Da-da-da! I'm baaaaaaaaack! I've been told that the last chapter was really confusing, so I'll try and give a character's guide to who I've made up as well as what happened in chapter... whatever the last chapter was. Oh, I'd love to thank sych77 for all her lovely support and her promise to crash into me. Oh, once again the talk is sappy.

Angela Stryker/Shadow: Main character, Logan's love intrest, and super-cool chick with short blue hair.
Darlene Cumber/The Mistress of Darkness: Angela's ex-best friend. She's a twisted reflection of Angela, only ten times more dangerous. She hates Angela, and has spent her life after the Institute tormenting Angela.
The Korean Institue for Mutants: Place where Angela and Darlene met and learned to control their powers.
Shadow Realm: Umm, I don't really know how to explain it, so go re-read ch. 3
Talsiband Richard/Tas: Student the mansion, as well as a shadow traveler, age 10
Claire Manichester/Tiger: Animal shapshifter, student, age 6
Summary of ch. whatever: Okay, the Professor and Angela were playing chess, and when they touched hands they both went into the shadow realm. Angela saved him and then found Darlene, who was beating up Kurt and Logan. Basically she nearly killed herself beating Darlene into a bloody pulp and then getting Logan back to the mansion.

Adjustments

I slept for a week after that. Logan says I snore. Well, so what? He screams in his sleep, and just for the record, I was not the one who told him it was annoying as hell. How would I know Logan shouts in his sleep? Because while I was out like a light he moved my room into the one that shared a bathroom with his. Jean says nobody wants the room because it's the coldest in the mansion, but I bet it's really because he takes longer than any sane girl does to get ready in the morning. After all, look at his hair! It takes half a bottle of extra strength gel to get it to stick up like that. Thus, I come back into the story:

I woke up when a reek that smelled like I was being gagged with hairspray hit my nostrils. I sat up, still in my black tank top and jeans. "What the hell is that stench?"

Logan stuck his head through the bathroom door opposite my bed. "Well, sleeping beauty, have a nice nap?" His hair was half done, and the effect on me was less than desirable.

When I was finally able to stem the tide of snorts I asked, "Nap? I feel like I've been under for a month." I flopped back down on the bed.

"Actually, it's been a week." He was done with one side of The Do. "Tiger's been to see you several times. I'm surprised you slept through her telling all her friends how you 'saved Teddy from Tas.'"

"Who's Tiger?" My question was muffled by sheets in my attempt to go back to sleep.

"She's apparently the kid you saved from Tas. Her real name is Claire, but everyone calls her Tiger 'cause of her mutant ability." The reek of hair gel had somewhat died down, even from underneath the sheets, so I assumed he was done with The Do.

"How do you know about that?" There was a thump announcing Logan presence on my bed.

"Phaserface told me. He sounded pretty, what was your word? Oh yeah, miffed. I don't think he likes you, but then again our resident do-gooder has always been strait laced." Logan began to beat me over the head with a pillow.

"What's Tiger's ability?" The pillow in Logan's hand exploded mid-swipe to my great satisfaction.

"She's an animal shape shifter, but a tiger is her favorite animal, hence the name." He began tugging on the sheets I had pulled over my head.

I retaliated by slipping into the shadow realm. I watched for a moment as he tossed the now empty covers off the bed before pinning him to the floor with a shadow. It wasn't one of the ones I usually use, but instead it was a thin film that held Logan pinned to the floor.

I came out of the shadow realm and watched him struggle for a bit before I showered and got dressed. While Logan was still pinned to the ground I re-dyed my hair back to electric blue. Coming back to the room I found Logan attempting to saw through the shadow.

"Hate to break it to ya, tough guy, but even adamantine can't cut through a shadow. Whatcha think of my hair? Not quite as wild as yours, but I do what I can." I hovered just out of reach of the still-sawing claws.

"It's great. Now would you let me out of this damn thing?" He gave up sawing and gave me as close to a pout as his dignity would allow.

"As long as you promise not to attack me." I sat heavily on his torso and listened with satisfaction as his breath whooshed out of his lungs. It wasn't as much the sound as the absence of beer on his breath. I needed a moment to reassure myself that this guy was for real.

"I promise," Logan managed to squeeze out. I waved a hand the shadow pinning him to the floor fell away. Logan grinned wolfishly at me before saying, "Hey, guess what? I lied."

I yelped and sprung off of his chest and fled down the hall screaming, "Help! There's a wild Wolverine on the loose and it's trying to kill me!" I made it down to the recreation hall before I got caught. It actually wasn't Logan who caught me, but instead a miniature tiger hit me in the chest and sent me sprawling across the floor. By the time Logan had caught up with me I was attempting to ward off the tiger's pink tongue to no avail.

"Logan," I managed to gasp between bouts of laughter, "save me!" Instead Logan leaned against the nearby door and grinned at my misfortune.

"Sorry, blue. When Tiger decides to show her affections, you just got to wait it out." Tiger looked up at Logan and shifted into a small wolverine and began all sorts of hisses and growls. "Smart-ass," Logan murmured as he turned away and headed for the kitchen.

I laughed at the fact that the great Wolverine could be scared off by a sarcastic six-year-old. "I like you already." I picked the small wolverine up and was instantly gratified with one more lick before she jumped to the ground and stalked off as a tiger to go do whatever she had been doing.

"I see you've met Tiger." I turned around to find Tas standing behind me.

"Hey, where'd you come from?" But of course we both knew he'd been in the shadow realm. I stretched a hand out for him to shake. He shook it loosely, unaccustomed to human contact.

"Wow, it doesn't hurt." He examined his hand in wonder. "Why doesn't it hurt?"

"Because I'm a shadow traveler too."

"Really?"

"The Professor asked me to show you a few tricks, if you'd like." I mentioned the Professor and I's conversation nonchalantly.

"I'd love that! I mean… that would be cool." Poor kid, at his age and he already has to hide his emotions.

I'm not poor! Your pity is the last thing I need! Tas's angry voice echoed in my head.

Nosy, aren't you? Alright, kiddo, here's your first lesson: STAY OUT OF MY HEAD! I gratified his intrusion with a brief stab of mental pain.

"What the hell was that for?" He collapsed in agony.

"For being intrusive and stupid. If you're going to have the gall to go poking around in people's minds you have to have the will-power to back it up. And I don't care if my pity is unwanted; my pity is the only sympathy you'll get from me. From now on you wake up at five a.m. for practice in the shadow realm. I will be training you in combat, ability, and control. Your only break will be Sunday morning, and on Saturdays you will be able to sleep in until five-thirty. Am I clear?" Dear lord, I sound like my instructors from the institute.

Tas stared at me flabbergasted for five minutes before I left to go find where Logan had sulked off to. I found him wandering about the kitchen, stealing scraps out of various breakfasts. I sat in the doorway just watching him flow in and out of traffic. He never used to be so kind. Sure, kind isn't the word most people would have used to describe him, but I'd seen the before and after. There was a difference between night and day in him. He used to be gone for weeks on end, and when he came back no one could get him to speak. He couldn't have cared if the world had gone to hell, but he was different now. There was a protective step in his walk. In his own gruff way he cared for everyone in the room, even Scott. Okay, maybe not Scott. I saw the way he kept Marie from brushing against Tiger by barreling between them. Or how he sidetracked the children when they began to grate on Ororo's nerves by telling naughty jokes. I noticed how he was careful to avoid stepping on Kurt's tail and how he cleared the way for the Professor's wheelchair by taking up most of the aisle. Everyone else in the kitchen thought he was being a pain and an obnoxious obstacle, but I saw the care in his actions.

You're lucky, you know. I sent the thought his way and had my breath knocked away when he looked up from slicing carving out an apple core for Bobby.

Yeah, right. He handed the apple to Bobby and wove his way to the backyard, subtly hinting I was to follow.

Curious, I went with him and found him spread out on a grassy knoll in the woods behind the school. I sat down, just enjoying the piece. Out of no where Logan began to speak. "How'd you figure I'm lucky?"

I sighed, unable to find words to describe how everyday life for me was like. Instead I opened up my mind and let him feel my despair. I cut the flow of hopelessness of and whispered, "You have people who love you, who understand you. I don't. It's just that simple: I don't."

"Why not?" He sat up and rested his chin on his long legs.

"I'm everything mutants aren't supposed to be. I'm dangerous, moody, unpredictable, and come with a hell of a lot of baggage. Nobody wants to mess with me for their own safety." I blinked hard and knuckled my eyes, but one tear managed to slide away.

Logan reached forward and brushed it away. He gasped at how cold it was. "Your skin is so icy."

I sat staring past his hand that had wiped the tear. "It's because of the shadow realm."

"No it's not." He cupped my hand in his, ignoring the freezing burn of my touch.

"Pardon?"

He shook his head and began to blow on my hand like he would warm it back up. "The shadow realm isn't the reason your skin is so cold. You won't let anyone warm you up, that's all. You don't stay in one place long enough. It used to be the same way with me. I never stayed in one place long enough to get to know anybody, and I was always so chilled. I figured it was because I was up in Canada, but it wasn't. The day I gave Rogue a ride I felt a little bit warmer. And the day Professor Xavier offered a position on the team I figured that for the entire world, I would never find a warmer place." He let my hand go as he finished speaking and began to work on the other one. His hands were blue, but there was a reddish tint in my own skin, and for once the cool breeze felt cool instead of hot.

"That's very…" I paused, unable to find the words.

"Sappy. The Professor explained it better." Logan finished with my other hand and paused for a second to let his hands warm back up with his regenerative power before placing them gently on my face. Warmth exploded all over my face, so much that it took me a while to realize that the reason my lips felt warm too was because Logan was kissing me. I kissed back, wanting his warmth for my own, greedily absorbing the life. The kiss ended too soon, yet had seemed to last a lifetime.

I sighed before saying, "That feels really good."

Logan grinned, "So why leave?" I hadn't really thought of leaving, but I had known I wouldn't stay. From that moment on all excuses I could've found to leave Xavier Mansion burst into a thousand tiny fragments, and every time I tried to think of one I could only think of Logan's words "So why leave?"

I didn't leave, not for a year. It was perfect, for a year. Tas gained total control over his powers, and we had begun to work on magnitude. Tiger followed me everywhere, often putting a halt on me and Logan's romance. Scott and I continued to wage a personal war, but eventually all the malice just dissipated. It was perfect.

"Did you write that?" Scott peered over Logan's shoulder. The hand writing wasn't his, it was sloppy as if the author was unaccustomed to their body.

"No; she did." Of course they both new what he was talking about, but it was still … eerie.

"Well, she's lying. It was most certainly not perfect. There was the Civil War brewing, Tas's temper-tantrums, Tiger's dangerous sulking, Kurt's slip back into speaking German, Ororo's electrical shortages of the mansion, your nightmares, Jeans loss of control, Rouge's always forgetting where she put her gloves, Bobby's always breaking the thermostat, and I had to cope with all of it!" Scott glared at the paper contemptuously, but made no move to change "perfect" to "chaotic."

Logan stayed calm, another one of the uncanny changes that had come over him. Instead of shouting, he whispered, "Phaserface, you forgot that all of that happened after she left."

Scott left, a rather remorseful look across his features. Logan watched him go and turned his thoughts inside. So, you gunna finish it?

I'd rather not, but you know what happened; you can do it.

Maybe I will.

whatcha think? REVIEW OF FACE THE WRATH OF MY IMAGINARY PEOPLE! Oh, just in case you don't get it (or you'restupid like Savitri), I sorta switched from First person narration to third person narrating, just cuz it's easier on me and adds to the mystery. Oooo, what happened? You know, like that. REVIEW OR i'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GET YOU LIKE A FISH!!