Two Sides Of A Coin

4~Erik

"You were keeping watch."

Charles' words ring in my ears. What did he think I would be doing?

"Someone had to." I reply.

I raise my hands and focus on lifting all of the displaced objects back where they belong. During Charles' violent invasion of my mind I instinctively and defensively lifted every piece of metal into the air. Once I managed to stir him from his slumber each object came crashing to the ground.

After taking my seat, I take a few deep breaths and try to relax. Normally I would be enraged that he had entered my mind and brought those painful memories to light, but instead this time I am tolerant. If he is able to reach into my mind that means his powers are returning. The substances are finally wearing off...

I look over to wear Charles is, propped up against the headboard. I see something in his eyes that was not there before: intelligence. He has a slight frown and his brows seemed to be furrowed in confusion. He is worried...

"Why did you keep watch Erik? What has happened?" he asks.

His words are clear and precise. They are no longer slurred and tainted by the effects of whatever he was consuming. I ponder his question. He could extract whatever information he wanted to know by simply looking in my mind...I can only imagine what he saw moments before...He must be terrified...

"You may be in danger."

Of course he is in danger...Weapon X is using all of their resources to find him right now...It is not a matter of if he will be found, it is a matter of when...

"So you do care about me?"

"One would naturally reach that conclusion by observing our current circumstances."

"Really? Because I thought our current circumstances indicated kidnapping."

"I extracted from you what could have possibly been a hostile environment." I reply.

I'll explain everything to him later...

"Hostile? You punched me in the face! That was hostile!"

You would have punched yourself if you had seen the way you were behaving....

Charles tries to quickly slide out of the bed. He misjudges the amount of force needed and loses his balance. I watch as he goes from a sitting position to falling off the bed. There is a quiet thud when he hits the floor. His legs are paralyzed.... In my state of rage, I had forgotten about the injury that caused Charles to lose control of his legs. He quietly moans from the floor. How was he able to walk earlier?

"Oi...that hurt." He exclaims.

I don't even try to help him up because I am amazed at the fact that he was walking just yesterday.

"You were walking."

He uses his arms to push himself off the floor so he can at least lift his head to look at me.

"The serum I made not only suppressed my powers, it also temporarily cured my paralysis. I assume you saw it. What did you do with it anyways?"

"I caused the vials to rupture and I spilt its contents over the floorboards." I respond dryly.

It had to be destroyed...it could be a terrible weapon in the hands of an enemy...

Charles' face turns a little red and he glares at me.