[Charles closes his hand around the magnet and tucks it back in his pocket, expression and posture composed as he shrugs again, staring at the space over the deck railing.]

He'll realize his mistake, or he won't. Or maybe we'll get lucky and Erik's next warden will actually understand why this has to happen.

[Or maybe he wouldn't, and Charles would have to watch as Erik slipped further and further out of reach, knowing there wasn't anything he could do about it besides be there with him and hope he was enough to stop him from going too far.]