Memories

Chapter Eighteen

"Now, I'll be taking the twins," Erik snapped, once again walking to the twins. "Woah, bub, you think I'll just let you walk out of here with them?" Logan shot back, stepping in front of the twins protectively and letting the metal blades in his hands extend.

"I wasn't asking for permission. They're my children, and they belong with their father," Magneto replied, always short-tempered. "You can be with them if you come home and give up this madman's crusade! They will not be going with you, Erik. They're children- innocent children- and they require stability. Not what you offer," Charles seethed, rolling up to the five-year-olds and putting them in his lap.

Erik stared at Charles for a moment, and he had the insane urge to just take them- he could. He could have Emma freeze everyone around them and just lift Charles up, float him onto the jet with the twins, and fly the jet away with his team. He could lock Charles up in some room until Erik could convince him to see it Erik's way, see how far Stockholm syndrome got him. The twins would adapt well, learning to accept Erik as their father.

It wasn't a bad plan- at least, in Erik's mind it wasn't. In fact, to Erik, it was a perfectly feasible and sane plan.

"Erik, whatever you're thinking, don't," Charles warned, knowing that gleam in Erik's cloudy, blue-grey eyes. It was the same crazy, dangerous, daring gleam that Charles had fallen in love with. It had been the same gleam in the eyes of a man that had tried to stop a submarine.

Unfortunately, that same gleam had become twisted and cruel.

Erik made a split second decision, unsure if it is really the right decision. But his craving for that decision made it far too enticing to resist.

"I will return home," Erik announced, shocking his teammates. Emma released the new mutants in her shock. Raven gasped, her body shaking. Tremors wracked Angel's body too, fearful of returning to the team, the people, the family, she'd betrayed. Janos and Azazel were unsure of Magneto's motives, exchanging cautious glances.

"Wait, what?" Charles asked, confused. He hadn't expected that answer, and he wondered if his ex-lover had ulterior motives that didn't involve Erik being in his children's lives.

"My team and I are joining your family," Erik repeated, and anxiety clawed at Angel's throat. "Maybe you should let your team discuss that, Magneto!" Angel snapped at Erik furiously, her fear turning into rage. Mystique nodded in agreement, and Janos and Azazel were inclined to agree. So was Emma.

"And what if we don't want your rotten carcasses?" Logan grunted, and Raven and Angel flinched at his tone. The other four were stone-faced and uncaring. The rest of Charles's family were glaring, except for Kitty, the twins, Jean, and Ororo. Jean was still passed out, the three little ones were hiding their faces, and Ororo was still panting, laying on the ground in exhaustion.

"Too bad, metal mutt. Charles has offered numerous times, and I'm taking him up on the offer," Erik spat, and the Wolverine's head snapped to the Professor. "Really, Chuck?" Logan asked, clearly angry, and Charles shrugged helplessly.

He still missed Erik- or rather, the man he used to be. Charles could do without the maniac that had killed a man in cold blood and shot the President of the United States.

Charles was terrified that the old Erik had ceased to exist; or perhaps he never existed at all. Maybe Charles had just imagined Erik as a good man. But his hope outweighed his fears, and he wanted to prove to everyone that Erik could be a good man again.