Every time I think about this scene, I think about the fact that Charles could have stopped this; he could have spared Shaw, but he chose not to. Why? He obviously doesn’t want anyone to be killed, he’s said this to Erik, he doesn’t want any death. So why does he keep Shaw frozen? This doesn’t seem to make any sense until you remember how Shaw and Erik were locked in a death match and Erik was LOSING. It was only because of deception and Erik and Charles working together as one to render Shaw in a position of loss. Erik was losing, could have died, if Charles and him had not deceived Shaw and snatched the helmet and frozen him, Erik couldn’t have won, and it finally struck me. Had Charles released Shaw to dodge the coin, Erik would undoubtedly have been killed. He had already played the deception card, and Shaw would no longer ask questions or play their little dance of intimidation, no. Shaw was going to murder Erik, and Charles knew it. Charles could feel Shaw’s desire, and see what Erik was about to do, and he was forced to make a split second choice: would he do what he believed was right and spare his enemy? Or would he, even in his moments of anger and fear, do everything that he could to ensure the safety of his friend? We all know the answer Charles chose, and he suffered for it. He felt every nerve in Shaw’s head split before the terrible coin. He felt the life leave from that man. He heard him scream out in agony and anguish in his final moments. He knew what he was going feel. He chose to endure every second of Sebastian Shaw’s murder to do one thing: protect the man whom he had known and bonded with for a little over a WEEK. Charles sacrificed Shaw to protect Erik, because he would rather die himself than allow someone he cared about to be killed, and if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.