Note: Spoilers from X3: The Last Stand. If you haven't seen the film yet, please disregard reading this fan-fiction.

After Dark Phoenix liquefied the Professor he had been found badly wounded, practically comatose and catatonic.

Phoenix herself revived but reverted to her normal, benevolent form (with help from the X-men). Leech attends the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. It seems all is well but Magneto has overcome the "cure" that had been shot into him during the battle between the Brotherhood and the X-men. (The cure was only a temporary method to subdue the powers, not erase them completely, at least not for the higher class mutants.) Nightcrawler returns, Archangel makes an appearance and even my original character, Chimera (Tatiana Rose Darkling, aka 'Tati') joins the fight against Magneto and The Brotherhood.

Chapter 1—Xavier's Rebirth

When Charles Xavier's nurse came in to examine him she was almost at a loss for words. She had seen him only a few moments before. He was in a near catatonic state. Now, his eyes were open and moving about. He had moved a glass of water closer to him so he could take a drink.

"Charles ! How can this be possible ? I had seen the battle you and Magneto had engaged in...I had read about it in the news, and I witnessed your arrival here. This is improbable. It has no plausibility.

I don't comprehend any of it !", the nurse said, her brow beaded with sweat.

"Don't worry about it, Dr. Kudrow. We mutants are more resilient than you may think. I fear our battle is not yet over, either. Do you remember the "cure" the government had been using against our kind and those who had decided to take the cure upon their own free will ?", Xavier questioned. The nurse, knowing the next words out of Charles' mouth would be grave, nodded but her face had become pale and wan.

"This so-called "cure" only subdues the mutant gene. Such DNA is not succeptable to something so simplistic. The DNA we have evolves. It can overcome the cure as if it was a common virus. Magneto is regaining strength. The others do not realize this, but another battle is coming...It will be Armageddon. We need to protect the humans from any destruction and stop Magneto once and for all !", Charles said, trying to get out of bed. He still hadn't healed completely from the final battle he had engaged in but he was determined to return to the Academy to tell the others. He also had a feeling the Phoenix would be returning as well. Unlike before, she would have to have especially vigilant eyes on her at all times so she wouldn't be swayed by her god-like abilities. It would take time to trust the likes of her once again, and as for Logan and his affections towards her; they would take a while to be coaxed out of him once more. Wolverine was the type

to be cautious in his relationships with the opposite sex. He was still licking his wounds so to speak from the last encounter with Jean. Time might heal these wounds, but it would be difficult. He was still rediscent around women, particularly red-heads.

Chapter 2—At Charles Xavier Academy

Tatiana Rose Darkling had been an X-man for quite some time now. She had been involved with the last battle on the sidelines and she kept many a younger potential X-man safe from danger. She felt that soon her strength and mirage abilities would come in handy in whatever situations were to come. What Tati didn't know was that the world as she would be involved in the next coming battle with the Brotherhood and that the X-men's beloved Professor was not dead as they had originally believed. Unlike some mutants, he was one of the chosen few that could resurrect himself. He was old, but he was powerful. His DNA could withstand just about anything, but sooner or later his old age would most assuredly be the cause of death for him. But death would not come soon for Charles. He had many good years left within him. Needless to say the Academy would be shocked when they saw him rolling back in his wheelchair. But this wouldn't be shock enough...because the psychics knew that Phoenix was ressurecting as well. This did not bode well for anyone, particularly Tati. Tati had heard what Jean had done to many of her best friends and she would be finding it difficult to forgive her. But what the seers didn't know was that Jean's will at this state would be malleable, meaning the benevolent nature that was inside of her somewhere could be extracted and the kind, gentle Jean they had known would be reborn once more.

Meanwhile, Nightcrawler had been hiding from all the mutant persecutors. He had been cut off from the last mission since he had been placed back into the Munich circus. Hating gawkers and taunters, he had found a way to escape the madness and begin his exodus from Germany. Once more, he had been eluded the captors that wished to showcase his freakish nature for easy money. He was a religious being and had no desire for such banality in his existence. All Kurt wanted was to see his fellow mutants and to return to his friend Tatiana again. He was not aware of how much Tatiana cared for him, but he was about to discover just how deeply her passions ran for him. She longed to embrace him and feel the warmth of his hands caressing her cheek, and perhaps if she was fortunate enough, she would have the chance to kiss him.

Kurt knew he would have to explain why he had been gone for such a long time and why he hadn't been part of the so-called "last battle" with his fellow mutants. He was prayerful that they would be accepting to his reasons and hopeful they would understand that his excuse was reasonable and that he had not been captured because of his own will but because he had been on a mission to scout for more mutant candidates in the war against Magneto and was retained in the process. With all his explaination he was certain the others would've understood, but he would have to be brought up to speed as to what was happening with the Xmen, the Brotherhood and the soon to come Armageddon.

Chapter 3—Disbelief

It had been another quiet day of summer school classes when the simultanious return of Xavier and Nightcrawler had occurred. As for Jean, her spirit was still reassembling itself. But once it had rejuvenated, it would return to the place it knew as "home", or the academy itself. For the time being, such a matter wasn't important. Right now, the attendants were at a loss for words seeing their Professor returned, in an unblemished state. It was almost as if he hadn't been involved in a fight against Magneto, but the students and teachers knew that wasn't true. But the return was such a shock that many were too stunned to speak for a while. Nightcrawler, who had sneaked in, also found the Professor's return to be too good to be true. For a moment, he questioned as to if Mystique was posing as Charles, but after he had been told about what had happened to her it was unlikely she would be trying anything suspicious. As far as Raven was concerned, she wished to see Magneto suffer as much as he could, and she would do everything in her power to assure his suffering and pain for having betrayed her.

Chapter 4—Witching Hour

Tatiana watched the stars twinkling in their rotation as well as a spectacular meteor shower in the countryside in the mountains before returning home. On her way, she was encountered by Jean Grey.

"Where am I ?", she asked in a shaky, frightened tone.

"You're in New York. Come along with me, Jean. I can help you.", Tatiana said, offering her hand in a warm, gentle way.

"Jean ? Is that my name ?", the woman replied, tears already running down her face.

"Yes. That is your name, my dear. Come now. I won't harm you. You can trust me.", Tatiana said, grasping Jean's hand tenderly and leading her back to the academy. At first, she didn't trust Jean, but she could see she was completely helpless, having suffered amnesia. With help, Jean could regain her memory and be taught how to control her unbelievable ability.

Professor X was not about to scold Tatiana for having been out so late but he did take Jean into his care and would not let her out of his sight. She was still vulnerable and easily manipulated. He realized that once she was restored she would have to make the decision as to whether she would become Dark Phoenix again or if she would return to her benevolent self. At this time, it was uncertain whether she really recalled who she was or if she knew of her abilities. Xavier was going to assist her in recalling her true identity and coax Jean Grey back to reality. He would have to do this soon because he could sense the Brotherhood was regaining power and they were plotting their next course of action. The X-men were increasing in rank and with Leech on their side, he would be an asset towards the X-men's cause. The only thing that scared Charles was the fact that he knew that in this coming war, many mutants from both sides would die needlessly for something so pointless. But the battle was inevitable. Should human lives be endangered they would never forgive themselves. Of course, the heroes rualized they could not be responsiblie for any casualtieies. But humans would always be protected by the X-men from evil forces that would want to do them harm, no matter if they were innocents or criminals.

Chapter 5—Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War

There was only so much Charles could do to restore Jean to her former self. Fortunately, she seemed stable and decided to choose the side of good and she was glad to have returned, particularly to see her beloved Logan again. Tatiana wished she had that sort of bravery. She wanted to confess to Kurt just how much she cared about him but the battle was coming and swiftly. It would be dangerous to confess her love to him there, but she didn't want to let him slip away again.

Fire, explosions and destruction had once again overtaken the land in a matter of moments. Magneto wanted revenge for the sake of having revenge. His one true purpose was to destroy every last human on earth and recreate a superior race to rule the globe for so long as it revolved around the sun. The X-men would definitely not allow the Brotherhood to usurp the world in their genocidal plot. It would be a long, drawn-out battle and many would die but such was the price of war and its hellish toll.

Nightcrawler and Tati were fighting side by side and she had been hit in the solar plexus quite hard by one of the villains from the opposing side. Her dark hair blew back slowly in the wind as she was knocked to the cold, cruel concrete. Turning over, she coughed up blood and her vision was becoming blurry.

"Hold in there, liepshin...", Kurt said, shielding her from any further attacks. Tatiana might've been the most powerful female X-man in the group, but she wasn't impervious to such harsh strikes as the one she had just suffered. She had only had the wind knocked out of her. It wasn't so bad as to cause her to begin hemmoriging and possibly die, but she knew that now was a better time than ever to confess her feelings.

"I know, Kurt. I just want you to know something. Ich liebe dich.", she said, smiling gently, her artistic fingers stroking his strong jowl.

"I love you too, liepshin. I always have. Don't worry. I will move you to safety, but you cannot be upon the battlefront any longer.", Kurt said carrying her away. She didn't like to be seen in such a vulnerable state, but it was better that she would be out of danger's way.

The affect of the punch hadn't knocked Tatiana out of the battlefront altogether. She got back to her feet and joined the others in the battle. Her icy-eyes shone with the flames of war as she defended herself against another attack.

"What in God's name are you doing, Tati ! You should be resting. Now is not the time for you to assist us...", Kurt said, his tone slightly condemning.

"I am doing what I should be doing, Kurt...Helping ! It is my duty to do so. We will win this fight together.", Tatiana exclaimed as she threw an attacker over her shoulder and snapped his neck with her foot.

It was a sickening noise but the attacker felt no pain before he died.

Epilogue

Mystique had been an even bigger asset to the so-called "Armeggedon" that had occurred. Jean, who had recalled her true identity and decided to stay with the X-men, had discovered she could control her power. She would still need some fine tuning, however, since the power was quite unstable still. But, Charles made certain she would be able to keep that under control and release it only when neccesary.

The battle had been long and bloody and many mutants had died and there had been much destruction. However, no human lives had been lost, thankfully. Property damage had been made but this could be restored. Magneto was dead, for good this time. Some of the other members of the Brotherhood had already fled and heavens only knew where they had retreated to. Angel, one of the newest members to the Xmen crew had done some reconaissance to see if any other Brotherhood members were around and they had already gone. The battle was over, but the Xmen would always be needed should the Brotherhood reform or other minor evils or troubles occur in the world.

Things had returned to normal, or normal as they would get in the realm of the Xmen. The place where the battle had happened no longer looked like a ruin. It had been rebuilt and flowers and trees were growing in this once desolate place. Fall was coming soon and the students had returned to their classes. New recruits were coming in and familiar faces had returned to the Academy. It was another new year, full of new possibilities. Whatever obstacles came in the days ahead, they would all meet them bravely either by themselves or by a team. No matter what, goodness would always prevailed even if circumstances were dire.

It was the natural order of the universe. Even if the pendulum had swung towards the side of malciousness, it would always return to its natural state in goodness.

The End

June 28, 2006