This story takes place during the Legion Quest saga (X-Men #41 -by the great Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert- and Cable #20).

Warren's pov.

The Third

I am Warren Kenneth Worthington the Third.

At this very instant, the X-Men are in Israel, in the middle of the Negev desert, trying to save the world and failing miserably.

In moments like this, when we're caught up staring death in the face, it's difficult not to rethink our life's choices. Turning points are usually that clarifying.

Third…

I am the third, indeed. Looking back, I'm positive the number three has been stalking me since the day I was born.

I was the third member of my family to be called "Warren". Not being very fond of family traditions, I had to make myself more unique. So yeah, I'm a mutant. No precedents in the Worthington's family tree.

Being a mutant means I have to fight each and every day of my life. Of course, being a millionaire mutant means I better do it with lots of style and a charming smile on my face. I've always tried to make a difference in the world, to be important, to be the best I could be and better than most. But being the first… well, that just isn't for me.

My parents loved me, I'm sure. And more important, they were proud of me. Proud of my achievements as a young boy, proud of my looks and good manners at such a young age… They were delighted that I, as their only child, would become their heir and, eventually, the president of Worthington Industries. Just like my father had been, and his father before him. To make sure that things would turn out exactly the way they wanted, I had to receive the finest education money could buy. Thus, I was sent to Phillips Academy, the very best boarding school in Manhattan. I met Candy Southern there… sweet Candy indeed! An easy friendship and an easier love, as I would find out later. That place was where I also met Cameron Hodge… little did I know that my roommate would become the bastard who helped shape me into who I am today. But at that time, everything was going according to planning. Life was simple, and I was obliviously happy.

It wasn't until after a couple of years that everything changed. At some point, my shoulder blades started hurting and swelling… after one week, I was in such pain I could barely stand up. On a fateful Sunday morning, a pair of wings sprout out of my back. That day, at the age of thirteen, I became a mutant. Nothing would ever be the same for me.

I hid the wings from my parents as long as I could… I was too ashamed! I retreated to the solitude of my fancy bedroom at my folk's place in Long Island, not allowing anyone to get close to me. Not surprisingly, my parents did notice that I wasn't acting normally, but probably just regarded my odd behavior as some sort of teenage crisis – a meaningless heartbreak or something like that. They were busy, always busy, and they let me be.

I stayed at home alone, watching the news in my bedroom's big screen tv. There were rumors of mutant kids emerging here and there all over America, but so far their identities weren't publicly known. After a couple of weeks of self-loathing, and after the physical pain had finally subdued, I realized what I could do… I had wings - that meant I could fly, right?

Fly! The idea of reaching the skies washed me like an energizing balm. Similar to a newborn bird, I learned how to take off and hover in the air. Soon, I was crossing small distances without faltering. It felt great, me alone in the vastness of the sky… I felt special, whole, gifted! And since God was being so benevolent to me, the least I could do was return the favor.

As a result, I became a vigilante – the Avenging Angel. I used to fly over Long Island, detecting dangerous situations and saving people from fires, robberies, aggressions. I became their masked savior, and the mere sight of me filled their hearts with hope and gratitude. I was blessed, and so were they in my angelic presence. My actions soon hit the news and before I could feel unique any longer, Charles Xavier popped into my life. He was gathering mutant kids and teaching them how to use their powers to fight the good fight. In exchange, he offered them education, a home and a family. He assured me that, among them, I would no longer have to hide my wings. I wouldn't have to hide who I was.

I was thrilled with the prospect of joining a school for mutants and a team of teenager superheroes! Naturally, I wasn't the first student enrolled at Xavier's School for the Gifted Youngsters. I was the third. I arrived after Scott Summers, who would soon become my best friend and leader, and Bobby Drake, who easily turned into everyone's goofy little brother. But at that time, third felt just fine to me. And as the recruiting kept on going, we were soon introduced to Henry McCoy, our own acrobatic bigfoot with the mind of a genius. I had friends, I had a tutor, I had a purpose. Everything was perfect.

And then she came in through the mansion's front door - fiery red hair, green pools for eyes, and the sweetest smile I'd ever seen. By the time Xavier had finished introducing the young lady, the four of us were already in love. Jean Grey, telekinesis and telepathy. Beautiful face, perfect body. All she had to do was say "hi", and we were down to our knees. Candy once said that was Jean's true power, making men fall in love with her. After all these years, I'm not sure Jeannie was ever aware of the effect she has on men in general. What I do know is that, that afternoon, I suddenly felt the need to be number one.

Weeks went by, and we all got along more than well. The strength of our friendship also reflected in the battlefield; our team, the X-Men, successfully beat Magneto, the Blob and the Juggernaut in a row. Meanwhile, I learned that not only Jean was easy to look at, but she was also easy to be with. She was intelligent and well educated, loving and selfless. She loved us all, with all her heart. Effortlessly, she became the center of attention, the very heart of the X-Men. We saw how Charles favored her, how she was special to him too. They had a deeper connection, both being telepaths, but it never really bothered us. She never took advantage of it, nonetheless - she did everything she was expected to do and more. She was as brave in combat as the next man in line, putting her life at risk the same way the boys did.

Eventually, Hank and Bobby quitted trying to impress Jean. Life was complicated enough, and they became comfortable with being just friends with her, I guess. But Scott… well, he was never really comfortable with anything, was he? It was quite obvious how he felt towards her. He loved her, as I did. The difference between us was that I was hell-bent on making sure she was aware of my feelings. I flirted with Jean as much as I could, despite always making sure to respect her boundaries. I didn't want her to feel uneasy. I would invite her out to lunch, offer her rides, compliment on her looks. I tried to impress her by being a perfect gentleman, and she loved me for that. She would never refuse any of my invitations, although she would often try to bring the other guys along.

I was in love, but I was never blind. I could see Scott's shyness and fears as well as Jean's attempts to get closer to him, to break the wall he had so carefully built around himself. Yes, she loved us all, but she loved him more. They were my dearest friends – how could I stand in their way? You know the saying, "two's a company, three's a crowd". There it was, that unfortunate number flashing at my face again… In the end, I stepped back I reached back to Candy Southern, and she responded to me. We went as a couple to Bobby's eighteenth birthday. That evening, with me out of the way, Scott Summers and Jean Grey finally opened up to one another, and became Scott and Jean. So angelic of me.

The months that followed were as busy to the X-Men as always. We battled new menaces while managing to graduate from Xavier's School. And then, my folks were killed. Suddenly I inherited everything they had, including the presidency of Worthington Enterprises and a bunch of responsibilities I had never asked for. I was overwhelmed with work, but I couldn't leave the X-Men. The company required my presence; then again, the world still needed my saving more often than I could've wished for.

Still, every time I had a break, I allowed myself to be happy with Candy. I learned to be in love with her and to be her lover. She knew about the X-Men. She was aware of my mutation since we were kids and it never bothered her. Quite the opposite actually, she was mesmerized by my wings. She would hold them with such worship that it made me feel desired and kind of uncomfortable at the same time. After all, she was only human, no x-gene in her. I couldn't help but wonder: does she love the man or the angel?

It didn't matter. Candy loved me. She was beautiful, hardworking and ambitious. She earned a position at Worthington Enterprises. After a couple of years, I made her the C.O. of my company… I wasn't always available, and I needed someone in whom I could trust. I had always trusted her, even if I myself wasn't to be trusted at all times. I've had minor indiscretions with other girls while dating Candy, and I am sure she turned a blind eye to them many times. God bless her.

During one of our missions, the X-Men were captured by the mutant island Krakoa. Cyclops was set free so that he could bring more mutants to the rescue – Krakoa was counting on it to feed itself from more mutants. That's when Xavier recruited the second generation of X-Men - Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee and… Wolverine.

Logan and me… it was hatred at first sight. He was older, stubborn, dangerous, and didn't like taking orders. He was a bad boy, not an angel. That became quite clear on the first night we spent all together under Xavier's roof, after the new arrivals had successfully rescued us from Krakoa. I was flying in the evening skies trying to flirt with Ororo when I spotted him. He was clearly making a move on Marvel Girl. Despite responding friendly to him, I could see she was uncomfortable with his proximity. Scott wasn't anywhere to be seen - go figure. I got so mad! How dare him, that old bastard, to flirt shamelessly with Jean? Didn't he know she was spoken for? I dived from the sky towards him, grabbing him by the collar and hurling him away from her. With incredible agility, he attacked me with those deadly claws of his. He would have killed me, right there, were I not fast enough to dodge and hadn't Storm intervened with her winds. I couldn't believe he had actually tried to kill me! Me, a fellow teammate! It made me even madder, and I yelled at him. And Jean… Jean stayed by his side. Her glare told me just how reprovable she thought my actions were. All I had wanted to do was to protect her, but I should have anticipated it… she didn't need nor wanted any protection. I flew away but kept a mistrustful eye on them from afar… it broke my heart to watch as she offered Wolverine her hand and welcomed him to the X-Men. I felt a knife twisting inside of my guts as I realized that I had just been replaced in Jean's heart – Logan was her new number two. I was back to number three.

On the next morning, we, the first X-Men, left the team. Only Scott stayed behind, keeping his position as the team leader. I went back to Worthington Enterprises and to Candy's arms. She welcomed me gladly.

Months later, Marvel Girl returned to the team. It was Christmas' eve and the X-Men were trapped battling sentinels on the surface of an asteroid – yeah, one of those freaking space missions. Their ride home, the Starscore shuttle, had been structurally damaged, and the only one who could stand a chance of surviving the solar radiation while piloting it towards the Earth was Jean. She used her telekinetic power as a force field while reentering the atmosphere in a heroic attempt to save her teammates' lives. Now we know, Jean's body actually died that day. The telekinetic field wasn't strong enough to keep the radiation at bay. In her last moments, she made some kind of pact with the Phoenix force –an all-powerful cosmic entity– to save her friends from certain death. In exchange, the Phoenix put her on hibernation in a cocoon at the bottom of the Hudson river, made a new body to itself -identical to Jean's-, borrowed her memories and took her place among us. And we all fell for that. She was pure power. Cyclops, of course, was terrified… how could he not be? He thought the love of his life had become an incredible powerful being, capable of extinguishing the whole Universe with a mere thought. He confided me that he feared she wouldn't be able to hold control of her powers. He was right. After a few months, Dark Phoenix revealed herself… the Phoenix succumbed to her darker desires, becoming extremely dangerous and unstoppable. Her actions resulted in the death of 5 million poor alien souls. For the first time, I contemplated the possibility of having to kill a friend… someone I loved deeply. You see, we all thought that Phoenix and Jean were the same person. It was Jean's love for all of us that attracted the Phoenix in the first place, and that same love was what was required to stop it. Her loving memories of us influenced the creature to kill itself in order to save everyone else. We mourned Jean's death. I shred more tears for her than for anyone else in my life.

Scott moved on… Kind of fast, if you'd asked me at that time. He dated Lee Forrester for a while, and when his father took him to Alaska to meet his grandparents, he also met Madelyne Pryor - another Jean Grey wannabe. To be more precise, Pryor was her clone, made by Mr. Sinister as we'd later find out. Something about that woman always made me edgy. But Scott fell in love with her, married and had a son with her. He left the team and moved with his family to Anchorage to live a not so happily ever after life.

As for me, I left the X-Men a couple of months after Scott's wedding. I joined another superhero team, the Defenders, dragging Bobby and Hank with me for a while. We didn't last much, though. Something was missing in our group – perhaps an experienced field leader, or a powerful redhead muse? Probably both. Retiring from superhero activities made me depressed. I spent some time in my chateau in New Mexico with Candy, fulfilling the role of the millionaire playboy I was supposed to play. Bobby started a boring job as an accountant and Hank tried hard to be accepted as a teacher at any U.S. university willing to admit a mutant amongst its staff. But it didn't matter how impressive his resume was, none would give him a chance.

For the first time since we'd found out we were mutants, the four of us were taking a shot at living mundane lives. But somethings simply aren't meant to be.

I was minding my own business when Reed Richards called me… She was alive?! How was that possible? I had to see it with my own eagle eyes! I left Candy in New Mexico and flew –in my concord– to New York. In less than five hours I was at the Avengers Mansion, unprepared for the biggest surprise of my life. Jean was alive! Gorgeous red mane, no sign of the Phoenix force and eager to belong again! I must have held her in my arms for almost an hour… I couldn't let go of her! Some of the Avengers explained to me the whole ordeal about her being on hibernation for years until her body was fully recovered from all the radiation. She didn't know a thing about how the Phoenix had played us by pretending to be her. Of all the things she had missed in the last few years, the one she asked me was: where is Scott?

At that moment, my heart broke for Jean. How could I tell her that Scott was in Alaska with his wife and kid? If I did, she probably wouldn't want to see him, she would keep her resurrection a secret in order to not disturb his marriage. She loved him enough to let him go so that he could be happy with his family. Except that Scott wasn't happy, I knew that. He missed being an X-Man and probably missed her terribly once he'd realized that Madelyne was similar to Jean only in body, but not in mind or soul.

What about me? Did I want to tell Scott about her resurrection? I finally had a chance with the girl I'd been in love during all my teenager years. The girl I probably still loved. She surely needed someone beside her to help her readjust to a world where she was supposed to be dead. I could be the man she needed that moment, couldn't I? I had been the first one to be there for her after her resurrection. Not the second and, God forbid, not the third.

The fact was, I didn't have the guts to let her know about Scott's family, but I had to inform him that she was alive. After spending the whole night staring at the phone, I finally called him. I knew he would come immediately. After only twelve hours and a commercial flight ticket, Scott arrived in New York. When he saw Jean, his world collapsed. He excused himself and cried his heart out.

I missed my hero days, and suddenly I realized that with Jean and Scott in New York, our gang was once again complete. Why not give it another try at saving the world? For the sake of the old times! The world surely needed us, with Charles gone and Magneto being the headmaster of Xavier's School. I contacted Bobby and Hank, and they joined us in a heartbeat.

I wasn't sure, however, if Scott would agree on staying with us. But I needed his leadership skills if I was going to make the X-Factor happen. A new team to rescue and train mutants, while protecting the humans that feared and hated them. Cameron Hodge, my old friend and public relations' man, would set up a "mutant hunters" façade to make the public opinion believe we were capturing mutants, when we would be actually rescuing and saving them from human hatred. Sounded like a good plan. My idea, my team, my friends. Jean was thrilled, and so was I.

She was the one who convinced Scott to go along in our first mission in San Diego - God bless her. We would have been killed that day had Cyclops not joined us. His leadership saved our asses and proved to us all and to himself how much he was needed. Being together again, the five of us, felt so right - we all had to agree with that.

So, he stayed. On the weeks that followed, he tried to call his home several times and reach out to Madelyne, but she was nowhere to be found. As guilt crept under Scott's skin, the X-Factor became more and more busy. We would receive calls from all around the country to "deal with mutant menaces". Scott didn't tell Jeannie about his marriage, despite her suspicions that he had someone else. On the other hand, he kept her at arm's length, and it was tearing her heart apart. In the meantime, I was falling head over heels for her all over again. She confided me with her worries about Scott or the team, and I made sure I was supportive and loving enough for her. Candy, of course, didn't like it a bit.

Jean could no longer read minds… somehow, she lost her telepathy when she "died". Still, she was perceptive enough to sense that we were hiding something from her. She soon found out about Scott's marriage and urged him to go find his family.

It was in the middle of all this drama that the Massacre happened. The marauders, under Mr. Sinister's leadership, started slaughtering Morlocks – a group of bad-looking mutants that lived peacefully hidden in the New York's sewers. The X-Factor promptly went to their aid. Sadly, we could never have imagined the horrors we're about to face in those tunnels… there were corpses and blood everywhere. We confronted some of the marauders and it ended up being a complete disaster. Beast, Iceman and Cyclops got hurt during the fight, with Hank needing urgent medical attention. Jean had to take them back home to the infirmary. I stayed behind to look for Artie, a mutant kid the X-Factor had previously rescued, and who we knew was lost somewhere in the sewers.

As I finally found Artie, the marauders found me. I was able to knock Vertigo down, but soon realized angel wings aren't cut out for narrow tunnels. Blockbuster punched me several times until I was barely conscious, pulling as many feathers as he could from my wings. Harpoon finished the job, crushing and pinning my wings against the dirty tunnel walls. I became a fallen angel, defeated and left to die alone in the smelly sewers.

God, however, wouldn't allow my suffering to end so briefly. At least not the god of thunder. Thor himself saved me and took me to Jean and Scott, who had come back to the tunnels to look for Artie and me. I was immediately hospitalized.

The doctors at St. Vincent's Hospital were adamant: the little hollow bones were crushed, the infection was spreading, the wings were far beyond saving. I was partially delirious from all the drugs and painkillers, but I remember the surgeon telling Scott and Jeannie that in order to safe my life they would need to cut my wings off. He wanted them to convince me of that. I vaguely recall my friends yelling back at the doctor. They knew me well enough… I would rather die than to let someone mutilate me.

My memories of those days are kind of blurry… I remember Jean the most, barely leaving my side during my hospitalization. Bobby and Hank were there sometimes too. I guess after a few days, Scott went back to Alaska to try to find his family but didn't succeed. Candy, though, never visited. She had broken up with me a couple of days before, after seeing me holding Jean in the X-Factor's complex. Still, for someone who had always been so close to me, I found her absence at that tragical moment quite strange.

As if our own personal problems weren't enough, the X-Factor was facing a huge institutional crisis. Our façade as mutant hunters had been jeopardized once the press found out that Worthington Enterprises were financing the team, and its president -me- was in fact a mutant. The public opinion went nuts… how could a mutant hunt down other mutants? Hodge assured us that everything was being taken care of… we were too busy and too emotionally compromised to notice that his speeches as the X-Factor's public relations' guy were augmenting the public's fear of mutants. On top of that, my health condition got worse… the infection spread through my body and I went on septicemic shock.

That afternoon, by the time Jean and Bobby arrived at the hospital, I was already in surgery. A court order had been issued authorizing the amputation of my wings. No one knew who was responsible for it. On the next morning, when I woke up laying over my belly, I realized what had been done to me. I immediately lashed at Jean, blaming her for allowing the doctors to mutilate me. I know now that she had been as powerless regarding the whole ordeal as I had, but I was so hurt, so desperate… I needed someone to blame. After another couple of days in the hospital, I couldn't stand it anymore… nothing made sense. All I could think about was that I didn't want to live without my wings, without being able to fly… I needed to get away from there. I felt the urge to be amongst the clouds in the blue sky. I disguised myself and fled to the airport. I entered my private jet and started taxing, not knowing what my destination would be. As I took off, I saw Jean and Scott desperately waving at me… and then the utter nothing followed.

You see, I'd always been a merry, lively lad. I was never keen to suicidal tendencies, and despite the pain I felt, I could never have killed myself. But as the plane exploded in the sky, my friends couldn't think otherwise. To them, I had just committed suicide. My body was never found… they probably assumed it was carbonized during the explosion. A week later, my will was read. All my money was left to the X-Factor and would be managed by… Cameron Hodge.

Applauses to that manipulative fucker… he planned it all beautifully. From the public hysteria towards the X-Factor, to the amputation of my wings and the bomb in my aircraft, to the stealing of my wealth… my "old friend" was behind it all. We trusted him with our dream and our lives. We thought he was helping us when in fact he played us. He hated all mutants, particularly me. He was jealous of my powers, my money, my life, and he was determined to take it all from me.

He got very close to succeed… I was badly hurt in the explosion, almost dead. However, fate had more tragedy planned for me. Apocalypse saved me. Yeah. It's hard to admit it, but I owe my life to that devious creature. He rescued me from the explosion and took me to his ship. He drugged me, experimented on me, transformed me and brainwashed me. He gave me what I missed the most… wings. Not angelic like mine had been, but deadly razor sharp-edged techno-organic wings. The feathers were filled with a neural-disruptive poison that could take down an elephant, designed to be thrown from afar at my enemies… or, to be more accurate, at his enemies. Apocalypse turned me into his servant, his masterpiece, his fourth horseman. The Avenging Death. I was reborn. I was angry.

That evening he ordered us, his horsemen, to spread chaos and death in Manhattan. I obliged, embracing the pain and darkness that crept under my new blue skin. My previous life was meaningless, the ones I had hold dearest had betrayed me… Hodge had attempted against my life… Jean, Hank and Bobby hadn't done anything to prevent it. Thus, I embraced my savior's commands with my heart and soul and stroke Manhattan down with sharp wings and bloodlust.

Numerous vigilantes were there to fight back, including my fellow teammates, the X-Factor. I was determined to accomplish Apocalypse's ideal of "survival of the fittest" no matter the costs. Hence, I release my anger and attacked my friends without mercy or regret. They tried to reason with me, to make me remember what I meant to them and them to me, but all I could recall was how they had abandoned me. Ignoring their pleas, I reached out to the darkness in me and embraced my wing's desires… I dove towards Bobby and let the wings cut his body in halves. As I heard Jean's and Hank's desperate cries, something inside of me snapped. I had crossed the line… I had killed, not in self-defense, but in pure bloodlust, one of my best friends. What had I done?

I didn't understand what was happening at first. I couldn't recognize myself; I had turned into a blue skinned man with a cruel mind. But I did remember my friends. I cared for them, even if they'd let me down. I loved Bobby like a brother, and yet, now he laid dead by my hands, my wings… no, Apocalypse's wings. They had done all the job without me even realizing what was happening, like they possessed a mind of their own.

I fled away. New pain flooded my veins as regret washed over me. Was it my fault? I shut my eyes and saw flashes of being held captive by Apocalypse behind my eyelids. He had manipulated me, brainwashed me and turned me into a weapon. How long had I been toyed by him? It was his fault then, right? Yeah, sure.

No, it wasn't. I'd let him do whatever he wanted with me. I wanted to be able to fly again, I bargained with the blue devil and now I was paying the price. I got new wings in exchange of my soul.

In the meanwhile, Bobby was alive and well. You see, we're used to regard him as the resident clown and more than once took him for granted, me included. But the truth is, he is a clever guy with a heart of gold and one of the bravest people I know. So, in the middle of our battle, he had this idea… he made an ice dummy and tricked me into killing it instead of himself. He hoped that the shock of seeing him killed would be enough to make me snap out of Apocalypse's mind holding. He was right, it was more than enough. Well played, Robert.

Still, I couldn't go back to the X-Factor, not yet. I felt utterly lost. I spent the next couple of hours roaming through the city's sky, trying to put some order to my thoughts. I needed to get my revenge from Hodge and from Apocalypse. But first I had to check on Candy. I went to her apartment and found that she was missing. Probably kidnapped, since there're signs of fighting in the place. I knew that, some time before, she had contacted Trish Tilby, the reporter who was investigating X-Factor's connections. So I went looking for Tilby and found her accompanied by Hank McCoy. I confronted her immediately and forced her to spill all she knew to me. She told me that The Right, the pro-human organization that had attacked us twice already, was actually commanded by Cameron Hodge. I was certain that Hodge had apprehended Candy and I flew directly to The Right's headquarters, in Chicago.

Candy was indeed being held captive by Hodge. She had been experimented on, like me, and was only alive due to the machines her body was connected to. Her mind was already gone - braindead. Hodge's hatred for me and my kind had made its first non-mutant victim. He punished Candy for her "love below her station", like he was so kind to let me know. He couldn't forgive Candy for being in love with a mutant.

I was seeing red as I let the wings loose… they lashed fiercely at Hodge's followers. I destroyed the Right's complex and battled him in a hand to hand combat, but in the end I had to let him run away and try to save Candy. But during our fight the machines that kept her alive were damaged and all I could rescue was her dead body.

I grieved a lot, but I had no tears to shred. My mind could only focus on revenge. I rejoined the X-Factor, now publicly known to be a group of mutant vigilantes. We had freed Apocalypse's huge ship from his grips, landed it in Manhattan and were living in it. In the following months we faced Madelyne Pryor's Inferno in the city, discovered that the X-Men were alive and hidden in Australia, rescued little Christopher Summers and fought the Celestials in another world. All this time, I was struggling to maintain my humanity and retrieve my soul. I kept my friends at arm's length, no allowing anyone, not even Jean, to get close. My mind was filled with dark thoughts and self-absorption.

While fighting bad guys in Manhattan, we would frequently bump into NY police officers. One of them was a detective called Charlotte Jones. She and I had met a few times before, me always helping her get away from trouble. One night, we were both being held captives by a vampire being called Crimson. Our minds were joined and the influx of thoughts that I received from her touched me deeply. She was only human, but strong-willed and courageous. A mother, a widow, a fighter. Even without harboring any powers, she risked her life jumping at Crimson and removing the power inhibitor that prevented me from using my wings. I defeated the vampire that night, but detective Jones was the one that saved us both.

I found myself very drawn to her, and her to me. I met her kid, Timmy, and her mother-in-law, who didn't like me a bit. I couldn't blame her. Still, Charlotte and I started dating. Her company was like a torchlight, showing me the way out of the blackness of my mind. She was good to me, helped me feel loved and wanted. She was only human, and that fact was a great reminder of my own humanity.

Charlotte was devastated after our battle in space against Apocalypse. She was inside the ship with the rest of the X-Factor when we were pulled into space by the villain, joining forces with us and the Inhumans to help rescue little Christopher Summers. I guess seeing a kid being sent by his father to the future alone, so that he could be saved from a deadly virus, wasn't something she was capable of digesting easily. Go figure.

Following those events, the five of us decided to leave the X-Factor's idea behind and rejoin the X-Men. Once more, we were under Xavier's wings, alongside Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue and some new mutant faces: Gambit, Jubilee, Forge and Psylocke. After a few months away from Manhattan and back at the X-mansion, it became evident that dating a non-mutant person wasn't very convenient. As a cop, Charlotte had shifts and long hours of stressful work; as a mother, her priorities lied essentially with her son. Adding to that, my routine with the X-Men was… well, no routine at all. In the end of the day, we were almost never seeing each other. Still, she did make an effort to guarantee that whatever we had could work out… much more effort than I have made. Deep down, I knew that our relationship, like all that has ever been good in my life, couldn't last long. Still, I felt like an ass for not returning her phone calls. That was quite immature, even for me.

There were so many X-Men by then that Xavier decided to divide the group into two teams: I belonged to the Gold Team, under Storm's leadership, so did Bobby, Jean and Colossus. Eventually we met Bishop and he was added to our gang.

The other group, the Blue Team, had all the remaining X-Men with Cyclops as their leader. For the first time, Scott and Jean weren't fighting side by side… Psylocke, or maybe Kwannon, surely took advantage of that. She started flirting with Scott shamelessly, and sexy as she is, the guy had a very hard time remembering how much he loved Jean. That nearly took a toll in their relationship, but eventually Betsy and Kwannon sorted out whose mind and body belonged to whom and she stopped hitting on the poor women-magnet Scott. He is my best friend, but sometimes I really hate how luck he is.

On one evening, the Gold Team went on a mission to stop some Morlocks who were attacking civilians in Manhattan. As soon as we got there, I felt lost in the darkness of my memories again. I abandoned my teammates and entered the sewers. That was the first time I returned to the tunnels after the Mutant Massacre and my manipulation by Apocalypse's hands. All the anger, hatred and self-doubting returned to my mind, washing over my soul like acid rain. Xavier felt my despair and sent Jean after me. Since my shutting down from the world after the ordeal with Apocalypse, Jean and I weren't as close as before. To be true, I had been keeping everyone at arm's length ever since. Yet, as I yelled at her, urging her to leave me the hell alone with my sorrows and self-loathing, there she stood, facing me patiently. Unlike the others, she didn't pity me. That made me even angrier. As I attacked her with my poisoned feathers, she told me straight to my face how I was throwing my life away… how Apocalypse had only taken one night of me, and that all the rest was of my own doing.

I contemplated her words for a while… she had gone through so much, probably more than anyone else in the team. And there she was, stating the obvious, telling me what I needed to hear but no one else had had the guts to say to me. She reached to my very soul and brought me back to the surface - me, Warren, not Death. Damn her and her wicked ways!

The fact is, after that much necessary "chat", I opened my eyes and decided to live again. I stopped trying to blame Apocalypse and Hodge for every damn thing that had ever happened to me, for every choice I'd made or person I'd hurt.

My first act as the new old Worthington was to reconnect with my best friends, Bobby, Jean, Hank and Scott. That was an easy job, they were more than glad to rebound with old Angel… which made me realize I must've been a pain in their asses during the previous months, with all my brooding and self-absorption. As we went back to talking and joking around like in the old times, my heart was filled with warmth. I had missed my friends.

In the meantime, Scott and Jean sorted out their differences and announced they were finally going to marry. I remember cracking a lot of jokes about how it wasn't late for Jeannie to run away with me and become Mrs. Worthington, or how Cyclops' delay to arrive at his bachelor party could mean he had chicken out of the wedding… Jean would laugh wholeheartedly at my fake attempts to stop their marriage, making me smile in return. I confess their announcement did make me a bit jealous, but I guess I was more upset with not being in a relationship than with the fact that Jean was going to be Mrs. Summers. She loved another man, always had, and I realized I was at peace with that.

But loneliness is a drag. The X-mansion is habited by a bunch of other beautiful, sexy women… Ororo, Rogue, Betsy. The last one actually having a lot of things in common with me. Similar backgrounds, given that Elizabeth was brought up in London's high society circles, being from a wealth family herself. Like me, she's also had her mind and body toyed with by our enemies – the Hand turned her into an oriental deadly ninja. And, more important, once she gave up trying to seduce my best friend, she was also lonely. And single. Did I mention how hot she is?

I started seeing her with different eyes after our visit to the Hellfire Club. Shinobi Shaw invited me to a very selective party at the Club in Manhattan, in an attempt to make me join the Upstarts, or kill me if I refused. Psylocke, who like me was a member of the Hellfire Club, joined me. We were able to defeat Shinobi and gather intel on the Upstart's little competition for power. After that, we got closer and went to a bunch of other missions together, sometimes just the two of us. It didn't take long for me to kiss her. Thankfully, she kissed me back.

We've been together for a couple of weeks now and I'm absolutely in love with her. She's beautiful, sexy, and fights like no one I've ever seen. We completely understand and support each other. Also, and not less important, the sex is great.

So, I finally feel happy, loved and desired. I think that she might be it, right? After all, she's my third official girlfriend, and three is my "lucky" number…

But then, yesterday, she was sucked 20 years into the past by Legion's powers, alongside Iceman, Storm and Bishop. We gathered here in the desert today to try to avoid our world's extinction. We sent Cable's mind into the past to alert them to stop Legion from whatever he is trying to do there, but so far the plan doesn't seem to have worked.

If our teammates fail, our reality's doomed. We've only got a few more minutes left until the Mikran's energy wave reaches us and kill us all. And I can't avoid regretting all the time I've lost thinking about murder and revenge.

Yet, what I regret the most right now is not being able to say goodbye to Betsy, or Bobby… I wish I could kiss Betsy one more time and tell her how much I love her and cherish what we've been building. God, I miss her so much! I also wish I could hug Drake and thank him for always being there for me and making my days lighter.

But no more wasting time with things I cannot change. I don't want to die alone, so I decide to find Henry, another friend who's never given up on me. Not so long ago, we spent a whole night together rebuilding Harry's Hideaway after Sinister's attack. As tiring as the hard work was, I was glad to be there with him. We chatted all night long and it felt just like the old times. I know that, right now, Hank's very busy using his brilliant intellect to try and save us all, but I need to let him know how much I appreciate his friendship. And that's exactly what I do – I tell him my thanks, and he shyly thanks me back.

I let Hank work and go on looking for my other best friends. I find Scotty and Jean not far away, quietly looking at the horizon, holding each other by the waist. I ask them if I'm interrupting and Jean quickly tells me they're just watching the feed; as she reaches out her left hand to hold my right hand, Scott says that of course I'm not interrupting anything… we look at each other and know there's no need to say anything. Being together is all that matters now.

So here I am now… in the middle of the desert, holding my best friend's hand, waiting for the end of the world. I am the Third, as I've always been. It ends today, and it's all right.

The End.