"He's all yours."

Mystique said as she pulled off Erik's helmet and walked away. Ryan watched as she stumbled over the wreckage. The moment the stadium dropped, all hell had broken loose. She had been waiting outside when she heard the music begin. Lifting her eyes she saw the shadow and couldn't believe her eyes as she stared up at the sky. Turning on her heel she ran, nearly stumbling before it dropped around her causing the ground beneath her to shake. She fell down when a piece of railing nearly fell on her, pinning her leg. She struggled underneath it as people screamed and fan. From where she was she couldn't see anything. She heard gun fire, and struggled screaming to herself as she finally yanked her boot from under the twisted metal that trapped her. Getting to her feet, she saw her leg bleeding but ignored it.

She saw the sentinels attacking, and finally the vault being torn from the white house and landing in the middle. She tried to run but her bleeding leg gave out and she nearly face planted on the ground. Rolling over, she screamed holding herself. It reminded her of when she tried to rescue Erik all those years ago, how she had been captured and how they took her into the darkness of some underground lab and drugged her.

She remembered how those months were all a blur, how they kept injecting her with something that caused her to barley be able to move, think, or breath. So many blurry faced staring down, and all those operations, treatments, and pain they caused. She remembered how she couldn't think, focus, and try to figure out how she could get out of there. Erik was captured somewhere as well, most likely the same horrible things being done to him. She didn't regret trying to rescue him, but she knew in her heart she should have listened. She barley remembered her pregnancy, only that she strapped her down in a cell, injecting her over and over again, most of the time floating in some darkness of a coma. How the day came that she looked down at herself and couldn't believe she was staring down a full swelling pregnant stomach sticking out from her tiny frame. She felt her baby moving inside of her, and within the blink of an eye she was tied down to a delivery table, scientist surrounding her, as they continued to drug her, making everything blur and twist together. Her pain roared through her, and within seconds she felt the baby get torn out of her. For just a brief second over her glazed vision she saw the baby, a boy twisting and screaming being held up by gloved hands. Then the doctor cut the cord and rushed him away. She weakly tried to reach forward, crying for her baby before they injected her again and darkness took over.

She remembered escaping, getting shot, and stumbling out of the darkness and into the night wandering wishing for death.

All these years later she could somehow remember those horrible months captured, tortured, and her child being taken from her. She blamed herself, and now here she was helpless yet again watching whatever was left of the life she had once had being destroyed. She stumbled over, just in time to see Erik, her Erik laying there.

Her damaged eyes beneath her sunglasses widened.

He had been shot.

She watched as he rose to her feet and stared at Charles being held by Hank.

"You know if you let them have me I'm as good as dead."

"Goodbye Erik."

"Goodbye old friend."

"ERIK!"

Everyone froze before Erik stopped and turned, looking forward he saw her and his entire expression changed. Charles and Hank turned watching as she raced over, limping badly as she jumped over wreckage and pieces of twisted metal. She ignored the shocked expressions of the men watching, as tears filled her burning eyes as she ran forward. Charles watched, panic filling his heart.

"Ryan don't!"

But she ignored him, she ran forward as fast as she could before he began running towards her. Within seconds she ran into his arms and felt them wrap around her. Burying her head against his shoulder, she let out such a gasp of relief, tears choked her throat as he squeezed her.

"Ryan?!"

He roughly pulled her back and used both of his hands to hold her head as he gazed down.

"Let me look at you."

He took the sunglasses off her, and stared with heartbroken eyes into her own bloodshot and damaged ones. Right away he grabbed her, holding her tight as he glared over his shoulder at Charles and Hank. Kissing the side of her head, he fought back tears before squeezing her and slowly closed his eyes for a moment before he lifted off the ground. Ryan clutched onto him as they flew up towards the sky, and away from them.

Hank stared with Charles before he looked.

"Charles..."

Charles shook his head.

"Let them be, they deserve each other."

Later...

Erik landed with ease upstate in a small field. He landed down, still holding onto Ryan as hard as he could. The moment he felt his boots touch the ground he violently yanked her in front of him and gave her a hard shake.

"Is it you? Is it really you?"

Ryan burst into tears as she buried her head against his chest, her body shuttering and shaking as he held onto her, deeply breathing in that same faint smell of perfume he remembered all those years ago. Pressing his face against her, he struggled not to cry. He felt his knees buckle before he pulled her back, staring down tears blurred his vision before he tried to take her sunglasses off.

She raised her hand blocking him.

"Don't, please..."

Erik looked down, devastated before shaking his head and snatching the sunglasses away before she could stop him. Staring, she saw her damaged bloodshot eye, and the faint flicking that that silver gray still left in them. She looked up before shutting her eyes and looking away.

"I must look awful..."

Grabbing her head, he forced her to look at him.

"They did this to you?"

Ryan stepped away, out of his embrace.

Erik knew it was too soon to ask, instead he reached out, took her hand and brought it to his lips. Feeling himself tremble, he kissed it as tears rolled down his face. The two stared at each other before Erik pulled her forward, using his mind as she went up against him and he closed his eyes, kissing her deeply. It was the kiss he had been dreaming about, thinking about, and keeping him alive all these years. Holding onto her, his mouth opened and closed before he broke, gasping and pressing his forehead against hers.

Later...

"Do you remember, the night I got you pregnant?"

Erik asked as he sat with Ryan in the back of a train boxcar going out West. He had taken the chest plates off and sat shirtless as Ryan knelt beside him, carefully treating his neck where the bullet had scraped his neck.

Ryan had her sunglasses pushes up to her hair, and it pained Erik to see that damaged eye, knowing it was just one of the many results left from what those bastards had done to her. He knew in time he would ask about it, and she would tell. Until then, he was just grateful that he was with her. Ten whole years without her, now here they were, older, wiser, and broken.

He felt her smooth fingertips brush against his neck, and in these few hours never before had he felt so happy. After years of being in a windowless cell, he had dreamt of the moment he saw her again and held her in his arms.

Ryan paused, frowning slightly before she dropped her eyes and nodded.

"Of course I remember..."

Reaching forward, Erik squeezed her hand and looked her straight in the eye.

"I never meant to leave you Ryan...I promised you..."

Ryan shook her head.

"No, I promised to protect our baby. I was foolish and it cost us more than I can even bare."

Erik felt tears prickle behind his eyes but he willed them away. His neck burned, and his heart ached. Charles had proven him wrong in showing he could stop Raven. Still, he didn't trust the humans. It was the humans that nearly destroyed them back in Cuba, the humans who captured him and killed the president framing him, the humans who caught Ryan, and took their son away...

They might have won this battle, but he knew a war would still be raging no matter what Charles said or did. They were still outlaws, and outcasts, They would be hunted, and this time he would never allow them to touch her again.

He squeezed her hand.

"Please tell me what happened, just once. I need to know."

Ryan sat down on the hay covered floor of the car, and stared across at him as they traveled down the railroad. It would be dark soon, and both were exhausted. He knew if there was any change of getting her to talk about it, this was his one chance. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head.

"I heard you were captured and left Charles' I wasn't even thinking...I just shooted off to D.C since I heard that's where you were being held. I reached the Pentagon, but it was a trap, they shot at me and captured me. When I woke up I was drugged up in a cell, there were no windows, no furniture, nothing. Just cement walls, floors, and ceilings. I tried to morph, but whatever they gave me stopped my powers. i was groggy, my head fuzzy, I could barley move. A lot of my time there was just a blur. I laid on the floor of that cold dark cell, and slept. All I wanted to do was sleep. I was dead to the world, there were guards, dressed in black uniforms, no patches, no weapons, just lab coats and they injected me every night. They gave me little food, not nearly enough water. I felt sick all the time. Soon I began waking up strapped to a table. There were all those machines, and tubes. They forced them down my throat, injected me...cut pieces off me..."

She raised her blouse showing all the crude ugly scars that traced the side of her body. Erik instantly frowned as he reached out and gently stroke them with his fingers. Ashamed, Ryan pulled down her shirt and went on.

"There were doctors, all wearing masks. I was so weak from the drugs I could barley move. They kept injecting me, putting me in this tank, taking my blood, taking fluid, and their voices all blended together. I couldn't understand them. Sometimes the pain was so bad I would just pass out. I lost track of time and the only way I knew I had been there for a while was the baby. One second I was laying on the table, the next I looked down and my stomach was full and round. I could feel him kicking inside. Sometimes I begged for them to not hurt the baby. I knew the way I was being treated wasn't healthy for him but they never answered me. I was too skinny, and I ached all the time. I had nightmares about what the drugs were doing to him, finally I went into labor. I was drugged for most of it, but they strapped my legs apart, and the second he slid out of me they yanked him up, practically ripping the cord and for just a brief second in the haze I was in from the drugs and blood loss I think I saw him for a second, he looked healthy...he was kicking and screaming, still covered in blood. They carried him away and I cried asking where they were taking him? They injected me and I passed out."

"Jesus..."

"The next time I woke up, I knew how bad I was. They had fixed me up, but I knew I was going to die. The same scientist came in to give me my shot and I waited until he was leaning over me when I..."

"What?"

"Ripped his throat out with my teeth, he screamed but I was able to grab the needle and jam it into his throat. I grabbed his keys and almost fell. Everything was so blurry, the room was spinning and I could barley walk. I ran out of the cell and that's when the alarms began to sound. I didn't know where I was going, I just held onto the walls, sick to my stomach, looking for him. A guard came, running towards me and I had to force myself to focus...I was able to turn my hand halfway into a sharp piece of metal. I couldn't hold it long, but did it along enough to stab him. I don't even know if I killed him, just that I got his gun and looked everywhere for the baby. I knew others were coming and I kept trying to turn my hands back but I couldn't, so I found a ladder and began to climb it, I could see a tunnel and I saw the sky...the stars, nothing ever looked so beautiful before in my entire life. I nearly fell, but I pulled myself up and rolled out onto the desert ground. I began limping, trying to run and I heard the alarms still going. There weren't ant buildings or anything, just darkness. I kept running as fast as I could when I heard the shot. I was so drugged but all I felt was a sting. I kept limping and somehow they didn't find me. I don't know how long I ran but by dawn I reached a small town and collapsed. I was shot, but it wasn't serious. I posed as a homeless woman and was rushed to a small hospital on the border. I had lost a lot of blood and kept thinking any second one of those men would come for me...but they didn't. I was dehydrated, shot..."

She lowered her shirt showing another scar by her shoulder.

"And drugged up, they couldn't pin point what exactly what it was, but I began on detox right away. I knew if i stayed I was a goner, so I snuck out that night with one of the nurses' bags. I had enough money to ride the bus up country and came to the house. It took me a while to recover, I nearly bled to death getting there. I had trouble getting my strength back, and..."

She motioned to her bloodshot and damaged eye.

"And this, it never got better. My powers came back, but their not nearly as strong as they used to me. I returned to that same exact spot, and the entire place was abandoned, the place had maybe twenty rooms and labs in total, counting the cells. There was nothing, not a single needle, or paper. Just empty rooms with water damage from sitting so long. I think when I escaped they left in a hurry. Before Charles began his treatment to get his legs, he even tried going with me to get anything whatsoever to help where these people were, or if the baby was still alive, he ended with nothing. I searched high and now all these years, using any leads I could but nothing. I ran away, leaving our son in that filthy place, and that's something I have to live with the rest of my life."

Erik held her face, bring her closer now tears rolling down his face.

"You didn't, it's my fault. I shouldn't have been so reckless. I shouldn't have left you alone...and..."

Ryan paused looking down before finally lifting her damaged eyes.

"For ten years I've looked for him Erik, there's no traces, no signs, nothing. I believe they murdered our son shortly after he was born. That's why I'll always believe in your fight Eirk. I may not always see eye to eye with your method, but...they took and killed our baby. Erik, I feel in love with you the moment you came to me, I have followed you ever since Cuba, and I will so whatever it takes so we're never separated again. Ten years...ten long years and what do we have to show for it? Wasted time, and a dead child..."

"Ryan..."

"He's gone Erik, we can search the rest of our life's for him...but it won't do us any good. I've looked for ten years, and nothing. I can only pray that if he is indeed gone, the bastards didn't pick him apart like he did with us. That it was quick..."

More tears spilled from their faces.

"I...just know, we'll ruin whatever we have left if we spend the rest of our life's looking for him. We need to let the dead rest and stop looking for revenge. I just pray the monsters who did this are rotting in hell."

Erik gathered her in his arms and held her tight, soothing her the best way he could. Together, they simply sat together in the boxcar listening to the wind and knowing that they were promising right then and there that they would no longer live for the dead. Their little boy was dead now, and they were paying for the mistakes they had made. Ten years now, and together they were side by side again. By nightfall they fell asleep in each other's arms, listening to each other breath as they drifted off.

By dawn the the train stopped, they stepped out into the sunlight and Erik motioned for her. Taking her hand, they both lifted off before he held her close.

"Come on, I have something to show you..."