When Charles' school decides to send care packages to the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, he chooses to also include a letter and a few personal touches. When Staff Sergeant Erik is the recipient of that particular care package it will spur a relationship that will change them both. Non-Powered AU

As his home disappeared behind him, Erik started to feel the cold pressing in around him. It was far from a warm night and his thin pajamas did little to help the shivers that wracked through him. Harsh stone tore at his bare feet and soon he couldn't tell if the tears were from grief or from pain. Erik's journey as a child to the concentration camps. TW: Blood,TW:Torture,TW: Death

"Police have detained a man named Erik Lehnsherr for questioning in the death of the president." The telepath felt his heart miss a beat as his mind instinctively reached out for Erik's. Unsurprisingly, he met silence; he already knew with a sinking feeling that his lover was not coming home from this mission." -A sequel to When an Unstoppable Force Meets an Immovable Optimist.

Now Erik stood alone, dirt caked all along his body as he let the shovel fall from numb fingers. Alone was how he had always been, and apparently how he was supposed to remain. TW: Major character Death

"I have to find them." Charles replied quietly, looking at Erik – pleading with him to understand. As Erik gazed into the man's tired, pain-stricken eyes, he wondered - not for the first time - how this man could be so damn good. Brave and strong and constantly putting everyone else in the world above himself. - What if Erik and Charles had been able to find a middle ground?