Hello...again...sorry for the long absense!

Thank you for all the fantastic reviews - I'm really surprised at the support for this AU especially as it started off as a series of one shots which sort of merged together into a sort of plot...

Here is a sneak peek into what Captain Magneto has been suffering in the meantime... ;)

Part 7 - A Fishy Tale

Present

Erik stares at the vast empty beach in front of him, utterly astonished. Too bewildered to move as the red smoke dissipates around him, and he watches his ship sail slowly out of sight.

Just what in the hell has just happened?

Hell. Charles. No.

Charles did this..?

Charles has taken command?

Azazel has abandoned him on Charles's orders? Erik rubs his eyes in groggy disbelief. His crew – his First Mate – his ship have mutinied?

What the hell?

Erik stills as he realises that they haven't even had the decent to drop him off on an abandoned island. Really in the circumstances it is the least they could have done. Really. Anything, anywhere away from her.

"Trust me darling, you're not my first choice either," Frost declares icily. Erik swiftly checks his mental shields before realising she probably just read his face. Its too early in the morning to be dealing with this, especially the morning after a long pleasurable night exhausting his mischievous First Mate.

Erik closes his eyes. Just what is going on? How did he go from falling asleep in bed next to Charles to waking and being spirited away to some isolated island in the midst of the Carribean by his oldest friend?

She must be behind this somehow. She must be. "What have you done?" He demands fiercely.

Frost shimmers into her diamond form, and it is then that Erik realises just how defenceless he is. Though perhaps he should be grateful for Azazel's consideration in waiting till he is dressed before teleporting. Still other than the thin metallic threads infused in the cloth he has nothing with which to use, and his weapons are all uselessly locked away in his cabin. For one of the few times he is not wearing any metal, Charles the minx successfully coaxed him out of his wrist bands last night.

"I was minding my own business when Azazel appeared - and the next thing I know I am here!" Frost responds just as fiercely.

Azazel. What is his crew up to? What in hell is Charles up to?

A sly smile flickers on Emma's face, "Perhaps Charles is missing his supply of freshwater fish." Erik snarls in warning and she sighs, "Honey I doubt anyone let alone me could tear Charles from your side. You've sunk your hooks into him too deep."

"Stay out of my mind," he commands fiercely. She frowns, "I was only trying to make conversation since it appears we're going to be here for quite some time." Erik frowns regarding the distant beach, "Well I don't intend to be," once there he can easily change into his mershark form, track down his errant First Mate, and find out what the hell is going on.

Lady Frost smiles mockingly, "Really Captain, your intrepid crew have gone to some trouble to bring us together. Perhaps you could do them the courtesy of observing what they are trying to say."

Really, and just what was behind this? She sighs at his stony silence, "Perhaps they have also had enough of your childish attacks on my ships - you've cost me a fortune as of late. Surely it is time to put the past behind us."

"Past?" He growls, "You betrayed me to my enemy. You painted a target on my ship and risked my crew."

"All unfortunate consequences and you since must surely have satisfied your vendetta by sinking over half my fleet. Really Captain enough is enough," she rebukes as though he is but a wayward child.

This woman…was infuriating. She had no concept of the consequences of her actions, a consequence perhaps of her telepathy was that she was too used to being obeyed. She wasn't used to being refused. Well he wasn't just one of her minions to be controlled!

In the next moment he is knocked to the ground - tackled by a fierce blur of motion.

A smattering of panicked emotion buzzes in the Captain's mind as he stares up at his First Mate, sprawled dazedly across his chest. Charles's eyes are tinged violet – an indicator to his distressed state. With a sharp tug Charles falls forwards, his wrists ensnared in Erik's strong fingers. Calm yourself Liebling, Erik commands feeling the alarmingly fast dance of the smaller man's heart. He has never seen the young merman so agitated as he is now.

Erik's predatory anger calms. Charles is in his arms. Safe.

"Shh," he soothes keeping a firm grip on the smaller man's wrists with one hand, the other he uses to comb through Charles's hair.

Eriksheissadsosadand-

"Still too fast, breathe Charles," he orders firmly, slow down. Charles closes his eyes, mind still running at a speed that Erik still finds dizzying, but his patience is beginning to have the intended effect. Bad? Charles finally asks anxiously, and for a moment Erik is perplexed. Charles scowls impatiently as though Erik is being very dense, Mutiny? Bad? Erik isn't quite sure whether Charles is asking if him organising the mutiny, and the act of it in itself was bad – wrong, or whether the act itself had been of sufficient quality to trick Erik with its sincerity.

Charles is bad, he mumbles to himself and Erik captures that fine chin and pulls the smaller man's head down. "Yes," he confirms, "very – and you are going to be punished minx." A delighted grin breaks across Charles's face, and Erik resists the urge to sigh. Really…what was happening to his carefully cultivated cutthroat reputation?

He brushes the smaller man's cheek, why Charles?

In response Erik is given a memory.

(Flash back)

Charles is enjoying the mutiny up to the point he turns to ask Erik something only to realise that Erik isn't there.

Logan grins, "Of course Erik is gone – that is the point of it. The Captain gets left behind."

A sharp hiss leaves the First Mate's mouth and then Logan is flying across the deck, landing in a dazed heap with a bemused smile upon his face. Charles stalks angrily towards him his blue eyes shifting to a feral lilac purple. Azazel steps into his path, Liebchen, wait – there is a reason for this.

Charles growls beyond listening. Erik is gone.

(End flash back)

Erik blinks, "Well yes…that is rather the idea. The Captain tends to be left behind – or killed by the mutineers," Erik remarks casually. The merman's eyes widen, and then Charles buries close wrapping Erik in his arms. "No," he sings in a panicked tone. Sitting up Erik tightly cradles him, the fingers he runs repetitively through Charles's hair are grounding him as much as anything as he regards the Lady Frost who is waiting in patient silence. There is tolerant amusement in her features, but now that he looks carefully Erik can see a tinge of something like sadness there as well.

"Tell me why you were working with Schmidt?" He finally asks. It made no sense to Erik, her own merchant fleet was powerful enough to operate independently of his enemy…and one reason he had deigned to foolishly trust her.

Erik is abruptly reminded of the time Emma had sought refuge on his ship, and in turn drawn the invaders to them. Of course Charles had taken the trespassers out in one swift silent blow (much to Logan's frustration). Emma's explanation had left the merman seething in anxious fury that Blackbeard would seek to capture one of his people in his quest.

Erik had set Emma aground at the next port – a mercy in itself, and the last time he had seen her had been as she walked away from the ship, cutting a proud picture through the port - the indomitable Lady. Charles had grown quiet, dispirited throughout the long journey to Solomon's Cove, and Erik had taken it as a sign of the merman's fretting concern and consoled him as best he could - swearing that Blackbeard would not succeed in his plans.

"What is your game Emma? Truly. Tell me now or I swear to all the Gods I will leave you here to rot."

"I should be the one cursing you Eisenhardt," she returns with a frown. "I almost had it – Schmidt was about to tell me – and then…you killed him. Now I may never truly know."

"Know what?" he demands, "I think I have a right to know what made you betray me."

She meets his gaze firmly, but there are tears spilling at the edges of her eyes, and Erik feels his heart twist suddenly as sharply as if he had just caused some hurt to Charles.

"For Charles you would not hesitate to do the same to me," she answers hotly then looks away, "I was so close after all this time to finding him…now…I have no idea where to start again…I don't even know if he's still alive."

"Who?" Erik asks quietly, unaware till now just how much they had in common. Just how much had been torn from them.

The Lady Frost's icy exterior crumbles as she meets his gaze, "Christian…my brother."

There will be more to come (sometime this year) - but if anyone has any ideas / themes they want to see for this AU verse just let me know...

All the best Ashke