Title: We meet again
Author: CmdrGabeE
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: X-Men movie-verse
Pairing: Magneto/Mystique

Summary: Post-X3. Raven finally confronts Erik about his betrayal. She will never forget how he left her behind. She then reveals to him what she desires the most. And she needs him to have it. Magneto/Mystique. Angst. Anger. Passion.

Chapter 1: A painful reunion

"Magneto." Erik quietly rolled the name off the tip of his tongue.

He wondered if he would ever hear anyone call him by that name again.

He exhaled, closed his hands into loose fists, and stared at the metal chess pieces before him. He had been reduced to this. A frail old man in a park, without a name to call his own. It had already been two weeks since the event at Alcatraz, and he had been in hiding ever since.

David Wincott. That was his name now. A fake name to go with a fake identity. He grimaced. He hated being with the humans. It mocked him. The fact that he now had to live amongst them made him sick. The thought alone was a mental stench that polluted his mind.

He stared at one of the chess pieces and quickly waved a hand at it. It moved a centimeter, like it always had for the past two weeks. His powers were not completely gone, but they were barely there. And that was enough to render him helpless compared to what he was once capable of doing.

Erik would never forget the feeling of the needles in his chest. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes at the memory of it. He would never forget how the cure seeped into his system...How it felt when it turned him inside-out, transforming his mutant genes into 'human' ones. It was painful, both physically and mentally. He felt as if he was being eaten alive, as if his very essence, his very person, was being sucked out of his skin. He would never forget that night.

He sighed, and looked at his watch. Six thirty in the evening. It was getting late, and he could not risk being seen in public for too long. At the state he was in right now, helpless and virtually powerless, he could not afford to be recognized as Erik Lensherr. Fear. Did he fear the humans now? Was he now the one hiding from them? Should he be? Wasn't he one of them now?

No. Never. Erik would never consider himself a part of the human gene pool.

To him, the human gene pool was dirty, imperfect and unworthy. He still couldn't believe how long those humans have survived in the planet.

He grabbed his fedora off the table, stood up, and walked home. In human standards, he would be considered 'normal' now. Using the resources he had left, he acquired a small apartment in the city. He now goes to the grocery to shop, like normal people. He now sits home, reads the newspaper, and watches television - like normal people. But he hated it. He hated each and every agonizing second of it. Because none of it was real. This new life was not his. It was fake, born from the death of the powerful mutant he once was. He didn't need this. What he needed – was his old life back.

After walking down a few blocks, he soon reached his apartment. He subtly looked around, to check if anyone had followed him or recognized him, and went up the stairs to his front door. He waved at the doorknob, expecting it to click open, but remembered that his ability to control metal was now gone.

He grumbled to himself and reached into his coat's front pocket for the key. Oh how he hated this normal life. After everything he's been through, after everything he's fought for, he did not deserve to be 'this'. He hastily opened the door and pushed it close behind him.

"What?" He whispered curiously.

He could feel the door pushing back against him, almost as if there was another force on the outer side of it. He quickly turned around and the door swung open towards him, causing Erik to step back in defense and anticipation. Then his eyes widened with surprise and his mouth gaped half-open at the sight of the woman who was now standing before him.

It was her.

"Mystique..." He spoke her name, slowly, cautiously. Its syllables slid of his tongue and slithered through his teeth. He could not believe she had found him. And he had not forgotten the fact that he had left her behind.

Raven Darkholme stood tall and proud in the doorway of Erik's apartment. She was wearing a woman's corporate attire that comfortably clung to her svelte frame, further emphasizing her voluptuous physique. Her straight dark hair came down to her shoulders, and some of it shadowed the side of her face. In her eyes was a hint of hatred as she stared at the man she once considered a comrade...a friend...a companion...until he betrayed her.

"No one has called me that for a while, Erik." She said firmly. Her voice resonated with enmity and it did more so when she spoke his name. She would never forget what Erik had done to her.

"But that doesn't mean you had to turn into someone else. You will always be Mystique...Unless of course if you have now accepted your slave name, Raven." Erik replied, spitting her name back in return. He kept his blue eyes on hers, and neither made a move – yet.

"Don't think I've forgotten what you did to me." She said, sounding angrier now. She stepped forward into the apartment and kicked the door close behind her. "You betrayed me. You left me behind! After everything I've done for you! After everything we've been through!"

Erik never wavered. He stood still where he was and seemed unshaken by Mystique's hatred towards him. "I cannot believe you still haven't moved on, my dear." His voice was smooth and calm. "I did what I had to do. You weren't one of us anymore. I 'had' to leave you behind. It was necessary." Magneto smirked and turned around to walk deeper into his living room.

"You should be thanking me for not disposing of you, considering how much you knew about me." He turned around and threw her a mocking gaze. "And according to what I've heard, you betrayed me too. That makes us even now, doesn't it?"

Raven walked after him. "That's not the point, Erik!" She yelled.

She was now standing right in front of him. She could practically feel him breathing. "You will never get the point! But it doesn't matter now. Because just like me, you are now one of them." She spat the words at him. She wanted him to feel the pain. "How does it feel, Erik? To be amongst the beings you hate the most? I bet it makes you sick to your stomach. I bet it makes you want to die!"

Erik stared her down. "At least I'm still holding on to who I am, Mystique." He said majestically. "But you..." He looked at her, up and down, and felt disgusted by what she had become. "You have come to embrace the new life the cure had given you. You let those humans talk you into becoming one them. You disappoint me, Raven. I thought you were stronger than that."

Raven grimaced with anger and pushed him hard on the chest. "Don't ever tell me who I am and who I'm supposed to be! After what you did to me!" She shouted. "Do you think it's easy, living with them? Working with them? Do you think it's easy for me, that I now have the life I've always wanted? It's not easy, Erik. It's not easy to wake up everyday and realize that being human was the answer! I don't want to accept it either, but since the cure, my life changed. I know life should not be right, but it is." Her voice softened and she grabbed him by the chest of his coat. "It's so 'right'. My life now, everything...It's what I've always wanted. And that's what scares me the most."

Erik glared at her. He looked at her as if she had committed the worst crime of all. "Then you truly have become one of them." His voice was cold and judgmental. "You let them get to you, Mystique. You let them manipulate you. And now, you're slowly starting to become --- human."

She clenched his coat tighter, pulling him closer to her. "How can I not appreciate this life, Erik? This was what I've always wanted. To be treated with respect, to be treated as an equal. To not be hurt just because I am different. And now I have all that and more."

His eyes suddenly burned with anger and he grabbed her by her upper arms. Raven instinctively let go of his coat when she felt the tight, almost painful feeling of his grip. She whimpered in pain as she looked up into the cold blue eyes that were new looking into her own.

"Don't you see, Raven? That's the reason why they now treat you as you deserve to be treated. Because they've stripped away the very essence of what once made you special, of what made you different from them. Do you think you'd have the life you have now if you were still Mystique? Do you think they would still treat you as their equal if you still had your blue skin?"

He pursed his lips in a taught line and let go of her. "Get out of my sight. You disgust me."

She rubbed her upper arms cautiously. And she looked at him with sadness in her eyes. Despite the fact that she hated him with so much passion, his words stung. And they burned their way into her soul. How could he push her away for the second time?

"I don't even know why you've come to me." He hissed through gritted teeth. "You come here and tell me how much you enjoy being one of 'them'. Well, then, forget about me. Forget about who you once were. Enjoy the mirage that is now your life." His voice poured with sarcasm. "Now get out of my face. I don't ever want to see you again."

His voice echoed in her head. She stared into his eyes, and with as much force as she could muster, slapped him hard on his left cheek. Erik's head whipped sideways from the force of her hand on his skin. His breath became ragged and he swallowed as the pain settled in. He could feel his cheek throbbing and didn't doubt it if it was now red from the impact. He looked back at her, and saw her eyes about to break out into tears. He didn't care.

"Didn't you hear what I said? I said, get out of my sight!" He said to her, louder and more forcefully this time.

She slapped him again, harder than the first time. Once again, Erik accepted the impact. He saw it coming, but he never moved away. Perhaps, because deep inside, he knew he deserved it from her.

He looked back at her again, unwavering and unshaken by the pain. A thin red line of blood slowly made its way from the small cut on his cheek, right down to his jaw. He had almost forgotten how physically powerful she was. Her physical prowess was an innate ability. She had attained it on her own through the years. It was never a mutant trait. Her human qualities were always at their best.

"Have you come here to hit me then? Seek revenge? Make me feel the pain you think I deserve?" He smirked and his eyes were as blue and as cold as ever. "Then go on, Mystique. Feed your anger. Hurt me if you think it will satisfy you. Go on. After all, I'm just an old man now, void of his powers. You can easily kill me if you want me to. I dare you." He slipped off his coat and let it fall on the floor. Then he smirked at her, mocking her, teasing her. "What are you going to do now, Raven? Would you like me to bleed some more? Does the color of my blood feed your hunger for revenge?"

Raven never said a word. Her breaths were now shallow and ragged Her chest and shoulders heaved up and down as she stared at him, face to face. She couldn't help it, but she hated him. She hated him so much she wanted to cry. He betrayed her. And his betrayal was more painful than any of the pain she had endured in her life. She would never forget the way he left her...Cold and naked, amidst the bodies of the humans they had killed. She would never forget the way he looked at her in disgust.

She suddenly cried out in anger, tears finally streaming down her face, and she slapped him again on his bleeding cheek. She slapped him as hard as she could, screaming out and crying out as she did. She hated him so much she wanted to hurt him.

"Why, Erik?" She asked, yelling at him. "It didn't have to end that way!"

Erik's face violently whipped sideways when Raven's hand came full-force on his cheek for the third time. And this time around, his knees buckled from the pain and the dizziness. His eyes almost rolled to the back of his head. The room around him was now spinning. It looked like his Mystique was done playing games. She wanted her justice served.

Right after she slapped him, she quickly reached out and grabbed him by the neck of his black sweater. She tugged him hard and fast towards her and kissed him mercilessly on the lips, pressing his lips so hard against hers that it almost hurt.

She kissed him, devoured him, sucking and kissing his lips, his tongue, his mouth. She hungered for him. She didn't know why, but she did. She tasted a hint of the blood that tricked from his cheek to his lips, but she didn't care. She wanted him all to herself. It was all happening so fast it felt like a drug rushing its way through her veins. She slid her hands up his sweater, feeling his warm, smooth skin underneath the fabric. She wanted him so much.

Before she could go any further, Erik pushed her off of him, cutting off the contact of their skin. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked angrily. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand. Then he carefully touched touched his cheek and winced at the pain he found there.

He took a step backwards, away from her, and felt the back of his leg against the armrest of the couch. "What has gotten into you? Why did you..." He didn't know how to continue. He didn't know the right words to say, or if those 'right words' even existed.

He, himself, was surprised with what just happened. He never expected her to do what she did. He expected her to kill him, not kiss him. Why did she do it? Why?

x x x x x x

To be continued...

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