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.

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[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."

[guideshapelead]

"Erik I can't do this..." Charles shakes his head, hands still firm over his ears, his body sagging into the sofa as the strength in his legs escapes him.

"Help me..."

[diecastking]

"Calm your mind," Erik insists, keeping his voice steady.

"Think of Scott. We need to find Scott."

[guideshapelead]

Charles struggles to think beyond his desperate need for the other medication. He can barely remember why he needs to find Scott.

With a gargantuan effort, he closes his eyes and tries desperately to control the screaming in his mind. //Scott?// he tries to remember how to seek out one mind in the crowd.

//Scott, where are you?//

[diecastking]

Scott puts down his dolls and peers out of his tree.

"Daddy?"

[guideshapelead]

Eyes screwed shut, forehead creased, Charles battles to cut through all the other noise to find his son's mind. He can feel it, quiet amongst the myriad of voices in his head, but he can feel it.

"He's alive..." he manages to croak out to Erik, redoubling his efforts.

//Scott, where are you? Think your answer, don't say it. Like we used to talk.//

[diecastking]

Erik holds onto Charles and waits, trying not to let his mind bubble over while Charles is concentrating.

Scott frowns at the voice, as he starts to notice a few figures in the distance and that it's darker than he expected.

//Outside. Playing soldiers//

[guideshapelead]

//Where outside, Scott? What can you see?// Charles asks, giving Erik a summary out loud.

//Can you come inside?//

[diecastking]

Erik wants to leap to his feet and marshal the others to search, but he must stay with Charles.

Scott clutches his dolls close to his chest and peers out of the tree. He doesn't really remember how he got up here and he can't see a way down in the dark.

//I can see the house. All the lights are on.// He squints into the darkness. //And I can see Banshee's targets all smashed up on the grass.//

[guideshapelead]

//Shout, Scott// Charles suggests as he passes on the location to Erik.

//Loudly, so people can hear you. Alex is looking for you, and Raven and Hank.//

[diecastking]

Scott does as he's told, shouting at the top of his lungs for his brother and his aunt and uncles.

It's Alex who comes running, staring up at the tree like he's seen a ghost. "And how the- how did you get up there?"

[guideshapelead]

Charles breaks away from Scott's mind once he knows he's been found, lying still on the sofa with one arm over his eyes.

"He's safe. I need the proper medication now."

[diecastking]

Erik stares down at him.

"Hank says this medication replaces the other. You cannot have both."