This chapter was so hard to write….I'm not going to lie, I cried. I can't believe we made it to the final showdown. So I'll be posting one more chapter after this as a little epilogue…but sadly this is the end of Zezelia's journey. I'm going to throw out the usual disclaimer that I own nothing X-Men related, only Zezelia and let you get on with it…..see you on the other side, my friends! Xoxo-Nickylynn

Sure enough, Hank was able to get the craft up and flying. He and Moria sat in the cockpit while the rest of the group were strapped into the two rows of seat in the back of the plane. Zezelia sat between Jean and Peter, while Raven, Scott and Kurt sat opposite them. They had been flying for over an hour, but they still had a long trip ahead of them. The plane was filled with uneasiness and apprehension that rolled off of the young mutants as they headed towards their first real taste of danger.

"Were you scared?" Jean suddenly asked, turning to look at Zezelia. "You're first mission…were you scared?"

Zezelia looked over at the young nervous girl. "Yes." She told her without hesitation. "You know, it's funny….how much this all reminds me of our first mission. It feels like it was all a lifetime ago….yet, I can still remember the fear like it was yesterday."

"What happened?" Jean asked, curious to know more about the older mutant she looked up.

"We were on a plane like this with our friends." Raven said, drawing everyone's attention to her. "We were about your age. We called ourselves the X-Men." she said with a small laugh.

"Your brother was there." Zezelia told Scott, looking down the row at him. "We used to call him Havok. He was…well he was Alex." She said with a laugh. "He was a handful, but when it came down to it, he was incredibly brave. I was…we were very lucky to have him as a friend."

"And what happened to the rest of the kids who went with you?" Kurt asked. "The X-Men."

Zezelia and Raven locked eyes for a moment, both of them feeling the weight of all the losses they had been enduring. "We're the only ones left." Raven said sadly.

Zezelia's mind wandered to memories of Sean and Alex….to everything she had lost….everyone she had failed to protect. "Look, I know you and the other students look up to us….that you think we're these courageous heroes…..but the truth is we never were. We only ever went into these missions to protect the people we cared about. And we've failed more than once. We failed Sean. We failed Alex. We've failed a lot of people. We're not heroes, we're just a bunch of people who were given power we never asked for and thrown into a world we never wanted to be a part of."

"Well, you are heroes to us." Jean said, reaching out her hand and taking hold of Zezelia's. "Seeing you on TV that day….it changed my life." She told her, pouring her heart into her words. "You've changed my life."

"Mine, too." Kurt said in agreement.

"You've changed my life too." Peter said from her other side, causing her to turn and look at him. "I mean…I still live in my mom's basement." He said with a sigh. "But, uh….everything else is…..well, no it's pretty much the same." He said letting out a laugh. "I'm a total loser."

"You're not a loser Peter…..if anyone in this plane deserves to be called a hero it's you. You saved us all today. If it wasn't for you we'd all be…" she trailed off, memories of flames and smoke running through her mind.

"Barbequed?" he supplied with a raised brow.

"Yeah." She agreed with a laugh. She turned her head back towards Jean and looked down at their entwined hands. "Jean…I need to ask a favor." She said then, growing serious.

"O-of course." Jean told her.

"This mutant we're about to go up against….we've never encountered anything like him before. He's powerful…too powerful." She said. Moria had filled them in on what she knew about their new adversary during the beginning of the flight. Apparently he called himself Apocalypse and Zezelia wasn't scared to admit that she was terrified of facing him. He was ancient and powerful, and honestly, none of them were a match for him….not even close. "You may be young and untrained, but your powers are the only thing that even remotely compare to his. I need you to give me ….I need you to share your powers with me so that I can keep the rest of you safe."

Jean's eyes searched Zezelia's. "Are you sure?" She asked doubtfully, scared of someone else being burdened by her so-called gifts, yet the idea of someone sharing that burden also alluring to her.

Zezelia pulled her hand out of Jean's grasp so she could pull the glove off. Once it was naked to the air, she reached back over, holding her hand open expectantly. "I'm sure." She told her. "Just…this will hurt me so don't panic. I'll be okay." She said, knowing that watching someone wither in the pain her touch brought wasn't the easiest thing.

"Okay." Jen said hesitently, placing her hand back into Zezelia's. Once she made contact with her bare skin, Zezelia threw her head back against her seat as her screams filled the small cabin. She spasmed in her seat for a minute, her mouth clamped shut as she desperately tried to keep anymore screams from coming out, as the agony overtook her body. After what felt like an eternity, she slumped forward, being held in place by her harness, before falling unconscious.

Zezelia didn't know how much time had passed between passing out and regaining consciousness, all she knew was that they seemed to reach Egypt's airspace quicker than she thought possible. The plane began to shake with turbulence as Hank dropped their altitude. Zezelia undid her harness and stumbled towards the front of the plane, using the back of Hank's and Moria's seats to help hold her in place as she looked out the windshield. Her eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. The whole city below them was demolished. The buildings…the infrastructure…the people…everything was swept away and left in shambles. Metal and dust flew through the air in controlled streams, being pulled in the direction of the newly erected pyramid that was….well, massive. She let out a breath, looking down at all the damage that had already been done, sending out a prayer for everyone they had not been able to save.

"Seventh wonder, twelve o'clock." Hank said as he guided them closer to the pyramid, carefully avoiding the air-borne debris.

"Jesus…" Zezelia breathed as they flew closer. It was like a scene out of a horror movie…the world was turning to dust before their eyes and Zezelia just prayed that they would be able to stop it. She scanned the area with her mind, searching for Charles and the other mutants. She found them, unsurprisingly, in the center of the enormous pyramid in the center of all the chaos. "They have Charles in the center of that pyramid." She said, pointing down to it. "I think….oh God…" she said as she swept further into the minds below. "He's going to transfer his consciousness into Charles." She told the others.

"If he does that, he'll have the power to control every mind in the world." Raven said, coming to stand next to Zezelia, looking out towards the destruction.

"We have to get him out of there!" Zezelia said, the panic in her rising.

Hank steered them around the pyramid, looking for a place to land. Their eyes landed on something else worrisome, however. "What the hell is that?" Moria asked, looking down at the swirling mass of dust and debris. It flowed around in a tight circle, the silhouette of a man in the center of it.

"It's Erik." Zezelia said, as she realized she could not breach his mind. "He must be wearing that God awful helmet again-I can't reach him." She said, looking over at Raven. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them. Zezelia finally broke her eyes away and looked back at the young mutants. "You guys are going to help me get in that pyramid. We get in and get Charles out."

"What about Magneto?" Jean asked.

"I'll take care of Erik." Raven said.

"How are we going to even get through that?" Hank asked, looking down at the impenetrable mass of metal.

"I can get you in there." Peter said, suddenly appearing between Zezelia and Raven. "I came here for him….let me help you."

Raven nodded her head at him. "Zezelia, you get Charles and the rest of them back in this plane and you get out of here."

"We're not leaving without you." Kurt told her from his seat.

"Don't worry, we'll catch up." Peter told him with a smirk.

"Hold on." Hank told them as he brought the plane down for a landing. Zezelia's grip on the back of Hank's set tightened as he brought them down and landed on the ground with a jolt.

"Moria, I know you want to help, but I need you to stay out of the way and safe on the plane." Zezelia said as Hank quickly undid his restraints.

Moria nodded at her in understanding. "Good luck." She told them as Hank dropped the back hatch and they all filed out of the aircraft. They looked around at the devastation surrounding them, knowing if they failed….the whole world would succumb to the same fate that this entire city had. Zezelia drew in a deep breath, steeling herself.

"Hank, you go with them." Raven said as she and Peter started walking in the direction of Erik's floating form.

"Wait!" Scott called, causing Raven to turn around.

"What?" she asked him.

"Not all of us can control our powers." He said, feeling profoundly unprepared.

"Then don't." Raven told him with a shake of her head. "You need to embrace them…we all do." She said before shifting herself back into her natural blue form.

Zezelia smiled over to her. "Mutant and proud, right?" she asked with a smirk. "Let's go save the world."

Raven nodded before Peter placed his hand on the back of Raven's head and they took off in a blur of motion. Zezelia looked back at the others. "Come on." She said before she took off in a hurry towards the pyramid. They maneuvered through the remnants of the once large city, carefully avoiding the flames and thick smoke that filled the air around them. Zezelia's nose burned with the smell of the burning city and she had to force herself to breath through her mouth, which only made her throat burn more. As they got closer, they ducked behind the crumpled remains of a brick building, surveying the area before they got any closer.

"There's an entrance." Hank said, looking across the open area before them to the large doorway in the side of the pyramid. "It's clear."

The winged mutant from before suddenly dropped out of the sky towards them, ready to block them from getting in. "Kurt! Get Zezelia inside! We'll handle this." Hank ordered. Kurt stumbling back in fear, grabbed onto Zezelia's arm and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

They reappeared in the pyramid, Zezelia looking around, trying to figure out which way to go. "That way!" she told Kurt, pointing to their left. He grabbed hold of her again and they burst into another cloud of smoke as Kurt moved them deeper and deeper into the pyramid. Zezelia reached out with her mind, finding Charles laying out on the same table she had seen him on before. His mind was practically screaming at her with the amount of panic he was feeling. "We have to hurry, Kurt! We don't have much time!" she told him.

"I'm trying, it's like a maze in here!" he told her as they continued through the halls in spurts. Suddenly a shadow caught her eye and she barely had time to register it before she was knocked to the ground as the feathered mutant crashed into Kurt, dragging him away. Kurt tried using his powers to get away, but the mutant stayed hot on his tail, pushing him back towards the exit.

Zezelia pushed herself up from the hard ground and was about to run after Kurt, until Charles's pained screams filled her head. "Get out! GET OUT! GET OUT!" she heard him roar and she knew she was out of time. She had to make a decision, and so she took off running on her own towards Charles and the mutant trying to take over his body.

When she made it to the large open chamber, she found Charles floating up on a glowing slab, veins of golden light lightening up the entire area. She watched as a purple field surrounded Charles's body and he began violently thrashing against the stone. She used her powers to lift herself up into the air, landing on the stone above him. His hair had fallen out and his eyes had changed to a pitch black. She watched as his face contorted in agony as he tried resisting the other mutant. Zezelia saw Kurt reappear out of the corner of her eye and she called to him. "KURT! GET US OUT OF HERE!" she bellowed.

He flashed over to them, latched on, and then dropped them on the metal floor of the plane. Zezelia looked from Charles up to Kurt. "Good job. Now, go get the others so we can get the hell out of here!" she told him before kneeling down to cradle Charles's head in her lap. He was covered in a layer of sweat and there was a large gash on the side of his head, but he was alive. Kurt reappeared with Jean first, who rushed over to Charles's other side, looking over at Zezelia in worry. Next Scott was brought back and finally after one more burst of smoke, Hank was dropped to the floor as well. He scrambled back onto his feet and rushed into the cockpit. "Let's go!" he said taking control of the craft.

Zezelia looked down at Charles, rubbing the sides of his head. His mind was still lost in the void of unconsciousness and it was worrying her. "Here we go." Moria said as they lifted out of the air shakily. Before they could get higher, a thud sounded from the roof. "What was that!?" Moria shouted in alarm. Suddenly the craft lurched sideways as one of the engines was lost to damage. Everyone was jerked to the side as a purple knife-like shape burst through the ceiling, cutting a circle into the metal.

Zezelia knew there was no way she would be able to fight off two mutants and keep the plane from crashing. And if they let the plane go down, maybe they'd get lucky and take the mutants out with it. "Kurt! Get us out of here!" Zezelia shouted to him as the winged mutant dropped in through the large hold in the ceiling. Zezelia used her powers to push the controls forward, sending the angel-like mutant back against the wall of the plane as it careened straight down.

"I-I've never done it with this many people before!" Kurt responded, frantically.

"You can do this!" she insisted. "Everyone grab onto him!" she told the others, who obeyed. The all held on as Kurt tried to get them all out. "Kurt, hurry!" she pleaded. He let out a groan as he pushed himself to the limits of his powers. Zezelia could feel him struggling with them all. He was so close but…there was just too much. Zezelia let out as sigh as she watched the ground get dangerously close to them. And then she let go. As soon as her fingertips left Kurt's arm, they disappeared, leaving her alone with the other mutant.

"What are you crazy?!" the mutant screamed at her.

"Don't worry. Something tells me that this is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you." She said before she closed her eyes and waited for the plane to hit the ground. It happened so quick that Zezelia didn't even register the pain. One minute she was on the floor of the plane and the next she was gasping back into life, her whole body throbbing in pain. Smoke was filling her lungs and she was being crushed by part of the plane's wing. She began coughing violently, each cough making the pain coursing through her worse. She used her powers to throw the large wing off of her body and filled her lungs as the crushing weight lifted from her chest. She sat up, still hacking, looking around the burning wreckage.

A booming voice filled the air, causing Zezelia to turn towards the direction it was emanating from. "CHARLES!" Apocalypse screamed. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

Zezelia threw up a wall between her brain and her body to try and block out the pain as she pushed herself up and out of the rubble with a groan. She limped through the wreckage and demolished buildings, turning to find Raven ducked behind a broken wall, watching as Peter flashed around Apocalypse in a blur of silver, trying to take him down. Peter seemingly appeared out of nowhere as the ground came to life, twisting around his foot, planting him in place.

"Foolish child." The mutant sneered, walking closer to Peter who was frozen in place. He threw out his hand to try to get a hit in on him, but Apocalypsecaught his fist in his grip, twisting it around until a loud crack sounded. Peter let out a cry of agony as the mutant then brought his foot down on the back of his leg, snapping it as well.

Raven shot up and was about to interfere, an idea crossing her mind, when Zezelia snaked out her arm and stopped her. "Let me." She told her as she shifted her form using Raven's powers, taking the appearance of the woman who had been fighting against them. She brushed past Raven, coming out into the clearing and into view.

Zezelia pulled out the blade that was draped on her side, walking slowly towards the powerful mutant. He gripped onto the hair on the back of Peter's head, pulling him back forcefully to face Zezelia as she stalked closer. She looked from Peter up to the mutant as she came to a stop in front of them. "End him." The mutant said, nodding over to Peter, who dangled from his grasp helplessly.

She swung the blade around in her hand before swinging it back and slashing it up and across the mutant's blue neck. His flesh sliced open as the knife tore through his throat, yet no blood came pouring from the wound. Instead, he reached out and wrapped his hand around Zezelia's throat, lifting her up into the air. Her feet kicked under her as she clung to his hand, writhing in pain, but unable to scream out due to the hand crushing her windpipe. Her disguise dropped as she reverted back to her own form, locking wide eyes onto the mutant as she shook in his grasp.

Inside the safety of one of the homes that had miraculously not been completely destroyed, Charles let out a gasp as he watched the scene unfold in his mind. "Zezelia." He gasped out. "I've got to get out there!" he said, trying to pull himself up, looking over at Hank for help.

"Charles, no." Moria said. "It's you he wants…if he has you then he has everybody. We can't let you give up."

"If he has her he has everybody!" he countered.

Outside Zezelia hung from his grasp, clinging onto consciousness. "CHARLES! COME! Come rescue your woman! Give your life for theirs!" his deep voice boomed out.

Tears began to trail down Charles's face as he sat helplessly inside, unable to do anything. He lurched forward suddenly. "He's right." He said, realization dawning on him. "There is part of me that's still connected to him. I can get inside his head." He said, lowering himself back onto the ground and throwing his mind out into the other mutants. "Thank you for letting me in." he said as he buried himself deep into the corners of the mutant's mind.

He planted himself into his subconscious, conjuring up the image of a room that he locked himself and Apocalypse into. They stared at each other, surrounded by swirling clouds and blue and purple.

"You want what I have?" Charles demanded, striding forward as his voice echoed around them. "You want to feel what I feel?" he pushed, grabbing onto the sides of his blue head and pushing the depths of his powers into him. All the voices. All the minds. All the chaos….he pushed it into him and the mutant let out a scream as he became overwhelmed with it all. His hold on Zezelia in the physical world faltered and she dropped to the ground in an unmoving heap, having lost consciousness long ago.

Charles let go of his head and he hunched forward. "Welcome to my world." Charles spat, pulling back his arm and swinging it down on his face. "You're in my house now!" he said, throwing another punch as the scenery around them began shifting into what resembled the mansion. He threw hit after hit, sending the mutant stumbling to the ground. Before he could make his next hit, however, Apocalypse's hand shot out, grabbing onto Charles's fist.

"You'll need a bigger house." He seethed, his eyes shifting to white as he drew on all his power. He crushed Charles's fist in his grasp as he grew bigger and bigger, overpowering Charles easily. The walls of the house that Charles and the others were hiding within started to crumble away into dust as the powerful mutant outside destroyed the walls with his powers. Inside is mind, Charles cried out in pain as he was thrown around like a rag doll completely helpless to the mutant's powers.

Outside the confines of his mind, the mutant began walking towards the shambles of the house Charles's physical body was laying within. Before he could take another step, however, two metal beams came hurling down in front of him, anchoring themselves into the ground in an x shape, blocking his way. Everyone looked back to find Erik hovering overhead.

"You betray me?" the blue mutant practically hissed.

"No." Erik told him. "I betrayed them." He said before lifting all the metal he could gain hold of and throwing it at him in an endless barrage of shrapnel. The metal hit a forcefield surrounding the mutant, burning off in bright flames. Erik continued his stream of objects as the mutant strode back towards him, stepping over Zezelia's body as he was surrounded by a wall of flames and burning metal.

Hank and Scott jumped down from the building they had been standing with Charles in, rushing over to help break Peter loose. Hank banged his fists down on the ground until it gave way and Peter could pull his foot out. Scott, desperate to help, tore off his glasses and shot a beam of red energy towards Apocalypse. He let out a roar as he pushed all his strength into the blast, hoping to break through the barrier. The barrier held, however, not being affected in the slightest by either Erik or Scott's assault.

"They lack strength, Charles." The mutant goaded to Charles inside his mind, before tossing him down the hall. Charles landed with a grunt, unable to even push himself back off the floor from all the energy he had already lost.

In the physical world, Zezelia's eyes snapped open and she looked up to see the mutant standing over her, his focus held on blocking the attacks coming from both Erik and Scott. She dipped into his mind and found Charles….desperately trying to hold on. "Zezelia." She heard his voice call.

Hank jump at them and he was tossed to the side with a force that sent him crashing into a brick wall. He slid down and dropped to the ground unconscious. Scott closed his eye and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, not being able to maintain the blast any longer. He was sent hurdling back as well, but when he made contact with the wall behind him, it came to life and wrapped itself around his form, holding him within it's concrete. Zezelia pushed herself up, coming to a stand behind the mutant before she wrapped her hands around his head and threw herself into his mind before he could react.

"You'll never win." Charles's voice drifted down to her, bright light filling her vision as she walked out into a hall that was all too familiar to her. She watched as the massive form of their enemy beat down on Charles, who lay bloodily on the floor.

"And why is that?" he seethed, putting all of his power into keeping Charles down.

"Because he's not alone!" she yelled, her voice echoing down the corridor.

Apocalypse looked up to her, registering her presence for the first time. Her studied her, feeling the shift in her powers and he was left amazed. "I made a mistake." He whispered. "You. You are the perfect vessel. Your powers….they're limitless." He said in amazement.

"The only mistake you made was crawling out of whatever hole it was you were buried in!" she threw back at him, walking down the hall, closer to them. The mutant walked closer to her as well, stepping over Charles as he did. She dropped her gaze down to Charles, her heart breaking.

"You can not stop me, child." The mutant said, lumbering towards her.

"I can try." She told him.

"You will fail." He seethed.

"Maybe…." She agreed. "But the thing about us that you just don't seem to understand is that we don't give up." She told him, taking another step closer. "We may stumble…and fall…and yes, sometimes we fail….but we get back up!" her voice rang out as she looked down at Charles. "Again…and again…and again." She said as all the powers within her began boiling under her skin. Erik, Logan, Charles, Raven, Jean and now Apocalypse, who had unknowingly transferred his powers to her while he choked her. Their powers all rolled through her, making her body buzz with it. "We never give up….on each other… and ourselves. We never stop fighting. That's what makes a hero." She said, her voice bouncing off the walls of his mind.

She drew on the power burning inside her and threw it at him. She reached out, feeling his body through her powers. She could feel him. Every molecule. Every atom. She circled around his entire essence and could feel him under her fingers…feel how malleable he was. She reached into him and began tearing him apart from the inside out. She pulled apart each molecule one by one feeling him give way under her pressure. The blue mutant stumbled back as he felt her pulling him apart. His appearance began to shrink as she stalked closer to him, her eyes never leaving his. "You are not hero….you're not a God….you're not even a mutant. You are just a monster." She spat.

Inside his mind, Zezelia let herself be swallowed by the power that ran through her body. She began to shake as her eyes bled into a pitch black. She lashed out in every direction she could, tearing and pulling at every atom and particle. Slowly he began pulling apart as she ripped through him with her powers. The forcefield he had been holding up to keep the others at bay fell as his body began disintegrating under her hands.

"I can feel your powers burning through your body!" he groaned out as he clung to life. "You won't survive."

"No, I won't." She agreed. She could feel the power within her, burning it's way through her veins like acid. He had been wrong….she wasn't the perfect vessel….and she did have limits. And this was it. All the power flowing within her….it was too much. She could feel her body pulling it's self apart as she stood there pulling him apart. "But neither will you." She said resolutely.

She looked down at Charles with sad eyes. "It's time for you to go Charles." She told him, remorsefully.

Charles looked up at her, shaking his head franticly. "You can't…Zezelia, I can't lose you!" he shouted to her with burning, red eyes. "Please! You said it yourself, we never stop fighting! Fight this! I'm not leaving you!" he bellowed from the floor, tears rolling down his face.

"I'm not giving you a choice." She said sadly. "Goodbye, Charles Xavier." She whispered before pushing him out of the mutant's mind forcefully. Charles opened his eyes with a gasp, pushing himself up to look down at the scene below him.

Zezelia stood with her hands wrapped around the Apcalypse's head. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and Zezelia's were black. The blue mutant's body was spreading out like dust, slowly floating away in the wind as he screamed in agony. Zezelia's body began following suit, small pieces of her body flaking off and into the air around her. She was hanging on as tight as she could, knowing that once she let go there would be no getting back up. The tears slid down her face as the thought of everyone she loved filled her. She had been so lucky….so unbelievably lucky to call of these wonderful people her friends….her family. Her eyes looked around the group of mutants before rising up to meet Erik's. "Take care of each other." She whispered as she let go. And with that, Zezelia's body disintegrated along with the blue mutants.

Charles let out a scream of agony as he watched Zezelia turn to dust before his eyes. The pieces of her drifted away in the breeze, taking the pieces of his shattered heart along with them. Erik dropped to the ground as he watched her fade away into nothing, his heart shattering as well as he lost the one person in the world who had always been there for him. Hank…Raven…Peter…Jean…Scott…Kurt…Moria….they all froze with the realization Zezelia was gone forever. This time….death would not spit her back out. She was gone.