Whew!, Deathstar said silently as she leaned her body up against her bedroom door, glad no one saw me,she whispers. She dropped her 50lb green duffel bag from her left shoulder, and placed her right hand on it gently massaging as the pain slowly faded away. Being away from the mansion for many months obviously made her tired, in which contradicted the reason she left in the first place, but in a way she was happy to be back home. She took baby steps toward the bed falling down on it as if she was stage diving at a metal concert. With her face buried in the soft pillows, she relaxed her body and mind, a lot had happen during her absence and its times like this she recollect what she been through over the months. I've seen every psychologist, taken every pill, attended countless retreats and I still feel sad, she said to herself as she rolled over on her back, kicked off her shoes, and placed her arms behind the back of her head, Is there another way?. Deathstar gazed deeply into the ceiling as if she was identifying the constellations, thoughts and possibilities raced within her mind of solutions that might cure her deep depression. Death?, she thought to herself, eyes wide, the instant storm of thinking came to a complete stop, the pace of her heart picked up speed, is this the only way?, she grabbed a hold of a pillow and hugged it tight to her chest, she was afraid and fulfilled at the same time.

Deathstar was tired of feeling alone and isolated, she wanted to be free, free from her problems, free from her past, free from herself and there was no cure to treat those symptoms. She tried desperately to think of another way, She rose out from her bed and walked toward the window, taking two fingers bending a piece of the window blinds and took a peek outside as if she was a stalker."Is there any reason for me to stay in this so-called world?, she says while eying the lake outside the mansion, "its quiet, peaceful, and undisturbed, thats where I wanna be". Deathstar tried everything to take her mind off death, but it backfired giving her more reason to end it all, as she headed back to her bed she cam across a picture of her parents, encased in a cracked frame resulting from the invasion a while ago. She grabbed the portrait as the painful tears fiercely ran down her cheek, all the memories from family resurfaced like a raging volcano, and her tears burned like the lava that flowed out of it. Deathstar could no longer hold herself together, she dropped to her knees, laid on her side slowly crouching into a fetal position, cradling the picture as if it was a newborn baby, she cried out loud so anyone in the hall would had heard her scream.

"What have I done?, what have I done?" she said beneath her tears, "Why did you leave me?, I wanna go where you are, take me please!, get me out of this life!, I can't walk around this planet underneath storm clouds anymore". The more Deathstar vented the more she felt it was her fault entirely that her parents were killed, "I thought if I joined the X-men, it would heal my wounds", she continued to talk to the portrait as if they're listening. "I can't live like this anymore" her body began to shiver from the fear that her mind is made up, she doesn't want to live anymore and so she continued to soak in her tears as she pondered on how she is going to get it done.

(OOC: not sure if your door’s open or not. Let me know and I’ll change it)

Ted was wandering around the mansion today. There wasn’t much that he wanted to do on a day like this. Three ideas popped into his head. One… he could go back to his room and take a little nap. Since he’d been practicing his powers more often now he was feeling more and more tired from mental use. Two… he could go chill in the living room and play a video game or go hang out outside on a nice day like this. Or three…he could practice his powers some more, either in the Danger Room or pretty much wherever he wanted. As Ted continued to wander around he happened to be walking through the bedrooms hallway. Most doors were closed and there weren’t many people around. Walking around he neared one door that wasn’t completely closed.

Teddy could hear someone shouting from just the other side. He didn’t want to pry but he couldn’t help but stop and listen. From what he heard it didn't sound like she was yelling at anyone but herself. The sobbing started and he poked his head through the crack to see an older girl curled up on the ground. Aww. Poor girl… looks like she could use a friendly teddy bear to help out. Who needs a councilor or psychiatrist when you got a stuffed animal to talk to? Especially one that can answer questions later on. With this thought Ted started the transition. He wasn’t sure what she would like, having never met the girl before, but one could never go wrong with a bear.

Ted stood just on the other side of the door, closed his eyes and focused on it. Teddy hoped that no one walked by right now because fake black fur started to grow all over his body. The young boy’s ears crawled to the top of his head and grew out just a little. The stuffed animal shifter shrunk down to the correct size. His arms and legs changed to their correct lengths and thickness as the stuffing started to expand inside his body. A little tail protruded from his butt and he fell down to all fours. The change was complete and Ted was now a full unmistakable stuffed black bear.

The teen then walked passed the door and, pushing it open a little more, walked as close to her as he could before she noticed him. his plan, should he pull it off, was this… Don’t let her see you move if you can help it. if she does see him move then oh well. Maybe she’d still want to talk with him.

Deathstar clinched the family portrait tighter within her chest as the tears continued to trek down her cheek, which ruined her face full of black eye-liner. In an attempt to stop crying, she traded her awful screams for a silent whimper, breathing heavily as if she was giving birth. She was a mess, an empty vessel soon to be filled with sorrow and this is the initial reason why she departed in the first place. She tried many ways to get help, searching for a cure, life-coaches and even attending spiritual retreats, but it all failed horribly. The fact that all attempts failed and that no one can help her gave her more than enough reason to end it all, She hid these feelings from the rest of her teammates wanting to cement her reputation for being the tough chick. Deathstar was also disappointed that no one knew about her pain, she selfishly figured atleast one of her x-mates would of noticed her sudden fall to deep depression. "I hate my life"she said under her breathe, still curled up on the floor not ready to get up and face the world, She wanted to lay on the floor and waste away rather than giving life another shot.

In a shift of emotions Deathstar dark depression transformed into a surprising shock when she heard a strange noise behind her, She rolled over her body to face the uknown when she noticed a dark brown cuddly bear. At first glance she thought maybe it fell from bed, but then again all of Deathstar's plush toys were desrtoyed by the registration act sme time ago. She pulled herself up to her knees and shifted her weight to the back of her heals, "What in the?", she questioned the appearance of the cuddly bear, stared at it for a while before she reached over a grabbed the bear then placing it on her lap like a rag doll. "How did you get here?huh?" she said in a soft pleasant mother's voice, the bear put her mind at ease for a moment, and much needed break. The presence of the bear put a smile on her face, the tears stopped, the internal pain seized and good memories flooded her mind instead of the negative thoughts of harming herself. She pulled the bear to her chest, hugged it and closed her eyes,peace, she inhaled and exhaled feeling much better with evey breathe.

When she opened her eyes, the picture of her family was on the floor, the pictured contained her family, Deathstar, Syn, mom and dad, Abyss was no where to be found back then. She remembered while looking at the picture that she used to have a teddy on her own, in fact she named it frankie after her dog passed from undisclosed reasons. Tears began well up again,and ran down her face slowly,she pulled the teddy in front of her, "can we switch places?" she asked while trying to humor herself from the pain

After a while he wasn't sure if this sad girl would notice him. When she finally did turn around Ted froze. He didn't move at all and watched intently to see what this girl would do. Apparently getting picked up and hugged was a popular thing with girls and stuffed animals. This girl having a bad day was very apparent. Fortunately seeing Ted... or actually seeing the stuffed bear, seemed to put her in a better mood. Ted still needed to get used to the whole petting thing. He didn't mind being placed in a girls lap. What guy would? Also it seemed that people were used to talking about their problem to things that couldn't respond then they were to people who might judge them.

Ted tried not to judge people. This was mainly because he'd learned that people will tell him things that would make others think twice about that person. He seemed to be used by many people as a normal stuffed animal and told him what they were thinking about. Teddy wasn't exactly sure what he could do to help her out but he did think that he'd be able to comfort her a little. It seemed to be working, and she seemed to be calming down. This girl seemed to have calmed down quite a bit and Teddy had a feeling that if he'dmade a move she would have freaked out. Ted didn't think that he would ever get used to people trying to hug the stuffing out of him. Literally.As tempted as he was to shake his head he ignored the urge.

The teddy bear appearance still confused the Gothic chick, she pondered the reason why the bear all of the sudden showed up in her room, but she didn't really care at the same time. She placed the bear back in her lap again, rubbing his soft plush ears still fighting the urge to cry, to make herself happy she grabbed the bears arms and made him dance as a Little girl would do with a doll. Amusing herself, Deathstar felt a little better laughing and playing the bear, although this issue is far from over. As she continued to play with the bear an idea popped in her head, "Oh my god!, this would be so cute", quickly she stood on her feet, placed the bear in between her pillows, and headed for her closet rummaging through artifacts only to find a pink and black headband with a bedazzled skull on the side of it, and a Victorian style dress with black ruffles. She giggled at the thought of dressing up the bear to mimic her own sense of style, it was therapeutic clearing her mind from negative thoughts.

Deathstar ran back to the bed, picked up the bear and sat it on her lap, "your gonna look so cute", she said as her smile seem to widened and shine through her black mascara filled face. She first the snuggled the dress on it, and then added the head band for the finishing touch, "that's hot", she said as she lifted the air. She sat the bear a top of her pillows so she can always keep an eye on it, took one last glance, and headed toward her bag to unpack her clothing. That bear seemed very odd, it's almost like it has a soul or somethin, she thought to herself while she lugged the bag toward the closet.

So maybe things were getting a bit more boring these days, or it was just one of those kinds of days that nothing really seemed to suit her fancy. Fade had made her way down to the gym and ran a little, she watched some TV, she showered and meticulously shaved her legs, she tried to cook something but remembered she couldn't even read any recipes, nothing fit her for the day. In a bored state, she began to mope around the Mansion, hoping that something would come up. This was a Mansion for Mutants, how could it be this boring? Couldn't a pyro just accidently set his bed on first and Fade had to help put it out? Could someone accidently send a hoard of mice down the hall and she had to calm all the screaming girls down? Could, well, something happen?

As she just walked around, she began to drag her feet, almost as if that was more amusing than walking. A few sounds reached her ears, that of frustration. From the sound of it, someone was upset and confused, which was not Fade's forte. That psychology thing was the other X's forte. She could see Raina being the comforting oh come here sweetheart kind of girl. Hell, she could even see Shawn comforting someone...speaking of which, wouldn't really bother the redhead to have Shawn or Sam comforting her. Then again, she was not the type to want to look vulnerable, but she could still look, right?

The sounds suddenly switched to joy, or some form of joy and the voice sounded familiar. She glanced around the corner to see someone she did not expect to see ever again. "Well hell, out of everyone in this Mansion, I never thought I would see your red highlighted hair, Star," she smiled. "Especially not with a teddy bear. Didn't pin you for the cuddly type," she chuckled. Layla was a complicated woman. She was tough, real tough, but just like everyone else. Fade had seen a different side of the girl, of course, not as much as maybe her family had seen. She looked down at the picture, Syn was in it. It always slipped Fade's mind that the two were related, what two explosive ladies.

What would his mom have said if she could see him now? Would she have been angry that he was using his powers in such a way that got girls to trust him? or would she have laughed at the fact that he was letting some stranger dress him up in a pink dress. Whatever floats your boat chick. Ted thought to himself as he was getting dressed. As long as she doesn’t put lipstick on me everything will be ok. Teddy continued to tell himself as this girl finished putting a dress and head band on him. Teddy tried his hardest not to move or run away. Ted was then set on top of a pillow and kept his eye on her while she moved her stuff around the room and into the closet.

Teddy was confused. Someone else entered the room and he couldn’t help but look at her. The stuffed animal turned his head and looked at the other girl coming in the room. Did she call her Star? That’s such a cool name. I wish I was named something cool like… Nitro, or Jet or Ace… But noooo! I’m stuck with a boring name like Ted. Teddy’s thoughts trailed off as he continued to stare at the new girl that walked in. God this is embarrassing. First I’m dressed up like a freakin’ Build-A-Bear’s ballet/gothic teddy bear, then as if things can’t get any worse someone else walks in. What on earth possessed me to do this? If the bear could have rolled his eyes he really would have. But then again if he’d had any teeth he probably would have bitten the girl as she was putting the dress on him. How did he talk himself into this? Since he was now staring at the new entrant he didn’t move his head any more. He’d hoped they didn’t see him move but now that he was in a dress it would make much more noise with him moving. So just in case of any noise, Teddy froze with his head turned to the side looking at the new comer.

As Deathstar kept herself busy unpacking her things from her green duffel bag, she heard something come from behind her, a voice that sounded very similar to Fade. The reflection from the window showed paths of mascara on her cheeks as she quickly stood to her feet to embrace her long lost friend. Slightly embarrassed, She pulled her sleeves down to the end of her finger tips, and wiped her face clean the best way she could, hiding the true reason she came back home. "Must I remind you that these are my natural highlights" She said throwing a Fake smile at Fade, "I died my hair blond to hide my...roots". Deathstar could of been an award winning actress for her portrayal of a happy person but deep down inside she was the complete opposite. She hoped Fade didn't read too much into the gloom the cast a shadow over her spirit, but anyone who cared for Deathstar would of noticed the change in her persona. Feeling as if she was revealing too much, she tried her best hide her pain, "you know sometimes a stuffed bear can be more of friend than the living" she said as her smile faded into deep thought.

As Deathstar was interacting with Fade, she noticed a slight movement in the corner of her eye. She shifted her attention away from Fade and scanned the room surrounding the stuffed bear. The bear faced a different direction than where she originally placed the bear, She eyed the bear for a moment, observing any other bizarre changes that would solidify her assumptions. "Did you see that?", she asked Fade hoping she got a better view of the small movement. There was something odd about the bear, but Deathstar tried to shake it off telling herself that maybe it was furry critter which would not make the matter better.

"Oh yes, of course," Fade smiled as Deathstar wrapped her arms around the little spy. "Stuffed bears can't talk and they can't criticize you. They will give you a hug no matter what you've gone through, so I can see that," she glanced over at the bear with a pleasant smile. The smile quickly disappeared and she raised an eyebrow. Was that bear actually looking at her? It might be the position Layla put him in, but he was looking right at her, she could swear he was. Fade had not been the only one who caught the different bear and Deathstar spoke up. It seemed Deathstar had seen a movement while Fade just looked over to see it staring at her. Perhaps it was able to move without Fade seeing and Deathstar caught it, or maybe just a bug flew by and Layla saw it. Whatever it was, it did not change the fact that the damn bear was still staring at her! It gave her an odd chill down her back, almost like a tickle instead of a chill. Who could be afraid of a teddy bear staring at them? Now, if it was some kind of distorted stuffed animal, like Chucky, then she would have that chill running down her spine.

"I don't think it was staring at me. Look at it now, it's like it's watching me," she waved her hand out in front of her face to see if he would follow it and bent down a little to get eye-level with the little stuffed creature. "What a strange toy, who gave it to you?" she asked, still eyeing it as she moved around a little, waiting for it to follow and her to pounce on the imposter. Maybe the Order had made little teddy bear cameras or it was one of those motion sensors. Perhaps a mutant was controlling it! Wasn't there someone called Luna that could control this bear? Perhaps she is behind all this. Still, it could just be a cute bear, Fade did not jump to conclusions. "Has this bear ever done this before?" Out of pure politeness, even though she wouldn't think Deathstar would be the type to do this, Fade asked "Is it a boy or a girl? And what's it's name?"

Had he been seen? Had he moved too much? Ted couldn't be sure. But then again neither could the two girls. They couldn't seem to make up their minds on whether it was Ted that they saw move or something else. It seemed that both were talking bout something else until they saw Ted move. Or at least thought they saw him. Teddy didn't move a stuffed muscle. He was too afraid that one of them would freak out and attack him. Let's face it... He couldn't exactly defend himself, even against normal humans, not to mention older mutants who could do God knows what.

The second red head was right. He was staring at her. But he couldn't help it. He was too interested to see who it was that was coming in to have stayed still. Now that he was becoming the center of attention he was more concerned that he would get caught. Teddy didnt' even turn his head to see what the second girl was doing when she waived her hand in fron of his face and got eye level with him. Ted sudenly felt like he was in an inquisition or interrogation. All eyes were on him and they both seemed to be waiting for him to make a move or make a sound. Well, to tell the truth, Ted was having fun. He found it kind of funny that they were both thinking they were going insane or like they were seeing something that they may not really be seeing. All of this made up for the fact that he was wearing a dress and head band.

Deathstar watched Fade as she waved her arms in front of the bear, it looked as if she was trying to communicate with U.F.O, and Deathstar found it hilarious. She always laughed at Fade on the inside, she find Fade’s corky personality comical from the first day she met the red head. Deathstar walked over to the bear, picked it up, and raised it up the air analyzing it. "I don't know who gave me the bear, it just sort of appeared out of nowhere", she said as she examined the bear for hidden cameras or anything abnormal, "maybe one of the kids left it by the door as a gift, I don't know, either way I renamed him Fred", she replied and tossed the bear over to Fade to freak her out.

“Speaking of gifts”, Deathstar walked over by the closet where her bag lay open with her clothes exposed, "Oh yea!, I have a something for you" she rummaged through her bag frantically searching for the gift, "its in here somewhere". Deathstar quickly emptied her bag anxious to give Fade her gift and finally recovered a brown box after digging through the bag like an archaeologist. “Here it is!”, she shouted, “When I saw this I instantly thought of you “, she opened the brown box revealing a music box. The box had a ballet dancer and a swan made of crystal, it twirled to the sounds of popular musicals with a light inserted at the bottom of the box that would light up a dark room with constellations. “I got it from Arizona, when I went on my…well it doesn’t matter, do you like it?” she asked as she handed over the box to Fade trying to avoid uncovering her reasoning behind her disappearance from the mansion.

Deathstar picked up the bear as Fade mentally face palmed herself. Why hadn't she touched the bear? It was like she did everything else but touch it, what a loser. Star began to go on about how she had no clue where it came from, it just appeared. Odd, Fade would never take anything that was was just left outside of her room, not unless it had a little love letter with it. But who would give Fade a love letter? She was not really the flirtatious type, even if she had her eye candy. Well, actually she is good at flirting, after a shot or two of "courage". "So Freds in your world wear dresses? I always pinned Fred for a dry cleaned suit!" she smiled, trying to wrap her head around a boy teddy bear in a dress.

Then there was talk of a present for Fade. Something reminds people of Fade? The question of what it could be continued to build up and built up with anticipation. What on Earth could just fit Fade? She was given a brown box. "Well geez, I wish you woulda warned me you were coming so I could get you a present, some crap of a friend you got here, Star," she smiled. She was being sarcastic, to an extent, she would have liked to have gotten Deathstar something. Inside the box was a little music box. She had seen one of these before, even had one when she was a little kid in the foster home. Her foster parents believed it would give her appreciation for music at a young age, so a song from Chicago played gently at night when she went to bed. No matter how much she hated her foster parents, the box did help her sleep. And now this box fancied the music from Phantom of the Opera (she saw the movies to both musicals, she has never seen a broadway).

Fade opened the box to see the little balerina pop up and start spinning around. Maybe she would replace it with some sort of a tiny mutant, not because she hated humans, no, Jenny was fine with humans, it was because Ballerina dancers always seemed so uptight and strict, hair pulled back in a tight bun, tight clothes and composure. Maybe she could put something less up-tight. The constellations that formed on the ceiling were absolutely stunning. Now she did not have to freeze her ass off when she looked at the stars, they were in her bedroom. The swan twinkled in the light of the constellations and Fade smiled. "I like it! It's very cute!" she said before hugging her friend again. No one had really gotten her a gift before, so it was really nice. Turning to Fred, she held the music box out and said "Whadayou think, Fred-o?"

(OOC: Not sure if Fade caught him or not. So I'm going with she did.)

Ted tried to ignore the girls gonversation as best he could. However, most of it didn't seem to be too personal. Thus he didn't mind listening in with what they were saying. Fred? If she's calling me Fred then why did she put me in a dress? Ted wondered quietly before he was rather uncerimoniously tossed to the red head. I can fly!... Or not. He thought as he was caught by the other girl. Teddy was glad that he'd been caught, because falling, even when you're full of stuffing doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt. The young boy couldn't really see what the first girl was doing digging through her bag; however, he did eventualy find out what it was when she showed it to the other girl.

The little bear could hear the music playing from the box and thought it sounded really nice. He hadn't heard it before so he wasn't sure what it was; however, Ted did think that it was nice. The red head asked his opinion and without thinking Ted looked down at the music box that was playing. As soon as he'd realized what he'd done Teddy snapped his head back up to where it was before. He hoped that neither of them had noticed it, but some how he just didn't think that he could get away with them thinking that it was a bug that they'd seen moving out of the corner of their eyes. This might not be so easy to explain.

The joy of giving sent a soft smile on Deathstar's face, she was internally happy that Fade enjoyed the gift, in fact she wasn't sure on how Fade would react. "'I'm glad you like it, I was a little unsure on how you were gonna react", she said as she placed her hand on her hip scratching her head. "I put a lot of thought to finding you a gift, and a lot of cash as well, that shady dealer told me it was some kind of antique", Deathstar said as she received a big hug from Fade and thats more than what she asked for. "And its OK you didn't give me a gift, you weren't expecting a gift, so I'll give you a free pass this time" she replied jokingly. "And hey!, my Freddy is secure with his manhood, men in Ireland wear skirts so I don't see a problem with Freddy sporting one", she humorously replied to Fade's opinion on Fred's fashion sense. A good chuckle was what Deathstar needed to make her day, she haven't laughed in weeks, it was very therapeutic for her. Deathstar stood back and watched Fade interact with the bear, she found it cute that Fade was talking to the bear as if it were her child. "That could have been Raph jr you know.....", in shock Deathstar cut her comment short as she witnessed the bear move his neck with her own eyes.

"Drop that bear Fade" , she shouted as she leaned over to retrieve her dagger from outside pocket of her black combat boot, "now I know I wasn't the only one who saw that thing move" .

Deathstar began talking about what kind of a music box it was, an antique. Of course, everything in a store is an antique. But if you want to find a real antique, go to Goodwill, most people don't realize they are giving something valuable away and most buyers don't realize just how much of a deal they are getting. Then again, how would Fade know? She believed that the only thing good after aging was wine. It was a cute little music box though, she enjoyed this antique. Deathstar mentioned Raph. She must not have known. Must not have known that Fade had left the Mansion in search of him only to return empty handed. Must not have known that the chance of Fade ever seeing Raph again was about as possible as her winning the lottery without even buying a ticket.

However, Fade was not even able to speak up about it when the bear moved. Fade's eyebrow raised as she stared down at it and Deathstar grabbed her knife. Immediately, Fade let go of the bear and phased through it and off the bed. Even if it was not just a teddy bear, she was not going to throw it across the room in confusion. What if it was one of those impact bombs? If she threw it, it would detonate! "Whoa, wait, we should try to learn more about it before stabbing it!" she said in a bit of a high pitched voice. It was not that she was afraid, she was confused, really effing confused. How exactly do you approach a moving teddy bear? "Was it heavy? Some kind of robot?" she asked, trying to see if it had a chip from far away.