Galadeidre: Yay! Glad to see you again, hope you are feeling better! Yeah, I included Raven's fighting ability with her mutations in a way, since it suddenly comes to her and then she loses the confidence when confronted with her father. The rest of her mutation doesn't come just yet, so just sit tight and keep reading!
Sc-Fi-Reader: Lol, really? You didn't know? Charles tells Logan her name in X1. Glad you liked the chapter! Good to see you like my emotion portrayal!
Happosai: Thank you! Well, now she starts to explore the mansion!
Sych77: Spouse! Hello! They took their time.. four years.. lmao.. oh I was laughing for ages on that one Nikki.. Me and my sarcastic humour fetish, lol. Yes, it must have mentally scarred you to see Charles out of drag.. yes. Lol.
Legolasfreak2: Yup, Raven is finally away from all those horrible humans! And at the moment Raven's only mutation seems to be the blueness of her skin, etc. Charles has no reason to believe her mutation should extend anymore – how wrong he is, bwahaha.
Dancing Through Life: Well, I always assumed Raven had to have gone through something traumatic to bring out the current movie "I don't give a shit" attitude. Here is the next update!
Took a while to update, I know, but be happy with this, I'm drowning in AS level coursework!
Chapter 14The moonlight shimmered into the small room through the gap in the dark curtains. It flowed elegantly through the lead that decorated the windows and spilt the milky glow over the bed sheets, and the figure that lay upon the covers. Raven was now dressed in a fresh change of clothing that now fitted her instead of rising a few inches off her ankles and wrists. Raven faintly remembered Storm saying about how they were hers but Raven could have them.. Something or other. Raven couldn't really remember what the woman had said; everything was in such a blur right now.
However, she continued to think over what had happened in the past few weeks, trying to piece together all the fractions of information, which had unhelpfully scattered around her mind. It was like trying to put together a puzzle blindly. She was trying to make sense of things, but nothing was coming clear out of mental smog that hung over her. She was finding it hard understand what had happened to her. The stretch of four years of hell brought so suddenly to an end. She should be grateful, but there was a continued uneasiness inside her chest that made her frighteningly ponder over whether she would ever be the same again. She couldn't forget what had happened, but she was somehow pushing it deeper into the back of her mind.
Also, she could only just vaguely recall the conversation between her and the Professor, but it felt as if it was getting driven out of her mind, since something else wanted her attention. The once quietened chorus of voices had started up as she lay in the dark silence of her new room, and they rummaged around her head breezily, whispering coldly and echoingly.
"Look up.. go on.. look up.."
Raven slowly raised her head to drift her eyes away from the window obediently and to instead latch them to the dresser opposite her room. The voices had conned her, they had made her stare at her reflection. Her shocking yellow eyes glowed brightly in the thick blackness around her, luring herself into the swirling orbs. Before, Raven had shown that her reflection repulsed her, and her previous mirror still lay on her old bedroom carpet in shattered slithers of glass. The voices continued to whirl around her mind, now speeding up from their slow waltz.
"Keep looking, see yourself for what you really are. You're not like these other mutants.. you know that, they know that.." The different voices had all merged to create one - an echoing and gravelly brawl around her mind.
Slowly, Raven's brow furrowed down, her face tightening to an unhappy expression, traces of distant anger and repulsion still evident in the fierce shine of her eyes. But instead of succumbing to the taunting vocals of her mind, she gradually bowed her head away from the mirror, and instead returned her eyes upon the calming views of the nighttime outdoors.
Then, as if the voices realised that Raven was not being worked upon so easily, they swiftly increased their ferocity and a mismatched bellow began to rumble around her temples. They weren't going to let her forget so easily. They wanted the control now.
"You can't blank it out. You can't run away from it. You know what you are. Don't ignore that because you will never win!"
With an uncomfortable grunt, Raven lowered her hands to her face and covered it gently. The roar inside of her was becoming louder, and she could feel her mind beginning to ache and burn with the intensity.
"Don't try to fight it, you cannot ignore it. This is what you worthlessly are! You will never win!"
"Just leave me alone," muttered Raven quietly as she tightly closed her eyes, hands slipped to her ears also in an attempt to try and block out the noises.
"You will never win!"
"Stop it!" she said in a fiercer voice, her hands proceeded to arch viciously, fingernails slotting into the old scars on her scalp.
"You will never win!"
Tears began to prod around Raven's eyelids, making them sting and burn before the droplets rolled down the sheen of her blue skin, "Why won't you all go away!"
"You will never win!"
With a strangled cry of tears she tumbled off the bed, staggering towards the mirror at the other side of the room. She could feel the voices vibrating around her head, thrumming and tumbling, mixing up her thoughts and memories, wearing them out. Her footsteps were poorly done, balance seemingly unstable. She managed it to the mirror, then leaning forward across the dresser as she glared at her reflection, "I can look at myself!" she cried loudly, hardly hearing herself above the din inside her head, "I'm doing it now. I can do it! See! See!"
"You will never win!"
"That is me!" she bellowed at the mirror, her fingernails scratching again the smooth wooden surface of the dresser as she crawled her body closer, trying to submerge herself into her reflection.
The voices were becoming louder and louder, Raven couldn't hear herself cry anymore, the voices had deafened her to the outside world, and slowly, she could see her vision darkening as she focused on her reflected eyes, trying to stay alert and upon them.
"You're too weak. You will never win. Die, little girl, you can't take it."
"I am not weak!" screamed Raven at the mirror, her throat suddenly burning at the hoarse rush of air that screeched through her mouth. She made a loud burst of a sob, the silently falling tears suddenly spilling in a violent flood. Her legs trembled beneath her and she found her losing the ability to stay upright as she slumped earthwards, sliding down the wooden front of the dresser defeatedly, "I'm not weak!" she screamed again, this time it seemed like an effort to do so. Her vision was darkening and the voices span dizzily around her mind in a furious waltz. She cried her tears desperately, holding her hands to her ears as she bowed her head down to the floor, trying to curl up and protect herself.
Then, like a light being flicked on in a dark room, a voice called to her, "Raven?" Suddenly, Raven found the clogging blackness lightened and it dispersed from her vision slowly. The voices slowed down from their vicious circle of repetition and silenced to a mere whisper before Raven could barely hear them at all. "Raven, are you all right?" said the same voice, only it was more urgent. Raven slowly picked her head up off the floor, her hands falling away from her ears as she turned her eyes upwards to see Storm staring down at her with a clearly worried and perplexed expression.
"I'm fine.." breathed Raven quietly as she watched the white haired mutant come closer. Raven made a faint sigh before she stumbled slowly, hands grabbing the dresser as she pulled herself to her feet. She staggered a little, steps taking her sideways, but Storm was quickly in front of her, gently taking the other mutant in her arms and straightening her to her feet.
"Raven, what's wrong?" asked Storm again, gently moving a hand to feel the girl's forehead.
But Raven shook her head, backing away out of the woman's arms, "No, I'm fine really," but her movement made her weakly stumble again, and Storm had to grab her swiftly before she fell.
"No, Raven, come down to the infirmary. It might be best if I kept an eye on your overnight,"
"I don't need you to.."
"It's better to be safe than sorry.." whispered Storm reassuringly before she gently led Raven out of the room, arms still making sure she wouldn't fall again.
There you go. Please review!