Hey guys! Here's chapter 29! Enjoy!

Laurien stared widely at the group getting out of the car before her, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes were glued on the auburn haired woman in the back seat with Hank. Someone called her name, and she dragged her gaze away from the woman before they rested on who had spoken, Charles.

His usually light and fluffy hair was now weighed down by his shoulders in thick heavy strands, accompanied by a scruffy beard on his tired face. There were red rings around his eyes as they fluttered about sporadically as if they were about to jump out of the sockets.

Her stomach plummeted when she noticed the gold band on his right hand, just where she'd left it all those years ago. Her own right hand flexed unconsciously, void of anything besides old scars, though the slight indentation was still visible on her fourth finger.

Charles' gaze flitted down to where she was staring and then to her, his face falling when he saw her bare hand. Laurien took a small step back, because even at this distance, his emotions slammed into her like a brick wall. She ended up backing into the side of her truck, jarring her back into reality as she suddenly heard what the strange leather clad man, who had been gradually stepping towards her, was saying.

"Are you all right?" The man asked, his voice low and rough as his hand extended out kindly to her. Strangely, her eyes immediately noticed the small yellowish tobacco stains on his fingers and she suddenly found herself longing for a cigarette of her own.

Laurien frowned confusedly at him, initially wary of the man, though from his calm and collected demeanor, she found herself trusting him more than she trusted herself at that very moment. She shook her head and waved off his helping hand as she made to get back into the truck, wanting to get as far away as possible from the situation that was stealing the breath from her lungs.

The man's firm, yet gentle hand on her arm stopped her, his emotions not meaning any harm, but under the circumstances, the physical contact was enough to set her off. Laurien pushed him back with her powers, sending him flying back until he landed on the roof of his car with a loud metallic clang as the roof caved underneath his weight. She grabbed onto the door quickly and as it shut, a quick glance at the side view mirror showed her that Charles was running towards her.

After turning the keys and shifting into gear, Laurien floored the gas pedal, hearing the sharp screech of the tires on the pavement as the truck began to move away from the reminders of the memories that she'd much rather forget.

She glanced in the rearview mirror, frowning when she only saw one head in the backseat of the other's car, before the truck suddenly came to a crashing halt. Laurien's head snapped forward with the momentum and hit the steering wheel hard, sending a pang of agony roaring through her forehead like a tsunami wave.

Groaning, she lifted her head and saw that the front of her truck had charcoal colored smoke seeping out from the underneath the completely crushed hood. Her head was pounding heavily as she squinted in confusion at the wreck, wondering how it had come about, seeing as she was still in the middle of the road, until her door was wrenched open and she was unceremoniously yanked out of the truck.

Laurien yelped in pain as her body hit the ground at the wrong angle, clasping at the hand that was holding the collar of her shirt as it dragged her back toward the other car. She glanced up, only to stare in disbelief as she saw the mysterious woman, Sera, pulling her along as if she weighed nothing.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Charles' angry, yet panicked voice met her ears as his arms suddenly wrapped around her middle, removing her from Sera's grip. Laurien opened her mouth to respond, thinking that the question was to her, though she was startled when Sera answered harshly.

"I got the job done, what more do you want?" She said, her smooth voice ringing eerily in Laurien's head as her vision faded in and out of focus. "I'm here for her right now, I wasn't going to wait for you to string together some charming lie just for her to refuse to come with us anyway."

Charles growled, but didn't say anything in response as he tried to keep a hold on a struggling Laurien. "Let go of me." She mumbled irritably, her nails digging into his arms as she grabbed onto one of Sera's antique bracelets with her powers and bounced it off of Charles' forehead with a small ping that made the other woman laugh.

"Well, look at that." Sera chuckled, looking somewhat fondly at Laurien. "She does take after me."

Laurien stilled abruptly as her addled mind slowly registered her words, but before she could ask what she meant, a sharp pinching sensation pricked at her neck and she fell into a dark abyss.


When she came to, the first thing she immediately noticed was how mightily her pulse was pounding against the walls of her skull. Laurien winced, though she was thankful that it wasn't anywhere near as painful as she was used to. The pounding wasn't at all helped by the fact that a loud droning roar that was so unnervingly familiar to her ears surrounded her; she hoped that it was just a dream.

Reluctantly, her eyes fluttered open and she took in her blurry surroundings, unfortunately confirming what she'd feared. She was on another bloody plane.

Laurien took a deep breath, groaning as she tried to turn over in her slightly reclined seat, only to feel an unexpected bite of cold metal against her wrists as she was stopped. Frowning, she glanced down at her hands, seeing that they were bound together by a pair of handcuffs, the chain of which was looped around the armrest of the chair. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow and made to release herself with her powers, but nothing happened. A small spark of fear blossomed in Laurien's chest as she tried again, only for it to grow exponentially when she noticed that she couldn't feel the presence of the mutation in her veins, no icy pulsations, no fire, nothing. Thoroughly horrified and frightened, Laurien yanked fruitlessly at the handcuffs, ignoring the sharp pain as the edges dug shallowly into her skin, until shockingly warm hands suddenly grabbed her wrists, preventing her from doing any more damage.

"Please don't, darling."

Laurien looked up quickly, her pale brown eyes burning into Charles' own watery pair as he looked down at her in infuriating concern.

"What have you done to me?" She murmured slowly, her head still hurting way too much to be fully angry right at that moment, but she was sure that it would come around later, and after waking up like this, she was very much looking forward to it.

"It's just the serum that Hank and I use, you've had it before when-"

"Yes, I know." She snapped bitterly, lowering her gaze to his hands as the ring on his finger caught the light.

Charles crouched down in front of her, resting what was apparently meant to be a calming hand on her knee. "I'm sorry, but it's just a precaution, we thought that you might be a little bit too…" He faded off, in search of an appropriate word.

"What? Feral? Emotional? Sporadic?" She suggested in rapid fire. "Take your pick, they'll all be true, but that still doesn't give you the right to put that stuff in me again after what happened."

"Darling-"

"No, you don't get to call me that anymore." She snapped sharply, fuming thunderously underneath her steadily failing guise of calmness. "You lost that privilege a long time ago."

"Laurien." He tried softly, his voice brimming with emotion that she couldn't decipher as he lifted a hand to her cup her face. She flinched away from him, causing his hand to freeze abruptly before he then slipped it into his pocket and got to his feet.

"Why am I here?" She asked, looking down at her shoes, as she wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else but in that airplane at that moment. When she didn't get an answer, she tried a different tactic. "Where are we going?"

"Arlington County, Virginia." Hank's voice called from where Laurien believed to be the cockpit of the plane, his response prompting her to look over at Charles questioningly.

"We have received an urgent call." He said slowly, as if he were choosing his words extremely carefully, his gaze flicking over to where the leather clad man sat in the seat across from her. "From the future."

She opened her mouth, but quickly closed it, mulling what he had just said over in her mind as she forced her anger down in a desperate attempt to understand. What the hell was he on? She'd only been gone a few years and now he was talking nonsense.

"Pardon?" She tried, wincing at how stilted it sounded, but it was at least better than saying 'What the bloody fuck?' in front of a complete stranger.

Charles sighed, resting one of his hands on his hip as he rubbed his temple. "This is going to sound completely mad."

"Try me."

He moved over to another chair before flopping unceremoniously into it, shaking his head slowly. "Logan came to the mansion yesterday afternoon with some wild story of him being from the future."

"Mr. Bodyguard Logan?" She asked, raising her eyebrows as she pointed at the disgruntled man the best she could with her captive hands.

Logan let out a small puff of smoke from his mouth in response as he tapped his cigar against the nearby ashtray, leaving Laurien to only scowl back at him before she turned back to Charles, her anger strengthening as she saw his unwaveringly serious expression.

"This is what you've kidnapped me for? You sure there's only tobacco in that cigar, because that sounds like some drug-addled storyline straight out of one of Hank's Star Trek programs."

She heard a small cry of indignation arise from the cockpit, but she ultimately ignored it as Charles sighed again.

"It's true, Laurien." Charles insisted exasperatedly, before giving Logan a quick side-glance. "At least I think it is."

"Well, what if, hypothetically, we believed him. Why does the future need your help in the first place?"

"Our help, actually." Charles corrected her as he brushed a strand of matted hair away from his face. "It's going to take all of us to change the course of events that leads to a world where the worst of mankind is in charge."

"You sure we're not living in it now?" She wondered aloud, her mind drifting bitterly to the bloated image of Nixon that she'd seen in the paper a few days ago. He was an utterly shady character and Laurien couldn't condone the way that he'd backed the Vietnam War, especially after the My Lai massacre that had taken place in 1968. He'd been one of the reason why she'd traded in the US for Canada, seeing as Trudeau was a much more agreeable man.

"Believe me." Logan finally spoke up, not taking his eyes off of the fat cigar between his fingers. "It gets a lot worse."

Laurien glanced at him, searching his tanned face carefully, though wishing that she had Charles' mutation to see if he was telling the truth, but by the odd look in his hazel eyes when they lifted to meet hers, she found that she didn't need to.

"If this even is true, what could we possibly do to change anything?" She said skeptically, turning back to Charles.

"The only way that we can stop this from occurring is if we stop Raven from assassinating a man by the name of Bolivar Trask."

Laurien frowned, the name unfamiliar to her. "Do we know where and when it will take place?"

"Paris, in four days, at the Peace Accords."

"Shit." She cursed quietly under her breath, knowing that the whole world would be watching as a decision was made between the two warring countries. "Then what are we doing flying to Virginia?"

Charles' mouth twisted into a scowl. "In order to stop Raven, we have to pick up one more person."

Laurien's insides squirmed uncomfortably as she immediately put two and two together. "Oh, Charles, please don't be thinking of doing what I think you're going to do. Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Yes, I do, Laurien." He snapped suddenly, his voice growing louder to the point that it would have frightened her if they were under different circumstances. "And I don't like it any more than you do."

"Probably less, I'd imagine." Laurien sympathized, before furrowing her brow, a torrent of question without answers throwing themselves at her mind in a barrage akin to gunfire. "But why am I here, surely you could do all of this without me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, kid. They asked for you specifically." Logan murmured from his seat, his voice low and rough in reassurance. "The future Charles and Erik."

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "And future me wasn't there to say hell no?"

A strange expression flashed across Logan's face the moment she spoke, but she didn't get the chance to ask why, as a pang of pain pierced through her head. Laurien grunted; squeezing her eyes shut as she leaned her head back against the headrest.

"Laurien?" Charles' worried voice asked as she felt his warm hand on her arm.

She waved him off, not bothering to open her eyes until it eventually passed. "Sorry, it's just…"

"You're still having them, aren't you?" He asked gently.

She nodded silently, moving her head to look out the window as she tried to discretely wipe away the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes on her shoulder.

"May I say something?" A smooth voice rang out from the back of the airplane, startling Laurien, as the auburn haired woman wandered over to her seat, crossing one leg over the other as she poured herself a glass of scotch from a glass bottle. "That is, if Charlie will allow me to."

"Sera, this is really not the best time." Charles bristled minutely the moment the nickname met his ears as they both eyed the newcomer, Laurien completely forgetting that she had been accompanying them.

"So you do actually know her?" Laurien accused, her anger returning in full force. "That's great to know ten whole years after I asked you if you did."

"It's not like that." He urged, rounding on her. "I had a good reason not to tell you."

"And what is that exactly?" Sera demanded, but when Charles didn't respond, she gestured toward Laurien. "May I?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"What?" The redhead threw up her arms. "You want to play mediator or something?"

"Yeah, Charles, you've already got me tied up here, I think that you've done enough for today." Laurien added as she jingled the handcuff chain against the armrest.

Charles scowled, his chin twitching beneath his beard, but he soon disappeared into the cockpit with Hank.

"You going to skedaddle as well?" Sera asked Logan as he puffed another drag from his cigar.

"Nope." He stated simply, goading a small kick to the thigh from the other woman as she grinned at him, reminding Laurien of how Bastijn and Roosje used to tease one another.

"So, Laurien, we meet at last." Sera drawled from behind her now empty glass. "I haven't seen you since you were in your mother's belly. I wish we could've met under better circumstances."

"Yeah, me too."

Sera winced comically, rubbing her hands together as if she were an athlete preparing for a track and field event. "This is going to be difficult to explain."

"That you're somehow related to me?" Laurien wondered aloud. "I surmised as much, can't really go around looking like each other that much without putting two and two together. So who are you?"

The other woman shrugged. "Sera Carlijn. I'm Griet's sister, so I'm technically your aunt."

Laurien shook her head. "No."

Sera frowned. "No?"

"No, you look even younger than me, so that's not even possible. Besides my mother never mentioned any siblings."

"Yeah, well." Sera mumbled, scratching the back of her head uncomfortably. "We had a little bit of a falling out after the thirties, so I'm not really surprised."

"Neither am I." Logan added, ignoring the dirty glance that he received from Sera.

"Hey, I'm allowed to say it, not you." She snarled. "I'll rip your fucking head off and throw it out the plane window, let's see if you can regenerate after that."

"Why did you have a falling out?" Laurien wondered, sitting up straight in her seat.

"It's a very long story, I don't want to bore you with that."

Laurien's shoulders fell in disappointment. "How did you meet Charles then?"

Sera chuckled. "That's an even longer story."

"Are you going to tell me anything?" Laurien demanded, her scalp prickling in irritation.

"Maybe, but I'm like a magic eight ball, you've got to shake me a little bit to get the good answers."

Laurien sighed. "Do you have a mutation? Is that why you're so…?"

"No, I'm just a really hot looking fifty year old." Sera stated, her tone so serious that Laurien was on the verge of believing her when the other woman finally cracked, her beautiful face breaking out into a wry smile. "Nah, just joking." She chuckled before turning serious. "Besides who did you think you got yours from? Not your mother, Christ, she had a hard enough time with mine, let alone the prospect of her having her own. She wouldn't have been able to survive if she was like me, she wanted to be like everyone else too much."

The way Sera's sour tone laced her words sent a tense contraction through Laurien's forearm muscles, her wrists flexing against the cold handcuffs as a burning sensation flared within her. If her mother had issues with Sera's mutation, what had she thought about her daughter having one of her own? Laurien didn't want to think about the answer to her own question, and thankfully she didn't have to, as Sera continued on her spiel.

"Like my pal, Logan, here, I have enhanced strength, but not the claws, thank God. Could you imagine? It's like eternally running with scissors." She laughed softly, before her eyes caught something on Laurien's face. "Oh, by the way, I'm sorry about your truck and your head, that was my doing, unfortunately." She added, as if it were an afterthought. "Anyways, the eye thing was more of an accessory than a mutation, no matter what Charles says. Yours on the other hand, makes me wonder what it would've been like if I had children, how the mutation might have stepped up if it were directly from me. It's dangerous, though, with powers like yours, I'm surprised the government hasn't gotten their hands on you yet."

"Believe me, they've tried." Laurien muttered bitterly.

"I can see that." Sera stated, staring with narrowed eyes at Laurien until she leaned forward. "Here." She said, reaching over and snapping the chain of the handcuffs effortlessly in her fist. "You must be almost bursting, bathroom's over there."

Laurien moved her hands slowly away from the armrest, wincing as her arm muscles groaned from being in the same place for a long period of time, before nodding to Sera in thanks. She got to her feet and strode over to the bathroom, resting her forehead against the door as she closed it behind her. She breathed deeply, trying to focus on keeping her inhales and exhales as steady as possible as she gathered her thoughts in her muddled brain.

"Holy shit." She whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth in disbelief as she feared that it was all just a dream, that she would just suddenly wake up in her own bed back in Ottawa and pass another morning with the covers over her head as she waited for her stomach to get hungry enough to inspire her to get up.

Laurien honestly couldn't believe it that she still had a living family member, granted she hadn't even known that they were officially related until a couple of minutes ago, but it felt completely and bizarrely wonderful in her constricting chest. Her hand hid the small tired smile that had been spreading uncontrollably on her mouth as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror, ignoring the large purple bruise on her forehead as she let her hand fall and shyly admired how the smile lit up her entire face.

Out of nowhere, another painful pulsation sparked in her head, bringing her back abruptly to reality as Laurien gasped and her fingers scrabbled against the bottle that was mercifully still in her pocket. She quickly swallowed two of the pills, before grabbing another one, knowing that she'd need it if she were going to get through the strange situation waiting on the other side of the door, upon which a knock suddenly sounded.

Laurien quickly gathered herself together, glancing in the mirror to check that she was presentable before opening up the door to reveal the tall and burly bodyguard, Logan.

"You all right, kid?" He asked, his eyes flicking down to where she was placing the bottle of medication back in her pocket.

Laurien took a deep breath, wondering if there would ever be a time when she wasn't ready to collapse just from the sheer exhaustion of dealing with all this shit. "Yeah, I hope so."

His lip quirked comically as he looked at her. "I know that it's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, no shit." She sighed before she glanced up at the solid man, clenching her jaw seriously as her vision flashed a faint shade of green, her powers slowly came back to her. "I hope you know what you're doing by coming here, because you might be able to regenerate, but the rest of us can't, and you're opening up a lot of old wounds that might be impossible to stitch up again, you got that?"

He stared at her with his complex hazel eyes, before nodding slowly. Satisfied, Laurien made to walk past him, but she stopped suddenly and tightly gripped the sleeve of his shirt with her fist. "And if you ever call me 'kid' again, I'll kick your fucking ass."

"Duly noted." He mumbled, a hint of a smirk on his face.

Laurien was surprised to find that a smile of her own was tugging at her lips as she released him and went back to her seat, feeling infinitely lighter than she'd felt five minutes previous as she was told that they'd be landing shortly.

So there's our introduction to Sera and Logan, I would like to know what your initial impressions of her are like. Do you like her? Hate her? Undecided? The big questions that come out of this chapter is what happened between Charles and Laurien, and where has Sera been all this time? So this one was a difficult one to write, because there's so much to explain and I didn't want you guys drowning in the explanation, so I'm leaving some things for later. Can't wait for Apocalypse, comes out next week! I've been realizing that it's a bit hard for me to write this story when I'm such a big fan of Cherik. Oh well. Hope you all enjoyed, thanks for reading, and please leave a review! (If you do, I'll love you forever!) Thanks!