Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Anonymous asked: *slides in* you're probably gonna hate me: Xavier/Erik, "Stumble into my Arms"

(I don’t actually…ship this…which I know makes me weird…so here, have another Real Dark Thing)

AO3 summary: “It’s going to be okay, Charles,” Erik says quietly, brushing dark curls away from where tears have started to dry under Charles’ closed eyes.  “You’ll see.”

“He’s a madman, Erik,” Charles says dully, past caring if Apocalypse hears them.

“He’s going to fix us,” Erik swears, like a man clutching to the last thread of his own reason.  “You and me, Charles, he’s going to fix us.”

“Go to hell,” Charles says, and turns his face away when Erik bends down to pick him up from the ground.

Actual summary: It starts with a missing scene that’s like 98% Erik being obsessed with Charles and Charles being in mourning for the man he used to know and also the whole entire planet.  Apocalypse lied to Erik about why they needed Charles and Erik is shattered, pretty much clinging to Charles as his last anchor point.  So when he discovers that this plan doesn’t end with Charles converted to his viewpoint and by his side, Erik goes off the fucking rails.  The fight is a lot shorter, since Charles is in better shape and Erik doesn’t do a heel-face turn halfway through.  On the other hand, Erik is in pretty bad shape, mentally and emotionally speaking, and his worldview is pretty well shattered, after the battle.  Jean rebuilds the house herself, alone, and the fic ends with Erik broken on the floor of Charles’ reconstructed study begging for forgiveness.  Charles presses his lips thin and does not answer.

If you want bonus pain feel free to imagine this as a soulmate AU.

Anonymous asked: im so glad ive found someone who is also committed to erik and charles's tragic friendship i have been alone for so long

*tosses aside all other obligations* MY NEW BUDDY, I AM SO COMMITTED.  I just.  I’ve been a devotee of the tragic friendship since I was seven years old, okay, I’m not going to just wake up one day a shipper, and the tragic friendship is SO GOOD, Christ.  Help me.  And since I am SO UNSPEAKABLY THRILLED to have someone in my inbox talking to me about the tragic friendship, I had to figure out a way to show my appreciation, so HERE HAVE A FIC.  I rustled up an old request from this prompt list at the start of the summer, so @littlestartopaz sorry it took me like six months.  Also this is like long as fuck, taking place in the same movie-comics bastardization universe as the limitations of wax as an adhesive, so I’ll probably crosspost it to AO3.

Alone in the Light

X - Charles/Magneto friendship  (“You’re the only one I trust to do this.”)

Erik was asleep.  Charles couldn’t feel his mind—was the man sleeping in that helmet now?  But even Erik Lensherr needed sleep and a cursory sweep through the outermost thoughts of Erik’s Brotherhood answered the question of his location.

I’m sorry, Charles told the girl whose mind he was brushing up against. She was young, a recent recruit, bilingual, with the keening, perpetually frightened mind of someone not in control of their powers.  Gentle, he assessed as he pushed further into her mind, reaching to speak with her. Not made for this violence.  No true animosity against humans, but nowhere else to go, either.  A missing twin brother?  I’m so sorry, Wanda, I need to speak with him.

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