Author's note: Given the trouble I had with writing Episode 3, I decided to skip ahead to the episode where Illyana joins the New Mutants. The stories where Viper kidnaps Dani and the New Mutants meet Amara and Selene in Nova Roma still happened, but off-page, which is why this is Episode 6 and not Episode 4. I think this is preferable to taking many months to put out a couple of chapters that would probably not be as good, all things considered. If this was a real TV show where I had the help of co-writers, those episodes would very much come out.
The forest had lost much of its color when winter set in. The leaves that had been a rich green in the summer and then a beautiful array of colors in the fall had by now long since fallen, forcing herbivores to subsist on woody plants, twigs, and tree bark.
One such animal, a deer, was enjoying a buffet of twigs in the underbrush, far from any human settlement or road. It was a stag, with a magnificent pair of antlers adorning its head.
A bright light appeared in the sky above the treetops, shining brightly through the unleafed branches.
The stag had never frozen at the sight of a car's headlights before, but it froze now at the sight of this strange light. Had it been a typical human, it would have thought of aliens. Had a scientist seen this light, he would have thought it was a meteorite about to strike the ground and annihilate this portion of the forest. Both would have been wrong.
Something fell from the light and landed not far away. The light faded as suddenly as it appeared, and the deer, compelled by a natural curiosity, approached this object. At first, it appeared to be a large stone, purple and black and almost ball-shaped. But then the stone began to move.
As it uncurled, it became less ball and stone-like and more like a creature, but a creature unlike anything that had ever evolved on Earth. When it stood up, it was taller than the tallest bear and almost twice as wide. Its elephant-like skin was an unnatural purple, with a pig-like nose, large, pointed ears, two fangs sticking up from its lower jaw, and a rhinoceros-like horn sticking out of its upper forehead. Besides for its long, muscular tail, and long, sharp claws on its fingers and toes, its body was almost humanoid. And for some reason, it wore a black vest and green shorts.
The deer had no idea what this creature was, but it knew it was a predator. The animal that belonged on Earth turned and began to flee from this creature that so clearly did not belong.
The purple creature turned towards the sound of hooves moving away and grinned.
The stag ran at thirty-five miles an hour, more than enough to escape any natural predators in its habitat. However, this purple beast was anything but natural. While the stag attempted to leap over a fallen tree, its hind leg was grabbed in midair by a massive hand.
In the next instant, the creature's hand reached for the stag's throat. The grip was infinitely more powerful than a crocodile's bite, and the deer did not live long enough to suffer at the hands of its killer.
The New Mutants marched toward the baseball field, equipment in hand. Their opponents from the 5th street school had already taken the field and were warming up by throwing the baseballs to each other.
The team from Xaviers arrived at the bench which was to serve as their dugout. Sam, who had been designated team captain for the game began to make the batting order.
"Dani's up first, cause she's the fastest. I'm up second. 'Berto can go third to knock us in-"
Illyana appeared behind them, nervously walking towards Sam's team.
"Is everyone ok with the order?" Sam asked. "Good. Then lets play ball."
Seeing Illyana approach, Sam asked, "Do you need something?"
Illyana looked at the team. "I see you're a couple of players short."
"We are." Sam agreed.
"I was wondering..." Illyana began, fumbling over her words. "If you would...since you need another player...I was hoping...the game looks fun...what I'm trying to say is...I want to-to..."
"You want to..." Sam said to get her to finish her sentence.
Illyana groaned and said loudly, "End simulation!" The baseball field and the players disappeared, leaving Illyana alone in the Danger Room.
Illyana hit the nearest wall in frustration. For a second it looked like she was about to cry, but instead she merely sighed and walked out.
The New Mutants gathered at the entrance to the mansion's library. They stood around Amara, who looked nervous.
Dani put her hand on Amara's shoulder. "Professor Charles Xavier, allow me to present Lady Amara Juliana Olivians Aquilla, from the lost city of Nova Roma."
Charles Xavier smiled at his students. "Thank you, Danielle. Welcome, Amara, to my school for gifted youngsters, and to the New Mutants."
"Your gracious welcome does me honor, sir," Amara responded. "I shall endeavor to be worthy of it."
"Your pardon, Professor," she said, "but are you also what I am, a mutant?"
"Yes," Xavier answered, "which is why your father placed you in my charge. Come here. Let us talk and get to know each other."
The rest of the New Mutants left the library, leaving the professor and his newest student alone.
"This won't be easy for her," Dani said, "moving from the First Century to the Twenty-First."
The teens had met Amara during a visit to Italy with Roberto's mother, an avid archaeologist. While sailing on the Adige River, they had come across a lost city hidden in the mountains of the Dolomite Alps, a piece of the ancient Roman civilization that had remained cut off from the world and virtually unchanged for nearly two thousand years.
There they had met Amara Aquilla, the daughter of a prominent Plebian Senator in Nova Roma's version of the famous Roman Senate. Together with Amara, they uncovered the dark secret of why the city had remained unchanged for millennia. Nova Roma was secretly ruled by Selene, an ancient mutant sorceress who drank the life-force of young women to sustain her eternal youth.
It was during the New Mutants' battle with Selene that Amara's mutant power to control the forces of the Earth's crust and mantle had manifested, giving her the ability to create volcanoes and Earthquakes, as well as coat her entire body in lava and fire. Even with this incredible power added to their own, the teenage heroes had been completely outmatched by their ancient foe and only prevailed in the end because Selene, curious at finding others with powers like her and hopeful that she could make at least one of them into her apprentice, had not attempted to kill them.
Roberto, who had thrown Selene into a deep chasm created by Amara, stared at the empty space next to Dani. "I should be happy for Amara," he said. "But I cannot help but feel guilty, like we're replacing Xuân."
Dani, Sam, and Rahne all grimaced. The reason they had gone to Italy was to get away after what had happened to their leader.
Three weeks earlier, Dani had been kidnapped by an international terrorist named Viper. The New Mutants, disobeying direct orders from Professor Xavier to leave the matter to the X-Men and a group called 'Team America,' had launched a rescue mission. They succeeded in rescuing Dani from the terrorists' clutches, but Viper escaped and activated her island base's self-destruct mechanism, plunging them all into the sea. Roberto had been holding onto Xuân as they fell, but the impact with the water knocked her from his grasp and a current took her.
"Nobody can replace Xuân," Dani said. "And it's not like we're making Amara the leader."
Amara was fascinated by the mansion's library, comparing it to the legendary library of Alexandria.
Xavier chuckled. "You flatter me, but I'm afraid this space is more than a few thousand books short of what that ancient library held."
"Do any of these books explain what a mutant is?" Amara asked.
"There are a few that attempt to, though their perspective is, shall we say, biased. I have included them so that we may better understand what the other side says about us. There is one I wrote on the matter, which you will read as part of the required course syllabus. To greatly simplify the matter, mutants are people who are born with powers that ordinary humans lack. In your case, the power to manipulate tectonic forces."
Xavier's voice appeared in her mind. 'I, however, am a telepath.'
Amara recoiled in horror. She and Dani had heard Selene's voice in their minds when the witch had captured them, controlling their actions until Dani, using Xavier's training, was able to resist Selen's hold on her mind.
Xavier realized instantly his mistake. None of the X-Men or New Mutants had reacted that way to his telepathic powers, but then, none had had the same initial experience with telepathic powers as Amara had with Selene.
"You have nothing to fear from me Amara. I promise, I will not pry into your mind without permission. Privacy is one of the things I value the most highly."
Amara was about to respond when she noticed that Xavier was moving his head to look behind her. She turned around to see another girl she did not know standing in the library's doorway.
"Yes, what is it, Illyana?" Xavier asked.
Illyana regarded Amara with a funny expression, as if she could not decide whether to acknowledge the new girl's presence. It made Amara uncomfortable. Ultimately deciding not to engage Amara, Illyana asked the professor, "Do you know where Kitty is?"
"I believe she's out with her friend Doug Ramsay," Xavier said.
Illyana nodded in disappointment and walked away without another word.
"Who was that?" Amara asked.
"That was another one of your classmates."
"Is she one of your New Mutants like Dani and Sam?"
Xavier shook his head. "No, she is not."
Kitty was fuming.
"How can they kick us out!"
"I know," Doug said dramatically. "It's outrageous! It's unfair! How can you be a teenage geek and not be allowed in an arcade?"
"Oh, knock it off, you," Kitty said, but she laughed at his antics and began to calm down.
She and Doug walked down the street to a McDonalds. "The manager was probably waiting for a time Illyana wasn't with us to ban us from the store," Doug said as they stood in line to make their orders.
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.
"You gotta admit, Illyana is kind of creepy, with how she usually just stands there and watches us play and never joins in unless you force her."
"I don't…"
"You don't have to tell me. I can see the signs."
They ordered their Happy Meals and sat down by the window. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about anyway," Doug said.
"Well, don't keep me in suspense."
"I got an appointment next week at the Massachusetts Academy," Doug said proudly. Kitty stiffened. "I was hoping you'd come along to show me the school since you used to be a student there."
"Only for a week," Kitty pointed out. "I hated it."
"How come?"
Kitty paused before answering. "Let's just say I didn't get along with the headmistress."
"It's not like you always get along with your current headmaster."
"This is totally different. Emma Frost is … she's not a good person."
"This could be a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me." Doug put his hand on Kitty's. "It would mean a lot to me if you came."
"I…I'll talk to Professor Xavier."
Charles Xavier gathered the X-Men in the library to discuss Kitty's situation. The X-Men had a new member, Rogue, recently recruited from Mystique's new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants after becoming disillusioned with her foster mother's methods and the way her power prevented her from ever touching anyone.
They listened as Kitty described Doug's offer to join the Massachusetts Academy and his desire for her to accompany him to the institution.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Kitty said, "but I don't think a front for the Hellfire Club picked my friend at this time because of his grades."
"I agree," Xavier said. "Emma Frost is likely aware that Douglas is a mutant."
"He is?" Kitty asked in shock.
Xavier nodded. "His gift is languages, spoken, written, even that of computers. It is not as flashy as super-strength or weather manipulation, but it is a legitimate power nonetheless."
"Then that settles it," Kitty said. "I have to go. We can't let Doug fall into Frost's hands."
"I'm forced to agree with Kitty," Ororo said, speaking as the X-Men's leader. "In fact, I have to question how the Massachusetts Academy made Douglas an offer before we did. Was it because his power is not suitable for combat?"
Xavier scowled. "Between what happened with Xuân and … a personal issue, I was not ready to take on a new student. Amara's arrival seems to have made that a moot point."
Logan, who had been chugging a can of beer the entire time, joined the conversation. "What's done is done. The question is, what are we going to do about it now?"
"If the Professor monitors me telepathically the whole time, I should be fine," Kitty said. "Even Emma Frost doesn't want to bring the whole X-Men down on her head."
"There's one other factor:" Piotr said gravely. "You'll have to behave yourself and not give Emma any reason to act against you."
Smiles broke out across the room at the gentle giant's joke. "I would like to have Nightcrawler stationed nearby the academy for a quick extraction just to ensure every contingency is covered," Ororo said. "Otherwise, I approve of Kitty's plan."
"As do I," Xavier said.
That night, few of the mansion's female occupants slept well. Illyana actually managed to sleep until nearly two in the morning before she woke up screaming again.
For Dani, her sleep was interrupted by a loud bang. She jolted awake and quickly hid under the bed as something banged on the wall below her window, growling as it did so. She covered her ears as a sickening sound of something scraping against the window glass replaced the banging and the growling sounded even closer.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the commotion stopped. For ten seconds, Dani was completely still, not daring to move or to trust the silence. Finally, mustering her courage, she emerged from behind the bed and looked towards the window. The glass was completely unmarked, with not a single sign anything had touched it, let alone scraped it.
Dani sat down against her bedroom door, not daring to come any closer to the window. She fell back asleep while still in that position, and would wake up in the morning sprawled across the floor.
What Dani did not know was that the bang that had initially awakened her had been caused not by whatever had been growling at the window, but by Amara, who was sleeping in the next room over.
Amara's dreams were haunted by Selene, who had claimed the lives of so many of her friends and came so close to claiming Amara's life as well. As she awoke, her power activated involuntarily, causing a minor seismic event not far outside the building.
Amara took a deep breath to calm herself and looked out of her window. Her lapse in control had caused a tree to fall over, which was the bang heard by herself and Dani. But she did not hear or see anything else as Dani did.
Feeling ashamed at having destroyed an innocent tree, Amara put on her nightrobe and left her room. She walked to Xavier's office, hoping to find the Professor either still awake or already up and working.
Sure enough, Xavier was awake. Moreover, he was not sitting in his wheelchair. The Professor was too animated to sit, and was leaning all of his weight onto his desk as he spoke loudly, nearly yelling into his phone.
"I know what Gabby said, and I don't care! He's my son, and I should be there with him!"
Amara quickly realized she was intruding on a private conversation that was not for her ears. Whether Xavier sensed her presence or not, he made no effort to stop her as she turned back. Upon hearing the response from the other end, he slammed the phone down on his desk and crumpled back into his wheelchair, where Storm would find him sleeping three hours later.
Illyana stood on the cliffside a hundred meters behind the mansion.
The X-Men had another mission and had left early in the morning. The New Mutants were scheduled to have a Danger Room session before classes started, leaving Illyana alone with her thoughts.
Illyana was staring at her necklace again, looking intently into the three glowing jewels contained within. Her face scrunched up in rage, and she drew her hand back, readying to throw the medallion off the cliff and into the abyss.
Lowering her arm, Illyana closed her eyes and sighed sadly. The necklace remained in her hand.
She stood there alone for some time, so lost in memories that she did not notice that it had started to snow. A snowflake landed on her nose, breaking her out of her reverie, and she looked around in surprise.
It was cold enough that the snow had already begun to stick, and the snow was becoming heavier with each passing moment.
Illyana turned back towards the mansion. She had not gotten far when she heard shouts of joy coming from the front entrance.
The New Mutants stepped out into the snow, dressed in winter clothes rather than their uniforms. Even though they did not have to commute to school, Professor Xavier had seen fit to cancel both their Danger Room session and classes for the day so that they could enjoy the first significant snowfall of the season.
Roberto told Amara to watch him as he scooped up a handful of snow and patted it into a ball. He drew his hand back and transformed mid-throw, sending the snowball hundreds of feet straight up.
Sam blasted after the snowball, quickly overtaking it and catching it in his hand, making it melt instantly. He turned off his power and began to freefall back to Earth, activating his power in short bursts every twenty feet to slow his descent, letting off one final burst upon impact not to blast off, but to both completely cushion his landing and spray his teammates with snow, making them laugh.
Illyana stopped in front of the mansion and watched as her classmates began a full-fledged snowball fight now that Amara was familiarized with the concept. Rahne did not make or throw snowballs, as she had transformed into her wolf-form and at the moment lacked the hands required to do so. Instead, she kicked snow at her teammates with surprising efficacy.
No one outside noticed Illyana staring at them, looking as miserable as ever. But she was not completely unnoticed. From his office window, Charles Xavier could see how she was once again standing on the sidelines as the others played. Not for the first time, he put his fingers to his temple in concentration before frowning in frustration at his inability to read anything from Illyana's mind.
It was Dani who first noticed their teacher's moody disposition. "What's with the professor?"
"Man looks like grim death," Sam observed. "Ah wonder what's wrong?"
"I may know," Amara said. "His son is ill, and he is very worried about him."
Roberto put his hand to his cheek. "The professor, our professor, has a son? Will wonders never cease?"
Dani pushed Roberto over into the snow. "Give it a rest, shorty!"
"Ah declare, the boy hasn't got a respectful bone in his body," Sam said, and they all laughed again, including Roberto.
That group chuckle concluded, Sam turned serious again. "Ah wish there was something we could do to make the professor feel better."
"Maybe there is," Dani suggested. "How about we throw him a surprise party? We could call Stevie and ask her to take us into town to get supplies right now."
Stevie was more than happy to help once she heard their idea and came over surprisingly quickly given the weather. Unlike the New Mutants, when she arrived, she looked for the odd one out and quickly spotted Illyana.
"Hey, Illyana, you want to help us throw Charles a surprise party?" Stevie asked.
Most of the New Mutants looked shocked to realize Illyana had been there the entire time. Her light-blue clothes had seemed to blend in with the snow.
Roberto immediately began to remove his coat. "Here, take my jacket," he offered. "You must be freezing in such a light sweater."
"Cold doesn't bother me," Illyana said simply.
"You're sure?"
"I'm from Siberia, remember?" She turned to Stevie. "A party for the professor sounds nice. I'd be happy to help."
As they got into Stevie's car and drove off, a figure appeared out of the trees. It was steeped in shadow, but it was taller and wider than any bear. The creature was on the hunt, and it snarled in disgust as its prey drove away.
Stevie drove the kids to the Salem Mall, which they found surrounded by construction cranes.
"They're still rebuilding?" Sam asked. "Ah didn't think we did that much damage when we fought the Sentinels."
"Look on the bright side Sam," Stevie said. "We haven't seen those mutant-hunting robots since."
Once inside the mall, Stevie led them to the store where they would find the party supplies. After telling the New Mutants what supplies to get, she turned to Illyana. "Would you like to get any birthday supplies, maybe pick out a present?"
"Wait," Dani asked Illyana, "it's your birthday? Why didn't you say anything? If we weren't throwing this bash for the prof, you wouldn't have a party at all!"
"I don't mind," Illyana said in the same tone with which she had refused Roberto's jacket.
"Och, Dani, look who it is!" came Rahne's voice.
The red-headed girl had spotted Diana and Frank, the two teens the New Mutants had befriended at the movie theatre during their first visit to the mall.
"Who're the new faces?" Diana asked as they gathered around.
"This is Amara and Illyana. They're classmates."
"Wow, I am not going to remember those names. Where are you two from?"
"Um, Rome," Amara answered.
"And you?" Diana asked Illyana.
"She's from Siberia," Roberto answered for Illyana.
"That's much easier to remember."
With the students gone, Xavier returned to the library. He found the oldest copy he had of Dante's Inferno and took it out, hoping to find some answers in it.
Something touched his mind, and he looked up from the book. "Who's there?"
Standing in the doorway was a massive purple creature, the same one that had appeared in the strange light in the forest.
"G'Day, Prof," the creature said in a strangely accented English.
"What the devil!" Xavier yelled at the intruder.
The creature grinned. "You got it right. The name's S'ym. Hear on business."
Xavier put his hand on both of his temples and sent out a mindblast so powerful it would obliterate the mind of any human or mutant. Unfortunately, S'ym was neither.
S'ym held out an open palm and slapped Xavier on the head. The blow was nothing for S'ym, but it knocked Xavier and his wheelchair over.
"S'ym killed a fair number of your precious mutants in his time, prof," the beast said. Xavier attempted to look up at his attacker, but his vision was going black. He was unconscious before S'ym finished his next sentence. "He wouldn't mind adding you to that list."
The snow had stopped by the time they returned to the mansion, parking far away to avoid being detected.
"Looks like no one's home," Dani observed from the lack of lights. "Maybe the prof is taking a nap and forgot to flip the 'on' switch."
"The professor?" Sam asked incredulously. "Sleepin' in the afternoon and forgetting to do anything?"
Dani shrugged. "Or maybe he decided to go out to run some errands. I hope so, it would be a real shame if our surprise was ruined at this point."
"I'll go in and check," Illyana offered. "He can't read my mind. If he's here, we can hide the supplies in the garage."
"Until Stevie lures him into town for the hour we need to set up!" Dani finished.
Stevie raised an eyebrow. "I'm seeing a hole in this plan. Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean my mind is unreadable."
"Well, we'll figure something out."
As Illyana went off alone towards the front entrance, Sam leaned over to whisper to Dani. "Hey, did you know the professor couldn't read her mind?"
"No," Dani said, suddenly remembering Xuân's frustrations.
"She is very strange," Amara said as they watched Illyana walk off. "Is she a mutant like you?"
"We don't know," Roberto answered. "Her brother is."
"She reminds me of Selene," Amara said.
"Come on!" Stevie said. "Illyana isn't like that!"
All eyes were now focused on the back of Illyana's head with looks ranging from confusion to suspicion.
"Can you really be sure of that, Stevie?" Roberto asked. "You must have noticed, sometimes, even the X-Men seem afraid of her."
Illyana stopped halfway through opening the front door and looked down. With her back turned, none of them could see how her face morphed from sad to angry, then to furious, and finally back to sad again before she continued into the mansion.
She strongly regretted having spoken about the immunity she seemed to have to Xavier's telepathy. All of the X-Men knew after Storm had learned about it, and Kitty had told Illyana. But the young Russian had already figured it out. If Charles Xavier had been able to read her mind, he would have had far fewer questions about her, she was certain.
Her mistake was in not realizing that just because all of the X-Men knew, it did not mean that everyone in the mansion knew as well.
Illyana shut the door, no longer caring about the surprise party. Now all she wanted was to put as much space between herself and the New Mutants as possible. She hoped the professor was in fact home, as it would keep her classmates out for the time being.
The mansion was dark with all the lights off. The only sources of light were the windows, and that was not much with it still being cloudy out. But the darkness suited Illyana just fine at the moment.
"Professor Xavier?" she called out. But there was no reply.
Illyana headed towards the professor's office. The light was off there as well. It was empty. Next she headed to the library, which was where Xavier could usually be found when he wasn't in his office.
"Professor?"
As the entrance to the library came into sight, Illyana began to realize that something was wrong. It was too quiet. She decided to flip on the nearest light-switch, and nothing happened. The mansion remained as dark from before.
Illyana stared at the wrist of the hand she had raised. She had goosebumps. That was unusual. Yes, it was cold in the mansion with the heat off, but she had not been joking when she said cold didn't bother her.
She moved against the wall. Something was making her skin crawl, and she was certain it was coming from the library. Her fingers gripped the doorframe as she began to peak inside the library.
A massive hand grabbed her wrist and puled her inside. Illyana screamed as she beheld a nightmare from another life.
"S'ym greets you, Darkchild, in the name of your sovereign lord," the monster said. "Belasco misses you. He sent S'ym to bring you to him."
After all her nightmares, Illyana never looked as terrified as she did when S'ym's second hand reached for her.
The New Mutants heard a scream from inside the mansion.
"Was that Illyana?" Roberto asked, all suspicion replaced by deep concern.
Before anyone had a chance to answer, before they even had a chance to move, a disk of light appeared at their feet. This disk was massive, containing all of the mutants, Stevie, and even the van with room to spare. It was whiter than the surrounding snow, and its edge was lined with small, dancing white flames, preventing them from even thinking of leaving the circle.
The light seemed to rise and envelope them, and suddenly they were somewhere else.
"Where the hell are we?" Sam yelled.
"This must be the pit of Tartarus!" Amara exclaimed.
They were in a cave, but one unlike any they had ever seen. The rocks were more jagged than was possible in an Earth cave. To their left was a river of lava, flowing more like water than like magna should. All around were the skeletons of things that very obviously should not exist.
"Hey, who's there?" Roberto yelled.
Far ahead of them was what appeared to be a young girl, no more than ten years old. She was too far away for them to get a good look at her face, but her blonde hair looked very familiar.
The girl ran off, spooked by the sudden appearance of these strangers.
"Hey, come back!" Roberto called out. "Sam, Dani, that was Illyana!"
"It can't be, 'Berto," Sam said. "She's too young."
The circle of light reappeared beneath their feet again. "Oh, not this again!" Dani yelled as they were whisked away.
They reappeared, car and all, in the entry hall, where they got their first look at S'ym.
"Who the heck is that?" Sam yelled at the sight of the eight-foot-tall purple demon.
"Who cares," Roberto said with a barely contained rage behind his voice. "It's got Illyana!"
The Russian girl was being held in S'ym's left hand. He had carried her from the library, all the time squeezing her diaphragm. Illyana barely registered the mutants' presence. They're sudden arrival caused S'ym to squeeze even tighter, knocking all the air out of lungs and causing her to lose consciousness.
"She's all S'ym came for," the beast told the newcomers. For your own health, S'ym suggests you don't get involved."
Roberto roared, transforming and charging at S'ym like a bull at a matador. He put his hands together and slammed them into S'ym's face with everything he had.
Roberto had never unleashed a blow anywhere near that powerful before. The others shielded their heads as the concussive force shattered every window and glass structure in the entrance hall and the surrounding halls.
"Is S'ym meant to be impressed, boy?"
Roberto looked up in horror. S'ym had not so much as flinched from a hit that not even Colossus could have shaken off. The monster struck Roberto with the back of his free hand, sending the boy into the air in a horizontal position. Roberto sailed through one of the broken windows and landed in the snow outside.
Sam struck next, blasting off at top speed. His lack of control meant that he almost always hit as hard as possible, but that was with enough force to topple a skyscraper.
The others, having learned from Roberto's attack, ducked for cover as Sam made contact with S'ym's chest with a boom that nearly deafened them.
Sam crumpled to the ground. He could have blasted clean through a mountain and not felt anything, but striking S'ym's hide head-on had knocked him clean out.
With the others on the floor, Rahne was the first to move, leaping from all fours like her hands were paws, and transforming in midair so that they truly were.
"Rahne, don't!" Dani yelled. But it was too late to stop her. S'ym swatted the werewolf away with a flick of his tail.
"You children are beginning to annoy S'ym. Keep it up, and you'll make him mad."
"We're supposed to be a team, damn it!" Dani growled as she helped Amara and Stevie up. "Attacking solo is suicide!"
"Amara, wait for my signal," she whispered. "Don't do anything until I say so. I'm going to summon an image of his greatest fear, assuming there's anything he's even afraid of. You make your move when he's distracted."
Dani did not wait for Amara's reply, narrowing her eyes in concentration.
"It's working," she said as an orange smoke began to appear all around S'ym. "Oh no … what have I done?"
The devil appeared out of the smoke. Dressed all in a red cape and robe, he towered over all of them even S'ym. His face was covered in shadow, but they could see his glowing yellow, pupil-less eyes and the horns sticking out of the forehead of his silhouette. One arm reached for S'ym, an arm whose human shape and musculature made its deep red color even more frightening than the purple hide that adorned S'ym's monstrous form.
"You disappoint me, S'ym," the devil said. His voice boomed through the entire mansion, making their bones shake. "Can I no longer depend on you for even the most trivial of errands?"
"BELASCO!" S'ym terrified was far more frightening than S'ym confident, for what could possibly scare such a powerful creature?
"Have mercy, oh lord!" He begged. "S'ym is obedient to your will! S'ym is loyal!"
Only Stevie noticed that in his fright, S'ym had dropped his hostage. Dani and Amara could not look away from the spectre Dani had summoned.
The features of Belasco's face were not visible beside for his glowing eyes and horns. And yet they were aware of when he smiled.
"How sad, for that means you are truly doomed." The smoke became even thicker as the figure melted into something else. When the voice next spoke, it had long hair, its arm was now that of a woman and far more crimson, and its voice was almost snakelike.
"For if you serve the Dark Lord, you must therefore be the sworn enemy of his Darkchild," the now-female figure taunted. "Either choice means betrayal, my dear S'ym. Either betrayal means death."
Stevie snapped her fingers at Dani to get her attention. The older woman had Illyana's arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Cover me while I get away," she ordered. "Then run like hell. No heroics, you understand me. S'ym's way out of your league!"
It was all Dani could do to nod. Stevie looked just as frightened, and was paler than any of them had seen her before.
S'ym was still cowering under the specter's gaze and did not notice as his quarry was dragged away.
Dani was knocked off her feet as the Earth shook beneath them. The specter and the smoke that accompanied it vanished, but S'ym had no time to wonder where they had gone, as a column of rock erupted from under the floorboards behind him, forming a miniature mountain more than ten feet tall. The top of this mini-mountain was hollow and belched forth a torrent of lava, enveloping him whole.
The lava cooled immediately on contact with S'ym's skin, forming a second column of rock in the middle of the entrance hall.
Amara was beaming when she turned to Dani. "How was that? I struck when S'ym was distracted, like you said. Our teamwork succeeded where the boys fighting by themselves didn't."
Dani did not answer. She was frozen in fear. Amara felt a sticky liquid land on her shoulder, and quickly realized it was something's saliva.
Stevie winced as she heard the girls' screams. There was nothing she could do for them, but hopefully she could still get Illyana to safety.
The mansion's entrance hall may have been built on solid rock, but the back had levels deep underneath it. Stevie was on her way down to those lower levels in an express elevator. Once there she hoped to find a rail-car that could get them to another hangar a mile away where she could call the X-Men for help.
The elevator doors opened, but before Stevie could take a step forward, the elevator began to rise again with a sickening crunching sound. S'ym was pulling it up.
With precious feet of room left, Stevie jumped for it. Shielding the still-unconscious Illyana, she took the brunt of the fall, and screamed about her knee.
There was no time to waste, so, fighting the pain, Stevie picked Illyana up again and hobbled forward. She did not get twenty feet when her knee gave out completely and they fell again.
"I'm sorry, Illyana," she said weakly. "I did my best."
She did not look back as the booming sound of S'ym's footsteps grew closer, closely followed by his voice.
"S'ym is out of patience." The beast was practically heaving with anger. "S'ym's sole interest was the Darkchild. But you just had to make things difficult."
He reached down for Stevie's leg. "Very well. S'ym shall repay you in kind. When the X-Men return, their welcome shall be the sight of your bleached bo-WHOUGH!"
S'ym screeched in pain as a bolt of white energy struck him in the face. The 1,500-pound monster stumbled back from a force unlike anything he had been hit with by the other kids.
"Don't make promises, you braggart," Illyana said with a calm hatred, "you won't be around to keep."
Stevie looked at Illyana in shock. The young Russian's hand was extended towards S'ym, a thing trail of smoke rising from her palm. But more than this sudden display of power, it was the look in her eyes that made Stevie question who she had carried down there.
"You finally decide to fight for yourself?" S'ym sneered, shaking off that first hit.
Illyana rose and looked him dead in the eye. "I'd have done so from the start, had I been able."
"S'ym's glad. The lesson he means to teach you is long overdue."
For all his bravado, S'ym was far more cautious now that Illyana was ready to fight and approached her slowly. So Illyana made the first move.
Chanting words in a language Stevie did not know and was not certain anyone on Earth knew, Illyana extended both of her arms at S'ym. Bands of orange energy shot out of all ten of her fingers, each band wrapping itself around one of S'ym's limbs, his torso, or his neck.
The demon grunted in frustration as his movement was completely stopped. The energy chains contracted as he attempted to move, threatening to choke him until with a mighty roar, he threw his hands out and shattered the chains.
S'ym was beyond angry now. He was enraged. In response, Illyana actually smiled. More than that, she licked her lips.
The beast rushed her, and she put both hands together, releasing an even more powerful version of the white energy that had temporarily stunned him less than a minute earlier. This struck S'ym in the chest and pushed him back.
S'ym dug in his toe claws and crossed his arms in front of him. The blast still hurt, but he could take slow steps towards his prey. He still did not realize that he was no longer the hunter.
Illyana stopped her energy blast and began taking steps back. S'ym, blinded by rage, took this to mean she was weakening and raised both hands over her head when her back reached the wall. "S'ym has orders to deliver you alive, but he wasn't told you need to arrive all in one piece."
If Illyana was worried, she did not show it. She raised her left hand, and a sword appeared in it.
As its appearance out of thin air suggested, this was not just any sword. It glowed with such intensity that it lit up the entire hallway and was too bright for ither S'ym or Stevie to look at directly. Neither of them could tell how long the sword was, though it was clearly long enough that it should have taken two hands just to hold it. Even so, Illyana had no problem holding the blade in one hand.
Illyana lowered her arm, bringing the very tip of the blade to the base of S'ym's neck. The demon gasped, and like a fencer touched once during a sparring match, the fight was over.
S'ym dropped to his knees, the sword still at his neck. "Mercy, Darkchild! S'ym begs you!"
The look in Illyana's eyes at that moment was by far the most frightening thing Stevie had witnessed not only that day, but ever.
"Were you as generous with the X-Men?" the young girl demanded, her sword hand trembling with rage. It was dangerously easy to slip. An inch, and S'ym would never threaten anyone or anything again.
"S'ym … S'ym is a demon..." He sounded pathetic.
Illyana closed her eyes, an internal battle waging within herself. She took a long time to exhale through her nose.
"And I am not. Thank you for reminding me."
She lowered her sword from S'ym's neck. The demon arose, but any thought of attempting to fight her now was inconceivable to him.
Even so, Illyana was not prepared to just let him go. "Your life has a price, S'ym. You must renounce Belasco … Serve me as you once did him."
S'ym thought about it for all of five seconds.
"A fair exchange. You drove Belasco from Limbo. S'ym doubts he will ever return. His throne is yours by right."
He turned to Stevie. "What of the woman? She has seen and heard more than she should. Shall S'ym dispose of her?"
Illyana's eyes flashed with anger again. "Begone, monster, before I reconsider and decide to avenge my butchered friends."
A disk of light, identical to the one that had brought the New Mutants into the mansion together with Stevie's car, only smaller, appeared beneath S'ym's feet. The disk rose above his head, leaving nothing behind where he once stood.
Stevie gaped at Illyana. "I-I don't understand. You said S'ym killed the X-Men?"
"In a way," Illyana explained. Her sword had disappeared as well. "Time moves differently in Limbo. Past, present, and future all converge, multiple timelines get tangled up. There were doubles of everyone but me. One group escaped." A lump formed in her throat. "The other … didn't."
Stevie had never wanted to scream so badly. "Illyana, what are you. What have you become?"
"Trust me, Stevie, you really don't want to know."
With those words, Illyana raised her right hand at Stevie and made a complex series of motions with her thumb, index, and middle fingers. Stevie blinked, then blinked again, then blinked yet again. She blinked twenty times, as if she was under a spell.
When the blinking was through. Stevie wasn't scared anymore. "What was that circle of light?" she asked.
"That's my mutant power. I summon those 'stepping disks' and they allow me to teleport."
"Teleportation, huh? So you sent him away? That's good. I don't think anything on Earth could have hurt S'ym or even slowed him down."
Illyana turned back to where S'ym had been standing.
"No. Nothing natural."
The X-Men had had a weird day. Dealing with a Pterodactyl man who wanted to turn all people into Dinosaurs qualified as weird even by the standards of the X-Men's hump days. Nevertheless, they were not prepared for the sight that awaited them when they returned home that evening.
"What did I tell you," Logan said, "you can't leave these flamin' kids alone for an instant!"
"Why Logan," Professor Xavier said with surprising cheer given the events of the day, "am I to assume that you don't approve of our redecorating skills."
Party decorations and balloons adorned the walls and crisscrossed the ceiling. That would have been surprising enough. The man-made mountain that dominated the entrance hall was a step too far, and they almost didn't notice the van indoors where it had no place being.
"Whatever happened, I bet it'll make a heckuva story," Rogue said.
"True enough," Kurt added. "And the sooner we join the party…"
"The sooner we shall hear it!" Ororo said, completing the thought.
"Sounds good to me," Logan said. "Hey Stevie, you got anything stronger'n cider?"
And so the X-Men learned of S'ym's attack and how the day was saved by Illyana's 'stepping disks.' Once S'ym was gone, Xavier and the kids had decided to throw the planned party and leave fixing the mess of the entrance hall to the following day.
Logan approached Dani. "S'ym, huh? That's one sucker I hope I never see again."
"Me too," Dani said, "We couldn't do a thing to him."
"Don't sweat it. The X-Men couldn't scratch his hide. You kids did no worse than we did against him."
Kurt took Ororo aside. "So, what we've been fearing came to pass."
"Yes. At least this time, it was only S'ym."
"'Only' S'ym," Kurt scoffed. "But I see your point. The big cheese won't be so easily banished. So what do we do then?"
Piotr, who had overheard their conversation, came over to them. "We do what we should have done the first time."
Sam climbed up Amara's mini-mountain. Roberto was sitting near the summit, looking down at the party. He was too deep in thought to enjoy the festivities that much.
"Looks like the New Mutants have another new member," Sam said. "You must be happy, Illyana's a mutant just like you wanted."
"Maybe," Roberto said, clearly not convinced.
"What's eating you?" Sam asked.
Roberto looked at Illyana, who was standing off to the side as usual and looking out the window S'ym had knocked him threw earlier. Like Roberto, she did not seem to be enjoying the festivities at all.
"I can't wrap my head around it. Why keep it a secret that she's a mutant if her power is just teleporting?"
Sam had no good answer, and was spared from having to spend an awkward minute attempting to think of one when Xavier summoned them and the rest of the New Mutants.
"You all put up a magnificent fight against S'ym," their mentor said. "I'm very proud."
"We were lucky," Illyana said, still staring out the window. Her brother and Kitty had attempted to cheer her up multiple times during the party, but nothing they did could get her to crack even the tiniest of smiles.
Xavier wheeled over to her. "Seeing S'ym again must have been difficult, a reminder of what happened, reopening wounds that perhaps never truly healed. If you ever wish to talk about it."
"Maybe … someday," she said softly.
Xavier nodded. He took Illyana's hand, causing her to turn towards him as he rose from his wheelchair.
"In the meantime, seeing as you are the birthday girl, would you do me the honor of sharing the first waltz?"
He put Illyana's hand on his shoulder and walked her to the center of the entrance hall, where they began to dance.
The X-Men and New Mutants stood back to give them room. All stopped eating and drinking to marvel at what was happening before them. Roberto touched Sam's shoulder and pointed excitedly. Kitty covered her mouth with both hands. No one spoke, afraid that if they broke the spell, this special moment would be over.
Illyana's mind was elsewhere during the beginning of the dance and she was the last to realize what was happening. As she came back to reality, her jaw dropped and she looked straight down, observing the movement of their feet. She looked up into her teacher's eyes and he looked at her with the most knowing smile she had ever seen.
They continued to dance for several minutes. Illyana kept looking at their feet over and over again to be sure she wasn't dreaming.
When they finally came to a stop, Illyana's face had lit up in a way it hadn't since she was in preschool. She threw her arms around Charles Xavier's shoulders, hugging him for the first time ever.
"Professor Xavier, your legs are all better!" Illyana yelled. "You can walk!"
Xavier laughed. "Do you see, child. There is always hope, for all of us."
The silence broken, everyone approached, cheering, stamping their feet, and congratulating Xavier. To them, the X-Men and the New Mutants, they had just witnessed history. But to Xavier and Illyana, this moment was something more.
For one night, for one moment, something even more impossible than Xavier walking occurred. Illyana's teacher had given her something too fleeting and fragile to last even into the next day, but worth more than all the diamonds in the world, the hope that maybe, just maybe, everything could be ok.
Some days I can't say why I'm feeling lonely
And some days I am too proud to ask for help
And I stumble through the noise trying to find some peace
A stranger in the crowd, I lose myself
So I walk down to the river
Where the troubles, they can't find me
Let the waters there remind me
The sun will be there when we wake
I walk down to the river
Though I might not understand it
It's not always as we planned it
But we grow stronger when we break
So I walk down to the river
I walk down to the river
River-Josh Groban