* DISCLAIMER *
          This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving
         characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group.

                            * WRITTEN BY *
                      Samy <samy@iki.fi> Merchi

                           * ARCHIVED AT *
                  http://www.merchi.org/corona.html

                             * STARRING *
             Manuel Alfonso Rodrigo "EMPATH" de la Rocha
                 Illyana Nikolovna "MAGIK" Rasputina
                                  in

                      *************************
                      * FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE *
                      *     CHAPTER TWELVE    *
                      *  Until We Meet Again  *
                      *************************

                                 ***

"ILLYANA!"

"Wow,  it  must've  taken  a lot of brain power to realize that, Sam",
Illyana  Nikolovna  Rasputina growled as she stood up from her throne,
the  braziers  lining  the demonically-decorated large hall flaring up
slightly even as they started to flutter in a slight breeze coming out
of  nowhere,  the  hellish red lights glinting off the soulsteel armor
covering  parts of the fluttering red dress she was wearing. "And even
that little brain power, I almost lost!" she shouted angrily.

RUMMMMBLLLE

With a wave of Illyana's hand, a huge bottomless chasm suddenly opened
up in the middle of the throne room, separating a trembling Marie-Ange
Colbert  from  her  fellow Hellions, her mentor Emma Frost, as well as
Kurt  Wagner, Kitty Pryde, and Sam Guthrie. "Your ass is mine, Tarot",
Illyana hissed.

                                 ***

"I  agree, Doug", Elizabeth Braddock nodded as she let her eyes linger
on  the  living  room of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. "I
felt a large psychic concentration in here vanish almost instantly."

"Self  can  detect  no  traces of known transportation modes in area",
stated  the  techno-organic  alien  Warlock as his eyes morphed in odd
ways,  extruding  and  retracting,  enlarging  and  shrinking, forming
crosshairs  over  them  and  various other things, as he inspected the
room    thoughtfully.    "Negative    recognition,   consistent   with
SelfSoulFriendCypherDoug's theory."

"Meaning,  it's possible Illyana took them", Douglas Ramsey said while
rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Affirmative",    Warlock    replied.    "SelFriendMagik's   mode   of
teleportation,   designate:  stepping  disks,  an  aspect  of  magical
LimboDimension.  Operate  in  ways  unrecognizable and undetectable by
Self's non-ocular sensors."

"Fair enough", Doug nodded. "At least we've eliminated the possibility
of  scientifically-based  teleporters  that  we know and have on file,
like  Lila  Cheney. I think Illyana's a pretty good bet right now", he
said  and  turned  towards  Betsy.  "We'd better let Storm and Magneto
know..."

                                 ***

"Illyana, don't do this!" Sam shouted, clenching his fists.

"SHUT  UP, SAM!" Illyana answered, her yell booming in the throne room
and  the  unnatural winds in the hall starting to pick up, rising with
her  fury.  "Tarot  almost *killed* me, and by Hades, I'm not going to
leave her in a shape to try again!"

Marie-Ange  stared  at  Illyana  with  an  anguished  expression,  her
shoulders shaking once in a brief sob. "I -- I'm sorr--"

"QUIET!"  Illyana  growled,  and flung her arm towards Marie-Ange, the
reflective black marble floor underneath her rearing up.

"UNGH!"  Tarot  wheezed as she fell onto her back, the air momentarily
knocked  out  of her lungs, and her vision blackened for an instant as
the back of her head impacted onto the floor.

Suddenly,  a  large  disk  of light blazed into existence a dozen feet
above  Marie-Ange,  and  a  good dozen demonic creatures, ranging from
child-sized  to man-sized, putrid purple to slimy green, fell onto the
Hellion,  covering  her, and a scream erupted from her lips as she was
buried underneath a mass of grotesque flesh.

"TAROT!"  Haroun ibn Sallah al-Rashid shouted, and instantly activated
his  power, rocketing thru the air towards the mass of demons, pulling
back his fist.

THWOK!

"HELLIONS, ATTACK!" James Proudstar yelled as Jetstream's fist knocked
one  of  the  demons out of the mass and cast it thru the air to smash
into a wall.

Sam  cursed  briefly  under  his breath, before grabbing Thunderbird's
arm, and activating his own mutant power, rocketing over the chasm and
then dropping the Apache off near Tarot and the demons. "Help 'er, I'm
gonna  try'n  talk  ta  Illyana!" he shouted, as he pulled a 90 degree
turn  in the air and rocketed towards his teammate. "Stop this, Magik!
That's an order! Stand down!"

"Fuck  off, 'Cannonball'!" Illyana snarled as her Soulsword blazed out
of nothingness, manifesting in her hand. "Maybe you're used to pushing
around  little  whiny  Magik, but right now, I'm the *Darkchilde*, and
I'm  *pissed*!"  She  waved  her  arm, and a disk of light blazed into
existence  in  front  of her. "You can blast thru just about anything,
Sam! Blast thru this!"

"Shoot!" Cannonball cursed, and tried to pull up and dodge the disk of
light, but he was too close, too fast --

"SAM!"  Nightcrawler's  glowing  gold  eyes narrowed as the New Mutant
vanished  into  the  stepping  disk  which  winked out of existence. A
fraction  of a second later, a cloud of brimstone and a soft imploding
BAMF! sound obscured Kurt from view.

"UNGH!"  the  Darkchilde  growled  as a three-fingered hand, balled up
into  a  fist,  impacted  onto  the  back  of  her skull as a cloud of
brimstone burst into existence behind her. "So", she hissed, stumbling
forward  a  few  steps  as  she  whirled  towards the attack, one hand
rubbing the back of her head and another holding her blazing Soulsword
defensively  in  front  of  her.  "Send  a  teleporter",  she  sneered
sarcastically, "to catch a teleporter?"

"Send  Errol  Flynn",  Nightcrawler flashed a smile, as his prehensile
tail  snaked out, snatching a blade from its hanger on the wall of the
throne room, "to charm the fair damsel out of her madness."

"MAD?!" the Darkchilde shouted, as she leaped forward with a ferocious
snarl,  her  Soulsword carving an arc of light behind it as it flashed
downwards thru the air towards the X-Man. "No fucking shit I am!"

CHINGG!

Metal  rang  against metal as Nightcrawler flipped his rapier from his
tail  into  his  hand,  tilting  his  body  to the side, away from the
Darkchilde's  attack,  and brought up his blade to meet hers. "Then it
remains up to me", he said gallantly, "to alter that situation."

The  Darkchilde's  eyes  narrowed, a vicious storm raging in them. "Or
die  trying",  she  snarled,  locking  her eyes with Nightcrawler's as
their  blades  strained against each other. "One Kurt Wagner's already
died in this very room. Want to go for *two*?"

                                 ***

"EEEEEEEE!"  Tarot  screamed  as a grotesque demon much like a massive
head  with  spindly,  leathery  limbs  raked  its  sharp claws at her,
tearing  into  tatters the shoulder of her New Mutant uniform, gouging
out  little trails of blood underneath. Its huge mouth, gaping wide as
large  as  a  monitor  screen,  was filled with scores of long, pointy
teeth  which approached her face, slobber splashing onto her cheeks as
it prepared to bite off her head.

"It's  all right, Marie-Ange!" a firm voice said, a hand just as firm,
if  not  more  so,  snapping into view to grab the demon's arm. With a
furious  throw, the sheep-sized demon was catapulted across the throne
room,  smashing into the stone wall and collapsing to the floor, lying
there  immobile  as  Thunderbird was revealed to his teammate. "Get to
Frost",  he said as he leaped in front of a long-legged demon charging
towards Tarot. "We'll take care of these -- things!"

"Your boundless optimism is reassuring, James", Jetstream commented as
he pulled a tight loop in the air near the high ceiling before zooming
back  down  towards the floor, his fist smashing to the jaw of a demon
whose  body  seemed to consist mostly of masses upon masses of oozing,
blinking  eyes.  "However",  he  continued  as  he pulled up after his
attack, getting some more altitude underneath himself again, "I should
point out that we are severely outnumbered, and likely to be killed."

As  if  on  cue  to  Jetstream's words, squeaky shrill almost gigglish
cries  filled the air along with the flutter of leathery wings. A pack
of  half-dozen  small  creatures  not  unlike  bat-winged monkeys with
scales  and  a beak suddenly fluttered in thru a dark doorway, filling
the  air  around  the  Hellion, swarming him, coming at him from every
direction.

"Jetstream!"  Thunderbird shouted as one of the demons streaked across
Haroun,  bringing  a  cry  of pain from the Moor's lips and making his
flight  pattern more than a little shaky as droplets of blood showered
to  the  floor  from  his  wake.  James,  however,  had little time to
consider his teammates predicament, as a group of half a dozen demons,
ranging   from   seven-foot  monstrosities  to  chittering  three-foot
gremlins,  approached  him,  forcing  him  to  back  away, herding him
towards one of the room's corners from where he'd have no escape.

A  roar  tore  thru  the  air  moments  before the largest monstrosity
crashed  forward,  smashing headlong onto the stone floor with a large
purple lion atop it, the animal's claws wet with a greenish-brown mess
that it had mangled the demon's back into.

"Catseye!"  Thunderbird  gasped  in  relief,  and  glanced towards the
chasm.  On  the  same  side  as  him stood Shadowcat and Roulette, the
former  likely  having brought the latter and Catseye across the chasm
with her air-walking ability, James figured.

"You're  sounding  like  a  roll  call, T-bird!" Roulette smirked as a
black  glow  manifested  in  her  right  hand,  a second later her arm
pulling back and then tossing a glowing black disk into the air like a
frisbee. "Let's break out of the stern stick-in-the-mud grind and kick
in some action!"

The disk zoomed past two of the demons chasing Jetstream, and the next
instant,  the  demons  crashed  into  each  other  with  a  squeal and
plummeted  to the floor with a thud right in front of Roulette. "Tough
luck", she grinned voraciously at the teddybear-sized creatures at her
feet,  before  her  leg  pulled back, then kicked forward, sending the
creatures  in  an  arc thru the air before they fell into the chasm in
the middle of the chamber. "They make sounds like Ewoks!" she smiled.

"Concentrate,  Roulette!" Thunderbird leaped past the blonde, swinging
his  fist and slamming back a demon that was charging her from behind.
"This isn't a training exercise!"

"Yeah  yeah yeah", Roulette waved the comment off as she swung her arm
out,  a  spray of white coin-sized disks scattering out of her palm to
the area between Tarot and the White Queen. "You scratch my back, I'll
scratch  Tarot's -- I know how the job goes. I was a team player in my
gang  back  when  you  were still living in some desert kicking around
tumbleweed!"  She  snapped  her eyes to Tarot. "Get moving, red! We're
not fighting these things off as a replacement for aerobics!"

"Wheel  of  Fortune..." Backed up against a wall, Tarot moved her eyes
numbly from the card her shaking hand was holding, to the scatterspray
of  good  luck  disks.  "A  turning  point...becoming active again..."
Quickly,  with  trembling  hands,  she  pulled  out  another  card and
swallowed  a  bit.  "Eight  of Wands...quick action...going into a new
area..."  She  bit  her lip hard, then glanced at the chasm and raised
the card high.

Winking  into  existence,  eight  wooden  poles  materialized over the
chasm,  closely  against each other and forming a bridge over the gap.
Clenching  her  cards in her hands, Tarot pushed herself off the wall,
and dashed towards the bridge.

Screeching  wildly,  two  flying demons swooped straight towards Tarot
from  behind,  quickly  gaining  on her as she ran towards the bridge,
only  to  be  snatched  up by two firm hands mere feet before reaching
Tarot.

"Keep  going.  Don't  look  back",  Jetstream said as he streaked past
Tarot,  one  demon  in each hand, and dove into the chasm on the right
side  of the bridge, his fiery trail fading out quickly as he vanished
from  sight.  As  Tarot  reached  the  bridge that held firm under her
weight,  Jetstream  zoomed  back  up  on  the left side of the bridge,
without  the  demons  in tow. He pulled back his fist, and then lashed
forwards, smashing into the jaw of a lumbering man-sized demon leaping
at Tarot's back.

"I made it!" Tarot gasped as she felt the solid marble floor under her
feet again, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Jetstream's
stunned  demon  crash  down  headlong  onto the bridge, smashing it to
pieces and plummeting down into the chasm. "But the others --"

"Don't  worry  about us, Tarot!" Thunderbird replied as he smashed the
heads of two demons together and then tossed the stunned creatures off
to  the  sides.  "We're  just  starting  to  get  through  with  these
things..."  he  said,  swinging  his  fist  and knocking another demon
across the chamber as Jetstream landed beside him.

"Smellybadthingies   running",   Catseye   watched  curiously  as  the
remaining demons scattered and frantically headed for the exits of the
room with terrified expressions.

"We're  just  that  bad, Catseye", Roulette nodded, grinning widely as
she did a little dance, swinging her hips. "Like Michael Jackson."

"No",  a voice came from one of the doorways, attracting the Hellions'
eyes to the hulking large purple form leaning against the doorframe as
it  lit  a  match  with  a scritching sound, then took it to the cigar
between  his  lips.  "I am", the figure smiled, blowing a few puffs of
smoke.  "The  name's  S'ym,  kiddies.  Remember that while you can. It
ain't gonna be long."

                                 ***

"OOMPH!"  the  Darkchilde wheezed as something slammed to her back and
she  crashed  to  the  floor  onto her stomach. Rolling quickly to the
side, she smashed her elbow at the weight she felt behind her.

CHINK!

The  Darkchilde  hissed as the elbow of her soulsteel armor smashed to
the  cold  stone  floor  with  a  bright  chime. "Pryde", she snarled,
realizing  in  an  instant  what  it meant if she couldn't hit the one
behind her.

"That's  me", Shadowcat said sharply and grabbed Illyana's wrists with
her  own,  twisting  them to get her to let go of her Soulsword as the
two  girls  rolled  around on the floor viciously. "Give me the sword,
I'll end this madness --!"

"Not a chance", the Darkchilde snapped, and then suddenly froze as the
glinting  steel  tip  of a blade moved to hover just a few inches over
her throat.

"Give  up,  Illyana",  Nightcrawler  said firmly. "You can't defeat us
all.  We  don't  want to hurt you. You've suffered enough for one day.
Now let us bring this to a conclusion, hmm?"

"You  wish",  the Darkchilde narrowed her eyes, and the next instant a
bright  disk  of  light  flared  up  just  under Nightcrawler's sword,
swallowing the blade up in the instant after and leaving only the hilt
in the X-Man's hand. "Be glad that wasn't your *head*", the Darkchilde
growled. "And now --" With a sudden wrench, she yanked her wrists from
Shadowcat's  hold  and  rolled away, coming to a crouch facing the two
X-Men.  "Back off", she threatened, calling an incantation to the fore
of her mind.

"We  can't  in good conscience do that, Illyana", Nightcrawler smiled,
tossing  the  sword  hilt  in  his hand casually over his shoulder and
fixing his attention on the sorceress. "Part of you doesn't want to do
this, and we are here to help that part of you regain control."

"Pfah",  Illyana  waved  her arm once, murmuring an eldritch sentence,
and suddenly Nightcrawler was frozen in a large crystal prism, like an
insect trapped in amber. Dismissing the X-Man like he was nothing, she
swung  her Soulsword, a bright white flame arcing behind the weapon as
she brought it to bear in front of her, gripping it with both hands as
she faced Shadowcat. "Wanna die, roomie?" she narrowed her eyes. "Your
life for Tarot's?"

Shadowcat  met  Darkchilde's eyes with a stern, unwavering gaze. Then,
she smiled slightly. Illyana did not like the smile.

                                 ***

"AGH!"  Cannonball  gasped as a group of screeching and clawing demons
fell  upon  him  in  mid-flight  as  he  was flying thru a broad, dark
hallway  with  grimy,  rough  walls.  "Gotta  keep...blastin'  --!" he
gasped,  gritting his teeth and summoning all his willpower to try and
maintain  his  concentration.  If it broke, his protective blast field
would vanish -- and he knew he couldn't survive one minute against the
demons without his power.

"Human  fireball?"  one of the small demons -- a black, scrawny one --
croaked  as  it  clung to the front of his blast field like a fly on a
windshield.  "Burn bright, maybe well done? Taste good?" it slobbered,
and then let out a shriek, its eyes widening.

SMASH!

The  wall  exploded  into debris as Sam crashed thru it, just beside a
doorway, having opted to go thru the wall instead to give the demons a
taste  of  their  own  medicine. "Thought that might get some o' y'all
offa  me!"  he  said  as  the demons were left behind, groaning in the
ruins of the wall.

His  victory  was short-lived, though, as from another dark doorway on
the opposite side of the hall he had entered, a group of flying demons
screeched  their  way  in -- some winged, some not, and some as big as
Sam himself. "Protect protect!" they screamed. "Human must die!"

"Holy  --!"  Sam gasped, clenching his fists in exertion as he steered
away  from  the  horde charging across the room towards him. Getting a
few precious seconds to think, thanks to the room's large size, he had
time  to  note the large bright stepping disk on the floor at the very
center  of the room -- the first stepping disk he'd seen since the one
Illyana  had used to send him to this -- whatever dark corner of Limbo
this was.

He  dodged  the  charge of the first one that looked for all the world
like  a  wet  dishrag  flung  across  the  hall,  with  greenish slime
spattering  off  it.  It  hit the wall behind Sam with a loud smacking
sound,  and then just oozed down the wall, slowly drooping towards the
floor with a wet sucking sound.

Sam wasn't as lucky with the one that followed. Humanoid, and at least
as  tall  as  the  New  Mutant -- but a lot bulkier and muscular, with
bat-wings  propelling  it  thru  the  air  with  surprising  speed and
maneuverability.  Sam  tried  to  dodge again, but his maneuverability
wasn't the best in the world, and he steered straight into the massive
fist hammering towards him.

"UNGH!"  Sam  wheezed  as  he  crashed  to  the floor, his blast field
momentarily  flickering  off.  It was all the demons needed, as half a
dozen  smaller  ones swarmed around him, tearing into him voraciously.
He felt pain jolt thru him all over, sharp claws and fangs ripping him
apart,  and  in  his  mind's  eye, for a split second, he felt a dark,
constricting mine shaft around him, collapsing all around him, burying
him...

He thought of his father. His mother. Most importantly, all the little
ones  --  he'd  never be there to see them grow up -- what'd become of
Joelle  -- Josh -- Paige -- Lewis -- he'd have to be there -- to watch
over them --

"NO!"  he  cried  out and an explosion rocked the room. His uniform in
tatters,  his  body  bleeding  all over, he blasted into the air, once
more  ensheathed  in the thermokinetic field. "Ah ain't givin' up -- a
Guthrie  never  gives  up,  an'  Ah  ain't dyin' here -- not here, not
now... Ah *won't*!"

"Protect!"  screeched one of the smaller demons who had hung back, one
with  dark  black  skin,  almost like it had been charred over an open
fire.  The remaining ones flew high, forming at the ceiling, hovering,
flapping and bobbing in the air between Sam and -- now that the demons
were  drawing his notice to the ceiling, he noticed there some kind of
huge,  emerald-sheened gem fixed into the stone ceiling, at the center
of some kind of an ornamental circle engraving.

"Sorry...t'  disappoint you, suckers --" Sam gasped in a weak voice as
he  felt  slightly dizzy from the blood loss that kept escalating. "Ah
ain't  here  t'  try'n  do anything more t' get out -- so you can keep
protectin'  whatever  you  want, while Ah get th' heck outta dodge --"
With  that,  he  gritted his teeth, aimed himself at the center of the
hall, and blasted full power towards the stepping disk in the floor.

WHAMM!

"WAIOWHH!"  Sam gasped as he felt himself crashing to something with a
powerful  jolt,  and  bouncing  off.  It took a few moments for him to
fight  off the blackout his mauled body tried to impose upon his mind,
and he was sure the demons would use that to their best advantage.

"Crazy  human",  the  small two-foot commanding demon snarled, rushing
towards Sam, its sharp fingernails glinting obsidian in the flamelight
that  illuminated the room from the braziers set at each of the room's
five  corners.  "No  force, magical or physical, breach the portal can
while Belasco's stone remains!"

"Yeah?"  Sam  gritted  his  teeth, forcing himself back onto his feet,
half  leaning  against the wall he had impacted onto. A quick dodge to
the  side,  and the charging demon missed him, splatting onto the wall
beside  him.  Several  more were rushing towards him, though. His face
tightened, his mind focused, his blood burned --

THWOOM!

A  trail  of  flame  was  left behind as Sam's body zoomed towards the
shiny emerald in the ceiling, leaving the attacking demons far behind.
((Man,  I hope I'm doin' the right thing...)) his eyes widened and his
heart jumped in the split second before impact.

BRAKOOM!

The  hall  was  bathed  in  a  blinding  burst  of  emerald  light.  A
thundercrack  of  noise rocked the air -- was there a scream somewhere
in  there?  Couldn't  tell  --  sight, hearing, both obscured to human
senses by overload.

Samuel  Guthrie  plummeted  from the ceiling, where a blackened crater
was  the only thing left from the impact. No emerald gem remained, nor
did  any  sign of life in the blond boy, as he fell limply towards the
disk of light on the floor, right below where the gem used to be.

The  disk  was pulsating slowly, whereas it had been steady at a fixed
size  before  the explosion. Now, it was growing, then shrinking, then
growing, then shrinking again -- almost like a heartbeat, or the mouth
of  a  goldfish.  Solid,  firm  rhythm.  It was a maw of light holding
itself open, waiting for food to fall into it.

And  Sam  Guthrie did. Falling into the disk, he vanished thru it, and
was  gone.  There  was  silence.  All the demons stared at the disk. A
couple  of  them cackled. Then, the disk started growing. Very slowly,
perhaps  an  inch in ten seconds. But it was expanding, certainly. The
demons'  cackles  ended,  a  deathly  silence  falling.  Many  of them
backpedaled  nervously  away  from  the disk, but none could turn away
from it.

The  light  of  the  disk  wavered. Something came up thru it. Shadows
danced over the demonic red-skinned visage that gradually rose up from
the  disk,  looking around with a gleeful, monstrous smile rising onto
its lips. It was bigger than any of the other demons in the room, with
a set of red bat-like wings on its back.

"Mawther!"  squealed  the small demon with charred black skin, leaping
up  and  buffing  out  its  scrawny chest. "I did it! I did it! Fooled
stupid human! Made him destroy Belasco's stone! That I did!"

"So  you  did,  Crotus", the large, red demon eyed the small black one
for  a few moments, before its eyes went to study the blackened crater
in  the  ceiling. "And Belasco's spell which kept me imprisoned behind
the  disk  was  shattered  with  it."  Its  mouth  drew  slowly into a
calculating, eerie grin. "Who is in charge of Limbo now?"

"The  Darkchilde!"  Crotus croaked. Several of the demons flinched and
scattered  towards  the  shadowy corners of the room at the voicing of
that name.

"The Darkchilde..." the large demon's grin slowly grew even wider, its
eyes  narrowing in devious thought. "Excellent. My plan is working out
very  well indeed..." It smiled and stood straight, jaw rising high as
it  regarded  the  demons  in  the  hall.  "Find  S'ym!" it barked out
harshly,  spreading  its  arms  and  wings  wide.  "Tell  him that his
presence is wanted -- by N'astirh!"*
                                          * To be continued in INFERNO

                                 ***

"S'YM!"  the  Darkchilde  screeched  viciously,  her  eyes raging with
burning coal-red magical energies. "KILL THEM! KILL THEM *ALL*!"

"You  know  what  your  problem is, bitch?" Kitty hissed as she leaped
forward,  heel  of  her foot spearheading her leaping kick. "You don't
even *want* to be human. You're not half demon because you were *made*
into one -- you're one because you *want* to be one!"

"I  don't  CARE!"  the  Darkchilde  snarled  as  she spun to the side,
slashing  her  non-sword-wielding arm towards Shadowcat's face, trying
to slam her fist into her and knock her down from mid-flight. "Being a
demon is EASY! I get to give people what they DESERVE!"

"Yeah,  like  the  X-Men  deserved  to  die in Limbo when they came to
rescue  you",  Shadowcat  spat  out, activating her mutant power for a
split  second  to  let Darkchilde's fist pass thru her intangible form
harmlessly before she solidified again, landing in a crouch behind the
Darkchilde  and launching a leg sweep to try and down her foe. "That's
what  they  'deserved', right? That's what a demon thinks. That's what
YOU think. Because your demon soul makes you a sick, twisted killer."

"I  WASN'T  THE  ONE  WHO  SHOT  ME!" Darkchilde shouted, leaping over
Shadowcat's leg and landing a few feet further away from her opponent,
putting a little more distance between them as she twirled her sword a
few  times  in an arc in front of her, silver magical trails following
it  thru the air. "One of the Hellions put a BULLET in me! You tell ME
who's the sick, twisted killer!"

"They  haven't  killed  anyone.  You  *have*",  Shadowcat glared. "And
you're just getting started, aren't you? Every time someone hurts you,
it's  time to kill them. That's why you'll never be an X-Man, Illyana,
while  Piotr  and  I  are. Because X-Men *don't* *kill*. And sooner or
later,  Piotr is going to realize what a sick psycho you are and he'll
be  right there with me to kick you out of the house before you end up
killing us, too."

"That's not true", the Darkchilde snarled with rage, throat choking up
and  brief  glimmers  of moisture in her eyes. "Why are you lying like
that?  I  thought  you  were my friend! I'd never hurt you, you should
know that!"

"Right.  Like  that  fist  of  yours  wouldn't  have  given  me a good
concussion  if I'd let it hit me", Shadowcat smirked. "Like you didn't
threaten  to  kill  me  and  Kurt  just  a minute ago. Like you didn't
teleport  Sam  off to who-knows-where to be munched up by your demons.
Like you haven't before turned against people who loved you and killed
them.  How  many times are we supposed to forgive and forget, Illyana?
Enough to give you another opportunity to slit our throats while we're
sleeping?"

"How  can  you  *say*  that?"  the  Darkchilde swallowed, her eyes and
cheeks  wet.  "I  thought  you *trusted* me -- you know me better than
that, after all we've been thru..."

"And you believed it all", Shadowcat laughed. "I just played nice with
you  for  Piotr's sake. Just like everyone else. Once he wakes up from
his  dream  world  of  having  a  pure  and  innocent  little  sister,
everyone's  going to throw you out once we won't have to watch out for
his  feelings  anymore.  You're  psycho  trash, Illyana. Nobody in the
house trusts you. Everyone knows you're going to try to kill us sooner
or later."

"DAMN  YOU,  PRYDE!"  the  Darkchilde  screeched, leaping forward, her
Soulsword  flashing  and fading, leaving her hands free as she reached
for Shadowcat's throat. "I'm going to KILL you!"

"Hah!  Knew  it!" Shadowcat gloated with a laugh, and then took a step
back to balance herself. "Careless", she smiled, grabbing Darkchilde's
wrists  and  slamming her forehead forward, smashing her skull against
the blonde's nose.

"UNGH!"  Darkchilde  gasped, stumbling backwards and crashing onto her
back,  holding  one  hand to her bloodied nose. Still reeling from the
blow, before she could recover, she felt a pair of hands tightening on
her throat.

"Your   armor   protects  most  of  you",  Shadowcat  hissed,  pinning
Darkchilde  down  with  her weight as her fingers squeezed hard on the
blonde's throat. "But where it doesn't, I can get to you. And give you
what  you  deserve.  Do unto you before you do unto us. Isn't that the
demon  policy,  Illyana?"  she  snarled. "How do you like being on the
receiving  end?  This  is what you like dishing out so much, let's see
how much of it you can take! Die, witch!"

                                 ***

"Subtlety  would  be  better", Emma Frost said, wrapping an arm around
Marie-Ange  Colbert,  holding  the  little redheaded girl comfortingly
against her body.

Manuel  de  la Rocha either didn't hear, or pretended not to hear. His
eyes,  blazing  with  crimson  light,  were  affixed  on Shadowcat and
Darkchilde  wrestling  on  the stone floor near the throne. A vicious,
gleeful,  triumphant  sneer dominated his lips, his fingers slowly and
gradually  turning  into  tighter and tighter fists as he exerted ever
more power. Power... His eyes burned brighter...

"But  this  works",  Emma nodded with a little smile, dark-lashed eyes
narrowed  in concentration, one sweat bead twinkling in flame light as
it ran down the side of her face. "B+."

                                 ***

Purple hit purple.

"Catseye!"  Thunderbird  gasped  as  the  feline  was knocked aside in
mid-leap  by  the  demon  S'ym's  arm, sending the cat-mutant hurtling
across  the  hall.  James  thought  he heard bones crack, and his head
snapped  around to follow Catseye's arc thru the air. He winced as she
crashed to the hard stone floor, but tore his attention away from her,
back to the one responsible for her condition.

Just  in  time.  S'ym was charging. Superhuman reflexes kicked in, and
James  Proudstar  dodged  to  the  side,  his  heart  pounding fast --
concerned  about  Catseye or himself? Maybe a bit of both. Dodging the
demon's  assault  by a few scant inches, he tried smashing an elbow to
the back of the demon's head as it passed him.

No  effect.  S'ym  just  turned towards him and sneered. Another blow,
this  time  to the face, from fists that could dent steel. S'ym's head
snapped  to  the  side  from the force, then he turned his head slowly
back  towards  James,  still  smiling,  and took the ruined cigar from
between  his  lips.  "That was a good cigar", he said, and then blew a
cloud of smoke into Proudstar's face.

James  had  time to cough once and reflexively wave away at the smoke,
before  S'ym's foot impacted to his stomach, sending him flying across
the  room  and  crashing  to the hard stone wall on the other side. He
groaned and toppled face-down onto the floor.

"We're  in  trouble",  Jetstream's eyes widened as he pulled a loop in
the air behind Roulette, regrouping with the blonde as S'ym turned his
eyes onto the pair of them.

"Get  him",  Jennifer Stavros fixed her eyes onto the demon seriously,
clenching her hands into fists.

"You *must* be *joking*", Jetstream just stared at the platinum blonde
incredulously.

"I said --"

"I *heard* what you said --"

"THEN FUCKING *GO*!" Roulette yelled angrily, her right and left fists
twinkling with minute glow, white and black, respectively.

"I  *really*  hope  you know what you're doing", Jetstream gritted his
teeth as he zoomed thru the air towards S'ym, balling up one fist.

CRACK!

"OW!"  Jetstream  cried out as he passed S'ym, now holding his fist in
his  other  hand  after  having  smashed  it  to  the  demon's jaw, an
expression of agony on the Moor's face.

"Nice  try",  S'ym smiled, digging up another cigar and lighting it up
calmly  while Jetstream looped back and regrouped behind Roulette once
more.  "If you'll give up, I'll do you quick, like the other two", the
demon offered the pair with a grin.

"Hit  him  again", Roulette glared at the demon. The faint glow of her
fists  was  becoming  more  noticeable by the heartbeat, and traces of
shining moisture appeared on her forehead.

"I broke my fist", Jetstream snapped.

"Use the other one."

"I'd say something very rude if I were an American."

"I'm  gonna  shove  my  foot up your coward ass if you don't do what I
say! Now GO!"

Jetstream  glared  at  his  classmate for a few moments. Then, as S'ym
started  towards  the  pair, his lips drew into a snarl of reluctancy.
"If  I have to die", he hissed, "I might as well do it fighting rather
than giving up." A blink of an eye, and then, with a zoom, he streaked
towards the demon.

S'ym  smiled,  and this time, received Jetstream's fist into his palm.
The demon's fingers tightened around Haroun's, cracking sounds filling
the  air.  The mutant's face was twisted with pain, but he did not cry
out.  Then,  with  a  firm  hold  on  the  gloved  hand,  S'ym smashed
Jetstream's  entire body against the stone floor with a forceful whip,
and left the young boy lying there, unmoving.

"You're  not  getting to Miss Frost", Roulette hissed, standing on the
near  edge of the chasm Tarot had crossed earlier to get to the safety
of Frost's arms.

"Who's gonna stop me?" S'ym asked as he started towards the blonde.

"Me."

"Do tell. Your friends didn't."

Jennifer  seemed  amused  at  something  for a brief moment. Then, she
spoke  again  as the large demon stopped in front of her, looming over
her, casting her in dark shadow. "They bought me the time I needed."

"To do what?"

"This",  Jennifer  smiled,  opening  one of her fists and holding up a
small black disk, bright with a darkling glow.

"What's that?"

She let go, and the disk fell from her fingers. The instant it touched
down,  the  stone floor underneath the pair came apart, crumbling into
the  dark  chasm. Neither Roulette nor S'ym screamed as they fell into
the darkness.

"I like that", S'ym smiled as he and the mutant plummeted in freefall.
"You're crazy."

"No",  Roulette  smiled wickedly, and held her remaining fist high. It
glowed  with white light that seemed almost like a star shining in the
darkness  of  the chasm. Slowly, her fist opened, holding a blindingly
bright white disk in her fingers. "Just lucky."

S'ym's eyes widened as he continued the freefall alone.

"OW!" Roulette cried out as the white disk vanished, to be replaced by
a  rocky  outcropping  grabbed by her fingers to halt her descent. Her
eyes  teared up from the burning agony in her shoulder, and she gasped
for  breath.  But  her  fingers held. "Hasta...la vista...baby..." she
grimaced amidst her pain.

                                 ***

"Contact",  Elizabeth Braddock's eyes opened behind the pink butterfly
aura  flickering  over her face as she sat at the Cerebro console, the
telepathy-amplifying  helmet  once  again  donned  upon her head in an
attempt  to  find missing people. ((I found Sam)), her voice announced
straight  into the minds of several people. ((Less than ten miles from
here --)) She paused for a heartbeat. ((Up. And falling.))

                                 ***

"BRIGHTWIND!" Danielle Moonstar shouted as she ran out of the mansion,
the white pegasus already gliding thru the air towards his mistress as
if  having  anticipated  need. With ease, Dani leapt onto Brightwind's
back  as  he  soared  past  her,  digging her heels into his sides and
spurring him on. "Higher!" she shouted, gritting teeth and clinging to
her mount's back as powerful wing-flapping catapulted the pair towards
the  skies.  Her  head  whipped  from  side  to  side,  looking around
frantically as they soared to higher altitudes.

"There!"  Dani  shouted,  jabbing a finger at something that to normal
human  eyes  looked  like  a  speck  falling  from  the  sky  at best.
Brightwind  needed  nothing more to know what his mistress wanted. His
wings  shifted, he changed course to meet the speck, racing towards it
with  Dani  firmly  on  his back. "It is him --" Dani gritted teeth as
they drew closer to the speck. The ground approached very rapidly from
down below. "DIVE -- match speeds with him!"

Unhesitatingly,  the  pegasus'  wings  thrust  the pair into a plummet
following an unmoving Samuel Guthrie. They rapidly drew closer, but so
did  the  driveway underneath. Dani swallowed, eyes teary from the air
friction  but  desperately locked on her co-leader of the New Mutants.
"Come  on  come  *on*  --"  her face tightened as she extended her arm
outwards,  trying  to  reach  for Sam's back -- so close -- only a few
inches -- the driveway -- less than a hundred feet -- could Brightwind
even  pull up --?? Just. One. More. Inch -- fingertips -- brushing his
back --

Magneto  yawned  as  he  walked  out  of the mansion. He looked up and
blinked. "Allow me", he said, and waved his arm. Sam halted in midair,
a few dozen feet above the driveway.

Brightwind  flapped  his  wings frantically in an attempt to brake the
descent, but he and Dani both crashed to the ground less than ten feet
to Magneto's side.

Lots  of  people  watched  from the windows and the open front door as
Magneto  took  a  bite  off an apple and chomping on it, levitated Sam
gently  to  the ground by the various metal pieces, rivets and buckles
on  his  clothing.  "I suppose he owes his life to Ms Cheney", Magneto
commented dryly.

A  dark  cloud  smoldered over Dani's head as she lay half draped over
Brightwind,  her legs pointing up into the air. She hissed, "Sometimes
the adults of this building *really* get on my nerves..."

Brightwind whinnied in agreement.

                                 ***

"I have the power!" Kitty Pryde proclaimed, raising the Soulsword high
as  she  towered over the unmoving Illyana Rasputin at her feet. Then,
she  spun around, to face two Hellions and their teacher. Smiling, her
eyes  locked  onto  one  of  them  in  particular. "What do you think,
Manuel?"

"Excellent work, Pryde", Manuel de la Rocha answered as he walked over
to  the two roommates, and dipped Kitty backwards in a passionate kiss
into  which she eagerly responded. Emma Frost watched without a single
muscle  on  her face moving. Her hand, however, did, placing itself on
the shoulder of Marie-Ange Colbert who was averting her eyes. Jennifer
Stavros,  climbing out of the chasm, managed to stick two fingers into
her  throat  before  collapsing  in exhaustion. Most others were still
groaning incoherently on the floor.

"So  what do you want me to do next, Manuel?" Kitty tilted her head as
she  was  released from the kiss, instinctively snuggling close to the
Spaniard's side.

Eyes  burning this time not with a crimson light, but pure unconcealed
greeeed, Manuel looked back towards Emma Frost, his face saying it all
to one as well versed in him as his teacher was. "We could --"

"No", Emma said, very firmly, in a tone that let Manuel know there was
no  room  for  negotiation. "We don't know enough about this place. Do
not lightly rush into an unknown, Manuel."

"We could get so much *power* from this place --" Manuel insisted.

Emma's eyes narrowed.

Manuel sighed, and relented. His shoulders slumped. "...never going to
get  anywhere if we don't take risks..." he grumbled under his breath,
stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I  said  'lightly', Manuel", Emma turned her back to the Spaniard and
walked  over  to  Jennifer, offering a hand to help the younger blonde
up. "Not 'ever'." Her eyes twinkled briefly, although Manuel could not
see  it  with her back to him. "There is always tomorrow." And a final
punctuating sentence. "Class adjourned."

Manuel's  posture  rose  slightly, and he glanced over his shoulder at
Kitty. "You heard her", he spat out.

Kitty  raised  the  Soulsword,  and  swung  it at the crystal trapping
Nightcrawler.

CRASHHHHH!

                                 ***

Illyana  Nikolovna  Rasputina  opened  her  eyes.  She  recognized the
school's medlab, and realized she was lying on one of the beds. Around
her  in  the room, sitting on chairs around her bed, or walking around
from console to console, were Magneto, Ororo Munroe, Moira MacTaggert,
Emma Frost, Peter Rasputin and Kitty Pryde.

"Welcome back", Ororo gave a little smile, squeezing Illyana's hand.

Illyana   felt   suspicious,   and  looked  around  at  everyone  else
cautiously. Then, slowly, she asked, "What happened?"

"Kitten and the Hellions brought you back", Ororo explained.

Illyana  stayed  quiet  for  a moment. Then, she said, "Joy." Again, a
little bit of silence, before she asked, "Can I get up?"

"I'd recommend restin'", Moira commented from the sidelines. "But nae,
theoretically ye seem to be doing just fine."

"'Theoretically'",  Illyana  snorted. Swallowing a little, she sat up,
and slipped off the bed, leaning one hand onto it to steady herself as
she  felt  a  little  dizzy. "I'm 'theoretically fine'", she repeated,
rolling her eyes.

"Do you feel fine, Snowflake?" Peter asked.

"Haha",  Illyana  groaned sardonically. "Why do you care? Sure, I feel
great,  I  just  got shot in the head and almost died, and my killer's
teacher is sitting here in this room", she shot a glare towards Frost.
"Tough luck bitch, I guess your training room's shooting range sucks."

"Illyana", Magneto said in his authoritative voice.

"Blow  me",  Illyana  spat back at Magneto, then hissed, "It stinks in
here", as she stalked towards the doors which swished open before her.

"Illyana!"  Peter called out, starting after his sister. Everyone else
quietly let her go.

The  doors swished closed again after Peter exited the medlab, leaving
the  two  siblings  in  the  hallway  where  eight New Mutants waited.
Illyana  looked taken aback at the sight of her classmates outside the
medlab, and stopped.

"Illyana?" Peter extended his hand towards her.

Illyana  looked over her shoulder at her brother. Cautiously, she eyed
him  for  long  moments. Then, she wordlessly turned away, and started
towards the elevator.

"Illyana --" Peter resumed after his sister.

Roberto da Costa interposed himself between the two. "She made herself
clear,  Rasputin",  he  stared  the  foot-taller  Russian in the eyes.
"Whatever  her  reasons, she does not want to talk to you. Now, if you
want  to  prove yourself something better than the peasant you usually
come off as, you will respect the lady's wishes."

Peter chuckled. "Roberto", he smiled widely for a moment, and then the
smile  faded  to  a serious glare. "This is not your affair. She is my
*sister*."

"And she's our *friend*", Danielle Moonstar moved to back Roberto. "We
care  about  her  too.  And  that  means, if she wants space, she gets
space."

"Bobby  coulda put it a mite politer, but he has a point", Sam Guthrie
agreed,  stepping  over  to  complete  the  trinity  between  the  two
Russians. "Why press the issue when she doesn't want t' talk?"

The  other  New  Mutants moved over as well to join the first three in
Colossus'  path. The elevator doors swished open. Illyana glanced over
her  shoulder,  to  see  Peter glaring at her past her classmates. She
closed her eyes, hugged herself tightly, and walked into the elevator,
the doors swishing shut behind her. And then she was gone.

Peter's  glare  moved from Illyana to the New Mutants, and remained on
them  for  several  moments.  Then, just as wordless as his sister, he
turned around, and walked back into the medlab.

"Jerk", Douglas Ramsey mumbled under his breath.

"For once I agree with Ramsey", Roberto nodded patronizingly.

"I was talking about you."

"Oh."

                                 ***

A  limo  waits  at  Xavier's front door. A transport worthy of a de la
Rocha.  Unfortunately, I'd have to share it with my classmates. I have
no  idea  when  Frost  spared  a moment to call for the vehicle, but I
don't particularly care. I walk to it first, before any of the others.
Save  perhaps  the  Moor,  they are intimidated by ostentatiousness. I
revel in it. The blood of nobility flows through my veins. I am Manuel
Alfonso  Rodrigo  de la Rocha, and as I exit Xavier's unhindered, none
can deny this is my finest hour.

"I'm  sorry", are the first words anyone speaks in the limousine as it
rolls away from the New Mutants' school. Tarot spoke them, and remains
quiet  for a long time afterwards. She still thinks this is her fault.
Hers. I would laugh, but content myself with a mere smile so far. This
was  *my* design, from the beginning to the bitter end. And the bitter
end  is  not here yet. Oh no, Illyana...you have not paid sufficiently
yet. I can feel my teeth baring as my smile widens.

"It's  okay."  Proudstar.  Trying  to play the calm, collected leader.
Simpleton,  like  all the others. He does not even conceive everything
this  plan  consists  of.  Stumbling  in the dark. "She's still alive.
We're still alive. Nobody died. Everyone's okay." Is he naive, or just
stupid?

"Speak  for  yourself",  says Jetstream, cradling his broken hand in a
cast  given  him  at  Xavier's.  Such  an amicable gesture. It's as if
everyone  thinks  it's over, that everyone are friends with each other
again.  There will be no friendship between the schools while my honor
remains unavenged.

"Had  fun  romp with redhair furfriend!" I bury my face in my hands at
Catseye's  statement, and wish the trip were over already. It will tax
even  the supreme patience of a de la Rocha to stand for the inanities
of  plebians. I can feel my skin crawl and move a little closer to the
window, trying to concentrate on the town of Salem Center rolling past
outside.

"Aha!  I always knew you and that nerd had something going, you little
dykes!"  Jennifer  grins  widely,  shaking  her head with that tone of
teasing amusement that doesn't care who it hurts or what sore spots it
pokes as long as she gets a chuckle out of it. And, well, I don't have
a  problem with that as long as she has the good sense not to test the
wrath of a de la Rocha.

"Catseye  not place where water run", the moron replies with her usual
confused  tones whenever someone says something that exceeds the level
of  her  pea-sized intellect. One would imagine if there was *room* in
her  pathetic  brain  for  speaking  properly,  Ms  Frost  would  have
installed this in her by now. But no, so only one conclusion remains.

My thoughts are interrupted by the silence I notice has fallen. I look
away  from  the  passing  scenery and back inside the car. Everyone is
staring  at  me.  I  have no idea for how long they have been doing so
while I was lost in thought, but well they should. And I feel the need
to  ridicule  them for their subservience. "Yes? Is there anything you
require?" I present my question in taunting tones.

"So what the hell was your part in this, Manny?" Proudstar asks in his
ever  disrespectful manner. It annoys me. Were that the only factor, I
would  never please him with an answer. But that is not the only thing
I see. I see the bright, intense colors of their curiosity dancing all
over  their faces. Proudstar and Jetstream, especially. Catseye is too
confused  to  care.  Jennifer is intelligent enough to have figured it
out. And Tarot...poor, innocent, Tarot...she's just too afraid to look
my way, so certain in her culpability. It amuses me to give her...

Doubt.

Hope.

And  cautiously,  she  stirs  a  little  to cautiously glance over her
shoulder in my direction.

"My  part?"  I smile, directing my expression mostly at the Apache. He
wants to know so badly, he glows darkly with it. I get glee out of his
frustration.  "Tell  me,  Proudstar",  I  ask,  "doesn't  it annoy you
*immensely*  that  despite  your vaunted leadership, those high morals
you  are  so  proud  of  --  you  are simply so *stupid* that you will
*never* know what part I played unless I tell you?" There is no better
feeling than revelling in your superiority.

"I  know  your teeth will soon be in your throat if you don't answer",
he   threatens,  like  brutes  are  wont  to  do  when  their  limited
intellectual resources run out.

"Why don't you take a guess, Proudstar?"

"You did something to her", he snarls, leaning back a little and I see
the  uncertainty creeping upon him that causes his change of position.
It  is  amusing how he tries to conceal his doubts and appear resolute
in  front  of  one who sees peoples' hearts. "You overwhelmed her with
emotion. Made her *hate* Illyana until she did it!" he accuses.

"My  not-so-dear  Proudstar",  I  can't  restrain  a  chuckle  at  his
deductive stumbling, "*hate* was never ever an issue."

"Jealousy", Jetstream's eyes narrow as he figures it out.

"Very good", I nod at him.

"You  made  her  jealous at Rasputin accompanying you at the ball", he
continues, impressing me with remembering that detail from the ball at
the  Academy.  "And  stirred up that one emotion, fixating her upon it
until she did...it."

Tarot  collapses  into a weeping ball. Despair rages around her like a
roiling  storm.  And another roiling storm rises in Proudstar's anger.
"You  bastard", he hisses, leaning forward, fingers clenching as if he
wanted  to  make  a  grab  at  me. He won't. Jennifer's amusement only
mounts  by  the  second,  becoming  a bright star eclipsing everything
else.  "You're  going  to  pay  for this", the Indian flings his usual
empty threats.

"I  have  admitted  nothing",  I  simply claim, and in many ways, I am
right.  They were the ones who said it all, even if they didn't get it
all right.

"Driver,  stop  the  car",  Proudstar  speaks  into the intercom, then
releases  the  button  as  the  limousine  begins  slowing down. "I'll
*walk*", he claims trying to look dignified. "It stinks in here."

Jetstream  is filled with doubt as Proudstar steps out. Evidently part
of him wants to step out too. And I certainly would not mind that. But
he is, unfortunately, a little smarter than Proudstar. He knows I want
him to go. "Gallant to the last, Moor?" I taunt.

"Manipulative to the last, Spaniard?" he retorts, and closes the door,
signaling  the  driver  to start off again. "Some of us were taught an
honorable way of escorting ladies home."

"I  could  bury  that",  my eyes flare, filling the cabin with crimson
light.  "Which of them do you want?" Fear begins creeping into Catseye
and  Tarot  alike,  amusement  lingers on Jennifer, now accompanied by
curiosity.

"Try it", he stands resolute, narrowing his eyes firmly.

I choose not to.

This time.

                                 ***

It's  hours  past  midnight,  but  Illyana  Nikolovna Rasputina cannot
sleep.  She clutches her Bamf doll, half-soaked with tears, tightly to
her  chest  as  her  curled-up  fetal shape shakes with sob after sob.
never  has  she felt this alone, this...crushed. Even during her worst
times in Limbo, she clutched to the hope that she would make it out of
there  someday,  escape  that  vile, demonic pocket dimension, and her
brother  would  once  more  love her as the innocent Snowflake she was
back at the Ust-Ordynski collective.

And now, her brother was snatched away from her, by the cruel words of
one  she had thought soulmate, with whom she had shared the darkest of
confidences.  She  had dared to have hope, she had dared to dream of a
purer life, a happier one.

It  was  gone.  Smoldering  ashes  from a cruel, laughing inferno that
consumed  the future she had dared to imagine for herself. She was not
wanted  here, or *anywhere* except in Limbo. Demons were the only ones
who  would  accept  her. Everyone else *hated* her, nobody believed in
her or trusted her. Was it because Kitty had been right? She's a demon
herself?

The  door to the bedroom creaks open, and Illyana instantly recognizes
the  backlighted  silhouette of a broad-shouldered man standing in the
doorway. Her beloved brother Piotr! ...her brother who thought she was
psycho trash and wanted to get rid of her...

She  curls  up  tighter  and continues sobbing. He walks over and sits
down  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  his  weight  creaking  the springs
underneath as he gently places a hand to stroke her blonde hair. "It's
all right, Snowflake. It's all right..." he murmurs softly.

"Why   are   you  here?"  Illyana  mumbles  into  her  doll.  "I  know
everything",  she sniffles bitterly. "I knew...I knew if you found out
the  truth  about  me... Fine", she wipes a sleeve across her reddened
eyes. "I'll leave. None of you have to see me ever again..."

"What are you talking about?" he whispers, brushing a lock of her hair
back  and  tucking  it neatly behind her ear. "You're still my sister,
Illyana. I'll always love you, no matter what you have done..."

"You  don't  have  to  give me that bullshit...I know...I know...I can
handle   it...I'm  a  b...big  girl..."  she  stammers  amidst  little
sniffles, and then, very suddenly, her eyes widen at his touch.

She  starts to scream, but his hand is already on her mouth. Eyes wide
in horror, she struggles, but he is too strong. He rips her shirt off.
"Shhhh...be quiet and it will be fine..."

                                 ***
                          TO BE CONCLUDED...
                                 ***