[This title is a play off the episode of the show that covered Gambit's backstory and subsequent leaving of it behind. I believe they used it to be both a pun off of External, like the witch, and Eternal, like marriage.]

"We're serious," Shine said. "Or was that all talk?"

Gambit was still gaping. Then he said vehemently, "No! I swore I would never go back dere."

"Even for this?" Shine said. "To prove a point?"

"Especially for dat!" Gambit said. "I ain't settin' you two up to get killed. You don't understand!"

"Are you saying we can't do it?" Wally said. "Or, really, that God can't?"

"Yeah!" Gambit said.

"You should not have said that," Shine said gravely, though not angrily. "Because now we have to."

"What?" Gambit said.

Shine pulled out her sword. It gleamed in the light like a diamond.

"Skepticism has its price, Remy," she said, "as all positions do. If you challenge the wrong person in God's name, they are going to have to prove you wrong, or else we're agreeing with you, and we cannot do that. There is nothing God cannot do. And to say a witch like that is stronger than God, it's blasphemy. We'll have to do it now. God would not allow us not to, at least not without shame. I'm sorry if this is not what you wanted, but you opened your mouth and said it, and you'll have to live by it. 'Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.' [Proverbs 18:21]"

"Gambit take it back," Gambit said.

"You can't," Wally said. "You can't take it back at all. That's the problem."

["But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." James 3:8]

"Dat is stupid," Gambit said. "You cannot go and do somethin' plumb crazy jus' 'cause I say somethin' I didn't think would matter."

"More fool are you for not thinking it would matter," Shine said. "Did you ever hear the story of the man who said of the Titanic, 'God Himself couldn't sink that ship'? Well, human stupidity did enough as it was, but getting cocky with God is never wise."

"Dat make God cruel," Gambit said, "don't it?"

"Not at all," Shine said. "If you mess with the bull, you get the horns. If you throw stones at a bear or a lion, you'll get the claws and teeth. God is good, but He is not safe. And He cannot allow slurs on His name to go unanswered, or all of us would be mocking and disobeying Him more than we already do. A child should not curse their parents and not reap the consequences of that, and so we will have to go. We're doing this for you, you know. Otherwise you'll just get the backlash of it in some other way."

"You don't want that," Wally agreed. "I mean, I don't even know what it looks like--I've never said anything that stupid--but I'm sure it's bad."

"I know what happened to my father," Shine said. "He used to quote scripture and call God into question, almost in the same paragraph. It was not pretty what it did to his faith. It's all right to have questions, but to claim to have faith and to clearly not have it, all in the same moment, is very dangerous. As I myself have found out too." She made a face. "We'll have to go. Are you coming or will we have to go alone? It will be hard if you don't come, but we'll manage."

"Gambit wouldn't let you go alone, but Gambit still intendin' to stop you," Gambit said.

"And just how will you do that?" Wally asked.

Gambit frowned.

* * *

Gambit's only idea was to appeal to Rogue, Storm, and Logan all to talk their teachers out of it.

But here he struck out even further.

Rogue was on his side that it was a crazy idea, but she was also overawed by their words and confidence, and her protests died out.

Storm said that, if they could do all the other things they could do, she saw no reason why they could not do this, and it would only benefit Gambit if they could.

Logan? He said he wanted a front row seat. Though he wasn't sure it was a smart idea, he knew they wouldn't be dissuaded.

At a loss, Gambit saw he only had one choice.

Shine asked Mystique if she wanted to come or to stay at the mansion.

Mystique said no one at the mansion would want to guard her, and she wasn't afraid of any witch.

This was not exactly true--Mystique was afraid of anything beyond her understanding, but she was also afraid to be alone, and none of the people who might guard her (nicely) would be there if they all went.

Gambit kept protesting, even to the last.

Shine and Wally only agreed to sleep on it, after all his pleading.

Gambit didn't sleep a wink after that.

Rogue found him sitting on the back steps at midnight.

"I kinda thought you might be up," she said, handing him some hot chocolate.

Gambit didn't really drink that, but he took it anyway.

"Maybe it won't be so bad," Rogue said. "Even Kevin couldn't touch 'em."

"Dis ain't a mutant," Gambit said. "And in 50 year, it ain't ever been challenged and beaten by anyone."

"Maybe no one tried the right thing," Rogue said. "You shouldn't have challenged them like that."

"Gambit didn't know dey take it serious," Gambit said. "Dey never did before."

"We both know that ain't true," Rogue said. "They always took it serious--you just never brought that up to them, did ya? Does it still bother you?"

"No," Gambit lied.

Rogue wasn't fooled by it, for once.

"Maybe you shouldn't go with 'em," she said. "It might be...awkward..."

"If dey go, Gambit have to. Only right," Gambit said. "My brother won't be happy if dis happen... In fact, dey may never make it dat far. De gangs would kill them if dey got dat close."

"I didn't think about that," Rogue said. "But they can dodge real well."

"Can anyone watch deir back all da time?" Gambit said.

"Not that this is comfortin'," Rogue said, "but they're goin', whether you like it or not, and none of us can stop 'em, so we might as well just get over it."

"Dey'd do better to jus' find Morph," Gambit said.

"Maybe Morph needs some space," Rogue said. "They didn't make me come back. You gotta admit, they're at least consistent...don't seem like the Professor is, though. First he thought we should find Morph, and now I think he's just leavin' him alone. Ol' Logan would go after him again, if they hadn't said to let him alone, but he won't wait forever either. Funny how he takes their word as law though...but between you and me, I'm kinda glad this came up. They'll hold off on leavin' as long as they got a problem to fix. Make 'em feel needed, and maybe they'll stick around."

That was too true. And rather insightful for Rogue.

Gambit might like her, but he knew she was dense as a rock about a lot of things with people's feelings.

Part of her charm, really.

[I disagree, but Gambit has a very specific taste.]

* * *

Sure enough, the next day, their minds were unchanged.

Morph's 3rd day of being missing, and the others were despairing of him ever calling.

Jubilee was supposed to leave tomorrow for camp, and she was packing like crazy.

Jean had offered to help her. The camp provided a checklist of items, and they had to make some last minute shopping runs.

Jean always did seem to like doing everyday tasks like this, so it suited her.

Jubilee was a little sore she was not going on this adventure, but she was too nervous and excited to care as much.

Shine said they should fly there, if they could, because she could not portal somewhere she had not seen very well, and also it could be clouded over.

But rather than take the Blackbird, they opted for a commercial flight. It would only take 6 hours that way.

[At least that's what it takes now. If it was different in the 80s it would probably only have been about an hour's difference or so.]

"You all might need the plane, and this could turn into a two-day trip," Shine said.

Kurt actually came with them. He had a hard time sneaking onto the plane, but he was able to poof into it and hide in the baggage claim.

They all said he didn't need to do this, but he said it was not a problem; it was how he'd snuck over to America before to find them, and it was perfectly comfortable. He had books to read.

"I guess for 6 hours it won't hurt him," Shine said.

At least in-country they didn't need passports.

[Actually, you didn't even need an ID to fly until 2005, because of 9/11, so they could have had no trouble. In fact, they could do a lot of things we can't legally do now without ID back then, so for World Walkers, this timeline is the golden jackpot.]

Shine strangely said, when they were checking their baggage, "They didn't ask for my ID."

Logan gave her a weird look. "What?"

"ID," Shine said. "My..." She trailed off.

"Yeah, you don't really need it," Wally said. "Do you?"

"I keep forgetting your time is pre-2000s..." Shine said.

"What happen in de 2000s?" Gambit asked.

"Nevermind," Shine said. 

She had the air of someone playing hookey the whole time they were getting on.

Logan, of course, set off the metal detector.

He told the guard he had a medical device. This was also pre-full body x-ray scans, thankfully... When Shine said that, they all gave her strange looks.

"Over my dead body," Rogue said, after Shine described it.

It seemed to Shine that flying coach also really was not as bad as it was in the future. Half the seats were empty.

Rogue snagged a window seat that was not on her ticket, because no one else was sitting there.

"Eh, ridin' outside the plane is more fun," she said.

Gambit didn't like flying that much when he wasn't the one driving. And this plane was much bumpier than the Blackbird.

"Jus' be glad if it ain't goin' down, Chere," he said.

"No in-flight movie?" Shine said.

[Another fun fact, they did not start putting personal movie screens on the backs of seats until '88, which is a few years after this timeline. But they did have movies.]

"I think it's up there." Wally pointed. "Wow, this plane is ancient."

"Oh." Shine finally saw it.

The movie that came on was Footloose. [1984, so I'm using it a year early, but I think that's a minor discrepancy.]

"Oh, that just came out." Rogue looked up.

Only Rogue was really interested in watching it, other than Wally.

"This movie is so old," he said. "But I used to try to do those moves after I saw it."

"Who didn't?" Shine was reading her Bible instead.

The stewardess came by [yes, they still called them that--my grandmother was actually one] to ask if they wanted any snacks.

Wally asked for a huge amount.

"Is this for your whole group?" she asked with a straight face.

"Uh...no," Wally said.

The stewardess tried hard not to react. "All right, then... Anyone else?"

"Just water." Storm was not liking this small space very much.

"Two waters," Shine said, "for me, I mean."

"You don't want any food?" Wally said. "Isn't that just a must of flying?"

"I was just gonna share yours." Shine looked back down.

"Oh." Wally shrugged.

Rogue snickered. "Couples..."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Why didn't we just zap ourselves closer and drive?"

"Well, we will be driving from the airport," Shine said.

They had all sat in the same few rows, or across the aisle from each other, but it didn't much matter; no one else was sitting by them. They were all farther up or farther back... Perhaps they thought Logan looked a little scary.

Once their snacks were brought, Shine made one of her waters disappear.

"It was for Kurt," she explained, at their puzzled looks.

Mystique sighed and pushed the arms of some seats up so she could spread out over one row.

"Even if she snuck on for free, it still a hassle bringin' her," Gambit muttered.

"She won't go off," Rogue said. "She could get eaten by gators."

* * *

At about the 2 and half hour mark, Storm leaned over to say to Shine and Wally,

"I just want to say, I think that it's a good thing, what you want to do for Gambit. I was not there before, but it sounded awful. It reminds me of something that happened at my village."

"It does?" Wally looked up.

"Yes," Storm said. "Something, it claimed to be a god, I think...it was reanimating dead villagers... I...killed it."

[This actually happened, in the comics... Pretty weird story.]

"Wow...good for you," Shine said, like it was a sport. "Did...you have any side effects?"

"Nightmares," Storm said. "There were...family ties involved also... My mother's village...she was once a shaman of sorts. I have wondered if my mutation was not due to that...but I have no magic powers."

"Your powers border on magic," Shine said, "the way you are in tune with the air, the elements...but that is also a Divine gift. Jesus calmed a storm with one word, after all, and Prophets could stop rain and start rain. Most powers are not good or bad on their own, but only in where they come from."

"But that sounds rough, Storm," Wally said. "Sorry you had to go through that alone. We always try to do this stuff together. Alone, it can get really hard."

Storm pursed her lips. "It was a long time ago."

"Those scars can last for years," Shine said seriously. "If it still haunts you, we should pray about it. You don't want to let it sleep. I regret when I have done that."

"You have had such encounters?" Storm said.

"Personally? Not many, in my past," Shine said. 

"Yeah, mostly just on the job for me," Wally said.

"My father did," Shine said. "You know about him already... I had a fear of it for a long time. But a few things I saw, and heard, as a kid stuck with me. And I wasn't helped when I should have been. God healed me in time as I took it to Him, but it soured me on God for a while. More like I was terrified, actually."

She ran her hand over her Bible. "I know well what it is like to be afraid of such things. Things that are inhuman."

Storm saw Gambit was listening, though he was pretending to be looking at the movie.

Mystique was listening too. Her head was propped up.

"You do not now seem afraid," Storm said. "And I do not know if I am afraid either, exactly. Only I know it may be unpleasant, what you are going to do, and it may be hard on you."

"But you've never seen it this way," Shine said. "We don't go in there on our own strength. Even if humans can defeat witches, that's just part of it. Only God can really defeat evil. It would be stupid to try any other way."

Storm leaned on her hand. "I hope you are right about that--and that it will not go hard."

Shine leaned back. "It's best not to anticipate it. Too easy to be afraid that way. Better to focus on what gives us peace."

So saying, she started singing a song in a lower voice, while making some notes in her notebook she always seemed to have.

https://youtu.be/MJRHXLBGE-I

"'All who are thirsty, all who are weak, come to the fountain, dip your heart in the streams of life.

Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of His mercy, as deep cries out to deep.

Singing, "Come Lord Jesus, Come."'" 

Wally was nodding along and leaning back too, like he might doze off.

Storm was quiet, just listening.

Maybe they were right... What good did thinking about it so much beforehand do?

Mystique thought to herself that they were as nutty as usual. Didn't they realize how crazy this idea was?

She saw Gambit was shaking his head. Mystique could read people well enough, after all this time, to guess exactly what he was thinking.

They were too naive. They were in for a rude awakening, and he just wasn't sure they'd even survive it.

The dread he was in was evident to anyone who'd ever felt it before, and she certainly had.

Every mile they got closer to the Bayou must be weighing on him heavier.

Mystique didn't like how much she was picking up on, and looked at the ceiling instead. Sympathy was not going to do her any favors here.

Morph would have been doing something dumb right about now to lighten the mood, had he been around--she almost wished he was. If someone was distracting Gambit, she couldn't have possibly noticed all that and had her moment of understanding it...

Because now she was frightened. What exactly was waiting for them?

Sympathy was dangerous. When you sympathize, you can start to fear the same things others fear and want what they want. But it doesn't help.

[She's kind of right there. Sympathy does not always help--it can just become a burden. Clearly, Mystique has not really experienced empathy and compassion a whole lot, which are the more helpful forms of that feeling. People want to know you can understand and offer them something different than their own thoughts and fears. So, in a way, she's right to think that sharing them is not the solution.

As always, Mystique is only 50% of the way to the answer.]

* * *

Finally the plane ride came to an end, and they disembarked in Louisiana.

It was still going to be a while to get to the right part of the Bayou.

Gambit tried yet again to say this was a bad idea.

"Ain't jus' de External," he said. "De gangs would as soon as kill you as look at you for interferin' in deir affairs."

"You're here." Shine was unconcerned. "Surely they will take that seriously."

"So seriously dey might jus' waste us all right off," Gambit said.

"Well, stay here, then," Shine said.

"You're a fool." Gambit was losing patience and control rapidly.

"Gambit." Rogue was surprised. "That's not right."

Gambit ignored her, which showed how deeply upset he really was.

"You all fools," he insisted. "And dis is crazy. Maybe you change your mind when you see how deadly it be."

"That's never changed our minds," Wally said. "But, I mean, you can keep trying, if it makes you feel better."

Gambit thought he was being mocked.

"Listen, you idiot," he said, "you shouldn't be lettin' her do dis, anyway. But you ought to know better. You think dat kid on dat island was bad? Dis way worse."

"Let me?" Shine said.

"Oh, this ought to be good," Rogue heard Mystique mutter behind her.

"Why did you even tag along?" Rogue asked her irritably.

"It was either this or being alone with Cyclops, Xavier, and Grey all in the house," Mystique said.

"So?" Rogue said.

"So, I'll take crazy radicals over mental hypnosis any day," Mystique said. "Though perhaps we do not share an aversion to that." Pointedly.

"I thought we were lettin' this go," Rogue said.

"I do not have to like it," Mystique said. "Even if you don't want me to blame them."

Rogue couldn't argue with that.

"Well, I think you might think twice about what's really more dangerous," she huffed.

Mystique already had many times, but she wouldn't admit it to Rogue. She was too petty for that.

Logan and Storm seemed all right.

"We took on these jokers before," Logan said. "I ain't worried about the Thieves and Assassins, and if you've got that magic thing handled, then I'd say we'll be find."

"Indeed," Storm agreed. She was glad to be off the plane. "And I have never been here. It ought to be of interest to see it. This is where you grew up, Gambit?"

"Ain't much to look at," Gambit said.

"Well, I ain't worried about anyone except that blonde woman." Rogue crossed her arms. "She's crazy. How do we know she won't be up to somethin'?"

"Didn't she get de-powered?" Shine asked. "What could she do?"

"She'd find a way," Rogue said.

"I can't say that witch has great taste in her chosen ones," Shine remarked. "Not much of a judge of character there, but then, what witch ever is...? Shall we get a car?"

Logan was only too happy to do this.

"Make sure it's a convertible," Wally joked.

"Are you ever gonna let that go?" Logan said.

"If it stops being funny," Wally said.

The car was big enough to be a station wagon, so they could all fit into it... Even so, it was cramped. Rogue just flew instead. Of course, then she was hollering at them to hurry up.

"Can I just run?" Wally asked.

"What about the bayou?" Shine said. "That ground is not good for running."

"Oh, you just have to avoid the water, right?" Wally said. "And the gators."

"Does no one call them alligators?" Shine said.

"No," Gambit said. 

"I thought alligators were native to Southern America..." Storm said.

"Yes, and the bayou," Shine said. "Not to be confused with crocodiles, which I think are a little bigger. One of the strongest bites in the world, but a woman could easily hold their mouths shut. It's getting that far that's the trick."

"Ya see a gator, you run," Gambit said, taking her seriously.

Shine started laughing.

"Ugh, it's humid though..." Wally said.

"We won't be there that long," Shine said, tying her hair back. "But I think I'm still going to need to wash my hair later."

"Dat's what you're worried about?" Gambit said hopelessly.

"Remy, I rarely say this to people, but you really need to get a grip," Shine said. "We're doing this, just accept it. If we die, then oh well. If we don't, which is far more likely, you're going to look real stupid in a few hours for freaking out this much."

Logan snorted at that, but Gambit was not amused.

"Why are ya so jumpy?" Rogue asked him. "We survived before."

"Gambit didn't ask y'all to come," Gambit said sourly.

"Yeah, but they came anyway," Wally said.

Shine shrugged and turned on the radio, trying to find a local Christian music station.

"Can we come back and explore later though?" Wally said. "I've never been to New Orleans."

"Oh really, the city famous for voodoo and Mardi Gras?" Shine said dryly. "Yeah, funny we've never hit that up... But why not? We're here anyway, and I hear they have great French food."

"Their utter lack of concern ought to be encouraging," Storm said to Gambit, turning her head to look back reassuringly.

He just shook his head.

"So much for the bravery of the X-men," Mystique said. She was sitting on the back of the vehicle at the moment.

"Maybe you ought to worry about yourself," Gambit said. "People 'round here be superstitious, and you ain't look so normal."

Mystique was quite offended by that--because it was true, but so far no on had jabbed her about this fact--but she shifted into Gambit. "Maybe I should go in like dis?"

She didn't know that Morph had once said almost those exact words.

That painful reminder made Gambit both mad at her and sad about Morph, on top of his already shot nerves.

He just turned and glared at his deck of cards like he was considering blowing it up.

Giving up on the radio, Shine started singing different songs to entertain herself. They grated on Gambit further.

He might really have just blown up for real, but Rogue kept shooting him looks that said it wouldn't end well if he did. She figured they ought to let Shine and Wally have their way about how to prepare for this, if they wanted.

https://youtu.be/ds8vcSJFe7E

"'When I wander through the desert, and I'm longing for my home, all my dreams have gone astray...

I go running to your mountain, where Your mercy sets me free.

(You are my strong tower! Shelter over me! Beautiful and mighty, everlasting King.

You are my strong tower! Fortress when I'm weak, Your name is true and holy, and Your face is all I see.)

In the middle of my darkness, in the midst of all my fear, You're my refuge and my hope.

When the storm of life is raging, and the thunder's all I hear, you speak softly to my soul...'"

"I'm surprised you went along with this, Logan," Storm ventured, after a while. 

"Why?" Logan said.

"Normally, I'd expect you to think this idea was inferior to just fighting our way through it," Storm said.

"Oh, I'm countin' on there bein' a fight," Logan said. "But even if not, this'll be good. Always a show with them."

"Yes...well, it's never boring," Storm said. "I am...sort of hoping this may convince them to stick around longer, if it goes well. That is partly why I wanted to come see for myself."

"They're not goin' anywhere," Logan said. "They just got a little discouraged. They'll realize it's stupid to quit."

"You know, we can hear you." Wally looked back. "And it's real touching what you're saying, Logan, but that's just not really why we're not sure. We don't want to seem like we're free-loading."

Shine paused her singing to add, "We haven't decided yet. But I doubt today's outcome would change much in that way."

That was discouraging.

"Then what's the point?" Logan said. "I thought ya wanted to show the Cajun up."

"Herr Logan, isn't that missing the point?" Kurt spoke up. "It sounds as though these people are in deep need of help--and they vish to show that nothing is impossible vith God, not serve their own interest."

"That's right, Kurt, you tell him," Shine said. "God is not a machine to just use to pump ourselves up all the time, is He?"

[Boy, do some people need to hear that.]

"Though I get pretty pumped." Wally flexed. 

Shine laughed.

"Pumped crazy..." Gambit muttered.

"You vish to show God is mightier than vhatever this creature is," Kurt said. "Though I do not fully understand the circumstances surrounding it, but I agree--God must be glorified."

"You encourage dem, dat's de problem," Gambit muttered again.

"Yeah, exactly," Shine agreed. "Oh, that reminds me of a song."

"What doesn't?" Rogue asked wryly.

"You sounded like my Sunday school students," Shine said. "They say I have a song for everything.... Well, I had the Singing Bible and years of Sunday School worship time to fill up my mental roster. How can I help it? But that's fitting, because it was a Sunday School song I was thinking of: My God is so big! So strong! and So Mighty! There's nothing my God cannot do! My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do for you! The mountains are His, the valleys are His, the stars are His handiwork too! My God is so big...."

Wally joined in. "They always put the hand motions to that one, right? I can see it."

"Hey, don't knock hand motions. That's how I memorized a lot of stuff." Shine started using sign language. "I still use it..."

"Going into de bayou using Sunday school song," Gambit muttered yet again. "Great plan..."

"I think this is it," Rogue suddenly said. "This looks familiar... I mean, all the trees look the same, but..."

They all looked around.

It was dark in here, the trees were so thick. And since the bayou was very still water, they couldn't hear anything to tell them if they were close to it.

Gambit got out of the car.

"Dis is de beginning of it," he said. "Da houses are farther in... We jus' go in and go out."

"Oh, no, we're not doing that," Shine said. "We're going to go find those Thieves and Assassins and let them know what's going on."

"What?!!!" a lot of them said.

[Here we go...]