Warning! This article contains spoilers for X-Men #6.
The X-Men's greatest threat is one of their own - the shapeshifter Mystique. Charles Xavier has accomplished the impossible, uniting the entire mutant race on the living island of Krakoa. He's persuaded heroes and villains alike to set aside their old grudges and has personally shaken the hand of Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Xavier has begun work on repopulating the mutant race, combining mutant powers and Cerebro technology to resurrect the millions of mutants who have died in the past.
But, of course, the X-Men's new status quo means they're dealing with new enemies as well. In Hickman's House of X miniseries, the X-Men discovered that a secret organization named Orchis was constructing work on a massive Mother-Mold Sentinel - technology they feared could lead to the development of Nimrod units. The X-Men successfully destroyed the Mother-Mold, but the Orchis space station remained, and they still have many of humanity's best scientists working on new ways to wipe out mutants. Charles Xavier could be forgiven for assuming Orchis is the greatest threat to the long-term stability of Krakoa.
This week's X-Men #6 reveals he's wrong; Xavier should be far more worried about Mystique, the shape-shifting mutant who he's holding responsible for neutralizing Orchis. Xavier and Magneto are forcing Mystique to toe the line by promising to resurrect her long-dead wife, Destiny. In truth, they have absolutely no intention of holding up their end of the bargain, because they believe a precog like Destiny would compromise their plans. Unsurprisingly, Mystique is less than impressed by this heartless manipulation.
What Xavier and Magneto don't realize, though, is that they've been outmaneuvered. Destiny foresaw the rise of Krakoa years ago, long before her death, and told Mystique about it in cryptic terms. "There will be an island," Destiny foretold, "not the first, but the last. This place will seem to be hope for our kind. They will invite you in, lift you up, and then deny you the one thing you want." Destiny warned that the rulers of this island would do everything they could not to honor their word because they were afraid of the future. "When those days come," Destiny continued, "remember these words: BRING ME BACK. And if you cannot... if they will not... then burn that place to the ground."
Destiny is right to say Xavier and Magneto fear the future. They are allied with Moira MacTaggert, a mutant gifted with the power of reincarnation, and in every one of her past lives, Moira learned the mutant race was doomed. Krakoa is essentially a last-second Hail Mary pass, a desperate attempt to try something new in the hope it works, and Krakoa's leaders are terrified of the possibility it won't. Meanwhile, Moira has a personal history with Destiny, having crossed paths with the seer in another timeline and learned the precog's powers were greater than her own. As a result, Krakoa's leaders are desperately avoiding resurrecting any precogs and Destiny in particular.
Xavier's manipulation is particularly striking, though, when viewed through an LGBTQ+ lens. Mystique and Destiny were created by legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont, who always envisioned them as a lesbian couple; it took Marvel decades to openly admit as such, though, originally because of restrictions imposed by the Comics Code Authority in the '70s and '80s. X-Men #6 effectively shows two powerful male mutants using Mystique's love against her, denying the X-Men's premiere lesbian couple another chance to be together, all because of their fear.
And, because they won't give Mystique what she wants, she will burn it all to the ground. Worse still, Mystique is perfectly positioned to accomplish her goal; she sits on the Quiet Council, in a position of authority, and she's the one Xavier and Magneto have tasked with destroying Orchis. Fear, in the end, will be the undoing of everything Charles Xavier has built for the X-Men.