Meld expressed a desire for a world where people didn’t have to resort to violence in order to accomplish things. She didn’t believe it was possible though. Kealey could see some of the logic in that, it was unrealistic to think that people would ever completely stop being violent. They could agree on that. What Kealey had a feeling they were going to stick on was the proper way to respond to that violence.

Meld pointed out that there could be beauty along with darkness and Kealey looked at the other woman.

”Beauty in the darkness?” she said, brows drawing together as she attempted to wrap her mind around the concept Meld was trying to get across. It didn’t work, and she shook her head again, ”I fail to see how breaking up families, or ending a life, or bringing violence to anyone could be beautiful.”

”Violence only begets more violence.” Kealey said, ”It’s a vicious circle. Somebody, somewhere, has to be brave enough to break it. The most powerful and successful revolutions happened through peace on the winning side. Situations like that stand to cast a bright light on the other side committing wrongs.”

Meld pointed out that people who committed violent acts were not necessarily bad people and Kealey nodded her head, ”I know that.” she said, feeling slightly exasperated but going to great lengths to keep it out of her voice.

”It’s just…the whole super hero thing…” Kealey said, looking up at the sky as they closed in on the large building that was the Mansion.

”With great power comes great responsibility. Isn’t that right? Isn’t it our job to protect the people who can’t do what we can? To set an example? I know it doesn’t seem right or fair, but how else is anyone going to ever understand? Things you don’t understand are horribly frightening.”

Kealey thought for a moment, trying to come up with an example, she latched on to one, ”Like me…what I do is kind of scary, isn’t it? I had to learn to show people that they could trust me, even if I know the things they feel…even if they want to keep that secret more than anything. If I tried to force the recognition...I guarantee you I'd have been dead or locked up a long time ago.”

Hopefully that made sense. If not, she was going to struggle getting her message across.

”I fail to see how breaking up families, or ending a life, or bringing violence to anyone could be beautiful.”

"Its not those acts that are beautiful," Meld struggled to explain. Words had never been her strongest skill. "Its those things that exist despite the darkness. Its lovers that find each other despite all odds, its tight knit families that remain united despite the danger and turmoil around them, its art being made even when the world around the artist is chaos. You just have to know where to look." She had never put it in quite that way before, in fact she couldn't ever remember ever having even vocalized such thoughts before, but that didn't make them any less true.

Meld struggled to understand Kealey's view of violence. She knew it was possible for a cycle of violence to form, but surely one couldn't be ended simply by inaction? That was completely niave. "The cycle of violence won't simply end on its own, as much as we might want it to. One has to force it to end, eliminate the worst perpetrators of the cycle and the cycle becomes weaker." Eventually she would probably have to be one of those to be eliminated, meaning she would likely never see the mutant utopia she constantly strived for, but that was her role and her fate and she was resigned to it.

"Protecting people and setting an example are two different situations entirely," Meld clarified her views on the matter. "I protect people and stand up for everything I believe in every day of my life, but I'm no role model nor do I pretend to be one. I hope that no one has to take the role that I've taken nor make the sacrifices that I've made in life." Once again Meld struggled with her words, trying to voice what she felt to be true. Because she had sacrificed a great deal for her cause, if not in the sense of material possessions then certainly in the sense of her soul. She didn't regret a single death she'd caused but she was very much aware of just how much each and every one of those deaths had taken out of her soul. Even putting her monstrous and growing addiction aside, which was one of the few things that truly scared her, she no longer felt anything when taking a life. Life had ceased to become sacred long ago, and surely it had been at one point in the distant past? No one should be forced to make those types of choices.

"You, I could see as a role model," Meld agreed. In many ways she was finding Kealey's views on the world to be much like the views she wished she could have and the views she would like others to be able to have. If only the world was as she saw it, people like Meld wouldn't have to continue to fight.

”But why should we contribute to making a world where those things struggle to exist?” she asked softly when Meld pointed out places where beauty could be found even in a world that was full of strife and darkness.

”Wouldn’t it be far better if we had to look at the darkness and strife as the isolated incidents? Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

Meld explained further why peaceful resolution wasn’t possible, and Kealey shook her head, ”I think we’re on basically the same page here Meld…but I think we see the solutions very differently. No matter what, the more you kill, the more people are hurt in the process, both physically and psychologically. It’s only a matter of time until the cycle starts again.”

There was regret in the other woman, but Kealey had a feeling it wasn’t over the role she had to play. There was something else there, something the blond could feel if she looked hard. That same need, the desperation she’d seen in people on the streets. Kealey frowned. Then Meld called her a role model. Kealey laughed out loud.

”I can hardly walk down the street without getting myself into some problem or another that others are always having to help me out of.” she said, her usual sense of self-deprecating humor seeping into her voice.

”I understand that violence is necessary sometimes. It’s just that…it shouldn’t be something used so often that it becomes common place. There’s almost always another way. Why do that to someone and the people who care about them when there is another way?” Kealey said, brows drawing together again as she thought.

”Why not spare others that pain? I’ve felt it, and I know you have. Why would you want to put anyone through that?”

Meld just didn't understand Kealey. She was trying to wrap her head around what the other woman was saying and all the words made sense, but when they were all put together the greater meaning was lost to her. Clearly she believed what she was saying. Meld was never the best at reading people, but nothing at all in Kealey's actions, words or tone of voice suggested anything other than complete honesty, but how did she believe it?

"I contribute because its the only world I have. As ideal as it would be to have another world, a better world, this is the one we're stuck with and we can either lay down and accept it meekly, or we can fight to make it better. Of course it would be better if darkness and strife were the exception rather than the rule, but they're not. The world is as it is, including all of its darkness and unpleasantness." Meld wondered how it was that two people could see things in such different ways. It was baffling and, from what she could tell, Kealey was no idiot. Clearly she was a little niave, whether she admitted it or not, but she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

Meld smiled at the other woman's self deprecating humour, glad to have things moving in a somewhat lighter direction. "I doubt your troubles are quite the same as mine." Of course she was trying to stop getting into her own brand of trouble, trying to fight the addiction. There was something light and free about Kealey, Meld decided. It was good to see someone like that, someone who was so isolated from being impacted from the darkness of the world. Maybe it was because she didn't have an internal darkness, something that Meld had to live with in herself every single day and something she had only just started to fight against.

"Sometimes there isn't a choice regarding whether or not someone gets hurt," Meld replied gravely. "Sometimes its a choice between how many, how much and in which way, rather than if." How she wished that wasn't the case, but she knew it was true. She herself had been in too many situations in which she had been forced to choose. And very often it was the innocent and the young that got caught in the crossfire.