"Oh Jesus." Logan slide to a stop next to Ororo, his nostrils flaring. The smell of brimstone and blood filled the air and the sight of Emma, bloody and dead, greeted them. The corpse began to fade as the White Queen came into view. Her eyes swept over the scene, seemingly unaffected.

"Guess her nightmare was losing you, Emma." Ororo saw fit to comment. The cold glare she received didn't faze her.

"Nah." Logan countered, kneeling down to gently touch the corpse before it faded. "Alex killed her herself." He gestured to the two wounds before the corpse faded all together. "Bet'cha she killed you, by accident or on purpose."

"We have to find her." Emma said softly as she strode past them all, striding purposefully over the remaining mist. Logan nodded and followed her into the brush.

"Child." My eyes rose to meet someone who'd I'd seen before but never met. His ever present helmet was a giveaway. He was levitating a few feet off the ground. "You should be careful where you run. Humans won't accept you."

"Most people won't accept a killer." I muttered under my breath. I didn't see his eyes widen as a mirror image of him threw a car at me. He thought a moment then waved to a figure to the side. That figure shifted into Mystique's natural form.

"I am not most people." He said softly. Mystique hissed when the red mist turned to flames when she attempted to touch me. "We want to help you."

"That's what she said." I said, trying not to cry at the reminder of Emma.

"We mean it." Mystique said. The mist fluttered and faded a bit, tinting the air red. She gripped one arm and hauled me to my feet. I didn't see that her eyes watched as my mother was shocked into submission by the government behind me. I didn't see anything, including where she led me.

Magneto floated down to the ground and rested a hand on my shoulder. "You can make sure no one you love ever dies again." He said. "You can make a difference."

"I can." It wasn't an argument. I made a difference. I could easily kill telepaths. After all, I'd killed the only two who could find me. I just had to find them. His eyes, which I always had thought would be cold, were warm. I knew he was ruthless, but I could understand why.

"You'll have to show us what you can do." He saw a phantom road sign pass over just behind me, though once again I was ignorant of the vision.

"It's so cold." I murmured, rubbing my arms in the bright sunshine. "So cold." Her hand pressed the small of my back, leading me away from the forest or wherever I was, to wherever they lead me.

Emma. the telepathic call caused her to turn from the window, the wine glass gently placed on the table beside her. Gathering her wits to her, she turned to face the opening door.

"It's not healthy to brood like this Emma." Jean said the words, though Scott's gaze conveyed his concern.

"Spare me the medical diagnosis Jean." Emma snapped. Her blue eyes glittered.

"We'll find her." Jean said, drawing closer. Emma turned back to the bright scenery outside, where children played and a few lazed around in the sunshine.

"She needs you Emma." Scott said from closer to the door. His efforts to comfort her despite his sometimes emotional ineptitude spoke volumes about his concern for her. Something Emma pointedly ignored.

"Then why won't she call to me?" Emma said. Her voice held the insecurity that Jean had sensed, vaguely, and that Scott had no idea existed. "She could, but she won't."

"She thinks you're dead Emma. You know as well as I do the things the mind can delude us to. She probably thinks you're another broken connection to her." Jean stood a little bit behind the other telepath, before reaching to rest a hand on the aloof woman's shoulder. Emma shrugged off the offered comfort.

"It's not that hard to tell the difference between broken and whole." Emma retorted.

"And she's not a telepath, despite her ease being in other people's minds." Jean said. "Her powers aren't common and they aren't telepathy. Stop expecting her to be able to tell. Dreams aren't based in fact and in her dreams she accidentally killed you. To her, it is real."

"Jean." Scott rested a hand on the redhead's shoulder. Whatever communication they had was silent. "Emma, she's… out of control. Watch the news tonight." He pulled Jean out of the room with him, closing the door softly behind him. Emma lifted the wine glass, twirling the liquid around, staring out across the lawn of the mansion. She sighed as she put down the wine glass next to the bottle, which was only half full.

"Alex." She murmured to the empty room, automatically reaching for her lover telepathically. As had happened the other times, the mind she sought was just too far to reach.

I stared at my hand as the inferno around me burned everything around me, scorching cement and brick, turning wood to ash. I clenched it, watching the play of the muscles as they obeyed my will. I looked up as a familiar form leapt over the flames.

"Child's play." Mystique said with a smirk. "Pyro can control flames better than you can." My eyes turned to her and I snarled, my spikes unfurling themselves as I took a swipe at her. I missed, as always, but only because she inverted her knees.

"I don't answer to you, Shifter." I snapped, glaring at her. "You stick to espionage, I'll stick to mass destruction." Her eyes flicked to something behind me, and I looked over my shoulder, but the image in the flames was gone before I had even begun to turn.

"What do the images in your flames mean?" I glanced at one over on the side, one of a familiar face smiling softly at me. It was painful to see her face, still smiling at me like she used to.

"Memories I think." I muttered, turning away from her. She jerked when a small flame demon curled around her ankle before vanishing. "Nothing more. Go bug Magneto. He'll care for you company."

For once, she listened and left. I was left to grieve in my circle of flames, turning mostly unnatural now that the fuel was mostly gone.

The military arrived a little while later, rifles aimed at my head, at my chest, most intent on ending my life. They couldn't see very well beyond the flames.

"Surrender or die Mutant." One soldier called out. From the quiet laughter of his comrades, I knew that he was lying. Not that I wouldn't have known. The government was scum. Their version of mercy was torture, something I still felt in my nightmares.

"I may be a mutant, but I am not stupid." I burned the flames higher, my mist flooding the area, only to feed the inferno further. The forms of the soldiers became obscured even from my vision as the flames became deeper, redder.

"Protect Mistress." A deep rumble said. I couldn't see who said it, but it made me long for Torrent, his giant frame, and big heart. The distance sounds of thuds met my ears briefly, before the inferno gripped to the floor above me, soaring higher and higher. The destruction did nothing to soothe the ache in me caused by Emma's death.

"Alex." The face in the flames pulled outwards, until Emma was standing before me, exact down to her white leather. She moved forward until she was at my shoulder. The blow that snapped my head to the side was an expected dream. "You sicken me." I bowed my head as she disappeared back into the flames that created her. Although I didn't cry, I could barely breathe as my throat closed.

I tilted my head back and let out a scream, the flames responding to my anguish as they leapt to the buildings around me.

"Protect the Mistress!" I noted but didn't really hear the rally. I just wanted it to end. I wanted to join my Emma.

"The mutants that caused this decimation are still on the loose, running rampant somewhere in New York. Nearby tourists managed to capture this footage of the destruction." The screen changed to show a large golem pick up a soldier and throw him into the flames. The blows from its massive fists caused men to scream as they were thrown through the air. Small flames leapt at various soldier, clawing their chests, burning out their eyes. One of the small flames raced up to the camera. It was hard to miss the glowing eyes. It opened its mouth, revealing a row of flaming sharp teeth. It bounced off the lens of the camera and attacked another soldier. The screams made it apparent that it wasn't just clinging to him.

Jean turned off the TV, unable to watch the carnage. "What do we do? With all that backup, we can't possibly stop her."

"Isolate her from the other mutants, try to talk some sense into her! If we distract the others long enough-" Ororo began.

"No." Emma cut everyone off. "Those aren't other mutants." Her smile was bitter. "None of them will have a consciousness." Her eyes were still trained on the screen. "The golem's name is Torrent. He's part of Alex's dreams."

"Emma?"

"Both her dreams and nightmares are entering reality."

"Killing you was…?"

"One of her nightmares apparently." Emma snapped. "We have to stop this madness." She turned and swept out of the room.

And how do you propose we do that, Emma? Jean snapped as the team hurried to their feet.

"By any means necessary." She replied over her shoulder.

"She's not dead you know." The familiar mirror of my voice said aloud. The demoness was barely there, faintly shown in the mist. I had nearly forgotten she existed at all.

"I killed her with my own hands." I snarled, glaring at the face I hated seeing. My own.

"Come on Alex, you know it's not true. The bond isn't broken, you just have to see beyond your dreams…" I leapt to my feet, ribbons of red tracing my veins.

"It's gone! Alright?! It's gone and no matter how much I try, I can't feel anything but a broken link, a broken bond. It's my fault! I killed her!" The demoness had gone. "My fault. My fault." I muttered as the ribbons slowly faded. "I'm sorry." When the entirety of the red was gone, a heavy hand rested on my shoulder.

"Mistress?" The slow voice of Torrent filled the air.

"Sorry. I miss her."

"I miss her too. I miss her making you happy." It was a deep thing for Torrent to say. "Sorry she's gone." I rested my head against his knee and tried to wake up. Hoping that this was just a nightmare and when I woke, Emma would reassure me that it had all been a dream.

"Not likely." Her phantom figure was as I'd last seen her, her leather coated in blood. "I'm dead. Be an X-Man and save yourself." Her voice was sharp. "I won't save you anymore."

"I'm sorry Emma."

"Sorry isn't enough for your crimes."

"You survived an attack of the Demon?" The officer leaned forward. "Why?"

"I don't know. I remember the giant rock guy coming at me. Next thing I know, the Demon as standing in front of me, saying something. I couldn't hear her over the roar of the flames." The professor of mathematics said, his voice still containing the panic and confusion from earlier.

"Do you know the Demon? Know of any mutant that thought highly of you?" The investigator said in a gentler tone, glaring at the military officer.

"I teach math at the College of Manhattan. I don't recall teaching such an obvious mutant." The professor ran a hand through his unruly hair, just beginning to silver at the temples.

"Are you absolutely sure? You don't recognise her at all?"

This time, the professor hesitated. He searched his hands before looking up at the two men. "I know this sounds crazy, but a while ago, I had these dreams, every night, for about three weeks."

"What does a dream have to do with a mass murderer?" The military officer snarled. The investigator glared at him as the professor stammered an apology before continuing.

"In my dreams, I taught her. I must have taught years worth of knowledge into those dreams. If I didn't know better, I swear she was the one from those dreams!" The man rested his arms on his shoulders. "But she wasn't a murderer. She just wanted to understand the world there."

"Are you telling me that-" The investigator jammed an elbow into the officer's side, cutting him off.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you. I think we are done here." The officer frowned and simply left, flinging the door open. The detective, one of the finest the city had to offer, gave the man a half smile. "Thank you for your time. We'll call you if we have anymore questions. You're free to go." The detective shrugged at the gruff man who waited for him impatiently in the hall. "Don't forget, I've done more mutant crime cases than a lot of people. What may seem unconnected to you can mean a lot more than it should. Don't interrupt my questionings ever again." Both men swept down the hall.

"Your way is slow."

"My way will catch the killer." The detective retorted as they rounded a corner.