Disclaimer: If I owned either Evolution or the comics, a lot would be different and I definitely wouldn't waste my time writing fanfiction.

A/N: Thar be spoilers in this fic, yar - specifically for the New X-Men Childhood's End storyline. You've been warned.

Light in the Dark

Megan sighed and pushed her dark hair out of her face, hooking a lock of black and pink behind one pointed ear, ignorant to the fact someone just might notice if they walked by and decided to pay close enough attention. She had other, more important things to think about right now. Remembering the spells and magics Agatha had tried to teach today was one. Walking beside the Scarlet Witch and trying not to upset her until they reached the next corner and went their separate ways was another.

Megan trusted Xavier's judgment of the older mutant but that didn't change the fact that Wanda frightened her a little bit. Not as much as Belasco had, but more than facing off against Logan in the Danger Room. Logan, Megan could handle with some pixie dust – he seemed particularly fond of her unicorn illusion. Wanda on the other hand... She was powerful, dangerous. Wanda was like a wild animal; beautiful and alluring but it was in a person's best interest to observe her from afar and not do something stupid to irk her. Those were the guidelines Kurt had given her before she had been shipped off to meet with the Witch and taken to Agatha's. It seemed simple enough, but as things often when went when it was boiled down on a mutant level, it wasn't that easy. A lot of things angered Wanda and Megan wasn't quite sure what would send her into a rage. So, since the moment of their meeting, Megan had walked on eggshells to avoid getting on Wanda's bad side.

At the corner, Wanda crossed the street and Megan turned to the right, able to breathe easy for the first time that day. However, her breath caught her in her throat once more after she felt the familiar tingle of magic surge through the air and heard an ungodly screech from the lawn of the Brotherhood house. She turned on her heel, watching the scene unfold. There was Wanda, raising both hands and unabashedly using her powers on Toad, hexing him a good distance across the front yard.

Megan swallowed hard, reminding herself once again that she wouldn't have to deal with Wanda much longer. Her classes with Agatha were supposed to only last for another week or so. If she was able to harness her newfound powers as easily as Agatha seemed to think she could. She made a mental note and promised herself she'd work twice as hard to make sure she'd be out of Wanda's hair sooner than later.

Chewing on her bottom lip and deciding she really didn't want to see what else Wanda had up her sleeves and in store for Toad, Megan hugged her black trench coat tighter against her body, shifting her wings uncomfortably beneath the leather, and continued the walk back to the mansion.

xxx

Sitting alone on the roof in the middle of the night should have relaxed her to some point, but it didn't. Her mind wandered and she realized just how deep the darkness was. Her incomplete soul felt like the night now, chilled and hollow, dark and empty.

"If I hadn't saw it for myself, I woulda never believed it, yo."

Megan nearly fell off the roof as a result of jerking back after Toad had flipped himself off the wall and landed in a crouch in front of her, balancing easily on the drainpipe. Thankfully, she was able to keep herself upright by spreading her wings and flapping frantically.

"T-Toad! What are you doing here?" She asked, glaring and placing a hand over her heart as though that would calm her down. "You scared me half to death!"

"Heard it from the grapevine that you were learnin' some magic or somethin' like that with that old witch, Agatha." He crawled forward using the toes of his sneakers and only the tips of his fingers. "Didn't believe it, till I saw you comin' up the street with Wanda. Got blasted for askin' her 'bout it."

Megan folded her dark wings against her back. "Oh," she said quietly, mentally cursing the local gossip-tongues. She hadn't wanted Toad to know about this, not yet anyway. It was her dark, dirty secret and she wasn't quite ready to share it with the Brotherhood mutant who managed to steal more than her attention.

Toad spread her legs, bent at the knee, and crouched between them, holding on gently to her kneecaps. "Gonna tell me what's up with that? An' the dye-job?" He peered around her, caught the gray shimmer off her wings and cocked an eyebrow when he looked at her face again. "On both ya hair and ya wings."

The younger girl frowned. "A piece of my soul was taken from me by Illyana and formed into a dagger, like her Soul Sword, to fight off the demon Belasco." She looked to the side, to the shadows near her hand and swore she felt them inching closer. "Doctor Strange says I have more than enough soul to spare left though. And now I'm in tune with magic, so he offered to teach me – when I'm eighteen and after I take a vow of silence. Until then, I gotta settle for Agatha." She lifted her hand and rubbed at her arm.

Toad crept closer, his hips almost pressed to her in a ways that were too awkward for the young X-Woman-in-training. "An' how do ya feel? I mean, y'look a'ight but... I get this feelin' you ain't a'ight on the inside, yo."

Megan sighed. "I'm alright, I guess. It's just weird. Things feel darker now." Toad was nodding but she doubted he really understood. Not even she could wrap her head around this whole mess. "And my soul itches. And it's like one of those itches that won't go away, no matter how much or hard you scratch it."

"Ever try getting someone else t'scratch it for ya?"

She rose an eyebrow at him. "You can't really scratch a soul, Toad."

"Wanna bet?" He grinned and took her by the face, his naturally clammy palms pressed to her cheeks and his fingers hooked behind her elfin ears. He wasted no time in pulling her into an almost-bruising kiss, even daring to dip his tongue in passed her glossed lips.

This wasn't like their first kiss in the least. It wasn't rush and strange, this was drawn out and it meant something. Her heart was throbbing hard inside her chest, harder than ever, and her stomach filled with proverbial butterflies as she let her eyes flutter shut and she returned the kiss with what she hoped was equal ferocity. She opened up to him, let his bitter tongue inside her mouth and enjoyed ever second of his gentle fondling.

When he pulled away and left her gasping for air, she hid her face bashfully into his shoulder, eyes squeezed shut tight and a school-girl smile on her pink-painted lips.

"Still itchy?"

She giggled in spite of herself. Of course her soul was still itchy, inflamed with dark infection that had no cure, but she could pretend for the moment that her soul was complete and the Belasco incident never happened, that her hair was still pink and her wings were rainbow-tinted, that there was a light in the darkness that pulsated like a heartbeat – his heartbeat.

"Not so much," she replied, knowing he'd never see through her little fib. "Thanks." She pulled away from him slowly.

"No problem," he snickered.

"Megan!" Jubilee called out from below. The student body must have just realized Megan was missing in action and Scott more than likely sent out a small search party to look for her because one could never be too careful. Personally, Megan thought Scott was a little overprotective, but it didn't bother her too much.

"You should go," Megan said hurriedly, standing and spreading her wings, catching the dull rays of the half-moon on them. Rainbows in shades of gray were cast against the roof.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see ya 'round sometime," he said with a wink before leaping off the roof and landing soundlessly in a nearby tree. She didn't watch him leave, too busy getting herself back down to the ground to let the others know she was alive, well and in one piece – more or less.

"What do you think you're doing out here?" Scott demanded, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a little shake. "It's passed midnight!"

"It is?" Megan feigned innocence, since she wasn't really innocent anymore. She never would be again. But she could pull off one heck of an act. "Sorry, Scott. I guess I lost track of time."

Scott sighed a little, then slid his hand down to the middle of her back, careful to avoid catching her wings, and started pushing her gently toward the mansion's front doors with Jubilee walking at his side. "Just... go to bed, Megan."

"Sure thing, Cyc," Megan said, pushing off his hand to walk to her room briskly. There, she shed her clothes and slipped into a worn, white tank top and a matching pair of boxers. She then fell back onto her bed, hoping the creaking of old springs wouldn't wake Jessica. Thankfully, her roommate didn't even stir.

Megan worked the covers out from under her and slid into the waiting warmth. She closed her eyes, refusing to give in and stare long and hard at the shadows on the ceiling until she was sure they came alive under her gaze. She didn't want to see the dark, not when she could still taste the Toad's kiss. Not while the illusion of innocence was still within her grasp and she could will herself to dream in color instead of those terrible shades of gray.

-End