"Do you have any idea what you put me through?” He hissed, backing away from Erik. “For gods sake I was in love with you!” He clenched his hand. “I mourned you!” Tears rolled down his cheeks and splashed onto the grass of Erik’s empty grave. “I slept here some nights because being alone was too… Was too hard.” The last part was a hushed admission, and Charles averted his eyes.
"Do you think I chose to do this? That I wanted to disappear and leave you? If I had any other choice, if there was any other path, I would have taken it! Every day, every day, I wanted to come to you. I waited for you to find my mind with yours, for you to realise, but you never did and I..." He blinks back the gathering tears, forcing himself to look away. This is madness, surely. He is going insane. None of this can be real. Stepping forward, Erik reached out to place a hand on the other man's arm. "I wanted nothing more to return to you. To come back to your side, to prove myself. But I couldn't. It wasn't safe for either of us." His fingers drop, then, arm shaking ever so slightly. "You loved me. Do you... Not? Now?"