A/N: DONT SHOOT! i didnt mean to! it wasnt my fault. i know its been a while. but school's been kinda hectic. so here i am with a new chapter! chapter nine is in progress so dont worry. hopefully, you wont have to wait for the next one.

Disclaimer i forgot it in all the other chappies but you probably already know that i own no one except Carson. but if i did own Pyro...

Onward...

Chapter Eight

Charlotte seemed so far away. As I sat on the bus, I thought about the last words I had said to Kitty. They hadn't been pretty.

"There are still options, Carson," Kitty had said. "You've got nothing holding you back anymore."

"I'm not going to New York," I'd replied. "I'm going to Charlotte to live with my aunt. I never want to see you again, Katherine Pryde." And that had been that.

I regretted every word.

The bus came to a sudden halt. An old woman came on and shuffled to the back next to me.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked in a hoarse voice. I shook my head and she sat next to me.

"Lovely day isn't it," she said. I looked out the window at the rain pelting the earth.

"Not particularly," I replied.

"Rain is a wonderful thing, is it not? Without it, mankind would cease to exist."

"I suppose so," I replied.

"Where are you headed?" she asked suddenly.

"Charlotte. To see my aunt."

"You ever goin' back?"

"No." The word was painful. But I could never go back home. There were too many memories.

"Pity."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Just making my rounds," she replied. "I'm going to New York after this."

"Where in New York?" I asked.

"Bayville." Hadn't Kitty said something about Bayville? I wracked my brain but couldn't remember.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"My name is Raven Darkholme," she replied.

Suddenly the bus came to another sudden halt. I looked up to see what was going on. All of the passengers were looking out the windows to see what was happening.

"Come with me." The whisper was faint but I head it. I looked over at the woman next to me. But she wasn't the bent old lady that had sat down. She was now a rather young lady with blue skin, yellow eyes and flaming red hair.

"What?" I asked.

"Come with me," she said again.

"I don't even know you," I said.

"Yes you do." Suddenly before my eyes, the skin on her face transformed and she became my mother. Then she was my father. Then she was John. Then Kitty. Then the old lady. Then back to the lady with the blue skin. My head spun.

"I can be whoever you want me to be."

There was a ruckus as the bus began to shake.

"What's going on?" I yelled over the other screaming voices.

"I'll explain later," said Raven as she grabbed my hand and half dragged me off of the bus.

"I'm not running any further," I said. Raven turned to look back at me. "At least, not till I get some answers."

She rolled her eyes.

"I am Mystique. I'm a shape-shifter. I work with mutants. People like you. I can help you to use your powers for the benefit of-"

"Mankind, right?" I interrupted.

"No. And don't interrupt me. Mankind has brushed us aside, treated us like dirt. Why should we work for the benefit of them, the self-absorbed race that has been behind so much mutant oppression? We should be working for the benefit of mutantkind! Let's go." She grabbed my arm and started pulling me through the woods.

We came to a ramshackle little house on the edge of the woods just before the road.

"This is it," she said, leading me through the door.

"This is what?" I asked raising my eyebrow at the mess before me.

"I know it doesn't look like much. But you get used to it," said a familiar voice from another room. In walked John Allerdyce in all his glory.