Shine and Wally followed Kevin from a distance and only saw part of what happened. 

Then they argued about whether or not to get closer.

"He seems really out of control," Wally said. "What if he can't even listen to you long enough for you to help him?"

"Well, what if he can?" Shine argued back. "Why did you follow me at all if it was just to stop me? I really wouldn't have thought it of you, Wally."

"You know that's not why," Wally said. "This is one of those 'you jump, I jump' situations."

"It's not Titanic!" Shine said. "We're not gonna die."

"You know, you aren't always right," Wally said. "Maybe he'll tire himself out if you just leave him be."

"He may, but what will he do to this island before then?" Shine gestured around. "Look, it's spreading. Before, his effects only lasted while he was within a certain distance, but it seems like he's not contained so much now. The problem with training power is that it grows.... If the others follow him, which they will, he could hurt them. Think of Storm, Logan, Xavier."

"I am, but I'm thinking of you also," Wally said. "You're not worthless here. You shouldn't just throw yourself headlong into a dangerous situations."

"What else is being a superhero but that?" Shine said.

"You're not a superhero," Wally said.

Shine stared at him.

"I didn't mean it like that," Wally said. "But you can't dodge or survive being shot or anything like that."

"I know this, but it never stopped me before," Shine said, "before I met you, and since."

"But now you have, and I'm telling you, this is a bad idea," Wally said.

Shine narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to do it?" she asked pointblank.

Wally bit his lip. "So...this is between either you doing it or me doing it, is what you're saying?"

"I would never give you such an ultimatum," Shine said. "But if you are going to make it a point of contention, someone has to go. If you do not want to, then I will. I think he was listening for a  second."

"That is an ultimatum!" Wally said.

"No, I just want you to let me do what I do," Shine said. "You are not really going to make me fight you, are you?" She was getting upset. "Please don't do that."

"Are you saying you would?!" Wally was shocked.

"That's so wrong," Shine said. "I don't even want to think about it...but at the cost of everyone else's sanity, and possible lives, what choice would I have? Shouldn't you understand, of all people? You've had to fight your friends before."

"I have never stopped you by force," Wally said.

"Then don't!" Shine said, finally raising her voice. "I can't believe you made this a thing!"

"I made it?" Wally choked back more angry words.

They both paused.

The landscape shifted around them.

Wally saw that a decision was going to be made here, one way or the other.

He drew a deep breath. "If that's the way it is, I'll go after him... Maybe I can dodge."

"Are...are you serious?" Shine said.

"What, you think I'm gonna let you do something I wouldn't do myself?" Wally said. "What kind of a man does that?"

"But, I had thought, I'm better at nullifying powers," Shine said.

"Well, I'll have to do my best." Wally still sounded angry. "If you'll stay here."

Shine was still angry too, but she recognized that they were losing precious time.

"I won't stay put, but I'll keep a distance from it and see what happens--but if it's not going well, I'm going in, and no one is stopping me," Shine said.

"Fine!" Wally said.

Normally, he'd have found this one of her more attractive qualities, but right now it was just annoying him more.

Shine felt exactly the same way. But also she was worried. Wally really didn't seem mentally prepared for this, and doing it just to protect her made her afraid he'd lose his composure if things got too rocky.

But there was no stopping him now, and he'd chased after Kevin, who was moving toward a part of the shoreline they could see.

Shine followed at a distance, and that was how she spotted the others by the water.

Logan also found her right then.

"Where's the kid?" he said, trying to balance on the unstable ground.

Shine was only keeping her balance from years of practice doing things like this.

"He's gone that way." She pointed. "Wally went after him... Oh, Logan, I am dreadfully afraid that neither of them are going to be able to stay calm."

"He came back?" Logan said. "I thought he was ditchin' us."

"Wally would not do that," Shine said lowly. "Even if he's afraid, he's no coward,"

Logan took that personally. "I ain't a coward! I'll go after 'im. Stay out of danger."

"I didn't say you were--" Shine began, but Logan ran off.

"Logan!" Storm's voice could be heard. 

"Logan?!" That was Jean.

Shine ducked as Jean flew the same direction as Logan, and she saw Scott being carried by her.

Storm looked the other way. Shine waved at her.

Storm's eyes widened in surprise, and she flew over.

"Shine, what are you doing here?"

"Don't start with me, Storm." Shine didn't realize just how worked up she sounded. "We have a major problem. My stupid, brave husband and Logan are both going after that poor kid, and they are probably the worst ones to do it."

"Oh dear," Storm said.

"I can't keep walking over this," Shine said. "I need to stay close enough to step in if necessary, but I said I'd wait first. You know how men are--they think we're weak."

"Well...I can't say that I've had that problem," Storm said. "Are you quite all right, Shine?"

"Not at all, Storm," Shine said. "I really didn't need to add a fight with my husband to the list of things that went wrong this week, but there's no time to talk about that. Listen, you can't get too close to Kevin, all right? You are the worst possible person for that. Please don't."

"But didn't you just say it's dangerous?" Storm said. "And they will need help?"

"Yes, but not yours," Shine said. "The others will do better, I think."

"Why can't I help?" Storm said.

"This must be how he felt," Shine muttered. "Can I explain later? This...whoa..."

She fell over as the land twisted further. The air was too.

Storm plucked her up. "The shoreline seems the most stable, come."

She flew that way. Storm was faster, since she could use wind to boost her speed, and they managed to avoid being compressed.

Shine wonder if that was how people her old acquaintance Compress felt when he used his quirk on them.

They found the people along the shore line. Hank and Jubilee had rejoined them too.

"I can't tell," Hank was saying about Rogue. "Nothing appears to be wrong with her, but without more tools, it's hard to say."

"But I still feel..." Rogue was on the verge of unconsciousness.

Mystique shook her head.

"Hey, look!" Morph said. "Shine! Storm!"

"What happened to Rogue?" Storm said, landing next to them.

"We don't know," Hank said.

Shine's eyes swept over Rogue.

"I know that look," she said. "And I can sense it too. She absorbed someone's energy and emotions, didn't she?"

"Yes, Archangel's," Mystique said.

"Call him Warren," Rogue muttered.

"That poor man?" Shine said, amazed. "He's here?"

"He was a patient," Morph said. "A new patient, right before I left. He's a nice guy normally, but...well, he saw Mystique here, and he went totally crazy."

"I don't understand it," Hank said. "Perhaps there is some context I am missing."

"He didn't get that way the last time I saw him," Mystique said, sounding tired. "He must not have known the full extent of who I was then. Or maybe he didn't remember until I showed him who Dr. Adler was. That machine could have affected his memory also."

Only Shine and Rogue knew exactly what she was referring to there.

"So did he fly into a rage? No pun intended." Shine said.

"Yeah, his hatred just re-surged," Rogue muttered. "I tried to take it away, but this time the hate didn't all come with the evil. I think some of it was his own. I didn't take his memory with it. I dunno why."

Shine came up. "So what happened?"

"She was fine," Mystique said, as Rogue was getting too tired to speak. "And then she got sick, twice, and turned pale and weak."

"But I find no cause," Hank said. "If poor Kevin was causing it, why are we not all affected?"

"Don't be silly," Shine said. "It has nothing to do with that. This is from absorbing that hatred and evil from Warren."

"That has never made her ill," Mystique said.

"Outside." Shine knelt down and put a hand on Rogue's forehead... This didn't seem to affect her at all, however.

"Hey...I'm not absorbin' you," Rogue realized. 

"I am not letting you," Shine said calmly. "This time I am trying to sense it... Yes, it's very close to the surface, all that fear, rage, hatred, and bitterness. You should stop taking other people's burdens onto yourself, Rogue. Only Jesus can handle carrying things like that. It drives us over the edge if we try. Many of us become depressed...but becoming ill is another possibility. Evil is not compatible with you anymore. You can't just absorb it into your nature. Your nature is new, different, and trying to merge them is causing a visceral reaction. That's affecting your body. I have seen it before."

"You have?" Rogue said oddly.

"It's quite common," Shine said. "And ought to be obvious." She shot Hank a dirty look. "You people toy with things you do not understand and play with good and evil like they are batteries you can switch out of someone's mind. That is not how it works. Trying to take on someone else's struggle is a very stupid thing to do without the Spirit of God in you to help you battle it out, and even then, precautions must be taken. Evil moves to spread itself, like a disease... Well, I can help you this time, Rogue, but don't keep doing this, or you're going to end up stuck this way or seriously scarred from it."

"I don't understand," Rogue said.

Shine pulled out her sword. "Since I'm your teacher, I should have no trouble doing this for you, but I won't always be here to fix it, you know. This reaction serves you right for doing something so reckless."

She seemed kind of mad, then she stuck her sword into Rogue.

The others all gasped.

"Miss Shine!" Hank cried.

"I...don't feel that," Rogue said, after a moment of shock.

"Of course not, it doesn't affect people physically," Shine said. "I am reaching the darkness. That is what is happening. A swipe or two ought to do it."

She made a slight movement like she was cutting cords.

There was the sensation of snapping in Rogue's whole body before she suddenly coughed, then she blinked.

Suddenly, she felt fine. Other than she was tired all over.

She sat up.

"I don't feel sick now," she said.

Shine looked tired too.

"What a heavy burden," she said. "That poor Warren... I'd like to talk to him too. I wonder if he's still around."

"I'm not sure you should do that," Morph said. "At least not in that." He indicated the island again. "Maybe you should get us all away before we're all warped into that mess."

"You...never really do cease to surprise me, Shine," Hank said, shaking his head. "I could use someone like you at the office. How did you do that?"

"Same as everything else." Shine stood up. "By the way...Morph, Mystique, why are you both all wet?"

"Took a dip," Morph said. "Warren thought he'd try to drown his problems."

"Oh." Shine didn't react much. 

"Mystique, you really should try to take better care of yourself," Hank said. "At this rate, you're going to be re-injured so much, your old injuries will never have a chance to recover."

"Worry about your own people, Doc," Mystique said sourly.

Hank shook his head.

"Shine, I do not like the look of things," Storm called. She'd lifted back into the air to watch the proceedings.

"Can you see if Wally is all right?" Shine asked.

"I cannot see anything," Storm said. "That is the problem. The island is becoming unrecognizable. The castle itself is going to be undone soon. The ocean may become dry land."

"They should call him Moses and not Proteus, then," Shine said.

"An apt reference," Hank said. "But what will we do? And...why are you here, Shine?"

Shine just sighed in frustration.

* * *

Wally caught up to Kevin, no problem. Even though it was hard to run over that ground.

The whole scene reminded him far too much of past experiences, but he was trying to push it away.

Finally, he got in the kid's path.

"Who are you?" Kevin cried. "Go away!"

"Hey," Wally called. "Kevin, right? I'm Wally. I'm Shine's husband."

Kevin stepped backwards.

"I didna mean to do that," he said. "I lost control."

"Do...what?" Wally was confused. "Look, Kevin, I'm just trying to help you. What's bothering you? We can talk about it."

"You wouldna understand," Kevin said.

Wally didn't know if he would, but he smiled. "Maybe not, but I can try, can't I?"

Wally did have a calming effect on people.

Kevin relaxed just a tiny bit.

"The truth is...my powers scare me," he said slowly. "I used to not know they were so strong. When I left the island before, I could na understand why people feared me, but...I've started to understand... People are afraid of power, aren't they?"

"They can be," Wally agreed.

"The world is afraid of me," Kevin said. "And...maybe I'm afraid of me too, and I think my mother, my father, and all of them are afraid of me, but what if I hurt them? Maybe they should be afraid...and the more I think about it, the more out of control my powers are going... Sometime I think I even hear voice telling me I'm a monster."

Wally nodded. "Hey, Kevin, you know that's the hardest thing to do, right?"

"What?" Kevin said.

"Telling the truth about what you're going through," Wally said. "That's really hard. I think you're a brave kid."

"Really?" Kevin brightened for a minute.

"Yeah," Wally said. "I mean, you just said it. You didn't try to lie to me. That's good. That means you can totally learn how to handle this. If you can share your problem with people, you can get help. I used to get help with my power too, so did my buddies. Some of them are kind of like you, but now, we're, like, the best team of superheroes ever--don't tell the X-men I said that."

"The X-men?" Kevin suddenly looked back. "They are here...to stop me... Mother called them."

"I think she thought they could help," Wally said. "Your mom loves you, you know that, right? She just wants you to be safe."

"I don't think I am safe," Kevin said.

Wally nodded. "You know, that might be true... You aren't a stupid kid."

He noticed the area was actually calming down a bit.

"But you know something else? Sometimes it's a good thing if we're not totally safe," he said. "Sometimes life is dangerous, and you gotta get a little dangerous with it. As long as you don't want to use that badly, then it's okay if it's hard sometimes."

"You think?" Kevin said.

"I think so." Wally nodded. "If you want, I can try to help you get it under control right now."

"How?" Kevin said.

"I don't exactly know, but I'm gonna give it a shot," Wally said.

This was going better than he thought it would.

"You can try," Kevin agreed. "I'm...getting tired..."

Wally slowly put his hand out to touch the orange stuff, which didn't feel solid at all to him, kind of seemed like GL's ring power.

He wasn't sure what to do. He sort of just vibrated his hand through it and took Kevin's arm.

Then he trying saying, "Peace..."

The orange light disappeared, and a perfectly normal looking kid appeared, looking pretty tired and nervous.

He seemed about Jubilee's age, maybe younger.

"Ah, there you are." Wally could have cried in relief.

Kevin looked at his hands. "It worked!" he cried. "You actually did it, Mr. Wally."

"Well, you know--" Wally tried to act like he'd known it would work. "--that's what we do."

He was about to say they should get Kevin back to his mother, when a couple things happened at once.

One: Logan appeared, with Jean, Scott, and Gambit right behind him.

"West!" Logan shouted. "Get away from that kid!"

"Wait a minute," Jean said. "It looks like it's different."

"Don't trust it!" Logan said.

Kevin's eyes widened.

"Hey, guys, wait!" Wally got in their path.

"What are you doing here?!" Scott cried. "I thought you abandoned us. You aren't supposed to be here!"

"He's not?" Kevin said.

"Scott, will you stop being an idiot for one minute!" Wally said angrily. "You're gonna scare the poor kid. He just finally calmed down."

"What do you mean he calmed down?" Scott demanded

To Scott, this was an open minded thing to say, but as he could never say anything without sounding at least mildly peeved, Kevin backed up.

"I did na know how to stop!" he said, orange light starting to crackle over his body again.

"Hey!" Logan said.

"All of you, shut up!" Wally said, in a voice that made them all freeze.

"Kevin, bud, it's okay." Wally turned to him. "They're just concerned. They won't hurt you."

"I don't want to talk to them!" Kevin said. "They're afraid of me! I can see it! Ah..." He grabbed his head. "Stop! Stop!"

"What's wrong?" Jean said. "He seems to be in distress again."

"You ever hear of anxiety?" Wally said dryly.

Jean gave him a puzzled look.

* * *

Storm saw the chaos clearing up.

"Shine, I think it's worked," she said. "I see West over there now. It looks at though he has calmed Kevin down."

"Really?" Shine looked hugely relieved. "I could kiss him for that, even after what he said!"

"I'd make him work for it," Mystique said.

Shine had told them partly what happened while they were waiting, though she didn't really criticize Wally at all, but Mystique had been affronted at the idea of a man telling her she couldn't handle anything.

"You sure seem fine now," Rogue said. 

"I wasn't the one who absorbed evil and made myself sick," Mystique shot back.

"Can you two not do this?" Morph said.

"Logan, Jean, and Scott are joining them," Storm announced. "I think it's over... Wait...uh oh, they don't look happy. I'd better get over there and make sure this doesn't get ugly."

She flew off.

"Storm!" Shine called. "Wait! Ah...I knew I should have explained already."

"So what? It's over." Rogue lifted up to watch for herself.

"As long as Sabretooth is gone," Mystique said.

"Huh?" Rogue said.

"Sabretooth, the kid attacked him earlier, and he probably will not appreciate it," Mystique said. "But he's likely run off now."

"Funny you should say that," Rogue said, "because I think that's him comin' over that little knoll right there."

"What?" Mystique said.

"I'd better stop him before he makes a scene." Rogue flew off.

"Ten bucks says he'll make a scene," Morph said.

"I don't believe now is the time to bet," Hank said. He reached for his communicator. "X-men, this is Beast. I think you might all wish to stand down."

"Hank, what is happening?" Xavier reappeared over the line. "We saw everything suddenly went calm. Where are the others?"

"With Kevin, Professor, he appears to have calmed down," Hank said. "But it may be short lived. Sabretooth is on this island."

"How?" Xavier said.

"The two DJs are here. They brought him," Hank said. "Mystique is here as well, but she is with myself. So far she is not causing any trouble."

Mystique turned into Hank behind his back and made a rude gesture at him.

Morph choked on a laugh.

She turned back before Hank could look and see.

"We had better hurry, then," Xavier said. "I think I sense where they are now."

He went offline.

* * *

https://youtu.be/8iJemn8NPQA

Rogue tried to reach Sabretooth before he reached the others, but she was just a little too late.

"What in the h--- was all that!" Sabretooth came barging into the ground, knocking Scott aside.

Logan turned to him. "Sabretooth!"

Kevin yelped.

"That man!"

His orange aura reappeared, and a wave of panic seemed to go out from him over the whole landscape.

"All of you, get away from me!!!" he yelled.

Storm was flying up to see what was going on, and the air around her seemed to twist.

She screamed. "Let me go!! Don't!!!"

The ground turned into running water, shoving everyone else away. Logan clawed his way out of it.

Kevin was running for the ocean, the water parting out of his way (Moses style, indeed).

Wally, surprisingly, realized he wasn't really being affected.

Perhaps it was because he was, in fact, from a different reality, but Kevin's power didn't seem able to touch him. Though all around him the air and ground was changing, he remained upright.

Seeing this, he realized he might have one chance to stop Kevin before he went totally out of control, and he ran into the water after him, but it was now mud.

Logan covered his face as the contortions got worse.

The others were all yelling also.

Scott and Jean were both yelling and reeling.

The water turned into fire, or so it seemed. Jean tried to fly out of it, and the air above became thick like butter.

Scott put his hand over his head. "Stop it!"

Gambit was farther away, but the ground seemed to roll up and fold like a blanket, and he shot down.

"Help!" he called, trying and failing to get up.

Rogue saw and flew that way, before a flock of crows and pigeons seemed to appear out of nothing and started circling around.

"Hey! Get off of me!" she screamed. "Why does this kid always do this!"

It looked pretty bad.

Then something like a vibration seemed to go through the entire ground, maybe to every corner of the island.

And someone's voice said, "Be still."

As if in agreement, everything suddenly became still again.

Rogue was suddenly flying through nothing.

Gambit was standing on flat ground.

"What...?" He was puzzled.

Scott and Jean looked up.

Jean gasped. "I can breathe again.... Oh my....that was horrible..."

Logan looked up. "What...?"

Storm fell to the ground, her face in her hands. "No..." she was mumbling. "No, no, no..."

Shine was standing not that far away on a little rise, her sword stuck into the ground. She was leaning on it now, like she was tired.

They all looked toward her, except Storm.

She looked up. "What?" She shrugged. "You've never seen a sword before? Get up, get away from this area! Kevin is beyond your help now. Only God could help that boy. You too." She looked at Xavier and Moira, who were finally caught up and gaping.

"He went into the sea," Xavier said. "If he gets to the mainland, it may be hard to find him."

"Have a little faith, for once," Shine said. "Wally has gone after him. If there are no further stupid interruptions--" With a killer glance at Sabretooth, who was staring at her in confusion. "--then he may be able to bring him back. All of you go inside and wait for him. You aren't helping anything by stressing the kid out more. Go on now."

They didn't move.

"Go!" Shine said more strongly.

They got up and turned back towards the castle.

"But we came to help..." Scott said in a small voice.

"More and more...it seems we cannot," Xavier said. "I do not understand... It took me three tries to get Kevin to listen to me, and it was hard...and I could barely control it...but...it takes them one word? I do not understand at all."

Suddenly, Hank buzzed in.

"Professor," he said, "did...did you all feel that?"

"We saw it and felt it," Xavier said. "Are you all right, Hank?"

"I seem to be," Hank said. "But I cannot find Morph...I am sure he was here... The landscape might have sent him away. Mystique also, but I see her somewhere down the shore."

Logan sniffed. "I'll find 'im."

Storm was still lying on the ground.

Logan took her arm. "Storm...ya have to move."

Storm looked up hesitantly. "Is...is it over?"

"Yeah, it's over," Logan said.

Storm shuddered. "It was...the worst...feeling... I thought my mind and my body were going to be compressed into a tiny, little hole... I..." She broke off.

"Yeah, I know." Logan knew a little too well. "Get up.... Can't wait around here for 'im to come back."

Storm slowly got to her feet. She was shaking.

Shine was watching, looking somber.

"Rogue," she called, "please, take Storm. Logan has to find Morph."

"Oh..." Rogue looked back. "Of course, Sugar... Storm, gal, you okay? You'll be all right."

Storm shook her head. "I don't feel all right..."

Rogue plucked her up. "We'll get you to where you can lie down, all right?"

Logan looked angry. "That kid is trouble."

"Ah, he's just a kid, Logan," Rogue said. "He didn't mean to do it. He spooked." She glared at Sabretooth.

Then she flew away.

* * *

Mystique had thought her day couldn't get any worse, until Kevin's power had turned the whole beach into some kind of mudslide.

Hank had grabbed onto something, but Morph and her had both gone flying down the shoreline and almost back into the ocean...

When it all calmed suddenly, Mystique sat up, not sure where she was.

She heard someone groaning close by and spotted Morph over by some rocks.

Mystique got up and stumbled closer, not sure what was going on.

To her shock, she saw Morph looked quite different than before...older...paler...

He looked up at her and laughed weirdly.

Mystique took a step back.

The Morph changed back to his regular self.

"What was that?" he said. "That was horrible. It was like being unmade."

"That kid's power." Mystique was wary. "But I don't think it affected everyone quite the same way... What was that just now?"

Morph suddenly looked spooked. "Oh no...that was...that other guy! Oh no! This can't be happening..."

Then he shifted back into the other form.

"It is happening!" that guy said in a different tone entirely, a psychotic one. "I'm back! Ha! You can't get rid of me!"

Mystique was quite appropriately freaked out.

Then Morph appeared. "No, you're not here anymore! I'm me!"

"You'll never be you!" The other voice.

"I will! Go away!" Morph said, like he was straining.

Then he looked nervous. "This is bad."

"Dare I ask?" Mystique muttered.

"That kid's power...I think it messed with my head..." Morph said, shuddering. "This is not good... I gotta get away from here before the X-men get close, until it passes. Tell them not to look for me!" 

"Wait a minute," Mystique said. "If I tell them that, they'll think I killed you!"

"Xavier and Jean would know that wasn't true." Morph wasn't listening that closely. "I gotta go, now...before he shows up again. You don't want to be there when he does..."

"Morph!" she said, not sure why she was protesting other than thinking this seemed like a bad idea.

But Morph ran into the rocks of the island.

Mystique was in no condition to be able to follow, even if she'd wanted to, or it would have been a smart idea.

She just stood there till Hank and Logan found her.

"Where's Morph? I can tell he was here!" Logan bared his claws at her.

"He went off," Mystique said. "That way." She pointed. "He said not to follow him."

"A likely story," Logan said. "I wasn't born yesterday. What did you do to him?"

"Nothing at all," Mystique said. "The power surges rattled his brain somehow. He was turning into two people."

"Oh...oh dear," Hank said. "That...is an unfortunately likely side effect of Kevin's mind tricks. Drawing up our deepest fears..."

Logan snarled. "Or she's lyin'."

"Even if I was," Mystique said, "you are wasting your time with me. If you want to find him, you'd better hurry before he leaves the island."

"If he does, I'm comin' back, and we're havin' a little talk," Logan said, rushing away.

"Don't mind him," Hank said. "He is worried, that is all. But you had better come back with us. The island is not safe for anyone right now."

Mystique had no will to fight this anymore.

"Whatever," she said.

"If you are lying," Hank added, "it will not end well. So I suggest you come clean now."

"I told the truth," Mystique said. "Not that you'd believe me. But how would I even have known about that other...whatever it was, if not for you saying it?"

"I have no idea what Morph may have mentioned," Hank said, "or what Sinister may have, but of all people, I'd expect you could have known that. A most dangerous lie is one mixed half with the truth."

Mystique was silent. What could she say to that?