Author´s note:
Wooot, the number of reviews for this story is nearing the magical no. 100. yay :-) I feel so loved! And inspired. I wrote nearly four pages for my paper today... and another chappy for you guys.
Very interesting reviews indeed. I got two different interpretations for Mystique´s last sentence in chapter 19... interpretations I had not intended like that, but interesting nonetheless. It shows just how differently one can read a story... and be it just a simply fanfiction scribbled by someone like me.
2wingo: Hm... interpretation no.1. An admission of forgiveness? Interesting. I didn´t think about it that way, but it´s defenitely an interesting way to view her words. And how do we ever know what´s going on in Mystique´s mind? She´s been acting a little contradictory in this story before so... who knows?
AngelofSnow: Thanks :-) Interpretation no. 2: Mystique being jealous and threatens Erik for flirting with Shade. Uhm... I must say I didn´t think it that way either but okay, I can see why you´d think that, too. Still, no. I´d call it reassuring rather than flirting. Besides the lack of lovelife Erik has been exposed to in this story so far, (I send him over to your awesome fics at times to keep him in shape ;-) ) Shade´s 15 so... nope. Not really. But I agree with him being a charmer a girl might feel attracted to. Imagine to be in her boots, who wouldn´t blush?
Meow: Yep, somewhat of a daily life and more of that to come in the new chapter. It´s somehow quite hard to write that. So I´m glad you liked it.
Eternal E: Wow, nice comparison, thanks a lot. Good point about Shade´s powers by the way. Very well observed ;-) However when becoming invisible she becomes insensible only to what is around her not what is connected to her body. She can walk over the water, she could even walk through it, but the necklace was around her neck and thus she could be effected by it. Being insensible to anything she was wearing would be rather annoying for her as she´d have to get dressed again every time she becomes visible.
Jacky: Hey, another new reviewer! (beams) As I said before, you made my day when I opened my inbox this morning so thank you so much for your nice reviews and I hope you enjoy the chapters you´ve not read so far, too. What a compliment, staying up till midnight to read! Awww, thanks a lot again:-)
Chapter 20)
Pepperoni pizza
There had been a barely veiled threat in Mystiques words. She had not said so directly but Erik knew what they had implied: Do it again and I´ll kill you. Something inside Erik had leapt at her words, spoken in a cool way. She had tried to keep them free of emotion and she had succeeded. She had left him questioning what she had meant. He knew her... or rather, there had been a time when he had thought he knew her... or something that came close to that. He knew she was vengeful, he knew she was none to forgive easily. Just like himself she had suffered as a child and resulting from that was a scepticism and even slight hostility against almost anyone... Erik had been an exception for her once. He wasn´t anymore he thought.
Still, she had kept him wondering what exactly she had been referring to. For a short moment he had thought she had referred to the incident on the cargo. Do it again and I´ll kill you. I let you know I might forgive but never forget. For an instant he had felt his heart warm at her words, until he had seen the cold gaze in her yellow eyes that spoke hatred. No. Don´t you dare to touch me ever again.
She had been referring to the girl – Shade - and Erik understood why she had. Shade was a runaway, a homeless teenage girl, very much like Mystique had been when Erik had taken her in all those years ago. Mystique, too, had trusted noone back then... until Erik had helped her. Until Erik had beaten up those bullies. She had not asked him to help her, she had not even seen him approach in her fear and attempt to appear small... so small those boys might loose their interest in her and just turn away. Erik had helped her without asking who she was where she came from... she had trusted him from that very moment... every minute of her life... until he had abandoned her. Her eyes had been clear with the message she intended to convey: You´re a liar, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr. I trusted you and you abandoned me. If ever I see you do the same you did to me, if ever you do the same to that runaway, I´ll kill you. Nothing will hold me back.
It had been a silent oath. He was sure she was intent on keeping it. She would be waiting. Erik also knew that this promise, this threat had nothing to do with what Mystique thought about Shade. Most likely she didn´t even care about the girl in any way. But that, too, was just something Mystique would do. She hated him for what he had done and if she threatened to kill him so if he did anything like this to any other mutant who trusted him, she would have her revenge. It was a deal. Seeing Erik walk away from her had hurt her more than anything, more than any physical pain. But even this feeling was her own. Hers, no one other´s. The feeling of Magneto walking away. No one else should have that privilege, the privilege of letting been down by him like this, his eyes so full of shock and despair when he had turned his gaze from her, just as noone else had ever had the privilege of being his most trusted ally...
When he heard the front door open, it was already past seven p.m. He placed the book he had read on the table and got up. Walking over to the kitchen he could see Shade place a huge plastic bag on the kitchen counter with a bang that made his lips curve in disapprovement. "Judging from the weight of that bag we should be provided for the next days." he announced when coming to a halt in the door frame, leaning against it, feeling the cool metal through his shirt. Her gaze still had something of a prey´s fear in it, but she was obviously trying to conquer it. "I...wasn´t sure what to buy so... I just thought I buy stuff almost everybody likes."
He raised an eyebrow in amusement at her still evident nervousness, still feeling bad about having scared her several times. It must have cost her a lot to come here and ask him to stay. She had to value her friends like a family if she dared asking someone she feared to help her free them.
Shade was rummaging through her jeans pocket and when she got her hand out again and opened it, he saw she had a number of smaller banknotes in it crumpled together in a sort of ball. Hastily she attempted to flatten them before she handed them to him. "I didn´t need all of it." she said. "And I didn´t steal anything." She sounded almost a little proud with herself under the slight quiver in her voice. Erik decided to ignore her uneasiness. He could hardly blame her for it. "Good." he said. "And it wasn´t that hard or was it?"
He walked over to the counter and had a look inside the bag. A number of food boxes. Three American Pizzas, half a dozen coke bottles, a package or two of noodles, some instant hamburgers...in other words: fastfood. Nothing to make a decent, civilized supper of. "Hm..."
"I wasn´t sure what to buy, so..."
He chuckled. "Don´t worry, Shade. Only I wonder how you teenagers ever grow eating nothing that fast food." She looked stricken at his words and he regretted them at once and shook his head. "Don´t listen to what I say." he said. "Let´s get something of that ready. I´m hungry."
30 minutes later and feeling a lot less hungry than he had before, Erik had too admit that he had underestimated deep frozen pepperoni pizza. That stuff hadn´t been as bad as he had thought it would be. They had stayed in the kitchen and eaten two of the three pizzas as Shade was obviously intent on leaving one to Mystique who hadn´t joined their supper yet. However, when not much was left, the blue shape shifter entered the kitchen, looked at the few pieces that were left and made a face that was a mix of looking bored and appaled.
"Oh. I didn´t know there was a cozy little family meeting" she said in a low voice not even stopping in her path. Shade looked confused, but gained some courage to say: "There´s enough left, so if you´re hungry I could..."
Now Mystique did stop. "Oh, thanks a lot, little girl, but it might be best for all of us if Magneto and I" and she stressed the usage of his mutant name "avoided each others comany whenever possible." With that she left for the living room. For a moment Erik was close to getting up to follow her and tell her where her place was, but he refused the urge of doing so and settled for giving her back a cold glance. He equally ignored the question in Shade´s eyes.
"Do you like your room?" he said to change the topic.
She nodded. "Yes, it´s... nice. A little dark maybe, but I´m fine with that."
He smiled. "Good to know. As you wish to stay this is your home now. Your room. Make yourself feel comfortable."
She nodded shily, smiling a little. "Thanks."
There was an awkward silence between them until Shade had finished her pizza. "What about that necklace of yours?" Erik asked when the girl intended to get up and carry her plate to the counter. "Do you still have it?" Again she nodded and reached into her pocket. "The chain is broken" she said, looking at him. Yes, he had broken the chain two nights before when Shade and her little watery friend had attempted to attack him. "Could you...maybe repair it?"
He raised an eyebrow. "I could but I won´t" he said. "Why are you still carrying this around with you?" She shrugged. "Well, it´s... if I get caught, they won´t treat me like a..."
"Like the mutant terrorist they think all mutants are involved with?" he had to bite back a bitter chuckle. "Please, my dear girl, let me assure you this won´t hold them back." He extended his hand and the necklace flew into his hand. "This." he said. "is not to benifit you, but to brand you. To mark you." He couldn´t help his voice beginning to sound bitter. Yes, this was always the first step. Mark those that are different from you, be it with suns or stars or eventually ... numbers burned into your arms. "This thing lets them know you are different from them. To be feared." She just looked at him and he knew she had never considered things that way. "I have seen much in my life." He placed the necklace on the table before him, the metal of the little sun pendant reflecting the light of the lamp. "Too much to believe that marking those different from those in power would ever be a benefit for the minority."
She lowered her gaze, looking at the necklace, saying nothing.
"Come here." he said waving his hand at her, letting the kitchen chair move aside so she could sit. Hesitantly she followed his words. He looked at her, he could feel her being uncomfortable having her gaze locked with his but didn´t break the eye contact. "You asked me if you could stay and I told you, you could. You´re one of us now, if you will. You´re with me and those that are with me I will protect. Let´s put your fear to an end. You are afraid, aren´t you?"
She nodded slightly. He nodded in return and let the necklace hover between the two of them. "End this fear." he said. "Tell me to and I will. You´re free. You´re a mutant. You should be proud of it, not be branded for it." The necklace was still hovering between them, a last border, a last restriction between Shade´s old fears and her new hopes. He knew what she would ask him to do, if she really did. Agreeing to his promise would mean to really join him. To be free. Free from fear. He could see she was struggling with herself, but he could also see a spark of pride and hope enter her eyes.
"Do it." she whispered.
A flick of his eye was all. The metal sun was crushed beyond repair.