Rogue looked on with amazement. Joseph, the clone of Magneto, was alive. But how? How was it possible? She saw him die. Yet here he was, standing right in front of her, plain as day.

"I imagine you might be a bit overwhelmed," Deus stated. "Maybe it'd be best if I explained."

Deus cracked his knuckles and sighed. Then, he pressed a button on his armrest. An energy field surrounded the entire team to keep them in place.

"What's going on?!" Blink exclaimed. "I can't move!"

"What kinda trick're ya tryin' t' play?!" Rogue demanded. "Let Joseph go!! Let us go!!"

"Please, Rogue, it's a bit difficult to tell a story when someone's always interrupting you," Deus stated. "Now then, you all thought that Joseph had died in the arctic while trying to repair the Earth's EM field. That is true--in a form, that is. You see, using the magnificent equipment in Magneto's old citadel--and yes, this place did belong to Magneto--I was able to extract Joseph's essence from the magnetosphere. It was a tricky job, but thanks to the help of Francis, I got it done."

"Before..." Joseph weakly stated. "Before you said that... that I was lied to... how?"

"You believe yourself to be the clone of Magneto," Deus said. "At least that's what Astra wanted you to believe. Or, to be more accurate, what I wanted you to believe at that time."

"Are you trying to say that Astra worked for you?" Psylocke asked.

"That's precisely what I'm saying," Deus replied. "You see, if Magneto were to know the truth, that would've jeopardized my plans."

"What is the truth, then?" Quicksilver asked.

"Joseph isn't from this reality," Deus replied. "He came from another one, where A--"

"'Where Apocalypse ruled North America...'" Quicksilver finished. "We've heard this line too many times in the past--it's getting old."

"But it's true," Deus stated. "Allow me to clear it up. Rogue, I want you to meet Charles Lehnsherr, the man you also know as Joseph--your son!!"

"My WHAT?!"

Interlude.

The cloaked figure moved around the Worthington Estate in the Colorado Rockies. He looked it over and smiled beneath his helmet.

"Soon Mr. Worthington..." he muttered. "Soon..."

"What do you mean he's my son?!" Rogue shouted.

"Well, he's the son of alternate reality versions of yourself and Magneto," Deus said. "Had Magneto known that Joseph was his son, he would've tried to mold him, like he failed to do with Quicksilver."

"...It's true..." Blink muttered. "He's right about Joseph... In the other reality, Magneto and Rogue did have a child named Charles."

"Very good, Blink," Deus stated. "The concept of alternate realities has always interested me. And with the help of Quiet Bill, a homeless man, I viewed these alternate realities. But here, allow me to show you instead."

He pressed a button on the armrest and a monitor projected an image of a desolate world.

Magneto stood on a bluff, dressed in a crimson armor of sorts. His hair was long, though, extending out of the back of his helmet and falling below his waist. Rogue approached him, wearing a blue cape and carrying a young boy in her arms.

"It's over, my love," Magneto began. "Apocalypse is dead... and with him, his world."

"Our world," Rogue reminded.

"No," Magneto stated. "This was never our place... never our time. Not really. And if Bishop did his job... we will be but memories by the time the bombs fall. Come to me, my wife... my son. Let me love you... before time slips away."

"Everything depends on Bishop," Rogue said as she came to Magneto's side. "D'you think he was able t'set things right?"

"We can hope," Magneto replied. "If we have earned nothing else... we have earned that right. And I would never have believed until I met you, beloved... that hope would be so dear to me. But then, a good man once gave me faith that all things were possible. He preached a dream of harmony... and told me that any dream worth having... was a dream worth fighting for. He taught me well. Had I these long years to live over again, I might have made other choices... I might have done many things differently. But I would never have stopped fighting for the dream. That is your legacy, Charles Xavier. Now--as I hold my family to me before the end--I thank you for changing my life."*

(* Excerpted from, ironically enough, Marvel's X-Men: Omega--Dino)

Rogue looked down the bluff. There it was--the M'Kraan Crystal. The one source of salvation--if she wanted to jeopardize everything. But her son... his life would end before it even began. Then a thought occured to her. Bishop, Destiny, and Illyana were allowed to enter the Crystal without ramifications because they had no counterparts in the other reality. But, if in this other reality she and Erik never fell in love, never had a child, that meant that Charles had no counterpart either. If she took a leap of faith, her son could have a better life, one that she couldn't provide for him. She looked at her husband.

"Erik..." she said, pressing her lips to his. When she broke the kiss, she slowly backed away, holding Charles.

"Rogue..." Magneto said, slowly approaching her. "Rogue, what are you---"

"Ah'm sorry, Erik..." she stated. "But I don't have a choice."

She leapt off the bluff and dived down towards the center of battle, where the X-Men were fighting off Apocalypse's hordes. Bodies littered the battlefield. She landed near the Crystal, and looked at Charles.

"Honey... ah want you to go..."

"Mommy...?" he asked. "But I don't wanna... I wanna stay with you and Daddy..."

"Ah know, Charles," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "An' we wanna stay with you, too. But, if you go through, you'll have a better life. You'll be able to do things you never could do if ya stayed with us."

"ROGUE!!" Magneto exclaimed, flying towards them. "Rogue, don't!!"

"It's th' least we can do f'r him, Erik," Rogue said. "He can have a good life, but he doesn't deserve this!"

Charles looked at his mother, trying to figure out what she meant.

"Just go, baby..." she said, lifting him up, and holding him to the Crystal. "Do it f'r me, please. An' be a brave boy, Charles."

Charles looked back at them, at his father approaching, and at his mother trying to hold back the tears. He placed his hand and it went inside the Crystal. The rest of his body followed until he was gone. Then, he watched as a bomb fell, engulfing his father in flames. The last thing he saw was his mother, as the bombs took her as well.

"MOMMY!! DADDY!!"

When he awoke, he was lying among rubble, and a woman came and picked him up.

"Well... look who I found," she stated. "You look like a strapping young man. And judging from these scans, one I can use in the future."

She looked around, revealing her face.

"ASTRA?!" Quicksilver exclaimed. "What does this mean?!"

"It means that once young Charles ended up 20 years in the past, he was found by Astra," Deus stated. "So, when she told Joseph that she was his mother, she wasn't lying. She was his adopted mother. Astra began training him in the use of his powers, and when Quiet Bill showed me all this, I knew young Charles would be easier to control than the actual Magneto. I sought out Astra, only to discover that she conveniently lost him after he battled Magneto, but that she aimed to get him back. I employed her, telling her to convince Joseph that he was actually a clone. Her job was to stop Magneto, and I would retrieve Joseph at the end of it. Unfortunately, he had to grow a conscience and try and stop Magneto from destroying the magnetosphere. By doing so, he sacrificed himself. Due to Astra's incompetence, she met with a rather... untimely demise. Luckily, the technology in the citadel was able to reassemble Joseph. And now, I'm going to use him, just as I'm going to use all of you."

"Like hell you are!!" Rogue exclaimed. "Yer gonna let Joseph go before ah rip yer head off!!"

"You're in no place to make threats, Rogue," Deus stated. "Especially when you're trapped as well. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. The planet has become hell. Crime and hatred reign supreme. I need to change all of that. And I'll need your help. I'm going to split the world into two factions, a Heaven and a Hell. All the low beings will be placed in the Hell, and all the good people will be placed in Paradise. First, I'll need Joseph to magnetically stop the planet from rotating, so that one side, Heaven, will always face the sun. Crystal's earth powers will form an impassible barrier across the two factions, preventing access to the other side. Psylocke will scan the minds of the people on Earth, and Blink will transport them to their respective sides. I'll control it all using my psionic powers."

"You're insane," Psylocke muttered. "You can't play god."

"And we won't help you with this insane plan, either!" Bishop exclaimed.

"Well..." Deus stated, sliding some sort of headset on. "You don't have a choice."

Joseph suddenly stood up, and magnetically gripped Crystal, Psylocke, and Blink, placing them in the proper spots in Deus' machine. Deus stepped up to a platform in the center, using the headset to exert control over them. Meanwhile, energy erupted forth from him, linking each of them.

"Begin, Francis."

"Yes sir," Francis said, working at the computer. The X-Men watched as the link grew brighter, and energy erupted forth from Joseph into Deus.

It had begun.

NEXT ISSUE: For the conclusion of Wrath of God, check out the X-Men Omega Annual 2001. Then, in issue #18, be here for the aftermath of Deus' plan as old members leave and new ones join. The results will shock you!