Title: Seconds Out
Fandom: X-Men Days of Future Past
Length: 100 words
Rating: G
Content notes: non-graphic canon violence
Summary: "Sorry," Charles says, "I’m just not very good with violence."




Soaked to the skin, he’s burning up inside, heart pounding. "Sorry," he says, "I’m just not very good with violence."

Unlike the monster they’ve come to rescue. The man Charles loved once, who took everything he cared about from him and left him lying broken on the sand.

The door slides back and there he is: still insolently beautiful, unchanged by a decade of captivity.

“Charles?” Erik says, as if he can’t quite believe it. He starts to smile.

All the years of rage and pain and loss fuse in a single moment. Charles draws back his fist, and strikes.