the color of metal

chapter sixteen

x CHAPTER SIXTEEN x
what could have been and what is

~<x>~

If Josie had a dollar for every time she correctly predicted a situation, she would be a very rich woman. Which is why she wasn't all that surprised when she had to disarm Erik with a swift kick to his arm moments before he looked Raven in the eyes and fired his gun. He wasn't listening to Charles's pleas and Logans consciousness had gone back to the future. It was a mess, one it seemed only Josie could clean up.

Erik looked at her in disbelief to which she rolled her eyes, "You just love proving me right, huh?"

There was a dark look in his eyes before he sent a punch her way, one she dodged with ease. She was able to land one to the side of his rib cage before he was closing her grandmothers necklace around her neck. Josie gasped and put her fingers in between the chain and her neck.

"That's... n-not..."

"Fair? Nothing ever is. Remember?" Erik dismissed and threw her back against the table as he ran out after Raven.

Cursing loudly, Josie looked at Charles and Logan. There was a silent apology shot their way before she was sprinting off towards the stairs to catch up with Erik in an attempt to stop him. Due to her extremely high level of common sense, Josie took the stairs down to the courtyard the others had jumped from the window to. There was hysteria in blinding ice blue emulating from each human being held back by the police. It was disorienting for Josie who winced as she tried to look through the crowd for Erik and Raven.

She ran, eyes wild as she surveyed the street for any sign of them. Shutting her eyes, Josie reached out for their auras. She was as familiar with their emotions as she was Charles, it couldn't be too hard to find either of them through a sea of non-mutants. Josie sifted through the crowds, through the fear and unrest. There was a pulsing red spot below her feet.

"Erik" she breathed and took off towards the subway.

It was crowded, people desperate to get home, away from the mutants jumping out of windows and floating to the ground. Josie waded through shouting excuse me as she pushed past. Eriks aura grew stronger as she neared causing her to wince but press on. She pushed past a woman crying with her husband in fear for their young children who they were rushing to get out of school.

Now it was Josie's turn to be afraid. This was what she, Charles, and Hank had been trying so hard to avoid. Fear of mutants.

Josie reached out a hand toward Erik and his blinding aura just in front of her. He turned as she grasped the crook of his arm and barred his teeth at her what she tugged at him.

"Go back to Charles, Josephine."

"You don't get to tell me what to do." she all but snarled in his face.

Erik rolled his eyes, anger causing his jaw to glue shut as he let her hold onto his arm and pull them onto one of the trains. He led her to the back of the train car and held a hand against the curve of her waist as she leant back against the window at her back.

With a quick scan of the people around them, Erik looked down at Josie, "You're in way over your head, Josephine. Go back to Charles, back to your Alex and hide. You've done well enough at that."

"My Alex," she scoffed. "You know nothing about him or us nor do you have the right to. What of your escapades? From what I've gathered, I'm quite sure Peter is your son."

He looked at her then, eyes ablaze with some unspoken truth. Of course she had seen that moment when he had slept with Peter's mother, when she told him it was his and he reminded her he was a criminal and the boy would be better off without him. His hand flexed on her waist.

Josie sighed, "I didn't hide, I looked for you, looked for other mutants to bring back to our school and show them a better life. One where they aren't alone and are accepted for who they are. I did what I could in the most peaceful way possible."

When she continues, she puts a hand on the arm still holding her waist, "All of that aside, I will not let you get us killed with your recklessness. If Raven is to be the reason we are hunted in the future, wouldn't it be better for us to keep her close than push her away?"

Eriks gaze moves swiftly from her eyes to her lips and back again. Josie swallows suddenly feeling her throat grow dry. His hand tightens just as hers does and for a moment they're back at Charles's childhood home, before the school, before the eleven long years of separation. Back to when they would walk around the grounds locked in quiet conversation. Back to an almost kiss and then to a few dozen real ones and the beginnings of what could have been.

It's this thought that pulls Josie back to reality and out of his arms. She moves to grasp the pole to her right, putting just a bit of distance between them.

"I'll help you find her but I won't let you kill her."

Erik finds himself nodding, not as quick to pull from their shared emotional memory as she was. He had told himself long ago the past was just that when it came to Josie. There was no hope for them as he sat rotting in his glass prison. When he saw her eyes in the rearview mirror of the getaway car she drove so expertly, he had what he hadn't in longer than he could remember; hope. Once he'd had a taste of it, he refused to let it slip through his fingers. Refused for let her slip through his fingers again.

"Fine. Nobody dies."

Josie looked at him then and nodded with a small smile. "Thank you."

There it was again, that flicker of hope.

He stepped towards her as the train came to a stop, the doors opening as he held out a hand for her to take.

Cautiously, Josie took his hand, allowing him to intertwine their fingers and pull her through the crowd of panicked people and up onto the city street above. She released his hand once they were clear of the crowd and watched him, combing through his aura to see what he had planned.

There was nothing overtly readable. The red she had come to associate with him was dull, a small flicker of hot pink mingled with it followed by a speck of icy blue. That speck of blue was what made Josie believe he could be trusted. There was a sense of fear. Fear, while at times allowed people to think irrationally when it can be found in large amounts, was what would ultimately allow Erik to do the right thing. She didn't know what he feared but she knew that that small shred of it would be enough to convince keep him on this new path she laid out for him.

Now it was up to her to bring him back to the light.

~<x>~
Authors note:
oh boy... nobody hate me for how long it's been since I've added to this story. Lots of fun life stuff has gotten in the way but I'm here slowly but surely updating. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter :)