Warren, when he was swallowed by the Tear, didn't know which end was up.

He passed out from the shock, but, surprisingly, he woke up, not killed, but locked in some kind of cell, with his wings pinned down.

He saw no sign of the others who'd vanished. He was in a row of cells that all seemed empty.

Outside it, sitting at a small table, playing cards, were Leland and Shaw.

"Where is this place?" Warren called, his voice muffled.

They looked up.

"Oh, look he's awake," Leland grunted.

"We'll regret not snuffing him out," Shaw said. "Mark my words. The Black Queen may want her array of victims in case she needs power, but she's going to have one too many of these fools in here."

"Answer me!" Warren said.

"He won't shut up till we do," Leland said sullenly.

"We could shut him up." Shaw came to stand in front of the cell. "But why not? We have nothing else to do here. We have strict instructions not to tell you the name of this place, Mr. Worthington. Our employer is a little concerned about telepaths being able to alert those pests. Can't allow for any slips. But you're in a holding cell. I'd say you should be happy that you're alive, but the only reason you are is to have some ready victims for later, so..."

"You monster," Warren said.

"You should talk." Shaw frowned. "You were Apocalypse's toy, weren't you? And your other self, you remember him? He's Sinister's. One might say your destiny is to be used and corrupted. Perhaps we're doing the world a favor by taking you out of it."

Warren was silent. That was a chilling thought.

"Who are you talking to Shaw?" Selene came in, looking perturbed. "Oh, is he up? I'm surprised he survived that with so little damage.... Apocalypse does make his pawns nearly indestructible, you have to admit."

"You." Warren glared at her. "You tried to kill my friends."

"You can't really expect us to believe Mystique was your friend?" Selene said. "As for the others, mostly it was just to capture them. But sadly, we only got you--and that girl. Oh, and the Professor." She suddenly laughed. "Not a bad catch, is it? But not good enough."

"Careful, don't tell him too much," Shaw said.

"Relax, Shaw." Selene looked airily at him. "I won't tell him anything about our real plans. I just want him to enjoy the moment with us. The plans we have for the rest of your little troop. You see, they're a little too good together. We had to split them up."

"So, what, you'll kidnap them all?" Warren said. "Bring them to whatever void this is? But then we'll all be here. One of us is bound to stop you."

"It's adorable that you think that kind of argument is going to work," Selene said. "But we don't make those kinds of decisions--our boss, who shall not be named, does. We're just in charge of dividing you. Our talents are pretty exceptional for that. It'll be easy. A divided house cannot stand, right? And without your Professor there, who's to know any better?"

Warren frowned at her. "What are you planning to do to them?"

"You ought to ask what they'll do to each other," Selene said, very unpleasant. "It's a more interesting question."

Warren frowned. "You can't brainwash everyone. Some of them will be able to resist it."

They just laughed at him.

"Who needs that?" Selene said.

Warren shuddered. "Where's...Psylocke?" he asked.

"Your girlfriend Psylocke or the other one?" Shaw said.

"Shut up," Selene snapped at him.

"Do you have both of them?" Warren said. "Why?"

"It's none of you concern whether we do or not," Selene said. 

"What do you need them for?" Warren asked. "If it's to rewrite time, it's been tried already. It won't work. Do you know what merging the dimensions will do? It will kill us all. Or half of us. Is that what you want?"

"They're clever," Shaw said. "Or they got tipped off. Probably that Time Traveler."

"We'll deal with him soon enough," Selene said. "I'm not worried about them knowing that part. What can they do about it? Let them think we don't know what we're doing."

"You don't," Warren said. "Do you know just how bad it will be? You're willing to destroy the world, maybe two of them, just for some idea of your own."

They looked at him silently.

"Even Magneto was wiser than you," Warren said in disgust.

"That reminds me," Shaw said, "soon it will be time to deal with him. But we cannot discuss that here."

"Well, I have a team to divide," Selene said, "so I'll be going anyway. Have fun in solitary, Angel. However long I let you live, anyway. It might be fun to keep you around a little longer till we've got more of you. Really break your spirit. But who knows?"

She smiled and walked away.

The other two didn't seem quite as...sadistic as Selene, but they left anyway. If they felt at all uneasy about what Warren had said, they didn't show it.

Warren struggled, but knew he couldn't get out of this cell without help from someone else...and no one else was here.

Wherever here was...

[Creepy...I think I can rate Selene as one of the top 10 most dislikable characters I've written about, and it's even worse if you read the wiki page for her. Ugh.]

* * *

Storm did find some comfort in working in her garden, and she clipped some flowers out of it to decorate the house a little. Which in Winter was a welcome sight.

"I think I like gardening indoors because it reminds me of home.... We don't really have a non-growing season there," she remarked.

"Well, these are nice." Shine admired them. "I'm not used to not seeing plants out in the Winter either. I guess we have that in common. No such thing as a white Christmas in the California valley. Mountains, maybe."

"Oh, for me?" Morph joked, picking up one bunch of flowers. "You shouldn't have."

"There's plenty more to go around, Morph, but I don't like to cut too many," Storm said. "They're better as they are, don't you think?"

"That's like the argument between domesticating animals and leaving them in the wild," Shine said. "All depends on your point of view, I think."

"I would prefer flowers to diamonds though," Storm said. "Perhaps I'm traditional in that way, but those shiny jewels just look strange as ornaments to me."

"Beads are better?" Shine joked.

"Why not?" Storm said.

"Well, whatever you like," Shine said.

"Diamonds are about class," Mystique commented from where she was sitting. "Not looks. Flowers are for poor people."

"Tell that to the people who cater for weddings and funerals," Shine scoffed at her.

Mystique shrugged. "If they want to pay obscene amounts of money for something you can go pick for free out of any field, that's their problem."

"Well, what is being rich but paying obscene amounts of money for a fancier, more inconvenient version of something most people could afford in its proper place?" Shine said. [And that's how the food industry got to be the mess it is.]

"What do you have against flowers?" Morph asked Mystique.

"Nothing." Mystique shrugged. "What does Storm have against diamonds?"

"Well, considering the history--" began Storm.

"Maybe we shouldn't go there, huh?" Shine interrupted. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but there is such a thing as a bad time to start a conversation about history. We're trying to relax."

"Yeah, Storm." Morph handed her a flower. "Relax. Enjoy the moment, remember? Lieutenant Shine says so."

"Lieutenant? Why am I a Lieutenant?" Shine said.

"Did you prefer a more regal kind of title?" Morph said. "Queen? Empress? Duchess?"

"Never call me a Duchess," Shine said. "That's weird. Queen is fine."

Storm laughed. "How humble of you."

"Oh, in my time, queen is just a future word for an awesome kind of woman," Shine said. "It's not that stuck up."

"Humble?" Mystique said. 

"What? I'd call you guys one," Shine said.  "Iconic Queen, actually, that's what we say."

"That does sound good, I have to admit," Morph said. "What about King?"

"Rarer, but sometimes..." Shine said. "Funny, though, Princess has negative connotations. I'm mad about that. I always liked that word."

"Well, slang is weird," Morph said. "But this joke is too perfect to pass up."

He handed Shine a flower and turned into a footman. "For you, m'lady."

"Morph!" Shine cracked up. "I can't take you seriously...stop it."

"Oh, come on, it was funny." Morph turned back into himself. "I pulled it off, right? Totally real."

Mystique rolled her eyes.

"Well, Wally just says, 'For you, Babe,'" Shine said. "So...a little grand for me, maybe. Try it on someone else, maybe it'll work."

"Or you could stop teasing us," Storm said.

"You never thought I was funny, did you?" Morph said.

"No, it's not that," Storm said.

"But I know you didn't," Morph said. "Do you have a sense of humor?"

"Of course I do," Storm said. 

"Puns," Shine said. "Right?"

"Only once in a long while," Storm said.

"I know, though," Shine said. "It's Logan's antics...which to be fair, I find hilarious also."

"You find everything funny," Mystique said, turning a page in her book.

"Yeah? So?" Shine said.

"Don't mind her," Storm said. "It's good to be able to see the humor in things."

Morph dropped a flower on the page of Mystique's book. "Don't feel left out."

Mystique glanced up and then looked down again.

Storm frowned, a little puzzled.

"Hmm," Shine said. "Come on." She walked out of the room.

Storm followed her. "Shine, did...do you ever get the idea--?"

"Yes," Shine said. "But it's a bit more than an idea at this point. Looks like they worked it out after all."

"What?" Storm said. "Do you mean to tell me...?" She looked puzzled, then a little unnerved. "Oh my..."

"Don't worry about it," Shine said. "I'm sure they know what they're doing."

"Are you?" Storm said.

"Not at all," Shine said. "That's kind of what makes it fun though."

"Shine...do you ever wonder if it's wise to encourage certain things?" Storm said.

"But all life is risk," Shine said. "Avoiding it isn't going to make anything better. It worked out for you, didn't it?"

"Is that the same thing?" Storm said. "I suppose it's none of my business to interfere, but I worry. Mystique is not so bad, but I know very little about her still."

"Once, no one knew much about you," Shine said.

Storm thought. "True, I suppose. I don't know if I have your faith in people."

"Not in people, Storm," Shine said. "In God. I have little faith in people. But in God's working through them...I think anything is possible, don't you?"

She walked down the hall.

Storm nodded to herself.

* * *

Despite the seeming respite, trouble was brewing at the house much sooner than anyone thought possible.

Trinity ended up staying all day, as it was Sunday, but no one had gone to church.

Her parents were going to come get her later, but then they had something come up with another family, and said they'd be there later that night.

They had gotten so used to her being at the house that they didn't worry too much...which probably they should have, all things considered.

Trinity was all right with staying though. And the kids liked having her there. She kept some of them busy.

Some things felt really quiet even with just three people or five, really, missing. Kitty rallied a little, but Colossus remained down.

But nothing strange happened at all, until later in the evening, when some of the kids were already supposed to be in bed.

Trinity and Jubilee started putting them to bed, since they liked Jubilee, and they were doing it to help Shine, who had had a long day, as can be imagined.

Trinity was standing by the door of the bathroom, waiting for Ruthie and Cindy to stop splashing water at each other and settle down, and she suddenly just felt something like a cold chill.

She looked around and saw nothing, and she thought maybe it was just a draft.

Mystique then came up the hall with one of the other kids...Billy. She was dragging him.

"Oh...there you are," Trinity said to him.

"Let go, mean lady!" Billy complained.

"He's all yours." Mystique tossed him at Trinity. "I found him digging in one of the potted plants."

He was dirty.

"Billy, why?" Trinity said.

"I was trying to have a funeral for a spider," Billy said.

"And...why?" Trinity said.

"It sounded fun," Billy said.

"Okay..." Trinity muttered. "Wash up."

"You're not even in charge. You don't live here," Billy said.

Trinity gave him a look.

Billy went for his room.

"I have younger siblings," Trinity explained to Mystique.

"I didn't say anything," Mystique said.

"Did...did you feel a chill coming up the hall?" Trinity asked suddenly.

"No...but this house is drafty," Mystique said. 

Trinity hesitated. "Thanks for before, by the way."

"I could say the same," Mystique said. "You shoved her off me."

"Yeah, but really, I wanted to get a chance to say it before I left," Trinity said.

"I think I owed you at least one save," Mystique said. "I seem to remember not being very nice to you at first."

"Water under the bridge," Trinity said. "I've gotten worse from some of the other mutants...but I guess not as bad as they get from humans all the time."

"Why do you come here?" Mystique asked. "It'd be safer to stay away."

"Yeah, but...where's the fun in that?" Trinity said.

A pause, then Mystique laughed dryly. "No surprise, from one of the people around here."

"Seriously, it just feels like where I'm supposed to be." Trinity shrugged. "By the way, is that what you really look like? The blue? Or...is it just a disguise?"

"This is real," Mystique said. "Unfortunately."

Trinity looked her up and down. "Why? It's just blue."

Compared to the Morlocks who looked like they were half frog, she might well think it wasn't that big of a difference.

"Yes, because so many people are blue." Mystique was sarcastic.

"Well, in movies..." Trinity said. "I guess I see your point though. I was always taught that man looks at outward appearance, and God looks at the heart, so..."

"You Christians and your tolerance," Mystique muttered. "Some of you like to call us demons, and then others of you act like it's nothing."

"My dad always says, 'Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar, it doesn't make him a cookie,'" Trinity said. "Not everyone who says they're Christian really believes in it. And most of the people I know who really believe it don't get a lot of approval for it."

"Same as mutants, then," Mystique said. "I guess you have the experience of it now. This is the third time, right?"

"On the plus side, everyone seems to just accept I'm part of the club now," Trinity managed weakly.

"You saved us, somehow," Mystique said. "You should figure out how--we could use some of that."

Trinity shrugged. "I bet anyone could have done it."

Mystique shrugged and walked up the hall.

Trinity stood there for a while yet, still waiting for the kids.

She looked up the hall at the window where she was starting to see the moon in the corner, reflecting off the snow on the trees brightly.

She chanced to look down at the hall again, and she thought she saw something like a black smoke in the hall...creeping along it like fingers.

She gasped suddenly and stepped back. But it didn't go away.

"Jewels?" she said.

"What?" Jubilee stepped out of the kids' room. "They just don't want to settle down.... Oh, geez, what's the matter?!"

"Do you see that?" Trinity pointed.

Jubilee looked. "I don't see anything. What? The hallway?"

"No, right there...the black stuff," Trinity said.

"Shadows?" Jubilee said. "I mean, it's kind of dim at the end here, but..."

"No, right there." Trinity pointed.

"I don't see anything. Are you feeling okay?" Jubilee asked her. "You look scared."

"There's...something there," Trinity said.

"I really don't think there is," Jubilee said.

"Jewels, I really see it," Trinity said.

Jubilee fidgeted nervously. "Can...can you do what Shine can? Can you see things other people can't see?"

"I don't know," Trinity said.

"Oh, crap," Jubilee said. "I'm gonna go get her."

"Mystique went down there," Trinity said. "Is anyone else on this floor?"

"Around the corner we have more rooms, but we don't really use them much," Jubilee said. "She probably was just on her way to the back stairs. Maybe her room is closer to those. I bet she's not even there anymore. I'm going to find Wally or Shine."

She took off.

"What's going on?" the kids said.

"Just stay in your rooms." Trinity wasn't sure what else to do here.

She shut the doors.

The black smoke wasn't coming any closer to her, though, but it didn't vanish either.

"Is something going on?" Emma came up the hall. "Jubilee rushed by in a real fright. I caught 'creepy ghost things' but that's all."

"Do you see those?" Trinity asked her.

Emma looked. "Do I see what?"

Then she put hand to her head. "You see black smoke? I can see it in your mind, but I don't see it any way else."

"Can you not do that?" Trinity said. "That's kind of scary, and...I'm worried. Mystique went down that way already. I don't know if anyone else is there."

"If it were a ghost or something like that, I'd know," Emma said. "Then again,my power isn't working that well...but it's not a spirit. Maybe you are just imagining things."

"I don't think so. I've never imagined things," Trinity said.

Emma went that way. "There's nothing," she said.

"Emma, don't touch it!" Trinity said.

Emma walked right through it, not seeming harmed at all. "See? Nothing," she said. "Maybe you're frightened from yesterday."

"No, I don't think so." Trinity was not sure now. Was she just hallucinating it?

"I'll check down the hall," Emma said.

She went around the corner.

Trinity felt cold again.

* * *

[This next section will have themes of sexual content that may be triggering for some readers. Nothing actually happens, but it gets close enough for the emotions to be the same, please do not read it if you feel like it might set you off.

I swear I included it for a purpose. I do not fetishize this subject. It was disgusting to write about, but the reason will be clear later.]

Mystique had been on her way to the room--and she was exhausted still (she wasn't over what Selene had done to her yet)--when she'd stopped for a reason she wasn't really sure of, some instinct maybe, and looked around.

She saw a light on in one of the rooms along the hall, though, and she went in.

It was only Scott, though. He was going through some of the books in the room.

"Oh...hi." He looked up. 

"What are you doing?" Mystique still felt uneasy.

"Looking for clues," Scott said. "I got this idea.... Maybe there's some theory about what's going on that could be useful.... Professor X had a lot of stuff about that. But so far nothing...at least nothing I can understand."

He shook his head. "I had this impression like I remember doing this before."

"You did, or your other self?" Mystique said. "He's in your dimension.... It's almost too bad the two of you can't link. Maybe we could learn something."

"Wouldn't that be bad?" Scott said.

Mystique walked up and picked up one of the books. "If talking to Shine has taught me one thing, it's that scientific theory on this stuff is only child's play. You want to start with fiction. Making sense of it is almost impossible, but she has reading lists for this sort of thing. Some of it may be in here..." She looked over the shelves. "Here it is."

She picked up a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia.

"That's a children's book," Scott said.

"Exactly," Mystique said.

The strange feeling didn't leave during this time.

"Does something feel off to you?" she said suddenly.

"Off?" Scott said.

"Something about this room..." Mystique said. "Or maybe not.... Trinity just asked me if I felt a chill, weird question. It's the middle of winter--why wouldn't I feel one. But..."

"Maybe she's just spooked after yesterday." Scott didn't think much of it. "Nice work saving her, by the way." 

"Yes, that was a stupid thing for me to do, but by all means, everyone seems to think it's somehow great," Mystique said sarcastically.

"Well, heroism can be doing something stupid," Scott reflected. "I just wish..."

No doubt something about Jean, Mystique figured.

She had no wish to continue this conversation however.

She was going to just leave the room, but something really, really strange happened then.

But she only realized it was later, because while it was happening it was more like a dream--she wasn't fully aware of it.

The room also seemed hazy, though she saw it just the same as before.

Scott seemed affected also. He suddenly put a hand to his head.

Mystique thought he said something like, "What...?"

But she hardly heard it.

Everything felt like butter...

The one sensation she had that felt real was this cold feeling inside, like a hand was gripping the inside of her chest and suppressing any attempt of hers to scream or cry out for help.

She only remembered what happened next after it ended, but then, next thing she knew, she and Scott were standing very close, and things looked like they were about to get extremely complicated...they weren't touching, but...

Neither of them really remembered what happened to make this happen; it was like being drugged...or hypnotized...

Then this abnormal wave of emotions hit them both, a mix of different things...

One thing, predominantly...

It was like one of those dreams where you feel like you can't stop something, but you still feel like you should be stopping it.

Mystique had no sense of what happened, but at the last second, for one moment she realized that something was wrong, though what she wasn't clear on, and for a second, she felt like something took the cold hand inside her and struck it, just for a moment.

Gasping in horror, she suddenly backed up.

Scott didn't seem to be aware of anything.

Mystique could feel the dreamlike feeling try to take back over, and the cold grip choked her so she couldn't yell for help or even think clearly about what was going on.

But just then, Emma came in the room, looking puzzled.

Then she stopped short. 

As if by malicious intent, at that moment Mystique snapped out of it completely. Or at least mostly.

"Emma!" She was going to say that something really, really wrong was happening here--but Emma did not give her the chance.

With fury, she hit her full force with a psionic attack.

"What are you doing?!" She sounded absolutely livid.

Scott did nothing. He seemed frozen.

Mystique now had her head enough to realize he must be in a trance, just like her, and if she didn't make Emma understand that fast, something really bad was going to happen.

But Emma had nearly knocked her out with that blow, and she couldn't form words.

She struggled to get up. 

Emma came closer, looking ready to hit her again. Psionic force pinned Mystique down. Which wasn't one of her powers...

"Emma, wait," she gasped. "Stop!"

But Emma didn't really seem like she was listening.

Oh no...

"I'll kill you," Emma sounded serious. Too much so.

But that wasn't like her...

"Oh no," Mystique heard Trinity's voice yelling.

Emma hesitated for a moment.

Mystique glanced over at the door, hoping Trinity was there with one of the DJs, but instead she had Morph with her (she found him first; he was on his way to his room).

Oh no...

Morph was watching this whole scene, looking horrified.

"Go," Emma said to Trinity, in an odd voice.

"No, no," Trinity said. "Emma, snap out of it!" She ran forward and shoved Emma. "Don't
kill her! Stop it."

Emma furiously pushed Trinity off, way harder than you'd think Emma Frost would have pushed a kid, and shoved her so hard into the door that Trinity hit her head.

She seemed conscious, but she didn't get up right away.

"Emma!" Morph said. "Stop, she didn't hurt you!"

Emma flung him out of the room.

"Emma, stop it!" Mystique got up finally.

She grabbed her arms and yanked her back.

Emma threw her aside and moved towards her.

Wally ran in right then, thank goodness, and grabbed Emma.

"Frost, cut it out!" he cried. "Are you crazy...? Wait...what is this?" He suddenly let go and looked at his hands. "I..."

Emma turned to him, but then she hesitated.

Scott looked at Wally like he might shoot him.

"Okay...both of you, right..." Wally said. "So...you interested in talking this out?"

Scott shot at him.

"I didn't think so." Wally punched him real fast. "Sorry, Scott, not sure how else to snap you out of it."

Scott suddenly sat up. "What...what just happened?"

Then he gasped in horror. "Please tell me that was in my head."

"Wally...what's going on?" Mystique said.

Wally grabbed Emma before she could move again.

"I'm not sure, but she's not herself," he said.

Mystique realized Morph hadn't come back in, and she hurried out the door.

Morph was down the hall.

"Morph, wait," she called.

Morph cast her a look. "What?" he said.

Mystique didn't like his tone...

"Morph, please," she said. "That wasn't.... I had no control over it."

"Really?" Morph said, sarcastically.

Mystique felt a chill...

Was it just from his tone, or...?

She looked around.

"I'm serious," she said. "I don't just mean.... It was like a dream."

"What?" Morph turned around, still surprised.

"I mean like...I don't really understand what just happened," Mystique said. "Hypnotism, maybe? I swear." She looked nervously at him. "Ask Wally, he's.... Emma is acting wrong also. And Scott, all three of us."

"Listen to her." Trinity stumbled into the hall. "Morph, I was trying to tell you, I saw something..." She suddenly screamed. "Oh my gosh, it's on you!"

"What?" Mystique flinched.

"Right there." Trinity pointed.

"I don't see anything," Morph said.

Mystique felt the same cold feeling as before squeeze her insides. "Oh!" she gasped.

"Hey, get off of her!" Trinity rushed at her and swatted at something neither of them could see.

But she saw it--the black smoke thing let go of Mystique with a jerk and reached at Trinity, but then it vanished.

"I think..." Trinity gasped, "something about it was really familiar.... Are you okay?"

Mystique put a hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding now. "I'm not sure."

Suddenly her stomach twisted. "Oh no..." She covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Morph asked Trinity.

"It wasn't her." Trinity looked at him, relieved. "Something else...something else had them. Not.... So it's okay, right? I mean, no, it's not. We have to get it off them, right? Where's Shine?"

"I'm here." Shine came up the hall right then. "Jubilee told me some was going on. What do you see...? Raven, you look sick."

"I feel sick also," Mystique said.

Shine gave her a long look. "Well, at least don't throw up in the hall. Bathroom right there."

Mystique ran into it and promptly was sick...much more than she should have been just from fright.

Trinity told Shine what she saw in a few sentences, and Shine walked into the study.

Wally had partially subdued Emma; he was holding her back.

"I keep trying to knock whatever it is out of her, but I can't really see it," he told Shine.

Shine pulled out her sword. "Trinity saw it. Sounds like magic of some sort."

She put the blade to Emma's forehead, and her eyes glowed.

Emma gasped, and her eyes cleared. "What...what just happened?"

Shine pulled the sword back. "I don't know what's going on, but I saw faces in my head. It felt like a person, in a way, but also magic..."

She moved to Scott, who was rubbing his head. "Shine, I think something happened that was bad."

"Whatever it is, Scott, it's not your fault," Shine said. "Let me help, okay?"

She did the same to him. "Yep...same thing.... If anything, it's stronger. If Raven is done being sick, I had better check her also. Good eye, Trinity..."

"Uh...happy to help," Trinity said.

Shine ran back out into the hall.

Emma started crying.

"Mr. West, I felt full of this inhuman rage," she said. "But I don't think.... What was that? I saw...and then..."

Emma had never cried, ever, in front of any of them, and it was almost more scary than her anger had been.

"Hey, it's okay, Emma." Wally patted her shoulder awkwardly. "You just had a bit of a spell or something on you, don't worry. Shine's really good with this. She'll get it off you. Or I can maybe. We're good with magic. Don't blame yourself."

"Did I hurt someone? I think I did," Emma said. "It was like a trance..."

"I think..." Scott said, then he stopped. "But who would...?"

"It was really wrong," Trinity said. "Who would...who would make someone do that?"

"Please tell me it wasn't that bad," Wally said.

Emma rubbed her head. "Well, it looked like it was about to be, but no, nothing that...PG-13, shall we say? Good for the girl, but..."

Shine got Raven out of the bathroom.

"That physical reaction would make sense if it was magic, but I need to check," she said. "I think we can definitely say it's the same, but..."

Mystique rubbed her stomach. "That was...easily the worst experience of doing that in my entire life.... Something vile happened in there..."

"I know," Shine said. "Hang on..."

She touched her with the sword.

"Oh!" she gasped. "It's clearer with you.... That's good, maybe. A sharp contrast might be a good thing...but that does it--I got the same image with each of them."

She lowered her sword. "It's a person, all right...or two people.... What a sick, twisted thing to do to someone..."

"What happened?" Morph wasn't angry now, he was more freaked out.

"I don't know, but what you saw, Morph, don't take it as real," Shine said. "Trinity, come here."

Trinity came back.

"You can see it. Can you tell me where it's going?" Shine asked.

Trinity pointed down the hall. "It goes out the wall, I think..."

"I thought so," Shine said. "I'll be right back."

She vanished into a portal.

Mystique rubbed her arms. "I'm...not sure I've had an experience that...nauseating before," she said weakly.

"Are you okay now?" Morph asked. "Sorry I yelled, um..."

Mystique started sobbing the same way Emma was.

She wasn't sure why she was crying. It seemed like some after effect of the feeling.

Trinity looked sorry for her.

Morph came up and hugged her. "Hey...it's over now."

Mystique shivered. "But I couldn't snap out of it...not till the end.... What if...?"

But she stopped. Trinity was standing right there after all.

Morph, not sure what else to say, just kept hugging her, and she leaned on him and just kept crying.

Scott wasn't crying, but he was definitely upset also.

"Emma, you have to believe that was under hypnosis," he said.

"I know, Scott." Emma was sitting in a chair now, looking weak. "Me too.... I've never been angry enough to...do that to someone.... I hope I didn't hurt her too badly."

"You two need to try to calm down," Wally advised. "Where'd Shine go?"

"She went to find someone." Trinity looked in. "Shouldn't she be back yet?"

"I hope..." Wally said slowly.

[Apologies for the disturbing nature of this chapter.

It does serve a purpose in the story, but it was gross to think about.]