Halloween, 1961

How to Have a Halloween

"Can I go to Silvie's house today?"

Charles looked in the rearview mirror to see the boy excitedly bouncing in the backseat. He squinted. "Did they feed you sugar in school?"

"Duh. It's Halloween."

Ah. So it was. The day was unremarkable in the Xavier mansion and typically passed by unnoticed. In fact, any holiday aside from birthdays and Hanukkah passed without a care in the Xavier mansion. Charles wondered if this school celebration had been Peter's first experience with Halloween.

"So can I go to Silvie's house?" Peter pressed hopefully.

"We'll have to discuss that with your father," Charles explained as he continued driving back to the mansion.

"But you could take me," Peter persuaded in a whine.

Charles cast a confused look to the rearview mirror. "I thought you didn't like Silvie."

Peter twiddled with the strap dangling from his backpack. "Well, she's not, like, my friend, but she invited our whole class to her house today, and everyone's gonna go, and it sounded cool."

"Is this a Halloween party then?"

"I dunno. I've never been to one."

Touché.

"But Silvie said that there'd be ghosts, and zombies, and robots, and ghost robots, and, like, ghost-zombie robots."

"Sounds ghastly," Charles commented with a fond smile.

"And her mom's making cupcakes, and they're all gonna go trick and treating!" Peter was very excited about the last part, having just learned of the tradition a few hours ago.

Charles tried not to tense at the idea of Peter wandering door-to-door with Shaw still on the loose. Even worse—Peter doing so with nothing but helpless children and mothers to protect him.

Even worse—Erik's reaction to such a suggestion.

"So can I go?" Peter asked, leaning towards the front seats. "Please? Please, please, please?"

"You'll have to convince your father," Charles said as they turned into the Xavier gates. He felt a bit bad for shifting the responsibility, but if there were anyone to convince, it would be Erik Lehnsherr.

Peter slumped a bit into the backseat and muttered an "OK."

As the car slowed into the garage, Erik could be seen tinkering with the engine of a motorbike. Having spotted him, Peter threw open the car door and bounded towards his father, all before Charles even shut off the engine.

"Dad! Dad!" Peter was a blur, and then he was in front of the metal-bender. "Can I go to Silvie's house?"

Erik threw down his rag and looked down to his son. "Who is Silvie?"

"A girl from Peter's school," Charles explained as he exited the car. "She invited your son to a Halloween party."

Erik's mouth tilted towards a frown.

"And it's gonna be so cool!" Peter declared excitedly. "She's gonna have cake and candy and zombies and ghost-zombie robots!"

Erik frowned.

"And she said that we could all go trick-or-treating with her after the party!"

Erik's frown morphed into a scowl. "No."

Peter actually stumbled a step back, unsuspecting to his father's firm blow. "N-no?"

"It's too dangerous." Erik's tone was curt and final, and he turned back to the motorbike to end the conversation.

Although he agreed with Erik, Charles's heart broke for the boy.

"W-why?!" Peter wailed, moving further into his father's line of sight. "I really wanna go! Everyone's gonna be there, and I've never even got to go trick-or-treating before—"

"I said no," Erik harshly said, turning towards his son with that concrete scowl.

Tears rushed to Peter's eyes, and his shoulders slumped.

"Go wash up in the kitchen before you eat," Erik told him, not leaving any room for argument.

At that, Peter sprinted from the room. His sob echoed around them as he streaked out of sight.

The silence that followed after that pained sound pin-pricked Charles's soul.

"Excellently done, Erik," Charles commented drily.

Erik glared at him. "Shaw could get Pietro at any moment, especially when he's that vulnerable." He floated a wrench to his hand and adjusted a plastic bolt.

"Then perhaps you should explain that to him!" Charles argued with a point to the open doorway. "Instead, you shooed your crying son out of the room—"

"He can't fathom the danger that he's in—"

"Oh, for God's sake, he's never had a proper Halloween! He was excited, and you—"

"Well what do you suggest I do, Charles?!" Erik threw the wrench to the wall, echoing a shriek clank around the space. "Tell him to risk his life for a childish whim?!"

"You take him," Charles suggested, trying to calm the situation with a leveled voice. "Explain to him the danger, and take every precaution, but, Erik…" Charles's gaze was everything pleading. "…allow him a childhood."

Erik's stance became less rigid; his glare softened. "I can't risk him, Charles."

"I understand."

Erik closed his eyes for a moment, mulling it over. And then he asked, "Would you come?"

Charles blinked. This felt like a family event, and he was… being included.

Erik opened his eyes once more. "I'd feel much more secure, knowing we had a telepath on our side." The edge of his lips quirked upwards, just barely.

"I'll always be on your side, my friend," Charles assured him.

With a nod, Erik marched out of the room.

Charles stood in a slight daze, letting a stupor of warmth cloud his chest.

Meanwhile, Peter pouted at the apple slices he'd found in the fridge. He knew they were part of his after-school snack (he had no idea what else his father planned to prepare him), but why? What wrongdoing had he done to deserve this?

Erik marched into the kitchen, and Peter's feelings plummeted again. His dad was so mean. Why did he have to be so strict and mean and dumb about stuff like this?

"Pietro, I know you're upset," Erik said calmly, coming to sit on a chair beside his son.

Peter frowned because if Erik knew that, why did he act all dumb still?

"But you remember the man that…" Erik trailed off to search for words. "Shaw still wants to hurt our family, Pietro. If you were with your class, you might get attacked."

Peter suddenly understood what his father was implying. "Oh, and my friends would get hurt." Peter would feel really bad if he made that happen.

Confusion flickered across Erik's face. "Pietro, I can't have Shaw hurting you. And he'd have all the opportunity to do so if you were out without our protection."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Dad, I'm crazy fast. There's no way any bad guy could get me."

Erik dragged a hand down his face. "We can't risk it, Pietro."

Peter scowled down at his apple slices.

"Which is why Uncle Charles and I will take you."

Peter's head shot up in surprised. He stared at his father's face, but he saw no hints of him kidding. "We're gonna go trick-or-treating?!"

Erik gave a nod, letting a small smile come. "We'll need to leave early if we find any sign of Shaw."

Peter cheered and jumped at his dad for a hug. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Erik smiled and hugged Peter closer. He kissed the top of his head.

Charles strolled into the kitchen with a grin. "Now we'll just need to slap together a costume."

Peter looked up at his pseudo-uncle with lit eyes.

As Peter happily bounded down the sidewalk, carrying an empty pillowcase and dressed in all black, Erik could barely enjoy the moment; knots churned and rebounded around the insides of his stomach.

Shaw could be here at any moment. Shaw could erase Erik's whole existence in a second.

The metal gate they approached creaked. Erik forced himself to take a deep breath and observe as Peter bounded up the walkway to the door. He braced himself as the door opened, relaxed when an old woman appeared, and watched as Peter accepted candy and bounded back.

Peter grinned at his guardians and led the way to the next house.

Erik hated that he couldn't enjoy his son's innocent grin on this holiday. A good portion of his stomach's knots were from guilt; this shouldn't be a child's first Halloween, four years too late. Peter shouldn't feel lucky that he gets to experience this holiday. A child deserved a better childhood than the one Erik's son was experiencing.

Charles's hand snuck into Erik's jacket pocket and gripped Erik's hand.

Erik looked to him, and Charles gave a reassuring smile. It eased something inside of Erik, and he let a breath go.

Peter sprinted back to them (at a normal child's pace, thank God) and shoved his pillowcase towards them excitedly. "She had Jolly Ranchers!"

"Excellent!" Charles cheered while Erik tried to form a smile. "You'll split them with me, won't you?"

"No way!" Peter laughed and scurried to the next house.

Charles gave Erik a fond smile, and Erik allowed himself to relax a fraction further.

And the three continued on. Moving house to house, Peter excitedly gained more candy, and Erik allowed himself to relax more. He was even beginning to hope that this would be a night of pure, childlike enjoyment.

"My class!" Peter gasped excitedly, spotting the mob of children and mothers up ahead. He looked up to his guardians with large, pleading eyes. "Can I go show 'em my candy?"

The adults shared a look, and then Erik gave Peter a nod. "Be quick."

Peter's expression lit up.

"But not too quick," Charles cautioned with a knowing look to the boy.

"OK!" Peter shot off towards his classmates, keeping the sprint at a (barely) typical pace.

The two watched him go as fondness washed over them anew.

And then Charles gripped Erik's arm. "Erik."

Erik's head pivoted towards the man as the weight of despair plummeted his stomach.

"I can sense something blocking my mind," Charles said, sharing a look of a dread.

"Where?" Erik's teeth gritted together.

As Charles's mind probed out, the two suddenly had an answer to their question: in a flash of red smoke, Azazel and Emma Frost appeared beside them.

Erik tensed, barely allowing a glance to check on his child's welfare. He didn't want to give away Peter's position, and the boy was inconspicuous with a black cap covering his silver hair.

But Peter was fine chatting with his friends.

Erik focused back on the two villains in front of them.

"Hello, Erik," Emma greeted sweetly.

Meanwhile, Peter excitedly ran to his classmates with a "Hi!"

The classmates closest to him turned, but they didn't share his enthusiasm. "Hi…" a few of them murmured back.

"Up to the next house, children!" one of the mothers directed, herding the crowd of kindergarteners towards the door.

"Sorry I couldn't come!" Peter explained exuberantly. "My dad didn't want me to go, but we're out trick-or-treating right now too!" He looked to Silvie, who was wearing a fairy princess costume. "Cool wings!"

She touched her wings, as if to shield them from Peter's line of sight. "What're you supposed to be?"

Peter looked down at his black pants, black shirt, black shoes, and black cap. "Um, I'm a burglar!"

Harry, dressed as a Cowboy, gave Peter a mean look. "You don't look like a burglar. You just look dark. And in old man clothes."

Hurt, Peter touched the turtleneck and cap.

Silvie smiled at Harry, and Darrell the astronaut joined in, "You're not even in a costume!"

"Yes, I am!" Peter defended desperately. "I'm, I'm a burglar because I'm fast and could totally steal stuff in the dark—"

"You look dumb," Jessica, the hula dancer, said with a scowl at Peter's clothes.

Tears came to Peter's eyes as the other kids finished getting candy at his house. After getting their candy, they moved past Peter and laughed to each other. Their taunts echoed to him as he sadly marched up to the house everyone else had just visited.

An elderly woman squinted down at Peter.

"Trick-or-treat," Peter said, holding up his bag.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "You were just here with that group of children. You can't double-dip from me, boy."

Peter's face fell. "But I didn't get any!"

"Didn't your parents teach you not to lie?" The woman gave him a final scowl and shut the door in his face.

Heartbroken, Peter released his tears and trudged back to find his parents.

And while Peter had been chatting with his "friends," Erik took a threatening step towards Azazel and Emma. He noticed how Azazel held Emma's arm, ready to vanish at any time—closer to Erik's son.

"Leave. Now." Erik looked murderous.

Emma smoothly said, "We'll keep this brief." She looked to Charles. "And you can stop trying to enter our heads; you can't break my barrier."

Charles glared. "We don't want to fight you, Emma. Leave us in peace."

"We're here to deliver a message." She turned towards Erik. "Shaw wants to call a truce."

Erik's glare furrowed with confusion. He didn't know where to begin asking questions.

"Why?" Charles demanded for him.

"He wants you back on his side," Emma told Erik. She turned towards the other telepath. "And you, if you're willing."

"I would never work with that bastard," Erik spat through gritted teeth. "He murdered my family!"

Emma gave an understanding nod. "He offers the invitation to your son as well."

That offer made Charles's and Erik's blood run cold. Blood seeped through that invitation—it was a threat.

"He will never touch my son!" Erik vowed angrily, lowly.

Emma's smile was polite and insincere. "If you reconsider, don't hesitate to let us know; we'll be seeing much more of each other."

Charles and Erik glared at the woman in response.

"Auf wiedersehen," she said with that smile, and the two vanished with a puff of red smoke.

Erik's hands were shaking. He could barely see straight with the undiluted rage pumping through his veins. He hated Shaw; every fiber of his cells screamed it. Erik had never wanted another man to die more. And he had never felt so damn powerless in wishing it so.

Charles couldn't shake his own scowl, but he placed a comforting hand on Erik's arm. "You're not alone, my friend. What you feel right now—I feel it too."

Erik looked to his partner, seeing the firm belief in those blue eyes. Still, the scummy base of Erik's soul couldn't believe that Charles could understand what Erik currently felt.

A small hand slipped into Erik's.

Erik jerked his attention downwards—Peter stood silently next to his father, limply holding his full bag of candy. Peter stared at nothing in particular as he held his father's hand.

"On to the next house?" Charles asked the small boy, hoping to shift the thick mood. Erik tensed at the idea of continuing on in the vulnerable open.

"I wanna go home," Peter mumbled.

Charles gave him a concerned look, but Erik couldn't bring himself to question Peter's decision; he was too grateful for the willingness.

Erik picked his son up into his arms and relished in the firm feel of holding his living, breathing child. "Let's go home, then."

Charles gave Erik a look but followed as Erik led the way to where they'd parked, a couple of blocks away. Charles looked back to Peter as the boy rested his cheek on his father's shoulder. "Did you enjoy trick-or-treating, Peter?"

While Peter's expression didn't change from being mostly blank, he mumbled a "yeah" all the same.

Charles decided to let it go, opting to try this conversation again at a later date.

When the trio arrived back at the mansion, they were met with an unexpected houseguest.

"Surprise!" Raven grinned and held out her hands as the three walked into the kitchen. "And—" She snatched a witch hat off the island and tossed it on top of her head. "—Happy Halloween."

Peter's solemn mood brightened at the sight of his favorite aunt. "Raven!" He rushed forwards and hugged her legs.

She hugged him back before hefting him up onto her hip. "Whoa, kid. Have you grown? You're tall. Like, on track to being an NBA player."

Peter giggled at one of his favorite compliments.

"Good to see you, Raven," Charles greeted with an affectionate smile.

"Always," Erik added, his smile never quite reaching "affectionate."

"You, too, Charles," Raven said in return, giving Erik a knowing look.

"Wanna see all the candy I got?!" Peter eagerly asked his aunt.

"Absolutely!" She set down the boy, and he hurriedly dumped his pillowcase's contents across the island. "Wow!" Raven picked through the spread candy pieces. "This is pretty awesome. And I think I can use one of my witch spells do duplicate it. If you're willing to trust my magic."

Peter eagerly nodded.

Raven grinned. "Cover your eyes and count to ten—at a normal pace, speedy."

Peter slapped his hands over his eyes. "One! Two! Three!"

As he counted, Raven grabbed her bucket of German candies off the floor and dumped the stash on top of Peter's display.

"Ten!" Peter stared with wide eyes at the doubled candy and then his aunt's twiddling fingers. He smiled. "That was awesome!"

"Happy Halloween to my favorite…" She squinted at Peter's costume, trying decide what he was supposed to be. "Little…" She looked up for help from the adults.

"Burglar," Charles mouthed to her, exaggerating the mouth movements.

"Burg… Lar." Raven finished with an easy smile for Peter.

Peter's eyes widened. "You think I looked like a burglar?"

"Yeah!" Raven tapped his hat and said, "Look at that cap! And your dark clothes! You've got the whole burglar thing nailed, buddy."

Erik gave her a disapproving look.

Raven caught it and added, "But definitely stick to imaginary burglarizing. For now."

Erik's look became a glare.

"Hey, I want to look through your candy," Raven quickly changed the subject. "And I can show you the German candies I got, and then I can help you get ready for bed."

"OK!" Peter enthusiastically agreed, forgetting all about his woes—and his parents.

"Thank you," Charles told her with a fond smile as he led the way out of the kitchen.

"Make sure you check it all over," Erik told her sternly, following the telepath at a slower pace. He snatched a piece of the German candy as he left.

Raven gave him an unimpressed look in response.

With a final grateful nod to her, Erik sought after his companion.

And he found him in their bedroom, unbuttoning his shirt. "Not the worst day," Charles announced. "Not the worst encounter with Shaw's minions."

Erik glared at nothing as he, too, began to undress. "I'd prefer these encounters to be nonexistent." And the best way to do that was to kill Shaw once and for all.

"It isn't yet worth the risk, Erik," Charles reminded him as he began to pull off his pants next. "Peter would never understand if something happened—"

"I wouldn't let it," Erik growled, yanking his sleeves off his arms. His shirt fell to the floor.

"You're not invincible!" Charles protested, his frustrated hands gripping at air. He faced Erik. "Would you like a reminder as to why you chose to live in this mansion in the first place—why you gave up seeking Shaw?"

Erik gritted his teeth. "They know where we are now."

Charles shook his head. "They know a general area."

Erik wheeled angrily on his friend. "I won't sit and wait to be attacked, Charles!"

"Then keep searching for allies! Continue strengthening yourself!" Charles gave a frustrated shake of his head. "Erik, if you were to charge after Shaw now, you wouldn't come back. And Peter would never understand it." Charles dropped his seething gaze to the carpet. "And I would never forgive it."

The metal rage coating Erik's heart began to loosen. He let himself breathe as the realization sank in: for better or for worse, Erik wasn't alone in this world anymore. He couldn't let his desires cloud his judgment. He had to think of those around him—Peter, Charles.

Erik's hand cupped Charles's cheek, causing the telepath to meet his gaze. "You're right. You always are."

Charles reached for Erik's arm. "You aren't alone."

"I know."

"And you don't have to stop your pursuit; just don't act like a bloody idiot."

Erik complied with a nod.

Charles reached for Erik's head and pulled him firmly down for a kiss. He then released him and sought off to search for his pajamas. "Put on some clothes. I'm eager to see Raven try to put Peter to bed after offering him mountains of candy."

With a fond smile, Erik slowly followed his partner's lead. He let himself relax and think of Peter and think of Charles.

Because he wasn't abandoning his retribution. He was strengthening it. Erik could only breathe by knowing that simple truth: it wasn't over.