"Elle, do you think... do you think maybe one day, mutants could one day live in peace?" Kitty asks, in one of the rare few peaceful moments they have. It's night time, and the others are trying to fit in as much sleep as possible.

Elle doesn't pause to think, just bitterly shakes her head.

"No."

Kitty sighs. She wishes she could be optimistic about the future, but they can't reason with sentinels. Still, she tries to find hope.

"The Holocaust-"

"The Holocaust had people who were willing to stand up to it. The Holocaust had people who didn't support it. The Holocaust was run by humans, not monsters." Lightning finally shifts to look at her. "Kitty, I want to believe that we can survive every bit as much as you do... but face it. We're going to die. Mutants have no chance of survival, we're all going to die."

Kitty was taken aback by the normally controlled girl's outburst.

She didn't blame her though, things here truly were hopeless.

They stood in silence while Elle took deep breaths.

"Kitty," She finally says again, not looking at her, "Sentinels are catching up to us. We used to have weeks, months even before they caught us. Now we barely have days, soon we'll only have hours, and then minutes, then seconds, and then we'll die. That's our reality, we have no more ways of adapting." She pauses.

"I.. just just want to say-" She jumped, her eyes widening. "Kitty, they're coming! The sentinels are here! Go and wake everyone up! Hurry!"

She never got to know what Elle had to say.

When she asks the girl in her time later, she just smiles and shakes her head. This Elle didn't know what she had to say either.

"Bobby... is there any hope left?" She asks quietly.

He turns to look at her.

"No. But we have to pretend there is."

She wraps her arms around him.

"I wish I found you earlier," He says wistfully, "I wish we could have more time."

She did too. Now, they didn't have time.

"It's the Professor!' She screams. "The Professor's here! Xavier! Xavier! He made contact with me, they're outside!" Bobby and Piotr leap up, rushing for the outdoors, and there.

There it is.

The Blackbird in all of it's glory (Or maybe not, the painting is chipped and scratched, but Kitty's never seen a more beautiful sight). They rush forward, as entrance opens, and Storm, Xavier, and Wolverine made their way down.

'Don't panic.' They suddenly hear in their minds. 'He is on our side. Do not worry.'

She wonders what he's talking about.

Then the final person in their party walks down.

Magneto.

The younger mutants still get tense, but that's nothing compared to the ones who have faced Magneto, saw what he would and could do first-hand, not on a television screen.

Kitty thinks Bobby might try and kill him. She rests her hand on his shoulders, and squeezes. If that didn't spread the message, she pulls him back and shakes her head.

Ten years ago, she wouldn't have stopped him. Heck, ten years ago she would've tried to join in herself.

But ten years ago, they weren't faced with the possibility of an apocalypse. Ten years ago, there was enough of them to fight each other without a huge blow done to their numbers. Ten years ago, they weren't at the brink of extinction. Ten years ago, they were young, they were happy, they were naive, and they were innocent.

Now, everything's changed.

Now, if they want to survive, they must forget about friend or foe. Now, if they want to live, they have to forget about fights. Now, if they don't unite, they die.

Well, they die either way. But it gives them a margin of a chance to survive, and a slim margin is better than nothing in this world.

"Hi," She says, offering him a slight smile. "Welcome to our crew. I'm Kitty."

After the initial shock, he doesn't turn out to be such a bad person.

Why can't things still be the same?

"Jaire?" Rick offers. Elle rolls her eyes.

"That's a horrible name."

"You got anything better?" He challenged.

"...no"

"So don't make jabs at mine."

"Just because I don't have anything better doesn't mean I can't make fun of how ridiculous the ship names you create are."

"Why does our "ship name" matter?" James asks, holding a blushing Claire.

"You'll end up like the Titanic without a good ship name."

"Yeah, how else will we depart safely from Port Just Friends?"

Kitty smiles at Bobby.

Young love.

"I'm serious, it's definitely happening!" Bobby insists.

"No way, she says shaking her head as they round the corner. "No wa-"

Bobby grinned smugly as she slowly backed away from the sight of Wolverine and Storm making out against the wall.

On second thought, love isn't just for the young.

And Kitty sank down even deeper.