[OP: "We didn't Start the Fire"-- Billy Joel, video by Matthew Manley.]

A few days passed uneventfully for the X-men, at least mostly.

Scott in typical fashion, chose to ignore the conflict instead of resolve it by apologizing, and Shine and Wally let him. They didn't apologize for stepping on his toes.

But it did have its effect. Logan was certainly being nicer to them than before, and Storm felt that Scott really should have made some kind of apology--and was inclined to try to be nicer to them to make up for it...a little too much so. She wasn't the most subtle person in the world.

But the result was she did go with them to visit the Morlocks again, and Kurt came to.

Morph even came, out of sheer curiosity. Since he hadn't been involved in the brush before, they let him come inside, assuming he was just another outcast.

The party of Morlocks who were listening to them was growing every visit. Shine must have had 25 of them by now. Kurt drew several of that number.

But he said he wasn't a teacher. He could preach all right, but when it came to having any plan, Shine was the queen of improv. Wally said speaking wasn't his gift in any way shape or form, though if put on the spot, he could rattle off plenty of reasons and ideas, but he couldn't plan it in any way.

The three of them played off each other well to talk to the people who were desperate for hope and something new.

But telling them, on the practical side, about The Way's drive on their behalf did get mixed results.

Some of them were fine with it--but some were suspicious.

Suspicious enough, in fact, to sneak out of the sewers and find the church for themselves and check it out.

But they found no reason to really be suspicious. 

Storm didn't have much to say to any of them; she was just watching, curious.

Morph asked her why she was interested in the whole thing.

"It's kind of weird," he said, "but it's not that out there. Normally you'd be too busy for this sort of thing."

"Is that your impression of me?" Storm said. She'd never gotten along with Morph all that well; his sense of humor was too unsettling for her. Hard to keep up with. But still, she'd known him a long time, and he knew her pretty well.

"Well, it's not so bad," Morph said,"but you're kinda like--" He morphed into her. "--'Winds, rain! Snow! Don't mess with the X-men.'"

He morphed back to himself. "And they're kinda like--" He morphed into each of them in succession. 

Kurt: "'Ve vant to talk to you about Gott.'"

Shine: "'And peace and compassion.'"

Wally: "'And jokes!'"

Then he turned to normal again.

Storm didn't find this funny, but Logan would have been dying of laughter at that.

"Well, I suppose we have very different approaches, but the Morlocks have never been open to anyone. I find that intriguing."

"Oh, well, it's clear why." Morph leaned on the wall lackadaisically. "They're desperate, and when you're desperate, you'll listen to just about anything. But maybe if they had anything else, they'd ignored all this. Church is a fall-back for people, but that's about all I think."

"None of what they say moves you?" Storm said.

"Some of it is pretty convincing," Morph said. "But enough to buy the whole thing? I don't know about that." He shrugged. "I just don't see the real need. If you can get by with good friends and doing something good in the world, why do you need to slap a religious affiliation on it? Why do you need more motivators to be good than just that it's the right thing to do? Seems like a crutch to me."

Shine looked over, and Storm knew she'd heard every word of that.

But she did nothing.

At an opportune moment, Storm did take her aside. "You mustn't mind what Morph said too much. He didn't mean any harm."

"Oh, I know," Shine said. "You don't have to protect me." She smiled. "I'd say it was offending you more than me."

Storm blinked. "Offending me?"

"You're thinking about all this seriously, aren't you?" Shine said bluntly. "As you would, and he made light of it. There's a lot more reason to go to Church than because you need a crutch, though I believe he's mistakenly equated going to church with being a Christian, and that is two completely different things. In fact, between you and me, I often don't even like church that much. Field experiences tends to stick with me more...but I go for a very specific reason."

"Which is?" Storm was puzzled why you'd attend it if you didn't like it.

"The Bible says not to neglect meeting with each other," Shine said. "I may not like the format all that much--though, I admit, this timeline's much better than my own for that. Turns out, I'm kind of into the older music more than I thought. Who knew, right?--but anyway, the point is, you need to be reminded you're not alone in your beliefs. As much as all of us differ in our approach, we at least share the same core. I can't get that anywhere else. I can put up with a few annoyances for that. You drop church for a while, and you feel very, very alone in this world. I know that much. But it's not what makes any of this real, it's just what reminds you to stay strong. Morph is mistaken, but I can't expect him to understand. He's outside the whole thing."

"Hmm," Storm said. "Well, you seem to have a handle on it. I guess I was worried for nothing.... Still...what of his point? Do you really need all this to do what's right? I suppose I've thought the same thing. Worshiping a god is sometimes a distraction from our duty as humans, I think."

"Well, I can't speak for your gods, but us Christians can't get off that easy." Shine made a face. "Jesus told us that the best way to show our devotion to him is to go to the least of the people of the world and treat them well, visit them in prisons, tend to the sick, and so on. I can't exactly open the Bible and not find that I'm supposed to be doing good--not to earn favor, though, just because I should. So I'd say my drive is not less but more than people who just do the right thing because it's right. We do it because it's right, but also to show our gratitude to God and our recognition of His humility in taking on the shape of a man and becoming poor, and cold, and hungry. Blessed are the people who have great need, remember?" She tugged her hair. "It's like doing it for Jesus, to do it for them. But over time, obligations become something we want to do--that's the crazy thing about Jesus. When we follow His word, we start to like it, to want to. I was actually quite terrified the first time I handed out food to homeless people back in my state, and I didn't care for service either. But now I actually enjoy it. I'd do it in my spare time. Being centered on helping others is counter-intuitive at first, but over time it becomes our second nature, literally. Wally's way ahead of me though. He was like that even before. Just doubled down now."

Wally did seem to have a great time talking to people and joking around and helping with things.

Storm wondered how close the X-men were to this kind of passion for their work.... She couldn't say that most of them enjoyed it as much as they did it because it was what they were supposed to do.

She voiced that thought.

"That's fine though," Shine said. "It's okay not to like it. I'm just saying how it happened. It happens to most of us, but some of us never really enjoy it. It's fine if that's the case too. I mean, fighting bad guys is not something you could enjoy all the time anyway. That'd be a bit weird...though I do  have a few friends..." She made an odd face. "Maybe a little excessively..."

[If you read my other fic for MHA, you know exactly who she's thinking of, too.]

"Well, Logan always seems to enjoy it, but the rest of us have our moments," Storm said. "But it doesn't matter, as you say. Still, your enthusiasm is almost childlike. I can't say I don't envy it in a way. Like Jubilee."

"She's great, huh?" Shine said. "Real enthusiastic. I'm liking her a lot. Well, at least Morph came. But if he's not into this scene. I get it."

"Into this...what?" Storm said.

"You know...he doesn't like this," Shine said. "But I'm wondering, how are you liking it?"

"I haven't really given any thought to if I like it," Storm said. "I am wondering what my duty is, if I should have put more thought into that. So far, I still don't know if this is what I'm good at."

"Believe it or not, it means something to them that you've shown up at all," Shine said. "I heard them say they were surprised, but that you actually did seem to care. You know, sometimes that's enough. People just need to see we care.... I'm sorry, but I have to ask, does Xavier really not cover any of this in training?"

"Why would he?" Storm said.

Shine bit her lip, then huffed under her breath. "Never do teach any ethics at these hero schools, do they? Seriously, is it so hard to cover the whole entire reason why we do this?"

"What?" Storm said.

But Shine kept muttering to herself and walked away, still going on about "hero education."

What an odd term for it. But quaint. The Professor might think that was funny.

[I wonder what he'd think of UA's methods.... They're eerily similar in some ways, down to the robot training and questionable methods of dealing with trauma.]

* * *

The lull didn't last. That very evening, Wally and Gambit got into a huge fight.

It wasn't the quarter everyone expected a fight to break out in, but Gambit said one too many things.

He'd begun by asking where they'd been, and once Wally told him, quite good naturedly, Gambit remarked.

"Dat all well and good, but it ain't gonna last."

"Sure it will," Wally said optimistically.

"No, it won't," Gambit said. "Even if dem Morlocks accept you, humans can't gonna jus' stand by and let you help dem for'eva. You ever think what would happen if dem Friends of Humanity caught wind of your lil' project?"

"Well, it's been a week and a half and nothing so far," Wally said. "Seems like no one cares."

"And dat is jus' where you're getting a might too confident, no?" Gambit fingered a card. "Cocky, even. Sooner or later, someone will tell dem, and den you bring harm on both yourselves, da church, and da Morlocks. Is dat worth it?"

"So what? We should do nothing?!" Wally got heated. "Like you guys?! Just let them rot down there?"

"At least dey alive," Gambit said.

"I can't believe you!" Wally said. "I mean, after all the effort we went to to make sure they wouldn't have to be involved directly. It's just never gonna be good enough for you, is it? We can't do anything right."

The raised voices drew the others' attention.

"What's goin' on?" Rogue asked.

Shine came too, and most of the team also, including Jubilee and Kurt.

"I've had it with him!" Wally pointed at Gambit. "And his pessimism! I mean, it's not fair, and you all never did a thing to help those people, but we're the reckless ones? The bad guys? What's wrong with you?"

"Now calm down, Sugar," Rogue tried. "Gambit didn't mean that, right?"

Silence.

"Maybe it bad to risk people' lives just for an effort to look like you're doing somethin' for 'em," Gambit said in a low voice.

Wally just about lost it the rest of the way.

"Dude, seriously, you need help!"

"Wally!" Shine grabbed his arm. "What's the matter? I've never seen you yell at someone like this over criticism."

"Don't you get it? He's not just insulting me," Wally said, "or you, but everything. All we're trying to do right, it's nothing. And he'd just let those people starve, too. For a little safety. How can you call yourself a hero?"

That struck a nerve.

"I ain't a fool enough to think that dis idea is actually helping dem, but maybe you just too high up dere to see it!" Gambit shot back.

"Gambit, stop it," Rogue said. "Look, he's upset enough."

"And why you take his side?" Gambit said. "You know it, all of ya," glancing at the others. "It's too dangerous."

"Maybe you should have said that before we passed out those fliers..." Jubilee said.

"I try. No one listen," Gambit said.

"Well, we thought you were just being, you know, negative, like usual." Jubilee hadn't much tact.

"Gambit ain't the bad guy here," Gambit said.

"Who said you were?" Logan said. "Seems like both of ya are getting a little worked up over nothin'."

"Nothing?" Wally said. 

"He hasn't done anything, Mr. West," Storm spoke up. "He's just expressing an opinion. There's no need to let this come to blows."

"Who was?" Wally said, pulling away from Shine. "I'm going to go cool off..." He stormed away.

Shine sighed.

"I hope you're happy," Logan said to Gambit.

"And since when are you so friendly with dem anyway?" Gambit said.

"We have names," Shine said, quietly, which somehow cut worse than anger. "We're not another species, you know. Is it okay if we get along?"

"And did you think of de risks?" Gambit asked her, still mad.

"I did," Shine said. "But if we didn't try, nothing would change."

"See how you feel when someone get hurt over dat," Gambit said.

"Hey, we don't know that'll happen," Rogue said. "Don't bully her."

She shouldn't have said that either.

"Bully? Dat what dis look like?" Gambit was mad.

"All right, let's all cool down," Storm said. "I think we'd better not talk about this now. It's been a long, tiring day for us, and clearly, Gambit, you've had these concerns for a while, but can you wait a bit longer? We should talk with the Professor about it too."

"Why? You can't stop us," Shine said warily. "That's not part of the deal."

"He might be able to help," Storm said. "He does know the President. I'm thinking of your safety too, Miss Likstar."

Shine glanced at her warily, then she nodded. "All right, I trust you, Storm. I'll take your word for it. There have been times people have undermined us on purposes, but I believe better of you. You'll forgive me if I just get a little tense under the circumstances."

"You ain't the only one who's been through that," Logan said. "But Storm wouldn't do that, and neither would we. So keep yer head, Likstar."

It was his rough way of trying to be reassuring, and if Shine hadn't know that, no doubt she'd have bitten his head off, but instead she swallowed her retort.

"Right." She left the room.

"That was lovely," Scott said flatly. "Could have been handled better."

"You're not one to talk," Logan said.

"Whatever did you say to start him off?" Storm asked Gambit. "He's never been so upset, save for once."

Silence.

"If you're not going to tell us, we'll have to assume he was in the right," Logan said.

"Think whatever." Gambit left also.

"This is not good," Rogue said. "I thought things were finally settling down."

"Mistake one," Logan said. "Never think things are settlin' down when there's still been the same problems."

"Gambit isn't entirely wrong," Storm said. "I have had similar thoughts, but we've taken precautions, and the church is so small, could it be that much of a target? Usually it's the White House and other political hot spots. At most, a few graffiti and minor attacks would be all I would expect."

"Well, even that's more than those people deserve," Logan said. "I don't like 'em all, but they're stickin' their necks out, and that's not somethin' many people would do. Better hope the Cajun is wrong on this one."

"He better be," Rogue said.

* * *

"Wally?!" Shine wandered out into the woods. "Where did you go? Come on...talk to me." she hugged her sides.

It was not that cold, but she still felt a chill after that conversation.... How did it get out of hand so fast? They'd hardly been back for 5 minutes.

Kurt poofed out after her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I...well, compared to Wally, yeah," Shine said. "Just stunned. I don't know where he went."

"Can't you look for him?" Kurt pointed to his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I'm far enough away now," Shine said. Her eyes lit up a bit.

Then she said, "He's not that far. But he's moving too fast for me to catch him. I guess he'll come back eventually." She sat down in the grass and hugged her knees. "I hardly ever see him that upset.... It must have been building up over time."

"Anger is like that." Kurt sat down also. "If ve don't give it to Gott, it boils until it boils over."

"But he's normally so patient," Shine said. "And he'd laugh off something like that."

"Perhaps. You think highly of him," Kurt said, "but it is possible, he acts that way partly for you. Have you thought of that?"

"You think so?" Shine said. "He was always that way, but then, he was always around his friends, and they wouldn't keep up the cheer, so someone had to. I think he's naturally chill, but perhaps it is a choice more often than even I could guess. You can live with someone for your whole life, and they can surprise you, and we've not had that much time."

"It is all right," Kurt said. "He is not angry at you, and it is not your fault. Our blindness is the product of familiarity, and I think focusing on your own problems, but that is where Gott must take care of us."

"'For the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses'," Shine quoted. "Yes...true. I pray about that, you know. I wish I could be a support all the time, but I can't. I pray God picks up the slack, or, really, He is the main thing. But you know, Kurt, I'm one of those people who feels I have to be perfect at all times, because it's the right thing to do, but I know I can't be. To this day, it's a fight to let that go. At this point, I can only say I know it's a weakness, not that I've conquered it."

"It's the same for me," Kurt said. "And for all of us. Ve aspire to be Christlike, but ve can't get there in one day. At times, the different between vat ve vant, and vat ve can do, is discouraging. But ve must not lose hope. Ve are getting closer every day."

Shine nodded and wiped her eyes. "Thanks...I think I needed to hear that."

"And so does Vally," Kurt mused. "He is vorried, I think. Ve are taking quite the risk."

"Well," Shine said, "I'll tell you, Kurt, even if Gambit was right, I regret nothing. We don't get guarantees--I tell that to all my students. We only can do our best. And just because it doesn't go how we wanted doesn't mean God didn't tell us to do it. Evil opposes all our efforts, and there are setbacks.... I've bounced back from them very well for the most part in my career. I expected them. But Wally, he is more used to it being too much to lose.... The world won't end if we fail."

"I should say not," Kurt said. 

Shine was quiet for a bit, then she started singing softly: 

"'There's always something in the way. There's always something getting through. It's not me, it's You.

Sometimes ignorance rings true, but hope is not in what I know, not in me, me, but in You.

I find peace when I'm confused, I fine hope when I'm let down, not in me, me, but in You, You.

I hope to lose myself for good, I hope to find it in the end, not in me, not in me, but in You.

It's all I know. It's all I know."

https://youtu.be/AEaJcryL4QI

["You"-- Switchfoot]

Wally returned maybe an hour later, and they were still sitting there. Kurt had been reciting his prayers for some time.

And then had begun explaining to Shine how a rosary worked, as she'd never really been told before.

Turns out she didn't object to the idea of a reminder to pray. 

"You guys been waiting out here this whole time?" Wally asked.

"Uh huh. Come here." Shine motioned him over. "Sit."

Wally obliged. "Just sitting here in the grass."

"It's not wet," Shine said. "It's summer."

Wally rubbed his neck. "Look, about what happened--"

"Don't mention it," Shine said. "I think it can wait. Look how clear the stars are from here. Kurt was just telling me how they pray. And listen, it's so quiet. I can't hear any cars. I've never lived in the country except in the ninja world.... That was a little too scary, for all we were watching for attackers all the time."

Wally listened.

"I didn't mean to blow up at him," he said.

Shine hugged him and rubbed his head. "I know.... It's okay. Everyone's aware of how stressful the whole thing has been. I think just an apology would be fine for now."

"I doubt he's going to," Wally grumbled.

"And that's his problem, not yours," Shine said. "Let's just not think about it for now."

Wally nodded.

"You know, that song you vere singing earlier reminded me of a different hymn," Kurt said. "Do you know 'Vat a friend ve have in Jesus'?"

"All our sins and griefs to bear," Shine immediately sung. "What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer."

"Oh, vat peace ve often forfeit," Kurt joined in. "Oh, vat needless pain ve bear."

"All because ve do not carry everything to Gott in prayer..."

[Great hymn by the way. Check it out.]

* * *

The day after that, they were finishing up passing out pamphlets and had gotten into a pretty good rhythm by then. Jubilee actually went for ice cream with the other teens afterward, to beat the heat.

Shine and Wally didn't exactly have money, so they just went back to the house and began to relax.

Professor Xavier broke the afternoon quiet by buzzing over the intercom that there was a situation.

Everyone rushed to the meeting room--even Shine and Wally, because he sounded urgent.

Hank wasn't around, and neither was Scott. They had other business, but everyone else had been home.

"Jubilee just contacted me," Xavier said. "She sounded distressed. I think she might have run into some trouble in town."

"With those kids?" Wally said. "But they were all together."

"She didn't explain," Xavier said, "just said there was trouble at the church. I think she was heading back there."

Shine blinked. "At the...uh oh." She dashed out of the room.

Wally went after her, so fast they almost didn't have time to notice it.

"That's not good," Rogue said. "What kinda trouble?"

"I've tried looking for it, but I found no signs of disturbance," Xavier said. "Perhaps it's a minor incident, but Jubilee is worried. I thought it would be prudent to go see for ourselves."

"I'll go," Storm offered.

"Me too," Logan said. "Can't let anything happen to the kid."

Kurt was already gone. No one had noticed him teleport.

"Maybe we all should, just, y'know, for moral support," Rogue said. "I wouldn't want Jubilee to think we weren't worried about her."

"Agreed," Xavier said, "but I'll stay here to monitor, and Scott or Hank may call in also."

Everyone else ran for it.

* * *

Jubilee hadn't had anything go wrong at first. The church kids were actually being pretty nice to her.

Brittney even had some of her same taste in music and fashion.

But Trinity, who actually had something like a pager or beeper, got a message from her Mom.

"I think I better go call her." She walked up to a payphone.

"Maybe she's been out too late," Caleb joked, squishing his ice cream into even more of a mess.

"That's so gross," Brittney said.

But a minute later, Trinity said loudly, "What? Are you saying it's dangerous? But, Mom..."

Then she stopped. "Okay...fine. Yeah, I'll come home.... Pick me up? But I don't need--Fine, we're at..." She gave the name and street corner of the shop.

"Hey, Trin, what's going on?" Caleb called. "Did your family have a problem?"

Trinity's face was about as grim as a 16-year old's can be when she walked back to them.

"No," she said. "My Mom just told me that Pastor Billings just called her to ask her if we were going back to the church for more fliers. She told him no, and he said that he got a call from someone who lives down the street from it, and they saw some shady looking people out in front. She's freaking out. She thinks it's the FOH or something.... I mean, why would they care about us? But she's making my older brother come pick me up. Sorry."

"Shady characters?" Jubilee said. "What if they're going to hurt someone?"

"Pastor Billings is the only one around on weekdays," Brittney spoke up. "And if he's not there I bet he just went to lunch or something, and he can call the police, so it's no big deal."

"Yeah, I bet it's just some punks with spray paint," Caleb said.

"But what if it's not?" Jubilee's time as an X-man had made her pretty paranoid about attacks. "What if they're there to hurt the drive or mutants? I've gotta go check it out!"

"Check it out? Jewels?" Brittney said.

(Somehow, Wally's nickname for her had become what they all assumed her real name was.)

"You can't do that!" Caleb said.

"I gotta," Jubilee said, rushing out of the shop.

The church was, in fact, just a few miles away, and she could take a bus part of the way. They had stayed in the general neighborhood for obvious reasons.

Jubilee did call the Professor on her way, but stopped when she got off the bus.

The other kids actually chased her, save Trinity, who knew she'd get it if she wasn't there when her brother arrived.

When Jubilee reached the church's street, she found Billings' car parked down the block, and he was walking up towards it.

"Jubilee?" he said when he saw her. "You shouldn't be here. There's trouble. Mrs. Wilson lives down this street. She called my house."

"I know! I had to make sure it was okay," Jubilee said. "What if they hurt you? I'm an X-man!"

Billings looked conflicted. "But I can't ask you to protect me. It's all right. I've already called the police...but since I didn't have a very clear description, I'm not sure they'll hurry over here. It could be 20 minutes. You should go wait in my car. I can take you home...or you can wait for your guardians to pick you up. I'm just going to look inside."

"Uh uh, I'm going with you." Jubilee was staunch.

Since he couldn't stop her by force, Billings gave in and told her to stay behind him.

They walked cautiously up to the Church. They didn't see anything at first, but then they saw a huge graffiti marking across the door.

Some slur against mutants.

And on another patch of wall, Mutant Lovers was also scrawled.

Jubilee felt sick.

"Well, this isn't so bad," Billings said. "I was afraid they'd break the windows again. We just stopped having that be a yearly occurrence 8 years ago."

That sounded like a joke, but she wasn't laughing.

The spot they'd decided to use for the Mutant Aid Drive (for lack of a better name, so far) was in one of the back rooms, and it just had a sign on the door directing them to it. The church staff had been brave to let this happen, but they weren't willing to be brazen enough to put a sign on the street.

Of course the church's address was on the pamphlets, but that had seemed like a minor risk.

Billings peered in. The door was ajar.

Flipping on the lights, he and Jubilee took a look.

To Jubilee it looked horrifying: Cans and boxes were strewn everywhere, and the boxes of clothes had been knocked over.

But Billings took a more close look.

"We're lucky," he said. "They must have been afraid someone would see them. They just knocked everything over, and most of it is in sealed containers, so there's not a lot of damage. We can put it all back."

He started picking things up.

Jubilee did mechanically, but she started to cry. "Doesn't this just make you furious? I mean, what did we do to them? So we wanted to help a few people in need--is that threatening humanity?"

Billings put a box up against the wall, then he looked up at her.

"Jubilee," he said seriously, "when people are afraid of change, they lash out at whatever form of it they see. Something as harmless as giving a jacket to a small child becomes an act of betrayal to their Cause. But don't you see? That is why kindness is so important. I could be angry, and I used to be when this happened in the past. But now I pity people who have so much fear in their hearts that they see kindness as a threat. They must not have enough kindness in themselves, I think. Things are deeply wrong with humans, but that's why we're here, to help people find a way to be right again. And sometimes they fight it, like we all fight it when our parents discipline us, or our teachers tell us something difficult...and maybe some will never learn. But a good parent or teacher will be patient and sort out the ones who will. It just takes time. You have to keep being kind and keep trying, and the fear will go away."

Jubilee wiped her face. "You think so?"

"Well, I've seen it happen before," Billings said. "But that is a long story."

Perhaps she'd have asked for it, but her friends arrived just then, Shine and Wally first.