Chapter 1
CHARLES
So here I am; Paris. It feels worlds away from home, worlds away from everything. It’s peaceful, everything is quite here. The thoughts of the people around me are nothing more than background noise; a soft growl that is the French language. The words have no meaning to me, so they sit stagnate at the back of my mind, much different from the constant scream of thoughts and voices back home. It’s strange to be away after all this time, but for once I don’t feel guilty for laying down my sword and having a rest. The café looks like it’s straight out of a postcard. A place that should only exist in romcoms and fairytales. I feel out of place in the quaintness of it all, a sore thumb distracting from its beauty. The tables around me are full of couples holding hands. Their love sends a pang of loneliness through me, the feeling is soft and melancholy and familiar.
ERIK
I see him from across the river. Actually, I feel him before I see him, his presence relays a low hum. Anyone who wasn’t trying to feel it would miss it, but the years I’ve spent with him have made the vibration unmistakable. It’s as if his powers are seeping out of him, you can hear his mind whirring: the grand complex thing it is. He looks the most peaceful I’ve ever seen him, sitting at a small round table drinking coffee. He smiles at something, I can’t tell at what, but the mirthfulness of the smile makes me question why I’m here. Maybe this isn’t right maybe I’ve caused too much pain. The damage I’ve caused in the past might be too much for either of us to make amends, it might be too late for us. Too late. I don’t know what I was thinking when I came here, the truth is I wasn’t. when I heard that Charles had left the school, the country, I had no other thought then that I needed to find him, I needed to. I have been wandering Paris, I got the address to where he’s staying from Scott, but when I went to the place he wasn’t there. So I had nothing to do but drift around Paris hoping that by some miracle I would find him, and here he is. No I cam't give up now I’ve come all this way.
CHARLES
The man startles me when he sits down, I don’t know how I let him sneak up on me, normally every time Erik is around it sends a siren blaring through my mind something I couldn’t ignore if I tried.
“Erik,” I whisper his name as if it’s sacred.
He smiles sheepishly at me, even though I try as hard as I can not to read his mind, his emotions are spilling out of him, a rush of nerves and joy rush over me and I breathe in his emotions as if they are my own. I want to trust him, I want him to be the man I first met all those years ago, but there’s a part of my that’s hesitant to open myself up to him once more.
“how’s retirement treating you?” he asks I can tell he’s searching for a way to lighten his sudden presence here.
“What are you doing her Erik?” I try to keep the exhaustion and fatigue from my voice. I don’t think I can keep my anger from him. He’s still the good-hearted man I’ve always known, but this time perhaps it is I who has changed. I’m so tired of letting him take all I give him to only spit it back in my face like he has for so many years.
“I came to see an old friend.” His tone is softer now, he’s sincere when he says it. he looks me in the eyes his stare is intense and I never want to look away. He finally breaks his eye contact and pulls out a chess board from beneath the table.
“fancy a game?” I know if I say yes it will be me admitting that everything, he did was ok. That those years of violence and death were behind us. I’m too tired to start our friendship again.
“Not today thank you.”
Erik looks past me at the busy street of Paris. He looks out at the boats passing by on the Seine river, they look like toy sail boats from here. He finally takes a deep breath and looks back at me.
“Along time ago, you saved my life--” he pauses deeply considering his words before he continues. I know, like me, he’s thinking of that time all those years ago when we first met. I can still feel the weight of him in my arms from when I tried to drag him out of the water. “and you offered me a home, I’d like to do the same for you.” This proposal sends an electrical surge through my body, I know for once he means every word. Time and time again I tried to imagine a future with Erik. Some way this could all end with both of us on the same side, and not in all my years of yearning did I think it could actually happen. I can’t help the corner of my lips from turning up into a smile.
“Just one game.” He insists again opening up the chess board. “For old time’s sake.” He holds up his fists and I chose one. White. This all feels so normal, as if this is how it was always meant to be, this is how things were always meant to end, with Erik and I together.
“I’ll go easy on you,” he jokes laying out the chess pieces.
“No, you won’t.” I say suppressing a laugh, then we’re both laughing, my hand colliding with his as I reach for the white pieces and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.