A/N: Incomplete, but it's been gestating without progress long enough. I'm, unfortunately, still playing catch-up with real-life- and contemplating life choices. The usual fare.
Stareater:
EXistence
It took several more seconds after Sinister's mass suicide bombing before her eyes could see again.
Kitty was bewildered that she was still alive.
Gaze shifting to where she had last seen the Sinister army, her eyes widened when she recognized a multi-layered telekinetic field a split second before it faded, allowing the dust cloud it contained to wash over them.
Quickly drawing a mental list of their telekinetics, she scanned the area to assess the damage.
The first she noticed was Hellion passed out close to the blast zone; she wasn't sure exactly why he strayed so near the battle, but she didn't have the luxury to ponder for the moment. She spotted an unconscious Psylocke and Quentin Quire—as well as, much to her confusion, the fast approaching and harried forms of her once-students, the Original Five—where had they come from, exactly?
She spied the young Scott carrying the young Jean in his arms and she realized the girl must have helped contain the blast.
"You alright, kid?" A familiar gruff voice called.
Turning to the aged Logan, Kitty was relieved to see he was looking far better than just a few moments previous. It seemed his healing factor was once more kicking in—implying…
"Can you stand?" She asked her once-mentor.
"I can fight." Came the Wolverine's reply. His tone was hard and ready.
While their powers returning was a good sign, it didn't mean they were in the clear just yet.
There was still the matter of the Void Beast, Scott Summers.
As if reading her thoughts, a loud roar echoed throughout the field, instantly dissipating the dust cloud around it.
There, floating above them, with its body seemingly eating away at all the light, was the Void Beast. In its arms remained the corpse of the older Jean. They were both unscathed, and Kitty guessed that this must have been Sinister's master plan to kill them all.
"Martha?" She murmured and thought hard. "Martha, can you hear me?"
She needed a telepath.
"Mindee, Phoebe, Celeste?" She tried when no reply came.
"Professor K!" Scott—the younger one—called when they finally reached. "We just arrived—Jean is—she's hurt!" The boy looked frantic as he raised Jeen's unconscious form. Blood streamed from her nose, but it wasn't the first time Kitty had seen this so she wasn't too worried. Especially when something much more urgent was happening. "What is that thing?"
"It's The Void."
The gathered snapped towards Illyana, who had suddenly appeared. She looked haggard; her dark armor was in tatters. Her left eye remained closed as blood continued to stream despite the pressure she applied on to the deep cut on her forehead. She was down on one knee and leaning on her soulsword for support—but it was clear that, despite looking beaten, Illyana would stand and fight if she asked.
Kitty was unsure if she had the heart to do so.
"How do we stop it?" Tyke asked as he gingerly lowered Jeen. His body was tense—Kitty was reminded of how the older Scott would sound before every cataclysmic battle. He was ready to give his life for any Hail Mary.
"We can't." Illyana said. "The last time we fought the void, Scott was barely able to imprison it in his mind—and that was just a sliver of the real thing. It took the full might of the Avengers, the Asgardians, and pretty much everyone you can think of just to stop true the Void—and even then, the Sentry was holding it back." Illyana's tone was grim—and Kitty was suddenly unnerved as the Illyana she knew was never like this. "This? It's a mindless, will-less beast."
"Alright." Scott nodded. "So how do we stop this?"
Illyana grinned wildly and pushed herself up. She would have chuckled if she wasn't trying to conserve as much energy as possible. "The old fashioned way."
"That's what I wanted to hear." His visor's flashed with a deadly glint.
"Guys?" The young Bobby cut in. "When you're finished thinking up a battle plan, mind filling us in quickly?" He raised his hand and pointed at the Void.
Its gaze had settled upon them.
The young Iceman swallowed nervously. "I don't like the way it's looking at us."
-0-0-0-
It could feel the hated one was still alive.
The hated always had a way of clinging to life.
A sliver of worry—its gaze found her in its arms—and a sigh.
She was unharmed.
It roared its anger.
The hated must perish.
It would consume all, for it could sense the hated was everywhere.
The hated was in every living thing.
And thus, all that was living will be consumed by the void.
-0-0-0-
They were going to die.
Their battle plan was simple—evacuate the wounded while the heavy hitters would delay the fight long enough for help to arrive.
Seconds into the battle, and Kitty wasn't sure if they'd last long enough.
Logan, Colossus, and Warren were down. The two Bobbys were doing all they could to just keep out of reach. None of Storm's lightning seemed to faze the beast. Even the mystic arts of Illyana and the young Hank—when did that happen!—did little more than a breeze would against it.
In fact, the Void remained floating in place—even against their onslaught, it remained still.
But that wasn't to say the Void wasn't trying to kill them.
Kitty's eyes widened and she leapt to the side, narrowly escaping a decapitating tendril. Earlier on in the fight, she had attempted to use her powers to get near the beast and bring the battle to a swift and decisive end—if not for a blast of dark energy that knocked her immaterial self aside.
Not willing to take a chance—she had seen how those tendrils thrashed Logan and Piotr like ragdolls, Kitty wasn't planning on getting caught.
"Ororo!" Kitty screamed as a blast of energy finally caught the weather witch, knocking her out cold and out of the sky.
She ran to catch her friend—or would have, had not another tendril caught her leg. Her eyes widened—horror gripped her as she watched Ororo's rapid descent, head-first.
"Catch her!" She screamed even as she was flung backwards. Her head impacted on the ruined cobblestone wall of their once proud school, sending stars and dark spots of pain into her eyes, but all she could see was Ororo falling.
She barely registered the threat to her own life as the Void's gazed in her direction. Dark energy cackled in its eyes.
Storm was going to die.
They were going to die.
Everyone was going to die.
"God," She gasped, silently. She wasn't normally one for prayer, but in that moment… "Please… save us."
If I must, Mrs. Quill.
Kitty's heart leapt out of its cage at the unmistakable infuriating voice.
Someone stood in front of her and absorbed the blast.
"Scott!" Her mysterious savior shouted. His voice was gruff and pained, but nonetheless familiar. "Scott—get ahold of yourself!"
"Alex, darling," Emma Frost's condescending drawl came from her side. A bulb lit up in her head as recognition set in. "He won't hear you with this ratchet. Be a dear and help your niece keep him busy."
It occurred to her that a streak of red flew around the beast, parrying each dark tendril with a telekinetic field. Rachel was surviving—but for how much longer, Kitty was hesitant to say.
Her savior—Havok, growled a response before nodding his head and charging forward. Streaks of dark and cosmic energy cackled around him like lightning before he unleashed all manner of mayhem on the beast just as Rachel cleared a path.
The beast responded with another animalistic roar.
"How are you feeling, Mrs. Quill?" Emma asked as she filled her vision.
"Pryde." Kitty rasped. Everything hurt, but she would never give Emma the chance to look down on her. "I got my name back."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Millennials these days…"
"Why are you here?" She asked suspiciously before her eyes widened. "Ororo! Ororo- is she-"
"She's fine." Emma said dismissively. "Erik caught her. Still, seeing as your goody-two shoes remains intact, I suppose you're not at risk of expiring in the next few minutes." She crouched. "Would you prefer to hide or to stay here?"
"Why are you here, Frost?" Kitty narrowed her eyes.
"A front row seat it is, then." Emma stood up and turned her back. She did not look bothered at the slightest. "Be mindful, however. The front row is known to become a splash zone."
"Frost!" Kitty raised her voice as much as she could. Her lungs burned—she hoped she hadn't punctured anything, but she could taste blood in her mouth. Still, she needed to know. "Tell me why you're here!"
What game was she playing at this time?
The last thing she wanted was to trade one manipulator for another.
And after finding out that Magneto was still alive…!
Emma paused, and all Kitty could see from her profile were curious blue orbs that gazed at her from the corner of her eyes. The woman appeared to contemplate something, and she could not figure out what—only that, whatever the White Queen would say next was likely venom and deceit.
Kitty's eyes widened.
With a smirk, Emma Frost turned into diamond and calmly walked towards the battlefield.
Without so much as another word.
-0-0-0-
It threw its gaze up.
The hated one was finally found.
Wounded, clinging to life—and replenishing its army.
It scoffed, even as it absorbed yet another blast of energy.
A man was shouting its name. It could feel a tug—it should know the man, but it was uncertain.
It felt a probe into its mind—a familiar touch, like an old lover.
Confused—but only momentarily, for it refocused.
In its arms remained eternity.
And it knew where her desecrater was licking his wounds.
It roared, loudly, before it enfolded upon itself.
A blast of red attempted to keep him in place, but it felt nothing.
An instant later, and it floated above the stunned eyes of the hated one.
It smiled.
To be continued...
A/N: This was sitting around in my hard-drive for quite some time, waiting for some action.
It's not getting any- probably not any time soon. But you see where I'm going with this.
