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▎ BEAUTIFUL CRIME ▎
»»-----　act two. another lifetime
CHAPTER SIXTEEN ━━ calm before the storm

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♯ ❝LET GO OF THE PLANE! ❞ 
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     EVEN AS A SOCIAL RECLUSE, CHARLES XAVIER REMAINED QUITE A WEALTHY MAN AS MAGGIE FOUND HERSELF STANDING IN FRONT OF A GLINSTERING WHITE PRIVATE JET. WITH A QUICK RUFFLE OF PETER'S SILVER HAIR, Maggie wished the boy a save journey back, Charles adding for the speedster to take it slow. Maggie knew for certain, he would absolutely not take it slow. But she refrained from saying anything to professor as she passed the man and walked inside the jet.

    "Where did they dig you up?" Maggie heard Erik unmistakably ask Logan, the two mutants had already boarded the plane, both men rather not staying anywhere near the others at the moment.

    "He actually dug us up." Maggie cut in as she entered their line of sight, easily manoeuvring around the small space and dropping down in the seat across from Logan, before looking at Erik over her shoulder. "Came all the way from the future." She added, taking great pride in the fact that Erik was gawking at her like she was some sort of enthralling seer.

     "What?" His brows contorted together in confusion, eyes flickering between Maggie and Logan.

     "You're gonna find it hard to believe." Logan began, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table. "You sent me." He paused for a moment, "You, Maggie and Charles. From the future."

     Erik blinked, once, twice before shaking his head as if that would make everything fall into place. He didn't have time to ask any more questions as Charles and Hank walked inside the jet, a thick tension filling the room almost immediately.

     For a short moment, Maggie wished Henry was here next to her, rubbing soothing circles on her arm like he always did when she was nervous. And she was exceedingly nervous when she watched Charles glower at Erik, as if his stare would set the metal bender on fire.

     They were miles high in the air, and the only people on board would rather kill each other than help one another at the moment. They were a ticking time bomb ready to explode, and Maggie did not want to die. Especially in a plane crash.

Her eyes remained focused between Charles and Erik, knowing if anyone was bound to explode in a fit of rage it would be either one of those two. Unless Hank decided to come out of the cockpit and throw Erik around for everything he had done.

     "How did you lose them?" Erik did not look up from where he was staring out of one of the windows.

     "The treatment for my spine affects my DNA." He replies calmly—almost too calmly if anyone would ask the chestnut haired mutant. Like the calm before the storm.

     That did make Erik look up in surprise, seemingly on the same train of thought she had been when she had found Charles on her doorstep, standing nonetheless. "You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?" While her tone had been monotone, clearly not that interested in the actually reason, Erik's voice held a hidden tone of bitter judgement.

     "I sacrificed my powers so I could sleep." Charles retorted evenly, but Maggie spotted a dangerous glint in his eyes as she spoke. But what stood out the most, something she hadn't been able to spot while she was still recovering from actually seeing him again—was the tired look in his eyes, followed by the weary tone of his voice.

     He almost sounded defeated. She had seen him angry, sad and bitter, but never truly defeated. Maggie could almost feel an ache in her heart at the sight of it, but she had to remind herself he had done this to himself, the alcohol, the grudges, the self-pitying.

     "But what do you know about it." Charles added as afterthought.

     "I lost my fair share."

     Maggie didn't notice it, but for a split second, his eyes flickered to her slouching figure as he spoke before returning his gaze to the man in front of him.

     "Ah, dry your eyes Erik." The way he spoke his name so softly, yet so dangerously made even Maggie shiver at the sound. The room became even more tension filled if it was possible and she swallowed harshly as they stared each other down. "It doesn't justify what you've done."

     "You have no idea what I've done." Erik shook his head, eyes glinting dangerously.

     "I know that you took the things that mean the most to me." Charles replied swiftly, eyes narrowing and jaw clenched tightly as he gripped the armrest firmly to contain himself.

     "Well maybe you should have fought harder for them." Erik raised his voice, and Maggie shifted in her seat as did Logan, both mutants exchanging wary glances at the scene unfolding in front of them.

     "If you want to fight Erik, I'll give you a fight." He pushed himself forward, almost jumping out of his chair to face Erik who had gone to stand up himself.

     "Boys." Maggie's eyes widened as they closed in on each other, "Sit you asses down."

     "Sit down!"

    "Let him come!" Erik shook his head, almost like he had been expecting Charles outburst of furious anger as he barrelled towards him, hitting him before grapping the lapels of Erik's shirt, roughly shaking him.

     "You abandoned me! You took her away!" Charles barked out, spit flying everywhere as he let his emotions take control over his actions.

     Maggie watched worriedly as Erik remained as still as a statue. "Angel."

     She blinked, hearing the woman's name, memories flashing past her.

     "Azazel." Charles shoulders slouched, it was barely noticeable but it was there, "Emma. Banshee."

     But while Charles had seemingly calmed down slightly, it was now Erik who began losing control over his emotions as the plane started to shake more and more with each name he spoke. "Mutant brothers and sisters, all dead!"

     She had to grip the side of the plane to steady herself from tumbling over wen the plane shook violently. "Erik?" She called out, but the man ignored her, promptly glaring at Charles.

     "Countless others experimented on, butchered!" He shouted and the plane abruptly tilted to the side, making the others fall over while he remained glued to the ground seething in his own anger.

    "Erik!" Maggie shouted this time as she pushed herself away from the ground, wide and worried eyes fixated on him. "Let go of the plane!"

     "Where were you Charles!?" He bellowed, as Charles scooted away from in on the couch. "We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when you're people needed you! Hiding! You and Hank! Pretending to be something that you're not!

     "Erik!" Maggie shouted once more, before encircling her hand around his upper arm and roughly pulling him back around—back to reality it seemed as he blinked, eyes focusing in on her now before gradually realising his hold on the plane.

     He turned around slightly, but Maggie's grip remained strong to hold him back. "You abandoned us all." He said the last part like a soft whisper, but it carried volumes as Charles averted his gaze almost in shame before quickly rushing away to join Hank in the cockpit.

     Maggie released a breath she didn't know she was holding, chest heaving as the last bits of adrenaline left her body again.

     "So you were always an asshole." Logan jested casually, lighting up a cigar as if it was just another Tuesday.

     Erik manoeuvred around in Maggie's iron grip, her knuckles a very pale white—a stark contrast to her tanned skin. "I take it we were best buddies in the future?"

     Logan laughed, but it didn't sound very joyful Maggie noted, "I spent a lot of years trying to bring you down bub."

     Maggie blinked, this she didn't know, but then again, she couldn't say she knew a lot about the future.

     "How does that work out for you?" Erik raised an eyebrow, and Maggie finally realised she was still holding onto Erik as if her life depended on it and slowly her grip slacks and she let's her arm fall limply beside her.

     Erik doesn't say anything about it, but for a moment he misses the warmth her hand left on his arm.

     "You're like me." Logan shrugged unbothered by Erik's hostile demeanour, "You're a survivor."

     Maggie hesitantly walked back to her seat, brushing past Erik who remains rooted on the spot trying to progress everything that had happened.

     "You want to pick all that shit up?" Logan gestured towards the mess on the ground from the little power display.

     Maggie can only laugh softly at Erik's offended expression.

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     IT WAS DARK AGAIN WHEN MAGGIE WOKE UP FROM HER SLUMBER, HAIR RUFFLED AND EYES HALF OPEN, she still felt exhausted, but that probably was because of the whirlwind of meeting someone from the future, breaking out a convict and leave on a plane to stop her friend from murdering some sort of weapon designer-slash-mutant hating scumbag in the span of eighty four hours.

     When she sat back straight in her seat, she noticed Logan sleeping soundlessly in front of her, arms crossed over his chest as he snored with his head lulled to the side. And when she turned around to look at the others she noticed the chess board displayed on the table between Erik and Charles and a soft smile fell on her lips.

     Charles was asleep too, but unlike Logan who had looked peaceful enough, Charles frown remained permanent on his face even while he was unconscious. His head was angled awkwardly, and more than like very sore when he would wake up later.

     Pushing herself up, Maggie grabbed the soft blanket that had been draped over her by someone while she had been sleeping and cautious of her feet, she made her way towards the professor.

     Jubilee had been quite a restless sleeper, Maggie had found out early on. The then nine year old would always twist and turn, eventually throwing her duvet away sometime during the night. Maggie would always stop by the girl's room before she went to bed to check on her.

     She would always mumble and frown until Maggie picked up the duvet and tucked her in.

     Maggie hoped it would help Charles too.

     Silently, she placed the blanket over Charles slouched frame, pulling it up until it rested on his shoulders. For a second his face twisted before his muscles relaxed and a more neutral expression replaced his previous one. The chestnut haired mutant smiled softly, ready to return to her own seat.

     As she spun around, she however came face to face with a very much awake Erik who was eying her curiously.

     Her eyes widened a fraction in startled surprise. She had expected him to be asleep too, but he seemed wide awake, nursing a glass of what seemed to be whiskey in his left hand. "oh." She breathed out, "you're still awake."

     Erik hummed eyes trailing from her to Charles who seemed to be much more comfortable then he was before.

     "It's a little trick I picked up." Maggie elaborated, feeling a bit awkward with the silence that wrapped around them. "Jubilee couldn't sleep without a blanket."

     "Who?" Erik frowned unsurely as he tilted his head to side.

     "She's one of the mutant kids I house." Maggie expanded seeing as the man remained confused. "I had set up a small house on the coast for mutants to crash. Like a little safe haven. But then the Vietnam War started and Charles school closed down—it's kinda become like a little boarding school at this point."

     He smiled at that, it was barely noticeable, but to Maggie it was as clear as day. She always had noticed the little things about him. And apparently she still did. "You know, the kid from before—Peter? He was one of the first kids I housed. I met his mother a while back in D.C. , poor woman didn't know what to do with him, so I offered to help her. He's a great kid, as reckless as they come, but he's sweet." She smiled fondly. "All the kids are amazing," She looked up to see Erik observe her with a certain spark in his eye as she spoke about the mutant children. "There is this little girl Millie, she can manipulate fire—she can't quite control it yet."

     "We've had a lot of house fires over the last couple of months but she is getting better at it." Maggie told him with a small glimmer of pride, "Of course I am in no way a teacher, that has always been Charles, " For a moment they both look at Charles sleeping figure. "I'm just glad I have Henry there, he was a teacher at a primary school in Chicago. He puts up with a lot though, I think he has some permanent burned handprints on his skin from the amount of times Millie wanted him to carry her."

     "We all have to learn control at some point," Erik shrugged, "He probably understands that."

     "Oh, no, he isn't a mutant." Maggie shook her head, watching as Erik's body tensed at the revelation.

     "He's human?" His smile has vanished now.

     "Yeah, but you should see how he is with them, even you can't deny he's a good man." She tried to make him understand, to make him see.

     He doesn't say anything else on the subject, and instead quickly changed it again. "I'm glad you're happy."

     Such simple words Maggie thinks, but it warms her heart nonetheless. "Yeah it's been up and running for almost six year now. It's been great so far."

     "I didn't know it was there for so long." Erik replied after a beat of silence, almost disappointed by the fact that he didn't know what she had been up to the last ten years.

     Maggie chuckled, "Well how could you know? You were in pris—"She stopped abruptly as if she had completely forgotten what had happened in the last decade.

     "I didn't kill the president."

     "Huh?" Her head shot up in surprise, head tilted to the side as she observed him, looking for anyone lies but his eyes were sincere.

     "I tried to safe him." Erik continued, swirling the liquid in his glass slowly, absentmindedly. "But the police took me down before I could."

     "But the bullet curved." She had to fight the urge to immediately accept his story, her heart still full of hope that maybe, maybe Erik did change, or at least slightly changed to do more good.

     "I was trying to safe him." Erik repeated, their eyes meeting briefly before both looked away, "He was one of us."

      "Really?" She sat up straighter after hearing that revelation. "Mutant president." She chuckled, "That would have been nice."

      "Yeah." He hummed.

      It would have been nice indeed.

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