#20: Author's Choice- Alone

Rating: PG

Notes: This is the last chapter! It's been fun, guys. Lots of work, but fun. I hope you all enjoyed these and had a good time reading them. Thank you all very much for all your reviews, faves, and for just sticking around and putting up with me through all the stupid delays and waiting. You're the best.

Erik is surprised. It doesn't happen often.

"You said yourself we were the better men, Erik. Now is the time to prove it!"

He blinks, his hold on the missiles faltering and detonating a few harmlessly above the water. The sand is hot beneath their feet, and the wind carries the smell of burning plastic and shredded metal. Erik stares at the people surrounding him. He runs through the familiar faces, cataloging the last time he had seen each of them: Hank, be-suited and behind a podium, his blue fur streaked with gray; Sean, driving away from the Institute, his mouth permanently set in a hard line and his young daughter in the backseat, her eyes gazing longingly at the school; Alex, blood trickling from his mouth, crushed under a mess of fallen concrete and brick; Raven, cold and shivering and alone as he left her behind, unforgivably human.

Charles, old and bald and curled inside himself in an all-plastic chair, projecting his last moments of fear to the world. That was the last memory Erik had of him. Now he stands beside him, blue eyes wide, fingers trembling as he holds them up to his temple in that gesture Erik has seen so many times. He's young, standing, and the sun is burning their shoulders even through the suits Hank has designed.

"I remember this."

Charles stumbles over what he's saying, furrowing his brow. "What?"

"I remember this." Erik's gaze darts all around, from the ships on the horizon to the missiles in the air, from the students to the wreckage of Shaw's submarine. "This was the day."

Charles throws him a desperate look. "Erik, I don't understand. Just stop this madness, please." He takes a tentative step forward. "There are thousands of men on those ships, Erik, good, honest men. They're just-"

Erik holds up his free hand, the one that isn't holding up the missiles, cutting off Charles mid-sentence. "No, Charles, for once in your life, shut up for one second."

Charles gapes like a fish on a dock. Erik is struggling, trying hard to piece together what's going on and at the same time support the giant, deadly hunks of metal that he's currently levitating. He bites his lip.

They were old. They were old, and apart, and people died. So many people died. This has happened before, Erik knows, he has the memories to prove it. He knows what happens from here. He knows where they go.

He can feel the anger that's still inside him whispering in his ear to release the missiles, to send them into the American and Russian ships and blow them all to Hell. But he's seen how this day ends. He's seen Charles, in pain that he himself had caused. He's seen the world fall into chaos because of this one moment in time.

Erik thinks of the future. He remembers years spent trying to reconcile the two halves of himself, the half wanting revenge on humanity and the half wanting to be a part of Charles' life. He remembers leaving Charles, coming back to Charles, leaving him again. He remembers the eyes of his followers, his mutant brotherhood, their fear and their pride. He remembers death, and pain, and loneliness. He remembers his children, and suddenly he knows.

"Wanda." He whispers under his breath, tears pricking at the edges of his vision. She had changed the world again. His little girl, his little scarlet witch. Her powers were so much stronger than he could ever have imagined they would be: the ability to distort reality. To change the past, the present, the future. Such sacrifice. Such bravery. She had given herself up, given up their whole sad world, in hopes of righting what once went wrong. "I'm so proud of you."

"Erik?" Charles is standing by his side, having moved closer as Erik was absorbed by thought. "Erik, please. You don't have to be alone."

Erik looks at Charles, at the man he has spent his whole life either loving or hating; often at the same time. He looks into his blue eyes and sees a second chance.

The missiles detonate harmlessly and fall into the water as Erik takes Charles' hand, and they walk together into the brave new world that has been made.