Mystique slid into the darkroom, purloined keys clutched tightly in her scaly hands. She didn't dare turn on the overhead lights, so even with her mutant eyes, the shackled woman in the chair seemed ghostly.
Her trepidation hadn't been enough to overcome her need for answers. Even so, faced with the creature who'd caused her such pain, she was afraid. Steady, she told herself. Any answers she could get would be worth it, as long as she was brave.
The girl stirred, and Mystique felt those green eyes settle on her with a prickle of fear. They were sleepy now, their intensity like banked coals. She steeled herself to speak. "Please don't hurt me yet," she requested softly. "I'm not here to pick a fight." Silence pooled between them, gravid and tense. "I just want to know… about you. About Charles. I promise, I won't ask anything you can't answer."
The woman regarded her emotionlessly. "Is he alright?" Mystique burst out. The petite woman studied her, then inclined her head. Yes, Charles was okay. She sighed. "The FoH didn't get them," she said, half question, half statement. A faint nod was her answer. "You have to know I regret it. Hurting him, I mean." Silence.
"Why can't you speak?" the blue woman asked at last. "Is it… were you born like that?" Time passed, and Mystique almost concluded that there was to be no reply, but then the other woman's shoulders relaxed. She reached up with cuffed hands and slid her collar down to the clavicle. In the dark, Mystique could see the white reflection of a scar at the base of the woman's throat, just over the place where her vocal chords would begin. "You were injured?" she guessed.
An guarded expression. "Someone injured you," Raven revised. "Who?" Silence. "Mutants?" No. "Humans?"
A brief nod. "They do that a lot," she said, feeling a burst of sympathy. "Why you?"
A precise series of hand motions, before the empath remembered signing was futile. Shifting gears, she mimed something. It was as if she held a microphone. Her mouth moved soundlessly. "…Singing?" Mystique deduced. The woman went still. "You were a singer?" A dip of the chin. "Why would that make someone hurt you?"
Glittering eyes in the dark. "Oh. Something to do with your mutation, I'm guessing." No response. "You must have been truly formidable."
A long susurration of air. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry. I just want to figure things out. You say my brother is well, but… I guess maybe I've been away too long. There's so much I want to know. How did he meet you? How is his work going? When did he get so… ready for a fight?"
Those green eyes softened, and Raven felt the play of foreign emotions stealing through her body. Love. Forgiveness. Sorrow. Regret. She breathed deeply, her eyes watering. "I don't understand," she breathed. "I don't know what you're trying to say."
Pain. Betrayal. Forgiveness. Longing. Kinship. "Are these Charles' emotions?" Raven gasped, finally making the connection. "Are you showing me how he feels?"
A firm nod.
"Oh God," she said, some long-held unhappiness breaking apart inside of her and giving way to light. "Oh my God, I have to go back."
A brilliant smile flashing in the dark.
"I'll tell him you sent me," Raven said, her voice full of tears and gratitude. "I'll give him your love."
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"Raven," he said, and his voice was cold. The kind of cold she thought had died with Kurt Marko almost two decades ago. For a moment she wished fervently she were back at headquarters, safe from the uncertainty and turmoil of this haunted old house. Give Magneto credit where he's due, but he could never pull off disappointment a tenth so well as Charles Xavier.
"I'm sorry," she said simply. He breathed into the air of the study, and his face was so suspicious, so closed. She held on to the faint echoes of the feelings Kalliope had sent her, and stepped closer.
"Forgive me, I forget you don't go by that name any longer. What do you want, Mystique?" She didn't quite have the words yet, and he made an impatient noise through his teeth. "I'm rather busy at the moment, if you were unaware."
"Looking for someone?" she supplied, and he stiffened in his chair.
"You can tell me now, or I can rip it out of you," he warned her grimly. Her heart stuttered. "She's at the Brotherhood. Frost brought her. She's unharmed." His jaw clenched, and his eyes closed.
"Thank you," he bit out after a moment. "Now. Please leave."
That broke something in her, and she was rushing forward, heedless of the way his ink-stained hand rose defensively to his brow. "Charles, Charles," she cried. "Read my mind." He hesitated. "Read my mind, brother, read it now."
He did, and if he was a little less finessed at the moment, a little less gentle than she remembered, she understood. She gave him all her conflict, and he sifted through it rapidly, pausing on her last conversation, pulses of static coming off him in little bursts. At last he withdrew, and she fell into a graceful crouch beside him. A hand made its way to rest on her red hair, and a long-held tension left her shoulders.
"I never meant to hurt you, Raven," he said quietly. "All I ever wanted for you was your safety."
"But we're not safe, Charles. We never have been," she replied sadly.
"You think I don't know that? Dearest, you are brave and brilliant and fierce, but you don't hear what I hear every day. The world is darkness and pain and you were a rare light. I won't regret my selfishness in wanting to preserve that."
"Magneto gave me my freedom," she answered. "I can't regret that either. I was sick of the shadows, Charlie - I can't go back to what I was. But," she hesitated, "I was hoping you'd let me stay anyways. From time to time."
He smiled at her a little, not the old transcendent smile of yore, rather a sad smile that took a long time to reach his eyes. "I can deny you nothing. You've got me by the heart."
"I love you to pieces," she answered honestly. "Even if you're completely insufferable." She stood, and his hand trailed down to clasp her fingers.
"I need to speak to the team," he said, and she let their hands fall apart as he wheeled himself to the door. At the threshold, he looked back at her, waiting. She looked back. "Well?" he said finally, his tone impatient. "Are you coming?"
Giddiness surged through her, and she hurried to catch up.
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Magneto eyed Frost irritably as she exited the darkroom, looking flushed. "I really like her," Emma breathed happily. "She's fun."
"Yes, a barrel of laughs," he said darkly. His voice went sharp. "Don't go in there again without my permission, or I'll rip that silver filling right out of your pretty head."
"Killjoy," Frost grumbled, but she made herself scarce. He slammed into the room. Cantor looked fairly pleased with herself. Frost had brought her food and water, along with what looked like a wash cloth and a toothbrush. Magneto wondered what the girl had done to garner so much coddling, then decided he didn't really care. He slapped the notebook down on the table. A rusty smudge still decorated the corner where the spirals had split her lip.
"I'll cut to the chase. I need to speak with Charles. This little feud has gone on long enough, and there is work to be done. You're going to help me." She raised an eyebrow at him, and took a noisy bite of apple. He ground his teeth. "I have a number of ways to make you cooperate. I'm not a gentle man. Your continued good health is merely a diplomatic courtesy, and that can change right now. For your sake, I suggest you pick up the fucking pen."
Green eyes assessed him. With a little sniff, she tossed the apple on the desk and began to write. She slid the book over to him. I need to pee, it said, and I wouldn't mind a shower.
"You'll hold it, or you won't. I don't really give a damn. What I want is Charles."
He'll be glad to hear it. Anyways, don't trouble yourself. He'll be along shortly.
He sneered. "With what directions, exactly? I know your kind. If he'd known where to find you he'd have been here, standard waving, two nights ago."
She shrugged. Call it a hunch. In fact, why not wait outside together? She tapped her nose. After some bathroom time, of course. You know how he hates it when we don't dress for dinner.
**Okay! We're about halfway done here, and I'm thinking I might give you guys a sexy treat next chapter. Let me know what you think.**