Dark Beginnings - X-Men: Apocalypse

Chapter 10:

"Charles - oh Charles-" He was lying unresponsive, his head bleeding, his hair all gone. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, choking back a sob.

Suddenly, the jet gave an abrupt lurch.

"What the hell was that?" cried Moira.

Archangel and Psylocke were trying to break in. 

"Horsemen!"

"Kurt!" cried Jean, seeking a quick escape.  "Everyone quick - grab hold of Nightcralwer!"

"I've never done it with this many people!" fussed Kurt.

"You can do it, Kurt," Nina assured him.  "Get them out of here - take them, go! I'll handle these clowns."

Everyone reached to grab hold of either Kurt's hands or tail. While he  fought hard to form the portal around the group, Jean used her powers to manage the jet controls. 

The jet spiraled downward. Finally, with a poof!,  Kurt and the others vanished. The jet plunged towards the ground. Nina managed to cast a protective field around the inside just before the craft struck the ground and burst apart into shards of metal and blasts of flame and smoke. 

Archangel had been at the front of the jet - he wasn't dead, she could still feel his lifeforce, but he was hurt badly. Psylocke had disappeared. 

"Ms. Nova!" Kurt appeared again suddenly, and, just as suddenly, he carried her away to where the others had sought safety inside someone's home in an apartment building, one of the few buildings still standing in the aftermath of Apocalypse's takeover. 

"AHHHHHH!" Speaking of - the pyramid burst open from the centre and a portal flashed, and  Apocalypse emerged, enraged. "Charles! Show yourself! CHARLES!" he roared. 

Nina cupped Charles's face in her hands, staring down at him teary-eyed. He was clearly very weakened.  "I was so worried we were going to lose you." I was going to lose you.

He reached up with a shaking hand, running his hand over his now bald head.

"I think it suits you." She kissed him deeply.

Right then, the wall hiding them dissolved away into nothing but dust particles, falling away before their eyes. Apocalypse had found them. 

And he had caught them mid-embrace. 

Peter and Raven were on the ground on either side of him. 

"CHARLES!"

As if in response, Charles cried out in pain, holding his head in his hands. 

"They're still connected," Nina cried. "We have to break the connection!"

"Wait, that's right," Charles realized.  "There is still some part of me connected to him.  I can get inside his head. Thank you for letting me in." With that, he lay back and closed his eyes. 

"N-no, he's fighting back-" Now Apocalypse was fighting them on two fronts.

Suddenly, with a roaring crash, two large, long pieces of metal blocked Apocalypse's path where he was approaching them - forming a giant X.

Erik.

True - there was Magneto, their old friend, floating down towards them, a bunch of sharp metal shards floating around him.

"You betray me?" Apocalypse asked him. 

"No - I betrayed them." 

While he fought Apocalypse, keeping him distracted, Hank and Scott jumped down, helping Raven and Peter and bringing them to safety. 

"N-Nina-" Charles was shakily reaching for her hand. "I need you-"

"I'm here Charles, I'm here."

"Nina - help me-"

"It's over Charles," came Apocalypse's voice.  "You're finished. You're mine now."

"No so fast-" Purple energy engulfed him as Nina leapt down from their position on the upper floor so that she stood before him, ready to confront him, ready to confront her past.  

But suddenly, right then, multiple visions flashed through and filled her mind like before, like that night in Germany, the night he had awoken, the first time he had been conscious in thousands of years. They caught her off guard, the sudden visions, and she stumbled  and swerved as they crowded her thoughts. Oh no, now was not a good time for this to be happening.  Not right now, not right now...

Now he, Apocalypse, stood directly before her,  towering high above her as she crumbled to the ground at his feet, overtaken and overwhelmed by the images flashing rapidly through her mind.

"P-please," she begged, looking up at him. "Please, h-help me-"

"You are lost."

"Yes, yes I am lost. But you, you can help me-" She reached out to him, rising to her feet.

He responded by reaching out himself and holding her cheek.  She reached up to take it, leaning into the embrace.

The moment her hand touched his she grabbed it and wrenched his arm around, catching him off guard. Then  a  colourful whirl of energy engulfed him as she threw her arms out towards him, throwing him back. Then she began to approach him, slowly bringing her hands closer and closer together with each step she took, forcing him to his knees with her energy.

Still, he resisted, fought back with his own combined various powers. 

Nina... She heard him in her head. 

Nina- But Charles was there too. 

"I'm here, Charles, I'm here. And I know what I have to do - going dark."

(Like Wanda did with Vision in Civil War, sending him through the floor - Wanda's a huge inspiration for many of my characters! ;) I love her!

And yes, I keep Angel alive in this version! Go Ben Hardy! ;) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :))