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Having arrived back at the Massachusetts Academy after the battle at Washington D.C., Mystique and Gambit sat in the office watching the broadcast which was talking about Magneto's arrest and that he would most likely get the death penalty this time around for his attempt to assassinate President McKenna.

"Aren't we going to break him out?" Gambit asked.

"Not now." Mystique responded. "We can't take the chance of us getting arrested as well."

"So what do we do?"

A knock suddenly came at the door and just then, Mystique changed her appearance into that of Emma Frost.

"Come in." Mystique said.

The door opened and Sophie, one of the Cuckoos stuck her head in and smiled when she saw the Headmistress.

"Good morning, Ms. Frost."

"Good morning, dear."

"Professor Essex asked me to tell you that he needs to talk to you right away about something."

"I'll be right there."

When the door closed, still disguised as Emma, Mystique turned back to Gambit and looked him right in the eye.

"Now, we teach these students the truth about what's going on out there. There is still a war to be fought, and we will fight it. By any means necessary."

Gambit nodded as Emma got up to leave the room.

And when it was time to break Erik out of prison again, he would have dozens of disciples waiting. The students being taught here were powerful and had a lot of potential. They just needed to be shown the light.

Back at the mansion in New York, Charles Xavier sat watching the same broadcast talking about the fate of his old friend, Erik Lehnsherr. While deep down, he would always consider Erik his friend and was sadden to see him possible get the death penalty, Magneto on the other hand was a terrorist who had committed crimes against humanity, and needed to be punished by the fullest extent of the law.

After he got done watching the television, he shut it off and turned his attention back to Nightcrawler, who had come to him, telling him about what happened between him and Mystique back in Washington.

"She said that she was my mother, Professor." Kurt began.

"You have no memory of her at all?"

Kurt shook his head and spoke again.

"Logan told me that you put him on the path to remember his past. I was just wondering if maybe you could help me."

Xavier smiled.

"I'd be more than happy to help you, Kurt."

"Thank you."

Down in the infirmary, Bobby was just waking up after having surgery the previous day to repair torn muscles he had in his upper right shoulder after taking the blast from that Sentinel. As he looked up at the ceiling, a sudden clicking noise got his attention and he looked over at the entrance to see John standing there.

"Hey," Bobby said.

John nodded in return and walked over to sit down in the chair next to his bed.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I've been better."

The two friends then sat quietly after that, the only sound was the lighter being flipped open and closed. Finally, Bobby decided to end the uncomfortable silence with the only question he had on his mind.

"So, are you staying?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because I never fit in here." John snapped. "Never. You know that Bobby, you always did. You also know that I never bought into the Professor's bullshit that we could live in peace with these…these people."

"You never tried!" Bobby shot back. "You were too damn busy pissing people off to get along! Did you forget about the museum?"

Bobby's face then twisted in pain from his back as John rolled his eyes and got up from his seat. He looked like he was about to leave the room but he stopped at the entrance and spoke again.

"Thank you for saving me."

"You don't have to thank me." Bobby responded, looking down at his hands. "I didn't even think twice. You've always been like a brother to me."

John then slowly turned back around and looked back at the other boy. Maybe he did have a reason to stay after all.

"Is our room still the same?" He asked.

A smile came to Bobby's face.

"Of course."

Smirking back at him, John finally turned to leave and head up back to his old room. Not too far away, Logan had brought down some of the younger students to give them a test run inside the Danger Room. They all stood in front of him as he instructed them on what to expect and what they would be doing.

"Alright people, listen up." Logan began. "The purpose of this session is to test your skills and see how well you handle yourselves. This will be a mutant versus machine battle, I'll be sending in one group at a time. The first group is Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, and Cannonball."

After they all went in, Logan walked into the control room where Rogue was waiting, having agreed to operate things for today.

"So, how are things going so far?" She asked.

"Alright I suppose. I still can't believe I agreed to do this."

"Oh come on, you'll be fine. You were always my favorite teacher here."

"I never stuck around long enough to teach you anything." Logan responded.

"No, you taught me a lot. Believe me." Rogue assured.

"Thanks Rogue." He said while heading back out.

"Marie." She corrected.

Logan nodded.

"Marie."

He then headed into the room and Rogue standed by the controls, watching the new recruits being trained. She hoped they realized what they were getting in to, it may seem like fun now but in the real world it was much, much different.

While all this was going on, outside in the large backyard of the mansion, Scott was standing in front of a small funeral pyre that had been lit for Jean the previous night and was still burning today. He took a deep breath as he looked up at the sky for a moment before looking back down at the small flame.

"You're not coming back this time are you?" Scott asked himself quietly. "Not this time."

He had a rose in his hand and he bent down and placed it next to the pyre. He wasn't going to cry this time, he had used up all his tears.

"I love you Jean." Scott said. "I will always remember you. But this time, I'm moving on."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Scott turned around to head back inside. Unlike last time, he felt different now, this time he wasn't afraid to let go.

While they had lost Jean, there was a silver lining in the clouds. The Mutant Registration Act had been gotten rid of, The Sentinels had all been destroyed, and Magneto had been captured and was currently in jail. While Scott couldn't predict the future, he didn't know what awaited them all next, if anything, but he did know one thing.

The X-Men would always be there, ready.

The End.