Chapter 3: The Invasion

(a/n: Okay, so the second chapter wasn't a huge hit with y'all either. If I could get some feedback, maybe it would be nice? Oh heck, I'll continue with this story anyway. So this chapter's looking to be intense…please, even if you hate it, let me know?)

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men AT ALL!

Songs to Listen to During this Chapter:

Your Ex-Lover is Dead by Stars

The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves

……

Riley gently closed the door of his room, the veil of dusk cloaking his entire room in darkness, save the light of the moon. He hadn't left as soon as Jasmine had. Half of him had hoped she'd come back, while the other half knew too well that she wouldn't. Seth was her best friend. And he…he was something entirely different. Suppressing a sigh, Riley made his way over to his bed. He shared the room with Piotr and Marcus, both of whom were no where to be found. Maybe it was better that way too…he wouldn't have to put up with their random talks about jokes they pulled that day.

Switching on the light on his bedside table, he picked up the book he'd been reading. A mystery novel that he'd picked up in the library, with no title but the letters R.A. that stamped the front of the black book in gold lettering, and on its spine as well. It hadn't taken him too long to understand the story immediately. A deadly love triangle…vicious murders…the only suspects revolving around the three lovers. Suspense drenched the whole book, and Riley loved escaping to it every night after he got into his dorm. Tonight he really needed something to escape to.

Jasmine had been for years now the object of Riley's affection. They'd grown up together in their small group, and while he'd been framed for admiring Amara, it had only been a cover for someone really finding out how he felt about Jasmine. The only people who knew about it were Piotr and Marcus, his two best friends…he knew they would never say a word unless he told them too.

Settling down in his bed, Riley leafed through the pages until he reached his bookmark again.

……

Jasmine wiped the tears from her face, letting out a frustrated sigh. Her telepathy was off, and the objects that she walked by were tilting slightly. My powers aren't controlling me…my powers aren't controlling me…my powers don't control my mind. By the time she'd reached the door of her room, she'd calmed down enough to not send painting flying off the walls around her. With a swift motion of her hand, she opened her door and walked into her dorm.

The beige room was covered with various posters decorating the walls, and the scent of mixed perfumes hung lightly in the air. A CD was playing from the stereo in the corner of the room and setting a mellow vibe to the room. The window was open and letting in the night air, and to add to everything, Eileen sat cross-legged on her own bed against the wall closest to the door. She looked up from flipping through another magazine that looked like it belonged in the music genre rather than fashion.

"Jass?" She said in question at Jasmine's blotchy red face. Jasmine reached up to wipe her face that was sticky and dried out from the frustrated tears that had strewn her face. Why is he being such a jerk about everything? "Hunny, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Jasmine replied dryly, stalking over to her bed. As soon as she'd moved into their dorm room, she'd chosen the bed closest to the right-side window out of the four in the room. "I just had a rough night." Jasmine collapsed onto her bed, letting out a muffled sigh into her pillow.

"Want to talk about it?" The question rang in her ears for a few moments before she poked her head up from her pillow. Shaking her head, she turned onto her side to face Eileen, biting her fingernails as she thought about it.

"No…not right now."

……

"What do you think of Bobby Drake?" Kitty asked Jubilee quietly as they walked towards their dorm. They shared it with Eileen and Jasmine, and Kitty had only agreed to go back upstairs because she knew how late it would be. Waking the two of them up would be horrible.

"He's a real sweetheart, Kitty," Jubilee replied before her eyes lit up. They had just spent the past two hours hanging out in the rec. room with Bobby, Rogue, John, Piotr, and Marcus. "Wait," Jubilee's hand reached forward to grab hers and Kitty felt her face go red with embarrassment. "Why? You don't like him, do you?"

"Shhhh!" She laughed, bending down to look Jubilee in the eye squarely. "No one can know, okay? I mean, Jasmine knows, but-"

"Oh, of course Jasmine knows," Jubilee mumbled. "She just knows everything, doesn't she? The all-knowing, all-seeing Jasmine knows just about everything to do with life." Kitty opened her mouth to object, but she kept on rambling on. "I wonder, if I went to her and spilt out my heart to her, do you think she would help me? Help me and my problems with her best friend?"

Without even waiting for an answer, Kitty was almost blown backward as Jubilee continued to walk up the staircase, brushing her aside.

……

He was pissed. If he'd ever been in a bad mood before, this mood was ten times worse. How could she have feelings for him? Of all people to have a crush on, it had to be Riley… Seth stopped his thoughts, turning over on his bed. His other two roommates, Bobby and John were lying asleep in their beds. They'd gotten back only a while ago from hanging around downstairs. Seth glanced at the time on the clock beside his head. 12:08 a.m.

It was too late to go see Jasmine and apologize. It was too late to go see Jubilee and apologize. It was too late to go and get into a fight with Riley. It was too late to be awake and thinking still.

……

"So you and Eileen, huh?" Marcus' grin could not be hidden although he tried, and Piotr could not help but smile. They'd stayed to talk about the situation that had occurred with he and Eileen after dinner. Marcus seemed to have known something was going on, for he'd perked up immediately when Piotr had said "Dude, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, me and Eileen," Piotr sighed. They were walking up the stairs, and the only person that had been up when they'd left was the TV kid…and he never slept. "I can't believe this day. It's been amazing in its own awful way."

"Dude, you're such an artist," Marcus laughed as they finally reached the landing, automatically turning left. They'd been at the school for years now, and had always been in the same dorm with Riley. "You're turning into Riley on me."

"Is that such a bad thing?" He moaned, and the blond-tipped boy grinned at him. As more of a prep than anything, Marcus had the tendency to continuously make fun of Riley, who was very much an artist. Piotr had always been in between the two, which was probably why they weren't constantly trying to kill each other. "Nah, Riley's a cool guy."

"Now that sounds like we barely know him," Marcus sighed as they reached their dorm. The three boys had been sharing a room since they'd all arrived at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Getting to know each other hadn't been hard, but Riley had always dodged around iffy questions about his past. Piotr had learned to let go of it, but Marcus had never quite reached that point. "Riles! Are you in there?"

"What do you think?" The dry reply came from behind their closed door and Piotr reached forward to open the door. He would probably mention the time or something about how they weren't allowed to be in the girls' dorms after midnight. It was the only Riley thing to do. Yet as they walked into the room, Riley was merely sitting on his bed reading, a straight and solemn face pulled on as he read. He didn't even glance up to see them, and Piotr caught the odd glance Marcus threw at him when they made their way to their own beds.

"Hey Riles," Marcus began awkwardly as he sat on his bed opposite Riley's. "How was your night?" Piotr stayed silent as they waited for Riley's reply. That reply didn't come until he'd read another page before turning it and sliding a bookmark in.

"Good, how was yours?" He said quickly, and Marcus' eyebrows raised high up to the middle of his forehead. Piotr knew he'd replied to quickly, but for the sake of their friendship, no one would say anything about it until the person mentioned it.

"Good…" Marcus replied, turning to look at Piotr. He smiled forcefully, looking towards Riley after he had. "Anything exciting happen? What did you and Jass do in the music room?" Although Marcus hadn't added a suggestive undertone to it, Piotr knew that that had been the wrong question to ask Riley. His face went stone hard immediately and he crossed his arms, shrugging as he did.

"We just hung out for a bit. Then she had to run off…Seth came in and got pissed off at her," Riley mumbled, turning to look out the window. Piotr looked worriedly at Marcus before looking back at Riley. For as long as he could remember, as long as he himself had felt feelings for Eileen, Riley had felt something towards Jasmine. He hadn't been the one to recognize it at first, and it had taken Marcus and Kitty to actually point it out. Riley had denied that to Kitty, but one night when they had been sitting around in their dorm playing a card game, he'd spilled out everything to Piotr and Marcus. They'd been sworn to secrecy, and Riley swore that if they told anyone, they'd both be waking up with a face full of ash the next day. That had sealed the deal, and the secret had been held for almost two years. Yet now, when things were going so well for Riley, Seth was suddenly going to mess things up?

"Why was he pissed?" Marcus asked, and it took Piotr another second to realize he hadn't said one thing since they'd walked into the dorm. Straightening his back as he sat with his feet on the floor near his bed, Piotr cleared his throat.

"Yeah…why was he pissed?" He knew he was only echoing Marcus, but he figured it would be better than not saying anything. Riley's gaze didn't turn to them, but he kept his silver-blue eyes turned to the window while he replied.

"You know what we've always said. He obviously has a thing for her…and Jass…" He trailed off in frustration. Piotr noticed his hands were balled into fists while he crossed both of his arms together. "Jasmine is too nice to not follow her angry best friend out of the music room and to who knows where. For all I know, they could have been making out one hallway over."

"Don't say that, Riles," Piotr sighed. The possibility was incredibly unlikely, seeing as he'd found out from several people that Jasmine did feel strongly for Riley. Yet Jasmine and Seth were best friends…nothing could come between that. "She probably just went to help him cool off."

"Yeah," Marcus agreed, but the look on his face wasn't very helpful. "Of course."

……

"Hey Jubie," Eileen's sickly sweet voice only made Jubilee angrier, she realized, as she entered the dorm. She didn't care that Jasmine looked asleep on her bed. She didn't care that Kitty was still behind her. She didn't care that it was past midnight and people would be sleeping. Jubilee slammed the door with as much emphasis as she could, glaring at Jasmine as she jumped in her sleep. "Woah, someone's in a bad mood."

"Shut up Eileen," Jubilee spat, stalking off towards her bed. She was in a sour mood, she knew that only too well. But she didn't care. Anyone who was dating someone like Seth Goodwrich would be doing the same thing. Jasmine's tired and surprised face made her smile in satisfaction while Jubilee stripped from her jeans by her dresser. She deserved it…he deserved it. They both deserved to be woken up from their dreams about each other as quickly and as loudly as possible.

"You alright Jubilee?" Jasmine mumbled, and Jubilee opened her mouth to reply bitterly towards her when Kitty stormed in (much more quietly of course) right through the door. Jubilee frowned again and closed her mouth. She'd forgotten that she was able to walk through walls, much less doors. The glare on her face was directed to Jubilee, and she knew it. Jasmine and Eileen sat in curiosity as she and Kitty ignored each other, getting dressed into their pajamas as quickly as they could. Jubilee was in the lead, with her bottoms already on, and by the time Kitty had finished pulling her slip on, she'd sunk into her bed and pulled the covers over her head.

"She's just being a little bitchy tonight," Kitty growled without making any mention to their fight tonight. The other two remained silent, and when the light clicked off in the room, Jubilee finally peeled the sheets off her face. With any luck, the night would go by quickly and she'd be the first one out of bed.

……

At 12:33, Seth awoke from his slumber with a pounding head. His dream hadn't been a dream…or had it? Chaos and panic through the halls of the school, Jasmine hitting her head and falling, and Jubilee screaming as a man in black stormed into her room and shot her. The sweat on his head was trickling down his forehead quickly, and he suddenly felt sick. He just had to make sure, and then, maybe, everything would be fine. Closing his eyes, he skipped several minutes into the near future.

Students and classmates are screaming as they run through the halls of the school, looking for hidden exits. Jasmine hits her head against the wall behind her and she falls as a rush of people run past her. Jubilee screams as a shot is fired and a man dressed in gear walks stiffly to get her. Logan yells at Piotr to take a group of kids through the tunnel. Seth bends down towards Jasmine before falling asleep…

Seth opened his eyes, a panicked thought coming through his head. He wasn't just dreaming. He was seeing what would happen for sure. He shot up in his bed, looking wildly around the room. Bobby was gone, but John was still asleep. If he could get him awake before something happened…

"John!" He didn't bother to whisper, but instead shouted. "John, get up!" John Allerdyce sat up in his bed, groggily looking at him. Although he had never gotten along with Seth (for the reason that bordered around Jasmine), he still had a mutual respect for his powers. Whether or not he would at half past midnight, Seth wasn't sure.

"What the hell do you want Goodwrich?" He mumbled. Seth opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a piercing scream filled both of their ears. Seth clamped his hands over his ears and from what he could see through squinted eyes, so was John. Inside of him, a feeling of dread rolled around in his stomach. It had begun.

……

She'd been out to get a glass of water when she'd first seen the men creeping around the corridors. Panic-stricken and terrified, Jasmine backed into the shadows. How was she going to get up to her room to warn the girls? Telepathy wouldn't help her now. Heavy sleep could not be broken easily, and after her fiasco with Seth in the hallway today, it would be hard for her to use that amount of strength to break through a mind barrier. She'd paused and her eyes had gone wide when she'd thought of her best friend. What if they got to him first? What if she could never tell him how sorry she was? What if she could never tell him how she felt about…Riley. What would happen to Riley?

The intruders' thoughts were clear enough in her mind, no longer whispers, and she guessed it was because of her panic. Panic? Maybe that was the key to her strength. She'd set her hand on her forehead. She could get through them - all of them - if she tried her hardest. But just how many of them were there? Jasmine hadn't been able to stop thinking until Vickie's shriek filled her mind. She fell to her knees and held onto her head, panicked thoughts and piercing sounds filling her mind.

"Stop it Vickie," She pleaded to no one in particular. "Stop it please." And then suddenly, the shriek had stopped and was instead replaced with many surprised screams and the sound of running footsteps. Now Jasmine was making her way up the stairs, dodging past many dead or unconscious bodies of the soldiers that had invaded the mansion. She was looking for anyone she knew…anyone that she knew who wasn't going to hurt or abandon her.

"Jasmine!" Someone's voice rang out in her ears, but Jasmine didn't have time to see who it was. Thrusting her hands out in front of her, she protected herself from the bullets that were shooting at her. Who were these people? And why were they using weapons? Jasmine had never been good on her feet. She fumbled when she was supposed to run, and skipped when she was supposed to walk. Her attempt to get away caused her to trip over her own two feet. "Jass!" It was Seth. She should have known sooner who it was. Yet he couldn't stop her from falling backwards. A sharp pain hit the back of her head before her vision blurred to black.

……

"Jasmine!" Seth ran quickly over to where she'd fallen. Her face had looked surprised before she'd fallen. If he hadn't yelled, the man would have shot her. If he hadn't hit the man over the head with a vase he'd grabbed from one of the decorative tables lining the hallway. John had already gone off to get as many people as they could. Seth had judged him wrong…he hadn't misjudged his powers in the middle of the night, especially when Vickie had started screaming. "Jass?"

She must have hit her head. Her hair was sticky from where she had smashed her head against another table, and her eyes were closed. Seth kneeled down beside her, gently moving her head back into proper place. He ran his fingers over her face, leaning down to make sure she was still breathing. She was, faintly and shallowly, but she was still breathing.

"Jass?" He murmured, shaking her gently. "Jasmine, please wake u-"

A prickling sharp pain hit his back, his right shoulder to be exact. Seth made to turn around, but his senses became blurred. Were they shooting tranquilizers? It didn't make any sense. He tried to think to the man who had shot him, but it didn't work. His mind felt like Jello that was slipping through his fingers. The last thing he remembered seeing was the blurred face of Jasmine after he hit the floor.

……

"Piotr!" Eileen ran towards the group of kids pilling around the nearest hidden exit. She didn't know where Jasmine was, or Kitty for that matter. She'd woken up for a midnight bathroom break and had been just about to open the door again when she heard Jubilee scream. Eileen had dimmed the lights quickly, her thoughts coming jumbled in as she tried to think of a way to help her friend. But her mind had seemed to freeze up and it wasn't long before Jubilee's scream stopped abruptly after a shot sounded.

After that, she'd grabbed a sweater and tore from her room, barefoot and scared. No one seemed to be out of their rooms yet, but the thundering of footsteps above and below her made her sure that there were people around. Who were these men? The question scared her after she'd had to hide more than twice from a large group of them.

"Eileen! Quickly, everyone in here," He ushered the kids into the square hole that was one of various emergency escape routes to the forest. Where they would be in the forest was unknown to them, but Professor Xavier had always cautioned them to use it when it was most necessary. Had he known this would happen? He was out with Scott on an errand, and they'd been left with Logan instead. His timing could not have been worse. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," She paused, out of breath, as Piotr helped her into the tunnel. "But they've got Jubilee…and I can't find Jasmine or Kitty." His hands kept on her shoulders as they ran down the tunnel. She knew he was keeping her moving, but she wanted to turn back to look for her friends.

"They'll both be fine. Jasmine can protect herself, and Kitty is probably in the woods already," Piotr sighed. "Marcus is straight ahead…don't worry about him." Eileen nodded as they rounded a corner, still unsure of what was ahead. But what about Riley and Seth? Bobby, Rogue, and John? And Logan? What would happen to them?

"What about the others?" Before he could ask who she meant, Eileen continued. "Riley and Seth. And everyone else that didn't make it. What will happen to them?"

"I…I don't know," Piotr mumbled. His hands were still on her shoulders as they ran, finally catching up to the group of kids in front of them. "But I promised Logan I would look after these ones."

……

Riley opened his eyes at the sound of a crash. He'd locked the doors on instinct, but he had no way of knowing who was coming. Was it one of the men that had invaded his room? The blast of smoke he'd shot from his fingers had been enough to buy him getaway time, but he couldn't find anyone he knew running to a spot he was familiar with. So he'd ran down to the garage. Car after car, some belonging to students, others belonging to professors were lined up in neat rows in the massive concrete room, tool boxes and electrical tools lining the walls. Riley had found the first open car and locked himself in the back seat, lying down in the area made for foot room. No one would ever suspect to look in a locked car. And if they did, he would have his smoke to hide him.

He knew the question why was running in everyone's heads, and it was still mulling around in his own. Xavier's school had never posed any sort of problem to anyone, even the mutant-haters, seeing as they were out of the way. Yet now, at the exact moment that Logan was the only professor residing in the mansion, unidentified soldiers in the middle of the night were attacking them. Someone had planned it. It was the only explainable explanation.

Footsteps clattered in the garage, and judging from the loud thud of the boots, it wasn't anyone welcoming. Riley squished himself further down into the wedge, creating a thin layer of black smoke in front of him. He wouldn't be caught unless the man was looking in every single one of the cars. Another pair of footsteps sounded in the garage, the patter of bare feet slapping against the floor. A student. Riley's stomach filled with dread as he thickened the blanket of smoke covering him. Before the familiar sound of a gunshot sounded, a loud scraping of something against the concrete floor rang through the room. Riley covered his head with his arms as something hit his car with a huge force, windows shattering as the car went crashing into one of the large concrete columns that were built for support. Riley had just enough time to climb up and crawl into the back seat before the large tool table that had once been against the wall hit his only exit from the car. The man that had been walking around was now no where to be found. Little bits of glass dug into Riley's skin as he shifted his position on the leather seat. Someone was going to come back to a little bit of a large disappointment.

"Hello?" Riley called through the broken, smash, and half-covered window. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He could have sworn he heard a student before, and there was no possible way someone had been able to push the car and the bench without some sort of supernatural power. Piotr and Jasmine crossed his mind instantly. They were really the only two who could do something like that. Marcus flashed in his mind too, but Riley only took a few seconds to dismiss that. It would have been incredibly windy if Marcus had been the culprit, and it had happened to quickly and to fast to be a source of wind. "Hello!"

"Riley?" Jasmine's voice was quiet and sounded incredibly weak, but he could tell it was hers. Ignoring the sharp pains sticking into his knees, Riley squinted through the broken glass of the window and the crumpled tool bench to see Jasmine standing by the car. The man was only knocked out, but it looked as if Jasmine had grabbed the nearest things possible to defend herself. She could have done this standing on the other side of the room with the amount of power she was capable of using. "Oh my gosh, Riley, are you in there?"

"I'm right here," He waved a hand to see if she could see him, but it was no use. He could only see her through the glass and that was it. "Jasmine, do you think you could move this out of the way? I'm stuck back here."

The seats to the front had been bent and twist in the crash, and the emergency lock that Professor Xavier had installed in every car had gone off. It was intended for robbers and incredible amounts of pressure. Vaguely, Riley wondered if both had happened tonight.

"Yeah, I'll work on it," She looked so pale even as she said that, paler than she normally was. Placing her hands out in front of her, she concentrated hard on the bench and for a split second, Riley saw it move. The crash came after it fell back down onto the ground, only standing in mid-air for a millisecond. "Oh man…I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Riley called, though the worry in the pit of his stomach had increased. If they were both stuck here, there was no hope in getting help for either. "Jasmine? Are you alright?"

She didn't reply. Riley scrambled to find her through the shattered glass, his light blue eyes widening when he saw her. She was touching the back of her head and standing near the car that had been beside the one he'd been in. Jasmine looked as if she were trying to think of what had happened, and perhaps, she was. Was she going through a state of shock?

"Jasmine!" He yelled again, but it was as if she hadn't heard him. Riley watched helplessly as she withdrew her hand from the back of her hair, staring at the sticky crimson coating that came when she pulled her hand back. She was breathing heavily. Too heavily, as if she was fighting to stay breathing. Riley felt another jolt in his stomach as he realized she must have hit her head. That's why she had been so scatterbrained. "Jasmine!" If he could coax her over to where he was, maybe he could help her…or something. "Jasmine!"

Her body swayed before she touched the car beside her for support. Riley watched Jasmine blink slowly, almost in slow motion it seemed, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed onto the floor. Riley's eyes stared in horror at her body on the floor, her bloody hand print on the car window beside her before he started screaming for someone, anyone to help them.