Oy, Fanfiction.net is not working tonight so I am forced to amuse myself otherwise…Good for you bad for me…

Anyway, Happy New Chapter! I'm so tired right now after proofreading the darn thing and revising it and not getting any sleep all week and now it's two o'clock and I really should ponder an earlier bedtime. Oh well.

Disclaimer: It's getting too long to keep writing snide little comments about everyone, but basically X-Men Evolution would not resemble itself if I actually owned it rather than just borrowing for my own devious purposes. Yeah, if I did own it though, those new recruits (who really aren't new anymore) would get a whole heck of a lot more air time. That includes the wondrous Jamie. Undoubtedly. Indubitably. Savvy, mate?

*~*~*~*~*~*

Not The Geese

Jamie stared in wonder at the building. He had never seen anything in such a state of disrepair. The shutters lay about the building, torn from their windows as if by some great monster and thrown to the ground. The paint was peeling like dried skin. And with the mold that grew on every surface, Jamie could not tell what the original color had been intended to be. It was at the moment a sort of greenish, yellow-y white.

Raven has friends in there? Jamie though, apprehensive to enter the demolished building.

"Come, Jamie. It won't fall on your head. The people who live here aren't the most attentive caretakers, but the house will keep for now." She offered a hand and Jamie accepted it. He drew strength from her nearness and was more willing to pass through the entrance while there was a physical connection between them.

The first sound that reached his ears was the unmistakable noise of shouting. It was high and shrill; a woman's voice. As it approached, Jamie could see it emanated from a thin, blonde girl who was busy shoving two boys down a staircase ahead of her. She was completely oblivious to the two guests. The matter at hand seemed to be of much more importance.

"Lance, that is the last time you ever play your stupid jokes on me again! If I ever seen you even in the same hallway as my room, I will personally assure you that you never see another sunrise!"

The one Jamie assumed to be Lance was cringing under her fiery gaze. She grasped a fistful of his collar in her right hand and squeezed her grip tighter. He made a few gurgling sounds, signaling he was having respiratory difficulties.

She turned her attention to the boy whose collar she held in her other hand. He, too, was making slight choking noises. "And Toad! Take a bath. Immediately. You reek, and now everything in this house smells like you. I can't wake up to your stench one more day without going insane."

With a final shove, she released them from her grip and they scattered; Lance to plan further elaborate schemes, and the one named Toad to ponder whether he remembered how to bathe in the first place.

No one had noticed their arrival, though they stood in the doorway for another five minutes. Raven cleared her throat. It was lost in the activity of the house. Noise came from everywhere. Sounds echoed down from further upstairs, or from the kitchen, or the living room. The very walls themselves seemed to moan with their own voice.

She cleared he throat again, louder this time. It wasn't until the boy Lance walked by that she was noticed.

"Hey, Pietro! Have you seen my - " He paused. His eyes widened at the sight of Raven.

"M-Mystique? Is that you?" His voice caught in his throat and a look of terror crossed his face.

"Hello, Lance. I trust my room is still unoccupied?" Her voice was no longer the reassuring, welcoming presence it had been previously.

Mystique?

Lance stuttered incoherently. Jamie wasn't sure what was going on but he was certain he had missed something very vital to the conversation.

There was a breeze on his face as a silver blur passed through Jamie's vision. It was so familiar. Something important…Something he should remember.

That night when the bus was attacked. He had seen that silver streak during the fight, with the muties.

"Raven," he whispered. She must not have realized that these friends of hers were dangerous. They had to get out before the mutants got them! He tugged urgently on her hand.

Her eyes never left Lance as the youth babbled on, now joined by the second figure who had been the silver blur. Her face was cold and hard. Raven was not the same person who had joked with him this morning and listened to his stories yesterday. She may have looked that same but underneath her skin was a stranger. Jamie suddenly realized how little he really knew about her. He had blindly followed her and now he was alone in a house of mutants with a complete stranger.

His mother would have said "I told you so!" if it had not been such a horrible situation.

"Raven!" he whispered louder, a hint of desperation leaking into his voice. Raven's head turned only a fraction. She still stared at the boys.

He leaned in close to her and said in a low voice, "Raven, they're muties! We have to get out of here!"

Apparently it was not quiet enough for the two boys to not hear. They burst out laughing, despite their obvious fear of Raven's arrival. She even had a faint smile on her lips; a cruel smirk.

"Yeah, we're muties," Lance said. He had stopped laughing but shared Raven's horrible grin. "You have a problem with us?" he spat. Unbelievably, his eyes rolled back in his head as though he was having some sort of a fit.

The house began to shake and Jamie's worst fears came to pass. The wreck was collapsing on top of them! He turned his worried eyes up to the ceiling only to see a large chunk of roof falling towards him.

The last thought that passed through Jamie's mind before he passed out was Raven knew.

He woke some time later to the small white room. Rogue was there again. She was painting her nails a somber shade of black and was so completely engrossed in her task that she did not notice his revival.

"Hi," he croaked and she jumped slightly in surprise.

"Hi, Jamie. How are ya today?" She gave him a smile and Jamie instantly felt better.

"Ok, I guess. When can I get out of here?" It may just be a dream but Jamie still didn't want to spend all his sleep time in this one room. Then again, it might not be a dream and in that case he most definitely did not want to stay here.

"When ya stop behavin' like a crazy nut. Where do ya go when you fall asleep? Ya can't possibly be dreamin' all that time. One person can simply not sleep as many hours a day as you do and still come up with new dreams."

"I don't dream when I fall asleep here," he explained. "This is my dream, or at least I thought so." Jamie wasn't sure what was real anymore. Everything seemed so twisted and inconceivable.

"Really? So what's yer real life laike, if this is where ya go ta dream?"

"It's weird and messed up. There are mutants and normal people and I'm having problems figuring out who's who. I thought I could trust someone I met but now it turns out she's just been leading my straight to the mutants. I don't understand what happened. And now I'm asleep after I was hit on the head by a piece of the roof of some house and I already think I have a serious head injury cause I keep seeing people who shouldn't be there and I'm not sure what's real anymore and what's the dream."

He looked at her, his confusion evident on his face. "I just don't understand anything."

"What's wrong with the mutants?" She was curious now. She had put the nail polish down for good. He had her full attention.

"They attacked my bus. They hurt a lot of innocent people. They caused a lot of unnecessary pain. There is no reason to trust the mutants. They're all bad." Jamie only then realized who he was talking to. His voice caught in his throat and he stammered an apology before she ripped his head from his shoulders.

"I-I'm really s-sorry! I-I didn't m-mean t-to insult you l-like that!"

"We're not all laike that Jamie." Her face was dark. "Ah wasn't always nice but Ah changed. Everyone here could be yer friend. They don't laike ta hurt people; they try ta stop others from doing that."

"Then where were you when a whole bus was blown off the road, huh? Why does everyone still hate mutants if you try so hard to be nice? You're no different from them – Lance and that other one. And Raven."

"What'd ya say?" Her green eyes sparkled with incredulity. "Did ya just say 'Lance'?"

"Yeah…He was one of the mutants Raven brought me to meet. Him and some other guy were both at the bus when it crashed. And Raven was there and she helped me escape and I trusted her and now I'm stuck in a big mess." Jamie felt so miserable with himself.

"You – you said the roof fell on you?" She could barely contain her anticipation.

"Yeah, that's the last thing I remember. That and Lance having some fit or something. His eyes rolled back in his head and he didn't look well at all. Next thing I knew the whole house was shaking and a big chunk fell on my head."

"Do ya think that Lance coulda done it; since they were mutants and all?"

"It could have been him but there were other people in the place that could have been mutants." Raven could have even been a mutant, he thought. That idea greatly disturbed him.

"Jamie, Ah think Ah know where ya go when ya leave here. Ya're stayin' with a bunch of idiot guys Ah unfortunately know. And ya're raght; they are pretty rotten, though not the worst Ah've seen. And Raven must be…" Her eyes turned cold.

"You know Raven?"

"Yes." In that single syllable was all the hurt and betrayal Jamie felt, and more. She knew Raven, no doubt about that. "Ah'm sorry ya ever had to meet her."

Jamie felt even worse that Raven had betrayed someone else. He had trusted her and it turns out she routinely crushes people's faith in her. It definitely stung.

"Look, Jamie, you gotta trust me. Ya're a mutant, the professa already told ya that, but ya can't forget. And ya can't forget that not everyone is laike Mystique and those guys. She almost got me that way and Ah won't let her try it on you. Promise me ya won't let her?"

Jamie wasn't sure if he could make a promise like that to her. He wasn't sure who to trust anymore. He wasn't sure he could even trust himself after the mess he had made with Raven.

"I-I don't know. I just --"

But the room was fading. Slowly his mind was floating back to his reality where he could hear the soft humming of a woman. It was the tune his mother had sang to him ages before. It was the song he had sung for Raven.

He would have to make a decision soon, and somehow he must find out the truth about Raven.

He was not going to let her trick him again.

*~*~*~*~*~*

So there you go, chapter eight. Never thought I'd get this far. It would amaze me sooooo much more if I wasn't dead-tired. I leave you now to sleep, goodnight…or morning, whatever floats your boat.

Don't forget to review. Reviews are like the hundred points extra credit on an exam which you are positively certain you failed with flying colors. Make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Please help me attain that state of happiness.