bakerstreet | I hesitated, and the world became new

{ THE ROAD N O T TAKEN }

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

In one world you are defined by a series of specific events that took your life in a certain direction. Your parents were murdered or your village was burned. You picked one corner of the love triangle over the other. You bumped into a cute person on the first day of school. You saved the gender-neutral-royalty from the dragon. You chose friends over fame, evil over good, adventure over safety. You arrived just in time to stop something horrible, or you arrived too late. These are the moments that made you who you are today.

In this world, one influential moment of your life...went differently.

{ I N S T R U C T I O N S }

→ Post your character, preferences, and what moment of their lives took a different path. You can also include how their life has changed because of it. Please do not leave comments blank and leave around at least two events that could have happened instead.

→ Tag in. Your character might be part of this new world, or they might be someone who remembers the way things used to be before this happened.

→ Have fun!

notes: originally found here. modified meme taken from a musebox via

hatetobeathing

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. Charles encouraged Raven to explore her abilities instead of stifling her

2. Charles and Erik met as children

3. Charles never got shot

4. Raven never left, and he never abandoned Charles or mutants

5. Charles stops Erik from hurting Raven, and was able to stop the world from ending

6. Whatever strikes your fancy

Edited 2016-01-22 03:48 (UTC)

It took too long, in the grand scheme of things, but it had to happen eventually. Maybe ten years too late, but it happened.

Erik's attempt to kill her failed. It was something Mystique was immensely grateful for, not least of all because it involved her remaining alive instead of lying dead on the pavement - or worse, dead in some lab somewhere. Erik's priorities always left something to be desired anyway, and while Charles' weren't much better half the time, at least he seemed to care about her.

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed her, but it was still her. Sort of.

So the inevitable thing to do, once everything was settled, was to head back to Westchester. To head back home, to where things really hadn't changed all that much. Not that she was overly surprised, honestly; it didn't really seem like Charles to change things.

"So," she started, arms folded over her chest as she regarded Charles with those blue eyes he seemed to favour so much. "Where do we go from here?"

Charles was at a loss at what to do with himself now that Erik had been stopped, and the world had been saved. He felt like he had a hole in his heart though, where Erik should be. He missed his old friend more than he could verbalize, not that he ever would. He would go to his death bed with how he felt for the metal bender.

Raven's voice startled him out of his solace, and he spun the chair around. He didn't know how to answer that question, so he opened his arms out to her instead.

It all felt very weird to her. They had always been some permutation of a group, whether it was Charles and Raven, Charles and Erik, Erik and Raven, or the three together - the latter had always felt the best to her, but caused too many problems, ultimately. Likewise, she could see where Charles and Erik would never work, where they would just disagree constantly over this or that. And with Erik currently out of the picture, heading off to God-knew-where, this was the only option.

She couldn't just leave Charles alone. Even if she knew she'd already done so when Erik whisked her away for a life of adventure, romance, and trying to remake the world in their image. It was different now: she was on her own, and so was he.

The first step was to figure out what was happening: if he'd forgiven her for leaving him years ago, if he'd forgive her for wanting to come into her own without him. His actions answered that better than anything he could have possibly said, though, and when Charles opened his arms up to her, she was once again his little sister, pressing in tight to return the hug, her arms tossed around his shoulders.

When she spoke up, her voice was soft. "I missed you, Charles."

He let his mind wander a little bit, gently brushing hers in reassurance. One of the pluses to not being able to walk is the fact that he is using his powers once again. Erik would be proud of him.

Erik....

It still pained him to think about his friend and the fact that he had been unable to stop him in his quest. He had Raven though, and his arms wound tightly around her, as he gently shushed her.

Once upon a time, she'd have put up a fight about the fact that he was going anywhere near her mind, but she knew better now. The brush was tender reassurance that he really was there, not an attempt to invade her privacy. It was a fine line, sure, but a decade did her some good. Things weren't quite as black and white as Erik taught her they were.

With that thought in the back of her mind, Raven slowly shed her mask, blonde hair giving way to red, pale skin giving way to blue. She remained clothed, mostly as a compromise to Charles' delicate sensibilities - which, given the number of people he'd gone home with, really shouldn't have been quite so delicate - and remained locked in the embrace, face turned towards the crook of his neck.

She wanted to know, more than anything, if he missed his Raven, or who she really was. It would dictate where they went from here, and she so wanted him to be open to the latter this time around.

He could feel the change within her, as he held her tightly to him. He didn't have words at the moment, he just knew that he didn't want to let her go. He couldn't lose someone else close to him.

He just couldn't.

"I think I've done you a great disservice my dear?"

It did seem like a good sign, that he hadn't yet moved. She knew full well that he could fell the change, the shifting of her skin into something else, of her mask falling away. Even so, he didn't go anywhere; he didn't even loosen his grip on her. And Raven didn't move either. She merely turned her head, pressing her face against the crook of his neck.

It had probably taken longer than anyone expected, but now he was finally starting to turn into the brother she thought she had all along. "I got over it," she mumbled against his skin, arms still tight around his broad shoulders. "As long as I never have to be alone again."

Like he'd promised her, so long ago.

[Charles talks Erik out of using the missiles to retaliate on the ships and they all leave Cuba together to start the school... where in the timeline we start after that is up to you...]

[ going with about a year after.... Charles can't walk, but still has his powers. Is contemplating using the serum though. ]

Charles was sitting in his study, staring out of the window. It was hard to believe that just last year, he and Erik were trying to build this school, laughing, running around like the school children themselves. He wasn't sure how long he was sitting there for. He knew one thing he needed to make a decision and to do that, he needed Erik.

He wheeled around to his desk, pushing a button.

"Erik? I need to speak with you. It's important."

Erik was becoming restless. He knew there were people out there targeting mutants - people sanctioned by the CIA - and he wanted to do something about it. When Charles called him, he didn't answer over the intercom; he walked down the hall and rapped on his door.

I hesitated, and the world became new

Charles Xavier | FC/DOFP |ota

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