"I moved to this country when I was just a girl, after Piotr had already joined the school."
Kitty had called a faculty meeting in the sitting room with the X-Men and teachers to hear what Storm and Illyana had to say. Lockheed was curled up on the carpet in front of the blonde woman as she began her story.
"The professor made the arrangements to bring her over," Ororo explained. "Their parents weren't thrilled that both their children were leaving them, but they were excited by the opportunity for them to receive an education in America."
"I was never fully enrolled here though," Illyana continued. "My mutant power hadn't manifested, so I was to attend nearby schools until I was old enough. I still visited on occasion, however."
Kitty racked her brain to recall if she had ever seen a golden-haired girl in the halls when she was a student. But she would have asked about her if she had.
"One day, I was invited over to watch Piotr train. He was always busy, so it was often my only chance to see him.
"I'm not really sure what happened. I was in the basement near the Danger Room, and I heard a sound. It was a voice, I thought, calling my name. Nobody else heard. I don't know why, but I followed it. I chased the sound down the hall, and then down, and down, and it got darker and darker, until I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed. And then suddenly I was in a field of flowers."
Storm nodded.
"This felt like moments to her, but in our world it was almost two days. Once we discovered that Illyana had gone missing, we discovered an energy spike in the subbasement. A portal to another place. The Professor tapped into his list of contacts and we divised a way to reopen this portal and go after Illyana."
"He even got Magneto to come," Scott interjected. "Apparently he still has a soft spot for children."
Lorna smiled joylessly.
"The plan was to send a small team in first," Storm said, directing a look at Scott to suggest everyone return their attention to her.
"Beast, Magneto, and I would locate the girl. The rest would come across to help us extract her. Colossus, however, was adamant about joining us once he learned where his sister was being held."
"And where was that, exactly?" Kitty spoke for the first time in a while.
"It's called Limbo," Illyana said, exhaling deeply.
"A nightmare landscape full of demons and dark magics, all lorded over by their master - Belasco."
Kitty's face paled again. Of all the things Illyana could have said, she would never have guessed that one.
Storm looked between the two young women, and shook her head sadly.
"Once we were in we found Belasco in no time at all."
"Welcome to Hell."
The X-Men emerged into a cavern vaulting high above them, so that stalactites hung down through a layer of blighted clouds that obscured the ceiling. In the middle of a field of dead flowers was Belasco, with Illyana standing petrified just behind.
"Please, Belasco. I've been to Hell," Magneto said. "Yours doesn't impress me."
"You're too late," Belasco sneered. He held up his hand, the clear gem now stained a deep red.
"She is already mine."
Storm's hands crackled with lightning.
"We shall see about that."
Beast and Colossus charged the demonic figure while Storm and Magneto took to the air.
"There is metal here," Erik closed his eyes. "Old and tainted, but metal just the same."
"Then it will hail iron and rain light in this dark place today," Ororo replied.
"Any port in a storm," the older man muttered.
Beast lashed out with his claws at their horned adversary.
"What a strange monster you are," Belasco said thoughtfully. Then he grinned. "You'll be in good company here."
From the edges of the meadow came baying and hissing of an army of infernal creatures.
"I'm flattered," Hank called out as he charged again. "But I'm afraid my social engagements for the week are already filled rescuing small children from pink devil men. I can pencil in ''raving monster club" for next month, however."
Flanking Belasco, Colossus grabbed the demon king in a bear hug and began to squeeze his mighty metal arms.
"Ah, and then there's... ack! The Knight in Shining Armor, come to rescue the little princess from her darkest despair."
Belasco exploded in green and violet flame, sending Piotr reeling. When his vision returned, the demon hoard had surrounded the two brawny mutants.
"You'll soon find your definition of despair to be quite... unimaginative," Belasco's incorporeal voice floated down.
Beast ran to help his comrade.
"Pete! Are you still with us?"
"Da. I am unharmed. But the fiend has escaped."
Above their heads a swarm of metal shrapnel speared through a host of winged demons.
"Magneto and Storm fight well together," Colossus observed.
"Indeed. Just like the bad old days," Beast replied. "I think we ought to stow the banter for now and focus on this ghoulish squad, however."
"Da."
Piotr delivered a mighty uppercut to a goatlike creature, sending it tumbling to the ground in many pieces.
Illyana watched the battle escalate before her. That heat in her head turned to a sharp pain as she was momentarily enraptured by the violence. But it soon passed, leaving her ruled by desperate fear once again.
Storm raced along through the skies of Limbo, raining bolt after bolt of lightning onto Belasco's horde, carpeting the battlefield in death. She slammed into the ground and tossed a dozen demons into the site on a galeforce updraft.
"You are an accomplished sorceress," Belasco clapped his hands together deliberately as he strolled through the piles of slain demons. "This is my realm, however. And my magic is supreme."
"These are no parlor tricks, Belasco," Storm strode forward confidently. "I serve the elements: sky and cloud, wind and weather! Your foul sorceries will not avail you!"
"Perhaps a demonstration is in order then!" The demon's cape was tossed aside by plumes of billowing energy. The Lord of Limbo launched a crimson bolt of bizarre energy at Storm, the blast momentarily staggering her. She returned to the air; however, undeterred.
"My turn," she exclaimed, wiping a trail of blood from her lip. Ororo lifted her arms above her head, gathering a head of clouds and willing them to begin sparking with lightning. Belasco lost sight of the weather goddess in the mounting thunderstorm, but he remained where he stood, eyes closed and a satisfied, toothless smile on his face.
"Smile while you can, monster!" Storm cried, and she let loose her blast of lightning.
The clouds dissipated almost as quickly as they had formed, and the lightning bounced impotently off of Belasco's cape.
"What is this?" Ororo exclaimed, looking at her fizzling hands.
Another eldritch bolt of energy struck Storm, sending the white haired woman careening to the ground.
"Ororo! Are you alright? Get up!"
"We're losing ground, Erik. We need to reach the others!"
A half dozen demons dogpiled on the weather goddess, and she was lost from view.
Magneto took a deep breath, removed his helmet, and reached out with his mind.
"Jean! Can you hear me? Ororo is failing. We're meeting heavy resistance. Send in the reinforcements!"
"Oh no," Belasco's smile was legendarily cruel. "You've barely seen all that Limbo has to offer!"
Magneto could do nothing as he watched the portal blink out in front of him, the light extinguished by the arrival of hordes of yet more demons.
At last the terror in Illyana's mind shattered Belasco's hold on her spirit, and the girl bolted towards the edge of the wilted meadow.
The mound of demons swarming Ororo burst with lightning and the woman emerged, drenched in charcoal grey ichor.
"Illyana!" She shouted as she sighted the girl fleeing the scene.
"Go after the girl," Erik boomed from on high. "I will tend to Doctor McCoy and the boy."
She said a small prayer to anyone that could still hear her, and vaulted back up into the sky. The winds pushed her beyond the speed that the little girl could run, closing their distance quickly.
"Rise, Henry. We are retreating."
Beast groaned, his fur matted and singed in various places.
"Sounds good to me."
"Not to me," Piotr said gruffly. His uniform was torn and his metal exterior bore a scuff marks across the forehead.
"We need to end Belasco. Now."
"Colossus, now is not the time."
"What other time will we have? He took my sister! You can run if you want, I'm going after that fiend!"
"I am not Charles Xavier," Magneto said, grabbing the metal warrior with his magnetic power and tossing him across the field.
"And I do not ask twice."
Illyana screamed as the ground beneath her gave out, and she tumbled over the edge of the meadow into the chasm ringing the area.
Storm dove, the fleeting air currents barely keeping her aloft now, and snatched up the small child in her arms. They descend further down the chasm, out of site of the horde. Belasco's voice thundered down from the field as he searched for the mutants.
"Illyana? Illyana! Run if you must, but you belong to me, child! There is nowhere else for you to go!"
Magneto followed close behind, carrying Beast at his side, and slowing all three of their descents with his powers.
"We cannot stay here long," Colossus looked up towards where they jumped. "This Belasco person will know all the paths."
"I don't want to stay," Illyana cried.
"Don't cry anymore. I have you, child," Storm said to the girl. And though Illyana was never happier to see Ororo, in the pit of her stomach something recoiled from her touch.
"But who has us?" Beast asked. "You saw the portal close. How are we going to get back?"
"I… don't think we're going back," the realization dawned on the woman.
In the Danger Room, the other X-Men were still staring at the spot where their portal once yawned into Limbo.
"Professor," Scott said finally. "What do we do?"
"We're going back for them. Open the portal back up, Chuck."
"Logan," Jean started.
"Don't give me that 'Logan,' Jeanie. We have to go back for them. Charles, open it up."
Xavier did not say anything. He was leaning forward in his chair, eyes wide and mouth partially open.
"Charles, what are you doing?"
He bowed his head. Logan grabbed the man by his shirt collar and shook him.
"CHARLES!"