Epilogue

Settling Marvin into his new room, check. Ordering a large number of repairmen over to the mansion, check. Testing out Cerebro and confirming that it did still work (albeit faultily at any distance greater than a mile), and ordering the parts he'd need to bring it to full efficiency, check. That left just one thing Charles needed to do before the day was over.

Charles knocked lightly on the door. "Alex, can I come in?"

"Sure," Alex called, and although his thoughts were less receptive, Charles chose to take him at his word. He turned the doorknob and wheeled himself in to Alex's room.

The teenager was lounging on his bed, posture loose but not quite willing to meet his eyes. "Am I in trouble?"

Charles said, "I'm not quite sure what would qualify as being in trouble in our household. Given that all of you have taken on the responsibility of fighting armed soldiers and genocidal maniacs, it's not really fair to treat you like children. I'm not going to ground you or send you to bed without supper. And I can't dock your pay like an adult because we've all been doing this hero business for free. Honestly, everyone has been well-behaved enough that I haven't had to think about this before now."

Charles was bombarded with images from Alex of various instances of property damage caused by the boys. He smiled. "Well, I'm as guilty of that as you now, so I can't complain. I suppose in matters of rogue powers we'll just continue to force whoever did the damage to help clean it up. And in the matter of endangering everyone during a mission—well, I don't think I can let you go on any more potentially dangerous excursions until I'm sure you won't do it again. That's all."

Alex pulled himself upright, bare feet dangling over the side of the bed. "Look, Professor, I am sorry. Not about trying to give the bastard what he deserved. But about putting everyone else in danger while we were in the middle of a bigger problem, yes, I'm sorry. If I could do it again I would have listened to you. I would have helped you deal with those suits and made sure everyone was safe before I let myself get mad at that guy."

"Apology accepted. Do you want to talk about why you were so angry? Because if you'll pardon a bit of inadvertent intrusion, I don't think it was entirely about Erik."

"Yeah, him," Alex growled. "Murderous lunatic nutcase. Was there a reason why we weren't kicking his butt before we left?"

"Because we were too busy trying to deal with the people trying to kill us," Charles supplied. "Also, because kicking Erik's butt would be quite a monumental task and likely to result in massive property damage, which the people of Golden Gate, Louisiana might not have appreciated. And I tend to think that we need a reason for starting a fight, not avoiding one."

Alex deflated. "Yeah, I know. I guess we didn't exactly do you proud in that regard today."

"…And yet I am reluctantly forced to admit that I was somewhat proud that you three were managing to handily win against five opponents before the sleeping gas turned it into a mutual KO."

"You think we were winning?"

"Absolutely. You had one down and one on the run, and I have every confidence that your plan with Hank to use Riptide to pin down Azazel would have sealed the fight in your favor. Yes, I'm proud of you, don't doubt that."

Alex said, "Tell me honestly…are you glad that you picked me up?"

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I haven't exactly done a great job! I blow things up by accident, I killed Darwin, and I watched Erik shoot you and stood there while he waltzed off with Shaw's entire gang!"

Charles said, "I know that you won't believe me just because I tell you that none of that was your fault. But if you're going to take full responsibility for everything that happened, that that also means you were solely responsible for saving the world from a nuclear holocaust, which some people would argue is a bit of an achievement."

"I killed Darwin with my own energy, but then when I saw Erik I wanted to kill him because of what happened with Darwin. Even though he wasn't even there. Isn't that funny? It doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't, but to be honest I'd still rather you blamed Erik for everything that happened than blame yourself. There, I've established that I'm not perfect either. I'm carrying around some heavy mistakes for what happened then—much worse than your own."

This comment seemed to make Alex angry. "No you aren't, that's what I've been trying to get through to you! That it wasn't anything you did, it was him! Yeah, I'm sure he had all these problems and you feel terrible about not being able to fix everything. But we had something good going, when we were all living together. And then he had to mess it up. I've had a lot of homes disappear on me, often because of what I am or what I did but at least I never threw them away on purpose. I can't forgive him for throwing us away."

Charles said, "Erik and Raven leaving doesn't have to ruin this home. We're going to rebuild, keep finding more mutants. I've already started looking for your brother."

"You know about my brother?"

"I should have known about him sooner, Alex, I'm sorry. If there's one thing this experience has taught me, it's that telepathy doesn't give me more than a shallow idea of what's going on around me. Sometimes, if I want to know what people are thinking, I have to ask. If I'd ever asked the three of you if you had anyone you wanted me to find, then I would have known much sooner. Not perfect mentoring skills, there."

"Well, I could hardly expect you to read my mind-" Alex paused as he thought about that. "Um, I mean, just because you have telepathy doesn't mean you have to make it your business to find everyone's problems and fix them."

"Well, at the very least I can take care of one problem. As soon as I have Cerebro working again I'm not leaving that room until I've found your little brother."

Charles wasn't ready to say anything about his suspicions concerning Darwin and how an ability to adapt might survive massive energy overload—it would be too cruel if he was wrong. But Charles intended to look for Darwin as well. And keep looking, just in case it took a while to turn yourself back from a puddle of energy.

Charles added, "And I do have the right to feel responsible, because the thing about being a telepath is that unlike other people you can't use 'I didn't know' as an excuse. I have made mistakes, mistakes with Erik, that I don't intend to make ever again. That doesn't mean I don't hold Erik responsible for his actions. You can take my professional opinion that neither of you are to blame for anything that happened before our last fight with Shaw, that during the fight you upheld yourself to your full ability and did all of us proud, and Erik did fail you afterwards, through no fault of your own actions."

"Why did he do it, Professor? Sure, the army tried to kill us, but we survived, and then he was the one who made sure we wouldn't go home together."

"I don't really know, Alex. If I completely understood then maybe I would have been able to talk him down. Instead, we don't even seem able to see the same world anymore. But for what it's worth I don't think Erik wanted…" Charles stopped. It would be unfair to give Alex or any of the children the impression that Erik wouldn't hurt them. He himself was proof that intent was different from outcome.

"It doesn't matter what he wanted to do, it's what he did that's important," Alex said, unconsciously echoing Charles' own thoughts.

"Yes, I'm afraid that's how the world works. Intent differs from outcome, and it's not our intentions but our consequences that we have to live with. But Alex, you've already told me that you'd rather protect your friends than hurt your enemies, and as far as I'm concerned that makes you less of a child than Erik is. Welcome back to the team."

Alex's eyes widened. "Will Hank and Sean be upset if you just let me off the hook like that?"

"Both of them approached me separately asking me to go easy on you. Hank said if you hadn't done it he might have."

"Huh. The dweeb has come a long way. Don't tell him I said that."

"I won't tell him you called him a dweeb either, a habit I suggest you modify now that Hank is large enough to snap you in two with his bare hands. Or if I'm feeling particularly nasty I could convince everyone that it's an affectionate nickname."

Alex winced. "Got it, no more name calling. Please don't, Sean would make fun of me for weeks."

"No more reckless attacking, no more name calling, no more setting fire to the sofa. I think if you can just stick to that list, we'll be fine."

"I haven't had much luck with the sofa."

"Ah, well, that's one area where I'm prepared to be flexible. I have some absolutely hideous sofas that my mother brought while under the influence of alcohol, and we haven't gone through all of them yet."

"Professor, just...one more question. I have to know, when I attacked Erik—were you just mad because I had bad timing and didn't consider the danger? Or do you still not want anyone to fight with him, no matter what?"

Alex's thoughts told him this was a very important question. Charles took a moment before replying. "I'd rather you not attack first, under any circumstances. But I'm aware that we are likely to end up fighting Erik someday. And at that time, I intend to win."

Alex nodded. "We will win. We won't let you down, Professor."

It had been the right answer. It had even calmed Alex's anger somewhat to hear it. That didn't change how lousy Charles felt as he made his way back down the hallway, alone.

The simple fact of the matter was that it was unlikely that Charles would ever have a chance to work together with Erik again. Despite their success last time, their diverging methods have been obvious, and it was only going to become worse as human-mutant tensions increased. Erik had already understood that the next time they met would be as enemies. Charles hadn't wanted to accept that, but he had no choice, not if he was to justify the faith his team had in him.

For a second, there was a sound like static in his head. His hands stilled on his wheels and he lurched to a halt. But then it was gone.

The next day was hale and sunny and swelteringly hot—Charles cursed himself for having destroyed the air conditioner during certain unfortunate earlier incidents. Before anyone else had time to start cursing him as well, he'd paid double for some very fast repair service. Charles was pleased to be able to finally restore his home to its former condition, now that there no longer an out of control metal user in the vicinity.

Minus Marvin, who was still asleep (and known to have violently telepathic nightmares when his sleeping patterns were disrupted, so it was best to let him rest undisturbed) the residents of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters gathered around the table for breakfast. Alex had gotten through an entire meal without insulting Hank or even Sean, so Charles considered it a rousing success.

At the sound of a doorbell, Hank got up to let a few more repairmen in, then returned to their conversation around the dining room table. This batch was supposed to look at the elevator. Charles had had to do some very fast talking explaining why their elevator looked like something from the Jurassic had gotten lose inside of it.

As Hank sat down again, he commented, "I only hope we aren't repairing more damage from Marvin in a few days."

Alex said, "What happened last night was partly my fault. Sure, I was startled by a lion appearing in my room, but I didn't have to send a bolt at it. It was only inviting me to some mystical land in my closet or something."

Charles waved his hand. "I'm sure we can find some way to deal with his illusions. Perhaps rooming with me will do for now. If it takes a while to teach him control, then we might try to recreate Shaw's mirror room—never thought we'd have a use for that."

"I still think we should take this opportunity to metal-proof our house. We've seen what damage the Professor did by accident, it would be much worse if a certain someone was actively trying," Alex said.

Charles sighed. "I hate to admit this, but…you may be right. I don't like to think of fighting Erik, but given our present course some confrontation in unavoidable. Remaining unprepared won't change the reality of our situation."

A dead silence swept over the room. Honestly, Charles hadn't thought he was saying anything that profound.

Sean, jaw wide enough to encompass a hoagie sandwich sideways, raised a trembling finger. "Professor…behind you…"

Charles followed with his eyes to where the silver sugar-dish was hovering at chest-level.

Alex and Hank were on their feet, but Charles said, "Not Magneto." He could feel metal in his mind.

No sooner had the realization struck then the dish crashed back into the table. Control still not great.

Hank asked, "Your mindreading…?"

"No," Charles tried nudging the dish a little, just to be sure. It shot straight into the ceiling, leaving an unpleasant dent. But at least it hadn't gone clean through the ceiling this time. He smiled weakly. "I can 'see' how surprised you are, but I can't feel your thoughts."

It felt natural for Charles' head to be full company, but before he could mourn the loss of familiar voices, he found his mine full of iron, zinc, lead, silver, and bronze, jumping up against him like eager puppies. The switch was actually less of a shock compared to last time.

Hank's questions poured out of him in a flood. "Did you feel any kind of pain or physical reaction upon the transition? Could you detect any time lag between the loss of one power and gaining a new one? Does this feel the same as your previous condition, or is your control over metal weaker? Did a particular thought or emotion act as a trigger? Any adverse side-effects? Do you feel dizzy, drowsy, or prone to ripping the iron from our blood?"

"You may relax, I'm fine and I don't feel my abilities slipping. I think my power is weaker when it first appeared, and I also have retained some of my former hard-learned control, so there is no need to hide the silverware, Sean."

Sean, who had been attempting to discretely throw every knife in the room out the window, looked up sheepishly. "Sorry, Professor."

"On the contrary, after what's happened in the past I commend your quick thinking."

Hank steepled his fingers. "This is interesting. I wonder why your cure with Erik was temporary. Of course, we never fully understood why your encounter led to you switching back in the first place, so it's possible that proximity was the cure and distance has now reversed it."

Charles shook his head. "I don't think so. I happened to get a glimpse of Raven yesterday when Emma's shielding slipped while I was testing Cerebro—and they were all the way in Australia. I can't be sure but I think Erik is likely as geographically close today as he was yesterday."

Hank said, "Then maybe instead of distance it's a time-lag effect. We previously speculated that your mental contact within an illusion recreated contact through Cerebro, thus reversing the transfer. But suppose we need a more perfect duplication in order to have a complete cure."

Charles said, "I have a theory. I think we were initially correct, and this is about mental contact—but it's the nature of the contact that was important. My original powers returned to me when I worked together with Erik. And I lost my abilities again just now when I committed myself to taking an action against Erik. I think I might have noticed a similar effect when I was talking to Alex yesterday—I passed it off as tiredness. But that was also when I spoke antagonistically of Erik. And why did I use the experimental Cerebro to begin with?" He answered his own question, "Because I was looking for a way to avoid fighting with Erik."

Only Hank looked enlightened. Charles explained, "I think I can only retain my original powers while in a harmonious state of mind concerning Erik. It's not being in contact that's important so much as positive interaction. When we lose our friendly connection, our powers switch again."

Alex gaped. "What? Why would it work that way?"

"I'm embarrassed to say that I think Cerebro is trying to fulfill the original command I gave it. On the surface I was trying to boost my mind to find Erik, but what I was actually thinking about was reconciling with Erik—and I of all people should know that using telepathy while in a conflicted state of mind often has consequences. My own mistake, really. But Hank, I think this adds greatly to our research into improving on Cerebro's design, now that we understand it can boost my abilities in more than just distance."

"You don't look worried about this?" Sean asked. "I mean, having Erik's powers wasn't much fun for you last time."

Charles shrugged. "At the very least it is as much of an inconvenience for him as it is for me. Puts us on even footing, so to speak. But I'm actually prepared to turn this situation to my advantage. Even leaving aside the pleasure of Erik's company, it is good to know where he is so I can keep an eye on him."

"We don't know where he is. We're going to have to look for him again," Hank said glumly. "Well, we have it narrowed down to a continent, assuming he's still there, but Australia isn't exactly the smallest country around."

"Don't start packing yet," Charles said. "It would be a pity to miss him in mid-air."

Alex caught on first. "He'll be coming here."

"Erik may not have taken his chain of reasoning as far as I have, but he knows that it was finding me that cured him last time. And since he knows where I am, it would be easier to wait for him then try to find him again," Charles said. "This could be interesting."

Interesting? For a second Charles thought he could read minds again. But no, the looks on Hank, Alex, and Sean's faces had been vivid enough that even a metal-bender could read them.

"Your skepticism aside, I like to view this as an opportunity. At least while Erik is here, he is not out assassination anyone."

"Except us," Sean suggested.

"If he wants to stay here long enough for us to work on a real cure, he'll have to behave—or, knowing Erik, put on the sullen appearance of not planning to kill anyone immediately. I won't let him throw you off any more satellite dishes," Charles promised.

Charles couldn't help noticing that Alex was also looking thoughtful, although possibly his thoughts what this was an opportunity to do were going in a different direction than Charles' own. His ability to read people's expressions was improving—there was something to be said for practicing without his powers. That expression on Alex's face was the one which promised high-grade bullying at a focused target. Well, even that Charles could turn to his advantage—maybe Erik's companions would be more emotionally vulnerable if they were jumpy and lacking in sleep from various torments.

This was an opportunity, Charles knew it. With 24-hour access he'd be able to turn up the guilt on his ex-allies. Delay the cure. Have a serious brother-to-sister chat with Raven. Find a project to keep Erik very very busy. There was no shortage of possibilities

Really, he should have been the evil mastermind. He was much better at it than poor Erik.

Charles said, "What you fail to take into your calculations, my friend, is that in the long run, mutants aren't in any danger from humans. Oh, in the short run there's plenty of danger, Erik, you can stop thinking about concentration camps now. But in the long run, we're guaranteed victory."

"Well, I can see you're just dying to tell me how," Erik said, casting a longing look at the door.

Charles set his tea cup down on the living room coffee table. "You lost that chess match fair and square, which means it's my turn to give the speech. I listened to you without interruption when you won, didn't I? What I was trying to say was, the reason why humans can't drive mutants to extinction is because mutants are born of human parents. That means that even if someone managed to kill every single mutant currently living, it won't stop the next generation of people from giving birth to the exact same ratio of mutant children. If you'll note some of these numbers I brought back from Cerebro, last time I had my powers and Cerebro wasn't in tiny pieces, you'll see that the mutant birthrate among normal human parents is actually increasing, while mutant children continue to be predominantly mutant, indicating the inevitability of assimilation. In other words, they can't get rid of us because we are them."

"I doubt they see it that way," Erik muttered.

"And honestly, not that I'm advising this particular course of action at all, but we could probably accept every single anti-mutant law without fighting, and just wait for the laws to become irrelevant because everyone is a mutant."

Curious in spite of himself, Erik asked, "When do you see humans going extinct by?"

"It's not extinct, Erik, because we happen to be humans too. And if we make some assumptions that there won't be any successful mutant genocide and that mutants and non-mutants will be cohabiting, I would say, oh—five hundred years or so."

Erik slammed his fist into the table. "Five hundred years! Load of good that does us right now. You seriously think we should sit back and take crap for five hundred years, while waiting for paradise to develop-"

"If you were listening to me, Erik, I said neither of those things. I don't intend to sit around and I don't hold your optimistic ideas about a mutant-only paradise, either. I'm simply making the point that homo superior is the next stage of evolution and will remain the inevitable end state for humanity whether the current humans like it or not, which I thought you'd appreciate. And you've overturned my tea cup."

Charles' silver spoon hooked under the ceramic teacup and tipped it upright. Meanwhile, Erik's powers were only useful for telling him how damn smug Charles was about having far more control over his second set of powers than Erik did. It really wasn't fair at all.

"I don't suppose you're feeling any mind-reading start to come back yet?" he asked hopefully.

"No, Erik, I'm not feeling nearly reconciled enough with you for that. Shall we play another game?"

The End