Chapter 5
At this time, outwardly the mansion was in a deathly hush, but the muffled stirs in the broom closet didn’t escape Erik’s attention as he walked hurriedly down the passageway. Breathing a heavy sigh, Erik stopped at the broom closet and held out his hand to feel the metal vibrating under his power. In the wake of a loud clunk, the door was yanked open. One after another, out fell a knot of students, all disheveled and in a chaotic mess. The lanky boy on the top raised his head with a sheepish grin.
‘Hi, Mr. Lehnsherr.’ Kurt greeted him with a strong German lilt accent.
‘This is how you prepare for tomorrow’s training?’ said Erik crossly, ignoring his greeting. The kids exchanged glances and all descended into guilty silence. At last Scott braced himself and said,
‘We figure checking the mental state of the supervisor is also part of the preparation. And it’s an essential part.’
‘Alright then, tell me what you find.’
‘Um, nothing special, actually. Just some random thoughts.’ Jean carefully weighed her words, forcing a flicker of smile to mask her nervousness, ‘But you pass the test.’
‘Well, that’s quite unexpected.’ said Erik nonchalantly. ‘Now get yourself tidied up and go back to bed. Don’t you ever think about continuing doing what you are doing right now or I’ll tell Charles to forcibly put you all into a trance. And don’t go bother Peter–’ he added warningly, his intense glance resting on Kurt, who seemed to be really intrigued by the idea of bamfing into Peter’s room on the spur of the moment for all the intricate details they probably had missed. On seeing the boy retract his craning neck and now sit huddled alongside Ororo he continued, ‘He’s already asleep. If you have anything to gossip about, leave it till morning.’
Technically there was not a slightest shred of humor in that remark and therefore, Erik was utterly surprised, and annoyed also, when he saw Scott and Kurt burst into foolish giggles at what he was saying. He was baffled why it cracked them up.
‘That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.’ At Erik’s questioning frown Scott forced some incoherent mumbles in between hysterical giggles, ‘The dude never sleeps, like ever. He was always hyped up till four in the morning.’
‘A bit annoying, if I’m to be honest.’ Jean wrinkled her nose.
‘Though I gotta say it would come in handy sometimes.’ said Ororo with burning exhilaration, ‘Remember the last time we went to the bar?’
‘Oh, right. In the end everyone’s drowsy and wasted. You are the worst, Scott.’
‘Yeah, like, royally drunk and dopey.’ Scott grimaced. ‘I had least idea what happened the rest of the night–’
‘But Peter took care of us–’ Kurt chipped in with a look of reminiscence.
‘–The next day I woke up to find myself ended up on my bed.’ Scott continued, ‘Clearly Peter was the only one sober enough to get us back. It’s a strange thing though, when locked up with a bunch of paralytic and dead beat dumbheads he suddenly becomes the brightest and sanest one. Funny eh? Not that I’m holding your son up to ridicule, really…’ Scott added in a panic haste when it came back to him that Erik was still around. ‘I’m grateful for what he did–’
But the rest of the sentence failed to reach Erik as he was already off on the way back to his room, with the Walkman tightly clasped in his hand. He couldn’t tell but for some inexplicable reasons it was warm to touch.
A draught welcomed him when he entered the room and surprisingly, it was gentle, like the caring words of a mother. Standing by the window, he allowed it to caress his skin, savoring the feeling brought by its motherly touch while attempting to remember when was the last time he had been cared for. The answer came quickly – when he still had his family. The family took care of him.
Now, by sheer luck he found his only family back. Not just a biological son, but a family. Once he naively thought that family was all about genes and blood. However, after he started to build his own family he came to realize how dumb it was to simply condense it into hereditary. Family was more than genetic inheritance. It was about looking after each other. Blood and genes were what connected them, but it was love that made them a family.
Erik looked at the Walkman he was still holding, peering, while studying attentively. The yellow paint was more or less worn out but in the gleaming light, it still glistened brightly, which reminded him of the sunlight on a breezy summer morning. Warm and gentle, not blazing.
He inhaled a deep breath when the warm breeze broke on his face, tasting the smell of a humid night and listening to the hushed whispers between the wind and the snake plant. The leaves no longer slouched and in the wind they danced wildly and vigorously like a knot of noisy school kids, shouting out to him that they were full of beans after a nap.
‘You revive.’ said Erik under his breath, toying with the leaves, allowing them to caress the back of his hand. He was astounded at how it managed to revive in such a short space of time. Erik couldn’t get a handle on how the cells or chlorophyll worked since botany was not his strong suit. He could only boil it down to the miracle of life. Plus a tinge of magic of time, maybe.
Kinda resembled the upbringing of children. It was a miracle that they were brought to the world, strong and healthy and grow to maturity as time weaved its magic on them. Nina was the descendants of these two elements combined, and so was Peter, only that the birth of his son was a pure accident.
Their reunion was also an accident of fate. Had it not been for the encounter ten years ago in the Pentagon, their lives would have continued like a pair of parallel lines, never converging. But fate brought them together into a pair of intertwined spirals.
Fate was truly a tricky bastard, eh? He had fought against it for most of his life, trying to break off some crumbs from the beguiling toast the Fate had displayed to him, to feed himself with the delights of a blissful life. He fought hard, yet it was to no avail. He had long given up the ridiculous thought of throwing himself on its mercy. But now, at this point, when he had grown old and weary, it suddenly and inexplicably decided to have mercy on him and the gift was given to him on a silver platter. Rather peculiar, right? Erik didn’t know what that meant or what was in store for him. Fate was a cunning devil. He could never outthink it.
But Peter’s mind was easy to read. Erik knew too well why he lied to him back there. His intention was screamingly obvious. Erik’s lips curved into a faint smile as his coarse hand ran over the smooth skin of the leaves. The more he thought about it the harder he found to repress the impulse to laugh and at last he allowed it to be breathed out with a shallow exhalation, having a vague feeling of somewhere shattered being brought together.
It beggared description how it felt to have somewhere broken on the mend. Erik could only say it rivaled what one would feel when he smelled the first refreshing spring breeze after a long chilling winter.
Though Peter might be disappointed, for his caring attempt failed, unfortunately. It was three in the morning yet Erik was still wide awake and had no intention to disengage himself from the tumultuously thinking. The boy would surely feel disgruntled if he had known what was going on downstairs. At this thought Erik grinned again. He hadn’t had a good smile for an awfully long time and he really could use some.
‘And you could use some sleep as well.’ Peter’s voice intruded on his thoughts. He was deeply moved by the boy’s tender solicitude for him. But on the other hand, he doubted he would do the same thing if he were put in Peter’s place. Erik couldn’t say for certain that he would love a father who was absent from his life for twenty years. He would only hate him, despise him and spit on him before turning away.
It’s a good thing he’s nothing like me. Erik gave vent to a heavy sigh, tenderly stroking the leaves of the snake plant for one last time before traipsing away.
Upon settling down on the bed, staring meditatively at the ceiling, Erik put on the headphone and pushed the play button. The freely-flowing melodies streamed from the headphone into his ears and haunting his head like a lost soul ghosting across the darkest waves of the sea.
‘I thought that everything else would just wait while you are wasting your time on your enemies…’ Every word was as though excerpted from a passage from his biography. Even Erik himself had to partly agree that he had wasted too much time martyring himself to revenge that he was left with only a little to share it with whom he truly cared about.
Not anymore. Erik said to himself with firm resolution.
The music was still ringing in his ears as a sudden rush of drowsiness surged through him. Weary, Erik closed his eyes and slowly inclined to a trance when the Walkman was playing ‘Can you see your days blighted by darkness?’ for the third time.
Erik couldn’t say for sure for how long he had roamed freely in the wonderland of dreams since it only felt like the mere blink of an eye. But one thing he was certain was that it must be late when a beam of glaring sunlight hit his eyes.
‘Great.’ Erik groaned, struggling to get up and rushed down to the Danger Room after roughly getting himself tidied up.
Raven shot him a deathly stare on seeing him appear in the doorway, ‘You are late.’ she said sternly.
Erik simply shrugged. He wondered if Peter, or the other kids, had already told her what had happened last night before he came here cause they seemed to have a good gossip, judging by the smirks on their faces. But the likelihood was that she was still kept in the dark for that could well explain her foul attitude. She was still pissed at him for being an asshole to Peter.
Momma's gonna keep you right here under her wing, Erik muttered inwardly. Just the lyrics of a song. He hastily added when he caught a glimpse of Charles’ reproachful look.
Yet Raven was still fuming and the kids were gloating at him. With a nonchalant shrug Erik frankly admitted, ‘I overslept.’
At his words Peter quirked his eyebrow while his lips twitched into the suspicion of a smile. It only remained for a fleeting moment, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Erik.
‘Very responsible indeed.’ retorted Raven, who scorned to mask her heavy sarcasm. After darting one last dark look at him she turned to the kids, clapped her hands crisply for their attention and summoned them to the center of the room. Erik walked straight to Charles while she shouted ‘Get your ass here X-men! We are doing one-on-one combat training today.’
‘She’s really good at playing the team momma role, isn’t she?’ said Erik in a confidential tone once Raven was out of earshot, ‘I know what you are thinking, Charles–’ he continued as the professor broke into a mild chuckle, ‘but they specifically used Momma in that line. It’s not like I have another choice of words.’
Charles shook his head, ‘I doubt it.’
‘It’s actually a good song, Charles. Wanna have a try?’
‘No, no.’ Charles rejected flatly, ‘Keep it to yourself, Erik. That’s not my thing.’
‘Well, wait till you binge-listen all the songs of Pink Floyd before you throw any judgment.’
Charles’ face wrinkled in a broad grin as his eyes flitted across the kids standing in line to be briefed about the instructions, ‘I wonder who else is also fanatical about Pink Floyd. The name’s on the tip of my tongue but I just can’t recall it–’
In response to his words a significant smile materialized in sync on Erik’s face.
‘Alright now–’ Raven ranted in the wake of yet another handclap. Clearing her throat, she raised her voice to drown the noises out, ‘Kurt, you are with me today. Jean, Ororo, you go in pair. And Scott–’
‘No, not Peter again.’ Scott whined.
‘Ready to be thrashed again, Scotty?’ Peter yelled back in a challenging air, smirking and putting on the goggles.
‘I’m ready to kick your ass.’ Scott snorted, his finger on the side button of the visor, readying himself for the next instruction given by Raven and preparing to punch it anytime. In the shrill yell of ‘Now!’ he swiftly jabbed his index finger on the button. A flaring optic beam was released, spurting in Peter’s direction but ended up hitting nowhere as the speedster disappeared into a silver blur in a flash.
Where the hell did he go? Scott cursed inwardly, vigilantly glancing around while attempting to steady his nerves. The noises reached a crescendo as the others were all jumping into combat following hot on the heels of Raven’s instruction. Engulfed in a cauldron of voices, it was really hard for him to keep focused.
Hence he didn’t see it coming when, all of a sudden, someone grabbed hold of his shoulder from behind and threw him to the ground. Falling flat on his back, for a while Scott just stared blankly at the high dome of the Danger Room, dazed and confused, until Peter’s smirky face materialized, reflecting in the lens of the visor. The blurry outline of Peter’s face gradually sharpened with each time he blinked.
‘I hate you.’ Scott slowly grumbled, glowering at the distinct reflection of that cocky smile when it couldn’t be anymore sharper. Peter just slightly tilted his head.
‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’ He blew a light-hearted whistle, ‘Need a hand?’ he suggested, squatting down at Scott’s side and holding out his hand. But, fuming at his failure, the kid knocked it off and struggled to rise to his feet all by himself.
As Scott staggered in another direction, Erik strode up to give Peter a gentle but firm pat on the shoulder. ‘Nice one.’ said him cheerfully, ‘Perfect timing and neat dodging – that’s an A+ by my standard.’
‘Oh, thanks.’ murmured Peter, a faint crimson creeping up his ears. ‘Still, no to the Brotherhood.’ He added, ‘I know you are short-handed at the moment but, no. You can’t bribe me into this even with this blandishment. I’m not easily flattered.’
‘I can see that.’ Erik shook his head with a resigned smile, ‘And one more thing, remember not to let your guard down even after your enemy is taken to the ground. Always be on alert.’
‘But that’s just training.’
‘Training is preparation for the real battles. You acquitted yourself well in the training to survive those battles, not for fun, right?’
Peter pursed his lips as he thought about this and at last gave a shrug, neither approving nor disapproving.
‘By the way, I’m not sorry for what I’ve done.’ Peter began a moment later as they saw Scott stomp away with a face like thunder after Charles breathed some comforting words to him, which didn't work well obviously. ‘The kid deserved a kick in the ass.’ said him matter-of-factly in Erik’s ears. Nonetheless he broke into a trot the next second and quickened his pace to catch up with Scott, gaining on him at the far end of the passageway. Peter threw his arm around Scott’s shoulder and pulled him into a talk in his shell-like. Erik’s eyes followed them till they disappeared round the corner.
‘Seems that Father’s Day is indeed coming early this year.’ A brisk voice woke him up from his stillness. Erik swiveled around to see Charles wheel himself to him, with a tender smile on his face.
‘How long have you known about this?’
‘Not long. I overheard it from Scott some weeks ago.’ Charles said frankly, right when Scott yelled ‘I want to play Defender’ at the other side.
‘Peter thought you heard his thoughts.’ Erik explained, meanwhile he tried not to be distracted by the noises and footsteps echoing in the passageway, when his son shouted ‘Deal’ back.
Charles laughed a crisp laugh, ‘I did. He projected them very loud, actually. But the thing is… they are too disorganized, and flashing like bullets. I can hear them but I really cannot comprehend any of them. They are like cryptic hieroglyphics to me.’
‘That’s brilliant.’ said Erik sincerely, meditatively gazing into the distance where the boys just disappeared.
A meaningful smile flitted across Charles’ face, ‘Another reason to be a proud dad.’ said him significantly. But Erik refuted his remark with a slight shake of his head.
‘I’m not talking about his powers. I’m just glad that after all he underwent throughout these years, he has grown to be a good man,’ he paused to breathe a deep sigh before plowing on, ‘a man better than his father.’
The silence served them well as a break from the tumult of thoughts until Charles courteously asked, ‘Want to fill me in? I’ve got a feeling that you are keen for a talk right now.’
‘I wonder how come you always know what I’m thinking.’ said Erik teasingly.
‘You have it written all over your face, old friend.’ Charles sighed. With a quick glance at the far end of the corridor, he wheeled himself forward while beckoned Erik to follow up, ‘Let’s do this with a stroll around the mansion, shall we?’
‘With pleasure, professor.’