A.N.: Hey guys! Clodagh here, back with another chapter and things are really kicking off! This was super fun to write so I hope you enjoy! I'm moving house soon so the next two updates should go out as normal but the next one- not this Sunday but next- may not be on time, it depends on how quickly we get internet in our new house. So if you don't hear from me, that's why!

I hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think! I'll answer reviews tonight and answer and previously guest reviews at the end of the chapter!

Well then suddenly
There was no one left standing
In the hall, yeah, yeah
In a flood of tears
That no one really ever heard fall at all.

-Edge of Seventeen, Stevie Nicks (The Wind and The Wave cover)

CHAPTER SIX

Something is wrong.

You sense it in the air, and your feelings are confirmed when you hear a sharp whistle and Charles mentally calling you to the foyer. You race to the foyer, aware of Storm and Peter meeting you from adjoining corridors.

"What's happening?" Peter asks as you thunder down the stairs.

Storm shakes her head quickly. "No clue."

You're met in the foyer by Hank, Bobby and Logan alongside the Professor. Hank is tapping away quickly at a tablet, Logan staring intently out the full height glass windows for a second before turning to you. "Took you long enough."

"What's happening?" Storm demands and Hank replies.

"Missiles."

"What?" you blurt out, and The Professor looks grim.

"The time has come. Humans well and truly do not trust us- we are under attack. Hank?"

"Two minutes, tops," Beast replies. You make your way over to him quickly, and he hands the tablet over to you. Your fingers whizz expertly over the screen, and you squint into the distance.

"They're military operated. Logan, can you give me anything?"

"Heat sensors," he replies gruffly, sniffing the air, "not far enough out. Charles?"

The Professor nods, and begins giving orders hastily. "Hank, Logan- I want you out their taking out as many of their men as possible. They'll have armed men on the ground. Get far enough away. Storm, I need you to buy us some time, slow them down."

They all leave quickly, and you see Rogue rushing past with a trail of students following her, ushering them along. She pauses long enough to share a look with Bobby before turning on her heel and continuing on.

"How do we stop it?" you ask hastily, very aware of your imminent death.

"Could Pete throw Kitty into the missile, short circuiting it?" Bobby suggests, and Peter shakes his head.

"At that trajectory and the speed it's travelling, the missiles would still go down in the school."

"No, that wouldn't work, not with the make of metal, chances are Kitty would just get stuck inside the missile. It would be disastrous." Charles looks at you. "Kitty," he says urgently, "I need you to phase the school."

"What?!" you yelp, and Charles ignores you.

"Kurt!" he calls, and Nightcrawler appears in an instant. "I need you to help Rogue. Check the school and get everyone in the Danger Room, now. Those with armour and protective mutations form a ring around the other kids. Get Hisako to lead it, and quickly. " Even if Kurt could teleport everyone out in time, the missiles searched for heat, locked on mutants- it would find them anyway.

Kurt nods before teleporting away. "I can't phase the school, Charles, it's too big and those missiles are too fast-" you protest.

"Katherine, there isn't time," The Professor states sharply. "Bobby- ice wall, get as much room between the school and the missiles as possible."

Bobby runs out the door, and you see the ice wall going up- not that it will do much to protect the institute from missiles.

"How long do we have?" Peter asks, and you glance at the tablet.

"Forty seconds, maximum." You take a deep breath and as Bobby re-enters, you give an order. "All of you, get to the Danger Room."

Bobby is about to protest, and you stop him. "If I can't stop this, the Danger Room is the only place you'll have a chance. You all need to go, right now."

Bobby nods at you. "Good luck," he says, before racing off, yelling "Come on, let's go, people! Everyone get to the Danger Room right this second!"

"Both of you, go!" you yell at Peter and the Professor, who gives you one last chance. "You can do this, Kitty," he reaffirms finally before wheeling away.

"Pete-"

"I'm not leaving. They might have snipers Logan and Hank didn't get." Peter expertly loads up a gun from his back pocket. Seeing your look, he shrugs. "I grew up in Russia. Plus debris is going to hit this place whether you phase the school or not, you'll be too weak to phase yourself out. I'm you only chance of getting out of here alive," he states, "I'm staying."

You want to argue, to make him leave, but there isn't enough time and you see the missiles coming now. "They're locked on," Peter informs you, and you rock forward on your feet, shaking your hands.

"Okay," you mutter, and Peter readies himself, his eyes sharp on the missiles. "Ten seconds."

You place your hands on the walls, steadying yourself. You concentrate, focusing on all the lives within the school and the structure of it, feeling the matter thrum underneath your fingertips. You hear Peter fire off a few shots but hardly notice, the effort straining you physically and you feel beads of sweat coming down your face with the exertion, your whole body shaking. "God…give me strength…" you whisper to yourself, your eyes squeezing shut as you feel the building phase just as the missiles burst through Bobby's ice wall and they tear through the school without doing any harm. Your strength fades and you cry out as the school flickers into solid being, the last missile crashing through the last wall in the upper floor and into the ground behind the school. The last wall explodes and debris goes flying. Peter armours up, debris bouncing off him. "Kitty!" he yells, running towards you. Another blast goes off, sending him hurtling towards you faster, too fast, and he powers down so that he doesn't splatter your skull, twisting so that he's in front of you and quickly uses his power as you smash through the floor-to-ceiling glass and are thrown into the pool, glass, fire and parts of the building landing in round you. You and Peter surface, gasping, and he knocks away another piece of the school flying towards you both.

You clamber out of the pool and collapse to your knees, your energy spent, as you stare at the destruction in front of you- Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters was on fire, you realise with horror, and it's all your fault. You weren't strong enough.

"What have I done?"

X.x.X.

You're walking from a class when you feel it.

You don't remember this memory, this one cuts through one like a knife- or should you say claws- and all you can feel is

Pain.

Searing pain, excruciating and never ending.

You feel like oblivion would be a kindness- albeit one you don't deserve.

You don't feel yourself falling until pain shoots up your legs and you feel the wooden floor beneath you.

You feel like you're screaming but you don't think anything is coming out, and you can't hear anything but white noise. Your vision is going blurry and unfocused from unshed tears as your head hits the ground with a thump. But you must have screamed or someone must have found you because the white noise is being broken through with voices, raised and alarmed, but you're not sure why. There's so much pain and you're not sure how, until you put your hand to your side and it comes away covered in blood and you know you're in trouble.

You hear voices, panicked yells and pounding feet and people asking

'what happened?'

But

You

Don't

Know.

All you know is one minute you're walking down the hallway to your next class and the next you're sitting in a damp, dimly lit tomb in China with Logan thrashing in front of you. You cry out as you're hit by his claws-why?- you're losing him, you're losing him- and Bobby's there in an instant- Bobby, your Bobby-

'oh my God, Kitty'

But this is wrong, it feels wrong, it's what you wanted for so long but things have changed and you've changed because you aren't the young, grieving girl anymore, and Bobby isn't the beacon golden boy with the easy laugh. It wasn't easy though, it was hard. It was difficult in ways it shouldn't have been, tense in ways it didn't need to be and it hurt in ways it shouldn't.

And then you're being picked up like a child and you cry out at being jostled in familiar arms. You're not entirely sure where he's taking you but it feels like home. It feels like the burden has been lessened. You feel like maybe- maybe if this is your time, for whatever reason- you can go having made your choice.

"She's losing a lot of blood-"

You're sorry.

"Jesus, what happened?-"

You don't know.

"Just get her inside medical."

Maybe you deserve this. Maybe this is what you get for being selfish. You forgot that being a mutant did not make you a god. It did not mean you could use and hurt others. But maybe that has nothing to do with being a mutant, it just has to do with your ignorance.

"Logan, why does it look like you attacked her?"

Because he did. But it is okay, Logan, you don't blame him. He didn't mean to.

"Please don't ask questions Jean, and just help her."

Yes Jean. Things tend to get messy when you get inquisitive.

You don't remember much after that. Something is being injected into your arm and your vision blurs, but the last thing you see are Peter and Bobby standing side by side staring in at you before your eyes close and you slip away.

A.N.:

Don't hurt me.

REVIEW REPLIES (I'm assuming the Guest reviewer is just one person? You seem like one person.)

Guest: I so glad you're enjoying the story so far! I know the story is definitely more of a Kiotr story than a Kitty/Bobby story and I love playing about with Kitty/Bobby and try to include as much of it as I can, but it's difficult due to the fact there's a very limited time period for them, whereas for Peter and Kitty I have to explore the fact he was in love with her in both pasts to develop the relationship, and so that it doesn't seem too rushed. Also- as a Rogue and Bobby shipper I'm reluctant to get too snap happy with Kitty and Bobby. I'm finding it hard to keep Bobby authentic as it just feels like he's betraying Rogue. :') Also to clear up the flashback in the last chapter- we know for definite that there were two groups in the 'bad' future- Kitty, Bobby, Peter, Blink, etc, and Charles, Logan, Erik, and Storm. And the scene where they find him we see Charles hear Kitty calling him. Erik says something along the lines of this might be the last chance we were looking for- to my mind, as Charles Xavier is a very complicated character- he had the groups split up for the best chance of survival and finding a way to fix the mess. However, mutants were being killed off left right and centre- students, friends, fellow X-Men- and Charles did nothing to stop it. Every time the Sentinels closed in or someone died or was captured, Kitty's group- mostly Kitty, Bobby and Peter as they knew them- would call out in their minds asking for help that never came. Charles would justify it that the more mutants together the higher the risk of getting caught, so they couldn't meet up until it was the last option, but Kitty- having remembered the other future and all the times they didn't help- was angry as he let down so many people he promised he'd help, that he promised a better future. So she's mad he was a liar and a let-down, basically, and Charles believes that while what he did wasn't nice- he let his students suffer and die- but it was justifiable. He's a Utilitarian, through and through.

I hope that cleared up the last chapter for you!