When the dust settles and the fire dies down, Erik's first thought is silent. He's still wearing the helmet, more used to it than actually using it consciously, but as soon as it's presence registers in his mind, he throws it on the ground, with so much violence and hatred that he sees it crack slightly, not enough to break it or make it loses its abilities. He just leaves a white mark on it, like a scar.
"Are you okay?" Raven asks, she's just two feet away, she's helping that kid with the silver hair walk away from the smoking corpse of Apocalypse. "It was a good thing you did."
He doesn't reply, he can't seem to, his tongue is like stuck to the roof of his mouth. He witnesses the muted joy around him, they're victorious but too exhausted to truly celebrate it. He sees Hank, Beast, in the corner of his eye move towards Psylocke and Storm, he's not even wary around them, he should be really, they were enemies just a few minutes ago. But Hank is the embodiment of Charles' teaching; too quick to forgive and too quick to trust.
It takes Erik a few moments to breathe after that thought, he tastes copper in his mouth and his head suddenly feels heavy. He knows it's the adrenaline slowly leaving his body, but he feels like there's something else, something he can't quite name.
A name.
Erik doesn't know where Charles is, he's thrown away the helmet in hope that his friend would reach for him, but there's no one digging in his head, there's only deafening emptiness. He eyes the half-collapsed building where the redhead who had just annihilated Apocalypse had been thrown back with the blow of her powers, there's movement there, he catches the glimpse of another woman, on her knees and frenetically moving her hands. It takes Erik a few seconds to recognise Moira MacTaggert, she has aged a little, but gracefully. She still looks dignified in everything she does, even covered in sweat and dirt. It's almost maddening.
"What is Moira doing up there?" Erik hears himself ask, he didn't really want to voice any thought out loud, not when he still feels like an opponent to all of these people, but Moira's strange panic is making him anxious, and he still can't see Charles.
"Jean must have made quite a mess when she landed," Hank says, "The propulsion must have..."
"Is she okay?" A boy questions, his voice high pitched with fear. His eyes are covered by strange looking sunglasses and Erik can barely recall what his powers are and if the accessory is in any way shape or form linked to it. "She shouldn't have done that if it hurt her."
Hank sighs, "I think it was necessary, Scott."
"But, what if she broke an arm or a leg."
"I can take you up there," Another boy says, he's blue like the night and his eyes are yellow, he reminds Erik of another blue teenage mutant he once knew when he turns to Raven he can see on her face that the suspicion he had is true.
"Can you take me too?" He asks, his eyes still stuck on Raven, he knows he should call her Mystique, he knows he shouldn't ask her son to take him to Charles, he knows he should run and hide, but he's terrified, and in his terror, he's becoming brave.
The boy hesitates, then he nods and grabs Erik's arm. He's quick, even quicker than Azazel had been, in less than a second the three of them are in the building, just a few feet away from Moira, Jean and Charles.
Oh, Charles.
Hank was right, the girl's fall had made a chaos of the remaining walls. She's not in a very good condition herself, she's shaking and her eyes are wet with tears. The boy who came with Erik, the one that isn't Raven's son for God's sake, runs to her and embraces her tightly, Erik expects the girl to push him away or cry harder, but she just melts in his arms and stops trembling.
"Professor?" The other boy asks, moving slowly to where Moira is standing over Charles, shielding him with her body, "Is he okay?"
Erik hadn't dared move forward, not when the last time he saw Moira MacTaggert he had tried to kill her. He hadn't planned on rushing to Charles' side either, he hadn't felt worthy of it, but the worry in the woman's eyes, the uncertainty in her voice when she answers is too much.
Charles is bruised, his hands are scraped, his nose is bleeding and his face and head are covered in wounds. He's bald too, and it shouldn't make Erik cry, there's a lot more to cry about, but he remembers Charles the first time he entered Cerebro, so worried about his hair, so worried about his good looks, and now Charles can't walk, now Charles has lost his hair, his friends, his sister, and it's Erik's fault.
"We need to move," It's Hank, of course, and Erik doesn't even ask how he got up so quickly with a wounded teenage girl in his arms, "We won't be able to do anything here."
"I don't know if we should move him." Moira says, "He took a blow to the head when Jean landed."
Hank slowly sets Ororo down and walks towards them, he's not blue anymore, but that doesn't mean he's not still angry. "There's no point in staying here longer than we need to. Charles won't get better in ruins, Moira."
"He wasn't breathing," She replies, and Erik can see Raven behind them gag slightly, "Something happened in his head, and he wasn't breathing."
"He was fighting." Someone says and it's Jean, "He was fighting Apocalypse inside." She looks ready to fall over, but she still tries to approach them and kneel next Charles. "He could have won, but Apocalypse knew where to hit to hurt him."
Hank blinks, "What do you mean?"
She takes a deep breath, as the memory of what Charles' mind looked like hurt her physically, "It was so dark, so... hopeless."
There's a scream on the tip of Erik's tongue. Who does this kid think she is, saying that Charles is hopeless, Charles has always been the most hopeful one, the one with the biggest heart, the brightest mind, who does she think she is, she's just a child who barely knows him.
"We'll talk about it later," Hank decides, he looks shaken, but he's also the only one responsible enough at the moment to make such choices.
"We shouldn't move him," Moira repeats, her hands frenetically swiping the blood off of Charles' face. "Remember Cuba?"
Hank recoils, "He would have died."
But Moira isn't listening to him, she's hysterical, she's broken, she's staring at Erik with rage in her heart and hatred in her eyes, "How come," She starts, her voice raspy with anger, "How come every time there is a fight, you come out of it unscathed and he always bleeds alone on the ground."
If she had stabbed him, it would have hurt less.
"It was the last time," He whispers, because what else can he say? "It was the last time, I swear."
She doesn't look at him when she replies, "We both know that's a lie. You'll drag him to your fight, you'll take him to your war. You'll beat him, shoot him, use him until he dies."
Erik flees after that, he cannot come back to the manor with them right now, he'll come to visit Charles when he feels better, like he always has, but not now.
He'll come when Moira's words feel less like a prophecy.