Raven followed the others down the stairs, Pepper streaking behind her. "Maybe he should stay in the control room with Logan," Kitty said, scratching Pepper's ear.
Hell no, I'm not leaving you alone, Pepper said with a yelp. You get into to much trouble on your own.
"I should have gotten a cat." Evan gave her a weird look and Rogue giggled.
"That is so weird. Doesn't it freak you out when she starts talking to the dog, Rogue?" Tabitha asked.
"I guess I'm just used to it. She's been talking to animals since we was eight or nine years old." Rogue said with a giggle. Raven smiled shyly, her fiery hair falling in her eyes, hiding her tawny gaze and blush.
"You should talk more," Tabitha suggested, opening the door of the danger room. Raven shook her head, dislodging more of her hair from the ponytail.
"Here, I'll fix that for you," Kitty said, pulling a comb out of her pocket.
"You carry a comb in your pocket?" Raven said, talking at last.
"I put it in there this morning. I was hoping I would get a chance to attack this mop of yours." Kitty said and Raven giggled, allowing the girl to pull her hair up so it wasn't in her face while they trained. Storm looked at them from the control room and gave them the thumbs up before she turned on the machine. Rogue gripped Raven's hand gently, pulling her back.
A laser shot at them and Raven yelped, jerking herself away from Rogue and she and Pepper bolted of to the other side. Tabitha shot, what looked like, a cheery bomb at the laser, but she realized that that was her power. Kitty dodged behind a wall, or through the wall, Raven couldn't tell. She felt Evan grab her arm and Pepper's collar, pulling them out of the way as he shot a spike at the laser to keep it from hitting them. "Thanks," she said shyly. Pepper barked. "Pepper says thanks." He smiled.
"You need to watch out. Try using your powers, Firefly."
"Err…alright." She summoned her powers, focusing them on the laser that was taking aim at her. Pepper moved back and the pressure of Evan's hands on her shoulders disappeared. She closed her eyes, her heart pounding in her chest, praying for her aim to be true. She felt the heat in her fingertips and unleashed it, focusing it on the laser as it fired. Raven's fire missed, striking the laser firing at Kurt and all she saw was a bright red light before the searing pain in her shoulder. She felt a hand on her hand and another on her shoulder as she opened her eyes. Evan was gripping her hand and Rogue was pulling her moving the strap on her tank-top to see the burn. Another laser fired in their direction and Evan jerked both girls out of the way. Pepper followed.
"Rae, are you alright?" Rogue asked.
"I'm fine," she said, rubbing her shoulder as she stood. "Damn, that hurts," she whispered, wincing. For her friend's sake, she forced herself to stand, accepting Evan's help and then dodging another laser aimed directly at them.
"Is she ok?" Jean asked.
"She's fine," Evan said. Pepper barked reassuringly and Raven absently patted his shoulder. Pepper licked her hand as they dodged again and Evan struck the laser. "Try again, and, this time, aim." Raven made a slight whimpering noise in the back of her throat and shook her head. "Come on, Raven. You can do it," he breathed encouragingly in her ear. Raven closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the heat in her fingertips once more. She focused her mind and power on the laser and struck. Her aim was off and Kitty had to leap gracelessly out of the way with a yelp.
"I'm sorry," she said hastily. "I'm sorry Kitty."
"It's alright. I'm fine." She moved behind Raven, as did the others, who had gathered to watch. "Try again," she said.
"No. I can't. This is stupid. I'm going back to bed." Raven turned on her heel and bolted out the danger room door. Rogue started to go after her but Jean placed her hand on Rogue's shoulder.
"Let me talk to her," she said gently and followed after her.
Raven knew Jean was behind her as she opened the first door she saw, hoping to escape her. She turned around as she shut the door and realized she was in some sort of closet. She slid down the wall until she was sitting, hugging her knees to her chest, shivering fearfully. Pepper placed his paw on her knee, followed by his head, wagging his plumed tail. Are you alright, Pepper asked.
"I'm alright." Raven patted his head and his tail wagged harder. The closet door opened and there stood Jean, smiling gently at her.
"I know I'm going to feel silly about asking this, but, Pepper, could I talk to Raven a minute?" Pepper tilted his head, a canine equivalent to a shrug, before padding out the door.
"How did you find me?" she asked softly, once the dog was out of the tiny closet.
"I can read minds, remember," Jean replied, sitting down beside her, shutting the closet door.
"Just my luck." Jean giggled.
"What's the matter, Sweetie?"
"I'm terrible with my powers. Coming here was stupid. I don't want to control my powers, I want to get rid of them."
"Well, you're stuck with them, Raven."
"Life sucks," she snapped and Jean nodded in agreement.
"Raven, I know that you don't want these powers any more then I wanted mine when I discovered them."
"How long did it take you to control yours?"
"Well, let's see. I first discovered my powers when I was twelve and I'm seventeen now. Can I tell you a secret, Raven?"
"Sure, why not?"
"I still can't fully control my powers."
"Really? You can't?" Raven asked, incredulously and Jean nodded. "What do you do when you loose control?"
"Well, that's a trade secret, but, since I'm to nice to make you feel like one of the team by making fun of your accent, I'll tell you." She leaned in close, whispering low. "When I loose control of my powers, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and…"
"And? And what?"
"I laugh."
"Because everyone else laughs?"
"No, I laugh at myself. We have a saying here. You have no right to laugh at anyone else if you can't laugh at yourself." Raven giggled slightly. "See, there ya' go." She brushed a lock of Raven's fiery hair out of her face. "You'll learn."
"It's just, everybody else has such a handle on their powers." Jean laughed at that.
"That's because they've been here longer. You should have seen them when they first got here. I can pick on Kitty because she picks on me. When she first came here, if she had a nightmare, she'd phase through the bed and hit the ground hard one or two floors below. Kurt started out unable to teleport to places he couldn't see." Raven smiled as Jean placed a hand on her knee. "You see, Rae. You're not the only one."
"I guess you're right. I just have one more question. Do ya'll really make fun of my accent?"
"If it makes you feel any better, we make fun of Rogue, Gambit, and Kurt's too." Raven giggled, leaning against Jean's shoulder, allowing her to hug her. "Come on, Firefly. We can't hide in here forever." Raven nodded as they stood. Raven flashed her a brief smile before opening the door.