When Gambit came to, he found himself in the same place as Warren.

He didn't see Warren right off.

The light was dim and unnatural looking, and the air was dead still.

Gambit realized Warren was there only when he heard him mutter something through the glass of his cell.

"Now where dis be?" Gambit wondered.

Someone walked into view.

A woman who looked vaguely familiar but not at the same time, wearing purple.

She regarded him coolly.

"Not de one I thought," Gambit remarked.

"Selene's busy," the woman said. "So I'm keeping an eye on you fools. I don't think we've met.... Name's Psylocke."

"No it ain't," Gambit said. "I meet Pyslocke before. She ain't you. She taller, for one thing."

That seemed to annoy the woman.

"Not that taller... Yes, I heard that my twin had some run-ins with the X-men. But I've never heard of you. Gambit, was it? What's a thief doing on a team of super, goody-two-shoe mutants."

"What is a second rate Psion doin' on a team of madmen tryin' blow up de world?" Gambit replied.

"Who's second rate?" Psylocke said, angrily. "Big talk for the guy in the cage."

"Gambit figure if you go along with dis plan, you in bigger cage dan he is," Gambit said.

"The third person? Really?" Psylocke said. "What, they don't have grammar in the Bayou?"

"Dey have witches," Gambit retorted.

Psylocke frowned again. "I already know I'm not going to like you. Well, it won't matter soon enough. How about you, Angel Boy? Comfortable?"

"I still say they're controlling you," Warren answered, with a weak voice. "Just like the other one."

"Where is de one we know?" Gambit asked.

"Don't know, never saw her in here," Warren said. "We've had our problems with her, but she'd never do something like this. I'm sure this one wouldn't either."

Psylocke regarded them without seeming to be moved. "You do what you must. Not that you'll get a chance. I hear they have big plans for you two."

"Why are you British?" Gambit didn't take much notice of her threats.

"Oh, forget it." Psylocke walked away. "I don't have to listen to this."

"It's frightening, isn't it?" Warren said, still faintly. "Seeing another one. Not the same though--you can tell she's different."

"She seems suspicious ta Gambit," Gambit said. "Where is dis place?

"All they tell me is that it's a holding area for people they don't need the powers of. Selene is using it like a personal lunch box for her powers. I guess she has to refuel them. But she hasn't killed me yet. I guess they don't have enough replacements."

"She done touched you?" Gambit said. "No good, mon ami. Dat mean she can control you now."

"I don't know what you mean by that," Warren said.  "It's not a nice feeling, but so far I've survived it. I'm durable. They'll do the same to you, probably. They don't have any other use for us."

"Maybe dey do, as weapons." Gambit had no wish to be used as a life juice box by Selene.

"Please, tell me the others are close to finding us," Warren said. 

"Gambit not know. He taken before he hear if Magneto knew anything," Gambit said.

"Magneto?! It's as desperate as that!" Warren said. "How long have I been gone?"

"Almost week, give or take."

"That's it? It feels like months," Warren said. "Also like minutes... This place is weird. Never seems to change. People just come in sometimes to taunt me. More than we thought. Not just the Circle. You saw Psylocke. But there's more. There's another Quicksilver. Another of a lot of people. I don't know them all. Psylocke would. But they've never sent her in here."

"Maybe dey afraid she snapped out of deir control if she see someone she know," Gambit said.

"Maybe...that might mean they can resist it," Warren said. "We can hope, but it's no good if we can't get to them."

"One thing, if so many doubles are here, how dey not all begin merging yet?" Gambit said.

"I'm not sure they can, in here," Warren said. "Or it's not time yet. I never understand Miss Likstar's explanations. But I'd give anything to get her here with one. Funny, you can not like someone, but still want their help."

"Gambit know," Gambit said. "Dey find us, sooner or later. Dey never give up. We hold it together until den. Make sure we ready."

"But I'm afraid you won't be doing that," a new voice said.

Gambit looked up.

Coming into the room, finally not blocked by the angles of the cell, he saw someone who was undeniably Sinister...but didn't look quite right even so.

His voice was different too.

"Recognize me?" Sinister said. "I'm told we've met, though not us especially, but my evil twin."

"I thought Sinister was dead," Warren said. 

"I'm very much alive," Sinister said. "Ah, the other one, he was a fool though, not knowing what he stumbled on. I hate to speak ill of myself, but there it was. But no matter. I have been quite excited for your arrival."

"Now dis make sense," Gambit said. "You always did want Cyclops and Jean, didn't ya? Where you keepin' 'em? Locked in your basement?"

"How crass," Sinister said. "That's very last century, don't you think? Why use a basement when you have a whole realm to store people in? Granted, they have been my primary interest. But I'm still intrigued by the possibilities for the rest of you. I heard I didn't grant you those wings, Mr. Worthington. Courtesy of Apocalypse, it would seem."

"Courtesy?" Warren spat. "He turned me into a monster."

"That's all in the eye of the beholder," Sinister said. "My Dark Angel, now, he has a real zeal for returning lost souls to me. I am curious as to how you broke out of Apocalypse's control though. I heard it was Rogue. Seems she has more potential in that dimension than in my own."

"You'd best keep your claws away from her," Gambit said. "Might get dem broken off."

"Your concern is touching, but I think we can handle the X-men," Sinister said. "At this stage, we can stop them. Oh, you'll be happy to know, though, our sources tell us they are planning to pay us a little visit."

"How would you know that?" Warren said.

"Did you really think we couldn't spy on you?" Sinister said. 

"Gambit wonder," Gambit said. "But dat don't explain how."

"I'm afraid such information is not something we'd leak to you. You never know who it'll get back to," Sinister said. "But rest assured, we will give your friends a warm welcome. I may even be generous enough to let you see your lady one last time before the end, my friend, but of course, we'd have to make sure you're ready by then. Both of you. We have such plans for the world. You've no idea."

"You stark mad if you think it will end well, what you try ta do," Gambit said.

"You speak of things you know nothing about," Sinister said. "But you'll see. You'll both see."

He laughed and walked away.

"Psylocke!" Gambit called.

She came into view, looking annoyed. "What?"

"Don't care what kind of person you is, you can't really want ta lose your identity ta dis...dis merging," Gambit said. "You can't know you'd survive it."

"But I can," Psylocke said. "You will too. Chin up. Well, one of you will."

"You would destroy billions of people's lives jus' so you walk free?" Gambit said. "Despicable."

Psylocke wavered for a second, but then she stepped back. "Enjoy your stay, while you can."

[Doesn't sound good.]

* * *

Day three came to an end and everyone was in agreement.

"We have to do it," Wally summed it up. "If we can."

"And that is the guidance I got," Shine said. "So I suppose that's all there is to it. If all of you feel ready."

The X-men shook their heads.

"We're goin', ready or not," Rogue said, fiercely. "We're gettin' Gambit back. Those swine, who knows what they'll do to him?" 

"Everyone made up their mind who's coming?" Shine asked.

"Cable is not accepting being left behind," Storm said. "I locked him in the basement and told the Morlocks to let him out once we're gone, but I don't know what he'll do."

"Won't he get snatched anyway?" Kitty asked.

"Maybe, but I'd rather rescue him than have to trust him to follow orders when he clearly won't," Shine said.

"Aye aye, Captain," Morph said.

Shine raised an eyebrow. "Do you all not agree?"

"No, that's about right," Logan said. "We don't need 'im anyway. Now, are ya sure about everyone else?"

He meant, of course, Emma and Mystique, maybe also the kids.

"We're gonna go," Jubilee said. "We have to save our friends."

"And...you know, the world..." Kitty said.

For some reason that made a lot of people laugh. They were a nervous wreck.

* * *

They all stood outside in the snow to make the attempt.

"Before we do this," Shine said, "I wanted to embarrass everyone by having something to say...just in case, you know."

"A speech? Now?" Logan grumbled.

"Logan," Storm said warningly. "Go ahead, Shine."

"I'll make it brief," Shine said, with a wry smile at Logan. "I have to say, when Wally and I arrived here, about 6 months ago now, we never thought it'd be like this."

The group nodded grimly.

Shine smiled more brightly then. "I've been on tons of missions, and I love all my friends, from every world, but, I have to say, this one is special. I feel like I fit here, with all of you, and even when we're arguing and frustrated, I almost don't care. Because you guys are like a family. We don't get that too many places. Friends sure, but family? That's special. Honestly, never had anything like this. And this may be one of the most dangerous things I've ever done, but, really, if I had to do it, I'm glad it's with all of you, and I know Wally is too, but he told me he'd start crying if I made him give a speech, so...I guess this is from both of us."

She wiped her eyes. "I swore I wasn't going to break down right before we left...sorry."

"Oh, Shine, that was beautiful." Storm was touched.

"I'm gonna cry now," Jubilee muttered.

"Yeah, what she said," Wally said. "You guys are great." He looked a little watery.

"This is just depressing," Kitty said.

"Shh," Ryan hissed at her.

"I think it's only right to say we feel the same about the two of you," Storm said. "Unbelievable--I've almost forgotten you were not X-men to begin with. We can never thank you enough for your patience with us and for introducing us to things that we'd never have gone after ourselves, but, at the end of the day, you're our friends, also. Usually our visitors from other worlds are just strangers, but this time we know you. I feel better about this idea because of that."

"Storm!" Shine grabbed tissue. "That does it, I'm going to be a mess now."

"I think Storm said it pretty good," Rogue said. "Thanks, y'all. I mean, that goes for everyone too. This ain't our first rodeo. It better not be our last, right?"

"Are we all doing speeches?" Morph said. "Because I can't even start with how much I've been glad to be back with my freaky, mutant family, and you guys are all great, and we're totally not going to die, and--"

Mystique nudged him. "Maybe should have ended on the 'great' part."

"Right..." Morph rubbed his head.

"Well, 'Do not not go gentle into that good night.' Dylan Thomas," Hank said.

"We're not goin' around this whole circle and makin' speeches," Logan said. "Please."

"Well, it does seem right to say something," Scott said. "I mean, I've known you all for about 2 weeks, but I think it's right to say I'm grateful for your help and your being willing to do this. I guess we're all sharing the same fate anyway. You're not my X-men, but you're still the X-men, so, I'm okay with this."

"Aw, that's actually really nice," Morph said. "Just like old times."

"I guess so," Scott said.

Emma glanced at them and shrugged. "I suppose I owe you some amount of gratitude. Goodness knows, I won't get a chance to say it later, so, thank you."

She looked like that made her feel uncomfortable.

"Is good to have friends, not just be alone," Colossus said.

"Ja," Kurt agreed. "Gott has blessed us."

"What about you, Momma? Anythin' to say?" Rogue asked.

Mystique looked up. "I don't make speeches," she said. "We have to succeed, that's all there is to it. Not a lot more to say than that. If you all want to be sentimental about it, that's your business. I guess it's fine that we're working together. Satisfied?"

"I reckon..." Rogue knew that was about all you'd get from her.

"Well...we good?" Wally hugged Shine with one arm. "You all ready now?"

"As we will ever be," Storm said.

Accurate, considering they were trying to jump through time.

https://youtu.be/yZTlUHpGVsQ

[Blink-- Revive]

* * *

Shine would have been lying if she said she was confident about this. She'd prayed and prayed about it, but her hands were still shaking.

"'My times are in Your hands' [Ps 31:15]," she quoted, taking Wally's hand and nodding at him.

Wally was nervous too, maybe less so than her. He just tended to be in general.

The team seemed to hold their breath.

Shine and Wally pictured what they'd agreed on, which was just an image of the few glimpses of the future they'd had from their sources.

Then they activated their portals.

There was really no special trick to this, despite what some people thought. They just pictured one, with the destination in mind, like a railway tunnel.

There was that millisecond of time before seeing, and then the portal door appeared. Purplish, red, gold.

"Huh, what do you know? We can do it dual," Wally said.

They had agreed to this idea too. This portal would be under a lot of strain, under the Merging, and either one of them could be seriously hurt if they attempted it, but together, they would triple or quadruple their chances of being okay.

"Whoa, cool," Ryan said.

"Hey, guys, wait." Trinity suddenly came running up the driveway, looking out of breath. "Am I too late...? Whoa..." She stared at the portal.

"Everyone, you have to go in before us," Shine warned the others. "Hurry."

The X-men knew not to hesitate. 

"You might want to hang onto someone else," Wally called. "Sometimes these things can drop you in different places if the ride is bumpy."

The team grabbed onto the person nearest them and ran into the door.

Trinity stumbled up to it. "What is this?" she asked.

"No time to explain," Shine said. "Either jump or don't, but we have to go."

"Jump?" Wally said. "Shine, is that really smart?"

"Well, she walked in here for a reason," Shine said. "Who knows? But whatever she does, she has to hurry."

"What is it?" Trinity asked. "I mean, uh..." She looked back. "Ah, mom and dad will be looking for me. I left my stuff in the car.... No time..."

She looked wildly at them, then she poked at the door. "Is it made of light...?"

Portals have their own gravitational field, in a way, and Trinity touching it made it yank her the rest of the way in.

"Well...that's not going to go over well," Shine said.

"Yeah, no," Wally said.

"We can't pull her back," Shine said. "Nothing for it now."

They jumped in after everyone.

Trinity's parents found an empty yard with footprints in it when they came hurrying after their daughter, with their other daughters, who'd been in the car, in tow.

Billy, Ruthie, and Cindy, who'd been looking from the window, waved at them.

"Mom, look, mutants!" one of the girls said.

"Hush, MK, they'll hear you," Pam said.

"I think I'll just go inside and get her," Ted said.

[Yeah, we'll see how well that goes over...maybe...]

* * *

https://youtu.be/CiJqThQ-Hsk

[Not Gonna Die + intro-- Skillet. Love this version of the song, so hardcore.]

The landscape that greeted everyone on the other side of the door, where they fell like they'd been shoved into the ground, was dingy, and the sky was overcast.

However, it was far warmer than winter. But not as hot as summer. It seemed to be maybe early fall or late spring.

"Ow..." Jubilee groaned. "That hurt way more than usual."

"I feel sick," Kitty said.

"It happens," Storm said. "But it should pass." She stood up. "Well...where are we?"

"When you time travel, do you go to a different place also, then?" Emma asked, sitting up. "My word, that was not pleasant. Did anyone else see a tunnel for a moment?"

"Yes, I did," Storm said. "Perhaps it was an effect of using a time-traveling portal."

"I didn't see any light at the end of it though," Morph joked. "Just inside it. Kind of cool, really. If it didn't feel so weird. I thought the Talis was weird, but..."

"What in the heck?" they heard Trinity say behind them.

In disbelief, most of them turned.

"Oh my gosh!" Jubilee cried. "Trinity! What're you doing here?"

"I just came in at the last second. I saw you guys go in, and I stuck my finger in, and it yanked me through," Trinity sputtered. "What was that? It was like a vacuum."

"Close." Shine was behind her, rubbing her forehead. "But it's not a vacuum--more like a gravity field to a plant... Oh, that still took a lot out of me." She looked pale, even in that dim light.

"Shine?" Rogue said. "You okay there, Sugar?"

"I'm sure in a moment--" Shine faltered, and then she fainted.

"Oh no!" Rogue grabbed her. "Shine, come on, gal, talk to me... What do we do?"

Wally moaned. "I feel kind of weird too. Something about this place is off, isn't it?"

"I don't see anythin' particularly off," Logan said. "Just gloomy."

Wally sat down. "I might need a minute..." He looked sleepy.

"Is this right, though?" Scott asked. "Where are we?"

Logan sniffed. "This is still the Mansion. Smells the same...a little charred, but essentially the same."

"But there's no mansion." Ryan pointed.

It was true--no house was here at all, and no woods, at least not like there were before.

"Oh my word," Emma said, peering down the bank. "There, the cliff. Scott, look."

Scott looked. "You're right...this is...this is like the Mansion at home."

"Yours has a cliff?" Storm said.

"Yeah, it does," Scott said. "Had a bench next to it. It's actually a great view of the ocean."

"The ocean," Jubilee snorted. "Well, it must not be in the same part of New York, then."

"I think our landscape is just different," Scott said.

[I thought it was an odd difference myself, but there's no sign of the cliff in the 90's show that I recall. Just woods. Also, it's not in the movies. There's a lake, I think, but no cliff. Not sure why they changed it, but it's a nice touch for the story.]

"But is this right, then?" Emma said. "Are we just home?" She walked toward the cliff like one in a dream.

Scott followed, wanting to see if any sign of anything familiar was still there.

"Wait," Logan said. "Careful, we don't know what might be around here."

Storm flew after them.

"The sea is there," she said. "Of course, I can smell the salt air also. There may be some bad weather blowing in, in fact."

Shine blinked and started to come to.

"Thank goodness," Rogue said. "Wally, can we help her?"

"The shock is pretty bad," Wally winced. "It goes away, but with this much, it might take a few hours...or days... Calories can help kick it, though. I wish we'd brought some coffee."

"Energy bar?" Kitty suggested. "Man, this is creepy."

Emma reached the edge of the cliff and peered down at the sea. It was the same. No bench though.

"Well, this isn't right," she said to Scott. "Not in our time line. We must still be in the future."

"Or..." Scott fingered a zipper on his coat. "What if...? Is it possible it's merged already? Just like in Genosha? What if, somehow, we're in both dimensions right now?"

"How could we not know that?" Emma said.

But she would have eaten those words at once, because then, like some delayed reaction, her mind almost exploded with images.

Memories...or predictions? She didn't know. She saw what looked like the past and what might have been the future, or present, so much so fast that she couldn't retain most of it.

A wall of emotion hit her that didn't feel like her own: outrage, fear, despair...like they were from the other people who'd been here, or...who would be here? Or who were here now, in a sense?

It was too much.

"Stop it!" She covered her ears and closed her eyes. "Get out of my head, all of you!"

As clear as you'd see with your eyes, in her mind she saw a large form, like a man, but too big to be a regular man, reaching up and raising a fist at her.

Emma attempted to block it telepathically, but of course, she had no ability to resist currently, and the image hit her inside her head, but she reacted to it physically and almost stumbled right back off the cliff.

"Emma!" Storm tried to swoop in but was too far away.

Fortunately, Scott was just close enough to grab her by the arms and yank her forward. Emma yanked at him, not really seeing him.

Storm got behind her and tried to use wind to keep her from pulling both of them over.

"Emma, snap out of it." Scott had her wrists and was trying to keep her from getting away.

"She sees someone," Storm said. She frowned. "It may be something in her mind... I'll try using physical force--maybe she'll come out of it...just light."

She made a tiny bit of lightning and zapped Emma with it.

It was a smart idea. The physical pain made Emma have to stop focusing on the images for a moment, and her head cleared.

"Oh!" she gasped, leaning on Scott limply.

"I'm sorry," Storm said. "I had no choice. Are you all right?"

Emma glanced at Scott wildly. "Did you see that?"

"No?" Scott was confused.

"It...there was..." Emma winced. Her head was starting to pound. "And...oh, this is a horrid place. Can't either of you sense the agony?"

"I'm afraid you must just be more sensitive than we are," Storm said. "Perhaps someone is putting it into your mind..."

Emma could feel it coming back.

"I can't block it out," she said. "Not without my diamond form... It's going to kill me. Someone has to do something."

"We have to help her." Scott was alarmed. "Is it a psionic attack?"

"I don't know, Scott." Storm glanced at Shine. "Shine is in no condition to help anyone...nor Wally. Rogue, come here."

Rogue flew up. "What?"

"This is not a great solution, but can you drain Emma's power for a moment?" Storm said. "We must turn her telepathy off. And you've learned how to control how you take and keep it, right?"

"I've gotten better at it, but I ain't no expert," Rogue said.

"We have to try something, Rogue," Storm said.

Emma winced in pain. "Hurry, it's coming back. I see so many faces..."

"Geez, sounds pretty bad." Rogue pulled her glove off and touched Emma's forehead.

Emma gasped at the feeling.

Rogue started to see the same images.

In the past that would have made her flip out, but she'd learned a thing or two, and she commanded the images to leave her head, with more success.

But she retained the power.

Emma found she was alone in her head, for the moment. She sighed.

"Well done, Rogue," Storm commended her, patting her shoulder.

"It worked?" Rogue was surprised. "Well...whaddya know?" She sighed. "Wish I could feel happier about it... I saw some of what ya saw, there, Emma. D'ya think it's...a little like the memories of the people here?"

"Just collectively?" Emma said weakly. "It would be unheard of...but maybe not impossible. The merging here, it must be worse, right? If this is the epicenter. Perhaps it's so strong, I can sense it even without being close to those people. Maybe any Telepath could. But I'm the only one here."

"Well, not right now. Right now I am," Rogue said. "But I can block it out. Funny how that worked out. You okay? Need more help?"

"I'll be fine." Emma stood up straighter and pulled away from Scott. "Tell me I didn't almost fall off the cliff."

"You acted like something hit you," Storm said.

"Something did," Emma said. "Maybe...maybe it was a mutant...rather like the Shadow King, but I don't know that it was a spirit. Whether it was memory...or..."

"Big fella?" Rogue asked. "Purple?"

"The color wasn't very clear. None of it was."

"Well, it might be Apocalypse but maybe not," Rogue said. "Durn it... What? Was it the cliff that set it off?"

"Perhaps..." Emma frowned. "This cliff is a difference between the two mansions...maybe it didn't fully sink in that it was off until I got close to it. I wonder if there could be a tug back to our dimension."

"Then we could vanish again?" Scott wondered.

"Come." Storm took Emma by the arm. "We had better tell the others what you saw."

* * *

"I'm sorry, we're in the future?" Trinity was freaking out. "And we got here with a magical door? Like in The Chronicles of Narnia?"

"Like The Magician's Nephew." Shine was somehow recovered enough to teach, even if she wasn't standing up. She was drinking bottled water also.

"Okay...so...that's real?" Trinity said.

"Well, you believed us about the dimensions," Jubilee said.

"It was crazy, but I figure you couldn't make it up, and I saw what happened with that witch woman," Trinity said. "So I knew...but I never thought time travel would... Is all sci-fi just real?"

"You ever read A Wrinkle in Time?"  Shine asked. [1962, so it would be possible for Trinity to have read it in her time, but that book was actually quite ahead of its time for how it predicted certain things about science, it and its two follow up books, A Wind at the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which is where I get some of my own time traveling lore ideas from.]

"Yes," Trinity said. "It's a weird story."

"And the other two books?" Shine asked.

"Yeah," Trinity said. "But my mom wouldn't let me read the ones after them."

"Ah, mine neither," Shine said. "But if you recall the tesseract and the time travel with the wind, just combine those two ideas, and that is what we just did. We're in the same place, 50 years, give or take a few months by the look of it, into the future."

"Whoa..." Trinity said.

"You seem...oddly accepting of this," Hank said. 

"Well, I do like this kind of story," Trinity said. "I guess it's kind of cool to find out it's real, scary also, but...cool. So I'm like the kids in Narnia, right?"

"You've got it," Shine said.

"Whoa," Trinity said again.

"I am really beginning to wonder if I should have paid far more attention to children's fantasy books when I was studying theoretical physics," Hank said.

"You should have," Shine said. "They amount to pretty much the same thing. Trinity, if you're here with us, you're stuck, I'm sorry. Perhaps you recall how the door rarely opens when you find it convenient. I'm sorry. You knew what we were planning, though."

"I got the idea, but I didn't realize you literally meant you had to time travel... So this is it? This is how you're going to save the world?" Trinity said.

"We can't babysit a greenhorn," Logan said.

"We brought Ryan," Shine said.

"Well, he was goin' to be in danger either way, but this kid could have sat it out," Logan said.

"Hey, I mean, I was involved too." Trinity crossed her arms. "Not that I think this is my...field, but, just saying, as much as Ryan was."

"True..." Ryan admitted.

"But it's dangerous," Kevin said.

"But you're here," Trinity said. "And I can't go back, so...I'm kind of stuck."

"She is," Wally said. "Let that be a lesson, kids--never touch strange, shiny doorways if you don't know where they go."

"I'm sure that will be applicable later in life," Kitty said snippily.

"Everyone--" Storm flew up. "--we had an incident. Emma may have seen something that we should all be concerned about.

"Well, let's have it," Wally said.

[Final stretch! Sort of.... Whew, here we go!]