blue furred one, kept growling.”

“Hank!  You didn’t hurt them…”

“No.  Your sister is one to reckon with.”

“Raven can be very protective.”

“Bites too.”  Azazael smiled showing all his teeth.  “Shall I tell them, you are waiting by your lover’s side.”

“We’re not …”  The red mutant rolled his eyes.  “Tell Hank to prep for us to return, Erik will need full time care, and well I guess I’m going to have to deal with the CIA.”

“The ones who fired weapons at us?”

“They were scared …”

“Yet you think they will accept someone like me or your sister?”  Azazael’s smirk was downright vicious.  He turned towards Erik, tilting his head slightly.  “He did the right thing.”

“He was going to kill innocents.”

“And what do you think would have happened to all the civilians on this island?”

And with that last statement he teleported out of the room, leaving Charles alone with his thoughts.

Quick Note:

Yes you’ll get these updates sporadically – like I had stated in the first post these fics are palette cleansers when dealing with Sylum related materials.

This particular AU is from X-Men: First Class … Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier.  I’m not that involved in X-Men fandom so this could be interesting …. blame Speed.

<< >> denotes telepathic speech

Part One

***

Charles sat in the clean waiting room, waiting.   They had wheeled Erik away, and every instinct had him wanting to follow, but he was getting looks from other staff.  His ‘uniform’ was covered in blood and sand, and he looked wild.  He forced himself to calm down, then gently tapped his forehead to calm those around him.

With deliberate ease he stole a pair of scrubs, trashed the uniform into a hazmat bin, and worked his way back to the lobby, where he was directly pointed to the surgery waiting area.  It would seem he was startling the other patients.

After an hour of nothing but tired platitudes from the staff, he wandered around.  With his shields firmly in place, he explored the modern facility.  It had taken him sadly a while to figure out he was actually in Havana.  Azazel had got him to the closest hospital, and really at this moment he couldn’t have been happier.

‘My cousin said they were so scared.’  A voice snuck through his shields, as he passed by the nurses station.  He worked to ignore it, but something told him to pause.  ‘All those warships.  He was sure death was coming to their door.’

‘They are gone now.’  A second voice entered into the conversation.  ‘But tension has risen once again.  We are not their battle ground.’

‘Yet they sent bombs to our beaches!’  A third entered the conversation.  ‘I saw it.  Then they turned around and …’

“Code Blue!”  A yell went down the hall.  “Code Blue in OR Room 3!”

Charles looked down the hallway as nurses, ran for the operating room.   He knew without a doubt that was where Erik was located.

<<Don’t leave me.>>  He stood in the hallway, his focus and attention fully on the only thing that mattered.  <<Erik hold on!  Don’t you dare leave me now, you son of a bitch!>>

One of the older nurses made her way down the hall, stopping in front of Charles.  “Come sit down, can we get you anything?”

“Is he alive?”  He asked, letting her sit him down, his focus still on Erik.

“He coded on the table, they couldn’t find the bullet…”  She gasped.

Charles looked down at his open palm, where the bullet laid.  “You don’t know what he means to the world … to me.”

She sat next to him, folded his hand around the bullet, and held it in between hers.  “He’s got a guardian angel watching over him…”

Charles chuckled humorlessly.  “Well they’ve done a piss all job haven’t they.”  He pulled his hand from hers, gave her a halfhearted smile as she walked left him there.

He startled awake when a hand rested on his shoulder.  He stood quickly when he saw the doctor leaning over him.  “How is he?”

“He’s in recovery.”  He gave him a reassuring smile.  “We lost him for a moment, but were able to get him back.  We were able to repair the damage to his lung, but it’s going to be a long recovery.   We’ll have to watch for infections, and he’ll have a weakened lung, but if all goes well…”

“Can I see him?”  Charles demanded.

“When we settle him into a room, you can visit …”  The doctor hesitated, motioning for Charles to sit back down, while taking the seat next to him.  “I was concerned of the scars that he already has.  Do you know any of his medical history, that we should be aware of … the next 48 hours will be crucial to his recovery.”

“He’s a survivor of the camps.”  He closed his eyes, as flashes of Erik’s memory broke through the fog he’d been in for the past … he looked around until he saw clock.  Twelve hours.  They had taken down Shaw twelve hours ago, and it felt like a lifetime ago.

<<Holy Mother of God.>>

Charles glanced over to the Doctor, who had paled tremendously as he crossed himself.

<<Holy Mother I ask you to intercede with your son to heal this young man … >>

“He’s Jewish.”

The Doctor titled his head slightly, but didn’t seem upset or fazed.  “I will send for a Rabbi, in case.”

“He survived the camps, doctor.  He’s too damn stubborn to die at the hands of humans.”  Charles gripped the bullet in his palm, feeling the sharp edges push against his skin.  “But I thank you for your prayers and more importantly your skills.”

“I’ll make sure the staff knows his history.”  He stood only to pause and glance down at Charles.  “There was an incident in the surgery room.  The trays, tools, anything metal started shanking, right before he coded.”

Charles gave him a soft smile, as his fingers touched his forehead.

The doctor blinked, shaking his head slightly.  “A nurse will come to get you, once he’s settled in his room.”  He turned and walked away, not quite sure what had just happened.

He leaned back in the uncomfortable seat, ignoring the tears that streaked down his cheek.