Title: Shaddows of Doubt

Author: Autumn

E-mail: dyslexic_crisco_penguin_fiend@hotmail.com

Rating: PG=13, adult themes

Summary: "You say it looks as though I might give up this fight."

Author's Notes: The lyrics are from Fionna Apple's 'Never is a Promise'

Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark.

Staking a Claim: Of course I own the X-Men. I also own FOX, Marvel and Stan

Lee.

Notes 2: Really, really dark. Not something to read if you'd like to stay

in a happy state of mind. Still with me? Okay, I warned you.

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You'll never see-the courage I know

Its colors richness won't appear within your view

I'll never glow-the way that you glow

Your presence dominates the judgements made on you

But as the scenery grows, I see in different light

The shapes and shadows undulate in my perception

My feelings swell and stretch; I see from different heights

I understand what I am still too proud to mention-to you

You'll say you understand, but you don't understand

You'll say you'd never give up seeing eye to eye

But never is a promise and you can't afford to lie



Logan, Magneto, David and Marie all reside in my head. That's a lot of

personalities for such a small space, and it's starting to take its toll.

I'm afraid of what the ultimate cost will be, but I know I can't avoid it.

Three weeks after the battle at the Statue of Liberty was the first time it

happened. I was playing foosball with Bobby, Remy, and Jubes when for no

reason; I started bawling my eyes out. This went on for two days and I hid

out in my room. I slipped further and further from reality, and for the

first time I didn't really care to be alive.

The hours dragged on, as despair ate away at my insides. It became

unbearable, the voices, the rage and the hate. I decided I couldn't stay

here any longer. Five minutes and thirty aspirin later I was wretching into

a toilet. If my body hadn't perceived the medicine as a poison, I could

have been lying in peaceful oblivion by now. So much for long term

planning.

The Logan in my head was extremely pissed and upset about the whole thing.

He didn't understand why I would want to end my life when I had so much

going for me. He told me I was beautiful and intelligent and sexy. I never

believed him. How could I when deep down I know he was only saying that to

make me feel better? In any case, it didn't work.



You'll never touch-these things that I hold

The skin of my emotions lies beneath my own

You'll never feel the heat of this soul

My fever burns me deeper than I've ever shown-to you

You'll say don't fear your dreams; its easier than it seems

You'll say you'd never let me fall from hopes so high

But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie.



Erik knows what it feels like. The self-loathing, doubting and

uncontrollable actions that come from hardcore depression. The mansion

residents eventually picked up on my mood shift, but they never really

understood what it was. Jean thought it was just longing for Logan to

return. The Professor believed it was from juggling four personalities.

Scott believed it was from a deep-seated need to vent repressed feelings.

They all had a guess, but none were really close. In the end, I just

changed in a lot of ways, for no real reason.

Jubes became concerned when my daily ensemble consisted of a pair of

sweatpants and a turtleneck sweater. She got really pissed when I laughed

at her when she confronted me about it. It didn't bother me. Why should

it? After all, how can you really care about someone's opinion of you when

you already hate yourself more than they possibly could? Clothes were just

a silly thing anyway. Something a mutant with deadly skin, a poison

personality and unstable mind certainly didn't need to worry about.

Logan kept growling at me and telling me I was wrong. I would have liked

to believe him, but there really wasn't a point. That just seemed to make

him angrier and my frequency of headaches became legendary. Logan was

persistent in a lot of things. He hounded me about my lack of interest in

things I had cared about before. He also threw a huge fit when I thought

about giving up my goal of being a professional writer. He said I had four

imaginations to work with, so I may as well use them. Eric and David agreed

with this consensus. I came around as well, sure I was ugly, but maybe not

as stupid as I had begun to believe.



You'll never live the life that I live

I'll never live the life that wakes me in the night

You'll never hear the message I give

You say it looks as though I might give up this fight



But as the scenery grows, I see in different light

The shapes and shadows undulate in my perception

My feelings swell and stretch; I see from different heights

I understand what I am now too smart to mention-to you

You'll say you understand, you'll never understand

I'll say I'll never wake up knowing how or why

I don't know what to believe in, you don't know who I am

You'll say I need appeasing when I start to cry

But never is a promise

And I'll never need a lie



In all honesty, I don't know how people live like this all the time.

Self-doubt nagging at the back of their mind like a rabid dog. An

unrelenting litany of should have's and could have's, and self-criticism

raining down upon them. The way I see it there are only two ways to deal

with it. One can either confront the source, or one can hide it from the

world. I hope someday I'm strong enough to deal with this on my own terms.

For now, I'll just have to listen to Logan and try to believe him.