Author´s note:

Bad me... I kept you waiting again. So, here you go, another chapter which is not too long this time, but get ready for things to begin in particular in chapter 9.

2wingo: Never mind, you did not come across as an "arrogant prick" I appreciated your review very much!

Gatermate: Could you picture Erik without Mystique for the whole story? Hm... neither could I. ;-) Just wait and see.

Meow: Oh... thanks. I was thinking about this one. The word just didn´t seem right to me but I couldn´t tell where exactly the mistake was, so thanks.

PsychoSpiff: lol. You say it.

Okay, that´s all the yadda yadda for now. Enjoy and drop a line for me. :-)

Chapter 8

Shade

He had felt the presence of the girl all day and thus kept himself from trying to test and train his powers. Without any doubt the girl had been left on John´s orders and was supposed to at some point return to the leader of their miserable rebel group to report on what Eric was doing. Therefore he kept his will at bay, although he yearned to test his mind and powers on the next piece of metal near his reach. No. It was maybe better to put John on a wrong track – make him believe that although Magneto´s powers had returned... or rather recovered... the older man was incapable of getting them back to proper use. Tricks had always been his own realm. Trying to train and test the strength of his powers right there and then with the girl watching him as he knew would have meant running into an open trap. Erik did not think that once his powers had strengthened again, Pyro would be a threat to him, but for the moment he had to be reasonable. Slamming the door shut and moving the pen had cost him strength. He would need his time. And he would wait patiently for his hour to come again. Pyro was just another annoyance of these days.

Therefore he pretended not to try anything to test his powers again. Instead he walked over to the kitchen to have something to eat and then retired to his chambers to have a nap. The girl did not follow him, but stayed somewhere on the corridor, but Eric was sure she´d keep roaming around and he was right. After some hours of sleep he returned to his study and felt the present of the metal she wore. Although she was invisible he could tell where she was. His senses had become even more alert to metal which filled him with great excitement and a mischief that was unusual for him. Yet, he did not show it. He forced himself to touch the chair and move it and he forced himself to reach and grab for things he needed instead of just trying to call on them.

He kept the next one or two hours skipping through the things in his desk. Quite a huge pile of paper had accumulated in the various drawers over the years. Plans and any sorts of documents and maps that had aided him on his operations. He was so busy going through all of them, not being entirely sure of the sense and meaning of his doing, being totally occupied with thoughts, that he soon forgot about the girl´s presence. Or... not forgot about her but found it did not matter she saw what he was doing as long as she did not get a glimpse of his powers.

After about another hour of work his desk looked somewhat messy. Or rather... messier than he liked it to be. He had tried to bring new order into the heap of information. Many of those he would now no longer need. Whole boxes with files containing information about mutants that had seemed good candidates for his brotherhood. Mostly younger people, bitter, angry, social misfits created by a cruel society who were ready to use their anger on his account. Use it for Magneto´s cause. Those files needed updating, he thought sarcastically. Some were dead... not few as he noted, and some... He broke off the thought as he skipped through the files and got a glimpse of someone whom he had known so well. Quickly he skipped and turned the card of the woman who had once been Mystique and was now Raven Darkholme. He then put the box aside, got up and walked towards a shelf about three metres across the room. Standing in front of the row of books he could suddenly sense something. The girl, who had been somewhere near desk all the time, most obviously bored, had moved her position. She did not make a sound when she moved towards the desk, all he could rely on was his feeling for the position of the metal on her clothes and around her neck. She was approaching, getting closer and, still facing the bookshelf he could hear the slightest sound of paper being turned. He scowled. He had been intent on playing this game, but this was enough. He concentrated hard, as he did not know how much power it would cost him and found that what strength was left was enough for his purposes. He did not mean to harm this young thing, but she definitely needed a fillip.

He focussed on the chain around her neck and for the first time heard the girl´s voice when she gasped in fear as the chain suddenly tightened. He did not turn as he did not want her to see the sweat drops form on his forehead.

"Well, well." he said in a voice that was deep and friendly but yet full of sarcasm. "You are one nosy young lady, aren´t you?" She coughed slightly and began to totter backwards. "I would not do that if I were you." Erik continued. "I can tighten that pretty necklace even more any time." He now felt that it was no longer a risk to turn around, although the exercise was already beginning to weary him. "If two people meet it is indeed disrespectful to hide from one another, don´t you think?" he said, looking into the direction where he thought she was standing. "Now stop this masquerade, will you, my dear?" It was no question, but an order and to emphazise he was serious he fastened his grip on the chain. She choked slightly and Erik felt bad about doing this. It should not be necessary for mutants to group against each other. They would need all their combined efforts to achieve their aims.

Another second or two passed in which he did not tighten the chain any more as he felt it would not be necessary. Then, out of thin air, formed the shape of the girl who he had shortly spotted in the corridor with Pyro and the other youngster earlier that day.

Her black hair, as he had already seen before, was long anough to fall down to her shoulderblades, but she had bound it back into a ponytail. She was about 15 or 16 years old, he guessed, slender and tall, but she had something hasty about her, like a deer in the headlights. Her green eyes were eying him with a fear she had giving up on hiding.

"So this rather looks like a basis for a talk, doesn´t it?" Erik said, released his grip on the necklace and sat down on his chair behind the desk. "I should be angry indeed for you sneaking inside my house, hiding, spying on me, which is surely not the nice way of treating people." She was just staring and he could tell had she not been petrified with fear, she would have been off in an instant. He would not have been able to stop her, his heart poundering painfully from the efforts he had needed to pretend he was stronger than he was. Had she run away, he would not have been able to stop her. But the bluff worked.

"So, St. John left you here to spy, I guess." He said, ignoring the scared flicker in the young one´s eyes. "How do they call you?"

She opened her mouth and closed it twice, before she found the voice to answer.

"Shade."

"Hm..." he gave back.

It was strange. Mystique had not been much younger when they had first met, when she had joined his brotherhood being the first of its members. There was something about this girl that reminded him of his companion years and years ago, although their outer appearance was so different. Yet, he could not help the image of Mystique when the cure had stricken her down, looking at him desperately with this plea in her eyes. Her dark eyes, her black hair, as black as the girl´s falling across her face. New bitterness filled him.

"Shade, then." He said, his voice sounding cooler than before. "I suggest you better run off now. St. John has always been to hasty with his judgings. Tell him so." He pointed at the door with his head, his eyes now glowing forcefully. The girl gave him another look which was now suddenly not just pure panic, but more. Anger. Yes, she was furious for the fact her trick had not worked and he could tell she did not figure out how this had happened. He did not give in to it, but before she left he said: "Tell John not to make this mistake again. It would be for no one´s benefit."

While he said so, he began to feel utterly weary. He was panting slightly, sweat forming on his forehead again. He needed rest, he thought. He needed time. The rebirth of Magneto did not happen within a few moments. He shortly closed his eyes and when he opened them, he cursed himself for having given in to his weakness. The girl was looking at him and a small smile curved around her lips. It told him she had seen his weakness... and she would tell every little bit to Pyro. They would be back soon, he suddenly knew. He needed rest and then he´d need his strengths to train his powers.