Yes! More reviews! And becca has given me her blessing and i shall continue. FYI: I've been reading other fanfics and i realize i know absolutley SQUAT about teh X-men, so bear with me. Oh, i apologize for the sappy diolouge and illnarrated action
Found you
Once again displaying impeccable timing, at the exact moment the Professor and I locked hands, Logan sent Darlene's focusing object crashing to the floor. Without any say in the matter, I was pulled into the shadow realm, Xavier in tow.
Remember back in chapter three how Jean and I were discussing the shadow realm and I said it would kill a non-shadow-traveler? Well, I'll say I lied about something in that conversation, but it was most certainly not this. I had roughly ten more seconds to get the Professor into a place warm as say, the center of a volcano. Unfortunately, upstate New York is somewhat short on volcanoes, so without wasting time I made a mad dash (while we were still in the shadow realm) for the living room of the mansion, where I'd seen a fire place. Ignoring Scott and Jean on the couch and the considerable amount of damage I probably did to their privacy, I dumped the Professor in front of the fire which Scott had mercifully already started. Jean, seeing the Professor lying comatose on the floor, immediately checked for vital signs.
"Scout, go get blankets, space heaters, and anything that produces heat down here and around the Professor. Jean, find his consciousness and don't let him fade out." As Scott ran to find the warmth givers and Jean began to meditate with the Professor's head in her lap, I threw the entire wood supply onto the fire and got it roaring. As soon as I was confident in the fire's heat, I dashed upstairs, almost knocking Scott over as well as Bobby and Rogue, who had been enlisted in his help.
When I got upstairs I tossed through my discarded back pack, ignoring my hard earned iPod, change of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, and the half empty bottle of my mother's perfume. When all the contents of my bad lay crumpled in my wake I clipped my worn quiver to my right thigh and called to hand the bow I'd lost somewhere in the shadow realm. I almost grinned as it came shooting out of the floor to land on the bed. I swung on my old, black trench coat and clipped my bow to my back, steeled myself for how stupid I was about to be, and slid into the shadow realm.
The cold hit me in waves as I sped along, dodging trees, cars, houses, and once the shadow of the Goodyear blimp. It was somewhat crowded, sliding over everything that cast a shadow, but shadow time is faster than real time, so travel in turn is faster too. I'd gotten about half-way to Manhattan when I realized I had no clue where to go.
Darlene, where the hell did you go? I sat down on the shadow of a parked suburban and rubbed the bridge of my nose when Darlene's voice echoed in my head.
I'm right here, stupid. Her mind's voice called a little to my west. Come find me.
Without a second's hesitation I took her advice and went to find her. Chillingly, she'd taken up residence in an abandoned medical lad, equipped with a sterile room. That was where I found her, along with Logan and Kurt, but the sterile room wasn't so sterile. Her precious focusing object, a small glass orb with her beloved's face etched on it lay shattered on the floor. Blood was smeared up and down the walls and three parallel slash marks adorned almost every surface in the room. Kurt lay balled up in a corner, barley conscious and muttering prayers while clutching his rosary. Logan was the disheveled lump that Darlene was kicking, looking very pleased with herself for breaking almost every bone in his torso. She was about to move onto his lower half when I stepped seamlessly onto the roof.
Jumping down onto Darlene's shoulders and then tossing her against the opposite wall I said, "I found you."
Getting up and rolling her shoulders, she yanked once more on Logan's consciousness and grinned at me. She was a beauty, or had been. The once thing of the Darlene I had first met that remained was her waist-length black hair. Her eyes, like my hair, had been bleached white by the shadow realm and her skin blackened by the institute fire. She had been lit aflame, and though her skin was once again smooth as ivory, it was forever as dark as midnight. She wore white jeans and a close fitting white t-shirt, topped over with a white floor-length coat that was tighter fitting than the medical coats it was meant to mock.
I caught a look at myself in the shattered glass and reflected grimly how we were the other's exact opposites. The blue dye had all but faded, leaving my hair white until further inspected. My eyes were dark brown, almost black, and my skin as white as an albino's. My jeans were dark, as was my tank top worn under a black oxford shirt and completed by my black trench coat. We looked like reflections, seen through a twisted mirror. And the worst part of it was that she did this to both of us.
"What do you want, Shadow? Can't you see I'm busy?" Her drawl sent chills down my spine.
"Just wanted to say thank you." I fitted an arrow to my string and sent the bolt flying through her kneecap. She crumbled for a moment but was back on her feet.
"Thank me for what?" She raised her palm and sent waves of shadows charging at me. Their cold washed over me, undaunting.
"For your little gift at the train station, Mistress." I sent five more arrows through her chest. While she was busy healing herself I roused Kurt.
"Kurt, can you hear me?" He nodded groggily. "Good. Go back to the mansion, and whatever you do, don't come back. You understand? I'll be along with Logan soon, just get yourself out of here before the Mistress gets you for good." He looked at me as I tried to sound kind. It must've worked, because there was a bamf and he was gone. I probably should've sent Logan with him, but he didn't look quite up to the task. My only way of transportation would kill Logan if we were delayed, and to insure no delays I had to rid us if Darlene. That could mean she'd see him as a useless distraction while we fought and mentally terminate him, leaving all my efforts in vain. All in all, my situation looked grim.
"Who was that?" Darlene came flying at me in one of the judo kicks we'd learned side by side. I grabbed the offending leg and sent her flying into the shadow realm. She reached back up and grabbed my feet. I quickly shifted my bow into a quarterstaff and broke her hands with a series of blows.
"He was guy who didn't deserve your wrath." I hit the back of her neck with my quarterstaff and sent her crumpling to the floor. Several more kicks to her collar bone ensured me about two seconds to check that Logan wasn't dead. He wasn't, but before I could see if Darlene had sent him brain-dead I was hit by flying shards of glass in the back of my head.
"So? Since when have you played the hero? When was the last time you tried to save someone who got in the way?" She made no move to attack me, a dangerous sign. She knew something. "You know what I think, Shadow? I think you've gone and made friends. So who's this guy? He looks familiar… hey, is he that guy who–"
"Shut up," I said through clenched teeth. Darlene came at me, but I was ready this time. The punches and kicks she sent my way were turned aside by my quarterstaff. Flying back and forth across the room, our feet barely touched the ground. No move was wasted; every blow was meant to strike home, but very few did. I called up a shadow to sharpen the point of my quarter staff while Darlene mended a snapped neck. When she came at me I held the blunt end forward and swung it at the right time so that her stomach was slashed by the pointed tip. It was the first time in years that I'd drawn blood, and I used her moment of surprise to skewer her. I knew that would be awhile in mending, so I shifted my bow into a small metal ball and looked Logan over.
He had managed to pull up into a sitting position, confirming that his regeneration was working. Darlene was beginning to stir, so I dove at Logan and pulled him into the shadow world with me.
Whatever you do, don't let go, I mentally told him, but I hoped he would be smart enough to figure that out by his lonesome.
If you insist. His sarcastic tone told me that telepathy had stopped unnerving him. Is it always this cold?
Mmhmm. It takes a lot of concentration to take another person into the shadow world for more than ten seconds as well as a lot of strength. It took longer than I would have been happy with, but we finally got to Xavier Mansion. I let us both out of the Shadow realm in the main hallway, to exhausted to go any further with him in tow.
Rogue walked into see who had just flopped onto the floor and rushed forward to hug Logan. Getting, no such warm reception I walked over to where I had left the Professor. I found him sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a mug of something warm in his hands. He looked up at my entry and gave me a warm smile that assured even the most cynical part of me I wouldn't get kicked out.
"Kurt told me what happened. Quite impressive. Please, sit down before you fall down." I headed for the couch but never got there. Jean says I blacked out, falling into Logan's arms. It might have been romantic, if I'd been awake. As it was, I was rather annoyed that he carried me back to my room and just tossed me on the bed. Jean also claims that he was the one who moved all my stuff into the room next to his, but that just seemed a little too sappy for Logan. Oh well, I'll never know.