XMFC/Where's Scott?

[diecastking]

The fire is roaring in the grate, the drawing room an insulated haven from the chilly expanse of the mansion. Despite Hank and Alex's experiments with capturing Havok power, the old building remains draughty and difficult to warm.

However, Erik is perfectly content. He is sitting on the sofa, Charles sprawled across his lap in a position that would've been completely impossible only a few months ago. He rests his elbow on the arm of the sofa, a book of philosophy open but it's his lover who holds his attention, his hand softly caressing his hair.

Charles has never looked more content, more relaxed. The only sting in the tail is that Erik cannot feel his happiness, one step removed from the intimacy they once shared.

Comments

[diecastking]

"Scott is missing," Erik says tautly.

"Hank, Raven - the grounds. Sean, Alex - upstairs. Charles and I will search the downstairs rooms."

[guideshapelead]

Charles pales.

"He won't have gone far..." he tries to reassure himself, and the rest of the room. "Probably just gone up to his room."

[diecastking]

"You can start there," Erik tells Alex, who is already pushing past Charles and racing up the stairs, yelling for his little brother.

"I will start in the west," Erik says to Charles, urgency in his tone and movement.

[guideshapelead]

Charles nods and moves off, heading first to the swimming pool. The chances of Scott being there are slim, with Hank and Raven coming from there moments earlier, but it's also the most dangerous place he could be on his own.

"Scott!" he calls for his little boy, but can't hear or see him anywhere.

[diecastking]

Erik moves through the rooms at lightning speed, enlisting any students he sees in helping him search. Soon, the whole school is looking for Scott - but no one can find him.

Eric is increasingly frantic as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. "Scott!"

[guideshapelead]

Soon everyone is back in the hall, no sign of Scott anywhere.

"What do we do now?" Alex demands, white as a sheet.

[diecastking]

Erik looks to Hank when he really wants to look at Charles.

"We need a better method of searching."

[guideshapelead]

"I have nothing," Hank shrugs. "I can make some sort of sensor, but it would take... all night, at the very least."

"What about you?" Alex is less polite as he rounds on Charles. "If you stopped being so selfish you could find him in five seconds flat."

[diecastking]

"Alex..." Erik warns, but he finally meets Charles' eyes. Silently begging for him to see reason.

[guideshapelead]

Charles can stand up to Alex, pull rank as headmaster and mentor if he must, but it's a different story with Erik. As soon as their eyes meet, his heart sinks.

"You can't ask this of me..." he starts to protest. "You... you know you can't..."

[diecastking]

Erik says nothing and turns away.

"We will divide into pairs. Teachers - outside. Students - stay indoors and search every cupboard and hiding place you can imagine. Go!"

[guideshapelead]

Charles stays still as everyone moves off, until he is alone with Erik. But he cannot meet his eye any more, ashamed by his own selfishness. He desperately wants to find Scott, but the idea of missing his next injection seems just as terrible. To lose his legs again... he cannot give that up.

[diecastking]

Erik cannot look at him.

"You must do what you think best," he says, voice taut with coiled fury. "I will look for our son."

[guideshapelead]

Cowed into silence, Charles stares at his feet.

He knows Erik misses his telepathy, and Charles of course does too. He also knows Hank has worked on his medication since he first gave it to him, and that, sitting in the lab, is a modified form that will keep his seizures under control and allow him his mutant power. Unfortunately, it is the action that kills the telepathy that allows him the use of his legs. For one, he must lose the other, and his need to walk has always been stronger than his need to read the minds of others. Plus, there's just something about the drug he takes, something he can't explain but that he's desperate not to lose.

But Erik is right in his silence. Scott is missing, possibly in danger, and Charles alone has the power to bring this to an end. He's almost due another injection, can already feel the beginnings of the desperate hunger that the drug has awoken in him.

He must resist it.

"Alright," he forces himself to say. "Alright. I'll... I'll do it."

[diecastking]

"You will?" Erik says, looking at Charles' eyes. "How long?"

[guideshapelead]

"Five, ten minutes?" There is no exact science to when the drug wears off. The time between doses has been getting progressively shorter and shorter since he started taking the drug, and Charles has learnt to just know when he needs more. There's an itch, in his veins, followed (if he waits that long) by a deep ache in his lower back, and whispers in his head.

There is no pain yet, but the itch is building.

[diecastking]

"We must go to Hank's lab. Your...your chair is there."

Erik hates to remind Charles of the consequences of his decision, but he needs his son. If anything happened to Scott, he would never forgive himself.

[guideshapelead]

Charles balks at the word 'chair', and he has to fight back the words from his tongue as he tries to change his mind again.

"The drawing room," he asks for instead. "Bring me the... the other drug."

[diecastking]

Erik nods, moving as swiftly as he can for the drug. He does not bring the chair, because he does not want his lover to change his mind - that he even fears the possibility shows how far he has let things slide. He knows Charles' relationship with the drug is unhealthy, but he had turned a blind eye for his happiness.

No more.

[guideshapelead]

Charles makes his way to the drawing room alone, the pain in his back kicking in as he reaches the sofa. He sits down with his head in his hands, grimacing at the pain, the tingling in his toes as the sensation leaves him.

[diecastking]

Erik returns with Hank's medicine, ready with the syringe.

He hates to see his lover in pain but they must find their son. "Here."

[guideshapelead]

Charles moves on autopilot as he injects the drug into his vein, frowning when it feels as though nothing has happened at all. His legs continue to ache and burn as they numb, the whispering in his mind continues to increase in volume...

and worst of all, the desperate need for the medication doesn't abate in the slightest. Desperate tears escape down his cheeks as he closes his eyes, slams his hands over his ears for good measure even though he knows the noise is all within his own head.

[diecastking]

Erik reaches for his fiancé, trying to hold him.

//Calm your mind// he thinks desperately in Charles' direction.

[guideshapelead]

Erik's mind, so close to his own, is deafening in Charles' mind.

"Be quiet..." he begs, hands tighter over his ears. "I can't... it's too much. Too loud..."

[diecastking]

Erik stopped, trying to bring his mind to a place of neutral strength, solid and smooth like a wall of marble.

"Charles. Focus on my voice."