Roger complained all the way. Dragged from his warm bed by five in the morning and never told the reason why, he managed to start a vehicle and drive to the veterans' home in Westchester. Xavier ignored this exchange, choosing to enjoy the trek through the warming summer day. He too was not looking forward to this journey. Dealing with Chameleon had been one of his least favorite things to do.

And who could blame him? The mercenary had pushed and pulled them through years of turmoil, shame and sometimes joy. He was an assent and a pain all in the same breath. This positive service to them might be the last he would render, Xavier thought, and to his children and grandchildren no less. If Chameleon would give them the first clue, then they would be able to add it to their knowledge and piece it to the others.

The master spy pulled into the back parking lot around eight. He assisted Xavier out of his seat and into the wheelchair and pushed him to the doors, even though the Professor could have navigated himself (pretending to be helpless was an asset). They checked in with the receptionist (who warned them that Chameleon was having a bad day) and were escorted to the most secure part of the building. It was where they housed the veterans where there was no hope, most of all for their recovery.

It was a lengthy process that took an hour to complete. Both Xavier and Roger had to go through metal detectors, stripped of some of their clothing (ties, lapels and such) and were given alternative pieces to wear. Roger had to give up all of his weapons, promised that he could retrieve them upon his exit, and he had to give in his mobile devices. That was a sacrifice, Xavier saw with amusement. Even if there was no war, Roger always kept track of everything – political, social and otherwise – and did not like being disconnected from his people.

After the staff was satisfied, they walked with Roger and Xavier down another hallway, unlocking several doorways to gain access to a remote and secured portion of the building. They then met with a few security guards who explained the rules, again giving them a pat-down to check for more hidden unauthorized items. They then added that nurses were going to be present to ensure their welfare and that they would not harm the veteran if he tried to attack.

Roger snorted. Charles, are you sure we need to go through this? You have yet to tell me why we're here.

Patience, my spy, patience. The Professor smiled. You'll find out soon enough.

Not soon enough. This place is spooking the hell out of me.

I understand. It is never for the weary of heart.

No wonder Jay and Danielle refuse to come here. Getting stripped, touched inappropriately and watched like a hawk. If I wanted that, I would spend everyday with my suspicious wife.

It is not just this that keeps them away. You know well that Jay is also a combat veteran. He cannot be here without shaking. On the other hand, Danielle cannot cope with Chameleon very well.

Ahh, that old incident. She'll never get over it, will she?

There is more between them, Roger, as you are aware of. I would leave the issue closed.

In the meantime, whatever you need to ask Chameleon will be recorded. What are you going to do with all of those nurses?

The most unethical thing that I allow myself. You shall see.

Finally, there were allowed to enter and meet Chameleon, inching into his room at the end of the hallway with caution and stopping to observe their surroundings. The curtains were slightly drawn, revealing a man in his eighties dressed in civilian clothing, most likely in protest knowing him. He was flanked by four women, hovering closely to ensure a smooth visit. It wasn't too bright of a room, Xavier otherwise noted, but it was cheered by the flowers on the nightstand and the cleanliness by smell and touch

Chameleon scowled, annoyed. He was not pleased to have visitors and to have it reported to the administration's superiors. However, this feeling turned into elation. It was like a snap of one's fingers. Xavier immediately froze the inhabitants of the building, making sure that nobody who knew of the social call saw them as intruders and would have knowledge of their true intent. He turned to a grateful Chameleon and smiled just for him.

Behind Xavier, Roger was amazed. Feeling a sense of giddy freedom, he waited until Chameleon acknowledged them both. The veteran wasted no time after hiding his apparent happiness. He was aware that this was serious, his usual suspicion eying them. The only change in him was his age.

The veteran combed back his white hair with weak fingers. "What brings you two here?" he asked.

Roger was as tart as ever. "I thought you were having a bad day?"

Chameleon shrugged his shoulders painfully. "Being uncooperative about eating awful food is having a bad day. These people never learn respect. Even after sixty years, the treatments are still the same."

"We did not arrive here to discuss the inconveniences of today, my friend." Xavier wheeled in closer. "We need to talk of your family and not only your progeny."

"What about them?" Chameleon became defensive. He never blamed his children and grandchildren for not seeing him often, but he was always alert when his other members were mentioned. It was a past worth leaving behind.

"Did you not have an older brother?"

"Yes, I did. He's dead though, Charles. That skeleton was buried a long time ago."

"It needs to be dug up."

"Why?"

"The lessons of the past need to be applied to the present."

"They cannot be the same circumstances."

"When it involves the powers of Jayden and Danielle, it will be."

This caught Chameleon's attention, leaving him guarded and calculating the how and why. "What about them?"

Roger had already heard the news and was not going to allow Xavier the luxury of being gentle with it. "They're both in a coma."

The old man's eyes turned cold and hard. "Why? Did one of them want to die?"

"Not quite." Xavier thought of a way to explain it without causing more trouble. "We have reason to believe that they are a part of a…rift in their minds that has split them between this world and another. There is a known cause to this, but I will not divulge that to you yet. However, what I can say is that they are both dying, no doubt about it. If they are stuck in two worlds where they led different lives, then we need to find its source and close it before they are permanently damaged."

"How does it involve me and my brother?"

"Were you both not in the same position?"

"Might have been. I cannot remember."

Roger glanced from Xavier to Chameleon. He could not believe his ears. After some weeks of speculation and questioning, he finally received his answer. Its basic source remained a mystery though, even if this explanation did explain some things. He was willing to get to the bottom of that matter and hear this to the end. Two worlds, huh? What made that science fiction come to reality? And what did Logan have anything to do with it?

It was pretty obvious to the master spy that the events from a few weeks ago led them to this moment. He heard about the strange morning Logan had. That ancient asshole (as Danielle had called him for years) woke up and wandered the school in his pajamas. All of the secrecy, holing himself up in the bedroom with Danielle and the days that she and her brother were ill…it had to do with Chameleon and his powers. It was quite appropriate that it would begin and end with the veteran.

Roger actually did not know that there was something between Chameleon and his brother. In all of the decades they've been on terms, the veteran hardly mentioned the dashing Bradley Mitchell, who died when a drunk driver swerved and almost plowed into the younger child. The older brother protected him, taking his place, and died as a result. It was an incident that haunted Chameleon for years. It left him to his own devices and straying from his family and also to the marriage of his wife, which happened as a direct result of him being in prison.

"You want me…to speak about Brad?" Chameleon was incredulous nonetheless. He could not believe that his past, his childhood of all things, needed to be talked about.

"If you can." Xavier was determined to have his way. "Take as much time as you need."

The mercenary had to ponder what had happened to his children from the last major point in their lives. About ten years ago, they had elected to send him here because he no longer could live as he did and needed a decent place to remain in hiding until he died. Anonymous was the name of this game and resentence was the rule. Chameleon no longer wanted to look back at his life with regret and sadness. He had spent most of it coldhearted and could not blame Jay and Danielle for hiding it from the world. They thought it the best course of action.

They no longer needed him as they used to (well, what he felt anyway). At the time, Danielle had two of her children under the age of six and Jay was only beginning to truly bond with his son, who was a rebel just like him and yearned to run away. They were so busy in their lives and reestablishing themselves as community members that their old father felt unserviceable. When Jay suggested retiring to Westchester, Chameleon took the chance. Jay and Danielle helped him to pack her remaining earthy items and here he was.

Today, Danielle was forty-four and Jay fifty-four. They were both middle-aged adults, happily married and with careers. Now, they now were in trouble after years of peace? The two were involved in some outer-worldly sort of disaster that only Xavier could completely understand? And that unlocking his part with Brad was a part of it?

Nonsense.

"I see no reason why Brad is part and parcel to your so-called rift," Chameleon declared, bordering on hysteria. "He and I were different mutants."

"As different as your children?" Xavier challenged harshly, a sharp turn form his normal stance. "The two of you were in everything, thick and thin, despite your unusually large age differences. It is the same with Jay and Danielle. The bluejay and the raven teamed together to assist a member of our group and dove into something I did not expect. It caused them to rip into a history we thought forgotten and a future that was and never could be."

"What alternative future?" Chameleon was agitated, pinching his hand to keep calm. It was a tick that Roger and Xavier noticed decades before and did not stop. "There is only one and it's this one."

"I need you to trust me," the Professor urged. "I have never led you astray and I would never begin now, especially in our old age."

"No, you're unlike Erik," the veteran conceded, "but you have your own means to this end. You're hiding the specific details, Charles, even from Firebird. A rift and another world cannot just explain why my children are in a coma. Who fell first? What led to that event? Then, who was the next? What vital signs did they have? Is there a chance that we can be destroyed?"

Xavier looked at Roger and nodded sadly. "I am sorry, Firebird," he said. "Would you mind taking a walk?"

Roger was calm outwardly, but was outraged on the inside. He, who knew everything and always had a finger on every piece of the pie, told to take a stroll somewhere, to miss out on information? It was uncalled for! He did not tolerate it and even made his displeasure known to the Professor, frowning deeply. Xavier chuckled lightly, patting him on the arm.

"Come now, my spy, you must have to make concessions," he added. He kept the joy in his voice to avoid showing his nervousness. "You cannot be privy to everything."

"Will you promise to tell me in the end?" Roger was furious, but he kept the rage at bay. He could not afford to lash out when he was weak himself.

"I will tell you what you need to know," Xavier allowed, giving a wide berth of what can be fed to the spy. It satisfied Roger too, for he left, prompted to move a little farther away when he lingered. Xavier then faced Chameleon, sighing as he readied himself. "Do you remember 1973?"

"Vaguely," Chameleon replied. "I came home from Vietnam that year. I had been in and out of the jungle and that time was where one day blurred into another. I do remember Shannon wanting another child and suffering miscarriages for years until Danielle was born."

"That year specifically though. Do you recall Hank and myself in the mansion?"

"The school had been closed for a few years then. You and Hank? Hmm…hiding, I would assume. Nobody had contact with either of you, not even Alex."

"Alex was also overseas."

"Ahh, yes, he was. Lorna wasn't even in the picture yet."

"No, that was ten years too early and she was much too young in 1973. Chameleon, I am not sure what you are aware of concerning these events. I must say though, the state of affairs were quite unique and very much strange."

Chameleon blew out some frustrated air. "It can't be worse than what I've seen in Vietnam. Shoot."

"Once upon a time, I was a shattered man," Xavier explained. "You had seen me when you came home and could not see my deep depression. I was not a happy man. However, one spring day, a man forced himself inside, yelling for me. Hank intercepted him and attacked. I came downstairs to try to weakly escort the man out, but he insisted that he had to see me. His tale was outrageous and fascinating…and very much true."

"Logan." Chameleon could not think of anyone else brazen enough to enter in such a grand way.

"Right," he said. "Now, his story was as strange as fiction. Logan informed me that he came from the future, in order to prevent an event from happening. In this new future, the world was in anarchy. The extinction of all mutants was apparent…and all of this circled around one assassination, involving Raven, my sister, and the historical timeline that Erik predicted so long ago. The rest of this you already are aware of. The events had been showed on national television and we were able to halt a program that would have destroyed all of us, although the world was not aware of it."

"And where was Logan after Erik almost assassinated Nixon and his administration?"

"Let's just say he found a way back to my kitchen. Raven followed him."

"And he was used ever since, mostly by Stryker."

"Yes. Unbelievable, is it not?"

"I would agree, Charles. However, the question remains of what conspired after he changed history. I do not think you insane…yet. However, I would tend to run with caution and question everything, especially in so extraordinary of an adventure. If Logan from another world changed his future and then ended up here, then he would not remember everything he did in this lifetime."

"Correct. This is why your daughter was so concerned. She did not want anyone else to know that her own husband had forgotten their collective past. She thought the issue private and even did not tell the children. Instead, she conspired to reveal to him a past so sordid that it made his future dim."

"So, Jay picked up on it…"

"And they compromised to share as much power they can to catch Logan up…"

"They would have seen Logan's other memories and swam past them."

"Danielle, yes. Jay provided the additional power until she collapsed."

"Until he fell," Chameleon predicted. "He was always the stronger one."

"This time, it was your daughter who was holding up," Xavier stated calmly. "In the process, the two invoked a collective and much different past. In the other, Jay was dead. Danielle lived until that day it was decided that Logan could change their future."

"That their reality was erased and ours was supposedly the fantasy is strange, but we have a tougher time of it, Charles. It hasn't changed unlike theirs. We're not some mirage."

"For Logan, it is. He did all of the persuading to come home to this."

"And Danielle and Jay reached out and found another side. What…what can we do? Charles, if Jay is dead, then he could…"

Xavier reached over and took Chameleon's hand. "I know, old friend. I know. What we need to do now is talk about Brad. What happened? What caused the two of you to break apart and for him to die?"

The hurt on Chameleon's face was obvious. He gripped Xavier's hand softly and smiled once more, resolved. "Get Firebird. I think it's time he heard this too."