A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update! Here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any members of the official X-Men. I only own Isabelle/Shadow/Nokturna/Izzy, Nebula and Morgan (I should really just leave Shadow's name at one or two. Should I drop Nokturna? Does anyone like Isabelle as her name? I don't know. Drop your opinions in a review!)


"Isabelle."

Isabelle looked around curiously, searching for the person who called out her name. It was early morning and she was in the middle of a busy park. Leaves fell everywhere, it was probably fall time. Her vision was a bit blurry, there was a slight fog rolling in.

"Isabelle!" Someone called out again. This time she recognized the voice as female. She turned and spotted a person under a large tree. It barely had any leaves, they were all scattered on the ground in a mixture or orange, yellow and red.

Isabelle found herself walking up the little hill toward the person. Once she was close enough she recognized her as one of her old childhood friends. She had a bright smile on her face. Isabelle couldn't help but return the smile.

"Morgan?" Isabelle asked curiously. Her friends' features were blurry, almost as if they were censored. Her eyes, her mouth. Blurry. She also noticed that she looked as she had before... so many years ago.

"How have you been, Belle?" She asked. Her voice echoed in Isabelle's head. She sounded so far away.

"I've been doing fine." She answered.

"It's so nice to see you. You look beautiful." Morgan said. Again the words echoed.

"Beautiful?" Isabelle repeated, her voice cracking. She looked down at her clawed hands sadly. "What?" She gasped. Her claws were gone. Replaced by normal fingernails. She brought her hands up to her mutated face. She felt a nose. She felt normal ears. She ran her tongue over her teeth. They were normal. "I'm beautiful?" She breathed, tears springing into her eyes. She looked at her arms. There were no markings. No scars, no black markings. She also noticed that was no longer twenty one. She was once again a nine year old.

"You have always been beautiful. Even since I met you, until now." Morgan beamed.

"But... you've been dead for twelve years, Morgan." She sobbed. She remembers that day perfectly. She came down with a cold that soon enough took her life. Morgan had been her best friend. Sometimes Isabelle wondered if, even after her mutation, she'd still be her best friend.

"What? What are you talking about?" Morgan asked, clearly alarmed by Isabelle's words.

Isabelle blinked back more tears as she watched her friend. She didn't need to be able to see her face. She could remember her blue eyes and thin pink lips perfectly.

"Morgan?" Isabelle called out suddenly when her friend started backing away, as if she were afraid. "What's wrong, Morgan?" She asked, trying to reach out to her. Her hand went right through her arm.

"What's happening to you!?" Morgan sobbed.

"What? What's happening!?" Isabelle panicked. Then she felt it all over again. The pain. Of everything. She knew exactly what was happening. She let her head fall, looking at her arms that now felt numb along with the rest of her. The black markings were there. The claws. The teeth. She was changing.

"No! No!" Isabelle cried. "No, why!? Please, no!" She begged. She fell to her knees and watched as everything around her started to disappear, being replaced by total white nothingness. "No, not again... I don't want to become a monster again..." She cried softly.


Shadow gasped and sat up in bed. It was dark around her. She looked at her arms. There were the markings. It was all just a bad dream.

"Why?" She burst into sobs. She put her face into her hands as she quietly cried. "Why? Why can't I just be normal?" She whispered between sobs. "I'm a hideous monster." She hissed. "I'm a freak. An outcast. I'm not... beautiful." She shut her hands into fists against her eyes as she remembered her dream and how wonderful she had felt at that moment when she wasn't a monster. An animal.

She lifted her head and gazed ahead into the mirror. Her hideous face. Her markings. Her teeth. Her hair. Her... tail. What woman has a tail?

"AH!" She screamed, grabbing her alarm clock and throwing it across he room at the mirror. It shattered, leaving many small reflections of herself.

She took deep breaths and pulled herself out of bed. She pulled on her furry boots and walked out of her room, not bothering to shut her door. She felt her lungs contract, more sobs threatening to escape. She covered her mouth and nearly ran downstairs. She flew down the empty halls and went straight to the front doors. She opened them and walked out, barely closing them after.

She shut her eyes tight, more tears streaming down her face. A sob escaped and it shook her body violently. "Stop. Stop crying!" She screamed at herself through sobs. She fell to her knees in the center of the garden maze, not being able to control her emotions. "Stop... crying." She told herself.

She took deep breaths for well over twenty minutes. Halfway through she had started crying again but she stopped herself. She bit down on her tongue and took long breaths through her nose. She didn't close her eyes. She kept them open and she looked around at the rose bushes that surrounded her instead.

She stopped crying but she still wanted to. She just wanted to cry and cry and hate herself. But she knew she couldn't. It was pointless. This isn't the first time she breaks down over this. She knew she could pull herself together. But this time it felt so much worse. Her crying was so much more... meaningful. She cried hard this time.

She breathed out through her mouth and it came out shaky and ragged. She sighed as she finally started to calm down. Suddenly she felt dizzy. She shook her head and laid down on the damp ground in efforts to stop the world from spinning and her brain from buzzing. She shut her eyes tightly but kept her mind clear of any thoughts. She hugged herself into a small ball. A small, weak little ball. She felt so numb. So tired.

She heard a familiar sound. A comforting sound. She smiled. Weakly but she smiled. Shadow pushed herself onto her hands and knees and then slowly to her feet. She followed the sounds in a daze. As she walked, she pulled off her boots and left them behind, enjoying the feel of cold grass between her toes. She didn't look back for any reason. Didn't look up either. Just stared at her feet as they dragged over the dew covered grass as she absentmindedly found her way out of the maze... and into the forest.

She kept walking. And walking. Just staring at the ground, not thinking. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. That seemed to jolt her thoughts. She lifted her head and took in the sight of trees going all around. Her eyes landed on the reason she was even here.

"Thank you, Nebula." She whispered. She sighed and sank to the floor, crossing her legs. Nebula whimpered as she had when she found her best friend and walked over, carefully crawling into Shadow's legs and curling up. "I'm fine, don't worry. I just had a break down, you know how it is." She said with a weak laugh. She started to stroke Nebula's fur soothingly. She didn't know if it soothed her or herself.

Nebula nudged her best friend in the side with her nose. Shadow looked down and was caught in those expressive eyes. She sighed, knowing she was asking what was really wrong. Shadow didn't know if she should tell her. She didn't know if the young mutant would understand. She felt a nudge again. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

"I wish..." She started. She looked away and stared at the ground. "I wish I wasn't... this." She said with a hiss at the end. "An animal. A freak." She said as she ghosted her trembling hands over her face. "I wish I could be like every other girl my age." She whispered. "I'm just a hideous... thing."

Nebula whimpered. Times before Shadow broke down about her appearance. Nebula has come to understand just how much she hates it. She didn't like leaving Shadow alone at these times. The first time it happened... the woman tried to... Oh God. Nebula brushed the memories away quickly before the images of Shadow trying to hang herself from a tree came back to haunt her.

She knew there was nothing she could tell Shadow to make her feel better. She had tried. She could just comfort her and keep her safe from herself. She knew it would blow over eventually and she would push the feelings away until the next time. Until then she would be normal.

Nebula crawled out from her best friend's lap and transformed. She brushed her clothe-like fur and stretched. Shadow just watched the teenager in awe. Her transformation still amazed her, no matter how many times she sees her do it.

"So that guy, Logan-"

"Don't start, Neb." Shadow warned with a wary scoff.

"He seems interesting." Nebula continued as if Shadow hadn't spoken a word. "He's a lot cuter than I had imagined." She added playfully.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, "Hey, hey! He's too old for you, Nebula." Shadow pointed out sternly. "Way too old for you." She added.

"You told me about that aging thing. He's only really that old on the inside. On the outside he's, what? T-"

"Still too old for you." Shadow hissed. "Forget it, Nebula, it's not happening."

Nebula smirked, "Oh come on! You know I age in dog years! By the time I'm seventeen I'll look your age." She teased.

Shadow paled, "Nebula!" She groaned.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You called dibs." She said, rolling her eyes.

"No I didn't, Nebula." Shadow growled, scowling at Nebula. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Oh! What about the ice guy? You said he's pretty young too!" Nebula said excitedly.

"Bobby? No way! His girlfriend is a psycho." Shadow said darkly.

Nebula tensed, mentally beating herself up for even bringing that up. She chuckled nervously, "H-How's your friend? The crawler dude." She asked, hoping to change the subject.

Shadow was pulled away from her evil thoughts. She smiled softly, "He's really glad I'm back." She said. "He was so worried."

"He seems really nice." Nebula said, finally sitting down across from Shadow. "Did you ever miss anyone while you were with me?" Nebula asked out of the blue.

"Sometimes." She admitted. She wouldn't let Nebula know how miserable she was at times. She really missed them during that month. "I missed Kurt the most. Sometimes I missed Hank and his sweet awkwardness. I missed Scott's jokes and Jean's caring nature. I missed the professor and the feeling of safety and acceptance he gave off..." She trailed off, thinking of all of them. She could already miss them.

"What was that?" Nebula gasped, jumping to her feet. She crouched down and transformed, taking a fighting position. Shadow scrambled to her feet and also took a fighting stance.

"What is it, Nebula?" Shadow whispered, listening in carefully. Then she heard it. Leaves being crushed under feet. "Wait here." She ordered before silently going in the direction of the sounds. She sniffed the air and it was familiar but at the same time, she couldn't even begin to place a finger on it.

She followed the sounds to her left, going deeper into the forest. She climbed a tree in hopes of getting a glimpse of whatever was lurking around. Once she got to the top, she looked around. Who could it be?

In the distance she caught sight of something bright. She squinted her eyes against it to try and see past it but it was too painful for her eyes. She shut them and jumped off the tree, landing firmly on the ground. She could still see the light shining somewhat so she decided to follow it. As she got closer, the trees started to part to make some sort of a clearing. She gasped as she laid eyes on a building. Some sort of a shack.

"What is this?" She whispered in awe. She crouched down as far as she could when she heard the footsteps from before. "So this is where you live?" She wondered quietly. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked. She was determined to find out.

Just then, something came out into the clearing. It was a person, she could tell by it's shape. A very large person, very bulky. She couldn't well see, it was holding a flashlight to light it's way. The person walked up to the door and leaned down, putting something on the ground so it could look for the keys. Shadow narrowed her eyes and whatever it was looked like a crate kind of basket. She strained her eyes more and noticed test tubes full of blue... something. Some kind of liquid.

"That must be what I smelled earlier!" She gasped as it came together. She bit her tongue, hoping she wasn't too loud. The person lifted it's head, probably to look around. It must have heard her. Shadow backed up slowly, trying to hide further into the forest without losing sight of the person. "Go inside." She cooed in a whisper. As if it had heard her, it stepped inside after picking up the crate filled with test tubes.

Shadow immediately sprang into action, running to the shack and pressing her back to the wall. She looked to her right, expecting to see a window but there wasn't one. She tilted her head in confusion and she stealthily made her way along the wall to the back wall of the shack. She hissed when there was no window. She was becoming impatient already as she turned the corner for the next wall.

Suddenly she was blinded and she was frozen like a deer caught in headlights. She gasped and fell back in shock, staring toward the source of the light that blinded her in horror. The person was standing there at the other corner of the shack. She felt her scream caught in her throat, she was too terrified to make a single move. She's been caught.


A/N: Dum, dum, duuummmm! Shocked? Me too! Drama, a little bit of humor thanks to Nebula and suspense! Leave a review and find out what happens next!