Chapter 20: The Blue Cage

"He's back," Kurt whispered, trying to find the strength to stand on his own. Why, why had he pushed himself? Sabere slipped out from under his arm to take a shielding position in the front, and Kurt tried to avoid leaning to heavily on Gambit.

"Here, mon ami," Gambit whispered, handing him his treasured staff. "Gambit t'ink you're needin' it more than I." He flicked two cards into each hand and watched them flare pink, waiting for the attack…

The others braced themselves, waiting for the worst. Seconds ticked by…the rumbling continued…

And stopped. Kurt leaned on Gambit's staff, peering into the rainy city. Nothing was happening…

A blinding blue light made them all cry out, and Kurt curled into a ball, covering his eyes. The glow was painful…

With an audible snap, the light vanished, and Kurt looked up. His eyes must have had to adjust, because his vision was all blue…no, his eyes were fine…

"Oh, God," Storm murmured. "The shield."

Apocalypse's shield was back, and they were trapped in London.

-----

"It's no good," Jean sighed finally. She had been trying to reach both Psylocke and Xavier, but the shield blocked even her formidable telepathy, and Psylocke was apparently unconscious. "Betsy's gone, and even if the Professor could hear us, he couldn't do anything…"

"What does Apocalypse want? Why hasn't he challenged us?" Piotr snapped. "It's been almost twenty minutes. He won his damned wager, why doesn't he do anything?"

"He's playing mind games now," Scott answered dully, standing guard over Beast's body. "He's waiting for us to finally give up."

"Haven't we?" Piotr slumped as Kitty hugged his huge shoulders. Sabere shook her head and stood up. "It's not the end," she murmured, almost to herself, trying to convince herself.

"Well, we are close, aren't we?" Piotr said viciously, shrugging off Kitty's arm and jumping up. "Apocalypse has taken Europe and next he will move to New York City. You have seen what will happen to us there – and is it any comfort that we will escape this, only to die there?"

"Piotr, stop it -!"

"She's right! It's not the end, but it is the last page! The book ends here, and it will close when we reach New York." He pulled away and stalked into the shadows. "There is no point to hope anymore."

Sabere stared vacantly into the heart of London, feeling tears run down her cheeks as Piotr said every word she wanted to, all the truths she had feared in her core. This was their last step before the end…the glaring light pressed down on her and she sat down in the street again, overwhelmed. "Kurt…" she whispered, half calling him and half wishing for happier times, and suddenly a hand was around hers, pulling her to her feet. But it was not Kurt's – it was Logan's.

"'We will try, and we will fail, because we are the X-Men and we will die for the people we protect.' Remember that?" he whispered. Sabere nodded half-heartedly.

"Xavier said it…when we realized how this fight would end…"

"We will end it well." She looked up at him in surprise, and saw a fierce fire in his eyes, something she had seen before – the fire he had when he knew the end was coming and he intended to take as many of the bad guys with him as he could. "Now go find your elf."

Sabere turned and found herself face-to-face with Mystique. "Still can't keep your hands off the other guy's girls, can you, Logan," she taunted.

Furious energy filled her, and Sabere flung her hand out in a telekinetic slap that – to her surprise – threw Mystique across the street.

"Here they come!" Angel flung himself into the sky at Magneto, but that was all she saw before she was enclosed in fire.

She screamed and threw out a shield, pushing the fire away and flinging some of it back at its creator – Pyro, sprinting down the street, laughing. The Horsemen knew they had won, on all levels, and the fact that they had caught the X-Men unaware thrilled them. They pushed their advantage ruthlessly, and Sabere had the cold sick feeling in her stomach that this might as well be the end. They were mice caught between huge, sadistic cats, and they didn't intend to leave survivors.

But they have to. We still have enough for New York.

Spurred by this grim knowledge, she ran to join the battle against Pyro but magneto's trick a huge shock wave threw her against a building, stunned. She huddled against a car, out of sight – or so she thought.

"Sabere, move!" Suddenly Pyro was standing over her, Kurt's arms were around her, and flames wrapped around them both – and just as suddenly, they were lying burned and aching at the feet of Apocalypse.

"Oh." Kurt said quietly.

The huge metallic arm reached slowly down to pick him up and fling him against a tipped-over bus. A scream ripped from Sabere's throat, and without thinking, she plunged one of her knives into his ankle. He roared, a bellow that made the clashing and shrieks of battle sound like children laughing, and Sabere stared up in utter fear. Apocalypse's face twisted into that terrifying scowl from her nightmares, and she remembered Xavier's fears – that Apocalypse would simply kill her when he had taken what he needed from her. His hand twisted into a sadistic blue knife of energy, which plunged towards her face –

And she was gone.

-----

Cold steel against her cheek woke her. Amazing – she was alive. The fire was gone – but so was her hearing, or else the battle had ended. Her head ached – she couldn't even think – but she wasn't sure she wanted to, because if she did any thinking she would decide she was lying alone in the streets of London under the blue shield with the bodies of her friends around her stop thinking – and the burn on her back was throbbing. Kurt saved me. She rolled over, wincing as the metal beneath her – a car hood, maybe? – chilled the wound and took away some of the pain. Blue light filtered through her eyelids before she even had the capacity to really see – but she had a feeling she knew what awaited her.

But she was wrong.

The blue light was not the shield, as she had expected. A rectangle of it glared down at her, twenty feet above her. Featureless metal walls surrounded her, with the seams of a door barely visible in one. They had been defeated…and they were captured, not dead. Cold fear sank in as Sabere realized she didn't even know if they were still in London, or what had happened to the rest of the X-Men – and to Kurt.

Adrenaline threw her into action, and she ignored the searing pain in her back as she lunged at the cold door.

"No! No, no no no!" She hammered on the door and screamed. "Kurt! Storm! Anyone! Remy! Goddammit, someone! Kurt!" She screamed names and curses till her voice gave out and her fists ached. Hoarse and sobbing, she slumped to the floor of her cell, clawing half-heartedly at the floor and whimpering names. They were gone…captured, separated, maybe she was the only one left…the book had closed…

Child, what are you doing?

Sabere's head snapped up. A voice – it sounded so familiar –

What was she doing? She had panicked. She took a deep breath and drew herself up, sitting cross-legged in front of the door with her hands upturned in her lap. There was a way out of here – there always was – it would just take time to find it.

Storm had not wasted any time. Being claustrophobic was bad enough – being trapped in a blue hell-lit box, with no idea as to where she was or what had happened to her friends, was terrible – and infuriating. She gathered the anger, took its strength, and blasted the door. Lightning snapped at the shining metal door, so bright that even Storm had to look away, but when she finally slumped in exhaustion the door was unchanged. Finally she, too, gave in, and gave the door a solid punch and Apocalypse a screamed curse. All she wanted now was the chance to squeeze the life from his chuckling throat…

Jean didn't even bother attacking the door. She had given it a cursory exam when she'd revived, and the results did not surprise her – Apocalypse knew everything about their powers, and had designed his cells to be completely and wholly impenetrable. So she sat calmly on the floor and stretched her mind, trying to find leaks in the cell through which she could contact the others – if they were still alive.

/Hello?/

Go away. I hurt.

/It's me, it's Betsy. Are you all right?/

Betsy. Kurt groaned and shifted on the cold metal floor. He'd worn himself out completely trying to teleport out of his cell, and passed out. And oh, he hurt – the burn – he had shielded Sabere – Sabere! Where is she?

New panic energized him, and he sat up, head swimming, hair across his face. The voice – it had claimed to be Psylocke, but she'd been captured –

A pink glowing blade stabbed through the cell door and swept cleanly down, across, up, across – "Move to the side!" Kurt quickly obeyed, and with a fierce shriek, Psylocke kicked in the rectangle she'd carved out of the door and peered in. "Can you walk?"

"Yes – yes, I think I can." He stepped unsteadily out into the corridor – damn the blue lights! They were everywhere – and was delighted to see Cyclops and Kitty had already been freed. "How did you –" he started to ask.

"Honestly, if one more person asks me – can't you see we're in a bit of a hurry?" She moved on to the next door, while Kitty stuck her hand through another to pull Storm out. "The doors are only impenetrable from the inside. Obviously he wasn't expecting anyone to be able to get to them from the outside." Kurt watched the doors anxiously, and ignored Jean as she threw herself into Scott's arms. Logan wasted no time slashing through one of the doors to release Angel. Kurt's heart soared when Kitty's hand reappeared through the door clasping Sabere's, and the girl dodged out of the way with a smirk as Sabere flung her arms around him in relief.

"That's everyone," Psylocke said briskly. "Now all of you, follow me, and run. I've found a way out but it will not be easy with you great noisy lugs. Keep up."

The group ran after her, as quietly as they could managed (which three-hundred-pound Piotr was having more trouble with than others), weapons drawn and powers ready. Psylocke led them up stairs, through several intersections of hallway, and finally out a door into the street. They immediately crowded into a triangular space formed when the face of a skyscraper fell off against another building.

"What happened to Beast?" Scott asked.

"He wasn't in the compound. I looked." Psylocke glared stonily out at the rain, back towards their prison – which had been constructed under an ordinary-looking condominium.

"He's out there," Sabere said distantly, her hand pointing lazily out to the north. "Right where we left him."

The others exchanged glances. "Sabere," Jean said carefully, "You don't have telepathy and even I can't sense the dead."

"The Phoenix told me."

Raised eyebrows all around. Kurt shifted closer, looking into her eyes, but Sabere looked perfectly sane. "I'll go get him," Jean said finally, and sprinted from their cave, darting through shadows. They waited silently for a moment, watching the rain fall on the silent city.

-----

"This is too easy," Angel said finally.

"The shield is still up, that's why." Betsy grumbled. "I can't take care of everything. Even if they're figured out we've escaped, it's not like we can get far."

"So we're still trapped?"

"I can get us out." Sabere wasn't sure why she spoke – she just felt like she knew. She was just as certain about their escape as she was about Beast's body. "Distract the Horsemen and be ready to run – and be prepared to possibly leave me behind."

"Not – " Kurt started to object, but Cyclops shook his head and stopped the words. He looked up at Sabere, and through the emotionless visor she saw the eyes of a friend, looking deep into hers. "Don't make me make that choice."

He laid out a few stones as landmarks and started explaining a strategy, but Sabere wasn't listening. She squeezed Kurt's hand to reassure him, but if he didn't buy it she didn't blame him – her madness and suicidal tendencies weren't exactly new. But she knew what she was doing, somehow…how…

I can help you.

But there must be a trade. Is this it? My sacrifice?

Would the answer change your resolve?

…No.

The Horsemen have found you. Leave now.

Sabere sprang up, leaped into the skies and immediately drew the attention of the approaching Horsemen. Vaguely she heard the shouts of the other X-Men as they ran below her towards the jet, while the Horsemen, caught by surprise, tried to form an attack. Pyro was the first to recover – jets of flame snaked towards her, but Sabere, without a thought, waved out a hand to throw up a shield. A shimmering wall of fiery energy formed between her and her enemies, encircling her, warming and strengthening her. Amazing, this power – unbelievably effortless, so safe – She grinned at her enemies and spread her arms – flaming wings – challenging anything and everything.

Faintly, she heard Jean's panicked mindvoice, shouting at her to reject the power – she heard the rest of her teammates shouting for the shield.

Oh yes. The shield. A challenge.

She turned her head and launched herself at it like a torpedo, fists clenched ahead of her. "Now!" The cry echoed through the ruins of London like an eagle's scream…

Her fists flared white-hot as she impacted the shield. All around her for fifty feet, the blue glare faltered and was washed away by a rippling wave of orange power. The jet was there…

But the power was gone…

She vaguely realized she was falling before she blacked out.

-----

"How's she doing?" Storm called from the cockpit as the jet hurtled as fast as they dared to push it over the Atlantic.

"She has a pulse now – so, better," Kurt answered. Sabere lay across three seats, her leg across Gambit's and her head in Kurt's lap. Kurt sat twisted in his seat so Jean could bandage his burns – Sabere's had mysteriously healed themselves.

"How far are we? Any followers?" Jean asked.

"We're doing well. Don't think anyone's coming." Scott was focused on flying, occasionally flipping switches and diverting power so they could go faster. "We got lucky."

Kitty began, "Is Sabere – "

"We should be grateful her heart started again," Jean snapped, then took a deep breath and apologized. They were all too high-strung…they had escaped doom beyond all hopes, but Sabere's strange new power – this Phoenix – scared them, and if she was dead… "I don't know yet," Jean amended, and finished with Kurt's burns.

Kurt studied Sabere's unconscious face and tried not to think of Alkali Lake – because two telekines suddenly showing unstoppable new powers, including the manifestation of firelike wings, could not be unrelated. Stopping a flood, punching through an impenetrable shield…

/They're not. It's the same thing./ Jean returned to her seat next to Angel and busied herself with a gash on his back, giving no hint that she was communicating. ­­/She's been having dreams about it – I know she told you – and I knew it was the same thing that happened to me, only this time it actually communicated with her. When it came to me, I just noticed more power until…/ A rush of images, a feeling of cold, and fear. Kurt shook his head.

/What will it do to her?/

/I can't tell,/ she answeredhelplessly. /This is so different…the circumstances of its arrival, the way it's interacting with her, the kinds of powers it's giving her…I don't know./ She made eye contact for only a moment before moving on to a small burn on Angel's scalp. /I think you're right to be worried about her. She'll need you, now more than ever./

Kurt tried to contain the sudden rush of love and fear for her, all the memories of their time together, everything that summed up his love – but it was no use and Jean smiled a little. /It's nothing to be ashamed about. I see how Scott feels all the time – and it looks like you're doing everything right./ She glanced over at him again. /You're good together. I'm happy for you./

/If only the circumstances were different – all of them./

He felt Sabere sigh a little, and saw her eyelids flutter. "She's awake!" he said sharply, and immediately Jean was back at his side, studying her face.

"'S the big deal?" Sabere asked blurrily.

"We thought it had killed you," Kurt answered gently. "You hit the ground at almost fifty miles per hour. It's a miracle nothing was even broken."

"I shielded m'self, genius," she muttered. "Not that dumb…I got us out. The Phoenix did."

They met eyes again. ­/This doesn't sound like her./. "It 'got us out' last time by killing me," Jean reminded her. "You have to understand how worried we were."

"It said it wanted a sacrifice, but it just left…guess it still needs me or somethin'…"

Kurt fought away the cold fear that was knotting in his stomach. Jean glanced up at him, fear written in her face. /Not good../

He poured sarcasm into the thought – his favorite defense. /Really?/

"Sabere, stay with me." Jean turned Sabere's face so she had to make eye contact. "Remember I told you to refuse it – now you need to, more than ever. It did what it wanted just now and discarded you, threw you away to live or die. Next time, it won't be so gentle."

"It'll be worth it," Sabere whispered with a smile. "'S gonna save us…Xavier…" She passed out again, leaving anyone who had heard even more confused.