Cat's Cradle (An Illyana's Passage Story)
Author's note: Been trying to come up with an Illyana story that involves the Endless. Oh, thanks to Wikipedia wiki/The_Endless_(comics) for some better words about the Endless then I could write. I Part 1 with no other story, then as I programmed at work listening to random songs I found inspiration for a full story from Pat Benatar's song "We Belong".
I've always been sad that Cat from the original Magik limited series has never been revisited in the comics. I've touched upon Cat a few times in my stories but have never really come up with a full Cat story. Until now.
Part 1: A moment out of time
Illyana stood within her teleportation disk, her soul sword plunged within the disk and power surging out of control. The attempt to breach the rule that forbad paradox had failed. The power backlash was in the process of completely destroying her.
But... Time was frozen. Six entities surrounded and examined her. They were the Endless. There should have been seven, but one was absent as he had abandoned his duties.
Destiny: The oldest of the Endless, dressed in brown robes and carrying a large book that was chained to him. He is sightless, yet sees almost all.
Death: Death was a young Goth woman, pale white skin with black hair and black jeans with a black tee-shirt.
Dream, also known as Morpheus: A tall, pale man with wild dark blue-black hair. He is wearing a shapeless cloak of night with the faint hint of flames dancing in its folds. . His eyes are pools of shadows with glimmers of light within.
Desire: Desire is androgynous looking individual dressed in a casual suit that could be for either a man or a woman. She/he is smoking a cigarette.
Despair: Is a naked short, obese woman with grayish skin and irregularly-shaped teeth.
Delirium: The youngest of the Endless, a young girl with wild multicolored hair and eccentric, mismatched clothes. One eye is emerald green (currently the right side) and the other pale blue with silver flecks. At one time she was Delight, but she changed long ago.
Destruction: He is/was a very large, robust man with red hair. Destruction abandoned his responsibilities as one of the Endless three hundred years ago. He is not present, but greatly missed.
Delirium spoke first. "She is one of mine. Mad and lost. She... suffices for the task".
Desire took a puff from her/his cigarette holder and spoke. "She is one of mine. Lost in desire for what she was, for who she wants. She is adequate for the task".
Despair spoke. "She is one of mine. Despair fills her and guides her hand. She is will serve for the task".
Dream spoke. "She is one of mine. From the dreaming she was pulled by another and formed. Now hurt and abused she pursues the dream of being other then she is. She will be a knife for the task, well honed".
Death spoke. "I call none my own for all come to me in the end, but she walks a path of death. She is perfect for the task, poor thing".
Destiny spoke. "She flickers from page to page; always in motion. She will do the task".
Destruction, their absent brother, said nothing as he was not there. However he would have agreed with Death. She was ideal for the task.
Dream summed it up. "We are agreed then".
They all nodded their heads.
Death sighed. "She will now survive this, but will be even more broken. A shattered vessel".
Destiny answered. "Yes, and with the cutting edge that is needed. A broken bottle still has its uses, just not its original function".
Desire puffed out a smoke ring. "We were told the task we were to perform, not how to do the task. She is the best we've found".
Despair turned to go. "I will watch her passage. The road of despair will guide her".
Delirium went off topic "Ice cream, who wants ice cream"?
Dream sighed. "We are done here. Delirium, if you wish, we can go get ice cream. Yes she is on a road paved with despair, but dreams of what might be will guide her, not despair".
All of the Endless faded away, except for Destiny. He looked at her, standing there frozen within the backwash of power. He gave into temptation, as he often did, and skimmed forward in the book. He stopped after a few pages, what those pages contained and the amount of time represented by those pages was known only to him; but his eyebrows rose in surprise.
He sighed and whispered. "We choose well my siblings. Perchance a bit too well. She will...". He paused and left it at that as he faded away as well.