Author's Note: Why hello there dear reader! This particular story just happen to write itself as I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine last week. I kind of realized that there were definitely people on their team that were just like never mentioned at all. I mean, obviously they were extras and stuff...but yeah, anyways! Please enjoy, even though I will warn you, unless I suddenly decide to make one while typing this story up, there really isn't a lemon to it, though I'm making it rated M for safety.

James stared out the window of the plane as it flew high above the ground and sent another wave of nausea over him. He was trying not to dwell on the way the pit of his stomach felt, letting himself get lost in the memories of better days. Somehow, his memories just drifted to that of Team X. He growled inwardly, but with nausea threatening, he allowed it to happen.

There was always one member of Team X that anyone barely ever talked about, one they barely saw as it was. Raylene preferred the shadows, the darkness of wherever they went. She truly was her powers, darkness manipulation, as Stryker put it into fancy words. It wasn't like she spoke much anyways. She was essentially the embodiment of darkness, at least in her victims eyes. Jet black hair that moved with every lethal move she made when you could see her. With her powers though, she became a shadow more than you could ever see her. The only things that portrayed any sense of kindness or mercy were the facts that her skin was as pale as could be and that her eyes, blue and typically cold as the ice they looked like, have been known to shown emotion occasionally.

The only times James had ever seen them were the occasions that the team was nearly failing a mission, he had made a mental note that he both smelt and saw hints of fear coming from her while they were at the rendezvous point, waiting for the team to regroup, and one drunken night. The team had been off that night, Stryker undoubtedly plotting his next ruthless act and the boys were drinking. She suddenly appeared, like she always did, and simply took Bradley's drink. The man never fought with her over it, maybe he had manners, but odds were that he had a misguided crush on her.

Either way, she stayed at their table as she silently drank Bradley, Wade and Wraith under the table in a challenge put forth by the merc with the mouth. She laughed softly as she slid the newly offered drink away, speaking for once, to Fred who had pushed it back to her. "I couldn't," her blue orbs had mirth, humor, even a sort of niceness to them, "I've drank my share of this pitiful bar's stores."

She has stood up with a wobble, her lean legs hidden by the loose green fatigues they wore. She yawned as she stretched a bit, her rather large chest jutting out from beneath the green shirt she wore unbuttoned, a green tank top and her dog tags underneath. She locked eyes briefly with Victor, who had been staring at her breasts as they had been shown. "If you're thinking about appearing in my tent Victor, don't, or we'll see how fast you heal from my umbrablades."

James laughed, seeing his brother fidget slightly. Victor, however, only grinned. "And we'll see how beautiful your pretty little throat looks covered in blood once I slit it."

"Easy Victor," James grumbled as he noticed Victor's claws lengthening, "Raylene was only kidding, right Ray?"

"Sure, only kidding." Then she simply dissipated into the shadows again. It was the last time he truly saw her before he left the team. James couldn't help but wonder where they were when he was back in Canada, especially her and his brother. He had figured he was better off not knowing where Victor was, but her, it was up in the air for her. Sometimes he'd imagine she was still with Stryker, in the shadows as she pulled off his plans. Other times, she'd be a pickpocket, living large on the streets. On a few occasions, he saw her living a normal and quiet life, much like the one he had with Kayla. He got an answer once, before Stryker had ever lured him back into this mess.

She did as she always did, appearing out of the shadows next to him as he had stood out on the balcony. He should have realized she was here since he had smelt something akin to smoke from her brand of cigarettes and the cherry scent of her body wash. He had only shrugged it off as Kayla massacring some sort of baked good before leaving to her parents' house this weekend. He chuckled as Raylene handed him a beer. She returned to leaning on the railing of the balcony beside, and he had breathed her in. She still didn't wear perfume, but her hair had grown much longer, cascading down past her lower back.

"You've got a nice life here James. I'm proud. Would've been upset if you had wasted these last years." Raylene gave him a grin, one he almost admitted to himself that he missed, if he didn't know how cruel it could turn. He took a long draught of the cold beer before responding to what could be a harsh and sarcastic wit, if he remembered correctly from that one night he really saw her personality.

"Yeah, it's nice. What about yours?"

"I've been drifting, going where the wind takes me. Nothing really changed from before the team though. I still live in the shadows, still pick pockets, still occasionally kill. Mind you, I only kill the bastards who try to rape me this time around."

"Well, you're looking good kid, but how did you find me?"

"I was in the neighborhood truthfully. I know one of your lumberjack friends. Saw you out there and waited to talk so I didn't scare your girl."

She was good, at least thoughtful of his new life. His pickpocket idea was right, which had truthfully disappointed him a bit since she hadn't managed to settle down. They talked through most of the night, mostly about her, which was refreshingly surprising. He noticed she was coming out of her shell, no doubt from being back in society again. The things he learned about her were amusing though. Her favorite color was royal purple, like a car she had been extremely tempted to steal. She had only been 18 when they first met, being recruited from the streets, and making her in about her mid-twenties. She didn't know much about the team, save for letters she and Wade used to exchange. She mentioned how they had abruptly ended, and how she was truthfully afraid of something bad coming for all of their old team. Then, like she had many times before, she disappeared into the dark.