Author´s note:

And again I managed to put you guys off for far too long, therefore my humble apologies to all of my dear reviewers who might have waited for another chapter or thought I had run off never to return. Be sure I didn´t and I won´t. It´s only that my exams are taking up an aweful lot of time and will continue to do so for another couple of months which not only means little time to write but also minor writer´s blocks. So, here´s a new chapter as my muse kicked me today. It´s not too long, but a cut felt right at this moment, so... hope you´ll like it. Not much action here, turning towards brotherhood everyday life before getting the gang into trouble. ;-)

AngelofSnow: your reviews always make me smile. Great to see you like those little details (detail... you Americans really stress the second sillable of that, don´t you? That´s weird! ;-) )Yes, I was referring to Ian playing Richard (nods) and I think he would most likely hate anything even faintly related to hip hop (lol) He should definitly not do anything like that (agrees) So glad you liked it :-) So here you go, terrible cliffhanger being solved

XChocolateChipX: Sorry for letting you wait that long again. :-/ Hope you´ll forgive me. Yep, still alive (bangs head against keyboard in frustration)

Ratdogtwo: Thankees :-) Welcome (in case you reviewed before, my memory sucks right now, in that case it would of course be welcome back ;-))

Meow: Good to know you like it :-) Mystique is unpredictable, isn´t she. I find it extremely difficult myself to guess what she´s up to next (lol)

2wingo: I had so hoped you´d approve of it:-) I really liked this idea right away, it only took me some time to put it in. Aww, you know how to flatter me, don´t you? Sir-Ian-would-be-proud-of-you- kind of things make me grin like stupid for several hours, just so you know ;-) Oi, didn´t even intent "constellation" as a word play (just liked the word as a non native speaker (lol)) but thanks for pointing out :-)

EternalE: There´s my good voice again, telling me not to bolt off and hide behind all the stupid books that are slowly threatening to take over far too much space around my computer ;-) Sorry I let you wait that long! Exams will start properly by the end of February and last till the end of June (aaargh) and I´ve no result of my paper yet which seriously unnerves me right now (Hmpf)

Emperor K. Rool: No need to apologize, it´s me who´s late again, remember? ;-) Yeah, looks like it, doesn´t it?

Lovers and fighters

Afterwards he wouldn´t have been able to tell how long their embrace had lasted until Mystique had freed herself from his arms. It might have been minutes, but as well, it could have lasted longer. The song had long been over, their dancing however, had continued and slowly turned into something more like comfort, peace, affection. Despite all the thoughts racing through his mind, making his nerves tingle with the attempt not to affect the metal around him, he had suddenly known it had been too long a time since he had last held her like this. It had been an embrace of comfort, fairly similar to the times when she had first stayed at the lair and he had come to her to take his arms around her to chase away nightmares that had troubled her and made her cry. She would grab his shirt just as she did not, silently weeping, releasing the burdens of her young life to him without words. And then again, the embrace they had shared had been more, a lover´s embrace. One that only too painfully told him that he had been incomplete these days. The cure had bereft him of his powers, had made him a lesser man, had robbed him of his dignity, his pride and yet had not been able to pull him down. But holding Mystique in his arms he had suddenly known that one piece of the puzzle had been missing and now been put into its place again. He had almost snorted inwardly, as he had had the feeling his own thoughts, the thoughts of Magneto, were becomming sappy.

When Mystique had loosened her grip on his shirt, he had loosened her arms around him. She had done a step back, looking at him out of her yellow, reptile-like eyes. Looking at him as if she was studying, trying to read his mind ever so briedly. "Never again." was all she had said, before she had almost violently grabbed his collar again and drawn him into a passionate kiss.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When he woke up, the space next to him in his bed was empty. She had gotten up earlier than him, left the blanket drawn back on her side before she had left the room. She had not waited for him to wake – something she had hardly ever done. Mystique had always been someone with the need to roam free, yet her early leave told him that although there would be no more tension of the like they had endured these days between them, she was still intent on showing him where the borders lay. Her differences put aside she still demonstrated that he had yet to earn her full trust again.

It was shortly past eight o´clock – he hadn´t gotten up that late for a long time.

When he walked into the kitchen, he found Shade sitting on the counter, a bowl of cereals drenched in cocoa on her lap and a spoon to big for cereals in her hand. The girl was listening to music against which, this time, blarred from an i-pod tuned loud enough for him to hear from the door. She was humming the tune, her eyes closed.

With a flick of his mind, Erik felt for the metal in her ear plugs and simultaneously plucked the earplugs from her ears and bent the cereal spoon so its load missed her open mouth and landed back in the bowl.

"You really should be more careful about your sense of hearing, my dear." He said, ignoring her startled glance with a thin smile. "You might miss the ability to hear once it´s gone." He flicked the coffee machine on and with a wave of his hand pushed the chair closest to the counter away from the table. "Please." He said blankly and the girl wordlessly hopped from the counter. As he was about to get a cup from the board he had his back to her but he was pretty sure she was rolling her eyes as she obeyed and sat on the chair. Teenagers, he sighed inwardly.

He put a slice of bread into the toaster and started it mentally, feeling the girls eyes on his back all the while. Waiting for the bread to get ready he took his time until the toaster clicked, let the coffee pot and spoon hover over to the table and took his time to settle down on the table across the young mutant. He could see the girl was dieing to know if her trick had worked and he enjoyed keeping her on tenterhooks.

"I guess I might be indebted to you now." he finally said, leaving his face blank of emotions, fighting back a smile. He could see the tension fall off her. "I told you girls like guys who can dance." she said. He chuckled in reply, taking a sip of his black coffee.

"The ability to dance alone is not enough." came a low purr from over at the door when Mystique entered and walked past them towards the fridge, shortly resting her hand on Erik´s shoulder. When he turned his head to look at her, she saw the mischief glitter in her eyes. Erik shot a glance at the blue shape shifter who, ignoring his glare, seemed to take pleasure in making the younger mutant feel uncomfortable. "Erik has more valuable talents than dancing." She grinned broadly. Shade placed her cereal bowl onto the metal table with a ´clunk´, suddenly looking as she was about to be sick.

"Mystique." His voice was low, half amusement, half resentment, although he knew she wouldn´t care about what he said. She loved teasing.

"Uhm... I guess I´m not hungry any longer." Shade said with a forced smile, trying to hide her slight disgust and rather hastily placed the bowl on the counter before she nearly bolted from the kitchen.

Mystique took her place, watching him with an intense glance.

"Was that necessary?" he asked.

"No." she shook her head. "But it was fun."

With a purring laugh, Mystique once more sent the dark haired mutant to the ground. Castor had taken quite a beating over the last 15 minutes, although he was holding a better stand than his twin brother Pollux, who had settled down on the floor, his back leaning against the cool wall, still looking exhausted. Shade had walked over to him and the two of them were talking, with the girl doing most of the conversation.

Erik had decided to start the training for the new ones first thing in the morning after breakfast. Multiple man was rather good in shape and able to work out on his own, but Erik had wanted to get an idea about how agile and trained the two new ones, the twins, were. As their character features had told before, the brothers were different in a lot of ways, including fighting. Castor was more trained than his brother, his blows were fiercer and more angry, yet more uncontrolled, while Pollux way of fighting was more defensive and less effective. Erik had seen the auburn-haired of the brothers use his powers the day before and made a mental note to let them, especially Pollux, keep an eye on training. Powers or not, mutants tended to trust in them too much.

Castor got up with a groan. He had tried to handle Mystique, but he was getting weary – and frustrated.

"Enough for now." Mystique told him with a superior smile, then turned her back on him and walked into the corner of a room where she had placed a water bottle

"Why do we have to do this?" he said, wiping the sweat on his forehead away with his sleeve, breathing heavily while he looked over at Erik. "I know my powers. That´s where I´m strong." Erik could sense that the young mutant was forcing himself not to speak up against his authority too harshly. "What do I need this for if I have my powers to fight and defend?" He now stood a few metres from Erik, grabbing a towel from a metal bench, wiping his face, then sat down.

It only took him two or three seconds, to command two metal barbels to rush towards the young mutant. One hovering only inches from the young man´s skull, the other had backed Castor against the metal wall with a gasp.

"You need it." he simply said, sounding matter of factly, then, his gaze finding Castor´s, his eyes became steely. "You need them in case you have no opportunity to play your powers. A room without stone like this." he said. "or a place with stone totally out of reach for you and you will be an easy prey." The barbel on Castor´s chest pressed a little more focefully. "... for those that oppose you." He sent the barbels back to their original places and got up to leave. The last thing he needed was a little rebel in his ranks. He hoped, Castor would not make it a custom to question him.