How many were lost? Nathaniel sighed when Eva asked her question with her Silvercloud level of pragmatism. It warmed his heart, in an odd Nathaniel way. “Billions,” Nate answered with no storage of inflection on his syllables. “War, famine, disease...” he couldn’t and tried to remain as even as possible. So far he merely sounded like a protester at the local Planned Parenthood. But the end was indeed nigh.
Nathaniel’s, current Nathaniel, eyes bounced between the pair with caution and care. He recognized the emotional distress which remained neatly tucked beneath Eva’s surface. He admired her for that. Both the urge to comfort this future version of himself and the control to not entirely act. But as his grayer self turned apocalyptic, Nathaniel, unfortunately, expected nothing less. Caltrops had a flair for the dramatic. “And whatever incites this... originates here?” He took a stab in the dark.
“Of course,” would they have expected different? “The war between humans and mutants starts here.”
Young Nate sighed, “Don’t tell Erik he was correct,” Nate jested about the matter while he still could.
“When Jean is possessed,” older Nathaniel finished his thought.
“Unexpected,” the Nate next to Eva admitted, with a glance and an eyebrow raise toward the X leader.
“Exactly, we didn’t see it coming,” which was why he’d returned. “While we,” he continued using ‘we’ to refer to the collective Nathaniel, “are distracted planning a proposal, something evil ensnares this school,” Nate explained. “Regardless, I don’t think we’d have been able to stop it. Which is why I’ve returned... to kill Jean Grey.”
Nathaniel took pause and tried to ignore the logic because he knew Eva probably wouldn’t agree with this plan. After all, to him - it felt like an overreaction. Of course, he’d yet to walk in this other Nathaniel’s shoes. Yet to lose Eva and Brayden... He had living proof as to what that might make him capable of.