23.

The Present

Chapter Theme Song: All Those Voices - John Ottman, X-Men: Days of Future Past Soundtrack

"How'd it go?" Nathan asked Hope when she rejoined the others.

"Uh, not so well..."

"Hope?"

"She's upset, understandably. I'm really worried, Dad."

He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, me too. Maybe I should-"

"I'm not so sure that's such a good idea."

"What happened?" He could sense something was wrong.

Slowly, Hope moved her hand to reveal her skinned, bloody arm.

Nathan's jaw dropped. "She did that?"

"By accident. It was kind of my fault, I wouldn't leave her alone. She feels awful, she didn't mean to. She's unstable, and I'm worried about her."

Nathan hurried inside the hut.

"Dad-"

"I can help."

Nina couldn't believe what she'd done. I hurt her, my own daughter. I'm a horrible mother.

Don't think that.

She sighed. "I'm not in the mood to talk, Charles."

I know. That's why I thought we'd do it this way instead.

"Same thing."

Not really. Talk to me, Nina. Please.

She sighed. "I'm scared."

I know. And I wish I could be of more help.

"It's not your fault."

It's not yours, either.

"Yes it is! I hurt her, my own daughter! I destroyed the mansion and put you all in danger."

Yes, but none of that was intentional.

"No, but I still did it."

There was a pause, a long pause. I've been thinking... What if instead of fighting it, you need to accept the darkness, let it in?

"Are you mad?"

Perhaps. But maybe it's worth a try.

"And all the years, decades, of you telling me to contain it?"

Maybe I was wrong. Afraid of what may happen if you didn't. We were both afraid - both are. But now I think it's time to face those fears.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I'm hurting people, Charles!"

But you're also hurting yourself. You're in pain, this is eating away at you. Please Nina, forget what I said before. You need to accept the darkness. Let it in.

"And then what?! Destroy everything?!"

It will destroy everything if you don't accept it and try to control it. You're becoming your own fear. You're letting it take over. Accept it, make it yours. You're in charge here. You can't keep fighting it.

"Yes, I can."

Not without hurting yourself. Please, don't do that.

"It's too late for that."

Nina-

"But maybe - hopefully - not to late to keep fighting it and holding it off. It's worked before, all this time."

Until now.

He was right on that, but she refused to accept his absurd suggestion. She couldn't just accept the darkness, that could be fatal for them all. So she would just continue to try and fight it - no matter how much it hurt.

"Nina's gone."

"What?"

Upon finding Erik's room empty and Nina to have seemingly vanished, Nathan and Hope hurried to find the others and deliver the news.

"She's gone, disappeared."

"But that makes no sense, I just spoke with her," said Charles. "Telepathically."

"Well, she's not there."

"Why would she just leave?" asked Scott.

"Because she was afraid of hurting us," said Charles.

"She's unstable," Hope added. "She's losing control, rapidly."

"Then we'd better find her," said Erik. "Search the island."

Everyone split up, each taking a different corner of the island to search.

Wade was calling out. "Shorty! Shorty, where you at?"

Angel, Storm, and Jean took to the skies, trying to get a better overall view of the island.

Psylocke cornered Erik. "Having her here is only putting the rest of us in danger."

"Elizabeth-" She knew he wouldn't be so easily swayed. Erik was extremely stubborn.

"I'm serious, Erik. She's losing it, losing control-"

"I don't think that's quite it."

"You're just seeing what you want to see because she's your friend. Don't let yourself be blinded because of that. You know what happened last time that other girl lost control. What happened to Raven-"

"I know very well what happened last time, I don't need a reminder. I told you not to bring it up." He didn't quite snap back at her, but his tone was on the verge of it. She knew she had been opening up an old wound, but if it would make him see...

She remained firm. "I'm just making a point. Wanting to make sure something like that doesn't happen again. You would do well to be more cautious."

"I'm always cautious." With that, he stalked away to continue his search.

The search continued, but to no avail. Nina obviously didn't want to be found.

"Any luck with the telepathy, Professor?" Hope asked.

"I'm afraid not. She's blocking me out. I can't reach her."

"I don't think she's on the island anymore," said Erik. "We would have found her by now."

"Well, we're not certain of that. We need to keep looking," said Nathan. "We have to. We've gotta find her."

"I've been telling her to control it, subdue it, fight it, but all it's done is tear her apart." Charles appeared on the verge of tears. "I've hurt her without meaning to."

"You we're doing what you thought was right, Charles. What was best for her, to keep her safe," Erik assured him, for once not against the other man, laying a hand on his old friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, and what good has that ever done?" spat Nathan. "When has your passiveness ever achieved anything, Professor?" he finished mockingly.

"Dad," hissed Hope in protest, but Erik stepped in.

"I tend to agree with you, but not this time. That's enough."

"You're no better."

"And you know all, do you?"

"I've seen the future, seen where this leads us. And all that's left is death, darkness, destruction, and the end of the X-Men and Mutantkind as you know it."

"Wow, spoilers much," piped up Wade.

"You think yours is the only family at stake here?" Charles demanded suddenly. "In the beginning, we were each other's family when we had no one else. Outcasts, with nowhere else to go, shamed by society. Others care about Nina too, Nathan. Let them."

Hope found her father sitting by the bank of the lake, staring out at the almost strangely calm water.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Just okay. You?"

"Okay too." Silence. "The Professor has a point, the other's care about her just as much."

"I really thought I could help. I wanted to, so badly..."

"Dad?" Hope sat down beside him.

"Your mom, Nina... I just wanted to help her so badly, but all I did was make everything worse."

"This is not your fault."

"It somewhat is. And now I've put our whole future at risk. Not just mine, but hers, and yours too. God, I love her so much. She doesn't know that yet, doesn't believe it, but I do."

"Of course you do. And she knows it, trust me. And she loves you just as much, back home, in the future. Know that, and hold onto it. And this isn't over yet, far from it in fact. You've still got time to make things right."

"Yeah..."

"I think Magneto's right, she's not on the island anymore."

Nathan just nodded.

Finally making some progress! It's a Christmas miracle! ;)

Wow, it's been so long and I'm so sorry! On top of busy life, I'm honestly feeling a little stuck with this story :( I know where I want to go, I'm just feeling a little stuck in the middle and not sure how to get there... But, based on my progress with this chapter, I'm feeling a bit better about it!

May have mentioned this before, but in an interview from the making of 'Deadpool 2', they said Cable didn't agree with either Charles or Erik's views, so that's what I'm referencing here!

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) And thank you for sticking with me all this time!)