Tales of the X-Men
(WARNING: Spoilers for all X-men films!)
Welcome X-men fans! This is a fanfic which will explore the history of the complex – and sometimes contradictory – X-men movie universe, as revealed from the first X-men film to the most recent, X-men: Apocalypse. Although the final Wolverine movie hasn't come out yet, and the ideas in here might contradict it, I couldn't wait any longer to start this story. It will also include a speculative imagining of what the future X-men storyline will be, so stick around and hope you enjoy!
Note: X-men is the sole intellectual property of Fox Studios and Marvel Comics, and all use of their characters and concepts herein is intended to be in compliance with fair use.
2023 – New Timeline (NT)
West Chester, NY
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Drowning." Try as he could, Logan could remember nothing more but the terrible pain from being impaled, and the awful choking blue darkness swallowing him up until there was nothing… nothing until he then awoke in this new, incomprehensible future. And hopefully better.
Charles Xavier gave him a kindly smile. The only one possible for Charles—then or now, Logan mused. "Shall I start from the beginning?"
The weight of lost years pressed in on him—Logan was in no mood for delays. "No – just give it all to me straight."
Charles' eyes narrowed. "Logan, you may not be able to tolerate—"
"—But I can. If you—or rather, my Charles—could plant all those memories of his at once in me for yourself, you can do it to me, too."
Charles gasped. "You could remember that?"
Logan nodded, grimacing. "After waking up, as I was walking here, I began to see images… memories, that could only be from my Charles. And then I remembered him—you—planting them, originally." He took a deep breath. "I suppose they were a backup for you to access, in case you couldn't connect with him directly."
Charles Xavier—the Xavier Logan had met in 1973 as a broken, lost soul but had recovered to now become outwardly indistinguishable from the Professor X who had sent his mind back in time—was silent for a while. "I feel compelled to apologize for my… what happened," he said solemnly, a look of what seemed to be genuine pain on his face. "The desperate situation you all faced may have called for extreme measures, but that does not change the fact that you were, in a way, manipulated. And violated. By my other self—by me." Charles paused, marshalling his thoughts. "He—your Charles—revealed more details of what led to your original future. Including how he treated your Jean Gray, and what resulted from it."
Logan held himself rigid, trying not to be agitated; it would have been impossible but for seeing Jean alive again. Charles messed with Jean's mind, 'for her own good'. And it lead to disaster: his death, so many others… Jean's. He shuddered. The fact that he had just seen Jean Gray, physically the same as he remembered her, of apparent sound mind, suggested that this Charles—now just Charles—had done things differently. Hopefully…
But further dwelling on what-used-to-be was pointless—perhaps even dangerous. Quickly Logan made a decision to move on: "Forget about it. It's all in the past."
Charles still looked discomfited; Logan realized he owed him more of an explanation. "You did what you had to do, for all our sakes. Everyone… everyone understood what they would be sacrificing if we succeeded with Raven. All that matters is going forward." That's it. From now on, I have to, not forget, but put aside, everything that happened—the good and the bad. Because I have to live on from the now. Logan hoped he could do it. It seemed so easy to agree to back then, but now that it was finally time to live in a new future…
Charles did not react, then finally nodded. "You're right, of course. Thank you, for your wisdom, and forgiveness."
His words were both touching and surprising; Logan did a double-take. He said warmly: "Sorry. It's just I'm not used to hearing those words about me."
"For the past fifty years, I've done everything in my power to make sure we would not repeat the mistakes of your original world's past." Charles offered a strained smile. "I hope upon examination we've passed that test."
"Looks like things turned out pretty good." He looked around quickly. "Heck of a lot better than the world before I went back, that's for sure."
Charles' smile faded. "Perhaps." Logan felt a twitch in his stomach, but otherwise did not react. "You'll… see." He paused, as if to say more, but did not. Instead he merely said: "Are you ready?"
"Yep. Do it."
Charles gestured for Logan to sit down. He did so. The Professor then floated up next to him. "Close your eyes." Logan complied. "Take a deep breath." He breathed in, one long inhalation. "Ready yourself…"
Logan felt Charles' fingers brush against his temples. Then he heard him in his head: Remember…
He began to. And screamed…
2023 – Original Timeline (OT)
Somewhere in the Tien Shan Mountains – Xinjiang, China
Magneto stopped talking. "Anything else I need to know?" Logan asked laconically.
"No. You have all that you need," Magneto replied, equally succinct.
"Ok." Logan turned to Charles. "Your turn; tell me everything I need to convince you to go along."
"There's a lot more you need than that—much more than Eric shared." He reached out with his hand. "May I?"
Logan frowned but nodded. Crouching down beside him, Logan cocked his head towards Charles and said, "Let me have it. Just make sure you leave at least a bit of me behind."
Despite himself Charles chuckled. "It won't be that bad. Just… relax." Logan closed his eyes; Charles placed his fingers across his temple. "Remember," he said aloud and mentally.
Logan started; his arms tightly grasped Charles' hoverchair and trembled. Eric raised a hand, but Charles shook his head; Eric withdrew. Some minutes later, he was done.
Slowly Logan got to his feet. Opening his eyes, he grunted and rubbed the sides of his head. "What'd you do, put every day of the last fifty years in my head?"
"Less… and more." Logan gave him an irritated look. "You have a dozen intimate memories of mine that no one else knows, good and bad. I have also implanted as much historical and technical information that could be relevant to your mission and other related objectives. You need only think of a specific related question, and any related memories I have given you will be evoked."
"What about history—their future? How much info about our past did you give me? And how much should I tell him—you?"
Without hesitation Professor X told Logan what he had for so long been practicing to say: "Once I agree to hear you out, first share your own memories of how things came to be. If you must say more, you can access my views. Do anything you can to gain my trust." Charles suddenly reached out to grab Logan's arm. "Above all, it is imperative that you get me to stop using Henk's telepathic suppression drugs, as soon as possible, so I can use my powers to help stop Raven."
In his haste Charles realized he had misspoke: "Correction. Even above getting me to regain my powers, your first priority is stop Raven from killing Trask in Paris. If I do not agree immediately to stop taking the drugs, do not risk alienating me by continuing to insist; work with me as I am to stop Raven. I suspect you will need to persuade myself to stop using the drugs and reembrace my abilities, however."
Logan looked uncomfortable. "What if I get you to regain your powers, yet you still won't help?"
Charles gave Logan a reassuring smile; he also implicitly reassured Logan mentally. "In that scenario, then you must convince me to access your mind directly. Are you okay with that?" Charles braced himself to convince Logan otherwise if he refused—
—Fortunately he did not. "No problem."
"What will happen is—" Charles stopped and shook his head. "It will take too long to explain; trust me, when that situation happens, you will know. I promise."
"Fair enough. Anything else?"
"No. Do you have any more questions?" Logan shook his head. "Then you're ready. Good luck, Logan, I know you will succeed."
"Thanks."
"Do whatever you must, Wolverine," Magneto interjected. "You must not fail."
Logan gave Magneto a dirty look. "I won't." Then without another word he turned around and walked towards the table, where Shadowcat was beginning to brief Logan for the mental voyage.
Eric Lensher—Magneto—both his closest friend and most resolute enemy for the past sixty years, came up to his side. "You really think this will work?"
"I have faith in him," Charles replied.
"It's not him I'm worried about, it's us. We were young, we didn't know any better."
"We will now."
Logan screamed. Eric continued conversationally: "And what about—"
Silence! Charles hissed telepathically.
He could feel Eric briefly bristle mentally at the intrusion. Fine. And what about Mystique? Will you, Beast and Wolverine be able to convince her?
I'm sure of it, Charles replied telepathically.
She may have to be killed, Eric thought reproachfully.
Absolutely not! That is not an option, it will not happen!
Eric was stern in his reply: I hope you didn't 'convince' Logan that killing her isn't an option. Even Mystique's life is not worth a repeat of this future.
Knowing myself, even given the stakes, I would not let that happen to her.
Unfortunately, knowing myself, I might insist, Magento thought mournfully.
Charles was alarmed by this revelation, but now that Kitty had begun they dared not awaken Logan to warn him of this. Unable to awake Logan, he could only reassure his old friend: I have always had faith in you, Eric, that you would come to see things the way I do. It may have taken longer than expected, but I was right that one day, you would.
Eric chuckled mentally. Peaceful coexistence, right? Maybe. I do finally agree with you that we should never have started a fight we could not win. Despite all of our powers, all of us are not as strong as all of them.
Eric—
—No Charles, I'm not mocking you; I truly agree with you. You said it perfectly: be the better men. Eric sighed mentally. Regrettably, only with the benefit of hindsight is it now clear what I did was completely wrong back then: I had taken my vengeance with Shaw, but we could have secured a peaceful future for all mutants right there in Cuba. Instead, in my fear of suffering a repeat of a fate in the camps, I lashed out and made our enemy irreconcilable, thus condemning us all to the fate I feared most.
Charles had felt these sentiments from Eric before, but never so clearly; his heart warmed to him. Logan will succeed, Eric, and all this will be no more. Things will be very different, for the better.
Eric still doubted. If Wolverine succeeds, the threat from the Sentinels may be aborted, but what of others? By changing the future, who is to say we might not create new and even greater dangers?
You're absolutely right. But if we're lucky, more things will change than that. Charles wanted to end things on that note, but Eric knew him too well—he saw it then.
Jean Gray! The memories you implanted in Logan's mind, you also included what happened with Jean; you're going to try to convince yourself to do things differently with her!
Unwilling to conceal the truth any more, Charles mentally nodded.
Eric's jubilant feelings soon decayed into concern. But, is it wise to give our past selves more information about the future beyond what they strictly need? Do we not incur the risk of them making drastic changes to the future as a result?
Yes, Eric, and that's the whole idea—to change the future by changing the past! This is not Star Trek, there is no Prime Directive for mutants, and I'm not Captain Kirk or Picard—with this singular opportunity, we can secure our future from not only the Sentinels, but all those other potential threats you're worried about.
Suddenly Eric understood completely. I see now, Charles, you don't even have to tell me: you have told yourself not to shackle Jean's mind as you did previously, not to be afraid of her powers. And assuming she survives, a sane Jean Gray will be powerful enough to protect all mutants from any threat, human or otherwise!
Charles' mind sighed. As we come to the end, one way or the other, just as you finally acknowledged I was right, I must admit that you, too, were right. I was just like Jean's parents, my fear of Jean's powers outweighing the desire to help her. Instead of coming to terms with her as she is, I forced her into something I felt safe with. My fear created the very danger I feared most, and the loss of so many lives. With this second chance, I hope that I can convince myself to make amends for how I treated Raven, and how I will treat Jean. But even if I do, there are no guarantees—ultimately it will be up to Jean herself to decide her fate.
But now at least she will make be able to make that decision of her own free will. If Jean masters herself, she will ensure that mutants and humans will be able to live in peace, maybe even forever.
Indeed.
Eric grimaced at the grim consequences of the alternative: And if she doesn't, you and everyone else will be able to do what is necessary, with a clean conscience.
A long silence, and then:
…Indeed.