The Blood Phoenix 2: An X-Men: Days of Future Past Fanfiction

Chapter 8: Hope

Cerebro was breaking. Charles took it off his head. It was a failed attempt to reach Raven. He was angry, wishing his Adelaide could be there to help him, perhaps take over finding Raven for him. Hank had already left to check the generator, but that was not the problem. It was him.

'It's not the machinery, is it?' Logan asked from his right. He looked at him with a worn expression on his face, raking his hands through his hair.

'I can't do this. My mind...'

'Yes you can.'

'It won't take it.'

'You're just a little rusty,' Logan replied, trying to help Charles. But it wasn't working.

'You don't understand, it's not a question of being rusty. I can flip the switches, I can turn the knobs, but my power comes from here... it comes from...' He pointed to his head and his heart. 'And it's broken. I feel like one of my students... helpless. It was a mistake coming down here. It was a mistake freeing Erik. This whole thing has been one bloody mistake!' Turning his wheelchair, he wheeled himself out. On his way out, he began to speak again. 'I'm sorry, Logan. But they sent back the wrong man.' When he was at the entrance to Cerebro's chamber, Logan called out.

'You're right.' Charles turned the wheelchair, raising his eyes to meet Logan's. 'I am.' He wheeled the chair back to Logan as Logan continued speaking. 'Actually it was supposed to be you. But I was the only one who could physically make the trip. And uh... I don't know how long I've got here, but I do know that a long time, actually a long time from now... I was your most helpless student. And you unlocked my mind. You showed me what I was, you showed me what I could be. I don't know how to do that for you. You're right, I don't. But I know someone who might.' A confused look came over Charles' face as Logan leaned forward and spoke once more. 'Look into my mind.'

'You saw what I did to Cerebro. You don't want me inside your head.'

'There's no damage you can't do that hasn't already been done, trust me.' Putting his hands on Logan's head, he let himself wander into his fellow mutant's past. Experimented on by Stryker. The adamantium flowing into his veins and every part of his body. Coming to the school. Meeting Jean Grey. Falling in love with her. Having to kill her because something mysterious and dangerous was inside her. Holding her body in his arms, crying out his grief to the world.

'You poor, poor man,' Charles said softly.

'Look past me,' Logan urged.

'No, I don't want your suffering. I don't want your future!'

'Look past my future, look for your future.' Charles regained his focus, slowly but surely. 'That's it. That's it.'

He felt for the other side of his consciousness and suddenly, he found himself laying on a table. A stone table. He sat up, his legs no longer lame. Looking around the room, he saw a young woman with a young man tending to long, ugly wounds on her side. Scanning the room further, he saw another young woman, along with two younger teens who appeared to be twins. In front of him, he was faced with an older man in a wheelchair and another older man standing behind him. He knew exactly who the two were. Erik and Charles. Magneto and Professor X. The older versions of themselves. Old friends. Old enemies.

'Charles?' the older man said.

'Charles,' the younger man replied. The two stared into each other's eyes, searching, perhaps. 'So this is what becomes of us. Erik was right. Humanity does this to us.'

'Not if we show them a better path,' the older man said. Such hope. Such optimism. For the future. For the future of all mutants, not just the ones standing in the room.

'You still believe?'

'Just because someone stumbles, loses their way, it doesn't mean they're lost forever. Sometimes we all need a little help.'

'Oh, I'm not the man I was. I open my mind and it almost overwhelms me.'

'You're afraid, and Cerebro knows it.'

'All those voices... so much pain.'

'It's not their pain you're afraid of, Charles. It's yours. And as frightening as it may be, that pain will make you stronger. It made Adelaide stronger. If you allow yourself to feel it, to embrace it, it will make you more powerful than you ever imagined. It's the greatest gift we have, to feel their pain without breaking, and it's born from the most human power. Hope.' The younger Charles saw many memories. The students at the mansion, living, working and learning. His beautiful Adelaide, smiling as she was on their wedding day. Happy. By his side. Saying that she would never, ever leave, just so long as he protected her and was by her side, just as she was standing by his. 'Please. Charles, we need you to hope again.'

Charles snapped himself out of Logan's head. Just like that, the power came back on and Hank walked in.

'Power's back on.'

'Yes. Yes, it is.'

Meanwhile, Erik and I had found the Sentinel shipment and taken control of the evil metal robots. And with it, a way with which to kill.