It was sometime later when Charles reappeared in the cabin, he had wanted to check in on Hank, see how the younger male was feeling after everything. He didn't hold back in telling Charles all the details of the fight he had with Erik, and what he had witnessed from Alethea and Erik's little spat. It wasn't that Charles thought Alethea was holding details to herself, but it also helped in a way for Charles to just affirm everything that truly happened. Not that he was in denial as they were returning to America, but, well, he actually didn't know how to feel about this now.

He did feel, when all of this first started, that they were up against it; yes, it wouldn't be the first time where they had faced insurmountable odds and came off okay, but this was different because of how divided they all were. Face it, Charles was well aware that most of the students and teachers from the school that got drafted and left were either missing in action, deceased or just off the radar because he refused to find answers through Cerebro.

Things just felt so much worse now though, and that was because Charles could feel himself sobering up with each passing moment, it wasn't just the fact that the world as they knew it would come off worse for this failing, but the future. Charles didn't want to see Logan's future; he didn't want that.

That wasn't to say Charles felt defeated, deflated yes, but not defeated. He was just lost, for the moment. Not too certain where to go from here and hoping inspiration would come hurtling at him with such a force it'd make things all so simple and easy to see. Sighing gently when he did enter the cabin again, he had wondered if the pair in here had passed out and given into sleep, but he didn't expect to see Alethea using Logan as a leaning post, or a pillow, or both and the man's longer legs stretched out and still crossed at the ankles with his head leaning back against the pillows of the sofa behind him.

Though it seemed the wall was more being used as a pillow for him because of how rigid he still sat, Charles rolled his eyes and sat down, that man really disliked being airborne, it was a shock he was actually asleep. Charles couldn't help but muse whether that was purely because of the safety Alethea gave. She did have this ability, not a mutant one, to just make someone feel secure, safe, it worked well with him at times, he'd never felt so wanted in someone's life before as whenever he ever had time with his sister to just chat about whatever or watch pointless television, but he always felt safe in her company.

He didn't do too well with being left to his own thoughts, but he wasn't so petty as to wake someone up to keep him company. They both needed sleep, clearly. Alethea needed rest to heal, and Logan was perhaps the same with how he spaced out; Charles hoped that didn't happen again, it was unsettling how distant the Canadian looked, confused, lost and a little scared, Charles had seen that expression on students faces before when they couldn't understand really what they could do. Of course, it was different here, Logan just went, well, his mind went walkabouts temporarily.

Looking outside of the window, Charles got himself comfortable and resigned himself to a quiet flight back home. Though in saying that, he too soon felt his eyes grow heavy as he sunk a little more into the seat and blinked heavily a few more times before everything went dark and he too fell asleep, hopefully a dreamless sleep this time.

He only came to when he was being gently shaken, opening his eyes slowly, he saw Alethea's smiling face come into focus. "Sorry, you looked really comfy, but we're back." She spoke quietly and gently; she clearly didn't want to jar him too much from actually waking from a decent sleep. Charles didn't know how long he'd actually slept for, but clearly enough to sleep through most of the flight.

"I think getting back home might be an issue though," Hank's voice grew steadily in volume as he walked along the aisle and stopped beside Alethea. She straightened up and looked confusedly his way, Charles pinched the bridge of his nose and just waited for more bad news. "We gave our car to Peter, remember?" Hank questioned, Alethea's eyes widened and she nodded, Charles shifted in his seat and ran a hand through his hair.

They had landed back in Washington, which meant that they needed to get back to Winchester. Narrowing his eyes in thought, Charles just inhaled and held a hand up, "Another rental it is then." It was the only way, unless they all wanted to contend with public transport, but that could take just as long. He rubbed a hand against his leg and looked at the pair when they started talking about where the nearest rental place could be, they were unaware to him giving a strained smile to feign interest while pinching one leg which was definitely starting to turn numb. "I won't drive, if that's the issue." He joked, his laughter coming out a little strained too. It wasn't like he could drive if he wanted to, if the serum was wearing off, he'd crash and harm them or other people. He may be lost on where to go from the failed Paris trip, but it sure as hell wasn't something as final as a car crash.

Alethea sighed and crossed her arms, most of the bruises had faded by now, which Charles was happy to see, Hank and her exchanged a look, "Logan did offer." She said eventually, even if he was saying that just to get Charles from the driver's seat.

Hank nodded slowly, "Okay, okay...we'll go find somewhere, and we'll meet you back here with something. Or we'll park up and come find you." Hank mused as he turned on his heels and started to walk away, Logan was outside enjoying back on solid ground so he wasn't hard to find.

Alethea just watched him with a raised eyebrow, he was just rhetorically thinking aloud so she didn't bother answering. Rolling her eyes and sliding into the seat opposite to Charles, she stretched her arms over the table and held her hands out to him palms up. "How are you holding up?" She asked, Charles stopped trying to get feeling into one of his legs and took her hands into his. He sent her this look, something between saddened and uncertain, she in turn just sat there smiling his way.

"I should be asking you that," she was the one who fought Erik, was still partially healing from that experience too. Charles sighed though, "I just...I had hoped that for once, a plan actually turned out like it was meant to."

Alethea smirked, "Raven and Erik have never been a pair to listen to sense or go with what is set out for them. I had a sense Erik would screw us over, but Raven...yeah, I had hoped to just fly off with her, as ridiculous as that sounds. They're both thinking they're doing good; with whatever little plans they've concocted."

"And it'll be us cleaning up the mess, again. Plus suffering the consequences of their actions if things go truly catastrophic." Charles said with a serious expression, he tapped his foot against the floor and was thankful sense had come back to it.

Alethea hummed and looked at their linked hands. "With any luck mutant hunting machines won't happen."

"We can only hope," Charles agreed with a slow exhale, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Alethea frowned his way, "Hank said to wait for when they come back with a car..." Honestly, she didn't think wandering off would be wise, how else would they find each other?

Charles let out a scoff, he even let go of one of her hands to wave it nonchalantly her way. "Breakfast?" Honestly, Charles didn't know what the time was, but knowing what his sister was like for snacks, he wasn't at all surprised to see her eyes light up. "Come on, my treat." Charles slid out of his chair and stretched slowly, Alethea watched him worriedly yet grasped onto her shredded shirt and shoved it into her rucksack, it had stayed on the jet throughout the whole Paris visit and she felt stupid for not packing another shirt for herself. Curse her for thinking she'd be nice and pack spare clothes for Erik.

Exiting the plane, Charles shrugged off his jacket and gave it to her, if anyone saw the bruises that'd be one thing, but her purple hued arms would just be the cherry on the top of the cake of this whole shit-show. Putting an arm around her shoulders, Charles just started to walk off in a random direction to get off of the airstrip. He didn't know what was around, but he felt he needed air and space, the cabin, even though he had been asleep, was starting to feel cramped.

It didn't take much time to end up finding a small café, they hauled up by the windows so they could people watch for their friends. Charles for one was thankful for the coffee in his hands, the begrudging look Alethea sent his way had him relenting, one coffee wasn't going to vastly affect her, several, yes. She seemed over the moon and happily put too much sugar in it while they waited for their food, Charles wasn't even remotely surprised that she had ordered pancakes so she could put either copious amounts of sugar on them or maple syrup, or both.

"I'm not sure about you, but I feel absolutely done in." Alethea joked while scratching a gloved finger against her cheek, she readjusted her glasses soon after the action and watched Charles tear his eyes away from the window to look at her.

"I hate to say this, but it is the most we have done in a long time." Charles wasn't saying they had been lazy in the years where they were active in the school. But flying to Paris, after a jail break, and fighting said person who got broken out of prison was more than just teaching a physics or English lesson, that was for sure.

Alethea shifted in her seat and looked at him curiously, Charles paused drinking his coffee and waited for her to speak. "So, Trask?"

Charles hummed and narrowed his eyes slowly, remembering the brunette man hiding in the corner looking both fascinated and fearful. "Well, he didn't waste time running away, did he?"

Alethea laughed, she didn't know if he meant his words as a joke, but they amused her. "Yeah, truthfully, if I were him, I'd probably have gone the moment Erik stepped into the room." She admitted, she didn't mind him being on their side, but as an enemy he was dreadful. Plus, his face had been plastered all over the news for killing the President, so it wasn't like Trask didn't know who he was.

Charles nodded before tilting his head in thought, he noticed their waitress coming over and gestured a hand to Alethea to not mention anything else about this topic until she had gone. The blonde smiled, said their orders, placed them in front of the respected person and left. Charles watched her walk away before looking back at Alethea, she sat there with a raised eyebrow. "I'm making sure she's safely away, do you want eavesdroppers?" He defended himself with wide eyes.

Honestly, where they sat there weren't many nearby, so they were safe to talk without a hushed tone. The last thing they needed was a curious waitress overhearing them and gossiping to someone else. Charles realised that could appear rude, but he was on high alert a little. Alethea just inhaled, Charles had been such a flirt, at one point in his life that honestly...some habits don't change, she saw well how he sort of faltered around Moira McTaggert.

"I think he was only hanging around to see what we could all do. The gears in his mind were probably churning over the possibilities of turning us into weapons too."

Charles pressed his lips into a thin line, the thought of that just made him feel sick. In-fighting happened amongst everyone, it's just how it went, unfortunately. Everyone just seemed incapable of getting along, but using mutant's powers to fight and hunt mutants...it just hugely unsettled him, it turned his stomach and he looked at his food with a pained expression. Suddenly his appetite was lacking.

Alethea chewed thoughtfully and watched Charles's expressions flit and change. "Hey, it won't happen, ya know?" She mused once she swallowed, Charles blinked slowly and looked her way. Alethea smiled surely, "It can't happen, because we won't let it."

"How can you be so sure?" Charles asked quietly, they were all scattered and back to the start.

Alethea cut another piece of pancake, as Charles suspected, way too covered in maple syrup for its own good. "Listen, I curse Erik for always having his own agenda, but sometimes it is useful. Think of it like a pincer attack, Charles. There's him, there's us and there's Raven. We are all coming from different avenues, with the same intention to put a stop to this. We very well could stop this together, just not how we initially thought." Alethea waved the forkful of pancake his way with a sure grin on her face before popping the food in her mouth and nodding, she believed in what she was saying and Charles took a sip of his coffee in thought, she could be right. "Oh!" She said suddenly, pulling Charles from his thoughts as she knocked suddenly on the window and beamed.

Charles just sighed and shut his eyes, he was going to ignore the borderline livid look on Logan's face and Hank's confused expression before he too ended up frowning their way. Charles got it, they'd gone off to get them a car, and here they were enjoying a nice late breakfast, brunch, what even was the time?

"You know, if we couldn't track, what was you expecting to happen from walking off?" Hank questioned, he sounded ticked as he sat next to Charles and looked at him expectedly. It was true, both Logan and himself with their heightened senses only managed to find the pair, because of just that, they were tracked.

Alethea looked awkward, even pausing in pushing soaked pancakes about her plate and looked slowly to the side, only to blanch, Logan's general disposition was on par with Hank's. They were both seriously annoyed, "Coffee?" Alethea offered, honestly, she had barely touched it so someone might as well give it a good home.

"How many sugars are in it?" Logan asked hesitantly, he didn't trust her with sugar, he just didn't. From the coy smile, he crossed his arms and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks anyway," he sighed and eyed the plate before her, how she wasn't more buzzing about from sugar rushes all the time, he didn't know, but he did know that amount of sugar and syrup could seriously not be good.

"I take it you managed to get a car?" Charles just decided to ask, Hank had simmered down and nodded slowly, there hadn't been any struggle to obtain one, not that Hank or Logan were expecting trouble, but Hank quickly said that it was parked up just across the street.

"Logan's already got the keys," Hank said while nodding towards the man across from him.

Charles and Logan exchanged a look, Charles just looked at him from over the coffee cup. With a raised eyebrow, Logan tilted his head a little. "Problem with that?"

"Oh, no. Not at all, I had said for you to drive so..."

"Whenever you're ready, we can go." Logan just cut Charles's trailing words off, by now Alethea had seemingly eaten all she wanted from the sodden pancakes and she did drink some of her coffee eventually but otherwise, seemed ready to get on the road.

Charles just nodded his head, he went to give Alethea his coat back to borrow, honestly in the sunlight and light of the café the marks from the barricade Erik made for her were barely visible. People just thought she was wearing long gloves for a fashion statement, probably. But before he could, he did get beaten to it purely by Logan more or less draping his leather jacket over her shoulders. She seemed surprised but smiled her thanks and wiggled her arms in, the jacket was way too big, it was ridiculous how much it wore her instead of her wearing it, but she trotted outside happily enough.

Charles and Hank exchanged a look before following suit, the taller and younger male gestured to the deep red car they had rented. Logan did reach over and pulled the keys out of his jacket pocket; he wasted no time in climbing in alongside everyone else. It seemed like Charles and Hank this time had been delegated to the back; in a way it was only fair seems they were up front on the way here.

Most of the travel back was spent in silence, each in their own thoughts but Alethea had put the radio on, and that played quietly in the background with her quietly singing along to songs she knew. No one really bought up Paris, or where to go from here, everyone just seemed adamant on getting back to the mansion as quickly as possible. To be honest, the traffic side of things wasn't that bad, they had to divert because of an accident but after a few hours they were driving through familiar streets and soon up an all too familiar pebble gravelled driveway.

Home had never looked so appealing before, honestly. The absolute excitement of getting in was vastly felt by everyone as it exuded from Alethea. No one blamed her for looking forward to a shower, maybe home cooked food and pyjamas and her own bed. After everything they'd been through, she was confused why the guys weren't as happy to be back as she was. She wasn't silly, she understood they had hopes of arriving back here with Raven in tow, and still with Erik. But what happened, happened, and there was no point them all dwelling over the wrongs of what did go down. All they could do was assess the next steps, as Logan said, revise a plan and move onwards, it was the next and only logical thing to do.

Charles threw her the keys and she was very close to just flying up the steps, he wouldn't be surprised if she went flying through the door either. He didn't want to repair anything, most of the students had avoided damaging his home, so honestly it wouldn't totally surprise him the one person who wound up doing damage, was the one person who just wanted back home.

No sooner was the door open, were her glasses off, an arm of them tucked over her vest neckline and her gloves pulled off and put on the table in the foyer. Logan's jacket, which admittedly she had ended up using as a cover on the way back and sleeping under it, she threw his way. He caught it with ease, slipped it back on and turned and watched the other two come inside. Hank kicked the door shut just in time to turn and catch Charles when he seemingly buckled under his own weight.

A pained noise came from him as he sunk to the floor, hands covering his ears and a look of both terror and agony crossing his face. Alethea darted over, practically skidding to a stop beside him as she put a hand on his shoulder. Honestly, there wasn't anything she could do to relieve his pain, and as much as she hated hearing Hank talk about the serum, Alethea knew eventually, one day, Charles would have to come off it, and when he did, he'd have to do this anyway; face the pain, the voices, and overcome them all.

With both arms wrapped around him, Hank hauled Charles up and rested him against one of the pillars in the foyer. The movement seemed to cause just as much pain as whatever he could hear going through his head. Alethea got tapped on the shoulder, Logan moved closer as she sidled around him, a sad expression on her face. "Hey, pull yourself together. It's not over yet," Logan said, looking over Charles, honestly it seemed like he was close to hyperventilating on the spot.

There was a moment of clarity, Charles managing to control the pain for a moment to look over at Logan. His fingers remained against his temples, as he just stared unblinkingly in Logan's direction. "You don't believe that." He said it in such a way, that it was both dead certain but also scarily accurate.

"How do you know?" Logan couldn't help but look a little shocked, it wasn't like he wasn't lowkey at least hoping Charles would pull himself out of this pit of being drug dependant, but also, the Charles he knew was rather against just reading minds, without a need to do so or permission to do so. Intrusions could be mistaken, but the Charles he knew had good control over avoiding slip ups like this.

"As these go, this comes back. They all come back," Charles explained, a hand gestured to his failing legs before grasping his hands tightly over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. Logan stepped aside, Alethea taking his place and looking sadly at Charles. From the look which flitted across his face, he caught onto her thoughts and if anything, looked even more teary eyed for it.

"Let them go, Charles." Alethea kept a hand on his shoulder, even with him almost writhing about, it stayed steady and unmoving against him. He didn't need his legs, as awful as it was, and as brutal as that was, he didn't. He would continue being him, just like before, Alethea had wanted the old Charles back for so long, she couldn't even deny that. But she didn't like seeing him in such pain.

"It is so easy for you to say that." Charles gasped out a pained noise and shut his eyes again, "You can't hear them, hear what they are saying, shouting...so many," he all but rambled seemingly to himself as he almost doubled over.

Alethea pushed him upright and stood in front of him, both hands trying to pry his hands away from his ears and in the end, she threw her hands up and crossed her arms. "I never took the damn drug! Of course I don't know what it is like. I never judged you for doing it. I never questioned it, because you hurt. All I wanted was for you to not feel so much pain. But it seems either way, that happens. At least with your powers back, you have control. There is no control here, it's just a waiting game." Alethea said with a small frown and shake of her head, it seemed awful, dreadful, just waiting for the serum to wear off for the next shot. "You were so much stronger as you were, Charles."

He just tilted his head and listened to her, he gritted his teeth and looked with glassy eyes as she stood there sadly looking at him in return. He couldn't reply, she had a point, she always had a point, Charles was just being too ignorant, and stubborn perhaps. Logan turned and looked slowly back at the siblings, Alethea was seemingly at a loss of what else to say, and Logan didn't know if right now Charles could speak through the pain he was feeling.

"Look, I'm still here. And she's still out there. But we need your help, Charles. Not like this, I need you. We can't find Raven, not without your powers." Logan spoke honestly, with a much calmer tone than what Alethea used to have her little vent at her brother. The pair watched as Charles shrugged off his jacket throughout Logan speaking, even going as far as rolling his sleeve up of his shirt.

Hearing Hank from upstairs, there seemed to be some resignation between both Logan and Alethea as Charles slouched against the pillar with a distant look. The syringe which was put into Charles's hand had everyone but Charles right now looking at it with such a look, seriousness, despair and sadness all flickered across his friends and family's faces. There was this uncertainty, this bated breath to see just what he would do as he stood there in pain and turmoil. Never before had the syringe felt so heavy in his hands and it took so much of him to put it down and make peace with the fact that he wasn't going to take it.

Before he could even register, Alethea had wrapped her arms around him tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. Charles and his little lost expression peered over her shoulder before his teary eyes shut and he hesitantly put an arm around her. "I am so very proud of you." Charles easily heard her thoughtful praise of him, it could've come off patronising but Alethea was nothing but earnest, he just smiled painfully and watched her pull away and stand back.

Sharply inhaling, Charles just looked about before looking up at Hank. "Uh, Hank, do me a favour. Would you help me to my study, please?" He sounded quiet, he was aware to that and bet everyone felt the sense of slight awkwardness for having to ask. Hank gave a nod, wrapped an arm around Charles and supported his weight as the pair took to slowly taking it one step after one slowly failing step at a time down the corridor.

Logan watched them before coming back out of his thoughts when Alethea tapped him on the arm. "What you said was very kind."

"Never thought I'd see the day when I was the tactful one." Logan replied, Alethea smiled and relented with a slow nod. She could have her diplomatic moments, and she guessed or presumed the version of her he knew, was the more tactful one with words.

She went to open her mouth only to shut it and shake her head sadly. "I have missed having my brother, watching him get lost to a drug...it has been one of the worst experiences of my life. No matter what, neither Hank or I could get through to him. As I said, I never judged, I just didn't want him to hurt so much...was I an enabler?" Alethea mused, her face turning to one of shocked pain as she realised that she could've just been encouraging Charles to keep taking the serum, because of how she felt.

Logan turned and looked at her, "No," he said decisively, he didn't want her thinking she had just given Charles a further thumbs up to keep taking the serum. "It has been hard for the pair of you, being so close to this, and being the only two left. Your thoughts and feelings matter, and I don't think for one minute that Charles would've taken advantage of them." Logan explained slowly, watching her nod agreeing, even if a little slowly. Logan didn't think Charles would take advantage of anyone's feelings, or thoughts, this time this was all on him and being a little selfish and lost in a world he no longer really wanted to be a part of, because it just caused him so much pain.

"Even still, I think what you said might've been the thing to get through to him." Alethea said, sounding thankful of what he had replied with to her own words too.

"That or you looking like you were going to explode the syringe in his hand was what got through to him, in the end." Logan shrugged, honestly, he'd seen the look on her face, how the syringe was still in one piece was beyond her.

Alethea let out a quiet chuckle, "Yeah, the temptation was there. But I also didn't want him to be gross and lick the serum off of the floor. It hasn't been cleaned for a long time." She crossed her arms and sighed wistfully, Logan slowly looked her way trying to decide whether she was joking or not.

"He wouldn't..."

"Desperation does weird things to people, Logan." Alethea shrugged and looked at where the syringe had been left. Walking over, she leaned down and picked it up before turning and smiling sadly at him. "Desperation makes even the best of people do things that they otherwise would not do. Back someone into a corner, don't be surprised when they lash out." She held the syringe out to him with a sad smile. Desperate to close off his powers, Charles had sunk to becoming addicted to a drug and when they tried to ease him back, he had lashed out so readily at them, he didn't mean it, but it still hurt to see him like that.

Logan wasn't sure how he felt about holding the thing which could so easily be a version of what he had seen be used on many mutants before, though from memory recalls, it was never permanent, or Erik was too strong and stubborn for it to actually work fully on him, Logan didn't know. Such a small thing had so many repercussions, his eyes looked at Alethea and she just smiled and nodded down the corridor, they best find Charles and Hank.

Logan got the message and placed the syringe on the foyer table, that thing or something similar had royally done a number on the Alethea he knew and he just felt wrong holding onto it, so it was put down and walked away from. He placed a hand against her shoulder and encouraged her to move towards the study. They should really find Charles and Hank before the former could try and escape the oncoming task expected of him, to use Cerebro and find Raven. 

——

(A/N: As I said in Kotallo's newest chapter: I am beyond sorry for the ridiculously long delay. It was easier to either update stuff which didn't involve too much brain power, or just not write at all. Just a quick lowdown in case my message I posted the other month was missed: my father-in-law had been unwell for most of last year and sadly passed before Christmas, I also had to have an operation which hasn't helped matters and have a follow up one on the 13th of this month. It isn't anything serious, but recovery is a bitch.

So, between helping my other half sort his father's house out for him and now funeral planning on top of ops and recovery I have been missing, and I am sorry about that. But I'll try and update this again soon.)