" Pietro..."

Quicksilver... Charles thought. A strange time for family reunion, but Father and Son had had many, far stranger, reunions over time.

" Xavier... are you there too?" Pietro's urgent whisper was harsher than before, and they heard him coughing.

" We are both here, Pietro... what is it that you want?"

Magneto answered his son's calls. Then a shadow crossed his face. " How is Wanda?"

" That's none of your business, Magneto."

Quicksilver's voice, rough as it was, held the same contempt and anger it had held ever since the day he had learnt of his true birth. Ever since the day, it had been revealed to him that he and sister, were not the children of the Maximoffs, but that of Erik Magnus Lensherr and Magda.

Thirty years meant a lot of painful memories that needed to heal.

Xavier saw the pain flash across his old friend's face. But Magneto was not one to show his feelings to the world, and he composed himself. But Xavier had known him too well, for too long, to ever mistake his detachment for coldness of the heart.

" Listen..." Quicksilver hissed. " Both of you have to escape... and soon. They have a Plan - I don't know what it is - but they need you for it. You have to escape... ugh!"

The sound of choking and vomit reached their ears.

Xavier could see how Magneto's muscles tensed under his body armor, how his eyes narrowed, as he heard his son's voice. They could not see the twins. But Charles understood that, to Magneto, the pain and agony that Pietro and Wanda went through, was as graphic and real, as any he could ever feel himself.

Much as Magneto was reluctant to admit it, he cared for his children.

But they had no love for him.

Charles wished there were something he might do to comfort him.

For that moment, he put behind the years of conflict, of struggle, of enmity. Nostalgia flooded him, and he thought only of their youth, their days together in Israel. He remembered the innocence, the endless debates, the passion... and above all, he remembered their friendship.

The sounds of Quicksilver slowly died, and they knew that he had passed out once again.

And they were alone again.

Xavier raised his head, and his eyes met Magneto's. Magnus' eyes were ablaze. And yet, it seemed as if something had died in that flame... something precious and essential. It showed too, in the way Magnus held his shoulders - it seemed different.

Is that... what I look like as well?

The thought startled him.

" Quicksilver speaks the truth... we should escape as quickly as possible."

Magneto's voice was forceful. And yet, he sensed something missing.

" Easier said than done, Magnus. This building is difficult to escape from. It's a virtual labyrinth. I doubt that we might be able to make a successful attempt... and there are other complications."

" I cannot walk."

Before Magneto could reply to him, they heard a door being unlocked. Magneto swiftly moved away from Charles to the opposite side of the cell. By mutual consent, they had agreed to appear cold towards each other, lest Creed suspect any collaboration or relationship on their part.


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