26.

The Present

Chapter Theme Song: Deletion - Hans Zimmer (Dark Phoenix Soundtrack)

"It's spreading."

"What is?"

"The Darkness."

Erik had spent the last several minutes standing at the edge of the island, watching dark 'storm clouds' approach. "Charles-"

"I know," sighed the telepath.

"We need to get to her, now," cried Hope.

"Hey, y'all might wanna come see this-" Wade and the other X-Force members had gathered around an old TV set in one of the cabins. "Wow, the reception out here in the middle of nowhere is actually pretty good." He began flipping channels - all over the world it was the same: darkness rolling in, looming in the distance, growing steadily closer.

"She's tearing things apart. Perhaps not intentionally, but she's destroying. Rather, it's destroying while she loses control," Charles said, sensing it.

"It's going to consume the world," added Erik. "Destroy it."

"Not just the world, my friend," said Charles gravely. "This is the Dark Dimension, the dark side of reality we're talking about. It's threatening the whole universe."

This was met by silence, until Wade's, "Oh shit."

"Yeah, this'll throw the whole universe off-balance," sighed Nathan.

"Wrong franchise, Thanos," said Wade. "Or is it now? Cause Disney bought Fox so now all the X-Men are Marvel Studios property, and all the X-Men movies are on Disney+ – ugh, so confusing!"

"We could really use our reality-warping friend then," said Doms, getting back on track.

"Yeah, too bad she's the one hell-bent on destroying us and everything," agreed Wade.

"Not her, the dark force that's influencing her," Charles corrected.

Nathan ignored Wade - he was becoming rather good at doing so. "Where would Nina go?"

"She's your wife, Nathan," said Charles. "You know where she'd go."

Nathan nodded. "The mansion."

That nagging, anxious voice in your head, it was like having that, only stronger. Only, she had that voice in full embodiment glued to her side, appearing like her own dark clone, which, really, she was.

The underground floors of the mansion were fairly in tact still, only with everything else having collapsed on top of them, which was where the two Nina's presently were.

"They're coming," Dark Future Nina alerted present Nina.

"I know. My friends."

"Your captors."

"My friends. They won't go down without a fight."

"Then fight them. Show them who you are, your strength. Remember, you can finish this once and for all. You need to change though." Dark Nina cringed at Nina's torn and dirty attire.

"I know. You need armour if you're going to fight a war."

"What are you going to wear then?"

Nina held up the armour she had worn during the battle with Apocalypse back in 1983. "What I wore last time I fought alongside the gods."

The ruins of the mansion appeared deserted. The whole campus looked like a barren wasteland, with the crumbled house at the centre, the rest being readily consumed by the shadowy-darkness. The schoolyard was hardly recognizable.

Nathan had insisted he go in first. There was some arguing to this, mostly from his daughter, but he insisted. He had to do this.

They had somewhat of a plan. Nathan would go in first and draw Nina out, try to calm her down, while the others would be ready to step in if need be - which was pretty much guaranteed at this point. Then, Kurt would teleport Charles down to Cerebro where he would work to counter the darkness while the team distracted Nina.

"You shouldn't have come here." Suddenly, she was there, Nina, in amongst the shadows ahead of him, appearing like a shadow herself, the only bright part distinguishing her from the gloom being her hair.

"I'm not just going to sit back and watch you hurt yourself."

"This was always meant to happen, Nathan. Apparently."

"I don't believe that."

"You might want to start believing it. Besides, we're too late - you're too late."

"You can still stop this."

"No, I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"I'm not strong enough."

"Yes you are. I believe in you. I always have. Now is no different."

"I've tried, I can't." Although he couldn't make out her expression - it was too dark - she sounded so broken, so defeated, so afraid, and his heart wrenched.

"The voice is so loud, so present - I just want it to go away-" Now she held either side of her head as though trying to block said voice out. While she could see her dark future self, he could not.

"You're probably gonna hate me for this, but just remember that you used this trick on me first-" He took her face in his hands and kissed her, deeply. He pulled away a few moments later and just held her, comforting her. He would not fail her this time.

Next thing he knew he was thrown back, smashing through part of a wall that had still been standing, and now wasn't.

"I told you that was a shit idea!" called Wade as the rest of the team emerged, suited up, armed, and ready.

They weren't fast enough, however, either that or Nina acted too fast. She held out her hand - Nathan grasped at his neck as his airways were suddenly cut off. Nina rose off the ground, taking him with her, still choking him.

"DAD!"

There was a blast of pink as Hope swooped it - literally. The Phoenix Force blast knocked Nina back, flying back and crashing into some rubble.

"Are you okay?" Hope cried as her father fell to his knees, gasping for breath. She didn't get an answer though, as a shadowy-dark blast was forming ahead of them. "Everyone behind me!" she ordered, before casting a Phoenix blast around the whole team to counter the blast coming from Nina.

"Split up," said Erik. "Try to reach her."

The team split, each person cautiously making their way through the shadows towards Nina, speaking gentle words of comfort.

"You're stronger than this, Nina," Erik said.

"You've got a place here with us, Ms. Nova. Just like you told me before," added Russell.

"You got this, Bestie," said Doms. "We're here for you."

"Stop, stop - STOP!" Another blast burst around them, shaking the whole ground. What was left of the mansion was readily being destroyed, the darkness around them still all-consuming.

"Here, let me try - hey Shorty!" Wade called. A huge pile of rubble was thrown on top of him. "Yup, she's definitely pissed," he confirmed as he crawled out of the pile.

"Erik!" Psylocke shouted over the commotion. "You know what has to be done!"

"NO!"

"It's too late. She's too far gone now. You can't get her back."

"No, Elizabeth! Don't you dare-" Erik rushed forward, now hell-bent on keeping himself between her and Nina.

Scott was firing a steady blast from his visor where he and Storm were trying to break apart the shadows which only seemed to be growing thicker. He was knocked off-balance, however, this causing the blast to hit Jean and strike her down.

"Jean!" He rushed over, Nathan noticing this too and following. "Jean, I'm so sorry-"

"It's not your fault, Scott," she assured him, though it was clear she was in a lot of pain.

"Mom-" The word slipped out before Nathan could catch himself. He had been so focused this whole time on saving his wife and daughter and their future together that he had hardly thought about his parents, and what that could do to affect his own personal timeline. "Oh, shit-"

"It's all right," Jean assured him, giving him a knowing look. Scott, however, looked both shocked and confused. "Nathan, it's all right."

"Uh, in case you hadn't noticed, this isn't working!" Wade was yelling over the commotion.

"Keep trying!" Hope tried to blast away some of the shadows, but they were too strong, and this instead blasted her back. She went crashing to the ground.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cried out.

"Hope Summers!"

Hope appeared genuinely confused. "Mom?"

Cliffhanger! ;) We have now reached the final battle - yay! This all looks very epic in my head - so hopefully that comes across! ;) Battle scenes are very difficult to write!

This also means we are rapidly approaching the end of this story :( don't worry, though, there's still a few more chapters ahead! ;) Thanks so much for reading, and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)