29.

The Present

Chapter Theme Song: Freedom! - George Michael

"The future isn't set, things change. So let's change this, shall we?"

"After you, Shorty! Let's dance!"

The X-Men and X-Force together strode forward, ready to face the darkness.

From where he sat at the edge of the battlefield with his now bandaged wounded arm, Nathan watched them, watched her. He couldn't help but smile. "That's my girl."

Purple energy swirled and blasted all around, cast by Nina, engulfing everything and absorbing the shadows. Her eyes glowed with that same purple, and it created an aura around her. She levitated into the centre of the shadows, then pounded her fist into her palm, a giant X igniting behind her, blasting apart of the darkness in one large burst.

"YES QUEEN!" shouted Wade.

"You don't want to accept your fate? Fine, your loss." Dark Future Nina was now sending a full attack towards them.

There were swirls of both pink and purple amongst the shadows as Hope fought alongside her mom. A blast of purple energy shot past her, striking down a shadow before it could strike her. Present Nina had sent the blast. She and her future daughter shared a nod and smile, and both felt a form of understanding shared between them. Maybe Nina was still hesitant to accept her future, but slowly but surely she was warming to the idea.

The teams were taking a hard hit - everyone had injuries by this point, though minor ones compared to Nathan's. Everyone had to have each other's backs.

From where she was crouched behind a large pile of rubble, Nina watched as some thin shadows approached her. They glided forward and swirled around her and moments later the cut on her side faded away.

The shadows had healed her, almost as though they had been protecting her. But that didn't make any sense - the darkness was consuming, seeking to destroy. Why would it be protecting her? Helping her?

Holding out her hand, still cautious, towards a nearby shadow, it began to gently swirl around her hand and up her arm, not causing any harm, just interacting with her. She would even go as far as say connecting with her.

This made some sense: she had always had access to the Dark Dimension, the dark, powerful side of reality, buried deep within the universe itself. She had opened that dimension and let the darkness into this one, so perhaps the power she held being able to do so had helped her forge a connection with the darkness...

Maybe it wasn't the darkness itself that was harmful - sure, it was powerful, and consuming, clearly - but it was only causing harm because that was the way it was being used by her dark future self, her potential future self.

Thinking back, she herself had only ever opened the Dark Dimension when really, truly necessary, and it had always been in the battle against some evil force, she using it for the side of good, with good intentions behind it.

She had two options here with her now: Dark Future Nina, and Future Nina. Both had expressed themselves and their intentions to her. She knew where she was headed no matter which direction she chose.

It was up to her. The choice was hers to make and now she had to choose and seal her fate.

"Charles, Charles are you still there?"

Yes, Nina, I'm here.

"Good. I've been thinking about what you said, about me accepting the darkness, and I think you're right."

You do?

"Yes. I don't like it, but I don't really see any other way."

Neither do I, I'm sorry.

"Don't be. You've done so much for me, so thank you."

My pleasure, as always.

She took a deep breath, settling on her choice. "I don't know what will happen if I do this, but if I have to choose between having the darkness destroy you all and having it destroy myself, it's an easy decision. There's no decision, really." With that she was running back into the fray.

There was no missing the implication of her words. Charles was immediately struck by fear and panic. Nina, no - that's absolutely not what I meant! But the connection was gone, she had severed it. He tried to reconnect their minds, but she blocked him out. No - NINA! But it was no use; she was gone.

No - ERIK! He managed to send a quick thought to Erik, but he was already too late.

By the time Erik realized what was happening, it was already happening. He couldn't stop her either. No one could, they were too late. "NINA!"

Nina had dashed to the centre of the shadows and guided them together, so they formed one giant wave of darkness, and was now standing at the edge of the cliffside, ready to take them down with her.

But before she could fall, someone caught her wrist.

It wasn't Charles who caught her, or Erik. It was Nathan.

"Nathan?"

He was struggling, but held onto her wrist tightly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You've got to let me go."

"No fucking way. I'm not losing you again."

"I know what I have to do."

"I won't fail you again. I can't-"

"And you haven't. I'm sorry you believed that."

He was really struggling to hold on now. "No, I know that look. Don't you dare."

"Then you know me better than I thought. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"No!"

But his pleading was no use. All he could do was watch as she fell.

This final cliffside scene was definitely inspired by Nat's sacrifice in 'Avengers: Endgame'. And the giant X appearing behind Nina when she pounds her fist into her hand was inspired by Carol facing off with Ronan in 'Captain Marvel'! :)

We're getting so close to the end! I'm excited but also sad - what a journey it's been!

But there's still some story left yet! ;) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)