Chapter 4

Title: Shadow's are darker when you can't see them

Author: Revelation
E-Mail: stealthyminx hotmail. com

Rating: NC-15 for now, to be on the safe side, will involve violence and sex later on

Song inspiration: Ben Fold's Five:- Brick

>Telepathic communications.
Thought's

Scott stood on the front steps, watching the cab pull out of the drive and out of the estate; he would have had them dropped at the gate and walk the rest of the way, but Jean's bag was heavy, and as nice as the early Spring day was, it wasn't that nice, satisfied that the cab was gone Scott picked up their bags, groaning slightly about the weight of Jean's and headed in side, almost colliding with her, she'd stopped only a few steps in, looking down the hall, focused on something.

"Jean?"

"Something's happened." Something always happened Scott thought putting down the bags, Jean headed down the hall, Scott followed, soon they were in earshot of Xavier's office Scott scowled.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE!" It was muffled through the walls but Scott knew that voice anywhere, Logan..

"What's he done now.." Scott opened the door.

"HOW CAN PEOPLE JUST VANISH?" Logan slammed his fist onto Xavier desk.

"You should know you do it on a regular basis." Scott held the door opened for Jean before entering the office, Logan growled at him.

"Do you realises how pissed off.."

"Logan, either get out of my office or sit down." Xavier commanded cutting him off; he looked angry "Your not helping. With your infernal yelling…" All present looked thankful, Logan must have been yelling for a long time to have Ororo and Hank look so battered; Jean was surprised Xavier had indulged him for so long. Logan stood his ground, Xavier stood his, a brief grunt and Logan backed off.

"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted, Ms Nightingale is currently no longer on the property, and seems to of left without warning." So that was the problem, Scott thought to himself, Jade's missing.

"Its not the first time a student has had." Hank paused "a time out, without warning."

"It isn't the first time Jade's done it either, she's been prone to flying off with out a word." Scott put his hand on the back of the chair Jean was sitting in. "She's been on the verge for a few months now. Is this totally unexpected?" he had a point.

"I felt a disturbance, from her just before she disappeared." Xavier looked at Ororo, who had been present at the time. "She was mentally fighting something, so violently that her distress projected its self half way across the mansion." This seemed to cause a deeper level of concern "I'm worried that this might not be just another take off scenario."

"You fear that she's not in her right mind?" Jean asked quietly, it could have been taken as a statement more then a question.

"It could come to that, as you've all pointed out, she's been on the knife edge for weeks, her mind is fragile right now, if pushed she may snap."

"Lets go get her then, before something happens to her." He was already on his feet.

"I'm afraid it might not be that simple." Xavier signed, Jean knew why.

"She flew off Logan, no scent to follow, to find her will have to use Cerebro." She got up and looked at him

"Then what are we doing up here?" Jean looked at the floor.

"Even if we do find her Logan, we can't go after her." Xavier stated, Logan didn't take the news very well.

"What do you mean? Why the fuck not?" Everyone else in the room but him and clicked as to why.

"Because if she's as fragile as Xavier fears, going after her might be the push." Scott interrupted, his voice was clear; they weren't going to go after Jade.

"So we just wait, and hope that she does come back?" They all couldn't look at him but Scott "Yes, we wait, she may come back, and we wait for her to calm down." Logan snarled ripping the door open and stormed out. Jean sat back down; Scott put his hand on her shoulders.

"I do intend to go down and locate Jade, make sure she's not hurt. I won't have one of my students in danger."

"No one would expect any less." Ororo spoke out. They all knew why Xavier had waited for Logan to leave before sharing that piece of information, he would of insisted on going and getting her, he would have even gone by himself to do so, no they'd made the right call, they'd give her time, tell authorities in the area to look out for her, but they wouldn't interfere until they were certain they weren't going to cause any damage.

"Who's going to tell her friends?" Hank finally asked, in all this they hadn't worked out what to say to those that would notice the young Australian's absence, she'd been a loner for so long, it hadn't even occurred to them. "The seniors will want to know where she is."

"Especially Jarred." Ororo knew Jarred wouldn't accept some blanket explanation.

"I'll talk to Hather." Scott stated, Xavier nodded; Jarred was most likely the only accept the explanation If it came from Scott, another and they may be met with resistances from the young man. Everyone stood up to leave, Jean and Hank leaving first, talking about the conference Scott and herself had been at, Scott cast one glance back at Xavier, who was on the phone to Warren filling him in on the situation. Ororo put her hand on the leader's shoulder.

"What will you tell him?" she asked hoping to get her queue on the nature of the explanation to the other seniors.

"She needed time out and is currently having some time up at the cabin, and she had requested that she is not disturbed." Ororo raised and eyebrow. "She was the one that requested the time out, she felt herself slipping." Ororo nodded "He won't question if he thinks it's her idea." He let out a long sigh, he didn't want to have to lie to Jarred but he didn't want another Logan type display. Ororo gave him an encouraging smile, he was glad they were such good friends. "Hell of a welcome back?"

"It always is.."

Sitting at his desk, in the back row Jarred cast a glance at the empty desk between him and Kat, before looking at her, she just shrugged at the unspoken question of where the normal occupant of the seat was.

"Haven't seen her all morning.." Jarred mumbled at Kat, as Sean's outburst of laugher caught his attention, it was at nothing so he turned back to Kat.

"Not since dinner last night.."

"She didn't answer her door this morning.." Kat added hoping to sound helpful

"Not unusual for her to be doing a work out when the rest of us get up though."

"It's not unusual for Jade to miss class either." Sean butted in, twisting around from the row in front of them. "Well not normally, Don't look at me like that you two, it's only been recently that she's smartened up her act, maybe it was just too good to be true." He didn't want to sound harsh, but it was true, and Jarred had been moping about all morning since Jade missed breakfast.

"Sean's got a point." Luke turned around next to Sean, "So Jade had a good few weeks.. Where she wasn't a total loner.."

"Shut up, you don't know anything about it! She's making ground…" it was surprising how coherently Jarred was able to speak through clenched teeth.

"She's got serious problems, we all know it, Jarred's hands started to glow an eerie white colour, Kat noticed, so did Sean, Luke didn't, "she probably went off last night to get hammered and is in some gutter of some random.." Luke didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the chair he was sitting on fell down, as Jarred blew the legs of it off. Jarred was on his feet and over the desk faster then anyone knew he could move, Sean wasn't far behind pulling Hather off him, Sean got his arms under Jarred's break them apart, Luke had already exposed his fangs and his eyes were red, Luke hissed at Jarred. "Just cos she's bagging everyone else but you.." Kat slapped Luke.

"Shut up! You bastard, just because Jade wouldn't give you the time of day doesn't give you the fucking right to be a prick, now sit down, shut your French fag hole." Luke glared at Kat and at Jarred who was still being held by Sean, Jarred was breathing heavily, trying to back down from the urge to take Luke out, they all knew Sean was stronger than Jarred, Luke would be a fool to think otherwise.

"Sorry man." Luke muttered pulling a chair from another desk, Jarred nodded, Sean let go, both took there seats, no one spoke until Mr Summers and Ms Munro came in, all were thankful that they didn't noticed the missing chair, or the wood, this was odd, Scott didn't normally help Ororo out in history class.

"Jarred, Mr Summers needs to speak to you outside for a moment." Jarred looked at Kat, the Professor could have known what happened, swearing under his breath Jarred got up and headed for the door where Scott was waiting. Scott held the door open for Jarred and cast on last look at Ororo lent on her desk.

"Students, in case any of you were worried…" He shut the door, Jarred was waiting across the hall, he looked ready for the fight, in fact he looked like he'd already had one, his hair was messed, his jumper looked stretched, Scott let it go.

"You're not in trouble Jarred," he relaxed, only a little. "It's about Jade." Jarred tensed again.

"She didn't hurt anyone did she?"

"O, no." He was taken back at Jarred bluntness "not at all.. She's just.." Scott wasn't sure he could lie to Jarred now, he looked so worried when Scott had mentioned Jade, he wondered if the state of Jarred had anything to do with that.. "Lately Jade's been having some."

"Problems?"

"Issues.. Last night she came to the professor and asked for some time alone up at the cabin in the north part of the estate, just for a few days." Jarred looked relieved, and crushed.

"She was doing so well, she was keeping it in check…" Scott put his hand on the young mutant's shoulder.

"She just needed a few days alone."

"It's because Logan's upset isn't it? When we got back, Jade was, really agitated because Logan had upset her."

"No, it wasn't that, Logan upsets everyone." That seemed to bring a small smile to the boy's face. "Now I'd hate for you to miss any of Ms Munro's history class so I wont keep you any longer." Jarred nodded and started for the door.

"She'll be back in a few days then?"

"A few days." Scott lied with a reassuring nod. Jarred opened the door and disappeared into the room, most likely to confirm with his classmates that was Ororo had said was true. Scott rubbed his unshaven chin, Jean and himself had left London two day's earlier then they had planned, after two of the speakers had pulled out at the last minute, Betsy Braddock had insisted they stay, but they couldn't neglect their duties here, also Jean had made it clear in her own way that she had a feeling that something was a miss. He looked down the hall, Hank was taking a lively class on computers, pulling his gaze back to the elevator Scott looked at his watch, Xavier had been down in Cerebro for over an hour now, Jean was taking a combined class of some of the younger student through basic science on the lower levels so she could help Charles, while also taking his scheduled times, even in emergencies, this place still had to run as a school, even if he did want a shower and a change of clothes, he had the remaining students waiting for him to take English, he'd just put on a movie for them while he dashed off to get change, not very professional, but he couldn't take a class like this.

She felt fuzzy, unable to keep her eyes open, or her mind clear, it was so warm in the blanket. Closing her eyes Jade remembered dark.

"Why did you bring her back here for?" Jade didn't mind the fact she was bathed in light, or the voices talking in the dark beyond the light.

"She's not happy there." Two voices now, not happy voices.

"So why did you drug her." A snarl, a slapped, it was damp under her face, it smelt damp, but it was warm under her blanket and it felt nice to be fuzzy, even with the two figures arguing.

"She doesn't need them." The growl again

"She doesn't want you either. What are you going to do when she wakes up, what's she going to do for that matter?" Jade's could feel the ground under her arms now, it was damp too, dirty, not so fuzzy. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, the figures noticed. "Leave her." Another growl, steps towards her, "Leave her.." the foot steps stopped, Jade felt someone move her hair off her face, the hands that had saved her, the ones that felt safe and familiar, the ones that, she as so close.

"Leave her now!" second growl, at this one compliant, footsteps moved away, then nothing. Slowly the damp crept in where the fuzzy feeling had been, Jade could no longer keep her eyes shut in with the light. She sat up, so this was what a hang over felt like, Jade groaned and pulled the blanket over her head to hide her eyes as she crawled out of the light, she inhaled the blanket, she snarled tearing it off her face, she knew this blanket, she knew that smell, Jade looked the blanket over, small red splotches were on it, she knew what they were, blood, Jade check herself over, not hers, she looked at the marks again, old blood, she sniffed, and looked confused, her, old scent, Jade was tempted to toss the blanket away, but she didn't, Jade took a look at her surroundings, she knew this place, she knew this smell, Jade wished she was sitting down again, then it hit her, the scents, those that had been here, they weren't dreams, those scents, this place, the blanket,

"A memento.." she spoke quietly. Jade's back was on the wall she knocked something with her feet, a chain, it was attached to the wall, she looked at her feet, there was three and at the ends were, clasps, she was clutching the blanket, flashes, chains, threats, blood, pain, blanket… she knew, all of, she remembered everything, Jade let out a feral howl as she remembered, nothing could make it stop it washed over her, as the tears washed down her face..

Jarred lent on the balcony of the senior's lounge staring out into the woods as the days final rays disappeared over the trees, he wondered if Jade could see him from where he stood. He'd been tempted to wave in her direction since the moment he'd stepped out here, enjoying the cool breeze that was circling about, he loved nights like this, a lot of the seniors over the years had sat up late enjoying these nights. Jarred sighed as he stretched his arms above his head, he wanted to believe she could see him, but more importantly he wanted to believe Jade would be happy about that fact.

"If you're thinking about leaving food out to tempt her back, you're going to have to better then a microwave burrito and a Pepsi." Sean joked, closing the door behind him, Jarred looked at his burrito he had planed on eating as an after dinner filler, since he didn't like fish and had picked mindlessly at his dinner.

"Yeah, a beer would be better.." Jarred nodded looking back out towards the tree line. "You don't think it's weird that she just took off?" He asked needing confirmation of the feeling he'd had all day, the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right about what Jade had done.

"You think they're lying?" Sean asked seriously

"No, I just.." Jarred didn't know, he hoped Scott hadn't, it was hard to take orders from a leader you didn't trust, but maybe Scott too was just following orders.

"Xavier didn't send her up there." Sean stated, since that seemed the only logical reason for Jade being sent to the cabin. "You know better then anyone no one can make Jade do anything she doesn't want to, Not even Logan, Scott or Maverick could make her, well maybe Mave and Logan, but that be out of fear, but they wouldn't threaten her...For all you know she just did it to get out of Logan's gym class.." This made them both smile "I know I'd play insane if it meant less time in that hell on earth experience." Jarred agreed, no one liked Logan's session, not anyone with out a mastitis outlook on life. Sean patted his buddy on the shoulder and headed back inside, Jarred followed not long after, leaving the food and drink on the balcony. Just in case.