2013, July 14:
Lorna was the last thing on Erik's mind at the moment.
Actually, nothing in particular was on his mind. His most recent plan required certain pieces to be set in motion, specifically requiring a certain X-Man by the name of Rogue's abilities.
He had a bit of a dilemma, he could get her on his side but he would sacrifice Destiny's loyalty.
Obviously, he would have to kill her.
And then he would have to worry about Mystique.
The question of whether setting up something for five years in the future when he was this old and losing Mystique was… harder than he wished to admit.
That was the only reason Lorna even crossed his mind.
He remembered his exact line of reasoning. The reason he never got attached to new members of the Brotherhood like he had with the original team. Emma and Mystique were his only weak points. Emma, not so much. She was far too powerful to be a weak point. Even if he had no emotions towards her, he would still need her.
He did not want to be forced to make the choice between mutantkind and Lorna.
He was afraid of what he would choose.
Whether he would choose to sacrifice fatherhood or his mission.
But none of that really was important right now.
It was bothersome at most.
If anything, Erik was currently bored. He had nothing to work towards. The book he had been reading was more boring than Charles's thesis. Considering Erik had almost fallen asleep while reading about the evolution of mutantkind written by his best friend after they were on opposite sides of a war, it was a bad book.
About quantum physics, yes, but the author just-how did Pyro put it? Sucked.
Needless to say, he was not wearing his helmet or particularly fortified against telepathic invaders. The only mutant strong enough to go through his natural defenses was Charles, and he would know if he was looking for him.
Then he heard his old friend's voice, desperate and rushed. "Erik!"
He sounded… if he was anyone else, Erik would think Charles sounded… almost afraid.
"Charles, what happened?"
"It's-" his telepathic link flickered. That had never happened before. Erik's mind scrambled to find something to resume the connection, settling on trying to just expand his brain waves' signals in five seconds. Stupid, but it had worked with Psylocke once.
He could hear Charles only a moment later.
"What's happening, Charles?"
"The rally in Dallas! You have to-"
Charles hissed in pain. Maybe pain, maybe exhaustion. Telepathy was confusing that way.
"If this is about the protest, I don't plan on-"
"No! It's Jean. She's going to…" the next words brought a paleness to Erik's face even as he tried to bury his emotions low enough to hide his emotions from the telepath connected to him, "she'll kill us all."
What?
The woman was certainly powerful and loaded with the potential to one day become on par with perhaps Emma in telepathy, but she could never harm Charles.
What came next was as a surprise to Erik as Charles. "What do you need, old friend?"
"I don't understand it, she should never have been unleashed like this. Erik, you need to stop it. What I saw in its mind, it's a monster. If it attacks the rally, it will be the end of everything."
"I will go."
"Not alone. Even you, old friend, would die alone. The survivors, the ones with combat powers, they are going to fight."
The survivors.
That was… no.
No.
The school.
He hated that school. He hated Charles's vision.
It hurt him almost as much to hear the word "survivor" as to feel the pain in his friend as he broadcasted his thoughts across the country injured.
"I will bring the Brotherhood. Everyone I can get. I promise, old friend, I will stop her."
"It, Erik. Jean is gone. This… this thing replaced her. Remember that."
"I will."
He knew what Charles meant.
He had to be prepared to kill Jean.
A shame, really.
But what she doing, she had to be taken down. She would join his very small collection of mutants he killed to protect innocent lives.
Erik felt Charles weakening. Weak in ways he had not been since… he had no intention of remembering those days.
He was dying.
"I do have one condition, old friend."
"Er-"
"Survive. You have to survive. Without you, the mutant cause has no hope. I have no hope. Survive, Charles."
"I will try." The connection shook again. Erik was currently holding onto Charles more than the other way around. The difference between the peak of human mental abilities and the most powerful telepath should not be this small. "Be the man I've always seen in you."
He almost spat out a snide comment to Charles.
But his friend might die.
Knowing this could very well be his last conversation stopped him.
No, Charles would survive.
Erik would survive.
They would defeat whatever had possessed Jean. They would win. The era he had dreamed of would come soon.
"And be the leader and inspirer you always have been."
Charles's mental connection collapsed.
Almost immediately, Erik's armor and helmet were in place. It was time for war. No one killed that many mutants and survived, not if Erik had any say in it. No one… no one hurt Charles Xavier if Erik had any say in it either, and he did. He did this time.
"Mystique."
She looked up at him in surprise from the smartphone she had grown attached to.
"What is it, Magneto?"
"Assemble everyone. There is a rally planned in Dallas for tomorrow, and I intend to be there."
"What's the big deal with-What. Happened. Erik?"
Her words were drawn out and stiff.
She could tell just from his eyes.
"Charles contacted me. Jean Grey is possessed. She destroyed the school. He believes she is heading for Dallas next. We have to stop her there."
"Is he-"
"Yes." As far as he knew. "Weak, but alive."
Her shoulders almost showed relief. She and Charles had never liked each other very much, but he took her children in. The few times the two of them joined forces usually ended up being hilarious for Erik; they had quite the unusual dynamic.
She might be the only mutant in the Brotherhood besides Erik to be relieved in his possible survival.
"I'll contact Emma. The Hellfire Club doesn't have anyone useful, but she's a telepath. We need her."
He nodded sharply. "Get everyone you can, focus on telepaths and anyone within the realm of telekinesis. It's time we fight a war, and not on humans."
She nodded now, shifting into another form.
And then walking out.
When Erik flew at top speed with Pyro, Sabertooth, Quicksilver, and seven other Brotherhood or former Brotherhood members, the only thing on his mind was stopping Jean from doing what she had done to Charles to the mutants at the rally.
As much as he hated to admit it, the humans too.
If this was a disaster, mutants everywhere would suffer for Jean's actions.
Had Erik been thinking about the consequences of underestimating his adversary, he might have thought about how Charles certainly had something in place if anything should happen to him.
Something to alert someone else of his best friend and worst enemy's daughter's existence without breaking his unspoken promise to remain silent about it.
He might have thought about how this would be the last time Magneto was seen.
Might have thought about he would be taught in school, taught in history class, on their short and simplified Mutant Civil Rights Movement, as the man who disappeared after causing the increased funding on Sentinel Services. Of Trask Industries and Creed Financial as a result.
Maybe he would have thought about how the Hellfire Club would remain in his legacy.
He might have wondered if his daughter might follow his path one day. If her aunt's guidance did not change how similar she was to her father.
But no, he thought of none of this.
After all, why would he?
He felt it happen. He felt it in ways that when he arrived in one of the old X-Men safehouses near Dallas, he just knew. That underground they had been busy forming the past year or two had many of those safehouses.
None of which were more than quite safe, but he did not care about their security.
Kitty Pryde, the first and only mutant he had every reason to recruit and he chose not to. She was not there. Cyclops, the man who embodied the nature of mutants was nowhere in sight. Or Wolverine, the idiot who really had a habit of forgetting he had a metal skeleton.
Those were just the first ones he noticed.
Iceman had no hints of a smile on his face. Even Jubilee with her barely-combat abilities was there, ready to fight.
Storm was there. He saw her face and he knew for sure.
Relief.
Fear of him, naturally, but relief.
And then he knew.
He had known, he had known on the flight over here.
7/15/13, 3:01 a.m.
The moment Charles Xavier died.
No, Lorna was the last thing on Erik's mind at the moment.
"All he ever wanted was for you to be proud of who you are."
A/N: I've always liked the theory of Phoenix causing 7/15, I'm still holding out hope we will somehow find out what actually happened eventually, but that's not seeming very likely.
Hope you enjoyed!