The sky was dark, heavy clouds shrouded any source of light; there simply was no light anymore, no sun, just bleak grey gloom which never seemed to lift, never seemed to end, and never went away. This was the future that every mutant had soon found themselves within, a future where they were few and far between and where most had perished already. They were being hunted by something which didn't tire, which didn't need to sleep, or eat; a machine that could adapt and exchange the very powers with whatever mutant sent its way.

For all purposes, the Sentinels were the perfect mutant hunting machine. They had done their jobs so efficiently, that only a small band were remaining, hauled up in China. A land which was once so beautiful, so abundant with life; human, mutant, plant and animal alike, but all that it was now was dark, foreboding and dead.

The cliff sides and edges which surrounded the small temple which was being used as a base seemed, if anything, to be drawing in closer. They weren't, of course, because that wasn't possible. Any mutant who could control nature had perished ages ago. The ever pressing dark just made everything seem a lot more claustrophobic than it actually was. But after a while, after years of being in this constant war zone, it was easy to become accustomed to it all.

There was only so much accustom one could get to being hunted. It was tiring, and never ending. For one, it was something which Erik had found himself being used to for ages. Only, this time the end would definitely be more final than any other time in the past. He had spent more of his life on the run, or within specially made cells then he'd wish to admit. He was older now, no less dangerous; if anything, more so, but with age came exhaustion. He wouldn't admit he was tired, but everyone was. But here, at the end of the world, he stood out looking at the dark horizon and found himself thinking, he hadn't thought for a while, more like he hadn't reminisced for a while. So much had happened, that memories all merged into one.

"You know it wasn't your fault." A voice said from behind him, Erik didn't need to turn to know it was Charles. Through it all, through all the loss of life, the hardships of this life now, Charles had become the one constant. It was ironic, in a way. Through everything, it came down to them being some of the last two remaining. And despite spending years fighting each other, Erik had found that he was surrounded more with Charles and his friends, then with any of his own.

"It is a burden I bear daily, but it's just added to the rest. There are not many things I regret in life, Charles. But I regret being young and stupid at times." Erik said while finally turning, his tired blue eyes looked back at the bald man sitting in his wheelchair, looking at him casually. No matter how many times he was told, Charles still had a habit of listening to his thoughts. Although, with the way Erik secluded himself suddenly, it was probably obvious what he was doing, and whom he was thinking about.

"We were all young and stupid once." Charles said lightly, watching Erik move down the broken stone steps, his black cape billowing out behind him as the wind picked up.

Erik sighed and shook his head, he couldn't help but look over the mutants which were seemingly happy to be reunited. "Some of us are still young." He noted, Kitty, Bobby, Warpath, Sunspot...they were all young.

"They don't have the chance to be stupid," Charles commented quietly, earning a small smile from Erik. No one could be stupid in this time and age, stupidity led to death. Erik nodded his head and just looked down at Charles, from the look on his face, Erik knew he had something to say. Charles frowned, "We have all lost people close to us."

Erik frowned gently, "Liesel's death could've been avoided, if I stuck by my words. Out of everyone, she was one of few people who I gave my word to, wholeheartedly." The rise of the Sentinels had started off slowly, to begin with. But gradually, major people in power backed them and soon, they hunted out mutants all over the world; it wasn't just mutants, it was anyone seemingly able to possibly have mutant children, or those who protected mutants.

Erik was in prison, when Liesel and Gretchen got killed. He couldn't even remember how he came to discover their deaths. Probably Charles. But Erik knew that she would've gone down swinging and trying to save her sister; after all, it's what she wanted to do when she was twelve, despite of the firing squads and the danger. Liesel would run headfirst into danger, and do anything she could, if it meant the person she loved was safe, or saved. None of that happened, the thought of her own power being used against her made Erik feel sick. Humans and their never ending creativity was truly something to behold. But it wasn't so much that, well, it was, but it was knowing that despite Liesel's best efforts, her power killed her and her sister. Something she would've used to protect her twin, was used to kill her. Erik knew how much being apart from Gretchen ate Liesel up inside for years...this just added insult to injury.

"What?" Erik didn't realise Charles was talking, he shook his head and looked down at him again.

"I was of no help either. We both let her down," Charles had given him his word that she could come back to the manor anytime. If there was trouble, he said he'd help, but he didn't. The thing is, this was a lot bigger than just Liesel, both had let down many friends and loved ones. Liesel was just one of many.

Erik brushed a hand through his silvery hair as the wind blew it into his eyes. "I think about her every day." He was definitely getting sentimental in his old age, that, or he knew this was the final stand. Throw everything into the wind and just be honest about his thoughts and feelings. No one was going to judge.

"I know." Charles replied turning and looking towards the small group when they seemed to be going into the temple building. Being outside for long periods of time wasn't wise.

"I think she'd have found humour somehow in this situation." Erik said, glancing down at Charles with a smirk in place.

Charles frowned, "With her bad sense of humour? Yes, most definitely. She was morbid." Yet, even with the frown on his face, he was smiling lightly. Liesel was bad with humour, she never seemed to get it. Whether it was a language barrier or not, Charles never knew.

Erik sighed heavily, he was troubled, when wasn't he? Charles glanced slowly up at him. "She covered the fact she was scared with bad humour more times than not. Could always tell when she was genuinely scared...it is bad to say, I am glad she isn't here, at the end of it all." Erik said, though of course, he wasn't happy she was dead, how could he be? He loved her. He had been through thick and thin with her, and he treated her so badly. He didn't want to see her terrified face when in this situation. Although, he often found himself wondering what she would be like when older. That was natural. The last he saw her, she was in her early twenties. "What makes you think she'll agree to help?" Erik had to ask. He knew her, well, remembered what she was like, she was stubborn.

Charles looked at him certainly, "Because it will be us asking her, and even if she denies it, or tries to, she still loves you, and I am still her friend. We are perhaps the lone two people who she can't say no to, or will struggle to."

Erik felt himself smirking, "That's emotional blackmail, Charles."

Charles shrugged slowly, "Can take some liberties, surely? We need her. What Sean said about her was right, she was one of the strongest, and we need her strength too if we're to succeed." Erik just remained silent, thinking, but didn't reply to Charles's words. His eyes flicked up though when Kitty stepped forwards.

"Whenever the Sentinels attack, Warpath spots them, then I send Bishop back to warn us of the attack before it happens. Blink scouts the next site and, well, then we leave before they ever know we were there." Kitty explained as simply as possible.

"Because we never were." Warpath said, crossing his arms to the side and having a light frown on his face.

Logan frowned along too, looking rather confused as he looked over at Kitty, his gaze flickered between most, the Canadian for the most part seemed rather lost here. Sure, he wasn't the smartest person, but he couldn't quite grasp this. "What do you mean you were never there?"

"She projects Bishop back in time a few days to warn the others of the coming attack." Charles explained, earning a slow nod from Logan, yet from the look on his face, Charles could tell he was still confused.

"So she sends Bishop back in time." Logan said, was he really missing something here?

Charles shook his head gently, "No, just his consciousness into his younger self, his younger body."

"Well..." Logan trailed off, he found that all rather impressive really.

"This might just work, Charles." Erik finally spoke up, now that the explaining for Logan had ended. He didn't even comment on how long it took him to grasp onto the notion, instead he looked to his friend.

"What might work?" Kitty asked, a confused look flitting onto her face.

"The Sentinel Program was originally conceived by Doctor Bolivar Trask. In the early 70s he was one of the world's leading weapons designers, but covertly he had begun experimenting on mutants, using their gifts to fuel his own research. There was one mutant who had discovered what he was doing." Charles explained lowly, slowly even as he remembered full well that time, which was like another lifetime.

"A mutant with the ability to transform herself into anyone." Erik furthered on, sounding wistful really over the fact that even Raven had succumbed to the Sentinels, worse, to Trask. The things that man must've done to her, honestly, it turned Erik's stomach; regardless of what happened between Raven and himself, he had always had respect for her.

"Mystique," Colossus said from the sidelines.

"I knew her as Raven. We met when we were children, grew up together. She was like a sister to me. I tried to help her but only succeeded in driving her away. She hunted Trask across the world, and at the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, after the Vietnam War she found Trask and killed him. It was the first time she killed."

"It wasn't her last," Logan noted quietly, frown still in place.

"But killing Trask did not have the outcome she expected. It only persuaded the government of the need for his program. They captured her that day, tortured her, experimented on her. In her DNA they discovered the secrets to her powers of transformation. It gave them the key they needed to create weapons that could adapt to any mutant power, and in less than fifty years, the machines that have destroyed so many of our kind were created. But it all started that day in 1973. The day she first killed, the day she truly became Mystique." Charles continued on, regardless of what Logan had said. He got lost in thought as he spoke, yet stopped and looked around those gathered.

"You want to go back there?" Kitty asked, slightly shocked really by that suggestion.

"If I can get to her, stop the assassination, keep her out of their hands, then we can stop the Sentinels from ever being born." Charles looked towards Kitty.

"And end this war before it ever begins." Erik said seriously, so much could change from stopping this fate from happening. He could get Liesel back, sentimentality and old age, longing to see her, hear her; he could barely remember what her voice sounded like anymore...let alone her as a person...

"I can send someone back a couple of weeks, maybe a month, but you're talking about going back decades. You have the most powerful brain in the world, Professor, but the mind can only stretch so far before it snaps. It would rip you apart. I'm sorry, no one could survive that trip." Kitty said sounding both saddened and desperate, she didn't wish Charles to end up having this fate.

"What if someone's mind has a way of snapping back? What if someone can heal as fast as its ripped apart?" Logan spoke up, deadly serious as all eyes looked towards him. Walking over to the stone table in the room, Logan jumped and sat down. "So, I wake up in my younger body, God knows where, then what?" He asked, looking at Charles as he stopped beside him.

"You'll need to go to my house and find me, convince me of all of this." Charles said while Logan nodded along, Charles could tell he was presuming this was going to be easy. Oh, how little he knew...

"Won't you be able to just read my mind?" Logan stated obviously.

"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. I was a very different man then. You'll have to be patient with me." Charles admitted sadly, different was one word, he could recall how he was, how he acted, Logan was in for a real treat.

"Patience isn't my strongest suit." Logan said, a wry smirk in place, which was true, he really wasn't at all patient.

"You'll need me as well." Erik stepped beside Charles, he didn't look to him yet Logan looked at him like he was mad.

"What?"

"After Mystique left Charles, she came with me and I set her on a dangerous path, a darker path. It's going to take the two of us, side by side at a time when we couldn't be further apart." Erik said, genuine and honest as Logan's expression turned to a blank one as he nodded in understanding.

Logan couldn't help but nod, only because Charles nodded, completely agreeing with Erik. "Great. So, where do I find you?" He almost regretted asking, even more so since Erik's expression turned to a strained one. Of course, it couldn't be simple with Erik, could it?

"Well, it's complicated." Erik struggled out with a tense tone.

Logan shrugged, he didn't doubt that. He slowly laid down and looked up as Kitty appeared looking down at him. "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 coexist. But once you wake up, whatever you've done will take hold and become history. And for the rest of us it'll be the only history that we know. It'll be like the last fifty years never happened, in this world, in this war. The only person who will remember it is you. Alright, Logan, I need you to clear your mind and stay as calm as possible." Kitty explained, having Logan's dark eyes look up at her before flitting down and him giving an uncomfortable fidget on the stone underneath him.

"What? What do you mean?"

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

"What if I need to get a little rocky?" Logan asked, smirking a little up at her.

"Think peaceful thoughts." She replied with a quiet sigh.

"Peaceful thoughts. You have any good news?" Logan mused while looking back up at her.

"Well, you don't really age so you'll pretty much look the same." If that was any consolation at all, Logan seemed to give another shrug over that.

"You won't have much time in the past, the Sentinels will find us. They always do." Bobby said, talking up for the first time.

"And this time, we won't be able to run, we'll have no escape. This is our last chance." Kitty said, getting emphasis on the serious part.

"Do you really think this will work?" Erik asked quietly, so only Charles could really hear.

"I have faith in him." Charles said, watching as Kitty prepared to start.

"It's not him I'm worried about, it's us, we were young. We didn't know any better." Erik looked away from Logan, and to Charles, he seemed troubled by his words.

"We will now." He replied rather enigmatically. Erik didn't say anything else, but simply watched as Logan's eyes slid to a close and Kitty commenced sending him back.

----

Edited: 13/June/2019

Reedited: 24/August/2021