A/N: This takes place between "Force X," and "Badlands" with minor spoilers for "eXcessive Force." I own nothing.

Sometimes as Charles Xavier woke up, his powerful mind still muddled by sleep, he thought for sure that he was in his own bed at the Institute and that the glimmers of thoughts around him were his beloved students. Then awareness would return more fully and he was forced to acknowledge that there was stone above and below him and his bed was nothing more than a pallet and a thin blanket.

The night was nearing dawn when he awoke this time. His sleep was often fitful and his dreams often consisted of disasters, destruction, and death especially the deaths of his beloved X-Men. They were removed from him by twenty years except perhaps Wolverine who might still be out there somewhere. Charles hoped to run into him some time. It would be nice to see a familiar face.

Not that his new friends weren't needed. They were all good people and he was proud to know them. But there was little of the happiness and warmth that had been present in so many of his students when they used their powers. These grim people had grown up in a war zone where their powers were weapons that led to their persecution and not a source of joy.

He couldn't help but recall Storm's quiet dignity and strength, Bobby's wisecracks, or Kitty's determined nature. Marrow was comparable in age to many of Xavier's students back then but she was an angry young woman and not the sort to laugh or even smile most of the time.

It was pointless to try and fall asleep again so he got up and looked around to make sure there was no problem that had jolted him awake subconsciously. The others were fast asleep except for the two on guard duty. He touched the edges of their thoughts and found no reason for alarm.

Bishop lay nearby to his right, his mind calm and untroubled. His trust in Xavier was helpful and Charles didn't think they would ever have escaped prison if not for the man's help. He was the one who had organized the fleeing prisoners and arranged safe places for those who weren't a part of their strike force. Mutants who were too weak or too young or old had been sent elsewhere where they could wait and hope that the destruction of the Sentinels could be achieved so they could live their lives in peace. He was a natural leader and Charles could see why Wolverine had taken the young man under his wing.

Hellion lay to his left and Charles regarded the boy fondly. He was extremely powerful if sometimes uncertain and Charles had been teaching him how to increase control over his telekinetic abilities using many of the same techniques he'd used with Jean. Julian was eager to learn and it made life here a little more bearable to have a student again. He hadn't been corrupted by cynicism as much as the others.

Marrow lay slightly apart from the rest, curled in a fetal position with her bone spikes protruding in a way that would keep anyone from getting close without getting injured. He felt bad that she wanted to blame him for everything that had happened but he supposed her anger and distrusting nature were understandable considering her life up until now. Xavier hoped that if they were successful in taking down Master Mold, she could learn to be a more confident and content young woman.

Vanisher lay closest to the fire. He tended to feel the cold more with his thin frame and he often exhausted himself running errands all day to benefit the rest of them. Telford was the one who brought supplies back and who helped bring mutant to and from the hideouts. His teleportation abilities were invaluable to their operation which was one of the reasons he was one of only two people spared from watch duty. The other was Xavier himself which only caused Marrow to resent him even more but he needed to conserve his strength to communicate with Wolverine as often as he did.

Vanisher's thin fingers twitched and he shifted a little as Xavier passed him but he wasn't awake, only dreaming and perhaps seeking the warmth of his partner who was still on guard duty. Xavier could see Berzerker where he sat on the ledge but the man was still as he looked out towards the distant city.

Domino was on patrol around the perimeter but there was only boredom in her thoughts. It was a quiet night for which Xavier was grateful. He walked out to the ledge and sat several feet away from Berzerker. He didn't know the other mutant very well. Except in battle, which he delighted in, the former Morlock was a man of few words which was fine with Xavier who wanted to simply enjoy the night air.

"Couldn't sleep, eh?" Berzerker turned his head to glance at Xavier out of the corner of his eye before turning back to the darkened landscape in front of them. The city was always awash in lights and sometimes the towering form of a Sentinel could be made out as it lumbered around the city.

"I'm afraid not."

Sometimes he wondered if he wasn't fighting a lost cause. Marrow had accused him of living in the past instead of the present but how could he do anything else? His X-Men were supposed to represent hope, the hope of a time where humans and mutants could live together in peace. This desolate future was like a slap in the face, a testament to the failure of all of his dreams.

"You know, Bishop was telling us about your X-Men, one time before you came." Startled out of his melancholy by Berzerker's words, he turned his head to peer at the mohawked mutant who still wasn't looking at him. "He was describing some of them and their powers and I'm pretty sure I met one of them a long time ago when I was a kid. In fact, he saved my life."

"Really? Who was it?" The information was unexpected and he grasped onto it like a lifeline.

"Tall guy, long coat, shot laser beams out of his eyes."

"Cyclops." He couldn't help but let his fondness for one of his first students show in his voice. "What happened?"

"Sinister's Mauraders were hunting Morlocks in the tunnels and I got unlucky and ran into one of them. He was chasing me and then there was some woman in green who made everything spin around me. I fell and I couldn't move. I thought I was dead meat for sure but then that X-guy, Cyclops, he came out of nowhere and blasted the chick.

He told me to run and I got the hell out of there and never got a chance to thank him. But you trained him, right? So I guess I should thank you too."

Xavier didn't know what to say. To think that there was this tenuous connection to his X-Men made him suddenly realize that perhaps they had had more of an impact then he'd been willing to believe. Despite his hope that Logan could change the past, he'd been thinking of this place as a failure, as HIS failure.

But Bishop and the others had been trained and recruited by Logan and now that he knew this little fact about Berzerker it caused the world's most powerful telepath to consider what else he might have missed. Was he being selfish for only worrying about his own problems?

In some ways, he was only using the people around him as protection while he tried to undo their very existence. If things were different, perhaps some of them might be dead by now or living lives just as miserable as this one. It wasn't as though he expected to create a paradise by preventing the disaster that had led here.

But it was comforting to know that his actions in the past had had a positive impact, no matter how individual that impact was. If not for Cyclops, Berzerker would probably be long dead instead of sitting here talking with Xavier.

"You're welcome but Scott never needed my assistance to be a hero. He would have turned out that way whether I'd taught him or not."

"I guess so but I still gotta thank you too. You've done good for all of us."

"Thank you, Raymond." He saw the slightly startled look on Berzerker's face as he heard his real name but then the mutant simply grinned and shrugged it off. They'd all gotten used to the idea of having a telepath in their midst, knowing that he would catch their occasional random thought.

"You're welcome."

Charles decided that sleep might be easier now and it would probably be better if he let Berzerker attend to his duties without distraction. So he bid the younger mutant good night and made his way back to his pallet.

He lay down and it didn't take long before he drifted asleep again. There were no more dreams for now and he knew that he'd look at the dawn sky with rested eyes and a refreshed mind. There was still reason to hope.