if only i could help us both

~

Neva didn't really understand how Hank loved planes so much. Good thing this trip would only last a few hours. Again in her warm blanket, Neva was curled up in her seat. She leaned on the wall and twirled her pen around, wanting to stretch out her legs on solid ground. Hank called that they were almost there, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Logan was sitting on the other side, and Charles was sitting in his same spot. He touched his legs hesitantly.

"You ok?" he asked the professor. Charles looked up and nodded.

"Getting there," he said softly. Neva smiled to herself. That was a good sign. Logan sighed and leaned forward.

"Whatever happens today, I need you to promise me something," he said solemnly. "You looked into my mind, and you've seen a lot of bad, but you've seen the good too." Neva raised her eyebrows slightly. Charles had seen the future? "The X-Men. Promise me you'll find us. Use your power, bring us together. Guide us, lead us. Storm, Scott, Jean." He paused and glanced at Neva. "And River. Remember those names. There's so many of us. We will need you, Professor." Charles smiled, but Neva was shocked at the young girl's name.

"I'll do my best," the Brit said. Logan nodded and leaned back.

"Your best is enough, trust me," he said. Neva cleared her throat, and the two men looked at her.

"Sorry, you said uh River?" she said. Logan nodded again.

"Yeah why?"

"Is she...can I...um..." Neva felt herself pulling off her gloves.

"What?"

"M-my mutation," she stammered. "I c-can read your future. Can I?"

"You wanna read my future?" Logan looked at Charles who nodded slightly. "Alright, not all of it, but sure," said the older man. He walked across to the seat next to her. "So how does this work?"

"Hold out your hands," she instructed. "My mutation works with skin to skin contact." He nodded and put out his hands.

"I knew someone like that," he said quietly. Neva took in a deep breath. She put hers into his and was immersed into the future.

The feeling of extreme pain all over. Flashes of a red headed woman grinning. Laughing at a man with red glasses. Running in a leather pantsuit. Meeting a woman with brilliant white hair and a joyful smile. An Asian woman sitting on the man in red glasses (they were laughing). A girl with a white streak in her hair, holding out a gloved hand. A brunette with no powers but a wide smile. The sight of a silver robot with glowing eyes and long arms. Running with the professor and a man in a cape. Robots ripping people apart. The feeling of emptiness.

"Focus for River," Charles said as if a distance away. He was talking through his powers, trying to stabilize hers. Neva nodded, eyes still closed. She focused on a strong memory with the girl's name.

"River! River! Wake up!" River jolted awake. She was older, looked more mature but still child-like. Logan saw hot tears run down her face. He had been shaking her shoulders and felt very concerned. He knew all about her nightmares - the faces, the instruments, the silver and white.

River wiped away her tears and tried to sink further into her seat as he took his hands off.

"Hey kiddo," he said gently. "What happened?"

"Just...a-a d-dream, Logan," she stuttered. Logan frowned. The girl hadn't had dreams that bad since the escape.

Their truck had stopped at a rest stop. It was nighttime. Logan had been sleeping when she had started screaming.

"Him again?" he asked with a soft tone. She nodded.

"And...other stuff," River whispered.

"Yeah, you were talking in your sleep," he said. "If you don't mind me asking, who's Scott? Charles? Jubilee?" She stiffened, and he noticed. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Just past. Stuff." Logan knew she didn't like to talk about her past. It was their unspoken rule: don't mention someone else's past and they won't mention their's. Logan liked it that way, and he knew River did too. Still, he got curious sometimes. All he knew about the young mutant was her name, Rivera Lee, and her enhanced powers.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked. The girl hesitated but then shook her head.

"Ok," he said. He knew not to push her. "Try and go back to sleep. I'll be driving around tomorrow and then we are leaving." She nodded and curled up more into her seat. Logan sighed to himself.

"Ok that's enough," Logan said, pulling his hands to himself and pulling Neva out of the memory. She blinked at the harsh light of the plane. Charles watched her intently.

"River..." she whispered. Logan sighed, just like in the memory, and nodded.

"Yeah." He looked at Charles first. "You better take care of her." He turned to Neva. "She's important. Just doesn't realize it a lot of the time." Logan moved back to his seat, leaving Neva in shock still.

"Neva, we're almost there," Charles said gently. She snapped out of her thoughts and nodded at him.

River...what had she done?

~

Dear Alex,

I've stopped writing the dates on these for right now, but I'll go back and write them in later. Today's just been a hectic day. In the morning, we went to Cerebro to find where Mystique was and now we're in an airplane to Washington, DC yet again. It's almost like a very, very, very long mission. I really wish you were here. You'd make things more interesting.

How's the army? I really pray that you'll be back soon, and also that I'll be back soon so we can meet up. River would be super happy to see you.

I miss River. I hope she's ok with the Maximoff's. I'm sure she'll have fun. Wanda seemed really nice, but I bet Peter's trying to get her to eat a lot of candy. Little teenager punk. I wonder what Riv will be like when she's a teenager. Do you think she'll ever have a crush on Scott? Didn't we talk about that before? That'd be hilarious. She could be a Summers! Wouldn't that be kind of cool?

Well, speaking of Riv, I read part of Logan's future today. It was a scene with River. She was older, a lot older. She seemed really afraid about someone or something. She talked a bit about a Scott, which is probably your brother. There was also a Jubilee, whose name seems familiar to me. Logan told me and Charles to protect Riv, which scares me.

Alex, what if I can't protect her? What if I can't be there for her? She needs a strong foundation after what her parents did to her, and what if we can't be there when she needs us?

I just feel like I won't be able to do anything for her, and it hurts me. I know that you understand because you love her as much as I do. I almost feel related to her, if that makes any sense.

I don't want to see her get hurt. The same way with you too, actually. I don't want to see you hurt either. If only I could help us both.

But I feel like I can't.

What if I can't protect you two from being hurt?

Love, Neva Liu

~

Neva wheeled Charles through the metal detector, which beeped at the wheelchair. She rolled her eyes at it. There were already lots of people at the field in front of the White House, and news cameras from around the world aimed at the stage filled with army officials and huge cloth covering something giant. She cringed at how impressive the government had made it seem.

"May I see your invitations please?" a ticket man asked. Charles put two fingers on his temple and nodded.

"Yes, you may," he said. "And these three are with me." The man smiled and let them through.

"Go ahead," he said. Charles smiled back, and Neva continued.

"You are just loving your powers, aren't you?" Neva mumbled. Charles grinned at her and shrugged.

"A blessing and a curse, Neva, dear," he replied. Hank and Logan walked behind them, surveying the crowd. Neva and Charles stopped, and he put his fingers on the side of his forehead. The three other mutants just looked around for Mystique, although, Neva realized that it was pointless with Mystique's mutation.

"Any luck, Prof?" Hank asked. Charles shook his head, and Logan furrowed his eyebrows behind his sunglasses.

"Haven't found her yet, but she has to be here," Charles said still staring out the crowd. There was a sudden blast of trumpets, and Neva looked to see the president riding up in a car. The crowds stood up and clapped excitingly. Nixon got out and walked onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America!" an announcer declared. The applause got louder, and Nixon waved as he went to the podium. Neva, Logan, and Hank clapped politely. Neva didn't really like Nixon, to be honest.

"Thank you, thank you," he said into the microphone. The people sat back down and watched him expectantly. "My fellow Americans," he said proudly, "today, we face the greatest threat in our history: mutants." Neva and Hank exchanged glances as Charles kept searching for Mystique. "We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer, 'Behold. The world will never be the same again.'" Nixon turned and pointed behind him. Loud patriotic music blared again as the flags behind him unravelled, revealing giant robots. The people clapped. Neva widened her eyes: they looked very similar to the robots in Logan's future. She looked at him. He seemed tense.

"Raven!" Charles shouted suddenly. The three looked down in surprise. He pursed his lips in concentration. "I have her!"

"Where?" Hank asked, looking around.

"There!" Charles pointed to the left. "Secret Service Man, left of the stage."

"Got it," Logan said.

"Go!" said Charles. Neva watched as the two men ran off towards a man in a suit. She then saw a guard stop them from continuing further, and she cursed under her breath.

"Keep holding her, Charles," she whispered to the Brit. He nodded and seemed to be talking quietly. Neva knew he was communicating with Mystique. All of a sudden, there was a whir and Neva looked up to see the large machines activating. Her eyes widened more.

"Oh no," she whispered. The robots' engines began to power up, and they started floating above the crowd. The people gaped in awe and clapped with American pride. However, their applause was soon ruined as the Sentinels began to raise their guns. Then the screaming began.

"Erik!" Charles yelled out in frustration as bullets rained down on police cars. Neva quickly ducked and started to roll Charles away as fast as she could. She could tell that he had lost concentration on Mystique. She wondered if Hank and Logan were ok. She saw the president being escorted away with the other military leaders. She didn't understand why they weren't helping the American citizens.

"Holy..." Neva looked up with big eyes at a baseball stadium flew overhead. She noticed a man in a cape levitating with it. Erik.

"Neva! Watch out!" Charles yelled, sunglasses in hand. She snapped out of her trace and saw that concrete chunks were falling from the sky directly to where they stood.

"Get down!" she shouted back. Charles forced himself to fall out of his wheelchair as debris fell on top of him. "Charles!" Before she could reach him, Neva looked up to see a large bar of steel about to hit her. She screamed and ran out of the way, only to be hit with another piece of concrete.

"Neva!" she heard Hank yell. Neva felt tears prick her eyes and tried to tug her leg out from under the piece of rock.

The baseball stadium fell down around them, and she saw Erik controlling the robots, using them as guards. Somehow, possibly with the superhuman strength that comes with survival instincts, Neva pulled out her leg, shaking in pain. There was red, and she turned her head away before she fainted. She hadn't been this badly injured since that one mission in California and had never been good with blood. Her eyes swam, and her head felt nauseated. She could hear Charles also groaning in pain a few feet away, and she vaguely saw Hank and Logan hiding behind something.

Neva Liu wished badly for Alex.

~

Alex Summers walked down the busy street corner in Connecticut, trying to find the bus stop for the ride going to New York. A few people thanked him for his service, and he smiled quickly before returning to his search. If they knew he was a mutant, they would've avoided him. The thought made him grin a bit. It was like he had a secret identity or something.

As he neared the bus stop, he saw people crowding around a television store. Intrigued, the blonde walked over, hoisting his duffel bag more onto his shoulder. He looked at one of the various TV's in the window and almost dropped his belongings.

The screen showed a disastrous scene: the White House was under attack by none other than Erik Lehnsherr. A huge baseball stadium had been dropped around the area and large robots aimed guns at any police who moved. However, what shocked him more were the people in the peripherals of the cameras that had obviously been abandoned but still were functional.

Hiding behind a concrete block looked like a certain Hank McCoy and another bulky man. A man resembling Charles Xavier was under another block, looking as if he was trying to escape.

And then Alex saw her.

He saw a beautiful Asian woman wiping her tears away hastily as her right leg bled out into the dust-filled grass. His heart broke, and he tried his best not to break out into tears. He sniffed to himself and heard some people mutter about mutants and their danger.

Taking deep breaths, Alex reluctantly turned away from the television and went towards the bus that had just arrived. Climbing up the stairs, he took one last glance at the store before the bus door closed. He sat down with conviction and a heavy heart. And Alex felt the one thing he hated to feel: helplessness.

A/N: i kinda really like this chapter even though it's short?? this gave some lil foreshadowing for the sequel to PERFECT which is coming soon mwahaha

also guys! i have a new xmen story connecting to this series ahahah (i have no control siriusly someone help) anywaysssss it's called UNIQUE; it's a charles xavier fic and part one takes place in the 60's before neva so yay! part two is to be announced ;))) hope you guys like it!!!

oh another note lmao: sorry this fic is like soooo unorganized wth dalvie