The teens ran back through the hole Sam had blasted through the control room's wall as the ceiling and walls collapsed under the bear's onslaught. Still carrying Dani, they hurried out of the control room and through the halls.
They ground shook again, causing them all to fall to the floor.
"It's hunting us," Roberto observed as they stood up.
Rahne held Dani close. "No," she clarified. "It's hunting Dani."
"Why Dani?" Sam asked.
"Because it's what she fears."
"So now she can make monster even when she's out cold?" Roberto asked.
"It's not one of her mirages," Illyana stated. "This one's real."
Illyana looked at the fear and desperation in the frightened faces of the others and steeled her expression. She put her hand on Roberto's shoulder to get his attention.
"Take Dani to a safe place," she said firmly. "I'll take care of this bear."
She stood up straight and turned around, summoning a large portal at the end of the hall.
"What are you going to do?" Rahne asked in a trembling voice.
"I'm going to play with it," Illyana answered. "Get her out of here."
They watched in awe as a silvery armor began to form over Illyana's right shoulder. Roberto in particular was frozen as the armor spread down her entire arm.
When the armor had spread to the tips of her fingers, a handle began to form in Illyana's hand. The handle extended into a medieval-style crossguard, from which emerged a long metal blade.
The sword glowed a blueish white as it reached its full length of nearly three feet, shining so brightly that the others could not look directly at it. The energy emitted from the blade burned a path through the floor as she continued to walk forward.
"Are you crazy?" Sam yelled, squinting from the sword's light. "That thing will kill you!"
"He's right," Rahne said. "It's magic."
Illyana stopped just in front of the portal and turned to them. There was no fear in her eyes, only determination.
"So am I."
Her eyes lit up with the same blueish-white glow as her sword and she turned to leap through the portal.
Roberto finally rose. "'Yana, no!" he yelled, attempting to run after her as the portal closed.
A light frosting of snow already covered the ground as Illyana stepped forward. The bear was still tearing through the section of the facility where they had fought against Emma.
"Demon Bear!" she yelled.
The beast withdrew from the building at the sound of her voice and turned to face her. Glowing red eyes met glowing white eyes.
"Are you here to consume our flesh or our souls?" She pointed her sword at the bear. "Here is my soul."
The bear gazed intently at the glowing weapon as Illyana assumed a battle stance. "Choke on it."
The bear roared and charged at Illyana, running on all fours. Illyana ran at the bear in response.
When they were just a few yards apart, Illyana plunged her sword into the ground and used it as leverage to push off, propelling herself high into the air. She slashed at the bear, running her blade along the length of its back, and making it roar in pain.
She skidded to a stop as she landed, kicking up snow as her feet slip along the ground, and gazed up at the bear.
Sam and Roberto were watching from a window as Illyana attacked the bear.
"Holy shit! Did you see that?" Sam exclaimed.
"I am going to marry that girl," Roberto declared.
The bear's water-like fur flowed over the wound on its back, filling it until it looked as if it had never been cut.
Now healed, the bear turned to Illyana again and stood on its hind legs, towering over her as its head reached higher than the top of the chapel.
It let out a roar far louder than any previous roar, causing windows to shatter across the facility.
As the roar faded, Illyana heard a birdlike noise from far above. Something small dive-bombed the bear at an extremely high speed, spewing super-hot blue flames at the monster's face
The bear swiped at the pest, but its small quarry was too small and fast. The fast-moving creature moved towards a safe distance as it neared the ground before landing on Illyana's shoulder.
Illyana smiled at the creature, a foot-tall purple dragon with large, adorable eyes.
"You up for this, Lockheed?"
The dragon opened its mouth wide and issued a sound similar to a bird's 'caw-caw.'
The others finally made it outside as Roberto smashed one of the side doors open.
Rahne was on the verge of collapse from carrying Dani.
"'Berto," she said, panting, "you've gotta take her."
Roberto shook his head. "I can't. I'll burn her."
"You won't!" Rahne insisted. "Please."
Roberto looked down at his hands and clenched his fists. His sleeves had burned away during the fight with Emma and he was shivering from the cold.
But at last he stepped forward and took Dani in his arms.
"This way," Sam instructed them. He led them to the chapel, where they quickly entered and slammed the door behind them.
Roberto set Dani down on the floor near the pulpit and Rahne knelt over her.
"Come on, please wake up."
Rahne moved Dani's hair out of her face, but she showed no signs of stirring. She took Dani's hand and held it as if she was praying.
"Let's live a little longer, Danielle Moonstar."
The bear dropped from its upright position, attempting to crush Illyana with its massive frame. Its front paws and head struck the ground with a tremendous impact which shook the ground for miles around.
Illyana backflipped out of the bear's path just in time and took a swipe at its nose as she landed.
The beast snarled as it healed itself again and lunged forward, seemingly enveloping Illyana in its massive jaws.
It turned its head in confusion at finding nothing in its mouth, only to collapse as Illyana stabbed her sword through its hind leg from behind.
Before it could rise, Lockheed was there, buzzing around its head like a fly and attempting to strike at the bear's eyes with his fire breath.
Roberto peaked out the chapel window to see how Illyana was doing.
"We've got to help her," he said.
"How?" Sam asked. "Fighting Dr. Frost was one thing, but we're not superheroes."
"Of course not," the voice of Sam's father said.
The teens looked up to see three figures standing at the chapel entrance. Sam's father, still wearing his mining gear, Reverend Craig, in his clergy uniform, and Roberto's ex-girlfriend, burned to a crisp, all stood before them.
Rahne looked down at Dani, who had finally woken up. The other girl was struggling to lift her head to see what was going on.
"You're killers," Roberto's girlfriends said as they stepped forward, her voice raspy from burns to her throat, "murderers."
"Demons and heathens," Reverend Craig added, "who must be punished."
"I'm sorry," Dani said. "I can't … I can't stop it."
"Don't," Sam said. He stepped forward to put himself between the three dead phantoms and his three friends. "I've got something I want to say to these guys anyway."
Sam took a deep breath before addressing the phantom of his father. "All this time, I thought you were my dad come back to punish me for what I did. Now I know you're not my real dad, you're just something I came up with to punish myself."
"My real dad," Sam struggled to continue, "my real dad, if he were here, would tell me how sorry he was that I was put in that situation, that he wasn't able to provide for us. He'd tell me that what happened wasn't my fault. I couldn't have known. No one could have known until it was too late."
"He'd say it wasn't my fault, but he'd also say that it would be my fault if I let it happen again. It would be my fault if I let my fear control me and never learned how to use this gift."
He turned to Roberto's girlfriend. "You too. What happened to you was a tragedy, but it wasn't Roberto's fault. He shouldn't have to the rest of his life for a mistake he had no control over."
Finally, Sam turned to Reverend Craig. "As for you, you got what was coming to you. You were never a man of god, just a cruel, hateful man. Rahne killing you wasn't even a mistake. It was self-defense."
Roberto, Rahne, and Dani looked at each other as Sam spoke. Rahne rose and she and Roberto approached their respective phantoms.
Roberto took his girlfriend's hand, his arms not flaring up.
"I'm sorry," he told. "I'm so sorry for what I did. I wish I could go back and change it. But I have to let you go."
Rahne looked Reverend Craig in the eye and said: "You don't own me, and you don't control me. You never did."
Sam nodded to them and turned back to his father. "We're not gonna let you haunt us anymore. We know what we are. We're mutants, and we're not going to be ashamed of that anymore."
Sam's dad closed his eyes and Roberto's girlfriend withdrew her hand as the three phantoms began to fade away, leaving the teens all alone.
Dani sat up and looked at Sam in awe. He, Roberto, and Rahne all gave sighs of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted from their shoulders.
Roberto turned to Sam. "So how about we do what mutants do?"
The Demon Bear swung its large claws at Illyana, attempting to impale her. Illyana summoned a portal to intercept its claws and make the monster impale itself in its side through another portal.
The bear roared and lashed out in a motion which was faster than before. This time Lockheed was unable to avoid its paw and was struck head on.
"Lockheed!" Illyana yelled, teleporting over to where he fell. She picked up the small dragon and raised her sword with her other hand to block the bear's follow-up attack.
Her blade sliced clean through one of the bear's claws, causing several feet of it to fall to the ground. Another claw raked against the armor covering her right arm, tearing off pieces of metal.
Illyana examined the damage which had been done to her armor in surprise and looked back at the bear. Its missing claw was already regrowing itself.
She scowled and raised her sword, now forced to fight one-handed while carrying Lockheed, whose wing was injured.
To her shock, something slammed into the bear's side at an incredibly high speed, knocking the monster over.
Sam continued past the bear and crash-landed, leaving a long trail in the snow.
The bear slowly stood up and turned to Sam, only for Roberto to appear, fully covered in fire and sunspots, and deliver a mighty punch directly to its face.
"What are you doing?" Illyana demanded as Sam collided with the bear a second time, again causing himself to crash into the snow.
"We're fighting for our lives," Roberto answered.
An arrow struck the bear behind its ear. The beast turned to see Dani standing in the open, holding a bow.
Ignoring all others, the bear focused on its prey and lunged at Dani, seizing her between its teeth the same way it had eaten Emma Frost.
"NO!" Illyana screamed as she watched Dani being eaten alive. But before she could react, another arrow struck the bear in the face.
Illyana gaped as Dani again stood in front of the bear, seemingly unharmed.
"You're kidding," the sword-wielding Russian said to herself as she realized what was happening.
The real Dani was still in the chapel, holding her hand to her temple as she summoned an image of the bear's greatest fear. Beside her, Rahne transformed into her wolf form.
The bear continued to attack the fake Danis, growing more wild and enraged with each one it 'killed.'
Sam approached Roberto and Illyana, rubbing his head from all the times he had crashed head-first into the ground.
"You all right?" Roberto asked.
Sam nodded. "At least I can't miss something that big."
"We'll never beat it like this," Illyana said.
"So what do we do?" Sam asked.
They saw Rahne running towards them in her wolf form. She changed into her human form just as she reached them and addressed Illyana.
"Dani sent me to tell you, she has an idea."
Illyana nodded.
The bear tore apart yet another Dani and turned to the next one, only to stop and turn towards the chapel.
Dani lowered her hand and gulped in fear as she realized that the bear was no longer fooled by her illusions.
The bear raised its paw and tore off the chapel's roof. Dani screamed as debris rained down on her.
One of Illyana's light disks brought Roberto there, and he stood over Dani, using his strength and heat to destroy the larger pieces of debris as they fell.
Sam rammed into the bear again knocking it over in a manner that made it fall towards Roberto and Dani. But Roberto clenched his fist and unleashed a powerful punch right at the creature's jaw, knocking it away from them and upwards.
The bear rose up on its hind legs and stood there for a long moment before it began to fall backwards.
As the bear landed on its back, its head fell through a portal which was far larger than any Illyana had previously summoned.
The bear's head landed in the hellscape Dani had seen earlier. As it looked up, another portal appeared above it. Illyana fell from this portal driving her sword straight into the bear's skull.
The bear's screams of agony filled the hellish realm, making creatures of all shapes and sizes scurry for cover.
Illyana snarled and sliced the bear's skull open, ending its cries.
On earth, the portal through which the bear had partially fallen closed, cutting off its head.
Illyana reappeared at sat down. The sword and armor disappeared and her eyes returned to normal. She looked at the body of the bear, which was starting to evaporate, and rubbed her sore muscles.
"Did we beat it?" Roberto asked.
Sam, Dani, and Rahne gathered around them, the latter holding Lockheed. The purple dragon leapt from her arms and ran to Illyana, not flying due to his injured wing. He jumped on her shoulder and rubbed his face against hers while cooing.
Illyana patted the dragon on the head and smiled, her first true smile since she first arrived at the facility.
Sam turned to Roberto, who was still on fire, and asked: "Aren't you going to turn off?"
Roberto shook his head sheepishly. "I kind of burned all my clothes. Hope our rooms survived all this."
They all looked up as the clouds began to clear, turning the night back into day.
"We're free," Dani said, putting her arm around Rahne's shoulder. "We're really free."
Later, Illyana knelt in the ruins of the control room as they all searched through the documents which had survived the two battles. Lockheed was still on her shoulder, his injured wing wrapped in a makeshift sling.
"You know," Dani said, "I really thought you weren't coming back."
"If I told you my real intentions, Dr. Frost would have read it in your mind," Illyana replied. She looked at Dani and shrugged.
"I guess I finally figured out how to lie."
Dani smiled and said "thank you."
"How'd you do all that?" Roberto asked. He had put on new clothes since the fight ended. "With the sword and everything."
Illyana looked down uncomfortably. "I'm more than just a mutant. I'm also a sorceress."
She looked up at them again. "A witch."
Rahne stepped back, also looking uncomfortable. She unconsciously rubbed her neck where the letter 'W' had been branded into her skin.
"And your doll was a real dragon the whole time," Sam said.
"It was Lockheed I saw before when I found your body. I thought he was another one of those monsters," Rahne said.
Illyana rubbed the bottom of Lockheed's chin and he cooed in response. "What you saw was Lockheed's biggest fear. That's how I figured out what was going on."
"He's been my only friend for so long," she continued. "There aren't any dragons in this world, so I turned him into a puppet so I could keep him with me. With his permission."
Dani shook her head. "It's not normal for people to talk to dolls all the time either."
Illyana looked confused. "I used to carry my dolls with me everywhere and I was always talking to them. No one ever said anything."
Dani's mouth fell open as she realized something.
"You said you grew up in that place. Just how long were you there?"
Illyana looked to the side in thought. "It depends on your point of view. Here only one day passed. But for me it was more like ten years,"
Dani let out a sad sigh. "There are things that are normal for little kids but are really weird when you're older."
Illyana frowned as she considered Dani's words.
"How'd you know what Dr. Frost really was?" Dani asked.
Illyana picked up a piece of metal. "Some of the things she said when she found me and was trying to convince me to come here were almost exactly like what the man who brought me to Limbo said, so I knew she wanted the same thing he did."
"And you couldn't say anything because Dr. Frost would read our minds," Dani observed.
Illyana nodded. "I was playing along with her until I could learn who she was working for." She threw the piece of metal aside. "After all that I don't even have a name."
"I do," Dani said. "Essex."
Sam nodded. "Dani made Emma see him right before you came back. Scary looking guy."
Roberto found a folder amidst the rubble and picked it up. "Essex Corporation," he read. "You know, I know some people who could probably get something off these hard drives."
Illyana looked at him in surprise.
"Essex is going to find out what happened here," Dani declared. "And he's gonna be coming after us. Like it or not, if we want to go back to leading normal lives, we're gonna have to deal with him first."
"I could probably get back to my normal life considering who my father is," Roberto said as he closed the folder. "But I think I'd like some payback. My family's got a few places we could stay."
"I'm in," Sam said. "I can't go home without getting arrested anyway. If they're looking to use other kids like they tried to use us, then I say we stop them."
Rahne looked uncertain, but nodded. "I've also got nowhere else to go."
Dani looked down at Illyana. "Looks like we're all joining your little crusade."
Illyana was flabbergasted. "I-I don't know what to say."
"How about 'thank you?'" Dani said.
Illyana struggled to get the words that were so foreign to her to escape her lips. "Thank you. I never thought anyone would help me, with anything."
"Mutants gotta stick together, am I right?" Roberto said with a wide grin.
Illyana stood up and addressed Dani. "Do you have it under control now? I meant what I said about it being dangerous for us to be in the same place. There are things I've seen that would give even that bear nightmares."
Dani looked to Sam. "I think I've got it now."
"Ok," Illyana said. "I also want to know why the bear was so afraid of you."
"You and me both."
Dani clapped her hands together and turned to everyone else.
"There are other kids just like us who are being turned into living weapons by the Essex Corporation. Let's show these bastards just how dangerous new mutants can be."
Let it all out
Let it all out
Never feel you need to act brave when you're hurt
On a white wall, someone has drawn
A small flower that's so delicate
It sways in the wind
No one really knows what's inside
But you know you don't gotta hide
In life you win or lose but those are the rules
Upon this endless road you're walking still
And some days you might feel lonely
You may wanna cry but swear that you'll hold on
We'll take our scars and make em stars
Let em shine up in the sky
This light is ours, and it will burn on no matter where we are
Even if we happen to lose our way
We will always be together, so hey, come what may
We will shine a little stardust on a new day.
~ English translation of Let it Out from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood by AmaLee