A/N: Huge apologies that it's taken so long to get this up. Other things have encroached on my freedom to write.

"So that is the situation as it stands," said Scott from the head of the table. "Amazingly, Davor's actions have actually led towards peace rather than war."

"How? I don't understand," said Rogue.

"Because the humans realised that the submarine would destroy them all. They had to work together to try and stop it. In the end, they succeeded. It took some of the finest minds in America, Britain and Europe to frantically cobble together a copy of Davor's signal to send to the submarine, to force it to stop."

"Relations between the three powers are improving," Chloe said happily. "The nuclear treaty has been signed by all parties. It seems the US President suddenly changed his mind just after Davor's base was destroyed. As far as we know, Davor had some method of controlling him."

"Davor wanted the nuclear disarmament treaty to be rejected?" said Storm.

"We don't know. We may never know for sure. We can only assume that Neil's father had various projects and other secrets that might have been uncovered if the US had decided to shut down their nuclear program."

"But what about the rest of his eleven conspirators?" asked Iceman. "What's become of them?"

"Well, at least one of them is dead," said Dominic. "Major Devant, the man who led the attack on the school. He was killed at the ocean labs. We still don't know what happened to him. It could have been my brother."

"Um, Dominic..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you all think Recyclo's dead. But I don't. I know I really saw him. I know he wasn't an illusion. I don't know if he survived, but I'm not giving him up for dead yet."

"What about the rest of the Twelve?" said Logan.

"As far as we can tell, they're lying low and pretending it never happened," said Scott. "To be honest, there's no way to prove anything against them. And I don't think they were ever as dangerous as Davor. They were simply opportunists who were offered the chance of attaining something that money and power could never buy them."

"Eternal life..." said Neil. "You know, it would have worked. My father was utterly corrupted and probably insane, but he was still a genius. His research ideas always worked. He gave mutant powers to ordinary human beings. He created immortal creatures that fed on radiation rather than food and oxygen. I have no doubt that constantium would have allowed him to live forever. He would have got away with all of this, if he hadn't become over-confident and started posing as Magneto. Attracting our attention - and Mystique's - turned out to be his downfall."

Pyro spoke up, "What about Elena Cartëasis? She was one of the Twelve. She was also Gemini's mother, once, long ago - is she still alive?"

"We don't know," said Annie. "We know she was in the ocean labs, because Gemini saw her. We don't know if she got out before the explosions went off."

"But what will become of the constantium?" Kurt asked. "Clearly, none of it has been destroyed, since that would be impossible."

"The high-purity samples were with Davor on the jet when he crashed into the cliffs," said Chris. "If not destroyed, they're lost somewhere in the Atlantic ocean."

"And the submarine?"

Scott said, "That's actually another piece of surprisingly good news. We were afraid that once the sub was captured, the humans would fight over which of them got to keep it. After all, it was captured in American waters by a British ship, using German state-of-the-art transmitting equipment. Fortunately, the world powers have taken the peaceful option, and handed it to the UN. A multinational research group is being set up to study it."

"Does this mean our fight's over?" asked Chloe. "We've been fighting against Davor and his various brainchilds for the past twenty years. Now he's gone. Magneto's gone. We'll still experience hostility from humans, but there won't be anybody else bent on destroying the peace we're trying to create between ourselves and humankind. Day has finally broken over the world, after the longest and darkest night."

"Very poetic," said Logan dryly. "But I think you're right."

Fliss nodded, "The humans won't hate us forever. I think things are finally going to get better."

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Oculus.

Logan glanced over at him, "Well, you would say that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes...I suppose I would..."

Gemini remembered how she had felt the last time she had been sitting in this office. How long ago had it been? A day? Two? Three? So much had happened to her; her mind had been subjected to so many terrifying and upsetting experiences, it wasn't easy for her to keep track of time. Her traumatic past had once again been opened up, suppressed memories brought back to the forefront of her mind, along with the haunting knowledge that the one responsible for her hellish experiences was still alive and walking on the Earth.

But now the monstrous Davor Rosiçky had finally been destroyed. Despite his apparent invincibility through the use of his illusory powers and his indestructible constantium, he had at last been brought to justice. Something inside Gemini told her she was still a little too young and innocent to really comprehend how close Davor had come to succeeding in his plans for immortality, and just what that would have meant for the world.

She wondered exactly what his mistake had been, the very first mistake that had eventually led to his downfall. He sure hadn't made too many. His plans had proceeded perfectly for, what, thirty years? She looked across the desk at Oculus as she waited for the golden-eyed X-Man to finish reading his papers and speak to her.

It had started with Oculus. He'd been Davor's first experimental subject. His life had been changed forever by the monster's experiments.

We have that much in common, I guess, Gemini thought, I never realised before. He wasn't even born a mutant. He was born human, just like anybody else. He should have just been an ordinary person, without any part in this fight. He should have led an ordinary life, married an ordinary girl, and had ordinary kids. If he hadn't been changed into a mutant, there would be no Crusader, there would be no Gladiator...the Horsemen would have destroyed the world, and Davor would have lived for ever.

He was Davor's biggest mistake. Everything Davor has done or created has turned out for evil. The Horsemen, constantium, his mutation experiments, his influence over governments and billionaires...all of it has just hurt and killed and destroyed people. Except Oculus. He's the only good thing that's come out of any of it. And in the end, he was the one who destroyed Davor. Although Davor wasn't a mutant, he still passed on powers of a sort to his son. His intelligence, his guile, his talent for deception...it's all there, inside Oculus. I can see that now. Davor made the mistake of creating a child who had the same abilities as he did, and who in the end used those abilities to destroy the monster.

I've never understood Oculus. Maybe I'm still young, but I just can't fathom him in the way I can other people. He never seems to be happy. He never smiles. He never gets excited. I always thought that he simply didn't care, that he wouldn't bat an eyelid if one of us got hurt. Obviously now I know that isn't true. He's risked his life and everything to protect us from his father's madness. But I still don't get him, what drives him, what makes him do what he does. He doesn't seem to be interested in the same things other people are. Almost as if he knows something we don't. But what?

That's why I'm here. That's what I'm going to ask him.

As if on cue, Oculus looked up and moved his papers to one side.

"Alexandra," he said. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. What can I do for you?"

"I have a question," she said boldly.

"Go on."

Gemini hadn't planned in advance how she was going to word her question. She just said the first thing that came into her mind, "Why are you so different?"

It occurred to her that he might become angry, but she wasn't afraid. She knew he wasn't going to hurt her. At the worst he would tell her to get out of his office, and she could handle that.

"That's not really a question I can answer quickly or easily," he said. "The way a person lives their life depends on the values they base their life upon, values such as: what's right and wrong; what needs to be protected; what needs to be improved, and so on."

Gemini nodded. That seemed fair enough. Oculus went on, "If you look at someone like my father, it's obvious that his set of values was all wrong. He cared about his research and nothing else. Everything else in his life had been pushed out: his family; his friends; his interests; his sense of right and wrong. He ignored any laws and regulations that got in his way. He didn't care who got hurt or whose life was ruined as a result of his actions. He didn't, for instance, believe in protecting children and preparing them for the future. He simply saw them as tools to use in his research."

She nodded grimly, "I guess you and I know that better than anyone."

"Yes. Anyway, we don't need to talk about him any more. He was just an example of what I was trying to say. He lived his life by a set of values that made him dangerous to the rest of us. Of course, most people aren't like him. They live their lives according to a moral code of behaviour that is acceptable to the rest of society. These moral codes are more or less reflective of the laws of the country they happen to live in. Most Americans, for example, are happy to align their moral code with the laws by which their country is governed, laws prohibiting acts such as murder, theft, and so on."

Gemini nodded once more. He continued, "The problem is that laws change. Society changes. As that happens, people find their moral code must change also, or they risk being seen as outcasts from society. Many people will often base their opinions simply on what they perceive the majority to believe."

"Is that why so many people hate mutants?" she asked. "Because they think everyone else does?"

"Exactly. High profile figures in the media and on television are capable of manipulating people's minds that way, making them believe there is some 'majority view' that they must conform with."

"That's why Davor had a newspaper mogul as part of his inner circle?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, for the reason I've just given, those who base their values on the society around them are never going to possess a stable and unchanging set of moral rules which they can live by. Perhaps that's why you perceive me as being 'different' from the others that you know. I draw my moral code from a different source."

"Which is?" she asked curiously.

Oculus reached towards the shelf behind him and picked up a book. He handed it across the desk to Gemini, who took it. It was a Bible.

She'd never read it before. There had been a Bible in the house when she was very small, before her father had died, and he had taken her to church a few times. After his death that had stopped, and this was the first time since then a Bible had been put in front of her. It wasn't really a surprise that Oculus had one; she knew that he and his family usually held a church service of sorts in one of the classrooms on a Sunday morning.

As a teenager she'd never really had much time for religion. It just seemed to be something people used as an excuse to gain power or commit atrocities. She'd never known anybody who took a serious interest in it...until now, anyway. What he'd said about people basing their moral beliefs on the majority view had certainly struck a chord with her. She'd always believed in judging things as she herself experienced them. While her first instinct was to disregard the Bible in front of her, she decided there was no harm in giving it a fair hearing. If it turned out to be nonsense, she could dismiss it. She flicked the Bible open at random and read a couple of sentences. She didn't really know where to start.

"I guess I'll give it a look," she said. "Like, later. Can I borrow this?"

"Yes, if you like."

There was another knock at the door. They both looked up to see Helios' head appearing in the doorway.

"Oculus?" said the boy, tugging nervously at his gloves. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

He entered, and took the seat beside Gemini.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a favour," the solar mutant began. "A pretty big one, in fact."

"What is it?"

Helios sighed, "I know you don't like doing it, but...I want you to use Cerebro. I want you to use Cerebro to find my brother. I have to know if he's still alive. I have to know if what I saw in the ocean labs was real, or if it was just an illusion. I can't go on with my life without knowing. It's going to haunt me forever."

"You want me to use Cerebro?"

"Yeah."

"I don't have to do that."

Dominic blinked, "I know you don't. I didn't mean to sound as if there was some sort of obligation; I just meant - "

Oculus raised a hand to stop him, "You misunderstand me. I don't need to use Cerebro in order to know your brother is still alive."

"What? I don't understand."

"Think about it. Take all the facts we have and the unanswered questions, and put them together."

The Londoner frowned, "I dunno. Can't you just tell me?"

"Who else was at the ocean labs? Apart from us and Davor, and the humans."

"Recyclo?"

"Other than him."

It was Gemini who answered, "You mean Mystique?"

"Yes," said Oculus. "I think she's been caring for him."

"What makes you think that?" the girl said in confusion.

"As I said, I'm just going over the facts we have. We know Mystique was tracking Recyclo at the time of his apparent death, when the Horsemen were destroyed."

"But he was killed," she said. "Wasn't he? I thought Gladiator said a ton of machine parts fell on top of him."

"True, but that was the last we know. We don't know for certain that he was killed. It's possible he used his power to protect himself. He could have created a shield, or perhaps a lighter-than-air gas to push the debris away from him."

"And you think Mystique found him still alive?"

"Possibly. That's just guesswork on my part. It's perhaps more likely that he was recaptured by Davor, and Mystique managed to set him free. I think something must have changed inside him, or he would simply have attacked her straight away. His mind would have been very fragile, and it's possible something shifted inside, and he no longer wanted to kill everything he laid eyes on."

"Is that all you have to go on?" said Gemini dubiously.

"No. There's a few questions we haven't answered. Whose scent was it Logan picked up alongside Mystique's after that time she met you outside the café? Who was responsible for the deaths of those soldiers in the prison where you were kept? Why did Logan smell the same scent there? How did Acceleratus manage to get in there and set you free without being captured on the spot? Obviously something else was going on in the prison that distracted attention away from her."

"You think it was my brother?" Dominic asked. "You think he's with Mystique? You think he was helping her fight Davor?"

"Yes. Recyclo must know that Davor is the one responsible for his tortured past. Perhaps that was how Mystique managed to convince him to side with us."

Helios looked at the older man, "Do you think he's still alive? Or was he killed in the ocean labs when the explosives went off? I left him in the computer room..."

"Mystique's caring for him. She'd have made sure he got out safely."

"Do you think they're together right now? Do you think I can see him again?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't know. I think it's best to leave that up to him."

"Do you think he loves Helios?" Gemini asked innocently.

Oculus nodded, "Oh, yes. Who do you think killed Davor's security commander and healed Dominic's shoulder wound?"

Dominic's hand went to his shoulder where his injury had come and then gone so quickly, "My brother can use his power to heal?"

"I think it's possible for him to do so, yes. Nobody's ever seen him do it before - but surely that's just proof that his nature has changed. He's ready to love and heal as well as hate and kill."

Helios closed his eyes as a tear trickled out. His brother had survived. Recyclo was still alive, and was out there somewhere. At that moment Dominic wanted nothing on Earth more than to be with his brother. Born twin mutants with near-identical powers - one creating light, the other matter - separated as infants, one safely adopted by foster parents while the other was captured by the Foolkiller, ignorant of each other's existence for so long, finally meeting in the midst of a three-way battle on a night of madness, and now...

...and now they had the chance to at last be together. Brothers, twins. Nothing could keep them apart any more. Dominic resolved, there and then, that he wouldn't rest until he had found his brother, and helped him complete his recovery. Recyclo could be brought back from his madness, he had no doubt of that. Davor was gone, the long battle was over, and it was time to heal the hurt that had been done.

Oculus stood, "Well, if you'll both excuse me, I have a class to teach. Life must go on, as they say."

The teenagers took that as their cue to leave. Dominic headed for the exit, towards the apple orchards at the rear of the school. There Cassandra would be waiting.

Gemini waited for Oculus as he closed the office door behind him. He was obviously going to one of the classrooms, and she went with them, since her dormitory was in the same direction. She was still holding on to the Bible, and she asked him, "Can this book really change a person's life?"

"Judge for yourself," he said. "How else do you think I was able to convince Recyclo to help us?"

She stopped for a moment, blinking in confusion. Then she found her tongue, "Hold on, wait a minute, you said - "

But he had already turned the corner ahead and disappeared.

Marina's head broke free of the water and she shook it out of her eyes, easily drifting further out towards the centre of the large natural pool that existed on the estate. She was the only one in the pool at this time of the morning, and she was glad. She did not seek anyone's company at the moment. She needed to be alone to think about things. Ducking back under the surface, she swam down towards the deepest part of the pool. Being in the water made it easier for her to think. Out of the water, she was still haunted by the illusion Davor had forced on her, the dream that her parents were still alive. Without thinking, she'd grabbed it with both hands, deluding herself into thinking her nightmare was over. All of the hard and painful recovery she'd done had been swept away in a moment, as she thought she no longer needed it.

Now she once more knew that her family were dead. The illusion had been just that: an illusion. She would never see them again, never feel their love for her, never be cared for by her parents or grow up alongside her brother and sister. Marina glided through the water, her bare feet kicking like flippers, moving her as smoothly and gracefully as a dolphin. The illusion had torn her mind to shreds for a second time. She had barely spent a moment out of the water since getting back to the school. In water there was at least some semblance of sanity, some way in which she could handle the pain. Out of water, on the surface with the others, was too much for her.

Marina had no choice. She was no longer able to live on the surface. She couldn't. She didn't think her mind could handle it. It was a life that wasn't hers, and an environment that she couldn't exist in. Like a fish out of water, Marina on the surface struggled weakly to survive, and ultimately couldn't. Only down here, in the water, was she at home. She flitted down to the bottom of the pool, breathing easily through her gills, wondering if she had the strength to pull through the heartbreak that was to come.

Because she had to leave Gary. There was no doubt about it. They couldn't be together. She couldn't live up there, and he couldn't live down here. As much as it hurt, they had to separate. There wasn't any other way. She was a fish. And Gary, if he was any animal, was a dragon. The two were incompatible. Their love had been a mistake, and should never have been. It would only have to be forgotten now. It wasn't possible for them to coexist. Fish belonged with other fish. And dragons belonged with other earth-bound creatures. Swimming to the surface again, she gazed up at the endless blue sky above her. She knew she couldn't live under it any more. Her life would now be lived under two skies: the clouds above and the water below.

"Marina!" she heard a voice.

It was Gary. He sat at the side of the pool, waving to her, beckoning her over. She swam towards him. Even with only her head above water, she felt weak and vulnerable, her mind wavering on the brink of instability. She splashed water on herself to calm down.

"Wh - what is it?" she asked.

"I need to tell you something."

Marina shook her head, "I - I'm sorry, Gary. I - it's over b - between us."

He cried out in shock and horror, "What?"

"I'm s - sorry. I can't live w - with you above the w - water. I - I want to stay with you but - but I can't. You - you're asking me to live in a world where I - I can't s - survive."

"No! Marina, don't be too hasty! There's something I have to show you! I promise it will make things different!"

She doubted that, but she was willing to listen. She saw now Gary was holding on to something.

"Wh - what's that?" she stammered, uncomfortable and short of breath with her head out of water.

Leaning closer, he said, "It's something I found in the ocean labs. I think it was one of their research projects. Marina, this is what is going to make our love last forever."

She was dubious, but still intrigued, "Y - yeah?"

He opened the package and showed it to her, "It's an artificial sub-marine respiratory device."

"Y - you mean - "

"It's a bionic set of gills. The Navy developed it for underwater exploration or warfare, I would guess. It's a prototype. I discovered it in the ocean labs, while we were hunting for Davor."

Her eyes suddenly widened with shock, "G - Gary, this m - means - "

Smiling, he nodded, "I can have these implanted into my own body. I've looked into it; it'll take some complex surgery, but my healing power will help. After that I can breathe underwater, like you. We can stay together, forever, in your world."

"You - you'd do that for - for me?"

"Marina - of course I would. You're the one who's been strong for so long now, struggling with your painful memories and trying to survive up here when you're not suited for it. The least I can do is give you a bit of that back."

For the first time since the illusion, she smiled.

"I love you," she whispered, without stammering.

She rose up as he leaned further forward, their arms encircling each other and their lips meeting in a perfect kiss. Marina's head and shoulders were clear of the surface of the water, but for the moment she felt no discomfort, wrapped as she was in the love she shared with her boyfriend. He gently flicked a strand of wet hair from in front of her eyes. She playfully splashed him with water, and then he leaned too far forward and the two of them sank beneath the surface of the pool.

Under the water they kissed, holding each other tightly, Marina breathing for Gary. It hadn't been an easy decision for him to make, to live his life with Marina under the water, but he knew it was a choice he had to make. He had always told himself he would give anything and everything to make her happy, and this was the time to show that he meant it. He didn't know what a subterranean life would bring; he couldn't even begin to guess. It didn't really matter. Marina would be there, the supreme creature of the sea, who could protect him and guide him through whatever might happen. As he had done for her, now she would do for him.

She was guiding both of them to the surface now, and Gary breathed oxygen as his head broke through the water.

"What's up?" he asked. "I thought you'd want to stay down there..."

Marina smiled, "Oh, I - I just wanted to tell you that the answer to your question is 'Yes'."

"Uh, what question?"

"You remember...the one that went something like 'Marina, will you marry me?'"

"Oh - that one."

Gary looked deep into Marina's eyes. So many times he had lost himself in those bottomless wells of heavenly green. Now he was going in deeper than he had ever done before, directly into her world and her very essence. Water was Marina's life, her inheritance, her family's legacy. What Davor had taken from her, Gary would now endeavour to replace. He knew he was bidding farewell to the surface and the life he had there. But there was nothing up there that was irreplaceable, or that was more important than Marina. He was prepared to sacrifice it all, just to be with her. He no longer wanted to fight, to compete, to prove himself, to let his anger burn. All he wanted now was life and love with his aquatic angel. He had nearly lost her once. Nothing would ever keep them apart again.

The dam was going to rupture any second. There was nothing that could prevent it, nothing to hold back the countless volume of water that would explode outwards at the instant the dam's structural integrity finally gave way. Directly in its path was the stranded X-jet, too badly damaged to take off, but whose passengers were too exhausted or badly injured to get to safety any other way. It was a hopeless situation, one in which there seemed to be no chance of survival.

It was a moment when a woman who was desperately tired, and wounded - both physically and psychologically - decided the only possible way of escape was to sacrifice her own life to get her friends to safety. It was a decision made in a matter of seconds; there was no time to ponder it any more deeply. She knew she was leaving them behind. She knew there would never be a chance for them to thank her, or a chance for her to find out if there had been another way out. She pushed those thoughts away, and concentrated on rescuing her friends. That was all that mattered. She knew she was going to die trying. All she wished now was that she would die in the knowledge she had saved them. Dying knowing she had failed, or perhaps worse, dying without knowing either way, would be too much to bear.

There was sudden consternation and an explosion of emotion from inside the jet as she sensed they had realised her absence. They would try to stop her; she knew that. She couldn't let them. There was no other way for them to survive. They wouldn't understand. Scott would never understand. To him, the idea of letting someone go on and die alone, even to save lives, was not acceptable. Nor would Logan understand. Both of them loved her too dearly to allow her to give herself like this.

Professor, you know why I have to do this, she sent, tell them there is no other way. Tell them I'm sorry. Tell them goodbye.

The dam looked ready to disintegrate under the force of the deluge behind it. Jean braced herself. This was it. She had only seconds left to live. She sensed Logan urging Kurt - the teleporter - to grab her, but she couldn't allow that to happen. She needed every last second to prepare herself. Forcing her telepathic will into Kurt's mind, she forbade him from using his power. This was it. This was the end.

The five figures who stood atop the canyon's edge looked down in horror. Surely the dam could not hold any longer. Surely the people trapped in the damaged aircraft, and the woman outside, were doomed to die. Surely it was only a matter of seconds before they were pulverised and blown away by the force of the flood.

One of them knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew the woman was going to sacrifice herself for her friends. He knew there was nothing she could do to preserve her own life as well. There was nothing anybody could do.

Or at least, there hadn't been back then. Back when this had happened the first time. That was why they were here. Scott Summers glanced for a moment at the four students he had brought with him, to check they were ready. Each of them was looking at him, waiting for the signal...the signal to do what Scott Summers had dreamed of almost every minute for the past sixteen years.

To go back in time and save Jean Grey's life.

He looked at Chronos. The boy was crouched, breathing hard, still recovering from the strain of getting them here. Scott let him rest. Ian's part was done for the immediate future. Cyclops looked at his watch. He knew exactly when the dam would rupture. The hour, the minute and the second had been burned into his memory for all time. What they were about to do had to be calculated to perfection. Not only had they to save Jean, they had to do it in such a way that she wasn't aware of their doing it. They were here to change the past for the better, not to screw it up completely. It was absolutely imperative that nobody from the past had even the slightest inkling of the time travellers' part in this.

That was why Crusader was here. Somebody had to keep both Xavier and Jean's telepathic senses from detecting the rescuers from the future. It wasn't an easy task - some might have said impossible - but with the Professor and Jean fully distracted by their own peril, Scott was confident that Annie could keep them ignorant for the few minutes it would take.

"All right," he said to the other two students. "When I give the signal, I want you to begin."

Both of them nodded in silent acknowledgement. Scott studied his watch, waiting for the second hand to tick round to exactly the right moment. There was no danger that he had miscalculated. He had worked this out a thousand times before. Over the years he had studied maps of the terrain, and pored over the jet's flight recorder to calculate exactly how a rescue might have been accomplished. Of course it had been a useless exercise, without any way to travel back in time. But now, with Chronos, his impossible dream had become a realistic prospect. All he had to do was make sure it became a realised one.

"All right," he said softly, counting down the seconds. "Atlas...now!"

The earth mutant stood, holding out his arms as he focussed his power on the massive stone structure of the crumbling dam. Collapse was imminent. The tiniest extra pressure and the entire barrier would give way. Atlas gritted his teeth, braced himself, and pushed the enormous stone edifice back against the water.

It wasn't enough. He was too far away and the water pressure was too great. He felt his power slipping, and he knew the dam was about to go.

"I can't...hold it...any longer," he breathed.

Scott nodded calmly. The dam had been on the brink of destruction. He hadn't expected Atlas to hold it up for more than a few seconds. It was all worked into his calculations. The dam had to collapse, to preserve the past that Scott remembered. With a last pained gasp, Atlas lost the battle, and the massive stone barrier erupted in an avalanche of water. Cyclops looked at his watch. It had worked, exactly as he had planned. They had gained seven seconds. Seven seconds extra for Jean to get the jet safely into the air, before the tidal wave swept her to oblivion.

"Aqua, get ready," Scott told her. "When I tell you, start controlling the water around Jean to protect her. She'll hold it off herself until the jet is safely airborne...after that she won't be able to keep the water back any longer.

"Y - you got it."

It's going to work, Scott said to himself with growing excitement, it's going to work. I'm going to have her at my side again. It's going to be me and Jean, together again, just as it should have been. Just as it would have been if Rosiçky and Stryker hadn't interfered in our lives. We've conquered both of them now. This is our final victory.

"Now, Aqua."

At the exact second Jean finally gave in to her exhaustion and stopped using her telekinesis to push back the flood, Marina's mastery of the water suddenly took hold of the torrent, forcing it to flow around Jean, leaving her untouched and unharmed. Dr Grey had lost consciousness and fallen to the ground, but she was not in any danger. By the time the jet had disappeared and the flood had settled, Scott had signalled to Marina once more. The final, and potentially the most difficult, part of the rescue now had to be carried out.

Gently and carefully, the aquanoid raised Jean's unmoving body to the surface of the water. At that point Annie took over, using her mind to lift Jean to the top of the canyon where they stood.

"She is alive, right?" asked Atlas.

"Yes," said Scott.

"Can she hear us?"

"No. She's unconscious. Annie?"

Taking a deep breath, Annie knelt down beside Jean, and placed her hands on the older woman's forehead. Scott knew Jean had emptied herself, and there would be no resistance to Annie's intrusion into her mind. A few minutes passed in silence, then Annie stood, "It's done."

Scott nodded, and finally allowed himself to breathe a deep sigh of relief, "Thank you. Thank you all of you. I can't ever repay this debt. Chronos? Let's go before she wakes up."

"Right."

And now she would be safe. Jean would obey the instructions Annie had implanted deep into her mind. She wouldn't argue or question them. She would do as Scott intended. She would hide herself away from the world, unknown and unseen, until it was time. Time for her to come back to him. Sixteen years into her future, the future she would now have, and she would be with Scott again. Everything had worked exactly as he had intended. He had achieved the impossible. He had travelled back in time to change events that would affect his life, and he had done it without messing up the past in any way. His younger self would never know what had just been done. In sixteen years he would dream up the plan and carry it out, thinking it to be his own idea.

Scott allowed himself an ironic smile. Even for him, it was hard to get his mind around this stuff. He was the younger Scott from sixteen years ago, who had just thought up this plan, thinking it to be his own invention. But it wasn't. It was the idea of the Scott who had travelled back in time when he was a young man. Which meant...and of course...but it didn't really matter in the end, because...

...because she's not here.

He woke to the terrible emptiness and loneliness of his room back in the mansion. He'd had the dream again. He'd saved Jean's life in his imagination for the ten millionth time. Scott lay back and sighed deeply, staring at the ceiling through his night-visor. Would it work? Was it possible? His dreams had always been pure fantasies before, but this one...there was at least a grain of possibility in it. If Chronos could be convinced to take him back to the past...if he was even capable of it...if Atlas and Aqua would agree to lend their elemental powers to the effort...if Annie was willing to use her telepathy to effectively enslave Jean's defenceless mind.

Scott sighed again. No. It wasn't quite right yet. It was still just a fantasy, skipping happily far from the boundary of possibility. There were still too many uncertainties and unlikelihoods. But he was getting closer. He was getting closer to achieving the impossible and changing the past. One day. One day he'd work it out to perfection. It didn't matter what it took. It didn't matter what sacrifices had to be made. It was possible. It was going to work.

Wait a minute. Scott sat upright in bed. What was he thinking? Of course it mattered what it took, and what sacrifices had to be made! He couldn't put his own desires and wishes ahead of the safety or the wishes of his students and his friends! What had come over him? Why had he been so ready to throw caution to the wind and plough headlong into what was still merely a dream? The dream of getting Jean back...

Something felt wrong. Something felt strange. His thoughts weren't working along the paths they normally did. Scott felt a shiver rise up his spine. It was as if a shadow fell across the already darkened room. Was it just his imagination or were things suddenly not what they seemed?

Davor was gone...wasn't he?