CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT —
( Let go, Lydia. )

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Lydia breathed out a sigh of relief as she sat up and placed her hand against her heart to try and steady her breathing. She then looked around the room and saw Charles lying down and decided to crawl over towards him.

"Is he okay?" Scott asked, referring to Kurt who had collapsed as soon as they teleported.

"It's his energy. He's drained," Jean replied.

Charles began to move. "Get out," he mumbled. "Get out!" He said louder, still uncouncous. Lydia grabbed onto his shoulders and shoved them. "Get out!"

"Charles. Charlie, you're okay. It's just us," Lydia calmed him as she patted his now bald head.

Charles opened his eyes and looked up at Lydia. "Lydia..." he breathed out.

"Hey, Charlie," she smiled at him. "Remember when we talked about you becoming bald now that you're a Professor?"

Charles' hands instantly reached up to grab his hair, his eyes widening when he realised he had none. "No!"

"Yep. You're bald now," Lydia laughed.

"Not my beautiful hair!" He yelped.

"Now I can buy you a shiner to keep your head nice and shiny," Lydia smiled.

"Charles...." Apocalypse's voice drawled out in Charles' head, but Lydia still heard it. "I know you can hear me. We're still connected." Lydia glanced at Charles. "Charles!" He suddenly yelled. "Show yourself! Charles! Show yourself!"

Apocalypse seemed to stop and Lydia knew why. Peter Maximoff was outside, throwing Apocalypse around like it was no ones business. When Apocalypse seemed to make sense of what was going on, he halted Peter in his steps by wrapping his left leg in stiff sand.

"Peter!" Lydia leapt up onto her feet and ran down the stairs.

"Lydia!" Charles called out but she quickly shut him out.

As Lydia ran out of the door, she was too late as Apocalypse kicked Peter's leg, breaking it in an instant. Peter let out a scream of agony. Lydia felt Peter's pain in her own leg and crouched down as she let out a whimper. Apocalypse grabbed Peter by his hair and held him up. Betsy, or Raven, grabbed her sword out and proceeded towards Apocalypse. "End him," Apocalypse told her.

"Not on my watch!" Lydia ran towards Apocalypse as he turned to her. He went to swing at her but she quickly ducked, then quickly pressed her hand against his chest and watched as he flew into the building behind him.

Lydia grabbed Peter's face in her hands. "What the fuck were you thinking?" She asked as she looked down at his leg.

"I wanted to be the good guy for once," Peter mumbled sheepishly as he tried to turn away.

"You are the good guy, Peter. Always have been," Lydia leant forward and kissed his forehead.

"Lydia!" Lydia looked up just as Apocalypse grabbed onto her neck and held her up. Raven, who looked like Betsy swiped her sword against Apocalypse's neck, then proceeded to watch it heal up. Raven was in a chock hold in the air in an instant.

"Let go of her!" Peter yelled as he tried to reach Apocalypse, then tried to pull his leg out of its hold but his broken one ached when he attempted to move it.

Lydia struggled against Apocalypse's hand, thrashing around as she tried to get away from him to gain some fresh air. "The great heroes," Apocalypse smirked at them, before pulling them closer so that they were right in front of his face. "You two are feeble. Just like the others."

Lydia's vision began to darken as she placed her hands around his wrist. She tried, with as much power as she had left in her, to use all of her strength to lighten up her hands a bright green. Apocalypse was too distracted with calling out to Charles to notice what Lydia was doing, and Peter was staring up at Lydia in both confusion and wonder as her magic wrapped around Apocalypse's arm until his whole arm turned a bright green. She tightened her magic up just as she felt her throat beginning to tighten and lose the remaining air it had left. And just as Raven choked on her last breath, Lydia's magic clicked together and Apocalypse's arm burned away as if it had been surrounded by fire and he was a mere mortal. The thousands year-old mutant let out a yell as Lydia and Raven collapsed onto the ground, his face contorting into confusion as he looked down at the mutant he believed was way less powerful than her older brother.

Lydia immediately took a big breath of fresh air, her chest going up and down as she began to breathe again. The spots began to fade away and Lydia saw what was happening in front of her. Lydia glanced towards Peter and saw that he already had his gaze on her, his eyes flashing with relief after seeing that she was alright. Lydia sent him a small smile before glancing back at Apocalypse.

He held his hand up and Lydia watched as the building that Charles and the others were in dissolved out of thin air. Suddenly, a metal beam planted itself into the ground, stopping Apocalypse from advancing towards Charles and the other mutants. Another beam crossed the other, forming an 'X'. Erik flew down from behind them and looked at Apocalypse.

"You betray me?" Apocalypse asked.

"Wouldn't be the first," Lydia mumbled quietly, earning a small smile from Peter.

"No," Erik replied. "I betrayed them."

Erik held his hands up and Lydia watched as every metal piece around them flew into the air, and then Erik turned it towards Apocalypse and struck them all down on him. Apocalypse created a force field around him to block out every piece of metal Erik threw at him.

Lydia slowly got to her knees once she knew she was going to be alright. She then took a deep breath before standing onto her feet, feeling her powers rush trough her body and giving her the adrenaline that she so needed. Scott, Alex and Hank jumped down from the building and Hank ran towards Raven. He bent down to pick her up. "I got you," Hank told her before picking her up and carrying her towards a wall so she could rest.

Lydia bent down towards Peter's stuck foot and held her hands above the sand that was keeping his foot in place. She watched as her green magic spread throughout it and then broke apart. Red beams shot out right near them and Lydia turned her head to see that Scott took off his glasses and tried shooting at Apocalypse. Alex was also firing his red beams at Apocalypse with his stomach and two hands.

"Come on, honey." Lydia helped Peter onto his right foot and he quickly placed an arm around her shoulder. She held her hands up slightly and watched as her green magic aided in holding him up. Lydia carried Peter towards the wall Raven was on and placed him down.

Just as Lydia turned to leave, Peter grabbed onto her arm. She turned back around to him. "Honey? Really?" He asked with a small chuckle.

"I'm hungry, leave me alone," Lydia smiled before running off to join the fight.

Hank jumped along buildings and then proceeded to jump onto Apocalypse, but he threw Hank away and into a car, knocking him out. Scott placed his glasses back on so his eyes could cool down, and Apocalypse took the chance to throw him into a wall and used the sand to trap him against it. Apocalypse began advancing towards the building Charles was in again.

"Unleash your power, Lyds," Lydia suddenly heard Charles' voice in her head.

Lydia held her hands out by her side and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she tried to focus on all of her energy away from her hands and towards the rest of her body. Lydia felt tingles spread across her feet and legs, then to her hips and stomach, then along her arms and to her finger tips.

"Let go, Lydia."

Lydia began to levitate into the air while she moved her finger tips and felt a sudden rush go through them.

"Let go!" Lydia snapped her eyes open and then spread her arms out, watching as all of her magic flew towards Apocalypse at great strength. Lydia let out a scream as she focussed all of her energy onto her attack and watched as Apocalypse's armour began to crumble. Erik then impaled Apocalypse with large metal objects, stabbing into him in many different places. Lydia continued to use her power to try and end him and noticed that Scott began to fire his red beams again. A purple shield then formed around Apocalypse.

"He's getting away," Hank said.

Just when he was about to go, Ororo shot lightning down on him, crumbling his barrier in an instant. Lydia's magic wrapped itself around Apocalypse and began to tear his limbs apart. "All is revealed," Apocalypse yelled as Jean's fire like abilities melted Apocalypse's skin.

Apocalypse then disappeared into thin air, watching as his ash of a body blew away in the wind. Lydia let go of her powers and dropped back onto the ground and onto her knees in exhaustion, then she held her hand against her heart as she took in deep breaths.

"There goes my workout for the century," Lydia mumbled.

Alex ran up to her. "Lydia?"

"Present," she replied with a light chuckle.

"Your eyes," he looked at Lydia with wide eyes. "Your whole body was glowing green! Like, bright green."

Lydia tilted her head. "Was it attractive?"

"Wha-? Yeah, it totally was."

Lydia patted his cheek. "Thanks, man." She then realised what was going on up in the building.

Lydia hurried towards the building and then flew up. She watched as Moira began to do chest compressions. "Charles," she kept mumbling. "We've lost him. He's gone."

"Moira, stop. You're going to break his ribs," Lydia told her as she advanced towards them. "He's alive."

"I can feel him," Jean added.

Lydia patted Jean's arm as a 'well done' before crouching down beside Charles. She rubbed her finger tips together and then placed them on his forehead, watching as Charles then opened up his eyes.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings and then settled his gaze onto Lydia and Jean. "Thank you, Lydia and Jean," Charles whispered.

"No probs, Big Bro. Just looking out for you," Lydia patted his chest.

"Charles?" Moira asked. "Charles, do you know where you are?"

"I'm on a beach," Charles mumbled. "In Cuba. With you."

Lydia smiled down at Charles and then shared a look with Hank and Alex. "What beach?" Moira asked.

Charles brought up his hand to Moira's head and Lydia watched as all of their memories together went back into Moira's head. Her eyes began to get teary and Lydia couldn't help but get teary too. She could feel that Moira's emotions were all over the place.

"I'm sorry," Charles said. "I should never have taken those from you."

Moira smiled lightly at him.

"Hold on!" Kurt bolted up, startling everyone.

"Mother fucker," Lydia gasped as she held her hand against her heart again.

"Vat did I miss?" Kurt asked.

"A hell of a lot, child. A hell of a lot," Lydia patted his cheek. "Hey Charles, Kurt sort of reminds me of—"

"Don't," Charles warned. Lydia looked down at him, the two of them sharing a look.

Lydia snorted. "Of course she did."

AUTHORS NOTE