Endings
It is a house in the suburbs. A tidy front yard. Painted shutters. It's Jean.
It is the worst night of the worst decade. Sentinels everywhere.
It is a field. Snow coming down hard.
It takes forever. It is bloody and brutal.
It is inside Cerebro. With the ties to thousands of mutants snapping one by one.
It is over in a second.
It is at Erik's hand. Because Charles wouldn't get out of his way. Because Charles got in his way.
Gauzy images overlaid, shifting, changing until there is just this one clear picture left. One destiny. One ending. And Charles dying, alone.
Erik smiles. He has known it would happen like this. The details may vary, but the essence remains the same. Doomed by his unending capacity for forgiveness. Killed by kindness.
Erik steps forward. A look of awe crosses Mystique's face while she flees. He wonders why. Is it surprising? It should have shocked him perhaps, but it doesn't. No, the truth is that it doesn't come as a surprise at all. Charles blinks.
'You sentimental old fool,' he mildly chides. Erik chuckles in response. Conversation is becoming more difficult by the minute.
'I have imagined this many times, but it was always you staying and me calling you a fool,' Erik muses. Charles nods. They regard one another while their lives slip away. Erik ponders whether Charles has known all along. Probably, yes. Bastard. He grits his teeth and speaks for the last time.
'You're my friend, Charles. In the end you're always my friend.'
The end.
