Whew! That was a bit of a wait, wasn't it? Once more my apologies, I had to finish things for my, ahem, third novel which comes out August 29th, and which is the sequel to my previous two novels which you can find under my real name, Aubrey Coletti. SHAMELESS PLUG IS NAKED AND WITHOUT SHAME! GAZE UPON IT IN WONDER AND/OR DISINTEREST!
Okay, well, with all that set, this should be pretty much the only thing I'm actively writing for the summer, so hopefully I should be able to bang these out more quickly! As always, reviews give me the happy, lack of such gives me the sad, and what does the Fox say? (Cancelled!) Now, onward!
Season Three, Episode Six: Slit
First Floor Hallway, Xavier Institute
"Illyana! Illy!" the red-headed Xavier student shouted, as he ran up to Illyana Rasputin and clapped her on the shoulders. The little Russian smiled shyly as she opened her locker. "What, Alex?"
"You still on for tonight?" he asked her, running his tongue absently over his forked teeth, his freckled face open and friendly. "Pizza, cupcakes, Code Geass marathon?"
"Yes, most certainly," Illyana said precisely in her accented English. Alex grinned and put two thumbs up as he strode backwards down the hall. "I'ma hold you to it, Red!"
"You're the red one, Crazy Hair!" Illyana called back at him with a smile, impressed with her own daring. She turned back to her locker. A glimmer to her right caught her eye. She looked down, and there was nothing. She turned away slowly, and caught sight of it again — the same shifting, gleaming, barely-there light. She drew in a slow breath at its elusive beauty, and took an entranced step towards it. Fingers outstretched, Illyana stepped forward, her foot touching the edge of the softly pulsing slit that resembled incandescent light.
"Oh, Illy!" Alex shouted, turning back around. "I for—" He blinked, staring at the empty space where Illyana had been, and watched her backpack fall to the floor.
Student's Dorms, Xavier Institute
Female President by Girl's Day Plays On Jubilee's Speakers
Illyana choked back a breath in her aching chest as her eyes adjusted to the different scene before her. Head spinning, she blinked, rapidly and repeatedly, until she could identify the space around her as a room.
"Yeah, definitely!" Jubilee was saying into her phone, as she sat on her bed, magazines spread out all around her. "I don't know what that was, but it definitely wasn't singing . . . uh huh . . . no the dancing is important, but if you're gonna do it, either lip sync or be better, you know?"
Illyana strained through the pain in her throat and the ache in her bones, and forced sound past her lips. "Help — please—"
"Yeah, sure, I— hold on," Jubilee said, holding the phone to her chest and turning around. "Yeah?" She frowned, looking at the empty room. "Sorry," she said back into the phone. "Thought I heard something."
Front Lawn, Xavier Institute
Illyana practically screamed as the bright sunlight burned her open eyes. She was now on the lawn, swaying on unsteady feet. Around her, first-year Xavier students went through a workout under the watchful gaze of Logan.
Illyana stumbled forward, trying to get away from the gleaming disk the slit had become. The younger students were too caught up in laughing and struggling with Logan's series of exercises to see her. Looking around, Illyana spotted the tall figure of the long-haired, red-eyed mutant her brother counted as a friend. "P—please—" she tried to yell, although it came out as barely a whisper. "Please—"
Remy stiffened, and then turned. Illyana looked desperately at him, begging him to see her. His red-black eyes met hers and he smiled. "You' big Red's sister, oui? Why don' you come on over and join, hein?"
Illyana reached out a hand to him, unable to say more. Remy made to move towards her.
"Hey, Cajun!" Logan barked, his heavy brows furrowed as he looked over at them. "This only counts as your detention if you actually work, Gumbo."
"This one is workin'!" Remy protested, as he turned to face the burly Canadian. "I'm helpin' Piotr's lil' sister. She's joinin' up, her."
"What are you talkin' about?" Logan growled. "Where do you see Tin Man's sister?"
"She's righ'—" Remy turned around and then shook his head. "I mean . . ." He looked out over the lawn, trying to locate the girl who had been there seconds before. "Well . . . guess she run off."
Rec Room, Xavier Institute
Illyana was crying when she found herself in the nearly empty Rec Room, desperately trying to grab onto anything to make it all stop. She heard a recognizable laugh, and turned her head to see her brother chuckling as he sat on the couch with Kitty.
"Katya, there is no way that is true," he tried to assured her. Kitty sniffed indignantly. "I am the scientist here. You should bow to my superior knowledge and might."
"Oh, I always bow before your intelligence and strength," Piotr said gallantly. "I am lucky I have such a strong back."
"Piotr!" Illyana gasped. "Pomogi mne! P—"
Kitty's laughter was cut short to Illyana's ears as the twisting and pulling sensation again overtook her. For a few excruciating seconds every physical law that kept her body together broke, and she was caught in a whirl of impossible pain.
And then it stopped, again. And again she was trapped and suspended in the black, soundless, boundless place where she couldn't find her feet, couldn't feel her face, and couldn't hear herself scream.
TITLE SEQUENCE:
TITLE SONG: "Evolutionary" Composed By Emilie Autumn
Cast:
Wolverine: Hugh Jackman
Storm: Halle Berry
Professor Xavier: Patrick Stewart
Jean Grey: Famke Janssen
Cyclops: James Marsden
Beast: Kelsey Grammar
Rogue: Anna Paquin
Gambit: Taylor Kitsch
Iceman: Shawn Ashmore
Kitty Pryde: Ellen Page
Piotr Rasputin: Enver Gjokaj
Jubilee: Julia Ling
With Ksenia Solo as Illyana Rasputin
January Jones as Emma Frost
And
James Earl Jones as Belasco
Written by Albert Kim
Directed by David Solomon
Created by Joss Whedon
Teacher's Lounge, Xavier Institute
"God, I don't want to have to put up with them in the DR today," Logan groused to Ororo as he sniffed an unlit cigar. "The only thing worse than the runts is the older team. Can't I just take Tin Man and Forge, and lock the rest of 'em in a closet?"
"If you could find a sufficiently mutant-proofed closet, and wished to enrage several of our more well-trained, battle-tested students," Ororo said, before taking a sip of her coffee. "Perhaps Scott would help by taking some of them off your hands?"
Scott looked up, barely raising his head from his arms, his legs under the break table like lead. "Me? What?"
"Oh, baby. You are so tired." The soft, knowing hand on his back moved up to his neck. "You can't even keep your eyes open."
Scott gasped at the familiar, husky voice. "Jean?" He turned and his gaze moved from her waist and chest up to her face. She was shaking her head slightly, eyes shut. "Oh, Scott," she murmured. "You can't even open your eyes."
Scott watched as Jean raised her lids and then screamed at the hideous, black holes that were revealed as the woman he loved began to burn.
"Scott! Cyke? Scott, man, c'mon." Logan's gruff voice and his rough shaking woke Scott with a start. "What? I'm up," Scott promised, forcing himself to stand awkwardly.
"Yeah," Logan said, looking Scott over as Ororo walked past them out into the halls. "You ain't been sleepin' much, huh?"
"I'm fine," Scott said briskly, and tried to move out of the lounge himself. Logan moved his shorter but sturdier frame into the way. "Not from where I'm standing."
Scott chuckled bitterly. "What? We friends now, just because Jean's dead?"
"Well, now I was gonna say we're teammates, and I don't want you fallin' asleep if an assassin or a mutant extremist decides to drop by," Logan responded tersely. "You ain't been right since—"
"When I fail as a leader of the X-Men, then you can have my goddamn spot," Scott snapped. "Until then, either be the asshole I've grown used to, or be somewhere else; but don't try and act like my you're my counselor."
Logan didn't bother to answer as Scott pushed rudely past him. "Yup," Logan growled, once the other man was gone. "Still a dick."
Lower Level Hallway, Xavier Institute
Bobby, Remy, Rogue, Sid, Kitty and Jubilee waited in their training suits just outside the Danger Room entrance, as Logan again briefed them on their upcoming session.
"Now, I want you to remember," Logan repeated, glaring out at them. "That the point of you all having a class session like this is to learn how to guard and supervise. You'll be working with simulated mutants, but the Professor wants you to eventually do sessions with the younger classes. Because one day — and I will be lighting up inside the mansion on that day — one day you'll be taking over my job. And then you can deal with trying to make you all pay attention. Tin Man!" Logan barked at Piotr. "Is your phone tellin' you somethin' about the next session I ain't?"
The rest of the group turned to see the normally perfectly behaved Russian lower his phone from his ear. "I'm sorry, Professor," he said, politely but nervously. "I am trying to call my sister. She was supposed to be with a friend an hour ago, and he has not seen her. She also missed a class. I am trying to find her, but she is not answering."
"The lil' Petite?" Remy scratched the back of his neck. "'Was out on de lawn earlier, fo' a moment. Den she was gon'. Seemed a bit . . . strange to this one. Mais, cette ecole a beacoup d'etrange."
"I could have sworn I heard her earlier when I was in my room," Jubilee said, pulling at the tight fit of her new uniform. "I thought I was imagining it, but maybe she was passing me?"
"Her powers are teleportation ones, right?" Kitty said swiftly, brows furrowing. "Isn't that what the Professor said? Maybe she's been jumping around, like Nightcrawler used to do."
"I actually have been getting weird readings on my new ELF-O-Scope," Sid said. Logan shook his head and opened his mouth to try to interrupt the fast-paced exchange. "Hey—"
"You been gettin' what on the huh-o-scope?" Rogue asked Sid, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall. "Should that mean somethin' to those of us failin' physics?"
"EFL stands for extremely low frequency electromagnetic field pockets," Sid explained rapidly, as Logan smothered a growl as he was cut off again. "They're all over the earth, and they tend to be places where psychic abilities are magnified, and more paranormal phenomenon occurs. I got a theory—"
"That it's a demon!" Kitty sang immediately. The others turned to look to her, and she colored. "Sorry. Reflex."
"If Piotr really can't contact her, we should check with the Professor," Bobby said decisively. "If she's anywhere nearby he'll be able to locate her. If she's a telepath, he'll at least be able to sense her. Right?"
All of the students nodded, and turned to go. "Stop!" Logan boomed. They all froze, and turned back around. He glared at them all, and then rolled his eyes. "No, go. Just go. Whatever— that was, we'll count it as teamwork or somethin'. Go."
The young X-Men rushed off and Logan took out a cigar. "Chuck, heads up. The X-Pack is comin' your way, and I'm lightin' up this bad boy. If you wanna make me a squealin' girl, now would be the time."
Logan almost had the cigar to his lips when he heard the old man's crisp accent in his mind. No, I think not, Xavier said. Mr. Rasputin is correct to worry. His sister's friend reported her disappearance to me, and I have been searching for her mind since with, indeed, strange results. Tell them to meet me at Cerebro. I fear something has gone quite wrong.
Cerebro, Xavier Institute
"Thank you, Piotr," Xavier said as the door to Cerebro closed behind them on the other anxiously, loudly waiting X-Men. Piotr frowned as he followed the Professor up the ramp to the central mechanism of the machine. "What for, sir?"
"For remaining quiet and still," Xavier thanked. "I know this is an extremely stressful situation."
"I do not know," Piotr said, as the Professor fitted the helmet over his bald head. "I do not know what this situation is yet. I only know — Illyana must be alright. I have to keep her safe. It was my promise."
"And mine," Xavier said, closing his eyes. "We will find her. Just . . . hold still for a few moments more . . ."
The Professor engaged Cerebro, his already unparalleled mental powers amplified as he searched for the signature of the young Russian girl. He sensed her and made a mental turn, but was unable to 'see' her. Focusing slightly more than he usually would, Xavier tried to pin down a location without applying the force that could kill any mutant or human if he so chose. But Illyana remained a faint sense on the edge of his mental radar.
Behind him, Xavier could feel the waves of fear and anxiety emanating from Piotr. "I'm afraid," Xavier said, as he reached up to remove the helmet, "that I could not locate her, precisely."
"Precisely?" Piotr's grasp of English was strong, but he said the word as if he had never heard it before. "What does this mean? You can locate her some?"
Xavier sighed, his frown deep as he tried to puzzle through the strange new problem before them. "I have had difficulty locating certain mutants who teleport before, because of the erratic nature of their movements. But with your sister, I am quite certain that she is in the school. Yet somehow, she seems to be not of the school."
"How can we find her? Is she hurt?" Piotr asked in a rush, as Xavier turned his chair. "Has someone taken her? Is she sick?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Xavier said gravely. "I'm very afraid that I do not know."
Classroom 124, First Floor, Xavier Institute
Ororo followed Sid into the classroom, squinting at the device he held out before them. It resembled a small, old-fashioned radio, but with an abundance of buttons and a glowing central dial. "When did you make this?" Ororo asked, as Sid went slowly around the classroom, looking at the empty air and extending the antennae outward.
"Finished it last night," Sid said, for once not looking up to answer her. "A lot of our tech has been going wonky lately, down in the MedBay, outside with the security system, even up on the roof with our basic power. I came up with this as a way to locate pockets where things were giving out. I thought it could be just that all the mutant activity was messing with the wires, but so far, only Illyana has seemed linked to it."
Ororo allowed herself a small smile. "You seem to be ahead of all of us, Sid. With your scientific expertise, you may find Illyana all on your own."
Sid lowered the device and turned to look at the weather-witch. "I'm not sure it's a scientific thing, Ms. Monroe," he said, the mature, professional tone in his voice gone as he swallowed heavily. "I've actually seen this kind of stuff before, with Grandfather. One of our neighbors' power kept going out, and no matter how many times the electric company came, they couldn't fix it. They just kept having blackouts and buzzing, fuses blowing . . ."
Ororo tilted her head, her blue eyes bright. "And did you find a way to fix it?"
"No. My grandfather did." Sid ran his thumbs down the side of his device. "He said it wasn't a tech problem, but a spirit problem. That guy's father had committed suicide, and Grandfather said his spirit was trying to break over into our world." Sid swallowed hard, shifting back and forth on his feet. "It didn't stop until he did a cleansing ceremony, to cast the spirit out."
Ororo started to step back and caught herself. She straightened her back instead of folding, refusing to show fear in front of a student. "Illyana isn't a spirit, Sid. She's just lost."
Student Dorms, Second Floor, Xavier Institute
Remy opened the door grandly for Rogue. She rolled her eyes as she entered the room Illyana shared with another first year, carrying the device Sid had given them. "Apres-vouz," Remy murmured, and Rogue couldn't hold back a shiver as she walked in. "And can this one beg that we spend as lil' time in les femmes room as possible, hein?" Remy shivered himself as he strode after her. "Can feel de perfume goin' to this one's head."
"Well, it can't hardly make ya any less of a man than you already are, sugar," Rogue said, as she lifted up the device and tried to make sense of the beeping. She moved around Illyana's empty bed, waving the device over it. She felt it start to slip when Remy's deft, gloved hands wrapped around hers. "Slow, chere," he said, his voice vibrating up her back as she felt his breath on her ear, just behind her. "Don' t'ink breakin' it's gon' help us figure it out better. Merci, also, for de compliment."
Rogue was swallowing, trying not to react too much to watching Remy slowly move their hands over the empty bed. "Merci — you thankin' me? For what?"
Remy stopped their hands, and Rogue felt her heart skip. She turned her head to see him looking down at her with gleaming ruby eyes. "Fo' the compliment, o' course," he said innocently. "On dis one's incredible manhood."
Rogue took a moment to connect his words to the ones she had spoken moments before, and by then she saw the smirk. "Oh, is that what you heard?" she said smartly, turning up her twang. "And here I thought I just might check your ego, 'fore you get yo' self in more trouble."
"Oh, now we both know, can't do nuthin' 'bout that, me," Remy said smoothly. "Trouble loves this one, she does. Like so many femmes, can' seem to run from her."
Rogue had been trying to think of a comeback, but at his words she felt her own wither. Remy too sensed how the innocuous sparring had come close to painful truth, and for a moment they stood too close together in heavy silence. Rogue pulled away first. "Can't see much here. After we check the bathroom we can move on down and find Logan and Jean-Paul."
"Right." Remy waited as Rogue moved into the small bathroom, carrying the beeping little device. "You find anythin', chere?"
"I might— damn, stupid here curtain! I—" Rogue growled and said something profoundly unladylike, that made Remy grin widely. He turned and moved over to poke his head into the bathroom. "De shower too much for you, there? Need a strong man's assistance, you?"
Rogue scowled at him through the see-through shower curtain, holding the device with one hand and the pole holding up the curtain with the other. "Sure — go an' call one for me, wouldja?"
Remy chuckled as he stepped into the small space. "Here. This one is a helpful male, even to prickly gals like yo' self." He reached through the curtain and took hold of the device along with her with his right hand. With his left, he supported her waist, the curtain bunching between them. "There. Better, non?"
Waiting Game by Banks Plays Over the Rest of the Scene
"Remy . . ."
At her soft whisper, Remy looked up. He caught her gaze, her green eyes over-bright through the sheer curtain that fell between them. It gently lay across her face, a thin veil just barely parting them, not keeping the heat of her breath from his skin. Locked in burning silence, Remy's hand slid from her hip around to her lower back, pulling her in. Rogue let out a gasp that Remy tasted, and he realized he was inches from her lips. He stilled himself, not sure he possessed the strength to pull away, when Rogue arched up and sealed her mouth to his.
Rogue felt the heat of his lips against hers and pulled away with a gasp, stunned and spun. She looked up at Remy in terror, but he was not pale, black-veined, or shaking. The moist curtain clung to Rogue's lips, and she watched Remy's brilliant eyes darken with desire. She let her neck fall back as he dipped down again, capturing her mouth.
He kissed her, and Rogue waited, terrified and exhilarated, trying to hold herself back. But Remy buried his right hand in her hair and kissed her with moaning need, as if he had no fear of her poison tongue. Rogue couldn't hold out against his desperate kisses and gave in, throwing her arms up around his neck. Sid's device clattered to the tiled floor behind her. Remy dragged her over the edge of the shower, and Rogue went willingly with him.
The curtain strained as the two lovers roiled against each other, and then snapped under their weight. Remy fell backwards, throwing out one arm to break his fall, keeping the other firmly wrapped around Rogue. She hissed as they tumbled onto the cold floor, their bodies pushed flush together.
Rogue matched Remy for passion now as she lay on top of him, her tongue bold through the sheer fabric, her hips seeking his without shame. Lost to the long-denied sensations, Rogue wrapped her legs around his waist as Remy turned them over. He met her rising body with the same pained, frantic urgency, his kisses rhythmic. He pulled away for air and gasped. "Anna . . ."
Rogue's eyes snapped open, her ears pounding with the blood rushing through her fiercely living body. She was burning, the layers upon layers she wore stifling her too hot skin, desire and panic making her heart thrum like a hummingbird against Remy's broad chest. "No," she moaned out, and with all the strength she could still manage, shoved him off of her.
Remy fell back against the bottom of the sink, breathless and wrecked, his hair clinging to his sweat-soaked skin. He watched, panting and propping himself up on unsteady arms, as Rogue closed her eyes and turned away. "Go," she ordered, her chest still rising and falling too quickly, the long red line of lust still clear on her white throat through the curtain.
Remy opened his mouth and tried to speak, drawing in a shaking breath and fighting through the confused, needing weakness in his his chest. "Chere—"
Rogue seized as if he had caressed her or struck her. She made an animal sound of fury and want in the back of her throat. "I said go. Go!"
Remy turned away as if burned, and used the stinging pain as a push to get himself to his feet. He fled the room, his feet pounding out of the dorm and down the hall, leaving Rogue to choke back her dry sobs of frustrated, aching, vicious desire alone on the wet floor.
Front Lawn, Grounds, Xavier Institute
Kitty walked with Piotr in silence, respectful of his single-minded focus on the device Sid had given them, trying to be as quiet as possible as they circled through the grounds. But Katherine Pryde wasn't a fan of agonizing, pained silences. "We'll find her, Pete," she promised, stepping lightly around one of the the neatly trimmed rose bushes after him. "Okay? We don't lose people here. We don't lose our people, period."
Piotr paused, holding the device out over an empty stump, and Kitty waited for a response. Piotr inclined his head slightly, but he continued on for a few more paces before she heard his soft murmur. "It is not you who would lose her. I was meant to be watching her. She is my responsibility."
Kitty bounded over to Piotr's shoulder like her namesake and moved to stand in front of him. "You did everything right. You can't just keep an eye on a teenage girl 24/7. It's, like, one of those laws of physics that you can't break."
"You cannot understand," Piotr muttered roughly, moving to walk around Kitty. Kitty's brows snapped together, and she sidestepped into his way again. "Excuse me? I can't understand? I am a teenage girl, here. I know what that is. I'm also an X-Man — woman, rather — so I know what it means to feel like you failed to protect someone. And—"
"You are not a brother, Katya!" Piotr's voice, when he raised it, could boom across acres like the ringing of an axe. Several other students playing frisbee looked over at them as he shook his head, his normally easygoing expression dark and forbidding. "You are not— you do not have someone you promised to protect go missing! You did not promise your mother that she would be safe with you, only to fail!"
"You didn't fail," Kitty insisted. Her eyes were wide with certainty as looked up at him. "We don't even know—"
"You are right," Piotr cut her off again, curtly. "We do not know. We do not know where she is, how she is, or how to find her. So, until I know, please — do not speak to me. I don't . . . trust myself, Katya. Please."
Kitty opened her mouth as always to reply, but Piotr's stern, sad, warning glance for once made her bite back her sharp retort. "You might not," she responded softly. "You might not, but I do."
Piotr looked down as if shamed, and smiled brokenly. "I don't think I have earned that from you."
He started when Kitty slipped her much smaller hand into his. "Trust me, then," she asserted, squeezing him with a grip much stronger than her size would suggest. "I know you, Piotr. I know what I see."
Lower Level Hallway, Xavier Institute
Scott turned a corner after Bobby, squinting suspiciously at the softly beeping device the young mutant held out before them. "You sure you're using that right?"
Bobby furrowed his brows in concentration and knelt down, holding out the device a few inches above the floor. Its beeping echoed around the long, empty hall. "I think something is here, or was here. You can kind of feel it. It's like the air is— hot and cold at the same time."
"Yeah, right," Scott said distractedly. He leaned against the wall and rubbed his temples. He suppressed a yawn and tried not to give in to the vertigo making him want to slide to his own knees in dizzied exhaustion.
Scott.
He whipped his head around, searching for the source of the soft whisper in his mind. "J—" He stopped himself before he could complete the name, determined not to think it. "No. You j— no . . ."
The sound of footsteps in the distance made him turn in the other direction. "Bobby," Scott said, tapping the boy on his back as he stepped around him. Bobby didn't move, but Scott continued down the hall. He could hear how rapid the footfall was now, and that it was accompanied by gasping and what sounded like wailing. "Bobby, get ready," he instructed quietly, as his hand went up to his shades. Scott readied himself for attack as the footsteps drew close enough for him to hear the wailing clearly. His gaze darted between the two halls of the T-junction, as he was unable to tell which direction the cries were coming from. Shaking his head and abandoning caution for advance attack, he moved into the intersection.
The screams echoed around him from both sides. Scott could feel terror like an oppressive heat all around him. He turned around madly, searching for the girl crying out in what he could identify as Russian. "Illyana!" He saw a figure out of the corner of his eye, and pivoted, only to be confronted with empty air. "Illyana," he called out again. The well-known halls before him seemed to bend and warp, and then for a split-second Scott saw her. Piotr's sister was covered in blood and shrieking as she ran directly at him, arms outstretched. Behind her, something dark and constantly morphing was coming at them both. Scott whipped off his shades and fired an optic blast at the shadow.
"Professor! Professor Summers!" Bobby's voice gradually began to drown out Illyana's screams. Scott felt something — hands — shaking him. The motion finally forced his eyes open, and Scott found himself looking through the ruby-tinted shades up at Bobby's serious, nervous expression.
"You fell asleep, Professor," Bobby explained. Scott felt around himself with his hands, and realized that he was on his knees, back against the wall. "You slid down," Bobby said. "I thought you were kneeling to look at the area, but then you started muttering in your sleep—"
Scott had been blinking to try and bring himself back to the present. Now his eyes shot wide open. He felt the energy ever-present in them burning. "I saw her. Illyana. I found her."
"You were asleep," Bobby reminded him. "Professor—"
"I know." Scott got to his feet, unsteady but certain. "And I found her."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
MedBay, Xavier Institute
"Scott, please—"
"It wasn't." Scott stared down Xavier and then looked around at the other X-Men filling the MedBay. Ororo looked worried, Hank flustered. Logan seemed almost amused, and Scott ground his teeth against that, but didn't back down. "It wasn't a dream. I mean — I was asleep. But it was — it was a way in. Look; we know she's here. You can sense her at least that much. And we know that she's obviously not physically . . . where we are. So the answer has to be that she's — removed, somehow, in a way that we can only access when we're asleep."
Piotr shifted heavily and grunted. "How do you know this? This could all be nonsense. How can you think you truly found her?"
"Does your sister have a butterfly tattoo under her left arm?" Scott asked Piotr. "I haven't seen her more than five times since she came in. This was the first I noticed it."
Piotr's eyes widened, but Sid frowned. "How is it you could find her when none of us could, not even the Professor?" he asked Scott a little more roughly than he usually spoke. He held one of the devices that had failed to locate their target protectively to his chest. "Why can only you find her?"
"I'm betting any of us can," Scott replied quickly, feeling more awake than he had in weeks. "It's just that no one else has been asleep since she's gone missing."
"So that's it?" Kitty said, glancing from Scott to her other teachers. "We just fall asleep? Like she's in our dreams?" She turned to look at Hank and Ororo. The weather-witch was looking more uncomfortable by the minute, but the furry blue doctor cleaned his glasses thoughtfully.
"Well," Hank said slowly. "On the scale of things we've all seen, I don't know that it's completely beyond the realm of possibility. But it's certainly not something I've ever heard of. This seems more your purview, Charles."
"Hmm." Xavier tented his fingers, the creases in his forehead deepening as he considered the problem. "Dreams have certainly always been linked to psychic states. And Scott — you have been falling asleep without any real warning lately. It may be that a state of deep sleep, rapidly entered, is what is needed to find Illyana — if indeed that is what has happened."
"I'm willing to stake my position as teacher in this school that it is." Scott saw the students start at that, especially Bobby. The ice-powered mutant had followed him at a run when Scott called all of the others down to the MedBay, and had hovered near him since. Scott suspected he was waiting to catch him if he had another fainting spell.
"So, what are we doing?" Jubilee asked. She sat on one of the hospital beds, in between the very pale Rogue and uncharacteristically quiet Remy. "I mean — is Professor Summers just going to go to sleep and — then wake up and tell us where she is?"
"I need to find Illyana!" Piotr stated fiercely, causing Jubilee to jump and Remy to whistle. "If there is a way to find her, I will take it before anyone else!"
"Easy, Tin Man," Logan said. "You're gonna break through the floor." He nodded down at Piotr's legs, which had begun to arm up. Piotr turned slightly red, but remained firm. "I am going to be the one to find her."
"We all will," Kitty stated. She ran over to one of the beds and bounced up onto it. "We'll all go to sleep, find Illyana, and bring her back. That's what we do."
"I ain't ever seen her in my dreams," Rogue said skeptically, finally breaking the silence both she and Remy had been keeping since they'd entered the rooms. "How do we know we'll all get there?"
"A fine question," Xavier said, rubbing his chin. "If Scott has truly been able to see Illyana, even if only a vision of her, I may be able to help by linking your minds with his. If I create a psychic web linking you all to him, you may be able to follow him into whatever plane he has accessed."
"That's a whole bunch of 'ifs' just goin' off of Cyke's dream," Logan commented. "We're just gonna all fall asleep and dream the mission? Is that it?"
"No," Dr. McCoy said, definitively now. "From what Scott has described he isn't falling asleep — he's collapsing with exhaustion. Fainting, really. A quick dip into unconsciousness could be how he's accessing this state."
"So they all swoon like Scott?" Logan snorted. "Great. Call me when this is done. I'll be out in the real world looking with my old-fashioned eyes."
Ororo badly concealed a gasp as Logan rudely stormed out, but Scott ignored him entirely as he lay down on one of the beds. "You think you have a way to send us right out and keep us under, Hank?"
Dr. McCoy winced slightly, but backed up to one of the cabinets. "Yes," he admitted, taking out a collection of vials. "But I—I can wake up your bodies, but I don't know how to bring back your minds, if you're truly seeing another plane."
"I can hold your minds together," the Professor explained. "But that will render me unable to help you in this place. When you are ready to return, Scott — you know the sign."
Scott nodded, and lay back on the bed. Piotr followed, and Kitty and Bobby both lay as well. Remy and Rogue awkwardly glanced at and then away from each other. "You," Remy murmured, jumping down and letting Rogue have the bed. Hank swallowed. "I don't think I have enough of the solution for all of you."
"I'll stay," Sid opted, walking over to where the IV bags were kept and taking out six. "I think I can be more help out here. I know how to monitor people in trance states."
"I'll say too," Jubilee offered, coming over to stand beside Sid. "I'm not crazy about anything like self-induced comas."
"Thank you," Hank said graciously. "Ororo—" He looked around for the weather-witch and realized that she was gone. "Oh — well. Uh, if you will all please lie down, then. Jubilee, please get the drip. Sid, bring the bags over."
Scott folded his hands across his stomach and waited for Hank to get around to him. He lay back and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. After a few long moments of silence, Scott frowned. "Hank? Sid?"
"Not here, Professor," Bobby said. Scott's eyes snapped open and he sat up. Hank, Sid, and Jubilee were nowhere to be seen. Scott looked to his left and saw Remy and Piotr getting off of their beds. Kitty and Rogue were already walking around, stretching and touching the tables and chairs of the MedBay. "Where did they go?" Scott asked stupidly. Bobby and Piotr exchanged looks, and then Scott huffed a laugh. "Right. Where did we go." He got up and off of the bed that looked and felt utterly real. "So. We should split into teams. Bobby, with me. Piotr—"
"I'll go with him," Kitty said quickly, moving over to the morose Russian. Remy and Rogue exchanged looks, but Scott nodded definitively. "Fine. Coms?"
The others reached up to their ears as Scott did, and found the coms they had been wearing while still awake. "Great. Call in if you find anything, or if you need help."
"And so we just . . . walk?" Bobby asked. "I mean — aren't we dreaming? Can't we, I don't know — imagine ourselves there? Fly?"
"Does it feel like you can?" Scott asked. Bobby colored slightly, and then shook his head. "Right." Scott surveyed his team. "Look, we don't know where we are. We don't know the rules of this place. All we know, is this is some sort of reality where one of our own may be held. Our one objective is to find Illyana Rasputin, and get the hell out."
Third Floor Hallway, Xavier Institute
Rogue walked in step with Remy through the eerily silent facsimile of their school. Empty of all students, of all sound but their own footsteps and breathing, the hallway had the air of a tomb.
"So, we jus' gon' walk in silence, then," Remy drawled drily, not as a question. Rogue pursed her lips but otherwise acted as if she hadn't heard him. Remy nodded. "Righ'. So we jus' gon' pretend what happened 'tween us didn't happen, hein?"
Rogue bit the inside of her cheek. "And what happened between us, Remy?"
"We kissed, Rogue," Remy said flatly, moving more quickly so that he ended up a few steps ahead of her. "I would think you remember, only happened 'bout a minute ago."
"Did we?" Rogue asked, with a bitter smile. "Thought you had to touch lips to kiss."
"Is that yo' excuse now?" Remy scoffed. "It ain' real 'cause o' yo' skin? Even if we can both feel it?"
Rogue whirled around now, and shoved him back with a gloved hand. "What did you think was gonna happen? What? Did you want us to stay there on the floor and—" Rogue colored bright red, and shook her head wildly. "You just keep lookin' for a way out of this, like it's somethin' to get around. Meanwhile, I gotta live in this all my life! And when you do you just make every single day so much harder."
Remy stepped in close, and Rogue suppressed another whimper as she pulled away from his burning, insistent eyes. "And you keep lookin' for a way to hide. You know I love you. You know I ain't afraid to fight for you. You know there's a way for us, but you want it to be impossible, you, 'cause it's safer to hide from me."
"Hide from you, Remy LeBeau?" Rogue snapped. "You think damn highly of yourself."
"No," Remy said with a bitter half-smile. "I don't. An' if I thought the reason you hidin' from me was you ain't want this one, or you think I ain' worth yo' time, wouldn't be fightin' you. But the one you scared of is you. And I ain' gonna help you run this time."
"You—" Rogue smothered a scream of frustration, and grabbed Remy by the lapels of his trench coat. "You listen here, you self-righteous, Oprah-soundin', swamp-livin'—"
"Shh. Quiet, chere," Remy ordered, looking over her head. Rogue gasped, livid. "Excuse me, you—"
"Shh!" Remy repeated. "Don' you hear that?"
"—shaggy piece of—" Rogue stopped with effort and looked behind them, where Remy indicated. "The hall is empty. Is that the best you can do, sugar?"
"No!" Remy said, pulling away from Rogue abruptly, demon's eyes searching the empty space. "No, somethin's here. I can hear it. S'like hooves, or— laughin' or—" Remy grabbed his head with both hands. Rogue's fury melted into fear. "Remy—"
"I swear I hear it, Anna!" He turned around and looked at her with desperate, wide eyes. "It's comin' for me— comin' at us. It keeps sayin' my name."
Library, Xavier Institute
Scott.
Scott stopped and tensed up, closing his eyes. My eyes are already closed; that's how I'm here. So what am I really doing?
"Professor Summers?" Bobby eyed his teacher warily, stepping around the empty desks in the barren library. "Are you—"
"I'm fine." Scott opened his eyes and mentally willed himself to ignore Jean's haunting voice. "Keep your eyes — try and be totally aware. Last time I started seeing her out of the corner of my eyes. I think something may be holding her here. Keeping her from contacting us or getting away."
"You didn't tell Piotr that."
"No, I didn't," Scott admitted evenly. "He's already too close to this, and telling him that would have just made it harder for him to focus on the mission. We need to be clear-headed for this."
"But you told me," Bobby said significantly. Scott nodded slightly. "Yes."
The moment passed between them silently and without comment. "Okay," Scott said, looking around the library briefly. "So if you see anything, or hear anything out of the corner of your eye—"
Scott . . . Scott . . .
Scott swallowed hard. "Then you say. She could be here right now, and we just don't see."
Lower Level Hallway, Xavier Institute
Piotr turned another corner down another empty hall, and clenched his iron fists. "We have not found her, still! She is nowhere! None of this makes any sense!"
Kitty jumped slightly when Piotr turned and slammed his fist onto a wall. "We'll find her. We've barely started looking. We don't even know what this place is."
"You're right," Piotr said heavily. "We don't. And we don't know why she came here and no one else, and wh—"
Piotr heard it first, and set off at a run, with Kitty close behind. The soft, feminine voice grew louder as they turned a corner down the hall to the Danger Room. Kitty hesitated only a moment before grabbing Piotr's hand and phasing them both inside.
"Illyana!" Piotr cried, as soon as they were within the large, echoing chamber that was the Danger Room in its resting state. "Illyana?"
"Piotr," Kitty warned softly, as the female figure in the center of the chamber turned. Piotr had been moving forward, but stopped as the tall, statuesque blonde turned and coolly looked them over.
"Interesting," the woman murmured. "And how did you get here?"
"This is our school," Kitty said, shifting her feet into a fighting stance. The woman was slim and dressed in a tight-fitting white suit that didn't make her look like a threat. But Kitty had learned not to judge an opponent by their initial appearance. "How did you get here?"
"Strange," the woman continued, stepping forward on high-heels that reverberated throughout the cavernous space. "I don't sense any psychic powers on either of you . . . Ah. Of course. Xavier. He would be able to send all of you here, powerful as he is."
"Who are you?" Piotr demanded. "Where is my sister?"
"Your sister?" the blonde raised a bored brow, and then nodded. "Oh. Is she the little Russian girl? Interesting. Very strong shields, very . . . resilient mind."
"What did you do to her?" Piotr roared, arming up fully. "Why did you take her here?"
"Take her?" the woman scoffed. "Hardly. Your little friend doesn't concern me. I'm only here for what's ours."
"You—I know you," Kitty realized aloud, reaching out to hold Piotr back. "You were at my home. You were the one who almost got my family killed!"
"Oh, please." The woman rolled her eyes elegantly, managing to look beautiful even as she was dismissively cruel. "If the aim had been your family's death, you'd be dressed in black right now."
Kitty hissed and ran at the tall woman, who simply stood there, waiting. Kitty felt the woman's hair seconds before she hit the ground on hands and knees. Kitty screamed in pain, and whipped her head around as she heard the woman laughing behind her.
"You don't know what this place is," the blonde said, causing Piotr turn and try to throw a steel-enforced punch at her face. She evaporated and reappeared behind Kitty, who was slowly getting to her feet. "You think your powers carry over here. You think — well, actually, you don't think. That's your problem. Pity." She looked over Kitty with icy blue, appraising eyes. "I thought Charles would have taught you."
"Taught us what?" Kitty spat. "Who the hell are you? If you aren't here for Illyana, what are you here for? Where is here?"
"Oh, too many questions," the woman dismissed, tsking. "And I just don't have the time. But you'll learn, or you'll fail."
"You'll tell us," Piotr menaced, storming over to the woman, who was dwarfed by his immense, metallic body. "Or you'll learn how it feels to be ripped apart very slowly, by someone with very good understanding of anatomy."
"How cute. Pencil me in for another time, handsome." The woman sneered as Piotr lunged at her in a fury. She evaporated, making Kitty's eyes hurt, and then her echoing, disembodied laughter seemed to come from all around the Danger Room.
"You still don't understand," she said mockingly, as Piotr and Kitty looked wildly around for her. "The mind makes this place, and the mind keeps it."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Third Floor Hallway, Xavier Institute
"This way!" Remy yelled back at Rogue as he raced down another hall, turning for the third time. "I can hear 'em! They righ' down here!"
"Remy!" Rogue tried to call after him, as he turned and fled again. "There's nobody there!" She ran up to the turn, and looked around wildly for him. "Remy?"
"Rogue!" Remy's voice sounded behind her, and Rogue turned, looking back down the hall from which she'd come. "What in the—"
"Rogue! Chere! This way!"
Rogue whipped her head around again, and saw the flash of Remy's trench coat as he fled down another hall. "But, you—"
"Rogue! Here! They're over here!"
Rogue spun around again, seeing glimpses of Remy running all around her, as the hallways seemed to multiple. "Remy! Stop! Where are you? Remy!"
Library, Xavier Institute
"Help! Oh God!"
Rogue's scream split the air and Bobby whipped around and rushed back into the library. "Rogue! Rogue?"
Scott frowned and followed Bobby back into the empty library. He winced as his eyes began to ache. "Bobby, what are you doing?"
"Where is she?" Bobby ran in between the shelves, searching around the library's darkened corners. "Rogue? Rogue!"
"Bobby, she's not here," Scott said slowly. He did a quick visual sweep of the room to make sure, and then then turned back to his protege. "What are you hearing?"
"She's screaming!" Bobby yelled, knocking several books off the shelves. They tumbled to the ground with a muffled sound. Scott blinked, and the books seemed to fall again. "Bobby—"
"Kitty!" Bobby rushed over to one of the empty tables and flung his hands at the empty air. "Get off of her!"
Scott narrowed his eyes and walked up to put a hand on Bobby's shoulder. "Bobby, you're not—"
"No!" Bobby shoved Scott off of him, gasping and backing away. "No! I won't! You can't take them!"
Scott dodged just in time to avoid a poorly aimed blast of ice. "Bobby! Get it together! Focus! This isn't real—"
Scott.
"NO!" Scott growled and braced himself on a chair. The chair wavered in his sight. "No, it's not real. You're not real."
You're right . . . Scott . . . look . . . listen . . .
Scott tried to close his eyes against Jean's alluring, insistent voice, but found that he couldn't. His gaze tracked around the room, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Remy, running in circles. Scott could hear the Cajun's muted screams, and the echoing reply from Rogue, dim and wan, as if they were under water. When he turned to face the red-eyed mutant, Remy vanished.
Look . . . look . . . Jean's voice was soft and weak, but Scott couldn't drown her out. A flash to his left made him look up sideways, to see a raging Piotr slamming un-armed fists into a wall that faded in and out of existence. Kitty flitted in and out of Scott's site, her plaintive cries rising and falling as if received from a radio with bad transmission.
"We never moved," Scott murmured. "None of us. We're all right here. None of this is . . ."
Scott rushed forward and grabbed Bobby from behind. The younger mutant struggled to throw him off. "Let go! Let go!"
Scott held firm, locking his arms around Bobby's neck and waist. "Listen to me, Bobby! This isn't real. This place — everyone is still here. They're all right here, and they're fine. You have to snap out of it."
Bobby snarled, and ice began creeping up Scott's arms. Scott shook his head. "That's not real, Bobby. We're not really at school, your friends are not being hurt. And that ice up my arm isn't going to work."
"You—get off—" Bobby struggled, but Scott tightened his grip and pivoted them both. "Look around you!" Scott demanded. "Do you see them? Look — really look." Scott jerked Bobby roughly, not afraid of hurting him in this nether space, and Bobby gasped. "Look!"
Bobby couldn't move his head and he ground his teeth in pain against the begging and crying of his friends. Kitty was being set upon by a black, seething mass that drew slash after brutal slash of thick, dark blood from her. To the left and right, Bobby could see Piotr and Remy battling alien-like creatures and losing, while Rogue lay on the ground, bloodied and unmoving.
"Look!" Scott insisted again, with another painful jerk of Bobby's head. Bobby winced, and the images of his friends in pain shifted — it seemed as though Piotr was kicking at empty air, that Kitty was feeling around on the ground. Bobby heard their screams, and tried vainly to push Scott off. His teacher lifted him harshly off the ground and then pushed him to his knees. "Look!"
Bobby looked. The sound of their agonized screams faded, but their images grew clearer, as if he was waking from a dream. Remy was running back and forth, shouting for Rogue. Rogue stood, twirling around blindly and calling for Remy.
"We're all still here," Scott whispered in Bobby's ear. "Something is playing with us. Something else is here."
Bobby slowly relaxed, as his eyes adjusted to seeing the second level of reality before him. He moved to go towards the kneeling Kitty, and Scott released him. Bobby stepped over to her, and with each move towards her, the other, bleeding vision of Kitty faded to make way for the one kneeling and babbling.
"I can't see her, Piotr, where did she go?" Kitty patted the ground with her fingers, head jerking left and right with the voices only she could hear. "Where is she?"
Bobby knelt down and put his hand on Kitty's shoulder. She jerked her head towards him, but her eyes seemed to look past him. "What?"
"Kitty, it's me." Bobby moved so that his eyes matched up with hers. "Can you see me? Focus on my voice."
"Bobby?" Kitty blinked, and the dazed look started to leave her eyes. "Bobby, can you hear her?"
"No," Bobby said, as Scott moved over to where Remy was pacing frenetically. "Hear me. We need to stay together. We're all here together . . ."
Scott put himself in the way of the recklessly dashing Remy, and had to use more strength than he'd expected to stop him. "Stop, stop—"
"They comin', allons-y, vite! Non, je n'ais pas—" Remy continued to babble in disjointed French and English as Scott brought his strength to bear on the muscular teen. "Remy — Gambit!" Scott barked. "Listen to me. Rogue — someone get her up. Bobby—"
"Rogue?" Remy's red-black eyes finally stopped roving and settled on Scott. "Rogue — where is she?"
"Right here," Bobby said, as he moved gingerly over to where Rogue was standing. "Rogue—"
"Don't touch me!" Rogue shrieked. Bobby backed away, but Scott reached out and took her bare wrist. Rogue screamed, but Scott pulled her in. "You don't have any skin here," he told her firmly. "You can't hurt anyone that way."
Rogue whimpered for a few more minutes, looking at Scott with frightened eyes that told him she was seeing his face covered in veins. But he looked back calmly, and slowly she too began to register the others around her.
"So we have gone nowhere?" Everyone turned to Piotr at the dark, desperate note in his voice. "We have accomplished nothing!"
"Maybe not," Bobby said, as he helped Kitty to her feet. "If we haven't moved anywhere, except in our minds, maybe the same is true of Illyana."
Piotr looked around them. "You think she is here? Illyana! Illyana!"
"Wait." Rogue swallowed as she stepped away from Scott. "I thought nuthin' here was real? Only us?"
"We aren't the only ones here," Kitty said grimly. "Me and Piotr met someone else. That woman who was at my home, who turned the town against us — she's here too."
"No," Bobby answered immediately. "It's this place, it's playing on our minds. We're seeing and hearing things that aren't there!"
"So why are we even here, us?" Remy demanded roughly, dragging his fingers through his long hair and baring his teeth. "If she ain' here, then let's get the hell outta this place, hein?"
"Wait, just wait!" Scott insisted. "Just because some of what is here isn't real doesn't mean all of it isn't. Kitty, you said you met a woman here you'd seen before?"
"Yes!" Kitty said, shooting a glance at Bobby. "One me and Piotr and Bobby have all met. And she's a psychic. She said she wasn't here for Illyana, but that she had seen her. She said something about this place being made from the mind, and the mind keeping it."
"That makes sense," Scott said methodically. "This is all some kind of mental plane, then."
"If it is all in your mind, then how did Illyana become trapped here?" Piotr asked impatiently. "And where is she?"
"Why couldn't we all see each other before?" Bobby asked, chewing on his bottom lip as he worked through the problem. "It was like something was in there, trying to keep us apart — to keep us from seeing each other."
"An' to make us see other things," Remy murmured darkly, his eyes flashing. Rogue shivered, but Scott nodded. "Correct," their leader affirmed. "Something else here has been bending us — diverting us."
"So . . ." Piotr's eyes widened and then narrowed in comprehension. "So maybe Illyana has been here the entire time. But someone has been stopping us from seeing her."
"The blonde woman?" Bobby guessed. Kitty shook her head, frowning. "I don't think so. She didn't seem interested when we mentioned her — she said she was here for something else."
Scott felt the mental hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he rolled his shoulders and tried to focus. "If we were able to see each other eventually, then we should be able to find Illyana."
"How?" Rogue asked, flexing her arms and hands, watching them uncertainly. "If we can't even trust our minds — or, anythin' here — how can we find her? How can we know anythin' is real?"
Scott swallowed hard, the sensation feeling both solid and oddly fleeting. He could sense the others' fear — or was he projecting it onto his students? He fisted hands that were only a mental construct, torn internally by the looks of confusion and pain on Remy and Rogue's faces, the nervous shaking from Kitty, the pulsing need from Bobby, and the desperate panic welling up from Piotr.
Scott . . . Scott. Look . . . hear . . . please . . .
Scott fought against the siren pull of her insistent voice, struggling not to be pulled into the sweet delusions he knew could swallow him whole. No, he thought, and wondered at the way Bobby glanced to him if the boy had heard. No — they need me. I won't do this, Jean. I won't.
She needs you. I need you. We need you. Free us — be'ate mara — Nyet, nyet! Piotr! Brat! Pomogi mne!
Scott tensed. The sound of Illyana's screams broke through the sense of heat and light that had poured itself into his mind like molten gold into a forge. He wasn't sure if he'd opened whatever eyes he possessed in his liminal space, but he could see snippets and flashes of the pleading, fighting girl now, as if through slashes in the space around him. Her black hair clung to her bruised neck as Illyana scratched and clawed at the black mass roiling around her.
"Piotr, she's here." Scott turned to look at the fearful brother and pointed to where Illyana was making her desperate attempts to reach them. "She's calling for you. Something is holding her back."
"Where? Where!" Piotr screamed. Scott gasped in pain at the combination of both Rasputin sibling's cries. "Over — over there! Go to her!"
"Illyana!" Piotr jumped out blindly, and Scott watched as Illyana reached for her brother, sobbing. For a moment their hands touched, and Scott could see and feel Piotr's shock, recognition, and relief at the contact.
Then, with horrific physical impossibility that nearly rent Scott's mind to watch, Illyana was ripped back through a slit in the fabric of the world around them.
"No! Nyet! NO! Illyana!" Piotr screamed like a wounded bull. He lunged forward and grabbed at the empty air. "I know she is here! Give her to me! Fight me, you coward! Vy trus!"
Laughter emanated from all directions, vaguely masculine, vaguely metallic. Scott felt the force overshadowing him ripple around his mental form protectively, as the other mutants appeared to shiver.
"Now, that, this one heard, me." Remy tightened his grip around a bo staff that Scott could have sworn he didn't have moments before.
"We all heard that," Bobby said grimly. "Probably because whatever it is wants us to. It's taunting us."
"How do we get our hands on it?" Kitty said fiercely, standing beside the anguished Piotr, who was staring at his own hands.
"Remy—" Rogue had noticed Remy holding the bo staff. He glanced down and then whipped it around his head. "Dis is like a dream, oui? All we gotta do is want it bad 'nough."
Piotr snarled and armed up entirely. "I want my hands around his neck! Can you feel this?" He slammed his steel fists together.
The laughter sounded again, and the X-Men shivered; the empty school around them seemed to become dark, cold, fearful. "Ah, wishing and wanting. Like children . . ."
Something glimmered darkly in the center of the X-Men. Piotr's eyes widened as a slim hand seemed to reach out of nowhere. "Illyana!" He grabbed it with his metal fingers, only to have her vanish again. "No!"
"Did you think this world would bend to your whims?" the voice whispered, yet managed to make all the X-Men scream and cover their ears in pain. "Did you think hopes and dreams were all it would take to unseat me? Your minds are weak, undisciplined . . . filled with petty guilts, hatreds and loves, fears and longing. None of you can challenge me in this, my home!"
The voice broke off then, but Scott could hear it continue more softly. He realized he was gaining access to thoughts not meant for him to know. And when I reach your world, I will more than unseat you. You will kneel.
"He's trying to break through into our world," Scott said aloud. He reached out to grab Piotr's iron shoulders. "He's trying to use your sister to escape into our reality."
Scott felt shuddering rage all around him. Then Rogue was screaming, Remy's bo staff impaling her through the chest.
"Rogue!" Kitty shrieked in terror, while Bobby rushed forward. Remy froze, his demon's eyes darting back and forth between the collapsed Rogue and his empty hands.
"No," Scott said, as he watched Rogue spit up blood and start to seize on the floor. "No, stop. Wait." He stepped out to prevent Bobby from going to her. Bobby tried to throw him off. "We have to help her!"
"No." Scott looked at Rogue, and saw the overlay between the Rogue impaled on Remy's staff, and the Rogue clutching at her unharmed middle. "It's another trick. It isn't real. It's a distraction. Stay back."
"How can you say that?" Kitty shrieked, still gaping at the dying Rogue. Remy had started to take a halting step in her direction, and Scott ran over — or did he merely think it? — and put his hand on Remy's. The boy's body jerked, but his eyes remained fixed on Rogue.
"Concentrate, Gambit," Scott implored. "Look beyond the fear. I promise you, I can see her right now. She isn't hurt."
Scott again felt the pure, burning heat pass over him, and surge down his arm into Remy. Remy's breath caught, and Scott nodded. "You can see it, can't you?"
Remy pulled and Scott released him. Remy knelt down beside Rogue, and the scene of her dribbling blood and gore rippled and then snapped. Bobby and Kitty jumped, as the horrific scene dematerialized. Rogue gasped, as Remy put his left arm around her waist. "I could feel him . . . in my— my head . . ." she whimpered. She looked to Piotr with tears in her green-hazel eyes. "She's there! Oh God, she's in pain! He won't let her go!"
Piotr stumbled back and bumped into a table. He turned, and then ripped it brutally from the ground and flung it across the room. It hit the opposite wall in slow motion, and then burst into flames that became droplets of blood, showering the X-Men.
Again, the voice chuckled. "She is mine, Ironmade. She is no mere apparition. Her true body is here, and I can visit every horror in men's imagining upon her if I so choose. Leave this place. Leave, and your sister will be allowed to live."
"Izhets!" Piotr bellowed. "You will not keep her!"
The laughter boomed out again, and now the lights in the library flickered, and the floor warped and pooled. "You have no power here, for all your strength. Your mind is weak, metal man. And her will slowly dies . . ."
Piotr screamed denials to the mocking air. Bobby iced out at the looming darkness. The ice melted on his hands, and he screamed as they began to hiss and steam. "No— damn it— it's not real . . ."
Kitty was turning, spinning blindly. "He's everywhere . . . I can't see him, but he's everywhere—"
"She's crying," Rogue moaned, leaning back helplessly in Remy's arms. "I can hear her, but I can't help her. I can't—"
Scott felt his ankles and knees sinking into the ground as it became quicksand. He felt the press of the malevolent entity's mind on his own, as it tried to force him into submission. He fought, but he was without weapons in this world, his blazing eyes useless against an enemy no one could see.
See . . . see with me, with us, with her . . . we're here . . . Scott—
It rose in him, a thousand times more powerful than the dark power trying to push him down. It was burning and brilliant, fierce and semi-divine. Before him the air opened like curtains, like a wave, like clouds before the sun. There. Now he could see the heavy-set man who gripped Illyana, beady eyes darting from one X-Man to another as he strove to keep them locked in their separate hells.
Scott lifted his finger slowly — or was it lifted by something else? By someone else? By her? He pointed at the man in the center. Remy was the first to notice, and then Rogue, who stopped weeping. Bobby and Kitty saw him a split second after Piotr.
The big Russian didn't hesitate or hold back. He hurtled at the man holding his sister captive, who now paled beneath dark skin as Piotr ran him down. He tried to tighten his hold on Illyana, but in his terror could no longer hold the girl. She delivered an elbow to his now visible chest, and he was forced to release her. The source of all of their fears cowered when Piotr slammed his fists into the man's face. He didn't seem physically harmed when Piotr hauled him up by his neck, but his terrified eyes skittered over to Scott.
"Please," he begged. "I—I can help you. I can free you, give you form—"
Piotr shook the man who had kidnapped his sister. "Me! You look at me when you beg and cry and promise. Look at me, and know that I will not listen."
The man trembled, or seemed to tremble — to Scott, it appeared that parts of him wavered like smoke. "I only wished to leave this realm — your sister, she was drawn here — I needed her help—"
"He's lying!" Illyana's face was bruised, and she seemed to Scott more solid than anyone else present as she shivered with anger, bright blue eyes hard as ice. "He's a mad man. He pulled me here, he beat me, he tried to drive me crazy like him—he is evil man. He is evil, Piotr." Illyana bared her teeth and Scott could feel her wounded rage. "Let me kill him."
The man again looked to Scott. "Please," he said, his voice now soothing and persuasive. "There was someone else here—someone else who made my pulling you through possible—I can help you find her—"
"No." Piotr tightened his fists, and his eyes themselves seemed to become silver. "You will not help us, and no one will help you." He began to lock his hands around the man's neck and squeeze. The man started to struggle and choke, but his shifty gaze conveyed the lie to Scott.
"Stop," Scott instructed, stepping forward. Remy, Kitty, and Bobby looked shocked, but Piotr simply ignored him. "Piotr," Scott murmured into the larger mutant's ear. "Stop."
"I don't care about morals, Professor," Piotr spat. "I am going to kill him. Don't try and stop me."
"I'm not going to stop you," Scott said, although he found himself taking one of Piotr's iron arms and pulling him effortlessly away from the man's neck. Illyana's kidnapper sighed with relief, as Scott removed Piotr's other arm. He turned and stood before the heavy, dark-skinned man who began to kneel. "Thank—"
Scott thrust his hand forward. The molten power in him surged out and into the kneeling man, whose face finally showed terror of his own.
Scott felt joy, exhilaration, mastery, terror, love, need, and hope well up in him as the golden energy choked the man before him out of existence. He felt the pulsing need and adoration envelop his heart as it spread out from him, around him, and he touched the minds of his students. He knew the fierce pain and love that bound brother and sister through Piotr and Illyana, and the newness of love within Kitty. He felt the burden of responsibility and resignation double as he touched Bobby's dully aching mind, and then the sharp, burning desire of Rogue, and the terrible, haunting fear that coursed through Remy. Scott became them all in an instant, and yet he was just conscious of the other force within him — one that made him scream in fear and hope and love and pain. The scream became a shattering bird's cry, and it continued until he felt himself jerk away, back again in his body, as he filled the MedBay with his agonized cry of recognition.
South Lawn, Grounds, Xavier Institute
"So she's fine then?" Kitty ambled along beside Piotr. It was the first walk he had taken away from his sister since they'd been abruptly returned to their plane of existence. "I mean — I know she threatened to tell us embarassing stories about you until your ears turned red unless you left her side — which, by the way, I will get out of her, be forewarned — but, you really think Illyana is okay?"
Piotr smiled, his face finally losening up for the first time Kitty had seen since his sister's disappearance and return. "Yes. I believe she will tell you a story about Christmas morning and a certain pair of socks . . ." Off of Kitty's look he laughed, the sound carrying over the warm fields. "I will not make that easy on you to get out of me!" His smiled wavered. "But I am still worried. This should not have been able to happen here. I should have been able to protect her."
"You did." Kitty took Piotr's much larger hand in both of her own. "You stopped at nothing to find her. You did find her. You saved her, and brought her back."
"Professor Summers saved her and brought her back," Piotr corrected. "Brought us all back. I—I did nothing. And now Illyana —" Piotr's face worked, but he had long practice in holding in his emotions. "Now she has pain. She has been — she should not have that pain. I should have protected her from that."
"Protecting someone doesn't mean wrapping them up in a safe little ball, Piotr," Kitty said softly. "No one in this world gets that luxury. You can't keep her from pain anymore than you could keep it from me. We all love you for trying, but we don't have iron skin to hide behind, and you can't give us yours. What matters is that you fought to make sure she wasn't lost. That's what she remembers. And that's why she'll be okay."
Piotr closed his eyes. "You always are so much smarter than the rest of us put together. You see so much more than any of us. I think—I think that you are the most amazing woman I have ever to meet." He opened his eyes, vulnerable despite his immense strength. "I am every day glad I can know you, Katherine Pryde."
Kitty, once again, could think of nothing to say. And so she abandoned words and pushed to her tip toes, threw her arms around Piotr's neck, and kissed him for all she was worth. Piotr's response was at first hesitant, uncertain. But Kitty fought for what she wanted, and she wanted him. Piotr knew he was no match for the tiny, stubborn mutant. He surrendered to her as he wrapped his arms around her lower back and pulled her close. Kitty didn't pull away.
Bobby was coming across the soccer fields when he spotted them together, locked in their increasingly passionate embrace. He watched them for a long moment, letting himself grow cold enough that any tears froze up before they fell. Then he let out a long breath of frost as he turned and left them to each other.
War Room, Xavier Institute
"Kitty and Piotr say she is the same woman you encountered when visiting her parents," Ororo summarized, leaning forward with both elbows on the table as she debriefed the Professor. "They made a transcript as best they could, but I don't think she revealed much. If she even was real, and not some projection from the mind of whoever kidnapped Illyana."
Logan growled again at the reminder that one of his charges had been taken without his stopping it. "And why exactly haven't we hunted down that— thing to make sure it's really gone? I know Sid was sayin' he could figure an exorcism or rain dance or somethin' to get 'im out."
"He's gone." Scott spoke for the first time during the meeting, and the others turned to look at him. Hank lowered his glasses, and the Professor waited patiently for more. When Scott continued to look at his hands and said nothing, Xavier cleared his throat.
"Well, based on your description, it seems that this man, or entity, was trying to use Illyana to break back into our realm from one adjacent to ours. Which means that young Ms. Rasputin's powers are greater than your average teleporter. I think extra sessions on control are in order." The Professor smiled out at his team. "And I believe our students have been waiting for a promised field day for a while now."
Hank groaned. "Oh yes. And I foolishly allowed myself to be talked into being part of the dunking booth. I think Mr. Drake offered to make it nice and cool for me. How wonderful."
"Don't worry, Hank," Ororo said as she followed him out of the room. "If they become too rowdy, I can always remind them that the rain falls on furred and skinned alike."
Logan followed them out, with a quick, narrowed-eyed glance back at the Professor. Xavier nodded to him to go on, and Logan closed the door.
"Scott." Xavier watched him twitch at the mention of his name, though he still didn't look up. "You were the one who requested a private session. Are you not sure you were able to defeat—"
"It wasn't me." Scott cut Xavier off. The older man raised one brow. "No? The young team says they saw you — obliterate, was I believe the word Kitty used—"
"It wasn't me." Scott gripped the table with white-knuckled hands. He was breathing with open mouth, and when he turned to the Professor, Xavier could see the pulsing red of his aggravated eyes behind his shades.
"It wasn't me," Scott repeated, voice cracking. "It was her. Professor . . . Charles. It was Jean."
ENDING CREDITS
Promo For Next Episode: The impulsive, irascible loner, the Wolverine has now become Logan, the beloved, respected teacher and leader of the X-Men. But when his past returns with a vengeance, he will have to decide if whether to protect the ones he loves, he must abandon the only place he has ever called home.