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OfAll had reasoned Mary's choice for going off alone had something to do with facilitating the rescue, it had to. There was no other reason to go off, which was why OfAll offered her assistance. It just didn't seem sound for one person to try and attempt something by themselves in this situation -OfAll was certain Marygold would rather risk her life alone than anyone else, any other member of the team, that was her choice.

Likewise, this was OfAll's.

The only other thing OfAll could think of that required Mary doing something solo, was if it involved that unspoken power -which OfAll hadn't even been thinking of trying to manifest. She already knew what Mary explained to her, it came as a surprise that Mary thought that's what OfAll was getting at. But now wasn't the time to correct misunderstandings.

OfAll also didn't carry any assumptions about the efficacy of Mary's mutation. She wanted to alleviate the level of burden Marygold must've been feeling -and as Mary used a seed to move others back to the prior location of her vines, that gave OfAll an idea of how she could help.

And perhaps a part of Mary did appreciate this -she could've just vine-zapped OfAll away with the others too, couldn't she?

"Can--" her words were cut off by a rumble, then an eruption.

She felt herself getting pulled, she saw and felt fire -then suddenly for the second time that day, she found herself out in space.
For barely a moment before they were back and Mary was repairing the ceiling with her all-purpose vines.

OfAll didn't miss the change in Mary's eyes, nor the fact something seemed different about her speech. OfAll furrowed her brows. She knew The Phoenix could speak through its host. . .

But now was the time for doing, not figuring.

And OfAll had a plan.

It would appear as if OfAll was doing the opposite of the instruction again, as "Mary" told her to come along and took off, while OfAll took a moment on the spot to manifest.

She felt the change surge through her -she had this one.
It felt good to hold a nature power and have it come through her so easily. . .her heritage and nature were deeply linked.

For a moment, OfAll's face reflected calm.
Then it was back to being all purpose.

Doing her best to recall the map Mira had shown them, OfAll spread her hands, her arms, and sent the vines out from both her present location and from where Mary had initially repaired the walls, all in an effort to reach and coordinate people further down.

Those going by would see vines having snaked themselves into arrows along the walls, with one word likewise written out: EVACUATE.

She felt her reach had gone its limit. Not as far as she would've liked, but far enough to make some difference, she hoped.

Marygold's prior words echoed in OfAll's mind. Numerous reasons she'd been told to go to the hanger, a few she couldn't be told about. . .Should she stay or should she go?

OfAll decided to go.
She'd gained Marygold's powers, so she felt sound in her initial choice.

Now she wanted to make sure her signage was being followed, and assist any evacuees.
OfAll was good with people; that's where she was needed.

And maybe from another location, she could spread more vines into areas she'd missed.
At the very least, she could make repairs along the way if more explosions and collapses happened.

She raced back in the direction of the Hanger.

---

---

Perry smiled at Neil, who was trying to make her feel better. It didn't stop the anxiety from creeping up, both at her inability to due much and the looming time clock on the asteroid blowing up, but it was still appreciated. Before she could respond, Pietro sped back in and warning them about the side-effects of being super-speeded. Perry attempted to brace herself, but once back in the hangar, she leaned over and almost lost it.

Taking some deep breaths, she made her way into the Blackbird. It would have to hold them all. What choice did they have? And Lance announced they were still missing three people. Perry bit her lip, wondering if she could do anything. She hated feeling like this, but it was up to Pietro to gather Mary and Jaclyn and then they had to get off of this rock. And travel through space back to Earth.

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Antoinette checked on Arnold while she caught her breath. The Tribble seemed to be shaking more than usual, well aware of the situation around them. She rubbed his head gently with her knuckle. ”Hang in there, Arnold.” Antoinette looked up when Pietro and some other mutants arrived. Antoinette decided to hang back and help some of those struggling up the ramp.
A portal nearby started to flicker, the hallway behind it shuttering with a new round of explosions. Antoinette swallowed, watching it as gears turned in her head. Pietro raced off once more, and Bethany climbed into the Blackbird, leaving Antoinette to usher any other people up the ramp. She hoped the Blackbird would be able to take off with all these people.

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Ed wouldn't say that the shield was what was holding the hanger together, but it was getting close. And others were helping now. That was good. There was a stream of people, but it wasn't steady and it wasn't everyone that was clear. Many were getting on the Blackbird at least.

The shield felt stable. Ed climbed into the Blackbird joining the others. He maintained his concentration on the shield around the hanger. He could feel the trembles of the astroid that was threatening to fall apart. Soon they wouldn't have the scant security the place provided. At least he knew that his shield would provide a little extra time. He only hoped everyone could get there in time. Time was almost up.

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Everything seemed to be going according to plan, people were funneling out of the portals, Ed was reinforcing the hangar with his shields, things were looking up. Or, they would be had it all stayed apace. Groaning sounds came from beyond one of his portals, as the walls began to shake and explosions rang out from deeper in. He peered through quickly, not seeing any immediate people trying to cross before he decidedly dropped the spell on that portal. A part of him wanted to thrust the spell forward, making a sweeping portal to shift any who were down the hall. But that would invite the danger of the explosions into their current room and that was a risk he didn't need to take. Max watched as Lance counted heads, noting they were barely a quarter of the way dine and with very little time left.

His words bringing up an idea inside of his head. Lance was right, it was as if the people didn't believe they could be in danger, and in situations like that, they'd need to force eject those unwilling to do so. Where was Jacklyn when he needed her? ”I have an idea! But it requires a telepath and Bethany at minimum. If we form a circuit, amplifying the telepathy capabilities in such a way it reacts like Cerebro, then perhaps we can locate the missing mutants on this station. Then with their exact locations, Bethany and I can pull them here via shadows and magic. But we need to work together and we need to do it fast.” Max said as he held his portal open for any others who might be coming their way.

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Guin nodded somewhat absentmindedly at Pietro's request for her to not overdo it, right before he rushed back off into the fray. That would've been the smart play - it would've been the good thing for her to do in terms of her own health and wellbeing. She had pushed herself to her limits and a little bit beyond, drained and weak from connecting with so many minds at once. She watched as people rushed in from portals and the hallways, as they hurried onto the Blackbird, as Mira got the ship prepared to take off. Slowly, Guin rose to her feet on shaking legs, as Lance came up to her, talking about head counts.

Not everyone was there. They were missing people. And Guin felt like she would vomit up blood if she tried to reach out telepathically again, but how could she not? How could she not push herself more and more when lives were on the line? Everyone on the asteroid - well, almost everyone - deserved to live, deserved to get on the Blackbird and make their way home. None of them deserved to die for Cortez's disgusting game. Maybe Exodus. But no one else.

"Shit. I'll reach out, tell them to hurry their asses back here," Guin told Lance, before smiling slightly at Carolina and shaking her head. "Just help get people onboard."

At Max's plan though, Guin resisted the urge to roll her eyes - barely. But she couldn't help but be mildly offended, that he was acting like there were no possible telepaths around, and she was right there. Maybe it was out of compassion that he didn't ask her to do it, but she didn't care. She wasn't weak. She wiped her nose, dislodging a mixture of wet and dried blood, before taking unshaky steps forward. "I'm in." Did she trust him and his crazy plan? No. But if it saved lives... she had to try.

---

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They felt ill as Pietro whisked them to the hangar, as they made it to the Blackbird, dragging Anne Cortez along. She hadn't woken up yet thankfully, just a silent shell that Neil made sure made it onto the plane, even as they would have shed no tears over leaving her behind. And even though the world was still spinning a bit, Neil did their best to help others - to usher people onto the Blackbird, helping those who needed assistance, and trying to find seats for everyone. The ship hadn't been intended for a hundred mutants - but it would have to do.

Then Max suggested an ancient ritual, and Neil's chest filled with hope. Of course Max knew some deep magic! He must know how to save everyone at once on the ship, probably even safely teleport them down to Earth through some pocket dimension lost to time. They grinned slightly at the thought, at the realization that they could do this - that the X-Men would save everyone that day.

---

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Mary, whatever you’re going to do, do it already! Guin's voice went through her mind, and she let out a bit of a sigh from that. Of course mentally there were a few things going through her mind currently. The main thing being that they could not know. She was going to ensure that they didn't know that something was wrong with her. Probably was a bit of sheer luck that of all people she was with right now, it was Jaclyn. Who didn't know the biggest secret about her that everyone else knew.

It gave her a chance to practice keeping that whole thing hidden.

Her eyes started to shift back to their normal green color as she took a deep breath, and Mary gave her a slight smile, "Nice job! Give me a minute." she said to her, her voice seemingly starting to go fully back to normal, and didn't seem off in anyway then what it had been before the explosion.

We're heading there in a minute, was trying to get some more people out, she responded to Guin. Guin wouldn't be able to tell that anything was seemingly wrong with her from the way that she spoke, aside from slight hints of the stress this whole situation.

Jaclyn would be able to continue doing the directional vines along the walls as they ran along. Whenever they came across anyone, Mary would seemingly use her powers and vines to send them a lot closer to the hangar to make everything easier. On the outside everything seemed to be going well.

Internally things most definitely were not. But she wasn't going to tell anyone about that.

"Alright, that's enough, let's get the hell back to the ship, hold on," she said as she grabbed Jaclyn before teleporting them back to the initial hallway, before she took off towards the hangar.

The pair wouldn't get too much farther, before Pietro zipped into view, "Heading my way?" he asked the pair, and she couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Just get us back to the ship if you can."

"Sure thing," was the response as Pietro raced both her and Jaclyn back to the ship and the hangar in general.

Pietro had managed to find a few stragglers nearby that he had raced back to the ship before he had found Jaclyn and Mary. But now it was getting a bit too close to them needing to be there for him to head off anywhere to try and get everyone off the station.

As for what Max and Guin were doing, there was both good and bad news with regard to what it was that they were trying to do now. They had managed to get around 50 people into the area now, but the sort of trickling of people in stopped. Likely due to people being super far away from the hangar. However, Guin with Max's help, would be able to find a whole bunch of people elsewhere on the station, likely the remaining 50 people still, and their exact locations.

The problem was more on Max's side of things with trying to open portals over there. No matter how much Max tried, the portals were not wanting to open. He wasn't able to get them to open, and time was really running out at this point. The odds of getting all 50 of those people back to the hangar was slim. Even though the odds to begin with of getting everyone didn't help much either.

Mary went over to the group there, "Everyone on board now, we're basically going to need to get going, the hangar has to act like a life boat, and that still might not be enough so as many as possible get on that ship."

Lance and Mira were basically working on getting the ship up and going, and trying to get as many people whose powers likely wouldn't be helpful in protecting the hangar completely onto the Blackbird as possible. The ship was likely going to end up over capacity. There wasn't any way to avoid that, and hopefully people didn't seem to mind getting kind of shoved together and a lot closer together.

The entire area was starting to rumble, fairly violently. Those working to hold the hangar together were managing it, but even still it was difficult to not allow the shaking and rumbling to sneak through it. This wasn't necessarily going to end well, and at this rate, they were going to have to brace for the explosion.

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Bethany was doing her best to try and support the hangar, but she decided to head back into the Blackbird and started to move through hearing Max's idea. She wasn't sure if her powers would be able to expand that far, one or two people were easy enough but more than that would make her exhausted.

And sometimes it wasn't super accurate either and some people might end up in space or something, Guin seemed to be onboard with the idea of Max's plan. "Not sure if I can get everyone but i'll try and help, shadow traveling is a bit tricky sometimes." Bethany said as she grabbed Max's hand and she would let him do whatever that it was that he was planning on trying to get as many people onboard or into the hangar as possible.

---

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Carolina nodded at Guin, there really wasn't anything that she could do to help with the evacuation right now other than just helping to get people on board and strapped in as well to. She could tell that the Blackbird was starting to fill to full capacity she hadn't seen it be this full before.

Carolina could feel the Blackbird rattle slightly as some more explosions happened as she looked out of a nearby window people were still slowly trickling in. She got out and onto the ramp again helping people get onboard as well to and telling them where they needed to sit, all the while looking outside waiting for Pietro, Mary and Joclyn to show up, they needed to get out of here and very soon.

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OfAll internally questioned what Marygold had been intending to do when she went off alone, as OfAll found herself still running along with her, but she was glad. The knowledge that Mary could teleport in a pinch had given OfAll enough relief to trust her safety on her own, but for now, this felt better; as did hearing Mary's voice sounding normal again.

It wasn't enough to make OfAll forget what she had just observed, though it gave her further peace of mind at present.
Relatively speaking.

Almost before OfAll processed what next was going, Marygold had teleported them again- then Pietro appeared and in a flash--

She was in the hanger feeling woozy and sick to her stomach.

They had precious little time, but slow was smooth, smooth was fast- she took the moments she needed to concentrate on herself for a second, eyes closed, breathing deeply, until the feeling, fortunately, passed.

Opening her eyes, OfAll saw all the progress that had been made in terms of evacuation. There were many people here, though still not all...She gathered from conversation that Guin and Max had been trying something, but now their tries seemed all used up.

OfAll heard Marygold's declaration on the circumstances.

What she put into words, the violent shaking underlined.

OfAll felt her temperature rise, found herself starting to sweat not from the crowd or her own activity, but the facing of sheer disaster.
The X-Men had a vow to protect everyone they could. That meant having to accept sometimes, oftentimes, everyone they could wasn't everyone, and this felt like it would be one of those times. . .OfAll closed her eyes, already feeling for the souls. . .But she wouldn't let herself go there completely, yet. She still needed to concentrate on the living.

Still, she now found herself shaking asides from the instability all around them.
Holo, I'm coming home to you. . .Jaclyn vowed, despite everything else.

Thinking of Holo shifted her mentality, and OfAll found herself tapping into a surface-calm as she turned her attention to the mutants from Asteroid M. Turned her attention to keeping them calm, as the worst thing in a disaster situation after the disaster itself, were panicking crowds.

---

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Slowly their team were getting picked up and on the ship, but that still left a chunk of people on this asteroid. Was she comfortable leaving them here? No, but what choice did she have? Pietro couldn't risk running all around and grabbing everyone. Peregrine looked around her and noticed the levels of anxiety and panic. It was intense. Fear and sadness. Anger.

She felt a headache coming on. She got them when there were intense emotions at play, even if she wasn't actively trying to gauge them. She took a seat as everyone ran around her. She felt foolish. Her spirits were nearby, but they said nothing. They knew they couldn't do much.

Perry took some deep breaths. She felt the rumble as their clock inched closer to doomsday. She hoped they could get off of here soon. It wasn't looking like they would get out of this unscathed, though.

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Max was surprised as Guin offered up her services. He thought to himself how he believed that he was starting to understand her a bit more now than before. He felt as his pulse went in tune with Guin's, then Bethany's once they all joined hands. Feeling as her mind was amplified, reaching out across the base and locating fifty people who remained on board. The issue came when he attempted to open up all those portals for the remaining mutants. Time was running out, and he had to give his last push just before the finish line. He stressed his powers, trying to use Guins Telepathy to pinpoint locations to open rifts for them to cross through. A portal finally opened up, he could see five others behind it. ”Come quick!” He demanded as he held the portal open between the spaces.

There were still 45 other mutants on board, but there wasn't any time to grab them all. Max worried that if he focused on saving them that he'd doom those stranded here in the hangar. He bit his lip, cursing the decisions he was being forced to make as he decidedly stopped the search for the other mutants and broke the bonds between the three of them. His Soul Staff in hand as he began to weave his magics around the room. Several sticks forming around the room where he'd meant to add supports. Max cursed in Latin under his breath as he began to reshape the summoned sticks into support beams to help stabilize and support the hangar. They needed to reinforce their makeshift life raft more to help save those they could here in the hangar. And simply hope and pray the remaining 45 made it here in time. He made his way onto the ship, keeping near the door so that he could help until the last second.

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People continued to trickle onto the Blackbird. Antoinette helped everyone up the ramp, telling those who were well to give up seats for the injured. Finally, Pietro returned with Mary, Jacelyn, and a couple of others. Antoinette smiled as warmly as she could and helped those few people in before she joined her fellow X-Men on board.
There were still 45 people out there. Antoinette turned her head to look down the ramp to the crumbling hangar. She remembered the building collapse all those years ago when she had been rescued. Not everyone made it out of that one, either. This was part of the job that was never easy.
Max walked past her, standing close to the ramp to keep a weathered eye for more people. Antoinette walked back to stand beside him. Her powers weren’t equipped to help in this sort of scenario. It was one thing to feel helpless in that sense, but another to have the powers do something and still not be able to save them all. Antoinette reached out and took Max’s hand. She gently squeezed it but kept looking down the ramp, hoping for more people to join them.

---

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There wasn't much else that Guin could do. She was beyond spent, beyond exhaustion. She couldn't taste her tongue and her head was ringing, and she had a sneaking suspicion that if she held a hand to her ears, she would pull it away slick with blood. It was only her own dazed survival instinct that got her to board the Blackbird when the circuit between them ended, that got her to collapse up against the wall, as the world felt like it was spinning around her. She didn't know if everyone had gotten off the ship in time - didn't have the capacity to think about it, to worry about it.

All she wanted was to collapse into a puddle, to sleep for about a thousand years and wake up feeling like a person again. Hopefully she'd done enough. Hopefully everyone would make it off of the Asteroid alive. But there was nothing else that she could do - no other miracles that she could perform, mutant powers or otherwise. She didn't even have the strength to use her powers to rally everyone to move a little faster, to take their actions a little quicker.

Distantly, she hoped that Pietro would be there soon - that she could close her eyes and just trust that he'd catch her if she fell.

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Time was almost up. Max had worked some miracles, but it wasn't enough. Neil didn't need to be psychic to know that the Blackbird wasn't full, that there were still stragglers on the station, waiting for rescue. But they couldn't save everyone. Their heart sank, even as they did what they could. Even as they used their telekinesis to reinforce, to protect - to keep the Blackbird safe, to prevent the hangar from closing in around them.

They wondered if Cortez would be pleased - if the game was still considered won. They wondered why it always had to be like this, why mutants could never know peace, could never have a home. The mansion wasn't a home either - not for everyone. The asteroid, Genosha... It had all been taken away. All lost. Leaving the mutants wandering, separated - leaving them vulnerable.

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Ed wished he had been able to help in some other way. Protecting the hanger was something he could do. Keeping it together was not easy. His hands were shaking. He had to focus on it.

Ed controlled his breathing. Focusing on the shield. Shutting out what the others were saying. This would probably be the last line between the empty air of space. His stomach twisted at the thought. The memory of Iris flashed through his mind. Ed quickly shoved it away.

---

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They were out of time, Bethany wasn't able to get the remaining people with her own shadow travel powers, and there wasn't any more time to get anyone else. Mary stepped off the Blackbird, and looked at those still around before fire started swirling and it went right through the walls, seemingly, but that was about it. There was a loud explosion that shook everything, and the entire hanger around them started to rumble and shake. There were a few windows of sorts in the hanger, so they would all be able to see what was going on outside, at least a little bit.

They'd be able to see metal getting flung off and away, mixtures of that along with every so often fire bursting past. Somehow, by some miracle. They're little life boat was seemingly able to hold together. Putting people on the Blackbird had mainly been in the event that the hanger completely was obliterated, but given the fact that they were somehow managing to keep it together was a miracle.

There was still the slight issue of how to get the thing back to Earth without fully crashing.

They likely were going to have to use the Blackbird to ferry people from the metal structure once they got there, but as of right now, those holding it together were likely going to have to work together to move it that way. Magneto actually would probably be doing most of the heavy lifting with that part considering his powers. He seemed to figure that out as he maneuvered the structure around so they could more easily see where they were sort of steering, and he started moving the structure towards Earth again.

There was so much debris and all from the remains of the asteroid floating along now by their small life boat. Where the base had been was completely gone, save for the debris field, without that you would never have known that it had been there in the first place. It would likely take a while to get back to Earth, but that definitely was better than the alternative for what could have happened otherwise.

That could have ended worse, but that wouldn't do much to fix the fact that no matter how hard they had tried, they couldn't fully save everyone.

---

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It was a bit of a sort of dreary day, sort of fitting for where it was after all. A small, older cemetery in France that was hidden away a bit. It wasn't too common for there to be visitors in the area, at least not right now, which is one of the many reasons she knew exactly who would be one of the few people to actually go there, aside from the caretakers for the place. Didn't take long to find him, and she didn't say anything at first, a hood pulled up over her head as she walked up, but kept her distance slightly, knowing fully well what the person she was approaching was capable of.

Bennet du Paris paused in his contemplations, in his prayer. His beloved's grave had decayed over the centuries, his lover and comrade in arms just dust beneath his feet. He had not been a mutant, after all - he did not bear the cross in his genes, the X. Bennet had gone somewhere that he could not follow, a place where no human could follow. And yet the wound was fresh, the grief as if he had lost him just yesterday, rather than centuries ago.

"I would remind you that this is a place of mourning," Bennet said softly, aware of his company. "A sacred place. If you are here to kill me, then know that the eyes of my Lord is upon you here."

"Who said that I was going to kill you? That sort of thing, even I know that's a bit of a low blow to do it in a place like this," she responded, giving him a bit of a smile as she walked over towards him. "That's not why I'm here anyway."

He tilted his head, peering down at her. "Then speak, child."

"I actually was wondering if you might potentially help me with something, choice is entirely up to you on whether or not you are even mildly interested in the idea. Just need to know what you answer is sooner rather than later, sorry for the rush."

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Antoinette sat on the stool with her legs crisscrossed, paper scattered around her with various sketches on them. After things had settled from their trip in space, Antoinette approached Avery about doing some artwork for their DnD campaign. It was something she had been thinking about for a long time, but as usual in the mansion, her attention had been required elsewhere. However, she was doing well in training with Guin and decided she wanted to do something fun now that Avery was back.

"What do you think, Arnold? Too angry?" She held up a sketch of a dragon with their wings out-stretched in mid-flight and a snarl on their face. The tribble merely purred on the table in contentment, surrounded by all the sketches.

Avery hesitated slightly at the threshold, knocking twice on the door frame. Things had been different since they'd returned from space - well, they'd been different. They had a new name, new pronouns, and their mind was expanding to the possibilities that life could offer them. Their body had been different for a while, but it was like they had finally come into it, had finally claimed ownership over it. "Hey," they said with a slight smile.

Antoinette glanced up from her drawing and beamed when she saw Avery. "Hey! I hope you don't mind I got started without you. Well, to be honest, I've been working on some of these for a while." Antoinette pulled some of the drawings closer and patted an empty stool for Avery if they wanted it.

"Oh!" Avery blushed slightly - had they been keeping Annie waiting for a while? "That's totally fine, can I see?" they then asked, sitting down next to Annie on the stool. They pulled their sketchpad out and put it down in front of them - they'd been doing a lot of digital art lately, but today, they wanted to do something in a different medium, go a little more old-school with it. They had a few ideas of things that they wanted to draw - there was a temple that the campaign would be heading to pretty shortly, so if they could have some visuals of that, that'd be awesome. But they also just wanted to draw a simple group scene, just the party at camp under the stars.

"Of course," Antoinette laid out several pieces of paper she had pulled from her sketchbook and laid them out for Avery to peruse. Antoinette had one of her goblin character. They sported leather attire, with a club and mace for weapons, vivid purple hair, and brilliant yellow eyes. Another was of a magician, heavily inspired by Max, and another was a druid with vines like Mary's intertwined behind them.

And there were two other pieces of paper depicting Avery. The first one was an older drawing. The date in the bottom right corner declared this drawing was made a month before Avery had left. They sported more masculine features, with their blond hair swooping to the right. Their eyes were downcast, paying no attention to the dice they had just tossed up into the air, a smirk playing with the corner of their lips. The detailing on the dice was precise, with the numbers easily read. Antoinette had drawn them in a three-piece suit, grey, with a white long-sleeved shirt, a few buttons undone to reveal the top of their chest, and they wore a long, dark blue cloak with gold accompaniments. Beside it, though was a rough, new sketch Antoinette had been working on when Avery first joined her.

A softer-looking human with no distinctive gender features looked directly at the viewer, despite their back being turned. Blonde bangs covered their forehead, some loose strands framing their face, with the rest pulled back into a short, messy, high pony. The hair looked as if it were chaotic and unruly if left unattended. Their right foot rested pointed, toes on the ground behind their left ankle --- in front of the viewer. Their right hand was raised beside their head, tossing dice down behind them towards the open, left hand by their side. There were numbers on these dice as well, but that wasn't the only thing. Each die sported a symbol instead of the number one. There was a music note on one, a wand on another, a snowflake, a candle... They were a deep purple colour with silver sparks inside and around, almost like the night sky.

"I was going to try and see if I could get those commissioned," Antoinette pointed to the dice as she spoke. "Should be easy to do. Do you think Professor X would get us a 3D printer? We could make them in-house."

They were speechless as they took in the drawings - they were all incredible, beautifully done with amazing detail. But it wasn't the drawing of the player characters that took Avery's breath away. It was the drawings Annie had done of themself. They saw the person they had once been - their old body, before things had changed - before that spell had gone awry and altered their features. An old body with an old name. It was them but at the same time, it wasn't. And as their gaze changed to the new one, the one depicting their current self, tears pooled in their eyes. It was perfect. It was them. "Annie..." Avery's voice cracked.

They tried to say something - to communicate to her how much this meant to them, how thoughtful and amazing she was, but words failed them. So instead, they slowly put their arms around her, giving her the space to say no, and pulled her into a hug as they cried softly into her hair.

Antoinette was worried when they didn't say anything right away. She usually didn't mind if people didn't like her art. That was what art was. It evoked conversation, good or bad it didn't matter. But when Avery took a while to speak up and when their voice cracked, Antoinette worried she had crossed a line with them. Avery leaned in and tentatively hugged Antoinette until she returned the hug and then Avery started to cry.

Antoinette shut her eyes and held Avery close. Antoinette had been giving Avery some space to figure out their new space and what it all meant to them, she didn't know everything they were going through but that didn't matter. Antoinette would always be their friend, no matter who, what, or where they were.

"I'm proud of you," Antoinette whispered.

"Thank you," they replied, relaxing slightly into Annie's hold, before melting entirely. "You're an incredible friend, Annie... Like a sister to me or... You've always been there, even when I'm... Sorry, I'm bad at explaining this - I just - I couldn't be me without you."

Antoinette held them a moment longer before releasing them. She smiled at them, understanding clear in her eyes. "I feel the same. I felt a little adrift in the mansion until you invited me to that DnD game. After that, I really connected with people. It was hard when you left, and Carolina... But I had more faith in myself. Guin has really helped me hone my powers, too. You gave me a family, Avery. I'll always love you for that, and I'll support you in any way I can, forever."

Avery took a step back once the hug finished, but there was a soft, tired but happy, smile on their face. "I'll always love you two, Annie. I promise."

Ed needed answers. It was driving him a little insane. Max knew something about Ed’s future and had tried to play it off. Ed probably would have let it go, except for the tombstone thing. There was no way Max didn’t know how Ed was going to die. Ed didn’t even want to know the actual way he died, he needed a timeline. Was it months from now? Or years? Would he have time to deal with his family? He didn’t know. That was the issue.

Ed had given it a couple of days, but now had been long enough and the itching fear and uncertainty needed something to drive it away. He went looking for Max. Max should be at the house and things were mostly quiet right now, which probably meant it wouldn’t be long before all chaos broke out. If Ed waited then he’d never get the answers.

Max had been restless the days after the events on the Asteroid. Having gone back home to New Orleans several times but leaving all the same in equal measure. It was hard to look at his husband, his son, when he felt like such an abject failure. He'd lost so many mutants because he wasn't strong enough. A part of him wondered if he should've gone back to Strange's, to finish his training there. But he could train here, have more scenarios than the magic back at the Sanctum could offer (not like they were too far off from each other should he need to stop by).

So Max had headed to the danger room, pulling up scenarios in which he could both practice on his portals while also being able to use his magic to take down enemies and get rid of the pent up frustration growing inside of him. He knew the X-men didn't wear the uniform anymore, but he still felt it was nice to have it while training. Wearing the classic blue and yellow colors along with a yellow duster over top of it. Magic was emanating from his hands as he fired off another blast, knocking a hologram into a wall.

It took Ed longer than he might have expected. The Danger Room was not where he thought Max would go, but when he finally ended up there he saw Max running a scenario. Max looked a little silly in the blue and yellow uniform, those colors were wild together. Ed entered the Danger room, throwing up a shield as he did to prevent errant magic from hitting him.

”Max, we need to talk.” He said, his voice stern. Trying to approach this situation like he would if he were talking to one of his cousins.

Max didn't think, didn't hesitate, he whipped around and a blast went flying towards Ed, hitting harmlessly against his shield. Thankfully Ed was a smarter man than he was. He thought ahead. His eyes went wide as he ran towards Ed apologizing the whole way. ”Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I thought you were one of the simulations! I- agh hold on. Danger Room, End Simulation.” He demanded as he was weaving between enemies and bystanders to make his way over towards Ed. He could feel the sterner in his voice, making Max stop a few feet away from him, worried about what he might say. ”Uh, yeah. Sure. What do you need?” His tone was wavering, nervous as his words were hit with a vocal fry.

Ed let his shield drop. Thankful he had thought to do that. ”My tombstone. Your reaction when you saw me. We’ve met before. I don’t want to know how.” Ed held up his hand. ”I just need an idea of how much time I have. There are things that I need to resolve.” The family issues would take time. There was a chance that if there wasn’t enough time Ed would have to leave the X-men sooner rather than later to deal with those issues. In the end though, how much of it mattered? Going home meant taking up his position as the heir apparent to the family. If he didn’t his cousin would. When he died his cousin would still end up as head of the family. Unless he could get the family codes changed to allow women to become the head of the family, which he likely wouldn’t be able to do while his grandfather lived.

Max instantly locked up as Ed began to speak. Rubbing the nape of his neck as he looked away uncomfortably. He was glad Ed didn't want any specifics, though he still wasn't sure how he felt about the line of questioning. Either way, he couldn't meet his eyes. ”I don't know. I won't lie to you, and I'll try to answer any questions you have as best as I can but. I can't exactly say how much time you have. When we met, or rather, when we will meet, I won't know you. I won't recognize your face, your name, your voice. You'll be a stranger to me. But for me that time has already passed. So it's difficult to say how long you will have…” Max chuckled to himself as he looked off to Ed's left. ”I'm starting to see why River kept a journal to cross reference.”

A coil of tension in Ed tightened as Max explained what was held in Ed’s future, Max’s past. Of course they had met out of order. He smiled and tried to chuckle at the Doctor Who reference, but it wasn’t there. His limbs seemed too weak to hold him, he swayed a little but kept his feet under him.

”I didn’t know you, when you came here. But you knew me. As far as you were concerned we had met and I had died. The day will come when you don’t know me. That day will mark my end, my impending...” Ed trailed off. Death had come for so many in his life. Most of his family. He wasn’t afraid of it, not really. He just wasn’t ready. Ed sighed and under his breath said, ”I’m not ready.” He closed his eyes and then set his shoulders against the future.

”So be it. We all know we will die one day. I just happen to have a better idea than most. Maybe I’ll have enough time to finish what needs to be done, maybe not. But most people never even have the chance to try. When that day comes, that you do not know me. I will do my best to be kind to you about it.” Ed starts to turn to leave, but pauses mid-turn and says, ”Do I go honorably? Or have I fallen?”

Max couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for all of this. He was a walking reminder of Ed's future, and soon one day he would be the Harbinger of Death for him. But his heart broke for him. He stepped up towards him, slinging one arm around Ed's shoulders and giving him a tight squeeze. ”I have only ever known you to be kind and honorable. A true knight who would do anything to shield those around him from harm. I don't think you could fall even if you tried.” He let go of Ed and moved before him, halting his steps before leaning against the nearest wall. ”I may not know exactly when, but I can tell you you have time. You age gracefully by the way, and you seemed to have lived a full life. If you wish…”

Max stopped, his eyes scanning Ed's features and body searching for signs of things he had seen back then. Letting out an awkward sigh. ”I can offer you one last clue as to mark the occasion. At the very least a bit of advice in the event that it happens more than once.”

Some of the tension released. There was time. And as far as Max knew the edge of darkness that had been there since the trip to the other world had not won. Had not brought him down. Really, the person standing before him barely knew him. He frowned at the comment about it happening ‘more than once.’ Ed had had no intention of finding out more than necessary from Max. But he was intrigued now.

”What is that?” He raised an eyebrow, curious about what advice, or clue, that Max had to offer for him.

”Well, I assume you don't have a kid at the moment right?” Max said as he spied the ringless finger on Ed's hand. ”One day, or perhaps many times over many days, your daughter will gift you a candied bracelet. The day that she does, make sure to hug her tight and tell her how much you love her. It may very well be the last chance you have for a very long time.” Max pressed his shoulders against the wall, pushing himself off of it as he placed his hands into his pockets. ”That's all I know. The only clues I have as to put a time to it. After that, it's anyone's guess. Man, I hate time travel. Never can seem to get things in the right order.”

Ed shakes his head at Max’s question. No children. But he will have a daughter. A girl to carry the legacy. He’d make sure she got the chance to. All the more reason now to make sure the family rules changed. He bound Max’s words up into a promise to that child. Fear coiling with it, because he knew that he wouldn’t get to raise her if she was so young to have a candy bracelet.

”Thank you, Max.” Ed said. ”That reassures me of a lot of my fears. I have things to do now. Good luck with your practice.” Ed heads for the exit.

It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Hearing Ed thank him, though it felt weird to be thanked for delivering the news of one's death. As Ed began to leave, Max tried to lighten the mood a bit more, not knowing what ‘things’ Ed needed doing. ”So, does this mean I get to call you Daddy? Or not yet?” He said with a grin ”Just kidding, Ben would kill me if I did that. But uh, good luck with your things. Let me know if you need any help with them.”

Ed froze for a moment trying to understand what Max was insinuating, but then Max mentioned Ben. He nodded, ”Yeah, I don’t know about that.” He smiled. ”And unfortunately I don’t think you can help with it. I need to deal with family matters. I may have a few years yet, but these are issues that if left to their own devices mean someone who would cause havoc in the family would be taking over as the head of it. I cannot abide for him to be my grandfather’s successor.” Ed saw no reason to not be honest with Max about it.

Max shrugged. He didn't know Ed's family Save for Madalyne, and even then he knew next to nothing about the matters he spoke of. ”Offers always on the table. I know a wicked reality warper, aaand I've been known to bend things a little myself.”

Ed raises his eyebrow again. Fully facing Max. ”I’ve experienced reality warping by going to a different universe. What did you do?”

”Made my own personal galaxy inside my bedroom with a breathable atmosphere. But that was just because I liked the aesthetic of it all. Always been a big space kid.”

”Yeah, that’s uh...I’m good on space at this point. I’ve seen enough of it. I do not want any more.” Ed shakes his head. His shoulders have released some of the tension, but he is still wound up.

”Yeah…” Max said with a thousand yard stare as he looked past Ed into nothingness. The feelings of those mutants minds brushing up against his once more. His hands clenched inside his coat pockets as his lips tightened. ”On second thought. I uh…I have to go.” He said as he began to walk hurriedly past Ed.

Ed watches as Max starts to leave. What can he say? ”Max...” He starts. ”It’s the ones we can’t save that hurt the most.” He thinks of his sister. He thinks of Iris.

Max shut his eyes, hit tears streaming down now. ”There's too many of those going around lately. I just…I need some time.”

”I know.” Ed says letting Max leave. It doesn’t feel right. Max needs someone, but even with the tension between them released there is history there that Ed doesn’t fully understand. He can’t be the one to help Max. Not from this.

Max had had his fair share of strange things happen to him within his short lifetime. Between the mystic puzzle box that turned out to be a containment unit for the immortal Selene, to well…just about everything else in his life. He thought he'd seen it all. So when he'd used his mutation to teleport from place to place in an effort to strengthen his abilities with it, he hadn't expected to pick something up along the way. He didn't realize it at first, figuring something had just shifted in his pockets and was poking him the wrong way. But when Max had went to fix the problem, he felt an unfamiliar object press against his hand.

When he pulled it out, he saw it was a necklace similar to Strange’s. The Eye of Agamotto, only, it looked slightly different. It even felt different. Having been the Sorcerer Supreme for a moment and having wielded the Eye of Agamotto, he knew its mystic energy and felt its being. But this…this was different somehow. If he went to Strange now, then he'd either task him with figuring out what it is on his own, or take the amulet and lock it up for the greater good. Max didn't know which was worse. But there were other wizards he could turn too, others who dabbled in magic and contained knowledge of mysticism. So he turned to Neil, going towards his bedroom door and knocking on it softly. ”Hey, Neil, you in there?”

Neil was in their room, reading through a weathered tome - a religious text that had been handed down through their family for generations, each newborn child receiving a copy. There were things within that they didn't agree with - cruelties and atrocities, things that Neil had been raised to perceive as normal. But ever since the asteroid, when they had questioned their view of their self, they had started to question everything, even the basic rites they had carried out without question since childhood.

They glanced up at the knock, and quickly crossed the room, opening the door slightly, a blush sprayed across their cheeks - "Max! Um, how can I... what's up?"

Max noticed the rose colored tinge on Neil's cheeks, his eyes subconsciously looking past him into the room, wondering if they were with another. "Oh...I, uh, am I interrupting something? I can go. If you...um, like" He said awkwardly as he motioned towards Neil's room

Neil stumbled backwards for a moment, almost tripping over nothing - or their own legs. They were considerably taller than they had been before, and sometimes, finding that center of gravity was still a challenge. "No, nothing at all - I was, uh…” they hesitated. Max probably wouldn’t approve of their family’s beliefs and practices - it would be like revealing that they worshipped Shar. "... reading.”

”Oh. Perfect. I uh, found something on one of my journeys and was hoping maybe you could help me figure it out. I don't exactly have any real leads on it, save for another relic that appears to look similar but not identical. Aside from that…I'm not even really sure how I acquired it.” Max took one step forward towards the tumbling Neil, stopping just short of the threshold. ”Can…I come in? Or would you prefer my room? Or?...” He let the question cling in the air.

Neil’s face was positively crimson. An ancient wizard wanted to come into their room? They were so flustered that they stepped to the side, not considering that their family’s religious text was simply lying there on the bed in plain sight. All they could think about was the fact that Max wanted their help - with some sort of ancient artifact found on his travels. Neil didn’t feel qualified at all, but they nodded anyways. "Uh, sure, I can…. I can take a look at it. I’m not… Yeah. So… What is it?”

Max made his way into their room. Trying to look for a place to sit, while also taking the chance to take in the environment. Noticing any decorations that Neil may have put up until his eyes finally fell onto the book Neil had been reading, splayed open on the bed from where he'd left off. ”No idea. Best I can tell so far is that it appears to look like The Eye of Agamotto. One of Strange's relics out of the hundreds housed within the walls of the various Sanctums. But I haven't seen anything like this one before.” He circled his way towards Neil's bed, finally sitting down at one edge of his near the ancient texts, pulling out the relic from his coat pocket and placing it softly onto an open space in the sheets. ”You read Latin? How's your Sanskrit?”

Most of the room’s decorations were drawings - either digital or done with pencil. There were wolves and moons, but predominantly, sketches of Dungeons and Dragons characters - characters from the campaign that Neil was running for their friends in the mansion. But for the most part, the room was dimly lit - shadows were cast onto every surface, making the finer details of the drawings hard to see. ”You… you have something of the Sorcerer Supreme’s?” Neil asked, surprised - why was Max coming to them and not just asking his colleague?

Their eyes widened though as Max spotted the book, and Neil quickly grabbed it and shut it. ”Sorry that’s… That’s personal. And I um, I can’t read Latin. Or Sanskrit,” they explained, flustered, as they put the book into a drawer and shut it.

”Oh…I uh, I see.” He didn't mean to snoop, well he did, but not onto personal matters. He recognized the letterings,, the patterns in the words that allowed him to glimpse its origin without truly haven't read what any of it said. ”I didn't mean to pry, just naturally drawn to books. Especially ones that look as though they hold older knowledge.” Max answered as he shifted slightly in Neil's bed. ”But back to the matters at hand, it isn't Strange’s. I've known his amulet for some time. Could feel it's pull and connection from my time as Sorcerer Supreme, but this feels…different. It's the same feeling as walking into a room where everything has been displaced a mere inch to the right. Never knowing why you feel like something is off until it is revealed.”

Max let the analogy linger in the air for Neil to chew on for a moment. He grabbed the amulet once more, running his finger across the smooth cold metallic surface of it before holding it out to Neil. ”Well, the no Latin and Sanskrit does put a bit of a dent in my idea to raid the Ancient Texts within the vault and tackling them together. But that also means I'm saving myself from an earful from the guardian of those same texts so…it works out. Think you can gleam anything from this? Or perhaps we can just find out by messing with it.”

Neil hesitated, before accepting the amulet. They turned it over slowly in their hands, feeling the groves wrought both by intention and by time. They weren’t magical like the rest of the family - nothing innate dwelled within their bones. But they had been around enough magic to recognize the buzz of it, the feel. And there was magic within the artefact for sure. However, telling that to Max would be embarrassing - Max already knew that the amulet was magic. ”Um, where did you… where did you get this from then? Any information you have on it would help.”

They were wondering if perhaps they could discreetly text their cousin - perhaps she could do some spell on the artifact from a distance and text Neil back what to say?

”That's one of the mysteries surrounding this thing. It just sort of…appeared. I was practicing with my second mutation, something akin to Nightcrawlers teleportations, when suddenly as I came out of my teleport I felt a weight inside my coat. I reached in and…well that was there.” Max had no further information than that on how this item came to be. He was just as puzzled as Neil was, even if he didn't show it as much.

Neil paused, tilting the amulet from side to side. When Max explained how the amulet had suddenly appeared, it reminded them of an old children’s tale their aunties had told them and their cousin as children - about a mystical amulet that could reveal the truth. It was something that would appear suddenly without notice or explanation, and disappear one day just as quickly. If this amulet were the one from the stories… Neil peered into it, calming their mind.

And then a single word popped into their head.

A name.

”Does the name Avery mean anything to you?” Neil asked.

Max had laid down on Neil's bed, pulling out a pen from his pocket and balancing it on his nose as he watched Neil focus intently on the amulet. ”Avery? No, not really. Why? Should it?” He said, sitting up as he flicked the pen into the air and caught it in one hand. Watching Neil closely as he interacted with the amulet. He held out his hand, wondering if the item would speak the name to him as well.

”My aunties told a story about an amulet like this - one that is supposed to reveal the truth when you gaze into it,” Neil explained. ”If you quiet your mind, it’ll whisper it to you… And it said ‘Avery.’”

”The truth? To what? Is this like the number 42 thing. Some grand cosmic ideal that we aren't meant to comprehend?” Max ran his fingers through his hair, trying to piece together the things that Neil had said. ”Does…the name Avery…mean anything to you?” Maybe this was more of a personal truth? To be honest he was grasping at straws.

Neil hesitated for a moment, considering it. The name Avery didn’t mean anything to them - they didn’t know an Avery, didn’t know anyone who went by that name. There was no reason for it to have shown up in the amulet, unless… Perhaps Avery didn’t mean anything to them yet, but it did now.

They whispered the name again in their mind, mentally tilting and rotating it, getting an idea for the feel.

Avery Spellman.

It didn’t sound half bad.

”Actually… It does,” they said, smiling slightly to themself. ”It’s my name.”

It was late, the mansion was eerily quiet, though Max supposed it was only because everyone was supposed to be asleep. The event of Asteroid M still playing over in his head like an old tape. Trying again and again to figure out if there was another way, if he could've saved those last few mutants that were left stranded and abandoned on the base as it blew up. He could still feel their minds, their psychic impressions, as if they were just down the hall from him. He closed his eyes and turned in his bed, bringing his knees up to his chest as he tried to shake the images away. Hoping one of those mutants had the ability to save the others. That it wasn't all in vain.

He let out a sigh, relaxing his pose as he straightened out and sat up in bed. His hands splayed behind his back as he looked up at the ceiling contemplating just how many mutants they have lost. Too many. He looked back at the door, it's image seemingly closing in on him until he finally stood up and pinched the bridge of his nose. ”I need a drink.” Though Max wasn't even 21 yet, so a midnight snack would have to do. He tried to be quiet, leaving his room as he made his way over towards the kitchen and opened up the fridge, wishing Ed was here to make another charcuterie board.

Antoinette sat hunched at her desk with the lamp on while she doodled on her tablet. Arnold sat sleeping on his little bed, with not a care in the world. Antoniette circled the arm of the goblin with her tablet pen and hit delete. She grinned as the thing disappeared so she could start again. Antoinette loved to still draw and paint on paper and canvas, but there was something freeing about having a tablet now as well.
Her stomach grumbled and without stopping, Antoinette rose from her chair and shuffled into the hallway and down to the kitchen. Her face was lit by the light of her tablet while she navigated her way down the familiar hallways to the kitchen. Antoinette was inches away from hitting the open fridge door when her intuition told her to stop. She looked up and peeked around.
“Max? What are you doing up?”

Max closed the door halfway, just enough to look around it and see Annie standing there with a tablet in her hands. ”Oh, Penguins, hey. I uh…couldn't sleep.” He decided to say honestly. He pulled a soda out of the fridge, along with some ingredients for a sandwich before hitting it closed with his hip before he made his way towards a counter. ”What about you? What's got you up and about?”

Antoinette grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and held it up. “Hungry,” she declared. “I probably should be sleeping, but I’m having too much fun. Look! I have an entire new line of creatures I’ve been designing for Avery’s DnD campaign.” She excitedly flipped her tablet around, so Max could see the goblin she was working on.

He chuckled as she showed him the drawing. ”Very cute. Are you playing a goblin? Or?” Max hadn't heard of a player playing as one, but it also wasn't unheard of for DMs to allow some monstrous races as playable characters. ”Kind of jealous. I've been too afraid to ask to join the table. Still being new and all.”

“I am!” Antoinette said excitedly. She went off explaining what level she was and what abilities she had. She spoke about a mile a minute. DnD had quickly become one of her passions, even though she still had no idea what she was doing half the time. “You must join, Max! We could design your character together! I’m hoping we can make 3D models one day and actually use our characters,” Antoinette stated, drawing a little heart beside the goblins’ head. She bit into her apple and looked up at Max.
Her eye shimmered a little and she set her tablet down before resting an arm on Max’s shoulder. She didn’t always know why, but she knew sometimes when people needed extra support.

Max listened as Antoinette spoke about her character, letting her words fill the space in his mind that had been previously occupied by other thoughts. Survivor's guilt if he had to put a name to it. He had thought about using his magic to be a way to weasel himself into the table. After all, what better way to use creation magic than to make realistic terrain and mini's for all those at the table. Bring a new level of immersion to D&D. He'd thought about them using the Danger Room, but doubted they'd be allowed. But as soon as Annie placed her hand on his shoulder, his thoughts snapped back. That gentle touch reminded him in the back of his mind that something was wrong. He continued making his sandwich before stopping midway. Looking towards where her hand was. ”What's up?”

Antoinette watched Max silently while he made his sandwich, her hand remaining on his shoulder. After a couple of moments, Antoinette sat on the counter. “We haven’t had much of a chance to talk,” she said. It had been A COUPLE WEEKS(?) since their mission at the space station. Some of them — most of them — declared it a failed mission.

”To be honest…I haven't been much in the mood for talking…” His eyes bore holes into the counter before him as his hands gripped its edges tight. He let out a soft sigh as his shoulders relaxed slightly. ”Then again…that's probably the same reason why I can't sleep. I suppose if you keep too much inside it can haunt you.” He figured he was making any sense to her. Then again there were times in which she seemed to not make sense at all, yet he still understood her. Like now.

Antoinette nodded as Max spoke, both in understanding and acknowledgement. “That’s why I’ve been drawing more. Guin and I train but I needed something else.” She flipped her tablet around and opened a separate file. It was full of art that was not Antoinette’s usual. She drew scenes from space, explosions and shriveled up bodies. She even had pieces from the OMEN facility where she had been captured now drawn out. It had been years since that day, but the screaming, the gun shots, and the sounds of shattering glass often joined her in her dreams. She shared these images with Max as she ate her apple.

Max lingered on the images of Space, almost lost in them as his eyes unfocused on the frame. Finally he pushed past it and onto the others. He didn't dare look at Annie, but a question ran through his mind and without thinking it he said it aloud. ”Do you ever wonder if we did the right thing? With Wanda…”

Antoinette watched Max closely, seeing him come in and out of reality. She always felt that way when a gun went off around her. She dropped her eyes to look at the sandwich he made. “Do you mean stopping her?”

He gently grabbed his sandwich, hands shaking slightly as he did before turning around. Max pressed his back against the counter, sliding down it with his sandwich in both hands as he stared at it as if it held the answers to all his problems. ”Yeah…Mutants were happy there. We didn't hide in shame or fear or…” He got quiet, contemplative as if trying to find the words he needed to say amongst the curves in the lettuce. ”I'm 20 years old and I've witnessed three world ending events. I never understood Frodo when he said he ‘wished it need not have happened’ in his time. I thought how wonderful would it be to live a grand adventure. To see the world and fend against foes of darkness. But now…now I wish it hadn't been.”

Max caught himself for a moment before waving away the air before him dismissively. ”Don't get me wrong. I love everyone I've met because of it but…”

Antoinette bit into her apple, chewing in contemplation while Max spoke. “I liked the other world. Carolina and I lived with her girlfriend. We had an art studio and everything. And Wanda, she was amazing but it all felt… fake. Have you ever read Alice In Wonderland? It felt like that. Everything was technicolour and too much. Then what Magneto wanted to do… It didn’t seem right to switch one people being persecuted to another.” Antoinette took another bite from her apple, letting silence fill the space between them. “I think we evolved to handle the things others can’t, but it's hard to do it alone and that’s why Professor Xavier made this school. It’s easier to get through things with people who are like you.”

”Yeah…” Max took a bite out of his sandwich, chewing on the words both literally and metaphorically. She was right, he knew she was, but he still couldn't shake the feeling. ”I get that. Make no mistake, that world wasn't perfect, but why shouldn't we use our powers to do more? To make change happen faster?” His eyes reflected off of the sheen of the refrigerator. A magical glow encompassing them for a moment as he looked at his reflection before blinking and having the magic fade away.

Antoinette smiled when Max confessed his true thoughts. The two of them had yet to have such a conversation like this but Antoinette was glad they were. Sometimes it was nice to share the deep dark thoughts with another person. What it was about midnight snacks in the kitchen, Antoinette wasn’t sure, but it was a great starting point for them.
She set her half eaten apple on the counter and moved to sit down next to Max on the floor. The room glowed for a moment, and even though it didn’t let off a heat, Antoinette felt warm and safe.
“We have a hard job, I think. We have to determine when to use our powers and when not to, and we have to realize that we have something that others do not. If we used our powers to solve the world problems, to save more or do more, we would take away from what makes humans special too. Their ability to choose. The space station was…hard. I think that was perhaps the one time that all of us knew there was nothing more we could do. We all have limits, Max. Even mutants and inhumans.” Antoinette reached out and rested a hand on Max’s wrist.

There was a lump in Max's throat as he tilted his head back and allowed it to rest against the cabinet. ”I just wish…just once…everyone could be saved. Time and again I've been put into situations where my powers could do something, make a difference. And time and again I either falter at the finish line or can't bring myself to lay low the others because it's not what's right. I've lost so many people, strangers and friends. People who just wanted to live, to make it to the next day…The Morlocks, my late friend, all those ravaged by M-Pox, the poor souls I couldn't help on Genosha, or even the ones killed in Limbo and taken in New York from demonic invasion. I've seen so many people…so many mutants…” His words began to choke up as he brought his knees up to his chest, the sandwich now discarded to the side. He held his tears back, but his breathing was shaky.

”I can still feel the minds of all those I couldn't save back in Space. Feel their presence haunting me as if to ask me why I got to live when they didn't? Why I get to survive all these disasters when others can't? How many more times must I survive? How many more people do I need to lose before this is all over?” He buried his head against his knees, hiding his face. ”I can't take it anymore.”

Antoinette let him get everything out. She remained silent this time while Max spoke of his heart's pain. She shared with him and even began to tear up. It was hard not to empathize with Max and it was impossible not to understand him. As he curled in, Antoinette wrapped her arms around Max and held him tightly, as if she could help keep him together. “It doesn’t seem fair, does it? But Max… do you ever let yourself think about the people you did save?”

Max tried to. To think of the ones who had made it. The remainder of the Island of Genosha. The ones he was able to help during the invasion, those babies that made it without sacrifice. He thought of Ben who he gave a second life to, of his son who he saved from death by Purifiers. ”I…don't think I ever have. No.” He was so focused on everything he couldn't do, he never stopped to think of everything he had done. The countless people in his life that would be in awe of his powers and what he was able to do to save others. But then again, that's how he felt about others. Of James, Ed, the ones capable of saving.

“That’s okay. It’s hard to see past the destruction and loss sometimes. But you did save a lot of people that day, Max. You kept the station together so we weren’t sucked into space. You opened up portals so people could get to the hanger faster. You did a lot despite the station crumbling around us because of failed safety codes and other chaotic things. Try to hang on to that when the dark creeps in.” Antoinette squeezed him a little tighter before she loosened her hold.

Max let her words sink in as he felt the pressure of her squeezing him. She was right, he needed to focus on what he had done and not on what he couldn't. He shouldn't dwell on the past, except to learn from it and grow so that next time might be different. ”Yeah…you're right. I need to focus on the positives a bit more. Have more hope that humanity will choose the right path and that one day Xaviers dream will become a reality.”

Antoinette nodded and smiled. “We’re a family here. We might not always see eye to eye and bicker but when it comes down to it we are always there for each other.” She stood back up and grabbed her apple.

Before, Max would've thought the idea of family foreign to him. Back then it was just a play you put on, pretending to fit in in day to day life, pretending to not hold any grudges against your parentage for the way they spoke about mutants, about those different than them. He didn't get it back then. But he was shown what a family was like, what it should be like. The Mutant Underground was his family, and now it looked as though his was growing a little bigger.

Max grabbed his sandwich, using his magic to levitate him slightly before placing his feet firmly on the ground. He dropped the sandwich into a nearby trash can, he didn't care how often they cleaned the mansion, he wasn't about to eat a sandwich off the floor. So he went about preparing a new one. ”Thanks Penguin, I really needed to hear that. I guess I didn't realize how much I've been going through lately. I haven't exactly given myself time to process everything that's happened, just forcing myself to keep moving forward to the next mission.”

Antoinette giggled and grinned. “Why penguin?” she questioned him.

Max blushed, rubbing the nape of his neck as he did so. He guessed he hadn't ever actually spoken to her about the nickname or if she even liked it. ”Oh, it's silly really. After I'd found out the truth about Wanda's reality, the first thing I'd seen was your dancing Penguins, and her laughing at them. It felt like a light at the end of a tunnel, like hope personified. Showing a side of her that made me feel as though she wouldn't have done this. So…I kinda just attributed you to Penguins because it was the first impression I'd gotten. One of wonder and hope.”

Antoinette fiddled with her tablet while Max explained his reason for her nickname. She opened up a new tab and started to draw a simple little penguin. ”I do miss her.” She coloured one eye on her penguin purple and the other blue instead of the standard black. She started drawing a second but added a cape this time with stylized hair. Below the two she wrote her name and Max’s with a flourish and a heart next to it. ”I’m glad you’re here, Max. I think you bring more hope than you realize.”

Max couldn't help but laugh at her statement. He never saw himself as someone who brought hope. Perhaps for those that didn't know him, or for the flatscans that needed rescuing. But from his team? From other mutants? He was seen as chaos, as a wild card that couldn't be accounted for. It was why he trained so much, but it felt as though his magic would always have that element of chaos within it. As if it was a part of it. ”Thanks. Though I'd say I bring more disaster and chaos than I do anything else. Hell, this one time I accidently turned myself into a massive golden dragon. I didn't even know that was within my wheelhouse. All I wanted was to heal my wounds…which…technically happened as part of the transformation.” He said as he smiled at the drawing she was making.

”Hope comes in the form we least expect it to, but still it comes,” Antoinette stated.

Max smiled. Magic swirling in the palm of his hand as he closed it and watched it dissipate before opening it again. A small figurine, a D&D miniature, lay sideways in his palm, of a little goblin just like the drawings Annie had shown him earlier that night. ”Hope could come in the form of a little goblin girl.”

Antoinette’s eyes widened at the little goblin. She squealed and picked it up out of Max’s hand, tablet drawing forgotten. ”It’s perfect, Max!” She threw her arms around Max and hugged him tightly.

Max wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, though not nearly as much as she was to him. ”Thanks. I mean, it's not much, and far from perfect, but with your art skills and my magic I think we could help bring Avery's vision to life.”

Antoinette shut her eyes as she hugged Max back, a full smile on her face. ”No one’s perfect, Max. That’s what makes humanity beautiful.” Besides, it was perfect for her.

---

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Once everything was said and done with their journey back to Earth, Guin would be feeling better from the overexertion of her powers, which was definitely a good thing. Pietro was sort of hovering around her to ensure that she was okay. However, despite that, she'd still have a very vague headache that was just barely there. The pair however were soon going to be interrupted by two people walking towards the pair. Well, more of one who was rather confidently heading their way, while the other was sort of walking a little ways behind the other, almost reluctant about it.

"We need to talk," Magneto said, Miranda was there too, and Pietro was shifting a little uneasily by Guin, not entirely too sure about the entire thing.

Ordinarily, Guin would have muttered her comments to Pietro a little more privately, but the lingering headache and everything she'd just done had made her want to give her telepathy a little bit more of a break. Or perhaps she just enjoyed being a bit of a bitch to Magneto. "Great, you two," Guin rolled her eyes. "Let me guess: you're here to get our insurance company's info so you can file a claim for your busted ass station?"

"You act I actually paid for it to begin with. Actually I am grateful for your group's intervention in trying to get as many off the station as possible," Magneto responded, looking at Guin. "And you instantly get defensive, when I haven't exactly done anything to offend you today."

"Erik, perhaps this sort of conversation would be best if you weren't seemingly being at least a little hostile, calm down okay?" she said to him.

"I'm still confused as to what would need to be talked about, since I know I haven't had an actual conversation with you in like, forever. Since I'm the oddball, Wanda and Lorna were both always the favored children and all." Pietro responded rolling his eyes a bit. Guina this is a bit weird.

"Yet," Guin corrected. "You haven't done anything to offend me today yet. But the day is young - I'm sure you'll find a way." She crossed her arms, her head aching ever so slightly as she heard Pietro's whisper to her across their mental link. She nodded in agreement - this was incredibly weird. She didn't know what exactly Magneto wanted to talk about, but she wasn't inclined to hear it. The only reason she wasn't storming off in a huff right now was because Pietro hadn't made a move to flee, and hadn't indicated to her just yet that he wanted to. It was his family, so she let him call the shots here.

"As stated, I'm the disappointment child so why is this conversation even seemingly important?" Pietro then added again, looking at him still very confused.

"I actually came over here to apologize for my treatment of you and for everything that has seemingly occurred between us. I have been trying to do better then in the past, hence why I decided to try working at making a nation for mutants where they didn't have to live in fear and change how I go about doing things, if you haven't seemingly noticed."

"...Wait did I hear that right?" Pietro ended up responding, very much in shock at that statement.

"If you do not believe me, should Guinevere feel up to it, she can read my mind to see how sincere I am and how I am trying to do better." He hadn't put his helmet back on since he had taken it off hours before when Guin asked to read his mind, so he didn't seem concerned about hiding anything.

"I'm fine," Guin snapped immediately. Even with her exhaustion and overuse of her powers, she wasn't about to just take Magneto at his word. She didn't trust him - didn't believe that he was telling the truth. It was just another tactic from Pietro's abuser to try to trick him. Maybe Magneto was here to try to recruit Pietro back, to have his favorite punching bag back at the Brotherhood after his project went up in flames.

So she lifted a finger to her forehead and focused, peering into his mind. What she saw shook her to her core. He was telling the truth. She even caught a glimpse of the home he had had on Genosha, where he had set aside a room for Pietro if he ever wished to visit. It sickened her. "... He's not lying, shockingly."

He was really surprised to hear that. He'd never once had ever heard his father apologize for anything ever in his life. "...I don't think the doc is going to fully believe this conversation is even happening because I don't believe it..." Pietro ended up saying out loud.

"Who?"

"Doc Sampson whose my shrink that I have been talking to for the last few months, makes things a lot easier to deal with. Plus he's the only one that actually isn't freaked out at the idea of having me as a patient so there is that added bonus." he explained with a shrug, still incredibly weirded out by everything but figured he'd answer the question. "Actually manage to drag Wanda with me once or twice to see how that'd go, went better than I initially thought it would honestly."

"I know that, it is likely that we won't be able to have a good relationship of any sort, given the past and I know better than most how difficult the past can be to let go. I am hoping, for at least, a better one going forward. I am truly trying to do better, and if you might be willing, perhaps we can do something then."

There was a lot of trauma and all that he potentially had to unwrap before potentially doing that full thing. Namely would be to talk with the shrink first to ensure this potentially wouldn't be a horrible idea. "...I'll have to think about it, since obviously there are a lot of issues here. However, if I do end up saying okay let's try, don't be surprised if I drag you to a therapy session at all," he ended up saying, before mentally saying to Guin Yeah, next session is definitely going to be interesting.

"That is all I can ask for on the subject," Magneto said, nodding his head in agreement with what Pietro was saying. "Though that is not the only thing that needs to be discussed here right now."

Guin was frowning, protective over her husband and his mental health - and already doubting that anything good could come of a reconnection with Magneto. But it was his choice. She was no stranger to parental alienation - she had cut off contact with her own mother. If her mother were to be here today and ask for a second chance, she wouldn't be inclined to give one. They were different people though and Pietro had already lost his mother - his father was his only remaining parent. I'll come with you, if you want Guin said, even as her head ached with pain and her nose bled ever so slightly.

And while her usual response would have been to ask Magneto what else he wanted, this was a sensitive area between him and Pietro - so she let him lead the conversation. If it had been up to her, they would have left ages ago.

That would be nice... Not fully settled on it though, as I mentioned, going to talk to Doc about it and see what he thinks... Pietro responded to Guin, before looking at his father. "So what else is it that you want?" Pietro asked him.

"Actually the next part of the conversation has nothing to do with me. But more of Miranda, as there is something that she needs to say. Which if she doesn't say it I likely will end up mentioning it." he said, turning to look towards her, and she very much did not seem to be too thrilled to be having this conversation.

"...There are so many things that likely would make this conversation easier..." Miranda ended up saying as she took a step forward and walked right up to Guin. "Um... I know that everything that has ever happened, you have no real reason to potentially trust me... But you know what my powers are... At least vaguely... If you don't mind, this might make it easier to explain," she continued, holding her hands out to her, "I have something that I need to show you."

"...What?" Guin froze, her mind reeling. She had nothing to do with Miranda. She hardly knew her. She'd met her in the world Wanda had created, yes, but otherwise she didn't know her at all. She was a complete stranger to her at best - and at worst, she was the girlfriend of Pietro's abusive father. "I'm sorry, but what exactly could you possibly need to show me? I barely know you."

"...It's complicated, okay? I am not good at talking through things, and it partially is a particular memory I need to show you. It's harder to explain than you'd think... And doubt you'd believe me anyway..." Miranda was clearly having a difficult time with the explanation, she actually was stumbling over her words. She'd never really had the best confidence in herself, the closest had been when in the House of M reality she literally had ended up killing Magneto, or when she ended up breaking things off with him permanently back in Genosha. This though was probably the hardest thing she'd ever actually talked to anyone about at all. This would be so much easier if a certain person was there with them but who knew where he was, and she wasn't going to just ask someone to call him without explanation.

Guin frowned. Her heart was pounding quickly and she didn't know why. Something about this entire thing was unnerving to her - like she was standing on the precipice of something, with a final chance to turn away. She almost opened her mouth to ask for Pietro to take them away - maybe Spain, her family had a nice holiday house there - and leave all of this behind, to stop whatever strange encounter before it could finish. "Fine, but just so you know, you're being incredibly sus right now."

Taking a deep breath, Miranda took Guin's hands in her own, her eyes glowing purple as everything went dark briefly, before everything eventually came back into focus. They'd be in a large house, one that Guin would have very vague sort of fuzzy memories of from when she was really little. Miranda took a step back, looking around the house that was around them. "...I know this all seems weird... I'm sorry... The original idea was to have Tony be here too when we had this conversation... But well... Things don't always go the way that they should... And I learned that things likely would be better if you never knew, but... Things change and I realize that you should know the truth... Even if it changes nothing." she said softly to Guin, before just pointing somewhat towards a room that was off to the side. She'd hear voices coming from that room, one was a woman's voice, and the other sounded like a young toddler girl who was giggling over something.

Guin backed away from Miranda as the scenery changed to one that she almost recognized, one filled with familiarity but lost to time. And the mention of her father... Many possible explanations jumped into her mind, none of them that she liked. She felt sick, like she was about to vomit. Every instinct was telling her to go, that whatever Miranda wanted to show her, she didn't have any interest in it - that she didn't want any part of this. "Stop!" Guin snapped. "Just - just stop this, now!" Her skin felt like a thousand little bugs were crawling across it, her chest was tight, she couldn't breathe, and her ears had started to ring. "STOP IT!"

Maybe this was a really bad idea. Guin didn't seem to be doing too well over the whole situation, and Miranda froze the memory, figuring that might be better then watching it play out entirely. This was not something she was good at, not to mention she had expected to not be seemingly alone in this whole conversation at all. "Sorry... Maybe I shouldn't show you... Unless you want me to..." she apologized, unsure of what to do.

She breathed in. She breathed out.

In. Out.

In. Out.

In.

Out.

Slowly, Guin came back to herself. Slowly, the tension in her body began to lessen, the pit in her stomach feeling less like it was about to swallow her whole. She was in control. The techniques she'd been taught in rehab came back to her now, as she looked Miranda dead in the eye. "I don't want you to show me anything," Guin said, perhaps harsher than she meant it. But it was the truth. "Say what you have to say. But this? This doesn't work for me."

Well at least Guin had ended up saying something to her, and now mentally Miranda was panicking because she was not used to fully telling anyone anything. Actually, she was really bad at wording things, but with how things were going so far, she figured she didn't have anything to lose and probably couldn't make anything worse.

So she went with it.

"Sorry... I'm not used to figuring out wording, I've honestly never been really good at it... You might think I dove into your head to pull out a memory, but I didn't. This memory that you see here, of this house... It's not your memory, it's mine..." she started to say, before taking a few steps away from Guin and kind of looking like she might have a bit of a breakdown herself at this point. "How exactly? Well I don't fully know what stories or everything that Tony told you but... The person you believe is your mother, well she never was... I am..."

Miranda was still trying to figure out how best to explain what was going through her head, and took a moment to fully think through what she was saying. "I was on the outs with Erik, I basically had left the Brotherhood for essentially a decade by the time this memory happened. I had left in late 1993, and I stayed away. Trying to build a life for myself away from everything... In 1999, I met your father, while I was at the Stark Expo that year. Tech and everything always interested me so I had gone... Well one thing led to another and I ended up pregnant with you... Tony found this house, and we moved here together... Honestly I don't have too many happy memories if I'm being truthful, aside from those few years in this house... With you... Most of my life I spent running, but here I was truly happy... This memory though, is from when everything came crashing down... My past caught up with me, but ironically it wasn't my time with the Brotherhood that caught up... Before the Brotherhood even really was formed, I was younger than you when I met Xavier and Erik, and they were in need of some help... Where they were getting together a group of people, mutants, to try and combat against an organization that was not exactly too kind. They tended to sort of try and get it so that they could have mutants under their own control... I didn't have anything to lose back then, so I went to go help them out. Some... Not so great things happened there, and in the end, I ended up leaving with Erik, not entirely too sure what to even do... Well turns out that organization ended up going underground instead... And they figured out where we were and if the memory here played out... You'd see the whole thing as it happened... I used my powers to defend you and your father, and the two of you managed to get out of here... A few days later, I found myself by Xavier's mansion, I was going to see about asking for help or something, but no one seemed to be home at the time, or if he was there, he chose to pretend I wasn't instead... So I ended up back at the Brotherhood, having hit the lowest point I could have thought possible... Eventually your father found a way to contact me. But we figured at least at that point in time... It was probably better for me to stay away. The idea was that we were going to tell you a few years ago but... Your life seemed like it was hectic enough already without me potentially stepping in to make things worse... I don't expect anything... I never did... I just wanted to tell you the truth... Since we ended up running into one another once again, I wanted to tell you for a while... I also figured it'd be better if I told you before Erik said something..." Yeah, Miranda was starting to cry a little bit now as she spoke.

Guin was uncharacteristically quiet as Miranda spoke.

She listened, even as her ears thrummed. Even as other memories flashed into her mind - of being a little girl, excited that her father was home, only for him to be reeking of alcohol and other scents she couldn't yet name, collapsing on the floor in front of her - of being a little girl again, excited that her mother was there to spend time with her, only to be pinched and prodded and used as a prop. The excitement to see her parents had waned and waned, leaving her with a hole that could not be filled, no matter how much her father's employees tried. A loneliness, an ache that had led her to self-medicate - to succumb to the same genetic predisposition for addiction that her father had. Her relationship with her father had been repaired over the last few years - but there was no fixing the relationship with her mother.

But that hadn't been her mother.

They'd lied to her.

For her father to let her believe Maddie was her mother... To put her in that position...

Something hardened in Guin's heart.

And now for the woman claiming to be her mother in front of her, in tears... Guin didn't move to comfort her, didn't move to help her. She didn't know her.

It would have been easier to be angry with her - but Miranda had a reason, an excuse.

If this was even the truth - if this was even real.

Guin's mind was spinning, her body filled with that familiar ache, a hunger for that which would undo her. "Okay."

Guin didn't know what to say.

"Thank you for telling me."

It was robotic, almost mechanical.

"I want to go, now."

It took Miranda a moment to collect her own thoughts, before she waved her hand, and they were back on the mansion grounds standing where they had been before. She turned away and started walking away. "...I'm sorry Guin," she ended up saying to her as she walked away. Magneto ended up leaving after looking at Pietro and Guin for a moment. Then he was gone too, leaving just the pair of them there.

"...Guina? Are you okay?" Pietro asked her, taking her hand in his. This had been not something he had been fully expecting to have happen, and he was a bit concerned since he had no idea what happened with Miranda before she had left at all.

"I don't know."