Two months later:

Alex held his stomach as he laughed. Behind him and above him, everyone else was in near tears. Already several of them had nearly drowned (Charles for a second blasted time, as Erik had pointed out hysterically). Who would have known that Sean could scream like a girl? Well, beyond the obvious reasons he would be doing that anyway. He wasn't afraid to fight an army of anti-mutant members but he was terrified of a fish nibbling at him?

"Hey, Sean! Want to get some sushi later?" He called, wiping away one of the tears running down the side of his nose. Sean flung a piece of seaweed at his face in reply, splattering him with water, turned green by the innards of the water plant. "Don't be a poor sport, buddy!" Alex laughed squeezing out his hair.

Someone flittered above him. Alex looked up, hoping to see Cassidy but instead found Warren, his swimming trunks wet from the recent dunking contest. Alex had watched him dominate the contest between Sean and Cecilia until Jean showed up and trumped everyone. Blasted telepathy. "I don't think he liked that," Warren giggled.

"Nope," Riptide agreed cheerfully, reaching up at tickle at Warren's bare foot. Alex's little brother giggled and yanked his foot away. Still laughing, he swooped a few feet away, doing a wicked bird-like dive into the water, graceful as an eagle.

"Hey, who are we to break tradition?" Alex asked, watching this with admiration. A person looking at Warren now would never have guessed that once he was terrified of his wings, ashamed of his power.

Suddenly, he felt a tug from below the water on his ankle and then he was plummeting down and surrounded by warm, clearest blue water. Bubbles rushed around his face and dug into the crevices of his body. He wiggled uncomfortably as a few got stuck in his shorts.

He dove for the surface, and had to wipe the hair from his eyes before he heard the peals of laughter from above. Sean came up out of the water a second later, grinning wickedly. Looks like he wants another go… Alex grumbled, swiping his hair out of his eyes.

Sean was still smirking at him with crossed arms.

"Alright, I deserved that," he confessed running a hand through his drenched hair. Moira, Emma, Cassidy, Raven and Ororo leaning on the railing above them, laughed. "Drowning is our thing anyway," he supposed in a whisper.

Drowning is a vulgar exercise, Alex, Charles answered in his mind, immediately. Alex rolled his eyes playfully. Sean chuckled in silent agreement before looking up.

Alex followed his eyes; the sun was bright as a beacon, even though it was lowering, turning the sky a beautiful combination of purple, pink and orange, swirling in space as impeccably as Cassidy's eyes.

The sky shimmered off of the water like a rippling mirror. Alex had to admit, this was the most beautiful scene he had ever seen. He decided that he loved Brazil. The fact that they were in a secluded resort (courtesy of the president) in the Amazon Rainforest (avoiding the media, who had been all too ready to cast footage on Erik and Emma's wedding) could have been the reason for this awesome-ness too. He couldn't wait for Charles's wedding.

Maybe that one would be in Austria.

He smiled peacefully and dove, taking a look around at the clear underwater. Sea-weed drifted in the gentle waves and a few colorful fish swam back and forth. He let himself waft back up.

"The water is fine!" Riptide was calling up to the spectators above. "Come on!" The women above stared blankly down at them for a moment, evidently wondering whether they were being addressed. Emma shook her head in exasperation. Raven snorted, but Moira smiled. Alex should have known that she would be all too eager to participate in the game. Moira disliked anyone having the advantage over her.

"Wonder when Michael's going to propose," Alex muttered to himself. Riptide elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shut up! Me and the Professor are working on it!" he grinned. Of course Charles would be working on it.

"Well," Moira was saying as she vanished from the railing. "Since all of the interesting people seem to be in the water…"

A second later, surprising everyone, Moira jumped off of the balcony, graceful and agile as a bird. Her arms outstretched and eyes closed as her newly cut dress fluttered behind her.

Alex (and just about everyone else) watched with open mouths as she landed in the water with a loud and exuberant splash.

Jean and Rogue cheered as the others stared. Alex was dumbfounded. Everyone else had taken the stairs that led from the deck into the water. He was slightly jealous that he hadn't thought to jump first. He looked to Charles, but his mentor was only grinning, seemingly unsurprised by the display.

"Good on you, Moira!" he applauded. Moira shook out her short chestnut hair, grinning from ear to ear. A second later, Alex heard the yapping of a dog at the water's edge, stirred to lively animation by the applause and splashing.

"Hey, Reginald!" Kitty shrieked; laughing as the puppy chased after a sudden flock of screeching wild parrots. The small Labrador barked madly, obviously of the opinion that the birds were serious threats. Kitty chased after him, giggling. Wish we would have had him around when the anti-mutant guys came, Alex thought, his mood momentarily sucked dry. That night, and all it had entailed, wafted back into his memory like a thick fog.

"Well!" That voice snapped him out of it as if his mind were a receptive elastic rubber band. Cassidy had backed away from the edge, evidently liking Moira's way of thinking. Alex's heart skipped a beat. This would be good. "If Moira can do it, then here I come!" She did a very attractive cannonball.

"Nice!" Alex cheered, his spirits lightening once again. The past was the past. he was here, now. They all were. "Ororo, Raven, come on!" He called to the children as Cassidy emerged beside him, gasping for breath as she beamed. Her colorful wings shimmered behind her back, sparkling like a spider's web of dewdrops. He gave her a one-armed hug.

"Raven, where are you?" Hank wondered, still floating on his back. He looked a bit like a giant stuffed animal, plush and heavy with water. Sean pushed him down by the stomach as he drifted past.

Suddenly, grinning so brightly that her teeth flashed, Ororo let growing white hair loose, shaking it free as she laughed. Rogue was also doing so on the balcony. "Come on, Raven!" Hank called, swimming away from Sean to avoid being drowned. He splashed water at his face repeatedly as his giant paws ripped through the water.

Ororo leaped from the balcony, spinning in the air like an arrow, she landed without so much of a splash and sailed through the water like it was her natural element. Charles clapped. "Well done!" He congratulated as Ororo came back up. Alex had rarely seen him so blissful.

"Emma, your turn!" Moira once again tried, she looked as relaxed as anyone before her.

"I'm in my wedding dress! That cost three hundred dollars!" Emma pointed out indignantly, putting her hands on her hips. Erik, who had come up behind her sporting two martinis, grumbled in agreement. He did not overly enjoy his black suit and tie (especially since it was so hot. Why hadn't he gotten married in shorts like a sane person?) but he did look very decorous with it on.

Emma, meanwhile, sparkled like the diamond skin she had sported half of the day, reflecting the sun's rays in her gorgeous white dress. "Don't worry, Emma," Raven declared, as she smiled. "I'll handle the masses," and with that promise, Raven did a simple back-flip into the water. They all cheered as she landed with a gentle splash.

"This is all very undignified, esteemed Professor X," Erik pointed out as Emma gripped his hand tightly. The love in her eyes perhaps made her more beautiful. Alex wouldn't know. He still had to propose to Cassidy. He planned to do it on her Birthday next month, when they both turned nineteen. He was pretty sure Charles would be pestering him about that too, sooner or later. Erik was smiling as brightly as ever, Alex couldn't remember ever seeing him so carefree.

"So I've noticed, revered Magneto," Charles agreed, matching his dry tone. Then, equally as dry, he said: "We saved mutant-kind, Erik," he reminded him.

"He has a point there, Chief," Logan stated with content from where he sat a few feet away on the soft sand beneath the balcony. He, Jason, Cecilia and Azazel sipped martinis in the shade.

"We're heroes!" Rogue sang, diving again.

Alex raised a fist and kicked at Sean below the water. "Here, hear!" he crowed. Jason, Azazel and Cecilia clinked glasses, silently toasting to the same proclamation. Then, as if she had been called, Cecilia looked up and grinned brilliantly in Charles's direction. He outstretched a hand, invitingly.

She stood from her spot in between Logan and Jason and waded into the water. The grin she gave him rivaled that of the sun. Alex smiled, he would never have predicted this only a year ago. Heck, as a kid fighting on the hot Cuban sand, he had seen a bright future, but not this.

Their family had lost so much; had come so far. But… He contemplated thoughtfully, as he watched Ororo and Rogue splash each other playfully and Hank nuzzle Raven's neck from behind, causing her to laugh when his whiskers tickled her neck. Erik and Emma shared a chaste kiss up above. Charles and Cecilia were talking as they swam around each other. Who cares if we came across some problems?

Everything worked for the better of the end. Alex grinned, he had stopped Shaw, saved Mutant-kind, but better yet, he had found a family as odd as he.

"Alex!" Of course Sean would mess up his thought processes. He turned to gasp as Ororo and Scott tackled him, giggling. "I tried to warn you," Sean laughed. Alex laughed as two climbed on his head, weighing them down.

He loved them; he loved them all so much.

"Alright, you guys," Cassidy said lifting Scott from his position behind Alex's right ear. "No killing the hero," she said.

"Hero?" Erik demanded from above. "I did all the hard work!" He yelled, gazing pointedly at Charles, the evident slacker of the two.

"Who earned an international man-hunt, dear fellow?"

Cecilia chuckled. "Dear fellow? You're so British," she told him amusedly. Charles's mouth quirked into a grin, but he did not refute her statement. Alex saw his arms tighten round her waist.

"And a movement? And a peace-keeping team named after me?" He continued.

Erik let out a mild curse in German, carefully eyeing Kitty to make sure she didn't hear and repeat it. She already knew how to call someone a 'fat cow' in German thanks to him. And a 'witch's spawn' in Latin thanks to Hank. Alex thought it was great. "That was my team! And we already had a cool name!"

"The 'Brotherhood of Mutants' was clichéd, Erik," Charles snorted. Erik flicked a metal ball at Charles head. The telepath ducked, having felt the thought before it became reality. The ball flew into the water with a plop.

Emma laid a restraining hand on his arm. "Don't mess up his pretty head, darling," she crooned. Erik chuckled and turned to stare down at her with tender eyes.

"Why did they give you a Peace prize again?" Hank called up, interrupting their moment because he was one of those scientific types that paid little heed to emotions. It was kinda funny, really.

"Because we're peacefully aggressive," Emma answered for him.

"Emma, you've already gone delusional," Sean told her sadly. "I knew it would happen eventually. You married Erik," he lamented. Erik flung a metal ball covered with seaweed at him, too.

Sean screamed in alarm and ducked beneath the water, coming to hide behind Alex. "Havoc, I need back up!" He cried. Alex laughed and ruffled Sean's hair playfully.

"Not my job, man," he informed him, though he had already snagged one of the metal balls beneath the waves. Intending to catch Erik by surprise, he aimed, getting ready to fling it but instead he turned and chucked it at Hank. Raven burst into laughter as it hit Hank upside the head.

"Alex!" Hank roared, baring sharp teeth at him. Alex smiled and backstroked, making a show of not being worried.

"What are you going to do, bozo?" he probably should not have asked that. A litter of seaweed balls hit him. Alex laughed and prepared to wage the only war they had left. With his family.

And from above the newlyweds watched from the balcony as chuckling specters, and Charles and Cecilia sat on the beach smiling widely. At last, the dreams of Charles and Erik-those of both equality and freedom- had been fulfilled to their wishes and hopes. At last, they had the choice of peace and the chance to be hopeful.

The right to be human.

THE END

Well, this has been an interesting journey. For my first X-men fan fiction, I certainly did not expect such a large and enthusiastic following and I want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed or favorited me! Any writer knows that they cannot be without their readers. Much love, everyone! :D

~QueenYoda