Flickers (Charles Xavier)

Epilogue

1984

The car pulled up at the end of the path, and Iris climbed out, walking over to the other side to help Charles into his wheelchair. As she did, he leant up and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Welcome home," She spoke softly to him with a smile, and his eyes twinkled back at her.

The two of them turned to face the mansion, smiles on their faces. It was beautiful – it always blew Iris away whenever she caught sight of it – but more importantly, it was home.

She grabbed her and Charles' luggage from the back of the car, and the two of them approached the door. She placed the luggage down on the floor in front of them, and Charles reached out and took hold of her hand. As she reached out for the knocker on the door with her other hand, her wedding ring shone in the sunlight.

The double doors swung open, and Hank stood on the other side with a grin on his face.

"You two are back at last," He laughed, "Honestly, I don't know how you two manage this school. Raven, Erik and I had a lot of trouble."

Iris dropped their bags by the stairs, "In others words, you missed us."

"Of course," Hank chuckled, "How was the trip?"

Charles smiled, his eyes twinkling with happiness, "Wonderful. Did you and Raven organise the hotel room? It was gorgeous."

"Call it a wedding present," Hank grinned, and the two of them followed him down the corridor into the kitchen. Raven was sitting at one end of the table, talking to Kurt quietly, while Jean, Scott and Ororo were busy trying to make pancakes. Erik sat at the other end of the table laughing at something Peter had just told him.

Iris and Charles had asked Erik to come to their wedding and then to stay at the mansion while they'd gone away for two weeks to help look after it. He had seemed more than happy to do so.

"Well," Iris called out, "You all look like you're having plenty of fun without us."

"You're back!" They all cheered, turning to face them.

Charles wrapped his fingers around Iris' hand and they both beamed at everyone in the kitchen.

"Did you miss us?" Charles asked with a grin, and Jean groaned.

"Hank has been setting all kinds of weird rules that you guys never had. Can you ban all of them now? I can't take another one."

Scott, whose fingers were loosely intertwined with Jean's, muttered, "Did you guys know that Hank actually forgot that we were waiting for a lesson? He did it multiple times."

Peter called out, "Let's not forget when Hank accidentally locked us in the training room for two hours. Indestructible walls and doors are not beneficial when you actually want to get out."

Erik smirked, "All in all, we've had a great few weeks without you. Just never put Hank in charge of anything ever again."

Hank opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it.

"Who wants pancakes?" Ororo asked, lifting up the frying pan in her hand, and everyone cheered and sat themselves down at the table. As they all began to lay out the plates and various toppings on the table, Iris glanced up at the framed newspaper article on the wall opposite where she was sitting.

The headline read 'THE MUTANT WHO TRIED TO DESTROY OUR WORLD, AND THE MUTANTS WHO SUCCEEDED IN STOPPING HIM'. It had been a ground-breaking article about En Sabah Nur and what had really happened in Cairo. Iris had discussed En Sabah Nur and his dream to enslave the world, but also how his desires did not represent all of mutant-kind. A particular paragraph had been lifted from the article and used in many discussions, conferences, and protests since she'd written it.

The actions and beliefs of one member of a certain group do not represent the actions and beliefs of all of them. Many mutants want to live in harmony with other humans. Their abilities are not something they asked for when they were born, but something they have learnt to live with and control. They shouldn't be seen as something to fear. The mutants who fought against En Sabah Nur – the being who tried to destroy our world – did it to protect the world they live on and the people that live on it. On the day that our world was almost obliterated, mutants saved it. Remember that, when you see anti-mutant protests, or laws being passed that try to oppress them. Remember that mutants saved the world.

It had been the longest article Iris had ever written, but it had been worth it. It wasn't just printed in New York, but shared across the globe. The public perception of what had happened in Cairo had changed dramatically, and the number of anti-mutant rallies had begun to decrease. Her dream of making the world better with her journalism had come true.

Hank had framed it and hung it up in the kitchen, which she'd initially been embarrassed about, but now she simply felt proud.

She felt Charles wrap his hand around hers on top of the table, and she turned to face him with a smile.

"Are you alright, love?" He asked her quietly.

She glanced around the kitchen at everyone else. Ororo was plating up everyone's pancakes while Kurt, Jean, and Scott were chopping up some bananas. Peter was showing Erik how to make the ultimate pancake topping, and Hank and Raven were standing by the fridge making drinks for everyone. Iris felt her eyes sting, but not with sadness.

She returned her gaze to Charles and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm so happy." She told him, and he beamed at her. The two of them looked around them at the others, who weren't just their friends but their family. And they were safe together at last.

Charles squeezed her hand and murmured to her softly.

"Me too, Iris. I couldn't be happier."

Iris' eyes met his, and for a moment the kitchen around them flickered away and was replaced by a forest filled with the greenest leaves and rays of golden sunlight shining through the gaps in the foliage above them.

Everyone else stopped what they were doing and glanced up around them in wonder.

"This is so cool," Peter whispered, "Your power is awesome, Iris."

Charles smiled at her, his eyes twinkling with pride and love.

"Your power is a miracle."

A/N -

Wow, I've finally finished! Thank you to everyone that's still been reading - whether you've continued reading it from three/four years ago or whether you've only recently started reading it, I really appreciate it. The last few months have been a very stressful and worrying time, so it's been really great that I could get the story back off of my old laptop and work on editing this and uploading it as a project during my country's lockdown. I've enjoyed it so much, and I'm really sad to leave Iris and Charles behind!

I hope you've enjoyed reading this, feel free to let me know what you thought! I hope everyone is safe and well, and thank you again for the support :)