Heather was going to take this shower home with her.

The hot water ran down her body, relaxing each and every muscle on its way. She stood still, her eyes closed and her hands running through her hair, ridding it of the last remains of shampoo suds. She let out a happy hum, coming to the conclusion that if every shower in France was like this one, America would have a lot of catching up to do.

With her muscles loose and her mind now less groggy, she began to think back to earlier that morning - when they had first arrived in Paris.

Charles had rented three rooms and Hank - bless his soul - had offered to watch the sleep deprived (and oh so cranky) twins, so Heather could get some sleep in a room by herself. That, however, didn't last long - as Heather recalled, Erik had showed up at her door not even five minutes later.

The two had talked for maybe an hour or two before they were kissing and one thing lead to another and - Heather laughed a little, it seemed a little funny that Erik and Heather now couldn't be near each other without sleeping together at least once.

The shower curtain opened behind her and - speak of the Devil - Erik stepped in. Though Heather bemoaned leaving the stream of hot water, she knew Erik would need to wash himself too and tried to step out of the way. But his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush to him.

"Morning," she laughed, just as he leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Good morning," He replied. Heather turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck and connecting their lips for a short but sweet kiss. "Are you ready for today?" She asked nonchalantly. Her reply came from how tense Erik suddenly seemed to be. She looked up at him in concern, his eyes revealing worry, pain, and - a little fear.

"What's wrong?"

"Nervousness," he explained bluntly, and before Heather could reply, he added, "Let's not focus on that right now. Please." He looked at her and really? How was she going to resist?

"Of course," she responded, feeling a little relief when a soft smile crossed Erik's face, replacing the fear. She smiled back, just before he leaned and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.


"So, is the war over?"

Heather glanced at Pietro, who was transfixed by the sights outside of the car window. The bright yellow and red flags seemed to be everywhere and Heather could hear the muffled bits of chanting and singing. The entirety of Paris - maybe even France - filled the streets, all rejoicing America exiting the Vietnam War.

The atmosphere outside was so different from the one within the car. Tenseness and nervousness outweighted joy, with Pietro's question being the first thing said since they had entered the vehicle. But Heather couldn't really blame anyone for being silent or nervous - after all, they were about to confront Mystique and change the future.

That was pretty scary.

"Is that why everyone is celebrating?" Wanda wondered as well. "Well, not exactly, hun," Heather explained, both of her kids looking at her in surprise and confusion, "The United States isn't involved in the war anymore, but it's still going on."

"Then why are people celebrating?" Pietro asked, sounding bewildered. Erik glanced outside, before he explained further. "Because the war is coming to an end. They're going to stop fighting for the next few days so there can be more peace agreements. That's something to celebrate, right?"

Pietro paused, pressing his lips together in a tight line, before looking away from the bright flags and saying, "I guess so."

When they arrived outside of the hotel where the Accords were taking place, they were greeted by two guards and a gate.

The guards began making their way towards the vehicle, but with a simple wave of his hand, Erik sent the guards flying into another wall and opened the gate, and Logan wasted no time driving into the parking garage. While Hank, Charles, and Logan exited the vehicle, Wanda and Pietro stayed in the back seat, almost identicial pouts on their faces.

"Mom," Pietro tried to reason, "Can't we just go in with you? We made it through the Pentagon and - "

"- and that was a one time thing," Heather interrupted, "Pietro, you and Wanda are not indestructible. I risked your lives once in the past few times and it's not happening again."

Both continued to pout, but they didn't try to protest any further. Looking around, Heather pointed to a nearby clock. "Listen, okay? If big hand reaches the 6 and we're not back, or you see a police officer walking towards the vehicle, Pietro, I want you to grab your sister and run as fast as you can. Okay?"

"Okay, mom." Heather wanted to tear up at how brave Pietro sounded, but instead she wrapped her arms around both of them and kissed their cheeks. "I love you both, so much."

"I love you too."

"Love you too, mom."

When Heather stepped back, Erik swooped in, hugging them both as tight as he could. Heather then noticed that he leaned in and whispered something in Wanda's ear, which made her giggle. After saying his goodbyes, he walked past Heather, brushing his hand against her's, before joining the other men.

"What were you giggling about?" Heather asked after she shut the door, glancing at her kids through the now rolled down window.

"Dad said something funny."

"What did he say?"

"He said something like itch liba ditch, is tud mer lied. I don't know, mom, it was really weird." Wanda giggled again, and even Heather had to laugh. As she walked towards the group, she kept thinking about what Wanda said. It was most likely German, which Wanda have never heard before. The first part, Heather could understand - after all, Edie had said it so many times - it was I love you.

The last part, for some reason, continued to bug her. Is tud mer lied. She tried to think of the German words her brother had taught her, but those lessons never really prepared her for unscrambling something that sounded like nonsense.

Trying to forget the sentence, she followed the men into the hotel, through beautiful and extragant hallways, hurrying towards where the meeting was currently taking place.

From the hallway, they could hear commotion - the sounds of a fight and then silence - and rushed towards the room. "Raven," Charles called out, and they entered the room to find Raven (in all her naked and blue glory) on top of a table, pointing a gun at Trask. Her calm, collected mask cracked for a second when she saw them all, a look of confusion washing over her, before the man on the ground shot her with a taser. Charles called out her name again in fear and Erik waved his hand angrily, the ends of taser flying to the man's neck and leaving him shaking on the ground.

"Charles?"

"We've come for you," Charles stated, in a soft and teary voice that Heather hadn't heard in years. "Erik and I. Together." The two continued to talk to each to each other and - and everything was over, but something wasn't right, Heather knew something wasn't right.

Suddenly, Logan was panting and the gun was flying towards Erik.

Heather's hand whipped around to look at him in shock, as Raven raised her head, a happy expression changing into a terrified and bewildered look. "Erik?"

Is tud mer lied. Is tud mer lied.

Es tut mir leid. I'm sorry.

He was apologizing.

Heather's stomach sank and she suddenly felt so very cold. No, no, no, this can't be happening, she thought to herself, not again, please not again. "Erik," she choked out, but he didn't look at her, his eyes were on Raven and her alone.

"Erik? What are you doing?" Charles asked, his arm stretched out towards him.

"Securing my children's future," Erik responded in a cold, calculated voice. Raven began rising from where she had been laying, ready to start running. "Forgive me, Mystique," he continued, "As long as you're out there, they'll never be safe."

"Erik - " Hank tried, before Raven looked at Charles. "Use your powers, Charles, stop him." Charles looked physically pained and Erik calmly stated, "He can't."

Raven started running.

Suddenly, Hank ran at Erik, tackling him, just as a gun shot rang through the air. Raven crashed through the window and Heather - Heather could hear the crowds below her screaming and gasping and then - silence. Erik punched Hank, and Heather looked to Logan for help.

She found, however, the man gasping and shocking, no matter how many times she called his name.

CHINA, 2023

"He's slipping! He's slipping back!"

Wanda stepped forward in horror, watching the older man writhe on the stone table. She was fearful of what was happening in the past that had made Wolverine react like this. Had something gone wrong? Was someone hurt?

"I'm losing him!"

Wanda glanced at her twin in fear. But suddenly, Wolverine went crazy. His claws extended and his arms started waving around everywhere - Kitty let out a sudden cry as one of his claws struck her side and everyone in the room lurched forward.

"Kitty!" Bobby cried out, as Magento rised his hand out to control Wolverine's metal, to still his claws and body. Kitty continued crying in pain and Wanda covered in mouth at the sight of the three deep wounds on her side. "Restrain him," Magneto commanded.

PARIS, 1973

"This can't be happening."

Heather helped Charles up, her mind moving a hundred miles a minute. Erik was gone, after Raven through the window - most likely to try and kill her - but not after fighting off and punching both Hank and Charles, and leaving Heather one final sad look.

She wanted to scream and yell out the window that he could go fuck himself, but they had bigger fish to fry. Raven was in danger.

"Where am I?"

Heather glanced back Logan, who was no longer shaking but looking around wildly. "Hey, thanks for helping." She couldn't make it sound intimating or snarky, instead it just sounded tearful.

"How the hell did I get here?"

"You came to us," Charles stated.

"Who are you?"

"Charles."

Logan angrily grabbed Charles by the shirt, before Charles barked out, "Charles Xavier."

"I don't know you," he responded, an answer which confused both Heather and Charles. When a now completely beasted out Hank stood up, Logan shouted, "What the hell is that?"

Charles quickly got inbetween the two before a fight could break out. "I can deal with this. Just go, stop Erik," he told Hank, who nodded and quickly ran towards the window. "You're Logan," Charles started saying, "That's Hank McCoy. This is Heather Coleman. I'm Charles Xavier. You spend the last couple of days with us - " Charles then paused, glancing at Heather, before saying, " - You're on acid. Somebody gave you really bad acid, yeah?"

Heather wanted to laugh at how concerned and bewildered Logan looked at that.

Logan started huffing for a few seconds before he looked up at them. "Professor?"

Heather felt a little relieved that their Logan was back. "What happened?" she questioned. "I just saw someone," he breathed, "who's going to bring me a lot of pain one day." He looked around, before asking, "Where's Raven?"

"Gone," Charles said, hurrying towards the exit. "We have to get out of here." Glancing at one and other, Logan and Heather followed his lead.


So, it's been a long time.

7 months exactly.

School has been a thorn in my side, as well as getting this chapter over with.

Thank you to everyone who's read this and who keeps reading it, I'm sorry I suck at updates.

But guess what, two more chapters left until the end! Annnnnd then Apocalypse - dun dun dun.

By the way, if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes in this, it's 9 pm and I'm sorry.