By the end of ten minutes of collecting what was not much stuff, Illyana had decided she and Kitty were friends.

It didn't apparently take that much for her. She just wanted to hear about America from an actual American.

Kitty mentioned being Jewish and Illyana said that she remembered some Jewish people used to live in their village.... That was kind of awkward.

But she brushed past it and moved on to asking if Kitty had ever been to the movies...

With how broken her English was, Kitty could barely keep up, but talking to Colossus for weeks had made her a little better at it.

[Magik and Kitty actually were BFFs in one comic line, I assume one where Magik is a little less of a nut job than she is in the Exiles. She's younger in that one also.]

The adults kind of just waited awkwardly.

Hank tried to talk about the weather and economy and things to lighten the mood, but only Colossus was even trying to meet him halfway.

One thing Kitty asked Illyana was if she'd noticed anything weird happening.

It took some work to make her understand the question, but finally Illyana answered,

"Bad things? No...sometimes...get strange feeling." She pointed to her head. "See things...but no bad people come here...not in long time..."

"What kind of things do you see?" Kitty asked.

"I see...strange place," Illyana said. "Like...not real place." She frowned. "Like through window.... Never go through window."

Kitty was sharp enough to guess what this meant.

"Guys," she hissed, when they were on the plane again after a rather long goodbye with their parents, "Illyana was talking to me about the power a little.... It sounded like she's seeing windows into another dimension. I think Morph's hunch was right."

"Windows..." Morph said. "Oh...into limbo.... Yeah, yeah, the Magik I knew hated it at first. It was kind of creepy--this dark force would try to attack through it or something. She mentioned it once.... I think that's why she was a little off in the head, you know? But that would make anyone nuts."

"Sister is not off in head," Colossus said. "She is very sensible girl."

"She is now," Morph said, "because...well, I hope it's different here. I wouldn't wish that power on anyone, even if it was useful."

"The point is, she does have dimensional power," Kitty said. "She fits the bill. So...what if she switches?"

"I'm not sure she exists in the other dimension anymore..." Morph said. "So she might not be able to switch.... That might be for the best."

"Colossus want her stay here," Colossus said. "Not understand all this switching business."

The others waited till he'd moved to the front of the plane to talk to Hank again to continue their questions:

"So, you and the Magik you knew were friends, right?" Kitty said to Morph. "Was she...I don't know...nice?"

"Oh...not really," Morph said. "But under it, she was. I could tell. You know...her power just stressed her out, I think. She got confused about things... I think she was always a little shaky about whether being on the right side was going to be worth it in the end. The kinds of things she must have seen and felt, I guess the whole time traveling thing probably didn't help. Shine and Wally told me about the issues it has...but I didn't know any of that then. I actually feel kind of guilty now. I bet we just made her problems worse."

Kitty looked somber. "Do you think that'll happen to this one?"

"I just don't know," Morph said.

Mystique was listening to this, even if she wasn't talking, and she frowned to herself.

Morph had a pattern, apparently.

"Maybe they can help her," Kitty said. "They can fix this stuff."

"I hope so," Morph said.

[The 411 on Magik's powers, depending on which rendition you're focusing on, is kind of convoluted.

But the one that was actually on the X-men, as far as I can make out, had warp gate abilities, but they did get corrupted by dark powers. Partially because her whole family is actually descended from--and this is canon--the Rasputin...yes, from Anastasia... Cue the song and dance jokes.

She and Colossus have another sibling, who is certifiably insane and evil, so it must run in the family. Don't know how Colossus ended up being the sane one. It's probably a middle child thing.

Magik isn't really crazy in the version of her that works with the X-men, but her power is complicated and problematic...so...yeah. But it fits this story perfectly, in a scary way.]

* * *

They got Illyana back to the mansion without incident.

She seemed to have the same kind of grit as her brother, and she made light of the whole upheaval from her home. 

Classic Russian way of looking at things, Wally said. Saying they could always be worse.

And she did say it could be worse at least three times, usually with a depressing story to back it up.

At least she had her brother here. Maybe it felt like one long camping trip to her.

The other kids thought she was a little scary, at first, just with the accent and the literal way of talking like Colossus had.

But she was nice, so they got used to her rather quickly.

And she seemed to be just as oblivious to Kitty's snarkiness, and the other kids', as her brother, so she liked them fine.

This done, Colossus at least felt easier.

But everyone else? They were still trying not to panic.

To keep moving seemed like the only way to deal with the stress of the situation, so they talked about who else they could find.

And could they persuade all of them to stay at the mansion?

It seemed unlikely.

One day passed with no decision made and a lot of discussion that led nowhere.

Emma and Scott both seemed to feel as out of place as before. Scott handled it by trying to say he could help them. And Emma? Well...by being Emma.

Scott's memory was slowly coming back though. He recalled more and more about the X-men.

But for whatever reason, his memories around Jean were still not returning.

Shine's theory that it had to do with the disturbing nature of the Phoenix thing made sense, and she continued to hold it.

Emma?

She felt two ways.

In one way, not having to deal with it was nice, since she already had to think of so many other disturbing problems.

On the other, waiting for the moment it would come back was torture of the keenest degree and drove her crazy if she thought about it.

She didn't have any more episodes of memory loss and panic though, at least for now. Whatever she was doing to trigger it, she must have stopped doing it.

All throughout that day, Mystique continued to give everyone the cold shoulder who she was angry at...and most of the people she wasn't also.

Rogue even tried to talk to her, puzzled, and got brushed off also.

Morph alternated between being angry about it and being sad when he remembered what she'd said and how she'd said it.

Finally he told Shine more about it.

Shine seemed to be coping with things by not talking about it aside from when the others were asking her for her opinion on it.

"I know it's a bad time to talk about it, but...this can't go on, can it?" Morph asked her.

"It can, but I admit, I hate it," Shine said.

"So...there's no way to fix it?" Morph said.

Shine sighed.

"She's mad at me too, so what can I do?" She said. "I suppose not as mad as she is at you though. I guess because I at least always told her what I was."

"For the last time--" Morph began.

Shine held up her hand. "I understand your reasoning, Morph, but that doesn't mean I can make her see it. But it's not even that. She knows we did what we did because it was right, or so we thought. She just doesn't like that the right thing always puts her on one side of this."

"Isn't that her own fault?" Morph said. "And I wasn't even going to bring it up...but...who made those choices? It wasn't us. Why should we get in trouble for it?"

"Morph..." Shine said. "Are you really just upset about it being unfair to you?"

"Sure," Morph said. "I don't like it."

"You don't like being made the bad guy," Shine said.

"Yeah...I guess not," Morph said.

"You have trauma around that," Shine said. "You realize that, right? That's why it bothers you so much. You hate feeling like you did something wrong, especially without knowing you did. That is why she makes you so angry when she does this victim thing."

"Maybe it is." Morph paced around a little. "Shouldn't I be angry though? You shouldn't just get to accuse people of whatever because you're scared."

"Don't you feel sorry for her though?" 

"Of course I do," Morph said, more calm. "So much so it's driving me nuts... Honestly, it's almost easier to think about being angry."

"It kills you not to be able to make it better by lightening the mood, huh?" Shine said. "Yeah...Wally is like that too. Though it almost always makes me feel better...but I have bitten his head off before. I have to admit, I may not be the best person to ask. I'm the one who tells people what to do to get better.... Making them feel better is sort of the by product of just knowing what the problem is and how to help. I want them to feel better, but I want them to be better too."

"Well...that's fine," Morph said. "I'd take either one."

"I can't make you feel better," Shine said. "Because it's not really something I can make go away with advice, is it?"

She looked at him closely. "Real question, Morph...would you say this is hard because the two of you became friends over the last few months?"

"Yeah..." Morph said. "I'd say that."

"True...but even for friends, you seem...a little more upset than I'd think," Shine said. "Not to broad brush, but most men I know, if their friends are angry at them and they know they didn't do anything wrong, just say their friends are being dumb and wait for them to cool off and come around. They don't overthink things like this."

"Well...I guess normally I wouldn't do that," Morph said. "I mean, Logan is my best buddy, so...it's not like I don't know all about that...but..."

"If I may," Shine said, "the only time I've known this to be different is if we're talking about either their children or a woman. Men don't worry about people they see as equals this way...they worry about people they feel like they need to be protecting. Not to be sexist, but that's usually a woman or a kid...just how they're wired. Women? We feel like we need to nurture everyone, men, kids, each other, random people on the street. We obsess over every fight the same way pretty much, because we feel the same amount of responsibility. That's how we're wired, with a few exceptions."

"You know...that would explain a few things about some of the girls I know," Morph said.

"Yeah..." Shine said. "So my question to you is...why are you treating this situation so personally? As a friend, you've done all you can, haven't you? It's her move whether to forgive us or not. And...oddly enough, I am treating it more like that than you are, and I take this stuff so seriously it keeps me up at night sometimes."

It was keeping Morph up at night too...

"I don't know why I feel more worried," Morph said. "I guess you spend all that time trying to figure someone out, like you do, and you start to feel responsible for them..."

"I guess," Shine said coolly. "I mean, that's true. You probably find her frustrating to be around, but you just have to figure it out, right?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's frustrating all the time." Morph didn't see the trap she had just set for him. "Sometimes it's actually pretty fun. I mean, it's cool having someone else who can shape-shift around...if she's not being really mean about it... Lately she hasn't been, though. I kind of thought it was going better, the whole living here and being a good guy thing."

"Is that what she wants though?" Shine questioned him.

"If it isn't, isn't that just because of what you said--she doesn't think she can have better?" Morph said.

"But you think she can?" Shine asked.

"Sure, I think she has the capacity for it," Morph said. "And we both know she's got a lot of skills that any team could use. And she's not horrible at the teamwork part of it. She acts like she doesn't care about anyone, but come on, she helped Kitty out and she was starting to like you too, before all this happened."

"And you," Shine guessed. "She was helping you, in a way..."

"I guess you could say that," Morph said. "And now she thinks it was all fake? Who does that?"

"And you can't stop thinking about it," Shine said. "And you can't sleep, and you're talking about it constantly."

"Yeah, it's horrible," Morph said. 

Shine laughed at him suddenly.

"What's so funny?" Morph said.

"Oh...well..." Shine covered her mouth. "I shouldn't be laughing...but...my, how did I not see this one coming? Usually I'm so careful. Well, I suppose the possibility did occur to me once or twice, but I never noticed how much..."

"What?" Morph said. "Did you think of something finally?"

"I thought of several things, Morph," Shine said. "But they won't help you, I don't think." She choked on another laugh. "Sorry, this is mean of me to keep laughing like this...but...uh...I'm sorry, I don't how else to put this... Have you considered that the reason this is getting to you could go...you know...a little deeper than you thought?"

"Deeper?" Morph said.

"Like...maybe...somewhere along the line, without you noticing it, your priorities here shifted a little?" Shine said.

"Sure they did," Morph said. "I know I was a jerk at first. I was trying to make up for it."

"And it ended up being more pleasant than you thought."

"Sure, I mean, it was a good twist, wasn't it?" Morph said. "You were right about her."

"I was." Shine was trying not to laugh again. "Oh, gosh, Morph...I can't even right now."

She got up. "You know...ask Wally about it. He's had years of practice with me dealing with this. Maybe he can help. I need a minute."

"What's so funny?" Morph said.

"Irony, Morph, that's what." Shine walked out of the room, leaving him puzzled.

[I suppose all of you have caught on by now.

For the record, I wasn't really going to do this, but my siblings talked me into it, and it kind of worked out well, I think. So no regrets.]

* * *

"So, Shine told me about your problem..." Wally said, later the same day. "It's funny how even at times like this we worry about this kind of thing, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess, but then again, how much time do we have left?" Morph said. "Who wants to spend it being angry? Apparently Mystique does."

"Although she was kind of funny angry," Wally said. "But this time around, it's just sad. I heard about the whole thing. It does remind of Shine a little bit though, just at first. I can say, Shine caught on fast."

"She said maybe you could help..." Morph said.

"Yeah...so did you figure out why this is bugging you so much?" Wally said.

"No...I mean...I think, but Shine seemed to get this idea, and then she just laughed at me, and she never said what it was," Morph said.

"If that was her reaction, didn't you already guess?" Wally said. "Even I would guess that."

Morph stared at him.

"I hope you're not saying what it sounds like..." he said.

"Depends. What does it sound like?" Wally said.

"Oh, come on," Morph said. "Why does it always have to be about things like that, huh?"

"I guess you figured it out." Wally looked like he thought this was funny too. "Man, it's so weird to not be on the receiving end of this kind of stuff anymore. You know, my friends stopped making fun of me a lot after I got together with Shine... I think she made them take me more seriously. Cool, right?"

"Cool, but not helpful," Morph said. "I just want to know how you convince a woman like that that...you know...this whole thing was one big mistake."

"Well, if she wants to believe that, I don't know how you could unconvince her," Wally mused. "But there's one thing...maybe she doesn't want to believe it, but she just can't stop... I didn't know that was a thing, again, until Shine and I got together. And it took a while for me to get it. She used to get upset if I said something a certain way, just dumb stuff, you know...and I got mad at first. I thought she was looking for a reason to get angry at me."

"Sounds about right."

"And maybe she was," Wally said. "But then we'd talk about it, and she'd cry--not, like, to make me feel guilty kind of cry, but, like, embarrassed, you know--and she'd tell me about all the times she had stuff happen to her in the past that made her just expect one thing from people. And she'd apologize and try to work on it.... That's how you know.... And she did work on it. And now she hardly ever gets mad at me. And...also, I had stuff I got mad about that I never thought I was mad about too...till it came out.... I have to say, I think she was the more patient one about it too. I mean, you know her by now.... She'd chew me out for it, but in the end she gave me the benefit of the doubt.... That's one thing, too. If she just wanted to be angry, she'd not have done that. But she didn't. She was fair. I realized she couldn't help getting triggered, after a while, but she wanted to...and getting mad at her over it only made it worse. When I started learning to just talk her down slowly if she took something the wrong way, then she stopped freaking out about it if we had a misunderstanding...and it got better.... It really didn't take long after that, I think. So...I guess what I'm saying is, it's all in how fast you learn to understand the other person."

"Well...um...that's really specific though," Morph said. "And...I don't know...at least she'd talk to you."

"Yeah, Misty is kind of a hot mess," Wally admitted. "But what I'm saying is...maybe the truth is, she might actually know better. Some of what she said to Shine at least kind of sounded like it...but she's scared, and she's freaking out, and she just can't.... You know she can't get past it. She's going to stay angry at us as long as she feels like she's in danger, don't you think? At least, until we convince her we're not the ones who are putting her in danger."

"Okay..." 

"That's my take on it." Wally shrugged. "A huge thing I learned about girls...they like to feel safe.... As a superhero, I want everyone to feel safe around me. But Shine was the only who told me that women care more about being emotionally safe than physically safe, usually. I'm not sure what that means exactly...I think just that if they feel like you're going to be a jerk to them because of their feelings, then they put that on everything else you do, and that's why they seem like they're always on our case...sometimes. I guess guys do that too...I think we just call it something else. See? I'm super smart now."

"I guess dating someone like Shine would make you have to learn all this," Morph admitted. "It must be like living with an encyclopedia and therapist at the same time."

"Just on the surface." Wally shrugged. "Under that, she's like anybody else, you know? She just thinks all that stuff is fun. I think painting fences at high speed and doing superhero action poses that are really cheesy are fun. She doesn't judge me for that, I don't judge her for being a walking talking lexicon (that's like a dictionary, by that way). It works."

"But it doesn't help me," Morph said.

"Well..." Wally thought. "If Shine was as mad at me as Mystique is at you...I think talking wouldn't be enough...unless you had something really brilliant to say...which...uh, when you're upset, who ever does, right? But, I think...you just have to keep acting normal-ish...and maybe then she'll realize she's overreacting... Just don't use that word... Never use that word."

"That's not helpful," Morph said. "I think it would take weeks..."

"Well, there might be a faster way," Wally said. "I agree waiting weeks would be the worst. Is there anything about the situation that you haven't told her that might clear you?"

"I don't know..." Morph said.

Wally gave him a long look. "Well...does she know that you like her?"

"I mean, I think we were friends and stuff," Morph said.

"Not what I meant," Wally said.

Morph sat bolt upright. "Wally? Come on, that's not funny."

"I wasn't joking," Wally said. "Dude, it's so obvious. You don't see it? No one spends this much time thinking about a girl if they don't like it. Sorry, we just don't. Or anyone, period."

"Shine told you that, didn't she?"

"She might have, but it's also true," Wally said. "I know I never obsessed over any girl that much unless I had a thing for her... Actually, you're reminding me of how I acted when Shine ditched me for a while... That was the worst two months of my life..." He winced. "You're friends with someone, and then it just stops? I mean, come on.... But she was scared. I had no idea how scared till later...but the fact that I couldn't let it go? That kind of shows a lot, don't you think?"

"I don't feel that way," Morph said. "That's ridiculous. I think I would know."

"I don't know, are you the type of guy who usually reads signals?" Wally asked.

That would be a no.

"Well, I think I'd know my own," Morph said.

"I guess..." Wally said. "But sometimes you don't know, you know?"

"You knew you liked Shine, right?" Morph said.

"Oh...at first? Well, she was pretty. Anyone can see that," Wally said. "Actually, she was gorgeous, I thought...but she was a little weird, so I didn't really think about dating her or anything. I had just a relationship end, too. But Shine was trying to adjust to a new world, and I just didn't think about it. She seemed like a woman on a mission. You know the drill--no time for that kind of thing.... Once we became friends, yeah, every so often, but I still thought she wasn't into it...but after my other friends suggested it, and I thought about it more, I kind of thought it wouldn't be so bad...and then one day it just hit me, and I realized I'd liked her for a long time and not known it...and then she ran off, and I realized it was more than liking and I was totally screwed...and then we got together, and I never looked back. You know what I'm saying? So...um, I think we can get a little confused sometimes...if it's a weird situation. I mean, it's not like high-school anymore, is it? But I think that's part of the whole world walking thing--things don't always happen the way you'd imagine they do. But that's fine with me. Isn't it fine with you? I mean you're an RT."

"I guess that's true, but this is still a little out there," Morph said. "I thought people would make jokes like that, but I didn't think you'd be serious about it...geez.... I don't think Mystique is that kind of person.... I mean...come on, that makes no sense."

"I don't know. She's okay," Wally said. "Why not?"

"She's...kind of crazy," Morph said.

"No offense, Morph, but haven't you been kind of crazy before?" Wally said. "Crazy in a good way or bad way? That's all I want to know."

"Well..I don't know."

"And you'd really let that stop you?" Wally asked.

"Oh...well, just on its own no," Morph replied. "A lot of my friends are a little...you know...off...but not bad. They're just weird.... But it's the whole...it would never happen kind of thing. You know what I mean--I would never think about it."

"I gotcha," Wally said. "And I get it, really...but...uh...would you really put it past her to think about it?"

"Yeah, there's no way," Morph said. "So it's stupid to talk about it, and I don't think that's why I'm bothered by this."

"Well, if you're sure." Wally accepted that because he was a guy. [Sorry, but you know a girl would never accept that...coming from someone who's told other girls I don't like a guy just because I think he's attractive outwardly and had them pretty clearly not believe me.... Like, I'm serious okay? Good looking does not equal date-able.]

"But if that's not it," Wally said, "then you've got some major problem with needing to fix people, I think. Maybe a little space would be a good thing for you, man. You need to learn not to try to do too much."

"I guess..." Morph said.

That didn't make him feel a whole lot better, but it sounded like good advice.

https://youtu.be/IXdDNBQ9bJU

[More Than Useless-- Relient K]

* * *

"You bought that, huh?" Shine said, when Wally talked to her about it.

"I think he was serious," Wally said.

Shine slapped her forehead.

"What did I do wrong?" Wally asked.

"Nothing, it's just...a guy thing, I guess."

"Well...don't girls sometimes read a little more into stuff than they should?" Wally said carefully.

"I tried not to read into your actions, and I ended up missing that you actually liked me," Shine said. "So perhaps I'm a little inclined to think we brush over too much also."

"Well...maybe he's being honest," Wally said. "But even if you're right...you can't make him think that. And...you know...it is a risky idea...so..."

"I know, but, Wally, ignoring this just won't help either," Shine said. "Even if one conceded that the best thing to do would be not to act on it, you need to know that's the choice you're making...otherwise someone will get confused and hurt before the end of it. And I can't tell who is more likely at this point. Maybe both."

"Okay...I see your point there," Wally said. "I guess someone could get hurt if it's not clear...but don't they have to walk that out?"

"Yeah. That's the sad part.... One can't micromanage this kind of thing...I think."

"I wouldn't try..." Wally said. "Doesn't end well... Besides, we have other people to focus on."

"I know," Shine said. "And actually that reminds me...I haven't seen Raven around here at all today... I'm sure the others all want to look for more people; I'd think she'd have been on that right away."

"She's probably just hiding somewhere," Wally said. "But maybe she should take a break from helping. She's still tripping out about it, right?"

"Yes...but I'm afraid if she doesn't help, she'll get morbid even more," Shine said. "She does not take this kind of thing well.... Better find her."

She left the room.

Wally decided to ask the other X-men if they had a plan yet.

[Tea...]