Charlotte Xavier - A Thousand Years

Dreams

"And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cuz I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cuz sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight."

~ "Iris", Goo Goo Dolls

... ....

"Cuba, Russia, America—it makes no difference." Charlotte said over chess. "Shaw's declared war on mankind, on all of us. He has to be stopped."

"I'm not going to stop Shaw." Erik replied. "I'm going to kill him." He met her eyes. "Do you have it in you to allow me to do that?"

Charlotte said nothing and leaned forward in her chair.

"You've known all along why I was here, Charlotte." Erik told her. "But things have changed. What started as a covert mission...tomorrow, mankind will know that mutants exist. Shaw, us—they won't differentiate. They'll fear us and that fear will turn to hatred."

"Not if we stop a war." Charlotte disagreed. "Not if we can prevent Shaw, not if we risk our lives doing so."

Erik asked. "Would they do the same for us?"

"We have it in us to be the better men." Charlotte replied.

"We already are." Erik replied stubbornly. "We're the next stage of human evolution—you said it yourself! Are you really so naïve as to think they won't battle their own extinction? Or is it arrogance?"

"I'm sorry?" Charlotte asked.

"After tomorrow, they're going to turn on us." Erik told her grimly. "And you're blind to it because you think they're all like Moira."

Charlotte pursed her lips. "And you believe they're all like Shaw." Erik said nothing to disagree or defend himself. Charlotte sat forward. "Listen to me very carefully my friend: killing Shaw will not bring you peace."

"Peace was never an option." Erik said.

They sat in silence for several minutes, only moving to make their chess moves.

Erik sighed and muttered under his breath. "Verdammt. Dies ist nicht was ich wollte. (Damn it. This isn't what I wanted.)" He looked up to Charlotte sadly. As she reached for her glass of scotch, he laid a hand over hers. "I don't want us to end up as enemies, Charlotte." He told her sincerely.

Charlotte smiled cheerlessly. "It will never end as anything but." She remarked, gazing at him sadly. "We are both too proud, too stubborn, to give up our beliefs, no matter what they cost us."

"What if we did?" Erik asked. "What if I did and we killed Shaw tomorrow? What then?"

Charlotte paused and queried, "May I show you?"

Erik nodded. She took his hand and placed it on her temple as she closed her eyes. Images flew through his mind.

It was her home, the Xavier family house...but it wasn't a house anymore. It was a school. Children—mutant children—ran through the grounds, playing, laughing, freely using their powers. Cerebro was rebuilt in a new wing for the mansion. There was a basketball court and the pool was open. Hank had his lab still but now had another as a classroom. The library was a study room too. The spare bedrooms were now dorms.

A plaque at the front of the building proclaimed it as the "Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters".

The children were there too. Raven, Hank, Sean, Alex.

He was there too with her, sitting outside as they watched the younger mutants play—at peace and content and safe. They laughed as Sean tripped and fell. Charlotte said something with a grin and they both laughed before she leaned over and kissed him—

Charlotte jerked and ended it. Erik startled because of the image's abrupt end but did not move his hand from her temple.

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean for you to see..." Charlotte's face was aflame but she didn't open her eyes, afraid to see his reaction.

Gently, Erik's hand moved to her cheek.

Charlotte didn't expect him to gently press his lips to hers in a chaste but tender kiss. Charlotte pulled back after a moment and gazed at him sadly.

"Charlotte, I—" Erik said.

Charlotte shook her head and silenced him. "Don't." She whispered hoarsely. "Don't say it if you can't promise you will still be here with me, with all of us, after tomorrow."

Reluctantly, Erik pulled away from her. "I'm sorry." He said and stood to leave.

"I know." Charlotte whispered back.