2023

A SMALL METAL BALL floated above Eleanor's palm, glowing red. After the whole argument, she decided to go outside to take a breather. Her son was grieving and though he wouldn't admit it, he was scared. Who wasn't? There was a possibility he wouldn't be born and this will be the time he dies. There was a lot that could happen.

She heavily pondered over the next actions that will take place. She was worried for her younger self and everyone. Whatever Logan will do in the past will affect everything. It wasn't like an alternate timeline will exist. Changing the past will indeed change the future.

"Mrs. Xavier." A soft voice called her and Eleanor instantly knew who it was.

"Mrs. Lehnsherr." She acknowledged, turning to see Valerie behind her. She had a concerned look in her face. The two wouldn't admit it, but they cared for one another despite them always fighting for the different sides. Eleanor remembered how she and Valerie would go against each other, just like their husbands.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Eleanor sighed. "I think my anxiety has been quite evident earlier, Valerie. I fear what will happen next. I fear the unknown, the uncertainty of all this." She then chuckled. "I guess I'm afraid that something big might happen in the past and change all this."

"You're afraid of losing Charles." Valerie pointed out, now stepping beside her, looking far ahead on the dark sky.

Eleanor was silent.

"If it's for you, it will always be for you." The brunette told her. "I'll admit, when you and Charles got engaged, I was jealous. I loved him dearly and some part of me will always do. But when I saw how he looked at you at the wedding, I knew I couldn't take that happiness away from him."

Eleanor stared down at the ground. She couldn't read the woman's mind beside her as it blocked her telepathy. It was part of Valerie's power. She could even project that mental shield to another person, barring anyone who attempts to enter it telepathically.

"Why did you marry Erik?" Eleanor looked at the ground, suddenly interested at it.

"For intents and purposes." Valerie sniffed.

"Like?"

"Companionship." She shrugged. "I didn't want to be alone."

The psychic furrowed her eyebrows, raising her hand slightly as she let the ball twirl in her hand. "Aren't you being unfair to him?"

Valerie turned to her, her amber eyes directed on her own with a sad smile on her face. "We both are being unfair with each other."

Eleanor couldn't imagine herself being in that kind of situation. Her heart dropped as she thought of Erik. Had he always known that his wife's heart was not fully his? Did he just turned a blind eye towards it? Did Valerie even admit it to him? What was his reaction?

Why are you even bothered, Eleanor?

"That's from Erik, right?" Her companion eyed the metal ball floating above Eleanor's palm, recognizing it. She grabbed it and placed it in front of her. Erik had given it to her the day he left in 1963, promising to return. It was what she always used to calm her mind when she was worried. She took it upon herself to have it cleaned so it wouldn't rust. She even enlisted some of her students' help to maintain its glossiness. "You know, Erik admitted to me years ago that one of his biggest regrets was leaving you."

Eleanor rolled the ball between her fingers. Why was she telling her this?

"Ellie, I just want to thank you for loving Charles unconditionally." Valerie expressed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know everything will find its own way." She said before leaving to go inside, following Logan who had just entered the monastery.

If this was all for her, it would always find a way.

She sighed and turned to go inside when she caught sight of her son not far from her. He was staring ahead, his eyes glaring. She knew her son was still objecting to the plan, but he had no choice. "Nathan," she called him, moving towards her.

Nathan glanced at her, the dark mist swirling around him stopped as he faced her. Her son was most powerful at night as his mutation was directly connected to the darkness and the shadows. Umbrakinesis. She reminisced the times her son would terrorize the students with his makeshift ghosts. "Mother," he acknowledged. "Have you come to chastise me about my reaction earlier?

Eleanor snorted. "No, because it was normal. You have a son, you have a family. You have everything you wished for and suddenly now, the world is asking you to give it all up, who wouldn't react badly?"

"But you still accepted it. How?"

"For the world, for our kind." She replied, hopeful. It was true. She was willing to give up everything for them all even her own son who she loved with all her heart. Eleanor couldn't stop the tear rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away with her thumb. She didn't want this to happen, but they had too.

Nathan saw this and immediately embraced her mother. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just taking it all in, accepting it. "If this is the last night I will get to see you and hold you, mom, I just want to say thank you for raising me well." told he. "I appreciate everything you and dad have taught me. I am who I am because of you two."

The mother smiled sadly and rubbed her son's back. "I love you both and I'm very thankful for the time we have spent together." Nathan finished, now breaking away and holding her hands.

Eleanor brushed her son's hair back. She couldn't believe he was now all grown up. She was happy she had raised her son in this time. "I love you, son. You'll always be in my heart." She smiled, straightening her son's jacket. Finally feeling at peace and satisfied, she goes inside the monastery where everyone else was discussing the plan.

She saw Logan standing in front of a stone bed, prepping for time travel. The plan was to protect Logan at all costs as he changes the timeline. "So I wake up in my younger body, God knows where. Then what?"

Her husband leant forward, eagerly. "You'll need to go to my house and find me. Convince me of all of this."

"Won't you be able to just read my mind?" Logan queried, a bit confused.

Charles sighed, grayly. "I didn't have my powers in 1973. Logan, you're going to have to do for me what I once did for you. Lead me, guide me." He instructed, carefully. "I was a very different man then. You'll have to be patient with me."

Logan looked like he was about to give up before he even started. "Patience isn't my strongest suit." muttered the immortal. "Do I have to look for you too, ma'am?" he questioned Eleanor. She was about to reply no, but someone else answered for her.

"Yes." answered Erik. "And you'll need to look for me and Valerie as well." He declared.

"What?"

"After Mystique left Charles, she came with me." He started. "And Valerie and I set her on a dangerous path, a darker path. It's going to take all of us side by side at a time when we couldn't be further apart."

"Wait," Eleanor held her hand up, finally speaking up for the first time. "You don't have to look for me, Logan. The three of them are enough." She gestured to them. "I'm pretty sure you all can handle Raven."

"No, you have to look for her too." Erik declared, defiantly, making Eleanor turn to him in confusion.

"Erik, it's unnecessary for me -- "

"You have to be there. You'd balance us all, maintain us together."

The woman narrowed her eyes, her hands glowing red. "I think you're forgetting that I met Charles in 1974 not 1973. I'll be an outsider in this mission, Erik. I don't know anyone else at that time except you. I'll feel useless. So, why the hell should I arrive earlier in the picture?"

"Because I need you to save me." Valerie stepped forward, swallowing.

Eleanor suddenly remembered that Valerie was taken to Trask Industries to be experimented in 1973. She lightly shook her head. She doubted her younger self would care. She was hot-headed and stubborn as hell. She herself didn't even know how she can advise Logan to convince her. If she came along with them, then they may prevent Valerie from being experimented with. She may not have to endure the horrible experience.

"Please, Eleanor. You're my only hope."

She glanced at her husband who nodded, agreeing with the plan. She sighed. Things were now going to be more complicated than ever. "Fine. I guess I should give you a little warning too, Logan. I got a little temper so bear with me."

"What?"

She let out another sigh. "If I'm mad, just leave me be."

Logan nodded, understanding this. A flicker of doubt flashed in his eyes as he realized that Erik and Valerie were joining their group, but when he saw Charles nod, he relented. "Great. So where do I find you all?"

"Well, it's complicated." Erik uttered, frowning slightly.

Logan let out a bark of derision like he was already feeling dizzy from everything he had to accomplish. With a sigh, Logan lied down as Kitty prepared him on the potential dangers of his time-travel mission.

"Basically, your body will go to sleep. While your mind travels back in time. As long as you're back there, past and present will continue to co-exist. But you once wake up..." Kitty paused, a bit indecisive. "Whatever you've done will take hold and become history. And for the rest of us, it will be the only history that we know. It will be like the last that fifty years never happened. And this world, and this war, the only person who remember it is you."

Eleanor stood beside her husband, placing her hand in his shoulder for support. He took it and squeezed it lightly. "It's going to be alright, Ellie. I promise you. I love you."

She smiled at his words of reassurance. She was not at peace with everything. She was ready to face uncertainty. "All right, Logan. I need you to clear your head and to stay as calm as possible."

"What? What do you mean?"

"If your mind gets rocky, it will be harder for me to hold you and you could start to slip between past and future."

"What if I need to get a little rocky?"

"Think peaceful thoughts?" Kitty offered.

"Peaceful thoughts." exasperated Logan. "Do you have any good news?"

Kitty shrugged. "Well, you don't really age, so you'll pretty much look the same." She informed, giving him some hope.

This time, Bobby joined the conversation. "You won't have much the time in the past." He deadpanned. "The Sentinels will find us. They always do." He relayed, letting the immortal feel the weight of his mission.

"And this time, we won't be able to run. We'll have no escape. This is our last chance." Kitty added.

"You really think this will work?" Valerie asked Charles, her face, for the first time since they came, showed emotion. She too was anxious and Eleanor didn't even need to look at her to see it.

"I have faith in him." The professor affirmed his trust in Logan's ability.

Erik shook his head. "It's not him I'm worried about, it's us all. We were young, we didn't know any better."

"We will now." Charles asserted, turning to his wife with hope in his eyes.

She nodded in agreement. "You all will."

"See you all soon." Logan bidded, steadying his breathing as he closed his eyes.

"This might sting a little." Kitty warned as she placed her hands on Logan's temple, finally forming the link to his consciousness. He yelled out in pain and his claws extended. He thrashed around, but Eleanor swiftly subdued him. A red psionic energy bursted out of her fingertips as she telekinetically held down Logan.

His screams soon stopped and his metal claws returned inside his skin, a sign that he had reached his destination. With this, Eleanor released him and kissed her husband's forehead. It was time to join the others to defend the monastery. The plan was simple. Let nothing come near Logan until he had finished his mission.

Charles leant forward in his levitating wheelchair. "Be careful, Ellie." He telepathically told her.

She smirked. "I can't. It's an occupational hazard."

He chortled. "Bring Nathan and Claire inside immediately with you if you can, alright?"

"I will."

Eleanor left the room and noticed her grandchild staring at the door. "Atlas, what are you doing here? Go inside and stay with your grandpa."

Atlas spun around, forlorn. "I want to be there outside, fighting with mom and dad."

The woman knelt down in front of her grandchild, brushing his hair back. "You're already doing a great job staying inside here. You don't need to fight all battles to be a hero, Atlas."

"I don't need to?"

She shook her head, smiling. She embraced the young boy. "No. You're already being brave by staying here, young man. You're choosing your battles wisely. Now, go with your grandfather. He's waiting for you." She patted his head softly as he grinned and ran back inside the room.

"You were always great with children ever since." Erik voiced out behind her, opening the door for them to come out. What Eleanor first noticed was the clouds ahead that made it hard to see anything beyond like it was warning her that something sinister was coming. She wrung her hands together. This was it. The calm before the storm.

"It's what led me to the school." She descended from the stairs with a smile on her lips. She didn't even know she had the heart for teaching until she met Charles and offered her to be a teacher in his school.

"What do you think will happen, Eleanor?" Erik tilted his head, his voice wavering.

The woman squinted her eyes. "I don't know. All I can say is that the future is not set and with Logan's mission now to change the past, anything is possible. Anything can happen."

"Anything can happen." He repeated, resounding. She wanted to read his mind and figure out what he was thinking, but Valerie's mental shield was around. It forbid her from entering, she couldn't even find a crack to break in. Even without his helmet, Erik's mind was still inaccessible. Only God knew now what he was thinking.