A/N: Thank you to all my patient subscribers and my new ones. Shout out's in particular to kanna-chan94, vlaleliie, sofalofa, MissS.D1998, willowangle, hippielicious, twifan1987, SmillyReaper, Amazeballs96, Psycho17, Forbidden Moons, and lisamariem for the reviews, follows, and favorites recently!

When I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, I had no vision of what would come to pass in the next few hours. Our mission made me feel determined, but in the back of my mind I silently pondered my doubts about the future. Last night I played the peacemaker between Erik and Charles, but could I keep doing that? I knew as time passed I was leaning in one direction more and more, and nothing seemed to stop me from the spiral. Slowly but surely I was becoming the mutant I was meant to be and not the average human I pretended. Less than two weeks ago, I was what appeared to be a plain, Jewish born German-American that had made no impact on the world. Now I was about to embark on the first day of the rest of my life changing the world.

X-x-X-x-X

"Hank has been busy." Erik said as we peered into the crate Hank had left us.

"Do we really have to wear these?" Maybe it was the yellow Alex wasn't fond of.

"As none of us mutated to endure extreme g-force or being riddled by bullets, I suggest we suit up." Charles said, preparing to bring the crate of suits with us to the airbase where we would meet up with Hank.

"Does anyone find it odd that Hank left early and his lab is in complete disarray?" I said.

"I suppose we'll find out when we meet him there." Charles said, and that we did.

An hour later, we stood in front of the blackbird all suited up gazing at it.

"Where is Hank?" Raven was the first to raise concern why we still hadn't seen him since yesterday. We looked at her and didn't notice the figure in the distance until he called out.

"I'm here." It was clearly Hank's voice, but the shadowed figure did not seem like it was him. As he drew closer, our faces were slowly filled with surprise.

"Hank?" Charles asked, with confusion on his face.

"It didn't attack the cells. It enhanced them. It didn't work." He came into view and my face was filled with disbelief. The serum he had created had turned him the same blue color Raven was, and his features had grew to be more lion-like.

"Yes, it did, Hank. Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be. This is you. No more hiding." Raven stepped forward and put a hand to his face, reassuring him.

"You never looked better, man." At first Hank seemed to accept her words, but did not take Erik's the right way. He grabbed the man by the throat, which automatically got me on the defensive.

"Hank!" We both said, but my urgency was stronger. I looked to Charles to get him to stop, I knew I couldn't force Hank to, but desperately wanted to. Seeing Erik choke like that more than made me uncomfortable. Hank snarled, agitated.

"Don't mock me!" He said slowly, his anger not receding.

"Charles, if you don't make him stop I will." My hand balled, warming at the ready to bring my power out.

"Hank, put him down immediately, please. Hank!" I was frustrated at Charles with his pacificity, but relieved when Hank did listen.

"I wasn't." Erik said sarcastically when he was dropped to the floor.

I dropped down to make sure he was okay and was surprised at how cavalier the rest of their responses were.

"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass. I think I got a new name for you. Beast." Alex said, having finally dropped his teasing of the scientist. I gave them all a weird look as we rose back up, Erik regaining his composure.

"You're sure you can fly this thing?" Sean asked. Hank had calmed himself and it had been like the little tiff had never happened.

"Of course I can. I designed it." Hank said, before leading us on board the aircraft.

I grasped Erik's hand as we were the last ones to board.

"I'm sure he didn't really mean it, he did just go through a life altering change." I reminded both myself and Erik.

"I guess I'll have to watch out for that one from now on."

We hurried on board and just barely made it to Cuba on time. The Russian freighter carrying the bombs was approaching the embargo line. We were secured firmly on the blackbird, but the jerking motions as we made our rounds around the area made us all nervous.

"It looks pretty messy out there." Hank said.

"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there." Charles told us, looking at Erik and myself.

"He's still here, somewhere." Erik knew Shaw would stick around to see his plan through.

"He set the ship on course for the embargo line." Charles said.

"If that ship crosses the line, our boys are going to blow it up. And the war begins." Moira said from the cockpit.

"Unless they're not our boys." Charles knew the only thing that could be done to avoid a war was if the Russian's fired on their own ship, so he had to do something.

Moments later, we were violently jolted upside down as a missile went sailing through the air to destroy the Russian ship that had just moved to the embargo line.

Raven and myself screamed; it was like riding an inverted roller coaster which hadn't even been invented yet. Seconds later, Hank was able to flip us back over.

"A little warning next time, Professor."

"Sorry about that. You all right?" I looked over to my right and saw Charles and Sean still laying a protective arm over Raven.

"Yeah." Sean nervously said, shaken.

"I think I forgot to mention I'm scared of being upside down at a very high altitude!" I told the group, laughing.

"That was inspired, Charles." Moira complemented from the cockpit, busy with working the instruments.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw." Charles left his finger to his temple, trying in vain to get a location on the elusive mutant.

"He's down there. We need to find him now." Erik's voice was urgent.

"Hank?"

"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?" Hank asked Moira.

"No. Nothing."

"Well, then he must be underwater. And obviously, we don't have sonar." Erik sighed at Hank's conclusion.

"Yes, we do." Realization dawned on Sean's face.

"Yes, we do." Charles and Erik unbuckled with Sean, starting to make their way to the middle of the jet.

"I think I'm just gonna stay here for now." I quickly switched seats to be next to Raven, before the jet started to become uneven.

"Hank, level the bloody plane!" Charles struggled making his way down to the center with Erik and Sean.

"Whoa! You back right off." Sean issued a warning, pointing his finger because he didn't want Erik to push him from such a high distance like he did from the satellite. Erik opened his arms, knowing better than to try that trick again.

"Beast, open the bomb bay doors!" Sean was no longer scared.

"Remember, this is a muscle! You control it! You'll be in here the entire time! We'll see you soon! On my mark! Three! Two! One! Go!" Charles had to yell once the doors were opened.

"As soon as this damn thing lands…" I popped my knuckles, ready to stop Shaw once and for all.

"Banshee has got a location on Shaw. Are you ready for this?" I heard Charles say to Erik, both men holding on above them to steady themselves.

"Let's find out." Erik said to his friend, then came over to me.

"I want to be there. When you confront Shaw!" My voice was final, I would not let him sway me.

"I'd tell you no, but I already know that's pointless." Before I could reply, he kissed me. Our lips lingered for a moment, I wished it could last longer. He walked back to the doors that were being re-opened and readied himself to pull the submarine out of the ocean.

"Erik, I love you!" I called out when I unbuckled myself and stood up as he walked away.

"I know." He turned back and grabbed onto the landing gear that was lowered out of the jet. I carefully made my way to where Charles was because I couldn't stand just sitting around while Erik and Charles did the heavy work.

Erik reached out his hand and for several moments struggled, pulling the submarine from the water. It didn't last long though, he found the place within himself to succeed where he had previously failed.

"Yes!" I hugged Charles, but our victory did not last long. As we neared the Cuban beach with the submarine in tow, I narrowed in my vision and saw Riptide was ready for us.

"Erik!"

"Erik, take my hand!" Charles yelled out as a huge cyclone was thrown our way. The cyclone took the whole jet in, violently shaking us as Beast tried to steer the jet away from it. I reached out to Erik with Charles' help and were just barely able to pull him up at the last second to avoid losing him. The doors closed but we were still hit by the cyclone, losing a part of our wing. We tumbled out of the sky, Charles and myself about to be thrown, but became protected by Erik as he shielded us in place.

Our natural reaction was to scream in fear until the blackbird slowed its roll to a stop on the beach; thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

"Moira? Moira, are you all right?" I could hear Charles immediately checking on everyone else.

"Erik, are you okay?" Concern for my loved one was the first thing on my mind, next to high levels of adrenaline pumping through my system.

He nodded, bringing his face close to mine and kissed me. I let my tousled, wavy hair cascade to my shoulders, taking out my hair band before we regained our composure and went to the window to look out.

"I read the teleporter's mind. Shaw is drawing all the power out of his sub. He's turning himself into some sort of nuclear bomb."

"We got no time. The Geiger count is going out of control."

"Moira, this is what we're going to do. Get on the radio and tell them to clear both fleets out immediately."

"I'm going in." Erik said without fear in his voice.

"Beast, Havok, back him up. Memoria, we may need you here as well. Erik, I can guide you through once you're in, but I need you to shut down whatever it is that's blocking me, then we just hope to God it's not too late for me to stop him." Charles quickly formulated the plan, but I had no plan of following through with it if Erik ended up needing me.

"Got it."

"Good luck!" The four of us quickly left the remains of the black bird, and saw Azazel, Angel, and Riptide ready to confront us.

"Angel's mine." I declared, knowing how it would go down.

Before Riptide could send another cyclone our way, Havok used a new sensor on his suit to blast him hard, knocking him out. Beast and Havok were quickly distracted by Azazel which teleported them away.

"Erik, go! Don't worry about me!" He had hesitated at first before continuing onto the submarine, which I appreciated but knew there wasn't any time for.

Angel flew towards me, spewing a spitball of acid my way that I narrowly avoided. Erik reluctantly moved forward, tearing a hole out of the side of the submarine. At first, Angel went to follow him, but I quickly reacted.

I gathered up my energy and sent it hurtling at her, knocking her down.

"Hey, little girl, where do you think you're going?" I called out. She pushed herself up and was ready to go back up in the air when I yanked on her foot.

"Oh, come on. Why don't we settle this like ladies? Or do I have to take those wings of yours away from you?" I smiled, hoping the taunt would get to her.

"Alright, bitch. We'll do this your way." She jumped forward, going for my hair. I screamed from the pain it caused my scalp but did not take long to react.

Using all of my body weight, I picked her body up and slammed her into the ground with mine. Angel did not let me out of her grasp as we fought on the sand. She started to form the acid in her mouth again, this time worrying me as she was only a couple of feet within my face. I charged my hands up and shocked her body away from me, the force throwing her several feet. I was ready to charge her this time, but instead she chose to fly away before I could get to her.

"Get back here, you hussy!" I called out but was unable to hit her this time.

"Charles! Where on the submarine is Erik?" I called out, expecting Charles to answer me telepathically.

"He's in the middle of the vessel. If you're going to help him, you need to hurry. He's just disabled the nuclear reactor. Leah, he's going to kill Shaw if we don't stop him!" Charles frantically added emphasis on the last part.

"I can't promise anything." I ran inside, not stopping to wonder where Erik was. My mind flashed back to only seconds past as Erik came to an all white room. It looked like a dead end.

"There's no one here, God damn it!" Erik frantically exclaimed, until a secret passage opened up.

"Erik. What a pleasant surprise."

I ran as fast as I could, I couldn't let Erik do this by himself. There was some shred of humanity I held onto...that I could never give up. It was for this reason I pushed forward, not knowing what I would do when I got there.

"Erik, wait! I'm not letting you do this by yourself." I reached the white room just as Erik exited it. In the middle of the next room Shaw stood surrounded by mirror's.

"Ah, Ms. Braun is here as well! I was just reminiscing with Erik." Shaw wore the same protective helmet over his head as he did before. He was strangely calm and collected.

"Erik, we can stop him. But we don't have to kill him. I don't want to see you become the monster he is!" I was scared for what future would become of Erik, I knew I wouldn't convince him but I still tried. If I didn't try, then I really didn't love him.

"Leah, stay behind me." Erik said, not looking back as the door closed behind us.

"May I ask you something? Why are you on their side? Why fight for a doomed race who will hunt us down as soon as they realize their reign is coming to an end?" Erik answered by punching him as hard as he could. Shaw's face contorted like it did when it absorbed energy, his face not revealing any pain. I moved to Erik's side, not heeding his warning.

"I'm sorry for what happened in the camps. I truly am." Shaw then put his finger to Erik's forehead and sent him backwards into the wall.

"No!" I lunged at Shaw, knowing my effort was futile but trying nonetheless. Shaw grabbed me by the chin, his power keeping me firmly in place.

"I wish I could make you see I'm not your enemy."

"You killed his mother and you were a Nazi. Go to Hell." He released me, throwing me down to the floor and returning his attention to Erik.

"Everything I did, I did for you. To unlock your power, to make you embrace it." It looked like he was about to help Erik up, but instead sent him flying across the room again. I could hear Charles echoing in our minds since part of the mirror's had broken.

"It's working! I'm starting to see him, but I can't yet touch his mind." I desperately sent out in my mind for Charles to get over here, wondering why he stayed put in the aircraft instead of trying to reach us.

"You've come a long way from bending gates. I'm so proud of you." Erik got up and looked at me, I could tell he was about to do something. I backed myself up against the wall, scared but trusting him.

Erik brought several beams down from the ceiling, trying any way to make the man vulnerable.

"And you're just starting to scratch the surface. Think how much farther we could go together." Shaw pushed through the beams, even the one Erik tried to hold up and backed him up against the wall.

"Stop, don't hurt him Shaw, please! He's not going to stop until he kills you." I tried to reach the pair, but Erik kept the beams obstructed in my way.

'I love you Leah.' Of all the memories that were flowing through Erik's mind right now, he held onto that one knowing I would see it. It killed me as he groaned in struggle against the powerful mutant.

"I don't think that will be a problem. I don't want to hurt you, Erik. I never did. I want to help you. This is our time. Our age. We are the future of the human race. You and me, son. And her if you can get her in line. Both of you are going to be very powerful one day. This world could be ours."

"Everything you did made me stronger. It made me the weapon I am today. It's the truth. I've known it all along." As Erik looked down, I saw tears brimming in his eyes and felt them on mine. He looked up and his resolve changed when I saw what he was about to do.

"You are my creator. Now, Charles!" He used a stray cable to take the helmet off and I knew Shaw was a dead man. Charles obeyed, with some effort keeping Shaw in stasis.

Erik let the beam drop and cleared the way for me to stand next to him. He put a hand briefly to my cheek and then proceeded to take the helmet.

"Sorry, Charles."

"Erik, please. Be the better man. Erik, there will be no turning back!"

"It's not that I don't trust you." He put the helmet on, drowning out Charles' protests, but instead they just went to me.

This was going to be done, there was no stopping it. I had accepted it, but Charles had not. That didn't mean that it still didn't hurt me. I gritted my teeth, trying hard to drown out Charles' voice.

"Leah, please! I know you're better than this!"

Charles echoed in my mind, making it more stressful as I struggled with my inner turmoil. I was torn, I desperately wished I could oblige Charles but my heart told me otherwise. Erik was my soul, I could not deny him.

"If you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with every word you said. We are the future." Erik turned and walked away for a moment, then turned back to face Shaw.

"But, unfortunately, you killed my mother. This is what we're going to do." In Erik's hand he held up the silver Nazi coin that had haunted him since he was a boy. The very thing that Shaw had used to unlock Erik's rage.

"No. Please, Erik, no."

"It can't be stopped Charles, it never could…" I echoed back to Charles in my mind, resigned to Shaw's fate.

"I'm going to count to three and I'm going to move the coin. One."

"Please, Erik." Charles' voice was drenched with desperation, pleading through me. My eyes teared up and my heart sank.

"Charles, you'll never understand what we went through. I'm sorry." The coin levitated steadily towards Shaw, making my breath hitch in response.

"Two. Three." Erik's facade portrayed nothing but cool, calculating demeanor as the coin pierced Shaw's forehead.

Charles' ensuing scream brought me to my knees, I felt all of it. I struggled to regain control, to get him out of my mind and succeeded once the coin had exited through the back of Shaw's skull. My breathing had turned ragged from the mental struggle within myself, but subsided when Erik turned to me, offering me his hand.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked as I rose up, feeling a surreal numbness to the whole situation.

"Be by my side as we bring our brothers and sisters together." Before I could say anything, Erik levitated Shaw and started to make his way back to the outside. I followed suit, reminding myself this is the man that changed so much about me in such little time, but had also given me such strength and love. As crazy as it was to let him kill someone, my love for Erik was stronger than my doubt and willpower.

"Today, our fighting stops!" Erik called out to everyone on the beach as he lowered Shaw's lifeless form to the ground. Before exiting through the huge hole, he lowered me down since there was metal on my uniform. Angel, Riptide, and Azazel stood over to the right, the rest of our group assembled to the left. We all stayed silent, soaking in what Erik preached.

"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters. The real enemy is out there. I feel their guns moving in the water, their metal targeting us." He pointed out towards the ships and moved forward. Charles and Moira came forward meeting up with us in caution.

"Americans, Soviets, humans. United in their fear of the unknown. The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants! Go ahead, Charles. Tell me I'm wrong." Charles had only to put his finger to his temple to know Erik was telling the truth. The truth he had claimed all along that humans would turn on us once they knew our full power!

Two nations of naval fleet sent all they had at us, but I did not fear as the younger mutants did. I stood my ground next to Erik, fully trusting in his capability to protect us from the onslaught of torpedoes that were on their way to the beach. Erik caught every single one of them when he rose his hand in the air, getting ready to turn them back.

"Erik, you said yourself, we're the better men. This is the time to prove it." Charles said, trying to convince Erik one last time to change his mind.

I once again was stuck in the middle, one last thread that resembled any sort of connection with the humans remained. I couldn't tell you why I had held onto it for so long, humans had never done any good to me. The only exception was my parents, and they were both dead because of one group singling them out for being different. They were the only humans I had ever loved and they were murdered.

"There are thousands of men on those ships. Good, honest, innocent men! They're just following orders." That is what struck a chord with not only Erik, but myself. We looked over to Charles with an almost pained expression on our face, and it was at this realization that I gave my blessing; the thread disappeared. I owed humans nothing.

"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again." Turning back his attention to the fleets, Erik balled his fist and threw it to the sky, propelling the weapons right back.

"Erik, release them!" Charles yelled, as everyone stood in a trance. I felt it was as if no one could stand up to Erik, they were scared of him deep down. When Erik did not flinch at his command, it was then finally Charles was willing to take action for what he believed in.

"No!" He rushed him, taking him down to the ground.

"Erik! Charles!" I panicked, I didn't know what to do with my love and friend fighting. I went to separate the two but was blocked, feeling Charles plant my feet firmly to the ground. I knew if I fought hard enough, he would not be able to telepathically hold me as he was too distracted fighting Erik.

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't make me!" Erik threw his elbow into Charles' head, just as our friends started to advance towards us.

"Stand back!" Erik held Charles to the ground, throwing Banshee, Havok, and Beast backwards but choosing not to with Mystique. He knew deep down she was not going to go against him. I used every muscle in my legs to move, but still could not as I was not a powerful telepath like Charles was.

"Stop this! This is madness!" I yelled futilely, not wanting these brothers to be broken apart by humans that were trying to get rid of us.

"Charles, that's enough!" As Erik and Charles grabbed at each other, he rose his free arm to regain control of the remaining torpedoes guided to their trajectory.

"Erik, stop!" He made a grab for the helmet, earning him a punch which gave Erik the opportunity to rise up and continue.

Just when it looked like Erik would succeed, Moira was the only one to step up in defense of the humans. Gun in hand, she strode forward shooting at Erik. I could not tell if her intentions were to kill him or just wound him, all I knew was if I wasn't stuck in place, she would probably be dead for trying.

"Moira, no!" My heart skipped a beat, I felt like I could not breathe. Erik deflected the bullets, but it was the last one that mattered.

Just as Charles had got up, the bullet ricocheted into his back. His hold on me immediately released as he lost control of his body. I fell forward to him, tears streaming down my face. I never wanted this to happen! I looked to Erik helplessly, and his face reflected the same. Erik hurried to his back and pulled out the bullet as I held Charles' head in support.

"No, no, no, no, no….." I stammered, distraught I failed my friend that deserved so much more.

"I'm so sorry. I said back off!" I was the only one that Erik would let near them, none of the other mutants were granted that even though they tried to run to us.

"You. You did this." Erik's eyes narrowed to the brunette that was not one of us and his face filled with anger as he began to choke her with her dog tag. I did not care nor could begin to say anything, my only focus was on seeing if Charles was alright.

"Erik. Please. She didn't do this, Erik. You did." Charles gritted through his teeth in pain.

"Us turning on each other, it's what they want. I tried to warn you, Charles. I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I. All of us together, protecting each other. We want the same thing." My heart shattered to see this, Erik so desperately wanting to keep his friendship, to make him see his way.

"My friend. I'm sorry, but we do not." The laugh that came from Charles was bittersweet as a tear ran down his face.

With the back of my hand I stifled a sob for how sad this friendship had become, because I knew it was the end of it ultimately. It mattered so much to me, more than anything else had in my life and that was now lost. Now I had to force myself to accept it because the choice I would make next was even more important. I knew Erik had already made it when his expression turned and he motioned for Moira to take over Charles' side.

"Charles! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Moira rushed to him and I chose to linger a moment longer, dreading the inevitable.

"It's all right. It's all right." He grunted as she tried to gently shift him under her knees.

You have no idea how sorry I am Charles...

"This society won't accept us. We form our own. The humans have played their hand. Now we get ready to play ours. Who's with me? No more hiding." Erik reached out to Raven.

She limped towards him, but not before going to Charles first. I rose, not joining Erik's side but looking at what I'd be missing if I left with him.

Charles Xavier. Alex Summers. Sean Cassidy. Hank McCoy.

I saw all of the potential memories that would be made choosing a life of teaching others. In my mind I saw many gifted youngsters that would grace those halls. I would help the hopeful mutant that wanted to teach them like he did with me. It looked like hope. Doing that would sacrifice the dearest person to me as he walked another path.

Without him to hold in my arms every day would be like to never be fulfilled, which was the same as to die. Choosing the selfish path was not as selfish as it seemed though. I knew the latter path couldn't last as long if those very same gifted youngsters were in danger. That one very powerful man was willing to stand up and protect those gifted youngsters from dangers that were imminent.

I saw what the humans were capable of, so I would protect my own, because without them there was no family. Without love and family you are nothing. True love or friendship. Education or protection. Inaction or action. That is what my path in life came down to. I let my fear and doubt fade just like a scar on my mind and made my decision.

He was the path. No more hiding.

My steps were painstakingly heavy as I walked to destiny.

A/N: And that is the end of part one of this story! What did you guys think? Obviously this chapter wasn't so much focused on dialogue as it was on the climax of one threat... and then there's the inner turmoil of Leah who has become torn between not only if she follows the love of her life (turning her back on Charles effectively), but also an internal choice to realize where she stands philosophically in the mutant/human debate.

Continuing this story next chapter is the time jump to events of DoFP.