CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO —
( There's always light at the end of the tunnel. )

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Logan, Charles, Hank and Lydia walked through the entrance of the Xavier mansion, completely pissed off that their plan to use Erik backfired. Lydia woke up from being unconscious only twenty minutes ago, the dull ache in the back of her head still there.

They marched into the room when Charles' legs suddenly gave out on him. Hank and Lydia were by his side in an instant. "What happened? Can he walk?" Logan asked.

"He needs his treatment," Lydia told Logan as she helped Hank hold Charles up. Hank picked up Charles and placed him on the couch.

"Hank, I can hear them," Charles instantly said, holding his hands against his ears.

"I know. It's okay, I'll make it stop. I'll get it," Hank urgently said before making a dash out of the room and up the stairs.

Lydia crouched down in front of Charles with a concerned face, watching as her brother struggled to control the voices in his head. "Charlie, breathe with me. Control your breathing," she told him softly.

"Hey, hey, pull yourself together. It's not over yet," Logan told him.

"You don't believe that," Charles said instantly.

Logan frowned. "How do you know?"

"As these go," Charles gestured to his legs, then brought his hand up to his head. "This comes back. They all come back." Charles held his hands over his head again and began to groan in pain.

"Lydia, can you do something?" Logan quickly asked her.

"I-I can't," she shook her head. "Not without hurting him."

"Yes, you can. I know it," Logan replied instantly. "Remember what I told you the other day about controlling your emotions and trusting yourself? All you need to do is not worry about hurting him. Just believe you won't, trust yourself that you won't."

"I don't want to, just in case," Lydia sadly said. "I could-I could fry his brain. Or worse."

"Then try it with me," Logan said, bending down besides Lydia. He grabbed her hands and placed them on either side of his head. "Test it out on me."

"Logan," she warned.

"One of my mutations is that I have regenerated healing," he told her. "I can deal with mutations like these. If you fry my brain, it's just going to heal itself straight away. Trust me."

"Are you sure?"

Logan nodded, slowly letting go of her hands. "Trust me."

Lydia took a deep breath before closing her eyes, immediately focusing on calming herself down. She then suddenly remembered the training Charles gave her ten years prior, about concentrating on happy thoughts only and not the bad ones; focusing on your positive emotions and not your negative ones.

Lydia's mind was immediately connected with Logan's, and she found her thoughts connected with his. He was thinking about a girl with long brown hair and green eyes. Lydia could feel how much Logan loved the girl and how he would lay down his life for her if the time came to it.

Lydia pulled her hands away from Logan's head and opened her eyes, watching as Logan opened his eyes also. She then teasingly smiled at him. "Who's the girl?"

Logan smiled when he realised Lydia now had control over her telepathic ability. "Your daughter, the love of my life."

Lydia hummed. "She has my looks."

"She definitely does." Logan then nodded towards Charles. "Now go help your brother out."

Lydia turned to Charles and took a deep breath before reaching her hands up to his head and concentrating on keeping all of the voices out of his head. She could feel the hundreds of people in his mind going into her own, making her flinch slightly at the sound of them before blocking them all out. She removed her hands and Charles opened his eyes and stared at Lydia in amazement. "Thank you, Lyds," he told her softly.

Lydia smiled lightly at him. "I guess it was my turn to help you out instead of you helping me out all the time."

Hank rushed into the room. "I added a little extra cause you missed a dose." He gave Charles the syringe. Charles held the needle above his arm and hesitated.

"Look. I'm still here. She's still out there. But we need your help, Charles. Not like this, I'll need you," Logan told him. "We can't find Raven, not without your powers. Lydia's never used Cerebro before, so it's up to you."

"It's okay, Charlie. We can find a way. I'll still be with you if you choose to not let your powers return to you," Lydia told him telepathically.

Charles looked over at Lydia and thought about it for a few seconds, before looking back down at the needle and throwing it away. "Lydia, it's alright to let the voices in my head go now. I'll need to learn to accept them," Charles told her.

Lydia instantly disconnected her mind from Charles', and then began concentrating on keeping the voices out of her own head. She then smiled and nodded at Charles' choice to help.

"Hank, do me a favour? Would you help me to my study please?" Hank nodded with a smile as he picked Charles up and helped him towards the study, Logan and Lydia following behind them.

Charles whispered something into Hank's ear and then they headed towards a cupboard that hadn't been opened in a few years. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.

"Absolutely not," and he wasn't lying.

Before them sat Charles' wheelchair.

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"When was the last time you were down here?" Logan asked. Charles wheeled himself towards the cerebro with Hank, Logan and Lydia in tow.

"The last time we went looking for students," Hank replied.

"A lifetime ago," Charles said.

The scanner came out from the door marked 'X' and scanned Charles' eyes before opening up. "Welcome, Professor!" The voice greeted as it opened.

"Shut up," Charles thought in his head, making Lydia chuckle.

They all made their way towards the centre of the sphere shaped room where the cerebro helmet laid.  "Raven's been shot so she shouldn't be moving quickly," Lydia told Charles.

Charles blew the helmet to rid all of the dust on it. "These are muscles that I haven't stretched in a long time." Charles placed the helmet onto his head. Hank flipped a few buttons and they watched as the room lit up.

Charles gasped as his mind was opened up to the millions of mutants across the world as well as the non-mutants. The only people that Charles' mind connected to was the ones of the people getting slaughtered or who were in terrible pain. "God," Charles strained as he clenched the handles of his wheelchair. The room began to spin as Charles couldn't find Raven, his mind straining. Soon enough, all of the glass shattered on the panel before him and the lights went out as he let out a scream of pain. Charles quickly ripped off the helmet, his heartbeat in his ears.

Lydia quickly crouched down beside him, reaching out to hold his hand as she looked at him in concern. "Charles, it's alright," she soothed.

"I'll go check the generator," Hank patted Charles' arm and then walked out of the room.

"It's not the machinery, is it?" Logan asked.

Charles shook his head. "I can't do this. My mind..."

"Yes, you can," Lydia said.

"It won't take it," Charles said.

"You're just a little rusty," Logan said.

"You don't understand. It's not a question of being rusty," Charles shook his head. "I can flip the switches. I can turn the knobs, but my powers comes from here, it comes from..." he pointed from his head to his heart, then froze. "And it's broken." Charles turned his wheelchair around and began to wheel himself out. "I feel like one of my students. Helpless! It was a mistake coming down here, it was a mistake bringing Erik. This whole thing has been one bloody mistake. I'm sorry Logan, but they sent back the wrong man."

"You're right." Lydia looked up at Logan in surprise as Charles stopped his wheelchair and turned around. "I am. Actually it was suppose to be you or Lydia, but I was the only one who could physically make the trip." Logan began to walk to Charles, Lydia following behind him. "And uh, I don't know how long we've got here, but I do know that a long time. Actually, a long time from now, I was your most helpless student and you unlocked my mind. You showed me what I was, you showed me what I could be. The both of you," he looked at Lydia. "Both in your own ways. I don't know how to do that for you, Charles. You're right, I don't. But I know someone who might. Look into my mind."

"You saw what I did to Cerebro. You don't want me inside your mind," Charles tried to reason.

"There's no damage that you can do that hasn't already been done. Trust me," Logan sadly smiled. "And you saw Lydia do it before, so I know you can."

Charles, although reluctantly, brought his fingers up to the side of Logan's head and began to go through it. Soon after, Lydia decided to tap into Logan's mind, also. Wanting to see what Logan was showing him.

Logan was being tortured. He endured a lot of pain. The people he held closest to his heart died. The people he loved. All the pain and grief overwhelmed Lydia that she had to grip onto the back of Charles' wheelchair to steady herself.

"Why you poor..." Charles swallowed a lump in his throat, "poor man."

"Look past me," Logan insisted.

"No, I don't want your suffering. I don't want your future," Charles shook his head.

"Look past my future," Logan said. "Look for your future."

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It was as if Charles was brought into the future. He sat up on a table and looked around the room. Several people stood in the room, one being himself, Erik and Lydia. Charles got off of the bench and looked at two men standing beside each other, then glanced at two other people who were crouching down next to each other, at the woman who was wrapped around Logan's body, then at a man in a wheelchair who was seated beside a woman.

Charles walked towards the man in the wheelchair, himself in the future, and stood in front of himself, placing his hands onto the armrests of the wheelchair and taking a good look at his future self.

"Charles," his older self suddenly said.

"This is weird," the older lady beside him said. She had long, grey hair with only minimal wrinkles on her skin, even for her age. Lydia knew this lady was her in an instant.

"So, this is what becomes of us?" Seventies Charles looked over towards the group in the room, all with solemn faces. "Erik was right."

"I never would have thought I'd hear you say that," older Lydia laughed.

"Humanity does this to us."

"Not if we show them a better path," older Charles said.

"You still believe?" Charles asked.

"Just because someone stumbles, loses their way, it doesn't mean they're lost forever. Sometimes we all need a little help," older Charles said.

"Well I'm not the man I was," Charles said. "I open my mind and it almost overwhelms me."

"You're just afraid," Lydia smiled, "and the cerebro is smart enough to know it."

"All those voices," Charles shook his head. "So much pain."

"It's not their pain you're afraid of. It's yours, Charles," older Charles said. "And as frightening as it may be, that pain will make you stronger. If you allow yourself to feel it—embrace it—it will make you more powerful than you ever imagined. It's the greatest gift we have. To bear their pain without breaking, and it's born from the most human power. Hope."

"Please. Charles, we need you to hope again," older Lydia begged.

"Mum, who're you talkin' to?" The woman wrapped around Logan's body asked, her head rested on her hand as she raised an eyebrow up at her Mother and Uncle.

"I'm talking to Charles, honey," older Lydia smiled at her.

"I'm going to be an Uncle?" Charles' eyes lit up. "Lydia becomes a mother?" Charles looked over towards the female wrapped around Logan.

The older Lydia laughed. "Yes, I guess I do."

"Twenty year-old Lydia is in my head right now watching all of this if you'd like to say something to her," Charles told them.

Older Lydia's eyes lit up as she looked into Charles' eyes. "Whatever happens in your life, Lydia. Whatever happens to the people you love—friends, family, the man you fall in love with, please make sure you stay your bright and happy self. There is always light at the end of a tunnel," older Lydia smiled at them before Charles' vision faded out.