though it hurts to breathe

[athru]

Who: Raven, Hank, Charles and Erik
Broadcast: No
Action: On the Heron
When: Now onwards!

[ It had taken her a little while to calm down with Hank at her side, long enough that she's practically itching to make her way over to the Heron as soon as she can, device in her hand - the temptation to text ahead, to make sure they're really there, that they're okay, is almost a little too daunting and there's not much Raven can do other than force herself to stop. She's stronger than this, true, but coming out of the other side of something as horrendous as Apocalypse and standing tall, waking up on the Fleet, trying to figure out if she can handle it all again - it's too much.

The only thoughts in her mind are that she needs to find Charles, she needs to find Erik, and she needs to make sure they're alive, that they're safe, that they're here. This is going to be impossibly difficult for all four of them, Hank at her side, but they could work through it. They beat an all powerful mutant 'God', they came together as a family and they worked, hard, to make sure they all came out alive the other side.

What was the Fleet after all that?

It doesn't take her long to break away from Hank into a practical run as she reaches the Heron, a flash as she makes her way down the hall to find the other two mutants. Erik is important in her mind, of course, but her first instinct is to call out for Charles, standing outside the door and pressing her fingers against it, afraid for a moment that he won't answer, that he won't be there. The fear grips her, and her hands shake, but she does it anyway, knocking and calling for her brother.

After that, later... Well, she has to take time to calm down. Once she's sure Charles is safe, that Erik is safe, she can actually move to relax herself, the weight on her shoulders fading away. It takes time, but it happens, slowly... But she doesn't leave. She doesn't feel like she can leave either of them, and she wonders how they're going to handle that. ]

Comments

[exothermia]

[Charles gets the door first, because why wouldn't he? The energy that floods the room when Raven enters and throws herself at her brother is like electricity on Erik's skin, faintly prickling. Nothing like the awkward, artificial reserve that had fallen on Charles and Erik when they woke up side-by-side.

Erik smiles at the pair of them reuniting. It's genuine. It's also not a moment for him, in this too-small bedroom. So he slips out of the room while they're occupied, giving them space.

Giving himself some as well.

He stops in the corridor just outside the room though, leaning back against the wall, and passes his hand over his face. He's gone from solitude to a deluge of interaction, ties, substance. It's pointless to wish he could have been better prepared.]

[axiomed]

[ When Charles opens the door, the sight of Raven (safe, breathing, not in the throes of death) and he can't help the unintelligible sound of relief that escapes his mouth as he reaches out for her, still breathing, still alive ]

[beathach]

[he's only a moment behind Raven, but when the door opens he simply steps back, to lean against the wall and wait. The rising panic and concern he felt as they landed the shuttle is placated when Charles is the one to answer the door. And he can see Erik in the background and it's more than enough for now, to settle back and let Raven and Charles have as long as they need, uninterrupted]

[ later . . . ]

[axiomed]

[ With Raven getting her things from the Blameless and Hank . . . somewhere nearby in his attempt to be innocuous, Charles needed to leave his room. Staying in it right now . . . well, it wasn't helping his mood, much less anything else. He sighs, rubbing his forehead. A lot of the earlier emotions he picked up had quickly burned away his patchwork shields Charles had erected when En-Sabah-Nur died. He hadn't given it proper attention since the aftermath.

( and he was scared to look deeper, to see traces of the man who had towered over him and ruined him in the one place Charles had felt powerful. )

His hand shakes, spilling some of the tea he had just made and Charles curses lightly under his breath. He had to be more than this. He was more than this. Logan would have been pleased. Charles kept his promise, had set his students on the right path (the path that held more violence, but Charles can't protect anyone, much less himself. He had to let go of that instinct to control) and his ghosts had been laid to rest.

Charles sips his tea quietly, reveling in the silence of the ship. . . . Or what was silence. Echoes of a sudden pain lace through his skull and he sets his mug down in shock, trying to block it out. ]

night of the 5th

[athru]

[ Raven comes back from checking in on the Blameless and spends the next few hours tidying up around the Heron - it's not exactly her job, or her perogative, but it gives her something to do with her hands and her mind, something brainless and ridiculous while she pulls the pieces of herself back together. She's still a touch confused when she wanders from ship to ship, trying to adjust to the reality of memories that are a decade old, but she thinks it's getting better. It's easier than it was before, at least.

Right now, her bed is the same bed as Charles, and she treks her way back without much hesitation, though she does pause outside the door, glancing to Erik's room. A part of her is waiting for the day where they figure things out and she's kicked out so they can be together again, and she's not offended or insulted by the idea; it simply is. She's accustomed to what they had shared, even if time has changed it, and while she doesn't expect things to be mended perfectly she knows that they mean more to each other than words can express.

They'll figure it out.

Slowly, she pushes open the door, peeking her head in before she slips inside. ]

Hey.