********************************************************************** DISCLAIMER 1) This material is not used for monetary profit in any manner. It is done solely for enjoyment purposes, and as homage to the great stories and characters of Marvel Comics Group 2) All the characters, events, and locations portrayed within are recognized as property of Marvel Comics Group should they so wish. 3) This story has been written by Samy Merchi . Any commentary in the form of compliments or critique is welcomed, and eagerly hoped for. So go ahead and drop me a line telling me what you thought, okay? It'll make my day. ;) 4) This story is being archived at least at my fanfic page at . Previous parts can be found there if needed. ********************************************************************** ********************** * WISHES AND REGRETS * ********************** * CONTINUITY * This story takes place in an alternate timeline where a younger Gambit is part of the New Mutants. It is linked to my Shadows of the Future timeline by a Roberto appearance taking place during RITES OF PASSAGE which takes place during Roberto and Locus being lost in time after the events in X-FORCE #28 and before X-FORCE #26. * THANKS * to Poi Lass for her marvelous 'You did WHAT in a cave?' * WARNING * Adult content and situations *** (( I'll *kill* her... I'll have my critters have some fun with her first, and show her what I went thru, and then I'll come up with some imaginative ways of torturing her, maybe I'll drown her in her own blood or mayb--)) There wasn't even a sound as a dark figure armed with a quarterstaff melted out of the shadows of the Enchantress' dungeon. "Sshhh", he whispered, putting a finger to his lips. "Gambit!" Illyana's eyes opened wide at the sight of her teammate, the only guy who could make even Roberto's flirting pale in comparison. "Are the other New Mutants here, too?" She felt the anger rise within. So far, it had been a smoldering, venomous heat, but at the prospect of actually getting free and paying the Enchantress back, her features started slowly contorting with the rage at having been captured, pinned to Enchantress' wall, made helpless. In Limbo, she had sworn she would *never* be helpless again. Never. She was now. Enchantress would pay. "Non, jus' me, chere", Gambit replied as he slowly stepped closer, cautiously glancing everywhere around the room as he walked towards the wall where several arms grew out of the stone, wrapped around Illyana and held her tight against the wall. "Never thought dere'd be a day Gambit'd wish to be a wall..." "Shut up and get me *out* of here!" Illyana snarled, her hands clenching into fists, her eyes narrowing in a blaze of anger. "We don't have time for your lines, the Enchantress could be here any minute!" "Dere be always time to enjoy de beautiful t'ings in life, neh?" Gambit smiled, letting those red eyes of his lock onto Illyana's with a teasing, ever-so-charming smile. "'sides, Gambit no wizard, he got no idea how to get you free, so why not enjoy the moment? Wit' you powerless like dat, dis might be our only chance... Our first. Our last." Illyana's eyes widened, and she bared her teeth, wishing her Darksoul wasn't gone so she'd have fangs to tear Gambit's throat out with. "Touch me and you're a dead man", she said very slowly, very calmly, very icily. Luckily enough, her demonic psi-shields protected her from the cajun's mutant charming power, which he so arrogantly relied on. "Ah", Gambit smiled. "Gambit see the problem -- You nervous, chere, wit' not having been wit' anyone voluntarily before, neh?" he asked, trailing a fingertip along her jawbone. "Don' worry, Gambit be gentl-- OW!!" He recoiled, trying to pull his bleeding finger from between her teeth, but to no avail. "Leggo Gambit finger!!" With a sneer, Illyana let go, and then spat the blood from her mouth at the cajun's face. "And that'll happen to anything else you put in my mouth", she smiled evilly. "Consider yourself lucky the *finger* at least had some bone in it to stop me from snapping it in two..." The smile then faded, and she got more serious again. "NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Gambit looked at his bleeding finger with a frown, and then wiped the blood and spit from his face. "You jus' tryin' to play hard to get, chere", he then smiled. "Don' worry, Gambit gon' help you get over de shyness..." He then glanced towards the door. "Spat, Grovel, come on in", he called out, and then returned his confident smile to Illyana. "It be relaxing to have people watching, neh? Trust Gambit, he done dis before in de books." "In the what?" Illyana asked, confused, but then forgot her question as her head turned to watch Spat and Grovel enter. She just looked at them a few moments, before her eyes turned back to Gambit. "You do realize", she said, preparing to turn her mind off like she had so many times in Limbo when she was helpless, "that the moment I get free, you're never going to spank your pathetic little monkey again." "Promises, promises", Gambit smiled. "You sure you can keep up wit' Gambit, chere?" He placed a hand onto her bare stomach, rubbing lightly, caressing her skin, the hand slowly moving downwards. "*You* won't have anything *to* keep up if you keep *that* up..." Illyana's cold voice said. JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The piercing voice cut thru the cell, a golden glow flashing brightly in one corner, depositing two people there before vanishing along with the noise. "Where the h*ll are we *now*?" Locus asked with a frown, looking around the cell. "I know this place..." Roberto mused, as he looked around as well, and then his eyes fell onto Illyana and Gambit. "What --?" The burning white energy eyes narrowed at the hand on Roberto's old friend's stomach, and with a wave of his hand, a powerful solar blast lanced out at the cajun. "AWAY from her!" the Brazilian snarled. "'Berto??" Illyana asked, her eyes wide with surprise. The man was older, bigger, more handsome -- and he didn't have the same powers as her teammate... "Da Costa??" Gambit asked, suddenly three cards in his hand which began glowing with pinkish energy. "What de hell do you t'ink you're doing??" "Simple", Roberto said, taking a step towards the cajun, his hands starting to crackle with dark solar energy, his eyes burning brighter in anger. He didn't know the Gambit of his world very well, but this seemed to be a younger version of him. And all that mattered to him at the moment was that Illyana had not seemed very happy at his touch. "I am sparing my friend from being defiled by the likes of you!" "'Defiled'? 'Likes of you'?" Gambit snarled, and then leaped towards the Brazilian. "I don' know wha's happened to you, Da Costa, or where you get all dat power, but Gambit don' care! Spat, Grovel, let's get him!!" He tossed the cards thru the air towards Roberto, the middle one catching him squarely in the chest, exploding and sending him crashing backwards into the wall of the cell. JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The sound cut thru the chamber again as Locus lifted one hand over her mouth as she yawned, and from her other hand, fired a beam of golden energy which enveloped Spat and Grovel, who suddenly disappeared. "NON!" Gambit screamed as he saw his two friends flash out of existence, and leaped at Locus, whacking her across her head with his quarterstaff and then pinning her to the ground by coming atop her, his staff over her throat. "What'd you do to dem??" he demanded furiously. "Where'd dey go??" "D'bari IV", Locus smiled impishly, in that infuriating I-know-something-you-don't-know expression. SKOOM! Another solar blast hit Gambit while he was distracted with Locus, and tossed him into a wall. He slumped down, rubbing his head and fighting for his consciousness -- then losing the battle and falling limp, his eyes closing. Roberto kept a hand pointed at the cajun. "Keep an eye on him, Locus", he said sharply, and then, leaving the hand pointed at Gambit, pointed his other hand towards Illyana. "Hang on", he said, and the next moment, another solar blast lanced out from his hand. A thundercrack of an explosion erupted above the blonde's head as the blast punched thru the wall, blasting it apart, and the hands holding her fell lifeless, into pieces, as did the wall they sprouted from. "I'm free!!" Illyana said, springing away from the wall, and brushing a few remaining hands off her. Then, she hissed, her lips pulling back and revealing her teeth as her eyes fell on Gambit. "Would you like me to dispose of him?" Roberto asked in a cold voice which might suggest he was talking about killing, though he was not. Merely having Locus deposit him off on some desert planet or something. Maybe Antarctica. Illyana's attention finally turned to Roberto. Looking at the man for a few moments, she then shook her head. "He's my teammate -- I'll deal with him... In my own way... On my own time." She frowned a bit, not liking being still in the spider's proverbial parlor. "We need to get out of here", she said. "I remember", Roberto said. "There are wards around the castle." He frowned slightly. "They did not affect our arrival. Either they are one-way wards, or they are only attuned to mystical teleportation such as Limbo's stepping disks. Locus", he said, turning towards Locus. "Pop in and out, see if you can get out of here without trouble." "Gotcha", Locus smiled. "Be right back." JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The sound cut thru the chamber again, and Locus vanished in a flash of golden glow, then reappeared almost right away in another. "The coast is clear. Where do you wanna go?" "We can take you to the other New Mutants, if you would like", Roberto offered to Illyana. Illyana nodded slowly, a bit hesitantly. "My Darksoul is hunting them -- if I can confront it, I can reabsorb it to myself..." "We'll get you to it, and to them", Roberto said, and then looked over to Locus again. "Let's go. And take him", he said, motioning to Gambit, "along as well." JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Again, the same noise, slicing thru the air viciously. The same glow, filling the chamber before vanishing -- and leaving the cell empty, leaving no one behind. *** "You and me, Illyana? One on one?" Dani asked, as she dismounted Brightwind, leaping to the ground. "I'm ready." JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE With a flash of gold and a cutting noise, four new figures appeared in midair. Illyana leaped from the portal like a furious tiger, downwards and straight towards her Darksoul which was confronting Dani. Locus just watched silently, enjoying the sight of the battle while Roberto caught the falling Gambit before he hit the ground and put him down onto the ground, before turning to watch the show himself. "Illyana??" Dani's eyes widened as she watched Illyana attack her own Darksoul, and took a step back, to watch as well. "You", the Darksoul hissed, and then raised her sword, preparing to swing it and cut Illyana in half. "I'll kill you before I let you get me back under your control!" "No, you won't", Illyana responded in an equally venomous tone, the two halves of the same woman hating each other with the same passion Bruce Banner and Hulk did each other. With a quick move, she ducked underneath the sword, and then lashed out with her leg, sweeping her Darksoul's legs from underneath it. "You're a part of me, *not* the other way around! You're *mine*!!" The Darksoul fell backwards as its legs got sweeped from underneath it, and it lost its hold on the sword. As it tumbled back, falling onto the ground onto its back, the sword arced thru the air, glinting with a bright flash of silver, as the sun's bright rays hit it, and then it started its descent back towards the ground. "MINE!" Illyana snarled as with a sharp THAP! sound, her hand snapped a hold of the hilt of the sword, and then she leaped forward again, pulled the sword upwards -- and then sank it down, the tip whistling thru the air as it headed towards the Darksoul's heart. "AIIEEEEE!!" the Darksoul cried, as the sword pierced its torso. A magical being -- but it was as much a part of Illyana as the sword was. Instead of disrupting the Darksoul, as the Soulsword did with all magic, it only disrupted the Enchantress' spell, and with a surge of energy, the Darksoul dissipated, and flowed thru the Soulsword back to Illyana, who writhed with momentary pain, both physical and emotional, as she re-accepted the darkness within her. A not-so-small part of her felt immeasurable anguish, and tears pushed at her from the inside, wanting to get out, but she forced them back. She forced them back. But she couldn't force the hurt back. "Illyana?" Dani asked, approaching the sorceress hesitantly. Illyana just stood there, her eyes closed, much like a statue. She didn't move, didn't make a sound. She just stood there, for several moments, trying to cope with everything that had happened. And not the least, Gambit. Her behavior in the cell, though venomous, still lacked the edge of her Darksoul, her demonic side. Now that she had it back? Gambit was in trouble. Her eyes opened slowly, but she didn't seem to hear Dani in the least. "Time for us to get out of here, Locus", Roberto said, looking towards his companion in traveling thru the dimensions. "Gotcha", Locus smiled, and raised her hands, preparing to call forth her teleportational rift. "Wait!" Illyana called out, looking towards the two strangers to this timeline. She let her eyes linger on them, ignoring Gambit for the moment, and then walked over, stepping close to Roberto while the rest of the New Mutants hung back, just watching the scene, not sure of what was going on. "You're 'Berto, aren't'cha?" Illyana said quietly, keeping her voice down for the rest of the New Mutants not to hear, being several dozen feet away. "In a way", Roberto answered. He watched the sorceress silently, frowning a bit. Seeing her alive and before her brought back so many memories. Was he destined to shun her in this timeline as well, because he felt intimidated by her power? Was this timeline's Roberto, as he had been, also destined to never tell Illyana how much he cared -- until it was too late? "In a way", he repeated silently, lifting a hand up, and gently placing it onto Illyana's cheek. Illyana flinched slightly at the touch. Even with it being Roberto, a trusted teammate, someone who had held her in his arms outside Dani's operation room, she couldn't completely suppress the memories of her childhood in Limbo. Or of what Gambit had been about to do. But she didn't, to her credit, pull away. "Thank you", she whispered quietly. "I think I would have died if you hadn't showed up." Maybe not physically, but rather emotionally. But still, an admission of weakness. Something neither Illyana nor Roberto gave very easily. He was too arrogant. She was too afraid. "I'm glad I could help", Roberto answered softly. "In my world -- I regret... I... I should have done a lot of things..." Maybe...in some way, somehow, he could make amends? Then again, this wasn't his world. He had no right to mess with things here. "I need to go, Illyana. I need to find my way back home." A long pause. "It was good to see you." Illyana's intuition nagged at the back of her head, suspecting what had happened to her counterpart in Roberto's world, but she buried away those thoughts, avoiding thinking about that, instead concentrating on the man before her now. The man, not the boy who was her teammate. "I hope you'll get back home", she said quietly. "To anyone who might be waiting for you." "No one is waiting for me", Roberto said, just as quietly, his white energy eyes locking onto Illyana's blue eyes, and he smiled warmly. Only then did he -- and a split second later, Illyana -- notice that his hand was still on her cheek. He leaned down slightly, and touched his lips very gently to her forehead. "Take care, Illyana", he whispered, the words cascading into her ear with the beauty of a waterfall. "I will", Illyana smiled slightly, even though she also shivered a bit at the touch of the lips, swallowing slightly. She felt so naked, so vulnerable, like her heart was taken out of her and put on display. No walls around it to surround it, to protect it, to cocoon it in unbreachable icy steel. "You too, hotshot." Roberto smiled a bit, and then turned away, stepping over next to Locus. "Let's go", he said. JGKCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Illyana watched the two timetravelers disappear, her eyes on Roberto's lips, the touch of which still lingered on her forehead. After the golden glow vanished, she then turned around, and let her eyes fall on Gambit. Very slowly, a devilish smirk etched itself onto her lips. Then, another golden glow came to life as she called forth a stepping disk which swallowed up the ten New Mutants in the area, and spirited them from Asgard to Limbo. *** *** THE VAULT, PRISON FOR SUPER-VILLAINS, COLORADO, USA *** "Oops." Everybody's eyes suddenly turned towards Beetle as he dropped the soap. The sound of the showers was almost deafening in the silence of nobody talking. (( I'm done for )) Abe Jenkins grimaced, his eyes looking down at the bar of soap on the wet floor longingly. Piledriver waggled his eyebrows, a wide smirk coming to his lips. "Oh boy." Suddenly, a bright light lit up a corner of the shower room, and a disk of light deposited a naked, teenage figure in the corner, before winking out of existence. "-- you can't do this, I'm going to --" The figure blinked as it glanced at its new surroundings. "Merde." "Oh BOY!" Piledriver said, his smirk growing even wider, if possible, as he, along with just about everyone else, turned to look at the new arrival. "Fresh meat", Absorbing Man grinned. "Young meat", said Bulldozer, rubbing his hands together. "Yes Virginia, there *is* a Santa Claus..." Boomerang smiled. "God works in mysterious ways", Bushwhacker stated stoically, then started approaching the teenager. Beetle quickly snatched up his soap while everyone's attention was centered on the newcomer and then breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he glanced in the same direction and winced slightly at the sight. "NOOOOO!!! Illyana, I'm going to GET you fo' dis --!!!!" Gambit's screams started echoing off the shower room walls, and her last thought before he managed to shut off her mind was, (( Memo to sel': Never mess wit' someone who can genderswap Gambit... ))