What You Won't Do For Love [X-MEN/X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST]

chapter one: 2023

When did this all happen? Why did this happen? Questions like this ran through ran through the minds of many, but finding answers were futile. It didn't matter when, or how, or why this was happening to them. Finding answers would not solve their problems. Fighting to live another day was the best option they had. It was the only option they had.

It was a dark, dangerous time for human and mutant alike. They were being hunted down, captured and murdered by the Sentinel Program. All for being different. It was horrifying.

What did they do to deserve this? They were people, human, just like the rest. They were humans who were evolved: mutants. What was so bad about that? Why was being different so bad?

Because of the Sentinel Program, the world was ending, and Theresa was fighting to live another day. She wasn't the only one, though. She fought with a group: Bobby Drake (Iceman), Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), and Piotr Rasputin (Colossus) who she went to school with, a woman named Blink, and three men by the names of Bishop, Warpath and Sunspot. Theresa's brother was also a member, helping Bishop establish the team. They called themselves the Free Mutants, for their goal was to be free and stop the Sentinels.

Right now, they were waiting for, what Theresa dubbed them as, the adults. This group included Professor X, Storm, Wolverine, Magneto, and Theresa's mother and. All of them—save for Magneto—were teachers at Xavier's School. They were some of the only mutants left as well, the ones who were yet to be captured. Theresa shuddered violently at the thought, as she began to touch one of her eyebrows.

Above Theresa's right eye, the letter M was carved. Theresa was once in those camps, but she had escaped years ago. She had escaped with Kitty and Bobby. It has been years since then, and most people she knew were dead. It was tragic. It was unforgivable.

As the Free Mutants waited for the remaining X-Men, Theresa thought of the events from the last couple of days. It was a never ending cycle, truth be told. The group would travel around, living in survival mode, until the Sentinels found them. They usually knew of this because of Warpath, because he could sense them coming. When the Sentinels appeared, the mutants would fight them off long enough for Kitty to send Bishop back in time. Bishop, in his past self, would warn the group of the peril that would happen. This caused the Free Mutants to flee their current location, so they wouldn't meet their ultimate demise.

Theresa was exhausted. She was tired of fleeing, fighting, and sacrificing herself repeatedly. Again, what did they do to deserve this? They were being targeted for being different. This was genocide, and the longer Theresa was alive, the more she started to understand why mutants like Magneto and her uncle were coldhearted.

Sooner, rather than later, Warpath announced that the Blackbird was in range. Theresa's brother, who was able to travel back and forth between the groups so to speak, had informed the group that the adults had a plan. Theresa couldn't help but wonder what it was. She had no time to think, however, as she watched the X-Men exit the jet.

First it was Storm, who had cleared the fog as soon as she touched ground. Next came Wolverine, who had a cigar in his mouth. Theresa couldn't help but grin slightly at the image. After Wolverine came Theresa's mother, then Professor X, who was somehow still alive after all these years. The last person to exit the jet was Magneto, who used to be the enemy. In more recent years, Magneto has become friend and ally to the X-Men.

Besides Theresa, her brother, and their friends from school, this was all who was left of the X-Men. The past members were all either captured or dead, most likely the latter. This is what the Sentinel Program has resulted in; death in millions, both mutant and human alike.

Theresa and her brother both couldn't help but smile when they saw their mother. Maeve Cassidy has not aged a day, even with all the stress and horror that has happened.