Authoress's note: well, I promised I'd give you the second part too, didn't I? I've been a bit sick, so sorry for the wait!

Reviewers' Response:

chelsey-pudge – hehehe, evil me. Triangles rock. Except when they appear on a geometry exam. x( I hope this matches the last chapter on the awesomeness scale!

Pyro Lady – really? Cool. Blah, I didn't like Sabertooth. He was like a pissed-off cat that'd had his toy taken away. Though I like cats . Toad was nice, actually. I loved his sarcasm.

I Stole Brad Pitt – heh, I'll try and give Logan some more fic time :)

Rogue200315 – hey, welcome to VR!

xImmortalx – muahahaha! Is the look on your face priceless? I'm betting it is.

Silverone3 – s'okay. I've been busy as well. Glad you likey!

Chesher – Quito! Finally, you're reviewing! Glad you like it so much. Please, pleeeeeaaaaase draw me a pic of Kurt and Amanda! See ya at school tomorrow! Tusha.

From last time:

A moment of silence penetrated the music as everybody saw Melavina herding Scott to a dark, secluded corner. Logan nearly laughed at the look on his face... priceless!

Chapter 14: The Halloween Party:

Part II: Party Crashers

"Well, Mr. Summers," she said. "You're certainly hot tonight."

"Uh, thanks, I guess," he said. "Um, you look..." his eyes traveled for the first time up and down her figure completely, eyeing her clothes – or rather, lack of – quite approvingly, she thought. She smiled inwardly. She pressed closer to him, leaning on him slightly at an angle that would have been quite ... enjoyable, had Scott not been a teacher and she a student.

"Mel," he began.

"Oh, Scott," she whispered, shivering slightly. "I'm cold."

"Cold?" he took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. Mel closed her eyes, breathing in the scent that was him. The cologne he wore, the smell of the soap he used... "Better?"

"Mmm," she said, turning around so that she was facing him, "much better." She leaned in, rising to her tiptoes and pushing her lips onto his.

Scott tensed up. For a moment he remained in the kiss, until his rational side surfaced. He pushed her away gently. Melavina stepped back, tears already stinging in her eyes. "Scott?" she whispered.

"No, Mel. We can't do this. You can't do this."

Mel looked down. "I know," she said weakly. "Bye, then." She turned around and started to walk away; then she walked back slowly and kissed him simply on the cheek. "Bye, Cyclops."

Scott stayed silent, his hand going to the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. He traced his tongue over his lips, tasting her cherry lip-gloss. He looked at her retreating figure and ran a hand through his hair. "Too bad she's got such great legs," he sighed.

-X-

"What," demanded Kitty as she stood next to Mel at the snack table, "was all that about?"

Mel smiled sadly. "I kissed him."

"I – you did what!" Kitty dropped her cup of punch.

"Yeah," Mel sighed. "But he said we can't... and he's right, I know it." She looked wistfully at Scott's back, as he talked to Kurt and Amanda, and realized suddenly that she still had his coat around her shoulders. "Oh. I'd better give this back to him... be right back."

-X-

By midnight, people were starting to drift back to their dormitories. The music had gone down in volume and slow songs were more frequent. Amanda was practically asleep on her feet, her hands clasped behind Kurt's neck, her head on his shoulder. Bobby and Rogue were in a similar state. Scott had allowed Melavina to dance with him for a while, and though she was barely holding back from kissing him again, they looked rather cute dancing together. Logan was eyeing the remaining dancing couples with a strange expression on his face, standing next to the Professor and Dr. McCoy.

It was then that a great BANG was heard though the Institute. Amanda jerked awake. Logan's eyes narrowed as his nose picked up a good few familiar scents. "Magneto," he growled. "And he's got Mystique with him... and Pyro. And plenty more."

Next to him, Xavier sighed. It's a pity he couldn't have waited until the party was over, he thought ironically.

The doors of the gym burst open, and in strode Magneto, dressed in his usual black attire and red cape, as well as his helmet. Next to him stood Mystique, looking smug. Pyro stood behind them; he actually looked nervous, standing in a place he had abandoned over three years ago. Another, younger man was standing next to Pyro, wearing mostly black. His dark-blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his green eyes had a darker sheen to them. He seemed to melt into the shadows as soon as Amanda caught his eye.

Next to Pyro and the younger man stood a woman – Amanda thought she looked about her age; perhaps a few years younger, but she carried herself as though she were queen of the world. She was dressed in black leather from head to toe, including gloves and boots. Her hair was black, and her eyes – her eyes, Amanda would never forget. Where there should have been white, there was only black. The kind of black that you only saw in the darkness behind your eyes. (A/N:gags: can't believe I wrote that!) The only colour seen in her eyes was a vivid kind of violet-blue, in the blackened iris. A shiver ran down Amanda's back.

Next to the woman stood two men who seemed more or less Pyro's age. They were obviously twins; both had blue eyes and black hair, though one's was shorter and one's slightly longer. Another young woman stood next to them, with blue eyes and short blond hair, tinged blue at the ends.

Magneto stepped forward. He eyed the party decorations with raised eyebrows, taking in the fog on the floor and the inhabitants of the gym, all of them in costumes. "Good evening, Charles," he said casually, standing before Xavier.

"Eric," Xavier sighed. "What are you doing here?" he asked tiredly.

"I believe your younger students might call it crashing a party," said Magneto idly. He gestured to Pyro, who held out his hand.

Bobby's eyes widened. "John, don't!"

Pyro's head jerked up to look at his old friend. "I'm not John anymore, Bobby. My name's Pyro." He spread his arms wide. "I am a god, Bobby! Look at me," he laughed, "and then look at you." He flicked his hand. A small tongue of fire flickered to life. Pyro reached the other hand out and sent a fireball hurtling towards Rogue.

"No!" Bobby leapt between the fireball and Rogue, conjuring up a wall of ice that protected them. Fire and ice met, and nothing was left of either. Bobby looked at Pyro with narrowed eyes.

Magneto smiled. "Go on, Pyro. Continue your work, my Fire-God." He gestured to the other mutants standing behind him. Immediately, Mystique sprang into action, flipping between people. The blonde man spread his hands out, and a large shadow seemed to cover everything. Into this shadow Pyro released bolts of fire, adding smoke to the fray. The twins hung back, looking unsure of what to do. The woman dressed in black, however, held a hand out towards Amanda.

Amanda hastily drew up a mental barrier, but it seemed that the woman was not a telepath. Instead... Amanda felt something like a steel-clawed hand crawl into her mind and squeeze. Intense pain spread through her, and her knees buckled. She fell to the floor, gasping in pain. The bruise she had acquired earlier that day tripping over a pumpkin throbbed unbearably. The emotional pain and confusion she had been feeling ever since being thrust into this new world of mutants and death intensified and reached a crescendo inside her head. She screamed.

She was vaguely aware of Kurt teleporting next to her and putting an arm around her waist, then teleporting to the other corner of the gym. The pain in her mind and her body dwindled somewhat; but it was still lurking there, ready to be awakened and to be used against her. "Will you be all right?"

"Yes, yes – I'll be fine. Go, help the others!"

Kurt nodded and teleported away. She could glimpse him here and there, hanging on the walls, lashing out with his tail, tripping members of the Brotherhood. Logan was in the middle of the room, slashing left and right, delivering loud punches and spouting colourful curses. Amanda concentrated on the snack table next to which Pyro was standing. She screwed up her eyes and slowly, ever so slowly, the table lifted off the floor. Pyro, completely oblivious to the fact that the table was about to slam into him, continued sending bolts of fire at everyone in sight. She frowned and gave the table a swing.

Pyro cried out as the table slammed into his chest; even halfway across the large gym, Amanda heard a few of his ribs crack. She winced, but wasted no compassion on him. She drew up a mental barrier and stepped into the shadow and smoke.

-X-

The battle seemed to rage for hours; actually, it had only been around ten minuets when somebody grabbed Amanda from behind. It was the black-eyed woman. Amanda frowned and tried to creep into her mind, but she felt herself stopped by a barrier; much like the one she herself had learned to build up, but made of solid steel. She gave an exasperated sigh and went for the old-fashioned way.

The woman collapsed as Amanda landed a kick to the side of her leg, but she did not cry out. Instead she held her hand out towards her. But Amanda would have none of it; she landed the woman a solid punch to the jaw. This time she cried out and held her hand to her face.

Amanda turned away and tried to locate her friends. The smoke-detectors on the ceiling had sensed the smoke and water was now added to the room. Amanda stuck to the walls, until she collided with someone and fell to her knees. It was Terry.

"Terry! What're you doing here?"

Terry lifted her head from her hands and gave Amanda a teary-faced look. "I'm scared," she whispered, ashamed of herself.

Amanda placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, now's not the time to be scared, Terry. Now is the time to make some good use of your powers. You see all the smoke and shadow in the room?"

"Yes..."

"Well, can you make a whirlwind or something? Just – something to shift the smoke a bit, so we can see where we're going and who we're trying to hurt?"

"I – I don't think I can –"

"I don't care what you think. I want you to concentrate on what you know. Do you know how to make wind?"

"Y – yes. Professor Xavier and Miss Munroe told me to –"

"Just do it!" Amanda raced off to help Melavina. A few minuets went by; Mel was perfectly capable of punching anyone who came near her, but the poor girl was completely vulnerable to telepathic attacks. Then she noticed she could see more of the room than before. Terry was still in a corner of the room, but she had picked herself up and was standing rigidly with her eyes closed, muttering to herself. A whirlwind was slowly forming in front of her; her dress was being picked up by it. As soon as it was fully formed, Terry sent it out into the room.

The shadow-kid, as Amanda had named him when she saw what he could do, was picked up completely by the whirlwind and slammed into the wall. The shadows instantly started to thin, and visibility grew. Amanda took advantage of the better view, and sent chairs and tables flying, trying not to hit people on her side.

She was concentrating so hard that she completely missed the tidal-wave that came hurtling towards her.

Wait.

A tidal-wave. In the gym?

Scary thought. The blond-tinged-blue-haired mutant apparently could control water: she was smiling, leaning against the far wall, one hand swinging lazily back and forth, as though conducting an orchestra. The water from the smoke detectors couldn't possibly have been enough for such a large wave, Amanda thought; possibly she could also conjure water.

Eyes narrowed, clothes soaking wet, she sent a table in her direction. The water mutant yelped and directed a wave at the table, stopping its progress, though it did distract her enough. Most of the water disappeared.

Now grinning slightly, Amanda concentrated on another table, aimed, and prepared to throw it at Magneto. She let loose, and the table flew through the air, directly at him. Three feet away, it stopped. At first she thought he might have stopped it, but then she thought: there was no metal in the table; it was made completely of wood.Surely a few screws were not enough to stop a whole wooden table, was it?

Then someone new caught her eye: a woman around her age, with chin-length red hair, wearing dark clothes and holding her hand out towards the table. Amanda instantly saw she was a telekinetic; how else could she have stopped the table? Then the woman turned around and swung her hand towards her. The table flew straight at her; she had to jump to the side in order to avoid it. Who was this woman?

"Jean!"

Amanda got up; the whole gym was silent. The X-Men and the students were all looking at the woman. Scott especially looked horrified. "Jean?" he whispered.

Jean! Amanda's eyes widened. Yes, Jean had been a telekinetic, but... Isn't she supposed to be dead?

Then something hard hit the back of her head, and everything went black.

Authoress's note: Hehehe, aren't I evil? Anyway, review enough, and chapter 15 will be up pretty soon.