Summary by CharleyX:
Chaos reigns in the Aerie as a shadow demon clutches Colossus, Rogue, Storm and Forge. Forge has Storm shoot off his bionic leg so he can escape. She nearly hits him, and he's upset, though not as much as when she tells him that one day she won't miss. As he hops downstairs, Forge realizes that he's made a frightening enemy of the woman he loved. He calls for his mentor Naze, but the old man doesn't answer. He's currently occupied making a supplication to some elder god in Forge's mystical sanctuary. Unfortunately, the entity called upon is not in a benevolent mood, and cuts through the form of Naze to reveal a Dark Wraith before claiming its soul, leaving the form of Naze unconscious on the floor.

Dallas-Ft. Worth airport is currently experiencing major snow delays in July (thanks to the Casket of Ancient Winters, recently opened in one of Thor's battles). Stewardess Amanda Sefton is tending to stranded passengers on her plane when Nightcrawler 'ports in, grans her and 'ports out again. One hundred feet above, they apear inside the Blackbird. Amanda is fuming, wondering how she will ever explain this. Kurt apologizes, but says he had not choice - Amanda's skills are desperately needed.

A few minutes later, Kurt teleports Amanda into the Aerie and sees the shadow demons devouring his friends. Amanda mystically chanes clothes and attacks, causing the demons to release the X-Men. Colossus turns to Rogue, but her power transforms her into a Dark Wraith. Peter does all he can to resist, but can't stay out of the reach of her barbed, soul-draining tongue for long withou hurting her. Then the cavalry arrives via a stepping disk, in the form of Illyana Rasputin. She draws on her Soulsword and saves her brother by slicing away the magic that encases Rogue. Then she frees Storm, who quickly reminds Peter not to touch his bare skin to Rogue's.

Amanda tries to seal the demons' portal, but they roar ferociously and resist. Amanda puts up a web of spells, but the demons just get stonger. Illyana leaps at the gate with her sword, but is thrown back against the wall. Amanda tells them all to leave - she can't hold out much longer against these counter-spells. Storm realizes that they must not have killed all the Wraiths, who are powerful witches, and orders Kurt up to the roof. Forge appears and grabs on to Nightcrawler as they teleport upwards.

Forge explains that Storm fought a Wraith on the roof, but since the aliens are sensitive to cold, she figured it would freeze in the blizzard. Apparently Storm was wrong, as Forge blasts away some snow and reveals the Wraith. Then he kills the witch. They teleport downstairs to find a huge mess, but the demons gone. Kurt is uneasy with Forge's killing, Amanda helps to heal Rogue, and Illyana reveals that she too is a sorceress, and was sent by Xavier to help out. Colossus is proud of her, not ashamed as she feared he'd be.

Elsewhere, Forge find Naze unconscious in his sanctum, and curses the day he built it, feeling he should have learned to stay away from magic in Vietnam. Storm appears in the doorway and tells him she's leaving. He refuses to let things end like this, but she pulls a gun on him. She tells him not to look for her, and to tell the Feds to back off. They will meet again, though, she says, and then he may wish they had not.

In the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, an old fishing boat comes alive with the cries of "Man in the water!" Captain Lee Forrester sees sharks with her binocs and begins shooting, but the shark grabs to poor soul anywa. Lee jumps in and swims to the victim over her mate Pa olo's objections. She reaches him as Paolo starts shooting and realizes the shark's coming back. She kicks the shark in the nose and makes it back to the Arcadia. Paolo's not happy, but Lee sternly warns him off as she yells for the medkit. They realize the rescuee is wearing chain mail, and then the white-haired man looks up and thanks Lee by name, as she is shocked to see, of all people - Magneto!

Later that evening, Kurt holds a towel out for Ororo as she finishes a swim, her lost powers no longer able to keep he body "immune" to the cold. Kurt asks her to join a meeting he has called. She's not sure she belongs anymore; he's not sure any of them do. Inside shortly thereafter, Rachel, Illyana and Roberto DaCosta attempt to eavesdrop on the X-Men's meeting. Professor X comes out and tells the this meeting is private and shoos them upstairs. Rachel stays behind, her telepathy allowing her to mask her presence. In the meeting room, Kurt is nearly enraged at what's happened to Storm - she was maimed, not by a super-villain or some criminal, but by the Federal government! Xavier tries to calm him, but Nightcrawler brings up the Mutant Control Act and his own experience with a human anti-mutant mob. What good do the X-Men serve if nothing has changed? Xavier wonders if Kurt would rather conquer like Magneto, but in truth, Nightcrawler says he'd rather not be involved at all anymore. The school is necessary, but the X-Men's "job" can easily be done by the more popular FF and Avengers. Xavier asks if he thinks running away is the answer, and Kurt replies that at least he'd be living for himself and his loved ones instead of some amorphous dream, ad if that sounds selfish, he believes he - and the rest of them - have earned it! He then recounts the X-Men's casualties: Banshee and Storm - maimed, Thunderbird - killed, Jean Grey - KILLED!

Outside, Rachel can't believe her ears. Jean Grey - dead?!?! She screams, and bursts into the meeting, psi-bolts flying in every direction, especially at Nightcrawler, whom Rachel begs hysterically to retract his last words. Xavier himself has trouble calming Rachel, the rage and grief inside giving her berserker strength, but he finally gets her to release Kurt. Rachel is confused: she spoke to her dad and heard her mom's voice. What Kurt said can't be true!

Rogue, Storm and Colossus attend to Kurt, who's recovering, and Storm queries Rachel. Jean can't be dead, says Ray, because Jean's her mother! She apologizes to Kurt, talking of things that haven't happened yet, and says he can't give up the X-Men. It's not as important that they're superheroes, it's that they're mutant superheroes. Then she telepathically shows them the world she came from, which is much worse than what they have now...

In Rachel's memories the X-Men watch the young girl grow up among them. Then trgedy strikes as her mother Jean dies when Mastermind detonates a nuclear bomb in Pittsburgh. Shortly thereafter, a rabid anti-mutant is elected President, and anti-mutant laws go into effect. Then one day, Kurt and his wife Amanda are escorting Illyana Rasputin into town when they are brutally murdered by government forces. Moments later the Mansion itself is bombarded. Professor X tries to reason with the troops from the window. Rachel tries to get him to come down to the Danger Room, but he must make the attempt to stop the slaughter. He fails, as a huge blast rips right through his body. Rachel says they found her hours later, still holding his hand. She was captured, tortured and then sent to the camp where she helped Kate Pryde switch mind with her younger self. She protected Kate as the rest of the X-Men fell in battle with the Sentinels, then decided to try and physically shift herself in time, having no future in her present.

The X-Men are stunned. Kurt thinks Rachel's proved his point for him, Peter wonders if there's still hope for him and Kitty, and Rogue ponders her fate, since Rachel hasn't menioned her. Xavier cries silently, thankful that in Rachel's timeline he didn't live to see his dream die so horribly. Rachel continues to say that no matter how bad things got in her time, the X-Men aways stood for life, even when others wanted vengeance. Because of the X-Men, the dream of humans and mutants living in peace never died.She adds that it's not whether they live or die that matters, it's HOW they live that makes a difference. Give up now, she says, and there will be no X-Men to put a good face on mutants, and of course humanity will turn against them, and all the suffering in Rachel's timeline will have been in vain. Storm quotes Spidey to Kurt: "With great power comes great responsibility," and Kurt, however reluctantly, agrees - for the dream - and the X-Men share a group hug of affirmation.

Epilogue: Down at a New York fish market, Jaime is unpacking fish crates and is about to go home when someone behind him drops a crate. Jaime notices an odd fish and lifts it to find a jeweled necklace inside. He picks it up and the necklace tells him to put it on, and the world will be his...