Heyyyyyyyyy, I'm baaaaaaaaack! I'm okay, just rather depressed lately since graduating university, tbh.
Anywho, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Wishfulhamadryad, cause it's their review that brought me back to this story. Ever since their review on January 20th, I have been dedicating my time to reconnecting and re-familiarizing myself with this story so that I could finally get to finishing this damn thing. It's been a crazy month and a bit of reading through and editing 52 chapters, but I have finally gotten back into the writing mojo and finished the next chapter. Please forgive any mistakes, I just got a new computer and stupid Pages is the bane of my existence. It keeps autocorrecting stupid things, and likes to change Laurien to Lauren...
I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's been a long time coming.
After her conversation with Raven, Laurien slept better than expected, yet she still woke up in a bit of a panic. She quickly recalled where she was and when her heart rate evened out, she got ready for what seemed likely to be a trying day. Opening her duffle bag, her fingers skimmed the clothing she'd hurriedly packed away, yet she paused when she noticed that she'd accidentally packed one of Erik's shirts. She pulled it from the bag and held it before her. It was a worn red flannel, soft to the touch, and when Laurien pressed the fabric to her face, she could detect his familiar and comforting scent. Tears pricked her eyes, only for her to forcefully blink them away, reassuring herself that today was the day that they would find him.
After pulling on a black long-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans, Laurien then put on the flannel, leaving it unbuttoned. It was large on her, but she simply rolled up the sleeves before going to tend to Kasia in the nursery next door to her room. She'd just finished feeding her, when the door to the nursery opened, revealing a pyjama-clad Nina with Bilbo in tow.
"Good morning, kochanie. I was just about to come wake you up."
"The birds woke me up a while ago." Nina told her, though she didn't seem the slightest bit disgruntled at having been woken up early. In fact, she seemed rather energized and fascinated. "They're very different from my friends at home."
"I'm sure they are." Laurien said with a soft smile. "I believe that Charles has a book of local birds that you can look at from his library."
Nina's eyes grew wide. "He has a library?"
"Yeah, it's just downstairs." Nina seemed ready and rearing to go, but Laurien unfortunately had to press the brakes, adding, "But let's have breakfast first. How about you go get dressed and I'll meet you at your room, hmm?"
When they were all ready, Laurien, Nina, and Kasia, nestled in the safety of Laurien's arms, made their way down the staircase of the main atrium.
"Good morning, my fellow world travellers!" Sera greeted them warmly from the bottom of the stairs. "Big day today!"
"I certainly hope so." Laurien stated, her chest clenching briefly with anxious anticipation.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" Sera asked, taking Nina's hand in her hers.
Nina shook her head, giggling as she and Sera swung their conjoined arms back a forth.
"Kasia just did, but Nina hasn't quite yet. We were just heading to the dining hall now." Laurien elaborated, wishing she had a camera to take a photo of the two of them.
"Well, I was thinking. It's been ages since I explored the grounds and I know you will be busy with Cerebro, so how about I take the kids on a morning walk after breakfast?"
Warmth blossomed in Laurien's heart. "That would be lovely, Sera. Thank you."
"You wouldn't happen to know if there's a stroller or anything, would you?"
A long forgotten piece of information returned to Laurien's mind. "You know what, I think I might." She stated slowly, her mind racing to locate where she'd last recalled seeing it. She then gestured to Kasia. "Would you mind?"
"Not at all! Gimme!" Sera exclaimed, her free hand flying forward and clasping the air in a repeated grabbing motion. Laurien chuckled, carefully passing Kasia's bundled form into Sera's embrace. "Hello there, little one!" Sera cooed, giving Kasia a gentle tap on the nose.
Laurien started back up the stairs. "I'll just be back in a moment." She called behind her.
"No worries, we'll be in the dining hall." Sera called back, leading Nina towards the direction of the kitchens.
Finding the stroller was easier than Laurien had anticipated, as it was still packed away where she'd left it fifteen years ago in the storage room closest to the nursery. The realization practically knocked her off her feet. Had it really been fifteen years already since she lost her first pregnancy? In the disorder of the storage room, Laurien took a deep breath and pushed it to the back of her mind. She had enough to worry about in the present without dragging painful things up from the past.
Spotting the stroller at the far end of the room, Laurien lifted it above the many boxes and other miscellaneous items with her powers and summoned it towards her. She swept the dust from the surface of it and fluffed out the light green cushions of the cradle, recalling the time when she and Charles had picked it out. Mercifully, the stroller had come pre-constructed, while the same could not be said for the crib. Despite Laurien's insistence that she could put it together easily with her powers, Charles, Hank, and Alex had insisted on doing it between the three of them. The vast array of expletives heard from the nursery that day had amused Laurien to no end.
Laurien moved the stroller down the hallway, encountering a few strange looks from some of the early-rising students, before levitating it down the stairs with ease. She'd just placed the wheels on the ground when a voice called out to her.
"Ah, I was just going to call on you." Charles' greeted, prompting Laurien to look over at where he was exiting his study. As he neared her, sporting a lilac shirt beneath a grey blazer, his expression shifted when he noticed the stroller beside her. An ache, similar to the one she'd felt from him last night, settled deep within her.
A slight sigh parted his lips. "I haven't laid eyes on that thing in ages."
Laurien shifted on her feet, her hand gripping the stroller handle for support. "Yes, Sera's going to take the kids for a bit of a walk while we're in Cerebro." She explained, attempting to put a light tone to her voice. "I remembered where we stored it away, so I thought…"
Charles raised an eyebrow. "Right."
"I don't have to use it. I can just—"
"No, Laurien, please." Charles thankfully stopped her before she started to ramble nonsensically. "It's yours to use. It was just collecting dust up there."
She opened her mouth, searching desperately for something to say, but nothing came. Instead, her mouth snapped shut and she simply nodded, resisting the urge to avert her eyes from his piercing blue gaze.
Charles' expression was unreadable for a moment longer before a soft smile graced his face. "We'll be waiting for you at the elevator when you're ready."
It was a tight fit getting all six of them, including Charles' wheelchair, into the elevator leading to Cerebro, but they somehow managed. It had been ten years since Laurien had last been down there, and after her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she found herself marvelling at the state of the art panelling and lighting illuminating the pristine, blue hallway. As they walked down the hallway, Hank told her that he'd since added a few new gadgets to the underground portion of the mansion, including a safe room for students to learn to control their mutations. Hank was most excited about the new airplane hangar situated through the open door on the far side of the hallway, that now housed a hypersonic jet he was slowly developing.
"Do the students help you?" Laurien asked curiously.
"A few students have expressed interest in learning more about aerospace mechanics and technology, but the jet is in a rather delicate state at the moment as I put together the engines. Once that's done and safely tucked away, then I'll let them at it."
Laurien smirked to herself, imagining Hank running around the hangar in a flurry of stress and anxiety as he tried to ensure that the students weren't going to put a screw wrong or blow up something by accident.
They reached the far end of the hallway where a rounded door with an X emblazoned upon it awaited them. Charles scanned his hand on a panel, before the door slid open in two pieces, granting them entrance to the large spherical room.
Charles rolled himself down the catwalk towards the control panel, calling back, "Moira, I'm going to have to ask you to keep this a secret."
Moira continued to gawk at her surroundings, her eyes wide in fascination. "I don't even know what this... is." She said, raising her hands to gesture to it all.
"It's Cerebro." Raven noted, a hint of a grin on her face as they all gathered around Charles at the controls. "The new model."
"Yeah. I based the colour on..." Hank started to explain, suddenly trailing off with reddened cheeks after a quick look from Raven. "It doesn't matter."
Charles wasted no time in putting the helmet upon his head, the wires running from it to connect to the control panel. The moment the helmet touched his head, the machine sprang to life. As the lights in the surrounding room dimmed, the helmet glowed a fluorescent blue, bathing Charles' face in its eerie hue.
Suddenly, their surroundings were inundated with thousands of little blue figures, reminding Laurien of a clear night's sky. It was as if they were a spaceship, soaring through the cosmos at great speeds, each person in the world embodying a passing star, as they travelled through the roar of overlapping voices. Laurien could catch various words here and there, before they slowed to a crawl, allowing them a better look at the individuals before them and hear the whispers clearly.
"What are those?" Moira asked, pointing at the blue figures.
"Those are all the humans of the world." Charles explained, concentration plain on his face. "And these..." The many blue figures then shifted to a much fewer number of red individuals. "Are all the mutants. I'm connected to all of their minds."
Laurien smiled as she watched a small girl walking with her mother, only for the girl to get distracted by something on the ground and stop. Her arm stretched longer and longer as her mother continued to walk, seemingly not noticing that the hand she was holding was attached to a now eight-foot-long arm.
Moira chuckled in amazement. "The CIA would kill for this."
"I know they would." Charles muttered, his expression turning somewhat sour for a brief moment before he continued to focus on the matter at hand. "Where are you, Erik?" He murmured softly.
Laurien became entranced by the wandering red figures, wondering if one of them was her husband. She was desperate for answers to all of the questions she had been holding within her mind since he'd vanished at the factory. Where had he gone? Where had he been these past few days? Had he left them willingly?
She couldn't be sure how much time had passed before she then heard, "Hello, old friend."
With a jolt like lightning running through her, Laurien's attention snapped back over to Charles. "Is that him?"
Charles nodded, reaching out and carefully grasping her injured hand in his. Suddenly, Charles' voice filled her mind.
"That doesn't matter now." Charles said steadily, responding to something she hadn't heard. "What matters is that you come back to us. To your family. Come home."
"I can't." Erik's voice replaced Charles' in her head, making Laurien's heart skip a beat as she sorely wished to reach out and touch him.
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry for what has happened." Charles continued, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I feel your pain. And your fear."
Icy cold fear spread throughout Laurien's veins. "Is he alright?" She breathed out, prompting Charles to squeeze her hand gently.
"You think, because you can see into my head... you know how it feels?" Erik demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
"Erik, your family is here. Safe and waiting for your return."
She heard a small exhale of breath. "Laurien? Sh-She's there? Is she with you now?"
"She's here, Erik. She's listening."
"Laurien, my darling, I'm so sorry." Erik's voice wavered, prompting tears to spring to Laurien's eyes. "He gave me no choice. He threatened to harm you and the girls if I didn't cooperate."
Laurien's mouth opened instinctively to answer him, though she faltered, knowing he wouldn't be able to hear her.
"Who did, Erik?" Charles pressed, but no response came. "Erik?"
Laurien looked at him in alarm. "Is he still there?"
"Hank," Charles beckoned, his words coming slowly. "He's not alone."
"What?"
Charles tried again. "Erik, who's there with you? Erik?"
Just then, the control panel began to emit a high pitched whirring sound.
"Hey, Charles, wait." Hank said, leaning over the panel.
"Oh my God." Charles gasped, his body becoming rigid.
All of a sudden, purple spots appeared before them, spreading and eating away at the red projections like blots of ink staining a page. The purple rapidly consumed it all, surrounding them in a strange violet aura as the whirring grew louder.
"Charles?" Hank's eyes grew wide, lunging towards the control panel as the monitors went wild. "Charles, get out! Charles!"
"I have never felt power like this before." Charles uttered lowly, though there was something off in his tone. Whatever it was, it was merely a prelude to what was to come. Not even a moment later, Charles' eyes turned black.
Charles' grip on Laurien's hand tightened with inhuman strength. Laurien yelped, feeling the bones painfully grind together before she quickly pried her hand from his grasp. "Charles, what's wrong?"
Hank attempted to shake him. "Charles. Charles, get out!"
"What's going on? What's happening?" Moira demanded, glancing nervously at their surroundings.
"I think..." Hank paused, looking frantically between Charles and the control panel. "Someone's taken over Cerebro. They've taken control of it."
"To do what?" Raven prodded.
Hank gave them a foreboding look. "To connect."
The purple projections surrounding them pulsated, and in the distance they could see tiny projectiles climbing higher and higher in the sky. Laurien watched them with growing dread, knowing that whatever they were, they couldn't be good.
"Charles!" Hank tried to remove the helmet from Charles' head, but the moment that his hands made contact with the helmet, sparks flew from it, causing Hank to recoil as if it had burned him. Charles screamed in agony at the intervention.
"Hank!" Raven cried as she held fast to Charles' arm. "Hank, do something!" She pleaded.
Hank responded by unleashing a series of punches at the control board, and when that didn't work, he broke into the panel, revealing an expanse of wires and cables. He gave Laurien a desperate glance, and without a word, she grabbed onto them with her powers, ripping them into a state of disrepair. A display of sparks and electricity erupted from the panel, making them flinch back, yet Charles' mind continued to be assaulted by whatever or whoever had taken control.
Hank shook his head, staring at the now useless cables. "It won't shut down!"
"Alex." Charles managed to grunt out from behind gritted teeth, his eyes having returned to their normal blue hue.
"What?" Alex demanded, stepping forward.
"Destroy it! Destroy everything!" Charles yelled, gripping the arm rests of his wheelchair in a white knuckled grip. "Destroy Cerebro!"
Laurien saw Hank's eyes go wide at Charles' command. For a second time, his work would be destroyed.
"Wreak havoc." Charles commanded.
An agonised scream ripped from Charles' lips as Alex went to work. The others took cover as a beam of red light bursting from Alex's chest, destroying every panel it touched. With a cry, a beam ignited from one hand, and then the other, absolutely decimating their surroundings.
As soon as the beams were extinguished, Charles suddenly slumped forward in his chair, prompting Hank to lunge forward and catch him before he fell. The purple projections then disappeared as Cerebro powered down, revealing a fiery mess of metal panelling.
"Let's get him out of here!" Laurien urged, taking control of his chair with her powers, and moving him back along the catwalk to the door.
The circular doors slid open, allowing them to escape the smouldering room and find refuge in the blinding light of the hallway.
"Charles. Charles, are you okay?" Moira asked, kneeling down beside Hank in front of Charles' wheelchair.
Before they could take a breath, a sudden rumbling drew their attention to the far end of the hallway. What could only be described as a large purple orb manifested before their eyes, looking quite similar to the brief glimpse of what Laurien had witnessed at the factory. The orb then dissipated as soon as it had appeared, revealing five strangely clad figures standing in front of them.
Laurien's eyes took in the strangers. To the left, a blue-skinned mutant in armour that appeared both futuristic and ancient watched them, an unsettling smile growing upon his face. Laurien could only assume that it was him who Jeszie described as being 'that fucking blue monstrosity' and who actually killed all the factory workers. Even at the distance between them, Laurien could sense the waves of morbid excitement radiating off the mutant.
Behind him, stood two women, and a man who looked young enough to be a boy. The woman with darker skin had her shockingly white hair shorn into a mohawk, while the other woman let her long black locks entwined with purple streaks flow freely over her shoulders. The young man at the back of their group set his jaw as his metallic wings spread out from his back.
Then Laurien's eyes fell upon the last figure on the right.
"Erik." Raven breathed out beside her.
Erik stood next to the others, wearing a red and silver suit that looked like it was straight out of some science fiction film. Laurien's eyes widened when she spotted what appeared to be a glowing whip wrapped tightly around his throat, with the black-haired woman beside him holding the handle. Erik's gaze met Laurien's, his eyes pleading with her.
Erik's own desperate words echoed in her head, "He gave me no choice. He threatened to harm you and the girls if I didn't cooperate."
With a slight jerk from the whip, Erik winced before he then stretched his hand out towards Laurien and the others. Charles' chair suddenly lifted from the ground with his unconscious form in it, before it flew back towards the intruders.
Everything seemed to happen at once. Raven screamed Charles' name as Alex pushed past her and rushed towards the invaders. Making a split second decision, Laurien reached out with her powers and gripped Charles' body, lifting him out of the chair. She was faintly aware of Erik's voice crying out before she was suddenly thrown back against the far wall. She just narrowly avoided hitting her head against the concrete as she fell to the ground in a heap, but then hurriedly tried to steady herself on her hands and knees. She looked back up and saw Charles being returned to his chair before he was then whisked away behind the cover of the boy's metallic wing.
"Hey!" Alex yelled after them as he continued to run, with Hank chasing after him. "Hey, asshole!"
"All will be revealed, my child." The behemoth of a man stated, blocking their view of the retreating Horsemen, as the purple orb reappeared around the intruders, seeming to swallow them up.
"Stop!" Alex gave his final warning before unleashing the beam from his chest.
"No!" Laurien heard Hank scream, as the portal disappeared, allowing the beam of power to shoot into the open door of the hangar bay.
There was a flash of intense heat, and suddenly Laurien was outside.
Dun dun duuuuuuuuun :)
I've been rewatching X-Men: Apocalypse to double check details, and it's not really my cup of tea, but at least it's better than Dark Phoenix (in my opinion).
As I said before, I graduated last year with a major in History. I actually got to go on a field school in Europe last summer and got to visit places that I've mentioned in this story. I saw Katowice with my own eyes after researching it years ago. I even took a photo of the train station sign. After my field school, I was able to travel a bit more with my best friend, and we spent some time in Amsterdam, and were there during the city's worst storm during the summertime in history!? We were getting emergency warnings on our phones every two minutes, but we had tickets for the Van Gogh and Rijks museums, so we weren't going to miss that. Besides, we're Canadians, we're used to some pretty significant rain and wind. We also visited the Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum), which I believe is one of the best museums I've ever been to!
I'm also posting chapters of this story on AO3, and there's some more elaborated Ypres chapters since I couldn't change chapter formatting here. It got rather complicated. So, be sure to say hi over there as well!
Anywho, it is currently 4:38am, and adrenaline is coursing through me, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep, but I just couldn't wait to upload this chapter! I truly love you all, you mean the world to me!
Please leave a like and a review! They fill me with such warmth and joy! I'll also do my best to respond to everyone.