Had all that really just happened?

Mystique thought she had dreamed it maybe.

She felt a little dizzy from both blows, but she would be over it soon enough.

Suddenly Morph was pulling her up.

"What was all that?" he asked.

Kitty looked in through the wall. "Is...is he gone?"

"He's gone," Scott said, looking around. "The coward."

Kitty looked shaken up, but she must have been a tougher kid than she seemed, because she had enough of her wits to say, "Uh...thanks... I...I'm sorry. I should have asked first. It was just...no one said he was here, and I thought you kept something from me."

"Well, you should have, but I suppose it was partially our carelessness," Scott said.

"Idiot." Mystique was cross still. "What did you think would happen?"

"I don't remember authorizing you to be down here at all," Scott said. "Maybe you didn't let him out, but you were just going to watch, weren't you? Of all the despica--"

"Wait." Kitty tugged his arm. "Hold on, that's not true... Mr. ...uh...Cyclops. She tried to help me..."

"She...did?" Cyclops was flabbergasted.

"Yes," Kitty said. "Isn't she one of you?"

"Uh...no," Cyclops said. "She's...a reluctant ally in a time of few options."

Mystique made a face at him while he wasn't looking.

But then she looked down again.

"Well...uh...I suppose I retract my statement." Scott was still terrible at apologies. "You can just go back upstairs."

"Did he hurt you?" Morph asked.

Mystique put a hand to her arm and realized it was bleeding. "Not as much as he wanted to," she said with a vague smile.

Kitty looked faint. "Oh...wow...that was...so...intense."

"Yes, well, the first time you see it it always is," Scott said. "You get used to it after a while."

"Come on." Jean came in and motioned Kitty toward her. "They'll catch him, don't worry... You come with me. You need to calm down."

Kitty wordlessly followed her.

Cyclops went after the other two men.

Morph and Mystique just stood there for a second.

"You probably should let Hank see that," Morph said finally.

"Mother?" Kurt looked back in. "Are you all vright?"

"I'm fine," Mystique said. "I can take a hit from Sabretooth."

"It was pretty low of him to lie like that," Morph said.

"It was clever," Mystique said. "More clever than I expected. Perhaps he's learned something from hanging around smart criminals."

"How can you commend him?" Kurt said. "He has tried three times now to end a child's life."

"Who was commending that?" Mystique said. "Blaming me for it is the impressive part. I never would give him that much credit."

"Are you...feeling all right?" Kurt said blankly.

Morph shook his head. "That's just Mystique logic, Kurt, don't worry about it."

She had her own logic now? How patronizing.

"You're pretty lucky I was downstairs though," Morph said. "He'd have killed both of you. Why didn't you get help once you saw that?"

"Even if I had enough time to do that, I didn't expect to have any trouble handling him," Mystique said. "He pulled a different trick first. Shouldn't you be thanking me? A few more seconds and the girl would have been dead."

"She makes an excellent point," Kurt said. "I think ve should commend her for acting quickly."

"Oh, don't go that far," Mystique backtracked hastily. "I only followed her out of curiosity. Her power is interesting. I never expected her to do something so stupid, but it's a waste of talent, killing someone like that."

Kurt was not fooled by her saying this nearly as well as she'd have liked. But he let it alone.

"Oh dear." Hank came in. "Our new charge has not sustained any major injuries, but the same cannot be said of you, madame. Better come to the infirmary."

"I'd be fine if I just had a bandage." Mystique didn't like being fussed over at all, and it made her bristle.

"I think some antiseptic would also be useful." Hank led her out of the room.

Morph and Kurt looked at each other.

"Well, maybe your mom isn't all bad." Morph shrugged.

"I knew she vas not all bad," Kurt said. "I suspected this before, but I now think for sure, vhen I vas strangely saved by something hitting the person who had caught me, it must have been her. No one else vas close and able to attack at that range. Vhy does she always hide it vhen she does anything good? I do not understand."

"I get the feeling this was more of an accident," Morph said.

"She could have run," Kurt said.

"Could have," Morph agreed. "Get the feeling she would have if she thought the brute would attack her herself. Probably thought she could wheedle her way out of it."

"I sense you have some resentment towards my mother," Kurt said. "I did not know she offended you."

Morph wasn't mean enough to tell Kurt what his reason was.

"She's just...difficult to understand, and she's mean more often than she's even remotely decent." He shrugged.

"But consider her life," Kurt said. "Like me, she has alvays been an outcast. Once, I vas much like that, angry at the vorld and myself... I only vish she could accept Gott's forgiveness and forgive herself."

"I think you're too good," Morph said. "I mean, look, I'm not about taking up other people's fights, but she did abandon you and sell you out. Doesn't that make you angry?"

"I should, shouldn't it?" Kurt said. "But oddly, I never felt angry about that, not at the time. She seemed so desperate...and my brother is certainly terrifying. She hardly knew me. Yet after one brief conversation, she found it in herself to retract her actions and save me instead. I think she must have found it harder to do vhat she did than she could admit... Since then ve have spoken, and vhile I cannot disclose all the details to you, I do think she has regrets. But she thinks it is better for me this vay, I think... I am sad for this. That someone thinks they are so poisonous, they are better off leaving someone else alone. But maybe my life vas better for the choice she made. Miss Likstar has pointed this out to me. My family vas loving... I had a place to vork, even if I vas often alone." He folded his hands. "And then I found Gott because of it. It's true, knowing her life, I do not think I vould have fit into it vell. The lying and betraying and doing crimes...or vorse, I might have fit into it too vell and been lost. Is it so much wrong to think in the end it vas vright...? It still hurts that she did not vant me, but Gott used it. And in the end, ve made a sort of peace, I think. Perhaps it can be enough for me to know she cares, in her own vay, even if it is not my vay. I can only hope she can find peace."

Morph listened to this soberly.

"You're a much better person than I am," he said finally. "When people hurt people I care about, I find it really hard to get over it...but even when it's me, I feel like it wasn't fair--what did I do wrong?"

"I understand this, brother," Kurt said. "But if meeting my mother taught me one thing, it is that often ve do nothing wrong. There is vrong in other people, and it affects us. Ve are only wrong when ve do wrong because of that."

"I did that too," Morph said.

"And you have repented," Kurt said. "You cannot ask more of yourself than this, Herr Morph. You must also forgive yourself."

"Maybe it comes back around to what Shine told me," Morph said. "If I can't let it go with someone else, that means I can't let it go with myself either... Maybe I am just petty and taking things too personally." He frowned to himself. "And I do feel worse about myself than I did. That anger...it starts going towards yourself too."

"Very true," Kurt agreed. "But if you have realized this, it is not too late."

"Yeah," Morph muttered.

* * *

Wally and Logan caught up to Sabretooth easily. He had only made it halfway across the yard.

Wally got in front of him and tripped him up, then Wolverine leapt at him and pinned him down.

Sabretooth threw him off and tried to run for it again.

Logan thought he'd never forget what happened after that. It was one of the scariest things he'd ever seen.

Wally started moving like a pinball, so fast he was just a blur. That wasn't the scary part.

The scary part was that he was landing hits on Sabretooth with every angle possible, it seemed, so fast, Sabretooth could even have breathed between blows.

In hardly a minute, the bigger guy was on the ground and whimpering.

"You want to try to pick on kids, man?!" Wally was livid. "What kind of sick monster does that, huh? Is this fun for you? Is it some kind of freaking joke to kill innocent kids who didn't do anything to anyone? Do you get a kick out of making people feel just as small and helpless as you feel?"

Logan was frozen in shock.

Sabretooth made no answer. In fact, it didn't seem like he could.

Logan suddenly realized some of the others had joined them. Storm, Shine, Rogue and Gambit had come out one of the other doors, through the hanger room, as it was a short cut.

They were all gaping also.

But Shine walked up--oh, so quiet--and grabbed Wally's arm.

Wally looked at her, panting, and then he stopped talking.

Shine nodded at him knowingly.

Wally looked at the ground and just sighed like he was trying to let his anger out.

It had happened so fast, no one else could believe it.

Shine looked down at Sabretooth with disgust herself, but then she started crying.

Somehow how that made everyone feel worse, because it wasn't frustration, it was like she was just crushed.

"Oh...Shine..." Rogue tried, but Gambit grabbed her. 

"Let her be, Chere," he said. "Time like dis, comforting words help nothin'."

Rogue stopped.

Sabretooth looked up, not sure what to make of being beaten by this skinny, ginger guy, without even being able to land one hit, and now having this odd woman crying over it.

"You know," Shine finally spoke, "despite everything that happened before, I had hoped this would work out and that things would be different. In fact, even now, I don't believe you have become unchangeable. Perhaps, even, this would have been a beginning...but to become so ugly inside that you want to do this, just for its own sake...and to not see a problem with that? Is it so bad as that, Tony? This is breaking my heart...but you will have to go... Three times this has happened, and once was too much."

"What are you crying for?" Sabretooth finally managed to sputter out, like this was hard to compute.

"The fact that this happened," Shine said. "What do you think it is? You think I broke a nail? You poor, miserable, uncompassionate man. I know why you hate us, but haven't you learned that killing a thing because you hate it doesn't make you less evil? Only makes you more guilty. You could kill a lot of us and not be one ounce stronger than you are now and no more tougher or braver or wiser. You cannot live by dragging other people down to your level and expect to live at all. If you won't learn this on your own, I'm sorry, you leave us no choice but to stop you..."

She wiped her face. "I'm heavily disappointed, but I feel no remorse. Nor am I sorry we tried to help you, but I am deeply sorry you refused to be helped. You're a fool, but a pitiable fool, even so."

"I don't pity him," Wally said, still on edge.

"I pity him in my mind, not my emotions," Shine said. "Would you want to be him? If not, then he's pitiable, as Lewis wrote."

She shook her head. "I can't stand this anymore. X-men, what do you want to do with him? Turn him in?"

"I...am not sure what we should do," Storm said. "Letting him go seems irresponsible at this time, but so does keeping him here."

"So turn him in," Wally said. "He's wanted by the police anyway. They'd thank you."

"Mutants don't turn each other in," Gambit said.

Wally looked at him oddly. "He's tried to kill a kid three times."

"There are circumstances..." Storm began, then stopped and thought to herself: Why am I defending this?

Shine looked at her so disappointed-like too, that she felt even worse.

"Maybe they're right," Logan said surprisingly. "It's not normally somethin' I'd do, but he's asked for it. This is one time too many. Let the humans have him."

"What? Wolverine, you traitor!" Sabretooth said. "To your old friend?!"

"No attempted murderer is any friend of mine," Logan said.

"We turn him in ta humans, what dat say about us?" Gambit said. "We know what dey make of it. Make things worse for all mutants."

"But letting him make you all look bad is better?" Shine said. "Hey, you ever heard that if you don't stop someone from doing something, that makes it partially your fault if they do it? You'd better choose your next word carefully, Cajun, or I'll be tempted to say Mystique has more honor in this situation than you do."

Gambit blinked at her and was furious but speechless.

"If you guys let him go, he'll go right back to Magneto," Wally said. "And they'll come back. The kids aren't going to be safe anymore. You're not just fricking with your own lives now--it's all these kids who live here, and their parents are trusting you. You can't do what you want. He's gotta be arrested. Don't tell me you feel sorry for him?"

"Of course not, it's just not what we do," Rogue said.

"Oh, isn't it?" Shine said. "Gee, that sounds a little cult-like to me." She was clearly angry still. "Because the logic that we don't turn in other humans would end the justice system in the world entirely. What does it matter if he's a mutant? He's trying to harm kids, innocent kids. It wasn't self defense. It wasn't a human trying to mock him. It was cold blooded. And you are justifying it in the name of mutant loyalty? That tells him it is okay."

"Hey--" Sabretooth began.

"I wouldn't talk," Wally said darkly.

He shut up.

"If you're so sure, why don't you do it?" Scott said. He was there now.

"We can't," Shine said. "We're not allowed to make decisions like that. It's part of our code, because it would be tweaking things too much. It is your world, so it is your responsibility to do justice here. We can help, but we cannot do it for you. We are not angels of judgment. We are ambassadors of Christ, and we must act as such. Now, if you want to invite the wrath of God for assisting in this sort of evil, that is up to you."

"Wrath of God?" Scott said. "Isn't that going little too far?"

"'These 6 things does the Lord hate, yea, 7 are an abomination unto him,'" Shine quoted somberly, "'...hands that shed innocent blood.' Look, it's not unpardonable, but it is inexcusable, and you are excusing it."

"What's wrong with what she's sayin'?" Logan said. "I wanted to let him get taken in before, and you all didn't let me and look what happened then. It was Jubilee that time, then the church girl, and now this new kid. Who's next?"

"So you'd be find with just givin' humans somethin' to talk about?" Rogue said.

"Far as I'm concerned, it's people like this that make some of them think they're right to fear us," Logan said. "He'll only end up causin' more trouble if he goes free, and we'll look bad anyway."

"This is common sense," Shine said. "Are you all really going to stand there and deny it?"

Uncomfortable looks.

Storm finally looked up. "All right," she said, though she looked like she felt weird saying it. "I have to agree that this time we must make an exception...for the good of the children. We have a responsibility, don't we?"

"I'm not so sure of that. What if they investigate us?" Scott said.

"And what have you to hide?" Shine said. "Their parents all agreed to let them be here, or they're being sheltered. Thus far, it's nothing different than what your school is publicly known for. He'll get prison for this, not the death sentence, as he only attempted and did not succeed in murdering anyone. Surely you can live with that."

"Mutants are not treated well at prison," Scott said.

"Hank survived it all right, and he was innocent," Shine said. "You will let him go to jail to prove a point, but not let someone who actually deserves it go to jail? Is it beneath you to uphold the law?"

"No, of course not," Scott said. "But it is complicated."

"No, it isn't," Wally argued. "I'd do the same if any of my super buddies broke the law. I wouldn't like it, but, heck, we all turned ourselves in once just to keep peace. It's not us against the world, it's us protecting the world, from everyone."

They all looked at him sullenly.

But finally Rogue said, "I think he's right... We've gotta do it.... What if this guy comes back again? We're pushin' our luck."

"And you all agree?" Xavier had joined them, unnoticed, at some point. "I do not know about it myself. I don't like the idea...but our hospitality has been abused so many times now..."

"All of you human lovers are fools," Sabretooth said.

"Look at it this way," Shine said, turning to him savagely, "you can share the same fate as your son, seeing as how you put him through the same hell you went through as a kid without any shame."

This remark silenced Sabretooth completely, and it shocked the others also.

"Give 'em something in common." Wally was just as savage.

They were scaring the others now.

But Logan nodded. 

"We don't all agree," Gambit said. "And I don't like it."

"We'll have to put it to vote," Xavier said. "Which means we must ask Hank and Jean and Morph also. Restrain him for now, until we decide."

They did so.

* * *

After hearing both sides, rather passionately, the remaining three people weren't happy to be put in the place of judge.

Jean decided to abstain because she couldn't pick a side without feeling like she was letting down someone else.

Morph, who hated what Sabretooth did with a passion, sided with those who wanted to turn him in.

Hank felt more as Xavier and Gambit that it was risky, but since he'd survived being in jail himself, he said he'd accept it if that was the decision.

This put the majority just slightly in favor of it. If Shine and Wally's opinions were counted, that is. Otherwise it was more of a tie.

Logan and Storm argued that, since they'd apprehended Sabretooth and had dealt with him, their opinions should count for something.

"And what of the students? They may leave if we don't," Storm added.

"Maybe they should," Logan muttered.

"Might as well ask Mystique herself," Scott said sarcastically, "if we're going to count votes of people who aren't on the team."

Mystique heard him say that; she was close enough. They were in the hallway outside the other rooms.

"You want my opinion?" she said, coming to the doorway and regarding them with contempt. "It was stupid to keep him here at all if you didn't want this to happen. A wolf acts like a wolf. I wouldn't turn him in myself, but I have my own reasons for that. In your position, it would make far more sense to eliminate one of your big problems than to let them go, but that is your own affair. Better question to ask is, how are you any different from me or Magneto if you don't even uphold human laws when you claim you want to protect them?"

"Are you lecturing us on hypocrisy?" Scott said.

"I always did think the X-men weren't really as much above the rest of us mutants as they claimed," Mystique said icily. "Nice to see you prove it."

"Hey," Rogue said. "That's not fair."

"Why are you encouraging us to book him?" Morph asked blankly.

Mystique put a hand to her arm. "I wonder," she said.

Then she walked back into the medical room.

Silence.

"Does that about settle it?" Logan said finally.

"I..." Xavier said slowly. "I wonder, if we don't do this, what our guests are going to do... Is it worth it to lose all of them? We must think of how even other mutants are in danger here. Perhaps we have no choice but to let the government take it from here. We cannot hold him here, and we would not kill someone for our own reasons. What else is there to do? Let him go, but it looks as though some of you would not be content with that either... Rather than have the  team split and have some of you go after him because you feel it's the right thing to do, I think it is best to make the executive decision to turn him in, for the sake of our team work and peace of mind. If anyone feels they cannot support this, you may blame me, then, and not everyone else."

Silence. No one argued, but they didn't look happy either.

They separated.

"I don't understand," Rogue said to Gambit. "What he did was wrong. Why are ya so against this decision?"

"Dig deep enough into most mutants' past, and you find they done things illegal," Gambit said. "We start turnin' all of dem in now?"

"No...but we gave him many chances to stop," Rogue said. "What else was there to do? What if he was human? Would ya hesitate?

Gambit was silent.

The answer was no, of course, he wouldn't have, unless maybe it was one of his own friends or family. Gambit had been brought up to think you do not cross over your own kind, whether it was your whole species or just your comrades.

[Tribalism, as it's otherwise called. It's rampant in many countries, including America. But it has an implied double standard, that evil is not as evil if someone you know does it. The Bible has strong words for anyone who thinks that way, so it has not been taught by Christians. And the most impartial justice systems in the world have often been inspired by the biblical model found in the first 5 books of the Bible. 

It can sound good at first, until you realize that you can literally justify genocide and child abuse with the same logic, and that many people do exactly that. All holocausts are based on tribalism in some form, and so is a lot of family domestic violence.]

"Are we unfair?" Rogue wondered aloud. "And if we are...just how often are we?"

She walked away.

* * *

Later, Rogue asked Shine about it, and if she was okay now.

Shine said she'd be okay eventually.

"Do ya think we're biased?" Rogue asked her. "I know, ya told me before, we treated ya different at first because ya were human, but do ya think we do that all the time?"

"You want my honest opinion?" Shine asked.

Rogue nodded uncertainly.

"I think everyone is biased," Shine said. "Even me, though I'm not aware of it. I am biased towards people I know have done things I don't like before, probably. But biased towards people groups? Depends on the group. I try to listen to what people really say, not just what I think they would say, and I think people who are mistreated a lot tend to look for it, even if it's not there."

Rogue pressed her lips. "I guess that's true. I never thought I did."

"If it helps, you don't do it that much that I've noticed," Shine said. "But that is because you have been afraid about your own mutation so much, that makes you more humble about it, and you understand why others might fear it and act on it. Kurt also. In a way, people who have a nicer mutation have a harder time understanding why others fear it. I don't fear it, but what if I did? Would you understand that?"

"Mine, sure," Rogue said.

"There you are," Shine said. "And people might not dislike you, but they could still fear you...and fear makes us dislike things, if we let it get into our heads. We Christians are called to love, not fear...but, Rogue, no one is perfect, and prejudice can be a taught thing. Usually it is. It's not really as hard to remove as you all think. People aren't always as stupid as you think they are, though most of them can be dumb at times, but we all have our moments. I worry only that you will not give them a chance. I don't like having to turn Sabretooth in any more than you do. I was hoping to help him, don't you understand?" She looked upset again. "I didn't like sending Mystique away or Callisto either or even Warren, for all he had it coming. But we have to. I'd say the same if it was a human or even my own family. I've had to make such decisions before. We have to do what's right, or God will require the blood of the people who suffer for it from us as well as the perpetrator. That's in Proverbs 24, to hold back those who are going to the slaughter, to protect the innocent--and if we claim we didn't know it was happening and make excuses, God will see it, and He will judge us also."

"You're afraid?" Rogue said.

"To do evil? I am afraid to do that," Shine said. "I am afraid of what ignoring it would do to me, also. Would I not be able to recognize myself anymore? Who am I if I am not following what I think is right? Is that not the most important part of our identities? We base everything else on that, the right idea of ourselves, of others, of God. We have no self if we turn our back on that. I think your mother knows this, even. The hard way." She hugged her knees. "I'm sorry the others find it difficult. And I do understand why. But I couldn't lie to them."

Rogue shook her head. "I get it," she said. "For once, I get it. But...give them some time, maybe... You were a little harsh about it earlier."

"I'm sorry," Shine said. "I was very upset. Perhaps I could have been more gentle...but it was an ugly thing to have to talk about, and there was not any nice way I could think of to say it."

"Maybe not, but I thought you'd bite our heads off," Rogue said. "You're about the fiercest lady I ever met, even compared to Storm. And ya don't hesitate much about makin' these decisions. It can be...hard to handle that."

Shine looked up. "So I'm told. Certainty is hard to handle...but it's God's word, not mine. Can I be uncertain about that? Either I believe that, or I don't. If I don't, what the heck am I doing here, Marie?"

Rogue leaned on one hand. "And you never wonder...if God maybe just don't care as much as you think He does?... I mean...why doesn't He make it clearer to folks?" She shook her head. "Why things gotta be so hard? I mean...you gotta do things you don't like. Why does God tell ya to do that?"

"Why shouldn't He? Doesn't God know better?" Shine asked quietly.

"I don't know if I'd do it," Rogue said finally. "Somethin' like that. You was cryin' about it. How come?"

"The loss," Shine said slowly. "But I will keep trying."

"I just don't know. It's like you never weaken," Rogue said. "I mean, ya always have this resolve that I just don't understand."

"That you want," Shine translated.

Rogue nodded.

Shine looked up at the ceiling.

"I can't tell you when or how it will be for you," she said. "It's not the same for us all. But I know I have had my dark times, times I didn't think I could live through. I thought life was too hard. Living in fear every day. And you know, I had that before I really knew God deeply, and I had times like that after it. I used to ask God why I went through that again when I was supposed to know better. I questioned my purpose and what I was really like... Maybe I wasn't the person I thought. Do you know, God didn't explain it to me all then? At times, I thought I was losing my faith, too. It was a battle, and there are times it still is."

Rogue noticed her voice had changed, like she was speaking right from the heart, and Rogue tensed, hanging on every word.

"When you know that you know God, and I mean, I know that I know that I know," Shine said, "it's like anything else: You feel it sometimes, and other times you don't. But when God has let you be tested a few times, you realize that if you stuck with it, you really believe it. Because belief is not about feelings. I feel like God is not with me, sometimes, but I believe that He is. Just as I feel loved by my husband or my family sometimes, and other times, because of whatever is in my head, I don't feel it, but I know the love is there...and I just need to look for it again. God is like that. And sometimes He does not answer us, or, more accurately, His answer is in a form we are not looking for. We may ask Him for the quick solution, and instead His answer is giving us the strength to hang on a little longer. Help is help. We don't know what's best. You might wonder, when it's this hard, why do we hang on? Why not just turn away. And thousands of people turn from God because of that--when it doesn't go their way. Someone dies they wanted to live. They lose something they didn't want to lose. And we're so convinced we know best, that we resent God."

Rogue stared at her.

Shine looked back at her. "I have those times. But, what can I say? I was drowning, and God pulled me out of the water. I know it was Divine. Nothing changed in my natural life at all. In fact, afterward, I'd say things with my dad got worse and worse, even as I changed for the better. I lost friends. Family didn't understand. And I made enemies, oh, so many, on missions especially. But I had peace. And I knew." She leaned on her hand. "Sometimes I felt like it wasn't true, but God took me through that and always back around to Him, and whenever I got close to giving up, He sent me something to help me. Everything has changed now, and I'd say I'm happier than I've ever been, and I have a better life than I ever have. But oddly, nothing with God changes. I understand Him better, but He is the same. And everything else changes, Rogue. Humans die, or they disappoint us; or they don't disappoint us, but they might move on; or maybe they stay always--but we need more than that. We all get a different hand of cards. I think Gambit is right about that. But God lets us trade up. We trade the bad stuff for His gifts, and it becomes good. I know that. God is my constant, Who never leaves me, and Who always is stronger than I am. And in life, honey, we need that. For lack of that, people lose hope all the time."

Rogue nodded at her.

After a long pause, she said, "Shine, you're right about that. We need that... I know I do... Sabretooth...he does too."

"I know, Rogue," Shine said. "But we did what we could. God must do the rest. He cares more about that man than any of us ever could have the capacity to do. Maybe even this is His plan. I have to trust that things happen in the right time only."

Rogue let out a long sigh. "All right," she said.