Haha! Bet you thought I was dead, didn't you? Nope, I live, and I finally come back to this fic of mine. Since it's been so long, you might wish to go back and re-read the fic, but I'll recap basic and vital info for you. Tiger is an animal shapeshifter (and the narrator of this chappie) and Tas is a Shadow Traveler, couple years her elder. Angela and Darlene are Shadow Travelers that were childhood friends but had a falling out. Tada, I think that's it. Sorry it's so short, I pounded this out in an hour or so.

hunt4max: Now that you mention it, her mutation does seem a little hard to beleive, but so are some of the other mutations. Glad you like!
Chrizz: Tada, here's that update!
: Thank you.
: Again, thank you
Becca: You've fallen off the face of the planet. Sorry it's been so long between updates, but I've got higher priorities
Sych77: perhaps this will motivate your lazy butt to update, eh? UPDATE!

Kay, enjoy, ask questions, don't get answers, and review!

Nightmare and Reality

It's been a couple of years since Angela came here. I was … six? Maybe younger. You see, I don't really have a birthday, but Mr. Xavier did this cool thing with Cerebro and figures I was about five when they found me at the pound. So, I guess I was about five when Angela came to us.

She… you'd have to ask Logan what it really is, but to the rest of us she's dead. She died when I was six.

I'm fifteen now.

Angela was never mature enough to be a mother to me. But to both me and Tas she was parallel to an elder sister bordering on motherly. She never had a mother, not one that cared, so it could be reasoned she didn't know how to act like one. However, popular belief dictates she knew what was going to happen and tried not to get too attached. We all regret that she thought it would be any less painful if she tried to distance herself, mostly because she failed miserably but still kept reserved at inopportune times. Years of solitude didn't give her good people skills.

Any way, I'm writing this account of my most vivid memory of Angela Stryker Shadow at the request of Charles Xavier, founder of not only this school but the X-men.

It was Halloween. We were all collapsed in our respective beds after hours of trick-or-treating, and for us little ones, piggy back rides from the older students and teachers. I has collapsed last of the small children, and the only open backs were Logan and Tas (who was fading fast due to his early morning work out he'd become infamous for). Noticing both of us yawn, he scooped Tas onto his back and me in his arms. I shifted into a dormouse for better compatibility and curled up in his breast pocket.

After the piggy backs home, we all marched upstairs, so tired we forgot to put our candy down. Once we were in our rooms, however, the lure of candy woke us and we delved in. Somehow, all our candy disappeared in a bamf of black smoke after we each had two pieces.

I was in the middle of being chased by a Jack-o-lantern when I was awoke by a crash. I was the only one awake, and once again taking the guise of a dormouse snuck down toward the sound of the crash.

There was a lady there. She looked oddly familiar, like I seen her somewhere. She had jet black skin, black hair, and white eyes. She scanned the room, looking for more priceless heirlooms to break when she saw me. I don't know how, I was small and in the dark, but she spotted me and took a step forward. My fiver-year-old body and mind froze, and I was back to normal shape and size.

"Hello, darling. What are you doing out of bed so late?" she cooed.

She was menacing. Terror oozed through body, making me powerless and lethargic. I did the only thing I could think to. I cried. I wailed as loud as my lungs would let me.

"Oh, no no, little girl. If you wake the whole school, you'll be in trouble, and you'll get a nice proper beating from your teachers… if I don't get you first." She took another step toward me.

I heard several loud thuds. Angela vaulted the banister and swung her legs into the woman's face. She then used several bad words which even in my terror made me gasp.

"GET. OUT. NOW!" Angela screamed at the woman. Angela swung her quarterstaff (which had not previously been there) at the woman.

The woman snarled. "What's the matter, Shadow? Hit to close to home?" There was contempt in the woman's voice. "You don't belong here. Everywhere you go gets destroyed."

Angela thrust the quarterstaff forward at the woman's chin. She grabbed it and swung Angela into the vaulted ceiling. Angela spun and landed on her feet. She screamed, "YOU DO THAT, DARLENE! YOU DESTROY IT ALL!" She dove again, spinning like a guided missile. She spun right through Darlene's chest.

The gaping hole she left filled with darkness as the woman continued to hiss. "I'm just a reflection of you. I am everything you don't want to admit you are."

"How very cliché." Logan mule kicked Darlene into the wall and shoved his claws into the wall; after they passed through her forehead. I couldn't see Angela anywhere.

The rest of the teachers came rushing down the stairs. Ororo scooped me up and covered my eyes. "Don't look, honey."

Darlene was laughing, and I heard Logan curse colorfully. I guessed she'd done the same thing that Angela and Tas could do when they didn't want to be seen. Ororo thought that she was gone and uncovered my eyes just in time for me to see Angela come rocketing out of the wall, limp body in tow. She tossed the body at Logan who caught it seamlessly with his claws.

She leaned forward, her words punctuated with at violent jab to a vital organ. "If you ever, and I mean ever (extra stab), come here again (stab and punch) I'll rip you into so many pieces that by the time you put yourself together the world will have ended a long time ago." Logan dropped the corpse.

Darlene's body slid into the shadow realm, as Tas later explained when I told him my story. Angela wiped the blood off her hands with a shadow; but just as she was walking away a dark orb came up behind her, rested between her shoulder blades, and shattered. Fragments of darkness dug themselves into her back and Logan's face. She shrieked several more unmentionable words and dove into the shadow realm.

Blood was dripping down Logan's face and pooling on the floor. Miss Grey rushed forward and was telepathically picking the pieces out when two human shaped projectiles soared across the room. There was another thud and the sound of bones cracking. Somewhere in my absolutely terrified mind I wondered why no one was dead yet. Something wet dripped on my face, and I realized it was blood from the two fighting over me. It just made me scream louder, to everyone's dismay. The whole school was trying to crowd onto the stairs by now.

Darlene flopped to the floor, inches away from me. She was like a limp rag doll, only a lot worse. She looked the love child of the Creature from Black Lagoon and one of those things from 48 Days Later. If it were possible at that point, I probably would have increased my volume and pitch. The thing that was Darlene reached out for me, grinning evilly at me through the immense amount of pain she must be feeling. Angela feathered her with silver looking arrows and jumped down, pushing the shafts downward.

She yanked up the thing's head and whispered frighteningly, "You didn't believe me, did you? Last chance. Mistress." The thing slid into the beyond, or wherever things that not even Death wants go.

Angela looked up at me, sad that no one had had the good grace to remove me from the scene of the fight. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. She didn't reach out for me to hug me, she didn't try to console me. She just walked past me and all the other students and down the hall, dripping gore onto the carpets. Through all the chaos I thought, How come she can drip on the carpets and we're not allowed to eat up here?

Logan stood too, and followed her. I don't know what went on in their rooms, but I know that when Miss Grey tucked me back in I heard crying.

That's most vivid for me, the crying is. Angela was really a peaceful person, a pacifist in a sadist's body. Logan says she like where she is now, she has a lot of time to herself. I don't think I'd like it, but I haven't experience as much life, love and loss as her. I hope she's okay.

REVIEW OR I SHALL DRIPP ON YOUR CARPETS!