Prof. Charles Xavier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guideshapelead) wrote2014-06-29 10:32 pm
guideshapelead) wrote2014-06-29 10:32 pm
Entry tags:
XMFC/A turn for the worse
Slowly, but surely, Darwin has become as much a part of everyday life at the school as the rest of Charles and Erik's little family. Whilst Charles still has the occasional grumble about the appropriateness of their old friend sharing a bedroom with Alex, he and the others have welcomed Darwin home as though he'd never been away. The others, too - those that had chosen Shaw's side -have been made welcome and offered a home and a job if they want them. Charles does not want fighting within mutant ranks, not when the real threat is from those not so highly evolved.
It's a Saturday morning, the school children fed and left to their homework and recreation in the grounds. With no pressing work to be done, Charles suggests a trip down to the swimming pool to Erik, which Scott of course then wants to do as well. Before they've made it as far as the pool, half the faculty seem to have decided that a morning's swim sounds like a good idea, and it's not long before the pool is full, laughter echoing around the tiles.
Charles has grown very fond of this pool, and swimming in general. Once he had conquered his initial anxieties about drowning, he's learnt that he doesn't need his legs to be a competent swimmer. The sense of independence that brings, along with the usual good effects of exercise, have led to him coming down to the pool with just Erik, or even sometimes alone, at least twice a week. Still, sometimes it's nice to have more company, and he enjoys the laughter and the splashing as much as he enjoys simply doing lengths.
Right now, Darwin is showing off his own ability to his friends, diving under the water and letting gills form along his throat, delighting his audience by swimming around beneath the surface for minutes at a time.
"Can I do that, too?" Scott asks.
"No, Scott," Charles is quick to respond. He doesn't want anybody drowning this morning.
It's a Saturday morning, the school children fed and left to their homework and recreation in the grounds. With no pressing work to be done, Charles suggests a trip down to the swimming pool to Erik, which Scott of course then wants to do as well. Before they've made it as far as the pool, half the faculty seem to have decided that a morning's swim sounds like a good idea, and it's not long before the pool is full, laughter echoing around the tiles.
Charles has grown very fond of this pool, and swimming in general. Once he had conquered his initial anxieties about drowning, he's learnt that he doesn't need his legs to be a competent swimmer. The sense of independence that brings, along with the usual good effects of exercise, have led to him coming down to the pool with just Erik, or even sometimes alone, at least twice a week. Still, sometimes it's nice to have more company, and he enjoys the laughter and the splashing as much as he enjoys simply doing lengths.
Right now, Darwin is showing off his own ability to his friends, diving under the water and letting gills form along his throat, delighting his audience by swimming around beneath the surface for minutes at a time.
"Can I do that, too?" Scott asks.
"No, Scott," Charles is quick to respond. He doesn't want anybody drowning this morning.
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The distance between them feels strange, like a vast chasm, but Charles looks like he truly knows him this time.
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Slowly, he looks around the room, taking in his surroundings as his brain slowly starts to work again. The last thing he remembers, he was having a morning swim. Now it is pitch black outside the windows, and he's in his bedroom feeling as though he's been run over. Repeatedly.
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Especially when he sees his left foot twitch.
"Hank..."
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"I can't..." he struggles to speak, mouth dry and tongue swollen from the bitings it received during the seizures. "Hear..."
Hank, meanwhile, has also noticed the twitch of Charles' feet.
"How are you feeling, Professor?" he asks, expecting another seizure at any moment.
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"Tell me when you can't feel my hand any more," Hank's telling him, placing one blue hand at his side and slowly moving it down over his hip, towards his thigh.
"There," Charles says, as Hank's hand moves just below his hip, where sensation always leaves him. But then he frowns, fights desperately to sit up and look at what Hank is doing. "I can still... just. Only just. I can feel."
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"What's going on?" he says, accusing. "I thought this was for his seizures."
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"But I told you, it affects the nervous system. I may have found an unexpected side effect." He continues to move his hand down Charles' leg, finding the sensation still very patchy but already hugely improved on one small dose.
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"And his powers?"
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Turning his attention to Charles, Hank explains the situation - about what had happened, why Charles feels so ill, why he's on new medication and the potential side-effects. And, whilst Charles is understandably distraught about the potential loss of his telepathy, the blow is softened by the feel of sheets against his legs.
Promising to work on a modified version of the drug, Hank finally leaves Charles and Erik alone.
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"How are you feeling?"
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"And I hate this silence between us."
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"We will find a way to control the seizures and keep your powers."
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That is Charles' one glimmer of hope. If he must lose his powers, then maybe it is a fair price if he can learn to walk again.
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Erik cannot contemplate making such a choice. He is magnetic, part of him down to his very core. He would as soon cut off his own arm.
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"I will be here when you wake."