MUCH thanks to all who reviewed the previous chapter :D! And to Capt. O'Hagan, 'tis such an honor to have you enjoying this fanfic ;)!

"Did I disappoint you or let you down?

Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?

'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,

Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.

So I took what's mine by eternal right.

Took your soul out into the night.

It may be over but it won't stop there,

I am here for you if you'd only care."

James Blunt, Goodbye My Lover

Chapter 03: A much needed conversation

Without saying a word, Mystique wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned forward, filling the short space between them, and sobbed on his shoulder. Silently she weeped, pressing her temple against his fair skin. Erik let her be. He knew he should pull away from her and tell her to go. But he let her weep in peace. He had already said too much and brought her too much pain for one night. He had been cruel to her...brutally honest without holding anything back. To let her cry freely was the least he could do. He wanted her to have a time of peace.

He looked at the window. He didn't know if he was ready to look at her face again. He was a cold man, but to see her cry because of him would only crush him.

Erik wished he could love her. He truly did. He wished he could let himself go and love her as much as he could, but it was something he could not afford. To love her would only complicate things. His love for her would hold him back. If he let himself fall for Mystique, he knew he wouldn't be able to take it if something happened to her because of their war, 'his' war. If he sent her to a mission and lost her, it would drive him insane. Such was the pains of love. And that was why he couldn't love her.

"I can't love you, Raven." He finally whispered. He kept his eyes away from her. "You know that. I cannot allow myself to love you. Not until this war is over. And it might never be over. This is the price I have to pay...The price 'we' have to pay for what we're fighting for."

"I hope you understand." He continued. "And I hope you rethink 'this'. Ask yourself what you really want. You're unsure of so many things right now, Mystique. I don't think having a child is the answer." He paused. "I don't think I'm the answer."

Raven gasped, and she kept her head on his shoulder. Tears continued to flow, and some of them trickled down his skin. She closed her eyes and pressed herself harder against him, pulling him close. She just wanted to feel more of him. And the sound of his heart beating comforted her. He made her feel like herself again. And Mystique liked that. He reminded her of who she really was. Being with him made her feel like she belonged again.

She softly exhaled and nuzzled against the side of his neck. He felt so warm, so sturdy against her. And Erik felt her comfort in him. She seemed more calm now, and he liked it. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he liked feeling her this close. He reached up and delicately ran his fingers through her raven dark hair. He wanted her to know that he was still there with her.

"So what now, Mystique?" He asked softly. "What do we do now? Where do we go from here?"

"Please don't ask me that, Erik. Not now, please." She replied. "Ask me about tomorrow. But don't ask me about now. Don't ask me about tonight. I'm happy where I am right now...Here...With you..." She whispered close to his neck. "If only it could always be as simple as this."

Erik exhaled. "If only, Raven. But it can't. It can never be simple between us. You know that. You've known that from the moment we've met." He said softly. Erik continued to run his fingers through her raven black hair. "You and I, we can never be like 'them'. We can never 'live' like them. We can never 'love' like them. Perhaps you can...But I cannot. I've gone too far to turn back now, my dear...too far and too deep. I've begun this war and I plan to finish it."

Mystique exhaled, and let the last of her tears trickle down her face. She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder, and looked deep into his eyes. "If it ends...If the war ends, will you love me then? Will you let me love you – when the time comes? When we're finally free?" There was suddenly a glimmer of hope in her voice.

He smiled...But it was a smile that expressed a hint of sadness. He ran a finger down her cheek, and delicately traced the sweet contour of her lips. "I think the right question to ask - is if I'll still be here when that time comes. It's a war, Raven. People die in wars. Even I am not invincible."

"Then stop fighting, Erik." She pleaded. "Stop fighting. Whether we want to accept it or not, the cure has taken away our abilities. It's the reality we have to live with. We are what we are now. We're now human – just like them! Maybe it's not our war anymore, Erik. Maybe it's time to move on."

"We didn't have to move on! We didn't need to be human! Don't you understand?" He shouted, right at her face. The coldness in his eyes were back, and he looked at her with so much searing anger. "How could you say that, Raven? How could you tell me that being human was the only solution?"

"I'm not saying that, Erik...I just ---"

"You truly have become one of them!" He hissed. "You're starting to believe that we're their equal! But we're not, Raven! We're superior to them! We were born into this world to dominate them! It is not anymore a case of whether they respect us or accept us. We are their gods and that is who we should be! You once used to believe in the same thing, my dear...But you've turned into a human sympathizer, like Charles." He sneered at her. "No...Worse. You've turned human yourself."

"Erik, no! Try to understand ---"

"Understand what! That we have lost? That everything we did, everything we fought for, has come down to this? I may have lost my abilities, 'Raven" He spat out her 'slave' name. "But I will never let them have me! They will never destroy my soul like they did yours!"

"I love you, Erik!" She screamed. "I'm saying all this because I love you! Because I want to be with you! Because I want us to be happy! And if it makes me sound human, then so be it. Maybe you're right...Maybe I have become one of them. But that's just because I'm tired of pretending that I don't love you." She reached out to touch his face.

But he moved his cheek away before she could touch his skin. He turned around and walked to the window, away from her. "I'm sorry. But we belong to two different worlds now. Go back to yours. You don't belong here. You don't belong with me. You want my love..." He turned his head to the side to catch a glimpse of her. "But you know I can't give it to you."

"That doesn't mean I have to stop loving you." She replied. She stood steadfast.

"Why do you always have to make things so complicated for yourself, Mystique? Why?" He asked, still looking out the window. "I'm setting you free for the second time. I'm letting you be who you want to be. I'm letting you go. Don't you want to be happy?" He refused to look at her. He didn't want to look her way for as long as she was standing in that same room with him.

"I told you...I'm happy where I am now. You want me to be happy, and yet you ask me to leave when all I want is to be with you." She replied. "Please, Erik. Look at me."

"You will never be happy with me. I will never be able to give you what you want." He watched the dimming sky above the towering buildings, but his mind was on her. "You should leave me...Forget about me. Start your life anew if that's what your heart desires. Find your happiness elsewhere. Find a man who will love you. A man who will spend the rest of his life loving you. He will wake up and live and breathe and die for you. He will say your name as if it's the very thing that keeps him alive. He will hold you in his arms and kiss you at night. You and him will have as many children as you want. Then sooner or later you will realize that you do not need me anymore. All your sad memories will whither away with time. You will forget that you were once Mystique. You will forget about the pain you endured. You will forget about me. Then everything will be right. All will be well. You will find the happiness that you desire. You and him will live happily ever after." The corner of his lip arched up into subtle smile. That was the life he wanted her to have. It was the life she deserved. And picturing it in his head - made him happy for her.

Erik didn't notice that Raven was now standing right next to him, looking out the same window as he was. "Still, I would never be happy with that life. I will never be satisfied." She hooked her arm around his arm and lovingly grasped his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. Then she looked at his face and watched as the faint orange glow of the setting sun traced the features of his visage. "How can I be, when I cannot live in a world without you in it?"

Mystique's words struck his heart. And his face suddenly wore an expression of sadness and regret. If he wasn't who he was, if he wasn't what he was, he would be that man, and he would love her for all eternity. But he was Magneto. He was more Magneto than he was Erik Lensherr. And Magneto, not Erik, could not love her. Magneto had become too cold for love.

He looked at her, and his blue eyes glimmered with sweet sorrow. A sad smile twisted his lips as he looked at her beautiful face. "It is unfortunate, Mystique, that we can only go as far as our words can take us. We can never really live them, can we?"

Erik bowed his head and moved a way from her, then he laid down in bed, and placed his hands over his bare stomach. "I guess this is the part where we say goodbye." He said, his head still bowed. "Goodbye, Raven Darkholme. For your sake, I hope we never meet again."

"Erik..." She wanted to pursue him. She didn't want to give up. Not yet.

"Just go." He said firmly. "I need some time alone...Some time alone to think, to plan, to rebuild." He lifted his right hand and closed it into a tight fist. "Who knows?" The door to the room swung open, and he smiled. "Magneto may be back sooner than they think." He motioned his hand sideways, and the door slammed shut in one swift motion.

Mystique looked surprised. "How did you..." She looked at the door, and looked at Erik. "The cure. Are you telling me it's temporary?" She immediately looked at her hand, and wondered if she would ever see it in its natural bluish color again.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I don't know if the 'cure' is temporary. Though I wouldn't say I have fully regained what I had lost either." He sighed, and looked at his hands. He appeared depressed, but not defeated. "I can barely feel it coursing through my veins now...My power over metal, my control of magnetism. All of it had been reduced to this..." He flexed his fingers. "...Opening and closing doors, moving metal chess pieces, turning keys. It's pathetic, I know. And yet, in the end, I still won. They tried to make me 'human', but they failed. And that's what really matters, doesn't it? That the humans fail and that we triumph."

"Triumph...But at the cost of what? Does it have to be like this forever, Erik? Does someone always have to suffer for what we want?" Mystique asked.

"What 'we' want used to be what you wanted too. But your humanity has blinded you. And that makes you into one of 'them' now." He paused in silence, and frowned. "I asked you to leave. Leave. You are no use to me now. And I doubt I am of any use to you too."

Mystique wanted him to look at her. She wanted to him to say those words while looking into her eyes. Why couldn't he? Did her humanity made her so hideous to him? Did he despise her so much that he couldn't even bare to look her way? Did he truly not care for her anymore?

"I told you. I don't want to go." She said firmly.

Erik looked at her, eyes burning with intensity. "You want to stay here then, is that it? You want to stay with me, love me, knowing fully well that I can never love you back? You want to fool yourself into believing that we can have what we once had. Is that it, Raven?"

"No, Erik! I want more!" She exclaimed. Would he never understand?

She didn't want what they once had. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life fighting. She wanted a life with him. A 'real' life where they can be together without their hatred for humanity eating them alive. She wanted a life that was theirs and theirs alone. No humans...No brotherhood. No more running and hiding. Wasn't she enough to make him happy? Could she never give him what he needed? Did the humans have to lose for him to be satisfied?

"I cannot give you 'more'." His voice softened. "I cannot give you what you want."

"But you can give me what I need. And what I need is you. Just you, Erik. I don't need 'more'." She never looked away from him. She just watched as he lay there, deep in contemplation. "I just want to be here with you. You don't even have to pretend that you care."

She slid her coat off her shoulders, and felt something foreign in the front pocket. / "What's this?" /. She took the coat off and immediately reached into the pocket. She didn't remember putting anything in there before she left her apartment. Then Mystique's eyes widened in fear as she felt the small object between her fingers. In that instant, she knew what it was.

She pulled it out, and found a small device in her hand. It was as small as button, and nearly looked like one. But Mystique knew what it was, and she stared at it, mouth half-open in horror. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. The only thing that was certain to her was the feeling of her heart ramming in her chest. They couldn't have...

"No." She whispered. "No. I can't believe they would do this to me!"

"A tracking device?" Erik asked when he saw the object on her hand.

x x x x x x x

TO BE CONTINUED :D!