Author´s note:

Oh man, I think I never got such a big amount of reviews in so short a time. :-D So, as a thank you to all of you, here´s the next chapter. Hope you keep on enjoying... and reviewing ;-)

GWolf:

Well, thank you. Hope you enjoy this one. Hm.. the chess piece, yeah... wait what comes of that...

Innocenzia:

Once more, thank you, dear. :-)

telegb:

Yeah, he isn´t the best guy, but I like his character because he´s not one of those biased baddies. So, here you go, an update for you.

Carmille DeWinter

Thanks a lot for this remark. I might use this theory later in the story... if I may? Yeah, wait and see what happens. As I said, I was pittying him soo much for what happened. Oh, as I saw in your bio... another German. Hi there:-)

Malonami

Nice try. ;-) No, I won´t answer these questions right now, but you will get the answers if you stay tuned and keep on reading. Thanks so far.

AngelofSnow

No, this surely would not be an all too pleasant encounter for Eric. On Mystique... wait and see ;-)

LPs Mum

Absolutely, this is just what adds more depth to his character than to all the others. He´s simply the most complex character (of the movies... can´t really judge the comics)

Simmandlotrrock

Some here seem to wonder just that... hehe... wait and see... :-)

CHAPTER 3

STORMS OF A RAINY NIGHT

During all those years, sleep had seldomly come to him easily. He had never minded too much about this, as dreams were most likely to cause distress and sadness... the more gentle ones of them, that was. If he was lucky, he would wake up with the distant memory of grey colours and blurred screams in the back of his head and nothing more. Unfortunately, dreams were not always like this. Once in a while a truly miserable nightmare would grip his mind and torture him at night, and these were the very nights, when Eric Lehnsherr had rise from his bed and walk into his study, wave his hand to switch on the stereo with his powers and let himself getting carried away by the tunes of some classical music. There was nothing that could more possible ease the pain. This... and him spending nights brooding over operations of the brotherhood yet to be taken out, planning, shuffling ideas in his head. It had been the only way to effectively chase away the nightmares of his own past. Putting all his force, all his power and all his determination into the effort of making this world a place where every mutant child could live without fear of repression, had been the source to keep him alive.

Mystique had watched his nightly restlessness without commenting on it for the most time. Now and then she would join him, offering her company knowing this would decrease his own restlessness, her simply standing close to him or sitting nearby without a word. If anyone had ever gotten close to understanding the reasons and goals behind the mind of Magneto, it had been her.

And then there were nights that offered a peace which was almost too good to be true. Those rare nights when Eric would sleep dreamlessly and no sorrow would enter his mind. Dreamless sleep was the only way of finding peace at night, for if dreams did come, they never brought anything pleasant. The nightmares of his own childhood had so deeply craved themselves into every bit of his being that over the years they had become a part of his self. They would never let him at peace, but linger in a corner of his mind, eagerly and at the same time patiently waiting till their time had come. Waiting till the night had fallen, to attack. And often, the horrors of these dreams went far beyond the blurry visions of grey and muffled screams. Just like the dreams in the very night following the evening on which Eric Lensherr had returned to Magneto´s lair.

When he woke with a start, his heart was racing, thundering with the speed of someone who had run for his life. He was panting heavily, the echo of a scream still too close to be chased away. He did no longer know who had screamed, whether it had been his mother´s or his own voice to express the horror and panic the scenery around them had evoked. Outside, a thunderstorm was shaking the world, crashing the ocean´s wave against the rocks. The walls were thick, but still they could not hold back the sound of the rain nor the thunder. To him it had always seemed like the rocks had even intensified the sound of thunder. This had been one of the things that had belonged to this island as Magneto had belonged here: the sound of thunder rolling over the dark rocks at night. He did not mind the thunder. What had always been nagging on his senses was the rain. Rain was memory. Rain was darkness. Rain reminded him of the first humans who had labelled him a social misfit.

There was no need in trying to get back to sleep. Eric swung his legs out of his bed, remained sitting there for a moment and then got up. A bolt of lightning illuminated the room for a split second as he walked over to the door. Apart from that, the night remained all silent, the thunder followed in quite some distance which told him the thunderstorm was already moving on. The rain though, remained.

He slowly made his way across the seemingly deserted corridors. He knew that John was still around, although judging the time he was almost certain the boy was asleep by now.

He entered the kitchen, a large room which somehow did not fit into the subtle, spartanic style of the rest of the lair, maybe because the pure idea of a room like a kitchen did not fit into the concept of such a place at all. There was a large window opposite the door, facing the outside world and the rough sea which from the outside nevertheless was well hidden.

Erik approached the refridgirator, his throat suddenly dry, still feeling somewhat exhausted and beyond breath from trying to escape from whatever had been hunting him through his dreams. He reached for the hilt when another heavy thunder rolled over the rocky surface of the island, one so heavy that he had the feeling the very foundations of stones the buildings stood on were being shaken. The fridge even seemed to tingle slightly, before he touched the iron hilt and opened it.

He did not find much food nor beverages inside and thought with a sarcastic smile that even if the presence of the boy had already started to bother him, he could at least send him over to get some food in the morning. This was his place after all, so if John wanted to stay this, was the least he could ask him to do. He grabbed for a bottle of table water and a glass and returned to the window to watch the storm. Somehow, a weird kind of irony, he thought, the weather so well reflected the feelings that were raging inside him. If only he could chase away the torturing images that kept haunting him whenever it was raining.

The very thought of it made him shiver inwardly – a cold that was more intense than the cold he was feeling now. Indeed these rooms were not very well heated and for the first time in a long period, he was actually feeling cold. He was only wearing a black shirt and equally dark trousers and his arms suddenly felt chilly. He sighed and crossed them in front of his chest, not without his gaze unwillingly lingering on the few, fading numbers on his left forearm.

When he lifted his eyes, he could see a reflection in the window. The world outside was dark and the light he had switched on, though not visible from outside, was throwing back the shadows and causing reflections of the room behind him. For a short, weird moment he actually thought the fugure behind him to be Mystique, but then at once he realised the slim shade in the window´s reflection. Pyro.

"Find no sleep, St. John?" If nothing else these days was pleasant, he still found some joy in teasing the young mutant. He never knew whether Pyro cared about this or whether he was annoyed. Sometimes he hoped so, but Pyro never showed any signs of being bothered.

"You?" Instead of answering his question, Pyro, in a seemingly casual manner, simply ignited a ball of fire in his right hand. So he was wearing his glove, Eric regocnized with a faint smile as he watched the reflection of the flames. He still had his back on the boy.

"Nice of you to light a fire, St. John. It´s getting colder these days." he then said bluntly and turned around, not allowing the young mutant the triumph he had intended with his action, for most obviously Pyro´s playing around with the flame was just yet another attempt to try and test his borders of power... and the power he believed to possess now and that in the young mutant eyes made him more mighty now than the former leader of the brotherhood who had now become the human Erik Lehnsherr. Pyro´s suggestion to take over the brotherhood had just been the beginning or so it seemed.

If not Erik´s first remark had annoyed the boy, the second one had. He could clearly read it in the stubbornness that had entered John´s eyes. With a rash movement he closed his fist and the flame vanished. Then he swung himself onto the counter. "No." he then said, answering Eric´s earlier question and thus giving in to his role in the power play. "It´s the rain." he added. "I can never sleep when it rains too hard."

Eric turned back to face the window, scowling slightly. What did this boy know about the rain? What did he, in his young ignorance know about stormy nights? About nights when the wind was not letting oneself sleep, howling around the baracks like wolves, increasing the fear of even worse things to come once the day would break although one hoped the night would end. These young people!

"Did you...think about what I said earlier?" There was caution in the young one´s voice. The powers of Magneto might have vanished, Pyro´s compliance had remained... it was faint and the boy was urging to break out of it, but still it was there, binding him to his, as Eric was sure, own annoyance.

"I thought I had been clear on the matter!" Eric replied sharply, surprised John had brought up the matter again at all. "I told you what I think of it and I will not..." he turned around, giving the young mutant a stern glare "...change my mind."

John´s gaze flickered, for a moment taken by insecurity, then again becoming steady. "And I told you what I think." he argued. "This is just what they wanted, see? They will be pleased with what happened. You are no longer a threat to them, so they think the brotherhood has lost its power having lost its head." He had jumped off the counter and was now wildly motioning with his hands. He had practised this speech before, Eric was sure. And he did not ruin it.

"They will never expect us to reform!"

Eric just looked at him, not allowing the young mutant to avert his eyes.

"You do not know what you are talking about, young man. I can only repeat what I told you earlier and I can not even believe it is necessary to explain this to you again. This is not the game of a child!"

Anger suddenly flashed in John´s eyes. "I am no boy any more!"

"Age does not make a man." Eric replied with a mocking smile.

"But you are powerless!" Now the mutant´s voice had reached a point Eric was no longer willing to tolerate. "If we do not react to this new situation, all you have been trying to achieve will be lost!"

"Do... not... think you are able to know what I wanted to achieve!" Eric´s voice was low, but dangerous and the boy was sensing it. For a long, long moment their eyes met, fighting a silent battle. Finally, John looked away, breathing in heavily and then turned around to leave the room.