Three Sentence Ficathon

He is an old man before he starts to doubt himself, before the question sharpens against his skin: was his mission truly worth it, worth all the broken friendships, all the fierce battles?

His first love had always told him he would come around one day, always the optimist.

When Charles finally realizes that helping to incarcerate mutants engaging in violent resistance had not helped prevent a war, had only prolonged it, he decided to leave his school and his mission behind; he decided that his latter years should be spent visiting an old friend.