Mystique couldn't sleep after that argument with Shine--one that she'd known she'd lost.

Finally she got up and went downstairs, carrying a blanket, it got drafty even in August at night in this house.

She should have left the kid alone, she thought to herself. If Shine told the others what she did, it'd be a major setback.

Whatever had possessed her to take such a risk?

She realized slowly that she was agreeing with Shine's rebukes, and that made her mad all over again.

But then, what did she have to be mad about? She'd done it to herself. 

Seemed like it hadn't worked, she'd heard the girl still walking around with Jubilee. Shine had managed to undo it...

Mystique thought Shine's words were like magic sometimes, they seemed to make people change their minds. All but Mystique herself. She was determined not to be taken in by quaint ideas and...well...sincerity.

Of course her alternative was to pretend all this had not struck her at all as real or different.

Determined to distract herself, she stole down into the Rec room. Using the living room was out of the question, even if it wasn't louder, some of the Morlocks still slept in there, they didn't feel comfortable in bedrooms, too small.

But it was already occupied, Wolverine and Morph were in there.

Mystique stood in the hall, eavesdropping for a moment.

"I think he'll just have to get over it on his own," Morph was saying. "What's the use in bugging him about it?"

"He'll hurt other people while he's busy nursing his pride," Logan said.

"Yeah, but should you really talk?" Morph said. "I mean, when you're angry, isn't it just best to leave you alone?"

Logan sniffed.

"Well, I'm done talking," he got up. "I'm turning in."

Mystique booked it down the hall the other way and into the room with the actual swimming pool. 

The strong smell of chlorine in here might mask her, she hoped.

In any case, she heard Wolverine go back up the hall.

She let out a sigh of relief.

Morph looked in a moment later, making her almost jump out of her skin.

"Logan said he thought you were down here," he said. "But this is the weirdest room to hide in."

"Excuse me if I didn't want a late night encounter with Wolverine...again," Mystique said tightly. "What did you think I was going to do? Go for a swim?"

"Well...that's not the worst idea ever," Morph said. "But I always think it's creepy in here if you're alone...but suit yourself." He left. [My sister said after hearing this that pools are a common example of "liminal spaces," if you know what that is, I salute you.]

Mystique followed anyway.

Morph made no objection to her coming and sitting down, though she looked more like a storm cloud than Storm herself.

"Couldn't sleep again?" he guessed tentatively.

Mystique shrugged. "Why are you in here?"

"Well, Logan was kind of upset," Morph said. "And it's hard to relax then...but maybe after that dinner I just needed to unwind...you missed it, it was really awkward."

"I think I got the picture," Mystique didn't add that she helped make it that way.

"Oh, you heard?" Morph said. "Didn't realize it was that loud."

"Word travels fast in this house," Mystique said. "But what did anyone expect? Humans and mutants don't get along like that."

"Now you sound like Magneto all right," Morph said. "I thought they were nice...they're cool people."

"Naive," Mystique said. 

"You're just sore that they caught you off guard," Morph attempted to lighten the mood.

But she was in no frame of mind for that...if she ever was.

"They think they are doing us some big favor by trying to 'help' save the poor mutants," she said icily. "But what is that? We don't need that from them."

"I think we do," Morph said. "We need lots of people to want to help. And they aren't weird about it, they just know it's not fair. You can't expect people to be more than human, you know. Of course it'll still be a little weird, but it's just weird anyway. We gotta face facts, don't we? It's weird to shapeshift too, and to change the weather, and have metal bones...we're all weird. But there's knowing that, and there's caring enough to treat some different because of it. That's where it is. They're not like that...you didn't even try to talk to them."

"And why would I?" Mystique shot back. "But I did actually. To the one girl. It didn't seem to please her to hear the truth."

"Oh...no...what did you say?" Morph suddenly looked suspicious. Probably he had noticed Trinity had seemed more somber, though they had all thought it was just because she was embarrassed after her outburst.

Mystique shrugged. "Mostly what I just said."

Why was she outing herself? Maybe she just wanted to see Morph get mad for once, really, and stop putting a smile on everything like it was easy.

She half succeeded, Morph was not smiling.

"That would be rough for a kid to hear," he said. "Way to discourage her from even trying. That's like how I got told it was useless to try to blend in when I was in school...that hurt too."

"It was true, wasn't it?" Mystique said. "They might be little brats, but they were right. It's not like we ever really blend in."

"But not that kind of blending in," Morph said. "I mean just being able to act like normal persons with thoughts and feelings. When people don't let you do that, that's messed up."

Now he was getting close to what Shine said.

[TRIGGER WARNING: This next scene may be slightly disturbing to some people who've experienced assault. It's so mild it almost wouldn't qualify but if you're extremely senistive, you may want to skip to the song]

Mystique smiled in a way that meant she knew where this was going.

"Think I was too cruel?" she said.

"Well...yeah, kind of," Morph said. "Why would you do that? What'd the kid ever do to you?"

"Why does that matter?" Mystique said.

"Maybe because being a jerk to people who didn't do anything sounds an awful lot like being a bigot," Morph said. "Like the humans."

That struck a nerve.

Mystique straightened. "And who made it impossible for us to be any other way? Humans. They pushed us into a corner. Either be like them, or be trodden on the rest of our lives."

"That's not true," Morph said. "You can rise above it."

"Like the X-men try to do?" Mystique said. "It certainly works doesn't it? Everyone hates mutants still, don't they? But now they can't ignore us, because of this little group of wannabe heroes. It doesn't make it better, it makes it worse."

"You know what, I've just about lost patience with this," Morph said. "I guess the whole world maybe is an enemy to you, and mutants like you."

Mystique got a mocking look. "Finally losing patience? How droll."

"Is this a joke to you?" Morph demanded. "Do you not take anything seriously?"

"Why would you think I would?" Mystique shot back. "Did you forget that I am here only as a prisoner? I'm not here to join the little Cause, or to make nice with people. I wouldn't be in this mess at all if it wasn't for a human, remember?"

"Your own son," Morph said.

"Yes, a human," Mystique said. "And it's your fault too."

"My fault?" Morph said. "How is it my fault, you helped lure me into that, and it wasn't right. But I let it go, because it wasn't that easy of a situation to get out of. That doesn't make it my fault."

"And everything else?" Mystique said, standing up and looking accusingly at him. "All the other stuff? Just trying to keep me from escaping, trying to get me to trust you? Did you think that would work? I'm not stupid."

"I really think you are," Morph was hopping mad. "I wasn't trying to get you to trust me, it was just me trying to do what's right, not that you'd understand that."

"Oh, what's right?" Mystique stepped closer, and Morph almost looked nervous. Angry women scared him too. "That's what this is about? I wasn't born yesterday."

She pointed accusingly. "What is it you really want?"

"Nothing!" Morph was getting nervous now. "Will you calm down already? Where is this coming from?--You just feel guilty, that's it, isn't it?"

Mystique could have backed off, she could have said that was true, and that she was taking it out on him. At some level, she knew that she was.

But another impulse of hers was to tell herself that this was just how it was, and that she wasn't taking it out, she was just calling it as she saw it, and who was this person to tell her she didn't know?

And she was already angry, so of course, she went with the second one.

"Am I the one that feels guilty?" She said cuttingly. "What else do you think you're doing? Morph?"

"I don't feel guilty," Morph said. But he looked nervous still.

Mystique was frustrated that she wasn't getting the reaction she wanted.

"Did you think I thought this was about helping me?" She said bitterly.

"I think you're crazy." Morph had, at this point, forgotten to be tactful.

"Oh, is that true?" Mystique took a savage step forward.

Morph backed up.

"Then why bother? If I'm crazy," Mystique was bullying him now. "What is it you want, hmm? Or is it the same as every man?"

She knew that would hurt, she said it with that in mind.

And sure enough, it did, Morph looked sick. "What?"

Mystique had backed him up to the wall, and she was too close for comfort. "Am I right?"

"Stop it..." Morph said in a small voice. 

"What? Don't be shy about it," Mystique was cruel. "It's all the same isn't it?"

"Stop it!" Morph said, now officially freaked out. "Have you lost it completely?"

Mystique shoved him back...but then a little voice in her head said that maybe she'd pushed this too far.

She was going to ignore it and keep on with her game anyway--which was only half unserious, because in her mind, it all was the same, everything ended the same way, and she couldn't have cared less if she was right or wrong in this case.

Perhaps she was closer to being crazy than she realized.

However she made the mistake of actually making eye contact before pushing any farther, and realized that Morph was clearly about to have a panic attack.

Suddenly the scene looked different in her mind.

She stopped and backed away.

Morph wasn't sure what had just changed, but he looked green.

"What's wrong with you?!" he said, angry because it had scared him so badly.

Mystique laughed such a horrid, bitter laugh, which was her really just giving up.

"Everything," she said, then she turned and left the room.

Morph almost fainted.

https://youtu.be/TpYg2hN8XZ0

[A note on that scene:

I won't explain too much here, I want to let the story do that, and my goal is not to make it seem hot, or whatever. I know people have different levels of tolerance for forceful behavior, mine is kind of medium level, so I tend to dial it back a bit from what I've read other authors do.

Anyway, back to the story. Also that was really, really uncomfortable...]

***

Shine had an odd feeling something was wrong, she woke up in the wee hours of the morning with that feeling.

After praying for a bit, she woke Wally up.

"Something isn't right," she said.

Wally yawned. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, it won't leave me alone," she said.

Wally sat up. "What kind of thing?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to check the house," Shine said. "But if someone has broken in, I might be caught off guard, can you follow me at a distance and make sure?"

"Of course," Wally was awake now. "You think Sabretooth could be back?"

"I don't know," Shine said.

She pulled on regular clothes and went out into the hall, Wally following a few paces back as requested.

Shine didn't hear anything.

Going to a different hall, she finally saw one of the studies was open and going in, she found Mystique in there, with a lit fire.

Mystique was throwing things into it...books from the look of it.

"What are you doing?!" Shine forgot to be quiet.

Mystique jumped and spun around.

"Why are you up?" She asked

"I think you should answer my question first," Shine said. "What is this? Are those the books I've been giving you?"

She got one thrown at her feet.

She bit her lip.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I'm done," Mystique said. "That's what's going on. I'm leaving." 

Shine stared at her.

"You have only another week or so," she said.

"Too long," Mystique said. "I didn't want to take this rubbish with me, and I figured you'd insist on it, so I'm getting rid of it now."

"I could have given it to someone else," Shine said. "Is there any need to destroy it? You know that burning books is a serious crime against nature."

"Then it will be the newest on a long list," Mystique said. She picked up "Till We Have Faces."

"Don't burn that one," Shine said. "Keep it. Please."

Mystique hesitated, then she dropped it. "I don't need all this, it will only slow me down."

"Are you talking about the books or about being here?" Shine asked. "Raven, I think this is extreme, what's one more week? Doing it the easy way, instead of making this into a whole thing."

"Don't talk down to me," Mystique said. "Remember, I'm not a child."

She was very angry for some reason. "And stop calling me Raven, it's Mystique. Get that through your thick skull, Shine."

Shine looked like she'd been slapped. "I don't understand...if this is about before, I told you I was sorry...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Don't flatter yourself, this has nothing to do with you," Mystique was cutting. "It's been long enough. I'm going to leave this hellhole, and if you stop me and bring me back this time, do you know what I'll do?"

"No," Shine said.

"I'll do just what you've been hoping I won't," Mystique said, savagely. "I'll use my powers and break up this entire team, do you think I can't do it?"

"Not without being found out," Shine was unconcerned.

"Perhaps I can do enough damage before that happens to make it lasting anyway," Mystique said in a horridly smug voice.

Shine had not seen this side of Mystique in a very, very long time, if ever.

She was unnerved, not because she was scared of her threat, but because the woman seemed on the verge of losing it entirely.

And she seemed serious about her threats too. Shine didn't like the look in her eye.

"Perhaps I could cause problems between you and that husband of yours," Mystique added, since she didn't think Shine was getting the message.

Shine's face blanched. "What?!" She finally lost her reserve. "What kind of a threat is that?! What is wrong with you?!"

"I'm serious," Mystique said. "Are you going to drag me back here now? Your call."

Dead silence.

"You've lost your mind," Shine said, finally. "I'm sorry...this is not at all the way I wanted this to go...But, if you must go, you must."

"Finally got to you did I?" Mystique said.

"Raven, for as little as I think you'd succeed, the fact that you're willing to try is enough," Shine said. "I won't make you do that to yourself and the others, and me, even. It is better to let you go than to add to your list of transgressions, even threatening it is bad enough, but I will choose to believe you've just gone half crazy and that this is not you, really."

"Oh, believe what you like," Mystique said. "It's what you do anyway, isn't it? Just don't try to stop me."

She glared at her. "Don't come after me, and don't send anyone. Do you understand? I don't ever want to hear from you again."

"Are you going to say goodbye to Kurt first?" Shine asked coolly.

"I didn't the first time," Mystique snapped.

Silence.

"And Rogue?" Shine pressed.

Mystique hesitated.

"Rogue won't be upset," she said. "So, there's no need."

"And I assume it's the same for Morph?" Shine said.

That was not the right thing to say apparently.

"You say what you like," Mystique said, somehow off balance. "Now...if you won't allow me to finish this, I'll just be on my way."

"And how will you get there?" Shine asked. "Do you want me to help you get to the city?"

Silence.

Mystique stared at her.

Then she laughed another very unpleasant laugh.

"Why not, you've helped keep me here against my will."

"If it was really so against your will, you could have done this at any time," Shine said, crisply. "And it would have worked, believe me. I can't imagine what has made you decide to do it now, of all times, other than it was getting too comfortable here, but don't act like you didn't choose this in a way, you overgrown child...Still...I am sorry. I will miss you."

"No, you won't," Mystique said. "Unless you miss being sassed."

"Maybe I will," Shine shot back. "You're not as unbearable as you think you are...this reminds me of Dabi all over again...Will you go right back to the same thing as before? Is that what you want? To be no one, and be nothing, and feel nothing?"

"You think I wanted whatever you were offering?" Mystique said.

"I do, actually," Shine said. "But you won't let yourself have it will you?...This is heartbreaking."

Mystique couldn't stand it...not now. Shine's compassion was like sharp knives to her guilty soul.

"Get me out of here," she said, looking down.

Shine walked over and picked up the book. Then she summoned a pen into her hand and wrote something inside it.

"If you take this, I'll help you," she held it out.

Mystique stared at it.

There was a long pause, a battle of wills, perhaps.

Finally Mystique gave in and took the book, like it was a snake.

"I won't go after you," Shine said slowly. "I won't bring you back here, unless you wish it. I hope we meet again sometime, though. Despite the many problems, I've not met anyone quite like you before, Mystique. I'd be sorry not to see how your story ends."

Mystique was silent, really what did she have to say?

She saw that Shine was not fully taking her threats seriously even now, or she couldn't have been so cavalier about it...but she was at least serious enough...that was something.

It didn't make her feel any more sure of herself, though.

"Sure you won't just tell me what happened?" Shine said gently.

For a moment it was tempting...But no...out of the question.

"Never," Mystique tried to sound sure.

"Never say that," Shine shrugged.

A door opened without her even moving...she had such control now.

"This will take you to Manhattan, I trust you can find your way from there to wherever it is you want to go," she said. "And you won't need to pack any bags...Goodbye."

She held up her hand like for a benediction. "I pray that you do find what you are looking for, in the end."

Mystique didn't want to waste time or energy trying to tell Shine that she was mad as a march hare, so she just ducked into the door and disappeared.

https://youtu.be/OEhRucEVzH8

[This was always going to happen, of course. I knew Mystique would never change her mind on so little.

But she also wouldn't go without creating some disaster for herself in order to use it as leverage. It's sad, really.]

***

Wally came in and found Shine picking up the books and crying.

"I heard," he said. "She left you no choice...that was a really rotten thing to threaten."

"But it could have been sooner," Shine looked up from the floor. "Wasn't it strange? Something spooked her, I don't know what. I don't think just what I said would have done it."

"No, Shine that wasn't about you," Wally sat next to her. "If it was, she'd probably have yelled at you about it. Something else...maybe she just couldn't take the pressure anymore. Remember how Dabi was?"

"Yes..."

"Can't believe I'm saying it, but I think Sasuke almost handled change better," Wally said.

"Because he wanted it, despite his many obstacles," Shine said. "If they don't want it, then...but at least I stopped her before she set the house on fire...huh...funny, you were just joking about that earlier."

"The X-men are gonna be mad that you let her go early," Wally said.

"Oh gosh..." Shine groaned.

***

They were.

"We had an agreement!" Scott thundered.

"There's no need to shout," Xavier said. "I'm sure there is a good explanation for this, isn't there?"

Morph was dead silent.

Shine looked coldly determined to get this over with.

"I know we had an agreement," she said. "But I judged that you'd have agreed with me that it was useless to make her comply, with the threats she was making. We all know, if you'll forgive me for saying it, how much trouble a rogue shapeshifter can cause if they want to."

"We could have locked her in," Scott said

"How many times did she get out even before we let her?" Hank mused. "No lock would have kept her in."

"Tied her down," Logan said.

"And that's different than just keeping her here forever on probation?" Wally said. "I think letting her go early was the only thing to do, don't you? You'd just make her more desperate if you did that, and then she might have followed through on it."

"All right," Xavier said. "Taking that into consideration, I don't disagree with your decision. Though I wish you had asked us first."

"She'd never have given me the chance," Shine said. "As it was, I got her to go quietly and not attack me. What if I had pushed her and made her more hysterical?"

"Fair enough," Xavier said. "At least the matter is over. All we can do now is hope she will not lead anyone else here."

True enough.

***

But not everyone was happy.

"I can't believe she just skipped out like that," Rogue said. "I thought...we'd...y'know, buried the hatchet a little."

"It is sad," Kurt was upset. "That even after all this time, she did not trust us more."

"Oh, it's not you guys," Wally said. "She's like a wild thing, you know, she fights staying put."

"Unless it's with a sugar daddy," Rogue was salty. "Honestly, I don't know why I even bother feeling bad about it. So much for caring."

"Rogue," Shine said sternly. "You of all people should know that running does not mean not caring."

Rogue was chastised. "Right...sorry..."

"Vill she ever not have such a hard heart?" Kurt wondered.

But Shine wondered more if it was that she had been beginning to soften, and couldn't take it.

***

Trinity went home, not even knowing what happened, because no one thought it was her business to know. But she was told she could come visit again if she wanted. And Jubilee and her promised to meet up outside more often, maybe bring Brittney too, she hadn't been able to get included in this invitation due to other engagements.

https://youtu.be/1kz6hNDlEEg