The Future Changes When You See It

Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything X-men related. You know that already anyway, so stop making me say it.

Author's Note: Okay, so before we get started, please note this is my first foray into X-men fanfic and it's only my second multi-chapter, so if I seem a little inexperienced that's why. Also, other than the movies, I've only read a handful of the comics when I was little, so I'm not super canon savvy. This is a First Class-canon AU though, so there's that. I make no promises about sticking with the other films. Now, without futher ado, I bring you Charles's Nightmare of Doom otherwise known as: the opening scene.

Chapter One: A Rude Awakening

Events unfolded around him at impossible, breakneck speeds, so swiftly it should all seem to be an incomprehensible blur, but somehow it wasn't. He was experiencing it all, not just observing some passing ideas. He was bombarded by every sight, sound, sensation and telepathic impression invading his consciousness, an unattainable clarity just out of reach, as if he was sped up right along with everything else: this was his reality. Fast-forward was now the status-quo. It was all hurriedly tattooed onto his memory, and then suddenly, time slowed to a torturous lagging pace with the sound of a gun-shot- the movement of one gloved hand- an explosion of pain.

Charles cried out in agony as the bullet severed his spine. Then Erik was pulling him into his arms and cradling him to his chest as blood spilled onto the sand. He raised his other arm with fury and anguish radiating from him. Moira's dogtags sudenly became her noose.

"You did this!"

"She didn't do this, Erik. You did."

Just like that, the fury was gone, leaving nothing but guilt and pain. Erik was trying to convince Charles to join him on his new quest, because they belonged together, because they wanted the same thing. But they didn't, not anymore. This wasn't his Erik anymore. No. Not this killer. This was Magneto. The one who left him bleeding on the beach. His sister - abandoning Charles to join him? Charles couldn't even get up. He couldn't- He had no legs. Where were they? He could see them, but - he couldn't feel his legs! He seemed to see the panic cresting, breaking, receding with the little waves at the shore as the shock finally hit him. Moira, Alex and Sean were all crowded around him. They were trying to talk to him but their voices couldn't seem to reach him anymore. He was cold. Moira grabbed his arm but it didn't affect him at all. Nothing. He couldn't... He was broken. Nothing.

"CHARLES!"

What in the...?

"CHARLES!"

He felt himself being shaken but that wasn't right. He was...

"CHARLES! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

Erik? Everything went black. Then he shot bolt upright in his hotel bed crying out in shock, feeling as though he'd just been yanked forcefully back into his body. It was very disorienting, especially since he didn't remember leaving in the first place.

"Scheisse." Erik muttered unhappily, grabbing his friend's flailing arms before he could hurt himself. "Calm down, Charles! You were just having a nightmare."

"No." Charles insisted, shaking his head. He was still struggling against Erik's arms, although now it was half-hearted at best. "No, not that. No."

"Breathe." Erik ordered grimly. After one last tug of his shaking arms, Charles finally listened and collapsed against Erik's shoulder, taking in the much needed oxygen. "I saw..."

"Catch your breath first." Erik instructed, this time sounding almost gentle. There was silence for a while, filled by the sound of Charles trying to catch his breath, and a few muffled noises drifting in from the city outside. Charles took comfort in the familiar feeling of Erik's consciousness on the periphery of his mind and the buzz of the many others in the area around him. As he followed his breath in and out, it became gradually easier to distinguish between dream and reality, now and that nightmare time. He tried to collect himself as much as he could immediately manage, quickly processing what little he knew. By now he could tell the difference between an astral or telepathic experience and a dream. This had not been a dream. He didn't know what it was. He also had an odd instinct rising in him, telling him that maybe Erik didn't need to know. Perhaps it was safer if he wasn't involved. Why not? He considered this for what felt like an hour before he made his decision.

"I'm sorry, my friend. Did I wake you? I wasn't projecting, was I?" He asked innocently.

"You don't need to apologize, Charles." Erik said exasperatedly, "And no, you weren't."

Erik paused, studying Charles questioningly.

"You were... absent. I woke up and it felt like you just weren't there anymore. Then I felt pain that wasn't mine, and your panic."

Charles paled at that. The first bit was easily explained. He was out of his body, and thus he wasn't there to give off any mental impression, but the second part... Erik had felt his pain?

"Oh, Erik. I'm s-" He stopped short at the look Erik sent him.

"What happened to you, Charles?" Erik asked. Charles could sense his friend's concern and suspicion, along with a clearly protective note. Well that was slightly comforting.

"I don't know." Charles replied, deciding on the truth. "It felt real. It wasn't at all like my us- a dream."

Erik narrowed his eyes, speculating on the meaning of that slip.

"Thank you Erik. I believe I needed you to wake me. Whatever it was I've just experienced, it was far from pleasant." Charles added with a weak smile.

Erik stared at him.

"Perhaps-"

"No, I assure you I'm fine. I would rather we continued." Erik crossed his arms over his chest, eyebrows raised, and Charles flinched, realising his mistake. "I apologize. It appears that my mental barriers are still recovering. I did not intend to do that."

"Of course. Clearly you're in perfect health."

"This isn't the first time my shields have fallen, Erik. I've been through far worse than this before." He sighed at Erik's stubborn expression. He knew he couldn't win this one. "We have already come this far. It would be a waste of time simply to leave without at least speaking with him. I promise, I will mention this to Hank when we are finished."

Erik still looked like he wanted to argue, but thankfully he didn't. Eventually they both went back to bed. Charles didn't get any more sleep that night. He was far too concerned by what he'd seen in his not-nightmare. He could still feel the familiar hum of Erik's consciousness at the edge of his mind. His friend didn't seem to be getting much rest that night, either. Charles tried to ignore the knowledge that Erik was watching him. It wouldn't have seemed as creepy before his not-nightmare experience. He knew his friend was just worried about him, but he couldn't seem to get Magneto's sadistic smile out of his mind. Erik wouldn't harm him, intentionally. He assured himself. Erik was his closest friend, other than his sister, of course. He could still see her, walking away on that beach. It wasn't real. Charles tried to push The Beach far to the back of his mind. He saw a flash of hands covered in deep red. Blood. His blood. Magneto turning his back on him and walking away. Charles sucked in a sharp breath.

"Charles?" Erik finally addressed him, obviously still wide awake.

"I'm going to count to three..." Magneto's voice echoed menacingly through Charles's psyche.

Charles sat up stiffly. He had to get out of here. He grabbed some clothes out of his bag and briskly changed into them without looking to Erik's side of the room, barely remembering to keep his back out of view. Erik got up and switched the lights on.

"Where are you going? It's one in the morning and anyone can see you're exhausted."

"I'll manage. Please, don't stay up on my account. I'm sure I won't be long."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, actually. I suppose it doesn't really matter."

"I'll join you."

"It's not that I don't trust you..." Magneto's voice crept in.

"No!" Charles flinched slightly at how harshly that had come out. Erik stilled. "I'm fine, Erik. I simply need to clear my head."

Erik didn't say anything, but looked meaningfully down at Charles' hand holding his jacket. It was shaking, quite noticeably. Charles took another deep, steadying breath. This wasn't fair.

"As you said, my friend: it was just a nightmare." No one's buying it, Charles.

He wandered around the streets, quickly losing track of time. No, not lost, really. It simply wasn't there. It was as if his perception had been skewed dramatically without his noticing. He felt somehow disconnected from the flow of time. Cause and effect were just a concept. There was Charles: an observer, and then there was everything else. Even his own body felt... separate, an object. It was a strange experience, especially for someone like him. He'd always been so closely connected with everyone around him. Their impressions, emotions and experiences were an extension of his own, and now it was so warped and strange and other. He felt alien to his own world. He could have been out here for days or minutes for all he could tell, if it weren't for the fact that it was still night. What had happened to him? It must be some side effect of the not-dream. He wondered if it would wear off. It would really be best if it did- and soon, before he saw Erik again. He'd said he wouldn't be out too long. Was it time to return? He continued to walk without any thought of where he was going or why. Why? What is that? It had rained at some point. He splashed through a puddle watching the way the beads of water danced in the air. A door opened somewhere on the right.

"Charles?" That was Erik. So he did return. How nice. There was a pulling feeling in his mind so he looked where it led him, tilting his head up and away from Erik at a big bulletin board. That's odd. It almost seemed like it was moving. No, it was the shadow that was moving. A very, very dark shadow. Like a void. Something primal rose in the back of his mind, a warning. Danger! Run! The shadow swirled and spiralled like smoke, but pooling like a liquid where it met the surface of the sign. It was blacker than black. It felt cold. He sensed it! It was a shadow...without a source.

"Charles!" He jumped at Erik's hand on his arm, whipping his head around to face him.

"What?" He asked trying to catch his breath. He was out of breath? His pulse was like a sledgehammer in his chest.

"I've called for you five times. What had you so transfixed?" Erik asked, his expression beyond suspicious as he looked over Charles' shoulder in the direction he'd been staring.

"I was-" Charles began, turning to look back and stopping short as he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "It's gone."

"What is?"

"The- You know what? Forget it. My perception seems to be warped at the moment. It might be better if I simply returned to our room for the night."

Erik nodded, at least appearing to accept this and they headed back to the hotel room to rest. Early in the morning when the first light was filtering into the room and Charles had finally fallen asleep again, he quietly slipped out to investigate. He stood in the spot where he'd found Charles practically frozen in place a few hours before. He wasn't yet sure what he was looking for, but his instincts were practically screaming at him that this was important. He knew by now that he should trust his instincts.

He looked thoughtfully in the direction Charles had been staring unblinkingly when he had found him, and carefully scanned for any clue as to what had gotten him so spooked. He tucked away every minute detail for later, but still nothing seemed 'off'. He let out a frustrated huff and was about to turn and head back inside when he caught sight of something 'off' at the base of the big billboard. What? That was worth investigating. He briskly made his way over to it and confirmed what he'd seen. The area was lush with happy green bushes, profuse with shrubs and a handful of pesky flowering invaders, all thick and healthy... except at the base of the sign in the area immediately beneath, where all the plants were dead. Some plants had even turned black, but there was no apparent explanation. Is this what Charles had seen last night? Had this happened that quickly? He inspected some of the leaves more closely. These plants were uniformly dead as if every one of them had had the life drained from all its parts in the same instant. Everything around them was left perfectly untouched. After a moment's consideration, he took out his knife and cut off a small part of a drooping branch and a wilted black leaf and wrapped it in a handkerchief before tucking it into his pocket.

Charles rolled over groggily at the sound of the door shutting behind Erik. He made an indistinct sound in complaint and fell back to sleep with enviable rapidity. He had always been a fairly heavy sleeper. Raven had mentioned this to Erik during his secret phone call and nightmare consultation while her foster-brother was out 'clearing his head'.

When Erik had mentioned it, her succint reply was simply...

"Bullsh-"

"Excuse me?"

"He lied to you. He always does the same thing after he has one of his night terrors. He gets super clingy and oversensitive and becomes a complete cuddlemonster until I can manage to calm him down. He's been like that ever since we were little."

"Raven. He didn't fake the night terror. Perhaps his behavior is different when he's with someone else."

"Don't worry Erik. I'm perfectly aware of who I'm talking to. Your manly lack of cuddliness isn't enough to explain it. He was like that with Mom whenever I was out for the night, or failing that, whoever was most familiar. Hell, he even did it to Cain once when I was in the hospital overnight visiting..." Raven trailed off after that, sounding guilty. "Oh."

"What is it?"

"That didn't end well. The Markos were dicks. We've never let ourselves be separated again since Mom died." Raven explained, sounding depressed. "Maybe this is kind of different."

"I'll take care of him." Erik assured her seriously.

"Yeah, you'd better." Raven threatened, but her heart clearly wasn't in it."If it happens again, could you call me right away? Lord knows, I'm probably the expert at calming him down by now."

"Of course..." Erik paused, mulling over her explanation."You make it sound like a common occurrence."

"Oh, um, well, it's not unusual, I guess." She replied uncomfortably "Look, if he hasn't talked to you about it...Shit!"

"Raven!" Erik rebuked. He strongly doubted Charles would approve of her foul language.

"You know, I think I might have just accidentally woken Angel up. I should probably get off the phone." Raven continued, more or less ignoring him. "Just ask Charles, okay? I've gotta go. I'll see you two when you get back."

Erik draped his coat over the foot of his bed before sitting down on the edge of Charles'. The telepath almost immediately confirmed his sister's claims by curling up around the new source of body heat. Erik felt the corners of his lips twitching upward in the beginning of a fond smile at the sight. Too bad. It was time to get moving. He reached out and gently shook Charles' shoulder. The younger man just made an unhappy sound and burrowed deeper into his warm cocoon. Erik shook him again. Charles just sounded more irritated but still inconveniently unconscious. Erik then began systematically peeling the blankets away from his head.

"Nooo... Hhhwhat?" Charles muttered unhappily as he finally woke. "Erik? Umnnngh..Issit time to go already?"

"Yes." Erik said, not quite managing to hide his amusement.

"I'm getting up." Charles yawned. "There's really no reason to look so thrilled about it."

"Ah, but you're so much fun in the morning." Erik teased. Charles blinked slowly at him in a vaguely harassed manner.

"Why don't you pack up?"

"I already did while you were sleeping."

Charles scowled at this news, looking horrified by the idea, and mumbled indistinctly to himself, his eyes still almost half shut. Erik picked up the cup off the bedside table and handed it to Charles.

"It's tea."

"Oh, thank you." Charles murmured and consumed it greedily. Luckily, Raven had been sure to explain to both Erik and Moira about Charles's zombie-like morning daze. Erik had therefore known better than to leave anything capable of causing damage, like hot tea, for example, within his friend's reach. He really did seem more than a little helpless in this state. Erik went over to his side of the room and sat on his bed, drinking his coffee and contemplating all his new information on Charles, and what he'd found underneath that billboard, while Charles got ready to go.

"I spoke with Raven while you were out." Charles started at the unexpected admission and nearly lost his grip on his suitcase.

"Did you discuss anything in particular?"

"You." Erik supplied smoothly. "She was suprised by your apparently unusual reaction."

"Precisely how much detail did you relay to her?" Charles inquired suspiciously.

"It was adequate enough. She claims you're quite the cuddler." Charles went from suspicion to annoyed embarrassment in seconds. He made his way over to the door and opened it with unnecessary force. Erik just calmly followed him out, he was the one with the car keys, after all.

"Of course she did. Embarassing childhood tendencies aside, what else did you two talk ab-" Charles huffed, agitated as he seemed to realize they didn't. "Dare I ask, why do you mention it?"

"She seemed to think you were being deceptive." Erik told him as they reached the car.

"I see. You think I was lying because I didn't cuddle with you." Charles deadpanned.

"No, that was Raven. I do think that you're hiding something." Erik explained patiently.

"I don't know you that well." Charles remarked drily.

"You're deflecting." Erik pointed out. "Does this have anything to do with Cain Marko?"

Charles froze in the middle of tucking away his suitcase and straightened to stare Erik in the face. His expression was unreadable.

"Cain Marko." He repeated flatly. "Why did she mention Cain Marko?"

"He lived with you when you were children, didn't he? She seemed to harbor an intense dislike of him. I guessed that-"

Charles nodded stiffly and got into his seat before Erik could finish, looking more tense than Erik had ever seen him.

"I guessed right, then." Erik concluded, getting in and starting the engine.

"I don't dream about Cain. He's my stepbrother. He just wasn't too fond of me."

"How often?"

"They happen often enough." Charles said, fidgeting frustratedly. He could tell Erik wasn't going to let it go, and now that Raven knew, it would be even more trouble keeping his secret. "They stop for a while and then they come back. Each time I hope they've stopped for good but they always come back."

He hated lying, but for now it might just be better to let them think it was the usual terrors. He quietly pulled out the file for the next mutant they would be meeting. This one was a point of contention between them. They would be fetching him out of a prison, afterall. Charles' main concern was the boy's lack of options. He didn't want to force him to join them with the threat of further imprisonment. Erik, on the other hand, thought recruiting someone unfamiliar that had been convicted for the murder of his own family might be too trusting of them. Charles reminded him stubbornly that they had been accidental casualties of arson, and that this could possibly be explained by his abilities, and so on. Erik stayed silent at the sight of the manilla envelope, letting both issues drop for the time being. Charles quietly went over the file one more time. He just wanted to be prepared and to forget about his own checkered past. So what is your story then? Who are you Alexander Summers?