A.N. Contains some spoilers for Days of Future Past - basically a rewrite but I changed quite a lot to fit my AU, so don't complain that things aren't the same because that's kind of the point :)
March, 2023.
In the darkened monastery, Charles Xavier, aged 90 sat beside his long time friend, Erik Lehnsherr and a group of the remaining mutants; some were his oldest friends like Raven who still looked less than half her age. With younger students like Kitty and Bobby standing beside Storm and Logan and others as well.
"You can send people backwards in time?" Logan repeated incredulously, staring down at Kitty.
"Yeah, but...I've never sent anyone back decades," Kitty shook her head, "And certainly no one as powerful as you, professor," she said, glancing at Charles.
"We don't have any other choice," Charles said.
"You have the most powerful mind in the world but I don't know if you could survive being sent back that far; most people have a hard enough time with a few weeks. Your body would be destroyed from the pressure before you even got to the seventies and your mind would snap..."
"Well, what if you sent someone who could heal just as quickly as they're destroyed?" Logan suggested.
"I...suppose that would work but...there's one other thing," she sighed. "When I send people back they have to live everything over again. I don't just send your mind back, I send you, as a person back."
"But you remember everything...all of this?"
"Yes," she nodded, "You...merge with your...past self but you keep all of your memories...But it's a one way ticket. You'd be the only one who remembers everything," she told Logan. "Everyone else will only remember whatever you've changed. You'll be completely on your own..."
"No, I won't," Logan replied, turning to the professor. "I can just show you everything that's happened, can't I?"
"You could," Charles agreed. "But things were somewhat different in 1973. Erik, Hank and Darwin returned from Vietnam and I was rather..."
"Tense?" Erik gave a small smile.
"To say the least," Charles continued. "Emma Frost was our main concern, aside from Trask of course. You may have to be a little patient with us."
"Patience isn't really my strong point," Logan replied.
"Well, you'll have to learn fast," Erik said to him.
"Great," Logan sighed, "So, I'll wake up god knows where in 1973 and then what?"
"Go to the manor," Charles answered, "And tell me everything. Get us to stop her before it's too late..." As he was speaking, a loud, ominous roaring and banging grew closer heralding the approach of the Sentinels that had all but butchered the mutant race.
"What'll you do while I'm..."
"It doesn't matter," the telepath shook his head, "As long as you change the past."
"We don't have much time," Storm said calmly and Kitty nodded.
"You'll have to be quick," she said, resignedly, "I won't be able to hold it for long."
"It?" Logan questioned as the young woman closed her eyes.
A bright blue and white light shone in front of her and it grew larger and brighter as the seconds passed, quickly becoming a spiralling gateway, large enough for several people to walk through, side by side. "...Oh...it," he frowned.
"Go on," Kitty said to him in a strained voice.
"Good luck, Logan," Charles smiled.
Logan only nodded once, knowing that it would be the last time he'd see these 'versions' of people he'd come to view as friends forever. The people he'd meet in the past would be different, but it wasn't like he had a choice.
This was no future worth living in.
March, 1973.
When Logan opened his eyes he awoke in a bed beside a beautiful woman. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but he had no idea where he was or who the woman was and he was a man on a mission. After an interlude with a group of very angry and now dead, gangsters who were none to pleased that he, apparently, had slept with the girl beside him, Logan took their car and was soon speeding down the quiet roads of 1973. It took him a while to reach the manor that he knew so well and along the way he couldn't help but remember all that had happened to lead him here.
It had been the year 2000 when he'd first really met Charles Xavier after he'd found the young Rogue and they'd been attacked by a mutant called Sabretooth who worked for Emma Frost; the Ice Queen of mutant kind. Everyone knew of her and her 'army' of loyal followers. Since that time, Logan had been on a journey to find out just what had been done to him and he'd been through a lot with Charles, Erik and the X-Men. They'd watched Emma Frost turn anti mutant senator into a mutant using the biological technology of an incredible scientist that had joined her cause. They'd watched Jean die only to be reborn as Phoenix and seen her kill Charles in her rage and confusion, only for him to return as well.
And of course, the worst of them all, they'd watched the war against mutants escalate in all it's bloody savagery as the Sentinels had been released. Mutants all over the world had been confident that they would win but it hasn't taken long before they realised that they had been wrong. They couldn't have been more wrong. The Sentinels were robots with a single purpose; to wipe out mutant kind. And they had almost succeeded. Logan had no way of knowing just what happened to his friends in the future after he'd left but as long as he could change the past and stop the war before it started, then it wouldn't matter. That future would never exist...hopefully.
He drove for hours and hours and when he finally reached the Westchester mansion he parked the car right by the front door and knocked. He wasn't kept waiting long.
"Who are you?" he asked when a man answered the door.
"I'm Hank, Hank McCoy."
"You're Beast?" Logan furrowed his brow. This slim, ordinary looking young man wasn't what he'd been expecting to find; he knew Beast, or least he would know Beast in the future.
"...What do you want?" Hank asked.
"I need to talk to the professor."
"Are you a parent?"
"I sure as hell hope not," Logan snorted.
"Then who are you?"
"No one...yet. But this is important, let me speak to him."
"Hank..." Charles' voice spoke in Hank's mind, "Let him in. He won't harm me."
Hank sighed and reluctantly stood aside to allow Logan into the building, "Come in," he said.
"Thank you," Logan replied tersely as he stepped inside, "You won't believe me now, kid but you and I are gonna be good friends...you just don't know it yet," he said smugly.
"Do I...know you?" Charles asked, standing in front of him.
"Not yet...but I know you," Logan said.
"You're a mutant but..." the telepath breathed, "You're...different, something about your mind..."
"Yeah, about that..."
"Who is this?" Erik demanded as he breezed into the foyer.
"I don't know," Hank answered.
"No, but I know who you are," Logan replied, "You're Beast, you're Erik Lenhsherr, Magneto and Charles Xavier...Professor X," he smiled sardonically. "I know you. I know you're powers came when you were nine and you thought you were going crazy with all the voices in your head. But it wasn't until you were twelve that you realised that all the voices were in everyone else's head..."
"I don't recall ever telling you that..." Charles frowned.
"You haven't...not yet," Logan said, "Look...this is complicated...I'm from the future...50 years into the future and you sent me back to..."
"I sent you back?"
"Have I seen you somewhere before?" Erik asked suddenly, "It doesn't matter, I mean, you're obviously crazy but I do..."
"Now that you mention it," Charles nodded, "You do look...oh...I remember," he said slowly. "We came to you ten years ago...do you remember what you said then?"
"Yeah, I do, but this is important," Logan stressed, "I'm telling the truth. If you just...look inside my head..."
"Don't, Charles," Erik frowned quickly, "How do we know this isn't some kind of trick?"
"He can read my mind, if I was lying Charles would know," Logan replied.
"There's...strange things...in your mind," Charles breathed, skimming the surface of Logan's thoughts. "You're not supposed to be here."
"No, I'm not. Actually, it was supposed to be you," Logan said, "But I was the only one who could physically make the trip...and I can't go back. Whatever happens...I'm stuck here...You know, a long time, a really long time from now...you taught me a lot. I was your most helpless student. You unlocked my mind, you showed me who I was, who I could be. Just...look inside my head, read my mind and you'll understand...please."
Charles placed his index and middle fingers of his right hand against Logan's temple and concentrated.
"Charles," Erik protested, moving forwards but Hank placed a hand on his shoulder to hop him.
The telepath's breathing was already increasing and very quickly he began to shake. He saw and felt everything that Logan had when he'd been tormented and experimented on by William Stryker Jr in the future. He felt every time Logan had died and healed himself in a matter of seconds. He saw Jean and how Logan had been forced to kill the woman he loved to save her from her self.
"You poor...poor man," Charles breathed, stepping back as tears fell from his eyes.
"Look past me..."
"No, I don't want to..." the telepath shook his head widely. His mind spinning from everything he'd just felt. "I don't want your suffering...I don't want that future..."
"Look past me," Logan said quickly, taking Charles' hand and placing it back against his temple. "You have to see everything. Look for the war."
A minute later, Charles stepped back again and calmed his breathing."He's telling the truth," he said, taking a deep breath. "This is no trick," he told Erik with a seriousness even he couldn't deny.
After seeing the seriousness that had overtaken Charles, Erik and Hank gathered in the main sitting room with Raven, Alex, Sean, Peter and Darwin as Logan told them just how the war had started.
"Emma Frost," he said, "She'll kill Trask..."
"I don't blame her," Erik scoffed, "He deserves it. In fact, I'll help her."
"You idiot," Logan sneered. "Haven't you been listening? She'll kill Trask and there'll be a dozen more of him. The government will use his plans to wipe us all out. They identified the mutant gene and killed people who'd eventfully go on to have mutant children. They killed almost all of us, including the humans who tried to help us. I've been in a lot of wars...I've never seen anything like this."
"All because of one dead man?"
"Yes. There'll be a peace conference in Paris on January 27th, she'll kill Trask in view of the whole world and be captured by a man called Stryker and they'll use her to control mutants around the world. Then, her people will kill the President and war will be declared against all of us. They'll all be rounded up and their DNA will be used to make the Sentinels stronger...And everyone will die."
"But what can we do?" Sean asked.
"Stop her before she kills Trask. If we prove to the world that we're not a threat then we can stop the war before it starts," Logan said.
"This can't all be real," Erik shook his head.
"It is, Erik," Charles told him. "If you don't believe him, believe me. There's no way he could possibly have created all those memories to deceive me...You must think me so foolish," he murmured, "You always said they'd come after us."
"I never have imagined that they'd be able to capture Emma and use her against us," Erik said.
"If only I'd listened..." the telepath lamented, burying his head in his hands.
"Charles," Logan began, "Not all of humanity works against us. They're not all bad..."
"After everything you've seen you still believe there's hope?" Charles asked. "No, Logan," he murmured, "Erik is right, if humanity does what I saw..."
"...A good friend once told me that just because someone stumbles and looses their way it doesn't meant they're lost forever. Sometimes we all need a little help," Logan said. "You told me that bearing other people's pain without breaking makes you stronger, that the most human power is hope. You can't give up, not now. We have to stop this, otherwise, a lot of good people died for nothing. I won't stand by and let them die when we can stop it from ever happening. You saw everything I did. Do you want to watch them all die?!"
"...No...no I don't..."
"You can't be considering this, Charles," Erik turned to him.
"What choice do we have?" Charles murmured and raised his head. "We have to try and stop her," he said.
"...You're serious?"
"I am," he nodded, "Dust off the plane, Hank," Charles said, "We're going to Paris."
"Great," Erik threw up his arms and rolled his eyes.
Hours later as the plane soared through the air, Charles, Erik, Logan, Azazel, Raven, Alex, Sean, Peter and Darwin sat in a tense atmosphere as Hank steered them towards the continent.
"Why are you bringing that?" Logan asked Erik who was sitting with his metal helmet on his head.
"She's a telepath," Erik answered, "We may need all the help we can get. If this is as serious as you claim I aim to be prepared."
"It is serious."
"I'm only here because Charles vouched for you," the German stated.
"I know."
"I'll keep this brief," Trask said as he stood at the head of a large meeting table in a Parisian meeting room. All eyes focused on him as he continued, "There is a new enemy out there. One that will render your arsenals useless, your armies powerless and your nations defenceless. You'll need a new weapon for this war. I call them Sentinels. They have the aeronautic capabilities of a jet, armed with guns that can fire over 2,000 rounds per minute.
But, what makes the Sentinels so special, is the ability to target the mutant gene from half a mile away. With this tracking system there will be no human collateral damage," he said, holding up the white device in his hand. "If I turn it on it couldn't even activate in here," Trask said confidently as he turned on the device but he was genuinely confused when it began to beep. "...Unless, there's a mutant."
The men around the table murmured in concern as Trask scanned the room and watched as the red lights lit up indicating that the signal was strongest when it was pointed at one of the men sitting at the table.
"There must be some mistake," the man said, confused.
"My machines don't make mistakes," Trask replied calmly as the other men around the room stared at him, "What are you?"
"I assure you...I..." the man stood nervously and the yards drew their guns.
"No, don't shoot him," Trask ordered them.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the man said as he was restrained.
But it was clear that they weren't going to change their minds so he grinned coldly and his form began to shimmer and flicker away revealing Emma Frost. Using her telepathy she'd convinced everyone in the room that she had been one of the Generals, but now the game was up.
"Hello, boys," she smiled and using their surprise, she moved quickly to escape their hold.
Using her abilities it was simple for her to have the guards shoot each other and the ones that were near her, she twisted their arms and kicked them across the table in a rare display of physical agility that they were clearly not expecting.
When each of them had been dispensed with, she drew one of their guns and stood directly over Trask, smiling at him. "Mr. Trask," she said, "...Goodbye."
"Emma!" Charles cried as they ran into the room.
Before she could do anything, one of the guards had got to his feet and used a taser which knocked her to the ground, twitching and hissing in pain. Erik waved a hand and flicked the weapon back onto the guard who fell down just as Emma had.
Logan caught sight of the man, William Stryker Jr who, one day would use him as an experiment which would cause him so much pain. The man was young now and vulnerable as the taser continued to make his body quake in pain.
"You," Emma murmured as Charles knelt beside her, "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you from making the worst mistake of all our lives," Charles answered.
"You fools," she hissed and pushed herself to his knees, "He's the enemy," she pointed to Trask.
Erik, acting quickly, retrieved one of the guns, using his powers it floated into his hand and he pointed it at Emma.
"What are you doing?" Charles frowned.
"Securing our future," he answered, "Forgive me, Emma, as long as you're out there we'll never be safe," Erik said, his hand steady.
Charles breathed quickly, knowing that neither he nor Emma could stop Erik whilst he was wearing the helmet. He was kneeling directly in front of her with his hand outstretched and his eyes pleading Erik not to fire.
"Erik, don't," he said.
"Move or don't, Charles, we both know it makes no difference," Erik replied.
Hank suddenly tackled Erik, knocking the gun from his hand but he was able to fire the weapon as Emma turned and ran across the room, heading for the window. She leapt out of it, shattering the glass and the bullet chased after her, down through the window, catching her in the leg the second before she hit the ground.
In the chaos, Trask made his escape out the door silently and Erik threw Hank off him. He then stormed across the the broken window, taking the gun with him.
Outside, the cameras of the world's press and the public were fixed on Emma as she mentally called her followers to come to her aid. Instantly she was joined by a young Sabretooth who pushed his way through the crowd to stand in front of her and another young man who released a barrage of spikes from his skin to stick out, almost like a porcupine as he stood at her side.
Erik floated down out of the window and joined them on the street with eyes cold as steel. He held out his hand and using the bullet in Emma's leg he pulled her towards him across the hard ground. At the same time he used some of the metal barriers to restrain both of her compatriots. He pulled the bullet out of her leg and let it hover above his outstretched palm as she stared up at him in a mix of pain and shock.
"Erik," she breathed, "Don't...don't..."
"Goodbye, Emma," he said simply but before he could act Quicksilver ran at him, tacking him to the ground.
The crowd gasped at the sight of his speed which he used to thwart any attempt that Erik made to move or shoot. Soon, he was joined by Hank and Azazel, whose physical mutations made people flee as Hank began to fight and snarl at Erik.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Hank growled.
"What are you thinking?!" Erik yelled back.
All of the cars and the barriers and everything made of metal began to move towards Erik in his anger and as people screamed and fled in terror, Emma and her followers began to make their escape.
The street began to clear and armed armed men moved closer to him, he simply waved a hand and they were flung backwards, like helpless rag dolls. Erik hadn't even looked at them. Before he could act again though, everyone froze where they stood. People fleeing were made into human statues and Charles walked out of the building and onto the street.
"Charles," Erik breathed.
"Why did you do that, Erik?" Charles sighed, "Now we're the enemy."
"You can just make them forget..."
"I can't, Erik," the telepath yelled, "Look around you! They have cameras! Azazel, get us out of here!"
President Nixon watched with a concerned gaze as the mornings' news relayed the footage of the attack at the Peace Conference.
"What the hell are these...people...off the record?" he asked.
"We...don't know..." one of the men answered.
"Yes, yes we do," Trask stood, "They're mutants...He," Trask said, pointing at Erik on the screen, "Has the ability to control metal - last I checked that's what most of your weapons are made of. And she," he continued, pointing at Emma, "Can control people, make them think that she's a difference person or make them shoot each other. She could walk into this room and order a nuclear strike if she was in the mood. And that's only two of them," he finished.
"Well, do we have any counter measures? Any defence?" the President demanded, incredulously.
"I was waiting for you to ask me that question," Trask replied, placing a folder on the desk.
"That's an experimental program, sir, strictly off the books," one of the men pointed out before Nixon took the file.
"You're telling me, these...mutants...are out in the world, and out best defence are these giant metal robots?" the President questioned as he flicked through the pages.
"Many of the mutants look like us," Trask said, "My Sentinels can tell the difference. I have eight prototypes ready to go. There's not a trace of metal in them."
"I want to make a demonstration. I want the world to know that we can protect them," Nixon said firmly, looking at his men. "What do you need to get these things operational?" he asked Trask.
"I already gave that number to Congress and unfortunately they elected to shut me down. It's going to cost a bit more to turn them back on."
"Whatever you need," Nixon replied.
"Oh, and one more thing, if we do manage to capture them," he turned to the screens, "I want all of them...for research purposes," Trask said.
As Charles and the others finally returned to the manor after a tense and almost completely silent plane ride, during which, the telepath and Erik had sat at opposite ends of the plane, they walked through the dark foyer and into the main sitting room. But as they entered the room, Charles fell back against the wall with a cry of pain.
"What's wrong with him? Why can't he walk?" Logan asked, rushing to Charles' side.
"He needs his treatment," Hank answered, helping the telepath to sit on one of the sofas.
"We don't have time," Charles shook his head, "It can wait. We have to find Emma...before it's too late."
Hank nodded and ran off, returning a minute later with Charles' wheelchair and they all made their way to the underground bunker.
Over the years, said bunker had become an underground network, the walls lined with shining metal and the door that Logan knew so well scanned Charles eyes and greeted him as it opened. The room and Cerebro were much more simplified than Logan remembered but in essentials it was the same. Charles put on the headpiece as the atmosphere around them exploded.
"Emma, stop," Charles spoke through the woman sitting beside Emma in the airport.
"Xavier," she sighed, "Why are you following me?"
"You need to stop this..."
"I know what I need to do," she replied coldly and walked away, "And neither you nor Erik or any of your pets can stop me."
"If you kill Trask more people will take his place," a man said as she walked past him.
"You'll start a war that will wipe us all out," a woman added as she moved quickly.
Charles sent flashes of the future war he'd seen in Logan's mind to her own and she stumbled backwards in shock.
"Look at what happens if you do this," another man said as Emma bumped into him, "Look at all the lives that are destroyed. All the mutants that suffer."
"I don't want a war. I've seen too many friends die," Emma replied, "I only want the man who murdered them, gone."
"Just stop her yourself and make her come here," Erik said to Charles.
"I can't, she's a telepath, she has defences of her own," Charles replied before he took a deep breath and projected himself into the airport before Emma. "I know what Trask has done. But killing him will not bring them back," he said to her sadly. "You saw what happens. I know that you don't want our kind to be destroyed. You must stop this now."
"...Don't you dare tell me what to do," she spat, "You're all cowards. I will do what must be done," she added and walked right through his projection, making it disappear.
Back at the manor, Charles sighed heavily and removed the headpiece.
"Where is she?" Logan asked.
"She's at an airport, boarding a plane."
"A plane to where?" Erik asked.
"...Washington, DC," Charles remembered seeing the ticket when Emma had bumped into a man he'd been speaking through.
"There's something I need to show you," Hank said suddenly and lead them from out of the underground levels. He took them to a small, cramped room filled with computers and screens
"This is a system I designed to record any news about Paris over all three networks and PBS," he said, sitting down.
"Wow, all three," Logan said sarcastically.
"And PBS," Hank pointed out, "Well...look what I found," he said, flicking a switch and bringing up a news report appeared on the larger screen with a man standing before the White House.
"Tomorrow, the President will make his announcement. He'll be joined by the Secretary of Defence and has even sought the help of renounced scientist Bolivar Trask, his special advisor to combat this mutant issue. The White House has asked..." Hank switched the recoding off and turned round in his chair to face the others again.
"Emma doesn't realise that if she kills Trask at an event like that with the whole world watching..." Charles breathed.
"And I came a long way for nothing," Logan sighed.
"There more bad news I found in a report," Hank said, "They found traces of blood in Paris. I don't know what they plan on doing with it but they could already be studying her mutant DNA."
"And making the Sentinels of the future," Logan said.
"What if we can't change the future? What if, no matter how hard we try, it always corrects itself? That the war is meant to happen and we can't change it?" the scientist shook his head.
"...No..." Charles murmured. "No...not what I saw...I can't believe that...I won't."
"But there's nothing we can do, everything is already..." Erik began.
"Ready the plane," Charles said to Hank, "We're going to Washington."
Before they boarded the plane, Charles took Azazel aside, "I have something I need you to do, my friend," he said.
"What is it?" Azazel asked.
"I need you to find me undeniable proof of what Trask has done. I may need to be able to prove that mutants have suffered because of human fear."
"Where am I to find this proof?" he asked.
"There's only one place I can think of..." Charles began.
They soon found themselves in Washington easily passing through the security thanks to Charles' ability. As they took their place amongst the bustling crowds Charles began sifting through the minds of the people around them, hearing their busy thoughts.
"I haven't found her yet but she has to be here," he said.
"...Where's Erik?" Raven asked after a moment and Charles' eyes snapped open.
"The President of the United Stated," a man announced before they could look for their friend and everyone began cheering and the national anthem blared out.
"My fellow Americans," Nixon began, taking centre stage, "Today we face the greatest threat in our history; mutants. We have prepared for this threat. Behold," he declared and waved his arm at the flag hanging behind him, "The world will never be the same again," he said.
The flag dropped, revealing eight gargantuan, sleek robots, each one as tall as five people and polished to perfection in shining silver. Soldiers began saluting and people stood in reverence of these 'savours' as they applauded.
"This is for you, brothers and sisters," Charles heard Emma think as she pulled out a gun.
"Emma," he said to her mind, using all his strength to bypass her defences and freeze her where she stood. "I have her," he spoke aloud.
"Let me go, Xavier," she ground out as he pointed across the crowd to show his friends where she was.
As they rushed over to her the robots suddenly began to float into the air without warning and Charles tried desperately to talk to Emma.
"We've been given a second chance to define who we are, I can't let you destroy it," he said, struggling to maintain control.
From high above, Erik controlled the Sentinels and made them take aim at the people below. Without warning, they opened fired and in the chaos, Charles was thrown out of Emma's mind and she was free.
There was complete and utter chaos as people fled in terror and the President and Trask were escorted away from the stage and into the White House down through a secure room, deep underground. Wile outside, under the heavy fire of the Sentinels, cars were hit making them explode as people floundered and jumped to avoid both bullets and fire.
"ERIK!" Charles bellowed at the top of his lungs. He couldn't sense his friend's mind anywhere so he must be wearing the helmet which meant he had no way of stopping him.
While Emma was able to follow the Presidents' entourage into the underground safe room, it wasn't long before everyone else saw just where Erik was. Charles swallowed in apprehension as Erik, his best friend, Erik, floated above them all with his arms outstretched and his old cape flowing behind him in the wind. The Sentinels stopped their attack and they flew up to him, forming a line in front of him. He landed before the grand building and moved his hand from right to left, searching for the people hiding inside.
Hank leapt atop the Sentinel hoping to stop it and he punched the back of its head, pulling out its electronics but it quickly reached for him and threw him off. Logan and the others worked on trying to stop the otters but they were having a difficult time of it.
They were horrified when Erik, using metal from anywhere he could find, even nearby building which he picked up and dropped around the White House to form a barrier, stopping the police trying to get in.
Inside the bunker, Emma was reaching for her gun but she was seen and in a matter of milliseconds, she was being restrained. As she went to control their minds though, everything that was metal suddenly flew up and stuck the the roof and everything began to shake. The bunker was moving.
It was thrown out of the White House, smashing through the building crushing the stage and the chairs as it landed on the front lawn right in front of Erik's feet. He easily ripped the metal door off its hinges in one single, swift movement. As the people inside the now ruined and useless bunker began to stand up, their guns floated away from them and hovered above Erik's head, pointed down at them.
Erik turned and waved his hands so that the cameras were directed at him and he spun back to face the people who started back at him in fear and awe. He was too busy to notice that the carnage he'd wrought had buried Charles and the others and they were now struggling to break free.
"You built these weapons to destroy us," Erik said, "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different and you fear that which is different. My mutant brothers and sisters...I tell you this; no more hiding, no more suffering. You have lived in the shadows and shame for too long. What I do here is for you all," he said and glared across at the President. "I offer you a choice. I could kill you all, easily and you couldn't stop me. Look around you. I am in control here, not you. You can have peace," he said, "Or you can be destroyed."
"What kind of peace?" Trask scoffed, standing up, "The human race will only be at peace once you people are gone."
"Mr. Trask," one of the Presidents' men muttered, not looking away from the guns pointed at them.
"So be it," Erik replied, raising his head. "Today, I give the world a glimpse of the devastation that my race can unleash upon yours...Today, I show the world just what we can do," Erik said grimly.
"Stand down, I said stand down!" President Nixon yelled as he stepped forwards, shrugging of the man trying to stop him.
"Last words, Mr. President?"
"You want to make a statement?" he said, "Fine, kill me, but spare everyone else."
"Very heroic," Erik sneered and took slow steps forwards, the guns following him. "But you had no intention in sparing any of us. This sad duty of paving the way for my kind falls to me. The future of mutant kind...starts now," he said and the guns clicked, ready to fire.
Erik, too busy staring down the President, was far too busy to notice Emma hiding behind the men in the enclosed metal room. She knew she couldn't fool Erik while he was wearing his helmet but she slowly pulled a plastic gun from her pocket which she'd brought just in case she'd need it and stepped slowly to get in a shot.
She took it a fraction of a second before Erik saw her and the bullet grazed his neck deep enough to draw blood and knock him off his feet and she kicked him, forcefully in the head, knocking him unconscious. As she moved, the guns that Erik was controlling fell to the ground. The Sentinels powered down and lowered their arms as the lights in their eyes went out.
"You always did talk too much," she shook her head and picked up two of the guns that had fallen. She then took aim at Trask and the President. "Goodbye, Mr. President and good riddance Mr. Trask," she grinned.
Before she could shoot, she herself was shot and she looked down in pure shock. Some of the armed response that had arrived had made it through the wreckage and now that Erik was not controlling their weapons they were able to fire. One of them shot Emma through the torso several times and another shot her in the leg and another in her arm. She gasped out and dropped to the floor, the guns falling from her hand.
"Not...yet..." she ground out, "I'm not going to hell alone," she hissed and pulled out a remote control from her pocket. "You...r...really need better security," she said to Trask as she spat out blood. After pressing a button her head fell to the ground and her eyes closed. She stopped breathing shortly after.
At the same time, Charles, Hank and Logan had finally gotten free of the rubble and were limping as fast as they could towards the centre of the chaos. As they came only a few metres away from the bleeding Emma and Erik was brining to regain consciousness they heard the Sentinels whirring back to life. All of them stalked across and planted their feet in the ground as they stood tall around them when the lights in their eyes began to blink and beep.
The one closest to the President and his men suddenly exploded, unleashing fire and deadly debris heading straight for them and for Erik who was still wearing his helmet.
"ERIK!" Charles yelled, leaning heavily with one arm slung across Hank's shoulders.
Erik winced as he stood up and held out his arms as he ran to stand in front of the President. Of course, as Trask had boasted, there were materials that were not metal inside the Sentinels and as it exploded, Erik had a difficult, almost impossible time of deflecting all of the jagged and pointed pieces of exploding debris that came flying towards him. He used all of his concentration to doge and toss aside everything he could and he could hear the people behind him screaming and hiding.
It seemed to take forever and why exactly he was protecting the people he'd been about to kill was beyond Erik at the moment, but finally the debris stopped flying towards him and the smoke began to clear. It was then that he noticed that something was very wrong.
Erik gasped and looked down to see a large piece of non-metallic debris lodged in his chest. With a look of stunned disbelief he fell to the ground and grimaced and hissed as he tried to hold a hand against the free flowing blood.
"Erik!" Charles breathed, running forwards without aid and he fell to his knees beside his friend. "Erik, Erik...look at me..." he begged, as he used his powers and controlled a man who went and turned off all of the cameras around them.
"C..Charles..."
"You're such a..." Charles cried, "What were you doing...I thought you were..." he said, quickly seeing the images in the mens' minds of what Erik had been about to do before Emma had made her own claim to attempted murder.
"I was going to..." Erik admitted. "The...the war's already...s...started, Charles...I...I just...thought...I'd try it...your way...just once...W...we're already...the enemy..."
"No..." the telepath said as tears fell from his eyes. He watched Erik use whatever strength he had left and pulled the piece of debris from his chest with a loud cry.
Meanwhile, the President and his men stood in stunned silence as the man they thought would kill them now lay, possibly dying from saving them from another mutants attack.
"He just...saved us," Nixon stated.
"He was going to kill us," William Stryker Jr, Trask's bodyguard said.
"But he didn't."
"Verdammt, Charles...what have you done to me?! Why can't I just..." Erik stammered to Charles. "I should have just..."
"No, you shouldn't. You must know that," Charles said as he tried valiantly to stop the bleeding.
"...It's already...it's...it's all over..."
"Look at them, Erik" Charles breathed and looked up at the President, "They're alive because of you."
"...A...after I...was about to...to kill them..."
"We all make mistakes...you were doing what you thought was best."
"Still don't hate me?" Erik gasped.
"Never," Charles tried to smile. "Now, come on...we have to get you back...you need..."
"...Don't think...you can...save me this time..." Erik scoffed painfully.
"Mr. President, what should we do?" one of the men asked Nixon, "Should we arrest them?"
"Mr. President?" another questioned when he didn't respond.
Alex, Sean, Darwin, Azazel, Peter and Raven finally made their way through the rubble and stood beside Hank watching Charles cradle his friend in his arms, covered in blood.
"There's more of them!" Stryker Jr hissed when he saw Raven's blue skin and he ran forwards to pick up one of the guns.
"Stand down!" Nixon ordered him suddenly.
"Mr. Pr..."
"I said stand down!"
The young man looked to Trask for orders and the man covertly nodded, so he lowered his gun reluctantly.
"Thank you," Charles said, looking up at the President.
"How many of you..."
"Far more than you could possibly imagine," the telepath divulged and suddenly he began speaking in Nixon's mind. "Don't be afraid," he said but the President did, despite Charles' calm voice echoing in his head. "You've seen what happens in war...is this what you want for the whole planet?" he asked, showing flashes of what he'd seen of the future.
"What...what is..." Nixon furrowed his brow and circled, as though looking for the voices crying out in agony. His men watched the same thing he did as Charles showed them as well.
"The future," Charles told them, "I believe we can live in peace but I need your help."
"Why should I listen to you?" Nixon demanded, his hands visibly shaking from hearing a man speak in his head.
"Look where planning for war has brought us," the telepath answered aloud this time. "Is this what you want, more of this?"
"I..."
"My friend will die if I don't help him. Let me take him home..."
"Mr. President, don't let them escape!"
"You can't let them go!" the men cried, indignantly.
"Erik," Charles vocalised to his friend, "Let me fix this...I need your help."
Erik nodded shakily and Charles took of his helmet. He at once felt the telepath's calming presence in his mind. "Are you strong enough for this?" Charles asked him.
"Let's find out," Erik thought back.
"I suggest you get out of that bunker," Charles said aloud, "Quickly," he added, raising his hand. They did as he said and Charles closed his eyes, moving his hand across the air.
Through Erik, he fixed the bunker and returned it from whence it had come without causing more damage to the building. He piled up all of the rubble and debris, freeing men who were trapped and righting cars that had been thrown over. He lined the seven remaining Sentinels back behind the stage and then disassembled them into their small, component parts before shattering the metal, thus destroying them without causing any damage to the people standing around watching.
"Thank you, Erik," Charles said as Erik continued to breath painfully. "Mutants are here to stay, Mr. President," Charles declared, looking up at him, "But there's something you need to know," he said. "Azazel," he called and the red skinned mutant stepped forwards and took out several paper files from his black jacket. He threw it at Nixon's feet and stood back.
"These files were taken from Mr. Trask's private office," Charles said.
"How did you get these?" the President asked.
"We have our ways."
"I've...I've never seen this information," Nixon said as he flicked through the files.
"You're not the only people who believe a war is coming. You'll see from those files that, already there've been casualties," Charles said, referring to the mutants that Trask had experimented on. "We should work together for a better future."
"You...had a plan...all along..." Erik smiled ruefully, "S...should've known...should've said..."
"You ran off before I could," Charles said to his mind, "You and that bloody helmet give me more grief than the children," he added and Erik tried to laugh but it needed in a series of violent coughs during which, he was spitting up blood.
"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Nixon asked Charles.
"You've seen what we can do," Charles answered, "Why would we need to trick you? Those cameras showed the world both the good and the bad that we can do...what happens next is up to you...Azazel," Charles called again.
Azazel nodded and teleported the others away first, then returned in a split second to stand beside Charles and Erik. He placed a hand on the telepath's shoulder and then they were gone.
EPILOGUE.
"...The Sentinels of the anti-mutant program were destroyed and the project shut down by President Nixon. Public opinion remains divided on whether mutants are friend or foe," he added and the images of Erik first threatening the President and then saving him, played once again for the country to see. "And after witnessing division among mutants the President had this to say..." the news reporter said.
"...While we cannot say for certain that these mutants are without threat, we can say that they are as diverse and as conflicted as we are as human beings..." the brief clip of the President said and then the reporter returned.
"In other news, the creator of the Sentinel program and world renowned scientist, Bolivar Trask was arrested and charged with selling military secrets to the USSR..."
Charles flicked off the television and stood from his chair, walking from his study to the rooms that had long since been designated as their own in built hospital.
It was just under a month since the scene at the White House and Erik still hadn't woken. The damage done by the debris that pierced his chest had been extensive and it was a miracle that he was still breathing. Charles spent hours by his friends' bedside every day, linking his mind to Erik's and providing some hope and relief.
While things were looking up for mutants, things were far from perfect. There were some people who hosted violent protests against any kind of co-existence and Charles did what he could to reassure the mutants across the world.
"How is he?" Charles asked as he always did as he entered the room.
"...Still with us," Hank answered and left silently as was his habit.
Many of the people in the manor were set against Erik and his actions at the White House and it had, once again, driven a wedge between the German and everyone else.
Said German was lying asleep in one of the beds and the heart monitor reassured Charles that his friends' heart beat was steady and stable. There had been times when it hadn't been and they'd almost lost him.
Charles sighed as he sat on what had quickly become 'his' chair and reached out for Erik's mind. There was little to see when the mind was unconscious, unlike dreaming, it was like being stuck in the middle of a thick fog and he had no concept of time as he sat with his eyes closed.
"You know...in the future...the future as it was..." Logan began as he came into the room a few minutes later, "You two always had your differences," he said and Charles smiled listening to him. "But I never saw two people who were better friends when it mattered."
"Good morning, Logan," Charles replied, slowly opening his eyes and drawing himself out of Erik's mind.
Logan moved to lean against the wall behind Charles and he looked out of the window at the grounds where some of the children played happily. "You're spending more time in here than Beast," he remarked, "And he's supposed to be the doctor." Charles gave a small smile as Logan continued, "It's not your fault he's in here."
"But I feel responsible," Charles said. "If I'd tried harder to find him...if I'd been able to tell him that I had some kind of a plan, I..."
"You know you couldn't have. He had his own plan as well."
"He usually does," the telepath nodded.
"Yeah," Logan scoffed.
"...Is there no way you can return to your time?" Charles asked after a while.
"Nope," he answered. "There's no way back to a future that doesn't exist anymore. I'm here for good. You're struck with me."
"Good," Charles smiled.
"It's going to take some getting used to."
"What?"
"Seeing you with hair," Logan answered and Charles laughed.
"Yes, although from what I saw, I did look rather distinguished without it," he remarked. The smile was suddenly wiped from his face though as he felt Erik's mind begin to stir.
"...Don't...be daft," Erik murmured as he shifted in his bed, "You'd look...ridiculous..."
"Erik," Charles said, ecstatic as Erik struggled to open his eyes, "You've no idea how glad I am to hear your voice again."
Verdammt - Damn it.
A.N. It took me a while to work out just how things would go for this one and I guess you'll either like it or hate it if you've seen the film. I, personally, am pretty happy with how it works. And, of course, I have to thank PuraStones for helping me with the initial idea.