[OP: "Secrets"--One Republic. AMV by Conflict Revolution] 

The silence was nearly unbearably long.

Finally, Rumi slowly, hesitantly, took off her hoodie.

The patterns weren't glowing like the Saja Boys', just a dark purple color, like a scar, down both her arms and part of her neck.

If they hadn't known what they were, they would have really thought nothing of them. Compared to mutations, they were small.

Morph let out a sort of low whistle. "So you've hidden those all the time you've been in the Huntrix? For years?"

"They started off only being here..." Rumi touched her upper arm near her shoulder. "...and then they spread. They started to choke off my voice." She touched the ones at her throat. "My voice is back now, but the patterns are not gone. Not till the Golden Honmoon...then they'll be gone. That's what Celine says."

"Your voice came back, but they didn't go away?" Mystique raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"After...I told Jinu about them," Rumi said in a small voice.

Small because she was expecting them to blow up at her any second.

But Morph didn't have the heart to do this.

"Interesting," he mused, with a look at Mystique. "Talking about it helped. What caused them?"

Rumi put her face in her hands. "I think it would only scare you to know."

"What, was your father a demon or something?" Mystique said that to be mostly sarcasm.

But Rumi stared at her with such a shocked look that she knew she'd gotten it right.

"Wow, first try." Morph was surprised. "You're good, honey."

"I was joking." Mystique was incredulous. "How is that possible? Demons can't...I mean...not like...that."

"Maybe he was one like Jinu." Rumi had been wondering about this. "Human once... Maybe some of the humanity stays behind."

"I still don't really think Jinu is a demon," Morph mused absently. "And I don't think you're one either."

"Half one," Rumi said. "Doesn't matter... As long as I have these, that's all anyone will see. How could I tell Mira and Zoey about it? They kill demons, and they hate them."

"They don't know that you're possible," Morph said. "But you're a hunter--this can't be as simple as you think it is."

"Celine never said anything other than I had them because of my father." Rumi took a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "And they'd be gone once we've sealed off Gwi-Ma. Once all demons are gone."

"She doesn't think that you might end up sealed off also?" Mystique said.

"No, not as long as I'm on this side of the gate," Rumi said. "And, I think, maybe Jinu also... Then we could be free."

"So that is your plan?" Morph said. "Huh..." He morphed into having a Sherlock Holmes style cap and a monocle. "Wonder if that would work..."

"I don't think it will," Mystique said. "That's too simple. Those patterns are some kind of inherited thing, or they're some kind of curse that Gwi-ma puts on people. Or they mean something else entirely, but they're not some illness you can just remove like that. It would be like us thinking we could take away our mutations... It's been tried, but it's not truly possible, really. Even if it was, it does something to the person to lose it... They might not be themselves anymore."

"They might be," Rumi said.

Mystique looked dubious. "I tricked people into trying to do that... It was all a lie. The closest we got were collars that blocked it but didn't remove it. And it hurt, a lot. Long term, probably they were harmful."

"This isn't a mutation," Rumi said.

"Actually, it kind of is," Morph said. "Something being different with your DNA does make you a mutant."

He laughed. "Hey, Raven, I know why we were sent here. We're mutants, and so is she. We're a perfect duo for this."

Mystique was not laughing after her experience earlier that day. Gwi-Ma's voice was still echoing in her mind.

Rumi was incredulous that they were looking at it that way.

She laughed oddly. "It's not the same thing...but, I have to admit...I never imagined you reacting this way."

"He may make light of it--" Mystique folded her arms. "--but I won't. I don't care if you have patterns, but does Gwi-Ma influence you?"

"No, no!" Rumi held up her hands. "I've never heard his voice... Actually, Jinu was surprised that I hadn't... Apparently, I'm the only one. Must be because I'm only half that."

"No, that makes no sense," Mystique dismissed it. "Jinu was human once. Arguably he was more human than you, by that logic. But he hears the voice, and he is controlled by it. Your DNA is not the explanation."

"You don't think that being part demon would make me immune?" Rumi said.

"No," Mystique said. "'Satan can't cast out Satan'--that's what our religion says. It would make you weaker to him if that had anything to do with it. In fact, in one way it has." She took her arm. "You never made a deal with Gwi-Ma, but you have these."

"I have them because of my shame!" Rumi cried. "Not because of making a deal."

"Then you have your answer." Mystique let go. "It's not DNA... It's shame."

"You could say that DNA is part of what gives us our shame," Morph said. "Humans inherit wickedness in their hearts. We call it Original Sin back home. We all do bad things and feel ashamed of them... Also look at your own son, Raven... He's been ashamed of being related to mutants his whole life. So many of us mutants are ashamed of our genes too. I don't think it's causing it exactly, but there's some correlation."

"You two are...being oddly chill about this," Rumi said.

"Chill?" Raven repeated.

"You know...cool? Relaxed?" Rumi was confused. "I thought you would be angry."

"I am angry," Mystique said. "Because you're lying to your friends. Which, while, normally would be nothing I would judge anyone for, I do think it's more serious this time. If you're wrong, then what if this compromises the Honmoon thing or whatever your power comes from? They could suffer too. So could everyone else in this city. You're staking a lot on a hunch."

"Celine also told me," Rumi stated.

"But she can't really know," Mystique said. "If it hasn't happened before, we don't know what the Golden Honmoon would really do. I would never stake my fate on such a flimsy guess as that."

She paused. "Jinu doesn't think it will work, does he?"

"He was going to think about it," Rumi said. 

"But he's been Gwi-Ma's slave for years," Morph said. "Centuries, and he's never seen this idea work?"

"We've never had the Golden Honmoon before," Rumi said.

"If Shine had just written back to us..." Morph sighed.

"Time is different for them," Mystique reminded him flatly. "Could take her days. With a new baby, anything could have happened to delay her having time to sit down and write out a detailed message to us... We can't rely on her to do it in time. Our best guess may have to do...yet, I don't know what we would do. This is beyond anything I've ever done before."

She looked downcast. "Gwi-Ma also has it out for us now."

"Did...he say anything else to you that you didn't tell us?" Rumi asked.

Mystique saw no point in lying to her now.

"He said that we're outcasts," she said. "He called me one..." She stared at her hands. "How did he know?"

"How did...huh?" Morph said. "Raven? What is it?"

Mystique put her hand over her heart. "An outcast is what I have been my entire life. I always thought of it that way--outcast from the humans for being a mutant, outcast from mutants for being able to pass as a human. Trusted by no one. No life of my own. He saw it so easily...and he said that we could never belong here, no matter what disguise we used. Or, he could have just meant me."

"It was like he knew exactly what to say to you." Morph was stunned. "He knew our shame."

Rumi looked concerned. "Raven...you can't listen to him. Gwi-Ma only wants you to be ashamed, miserable. You're not an outcast now, right?"

"You're one to talk, Rumi!" Mystique hit back harder then she should have. "As if you don't feel the same way."

Rumi flinched.

"Raven," Morph warned, "don't. She's trying to help."

"She's saying that to help herself," Mystique said tightly. "Not me. So what if Gwi-Ma knows my shame...? I'm not a demon. It won't control me."

Rumi looked like she'd been slapped.

"I told you he doesn't control me!" she said, more angry.

"Did you forget that thing you did earlier?" Mystique replied. "You shook the Honmoon. Tell me things are not getting worse."

"That happens when I get upset, but it's been better," Rumi said. "You were pushing me...but, once we fix everything, it won't happen anymore. We just have to make the Honmoon too strong to be broken."

"Rumi, I'm not a pessimist, but I'm still skeptical that's even a real thing," Morph said. "I don't think you can get rid of demons permanently, in this life. You can't in our home. You can stop them, but they come back. Just like all evil comes back, it's a lifelong battle. But that's not a bad thing for us, it's just life. Only a perfect world wouldn't have evil, but we don't live in a perfect world."

"It will work," Rumi argued. "It has to! There is no other hope!"

Her voice quivered there.

"Calm down," Morph said. "There is always hope. We're both train wrecks ourselves, but we found our way out. I was in your position, really. Someone else made me lose control, but I came back. A part of me may always remember what that was like, but it's not in control of me now. I don't think you need that Honmoon to be free. There's always another way. Staking all your hopes on one thing that has never happened, it's not wise. But our hopes are in something that has always worked, time and time again. Isn't that a verse anyway? 'Hope does not disappoint'."

"We represent hope to the world," Rumi said. "Courage...inspiration. So I have to believe there is hope. I'm a mistake, but I still have purpose."

"A mistake?" Mystique said quietly.

"Or worse," Rumi said darkly.

"Let's...uh, not go there, please." Morph didn't want to think about it. "Wait, but what happened to your mom?"

"I don't know. All I know is she died," Rumi said quietly. "Celine raised me. I never knew my mother or my father. And I didn't want to know him." Darkly.

"He must be dead," Mystique said offhandedly. "If he was not, Gwi-Ma would have sent him against you ages ago, if he could. I have a feeling it wasn't your mother who killed him though. At least, not without it being suicidal."

"I really don't want to talk about that," Rumi shuddered.

"I would want to know if I were you, but if that's how you feel, we won't talk about it," Morph said simply. "I wish you had told us this from the start though. We would have had more time to look into possible solutions. There's still some time though. I wonder if we could just...remove them ourselves?"

"How would you do that?" Rumi asked.

"If it's a curse, then breaking it is something we should be able to do, if I understand it right," Morph said. "If it's really a curse, maybe it can still be healed. Isn't that a power we have?"

"I don't know how to do that," Mystique said. "But if we can, we should. I'd rather try that then rely on the Honmoon."

"You think you could?" Rumi stood up. "Do it."

"I'm not sure how," Morph said. "Hmm, I think Shine and Wally always just say it. I guess we could try that."

He took her arm.

He tried telling the patterns to be gone.

Rumi held her breath.

Mystique watched.

Nothing happened, however.

Rumi looked disappointed but not that surprised. "I didn't think it would work. Your power, whatever it is, just isn't the same."

"Or I just did it wrong," Morph said. "Maybe the letter will help."

"If that makes you feel better." Rumi turned away. "You're still not gonna tell the girls. You won't, right?"

"I think it's not our place," Morph said. "Right, Raven?"

"I don't think us telling them would fix anything," Raven said, with clear implied meaning.

"I don't need to tell them if the patterns disappear," Rumi said. "I'm so close, okay? Just a few more days."

"And if Jinu doesn't want this after all?" Mystique pressed.

"I think he will," Rumi said. "Can't you feel any sympathy for him?"

"Sure," Morph said. "Just not enough to risk the world for it."

Silence.

Mystique paced a little, and then she leaned on the wall. "Rumi, listen...I've been in Jinu's place before."

"You...have?" Rumi said.

"Not with Gwi-Ma, but to evil overlords with power over people's minds," Mystique said slowly. "I did what I had to to survive, in those days...but I sacrificed everyone else to protect myself--my daughter, my fellow mutants. I never was willing to risk my own life... Why that changed, I still don't fully understand, but it was not because someone offered me an out that was uncertain. That is not what changes the mind of someone like that. Hope is never sufficient for us, without anything else. We will always pick a certainty, even if it is not a very good one, to an uncertainty that we can't control. So if I were him, now, I would never take your offer."

"I...never would have guessed that about you." Rumi was amazed. "Your past is...complicated... but how do you know that Jinu is the same?"

"Because listening to him talk was like listening to myself," Mystique said.

Dead silence prevailed yet again.

Rumi looked pained. "You're...sure?"

"Not sure," Morph spoke up. "There's always a chance. I can't say I didn't see a little bit of a sign that he might really want to be free. Still, 400 years is a long time to get the hope stamped out of you. I mean, we're only 50 something and 80 something years, respectively."

"You're what?" Rumi nearly choked. "Did you say 80?"

Raven's skin shimmered. "Shapeshifters do not usually age very fast. Our condition makes our cells regenerate quickly. I could live for another 50 years if it was only a matter of natural causes."

"Me too, probably longer," Morph said. "I could look any age I want, anyway. I just look a little funny naturally." He grinned.

Rumi still didn't laugh.

Morph was really starting to be kind of hurt by no one ever laughing at his jokes here.

"You keep throwing new things at me." Rumi sank back on her bed again. "Wow...so you've had a lot of experience."

"I spent most of those 80+ years doing the wrong thing," Mystique said, folding her arms. "Four hundred years of it would not have left me much hope of ever changing."

"But he might not have had the chance to," Rumi countered.

"I see you're determined to do this no matter what we say." Mystique lost patience. "But it's not just your own skin you're endangering here."

"I know, I know, but I really don't think this is hurting anyone." Rumi held up her hands. "It's just giving Jinu a chance to be free also. I'm going to get his answer in a day or so. Can we hold off passing judgment until then? And you'll keep my secret?"

"We'll keep it," Morph said. "But, Rumi, you really should just tell your friends."

"They wouldn't understand," Rumi said sadly. "I've thought about it, but...I just couldn't."

Morph sat down across from her. "If they really care about you, they'll understand," he said. "Our friends accept us the way we are. And we're very weird. Some people, they're just incurably caring. It's a strange thing about humans--no matter how nasty some of them are, there's always people who aren't. Even ones who spend their whole lives trying to heal the pain in the world, instead of making it worse."

"That's what Huntrix is supposed to do," Rumi said. She sang slowly, "Fix the world and make it right, as darkness finally meets the light."

She really did have an amazing voice, they had to admit. They got chills just listening to it.

"If that's what you do, then how do you know your two friends wouldn't see it that way?" Morph asked.

"Well, Celine doesn't," Rumi said grimly.

Mystique was starting to wonder about this Celine woman. What had she put in Rumi's head all this time?

But then, she had no room to judge someone for being a poor role model.

"I still think they would understand," Morph said. "But, I don't want to keep pushing. You won't like that... So how did Jinu find out about your secret?"

"The first time we fought." Rumi looked upwards. "He tore my sleeve. Then he saw. But instead of showing them, he covered them up and then asked to meet. I didn't trust it at first, but I kept thinking about it... Maybe he was sincere."

"Maybe he wasn't," Mystique muttered.

"I don't know if it's wise to say this," Morph said, "but we did talk to him a little bit. He didn't like the idea of us destroying you--we pretended to be working for Gwi-Ma at first, by the way."

"Clever," Rumi said. "Wait, did you find out his plan?"

"Uh...well, not in certain terms," Morph said. "I think you know most of it already..."

He felt bad for not fully telling her, but they had promised not to till they had time to get answers... That promise was weighing on them like a rock.

"So he didn't like that," Rumi changed the subject.

"But that doesn't mean anything." Mystique thought Morph was not smart to encourage this. "He may just have a better plan in mind for how to do it. I don't trust men."

"Aren't you...married?" Rumi said.

"How do you know I'm a guy?" Morph asked.

He said that just to make her start thinking about it, and the look on her face was classic, realizing she'd really have no way to tell.

"Just kidding, I am," Morph laughed. "Sorry...couldn't resist."

Rumi finally cracked a smile. Progress!

"Morph is an exception to the rule," Mystique said.

"Dang right I am," Morph said proudly.

"But most men," Mystique went on, "do not respect women enough to put their needs first. They just want what they can get from you. And once you can't give them any more, they're gone."

"That sounds awful," Rumi said. "Who have you dated?"

"A lot of people," Mystique said. "And it was...mostly a mistake for all of them."

"I'm trying to break her streak," Morph explained. 

Rumi didn't know whether to laugh at that or not. "Okay...but you really don't know still."

"I think the fact that you don't know is the bigger concern here," Mystique said. "Why do you want to save this guy so badly anyway? He's a jerk."

"Because if there is still hope for him, then there is still hope for me," Rumi said. "And you didn't hear him talk... It sounded so awful...for centuries, to endure that. Can't you feel a little sorry for him?"

"Again, sure," Morph said. "I still think it's a big risk, but...it's yours to take." He rubbed his face. "I feel like we're not being fair to Mira and Zoey here though. I like them too."

"I'll make you a deal." Rumi crossed her legs. "If my idea doesn't work, you can tell them the truth... It won't matter by then for me. Maybe you two can come up with some other solution... Could you possibly strengthen the Honmoon if you sung?"

"I doubt that's our power," Morph said. "But I am down to sing anytime. I can do anyone's voice." He turned into Engelbert Humperdink.

"Could have selected better than that," Mystique said.

"You have no taste at all in music," Morph said.

"Morph, when I was first introduced to music, it was likely being played primarily in churches and barns," Mystique said airily.

"We need to get you Spotify," Rumi said.

"If you mean one of those online platforms that Shine is always raving about, I think I've got the idea of it from her already," Raven said. "And I find the idea of listening to music online unnatural. How is it even possible?"

"I can explain, but you would only roll your eyes," Morph said. "And I don't get these app things here either. Music quality online is pretty bad where I come from."

"How backwater is your city?" Rumi said. "Where do you live?" 

"New York mostly," Morph said. "But it's backwater, I guess. For you."

"I thought New York would be advanced." Rumi was confused. "We've performed in New York before."

"Nevermind," Morph dismissed it. "It's been a long day. We should call it."

Mystique frowned at Rumi and then walked out of the room.

"She...doesn't like me," Rumi said.

"No," Morph said. "It's not that. She sees herself in you, that's all. Raven is a complicated woman. And, Gwi-Ma scared her. He scares me, frankly, but at least I didn't see it for myself. She's trying to be brave, but I know this is what she feared the most about doing this... It's testing us a lot to have no idea what we're doing here. Me? I just miss having super smart friends who could figure all this out and I could just be the funny backup. Life is never that easy, is it?"

"No...but... thank you for understanding. I never thought anyone ever would understand me."

"Kid, you really have much more in common with us than you think. I could show you a dozen more at home who would relate to your story." Morph gestured grandly. "But the question is: Can you accept your struggle enough to ask for sympathy? Sounds like you haven't done that a lot. Must be hard to bear all that by yourself."

Rumi was silent.

Morph didn't want to push her too hard, so he decided to leave her to think about it.

* * *

Mystique was just in their room, staring at the wall. She put her hand to her throat. She could still feel the demon gripping her there...

Morph came in. 

"So..." He sat down. "You're not okay. Talk to me."

"Why did it go for me, Morph?" Mystique asked. "Did it think I was more likely to be weak?"

"Maybe the bathroom was just an easier place to pop out of without anyone seeing. I was in plain sight."

"I don't know... And why could I see it? Only ones who are controlled by Gwi-Ma are supposed to be able to hear him."

"That has to not apply to us the same way. That's probably why he reached your mind the other way. We don't even live here."

"What if his powers aren't limited to one dimension? If he is what we think he is...it's not."

"Being afraid of him is what he wants."

"I know!" Mystique burst out. "But I can't help it, can I? I'm not like you. I'm not brave!"

Then she put her face in her hands. "I just want to leave now... I don't know how to do this... I think I will probably not succeed."

Morph wasn't sure what to do.

He put an arm around her, tenatively.

She allowed it.

"I know you want to leave," he said. "But...we're close to figuring something out, I'm sure."

"You are not sure."

"I'm hopeful at least. We can't give up--this our first mission. I bet it seems harder because of that. There's always a way though. And you're doing better than you think."

"No, I'm not good at this," Mystique insisted. "I can't talk to these people... All I do is only make them mad at me--us--more. I was no good at winning anyone over. Or at earning their trust."

"That's not true. You've done that before. And...honestly, considering that we have powers like demons here, and we look like them too...the fact that we're still here is incredible on its own." Morph was actually kind of in awe of it. "We have to be doing something right. They must like us a little bit."

"Mira does not."

"Mira is a tough person to get close to, I think. For anyone. Zoey likes us."

"Zoey? She just doesn't have any preferences."

"Rumi would like us okay if we stopped finding out her secrets," Morph joked.

Mystique shook her head. "No...she didn't like that I told her she was wrong, but it was my honest opinion."

"She's worried that she is wrong. It's not you. She knew you had a point. I agreed with you, even...but I still want to help Jinu too. I feel sorry for him. This is a sticky wicket, as the oldies say."

Mystique finally laughed but dryly. "Really...a sticky wicket? That's the level we're on?"

Morph took her hand. "I'm not completely confident in myself either, but I know we had to be sent here for a reason. Always there's a reason, right? Shine and Wally had a hard time in our world at first, but they persevered. They won us over, no matter how hard we tried to stop them. We just have to be that stubborn. And you can be stubborn, as we both know."

Mystique frowned but only in feigned annoyance. "I think you're one to talk."

"I think once the Hunters get used to you, they'll like you," Morph said. "If that's the real goal here, I mean... Maybe them not liking us would help more. I got nothing. I'm just trying to fit the role."

"We both are," Mystique mused. "It's true though...this did not go much more smoothly for Shine and Wally. Perhaps I expect it to be too easy."

"At least we're not being pin-balled around the multiverse with no real control over anything," Morph said. "Count your blessings."

"I am," Mystique said.

She kissed him. "Sorry for lashing out."

"All's good. I know all about this kind of pressure after being part of the Exiles..." Morph said. "But if you want to kiss me again to make up for it..."

"Stop talking."

* * *

The next morning, Rumi had passed a sleepless night thinking about the fact that 3 people now knew her secret.

Yet...she couldn't find it in her heart to feel that upset about it.

All of them didn't seem to see it as so shameful...just odd.

A part of her wondered if she was wrong to think Mira and Zoey would not understand...but she'd spent too long hiding it from them. She just couldn't bring herself to talk about it...

The others, she hadn't really told anyway. They'd just learned it on their own. She didn't think she would be able to spill it herself.

When she ran into Mystique alone on the balcony just at dawn, she was surprised.

"I didn't think you'd be up," she said.

"I didn't sleep much." Mystique looked at the sunrise. "I like sunrises... They're quieter than sunsets, less people around... I've never had much in life that I enjoyed without fear of losing it, but...at least some things are always constant."

"True..." Rumi glanced at it. Then she leaned on the railing. "About last night...I'm...not trying to ignore your concerns. I just want to do the right thing. For everyone. Can your try to understand that?"

Mystique frowned at the city below. "Can I? I don't know..."

"You and Morph both don't act bothered by what I am," Rumi said. "Even by what Jinu is... It's nice...but we still are not on the same page. I guess it's not as simple as I thought."

"What you are doing is foreign to me. I've only ever cared if people were useful to me or not...or, in my better moments, perhaps I sometimes felt sorry for them."

"Sorry for them," Rumi repeated. "Why?"

"Sometimes they reminded me of myself," Mystique said moodily. "My daughter is like that...Rogue. I found her alone in the woods with a shot gun and a heartbreaking story. She's a mutant also... Her father kicked her out once he knew."

"Oh...how awful." Rumi covered her mouth. "Is that really what it's like to be a mutant?"

"Could have had it worse... My parents wanted to murder me," Mystique said, so casually that Rumi was shocked yet again.

"I...had no idea it was that bad..." she said.

"Yes... It was always like that before I had control," Mystique said calmly. "Before I mastered my power, this form--" She turned to her blue form. "--was always peeping out when I got upset or when I was tired. But, after I could control it, I lost myself. Never knew who I was. Never had a life of my own. I felt cursed. Truthfully, I probably was angry at you partly because I was angry at me."

"That...was what Morph said too." Rumi was surprised. "But...you're telling me this now...why?"

"Gwi-Ma tried to intimidate me." Mystique looked at her sideways. "And it worked... I was afraid of him. But, if I manage to actually do what I'm supposed to be doing, for once, and not turn away, maybe I really have changed... I don't have the right to say that Jinu cannot change. Not me, of all people. I would not trust him, but I would never trust anyone until they proved themselves to me 100 times over, and that is how all the few people I trust are in my life. There is no time for that now. But, Morph gave me a chance. So did my best friends...so did my son. And I didn't deserve it from him, most of all." She looked at her hands again. "Do what you think is the right thing to do... It's your world."

"This is what you really think?"

Mystique hesitated. "I've thought it over...and I don't know the answer. My cautious side would say not to trust him...not to think anyone would ever change. But I've been proven wrong before...so...it's likely that I was acting out of fear. And I always do that. Fear has never helped me make one good decision in my life. I encouraged you to be afraid... The answer won't come that way. I can't say I see the wisdom in your plan, but at least it's not being done purely out of fear and envy. Sometimes faith is about more than the logical answer... It's so easy for Morph. He's never been attached to logical reasoning for everything, nor to protecting himself above everything else. He's too good for me, you might have noticed..."

"Why are you together then?"

"Sometimes we get better than we deserve," Mystique mused. "I have...several times. My life was hard, but I still ruined it of my own volition... People still forgave me after that. Forgiveness is...a thing that is hard to understand, but it's powerful... The first time my son forgave me...I felt as if I had just a little piece of myself back. Just for one moment, I was able to make an unselfish choice and protect him... I ran from it, but, for a second, I was more than just Mystique... I was a person."

She closed her eyes. It was hard not to cry still when she thought about it. "It took a lot of time for me to make any further progress after that. My closest friend now is Shine, my mentor who sent us here, sort of... She wanted to help me, against my will, really. I fought it, and I was as terrible to her as I could be, but she would only laugh it off or smile, or if she got upset, it would only be for a moment. I gave up, since nothing ever got to her. And then I found peace in her willingness to see people only as they are, not as their past selves. As a person."

"Yeah..." Rumi said quietly.

"So I think your plan is risky, and also selfish, to do without anyone else knowing," Mystique concluded. "But, if it worked...it would be better than the alternative. Gwi-Ma shouldn't get souls, for any reason. It's not a victory for us if it could be prevented. I've seen plenty of death here already. I don't need to see anymore. Morph and I decided we'll help you try to free Jinu if we can, whatever we can do. But we will not choose it over the world, if it comes down to that."

"I wouldn't ask you to do that," Rumi said. "And...thank you. I never imagined anyone would be on my side about this."

"I've had too much grace shown me to not extend it to someone else. I think I can't avoid it. I'm not a kind person, Rumi... but if the one thing I can do is pay my debt to God and to my few friends by passing along their kindness, then, I will. I've lived too long as a selfish person to waste any more time following only my own interests, but that person is still inside me. I will try to fight it, but you must not expect me to be very soft or understanding... I don't know why I was sent here... The odds were against you even believing we were humans. Morph is right."

"I think that's why," Rumi said, oddly. "I don't really know who sent you still, but...whoever it was, if they knew...they must have had some idea, at least, that we'd not believe you...but you're proof that things aren't always what they seem. I think it makes sense...and I think you're kinder than you think you are." She smiled. "Thanks. I needed to hear some of that today, honestly... I have a feeling it's going to be a long two days till the Idol Awards.."

She was not wrong, Mystique thought dubiously.