Disclaimer: All X-men characters are created and owned by Marvel. I am gaining no profit for this.

Author's Note: I LIVE!!!!!!!!! Yeah I know that you guys had been left dangling but I'm lazy. So there! Anyway here is the next chappy and hopeful the ending will be posted sometime next weeky.

Yay! It's almost finally over!! Well the first part is. Ok if you're all wondering exactly what Sandra's power is, do a happy dance, cause in this chapter you're finally going to find out! Also, directly following the end will be a huge author's note as another chapter. There you'll get a preview of the second installment of the Hellfyre Trilogy, a full character description of Sandra/Hellfyre, and a few other things. Enjoy!

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Ch 25: Take My Hand

Sandra was losing it again. She didn't know what to do. But she knew she couldn't let another person die at the hands of her father. She stopped in her thoughts. It was too late. Remy LeBeau was dead. There was no way for her to save him. He was gone, just like Mathen. Even though she hadn't gotten to know him, she still felt dreadful for being a part of his death.

Sandra felt eyes on her and looked up towards the containment cells at the back of the room. Two sets of eyes were looking directly at her. First she noticed the blue fur covered man staring at her with nothing but sadness in his eyes. This man had seen everything happen and had been forced to only watch. Dr. Henry McCoy had to watch one of his dear friends die right in front of him. He felt like a broken man. Here he was standing in his cell with the knowledge and capability to save Remy. And yet because of a simple padlock that the thief himself could probably have opened with a wish had held him back.

Sandra's heart broke as she stared at this huge furious looking man, uncontrollable crying, without any shame. What he had seen had been even worse than what she had seen from Mathen's death. At least she had been given the mercy to not have to witness his actual death. And it was all her fault. She had caused Sinister to flinch, she had put the collar on this man, and hadn't she even been the one to lock him into that small cold cage?

She now realized how much cruelty she had been apart of during her life. She hadn't meant to be involved in such evil. But she was. How could she reverse such deeds?

Her gaze moved over to the other man that was staring at her. Wolverine. For once his mouth wasn't wide open shouting obscenities that couldn't be heard because of the sound deflector that had been put into effect.

Instead he stared at her intensely with his ice blue eyes. They were watery and one could easily see that this man was hurting as well. But the one thing that was different was that this man held a look of pure hatred at her. He didn't need to say anything to her. His intent was clear. Just one second was all he needed and he would kill her without a thought. She had murdered someone close to him and he would see her pay for it.

Most wouldn't have been able to read all of this man's emotions, but Sandra could. Why? Because she had felt exactly the same way when Sinister and Sabretooth had killed her Mathen. She still felt that way. And she still had plans for her revenge. But now she had hit a bump in the road. Maybe it was a sign. She couldn't walk away from this. Mathen certainly wouldn't. So she wouldn't. Somehow she would fix this.

As Sandra continued to stare at Wolverine, an idea came to mind. She knew just what to do. She ran from the room.

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Storm stood in the kitchen. Waiting. She had been waiting for hours for Sinister to return. And yet for some unknown reason, he hadn't. Storm was beginning to doubt herself. Maybe I should have gone out to find him rather than stay here on the defensive. She had been trying to stay one step ahead of the man, but what if she had actually done exactly as he had planned.

The alarm sounded. Someone was in the mansion. Storm picked up the small tracking device that she had installed. It noted that the intruder was in the foyer by the front door. Whether he was expecting he or not she flew to where he was.

Storm sent a signal to the robots to surround him as she came around the corner. "Halt! Put down any of your weapons!"

Storm was startled when she noticed that it was the professor sitting calmly in front of her. "Oh Professor!" She turned off the robots immediately. "My apologies."

Xavier moved closer to Ororo and held her hand. "I am not offended Storm. I am glad to see that you have done everything to protect yourself."

He began to wheel himself toward the hallway. "Let's head over to Cerebro and see if I can find our friends."

Storm smiled and then followed him.

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Sandra ran down the hallway. She didn't know if this would work, but she had to try. And she didn't know how much time she had. Her father could be anywhere right now so she would have to hope that he wasn't watching her activities.

Finally she was there. Lab 4. She stepped in and was planning on focusing her attention on Rogue, but she was distracted by another sad sight. Jean Summers had been another one of Sinister's victims. Sandra stepped over to the injured woman.

It was very clear that she was unconscious, and probably would be for the rest of her life. Sandra hated herself as she began to break down and cry again. How many times had she cried today? She had lost count. As she covered her face and started to lose herself in her misery, she felt a presence. It wasn't a physical presence or anything like that. But she felt something inside of her pushing her to go on. Sandra suddenly felt like she was being comforted. As if all of the weight on her shoulders had been lifted. Mathen wouldn't cry when things seemed bad. He would just keep going. No matter what the outcome turned out to be. Sandra smiled and silently thanked Mathen for helping her.

She quickly did what she could for Jean. Her Father's device was still on her head, so Sandra turned it off and removed it. Whatever it had done it had affected her both mentally and physically. Her whole face had swollen up and saliva was oozing from her parted lips. Sandra found a cloth and wiped her face clean.

Then she turned to Rogue. It was time to find out what Hellfyre was truly made of. She hadn't come here to help her yet. She had come here to gain something from her. Hellfyre brought her hand up to the sleeping woman's forehead and touched her. If Rogue had of been awake she would have seen a brief flash of white in her mind, but since she wasn't, she didn't move an inch.

To someone watching, they would have not seen any type of mutant ability at work. But there certainly was. Hellfyre knew she was powerful, but the funny thing was that her actual power was almost invisible. Rogue lay on the table exactly as she had before, and she had never been in any danger.

All Hellfyre had done was touch Rogue and learn her power. When she was younger that was how her father had explained it to her. She had touched a mutant and had then been able to use his powers as if they were her own. She remembered looking back at her father and saying "Look Daddy! I took that man's powers!"

He had leaned down to her and said, "No my dear Hellfyre. You did something much more special. You learned his power. He is exactly the same as he was before you touched him. The only person who has changed is you. Remember that Hellfyre."

And she always did. She could feel the change in her as she learned Rogue's power. Now she could take powers just as she thought she could before her father had explained it to her. She headed to leave. She was done in here, for now.

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Back in the main lab, Logan was pacing in his cell. His eyes stayed focused on his deceased friend. How could this happen. One moment Remy was here and in an instant he was gone. And to top it all of Logan had been a mere step away from him. He was physically and mentally drained. Logan wasn't strong enough to stand back and out of the action. And yet he had the entire time. He felt guilty.

Suddenly that bitch Sandra walked in. This time she was in her Hellfyre costume. Without any hesitation she clicked a switch on the computer console and walked right up to Wolverine. He didn't move an inch. He was waiting for her to get closer so he could gut her like a fish. Her eyes locked with his and she knew of his intentions. And still she took another step towards him.

Wolverine may have looked like he was just standing there, but actually he was in a stance ready to dodge anything that she threw at him. Well, almost anything.

Unexpectedly, Hellfyre extended her arm threw the bars and into his cell. She opened her hand palm up toward him. "Take my hand."

Wolverine didn't know what to do. Of course he had the chance to kill her right now, but she had known that and had still come up to the cage. And if she were trying to trick him, then a friendly hand shake sure wasn't gonna do it.

He did the next best thing that he could think of. Wolverine spit on her face. "There's no way in hell we're gonna be friends you fuckin' piece of shit." That would be her only warning. If she didn't back off in the next three seconds, then she would be a goner.

"I am not asking you to be a friend to me. I am asking you to be a friend to that dead man over there." She nodded towards Remy. Wolverine started to lunge at her. "Wait! If you take my hand I can save him."

"I think it's a little late for that bitch!"

"No it's not. Not with my power and yours combined. I am done in this place. My Father is not the man I thought him to be. I have no reason to stay, but before I leave I'd like to do on ounce of good at least. So either take my hand or don't. It's your choice."

Logan had calmed down slightly, but only slightly. "What makes you think I'm gonna trust you?"

Hellfyre sighed in frustration. "I am not asking you to trust me. I am asking you to take my hand."

Logan didn't move. He didn't like this. He didn't like any of this. Logan remembered that the silencing mechanism had been turned off so he looked toward Henry for advice. The mournful doctor only gave him a reassuring glance and nodded at him. Well, he thought, if this gets botched up at least I know that Hank was on my side.

Wolverine held out his hand and firmly grasped Hellfyre's. There was a sudden flash of white in his vision and he was confused for a second. But then his mind cleared almost instantly. He realized that Hellfyre was stepping toward Remy now. "Wait. What just happened? I thought you had Rogue's power?"

She looked back at him. "I do have Rogue's power….and now I have yours. I am very similar to Rogue except I don't take people's power. I only learn it. When I touch you my body knows everything your body knows about your abilities. I then change on a molecular level so that I can use them."

Logan had is mouth open in amazement and so did Hank. The doctor was very impressed with her mutant power. "Does that mean-"

"Please let me finish this task and get you out of here then I will answer any questions you like."

"My apologies", Henry said.

Hellfyre leaned toward Gambit and closed her eyes so that she could focus. She gently smoothed the hair out of his face and placed her one of her hands on her forehead and the other on his chest, which was still cut wide open. Hellfyre cleared her thoughts and tried not to think of the gore that her hand was covered in.

She blocked everything out of her mind. And then called upon Rogue's power. For Rogue, all she could do was take people's powers. And she barely even had a handle on that, but Hellfyre had more success with it than she. Hellfyre could not only fully control the power, but she could reverse it as well. And that was exactly what she was about to do.

Next she called upon Logan's power. His was very simple. Healing. And that was all she needed to do. Now that she knew what to do Hellfyre calmed herself and then let the energy flow from her hands and into Remy.

Logan and Henry watched in amazement as a bright white light emerged from Hellfyre's hands. It was intense and quickly flowed into Remy, making him glow like a light bulb. The whole room began to grow brighter and hotter, but still Hellfyre continued. The wound on Remy's chest began to close and both Henry and Logan noticed it.

Suddenly a very strong unseen force hit Hellfyre and knocked her into the air. She seemed slightly surprised as she crashed into the far wall and slide to the ground. Remy however did something even more surprising.

He, a dead man, began to breathe.

TBC next week: the conclusion!!!!!!!!!!

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