Disclaimer - I do not own X-Men: Evolution in any way, shape or form. I do own Adam Jensen and Ben. I will not make any money off this story. I don't own The Sixth Sense either.
A/N denotes when someone dead is speaking to Adam.
Chapter 1
Adam Jensen poked his sandy haired head out from under the covers of his bed and groaned when he realised that it was still dark out and no sane, respectable person was awake at this hour. He stared at the ceiling and sighed. He knew why he had woken at this hour and he knew that there was no getting back to sleep until who ever wanted to talk to him had finished.
Hey brother mine he heard the soft voice and nearly fell out of bed.
"Ava" he said softly, his eyes fulling with tears.
He saw her transparent figure standing at the end of his bed smiling at him.
Oh don't cry. You can't cry she said, stomping her foot.
"I can't help it, sis. He still misses you, you know" he told her.
Instantly he saw a change in her form, it seemed to waver slightly, which informed him that he had upset her.
He shouldn't. I am happy this way and it's safer for everyone she said stubbornly.
"Ava, you know that's not true" Adam tried to argue.
Listen I just came to see you and talk since I can't talk to anyone else she sighed.
"Mum is back in New Zealand."
I know. I see her and him in their dreams she said sadly.
Adam studied her as she stood there staring back at him. She hadn't changed but she wouldn't because she was dead and she would always look this way. She didn't look injured, she just looked like she would have had she not died, except she would never age.
He also noticed that she never said Ben's name, as if it hurt her too much but he never asked her about it.
So what's it like here?
"Really good. I'm in my last year of high school. Scott and Jean are both at uni but they call it college or something like that. Everyone is doing well" he told her.
Her form seemed to dance around a bit before smiling at him again.
I've got to go brother mine. I'll see you again soon she said with a smile before vanishing.
Adam felt tears fall down his face and quickly wiped his eyes. Sometimes he wished he didn't have this gift but he was happy that he could talk to his sister. Knowing that he would not be able to sleep for ages now he got up and threw his faded dressing gown over his singlet and boxers.
He made his way down the hall in the dark, having done this many times before. Every time he talked to someone he couldn't sleep and he became strangely hungry so he knew his way from his room to the kitchen blindfolded.
Reaching the kitchen he saw that the light was on. He peeked in and saw Kurt sitting in there with Scott. Both were talking softly, worried that they might wake someone.
"Am I interrupting?" Adam asked as he walked in.
"No, come on in. We are just having a midnight snack" Scott said.
He looked strange wearing his sunglasses at night but for him it was a necessity. Kurt, however, looked strange at any time. His fuzzy blue appearance had startled many a new recruit.
"Have you been talking to someone?" Kurt asked in his German accented voice.
This was code for have you been talking too dead people. Everybody got a kick out of his "I see dead people" routine.
"Yeah. Ava" he told them glumly.
"That has to be interesting" Scott deadpanned.
Adam grabbed some bread and the ingredients for a major sandwich before plonking himself down in a chair at the table.
"It always makes me hungry, you know" he explained as he made his sandwich.
They all sat in silence for awhile before Scott broke the silence.
"You still miss her, right?"
Adam swallowed the huge mouthful before answering.
"Yes. I mean she was my sister and all plus we did everything together. It's hard to talk to her when I know that no one else can see or hear her. It's the same with any other dead person but she's my sister" he tried to explain.
Since being at the Institute he had learned control over his powers so he could block it out if he wanted but he felt that the dead needed a voice among the living. Along with learning control he had been training hard in the danger room since his was a passive power.
"Ja, she will always be your sister" Kurt told him.
"Don't get all depressed on my account. How's uni going, Scott?" Adam tried to change the topic.
"It's educational" he replied honestly.
Adam almost laughed out loud. Scott was so serious a lot of the time that he was glad that Kurt was around to keep the balance equal.
"No way. That can't be right, college isn't supposed to be like that. You're supposed to be partying" Kurt said doing an impromptu dance his tail holding a spoon that had ice cream in it.
Adam had to laugh; they were such opposites but still best of friends. He saw Scott go red in the face and he turned to see Jean standing in the doorway, a bemused look on her face.
"Hey Jean, come join the party" Kurt yelled out as he continued to dance.
Jean laughed lightly before sitting down at the table. Adam watched as she raised a hand and saw a spoon come sailing towards her. She caught it deftly and stabbed it into the ice cream.
"So why are you all down here? Trouble sleeping?" she asked.
The three of them nodded with slight grins on their faces.
"Night visitors" Adam mumbled as Jean glanced at him.
"Ava again?"
Adam nodded before stealing the ice cream.
~*~
Ben woke with a hangover, which was now a common occurrence for him. He was surprised to find himself in his own bed but was even more surprised to see someone staring at him. At the end of his bed, sitting on a stool, was the girl from last night.
His mouth felt full of fluff and it was too bright in this room so he was squinting to see. The girl must have noticed this because the light dimmed. He opened his eyes in time to see her move away from the blinds.
"Your address was on you licence" she answered his unspoken question.
Ben nodded as he lurched towards the bathroom. He relieved himself then brushed his teeth, trying to get rid of the rotten taste. After splashing water on his face and frowning at his haggard reflection, he wandered into the small sitting room. The girl, Thea, he remembered, was seated on the ground. Her eyes were closed and it looked as if she was concentrating deeply. As he watched she suddenly disappeared.
"Practising?" he mumbled.
She reappeared then; her green eyes were large.
"I...I was experimenting" she explained.
Ben just waved away her explanations as he wandered into the kitchen and made himself a strong coffee.
"Well..." she asked impatiently as he came back into the lounge.
Ben looked at her with bemused eyes. She was a tall girl with a lithe figure. When she had been talking before he had noticed that she had braces which told him that she wasn't homeless. Her skin was tanned but he could still see a small amount of freckles across her nose. Her hair was tied in two plaits that ended just past her shoulders.
"Stop it" she snapped at him.
"Stop what?"
"Staring at me."
He averted his gaze while he sipped his coffee and grimaced at the taste.
"What's wrong?" he heard her ask.
"I hate the taste" he told her, indicating the coffee.
"Then why drink it?"
"I need to get sober. I have class in;" he glanced at his watch, " twenty minutes."
"Class?"
"Advanced genetics" he replied, gulping down the drink.
His head was throbbing and her questions were beginning to aggravate the throbbing.
"You said you knew someone who could help me with my...uh..."
"Condition" he supplied.
"Yeah, my condition."
"I know someone who will be happy to help but what about your parents?" he asked as he got ready.
"Working, I guess. They're really busy at the moment" she replied, going slightly red.
"You can stay here till I get back if you want. I'll see you later" he waved.
"What about a key?" she yelled after him.
"On the table" he yelled back before disappearing behind a corner.
~*~
Thea watched Ben leave and sat back in his old couch. He mind was alive with questions that she wanted answered now but she knew that she had to wait. She also knew that she should be at school since she was only sixteen but at this time she didn't really care. She knew that her parents would have a fit if they knew but they were too busy working for the government.
She thought about her new predicament. She had always known that she was different somehow but until last night she had never considered herself to be a mutant.
The more she thought about it the more it made sense and she was eager to test what she could do. She already knew that she could send her mind out and see things that others couldn't but the disappearing thing was new to her.
Thea jumped up suddenly as she remembered what she had been doing last night before running into Ben. She grabbed her bag and pulled out the wooden statue. It was carved in the shape of a boy and looked human except for the strange eyes and the small horns that jutted out of either side of the head.
Thea had seen something like this before in one of the many books that she had read and she knew that it was very important and also very dangerous. She had assumed that the people that she had stolen it off had not realised how important it was but on closer inspection she realised that they might have some idea. She saw small scorch marks, which indicated that some one had tried to use it for some reason.
"Damn, damn, damn it all" she swore.
Her parents may not know what she got up to most of the time but her nana, on the other hand, had a very strong idea on what she did. It was her nana that had taught her about the statue and other things that were related to it. Her mind thought about that for a few minutes when she realised something. Her nana had always known where she was or if she was in trouble.
Jumping up she stumbled around the room searching for a phone. Spying one on the table she grabbed it and dialled the numbers to her nana's house.
"Hello Thea. I assume you've figured it out?" she heard her nana's soothing voice say over the phone.
"You knew" Thea stated.
"Of course dear. That's why you stayed with me most of the time. Your dad thought that you might be a mutant."
"Dad's a mutant too?" she asked, confused.
Thea heard her nana's rich laugh.
"No dear one. I am and your uncle was. It skipped your father and manifested in you" she said, laughing.
"Oh. So that's how you knew where I was all the time."
"It's called telepathy" she heard her nana explain.
"Am I supposed to be here?" she asked, surprising herself and her nana.
"Yes, Ben will help you but you also have to help him" her nana replied in a strange tone, which Thea recognised. It was her weird trance tone.
She listened as her nana explained some things before saying that she had to go.
"Bye Nana" she whispered into the phone before hanging up.
Thea sank back into the chair going over everything in her mind and she was still sitting there when Ben arrived home. Thea noted that he didn't look much better. He needed to shave and his eyes were bleary and bloodshot. She didn't know what drove him to drink so much but she knew that it was a problem.
"Hey, how was class?" she asked politely.
She watched as he dropped his bag and went to the fridge. He came back with a beer in hand.
"It was okay. It's only my first year but I think it will get better."
"How old are you?" she asked, confused.
She had believed him to be in his mid twenties, which worried her last night when he passed out. He could have been a rapist or murderer but she had trusted him and managed to drag him home.
"I'm nineteen" he said, giving her a strange look.
She just shook her head, still confused.
"Um...are you gonna ring that friend of yours?" she asked.
Thea was beginning to feel uncomfortable for some strange reason. She started to fidget, hopping from one foot to another.
"Yeah, hand me the phone" he asked.
Thea grabbed the phone and was taking it over to him when that feeling intensified.
"Ben, we've gotta go" she said urgently.
Grabbing her bag and dragging on his arm she pulled him out the door and down the stairs.
"What the hell...?" he cried in dismay.
"Don't stop" she urged.
They ran out into the afternoon sun and both of them looked back up at Ben's room. Something was moving in there and the next thing they knew their ears were ringing and they were bleeding from various cuts.
"Holy s***" she heard Ben swear.
She saw a fire blazing from within the room and watched as smoke billowed out in large, black clouds.
"Um...I think someone doesn't want me to see this person that you know" Thea said laughing nervously.
To Be Continued