Wanda surveyed the chaos before her quietly, the broken bodies of heroes and villains alike, her mouth drawn together in a tight line. Before her, her father Magneto, his armor scraped

and marred from battle, stood tall, flanked on both sides by guards, his eyes cold, unwilling to bow to the judgment of his own child. Softly, the words barely audible over the sound of the

cold wind whipping her dark hair, she whispered, "No more mutants."

FLASH

…..

"Just push now, Mrs. Lenscherr. Push!"

The dark haired woman's breath caught, a moan of pain, as she complied with these instructions. Her brow knit together in a grimace, her teeth clenched with the effort. Suddenly, with a

gasp, her muscles relaxed somewhat as the high pitched wailing of an infant filled the chamber.

The creature delivering her child, for it could only be called a creature as its features were clearly not human, hummed quietly to the sobbing baby as it wrapped it in a soft, pink blanket.

"It is a girl," he informed the mother.

Magda whispered hoarsely, "Wanda, her name is Wanda."

The being handed the little girl to another of its kind as her mother abruptly cried out once more in agony, body tensing. A few moments later, a second wailing child was brought forth.

"A boy," she was told.

"P…Pietro," she murmured weakly.

The being nodded, wrapping the boy in a blue blanket. Magda lay back now, letting her muscles loosen as a numbing weakness flooded her limbs. Her breath was shallow and quiet, eyes

barely open. Blackness was creeping into the corner of her vision.

"Charles….," she whispered, struggling in vain to move.

Almost immediately a hand clasped hers firmly. "It's alright, Magda. I'm here. You're safe," Professor Charles Xavier reassured her. His face was tight with worry as he watched the

woman's eyelids flutter as if in a dream. Raising a hand, he took a cloth and dabbed at the sweat on her cold forehead.

"Charles," she breathed, "there's…still good in him…I know there's still…good…" Her voice faded as her body went slack. Xavier lowered his head quietly with a sigh.

"Professor?" a voice said from behind him. The man looked up to see the midwife holding the two children in her arms. "The children appear to be healthy. They are sleeping now."

Xavier nodded, slowly letting go of the deceased woman's hand and standing with a grave look on his face. The metal door opened with a silent 'hiss' and Hank "Beast" McCoy stepped inside.

"Charles, you of course realize that it is not safe to keep the children at the school?" Beast asked pointedly.

Xavier nodded. "It is not safe for anyone there anymore. With…Magneto's…extermination of all mutants who will not follow him, I am afraid nowhere is safe." The name, "Magneto",

sounded strange in his ears. It made him uncomfortable to refer to his former friend in such a cold, impersonal way, but he could not lie to himself anymore. Eric Lenscherr was dead.

Beast nodded meditatively. "They should be split up, to decrease the chance of his finding them."

Xavier sighed wearily. "Yes, I believe that is best. I will take the boy to his mother's relatives in Europe."

The blue man moved to take the baby girl from the midwife. "Very well," he replied. "Two of my associates are looking to adopt a baby girl. She will be loved there."

"Let us move quickly then. Goodbye, my friend." The Professor took the other child, and, with a brief word of thanks to the beings who had helped them, boarded his jet and set off for his

destination.