Cairo was destroyed.

Jean unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up, watching through the window of the jet as dust cascaded around them. The original pyramids were gone, along with half of the urban city that was built close to it. Built upon the new ruins was a new pyramid that Jean had never seen before. It rose up higher than the previous pyramids ever had, and its appearance was incredibly daunting.

Raising her finger to her temples, Jean reached out, trying to find Charles' mind.

She couldn't feel anything, and then ... suddenly, she felt his mind and lurched forwards to tell the others what she had seen.

"He has the Professor in the centre of the pyramid," She pointed at the newly-built structure, "He's going to transfer his consciousness into the Professor. If he does that, he'll have the power to control every mind in the world."

"What about Iris?" Hank asked, leaning backwards in his seat to glance at her.

Jean tried to reach for Iris' mind, but she couldn't find it. It was as if she wasn't there at all. She felt herself begin to panic.

"I, I can't-"

As her mind caught onto Charles' again, she held onto it, reaching in to read his thoughts and to understand what had happened to Iris.

A series of images rushed through her mind, painfully fresh - Iris' body raised in the air as flames burst out of her body around her, followed by the single image of Iris, but not-quite-Iris, standing in the sunlight in dark armour with fire at her fingertips.

Jean gasped, stumbling backwards at the sight of it. She understood what it meant – she knew all about Iris' worst nightmare.

"Hank," She gasped, sprinting forwards, "He's weaponised her."

The blood rushed out of Hank's face. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was speechless. Jean could understand why. He'd been friends with Iris and Charles for years, and now he was in danger of losing them both.

Raven unbuckled herself from her chair and leant forwards, reaching out for Hank gently. Her hand brushed his, and he turned to face her, their eyes meeting.

"Hank," Raven started to say, "We might be able to get to her and undo it. If we can get her and Charles, I'm sure Charles will be able to undo whatever has been done to her - "

"Charles is going to be broken. That was Iris' worst nightmare. And Charles had to watch it come true..." Hank whispered.

Raven closed her eyes and leant forwards, and Jean could feel that both Raven and Hank were thinking the same thing. She got flashes of images of the Professor, years before, looking so different to the calm, controlled one that she knew now. Flashes of a broken man, who seemed so lost.

Hank's voice was low, "It will break Charles all over again..."

Jean shook her head firmly.

"Not if we get to her. Not if we save her."

Hank's expression softened when he looked at her, "Jean, it might not be that easy. You know how powerful she is, before she even loses control. If this... being that wants to take over the world has control over her, we might not be able to get to her. Not without someone getting hurt."

Jean stared at Hank, her expression firm, "We have to try."

After a pause, Hank hesitantly nodded in agreement, "We will try, Jean. We'll try."

Jean held his gaze for a few seconds before glancing away. Iris had been her greatest role model since she'd joined the school, and she wasn't willing to give up on her.

"What's that?" Peter asked, rushing forwards and pointing at a strange shape in the sky. Jean squinted at it for a moment, idly thinking that it reminded her of the shape of a magnetic field.

"It's Erik," Raven muttered, and there was something wistful in her gaze. She shook it away just as quickly as Jean had noticed it, before turning to her and Scott, "You guys help Nightcrawler get into the pyramid. Get Charles. I'll take care of Erik."

"How are you going to get through that?" Moira asked Raven carefully.

Peter stepped forwards, his gaze on Raven. "I can get you in there. I came here for him, let me help you."

Hank pulled away from the controllers of the jet, "I'll take care of Iris."

"Hank," Raven shook her head, "Are you sure? If she's weaponised like she was when she was a child... she won't hesitate to kill you."

Hank closed his eyes, "I'll try and stall her, knock her out or something. It should work. The rest of you just need to worry about getting Charles on this plane."

Moira steadied the plane as it landed on the dusty ground, "I'll be waiting here, ready to fly once everyone's on board."

Everyone nodded, and the mutants began to leave the jet. Scott paused.

"Wait!"

Raven turned around with irritation, "What?"

"Not all of us can control our powers."

Jean felt glad that Scott had said it - the same thought had been running through her own mind.

"Then don't. You need to embrace them," Raven hesitated. A moment later, her appearance changed as she returned to her natural blue form. "We all do."

As the groups separated, Jean still felt hesitant. She wanted to embrace her powers, but how could she do it without hurting those around her?

She shook her head and followed Scott and Kurt. This was going to be for the Professor and Iris.

If they had faith in her, she needed to have faith in herself too.

*

En Sabah Nur had been hard at work. He'd destroyed Cairo, and built upon the ruins without a second thought. Everything about this newly-built pyramid was so daunting, and Charles had to admit that he was afraid. En Sabah Nur was going to transfer his consciousness into Charles' body. Once he did that, he was going to be able to control every mind on the world.

There was nothing Charles could do. He felt helpless, as Angel – the young boy with wings – carried him through the pyramid. En Sabah Nur and Iris walked ahead of them. Charles watched her in silence, and felt his throat swell with grief.

Angel laid Charles' body down on a smooth dark table. He tried to sit up, but En Sabah Nur created restraints over his wrists to prevent him from moving. He struggled nonetheless.

"Iris," Charles' voice broke slightly as she turned around with a disinterested look on her face.

"Yes?" Her voice was odd - it was cold and hard. Charles had never heard her voice like that before. No matter what mood she was in, her voice had always been warm and filled with emotion. Now, she appeared to be an empty shell. He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing himself to remember better times with Iris – laughter, golden sunlight passing through the leaves of trees and casting dancing shadows on the grass around them, a touch between fingertips, a kiss... He opened his eyes again and studied her face.

"You must be in there somewhere. Please," He whispered softly.

She cocked her head to one side and watched him. Charles waited to see some form of recognition – anything, even if it were just the faintest spark in her eyes.

Nothing.

A quiet groan escaped Charles' mouth as she turned away again, appearing disinterested once more. Everything that Charles had learnt to love about her had faded away. She was still a vision of beauty - but a type of beauty that terrified Charles to the core.

He couldn't even reach into her mind. En Sabah Nur had blocked it. How was he ever going to save her from this?

En Sabah Nur, beckoned Iris over to him, and murmured in her ear gently. Charles shuddered at the sight of how close En Sabah Nur dared to get to her. The false god glanced up and caught Charles' gaze with a smug expression. He was torturing him on purpose.

Iris nodded as she listened to her instructions, before turning away and beckoning for Angel to follow her out of the pyramid. Charles watched as she walked away, her hips swaying, her armour hugging every curve of her body, her hair tumbling down her back. This wasn't the way he wanted to remember Iris, when she was no longer the Iris he knew. His consciousness was about to be destroyed when En Sabah Nur took control of his body. He was going to die, and he refused to die with this image of Iris in his mind. He desperately hoped that someone would be able to save Iris after he'd died. He just needed her to live on, happy and safe.

He closed his eyes, and thought of a time long ago. A late night when he'd found her in the kitchen before their fight with Sebastian Shaw, and they'd kissed under the make-belief trees that Iris had projected for the two of them. Neither of them had been able to sleep, and they'd needed a distraction from the day that was to come. He remembered whispering in her ear after kissing her, "Is this a good enough distraction?"

She'd laughed, her smile lighting up the room as she'd replied, "Absolutely perfect."

As Charles recalled the memory, he blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes.

That was the Iris he wanted to remember before he died.

*

Jean wanted to scream. She could feel the panic in the voices of those around her as they desperately tried to fight En Sabah Nur's cronies. On one side of her, Scott was fighting a young woman with the ability to control the weather. Between Scott's laser eyes and the girl's thunder and lighting that she'd created, they were creating even more destruction. She could read that Scott was terrified to be unleashing his powers this much, when he'd been trying to control them since he'd developed them. She wanted to help, but didn't know how.

Inside the pyramid, she could hear that Kurt was battling with a young boy who had metal wings. She could feel Kurt's struggle as the boy tried to keep him away from the transference process between Charles and En Sabah Nur.

She could also faintly hear Hank's voice in her mind, and sensed his distress. Something was happening to him, although she wasn't sure what...

Just as she tried to focus further on Hank's thoughts, she felt a pair of arms around her, and then she was inside the jet. Before she had a chance to ask Kurt was going on, he had already disappeared from the jet again. She glanced down at the floor and gasped.

The Professor was on the floor of the jet, and he'd lost all of the hair on his head. He seemed to have passed out after the intense transference process that he'd almost gone through. Jean fell to her knees and held onto him, trying not to convey her panic. She took a few deep breaths. He was going to be okay. They'd saved him, and he was going to be okay.

"Professor?" She asked gently, but he didn't stir. She tried again, but still nothing.

Her thoughts flickered to Hank, and she realised she still hadn't worked out what was causing his distress. She pressed her finger to her temple and reached out for his mind blindly. When she finally locked onto it, she realised what was happening.

She squeezed her eyes closed and desperately hoped that all of them were going to get out of this.

*

Hank sprinted towards the pyramid, his eyes scanning the ruins of Cairo as he searched for any sight of the kids or Raven. He was in his Beast form, so his eyesight was clearer than normal. His eyes registered a figure in the distance, and after a pause he realised it was Iris.

The sight of her caused him to freeze. It was Iris' body, but he knew she wasn't truly Iris. She walked towards him with unseeing eyes, wearing a dark armour he'd never seen before.

She didn't seem to recognise him when she got closer. A sword appeared in her hand, its sharp edges glinting in the light.

"Iris," Hank called out, "This isn't you."

She didn't say anything – she didn't even pause to register what he'd said. Instead, she swung the sword around in her hands, and ran towards him, pointing the blade towards his chest. He leapt out of the way and she skidded to a halt in the sand, spinning to glare at him. After a moment's hesitation, she threw the sword to the ground behind her, and leapt towards him, her knee aiming for his face. It collided with full force, and he staggered backwards for a moment.

"Will you not fight back?" She asked, "Otherwise this will be incredibly dull."

Briefly, Hank stared at her, wondering if there was some essence of Iris still in those dark eyes. He saw nothing at all. He ran his hand over his face and sighed.

"I'm sorry about this."

Pulling his fist back quickly, he punched her in the face - an action that she clearly had not expected. Her face swung to the side, but she snapped back within a second, and another sword appeared in her hand. She leapt towards him, and he jumped over her once again and reaching out to kick her in the head. She ducked, dropping to the floor and sliding between his legs as he landed. A rope appeared in her free hand, and she pulled it around his ankles, causing him to topple over. He landed with a thud, but jumped back up a moment later, ripping the rope from his ankles.

She swung her sword downwards, and he ducked quickly enough for it to just brush the top of his head. As he straightened up, he felt a sharp pain in his arm and cried out. She'd nipped his arm with the tip of the blade.

Without a second's hesitation, he knocked the sword out of her hand and picked her up, apologising quickly before he threw her towards a wall.

The action clearly surprised her, as she did not react quickly enough to prevent the harsh impact. She slid to the ground with a groan.

"Hank!" There was a shout behind him, and he saw the plane preparing to take off. In that moment, he froze.

Should he take Iris onto the plane or leave her there? He glanced over at her still body on the ground and began to run towards her. The closer he got, the more aware he became of her beginning to stir. When he was just a few metres away from her, a ball of fire emerged in her hand. Her eyes snapped open, and she threw the fire towards him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, but felt nothing.

Instead, when he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on the floor of the jet, with a grinning Kurt sitting beside him.

The other students were there as well, and Jean had an unconscious Charles laying across her lap, all of the hair on his head entirely gone. Hank knew that he needed to help Moira fly the jet, but as he stared at Charles, he felt his heart sink, realising what he had done.

He had left Iris behind.