2 Weeks Earlier...


"Just because someone stumbles and loses their path," The bald telepath looked out into the gathering crowd. He was hopeful of the turn out. He saw humans as far as the eye can see, all listening to him. A known mutant. He smooths out the wrinkles in his expensive, navy suit. "Doesn't mean they're lost forever. That," He gestured with his hands. "Is my philosophy about everything. For individuals, for the relationship between humans and mutantkind..."

The X-Men stood in silent line along the stage in Central Park. So far, the professor's speech was going swimmingly. There were no anti-mutant protesters, no hateful signs. No heckling. The crowd was silent, watching Professor Xavier speak intently and with great interest. Four, grueling years after Apocalypse, and things were still not perfect. Not in Bayville and not anywhere else.

But strides were being made, slowly but surely. And the patient telepath addressing the world about mutants made sure of that. Ororo, Hank, and Warren stood on the stage behind him as he spoke. Rogue stood beside Kurt and Logan, a cropped leather jacket shrugged on over her X-Suit. They were there to protect Charles and the innocent people in attendance, just in case. For the mutants, there was not being too sure.

She tucked a short, wavy lock behind her ear, noticing Logan's tenseness. She didn't think she'd ever seen the man relax. Things were going the only way she could've asked, she was trying to be optimistic. Kurt was always suggesting it. Before she could blink, Logan flew forward through the flash of cameras. Her gloves soon became hot and sweaty. 'No,' She thought. 'Not now!'

Logan moved with lightning fast reflexes, but it was not enough. Charles didn't notice until it was too late, nobody did. The Friends Of Humanity were thought to not be there, but they were scattered amongst the crowd. One pot bellied, red-neck supporter in a red flannel and ripped jeans jumped forward, screaming. Soon, dozens more men jumped out with weapons, causing pandemonium.

Scott looked around, towering over most of his teammates. "X-MEN," He screamed, his teeth bared. That's when the shot rang out. It sounded like a door being slammed by the Hulk. As soon as it rang out, Scott shoved Jean and Rogue towards the ground. Kitty grabbed Kurt and Bobby near her, and phased, just incase the bullet flew their way. But it didn't.

Screams rang out, papers running like confetti down to the ground. The smell assaults Logan's nose before he can get to the assailant, his mind torn in two different ways. 'NO,' He's brain screamed at him. The force of the shot sends his chair careening sideways. Kitty and Amara shout when Charles falls limp on the ground, his eyes rolling in the back of his head.

Rogue climbed the stage as fast as she could, scraping and bruising her shins as she ran to immediately administer first aid until Hank arrived. Just as she'd been trained. She noted that the 'bullet' was a syringe, and she began to feel very ill. "HANK," She shrieked, and most of her teammates looked back. They had never heard the girl sound so fearful before, so afraid. Not even when she realized that she was in Apocalypse's clutches.

Logan pauses, dark eyes scanning the area as he grabs a slovenly Friends Of Humanity member by the collar. When he sees Rogue is not in danger, he continues tossing the terrorist group member out of the away from civilians, hurrying to secure the area to ensure Charles' safety. 'C'mon Chuck, please hang on.' A small fire was starting towards the back of the conference area.

Ororo rose to the sky, covering the area with a rain shower to hamper the fires. Jean joined Rogue on the stage, trying frantically to enter her mentor's mind. Whatever she saw, she did not divulge to the other girl, and she appeared to do something else with her powers. Something that revoked her ability to speak. Rogue whimpered helplessly, rolling the man on to his back and frantically beginning chest compressions. "N-No.. No, no, no..." She begged through clenched teeth.y

There was nobody Rogue respected more than Charles Xavier. But he looked so small now, frail. Fragile. Not the man she trusted with her life, with her safety. Even as she became a young adult. Jean can sense that she's doing all she can not to meltdown right now.

"Good job, Rogue." She encouraged, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Keep it up until we can get him to Hank." Rogue only responded with panicked breathing, praying her efforts would be enough in the end.

"Kitty," Scott called over the chaos, shooting a blast at an anti-mutant protester with a weapon. "You and Kurt, port to the jet and park it as close as possible!" He screamed. He could tell from his mental conferences with Jean that the professor was dire. Very dire.

"I can't-" Kitty paused when a picnic table phased through her. "Fly that we-" Scott pulled Bobby back out of the way of a flamethrower with a frown.

"You have to, Kitty-" He shot another beam. Kurt grabbed onto her reluctantly. Kitty was not known for her plane piloting skills, but she was far more certified than he was.

"Ve got this." He assured, a queasy look on his face. Kitty didn't feel much more comforted.

As the Friends Of Humanity fled Logan's wrath, Kitty shakily piloted the Blackbird as close as she could get, leaving ditches in the grass. Without a word, Jean lifted both the professor and his wheelchair telekinetically. 'The professor is in really critical condition, I hope Hank can help him.' She thought, trying to use her vast psychic powers to slow the spread of whatever virus he'd been shot with.

Rogue scrambled after them onto the jet as the sped, quickly towards the institute.


They called it the 'Day Hope Died'. At least, mutants did. Especially the mutants residing in the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. For a building to capacity with growing, teenage mutants it had never been more quiet. More hushed. Almost silent. The quiet was oppressive in comparison to the normal hustle and bustle. Charles Xavier was dead. Gunned down at a demonstration for peace and education. It wasn't fair. And still, the media vilified the 'mutant menace'.

Logan came the closest he'd ever come to leaving. Quitting. Turning around from the heartache, the anxiety. All of it. He knew the heartache would only increase ten fold from here on out, and that scared him most. He felt that all the best things about him died with Charles. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Nothing quelled this deep, deep pain. Not fighting, not drinking. Not smoking. Not drawing blood. Nothing dampened the blow of knowing he had to go through life without Charles Xavier.

But, as he saw the state of the institute change overnight, it showed him how important it was for the school to see someone keeping it together. Scott was tearing himself apart in the Danger Room on the psycho setting. Jean was shattering lightbulbs all over the mansion despite insisting she was fine and needed to help New Recruits. Kitty didn't stop crying for days, every room of the campus reminding her of the late telepath, somehow.

Kurt's parents had raised him really religiously, something he'd forgotten a bit since he came to stay in New York. But, God was the only thing he could imagine seriously helping him through this. The professor had been there for him when nobody else could be. All of them. They were young adults now, the X-Men, and they still looked to him for guidance. To know that somebody had an idea; a plan.

Now, the X-Men were alone. Idling, floating vulnerably without their guiding factor.

xxx

Jean hated to be pessimistic. She liked to think of herself as an optimistic pragmatist. Realistic with a healthy dose of looking on the bright side. But it had been over two weeks since Charles Xavier's sudden passing. And things around the school were not any better. She tossed her long hair in a messy ponytail, too bothered to take the time she normally would to style it. It was close to dinnertime, and she wasn't sure she'd had a real meal all day.

Both she and Scott were doing their best to look out for the younger members and students. She knew that Scott wasn't handling the death of his hero well and neither was she. But they had no choice. They had more or less inherited the institute, Scott most of all. It was up to them to keep things running. A lot of people were depending on them.

She gave Kitty a tired smile, draped in one of Scott's large, Duke sweaters. She handed the younger girl a Fiji water. "Please try to rehydrate." Jean is concerned, but she sounds exhausted. "If Hank sees you again for dehydration..." As if on cue, a very frazzled looking Logan wandered in the room. His eyes were glassy, his clothes disheveled, and the bags under his eyes were worse than he'd ever allowed the professor to see. His stubble was well on it's way to being a beard, the hairy man never had trouble growing hair on his face.

He gave a defeated, low growl in Kitty's direction. He'd had enough of the gentle, understanding approach already. He felt for all the kids and what they were going through, but he wasn't tolerating the no eating & drinking (Rogue had had particularly bad psyche problems that would make her stop eating, something Logan nipped in the bud very fast). He had no patience for it, especially when he knew how many different ways it was bad for people their ages.

Kitty sighed, but obeyed. If she weren't so committed to mourning, she'd have thanked the redhead. She just took a long swig, both Scott and Logan watching until she was finished.

"Good Half-Pint," He mumbled, his eyes unfocused. He scrubbed a tired hand over his face. "Go wipe your face and set the dinner table..." His voice is gentle, but she knows he means business. He hadn't been making her, anyone, do much of anything they didn't want to. He'd allowed the kids personal time in their rooms to grieve and express themselves. But lots of them were keeping themselves locked away, skipping dinner, eating ice cream for breakfast at 4:36 am...

Now he understood why Charles was always fixated on routine, order, and schedules with a high occupancy school of mutants. It would take heaven and hell to get the institute running how it did when the professor was alive. Kitty looks at him in a mixture of shock and hurt. Her turquoise sweater is starting to hang off of her, and it startled the man. She didn't have a lot of room to drop weight, he'd been trying to get more muscle mass on her for years.

"M-Mr. L-Logan I don-"

"It's been two weeks, Kitty." She shrinks when she realizes she's never heard him sound so tired or defeated. "I don't expect anyone to be over anything. But, we've got to reestablish routine, a sense of normalcy." He was already practically pleading with the girl. He didn't have much fight left in him, he was finding it increasingly difficult to fight for a school of dejected, mutant teenagers.

"Things will never be normal here!" She exclaimed angrily. "Dinner won't help anything, at all!" She screamed, her voice voice rising anxiously.

"Kitty," Jean began sympathetically. Kitty had been isolating and lashing out like her teammate Rogue. And her roommate (who was already scarce for scheduled meals) had barely been sighted around campus at all. If Logan hadn't smelled her scent on the premises he would've been launched a search party for her. A lot of students thought Kitty and Rogue were his favorites, and he was certainly very understanding of them both because of how close he'd gotten. But, he was sending the message by gathering them first, there were no more exceptions.

"Katherine," The use of her real name silenced the girl. She couldn't remember the last time he'd called her that. "Please, go wash your face and set the table." He looked at her with watery, bloodshot eyes. He was struggling just as much as she was, he just didn't have a spare second to breakdown. Not with Charles gone. She sighed, trudging towards the kitchen in reluctance.

Logan gave a shuddering sigh. "Red," He began listlessly. "Can you help me..."

"Yes," She answered quickly. "Of course. Scott and I will help you get all the students to dinner." She tossed a look behind her to Scott, who was lost in thought. He always was, these days. Logan sniffed pointedly and sighed.

"Either of y'all seen Rogue?" Even with his bloodhound nose, he'd found it increasingly difficult to catch her around. She had always been reclusive, introverted... But she used to spend a lot more time around the man, even in silence. Camping, training, riding... It unnerved him that she'd been so distant from him, from everyone. Surprise, surprise; he had heard Rogue speak about what happened the absolute least, and she'd spent some of Charles' last moments with him.

Scott heaved a frustrated sigh. Jean was better at understanding all the students' different methods of grieving, but he had a harder time. He hated when Kitty and Rogue wouldn't sleep. Wouldn't eat. Hurting themselves only spread more pain and worry around the campus, which they did not need. Which would not serve the team if there were an emergency. If he had been capable of tracking her down, he would've been happy to talk to her. Perhaps, that was why she was essentially invisible.

"I have barely seen her around..." He answered, keeping his more charged thoughts to himself.

'Grief is hard...' Jean chimed in his mind. She looked to Logan. "She's up in the tree with the rope swing." She informed him gently. He nodded, kicking himself for not realizing that sooner. 'Of course she is.' He turned wordlessly towards the glass doors, stepping out into the night. When he feels the temperature outside he frowns, knowing that if Rogue was sitting outside she hadn't been wearing a coat.

He sucked his teeth in annoyance and concern, but he paused when he smelled somebody else. And tears. Guilt bloomed in his stomach. These kids were suffering, everybody was. And no matter what the man managed to do, it never felt like enough.

He watched as Jaime Madrox stood at the base of the tree, his hand curled tightly around the rope. Before Logan could strain to hear the conversation, Rogue jumped down from the branches. He frowned when he saw her, noting that she was looking thin, like she was losing the muscle they trained so hard in the Danger Room for. She braced the younger boy's shoulders and wrapped him in the most comfortable, sincere hug Logan had ever seen the girl give.

'She's comforting him...' He thought. Jaime, like a lot of younger kids, looked up to Rogue and the rest of the X-Team. He watched as Jaime pivoted and went inside, his face at least hopeful. He watched Rogue's lanky limbs scale the tree again, back to hiding. Logan grunted, approaching the tree and just standing at it's base for a long while.

He marveled at the moon silently, letting Rogue hold onto the silence a little longer before he crashed it. "Jean and Scott can't remember the last time they saw you eat with their own eyes." He called up casually, his eyes betraying his casual tone. He fumbled for a cigar in his pocket. "Come down. It's dinner time. You haven't been in over two weeks, so don't start that." Silence. He sighed. "Rogue, everyone needs to show up. Nobody can get favors right now."

"Don't feel up to it..." Rogue muttered low, counting on Logan's senses to hear her. He snorted, tired of this behavior.

"Don't feel up to what? Sustenance or being around people who care about you?" He can hear the leaves rattle because she's shaking with anger. 'Good, she's angry. Better than nothin' at all.'

"Logan,"

"We're not doing this." He cut in. His voice is hard and it silences her. She'd never heard his voice sound so forced. Like he was trying his hardest to sound like the old him. It broke her heart even more. "We're jus' gonna fast forward. I saw you, clamber down from the tree to comfort Jaime." It was Logan's best kept secret that Rogue was probably the warmest, most feeling one of them all. It was her fear of hurting others and her fear of being hurt that compelled her to hide that.

He feels her body go tense. "I need for you to show up for yourself, now. Hidin' in trees, stayin' in your room, goin' on a hunger strike isn't the answer." His stare hardened. "You're rubbin' off on Kitty, Rogue." When the girl didn't respond and he could smell her tears, he groaned. "I need for you to be there, Rogue. I'm sorry for asking you for somethin' right now. But one thing that would help is if I could get the whole school to dinner for a meal..."

She huffed in the tree, landing in a crouch before him a few moments later. She wearing a black, full length bodysuit and a massive, green shirt over it. Logan frowns when he doesn't remember it fitting her so loosely. Her nose is as red as Rudolph's nose, and so were her eyes. "No fair," She sniffed. Logan's shoulder's sagged. He hated feeling manipulative, but it was no secret the girl had a bit of a martyr complex. She spent all her time acting cold and unfeeling, but she was always the first to volunteer her help.

He wrapped an arm around her carefully. "Thanks, Stripes." Her face softened. She lacked the energy to be mad at Logan very long, anyways.


The Danger Room didn't feel the same after the professor's death. And Logan certainly didn't train them the same way. There was a wildness, a desperation, an urgency in the way he rode them now. His need to protect them palpable. Somehow, just the telepath's presence made them all feel safer. Now they felt naked and open. Afraid.

There were worries that Jean wasn't ready to be using Cerebro full time. If anything, she probably didn't have enough control of her powers not to fry it. He had kept the school running so well, so effortlessly. He was constantly pushing them all to grow and be better people. Now what?

Sweat trailed down Rogue's neck, her hair clinging to her skin with sweat. Kitty looked equally as frazzled beside her, Kurt on the other side. Logan was really stressing their training since they all had pretty passive mutations. 'I would just die if something' happened to them on a mission because I didn't prepare them, enough...' The man had nightmares about Rogue being cornered and unable to access powers.

She was being able to handle more absorptions at once, but she hadn't recalled her powers since her breakdown. And she hadn't been very eager to try. She misses the days where Logan kept her hand to hand sharp. Now, every session was extreme and simulation based. A completely overpowered Magneto simulation raged around them.

He was covered in chaotic, purple energy, sending magnetic blasts all over. "Watch it," Logan barked. For a room that ran on simulations, it sure hurt. "Stripes," He crossed his arms and looked at them expectedly. Rogue huffed. She hated exercises that made her absorb her teammates. Lately, every training session required that of her. She removed a glove and tapped them both quickly.

She teleported to Jean who was currently being held behind a metal bar. Rogue tugged, successfully freeing her. Rogue reached over and phased Scott through the metal plate blocking him. They all landed on the ground, eyeing the metal monster Magneto was sending after them. Jean tried to focus and dismantle his creation, but she wasn't completely focused. She was having a hard time getting a handle on her own powers, lately.

Scott ran forward and fired an optic blast. It reflected off the metal, nearly reflecting it back on Kitty and Rogue. They dove out of the way as the explosion shattered tile. Kurt tried to teleport near the hologram of Magneto, but he was sent flying by the magnetic interference. Logan shook his head with a snarl.

"End simulation." He stood and waited for things to die down, his arms crossed. "I was not impressed." He told them, his face displeased. 'They need to get their groove back. I know it's hard, but...'

"Vhat're you riding us like this, for?" Kurt asked, rubbing an afflicted shoulder. "Things have been quiet!" Kitty snorted beside him, her face covered in soot.

"Because all of the villains are planning, Kurt-" Kitty quipped. He glowered at her.

"We are all fully expecting you know who to pull some bull out of his ass." He gestured to the projection of Magneto. "Chuck's death didn't do any wonders for that guy's mental health, I'm sure." Everyone dipped their heads in agreement. "If there's a worldwide fallout for something he does, we need to be on the ball with making sure his plans don't succeed. He could undo everything Charles has worked so hard for."

The X-Men looked amongst each other, their faces contemplative. They knew he was right. The longer he took to move, the more collectively worried they became.

"I just hope we're ready..."

Logan tries to look into the face of the scared, devastated kids. Gathered together in the school's courtyard, huddled in black, he could see how young they all really were. Even the oldest kids. And most of them were losing the closest they've ever had to a father figure. Any mutant who met the man considered him so, nobody could make an X-Gene carrier feel more comfortable in their skin.

The peace Rogue has been able to make with her mutation was largely in thanks to him. Logan hated funerals. Mourning. But for Charles, he would muster the strength to speak. And for all those kids in that crowd.

But nobody knew what to do when Magneto descended from the sky. He said not a word, his face splotchy and tear stained. Moments later, both Wanda and Pietro appeared, standing silently towards the back. A few looks were communicated, but ultimately everyone had to figure that Charles would've wanted his oldest friend there. Logan ignored the sudden tenseness of his metal frame.

"I see a lot of hurt, angry pairs of eyes right now..." He sees Rogue, her head dipped in a dark green hood the professor had gifted her. He hears Jean sniff, sees Kitty's bloodshot eyes. "I know in response to things like this, revenge... Gettin' even," He clutched a tight fist. "Feels like an answer. An answer that goes against everything the professor believed in. That ain't how he wanted it."

His eyes shined with emotion as he looked out into all the visitors. "Revenge and hatred went against that man's grain. He was really just cut from a different cloth." He smiled sadly as the wind blew, ruffling his wild hair. He cast a warm, wistful look back at Charles' headstone. "It's like Chuck used to say. Maintaining yer principals when you're up against the wall... That's the only time it means much'o anything." He looked into all their eyes.

"Doing things the right way ain't always easy." He said earnestly. "But most things worth doin' hardly are." When he moved away from the podium, lots of sniffling could be heard. But there was silence when Erik Lensherr stood. A dropped pin could be heard as Logan stared at the man for a long time. His face said a lot of things with no words as the man slowly approached the microphone.

Rogue took in a deep breath, the sight of the man dredging up memories of the holocaust. Of people being cremated, turned into ash. She hears it, smells it as she suddenly began to feel lightheaded. She stifled a moan, refusing to ruin the service. She felt a hand on her shoulder and felt embarrassed to see it was Jean's touch, probably feeling everything she felt. Rogue was mortified, but too surprised by Magneto to really care. He stands, seemingly trying to get control of his breathing for a few moments.

None of the X-Men had ever seen the mutant close to this emotional. Tormented. But calm at the same time, like he's been preparing for this moment forever. The moment Charles left us.

"My only solace," He looked around as though it were is inauguration speech. "Is that Charles and I have said everything we ever wanted to say to each other." Silence. For as surprisingly open and raw as he had displayed himself at this service, his face hardened instantly. Like he met his quota for emoting for the day."But I promise you this." Logan moved to interrupt the man, but Hank held him back. "Charles' dream will live on." He rose to the air, guests bursting out into shocked murmurs.

Rogue crossed her arms. Why did it sound like a threat when he said it?