The Marker
DISCLAIMER: The
characters belong to Marvel, and are
used without permission for entertainment purposes only.
When Charles Xavier wheeled up to the two tombstones, he found him
dressed all in black. Black pants, black turtleneck sweater and a black
trench coat. Charles Xavier thought the color scheme fit the mood
tonight. Charles took a deep breath. "Chris."
Chris Summers just stiffened up at the sound of his name and replied
in a cold, deadly tone, "Don't say one word to me Charles. I blame
you for this."
"I understand what you're going through." Charles stated
quietly.
Corsair suddenly turned his head and shot Charles a look that men
across the galaxy had come to fear. "You understand what I'm going
through? I don't think so. I lost both of them because of your stupid
little war. I had finally managed to find them again after all those
years and now they're both gone. You have no idea what I'm feeling right
now or you would be getting as far away from me as possible."
Xavier flinched, "Corsair, I understand why you're angry."
"Do you now?" Chris fired back bitterly, "All Alex
wanted to do was live a normal life, settle down, study his rocks, and
have a few kids. Let's not get going on Scott or I might just shoot you
here and now."
"I cared for Scott very deeply, Chris." Charles stated
quietly.
Corsair threw his head back and laughed bitterly, "I'm sure you
did. That's why you trained him to be your perfect little soldier. Tell
me something Charles, if you had use of your legs at the time you found
him, would you have bothered with him? I always wondered why you ever
would have made a shy, insecure boy like Scott into your team leader.
You know what I think? I think you knew what stock he came from. I think
when you first took him in, you did some checking and found out that
Scott came from a long line of soldiers and good ones at that. No
family, no place to go, he was exactly what you needed, so you took him
in. Or did you find out he had grandparents and just never mentioned the
fact to Scott? I know, I found out that my parents were still alive
without too much trouble. A man with your means and influence shouldn't
have had any problems."
Xavier narrowed his eyes, "How dare you."
Chris glared right back at him, "I dare a lot. I'm standing at
the foot of both my sons' graves. Of all people, I have earned the right
to question you Charles. You never trained Scott to be anything else but
a soldier for your little mutant army. With all that potential, Scott
could have been anything, and you made him a soldier like his father.
That way, Scott would always come back to the X-men. Always come back to
you." Chris Summers spat those last five words out like they were a
very bitter poison. "That's the one thing I will always hate you
for Charles. I never wanted my sons to see real combat. I never wanted
them to know what it was like to wade through other people's blood. I
never wanted them to know what it was like to watch the light fade from
another person's eyes because they pulled the trigger. You took those
choices away from them."
"You have no right to question the choices either Scott or I
made. You weren't here." Xavier announced coldly. "You were
too busy running around the galaxy if I recall correctly."
"And what do you know about having choices taken away from you
Charles?" Chris fired back. "You were always in control. Even
when you were 'Consort to the Empress' you pulled the strings behind the
scenes. When you spend a year in a tiger cage or three years on a hell
prison plant come talk to me."
Charles took a deep breath and said calmly, "Chris, I know your
grieving and you're very angry right now."
"You're damned right I'm angry." Chris held both of his
fists rigidly at his sides and fired back, "I'm angry about a lot
of things. I'm angry about spending a year in a tiger cage. I'm angry
that I didn't just shoot D'Ken dead instead of trying to take the
pleasure of killing him with my bare hands. I'm angry that Kate died for
that choice. I'm angry about spending three years on a hellish prison
planet. I'm angry with myself for not having the guts to come home
sooner to see if my sons were still alive. I'm angry with myself for a
lot of the choices I've made in my life. But this," Chris gestured
towards the two Summers' graves, "lies squarely on your shoulders.
That's why I called you to meet me here tonight Charles. Tonight you're
going to answer for killing my sons."
Xavier raised an eyebrow and responded dryly, "How do you plan
to do that? Are you planning on murdering me Chris? If you are, go ahead
and pull the trigger. Violence and revenge were always your answers
before."
Chris Summers just gave Charles a cold bland mask. It was an
expression Charles has seen on another face many times. "Don't you
think the thought didn't cross my mind, Charles? It was a very tempting
thought, splattering you're brains all over this graveyard. Don't even
think for a moment I couldn't do it. I've looked in to the eyes of
better men than you and pulled the trigger. I decided against killing
you. I won't do it for Scott. Scott wouldn't have approved of me killing
you. Scott was always very against killing, one of the many things we
disagreed on. So I came up with something better to make you suffer. I'm
calling in the marker you owe me Charles. Remember?"
Charles sighed, "Yes. I owed you that marker when you saved my
life."
Chris smirked at Xavier, "I'm calling it in tonight Charles. Do
you remember that picture of Scott and Alex we took on that camping trip
years back? Both of them look so young in that photograph. Do you
remember?"
Xavier nodded, "Yes, I believe I still have it in storage
somewhere. Why?"
Chris' smirk deepened, "Excellent, if you didn't still have a
copy, I was going to give you one. I want you to go find it and put it
on your desk. My marker is you aren't allowed to take it off your
desk."
Xavier looked at Christopher Summer for a moment and asked
"Why?"
Chris narrowed his eyes at Charles, "Because I want you to
remember. Every time you recruit a young mutant like Scott. Every time
you take a young life and mold them only for your cause, I want you to
see Scott and Alex. I want you to have to look at that photograph
everyday and remember my sons. I want you to remember the wasted lives.
I want you to remember all that wasted potential. I want you to remember
what they could have been. I want you to remember what they could have
given the world. If I have to live my worst nightmare, hell, Charles,
you're going to live it right with me. That's my marker."
Charles just said quietly "I see."
Chris gave him a bitter smirk as he turned to walk away. "I'm
sure you do, Charles. What can I say? I'm not a very forgiving person.
Hell's not quite so bad when you know you're not in it alone. Goodbye
Charles, and I want you to remember, I am never going to forgive you for
this." With those final words between them, Chris Summers walked
away, leaving Charles Xavier standing alone at the foot of his favorite
students' grave.
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