This will be purely movie-verse and set after the events of Days of Future Past. I will on occasion draw inspiration from various preexisting comic storylines out there, including characters and plotlines, and may sometimes use background information not specifically present in the movies to flesh out characters as I see fit, but I do not make any claims to being a lexicon to all things X-Men, Marvel, or the like, and content myself to mostly movie-based "facts" and storyline. I also do not entertain crossovers into other "universes", even if the comics do. Sorry, Avenger fans.

This story was designed to be an accompaniment to Days of Future Past and a bridge to what I hope Apocalypse has in store for us. As such, it is written with a faux-cinematic pacing in mind.

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form, own or stake a claim to any character, setting, concept, or plotline that comes directly from Marvel or the X Men movie franchise. I did however meet Allen Bellman and his wife, once. I fetched that man a LOT of coffee and water during his stay. He was a nice old guy who ate a lot of salad and drew some stuff.


X Men: Last Judgement

History had been rewritten. A future of persecution, of war, death, despair...nothing but a faint memory shared between two men. Unlikely allies safeguarding the truth of what life had been. Another life lived and lost. Another life all but forgotten.

They'd created a new future by changing their past. And many things had changed. Friends once gone to them were still alive and well. Humanity no longer feared and hunted that which they did not understand. Mutants lived openly now. The school had never seen so many happy students or happy parents. Finally, after fifty years and two very different lifetimes spent in the pursuit of equality, the world seemed at peace.

But one man did not celebrate this victory, for he alone knew such peace came at a price.

Charles Xavier sat looking down at the courtyard from his window. He smiled fondly as the children played. His mind was quite troubled, but years of experience keeping his emotions in check kept such turbulent truth from reflecting on his face. The man watched several students energetically playing a game of basketball, using their various gifts and powers without fear of Humanity's prejudice. These were children who grew up knowing nothing but freedom. In such a world as this it was difficult even for the professor to imagine that the path to such freedom could possibly be wrong. But he knew that manipulating the past had its consequences as well as its benefits. Nature must have balance.

For the past twenty eight years he'd felt the ramifications of all that they'd done...

The man frowned slightly as his guest arrived.

"Jean said you wanted to see me."

Logan was never one for formality. He hadn't even knocked, knowing all too well that the professor would already know he was there. Clad in his normal Devil-May-Care attire that hardly was appropriate of the instructor he was, the muscular man leaned in the doorway and crossed his arms.

"Yes," said Xavier, turning to greet him. "There is something of great importance I wish to speak to you about. Please," he gestured to a chair. The other man simply lifted a furry eyebrow.

After seeing the perpetual hope on the professor's face, he reluctantly took the proffered seat with a grumble. "I'm afraid there is something I've been keeping from you. As you know, you and I are oddities in this timeline. We alone possess the knowledge of what transpired in 1973. Of the existence of an entirely different set of outcomes that led up to that point."

"Well, there's also Beast. And Erik," corrected Logan. He scratched the crop of unshaven hair on his chin with an unimpressed hand. "What's your point?"

"They are aware of your time travelling, yes, but they cannot not fully comprehend the implications. Unlike them, I had a firsthand look at the future which may have been. Had been. The future you changed. Through your memories and through my own...deviation into your timeline, I gained knowledge of this other life. And what I saw pained me."

"Again, what's your point? That future you saw no longer exists. We all prevented it. Even Magneto, more or less."

The old man hovered in his chair behind the desk, turning to once again look out the window. The children were so happy. How much he hated to know such happiness teetered on a ledge, a fragile thing.

"Logan," The professor said softly, his eyes watching the same game as before. "What if I told you our actions in 1973 did more than just create the world we live in now? That changing the course of history set into motion events potentially worse than the future we'd known?"

"I'd say you worry too much."

Xavier chuckled sadly. "Yes, indeed. But I'm afraid in this case worrying cannot be helped. Nature, you see, has a way of correcting itself. Balancing out, if you will. It seems Fate cannot be stopped as we thought it could. Merely delayed. Fate is...unavoidable, Logan.

"The ripples we created left their mark on other aspects of our current timeline. The sentinel war was prevented as hoped, but we changed history to do so. By preventing war we, in a sense, created one. A far worse one, in fact.

"Those who had fallen in the future which you came from are still living in this one, and those who lived were not all so lucky. There are still ripples left behind from our meddling with time. Such ripples are very dangerous. They can destroy the entire world if we are not careful. It is our duty that we right the wrongs we've done."

At the look of protest on Wolverine's face, the professor quickly amended. "Please do not misunderstand; Our comrades, our family, I would not trade any one of them to a harsher fate. Of what I gathered from your memories I know that many of our kind suffered greatly. Had not we changed our path...but it is not them of whom I speak. I have been aware for quite some time that there exists something dark in this world. An entity, ancient and unspeakable. I have felt the extraordinary disturbances of nature that such a force has caused.

"Twenty eight years ago I discovered that a mutant who did not exist in the other future, was born in this timeline due to our actions. Its birth, its very existence, was wholly dependent on a single factor which was somehow missing from the other. Just like the darkness I feel, this mutant was never meant to be."

"And I take it they're better off dead?" The man unceremoniously lit a cigarette, despite the understanding that smoking was to be done outside. He waved his match out and took a long drag. "Let me guess, you want me to kill him."

"On the contrary. I want you to save her.

"You see, it is my belief that this mutant will ultimately decide our fate. The events leading up to her birth were the culmination of several unusual circumstances that would not have occurred, had we not interfered with history. A chain reaction, a rift in time itself. We face another war, Logan. A war of unprecedented magnitude. We must make sure that when this war begins she is on our side.

"And I'm afraid we haven't much time."

The two travelled down the corridor towards Cerebro, not saying much. The sharp click of motorcycle boots and the mechanical hum of a hover chair filled their silence. They were an unlikely pair indeed, one prim and proper in a dapper suit, the other quite rugged in leather and a well-loved wife-beater. Logan took another drag on his cigarette, almost spent. A puff of smoke floated past the No Smoking sign.

Once situated in the great circular room, the professor tentatively held his helmet and looked at the other man. He knew that in a moment his burden would be Wolverine's to carry. He just hoped that this man, with his coarse language and apathetic outlook on life, could right the wrongs 1973 had caused. That he'd be enough.

"Logan," said Professor Xavier suddenly. He was hesitating, something Wolverine had not seen much of before. "There is something else I must tell you. This mutant...isn't like you or I. If provoked, her power has the potential to be almost limitless. It is something I haven't yet encountered, except for the few glimpses into your memories of..."

The old man looked away, ashamed. Logan narrowed his eyes. "Of who, Charles?"

"Jean," said the other sadly. He tried to pretend he hadn't seen Logan flinch. "After she'd become the Phoenix."

Images that Logan wanted desperately to forget flashed before both their minds. The consuming power she'd unleashed. The destruction in her path. The way she'd begged to be saved, barely grasping onto her sanity. Holding her dead body in his arms, screaming out to the cruel world.

Professor Xavier sensed his companion withdraw and build another layer upon the walls of his heart. He frowned, truly sorry for reminding him.

"Logan, I didn't mean to -"

"It was a different time." The man said gruffly, attempting to hide how shaken he was. He tapped a length of spent ashes free and looked away. "Things have changed."

"Indeed. But should this girl's true power awaken before we get to her, she would unleash destruction upon this world similar to the destruction you saw in your timeline. There would be no stopping her."

"So, why the hell would we save her?"

"I'm afraid we simply cannot leave her to any other fate. Nature may not have needed her in the other timeline but it needs her in this one. We need her, Logan.

"Her power has not yet manifested. In her current state we still may be able to save her, but there is no telling what would happen if she fell into the wrong hands. That is why you must go to her. Find her. Reason with her. Bring her back to this school. Otherwise we may all be lost." The old man pursed his lips with untimely criticism. "And Logan, my tolerance for your smoking in the mansion notwithstanding, continue smoking that in here and-"

Wolverine preemptively snubbed his cigarette out in the palm of his own hand, shaking his head at the parallel. "Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know. You'll have me believing I'm a six year old girl."

The professor looked mildly impressed. "I didn't know you could read minds."

"Oh, I can't. We've just done this before. Only last time it had been a cigar." A look of fondness at the mention of cigars passed the man's features. "I recall you threating to have Jean braid my hair."

"Incredible." Charles nodded. "Anyway, you must go to the girl and bring her back. This is a mission of the utmost importance."

"In that case," said Wolverine. "Go yourself. Or send Storm and Jean like usual."

"It simply must be you."

"Why? This has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you. You're the reason she exists in this timeline. And the reason she's in danger. Everything that we hold dear in this world is depending upon this one moment, this single juncture in time. We are at a crossroads, at Fate's door, Logan. Choose the wrong path and we may never get another chance to win this war."

Logan leveled a look upon the professor, clearly not honored to be the selected errand boy. "Why now? Why wait all this time?" Why me, he still wanted to know. "You've known about this for twenty eight years, right? So why now, Charles? You're just gonna sit there and try to make me believe you didn't have the ability to do something until now?"

Professor Xavier donned his headpiece and sighed. There was so much to tell the other man but the time was not right. He wasn't sure what all he could say to placate Logan for now until everything became clear.

"You had not yet regained your memories. The moment your previous consciousness returned I knew every second I spent feeling something amiss with this world, every hint of the looming darkness which has been hiding in wait, had finally been justified. I knew that my time in this grand design of Fate had finally come to pass. I knew I must tell you. We are, after all, alone in our secrets, you and I. We all have our role. I'm afraid it must be you who goes."

Cerebro exploded into life, millions of white dots creating a map of the world around them. The conversation was over for now and both of them knew it. Continents came to life. Xavier's mind shifted, narrowing in on one such illuminated mass, and shadows of humanity faded in and out of view. Orange nebulous fog suddenly engulfed the pair, swirling about where white had been. The smoke was dotted with the bright life forces of mutant-kind everywhere. The imagery was jumpy, incoherent, as the professor searched for the one he was looking for. He weeded through several thousand incorporeal bodies at lightning speed. The man was concentrating very hard on his task. Wolverine stepped back when it was apparent Xavier was shaking under the pressure. This was a man possessed.

The scene suddenly halted and focused on a single neon point. It was roughly woman-shaped and pulsated with life.

"There you are," intoned Xavier, slightly out of breath. "Claire."

Logan merely looked at the near-ravage state the professor had succumbed to and tensed his jaw, not knowing what to say. Nothing about this situation was sitting well with him. He stared at the twinkling ball of light which had been Xavier's goal and frowned.