After the dust had settled in D.C., after all the meetings and negotiations and interviews, Charles and Hank finally made it back to Westchester, where they threw themselves whole-heartedly into reopening the school and finding new students. They found dozens of new students from all walks of life, each and every one of them with fantastic beautiful mutations, but all of them unsure and terrified too, and Charles vowed silently to himself that this time, he would do better. This time, he wouldn't let any of them down, he wouldn't abandon them to face the world alone.
Try as he might though, despite hours and hours spent in Cerebro, he never found the three that the Logan from the future had mentioned. Storm, Scott, and Jean.
"Maybe they haven't even been born yet, Charles," Hank said after yet another marathon session in Cerebro. "After all, Logan was sent back fifty years from the future. A lot can happen in that time. They will come to us, these mutants that Logan spoke about. They'll find their way to us like they did before."
So Charles stopped actively looking for them, but deep down inside, he waited, and he hoped.
Years passed, and while several Jeans and Scotts did attend the school, he knew that none of them were the mutants Logan spoke about.
One day, nine years after Logan's visit from the future, visitors came knocking at the front door. They were a middle-aged couple - John and Elaine Grey - who had learned of his school for gifted children and wished to enroll their teenaged daughter in his school. "She has telekinesis and telepathy," they confided to him, "and it's not a problem at all, we still love her so much. But she's struggling to control her powers, and we don't know how best to help her."
They introduced their daughter to him, and the moment he saw the red-headed girl and felt the sheer vastness of the power within her, before they even told him her name, he knew.
Jean had finally found her way to the school.
Jean's abilities far exceeded his, and any other mutants that he had ever known and taught. He had never felt a mind as powerful as hers, fiery and all-consuming, as red as the color of her hair, and it overwhelmed him as much as it fascinated him.
Charles still remembered the future he saw in Logan's mind. He had seen an older Jean, lost within the uncontrollable tide of the power within her, and the agony on her face as she had begged Logan to kill her.
They changed the future once. (And he had to believe that. He had to believe that Logan returned to a much brighter future than the original one.) They could change the future again.
So he ignored his first instinct, which was to block off the bulk of Jean's abilities for the time being, and instead spent a lot of time working with Jean, stumbling along with her as they learned how best to manage her abilities. It was a tough, uncharted road, and as her powers grew in strength, they became more difficult to control, until she was shaking the entire school during her nightmares, and projecting her dreams to all her classmates.
As such, despite his gentle admonitions to them and frequent speeches of unity and acceptance, she was feared and shunned by the other students, in his school that was supposed to be a haven for the outcasts.
I'm afraid I'll one day lose control and kill the people I love, she confided to him after one session. Their telepathic connection was still wide open, and he could feel her fear and loneliness, so loud and clear that it felt like his own.
I won't let it happen, he told her, and hoped it wouldn't be an empty promise.
Charles didn't know if he was doing the right thing. He could only do his best, and hoped that it would be enough.
He hoped he wasn't just making the same mistakes twice.
He hoped he wasn't making new mistakes, worse mistakes.
He renewed his search for Scott and Storm, believing that Jean's arrival meant that the others would show up soon too, but his search always turned up empty, until the day when Alex Summers showed up in the school, his blindfolded younger brother in tow.
"This is my brother, Scott," Alex said, and it took all of Charles's control to keep the expression on his face neutral.
They went around to the back of the house, and Scott demonstrated his powers, so similar to Alex's but with the energy beams shooting from his eyes instead. He demonstrated a similar initial lack of control too. In the wake of the smoking embers from the dead tree, he could feel the sharp tang of Scott's terror - his fear of his powers, his terror at always being alone and a freak, and Charles reached out, soothing the boy with calming thoughts and words. "Your brother was much the same way when I first found him," he told Scott. "He once blasted an invaluable statue in half! Believe me, a tree is nothing compared to that."
"Really?!" Scott's jaw dropped in shock, the thought of his idolized brother doing that too much to comprehend.
Alex gave a shout of laughter. "You're still holding on to that?"
Charles mock-glared at him. "I had to compensate the CIA for that statue, Alex."
Scott laughed, feeling more at ease. Alex looked steadily at Charles, and Charles caught his projected thought. Take care of him, Professor.
He nodded in response. I will. I promise.
Later, Charles showed a blindfolded Scott around the school, projecting a constant series of images into Scott's mind, letting himself be the boy's eyes for now until Hank fashioned a suitable pair of eyeglasses that would absorb the energy beams. He pointed out all the various amenities and facilities of the schools, and watched as Scott gradually lost his reticence and tentativeness, his mind practically lighting up in excitement when Charles mentioned the garage where his cars were kept. Charles suspected that one of his cars would probably be taken out for a spin the moment Scott could use his eyes again.
Charles didn't mind though. The Scott that first arrived was frightened and scared, but he was blossoming now, bolstered by the steadiness of Alex's faith in him and the promise of a school for people just like him. Charles looked forward to spending more time with Scott, watching him grow into the loyal, capable man he had seen in Logan's mind.
Jean's nightmare - her most intense yet - started off a busy day that ended with Charles finding Raven back in the house, ten years after they last saw each other in D.C. His joy was short-lived, though, as they quickly got into a debate about their opposing views on how best to protect mutantkind, which then turned into Raven confronting Charles.
"Hank told me about what that guy from the future said. About the sentinels, about the X-Men. He showed me the weapons and the facilities he had built to train the X-Men. But he told me you vetoed his plan. Why, Charles?"
If he was to be honest with himself, Charles didn't know why, too. He and Hank had argued often about the need to create the X-Men, but Charles was always reluctant, citing many reasons each time. Theirs was a school - first and foremost - not some paramilitary training facility - and the children came here to learn, to be safe, not to fight. Charles was also under no illusions about the uneasy acceptance of mutants in society, and he knew that his telepathic abilities and his school for mutants made some people nervous. The school was under constant surveillance, and the slightest sign of aggression from them might send authorities knocking on their doorstep to close it down and take the children away.
Perhaps the real reason was that Charles simply wasn't made for confrontation, for aggression. If he had to, like when they faced off against Sebastian Shaw, he would. But it was abhorrent to him, and he had thought, somewhat complacently, that the Sentinels were their greatest threat, and that since that future had been averted, only peace laid ahead.
He thought that they had time.
And so it was that En Sabah Nur's attack completely blindsided Charles.
Waking up on hot sand, on a hilltop overlooking the city of Cairo, Charles got his first glimpse of Erik in ten long years. Erik's mind was blocked off from his - courtesy of En Sabah Nur - but Charles could see Erik's grief even without the use of his telepathy. He knew his words rang hollow even as he tried to reason with Erik, because what could he possibly say to make things better?
He ached for Erik, for the family he had loved and lost.
En Sabah Nur tried to intimidate him, and Charles felt nothing but contempt for him, this powerful being who used his gifts not to help and protect, but to manipulate and destroy. Forced to deliver En Sabah Nur's message to the whole world, he searched for and found Jean's mind - flaring as bright as the sun - and communicated secretly with her even as he changed the ending of En Sabah Nur's message.
"Those with the greatest power... Protect those without."
Charles might have made a mistake in not creating the X-Men earlier, but he hadn't erred in the values he taught his students. He taught them courage, determination, and responsibility, and he had faith that his students had heard his call and heeded his teachings.
Hank, Raven, and the rest would come, and En Sabah Nur will fall.
Charles had glimpsed the end of the world once.
He does not fear En Sabah Nur.
Charles still didn't fear him, even at what he thought might be the end, as En Sabah Nur tore through his mental fortress, battering his body and weakening his spirit. Instead, his mind lingered on Jean's bright presence nearby, and he called out to her, opening his mind to hers. Their minds linked so closely together, he could feel just how strong the power that laid dormant within her was. He could also feel how it strained against Jean's self-imposed controls, and he could feel Jean's fear of herself.
He had made another mistake, hadn't he, when he dismissed Jean's worries about the power growing within her? Back then, he had only wanted to soothe her, not wanting to burden her young mind with something that might happen only decades into the future, especially not when he still had no idea what to do about it.
It was a double-edged sword, to know the future. It gave him knowledge, and it gave him hope, but it also made him complacent, and unknowingly it had given him fear.
Jean, let go, he told her as she entered his mind. No fear. No fear from him, and no fear from her. They would face the strength of her power head-on, and the tragedy of what happened to the original Jean would not happen to this Jean.
Let go, Jean! He screamed, and his mind erupted in light. Before he fell unconscious, he saw the afterimage of a phoenix raised in flight behind his closed eyelids.
After En Sabah Nur was defeated, Moira managed to contact her superiors at the CIA, and before long, a plane came to pick them up from the ruins of Cairo. Once they were finally back in Westchester, Charles found himself swamped by his students, all seeking comfort and reassurance among the ruins of their school.
It was only then that he learned about Alex's death.
He found Scott sitting on one of the undestroyed benches, still wearing the eyeglasses, but with tears steadily leaking out of them, as the boy sobbed, head in his hands. Charles transferred himself over to the bench, and Scott clutched at him, pressing his forehead against Charles's shoulder as he wept, and Charles could only hold him.
He silently requested permission to enter the grieving boy's mind, and once it was granted, he shared one of his last memories of Alex - their little road trip to see Moira just days ago. He shared his memories of Alex teasing Charles, his jokes and smiles, and how he spent the entire trip talking about Scott - how proud he was of him, how much he loved him and his hopes for Scott's future. He shared too his earliest memories of Alex - the defiant and belligerent young man he had taken under his wing, and how Alex had matured into the brave, steadfast man they both knew and loved now.
Together, they grieved for their brother and friend.
The next few days were... hectic.
The authorities were initially adamant about taking Erik into custody, but Charles and Moira maintained that En Sabah Nur had misled and manipulated Erik into siding with him, and that Erik turned against him at the crucial moment and was instrumental in holding En Sabah Nur off. The end result was that Erik was allowed to go with Charles and the rest, and Erik in turn vouched for the young white-haired woman - another one of the Horsemen who had also turned against En Sabah Nur and helped in the final battle.
Charles also had to once again deal with the governments of the world, and tell them again and again that no - Charles was not the one who ordered for the release of the nukes (even if he was secretly glad of it), and he sent the global message on behalf of En Sabah Nur only under duress.
As such, it was a few days later before he finally got the chance to talk to the white-haired girl that had come with Erik. He had already spoken to and thanked the new recruits - Kurt who he remembered had teleported him away from the pyramid, and later from the crashing plane, and Peter, whose quick action had saved all the students. The white-haired girl had initially stayed at a distance, but he had seen Raven talking to her a few times, and other students are now starting to follow Raven's lead and talk to her, to make her feel welcome.
He wheeled out to where she sat by the window at their temporary quarters, gazing pensively out into the sunset. "Hello," he said, smiling at her to put her at ease. "I don't think we have been formally introduced yet. My name is Charles."
The girl started, and swung around to face him. "Oh! Er... hi!" She smiled tentatively at him. "Ororo. My name is Ororo Munroe. Although I go by another name instead. Like Mystique, you know. I can control wind and rain, and well... lightning too now, so I… I call myself Storm."
Something slotted into place, and Charles laughed in delight, offering his hand for Storm to shake. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Storm, even if I wished it was under better circumstances."
She gazed back out the window, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry about that. I thought he was a hero at first, you know. He was so powerful and wise, and he was so kind to me. I really thought he would bring about a better age."
En Sabah Nur's mental block had faded with his death, and Charles could feel her emotions leaking all over the place - her genuine remorse, her disappointment at En Sabah Nur not being the visionary she thought he was, even her awe at meeting the Mystique. He could also catch glimpses of the life she had led before, starving and stealing in the streets of Cairo, helpless and raging at the injustices of the world.
I'm sorry I didn't try harder to find you, he thought to himself. He squeezed her hand, telling her out loud, "The important thing is that you turned against him at the crucial moment. Hank told me En Sabah Nur might have gotten away if not for your help. Thank you."
She smiled wanly at him before turning back to the window. Outside, some of the younger children were playing an impromptu game of tag. Her expression as she looked at them was pensive, and he didn't need his telepathy to know what she was thinking.
"You're of course free to go where-ever you want," he told her, "although I want to take this opportunity to let you know that should you choose to stay, you will always be welcome in my school."
She smiled again at him, a wider smile this time, the pensiveness in her eyes fading. "I just might."
That night, Charles couldn't sleep, his mind simply too full to shut itself off. There were so many things to do, issues to address, decisions to be made. Rebuilding the school, helping Jean with her powers, being there for Erik as he grieved, dealing with the government. Stryker was still a looming threat. Logan (because there was no doubt who the students had met at the military facility) was still missing.
Ten years ago he made a promise to an older Logan, who had risked everything to come back in time to help him. Since then, Charles had reopened the school, creating a safe haven for mutants to grow and learn, and today, he had finally found the last of the three mutants Logan had spoken of. There was only one other thing Logan had asked of him. The X-Men.
Giving out on sleep as a lost cause for tonight, Charles transferred himself out of bed into his chair, and wheeled himself into the kitchen for a cup of tea.
Raven was there grabbing a drink from the refrigerator.
He smiled up at her, remembering their first meeting long ago, and Raven smiled back, seating herself at the kitchen table across from him, an echo of that last night before things fell completely apart. Raven's yellow eyes were soft as she looked at him, and he knew they were both thinking about how close they came to losing each other during the battle with En Sabah Nur.
They had spent more years apart than together now, and Charles didn't want another ten years to pass before seeing Raven again.
"If I create the X-Men team," he asked, "will you be willing to stay and help me train them?"
Raven's smile was brilliant and sharp. "Someone needs to teach them how to fight properly."