I watched as the plane that Raven and Peter had arrived on crashed to the ground. The two looked on, horrified.

"Charles," Raven said. I felt pain in my chest, realizing that my friend could have been in that ship. Raven looked at me. "I'm going to go fight for what I have left. Are you?"

Peter put his hand on her neck and they disappeared. I thought back to when I first met Charles.

"There's so much more to you than you know," Charles had said. "Not just pain and anger. There's good, too, I felt it. It's not just me you're walking away from. Here, you have the chance to be apart of something much bigger than yourself. It needs you, Erik."

I thought of when I would train with (y/n) and how she never gave up on me.

"You can do it, Erik," I could hear her say. "You don't need pain or anger to fuel your powers. You need peace. We're here for you, Erik. Remember that."

I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I looked back towards where Raven and Peter had just gone off to. I tried to ignore what I was feeling and continue my work. Suddenly, I heard a scream of pain. Looking back, I saw Peter on the ground, screaming in pain. Apocalypse had just broken his leg. I felt slight anger boil in me when I saw the boy on the ground.

Next thing I know, Raven was in Apocalypse's grasp, his hand around her neck. She was gasping for breath. Apocalypse was strangling her. He called out for Charles to come out of hiding.

A moment later, the wall of a building turned to dust and blew away. Apocalypse started forward. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I sent two large beams forwards and blocked his path. He slowly turned to look up at me.

"You betray me," he said.

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

I used my powers to raise metal all around the destroyed city and throw it at Apocalypse. A shield formed around him, preventing me from actually hitting him. But that didn't stop me. I kept sending more and more metal, attempting to slow him down. Hank and a teenager jumped down to join the fight. Hank ran to Raven and Peter, helping them up. The teen shot a blast similar to Alex's from his eyes.

After getting Raven and Peter to safety, Hank tried to attack Apocalypse. He was thrown away and crashed through a car. The teenager shut his eyes, stopping the blast. Apocalypse pushed him back as well, entrapping him in a wall.

Apocalypse turned back and started towards the building where Charles was. I glanced up when I saw a red-haired girl walk through the air. She raised her hands and fire seemed to engulf her, forming a bird. Apocalypse's armor slowly flew away. Now that he had no amor, I sent several spikes of metal at Apocalypse, impaling him. Hank freed the teen, allowing him to blast Apocalypse again. A portal started to form around him, making me growl in annoyance.

Lightning suddenly struck the portal. I glanced up and saw Storm with her arms raised. Apocalypse's skin burned away, then his muscles and bones, until he was gone. Everyone stopped their attacks and breathed heavily. Storm and I landed on the ground, nodding to one another. We watched as Psylocke got up and walked away.

I made my way to the building, wanting to see Charles. I hurried inside and sighed in relief when I saw him breathing. He was touching Moira's cheek, a small smile on his face.

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

Suddenly, a blue mutant shot up and exclaimed, "hold on!" I jumped slightly when I saw how closely he resembled Azazel. He took several deep breaths and looked around him. "What did I miss?" he asked.

I chuckled.

"Quite a lot, it appears," I said.

Everyone's heads turned to look at me.

"Erik," Charles breathed with a small smile.

I smiled in return as I pulled off my helmet.

"Hello, Charles," I said. I walked towards him and knelt beside him. "Charles, I am so sorry for what happened. I should have listened to you and (y/n). You were always looking out for me."

Charles smiled a little more before his eyes grew wide. He used his arms to prop himself up.

"Where's (y/n)?" he asked, looking around.

I felt my eyes grow wide in realization. I hadn't seen her during the entire fight. Where could she have been?

"I remember her being back in the pyramid," the blue-tailed mutant said. "She told me to get the professor out and not worry about her."

I immediately looked at Charles, who met my eye.

"I'll get her," I stated.

I flew out of the building and headed towards the pyramid. I quickly made my way inside and ran to the center. I glared in disgust at the statues around the room.

"(y/n)!" I called, looking around for her. "(y/n)!"

A small groan caught my ear. I looked to the two tables in the center of the room. I noticed (h/c) hair on the ground. I ran forward and inhaled sharply when I found (y/n). She was unconscious on the ground. I knelt down beside her and heard her soft breathing. I quickly looked over her and saw a bruise on her head and her arm looked like it had been broken.

"Wreckless," I muttered, trying to lift her into my arms gently. "Glad to see you never change, but can you have some sense for once?"

I flew out of the pyramid with (y/n) in my arms. I found the team standing outside, talking with one another. As I floated towards them, I could see Charles's full attention on (y/n). Hank and Moira were supporting him. I landed a few feet away from Charles and walked towards him.

"Ohmygosh," he muttered. "(y/n)."

The red-haired girl walked over to me and touched (y/n)'s head.

"She's incredibly weak," she stated. "We have to find medical attention as soon as possible."

"Along with for Peter," Raven said. I glanced at her to see her holding up the speedster. "I think Apocalypse broke his leg."

Charles looked at me.

"Do you think you could rebuild our ship?" he asked.

I nodded and concentrated. A few minutes later, a new ship was built and ready to go. Moira and Hank helped Charles inside while Raven helped Peter and I carried (y/n). I set (y/n) on the ground, close to Charles. Hank and Moira took to the front of the jet. Most of the students I did not recognize sat together, along with Peter. Storm sat beside Raven and began chatting away. I glanced at Charles, who was brushing away hair from (y/n)'s face.

"So who are the kids?" I questioned quietly.

Charles briefly looked up at me before glancing around the jet.

"Well, you already remember Peter," he said. "The kids next to him are Jean, Scott, and Kurt. Scott is Alex's younger brother."

"And how is he?"

"Alex died when we left the mansion. Alex tried to stop Apocalypse, but ended up blowing up the mansion by accident."

I glanced at Scott and nodded before looking at Kurt.

"Kurt kinda reminds me of Azazel."

"I completely understand that. That's what I thought when I first saw him."

We both paused and glanced down at (y/n).

"How is she?" I muttered.

"She's alive, thankfully. From what I can tell by her memories, she went head on with Apocalypse inside the pyramid after Kurt got me out. She bought us enough time to get to safety."

"Yet she risked her life to do so."

"You know how she is, Erik. Always willing to risk her life before anyone else's."

"We're coming up on a hospital, Charles," Hank called. "We'll see if we can get everyone here checked out."

"Thank you, Hank."

I looked at my friend.

"Do you think they'll let us in because of what just happened?" I questioned.

"We did just save the world," he replied. "That has to count for something."