Hey all! It's musicis4ever! Thanks so much to Some random girl for your review! You rock and I hope others follow your amazing example. Oh, and trust me, Jayma isn't a Mary-Sue. Neither is Fern! Also, thanks to Extensive Original Character Library, butterfliesinspring, and golden-priestess for showing your interest. I love you guys! ^^ Peace and love!
Chapter 1
Okay, back to this moment where I'm running for my life. TJ (crazy dude) is chasing after me because I stole his only research on Fern. Keeping her safe has been my number one priority in life. But, I also forgot about the rules of gravity and the rainstorm that had happened last night. I slip and my leg meets a metal bar. I fall, the file flying out of my hands.
"Damn it!" I spit mud out of my mouth.
"There you are, thief!" TJ triumphantly grabs me. I growl at him, biting his hand.
"This will teach you a lesson!" He hits me in the back of my head with the bar. When I come to, I'm inside a giant glass cage. I pound on the sides, but nothing happens. TJ smirks at me.
"Let me out of here, you insane freak!" I shout at him. He knocks on the glass. I cover my ears, as the sound rings in my ears. Fern suddenly leaps out of her cage.
"Fish out of water, fish out of water, fish out of water!" An alarm squeals. She flops around on the ground before she starts turning back into a human. TJ pays no attention to her. He turns the alarm off.
"I don't need my first experiment. Moving on to a better one!"
Two burly men come in and strap me down to the table in the center of the room. I struggle to break free, but in vain. The men leave, closing the door behind them.
"TJ, please don't do this! You were a good man once, don't you remember that? Don't you remember Layna?" I plead with him.
"Shut up, girl!" He hits a large green button. Needles pierce my ankles, wrists, and chest. A searing pain shoots through my body. I scream, feeling like I'm burning from the inside. My heartbeat rises. After a few minutes, the two men come back inside. They remove the straps and take me to TJ. I can't stand because whatever was injected into me had weakened me.
"How… could you?" I whisper.
"Your sister meant the world to me. And you killed her," he glares at me.
"I… didn't-"
"YOU DID TOO!" He spits, flecks of saliva hitting my face. I cringe, feeling my strength returning.
"You don't…understand! You never will." Giving me a venomous look, he throws me back into the glass cage. I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. I hear the voice of my sister, Layna, and my dear friend Charles Xavier.
"Oh, dear. She doesn't look so well. Perhaps it's better to leave her here." Layna sounds uneasy.
"Don't say that! She's my best friend. We're not leaving!" Charles states, firmly. I can see him folding his arms across his chest. There are quick footsteps.
"What's going on here?" Raven asks. The loud creak of springs tells me she just sat down on the edge of a bed.
"We were just going to visit Fern, and Charles found Jayma. She was in a glass cell, deathly ill. Thanks to Charles' quick thinking, she's alive. Now we're playing the waiting game." Layna's head will be in her hands.
"Mind if I have a moment with Jayma? Alone?" Charles asks.
"But she's unconscious." Raven sounds confused.
"Not exactly," he states, a smile in his voice.
"Well then. You may talk to her, if you'd like. Come on Raven!" I hear receding footsteps and a door shutting.
"Jayma? I know you can hear me. Somewhere in your mind, you're conscious. I wanted to tell you this for a very long time…TJ only enhanced your mutation. Your mother was just like you. Her mutant name became Jazz. When she passed on, everyone thought that there wouldn't be another mutant like her. No one knew about you, yet. When they found out, they celebrated." At this comment, my eyelids flutter open.
"Are you lying to me, Charles?" I tease.
"Glad to see you too, Jayma." He sighs, relieved.
"Do you think I should be called Jazz?" I say, seriously.
"It doesn't really fit you."
I pretend to be offended.
"Oh, you know what I mean!" He says with a smile.
I pout at him.
"Are we playing that game again?" His smile widens. I stop pouting.
"No. You always win," I reply, playfully punching his shoulder. He brushes away my hair from my eyes.
"Thank you Charles," I smile at him. The door opens.
"Hold on, Layna, I forgot my – " Raven stares at us.
" – Purse." She finishes, awkwardly.
"Hello to you too, Raven." I say, the smile vanishing a bit. Fern walks in, seaweed in her red hair.
"There you are!" She embraces me.
"Hey, Fern! How are you?" I ask, beaming.
"Soaking wet, but otherwise fantastic. You?" She wrings her hair out.
"I'm not sure, actually. TJ experimented on me."
"You mean, 'tortured'?" She raises an eyebrow at me.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"I'm so sorry! What happened?" Her blue-gray eyes look into my violet ones.
"I – I don't want to remember." I bite my lip.
"I understand completely. I'm always here when you feel like telling me." She smiles at me, kindly.
"Thanks, Fern. Hey, have you heard from Erik?" I tentatively ask her this. She looks pensive.
"Well, no. Not for 10 years."
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have pried!" I wish I could kick myself for being so stupid.
"No, it's fine. I'm over him now. Besides…" She takes the seaweed out of her hair and gives it to me.
"I've got bigger fish to eat."
I smile at her expression.
"So, what about you?" Fern asks, nudging me.
"Oh! Charles, this is my friend Fern Azgaird. Fern, this is Charles Xavier. He's my dearest childhood friend."
"Jay-Jay!" She teases, grinning at me.
"Oh, you know what I mean!" I blush again.
"Whoa!" Everyone yells.
"What?" I look down, and let out a gasp. My whole body is gone, camouflaged into the space around me.
"Fascinating!" Charles says, walking around me.
"What happened to me?" I say, freaked out.
"It appears that when TJ experimented on you, he somehow got the DNA of a chameleon into your genetic structure. Thus, further mutating your cells." He looks amazed.
"Well, how do I get back to being non-chameleon?" I dread the answer.
"You can't. But just relax, Jayma!" He puts his hands on my shoulders, facing me. I breathe out, calming myself down.
"Charles? Where are you?" Raven looks at us, but then starts looking around.
"I'm right here!" His voice sounds amused. He lets go of my shoulders suddenly. She jumps at the sight of him.
"What?" He asks her, a look of fake confusion on his face.
"You disappeared a minute ago. Right when you touched Jayma." She states.
"Oh, that! I just wanted to see what would happen if someone were to touch her, while she was in that form. Or just being that close to her," he adds, as an afterthought. I reappear, my arms folded across my chest.
"Yes. I do think we'll call you Jazz from now on. Is everyone all right with that?" Charles says, turning to the rest of the group.
"Sure." Layna and Fern chorus as Raven stifles a laugh. I glare at him.
"What?" He asks again.
"I wish you'd stop reading my mind, Charles." I frown at him.
"Would you feel more comfortable?" He sounds serious.
"Yes I would."
"Fine, I promise I won't read you're mind again."
"Do you swear?" I look into his eyes.
"I swear."
"Cross your heart?"
"Cross my heart," he says, doing so.
"On your life?"
He hesitates before nodding.
"On the world's existence?" I raise my eyebrow.
"And the next." He says, sincerely. I smile at this.
"And I swear to you, Charles, that I will never intentionally hurt you in any way, shape, or form."
"I trust that you'll keep your promise," he replies, looking away from me.
"I trust you'll keep yours. Or else, you'll be a mere memory in my past that I shan't pay attention to." I look at him out of the corner of my eye.
"I will never betray you, Jayma."
"I hope not, Charles." I hug him to let him know I believe him.
"Oh! Now that you're in my 'castle'… I want to introduce you to the other mutants." Charles leads me into the other room. 4 other mutants (including Raven) all stop talking as I walk in. One blonde mutant in particular catches my eye. He smiles at me, his blue eyes lighting up.
"Easy there, Alex. Don't lose control," a cute brunette teen in thick glasses says, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"I wasn't going to. And get your hand off of me, Hank," he growls. Hank lets go as if his hand is on fire.
"Thank you!" Alex replies. I bite my lip to keep from smiling.
"All right, everyone. This is our newest member… Jazz!"
"Who names their daughter Jazz?" Raven asks, loudly.
"Raven!" Charles says, surprised.
"For your information, my mother was named Jazz. I chose to be named after her because that way, I can still keep her in my life." I sniff, facing the window. I hate that I'm so emotional.
"Your mother's dead?" Alex asks, gently. I nod, afraid to show the others my tear-filled eyes.
