The plane ride home was silent.

Even if Hank wasn't in the cockpit, Heather knew he wouldn't speak. He'd been humiliated when Erik left him hanging in his beast form in front of all of those people and when they had finally found him, he shrugged away from them all. Charles did nothing more than stare at the chessboard, the pawns and rooks still sprawled out from his last game, while Logan looked out the window, eyebrows furrowed in what seemed to be distress as he absentmindedly held a lit cigar in his mouth.

Normally, Heather would have no problem yelling at the time traveler to stop smoking - but she couldn't seem to find the words.

She couldn't even find the right words to comfort her children.

Pietro stared out the windows, his headphones on, but Heather could tell he wasn't enjoying his music - or even focusing on it. His thoughts were elsewhere and Heather could bet by his anguished expression that those thoughts were on Erik. Wanda had buried her face into Heather's lap and let out a few frustrated tears during the beginning of the plane ride, but had eventually fallen into an uneasy rest.

Heather's hand ran weakly through her daughter's curls, as her mind raced.

She felt like an idiot.

After all this time, after all the tears and struggles, she'd let Erik right back into her arms and had started trusting him again. And, of course, not even a day later, he tries to kill Raven and runs off - crushing anything that was starting to grow between them, between their kids. Now, once more, Heather was left to pick up the pieces.


The mansion had changed tremendously.

Of course, the structure itself was the same, but it had fallen into disrepair. Vines clung to almost every inch of it, overgrown weeds surrounded the perimeter, and the signs that used to hang in front of school were now filthy from age and exposure. The once proud and gorgeous mansion was now closer to a ruin.

Heather walked further behind the man, her attention still on what was left of her former home. She, however, was snapped out of her exploration when she heard something hit the ground and sudden loud voices.

Rushing inside, she was greeted by the sight of Hank trying desperately to pick Charles up.

"Make them stop," Charles mumbled, before Hank leaned him against the wall and sprinted upstairs. "Go to the living room," Heather said to the twins, before rushing over to Charles' side. "Hey, hey," Logan said, "Pull yourself together. It's not over yet."

Charles moved his hands away from his ears, his eyes wide and his breathing heavily. "You don't believe that."

"How do you know?"

"As these go - " Charles' shaky hand moved towards his life, before pointing at his temple, " - this comes back." A pained look came over his face, before he whined, closing his eyes and holding his hands once more over his ears, "They all come back."

Logan stood and began walking away slowly, before turning back to face them, his voice softer now. "Look. I - I'm still here. And she's still out there. We need your help, Charles. Not like this. I need you. We can't find Raven without your powers." The two shared a glance, before Hank interrupted.

"I added a little extra because you missed a dose."

Charles nearly ripped the needle out of Hank's hand, looking at it like a starving man. "Charles," Logan said, a warning in his voice, and the man looked between them all and the needle in his hand. Don't do this, Heather thought, knowing well enough that Charles could hear her. The needle pierced his skin for a few seconds before - with a look of pain - he removed it and set it down beside him. In that moment, relief washed over Heather.

"Hank, do me a favor. Would you help me to my study, please?"


"I designed this system to record any news about Paris over all three networks - and PBS."

Heather glanced around the room curiously, noting the various sized televisions, radios, and wires scattered about. It was obvious that Hank had had a lot of time on his hands to be able to assemble the contents of this room, but it was going to come in handy - it would need to, considering that even if Charles had left Cerebro with a little bit more ease, their plan to stop Raven had failed.

"All three? Wow."

"Yeah, and PBS. Look what I found."

With a click, the largest TV began to play a new clip. Within it, the dark haired reporter loudly proclaimed, "Tomorrow, in front of the White House, the President will make his announcement. He will be joined by Secretary of Defense Laird and has even sought the help of renowned scientist Bolivar Trask, his special advisor to combat this mutant issue. The White House has asked - "

"Raven doesn't realize," Charles interrupted, "that if she kills Trask at an event like that with the whole world watching..."

"Then I came a long way for nothing," Logan mumbled in defeat. "And there's more bad news," Hank added, "I saw in a report, they found traces of her blood in Paris." Heather's eyes widened. "For all we know, they already have her DNA which is all they'd need - "

" - to create the Sentinels of the future," Logan continued, looking almost sick to his stomach.

"There's a theory in quantum physics," Hank began to explain, "that time is immutable. It's like a river. You can throw a pebble into it and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction."

"What are you trying to say?" Heather asked, but part of her already knew the answer.

"What I'm saying is - what if the war is inevitable? What if she's meant to kill Trask? What if this is just simply who she is?"

"So we just give up then?" Heather turned to look at Wanda, the young girl looking between them all in curiosity, but before she could say anything, Charles started speaking. "No. Just because someone stumbles loses their way doesn't mean they're lost forever. I don't believe that theory, Hank. And I cannot believe that is who she is."

"Ready the plane. We're going to Washington."


CHINA, 2023

"They've found us."

Wanda's head whipped around, looking at Charles in both bewilderment and fear. She felt her stomach drop with the realization that there was no running this time, they would have to fight.

She watched as her father and brother wordlessly left the room to join the others outside. Wanda lingered behind for a moment, glancing at Wolverine for what she hoped wasn't the last time, before whispering her final plea to him.

"Please hurry."


WASHINGTON, D.C., 1973

Heather didn't even try to force the twins to stay behind.

Maybe it made her a bad mom or a bad person but - she had no energy left to try and fight them over this. Even if she said no, the two would find some way to sneak in or find someone to say they could go. Plus this mission was hardly dangerous (well, at least less dangerous than the Pentagon) and if something went wrong, Pietro could have them out of there in a second.

"Can I see your invitations, please?"

It took a second for Heather to realize that the man was talking to her. With everything going on, the hundreds of people all conversing at once and the band, she hadn't noticed the official stopping her and searching Charles' wheelchair.

"Yes, you may," Charles replied for her, his two fingers resting on his temple, "These five are with me."

"Go ahead."

"Thank you." Charles responded before Hank began pushing him along. "You know," Heather commented with a small smile, "I forgot how much I missed that trick." Charles glanced at her and even through his sunglasses, she could tell how smug he looked.

When they found a spot to stand, Heather pulled the twins closer to her before saying, "Stay close, okay? It's a mad house right now." Both nodded in response. Wanda continued to look around at the other people and the sights in awe, while Pietro held on tighter to Heather. "What's wrong, bud?" she asked, leaning down to face her son. Pietro's eyebrows furrowed. "What if we don't find Raven, mom?"

"Don't worry, okay? Everything's going to okay. I promise. Charles is looking as hard as he can." He nodded at that, and Heather could sense that some of his nervousness was eased.

"I haven't found her yet, but she has to be here," Charles commented, just as a loud speaker announced the President. The music began playing, while people began cheering and clapping as Nixon made his way to the podium, throwing out his signature peace signs. When they finally settled down, he began his speech.

"My fellow Americans, today we face the gravest threat in our history - mutants." Heather could feel Wanda squirm at that statement and she tried to reassure her by giving her hand a squeeze. "We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer... "Behold. The world will never be the same again.""

He motioned behind him, as a curtain fell away to reveal eight gigantic purple robots. Heather held her breath at the sight, glancing towards Hank and meeting his troubled gaze. These robots would eventually destroy their race and their lives, and to see them standing before her - well, Heather was horrified to say the least.

"Raven?"

Heather looked down at Charles in shock. "I have her," he announced to them, before pointing towards the edge of the stage, "There. You see? Secret Serviceman. Left of the stage."

"Got him."

"Go."

"Stay with Charles," Heather told the twins, before following after Hank and Logan. As they hurried over, the Sentinels began, one by one, to activate and begin hovering in the air. Heather tried to pay them no mind, she had to focus on reaching Raven, but she couldn't stop looking at them. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't look away.

Raven was only a few feet away when an official stopped them. "Gentlemen, ma'am, you cannot pass this point."

As soon as he spoke, the humming started.

Her eyes widened and she grabbed onto Hank and Logan. "Get down!"

Logan looked at her in bewilderment, just as the shooting started. The Sentinels raised their arms and began firing rapidly at the police vehicles, while people scattered and screamed in terror over the sight. The three rushed behind a vehicle to hide, before it too was riddled with bullets.

An icy weight dropped in her stomach the minute she thought of her kids. Looking up quickly, she noticed that Pietro was nowhere to be find - but she didn't have time to panic before she noticed a rush of wind behind a few of the vehicles. He was grabbing people that were trapped and rushing them away.

The relief was short lived, however, when she noticed Wanda struggling to pull Charles away from all the carnage.


CHINA, 2023

Wanda watched the jet lift into the air, the pieces being stripped off the higher it rose.

She knew that Magneto's actions wouldn't stop them - no explosion, no matter the strength or size could truly stop the Sentinels. However, it would slow them for a short period of time and allow the rest of the X-Men time to prepare themselves.

With a yell, Storm sent a large bolt of lightning towards the ship and the blast that followed was larger than Wanda imagined it would be. Seeing the incoming metal, she quickly hid behind one of the many columns, watching as her father simply raised his hands and stopped the metal in mid-air.


WASHINGTON, D.C., 1973

It took Heather a minute to realize that what hung above them was a stadium, a full sized stadium being floated through the air. For a second, she thought she was going insane but when the first bit of cement hit the ground, she knew she wasn't wrong.

Pieces of cement and metal fell from it rapidly and to her horror, she realized a large metal bar of lights was heading straight for Wanda and Charles. "No!" she screamed, trying to rush forward.

But it happened so fast.

Charles glanced up before shoving Wanda out of the way and throwing himself out of his chair. With an ugly lurch and thud, the metal made contact with the ground - right over where Charles landed. "Oh my god," Heather said, the need to throw up growing, before running to the wreckage, dodging the debris, with Hank and Logan following after, yelling for her.

Seconds later, the stadium landed around them, but Heather's attention wasn't on it.

"Charles? Charles!" She heard her daughter shrieking, before Heather herself called out, "Wanda!"

"Mom!"

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and Heather pulled her daughter close to her, looking over her dirt stained cheeks. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Mom, I'm fine, Uncle Charles saved me," she said in a shaky, tearful voice, before a note of panic began to grow, "But I need to find him, he's - "

"I'm fine!" a voice called out, "I'm not hurt!

Heather moved towards the sound of his voice, before she spotted him, bloody and covered in dust. "Nothing's broken, nothing's stabbing me," he claimed, "Go! I'll be fine!"

Reluctantly, Heather grabbed her daughter's hand and ran towards the nearest block of cement to hide.


CHINA, 2023

"Is everybody okay?"

Slowly, each X-Men left their hiding spot to assess the damage before them. Everyone looked relatively injury free, but when Wanda glanced at her father, she noticed the shrapnel sticking out of his side. He looked down at it, before letting out a pained grunt and pulling it out. She didn't have time to react to Magneto's stab wound, before a Sentinel climbed up over the edge and stabbed Storm in the back.

Wanda watched in horror as her lifeless body was then thrown over the edge of the mountain.

And suddenly, Sentinels were everywhere, climbing out from the abyss and jumping down from the peak. Pietro ran past her, trying his hardest to distract the robots, and, after taking a deep breath, Wanda joined the fight, moving her hands together before blasting a climbing Sentinel off the side of the mountain.

But it wasn't enough.

Three surrounded and overwhelmed Bishop, the man's scream echoing throughout. Even though the explosion that resulted from his death killed the Sentinels, two more quickly filled in, taking their places. Magneto moved his hands, picking the remaining shrapnel from the jet before sending it flying behind him, creating a new barrier in front of the door.

Wanda used her powers to lift one of the Sentinels and throw it into another one, before sending a blast into the one that followed. After a rapid fire of red swirls, she quickly realized that there were too many of them. The minute any of them took one out, two more seemed to appear from the darkness, ready to continue their mission.

And just as she sent another Sentinel flying, she felt a sudden pain, almost like she'd kicked in the gut. All the air left her body in that moment, and she looked around slowly for the cause before she spotted it.

The body slid off of the Sentinel's spike shaped arm and landed on the ground with a sickening thud, a thud that Wanda could hear echoe off of the hills. Its face was turned away from her, but she didn't need to see it to know. Wanda already knew - it was Pietro.

Falling to her knees in grief, she let out an anguished scream. She could feel the destruction around her but she didn't care. All she cared about was the fact that her brother, her twin, the man who had been by her side from the moment she was born, was laying dead before her. One of the only people she had left in this world was gone and it felt like she was being torn apart.

Someone helped her up and began pulling her towards the door. A quick glance to right revealed that her father was the one holding onto her, but before she could say anything, a portal opened on door, letting the two inside of the temple and sealing the others outside.


WASHINGTON, D.C., 1973

Heather hurried over to the cement where Pietro, Logan, and Hank were currently hiding behind. Hank and Logan climbed up further to see where Erik was and what exactly he was doing. "In the future," Hank asked breathlessly, "do I make it?"

"No."

Hank looked at Logan in horror, and the other man quickly added, "But we can change that, right?"

Hank gave a quick nod, before throwing his glasses down and changing into his beast form. Now growling and blue, the appearance seemed to catch the Sentinel's eye as suddenly bullets were flying towards them once more. Heather threw herself over the twins, as Logan and Hank leaped off the block to fight the robot.

Logan ducked and tried to stab at it with his claws, but the Sentinel simply kicked him away. Rising its arm to shoot at him, it was suddenly distracted by Hank jumping onto its back and biting at the wiring around its neck.

"Mom, we have to help!" Pietro claimed, but Heather held on tightly to his arm. "I'm not taking that chance, you're staying right here."

"Mom - "

"I'm not losing you!"

The robot threw Hank from its back into the broken window of a cop car and when it turned to finish him, Heather heard a soft "I'm sorry, mom" before she felt her hand close around nothing. "No, Pietro!" she stood, looking around wildly before seeing her son appear before the Sentinel.

"Hey, airhead! Yeah, you! Come here!"

The Sentinel stared at him for second before moving towards him - only to find that Pietro was now standing behind. "Too slow!"

It was confused at first, but when Pietro disappeared again, the Sentinel seemed angry and whipped its arms around. There was a scream and Heather watched her son fly straight into a wall. Everything seemed to stop in that moment, even Heather's heart. "No!" she cried out, rushing out from her hiding spot.

The Sentinel turned towards her and stepped in her path. She came to a sudden halt but before it could attack her, it started vibrating violently. Pieces began falling from it and Heather could see the reflection of red swirls from the inside of its body.

It caved in on itself within a matter of seconds and if Heather wasn't panicking, she'd be in awe of her daughter.

She ran as fast as she could to where Pietro was laying, before kneeling down beside him. Pulling him into her arms, she pressed her ear against his chest and let out a sob when she heard his heartbeat - a sound that was music to her ears. Pietro wasn't dead, he was just knocked out.

Wanda was quickly by her side. In a wobbly voice, she asked, "Is he - "

"He's fine, baby."

Heather looked at her daughter, her cheeks now not only stained with dirt but with tears. A shaky hand came to rest on Wanda's cheek, as she asked softly, "Are you okay?" The little girl nodded, her voice still tearful. "Just scared." Pulling her closer, Heather mumbled into her hair, "I am too, but everything is going to be alright." Closing her eyes, Heather wished with all her might that the whole mess would be over.

But she could hear Logan's cries as plain as day.

They were nowhere near being done.

She opened her eyes in time to see Erik lift Logan using what looked like iron beams and throw him out of the stadium, before turning back to the White House and pulling a large metal room from within it.

Ripping the entire front of the room off and pointing their own guns at them, Heather looked on in horror as, with a flit of his wrist, he positioned the still rolling cameras to face him.

"You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different, but I am here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who inherit this earth and anyone who stands in our way, will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world and to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this. No more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows of shame and fear for too long. Come out. Join me. Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind, a new tomorrow that starts today."

As soon as his speech was over, there was a commotion in front of the metal room, before President Nixon exited and stood defiantly in front of Erik. "You want to make a statement? Kill me. Fine. But spare everyone else."

Erik stepped closer to the man, before adding cooly, "Very heroic, Mr. President. But you had no intention of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now."

Glancing down at Pietro, she didn't notice that Wanda had disappeared until she tried to reach over and pull her closer. She looked around wildly, but it only took a second to spot the little girl. And when she did, her eyes widened in horror.

"Wanda!"


A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger but sleep is essential.

Last chapter should be coming out tomorrow or Tuesday (Wednesday at the latest).

Expect a longer, more thoughtful author's note then. Love ya. xxx