*A/N: Hello everyone! Ya know, if I just updated sooner, I wouldn't have to apologize so much. I'm really, really sorry about this. I know that it's been a long time, but please forgive me! I've got school to worry about and I'm going to State Competition for Mock Trial in two weeks, so I've been practicing for that. Anyway, hopefully this chapter is long enough for everyone and I hope that ya'll like it!

_____________________________

He spent the next few minutes merely holding her, grasping to the small shred of fantasy in his arms. What a sinful release from the real world! How cruel to lock a tortured soul away, never to breathe anything but cold, stagnant air. But none of that mattered now. The heartache, pain, and anguish that had resided, uninvited, in his mind now seemed to gloriously disintegrate. He breathed deeply, allowing his memory to make an unforgettable imprint of her scent. Oh, let her live inside of him forever. Let the mutant against mutant war subside. In such a time, a petty individual could amount to nothing next to a prodigious, omnipotent entity. What the hell was he thinking?

"Mystique?" He questioned softly.

He felt her stir in his arms and a sudden pang of guilt struck him for disturbing her moment of silence.

"Hmm?" She replied and let her head rest in the middle of his chest; the soft, methodic beating of his heart had soothed her, but now the smallest change occurred, causing his heart rate to increase almost unnoticeably. Disturbed by this change, the blue mutant shifted uneasily and furrowed her eyebrows.

Sitting up, she noticed that his eyes had already locked on to hers, as if they had been waiting for her head to lift and her eyes to be revealed. Mystique was surprised to feel her face heat up as she looked at him. His appearance was sincere, brown eyes heated with a metallic fire. She knew what he wanted.

"Mystique," he repeated almost breathlessly.

She tried to keep his steady gaze, but her conscience made her turn away in shame. Her morality, though she thought she had lost it, now screamed and raged inside of her.

You know what you've done, it scolded her. You know that you can never be with him because of what you've done.

But I want to be with him! Her heart screamed.

John watched as the woman in front of him trembled, suddenly beginning to shake violently.

"Mystique! What's wrong?" The tone of his voice was urgent, the look in his eyes of the utmost fear. "Stop, baby, it's okay. Don't do this; stop shaking. Shhh... It's okay."

But she couldn't stop. A battle was coursing through her mind, capturing her thoughts and slaughtering every ounce of hope that she had left. She helplessly watched as her pride and any scrap of happiness that she had managed to obtain were crucified with nails made from every wrong deed that she had ever done. The demons of her covert insecurity toyed with her emotions and reveled in her pain.

He only wants to get to her. He doesn't love you, never has. He wants the real Raven, not you! No one wants a devious, pathetic blue mutant.

"No!"

"Mystique, what...?"

Violently, the shape-shifter lurched away from John and got to her feet. Her piercing yellow eyes now misted over with a type of fury that John had never seen before.

"I know what you want," she whispered. "But I cannot give it to you."

A bewildered stare appeared on John's face. "What are you talking about? Why can't I have you?" But that only seemed to infuriate her.

"You don't want me, you bastard! You want Raven, your little precious equal! You've never wanted me!"

"Mys-"

"Don't 'Mystique' me. You don't know who I am! You are worthless to me."

A thick silence now coated the room. The last words spoken now dripped from the stained walls and fell into steaming puddles on the old carpet, sizzling with the animosity expressed and felt. Pyro felt his blood boil past the point of rage.

"I've sacrificed for you!" He shouted. "I've nearly died trying to be with you and you have the nerve to tell me that I'm worthless and that I don't know who you are? Bullshit, Mystique. Fucking bullshit! How can you stand there in front of me, after all we've been through, and tell me that you don't love me? Of course I'm curious about Raven; she went to my school. Hell, when I met her, I was an immature, hotheaded asshole who only liked her for her body. Yeah, I admit it! I was only in it for the ass. But you know what? I've changed, damn it. I don't love Raven, I never have, but I love you. If that's not enough for you... if my heart, beating on the floor in front of you, isn't enough for you... then I don't know what you want from me."

The two mutants stood face to face, both chests heaving with anger, both sets of eyes inhabited by an angry blaze. Pyro was to the point of tears; he didn't know what to do anymore. He could feel his eyes stinging but he never took his eyes off the woman before him. If he looked away, she would be gone. Like a dream, she would disappear. Like a character in a book, she would seep into the pages, never to be brought to life, but to remain in a fictitious world where he could never reach her. And John would remain alone... like he always has been.

"I don't know what you want from me," he whispered.

The yellow eyes lost their angry mist and now were splashed with sorrow. He had just told her that he didn't love Raven; did she believe him? Of course she did. She had no reason not to. He had no reason to lie.

Quietly, Mystique stepped forward until her lips were inches away from John's. She leaned her head toward his and let her hands grasp his sides. Sighing, she breathed in the last traces of his anger and felt her own fury dissipate.

"If you want to see her, I can bring you to her."

Allerdyce's attention had been nabbed. "She's alive?"

Mystique nodded. "Yes, but just barely. I don't want you to be angry with me; it wasn't my decision. When you see her..."

Her words barely made their way out of the mutant's mouth. What was so hard for her to say? John reached his hand up to her face and stroked her cheek. Unconsciously, as if some outside force compelled him, he placed his lips softly on hers and kissed her. It was passionate yet tender. Mystique found herself unable to stop what she truly wanted; she allowed the kiss to continue, tilting her head and placing her hands on his chest. That outburst had come from nowhere, she realized. Maybe it was jealousy, but whatever the case, Mystique did not want it to come back.

She broke the kiss after a few long moments. "Come with me," she said. "But I'll warn you now, it's not something I'm proud of."

The two mutants left the apartment and stepped out into the cold night air. Mystique beckoned John to a nearby car and the two drove off to the same dock that John and Bobby had sailed from to the Brotherhood hideout seemingly so long ago. When they arrived, three speedboats and two jet skis floated motionless in their designated areas. John wanted to ask to whom they belonged, but as soon as Mystique hopped into the closest boat and hotwired it, he was certain that they did not belong to her.

After all, he thought, where would she keep the key?

_____________

"What's your status, Toad?"

"Everythin's fine 'ere, Mags. She's on 'er way with Pyro now."

"Excellent," the voice crackled, "make sure they get here unscathed."

"Yeah," Toad said, holding the radio firmly. "See ya soon."

______________

"It's this way," the blue mutant gestured to John as they leapt onto the island's rocky shore. Cautiously, the fire manipulator looked around and took his lighter from his pocket.

"Where are we going?"

"We can't be seen here. There's no telling what Magneto might do to me if he saw you here... if he saw me here." John was about to inquire as to why she was in danger, but Mystique ducked into a hidden door and he was forced to choke down his question.

He entered darkness. A scaled hand grabbed his and directed him through endless hallways of blackness and chilling cement walls. Finally, his guide stopped at a steel door and heaved the lock up. Silently, she yanked him inside.

John stood in awe as he gazed around him. Numerous glass tanks stood upright against each wall, some filled with a clear liquid like water. Toward the middle of the room, an identical glass container had been laid on the floor, parallel to where John was standing. Slowly he stepped toward the container; a swirl of red could be seen toward the far end of the tank, shrunken white figures lay uselessly about a pale body. And at that moment, John realized what he was staring at- Raven's body.

She was in a glass tank filled with water, its entirety disturbed by deliberate bubbles created by a nearby machine. Clear tubes, John noticed, emerged from Raven's nose. Her ruby hair floated about her pale shoulders and framed her still face. John could not believe what he was seeing.

"What have you done to her?" He croaked.

Mystique came to his side and put her hand on his shoulder. "I told you it was awful. Just know that I feel terrible for what we've done to her."

"But what have you done?"

"Phoenix demanded that we use Firecat, here, to enhance Phoenix's powers. As long as Firecat is in this tank, Phoenix's telekinetic ability, as well as her pyrokinetic skills, are greatly amplified."

John reached for a plug on the large machine next to the tank. "Then let's get her out of here."

"No!" Mystique grabbed his hand just in time and roughly threw him aside.

"What the hell was that for?" Pyro demanded. But Mystique remained composed.

"Don't do that unless you want her to die. She's been in there too long to be released."

John let his eyes study the shape-shifter's face for a moment until they fell to Raven's naked body. He stared at her face and tried to remember if that was what she looked like when he had last seen her, if he had seen her at all. Yes, that was a question that had yet to be truthfully answered. John placed a hand on the tank and felt a chill run through his spine.

Raven's eyes were open.