Hey guys! How's everyone doing today? Alright! We're onto Days of Future Past here, which will be 1000% different from the movie (even though I did enjoy the movie very much) because the events of First Class changed things. Also Charles being Bill changes things as well.

Like always, I enjoy any comments, except for those that are just full of negativity and not constructive at all. Just give me something to work with instead of just "It's bad." I also appreciate any positive constructive criticism since I'm always looking to improve my writing and storytelling capabilities. Thanks for reading this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by any medium, and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the books or movies.

Warning: No beta, we die like canon cause superhero timelines are the worst.

Chapter 4: X-Men Days of Future Past

XXXXXX

Raven leisurely strolls through the streets of Berlin, running a hand across the heavily graffitied section of the Berlin Wall by the Bosebrucke Bridge. She's in her blonde haired, fair skinned form as tourists wander past, not even sparing her a second glance.

Just how she likes it.

She walks down the straight, seemingly with no destination in mind. She passes by a newspaper stand with multiple papers proclaiming extravagant titles like "Magnetic Crusader Strikes Again!", "Cryptid or Vigilante? Magnetic Forces Take Human Form!", and "Moth Man with Metal Controlling Abilities?"

She then strolls past a television store with one of the large flat screens on display turned onto a foreign talk show. There are five people talking in German about the mysterious blue skinned woman who saved the President of the United States from an assassination attempt during his second inaugural speech. A grainy photo of Raven's original form as she chokes out an assassin is displayed in the corner.

Soon, she reaches a small cafe on the corner of the street and enters. Not even looking at the menu, she orders a latte, a cup of black coffee, and two cranberry scones. Then she walks out to sit at a small table by the window.

As soon as her order arrives at her table, a voice calls out to her. "Raven!"

She looks up and sees Erik walking towards her. "Erik!" she exclaims as she stands to pull him into a hug.

They sit down at the table just as her order arrives.

"I see you still remember my scone preference," Erik remarks, eyeing the cranberry scone in amusement.

"Oh please," she scoffs, "It wasn't that hard. Cranberry's one of Bill's favorite flavors and you are so whipped for him."

"Are you sure about that?" he asks, eyeing her own scone choice.

She laughs. "Hey! I'm the one who got my brother to be adventurous when it comes to scones in the first place. Otherwise, you'd be stuck eating plain scones just to get into his good graces. By the way, how's Magda doing?"

Erik visibly brightens at the mention of Magda. She was his cousin, the daughter of his mother's sister who managed to escape their home country before the others were caught and thrown into internment camps. She's also the only blood related family he has left.

"She's doing amazing!" he gushes out, "Six months along and already I can't wait to meet my niece. The little one will be a fighter, I can tell. just like her mother."

Raven smiles at the doting uncle image Erik "the dramatic shark" Lehnsherr was presenting. "Let us know if she needs any help with her financials. The father's not in the picture right?"

He sighs. "Yes, unfortunately he was killed in a steel mill accident in their hometown. She's getting by but I'll be sure to pass on the offer."

Raven nods as she takes a sip of her latte and downs her scone in a single bite. Erik watches in horrified fascination.

"How in the world do you do that without choking?" he asks.

"You know what the better question is?" Raven says as she smacks her lips, "When the hell are you finally going to get serious with my brother?"

And just like that, the conversation takes an awkward turn as Erik immediately clams up faster than a toupee flying off in a hurricane.

But Raven is persistent. "Well?" she repeats, over and over again until it finally forces a response.

"I will," He looks off to the side uncomfortably, "Once I figure out who I am without Shaw."

That seems to be the wrong answer as Raven frowns and glares.

"Erik," she says in the same way one would say 'Bitch!', "It's already been over three years and all you've done during that time was kiss my brother on a beach and then bail like a jackass while stringing him along whenever you're back at the mansion."

She gestures at him menacingly with her spoon. "The only reason why I didn't murder you after that first year of nothing was because Bill appealed to my better sensibilities. And like the idiot I am, I agreed to not do anything."

She tosses her spoon at his head which he bats away back towards her. She snatches it out of the air before it can hit her face. The burning quality of her glare doesn't lessen.

"But just because I agreed not to murder you doesn't mean I can't stage an intervention. I am sick and tired of having to deal with Bill's pining and frankly, rather depressing insecurities that really aren't being helped by your indecisiveness. So get the hell off your ass and make yourselves official already before I break my promise and actually murder you for hurting my brother."

If looks could kill, Erik would've already been sent straight to the ninth circle of hell after her little spiel. Raven takes an aggressive sip of her latte. An eyebrow rises in challenge, daring him to say something stupid so she'd finally have the excuse to finish him off with the little spoon in her hand.

Gaze flickering back and forth between the spoon and her face, Erik lets out a resigned sigh. "Alright, fine. I'll talk to him."

"You better and soon at that," she warns, pointing the spoon menacingly at him again, "Or else your self identity won't be the only thing about you that's broken."

She tilts the spoon down so it points at where his crotch would be. He reflexively places his hands over it even though there was a table separating his crotch from the spoon.

"Bill found your cousin for you as a birthday present last year. You owe him a long time, not just a good time," she says, finally putting the spoon down.

Once the spoon is put off to the side, Erik's body sags from the release of tension he didn't even realize he had. "Message very loudly and clearly received."

She nods in satisfaction as she takes another sip of her latte. "Oh, by the way. You're paying for dinner this time and I'm going to make sure we go to the most high end and expensive restaurant Berlin has to offer. So be sure to wear a good suit."

Erik groans, already feeling his wallet lightening, as Raven laughs at his misfortune.

XXXXXX

It was another busy day in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Even though it'd only been three years, already there were quite a few students bustling around the many halls of the mansion they now called home.

In the beginning, Bill and the others (who were lovingly dubbed the "First Class" by in-coming students) had only anticipated maybe a handful of students coming to stay at the mansion as soon as they'd finished the grueling process of registering the academy as an official school in the state of New York.

Their anticipation was greatly underestimated as instead of the 8-9 students they'd been expecting, every single child and teen from the 20+ households Raven and Erik visited were eager to join the school.

The reasons for each student joining were varying.

Some had parents who only wanted the best for their child, who wanted them to live without fear and with a strong sense of belonging somewhere that the parents only wished they could provide.

Others wanted to escape the harshness of the reality they lived in.

Some were homeless, having been kicked out of their homes for their mutations.

Some were forced to grow up too soon and already experienced horrors that no child should ever have to go through.

And some were in the different levels in between, neither fully ostracized nor fully loved.

Regardless, each and every student was welcomed with open arms. Of course, even though the mansion was now a school, it was a learning process for everyone. While Bill certainly had the credentials and experience to teach multiple subjects, the others in the First Class flailed about trying to figure out how to teach children and teens, some of whom were only a few years younger than them.

But just like every learning process, a rhythm is found and things become easier to handle. And so three years passed by peacefully.

Darwin and Angel were finally an item, going steady with the most disgustingly sweet relationship that could put Hallmark movies to shame. Alex had once voiced an accurate representation of their relationship as "so sweet he's got cavities and diabetes." The two lovebirds taught English and Spanish respectively. Their students were both grateful for their expertise but also exasperated because they now understood every sweet nothing the two lovers giggled to each other.

Sean alternated between the mansion and his own home in Scotland. The mystery of why he hadn't been impressed by the splendor of the Xavier home was finally answered for his fellow compatriots when he took them all to visit his home in Glasgow, Scotland. The jaw dropping was rather spectacular when they'd all arrived at the large castle the Cassidy's maintained and ran guided tours in. Thus, he taught history occasionally and was regarded by many as "the cool teacher."

Hank still experimented frequently in his newly expanded lab. Cerebro had been rebuilt within a couple months as he still had the blueprints and now the money and manpower to rebuild it swiftly. The jet had also been repaired and he was now working on an augmented reality simulation training room in the basement of the mansion in addition to his duties as the multi-subject science teacher. He'd also dropped his search for a cure. His relationship with Raven greatly helped in soothing any insecurities.

Alex was in charge of their version of gym class, which was basically control related physical therapy of sorts. He took great pleasure in finding ways to help students gain control over their fear while also torturing them with activities such as dodge ball and rope climbing. However, those duties were currently being taken over by Darwin as Alex was currently off serving in the army for a reason only he could fully understand.

Moira still stops by on occasion though her visits have become rather sporadic due to her increasing duties as the head of the CIA liaison department. Whenever she found the time to say hi, she'd also offer counseling services for anyone who needed them as she'd received her certification only a couple years ago. People would also find their way to her because she was the only sane and normal spot in their ever strange and complicated lives as mutants.

However, the students had all developed a sense of fear towards her even though she was not a mutant because of this one incident that involved a rampaging Hank. Now every student held a healthy dose of respect for her and made sure every new student held the same.

And Bill was having the time of his life. He'd never felt more fulfilled than he'd ever had in his life. He'd even stopped writing his horror novel drafts for a time due to the state of peace and completion he often found himself in. Only on occasion, when he felt particularly empty or insecure or some other form of negative emotion that threatened to steal the breath out of him and crush his soul, did he return to his computer and start typing away.

All in all, life was going brilliantly. Nothing could go wrong in their little part of the world that they'd all carved out for themselves.

Then, of course, as is always the case with peace, it comes to an end as something inevitably goes wrong no matter how much we wish it didn't.

XXXXXX

It was just another ordinary day. The students were wreaking havoc on the mansion with a brand of chaos only they could pull off. The teachers were scrambling around trying to put out the metaphorical (and literal) fires as best as they could.

Meanwhile in Cerebro, Bill was conducting his routine search with Hank carefully supervising him with an intensity only an irate Raven could inspire.

While his mental projection walked through the foggy landscape of minds, occasionally picking out those who carried the mutant gene, two dark presences overlapping each other called out loudly for his attention.

He drifts towards them, almost falling into a trance at the siren's call of the two shadows. Soon he's floating before them, reaching out an ethereal hand to see what kind of people could create such terrible minds.

He's split into two different minds, that of William Stryker Jr. and Dr. Bolivar Trask. He listens to their conversation, slowly growing horrified as the two discuss ways to weaponize and subdue mutant kind.

He then delves further into their minds and is terrified by the depravity of their thoughts.

Ideas on how to torture and rip apart mutants, age by damned, simply to understand and reverse engineer the secrets of their mutations.

Plans to brainwash and groom young children into becoming living weapons and kamikaze fighters. Thoughts on testing newborn babies for the gene and stealing them away with only a fat check or death certificate left for the parents' silence.

The cold harshness of their general thoughts and treatments of mutants, how because of their abilities, mutants were lesser than human kind and freaks who were God's mistake and punishment for mankind.

Ways to make a mutant registry an official government law with the added caveat that all mutants must be conscripted for war and experimentation as soon as they are registered. That if mutants were going to exist it might as well be for the benefit of society.

Bill is suddenly pulled out of his trance as Cerebro is shut down.

"Bill! Are you alright?" Hank frantically asks, holding a pen light up to his eyes, "Your heart rate just started sky rocketing out of nowhere so I had to initiate an emergency shutdown."

"I-I'm f-fine, Hank," Bill stutters, struggling to pull himself together.

"Are you sure? What happened?" Hank asks, brow furrowed in worry and concern.

"N-nothing, nothing. J-just something c-caught me of-off guard," Bill tries to reassure his worried blue furred friend, "I just need to l-lie down and I-I'll be right as r-rain."

"If you say so," Hank says skeptically, watching Bill walk away with a frown.

Meanwhile, Bill's mind is turbulent, thoughts bouncing around like pinballs in a machine. He agonizes over his discovery. What can he do about these two terrible men whose souls were darker than the most depraved criminal in existence.

Does he try to get his sister and Erik involved? Have them figure out a way to deal with them even if it's through illegal means?

Does he reach out to Moira? Have her see if the CIA can make a preemptive strike and prevent a tragedy from occurring? Because surely the government can see how Stryker and Trask were just another Shaw in the making, right?

Or does he do something himself without anyone the wiser? Does he dare to cross the line he'd drawn in the sand and use his abilities to fundamentally change someone simply because he was afraid?

Bill's unable to come up with an answer as he tosses and turns for the entire night, agonizing over the decision that must be made.

This agonizing indecision continues for many days. People have begun to notice the growing bags under his eyes and the invisible weight that seems to press on his shoulders.

Students chirp worriedly over him after he passes out during an advanced literature class. Fellow teachers try to encourage him to sleep, to eat, to at least speak with someone over what was bothering him.

But all Bill does is wave them off and insist he's fine.

Soon, he's back in Cerebro for another search. However, instead of looking for potential recruits, Bill decides to reach out and seek Stryker and Trasks' mind again.

Fortunately, the two were still near each other and thus it was easier to read their thoughts together instead of searching for one and then the other.

Unfortunately, their thoughts and desires had already begun to form into a reality.

Stryker had implemented his plans to experiment on mutants despite not having the full support of the government. He'd managed to pull the funds and influence together regardless, pulling mutants, who were soldiers in the military, into a black listed site on the premise that it was just a new routine psychological check up.

Bill was horrified to find that Alex was one of those soldiers and only slightly reassured to see that nothing had been done to the confused young man yet.

He gags as Trask's desire to exterminate mutant kind suffocates him. Bill was shocked to find that the desire stemmed from petty jealousy, a "if I can't have it, then no one can" mentality. How could such a petty little grudge over not having "been chosen to evolve" breed such hatred and depravity?

Bill was terrified to find that Trask was stalking his sister. The man following her every move and tracking her down in order to capture, torture, and experiment on her in an attempt to use her DNA to create mutant exterminators known as Sentinels.

Without a second thought, Bill reaches out to both minds and erases their desires and thoughts relating to their depravity. He then quickly reaches out to influences those who may have even an inkling of their plans or shared opinions so that everyone involved would be none the wiser. Then he made sure all physical evidence was erased and the memories of erasure replaced with some boring Sunday television drivel.

Afterwards, Bill swiftly returns to his own mind and removes Cerebro's helmet from his head, almost ripping it off its cables in his haste. Before Hank can say anything, Bill shoots off back into the mansion, ignoring the worried cries of passersby as he rushes into his room and locks the door.

Guilt and disgust immediately flood his entire body. His stomach rolls violently and he quickly lurches towards a nearby bin before emptying his breakfast into it.

He then falls onto his side and begins to sob, placing a hand over his mouth so as to stifle the sounds and not worry anyone who might hear him through the door.

But now, in the quiet of his room, all he can think about is the terrible guilt that cripples him. For he had just crossed the one line he vowed never to cross even under the threat of death or worse. He'd used his abilities to fundamentally change someone at their core and he allowed fear, the one emotion he refused to let rule him, influence that decision.

As he continued to lie there, crying on the floor, ignoring the worried knocks and questions outside his door, Bill felt like a complete and utter failure.

And the worst part?

The excruciating thought that this was not the first time he felt this way. That he always had been and always will be a complete and utterly useless person.

In the days that followed, everyone in the mansion grew worried at his worsening state of being as he locked himself in his room. He'd only ever emerge to swipe alcohol that he used to drink himself into unconsciousness or sickness, whichever came first. Meals were skipped, personal hygiene was neglected, classes had to be filled in by other teachers.

Students would stop by, hoping that questions pertaining to schoolwork could help coax the professor to open his door even for a moment.

Darwin would leave food and drink that went untouched.

Angel would sit by his door and talk about anything and everything, hoping that her meaningless chatter helped even a little.

Hank tried to break down the door once but was stopped and turned away by Bill's influence, which only served to further the guilt he felt.

Sean was still in Scotland and unable to pull himself away from his duties at home.

Alex was still in the military and couldn't be reached.

Moira was on an undercover mission and definitely couldn't be reached.

Soon, enough was enough.

While the student had no clue on what to do to help their beloved Professor X, those of the First Class did. They pulled out their phones because it was time to bring out the big guns.

Raven and Erik.

XXXXXX

When they received the emergency call from not one, not two, but every single other member of the First Class sans Alex, Erik and Raven knew it was serious.

They both hop on the next flight home but Erik is the one who returns first as he was nearby in Canada when he got the call. Also, it was Bill who needed help so of course he was going to drop whatever he was doing to come back.

By the time the cab reaches the mansion, Erik is all but barreling out of the car, tossing multiple bills at the driver with a big enough tip for the man to not have to work for a month.

Darwin and Hank greet him, standing just out of the range of the front doors that slam open with a force that rattles the walls.

"Where is he?" he demands.

"Hello to you too, Erik," Hank says wryly.

"Sorry, hello Hank, hello Darwin. I'd stay and chat but I think pleasantries will have to wait until later," Erik apologetically, but not really, says.

"Fair enough. We're also really worried about Bill as well," Darwin says as the three walk through the mansion at a quick pace. "He's been in his room these past few weeks. Not speaking, not eating, not drinking-"

"Well, not drinking water you mean," Hank interjects with a sigh, removing his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose.

Erik inhales sharply. "What does that mean?"

Darwin sighs as they turn around another corner. "Let's just say the entire liquor supply in the mansion needs to be restocked very, very soon."

Erik doesn't respond but he does speed his pace up, almost racing through the halls now. Students are peeking out of their rooms and whispering to each other as they see the three men speeding through. Angel visibly relaxes as they practically run by on their way to Bill's room.

The trio soon reaches the door leading to Bill's room. There's a faint odor of alcohol and an almost tangible atmosphere of depression and guilt radiating through the oak wood door.

Erik hesitantly walks up to the door, leaning against it to hear the repeated clinking of bottles and a faint chugging sound. He knocks. "Bill? It's me, Erik."

The sounds abruptly stop and the atmosphere seems to grow even heavier around the door. When there's no response, Erik turns to look back at Darwin and Hank who wave at him to go on ahead with matching expressions of "What the hell are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?"

Erik turns back to the door and uses his ability to unlock it. "I'm coming in, Bill!"

He tentatively opens the door and walks into the room. Immediately his senses are assaulted by the pungent smell of alcohol. The depressive atmosphere grows in tangibility in the heavily curtained room with only a small sliver of light shining through.

His gaze follows the trail of light that shines on the trail of various alcohol bottles littering the floor and the bed. The amount of bottles would be impressive if Erik wasn't worried about the potential for alcohol poisoning just by breathing the air.

He closes the door behind him and slowly walks to the bed where a piss ass drunk Bill lays dazed and confused in the middle of even more bottles and messy sheets. Erik wrinkles his nose a bit at the smell but powers through because it's as clear as a punch to the face that Bill is most certainly not doing okay.

"Bill?"

Bill blinks up at Erik, gaze extremely unfocused and face red from all the alcohol he'd no doubt drank. "Erik? Is that you?" he slurs, drunkenly.

"Yes, Bill. It's me," Erik responds.

Bill scoffs. "No, there's no way. Erik doesn't call me Bill. He always calls me Charles or William cause it's just so fun to mess with me or some stupid shit reason like that."

Erik frowns as he gently pries the whisky bottle clutched in a death grip from Bill's hand. "It really is me, Bill."

Bill blinks at his empty hand then at the bottle in Erik's hand. "Oh..." Then he visibly brightens and launches himself at him for a hug. "Erik! You're back! I was starting to get so lonely without you here."

Bill trails a suggestive hand down Erik's chest and towards the belt of his pants while another trails down towards his ass. "Are you finally here to show me a good time?"

Erik grabs at Bill's wandering hands away from his person. "Why don't you ask me when you're sober, Bill? I refuse to take advantage of someone as heavily drunk as you currently are."

Bill pouts, weakly struggling against Erik's grip. Then his expression falls as soon as Erik lets his hands go. He curls up into a ball, rocking back and forth as he clutches at his head and sobs uncontrollably. Erik watches him, not knowing what to do and clearly out of his depth here.

"I knew it, I knew it," Bill blubbers out uncontrollably, brain to mouth filter completely gone due to the alcohol having smashed it to bits. "I knew I was a terrible person. I fail everyone I've ever known. I failed my sister, I failed my students, and I failed my brother. I'm sorry, Georgie. I'm so fucking sorry. I didn't mean to make you go out alone in the rain. Please, please come back. We'll make all the paper boats you want. I promise, just please come back."

Erik doesn't know what to say to calm the hysterical man. He's also highly confused because he never heard mention of a brother from either Bill or Raven. There's no pictures or evidence that a brother lived in the mansion halls either.

"I'm such a terrible person, I did such a terrible thing. I didn't mean to do it but I was so afraid," Bill sobs out, catching Erik's attention because that terrible thing must've been what drove Bill to drink himself into oblivion. "And now Erik will never love me because of the darkness inside me."

Before Erik can ask Bill what exactly he meant by all that, he abruptly passes out, flopping down onto the bed like a puppet with its strings cut. Erik just kind of sits there, staring down in shock at the now snoring away drunk, not exactly knowing what to do now.

So he slowly gets up and starts doing the only thing he can do, clearing the room up. He opens the door to let Hank and Darwin, who'd been anxiously pacing up and down the hallway, into the room. He holds up a finger to his lips, making sure they knew to be quiet and to not disturb Bill who looked like this was the first sleep he'd gotten in years.

The three quietly clean the room up. They gather up the tens of empty and half empty alcohol bottles. They put the books that were thrown onto the ground in a rage back onto the bookshelves. They clear up the small messes, a broken flower vase here and a pile of dirty clothes there.

The room looks infinitely better after they're done. Hank and Darwin leave the room as Erik walks over to tuck Bill in, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Pleasant dreams, Bill," Erik says softly, brushing some of Bill's hair aside to reveal a face, while greatly exhausted, now more relaxed and peaceful. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Then Erik walks over to a nearby loveseat, grabbing a book as he passes, and settles in for a long wait.

XXXXXX

It's almost night by the time Bill stirs awake from his latest alcohol induced coma. He groans as a raging headache pulses through his head, managing to drown out any thoughts his abilities might've read were his brain functioning normally.

He slowly pushes himself up into a seated position, rubbing at his face and feeling the facial hair that was starting to grow after days of neglecting his hygiene.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Or maybe it's more accurate to say good evening you adorable attempt at a lumberjack," a voice calls out amusedly.

Bill blinks as his room slowly comes into focus. His eyes widen in surprise when he sees how clean it is, no bottles anywhere, everything he'd tossed in a rage put back in its original place. Then the curtains open to reveal Erik standing in his room with the light of the setting sun highlighting his features.

"Erik?" Bill asks uncertainly, "I'm...not still drunk am I?"

"No, but you did give it your best shot," Erik says as he walks over to sit beside him on his bed.

The two men sort of just sit there, one staring intently at the other while the other tries to look at everywhere but them.

"How long has this been going?" Erik finally asks, gesturing at his general unkempt state.

Bill looks off to the side, avoiding his examining gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Erik sighs. "Don't be like that, Bill. Will you please just tell me what's wrong? You've got everyone in such a state. The students are panicking like your isolation is the end of the world, the others were so worried that they called Raven and I, begging us to come home..."

"It's nothing, Erik. Really, I'm fine and the others are just butting into business they shouldn't be nosing around it," Bill waves dismissively.

"Well if you're so fine then why are you trying to drink yourself into an early grave?" Erik asks, frowning in disapproval. "If you have an issue, you need to find a healthy way to fix it, not down alcohol like it's water."

Bill laughs sarcastically. "That's rich coming from you. Who was it that wanted to risk their life on a one man suicide mission for revenge?"

Erik doesn't even flinch at the mention of his vendetta against Shaw. "That's true but you showed me another way. You taught me not to let fear or revenge consume me."

"Just leave me alone, Erik," Bill mumbles petulantly, though his shoulders slump from deep sadness, "That's all you seem to be good at now."

"Not before you tell me what's wrong," Erik firmly states, not even hesitating or backing down for a second.

"And what if I don't want to," Bill pouts like a child one second away from a tantrum.

"Then I'm going to keep pushing until you do. You can't just bottle things up and then drown them out with alcohol."

"Why do you care? You're not even here for more than a couple month's time a year!"

"And that's my mistake, I'll admit. But Bill, you're an important person to me, of course I'm going to care about you!"

Bill falls silent, looking away from Erik once more, unable to stomach the earnest and pleading expression that was on the other man's face. Erik softens.

"Does this have something to do with what you told me this morning?"

Bill looks at him sharply. "What?"

"You started going on about being a terrible person because you've failed many people, especially a young man named Georgie? You said he was your brother," Erik explains.

Bill's brow furrows in confusion. The name "Georgie" brings up feelings of nostalgia and guilt but he can't remember who that person was and why he feels that way towards him. "I...don't recall who that could be..."

Erik hums thoughtfully. "Regardless, you then went on about some terrible thing you did that would...um...make me love you less because it apparently exacerbated the darkness within you?"

Bill blushes heavily. "Oh..."

"Yes, oh...do you want to elaborate on exactly what this terrible thing you say you've done?" Erik tries to speak in a more humorous tone to lighten the dark mood. "Did you make Hank think he was Madonna and have him sing in a terrible neon dress? With Sean and Darwin as his backup dancers? Or bail Darwin out when he forgot his anniversary and Angel got mad that you helped cover for him again?"

"I crossed a line!" Bill blurts out, slapping his hands over his mouth in horror.

Erik blinks at him in shock. "I'm sorry. You did what?"

"I..." Bill visibly swallows his discomfort, "Crossed...a line."

"How?"

And then just like a dam breaking, releasing the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water onto unsuspecting bystanders, Bill starts talking about what exactly got him into such a depressive funk.

He spoke about the routine Cerebro search that led to Trask and Stryker, how their minds both fascinated and horrified him over what exactly they wanted to do with and against mutant kind. Then he spoke of the agony as he tried to figure out what exactly he should do about these two horrible men. Finally, he came to the decision of erasing their memories and changing their core personalities when he discovered evidence of their terrible plans already being implemented in reality. He spoke of the fear he felt when he realized Alex and Raven were in the crosshairs of these two degenerate men and how he ended up reacting to that fear instead of stepping back to think logically for another solution.

At the end of the spiel, he drops his head into his hands and curls up into a ball.

Erik stares at him in shock then horror then awe and then worry. "Why the hell didn't you contact me about this?"

Bill peeks out from behind his hands. "Because you were reconnecting with your cousin and trying to rediscover who you were as a person. You needed space."

Erik looks at him like he's an idiot. "But if I knew you were in trouble, I would've dropped everything to help you."

Bill drops his hands. "And that's the problem. I don't want or need you to come running every time I have a problem. I'm an adult. I can handle my problems just fine by myself."

"Well clearly you're doing an amazing job if drinking into a coma was your adult solution," Erik sarcastically remarks. "Besides, it's my decision to make on whether or not I come back."

"Oh, so it was your decision to kiss me on the beach and then string me along for three years, then? I see how it is," Bill bitterly retorts. "You keep coming and going for three years without a single acknowledgement as to what happened. I have no clue where the hell I stand with you anymore so how could I feel reassured in asking you to come back?"

For a moment, Erik stares at him with a dumbfounded expression. Various emotions flit through his eyes, the most prominent being guilt and regret. Bill looks away with a pained grimace.

"I don't need a keeper to look after me so you can tell Hank and Darwin that, while their concerns are appreciated, their efforts to intervene are not," he says as he moves to get out of the bed.

Instead of a response, Erik places his hands on Bill's shoulders, making him turn to ask what he was doing. The words die in his throat when one of Erik's hands move from his shoulder to the back of his head, cradling the base of his skull. That hand pulls him in and suddenly, Bill's lips make contact with Erik's.

The two stay like that for another moment, Erik with his eyes closed and Bill with his growing wide in surprise. Finally, Erik releases his hold around Bill and leans away. Bill subconsciously leans forward as if to chase the feeling of the other man's lips now that they were drifting away.

"Is that answer enough?" Erik says, looking away as a faint blush spreads across his face.

Bill looks at Erik in a bit of a confused daze. "What?"

Erik clears his throat, now slightly uncomfortable, as the blush grows darker. "Was that enough of an answer as to where you stand with me?"

Bill blinks, continuing to stare at Erik like he'd just grown two heads. Erik starts to fidget the longer the silence stretches. Then Bill smiles. "I don't know. You'll have to do it again to prove how serious you are."

Now Erik's the one looking at Bill like he's grown two heads. Then he smiles brightly at him. "You brilliant, brilliant man," Erik breathes out before he's dragging Bill in for another kiss.

And just like that, three years of passing each other like ships in the night and the two collide like fireworks exploding in the sky. Their lips lock in a desperate dance with tongues tangling together and heated breaths passing back and forth.

As they fall back onto the bed, their hands roam across each other's bodies, grabbing at everything they can in an attempt to ground themselves in each other's presence. Erik mouths his way down from Bill's lips to his neck, taking great joy in the sounds of pleasure the man underneath him was making. Just as their wandering hands start to slip underneath their clothes, the door slams open.

"Look out, Bill! Raven's here! And as your little sister it is my sacred duty to drag you kicking and screaming out of whatever funk you've drowned yourself in!" Raven shouts dramatically as she marches into Bill's room with purpose.

That purpose falters when she sees her brother and her (maybe) best friend in a compromising position.

"Uhhh..." does not compute. Please wait a moment for system reboot.

"Hello Raven, nice to see you again," Erik tries to nonchalantly greet as if he wasn't just caught necking with her brother.

Bill covers his face as his ears burn red in embarrassment.

"Well, I can see I had nothing to worry about. Glad to see you took my advice, Erik," Raven manages to smoothly say, brain rebooting just in time to catch her mouth from making any weird comments that would make the situation even worse than it currently is. "Bill, glad you're finally getting some. We'll talk later. Bye!"

Then just as suddenly as she appears, Raven rushes out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

For a moment, neither man knows how to react. Then they break down laughing at the absurd situation that had just occurred.

"I forget how much of a riot your sister is," Erik says as he rolls off Bill, lying down beside him.

"She certainly knows how to set a mood," Bill says wryly, "And how to kill it apparently. I'm exhausted."

"I am as well," Erik agrees, shifting so that he can hold the other closely in his arms.

"I feel like we should talk about this development first though," Bill says, wrapping his arms around Erik as he leans his head to rest against the other's chest.

Erik hums. "Sleep first, emotions later."

Bill smiles softly. "Very well. Good night, Erik."

"Good night, Bill."

And just like that, all was right in the world. Well, maybe not all of it was all right but an important enough part was. And right now, that's all that really matters.

XXXXXX

Bill and Raven stand together in a side kitchen, the same kitchen where they'd first met in fact. Both nurse a cup of hot chocolate and look out a nearby window to see a group of students running around and playing a bastardized version of capture the flag.

"Sooo..." Raven smirks at Bill over the rim of her cup. "How did last night go?"

Bill pointedly looks away from her as he takes a sip.

She pouts. "Oh come on," she whines like a child, "I need to know all the details, Bill."

"A gentleman does not kiss and tell, Raven," he calmly rebukes.

"He does if it's his little sister asking to make sure her brother finally got some with the guy he's been pining over for three years," she flatly states.

Bill sputters indignantly. "I wasn't pining!"

Raven gives him a look. "You were and it wasn't even the cute kind of pining. It was the truly, utterly embarrassing kind of pathetic."

He blushes, looking away from her in embarrassment. "Alright fine."

She smiles in victory. "Good, now spill. Did you get some?"

"No, because you killed the mood," he answers bluntly.

"Well shit. That was not my intention but in my defense, I was worried about you and telepathy is not my mutation," she sighs heavily.

He shakes his head with a smile. "It's fine. In fact, it's better than fine. I haven't felt this complete in ages."

"That's good," she says, nodding. Then her expression turns sly. "Does that mean you're finally going to publish your horror novels now, terrible endings and all?"

He frowns. "Why are you still pushing about this?"

"Because the only times I've seen you truly happy are when you teach, when you're with Erik, and when you write," she says, expression and tone deadly serious. Then she shrugs. "Besides, you need a healthier outlet for your feelings that's not alcohol and writing seems to do the trick if what I've read so far is any indication. You always seem more put together after you write."

Raven adjusts imaginary glasses as she nods to herself. "In my professional opinion, since I'm the one with the psych degree, you are in a place in your life where you should be doing everything that makes you feel safe and happy and that means writing horror novels."

Bill looks thoughtful for a moment, then he shakes his head. "Sorry, but I'm still not convinced."

She smirks. "It also can't hurt to have a little extra money for the school. The Xavier fortune is vast but it isn't that vast."

He sighs, knowing she's got him. "Fair enough. It would do to have more money in the bank if we want to support more kids and maybe even set up some sort of college fund for them."

"Hell yeah!" she cheers, "College is crazy expensive." She digs around in her jacket pocket to pull out a business card. "Here's a company that's interested in publishing your work."

Bill gapes at her in shock as he takes the card. "What the hell? You didn't even know if I'd agree or not."

Raven nods sagely. "Yes, I did because you're my brother and I'm your sister. I know everything there is to know about you, including all of your deepest darkest secrets."

'Not all of them though,' a cynical voice resonates through Bill's head. But he shakes it off and smiles wryly at her. "I hate you."

"You love me," she retorts.

He sighs heavily. "Yes, I do."

She smirks. "Bet you love Erik, too."

Bill lets out an indignant squawk as Raven laughs at him.

XXXXXX

~ Sometime in the Far Future ~

Logan wakes up to the sound of the Golden Oldies station playing as his alarm. He grumbles, reaching a hand out to shut the radio off. He wonders, once again, why he even bothered to set an alarm for the weekend.

He yawns, stretching out as he slowly gets out of bed. After throwing on what smells like a clean shirt, he walks out of his room. Immediately, he's assaulted with the sight and sounds of students running around and creating their own brand of chaos that only mutant students with a free day can cause.

As he walks down the hall, he greets various students and sees his co-workers and friends going about their day.

Hank and Raven dote over Kurt, checking his clothes and making sure his face is all clean as he tries to brush off their affections like the "cool" young man he is. Logan can spot Warren, Kurt's roommate, snickering at him from where he's sitting on his bed, wings stretched out for his preening routine.

Darwin and Angel are cooing over their teenaged son, Hector Munoz, named after Darwin's father. Angel holds Hector closely to her chest, smiling down at the blushing teen as Darwin teases the poor boy.

As he walks by the large recreation room, Logan sees Sean frantically pressing buttons on a controller alongside Pietro, or Peter as he likes to be called, as two on screen fighters beat the crap out of each other. Various students and even a few teachers sit nearby as audience members, cheering for their favorite contender.

As he walks down the main stairs of the mansion, he sees Alex, in all his brown leather jacket glory, teasingly nudging his little brother, Scott. Scott blushes heavily from his older brother's merciless attentions, adjusting his glasses in a clear attempt at a threat that doesn't work at all. Jean giggles as she watches the two brothers fondly though she looks at Scott with a loving gaze that he returns.

Suddenly, Logan's slammed into and almost knocked over by a group of people rushing for the mansion's front doors. He straightens up and sees Bobby, Rouge, John, Kitty, and Jubilee sheepishly looking at him.

"Where's the fire?" Logan jokingly asks.

John flicks his lighter in response as Jubilee laughs and playfully shoves the young man.

"Sorry, Logan," Rogue smiles apologetically, "We're catching the new movie down by the cinema but someone," she playfully nudges Bobby who smiles dopily at her as they hold hands, "Has a longer skin care routine then us girls."

Kitty, John, and Jubilee snicker as Bobby sputters at her. "My skin's just dry from all the ice!"

"Sure, babe," Rogue jokingly pats Bobby's cheek like he's a baby.

"Don't stay out too late this time alright?" Logan says, "You've got a danger room session early tomorrow morning. Raven and I are running it."

They all jokingly groan at him.

Then Kitty smacks her head in remembrance. "And then there's that World History test I've gotta put together for Tuesday." She looks at Logan, pleadingly. "Can I borrow you for help? Pretty please with cherries on top?"

Logan shakes his head in fond exasperation. "You know I specialize in American History, Kitty."

Kitty brightens. "Which is perfect cause the unit I'm testing is the Revolutionary War period!"

Jubilee rolls her eyes fondly and tugs Kitty away. "Sorry about that Logan. We'll get out of your hair now."

"We'll talk later!" Kitty calls out as Jubilee drags her off.

Bobby and Rogue follow them, laughing as their intertwined hands swing back and forth.

John shakes his head in fond exasperation, looking at Logan. "These are my best friends. Why did God put me down on this Earth just to suffer?"

Logan smiles. "Well if it helps, I just got a new shipment of classical literature coming in later today so you can figure out all the new ways you can torture your lit students."

John points at Logan as he walks backwards towards the door. "Logan, you the man!"

"John! Hurry up!" Jubilee calls out impatiently from the car sitting in the driveway all revved up and ready to go.

John rushes off to hop into the car and all of its occupants wave goodbye at Logan as they speed off.

Logan shakes his head fondly as he turns to make his way to the kitchen. He passes by Colossus and Storm chatting about their lesson plans, almost getting dragged into the conversation if it weren't for the smell of coffee calling his name.

He enters the kitchen, a small side one that was once the sanctuary of a little boy and his blue sister until it was renovated to become a makeshift teacher's lounge.

"Good morning, Logan! Lovely day isn't it?"

Logan turns to see Bill smiling brilliantly at him as he holds a ten-year-old Lorna in his arms. The green haired girl waves cheerfully at him as she munches on a blueberry muffin.

"Late start, Mr. Logan?" Wanda asks as she waves a cup of steaming coffee over to him. Red wisps keeping it afloat until he wraps a hand around the handle.

"It's my free day, sue me," Logan says with a shrug.

Wanda smiles at him. Then she walks over to give Bill a kiss on the cheek as she takes Lorna from his arms. "I'll see you later, papa."

"Have a brilliant girl's day, you two! And leave your brother out of it this time!" Bill calls out, waving as the two leave the kitchen.

"No promises! Peter's always fair game on girl's day!" Wanda jokingly shouts back as Lorna giggles in her arms.

Bill sighs and shakes his head with a fond smile. Logan takes a sip of the divine nectar of the gods, finally waking and feeling up to taking on the day. Before he can make conversation, Erik comes sweeping into the room, somehow still managing to pull off the dramatics even though he was sixty plus years old and wearing a fuzzy bathrobe.

Erik makes a beeline for Bill and Logan takes that as a cue to make himself scarce. No one wants to see "mom" and "dad" necking it like teenagers after all.

"I'll stop by your office later to talk about the danger room session for tomorrow, Chuck," Logan says as he makes his escape.

"Of course, Logan. I'll see you later," Bill calls out.

Logan can hear Erik mutter to Bill. "Thank god, I thought I'd never get you alone this early in the day."

Bill chuckles. "Don't worry, darling. We've got all the time in the world."

Erik smiles. "That we do, my dear. That we do."

Logan risks a glance, peeking over his shoulder to see Bill and Erik looking at each other fondly and with everlasting love. Gold wedding bands glint in the morning sunlight as they hold each other's hands with tenderness and care.

Logan smiles at the sight and looks away, shaking his head.

All the time in the world indeed.

And that's the end of Days of Future's Past! God, writing this gave me such a headache. If I didn't hate superhero timelines before, I definitely loathe them now because I was trying to figure out timelines and character ages and appearances and shit because I've got like two more movies to rewrite before we can get to the good stuff.

Anyways, I'm peacing out now cause I really need a nap. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one!