Disclaimer: The X-Men are the property of Marvel. Golan and Cirrus belong exclusively to Star and are used with permission. Corrinth retains all rights to Ilehana Xavier and Ori. Lamby retains all rights to Blaze.

A/N: This story is a joint work between Lamby and Corrinth, based on Corrinth's X-Men the Movie fanfiction of the same name. Reviews always welcome.

11

"Well done, Gambit." Mystique was suddenly besides him, her voice almost proud, taking his arm and starting to lead him back to the ground floor.

"Get the hell away from me Mystique." He hissed at her, eyes hard. "You got no idea what I jus' did..."

"But you have saved us all, my hero." She mocked him in reply. Gambit shoved the blue-skinned mutant away sharply. Looking back at the ruined tunnel, Remy felt empty, hollow inside. Part of him was screaming that it couldn't be true; he couldn't just have killed her! The rest of him was coming to terms with that exact fact. He'd never see Blaze again. Never buy her a drink on one of their many nights out, when she was too parched from dancing to even indicate what she wanted. They'd never mend the rift between them; never sort out whatever stupid, pointless thing was keeping them apart. Never hear her laugh again. The horror of what he'd done finally hit him when he realised he couldn't even remember what her laugh sounded like. A stupid, pointless thing to get hung up on, so pointless it cut him to the core and left him bleeding.

He forced his pain-ridden red-on-black eyes away from the wreckage and scanned the gathered mutants below him. On the Altar, Xavier stirred slowly, whilst at one side of the room Electra and Colossus waited, watching. The others, Pyro, Magneto, Cirrus, Quicksilver, Avalanche and the Scarlet Witch waited for him and Mystique to rejoin them. Fine, if this was the way it had to be, then so be it! If he were lucky, whatever demons they were about to try and call down on them would put them all out of their misery. If not, maybe Ilehana Xavier would kill him. He could only hope.The look in his eyes, the clench of his jaw sent shivers through the watching mutants as Remy spoke, voice like a man possessed. "Lets do this."

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The remaining X-Men stood together in a tense huddle, gazing down at the rock, shocked beyond words, thoughts or even emotions. A dark silence ruled, no one spoke, no one moved, it seemed even that no one could breathe. That was until Logan roared aloud, plunging a set of adimantium claws angrily into the wall at his side. Ilehana stood empty, defiant. This was not right, not how it was supposed to be! Golan and Bobby exchanged unsure glances, Storm resting a hand on each of the boys' shoulders as a way expressing comfort when she had none to offer. Jean turned and hid her face in Scott's embrace, too shocked by the horror. Scott tried his hardest to speak, to bring the team back to what was important, but found he couldn't remember what that was. Ori howled, his song one of pack, mourning...

Then, amazingly, unbelievably, the rocks and scattered rubble that covered the fallen Blaze started to glow, giving off heat. They shifted through a colour spectrum, brown, red, orange, yellow and then, with a swell of triumph, white hot and liquid! The larva ran burning away from the rocks, making all the X-Men withdraw their feet or risk terrible scalds. And in the midst of the heat haze, cast entirely of fire so bright it lit up the dark tunnel like day, Blaze was stood smiling.

"Huh!" She offered as the rest of the team stood looking bemused at her, only Ori moving with a confused wag of his tail. "What d'you know Scott, looks like all those hellish training sessions you've put me and Magma through have paid off!"

"You are the singularly most irritating person I have ever met!" Ilehana yelled at her friend, before hugging the now-fortunately human Blaze hard. With that the tension seemed to suddenly ease in the air, and Blaze returned the hug gladly, hoping that if she couldn't hide how scared she'd been under the rocks from Ilehana, she could at least hide it from all the others. That was not something she ever wanted to repeat! Ilehana on the other hand already had other things on her mind. Subtly she addressed the source of the terror she was feeling telepathically.

#Storm, be calm, nothing can hurt you here. # For now that the shock was beginning to wear off, Storm was suddenly struggling for air, her claustrophobia creeping in and gripping her like an iron fist... Vixen went to the air goddess, looked her straight in the eye. And somehow, Storm found her breathing calming, her fear melting away.

"Thank you, my friend." She murmured quietly.

"Erm, I hate to interrupt, but hasn't anyone noticed that we're trapped in here?" Blaze asked whilst setting a fireball dancing over her hand again as a torch. It impressed everyone, even those who hadn't been in Vancouver, that even after the momentary crisis she hadn't lost the composure of her power.

"That's the least of our worries." Vixen was business-like again, frowning at Blaze's frankness; it was hard enough work suppressing Storm's fear without Blaze dragging up the fact. "We have to stop Mystique and the others, which isn't going to be easy. Be prepared for anything."

"You mean like being crushed under a landslide?" Blaze asked, only half joking. Ilehana nodded, knowing that it was the cause of the collapse that scared Blaze the most. Ilehana didn't think any of the others had realised it was Gambit who'd nearly killed the redhead.

"Stand back." Cyclops ordered the team, noting that Vixen didn't argue over his claim to lead this time. His trigger finger on his visor, he hastily blasted the already weakened tumble of rock and larva, clearing the way once again.

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"At last!" Mystique's cackle was witch-like. "At last! How long I have waited for this day!"

The X-Men snuck onto the walkway above the main chamber without being noticed. Those below were stood on circles set into the floor with symbols set onto them, except for Gambit who was stood by the Altar, and Xavier who was strapped to it, unmoving.

"Do it!" Mystique urged Gambit. "Kill him, release the power of the Guardians!"

#Ready? # Vixen had implanted a firm idea in Wolverine's head. The two of them would stand the best chance of surviving until the others could help.

Gambit reached his hands out, bare fingers touching Xavier's arm, charging the Professor's whole body with his mutant energy. Bright light wrapped around Xavier in a rainbow of colours, deadly and vicious. If he let go, that would be all it would take, and the Professor would be killed...

#Now! # And Vixen-as-tiger leapt over the balustrade of the walkway, Wolverine behind her. Ori jumped too, landing on his feet, his snarls aimed at bemused-looking Electra and Colossus. Logan managed to knock both Mystique and Magneto over, sending all three sprawling across the floor, while Vixen shoved aside Lance and Wanda, snarling a tiger's savage snarl. She had to get to Gambit before he let go of her father! But Blaze, who had taken a chance with her cat-like agility and joined the wave of jumping for the walkway, had beaten her to it.

"Don't kill him Remy!" She cried out, charging unafraid to the Professor's side. He should have already killed her once tonight; she'd be damned before she'd stand for that again! "Don't do it!"

Gambit's eyes opened wide and disbelieving, his jaw fell slack in shock, and he let go...