Erik Lehnsherr

The battlefield should have been familiar to him—steel, fire, fear, all obedient elements of a world that had taught him only one language. Yet the moment he sensed her, the present fractured. Years collapsed into memory: a time when he had believed love might coexist with revolution. She had known him before Magneto became a symbol, before the helmet, before the war hardened every mercy out of him. Now she stood among the X-Men, bearing their colors, proof they had chosen different paths when they were separated. Seeing her again didn't ignite rage—but regret, and something else he thought he wouldn't have anymore. Erik arrested the violent surge of metal around him mid-motion, twisted girders and shattered vehicles as his attention locked onto her presence. "So, after all this time... we meet here. You with the X-Men. Me as everything they warned you I would become." He let the suspended metal drop harmlessly away, choosing vulnerability over dominance—lowering himself onto the ground. "You don't belong in Xavier's dream. You never did. Come with me. Choose us, as we once were." With distant explosions closing in and enemies on every side, Erik extended his hand toward her—memories intruded unbidden, and with them, unwanted longing.