2023

THE WOMAN hung her head low, refusing to show everyone she was grieving for the death of her closest friend. Valerie and her might have had their differences in the past, but they both believed in mutant rights. Both of them fought for it, advocated for it, just in a different way.

Eleanor rolled the metal bearing between her fingers before tightly gripping it. She finally understood Valerie's rage. A person could only take so much before they break.

Her eyes fluttered over to Erik who was looking down at the ground, his lips contorted in a frown, but his eyes were burning. He absentmindedly twisted his wedding ring and Eleanor knew he missed his wife. Ever since Valerie's demise, Erik's mind was open and audible. That didn't quite sit well with her. Eleanor was so used to feeling Valerie's projected mental barrier that always concealed his thoughts whenever his helmet wasn't on.

After Valerie's confession that she married him out of fear of being alone, she wondered if Erik felt the same. Did he loved her?

"There's twelve carriers inbound, ten miles!"

Warpath alerted everyone and Eleanor along with her husband caught it. She shared a glance with him, lips tightly pursed. This was it. The end of them all. Their extinction.

"They found us." Charles focused his gaze to Erik, nodding. He held Eleanor's hand tight, his blue eyes pleading as he stared up at her. She knew he wasn't willing to let her go outside, but she had to. She wanted to, she wanted these machines created by humans to face her wrath. She wanted them to feel her loss.

She squeezed his hand before saying, "For the people we lost, for a brighter future."

Eleanor then left his side with Erik following behind. Atlas stood at the side doorway, his beautiful blue eyes anxious. "Be careful, grandma."

"I will try, my boy." She smiled. As soon as she stepped outside, she felt the baleful aura of the sky. How did the Sentinels even find them here?

Eleanor and Erik glanced at each other, their chests rising and falling fast. "We will win this war, El." He said, suddenly. "or we will all die trying."

The woman clenched her fist and shut her eyes, nodding. "I know."

"Valerie always admired your resolve, you know. She once described you as the fuck the consequences, I'm getting it type of woman if I do remember correctly." Erik mused, suddenly.

"Did you also see me as that?"

"I saw you more than that. You're passionate, firm, motivating, a bit quick-tempered. You never agreed with me -- "

"You were right."

Erik tilted his head towards her, confused. "On what?"

"On all this shit. Humanity will always aim to destroy us no matter how much kindness we show them."

"That was a first."

Eleanor shook her head, sighing. "Did you love her?"

He was silent for a minute, thinking. "I did. With time, I learned to. I don't know if she felt the same. I guess I'll never know now."

The brunette nodded, sadly. Shutting her eyes, she let her emotions fill her. She let it run through her veins. Valerie deserved the world, but it only gave her nothing but pain.

"Eleanor," Erik swallowed. "In a few minutes, we're all going to be dead so it might do me good to tell you this now." He breathed. "While I might have learned to love Valerie, my feelings for you never went away."

The woman didn't know how to react to that. She blinked twice and then one more time before telling, "I don't know what to say."

"Then, don't say anything."

Eleanor nodded, letting it go. This was not the time to dwell on unresolved issues of the past. They needed to defend the monastery to give Logan more time. With a swipe of her hand, she released of a red mist-like power from her palm. She then levitated in the air, the scarlet red color in her eyes intensifying as she stared at her son at the moment. She nodded at him, giving him a hopeful smile.

"Blink!" the brunette called for her name and the magenta-haired mutant opened up a portal in front of her. Eleanor's eyes narrowed down at the carriers. Her anger was mounting and it influenced her powers heavily. With a loud groan, she shot her psionic energy at the carriers, dissolving a hundred of them into dust.

Storm then manipulated the weather and sent lightning and strong, harsh winds at the transporters, crashing several of them.

"Storm!" Bishop shouted and the atmokinetic electrocuted him so that he can absorb the power. He then used it to blast kinetic energy at the Sentinels which destroyed and stalled them further.

At this, Erik rose up beside Eleanor, lifting the jet in the air, revealing the bomb Valerie had created as their biggest defense against the machines. Eleanor shot another Sentinel with her energy blast, ripping it apart. With every hurl and aim, she thought of the people they lost, increasing her anger.

Storm directed all her lightning bolts at the jet, detonating the bomb. It exploded right before their eyes, sending multiple shards of metal everywhere. Blink had immediately closed the portal she created for Eleanor and she was able to evade the blast. Erik calmly stopped all the metal and landed on the ground, dropping them all.

"Is everybody okay?"

Eleanor nodded and looked over at Erik who she noticed was grimacing and staring down. She gasped once she took note of the piece of metal that pierced his kidney. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw it flutter. It was a part of a Sentinel and since they weren't metal, he had no control over them.

"Erik!" She rushed to him, her fingertips immediately emitting an energy that started to close his wound. "Stay with me, goddammit!"

And that's when everything descended into chaos.

A Sentinel jumped from the walls and impaled Storm from behind, throwing her over the edge of the cliff. Eleanor felt as though a part of her died when she felt Storm's heart stop beating. Her student was dead, her daughter. "Storm!" She cried in anguish.

Multiple Sentinels then appeared everywhere, first attacking Bishop with their energy rays. He attempted to absorb it, but only ended up being overwhelmed. Erik gripped Eleanor's waist and raised his hand, sending all the metal on the ground flying to the door as they stepped back.

The elder brunette was about to finish closing his wound when two Sentinels jumped in their view. Eleanor blasted them, telekinetically pushing them away. She struggled hard since they were strongly resisting her power. Their heads opened and their rays were about to incinerate them when Kitty phased through the door and pulled Erik in, but not before he grabbed her arm.

"Come with me, El!"

"You go ahead! I'll follow you shortly." curtly responded by Eleanor and pushed him inside. The woman then slapped her hands together in front of her, launching a shock wave that threw the machines off their feet.

In her peripheral vision, she saw her son manipulate the darkness of his area, teleporting to places where light wasn't present. He sent dark energy against his enemies and Claire was with him, just a few meters away to not provide any light.

Claire blasted her solar energy at the Sentinels with ease, setting them ablaze but they simply adapted according to her mutation. Soon, they overpowered her, stabbing her with their claws.

"Claire! No!" screamed Nathan just as he teleported another Sentinel somewhere far from him. Eleanor felt another link in her mind snap when Claire fell on the ground, bleeding to death.

Eleanor felt the pain in her heart as she watched them all die in the hands of the Sentinels. She continued blasting and ripping the machines apart, but with her age, she was a bit slower now. She watched helplessly as Colossus was ripped in two and Warpath was burnt alive in front of her.

What had the world turned into? How did they all end up this way?

Nathan's screams pulled he out of her fighting. He was blinded by the light the machines emitted, momentarily distracting him. Eleanor immediately came to his rescue and using both of her hands, tore the Sentinel in half.

Three machines then attacked her and she barely had time to shield herself and Nathan. They struck her psionic barrier several times, trying to pierce it. She was then brought to her knees as they overwhelm her with their energy rays.

She felt a cold hand in her shoulder, a firm grasp she knew belonging to her son. "I love you, mom." He said. "I'll see you again or if not, in the afterlife then. Do tell dad and my son I love him too."

"Nathan, no!"

Her son disappeared from inside her bubble and showed himself to the Sentinels outside. Using all of his dark energy, he fought them all off alone.  "Blink! Get my mom inside!"

A portal then appeared at her back, but she paid no attention to it. "No!" She screamed as she saw Nathan sacrifice himself to give her time to get inside. She knew what her son did, somebody had to be inside to delay the Sentinels again. But it was all too much for her to take in.

The brunette felt a surge of energy run through her veins at that moment, her emotions getting the best of her. Her eyes burned bright red and at once, she disintegrated all of the machines around her to dust. A psionic explosion occurred, creating a fissure on the ground.

She was about to release again another shockwave when she was stabbed in the stomach with one of the sharp, pointed arm of a Sentinel. She gasped, her eye twitching when she felt the puncture in her body. Her power reverted back, trying to heal her wound. Blood trickled down her lips and she staggered backwards, entering the portal.

Her back immediately hit a wall and she slid down. "Grandma!" He called and transformed himself into a thirty year old man, half-carrying her inside the room where the rest were in. He lied down beside Erik who was bleeding to death as well. Kitty and Rogue expressed their concerns over her, comforting her. Kitty tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too much. Something in the Sentinel's stab was preventing her power to heal herself.

"Oh god, no." Charles immediately wheeled himself over to her, eyes glassy and pained. "Stay with me, Ellie. Stay with me."

She smiled, knowing in a few minutes she will finally succumb to her injury. "What are you talking about?" She coughed. "I will always stay with you."

She could feel Charles' agony, he was internally weeping and she wanted to comfort him. God, she loved the man with all her heart. "Do you remember the first day we met?" Eleanor forced herself to stand up, sitting down on her husband's lap. She groaned, feeling her blood pour out from her wound. He didn't even mind that she was staining his suit, he just held her close to him.

"I remember," he sniffed. "You called me a jackass."

"Well, you were being a jackass at that time. I mean, who idiot would cross the street completely wasted?"

"In my defense, Hank was asleep and I needed some drinks."

"You know, I was grateful that day."

"Because you almost ran me over with your car?"

"Because I met you, idiot."

He chuckled, pulling her closer now more than ever. Eleanor felt another link inside her mind snap and she knew Blink was gone. She swallowed, slowly breathing. This was it.

"I am more grateful to have met you that day, Ellie. If I didn't, it would've taken me years to grow out my phase that time. You helped me find my purpose, you made me realize that I never lost hope in my dreams and for that, I thank you. Thank you for staying with me through all these years especially when there were times I would be stubborn or controlling."

"My parents doesn't believe in divorce so I guess that influenced me." She shrugged then grinned. "Just kidding, I stayed because I love you despite of your flaws." Eleanor grimaced when she felt the metallic taste of blood on her tongue. "You know, there's one more advise that I forgot to tell your younger self."

"And what's that?"

"To treasure his hair. I mean, he'll lose his hair gradually by the time he turns forty due to stress." She joked.

Charles laughed.

Eleanor then turned her heads towards Erik just as she heard the loud banging against the door of the monastery.

"Erik," She swallowed. "How're you feeling?"

"Not good, obviously." He groaned, forcing his eyes to stay open. Erik stared at his friend, apologetic. "All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles. To have a precious few of them back."

Eleanor watched as he extended his hand to Charles and they held each other's hand. She smiled, tears blurring her vision. It was indeed in your final moments when you would realize your faults, your mistakes and make peace with them. "Erik," She called him once again. "Erica would be happy to hear you say that."

"I'm glad then. I can't wait to see her."

Out of the corner of her eye, Eleanor caught sight of her crying grandson and she beckoned him to come closer, tiredly. "Atlas, I want you to know that we love you and whatever happens, we always will. Never lose hope, my boy. Alright?"

He nodded, sniffing. "This is it, then?"

Eleanor and Charles didn't answer him, too heartbroken to agree. They heard the doors finally break open and Eleanor using what strength she had left surrounded them with a shield. If she was indeed going to die now, she refuses to go down without a fight. She shared a glance with Charles just as he opened his palm and there sat in the middle of it was her wedding ring.

"'Til death do us part." Charles said, leaning his forehead against hers.

"'Til death do us part." Eleanor repeated and exactly three Sentinels emerged from the hall, standing tall. Their heads opened and beams of light shot out, aiming to incinerate the last of them. It bounced back against her barrier, but Eleanor's strength left her and the shield was brought down. She breathed her last as the rays were meters away from her and Charles.

And then they were all gone.