katikat | Fic rec: X-Men: First Class

"Ghost" by skull_bearer | Charles/Erik | Erik was right after all. The government begins openly persecuting and exterminating mutants. Charles loses everything he has ever loved - and then he loses his mind. | Parts: 1, 2, 3 | Status: completed

And then it stops. And maybe screams are what the world is made of because there isn't anything after that. Everything just goes white and warm and safe for the first time since he turned away from Charles on that beach, and when Erik wakes up, the world is grey with smoke and dawn light, and his lips are damp and sting. Everyone is lying where they fell, but only the mutants are getting up. Erik stands, and every breath is sharp, knives in his chest.

The buildings are the same ruins they were becoming last night. The tanks are the same twisted mass of metal and bodies they had been. But the soldiers are lying eyes open blind on the tarmac, unharmed and untouched and none breathing.

Erik touches his lips again, he can almost feel the kiss that never happened. "Charles?"

Wow. Seriously. Wow. This is so, so creepy. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if a telepath as powerful as Charles went darkside? Who could stop him?