Meetings like this were frequently awkward for the two, coming so sudden and demanding, and always reminding "she whose name may never be spoken" who among them had managed to win the ultimate game of finders keepers. But as much as taking commands, especially from her younger and weaker sibling, grated along her hollow bones, Deathbird refused to let it show. She had become a master in her time of exile in more than simply battle, but political pomp as well. Her sister might be the Empress, but the people of Shi'ar didn't whisper her tales when they thought only few were listening. Deathbird enjoyed the incredibly complex situation her actions had placed them in.

Marching down the hall of the pitiful cruiser her sister had retreated to in the wake of the emerging "situation," Deathbird was entirely aware of just how imposing she looked in her black war armor with her own personal retinue of councilors trailing in her wake as she burst suddenly and steadily into Lilandra's chamber. "Good evening sister," she half smiled, taking a seat automatically without waiting to be invited. "Shall we cut directly to business and skip over the familial pleasantries?"

She's enjoying this too much, Lilandra thought, sitting delicately across from Deathbird. Instinctively she held the staff of office between her body and her sister, half to say 'I am Empress and you are my subject,' and the other half, 'Mine.' "Unfortunately, War Marshall, this business revolves entirely around familial pleasantries."

Deathbird cocked her head to one side, her opaque eyes glinting viciously. "Your brother, Lilandra. Not mine." A cruel smile spread across her lips at the thought. "Luckily, the madness seems to have come directly through your mother, and not through our father."

Begrudgingly, Lilandra gave her a silent point. There was nothing she could say in the presence of the Imperial Commanders that could be interpreted as questioning their leaders sanity without ultimately destroying the cohesion that made the Empire so strong. "Nevertheless," Lilandra raised her voice minutely, "he needs to be dealt with."

"He has been dealt with." Deathbird continued to grin. "I was under the assumption we were going to deal with other – more concrete problems. From what Shyna tells me," Deathbird nodded briefly towards the imposing looking Glythian warrior on her right, "our target is the Starjammer." She paused dramatically, sipping from a glass of wine that had appeared at the hands of some servant shortly after her entrance. "And the X-Men are aboard."

Much to her credit and the strength of her own will, Lilandra was able to maintain eye contact with Deathbird even as she watched the homicidal glee shimmer in her eyes. "The Glythian is correct, the X-Men are aboard."

"Superb." Deathbird stated in better English than even Lilandra could muster, as if to taunt her. "Tell me – oh sister mine – have you finally come to your senses after all this time?"

"My personal feelings are irrelevant." Lilandra simmered under the surface, but swiftly switched back to her native language. "My empire must be kept safe, and to do that the Starjammer must be destroyed."

"Fine and well," Deathbird shrugged, settling deeper into the plush chair. "Any preferences as to how it is to be done, or are you going to grant me artistic licenses in the matter?"

"So long as it is done I'd rather not know the details." Lilandra stated, visibly shaken by her own mental images conjured by her sister's suggestion. "However, you will be taking along an informant who knows more of what is going on than I can discuss here."

"I don't need help." Deathbird stated firmly, hands gripping the arms of the chair like claws.

"He is going along, he is trusted by our enemy. It will do you good to get to know his motivations, perhaps it will help you end this with little bloodshed." With that Mird'lan stepped out of the far shadows.

"I was not aware our enemy was a fool!" Deathbird shouted, laughing at the complete irony of the situation. The man who had almost betrayed the empress to her death, now in turn betraying her would be murderer to she herself. The very same man who had done such a good job of keeping her bed warm so many years ago, before his defection and for a time she had thought, his death.

"And I," Mird'lan stated, gallantly holding his emotions in check, "was not aware the Lady Deathbird made a habit of underestimating her opponents."

"I have only one opponent, traitor, but many victims."

Mird'lan mimicked the smile he saw on her face. "May I one day be lucky enough to be your next victim."

"In time, lover." Deathbird turned back to Lilandra. "For now you will have to wait your turn. My Empress' victims take priority over my own."

That said, Deathbird with her War Council in tow flowed back out the door, which shut slowly behind them all leaving Lilandra alone with only her council and her thoughts. "Dearest God," Lilandra whispered, looking into space through her window. "I have unleashed Death herself upon them, and I believe she is hungrier than ever for the kill."


"It is so odd," Piotr stated, half to himself as the team aimlessly wandered ahead. "How is it that something that is so beautiful can cause so much harm. It does not seem right."

Betsy snorted. "Of course it isn't right, darling. But that is the way of the world – or perhaps I should say universe – what is most beautiful is often what is most deadly, or some such garbage."

"Just like you mein dear Betsy?" Kurt laughed as he led the team deeper.

"Precisely." Betsy nodded, taking the rear behind Colossus. She was not about to mention it to her teammates, but the Crystal was starting to slowly drive her crazy. It was like there was a constant psychic buzz throughout every fiber of it, yet the more she tried to reach out and understand it the harder it was to grasp. Psychic white noise was the closest to a description she could come up with, and it was making it hard to concentrate on the mission at hand. "Bloody hell, Kurt." Psylocke finally stopped, tugging on Colossus to do the same. "This place is gigantic, how are we going to find this Jahf person if he doesn't want to be found. We don't even know if we're walking around in circles."

Kurt sighed, his tail twitching erratically behind him. "Have faith, Betsy. Somesing tells me we do not haf to go much farther."

"One of these days your faith is going to make us all dead, elf." Betsy muttered. She tugged lightly on her hair while she thought.

"I think Kurt is right, Elisabeth." Colossus chimed in. "I, too, think we will find what we are searching for shortly, we must keep moving. Standing in one place will accomplish nothing, da?"

"Optimists." Betsy huffed, then shrugged elegantly. "Well, boys seems it's two to one and I'm on the wrong end of the pitch. If you want, we'll keep moving on." Though as she moved on, she sent out a silent cry for help to Jean. I don't know how much more of this I can take Jeannie. This damn Crystal is trying to put me in the loony. We're still moving on, but I'm not sure where we're going, if anywhere.

Outside, Jean got the message. Hold on Bets, bolster your shields more if you can. You're hearing the psychic resonance of reality, just to ignore it as best you can.

Easy for you to bloody well say, was the only answer Jean got, which coming from Betsy was reassuring. "You look concerned, my friend." Storm stated, when she turned away from the M'Kraan Crystal to look at Jean.

"I am concerned," Jean shrugged. "Betsy just contacted me, I don't think I warned her enough about the pressure the Crystal can put on the mind of a telepath. She's handling it, but not well. If they don't find anything soon, for Psylocke's sake they may have to abort the mission."

"But we can't just leave Rogue and Sam and Wolvie here because the purple ninja's got her tights in a twist." Kitty shouted.

"No, Kitty, we can't." Jean gave her a weak smile. "I'd have to go inside in her place." To both her friends' credit they hid their initial reactions quickly.

"I'm sure Psylocke can suck it up and get this done." Kitty smiled, looking at Storm for support. Ororo just nodded. "Besides, since when has Betsy ever admitted she's failed at something?"

It was true, and the thought of Psylocke coming out the Crystal with her tail between her legs made Jean laugh. "True, but either way I should let the Professor know what's going on." Gathering her thoughts, Jean closed her eyes and prepared to call out to Charles. Professor. No answer. Charles, can you hear me? Charles? Nothing. Scott? Still nothing.

"What Jean?" Storm asked, focusing on her as she suddenly opened her eyes in shock. "Is there a problem?"

"I can't get the Professor, or Scott." Jean stared straight ahead. "Something is wrong on the Starjammer, Storm. I don't know what, but something is terribly wrong."

"How do you know, my friend?"

For a split second, Jean's eyes lit with a brief crimson flame. Had Ororo not been so totally focused on her eyes, she would have missed it. "She's told me Storm, but she doesn't know what."

"Who's she?" Kitty asked perplexed. Both Jean and Storm shot her a meaningful look that said unmistakably who 'she' was. "Ah, shit! Jean, not again."


There was something across his windpipe. It wasn't choking him, but it was heavy dead weight. Mustering the energy, Henry McCoy opened his eyes. This dead weight across his windpipe was wearing blue spandex. Rotating his head left, Beast identified the source. The blue spandex belonged to Scott Summers, who was also beginning to groggily come to. "Mr. Summers, if you would be so kind." Beast managed to spit out of his very inexplicably raw throat. "Could you remove your arm from my larynx?"

"Oh, uh, sure Hank." Scott coughed, trying to move, then looking down. "Bobby get offa me." Hank looked too, and sure enough there was Robert Drake pinning both of their legs down.

"Anyone get the license plate number?" Iceman wheezed as he tried to roll over. He made it about half way, then got stuck. "I can't move, what the hell is on my back?"

"My wing, stupid." Came a muffled response from a very unhappy Warren Worthington.

"Well keep your wings to yourself." Bobby grumbled back.

"Love to," Warren shot back. "Soon as Dr. Reyes gets off my shoulder."

"You're not the one pinned half way under a four hundred pound alien, Angel." The apparently not too worse for wear Cecilia spat back.

"Dat's it! If eveybody don' get off me in five seconds, Gambit gon' blow de whole room up!" Came a muffled shout from somewhere underneath him, and Hank suddenly realized what he had thought was a comfortable pillow was in fact the Cajun.

"That's it!" Scott shouted, then proceeded to cough while everybody stared. "Let's stop bickering and get ourselves sorted out so we can figure out what happened."

"Sounds good to me." A deep gutteral groan, replied. Followed by Ch'od slowly but surely removing himself from Dr. Reyes.


"Yah realize what yer sayin' sounds a little far fetched, sugah." Rogue said, slowly.

"Course it does, Rogue." Logan replied, sitting on the floor in front of her. "But we're X-Men, normal only happens to other people."

"It does now." Rogue whispered, putting one hand to her stomach, the other absently twirling her wedding band.

"Right, this is normal." Logan snorted, pointing around the room. "It's normal not to remember yer wedding, the death of a good friend, learnin' to overcome yer mutation. Sure Rogue, that's real fuckin' normal."

"How do Ah know you ain't jus' lost yer mind?" Rogue spat. "A memory lapse sure sounds more believable to me than what yer sayin'."

"Okay, think back Rogue. What was the last thing you remember before wakin' up next to the Cajun?" Wolverine stood and took each of her hands. "Remember all that meditatin' kid, think back. Last thing you remember."

Sighing, Rogue closed her eyes and started breathing deep. It was hard to get past the memories of the past couple days, in a way she didn't want to let them go. But she was starting to get a picture, words coming back to her. A conversation – no, an argument.

"I don' like dis, chere. Promise Remy you'll be careful."

"Nah Cajun, Ah'm gonna go in there an' be reckless!"

"Y'know what I mean. 'M worried 'bout you, don' want nothin' ta happen t'ya." He tried to slip his arms around her waist from behind and hold her close, savoring their last few moments together before he disembarked, but she shrugged away from him and moved toward the front of the ship.

"Thanks f'yoah concern, Cajun, but Ah'm a big girl now. Ah can take care o' mahself."

Tears gathered in her eyes at the memory. "Ah was so wrong, Remy. You were right," she whispered. She was completely caught up in the memory until the door slammed open, and she jumped.

"F'got my coat." The other Remy spat, before looking and seeing Logan in his bed, holding his wife. He'd been angry before, now his eyes sparked like they only did when he was dangerously pissed. "Ah'm gon pretend, mon ami, dat y'sittin' in my bed, wit my wife cuz y'bein' a good friend, so's I don' gotta kick y'ass."

"Can it." Logan spat, looking back to Rogue for a decision.

"You were right, Wolvie." Rogue said, shaking her head slowly. "Ah'm sorry, Remy. Ah gotta go, this ain't how its sposed to be."

"What kinda nonsense you talking now, chere?" Remy asked, the anger slowly cooled by the confusion.

Rogue looked down at the floor to muster the courage, then looked straight into those eyes that made him seem so imposing to everyone else, everyone but her. "This isn't the way you and I were meant to be, Remy. Not now, not like this." A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Maybe someday, but not now. At least now I know what I have to look forward to." She stepped forward and gave him a small kiss. "Ah'm sorry, sugah."

"Sorry for what, chere?" Remy pleaded, reaching his arms out for her. "What d'ya mean y'goin'? What bout de baby?"

Another tear slid down her cheek. "Someday, Remy, it'll happen foah us. But today ain' it." That said, she turned her back to him and reached for Logan's hand. "Ah'm ready t'go home, sugah."

"Sounds good t'me, kid." As he grabbed her hand the room faded around her and with it the memories dimmed to a dream until she stood in the most awe inspiring world she had ever seen.

"Damn, Logan, where the hell are we?"

"You are at the center of all reality, welcome." The voice made her jump, she hadn't expected the tiny blue creature that greeted her. "I'm Jahf. You're Rogue." As suddenly as he had said it, he turned to Logan and ignored the fact she was there. "Your friends are here, it's time to leave. You will be needed outside. The time is desperate, and the time is now. She will do what she can, but the three of you will be needed. Your friends' lives may depend on it."

Rogue looked over to Sam, who sat almost lifeless on the floor ten feet away. Slowly he turned glazed eyes over to them, "She's almost too late, Jahf."

"She's never late." Jahf replied as vehemently as a three foot tall blue man could. "Now go, quickly." With that they found themselves shoved outside the room and outside the Crystal.

"How the hell did we end up back outside this bloody thing?" Rogue heard Betsy's voice shouting, along with the sound of fists pounding on what could have been glass.

"Bets?" Logan shouted.

"Wot?" Along the edge of the Crystal, first Betsy then Nightcrawler and finally Colossus appeared.

"What the hell are you three doin' here?" Logan laughed.

"Ve could ask you ze same question, mein fruend. Ve came to rescue you."

"Did you find any members of the Imperial Guard?" Colossus asked softly from where he towered behind the other two.

"They're gone," Sam shuddered, looking back at the Crystal. "It took them in, they couldn't let go." He cast a meaningful look back at Rogue who shuddered at the implication. "It ain't always easy ta let go."

"Samuel Guthrie, you sound like you've aged a millennia my dear." Betsy sniggered as they began to lead the three lost teammates back to the rally point where Storm, Jean and Kitty awaited them.

"A moment in that Crystal's longer than an eternity, Betsy. Ah never want to even set my eyes on it again."

"Dearest goddess." They could hear Storm's shout from a good forty yards away in the zero atmosphere. "You have found them."

"More like they had a little help." Logan stated, turning to look up into space. "Let's get back to the team now. We'll have all the time to catch up later."

"Wolvie's right," Kitty smiled, reaching to adjust the straps on her rocket powered maneuvering pack. "Let's get back to the ship so we can find out what Jean was talking about earlier."

"Jean?" Nightcrawler asked, looking at the woman as she stood transfixed, gazing at the sky unblinking. Slowly he followed her line of sight to a blazing dot in the sky. One dot quickly became five, then ten, then forty, all converging on one spot. "Jean, vat is that?" Kurt asked, catching the attention of the rest of the team.

"They're preparing to attack the Starjammer." She replied, her voice tight.

"So?" Rogue shrugged. "Bout time somebody taught them scoundrels a lesson."

"You do not understand Rogue," Storm stated, turning terrified eyes to her. "The rest of the team is all aboard the Starjammer. They will all be killed."

"No." The voice was ethereal, but it came from Jean's mouth. "I will not let Deathbird steal my chance at vengeance."

"Jean," Logan asked, turning towards her. "What th'hell are you talkin' about?"

"They are after the one who awoke me." As suddenly as she had said it, Jean's body shot into the depths of space toward what the rest assumed was the Starjammer. "The Phoenix lives."