Days went by before every piece of paper had been drawn up, data both transferred and destroyed, introductions made and arguments had. In the end, the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters received an official consulting status from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. For Charles it was both exhilarating and tiring. He almost dared not hope that diplomacy might win the day.

When asked Jasper had agreed to accompany the professor to all of the meetings, and after explaining his abilities to the SHIELD delegates, the teen proved to be an excellent asset to set all parties minds at ease about the intentions of the other. Jasper noticed however that the professor never spoke in asserted statements when it came to the apprehension of Magneto, but the SHIELD agents didn't seem to notice, and Jasper didn't offer the information.

When he got back from the negotiations Jasper returned home to his parents, who didn't bother to ask where he had been for the past couple of days. He stayed long enough to pack two duffel bags worth of clothes, books and assorted earthly possessions. With the bags slung over his shoulder he sat his parents down in the dining room and told them about Xaviers. As an answer to his father's question he assured them that they would not need to pay any tuition, and that he did get holidays off but had no intention of returning home during them. They didn't say anything to try and stop him from leaving. He found the household cat, petted it and murmured some nonsense before removing the house key from his jackpocket and placing it on a side-table. His mother caught him in the hallway. In the bright light from the staircase her dark hair had a tinge of blue. He'd never noticed that before.

"Jasper?" Her voice was timid, moreso now than he'd ever heard it.

"Yes, mom?"

"Have fun." As an afterthought she added "I love you."

"Lying." He replied, and she looked like he'd punched her. Jasper turned to open the door, but she stopped him.

"Wait. Please. I know I'm a terrible mother to you." He didn't interrupt her "The truth is that I don't understand you anymore and frankly, you scare me. You scare me so very, very much. Hopefully, in time, I can come to terms with that. But I want you to know it wasn't always a lie, that at least once…" her voice shrank away, and so did her gaze "I loved you."

Jasper swallowed hard in the absence of his other voice, trying his best to fight the tears welling up in his eyes. He nodded, and left.

Peter stopped dead in the hallway of his house, not even managing a "Hello!" as he was completely dumbstruck by the red boots casually thrown into the general mess of the family's outwear. He froze as he heard footsteps coming down the staircase, every muscle in his body tense with uncertainty.

"Hi." Wanda said with carefully constructed ease "Mom and Lorna went to the store. She's so pissed at me. Mom, not Lorna. She's just Lorna."

She tried a smile but Peter could tell it was forced, he knew every twist of every muscle in her face. It was the same as his. Eyes that were identical to his own started to tear up as he still hadn't moved from the spot.

"Please don't hate me." She choked on the words, her heavy eyeliner starting to dissolve as the tears escaped. He was with her on the stairs in the blink of an eye, slamming into her with enough force to knock the wind out of her lungs as he hugged her.

"Of course I don't hate you." He laughed through his own tears "But man am I pissed at you. Like, you are going to eat this forever. Whatever I do from now on I can always be like 'Well, hey, at least I didn't fucking leave you and alter reality so I couldn't be found for six fucking months, leaving only a note, like a certain other twin'!" He knew he spoke too fast for her to hear everything but he didn't care. "I'm terrible at holding grudges though. I'm going to work on that."

"I missed you so much Pete. Every day. I'm sorry I made you worry."

"I'm never that worried about you. You're kickass. Gotta be, to be my twin." Peter grinned. "And I totally get that you felt you had to get away from… well, school and all the shit that happened." They sat down together on the staircase, Wanda smudging her makeup with the sleeve of her shirt. "What I don't get is why you felt you had to get away from me?"

"I don't know. I just… all this shit." She gestured with her hands and eerie red light apparitions followed them mid air "I just needed some time to figure it out. Let it be a part of me. And I guess I needed some distance to do that, because otherwise we're almost always us, you know? And you're so comfortable with your powers. They're so very you." She petted his arm and smiled "I just needed for mine to be me."

"I can't say it makes sense to me, but it does to you, and that's what matters." Peter smiled back at her "I'm still pissed though. I will totally hide all your stuff for the rest of the year."

"You can have all my desserts for six months."

"Sis, you're delusional if you think you're getting dessert for the rest of your life."

"Ugh, true. Mom will totally feed me nothing but that horrible romanian casserole."

"Good thing you have reality altering powers!" Peter beamed "By the way, where did you go?"

"I joined a Wiccan cult."

"No way."

"Totally true."

"So you're like a witch now?"

"Totally. Like, the red witch or something."

"Ha, you're such a hippie."

"Shut up, you're a hippie!"

"Oh, speaking of hippies. The craziest shit happened! So, I was arrested, and they drew some of my blood, and I thought right, that seems weird, so I called that professor dude I told you about, and.."

When Magda came home with arms full of groceries and Lorna she yelled at the twins in turn for vanishing from the house at all hours of the day, giving Peter some slack as he had only been gone a day. She continued to curse, yell and dictate new house rules in a wild mix of languages while she made lasagna, Wanda's favorite. Everyone got double desserts, but Peter still ate all of Wandas.

Hank felt rejuvenated as he hung up the phone after a rather interesting conversation with a young scientist over at SHIELD. It was refreshing to be able to discuss his findings and theories with someone who understood genetics on a biological level. Even though the professor could offer interesting viewpoints, his education was more theoretical than practical.

Whistling a merry tune he almost missed the doorbell chiming. Hurrying to cover the distance to the lobby before whoever it was got bored he janked open the door in a huff.

"Yes?" he said to the infinitely bored-looking delivery-woman standing outside.

"Delivery." she said with all the implications that she thought he was an idiot "Sign please." She handed him a heavy package after he did as he was asked and left with a very insincere "Have a nice day, sir."

The package had no intended recipient other than the house address, so Hank took to opening it after first carefully smelling it to make sure it didn't contain any kind of chemicals. He pulled out a glossy, newly printed pamphlet, with a bright photo of the school in summer.

"Welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters" it read, and underneath it "Mutatis Mutandis".

"I guess these halls won't be all that quiet for much longer." Hank said to the empty lobby, grinning from ear to ear.

Relaxing on the front lawn after what felt like an endless day of finishing up paperwork Charles felt Eriks presence before he heard the familiar angry footsteps coming towards him across the gravel. Charles closed his eyes against the late autumn sun and breathed in the cool air that had started to creep in over the school grounds, waiting for Eriks anger to wash over him like a stormcloud. The tall man stopped next to Charles wheelchair, looking out over the massive green field and the maple trees cluttering it. In the distance the outline of the huge satellite disk was visible against the setting sun.

"Your are a fool to strike a deal with those people, Charles." He stated, his voice more calm than the professor had thought it would be. "You can't trust their word. They are part of a government agency, and governments change. They get scared. They can kill."

"I'm not saying a time might not come when we will have to fight for this place. For our people" Charles put a heavy emphasis on the word our "But when that happens I want to know I did everything in my power to stop it. Violence can't be the answer, Erik. It just can't. I know you disagree but please, just this once, don't say it."

"Idealism kills people Charles, sometimes more effectively than war."

"Then we should strive to be better idealists."

"Perhaps that's enough. Maybe you can be good enough for the both of us."

"Maybe I won't have to." The professor shook his head mournfully "There is so much potential to you, Erik. I wish you would see yourself as I see you."

"How do you see me, Charles?" The words sounded rougher than Erik intended, his voice strained with the emotions he never seemed to be able to contain around the telepath.

Charles looked up at him and opened his arms, hands just far apart to be inviting.

"If you truly want to know," he said, voice low "I'll show you."

After a moment's hesitation Erik knelt by Charles chair, mindful of any eyes that might peer at them from the large windows at the mansion. As the telepath leaned forward, he half-expected Charles to kiss him. Instead, he placed his hands gently on the sides of Eriks head, fingers lightly stroking the outline of his temple and jaw.

Then the world spun around and suddenly he was looking at his own face from Charles perspective. He felt, in that moment, what Charles felt. An intense sense of hope, drenched with affection and above all longing for the man whose face he held to stay with him this time. Charles threw them further back, guided Erik through his memories to the first days at the mansion. Erik saw himself, standing tall and strong as darkened silhouette against the blue summer sky. He was smiling about something happening down on the lawn, turning to Charles to share the joke. It was replaced by another image of him instructing Alex in basic combat techniques, mostly by scorn and scolding. When he'd agreed to try to teach the kids Erik had always felt as if he scared them and disappointed Charles with his rough methods, but seeing it all from Charles perspective the professor swelled with pride over the scene, thinking he was watching the future unfold before him.

"I look at you and I see family, Erik" Charles whispered, and the other man wasn't sure if he heard it in his mind or not "I see everything we could make together."

They were back in the here and now and Charles was gently easing Erik out of his own mind.

"It's too late" he clasped the hands that let go of his face in his own, holding them perhaps harder than necessary "After Washington…The deal you made... I have to go. And even if I didn't..." he chose his words carefully, his eyes holding Charles like a warm embrace "I don't believe in your vision, Charles. You live in a world much prettier than mine."

"Oh Erik," the telepath smiled sadly "I don't need you to believe in me. I just need you to hope that I'm right, and be there should I fail. I need your cynicism to my optimism. You created a world that are very dangerous for our children, I'm not blind to what your actions have brought. I hope to be able to change it, to change the world, but should push come to shove" Charles looked out over the vast school grounds, listening to the happy shouting of teenagers in the distance "... this place need to be ready to shove back."

Erik left that night. Without a word of farewell he melted into the shadows of the treeline. Charles felt for his thoughts as he left, and smiled at their sentiment.

One week later, with three students enrolled, the Xaviers Institute for Gifted Youngsters officially reopened.

THE END

Author's Notes:

There are actually some extra material that I wrote during the course of this story, they'll be added as extra chapters for those interested.

"After The Apocalypse" is an epilogue which details what Jasper and Peter was up to between movies. Includes spoilers for X-men: AoA.

"Reality sucks." is a one-shot about what Wanda did in Chicago.

Thank you for reading, encouraging me and putting up with my slow update pace. It's been a ton of fun! 3