Chimera had gone home for the night, and Hank now just huddled in the corner, an odd look for such a large person. They'd debated for hours on ways to help Bobby. There was an idea of placing him in a hot bath, and Hank had to admire the simplicity of the idea, but he doubted it would work. And at the very least it wouldn't be permanent. He fondly thought of that morning, how he'd woken Bobby, and a small smile spread on quivering lips. He wanted nothing more in the world right now than to just curl up with Bobby and listen to him breathe. It amazed him that of all the things in the world that he could possibly want, something so simple was so unattainable. He was a world renowned scientist, and yet here, he was powerless.

He could recognize the problem, and that was the first step to solving it. But taking the next step would require that he can alter the problem. And at the moment, he had no idea how. He could run no tests, because his samples were nothing but ice. He didn't fully understand the mechanism for Bobby's change, and therein lay another problem. His head pounded as if he'd exhausted every ounce of thought from his prodigious mind.

Hank was finding it very difficult to keep himself impartial and objective. He'd always been able to distance himself from any situation and look at it as if he was another person. He felt like howling. He felt like smashing the room. He felt like sobbing. Instead, simply giving in to the emotions that had been circling him all day, finally letting them out as he shook. Hank decided that there truly was no god. How could such a being throw so much misery into their lives and expect to be worshiped? How could a being with the power to do anything he chose just sit idly by and watch his creations suffer? Hank would make it a point, if he ever met such a being to discuss the moral implications of being a race's caretaker. And some part of him vowed also to blacken that being's eyes.

After a few moments, Hank got up from the sterile floor and shook himself off. He was obviously not going anywhere with this tonight, and he was tired. Shoulders hunched, he walked down the hallways feeling as though he'd just lost an epic battle. He dragged himself around the corners and finally arrived in front of his room. He could hear the television on, and knew Bobby would be inside. He suddenly had a bad feeling. Bobby may be expecting him to have made progress or solved the problem entirely. He thought for a moment that he could just say he was on to something as he had before, but he didn't think Bobby had bought it then, and surely wouldn't now. He thought next of sleeping in the cot he had in his lab. But then Bobby would wonder where he was and... The door opened. Hank panicked.

Much as Bobby's refractive body was truly a work of art (an especially delectable piece of art), seeing him still in the Iceman form was just another reminder of his lack of progress. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't get anything out. He was very rarely tongue tied, and it was the first time to feel it with his lover. Bobby saw the look in his eyes and stepped forward, hugging him softly. Hank shivered at the cold and Bobby started to pull away. Hank's arms quickly locked around him and pulled him close, hugging him so tightly that he worried for a moment about hurting him.

"Its okay, Hank." Bobby whispered into his ear. Hank moved into the room and sat down heavily on the bed. His chest began to tingle, then go numb. He hugged tighter. He longed for the warmth of his lover's body and to be able to just hold him through the night. He had to find a way. Bobby pulled back, knowing that Hank wouldn't let him go, even if he got frostbite or worse. It was a comforting feeling, but as they sat next to each other, both felt helpless and frustrated.

Chimera dozed quietly next to Raien, halfway watching the rise and fall of his magnificent chest, caught somewhere between being awake and asleep, and not minding at all. Raien shook mildly and Chimera woke fully. His lover's head moved back and forth, his back arching, having some terrible nightmare. Chimera tried to wake him, softly saying his name and gently shaking him. Raien hadn't slept well the past few days, tossing and turning, having nightmares, and didn't seem to be really getting any rest. Chimera shook him less gently, expecting him to wake, but he didn't. He shook harder, but Raien's eyes stayed shut and his back arched at a painful angle. His mouth open now, screaming silently, his breathing coming quick and shallow. Chimera scooped him up in his arms and sprinted down the hallway to the all too familiar infirmary. Raien was still asleep. Something was very wrong here. It wasn't natural.

He turned the last corner and burst through the doors only to find an empty room. Panicking he lay Raien on a table and slammed a hand to the communicator.

"HANK! Its Chimera, I need your help! I can't wake Raien and... Something's not right!" he yelled, beginning to shake.

"I will be right there." Said a calm, if ragged sounding voice. Some relief hit him, and he opened the door to see Hank running down the hallway, and Jean walking down another. Confusion lit her face and she started running too.

Jean ran down the hallways, her scarlet hair trailing behind her, the glow of flames in her eyes. Running became too slow and her feet lifted from the ground, the air around her glowing soft yellow. Her face twisted in a snarl as the doorways blurred to either side. After today, Emma Frost would be known as the Red Queen. Jean was going to rip her limb from limb. She liked Raien. She liked Chimera. And she didn't know which was worse. Watching Raien shudder with whatever Emma was doing to him or watching the panicked terror on Chimera's face. It had taken her a mere instant to sense Emma's presence in his mind.

She reached the door and it shattered inward sending splinters flying into the room. Rage overcame her and the air all around her caught fire, awakening a force Jean tried so hard to control. For once, their goals were one and the same. Emma sat on her bed, holding her head in her hands, lips pressed together, eyes jammed shut. She hadn't even reacted to Jean entering. She extended a hand toward her victim and lifted her into the air, making her eyes open, the sudden look of stark horror on her face.

Jean was surrounded by crimson hellfire and snarling like a demon from the pit. Power surged through her body telling her this was what she'd wanted all her life. What she'd wanted since before she was born. Burn. Yes. Buuurrn. She felt stronger than she had in years, stronger even than when the Phoenix force had possessed her the first time. She pulled her right hand back, flame swirling and concentrating in her palm. Her pulse and breathing hastened. The feelings rampaging through her body were stronger, more real that life itself. She took in all the power, hatred, and malice she'd ever had any time in her life, curling it into a single flame, burning menacingly. One last breath and her shoulder drew back. Emma screamed, surprising Jean. Her cry made her feel superior. Like a god. Power over life and death. Every fiber of her being told her to exercise the latter. Told her to burn. Everything.

JEAN! YOU MUST STOP! came the voice of the Professor into her mind. She nearly went ahead and killed Emma. SHE'S TRYING TO HELP HIM! Confusion. The flames in her fist died, and the smile left her face. She felt herself calming, and something about it left a distinct mark, one only Xavier's mind carried. Part of her tried to fight it, like a drowning child, but the part of her that was Jean Grey-Summers knew it was needed. As control over her body returned to her, Jean looked around the room at the havoc she'd caused. The doors had been completely shattered, leaving large splinters in nearly every wall, some having narrowly missed the woman now slumped on the floor like a cowering animal. Everything in the doorway carried a thick layer of ash and smoldering embers. She realized slowly what had happened. And worse, what had almost happened. She shivered despite the heat of the room.

The professor wheeled through the doorway. "I'm sorry Jean, I should have told you." he said, looking... Scared?

"Told me what?" Jean asked, dusting the soot from her arms.

"That I was trying to help Raien. I was almost done, and after that display, I have to wait for him to fall asleep again." Emma said, groaning. She was rapidly regaining her frigid façade, something Jean despised. "I was almost done!" She glowered at Jean through tired ice cold eyes, but Jean wasn't looking. She'd taken another look at the damage she'd caused. She'd lost control. Another moment and the Phoenix force would have swallowed her again. Even now, she could feel it clawing around inside her mind angry at being so close to freedom then denied. She simply walked out of the room in search of a dark corner to hide in while she regained her composure.

Raien was awake now, and Chimera was breathing easier. Hank looked like he wanted to kick his patient out of the bed and use it himself. They'd heard Jean mutter the name Frost before she'd stormed out of the room looking like she was going to kill someone. Hank had put the pieces together easily, even in his current state of sleep deprivation. The door opened to admit Xavier and Emma. Hank was confused. Emma was supposed to be at the root of this. He looked over to see Raien glaring bitterly at her. If looks could kill, Emma Frost would have been beyond even the Shi'ar's power to save.

"Raien, Emma has been trying to help you. It appears she has an ability I do not possess." Charles explained. "She has been trying to heal you."

Raien hardly moved. His glare now encompassed Xavier. "I didn't ask for any help. I didn't want any help!" he said coldly, crossing his arms across his chest. Emma rolled her eyes. She stared suddenly, very intently at him. He felt something was wrong. Then pain erupted in his forehead as he felt something punch its way through his skull. He gasped and his back arched. Every muscle in his body shook.

Chimera's eyes went wide. "You're hurting him!" He cried. Seeing no reaction he took a step forward. "If you do not stop now, you will regret it." He said balling one fist so tight his knuckles popped. Another step forward. Emma didn't move.

"Chimera, please give her-" Charles began before being interrupted. Chimera's fist swung back. Suddenly the room shook violently, and a general feel of wrongness hung in the air, as if suddenly the world was turning on its head. Chimera's head snapped back to Raien. His brown eyes suddenly exploded with light, pure as the winter snow, piercing the dimness of the lab. He cried out in one last moment of pain, and then it was over.

"There." Emma said, sounding pleased with herself. Chimera's fist loosened. He didn't know what to think, or what to do except go to the bedside.

Raien caught his breath and turned to Emma. His face was ashen and totally unreadable. He looked at her for a moment, then turned to Hank. "I think I need to go back to my quarters." He said sounding totally withdrawn. No emotion whatsoever in his voice. Hank raised an eyebrow but slowly nodded. He walked swiftly out the door, Chimera following. He heard him thank Beast. Then the door shut. He stopped in the hallway. He heard a stifled female scream, then a loud thud on the wall of the infirmary. Raien smiled in spite of himself. He really did love that man. Raien had been about to kill Emma, and the worst part about it was that he was sure she knew. His head throbbed, but was clearing rapidly. Already he was feeling better than he had in a week. He just wanted to go home. And be with Chimera. He turned thoughtful for a moment, and the door opened, his lover walking slowly toward him, his face a tangled mass of emotion.

Eventually they got back to their quarters. Raien sat on the edge of the bed, and Chimera joined him. They sat silently. So many different emotions were running through his head. He had his powers back. For the last week, he'd felt like he was reaching for something that was no longer there when he tried to call upon his gift. Now he could feel it there, like some kind of weapon always at his side to defend himself with. He'd actually given up on ever getting it back, and as much as he hated the fact that his eyes would forever mark him a mutant, they were a part of him. Being different from the norm was something that was actually comforting in a way. Raien would never be lost within a crowd or ignored. At least, that would have mattered a year ago. During the time when he could walk the streets as a normal human, he'd learned something.
The things that had always mattered to him, the things he'd wished for since that day in high school were more empty now, like he'd put those wishes on the back burner. Now he just wished that he could be left alone with the person he loved. Since they'd met it had been just one thing after another. In a way, though, Raien had to thank the Friends of Humanity. Had they not captured both him and Chimera, they would never have been together. Raien didn't know how he could have gone on, how he could have made it this far without him. He crawled into his lover's lap silently, locking arms around his large head, fingers entangling in the course mane of hair which fell past Chimera's shoulders.
Gently, their lips touched, with just the faintest brush of Chimera's tongue to his. It still took Raien's breath away. He sighed. When they kissed, when they made love, it was like their souls touched. Like they were one and the same and nothing mattered because together, they were safe.
Lazily, Chimera leaned back, laying with Raien on top of him.

"I wish I could take you away, Raien. To somewhere we wouldn't have to worry like this. Where people wouldn't want to hurt us all the time." Chimera whispered. For a long time, Raien lay pondering that thought. He didn't think such a place existed. A place where they could fit in, where people wouldn't look at them weird or refuse to sell them a jug of milk, or throw them out on the streets. He wondered what such a place would look like. Another planet perhaps? A place full of lush green gardens, with exotic birds, and deep blue oceans. Raien could picture it all, how perfect it would be. He could come home from doing whatever he did, to Chimera, and they could just be together with hardly a worry or care in the world. The image in his mind was so vivid, so clear, and so beautiful; he was actually on the verge of tears. He had to get up to cover it.

He walked to the window, which was actually a projection as they were underground, but it was as if he was looking outside from the ground level. The sun rose leisurely, the sky turned a thousand shades of blue and crimson and everything in between. Raien blinked. That sun rose over gardens much like what he'd pictured just a moment before. He blinked again. No one had looked at them like they were freaks since they'd been here. Not for being mutants at least. He had friends here, something he'd missed since he'd been with the Morlocks. He missed Calisto and the others. She had always been willing to listen to him, and although her exterior was that of a stoic warrior and leader, she had a soft voice and knowing eyes. He would love to be able to talk to her now. To show her this place, and how wrong they'd been to think they wouldn't have been taken in.

Strong arms wrapped around him, Chimera's scent enveloped him as his lover's head rest softly on his shoulder from behind. Raien leaned his own head back softly into the soft muscle on Chimera's chest.

"Maybe we're already here, Chimera." Raien said softly. Chimera's arms tightened around him.

Rogue and Gambit lay on the couch under a large blanket, Hank and Bobby on the other, Bobby wrapped in the blanket and Hank holding him through that. It reminded Rogue of how she and Remy had gotten around her mutation. A new gymnast interrupted her train of thought. A Russian woman named Slavetskaya. It would seem strange to anyone else but the four in the room that they'd be watching this. Most of the people in the room could perform on par or exceed the skill of any of these people. Hank especially. She'd seen him jump nearly eight feet in the air from his hands. No gymnast she'd ever seen could even come close to that even on their feet. Though she had to admit, the routine was impressive.

The woman sprang easily from hands to feet back to hands and into the air, more graceful than the woman's large frame looked to be capable of. Large being compared to the other women who looked like they'd not eaten in a week. She wondered seriously if any of them had. This Slavetskaya's movements were entrancing. Beautiful and airy to totally contrast the harsh music she moved to. It carried with it the thick and heavy tones of traditional Russian music, but also seemed somber and reflective at the same time. Every flip, every tumble, every landing was flawless. Rogue was captivated. The woman landed on one foot while the song was playing its final notes. On the last, her arms flew back, chest extended in a powerful and triumphant stance.

Brilliant ribbons of color sprang to life around her suddenly, exploding outward as if to punctuate the last note. She lost all composure, stepping backward off the mat, obviously confused. She was staring at her hands and the audience had fallen deathly silent. A moment more and realization crossed her face of what had happened and in front of how many people it had happened. The cameras zoomed in as commentators were at a loss to explain what had just happened.

The whispers of the audience were a deafening roar, Alexa Slavetskaya had no idea what had happened. She'd been tested for the X-Gene and been found negative, just like everyone in the Olympics. They'd had such a problem over the past years that the testing, while not being mandatory was a huge black mark if you did not get it done. She'd seen them do the testing herself. She'd had mutant friends before they'd been taken away, and talked to them in detail about what it was like to have powers like theirs. They'd all said they felt something when they used their powers. Those that had them anyway. She'd felt nothing.

Suddenly she realized she'd backed into something. She heard the hissing of air hoses and the whirring of mechanical motors. Slowly turning, she jumped back, falling in the process. Black leather. Face totally covered, the only openings, goggles for a man's eyes and several wires and hoses. The man was terrifying.

"I'm not a mutant!" She cried when she saw the FoH arm band. He took a step forward. Tears streamed down her face blurred the glittering makeup she'd put on that morning. She clawed backwards away from the man. He took another step forward. And another. The ominous sound of his footfalls made her realize the crowds had stopped whispering.

"I'M NOT A MUTANT!!" she screamed at him. "I've been tested!" The man said nothing. He stopped directly in front of her. He raised a hand and opened a gloved fist and she suddenly found herself on her feet in front of him. Her heart felt as though it was going to burst through her chest. Her whole body tingled unnaturally. Her breathing hastened and she looked to one side. Looked to the audience, eyes pleading for something. Anything. Just before she heard the cheering, she saw the eyes of a small boy. She saw the hatred inside those eyes. Alexa screamed.