Chapter 6
Paris…
Back at the warehouse the X-Men are having that always fun team-up with Magneto and the Acolytes.
As you may guess that 'fun' part came in the sarcastic southern drawl of Rogue as she wrestled some 6-limbed demon to the ground. It's times like this she is grateful there were some permanent changes after absorbing Clark. Before she always felt like an extra...a liability almost but now she can be there in the front line, exchanging blows with some of the toughest critters around.
One of which is about to jump her when she is saved by explosions plowing into the demon's side. Rogue aims a look at her 'saviour'.
"No d'ank you, Cher?" Gambit queries as he pulls out his bow staff.
"First off don't call meh Cher!" Rogue snaps as she unleashes her aggression on a demon, almost making you feel sorry for it, if you know it wasn't a soulless demon from Hell and all. "Second off Ah see yer tastes have gone remarkably downhill," she comments, aiming a look at the Black Cat.
"Jealous?" Gambit asks with a smug grin.
"In yer dreams, Swamp Rat. Oh by tha way..."
Something jumps Gambit from behind.
"Watch out," Rogue finishes as her lips curl up into a smirk. "Oops. Sorry. Ah guess mah warning came a little too late," she almost chortles in amusement at the fact she was deliberately slow in warning him. "Do ya need any help there?" she asks. "Ah mean ah am only a woman and yer a big strong man," she says in her best mocking sarcasm. What can she say? Needling Gambit is fun.
"Remy!" Black Cat calls out as she goes to help him, slicing into the demon's back with the metal claws on her gloves.
Rogue arches an eyebrow. Remy, huh? She was wrong. His tastes haven't gone downhill. They've reached rock bottom.
Across the warehouse two old friends are catching up.
"So what brings you to Paris, Charles?" Magneto questions his old friend's appearance. "I don't think we're due one of our chess matches," he jokes, referring to the odd times he and Charles forget their fight and just be old friends again over a chess board.
"As much as this may dent your ego Erik, this has nothing to do with you," Charles quips back. "We were merely seeking Illyana...though if you wish to discuss the appalling way you used her as a hostage to force her brother to work for you I'm more than happy to have that conversation," he promises with deadly seriousness.
"I do what I must for our kind, Charles," Magneto states in his cold, authoritative voice as he uses his mastery of metal to throw some steel barrels into the demons.
Charles sighs at that. No matter what they've been through Erik still uses that tired old mantra. "I also must object to allowing you retribution against Mystique," he raises, though Charles does note that Raven is once again a blue shapeshifter as she battles her way against the demonic invaders into this realm. They suspected Apocalypse's mutagenic field might have done that but this is it confirmed.
"Her betrayal cannot be allowed to pass without consequence," Magneto argues. "Her betrayal nearly destroyed us all," he reminds the Professor.
"I remember," Charles states clearly, having not forgotten. "I also remember cautioning you once upon a time that revenge would not bring you peace," he recalls a line he said once. A line he lives by and believes to be true.
"And I remember saying how peace was never an option. It wasn't then. It isn't now. Humans will never allow us to live in peace. Just because you have not seen me lately does not mean I am not preparing for the inevitable day when humans declare open hostility upon us."
Charles wearily shakes his head. Arguing with Erik is like hitting your head on a brick wall. However he has one more line to argue with him. "Revenge does not bring you anything. It only weighs you down. It is forgiveness that liberates the soul."
"Poetic as always, Charles," Magneto will concede that his old friend still has his way with words as he bends some steel beams around a creature or three. "I must concede Ms Rasputin's powers are impressive," he is willing to admit.
The Professor's response to that is a mysterious, "You have no idea."
The Forests of Limbo…
Darkchylde strides through the forest. Any pretence of being human she has stopped bothering with. It is her with the horns and the tail and goat legs, sword in hand, armour covering her left arm, her demonic bloodhounds held by a leash in her other hand as they try and pick up the trail of her prey.
This is her element. This is where she feels happiest. Tracking, hunting...and the fact it is once again her most tricky prey in Clark...gives her goosebumps. Makes her blood pump hard. She relishes the challenge.
It also makes it easier to ignore that other voice in her head telling her to stop this.
Why would she stop?
She's so close to getting what she wants.
Or is that what she thinks she wants?
Darkchylde shakes her head. Stupid human half. "Shut up," she whispers out-loud to it.
Her bloodhounds bark.
"Ah. Got you now," Darkchylde chuckles as it means her hound have got the scent. Now Clark and her brother would see, would understand the truth. The truth that she is not who they think she is.
Of course truth is exactly what Clark is seeking to get out of his girlfriend. Only when he forces her to see the truth of herself will this come to its end. Hopefully that is before he and Piotr die horribly.
"Will this work?" Colossus asks as they await Illyana's inevitable arrival in the clearing they currently stand in.
"Don't know to be honest but we have to try," Superman replies. "Only when she sees the truth of herself will her balance be restored."
"And if she can't see the truth of herself?"
"Well then I hope your Will is up to date," Superman quips in gallows humour.
Colossus gives the alien teen a look for that before they are interrupted by the sound of the demonic bloodhounds closing in.
Superman gets his axe ready as the hounds charge out the trees right at them. Wait for it. Wait for it...and at the last moment, just as they leap he uses the axe to slice open reality and send them...well lets just say away shall we.
A frustrated growl signals the arrival of Darkchylde. "Do you know how long it takes me to train them up?!" she complains.
"Oh come on Yana. This is me you're talking to and you should know better than anyone that I always have a plan. After all how many times did you fall into my traps?" Superman reminds her.
"I always got out of them!" Darkchylde snaps back.
"Ooh, touchy," Superman mock with his most annoying smirk.
Darkchylde's eyes flash a deeper red. "I don't need the dogs. I killed you once, Clark. I can do so again."
"You notice how it is always me that gets the death threats," Superman complains to Colossus.
"Rest assured Clark I will deal with my brother also," Illyana promises, her voice dripping with menace.
"At least she's still calling you her brother," Superman makes the point.
Piotr thinks he gets what Clark means there. That it's a sign Illyana is still in there, under all this hate and anger.
Darkchylde eyes the clearing carefully. She knows Clark. This can't be what it seems. What has he done this time? He's not attacking. Waiting for her to make the 1st move no doubt. Waiting for her to make the 1st mistake and trigger whatever trap he set. Well it's not going to work. She is the Darkchylde and she many tricks of her own.
Darkchylde turns her focus on one of the larger, twisted trees. She raises her hand and a blast of mystical energy hits the large Limbo plant. A few moments later its branches begin to twitch...and then move. The ground rips apart as it pulls itself out of the dirt, coming to life.
"Colossus...you want to take this?" Superman asks.
"Da," the big Russian mutant agrees. He quickly gets into a run and leaps, smashing into the alive timber.
Darkchylde smirks. "You think that's it," she chuckles...as all the trees around the edge of the clearing start to groan and move. "You won't trap me Clark. All of Limbo is mine to command."
"You keep thinking that," Superman retorts.
A furrow appears on Darkchylde's brow. What does he mean by that?
Her answer comes in the unwelcome form of being smacked hard by one of the trees she just brought to life.
Darkchylde rolls across the ground before coming to a stop, her eyes burning bright red in her fury. "How did you do that?!" she spits out furiously at Clark. It can only be him. Only he can be responsible but she can't figure out how he has done it.
Clark would answer but right now he's wrestling his own tree problem, showing he has no more control over them than Darkchylde seems to...which is none. With a blast of heat vision he scorches the tree to ash. "You may rule this domain, Yana but you don't understand it. I spent weeks out here so I do."
"And what does that mean?!" Darkchylde demands to know as she slices away at another treacherous trunk.
"It means control is an illusion. Nature will act how nature chooses to."
"Nonsense. I am the Queen here and I command. Plant or not it shall obey me!" Darkchylde promises.
"This forest was here long before you, Yana. It will be here long after you. To it you are merely temporary. Therefore why should it obey you?"
"I'll make it obey me!" Darkchylde vows as she elegantly ducks, leaps and dodges the flailing branches.
Clark thinks an eye-roll right now would probably be most appropriate. Illyana's arrogance will be her undoing one day.
Beams of mystical energy erupt from Darkchylde's palms and encompass one of the tree as she tries to bring it to heel. "Obey!" she commands it.
"It's kinda sad that a tree gets more attention from you than I do," Superman remarks.
"What are you babbling about now Clark?" Darkchylde has to ask in pure annoyance.
"Just telling it how it is. Or did you forget the part where you disappeared off for days?"
"When I have brought this tree to do my bidding I assure you Clark you'll have my full attention," Darkchylde promises darkly.
"If you hadn't arrogantly brought them to life I could already have your attention but nooooo. Illyana Rasputin has to try and be cute."
"Illyana isn't here!" Darkchylde spits out furiously as she gets tired of this damn tree and incinerates it.
"You keep telling yourself that!"
"ARGH!" she roars in annoyance. Clark gets under her skin like no-one else can. With her brother still occupied she turns her attention solely on him. "Give me the pendant Clark," she demands. "This is your last warning."
"I'm not giving you anything until you calm down and talk to me," he retorts.
"Then I'll take it...over your dead body if necessary," Darkchylde declares. With a swing of her sword she sends a slash of mystical energy at him.
Clark swings his axe, cleaving the energy in two and it cascades around him, exploding into the forest behind him.
"You should know better Clark. Black Swan is using you by returning that axe," Illyana warns him.
"And you think I don't know that?" Superman asks her rhetorically. "But I needed to reach you. This was my only option at the time. It wouldn't have been if you would just be reasonable and accept..."
"Oh do shut up!" Darkchylde snaps, tired of listening to him as she attacks him and Soulsword meets mystically enchanted axe with sparks of magical energy.
The couple engage once again in a duel to the death.
"I'm trying to help you, Yana. Hiding behind your demonic self because you're scared is no answer," he continues to try and reach her.
"Do I look scared to you Clark?!" Darkchylde asks, positively outraged he would claim that.
"Yes," he answers simply.
"You truly are delusional," she says with a sneer.
"I'm also..." he vanishes in a blur from one of Illyana's strikes and reappears behind her forcing her to block from a blow above. "...far from powerless like before."
"Makes no difference. I'll still defeat you!" Darkchylde vows and she blows out a stream of flame from her mouth which falls to the ground, splits into two and travels round her in both directions to behind Superman where it reforms in a form that vaguely resembles her own, wielding a flame sword.
The doppelgänger slashes into Superman's back making him cry out in pain. Clark really does hate magic. He swings his hand back and the flame construct dissolves around his punch, lightly scorching his hand in the process.
The distraction gives Darkchylde the opportunity to blast him away with a mystical bolt.
Superman flies backward, carving a trench out of the ground as he goes before coming to a stop against the pile of earth he has chewed up. He shakes his head. Ouch. He looks up at his girlfriend who has a triumphant smile on her face. Eh?
It takes one moment longer to see that held in her tail is the pendant.
"Little pickpocket," Superman grumbles at her, strangely relaxed about it as he rises to his feet.
Darkchylde's grin goes wider as she takes the pendant in hand, flicks it open...and her grin vanishes. "What...what is this?" she asks as from within she pulls out a small watch. A holowatch to be exact. The image fizzles out and the pendant changes to a fairly cheap one you buy from any shop.
"I had to get your attention somehow," Superman explains.
"You...you...you deceived me!" Darkchylde roars, furious.
"You allowed yourself to be deceived," Superman retorts. "You're deceiving yourself right now by hiding in your darkness rather than confronting your pain. Trust me I know because I've done the same thing."
"I will destroy you!" Darkchylde roars as she charges at him, sword ready, murderous intent clear on her face...and she prepares to strike only for her brother to step in the way. She slides to a halt and barely stops herself striking him down. "Move Piotr!" she demands.
"Net," Colossus refuses.
"Then I'll destroy you too!" his demonic sister vows.
"Then do so," Colossus dares her.
"You think I won't?" she scoffs at his utter stupidity. "You think because I'm your sister, your little snowflake," she mocks the nickname, "that I won't? Newsflash. Illyana was a weak and pathetic fool. I am the Darkchylde and I have destroyed her."
"I think if you wish to be the villain then you must strike me down," Colossus tells her as he drops his metal form, leaving him as very vulnerable flesh and blood. "That is what it means to be the villain after all. You care for only yourself. No-one and nothing else matters so if my sister is truly dead then you must kill me."
Darkchylde raises her sword. She can do it. It'd be easy. Then any last lingering connection to her humanity will be gone.
"There is no joy in darkness, Yana," Superman says as he moves to stand beside Colossus. "When I was War I can tell you that as a truth. There was anger and rage and mild amusement at inflicting suffering but there was no real joy. No real happiness. It's very empty. Yes, on the other side there is pain but the pain is worth it for all the joy and love. If you wish to be empty and dead inside then yes, please, do strike us down."
Darkchylde's grip tightens around the hilt. What's stopping her? Just strike.
"You're more than this, Yana," Superman says in a soft, emotional voice.
It's so out of step she can do nothing but stare at him. At those expressive blue eyes. Damn those eyes. Those eyes that look at her...look beyond her demonic appearance, look at her like there is something good and beautiful there when all there was was a monster. A soulless one at that.
Why would either of them come here anyway?
For her? What? To save her?
"Whatever you choose Snowflake, know that I love you," Colossus tells her.
Love?
Love?!
What did she know of love? She was Darkchylde. Demon. Sorceress. Ruler of Hell. Love had no place in her heart…
...or did it?
Growing up at the farm she can remember idolising her brother. A warmth always filled her heart when they were together.
And Clark...Dark Lords preserve her if she knew what it was Clark made her feel. It was a similar warmth to her brother but something...more. A fire almost.
If she focusses on it that fire burns away the darkness in her soul.
And that is it. That momentary thought allows that fire to spread its light. Her rage is no match for it.
Her grip falters and her sword slips from her suddenly nerveless fingers. She drops to her knees, her demonic visage fading and tears roll down her cheeks.
Piotr moves swiftly to gather her in his arms.
"I'm sorry," she sobs into his chest.
"Shh, shh. You have nothing to apologise for. Never," Piotr assures her.
"I have so many things to apologise over I wouldn't know where to start," she replies in a whisper as the guilt and regret she had been holding back washes over her. The pain she had tried to bury by embracing Darkchylde now rushes to the surface. All her masks dissolve momentarily and in that moment you can see just how deeply damaged Illyana really is.
"Yana," Clark says, bending down. "You did not force the transformation. Selene did that," he points out.
"I could have stayed and asked for help,"she points out, her voice hoarse with emotion.
"You could have but if there is one thing I've learned dating you is that it is never that simple."
Illyana bursts out a half laugh/half sob. "I guess everyone knows about me now," she sniffles.
"Kinda hard to hide it," Clark says. Everyone did see her. "And it'll be alright you know. Everyone was weird around me at first when they learned I was an alien but they got over it."
"Or are simply really good at hiding their discomfort."
Clark can't help but smile at that. "Ah. There's that fatalist that I...uh..." Clark catches himself, almost as shocked as Illyana at what he was about to say and her expression is one of shock. "That's, um, stuff we need to talk about in private."
Illyana nods, her eyes still slightly wide, her cheeks coloured.
"In the meantime," Piotr interrupts, really quite uncomfortable being caught in the middle of...whatever it is his sister and Clark need to talk about. "Do you think you can stop your demon invasion of Earth?" he requests of her.
Illyana's mouth forms a perfect 'O', "Oh. Right. Yes. I can," she assures her brother as she pulls back and rises to her feet. She wipes the streaks of tears from her face. She can't allow anyone else to see her weakness. "My sword?" she inquires, looking around for it.
Clark blurs, picks it up and hands it back to her.
"Thank you," she says softly. "Also we need to talk about that axe," she adds on.
"If it includes I can't trust Patricia I'm way ahead of you," Clark assures her.
Illyana nods. That'll do for now. She raises her sword above her head, the white flame burning bright as she, Superman and Colossus vanish from this place…
Paris, France…
...and reappear in the warehouse amidst the desperate battle
"Enough!" Illyana commands and her demonic minions pause. "Return to Limbo!" They hesitate. "Now!" she adds with menace. "Don't make me make you!" she tells them which frankly sounds almost ludicrous in the current situation.
"Yes Mistress," come the grumbling acquiescence from them.
"And don't give me that attitude," Illyana scolds them. "I already have N'astirh to deal with. Don't make me add you to the list," she tells them, not having forgotten that Clark mentioned the gargoyle like demon had aided them...in an attempt to remove her from the throne no doubt. Oh just he wait until she gets around to him. She'll make him wish he had never been spawned.
It's almost comical as the demons, that they had all been fighting so fervently, march back through the stepping disk to Limbo, heads slightly hung like naughty schoolchildren.
When the last one is gone Illyana closes the portals up.
"Superman?" the Professor queries.
Clark almost says 'It's over' but that wouldn't be accurate. No the fallout from this is far from over. Instead he goes with, "We're done here."
And no-one seems to argue that point...especially since Mystique and Haze use the distraction to disappear so no vengeance for Magneto today.
They are done here.
Author's Note: Yep. They're done. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; the fallout.
