Erik Lehnsherr

His fingers flex out towards chess pieces scattered across a board, but nothing moves. They're not steel or platinum, but the base is heavy enough that Erik would have sensed the metallic properties, were he still more than the mere being he is, now. He curls his fingers in towards his palm, that utter feeling of powerlessness overwhelms him and makes him feel weak.

The coin rests heavy in his pocket and it brandishes accusation against him.

He couldn't move it, then, not to save his mother's life. It's as though he's being punished now in being incapable of moving the smallest of objects. He's been turned into a monster and to what end? He's useless. He's worse than useless. He's been turned into this monster and there is no point to the pain he's suffered. It's as though his mother has died for nothing and he cannot avenge her, not with Shaw absent, not with the perpetrators of his pain so far away.

Instead, he sits at a chess board and is human.

It's frightening. Erik's not sure he ever might have anticipated that.