When he first tapped into Raven's mind, the image at the forefront of her brain was of herself, enraptured in fiery Heaven with Erik, her blue form hot and metallic against his own flushed, golden skin. Their bodies were slick, bumping and sliding against one another as they moved; she brought her legs up to wrap around his waist as she gasped for breath. He growled with each thrust. And Charles Xavier felt everything she felt that night. Excitement. Passion. Electricity at every touch. He felt her heart break for the professor, and blossom again for the strong-shouldered German man who whispered you're beautiful in her ear, over and over again. Charles should have been disgusted, peeking in on such a private moment in time, in her life, but all he could feel was pain. Her pain, his pain. So, he moved on. He delved deeper, back to the first year she lived with him.

Come up to meet you…

"Charlie?"

Naked and blue and trembling as a thunderstorm raged outside the mansion, tiptoeing into his room and into his bed in the middle of the night. Then, years later, nude in her human form, curled against him in nothing but her undergarments after passing out shortly after her first drunken attempt to get into his pants (there would be others- Raven could never hold her liquor). He should have taken her then. Now, he would never get the chance.

Images and sounds swirled through him from her; her tousled hair in the mornings. Her laugh when she was nervous or trying something new. The way she always ate with her fingers what should be eaten with proper utensils. And she didn't care. But one emotion was prominent in each and every fiber of her being; she cared about him.

Tell you I'm sorry…

He felt the crushes, shy and anxious when the "cutie" in sixth period passed her a note. Excited but playing it cool when the guy at the bar asked her back to his place. Each time, a hope swelled inside her; each new potential beau could help her forget her love for Charles. Could help her feel beautiful, for once in her secretly miserable existence. But she politely declined every request, every date, and every pick up line.

And then there was an evil; subtle, vindictive at first, then more prominent, bubbling up in Raven's soul, brought out by an unseen force. Eric came afterward… and the scene of Mystique and Magneto wrapped in one another burned white behind Professor Xavier's eyes for eternity. Suddenly, she was beautiful. She was everything he ever needed.

She was gone.

You don't know how lovely you are.