(A/N) And here we be in yet another installment. Hopefully, I can generate a bit more excitement for this one, as it's not going to be as slowly paced as the last one. I feel like I need a name for this series, but I've really got nothing except the 'Key to My Heart' series. Any thoughts?

Just as a warning to any new comers, this is the third in a series of stories and might be confusing on its own. I've tried to make it more user friendly, but…well…ah, who am I kidding? This won't draw any new readers, but all of you who have liked it have really liked it, and I hope you continue to like it…whether or not you say anything. So without further ado…

A Song of Steel and Fire

Chapter 1: My Lullaby

"She's here!"

Alex's cry was soon taken up by Pele, who spread the word to the rest of the house.

She's here! She's here!

Both mutants quickly sprinted down from the second-story windowsill they'd been watching from, moving down through the mansion. As they moved, they began to see the other inhabitants of the mansion abandoning whatever it was they'd been doing when the call had gone out. They reached the main entrance just in time to hear the sound of a motorcycle shutting off. Pele flung the door open to the sight of a young woman pulling off a helmet as she dismounted her bike. Before either Pele or Alex could go any farther, a small blur shot past them and out into the courtyard.

"ROSIEEE!" the little boy shouted gleefully as he ran to her. Dropping the helmet, she caught him easily and spun him around as she hugged him. Most people still called Rose Kinross Artemis, as it was more than a codename for her and very much a part of her identity, but that name was still too much for young Eric Xavier to get his mouth around, so he just called her Rosie.

"Hello, little squirrel. I missed you. Did you miss me, too?"

"Mm-hm," he said, nestling his head against her chest. "I found a bird's nest today!"

"Ooh, was there anything in it?"

"Uh-uh. Daddy said there wouldn't be. The baby birds are all grown up now."

"You're growing up, too, Eric. You must be three inches taller from the last time I saw you."

Eric beamed happily at this. "I'm gonna be this many next week," he announced, proudly holding up four pudgy fingers.

"I remember. I'm glad I was able to make it home for your birthday."

"Welcome home, Artemis," Charles said as he and Erik came out the front door with Pele and Alex. They were followed by a veritable procession.

Elsie and Alistair were the first after the two headmasters. They had married in the five years since they'd met, making Alistair Artemis' stepfather and Destiny her aunt. It was also through the change in last names that Alex's little sister, Haley, had been able to help her create a false identity to attend college. It wasn't safe for her to use her mother's maiden name, Lane, as she was still listed as missing, and her reappearance would cause a stir…maybe even expose the school.

Her parents were followed by Mystique and Destiny, who was once again pregnant…not with another couple's child, but with her own. Somehow, she and Mystique had managed it. The precog was about eight months along at this point, so she was really starting to show. Hank had also reported early on that the ultrasounds were showing what looked to be an honest-to-god tail.

The two mothers-to-be were followed by Hank, Sean, and some of the mansion's younger inhabitants. Sean and Alex had just finished with college and graduated in May. Hank had served as a research partner with Dr. Moira Kinross at the Muir Island Research Facility in Scotland for about a year before Destiny got pregnant. As for the younger crowd, the newly christened Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters currently had ten students, only three of which had come outside. None of the others really knew Artemis, as she was often away at school. It was Tessa, Jubilation, and Elliot who came out to greet her now.

"It's good to be home, Professor," she said, smiling warmly as Alex rushed up to her and pulled her into his arms for a kiss, three-year-old and all. Little Eric's face wrinkled in disgust and he wriggled to get free, but Artemis held on tight, continuing to enjoy her welcome home kiss.

"Don't traumatize the poor kid, you guys," Mystique warned.

Alex grinned as he slid his tongue from Artemis' mouth, his forehead still resting against hers. "Pretty damn sure his parents get up to worse anyway."

"Language, Alex," Charles reminded him semi-sternly as he took his son from Artemis.

"Daddy! They were kissing," the boy whined, burying his face in Charles' chest.

"What's wrong with kissing?" Erik protested, leaning over to give Charles a rather sloppy smack on the lips, which he returned eagerly.

"Eww!" Eric complained loudly, wriggling some more in an effort to interrupt all the kissing.

"You don't like it?" Erik asked, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek.

"Papaaa!"

"How about this, then?" he suggested, twisting their son around in Charles' arms. Taking his cue, Charles supported his upper body while Erik held onto his legs with one hand and lifted his shirt with the other, giving him a raspberry. Eric squealed with delighted laughter. Once Erik had finished, Charles took the boy back, spinning him around briefly before setting him back on his feet.

"Go on and play, sweetie. The adults need to talk now. I'm sure Rosie would love to see your new toys later."

Eric nodded, grinning and waving at Artemis before darting back inside.

"How was London?" Elsie asked Artemis as she came to give her a hug. Artemis had finished with her junior year back in April, but she'd spent the last few months in London on a summer term, taking an extended course in British literature with an emphasis on Shakespeare.

"Amazing. Everything's just so…different, even though we speak essentially the same language."

"Well, you can tell us all about it over tea," Charles said, moving to lead the way back into the house. "And I believe Erik's making Japanese for dinner tonight. We know how much you love it."

XxX

The figure in the white cloak astride the camel looked distinctly out of place riding into the oasis. The darkness of the desert was broken by the lights from a small camp concealed within the fertile patch and several men, armed with both blades and guns, stepped from the shadows at the stranger's approach.

One of the men said something in Arabic to the cloaked figure, but the only response he received was a girlish giggle. The stranger held up a white-gloved hand and the head guard blinked several times before slumping to the ground before the camel, fast asleep.

The other guards instantly raised their weapons, but a voice from inside one of the tents suddenly gave a harsh command in Arabic. Instantly, the men backed off. The new arrival slid gracefully down from her mount and one of the men came forward to tend to the animal. The group parted like the Red Sea before Moses to allow the cloaked figure through to the tent.

Inside, a woman with tan skin, long, dark hair, and brown eyes lay sprawled out on a couch. Her slender body was covered with a blanket made of semi-sheer fabric and she was clearly naked beneath it. Smirking, she surveyed her guest for several moments before reaching over to a side table and plucking a date from a bowl there.

"You do love your entrances, don't you, Emma," she said as she rolled the fruit between her fingers.

The figure swept back the hood of her cloak, revealing none other than Emma Frost, who returned the smirk. "I'd say we all have that in common, Selene. Isn't this whole set up a little much?"

"Well, like you and Shaw, I like to live…as befits my station. If you'll remember, I know how a goddess ought to be treated. Mulled wine?" she offered, slowly sitting up, the thin fabric barely clinging to her breasts.

"Absolutely," Emma said, coming to take a seat beside the darker woman on the ornate couch. Selene reached for the jug on the table and poured her associate a goblet.

"So how are the little ones doing?" Selene asked as Emma took a long drink.

"They're both doing fine," the telepath answered primly. Just as Blindfold had foretold five years ago, she'd given birth to twin children. It had been right around the time she'd been starting to show that she'd suggested to Shaw her talents would be of best use assisting Selene with her work in the Middle East. Shaw had agreed without suspicion. After all, he had all the telepath he needed in little Blindfold for the moment. So Emma had been able to hide out during the rest of her pregnancy. Selene had never liked Shaw, and knowing this, Emma had known she was really the only person she could go to for help in this. She'd helped her to bear the twins in secret and also helped her to find good homes for them.

The girl, whom Emma had named Esme, had gone to a family of Blackfoot Indians living in Canada: the Silverfoxes. Emma had chosen them because they had a ten-year-old mutant daughter, Kayla, and they were treating her well. Certain that her daughter couldn't be anything but a mutant, she'd planned for her safety in this respect. The same went for the boy, whom she'd named Gareth. He had been placed with a mutant couple in California who couldn't have any children of their own.

If she were honest with herself, the safest place for her children probably would have been Xavier's new school, especially since Shaw had decided not to attack the place anymore, either directly or indirectly, because it was now actively a mutant sanctuary. She, however, did not want to place her children in Xavier's hands if she could help it. So they lived their lives anonymously, unaware of their powerful lineage, far from the conflicts between mutant and human, and she would secretly check in on them from time to time. Just now had been such a time, as the twins had just turned four a few months ago. They both seemed healthy and happy thus far. No signs of mutation yet, but who could say when that would happen.

"And how is your work here?" Emma asked, sipping from her goblet.

"Chaos. Everything here is absolute chaos. Havoc as there hasn't been since the dawn of the millennium," Selene said, taking an almost sensual delight in this fact. "It's like I've been telling Shaw, we don't need to destroy them all at once. Give them enough time and these humans will surely destroy themselves for our amusement."

"Well, forgive me if some of us don't have quite as much time to kill as you do. Sometimes it amazes me you and Sebastian don't get along better than you do," she said, an odd look coming into her eyes.

"Well, we immortals tend to bore each other. Besides, he's still young as far as an immortal goes."

"There are others…besides the two of you?"

"A few. There could be more I haven't met. As far as I know, though, I'm the oldest…probably the first mutant to ever exist."

Emma would never say it out loud, of course, but if that last statement were true, Selene wasn't so far off in calling herself a goddess, even among mutants.

"So how are our Sebastian's plots playing out?" Selene asked, smirking condescendingly as she plucked another date from the bowl.

"Well enough. We don't need to worry about the Americans at the moment. They're destroying their own credibility in Vietnam without any help."

"I told you so."

"He's been…working on something for it…with the information Wyngarde got from the CIA…but he's not focusing on it like he should. Blindfold's said…it's time to awaken the Xavier boy."

"Ah, this little chosen one we've all been hearing so much about," Selene drawled, rolling her eyes. "He relies on that girl a little too much, I think. Although…she's not so much of a girl anymore, is she."

"Heh, she was a woman already, even when she was a girl."

"Still, now it shows on the surface. Eighteen…he favors her, doesn't he," the ancient mutant goaded her associate.

"To a degree," Emma snipped. "Sometimes it worries me that he takes her word as gospel. I feel like he's focusing on Xavier and Lehnsherr a little too much. He's been fixated on them ever since what happened in the camp…them and their offspring."

"Well, Xavier is well worth being fixated on. Jason believed he was the one we should put our faith in…and I think you believe it, too. After all…you've seen his power."

"Yes," Emma said quietly. Onslaught was not a sight so easily forgotten. Charles Xavier could easily destroy the humans…if he could only be convinced it was the right thing to do. Perhaps that was the reason Sebastian was focusing so intensely on the professor's son. Maybe it was about more than just awakening Eric Xavier as a mutant…and if that were so, perhaps her fears for the man's sanity weren't quite as founded as she'd thought.

XxX

One would hardly think the kitchen of the Xavier mansion was a suitable place to hold meetings. For one, it was a kitchen; for two, knives were usually flying haphazardly about the space, as it had become Erik's own personal playground. Anything plastic or wooden in the kitchen had long since been replaced with metal so Erik could summon anything he needed to him freely and manipulate several things at once. As he was pretty much already a gourmet cook, his new challenge was to see how many things he could do at once through the use of his power. Currently, he was manipulating several knives in order to chop raw fish for tonight's dinner. It was because of the whole knife business that Charles asked the students to steer clear of the kitchen when Erik was working. As such, the place was a desirable spot for serious and semi-serious discussions. 'The adults', as Charles had called them, consisted of himself, Erik, Destiny, Mystique, Alistair, Elsie, Sean, Hank, and Pele. Normally, Alex and Artemis were part of the group, too, but they were…otherwise occupied at the moment.

Pele counted among their number, even though she was only thirteen. Being a telepath, she was vastly mature for her age…even though she didn't look it half the time. She was settling into the role of teenager well. She had died several highlights of red into her black hair, which she had grown long again after her brain surgery on Muir Island. She had had her ears and belly button pierced and had abandoned her study of classical music in favor of the guitar, drums, and rock records. Really, the only thing missing was a tattoo, which Charles half-wished he could draw the line at, but as he constantly had to remind himself, he was her friend, not her father. Pele was her own person.

"So where are Artemis and Alex?" Hank asked, still a bit naïve, even after all these years.

"Oh, they're just…very happy to see each other," Pele said through slightly grit teeth. As much as they wanted to, she and Charles couldn't completely shut out the very…animalistic waves coming from Artemis' room.

Hank closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, clearly asking himself why he'd even asked in the first place. Elsie sighed, trying not to think about it. Alistair gave a knowing smile as he rested a hand on his wife's knee.

"Give the lovebirds a break. They've been apart for a few months, after all…and they're young yet."

"True enough," Charles conceded. He certainly couldn't blame them when, as Alex had said, he and Erik got up to much worse after the children were asleep.

"So what's the word?" Sean asked, somehow the first to get back on track. "You said you had something on the Hell spawn."

"Maybe," the elder telepath said slowly, not looking at any of them. "I was working in Cerebro yesterday and I was contacted."

"By whom?" Hank asked. "No one should be able to do that." With all the power that was behind Cerebro, it was dangerous to form any sort of direct link. Such a connection could easily kill Charles and whomever he was linked to.

"That isn't quite true, Hank. You know that. Someone managed it once before…and it was her again…Blindfold…Shaw's seer."

"And did she…show you the future?" Destiny asked gravely.

"Not…as such, no…not like before…but she did say something."

"What?" Pele asked.

"Only that…the war is about to get much worse."

"The only question is…" Erik continued, not even looking up from his work.

"Which war did she mean?" Mystique finished.

"The war in Vietnam has never been worse," Charles said quietly. Here in their own little world, they were somewhat cushioned from events in the world at large, which the professor was grateful for, but that didn't mean the world wasn't still turning.

"But it could also mean they're planning to attack us again," Hank said.

"That was really all she contacted you to say?" Destiny asked.

"I know, I know," Charles sighed. "Precogs have very specific designs…but that's really all she said."

"I think they're just trying to scare us," Erik pointed out, the fish he was working on receiving several particularly violent chops. "We won't really know until something happens."

"And we're supposed to believe that you, Erik Lehnsherr, are taking a 'wait and see' attitude?" Mystique asked, clearly skeptical.

"Have you got something else?" Erik shot back, still not looking at them.

"No…but it still just…really isn't like you."

"I promise you, Mystique, until we know more, we do best to be sure we're securely fortified here. We're on the defensive right now."

No one said anything, but of course they all suspected it…there was something Charles wasn't telling them that he'd already told Erik. What else would cause Erik to willingly choose to play the defensive? And what could Charles not tell them that he could tell Erik?

More than likely…it was something to do with Eric.

XxX

Blindfold never made any sound when in bed with Shaw…and she knew it drove him crazy, which was why, she knew, he kept coming back to her. Whatever else could be said of Sebastian Shaw, he undeniably knew his way around a bedroom. When he couldn't get one girl to cry out, he took it as something of a personal challenge to make her.

After yet another unsuccessful attempt, Shaw found himself anxiously lighting up a cigar while the dark-haired young woman climbed from the bed and went for her robe, going to the balcony of the room to cool off.

"Did he believe you?" Shaw couldn't help asking. Blindfold laughed quietly.

"There wasn't much to disbelieve. Any war can only get worse before it gets better…and I imagine Xavier would take any threat to his son seriously. He knows we're coming; he just doesn't know when," she said, sitting down on the balcony ledge and "looking" out onto the estate.

"And you're sure this is the time?" he asked yet again.

"Sometimes I think you intentionally misunderstand me. I told you this is a time. Nothing is certain. This can go one of many ways. If your plan works, now is the time you will benefit from Eric Xavier's potential. If his manifestation occurs later, his potential will go to…someone else," she said, the smug expression on her face hidden from her captor.

"But…you are certain this plan will awaken Onslaught?" he continued to press.

"Why do you keep me around if you don't trust my predictions?" she challenged lightly, turning her head back in his direction.

Shaw chuckled, continuing to puff on his cigar as he went to join her. "You're a little snake, you know that?" he said, draping a possessive arm around her shoulders.

"I know it, but you still haven't really listened. What I've said to you before is that it can awaken him. It depends on what happens to the boy. He almost awoke five years ago…"

"But Erik prevented it…yet again," Shaw finished, no small note of bitterness in his voice. "I'll have to deal with him this time."

"Could you really, though?" I think you enjoy playing with him a little too much to ever actually kill him," Blindfold said, smirking.

"Dealing with doesn't necessarily mean killing. After all, my dear, there are things so much worse than death."

This I know…Sebastian Shaw.

XxX

While July 21st was technically both Erik's and their son's birthday, the older Erik's date of birth was something he and Charles celebrated in private. Apart from the fact that Charles was certainly happy he'd been born, Erik Lehnsherr didn't much like to remember that he had a birthday. Really, the only things he liked about the day were how happy it made Charles and the fact that Eric had been born that day. The last three July 21sts had been bliss for the small family. A little 'them' time in the morning before Eric was awake, then the rest of the day was for their little boy.

It was the same this July 21st. Even though Erik had no love of chocolate, his son had somehow become nearly obsessed with it, so he made him a chocolate cake: a large one for the family, the students, and their two other guests, Haley and her three-year-old son, Scott. The two boys were, of course, close in age and played very well together. Haley and Scott were becoming more a part of their family all the time…especially since they now had very little to tie them to their human family, as Haley's husband, Chris, had been killed in action in Vietnam. The grief had been very hard on the proud, tough-as-nails young mother, who had received the news only a few weeks after Scott was born. She'd had to deal with the knowledge that Chris would never know their son and Scott would grow up without a father…and she would more than likely grow old alone…but Alex and his own odd little family of misfits had helped her through the bad times and somehow drawn her and her baby into their own warm circle, a shelter for them…celebrating birthdays and holidays together as families should.

Presents had already been opened and cake and ice cream had already been served. Now all the party guests were sitting around the clutch of picnic tables talking and grazing while Eric, Scott, and Elliot, youngest of the students at only six, were off playing with Eric's new toy train.

"So, Haley," Charles began as he finished off his last bite of ice cream, "have you had a chance to look into schools for Scott yet?"

"Seriously, Prof? He's only three," she said, rolling her eyes in an effort to mask the fact that yes, she had actually been working on that very thing.

"It's never too early to start."

"What are you going to do about Eric?" she countered.

"Well…I suppose you could call it home schooling, though our home does technically count as a school. Elsie's certified from nursery up through middle school. You could always let him come here, you know?"

"But…would that be all right…even if he's not a mutant?" she pondered.

"Of course it's all right. You're practically family, Haley. We don't yet know if Eric's a mutant, either," Charles pointed out, ignoring the undisguised glare he knew he was receiving from his lover.

"I'd be happy to teach Scott," Elsie put in. "He's such a wonderful little boy."

Haley seemed to consider for a moment, but before anything more could be said, the peace of the summer day was interrupted by a loud bamf sound and the distinct scent of sulfur. The older members of the group looked up in horror to see Shaw, Emma, Azazel, and whom they all assumed must be Blindfold standing not five feet from their picnic spot.

Instantly, Charles' eyes darted to Eric…all the way across the field. There was no way he'd be able to reach him in time.

Eric! He screamed to him in his mind. Eric, run! You have to get away from here!

Looking up, frightened by the sudden shouting, Eric mumbled, "Daddy?"

"Hello, Erik…Charles," Shaw said slowly, his gaze shifting between the two of them. "It's been far too long, hasn't it. And we have a little one now, I see."

XxX

(A/N) Some notes…Scott: Does this answer your question, LovetheScottishAngel? Finally, in response to all of your questions about when we'll see the younger X-men…they're only just starting to be born, and I'll bring them in as we go.

Destiny and Mystique's baby: Just because I'm curious…how many of you knew that the original intention in the comics was for Destiny and Mystique to be Nightcrawler's parents…with Mystique serving as sperm donor?

So…any good?