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[Tragedy, violence, and an unexpected loss: Illyana is kidnapped by Belasco, and the cavalry is raised. Takes place around 6:30pm, Thursday night. Starring Illyana, Piotr, Kitty, Shinobi, Sarah, Cain, Jake, Remy, Amanda, Shiro, and Jubilee.]

Innocence Lost

Amanda finished her cigarette and stubbed it out on the railing, flicking the butt into the garbage can that had been left out there for the purpose - with the number of smokers in the mansion practically trebling in the last month, Cain had made some scary rumbling noises about the butts being left on the lawn (well, muddy, slush-covered ground at the moment, but it was meant to be lawn) and the can had appeared shortly thereafter. Just as well; the stress of the week had Amanda going through two packs a day, and she really didn't want to get on Cain's more-bad side. She shivered in the late February chill and headed back into the mansion, trying to shake off a feeling of unease that had been growing since she'd first read Warren's post about seeing a man's face at Kitty and 'Yana's window.

She avoided the kitchen, even though she was hungry - by the sound of it, there were several of the mansion's residents occupied in making dinner in Lorna's continued absences, and she didn't want to run into anyone who'd been affected by the potion, not in a group like that. Setting her foot on the stairs to go see if there was anything in the student kitchenette she could raid, she felt the unmistakable tingle of mystic energy - a lot of it - as an interdimensional portal was opened, quickly followed by the electric jolt of the protection spell she'd put on the mansion after the attack shattering under the weight of a dark, malevolent, powerful presence. A presence that held another will wrapped inside its own, a will that was innocent.

"BLOODY FUCKIN' HELLFIRE!!!" She turned and bolted for the kitchen, the words of a teleportation spell already coming to mind, driven by desperation. The
portal wouldn't stay open long, she knew, and once it closed there would be no chance of finding it ever again - whoever the evil had taken would be lost.

Heads whipped around, confused, as she burst into the kitchen. Shite, not enough - Amanda widened the scope of her spell to anyone within fifteen feet of the
kitchen and cast it. There was a brilliant burst of golden light, swallowing all within its radius (with one very large exception), and then the kitchen and surrounding rooms were empty.

Remy was flipping through the mail (not his, of course. Who knew Monet had a subscription to PLAYBOY. And that Logan didn't) and enjoying a quiet cigarette
when the goatheaded man ran past him, cape flapping. He quietly put down the mail and took a reflexive drag of his cigarette as the goatheaded caped demon thing ran back past him, the blonde haired sister of the Russian in his arms.

"Dat not somet'ing you see every day." He muttered, trying to figure out if this was something that was supposed to happen. After six weeks in this house, he'd set aside the basic notions of normality and was learning to adapt. The cape had just fluttered past a turn in the hall when he heard the new alarm system go
off.

"BLOODY FUCKIN' HELLFIRE!!!" The new alarm system had a bad dye job, but quite a volume when needed. Remy sighed. Apparently, this was not a joke or a new student. He turned and dashed down the hall, after the cape. The goatman had a lead, but Remy LeBeau was almost unnaturally fast, and he caught a glimpse of the cape in front of him before it was swallowed up in the pulsating pink energy of the disk in from of him. The dimensional portal was almost seven feet high, rising out of the carpet runner and filling the rec room doorway. He couldn't see through the gate, but he could hear inhuman howls beyond the wall.

"I hate dis place." Remy muttered, looking around briefly and grabbing a mop from the hall closet. He snapped the head off with his heel, spun it behind him
and with a deep breath, leaped into the energy.

It was like having every hair on your body pulled out individually. It felt like every atom was stretched as far apart as possible and then let go to jangle back in place. It seemed to last long enough to feel every muscle atrophy and regrow from fire. Remy slammed facedown on the bare rock, wanting to vomit and scream simultaneously. His head came up slowly, vile energy pulsing in his veins. In front of him, hanging off rock formations of screaming souls and crowded around pools of flame, stood a thousand-thousand demons, in great waves of unnatural evil, around the slab which their master held court.

Belasco held up Illyana over his head, the sacrifice being met with a roar from the hordes. Remy's hand tightened on the staff, and he closed his eyes as the
dark majiks rolled over him.

It was Gambit that opened them up again.

"The forces of Limbo are no longer to be thwarted. The time has arrived for your dread ascension!" Belasco howled, his demons adding to the crescendo of noise. Illyana screamed for the hundredth time, every nightmare come to life around her. There was a fractional pause in the noise; a tiny bubble just long enough for the sound of a lighter and a rough Cajun accent to cut through.

"Tell me somet'ing, homme. Dat goat t'ing ever work wit de femmes?" Gambit said. Belasco looked contemptuously at the lone figure, smoking a
cigarette and idly twirling a staff.

"Kill him. Bring his head to me," he said, and the demons roared, moving like a wave towards Gambit. Gambit smiled, energized his cigarette and pitched it
through the face of the lead demon.

"Dat's what Gambit wanted t' hear."

Teleporting into Limbo for Amanda was like being dropped into a nuclear reactor - she jerked compulsively as the mystic energy of an entire dimension slammed into her. A month ago, pre-Cain, the load would have killed her instantly, her mutant ability overloading her nervous system with power it couldn't handle. But weeks of absorbing the energy generated by the gem had increased her tolerance, widened the limits of her ability: she opened eyes that had become entirely black and with a single word cast a protection spell that encircled the bemused group, driving the hordes of demons back.

A temporary respite: another voice like rolling thunder spoke a string of words that shattered the invisible shield, the magickal feedback knocking Amanda to her knees. Lifting her head, a small thread of blood beginning to trickle from her nose, she glared at the voice's owner, a titanic figure on the dais at the other room of the cavernous hall. A demonic power - the dark energy rolling off him was enough of an indication for Amanda, without adding in the horns and the aura of palpable menace - who held in his arms a small, struggling blonde child. "ILLYANA!!!" Piotr bellowed, in that instant transforming into gleaming metal and beginning to stride forward.

Amanda raised her hand to grab the screaming girl magically, but before she could form the words of the spell, the multitude of demons, no longer held back by
her protection spell, crashed into them

Shiro and Piotr were in the kitchen with a handful of fellow residents when it happened. Shiro's dinner, a bowl of Easy Mac (one of mankind's worst culinary disasters), was warming up in the microwave and Piotr was cheerfully scooping chunks of his Cookies N Cream ice cream into his mouth. Just as the microwave beeped, a loud shout came from down the hall. But before he or anyone else could go investigate, Amanda had burst into the kitchen.

Shiro fell to his knees, feeling momentarily weak and disoriented. When he looked up, his jaw nearly dropped in surprise. They certainly weren't in the kitchen any more. Looking around, he saw scores of goat-legged red men and flying beasts roaming around, screaming and chanting in some language he'd never heard before. It took him another moment to gather the strength to get to his feet, but he really should have just stayed on the ground. Because the second he rose, one of said nasty creatures attacked.

He just barely ducked down in time to avoid the swipe of glinting claws. Without a second thought, Shiro held his hands in front of him and released a blast of
plasma that ripped through the strange beastly being. "Akuma?" he gasped in surprise. Where was he?

He flew into the air to get a better lay of the land. He couldn't have described the place even if he wanted to. It was like a scene out of a bad anime. And with
all the demons around, he hoped it wouldn't turn out like 'La Blue Girl' or 'Urotsukidoji.' Not that he had ever watched those, mind you. Just an observation.

But he was given little more time to think. Soon enough, half a dozen flying monsters charged Shiro, and he had to tap deep into his powers to fend them off. As soon as they were within two feet of him, an omnidirectional wave of solar flare emanated from his body, burning each of the monsters to a crisp. But he barely had time to recuperate, as a second wave attacked him, and he was forced to do the same thing. And it wasn't easy. Without the sun for fuel, Shiro had to rely on whatever energy he had stored in his body. As the second group fell, he could feel himself tiring, and landed to conserve energy.

Jubilee looked around at the rocky cave-like throne room that had suddenly appeared around her. Disorientated by the sudden shift of perspective she swayed slightly, she noticed that others were with her and then she noticed the demons. They had to be demons, because she didn't think there were humans that walked around on goat legs and had horns. Of course, they could be mutants, but she thought that perhaps someone might have mentioned a race of mutant
half-goat people.

It was at this moment, while she was still trying to figure out just what the hell was going on, that the demons attacked.

Instinct and basic training kicked in as the hordes screamed toward her and the people she felt around her. She knew she wasn't going to be much good in
face-to-face fight; even though she was seventeen, she wasn't exactly large for her age. Knowing this, she fell back, skirting the edges of the battle and
looking for spots she could be of most use.

Jubilee noticed Kitty, who was beside her, start heading for the throne at the centre of the cave, and it was then that she saw Illyana, held in the grip of the ugliest son of the bitch she'd ever seen. She knew now why they'd appeared in this place, and damned if she was gonna leave without Yana.

She noticed a demon about to leap on Kitty from behind, and not thinking, she jumped, rolling in front of it and sending off a burst of sparks straight in its face. It screamed, rearing back from the searing pain and she grinned fiercely, raising her leg and kicking it solidly in the abdomen.

Watching it fall backward into a molten pool of lava, she blew sweat-dampened hair from her face. She'd been trying to make a cheesecake for dinner when she'd been transported and her hair had been bound only loosely in a ponytail. She still had the kitchen knife she'd instinctively grabbed when Amanda had burst into the kitchen clutched in her hand.

Looking around, she noticed Remy somewhat ahead of the rest of them and it was at that moment she also noticed the small drift of demon bodies surrounding
him as he leapt over a kick from one and brought his makeshift bo around in a crushing blow to its head. She paused for a second, simply watching him in awe as he blew through the demons surrounding him like a man possessed. Then she gagged as she felt a demon hand grip her around the throat.

Not thinking, she stepped back, bringing her arms upward to break the grip and then hip tossed the demon over her shoulder. Looking down at it, she stepped
back quickly as it leapt to its feet, snarling at her. As it advanced. Looking around, she could see the others all engaged in battles of their own, there would be no help forthcoming.

'It's now or never, Lee,' she thought.

She raised her hand and sent a stream of sparks at its face, ducking a sweeping left hand blow from a claw. Of course, she had forgotten the right claw, and
screamed as it raked her face, feeling the claw break skin before she managed to get some distance between her and it.

It laughed at her, grinning in contempt at this small human thing that had decided to go toe to toe with it. She'd be quick work, and then it could get back to
more important things.

Jubilee held a hand to her face, feeling the blood seeping through her fingers. It had been a stupid mistake, you never look for the blow you expect, always the one you don't. She noticed that other demons were approaching from each side, coming to help, and her demon snarled at them in a language she couldn't understand. Whatever it was that it had said, it seemed to stay the other two demons, and instead they simply stood back a ways, observing their compatriot.

She sent off a few volleys of sparks, watching the demon wince as it couldn't get out of the way of all of them and she smiled. It would appear that her powers affected them at least. Circling the demon, she tried to find a weakness. She noticed the others trying to get closer to the throne, battling the horde of demons that seemed to be inhabiting this place. She didn't have time for this, didn't have the brute strength needed for hand-to-hand combat with a demon.

Suddenly, a force bolt hit the demon from behind, pushing it flat to the ground and Jubilee saw Amanda in the distance, looking her way. Jubilee waved her thanks and leapt forward, plunging the kitchen knife she'd been holding into its unprotected back. She ran towards the others, not looking at the two demons
she'd left behind. She could worry about them when she got to the main pack of fighting, right now she had to get closer to her friends, or she'd end up separated and surrounded by foes she couldn't handle.

Determined and unstoppable, Piotr strode towards Belasco, shrugging demons off of him left and right. Nothing was going to stop him from saving his little sister. Having the others at his back, distracting the minor demons, he approached the master of this sick place. "RELEASE HER!" Piotr screamed.

Belasco merely chuckled and sent a wave of dark magic his way and knocked Piotr firmly on the ground. Piotr easily managed to get up again, but this time started running towards Belasco, who still held onto Illyana. Belasco threw a menacing look towards Piotr and swung his arm at his side. Piotr caught the arm and began to heave the monster towards him. Belasco, at a one-handed disadvantage, received a few punches before sending Piotr across the ground with another powerful spell.

Feeling that last spell pretty bad, Piotr struggled to regain his spinning perspective and started back at the beast. Noticing his strength had no effect on Belasco, Piotr still charged forward in a fit of blind rage. His sister meant everything to him and he wasn't going to let ANYONE take that away from him.

Kitty almost shrieked aloud when Amanda's magic transported her out of the kitchen - she had more than enough issues about magic these days to be weirded out before she even saw what was going on. When she did finally process what was happening she did cry out. "'Yana! Let her go!" Racing off behind Piotr, she ducked and dodged away from all of the attacks she saw coming, completely unaware of the demons behind her. Thankfully Jubilee was more on the ball.

"'Yana!" she called out again, as she saw Piotr strike the... the creature holding her. But he didn't go down, which gave her pause. Anything which could stand
up to Piotr she had no chance against.

She spotted a pair of claws rushing towards her head, and ducked, phasing out. As she moved she caught sight of a second set of claws - these blue furred - arcing over her head and raking the first away from her. Glancing up she got the faint impression of blue fur and familiar eyes before the woman turned away to take her fight else where, a cat's tail thrashing behind her.

Power sang. no, it screamed through her, shredding any semblance of control, setting her nerves on fire. The air around Amanda shimmered like a heat
haze, crackling with ozone. She had to get out soon, she knew, but she was the only one keeping the portal open, and the moment the portal closed, they were utterly fucked. And while she might be able to keep it open from the other side, she didn't want to push their chances. Blood dripping freely from her nose, she watched Piotr's hopeless struggle against Belasco, saw him charge at the demon lord again, felt the power Belasco was gathering to destroy the annoying human. Long-distance shielding was difficult, but she didn't dare teleport again - she'd lose the tenuous connection she had to their own
dimension.

"Fuck it," she muttered. "Got the power t' spare, even if he is a pillock," and cast the spell anyway, crying out as the energies ripped through her. It was semi-successful, as saves go: she blocked most of Belasco's spell and stopped Piotr from being incinerated on the spot, but enough got through to knock him flying back into the melee. Amanda raised her hands again, thinking to shove him back at Belasco, metal be damned, but someone knocked her over. Claws swept through the air where her head and neck had been.

"Watch your damn head or you'll lose it," Jake snapped at her, punching the demon in the face; the shapeshifter had added muscle to his arms, making them stronger, and there was a wet crunch as he broke most of the bones in the demon's face. He offered a hand to help her up. "Are you okay? You're bleeding."

She opened her mouth to reply, saw another demon advancing on them from behind Jake, and incinerated it with a fire spell. "Been better," she admitted, grating the words out past the throbbing of her head - it felt like she'd stuck her finger into an electrical outlet, and the sensation was getting worse. Not to mention the magic she was using was major stuff, seriously dark shite, the stuff she'd been studying on the quiet even since the attack on the school. And magic that dark always demanded a price.

Jake looked doubtful - there was blood running from the girl's nose, and as he watched, another trickle ran along her jawline, below her right ear. And she was. well, not glowing, because that would imply happy, not-so-scary things, and this was definitely not that kind of glow. It was more of the dark-and-powerful evil kind. "We need to get you out of here," he said firmly, elbowing another demon in the face as it lunged at him. "You look like you're about to go all Voldemort. And that would be bad. For the rest of us."

"Can't. might lose. the portal." Amanda raised her hands, said a string of incomprehensible words, and every demon immediately surrounding them exploded into
hot, wet fragments that rained down around them. She felt something snap in her head at the effort, and dropped to one knee. Blood coated her fingers when she touched them to her ear. "Tell them. to hurry. the fuck up. I'll. shield you."

Jake didn't need telling twice, not if there was a chance of Amanda breaking before they got out and them losing their escape route. He plunged back into the
chaos, heading for the knots of fighting.

The mansion's fire alarms were going off as if the place had been engulfed in an inferno, despite the absence of any flame. Cain sidestepped to avoid the younger students who were rushing to the outside, escorted by staff and teachers. Something was obviously wrong with the system, or someone had pulled
a prank and he'd be damned if -

The giant shimmering rip in the air before him gave Cain pause. It was as if he was looking through a torn curtain through a dirty window at a scene right out of
a Bosch painting of what Hell might be like. Beneath the metal plate covering his chest, Cain felt the gem itch.

From the other side of the portal, Cain could hear screams, both human and inhuman. Alien and... familiar Russian curses.

"Petey," he breathed. "Shit." Before his eyes, the edges of the portal appeared to curl inwards, contracting as if a hole were burning through paper, but in reverse. Blinking, Cain stepped forward.

"Oh, hell with it." He reached out, placing his hands at the edges of the portal and pushed. With a flash of crimson sparks and foul-smelling brimstone, the edges of the rift began to crackle and steam as Cain Marko braced himself, holding the portal open.

"Whoever's in there," he hollered, "this train's leavin' the station pretty damn soon!" In response, a clawed hand reached around the edge of the portal, fingers grasping for Cain's neck.

"Meat..." something hissed, a horned head coming into view. Cain blinked, then raised one huge foot.

"Fuck THAT." he replied, kicking out at the demon. Fiendish scales and bone gave way as Cain booted the demon-thing away from the portal. As it fell, another rose to take its place, hissing and advancing slowly. Rolling his eyes, Cain braced the edge of the portal against his shoulder, hearing the sizzle as his
flannel overshirt began to smoulder.

"GUYS!" he called into the sulfur-clouded darkness, "this thing's closing NOW, and I ain't about to hold the door for these party crashers! Get your shit together and MOVE!"

The scene in Limbo was madness. LeBeau was in the centre of a horde of demons, grinning like a madman as he fought. Demons piled in stacks of corpses round him. His staff jabbed into a throat on one, rebounded to shatter another's pelvis. Gambit's hands flickered out, charging coins and stones through bodies. One demon with an abnormally large toothed maw snapped at him, Gambit caught his jaw, snapped his neck and pulled out the front row of fangs, hurling them into a new wave of attackers in a scattering of purple explosions. One got too close for the staff, so he hooked a thumb into its eye with a wet pop and tore the side of it's face away.

It was not a battle. It was a slaughter ground with the Cajun as the master. A thousand blows were aimed at him, but none landed. The impossible speed and
contortions of his body kept him away. Almost blinding were his movements in the carnage, not even pausing as the rare swipe cut into his back and chest. His red on black eyes glowed as hellishly as any demon, and even his allies were aghast at the display of focused violence.

Jake grabbed two demons and smacked their heads together, the impact making a pulpy mess of brain and skull and blood. Behind him Jubilee fired another volley of sparks at a demon who lunged at her, and Sarah was swearing and killing almost constantly. The portal was just ahead of them, and in front of it a
black-clothed figure still standing, but obviously barely, her head down, surrounded by a faint blue shimmer that electrocuted any demon that was stupid enough to try and get through it. Not a moment too soon, then.

"Amanda!" he yelled. "They're still trying to get the kid - can you hold it together a bit longer?"

The figure raised its head, and Jake half-stepped backwards. Blood was running freely from Amanda's nose and ears, and oozing from her eyes like some kind of garish Halloween effect. And the eyes themselves. they burned fiery red, echoing the lava pits and flaming torches in this place.

"Ew, gross, dude!" Jubilee squeaked, unable to help herself. Sarah rolled her eyes at the reaction, too busy defending their backs to do much else.

"Fuck. you. Lee," Amanda rasped. "Jake. I can't. there's too. much." She groaned and clutched at her head. "Feels... like I'm. gunna. explode or somethin'."

Dilemma. Jake considered the young witch, and then looked over at where Piotr had managed to struggle back towards Belasco and was futilely trying to retrieve his sister. And there was someone else, someone who looked a bit like. Ororo? Couldn't be. It wasn't far, but seemed further. And Kitty was.
somewhere, and Remy he'd lost in the chaos, although his mind was filled with images of blood and carnage and demonic red-on-black eyes. Shiro and Shinobi
weren't too far away, although still far enough. But Amanda had clearly reached the limit of her ability to absorb mystic energy, despite the large amounts she was expending in keeping the portal open, and they should.

At that moment, a large arm and shoulder appeared through the portal, and a loud and very welcomingly familiar voice bellowed: "Whoever's in there, this train's leavin' the station pretty damn soon!" There was a screech as the demon that had tried to clamber up Cain's arm was booted through the air, crashing into a sprawl of its fellows.

"Cain, if it wouldn't be really fucked up, I could kiss you," Jake muttered. "Cover us," he told Jubilee and Sarah.

"Already fucking am," the Morlock grunted, slashing a demon across the throat with one bone knife, clubbing another into the ground with the bone in her other
hand.

"Um, sure, dude, no problem." Jubilee sounded less sure, but wasn't going to let anyone see how scared she was.

Jake approached Amanda's shield, feeling it crackle as he came too close to it. As he did, Cain called again:

"GUYS! This thing's closing NOW, and I ain't about to hold the door for these party crashers! Get your shit together and MOVE!"

"Amanda, we're leaving. Drop the shield so we can get you out of here, okay?" he yelled over the screaming and fighting and the rising winds.

"Can't. portal." she gasped, the blood running more thickly down her cheeks.

"Trust me, Cain's got the portal. Now drop the shield before your head explodes and I lose the only other person in the place who appreciates the joys of cookies with beer."

She chuckled, a tortured, strained sound, and gestured. The blue glow flickered and vanished, and the girl fell forward into Jake's arms with a small whimper. Luckily she weighed practically nothing and he easily supported her weight on his arm. "Guys? We're out of here."

Jubilee looked relieved, but Sarah shook her head. "Shinobi's still here. I'm not going anywhere," she told him.

"Okay," Jake agreed, and Jubilee gave him a look that clearly said 'What the fuck? You're the grownup! You're supposed to make her come!' He ignored it. "Don't get yourself killed, okay? Be a shitload of paperwork."

"I'll try," she agreed wryly, and dealt bloody death to another demon. There was a look of wild joy on her face at the slaughter she was committing.

"Jubilee, you've got our backs," Jake told the Asian girl, and she nodded. Feeling a certain satisfaction at Amanda's blood seeping into what had been one of
the outfits Emma had made him buy, Jake crossed the few steps to the portal, Amanda held up by one arm and beating off demons with the other. Persistent bastards these things were, if the sounds of fireworks from behind him were anything to go by. "Coming through!" he called, and Cain propped his hand against the edge of the portal, holding it open enough for Jake to squeeze through with his burden, Jubilee closely following.

"That it?" Cain asked, not apparently noticing his shirt was slowly smouldering, even though it reeked.

"Not yet. Illyana's in there - Piotr's trying to get her. And there's a few of the other kids."

"This better not be one of her ideas of a prank," Cain said darkly, nodding at the shape slung over Jake's shoulder.

"Fuck. off," Amanda wheezed, lifting her head. Jake held her up - she gasped for a few moments, adjusting to not feeling like she was about to explode
into wet messy pieces (and she'd only been joking about that, honest), and then looked around. She was a mess, covered with blood, it still oozing sluggishly
from her nose and eyes, but the hellish glow was gone."Pillock," she told Cain.

Shiro barely took notice of the other people near him, but noticed Shinobi stood fighting not too far from where he'd touched down. He prepared to blast off the
demon he was engaged with, but was interrupted by a particularly nasty-looking blood-red monster with long sharp claws. Shiro rolled to the side to avoid being
cut to pieces, and aimed a plasma blast at its face. But unlike the others, it barely fazed him. "Shit."

Shinobi hated to admit it, but he was having a fantastic time, despite the rather serious circumstances that were giving him the much-needed outlet for his stress. Hopefully, nobody would ask. While he himself remained physically unscathed, save for some extremely shallow white scratches scattered over his body, his previously pristine black suit was practically in tatters. As his diamond-hard fist rocketed into an incoming foe's teeth, sending it back, he whipped around towards the suddenly nearby sound of a plasma blast, blinking once. Shiro looked like he could use a hand... but as he began to rush in his direction, a clawed hand wrapped around his ankle to yank him to the ground. It was his turn to curse. "Not now!"

Shiro didn't have a choice. He had to fly to get away from this thing. Just as he pushed himself back into the air and thought he was out of reach, the demon
showed a trick of its own; it had wings, too. Shiro's curse died on his lips as the thing slashed out. He was lucky enough to avoid dissection, but the razor-sharp claws had managed to cut through his shirt and leave three shallow wounds on his chest. And that shouldn't have been a problem, but Shiro found himself
suddenly unable to concentrate and fell down on his back with a rather loud thud.

Shit! Shinobi gave the beast holding his ankle an irritated glare before going intangible long enough to get his foot back, scrambling to his feet and gradually resolidifying himself as he rushed towards his fallen friend. He didn't seem interested in stopping for long, either, skidding to a halt and putting himself between the airborne demon and Shiro as he reached down to seize the boy by the forearms. "We're leaving," he stated firmly, tone leaving no room for argument.

"The others can't hold themselves," Shiro protested weakly, although he had no strength to argue with Shinobi. He let himself be pulled to his feet, and all but hung onto the other man for support. The cuts were not deep, but something strange was flowing through his body, and it made Shiro feel not himself.

"They'll be fine. I can't say the same for you for sure." He gave the other man a quick looking-over before offering a quick "Sorry about this," as he unceremoniously scooped him up, with a quiet grunt as Shiro proved to be heavier than he looked. Shaking himself, he cast a quick look around before making a mad dash for the portal, hoping he could run faster than demons could fly.

Shiro fell out of Shinobi's arms as they passed through and landed back inside the mansion. Coughing violently, he struggled to sit up. Every movement was a chore, it seemed. His breathing was labored, his skin was pale and clammy, and there was a fog around his head. "Shinobi . . ." His voice was hoarse. "Remind me never to go to Hell again."

Illyana struggled and sobbed as she watched her brother get nearly destroyed by this evil sorcerer that held onto her. She had to do something, anything to stop her brother from being killed. Piotr mustered all the strength he had and with a double-fisted blow, knocked Belasco's arm holding onto Illyana and watched her drop safely to the ground. But Belasco was not about to let his sacrifice being taken away from him. Unharmed by the blow, he waved his hand a final time and knocked Piotr down with ease, only this time, Piotr did not get back up. The group was gradually making its way to the portal and escape, and Belasco took this opportunity to pick up Piotr and hurl him, over the scene of battle, past Cain, and through the portal.

Kitty heard Piotr yell out, and her attention became focused again as she saw the creature drop Illyana. "'Yana!" Darting forward, she got her arms around the
little girl, hauling her up into the air to get them away from this place, turning and racing away from the monster. She spotted the others pulling together, and something that looked like a portal back into the mansion - she could see the hallway outside the rec room.

"Thank God!" she cried out, "Piotr, come on!"

Unfortunately, it was not Piotr who was dogging her steps towards the exit.

"Give me back the childe!"

The voice came thundering from behind her, and Kitty almost stumbled at the force of it. She risked a quick glance behind her, and then whished she hadn't. Piotr was nowhere to be seen and the fiend was gaining on her.

Adjusting her grip on Illyana, she ran as fast as she could, diving forward towards the exit. She felt her feet touch the ground back in the hallway, and then a
sudden jerk from behind, accompanied by a scream from Illyana, almost pulled her backwards off her feet and back through the portal.

Spinning around, trying desperately to keep hold of Illyana, Kitty almost shrieked herself when she saw what had happened. The creature had hold of her arms,
was pulling 'Yana back, pulling her out of Kitty's arms.

"No! No, you can't!" she cried out, tightening her grip. But it was no good - the fiend was much bigger and stronger than she was. "Please, please don't!" Kitty was crying, holding on as tightly as she could and frightened - frightened that she'd lose Illyana to this thing, frightened that the girl would be hurt in this horrible game of tug of war, frightened that he'd pull her in with Illyana. "Someone, help!" she cried, not really expecting anyone to actually hear her - it seemed like she was alone in the face of infinite demon hordes.

"Hold onto her!" shouted a voice, a familiar voice, a voice Kitty had never so welcomed before now. Sarah rose up before her like some kind of avenging angel, a bloody, bony, avenging angel, but an angel all the same. She hacked down the demon lord grasping at Illyana and Kitty and he fell back, gesturing at his armies of demons to take the monster-girl down. Kitty staggered forward towards the portal, Illyana still clutched in her arms. Sarah followed, wrecking bloody
havoc on all who tried to stop them, and enjoying every minute of it.

"Any time I can let this thing go, just give me the word," Cain grunted as the portal continued its attempt to close. Things had reached some kind of breaking point - the rec room entrance was swept with winds, sucking anything loose towards the portal, and the edges of it crackled with energy.

"LeBeau's still in there." Amanda yelled as the unnatural winds whipped around her. Blood gushed freely down her face, soaking into the already-wet t-shirt. She'd refused any suggestion of medical aid, saying she wasn't done yet, that they might still use her - she was standing by Cain and the portal, one hand pressed to the crackling energy, helping him as much as she could to keep it open from this side.

"And Sarah," added Shnobi. "Not to mention Kitty and Illyana." He'd taken Shiro to the medlab, but Piotr was out cold, stuck in his metal form, and as none of
them but Cain could lift him, they had left him where he was. The scion of the Shaw family quirked an eyebrow at Jake. "Perhaps we should fetch them?"

"Do I have to?" Jake asked plaintively, but knowing he had no choice. He sighed, and followed Shinobi as he plunged back into the portal.

"I'll find the girls, you get LeBeau!" Shinobi yelled above the screeching of winds and demons. Jake made a pained face at him, but headed for where the screams were loudest. There, he guessed, he'd find the Cajun.

Shinobi, for his part, didn't have far to go. Sarah, Kitty and Illyana were pinned down not that far from the rapidly-shrinking portal, the Morlock defending the other two with an almost sensual savagery. He paused without meaning to, captivated by the sight as she near sliced the head off one demon with a cross-armed slash of two bone shards, and then shoved them into the eyes of the next one to take its place. A hastily-ripped bone from her thigh acted as a club on the skull of the next.

Claws at his back roused him from the sight, and he automatically struck out backwards, phasing as he did to avoid injury. His partially-ghosted fist passed through the demon's head, and it looked at him with an almost Stooge-like expression of confusion on its face before it keeled over. Shinobi blinked, momentarily confused - why would a phased fist stop a demon so easily? - before the implications hit home and he ploughed through the demons separating him from the girls, phasing through most but adding a few punches and kicks for the sheer hell of it. The suit was ruined any way.

"Sarah!" The sound of her name being called distracted her momentarily, and claws ripped through her tank top and into the skin of her side. Fortunately, the fight had armoured her up pretty good so the damage was minimal, but it still hurt like fuck. She jabbed a sharp-boned fist into the face of the demon who had
cut her, and looked across to see Shinobi advancing thorough the wall of demons between them and the portal. His pretty face had never been so welcome.

"You're hurt!" he exclaimed, phasing his hand through the head of the last demon and watching as it toppled.

"It's nothing," she said. "I've had much worse - and I've got a healing factor, remember? Let's get them out of here."

Shinobi knew better than to argue. He made as if to take 'Yana from Kitty, but the girl refused.

"I can't let her go!" she blurted, holding the young girl to her. "I have to keep her safe!"

Shinobi shrugged. Obviously there was an issue here, but this was neither the time or place to explore it. Instead he grabbed Kitty's arm and half-led, half-dragged her and the sobbing child towards the portal, Sarah opening a path over the bodies of those demons Shinobi had already killed. "Nearly there, luv," he called encouragingly. She looked back, nodded.

And then her eyes widened in pain as one of the fallen demons, faking death, shoved its rough-hewn sword past a gap in the bone plating, deep into her stomach.

Jake turned in horror at the dervish of violence in the rocky plain. He grimaced, and slid down the rocks towards Remy. The Cajun was fighting like a demon still, but his shirt had been clawed off, and his chest and back bore terrible rents across the muscles from his battle. Jake ducked a flung demon corpse and
screamed at LeBeau.

"Remy, we are leaving!" The Cajun's head whipped around, even as he shattered the skull of a demon with his staff.

"Jacqualine. You made it, chere." Remy's face was a mask of blood, and his grin through it made Jake go white. It was Gambit. He forced himself to talk.

"The portal is closing. You go now or you stay here."

"Hard t' find a bottle of wine here." Gambit smirked and energized his staff. With a spinning motion, he flung it out towards the still onward-rushing demons, exploding to send gobbets of flesh and bone arcing through the air. With Jake's help, he navigated towards the portal and was pushed through.

Gambit rebounded off of Cain's chest and staggered off to the side. "Dis place is not..." He started and took a few uncertain steps, the dark energy ebbing away from him and feeling Remy start to claw back to dominance. "Dat not right. Dat not..." He hissed and ran into Amanda. Her face and front were covered in blood, and she looked at him with wide eyes. "Dat you, 'manda?" Remy said finally, and passed out full length on the floor.

"SARAH!" Shinobi bellowed. Forgetting Kitty and Illyana, forgetting the demons, forgetting everything, he lunged forward as Sarah slumped, one arm clamped across the puncture in her abdomen. He reached her before she fell, catching her under the knees and lifting her into his arms. "It's all right, I've got you, I'll get you out of here." His momentum carried them both forward and he phased, hoping it would cover them both, and then miraculously, there was the portal. Without thinking of what - or who - he had left behind, he squeezed past Cain and back, miraculously, into the mansion.

"Kitty." Sarah protested weakly, blood seeping through her fingers, but her words were lost in the rising maelstrom. And if Shinobi had heard her, he made no
indication, practically running for the medlab.

Cain turned his head, peering into the hell on the other side of the portal. The two girls were there, just about within reach. He stretched, and his fingers closed over Kitty's arm. Forcing himself not to crush her, he grabbed her as firmly as he could and started to pull her towards the portal.

Kitty felt a strong hand latch around her arm, pulling her towards the portal, out of this hell, and half-sobbed with relief. "We're nearly home, 'Yana," she told the shaking girl in her arms. Then there was another hand, this one around 'Yana's arm, stopping her forward progress into the portal, clawed and inhuman, and the portal was closing around her arm, and Illyana was on the other side...

"Yana! No!" She tried to tug back, and felt her hands slipping. Kitty clutched the girl desperately, and then felt the fiend tugging back, but with Cain holding onto her she wasn't sliding forward any more, and the fiend was so much stronger. With a shriek, Illyana slipped out of Kitty's hands and with the loss of force Kitty fell back, clear of the portal, which slammed shut. "NO!"

[Cat and Illyana, ten to twelve months after the portal closes.]

It was quiet. Early morning in Limbo meant that the sun -- such that it was -- crept quietly to, and above, the horizon; it was a time of day that the demons did not much like, being neither broad daylight nor pitch darkness, with a sky that was painted in pale pastels rather than the vivid searing colours of the daytime. The air was chill and dry; taking a deep breath, it was all Illyana Rasputin could do to keep from coughing.

A year ago, she'd have had a list of complaints as long as her arm -- her feet hurt, she had bruises, she was too cold or too hot, she was thirsty, she was hungry, she was scared, she was dirty -- but now she walked quietly, watching cautiously for any abrupt movement that might mean an attack. A year had taught her the trick of stepping carefully without looking at her feet.

She looked up at her companion. "Is it very much longer to go?" she asked, struggling slightly with her phrasing.

The blue fured tail of the woman in front of her flickered slightly. "No," she said, her voice quiet. "We'll be there in a few minutes. Well before anything else is awake and moving, I promise."

She moved with a sure grace, feet never faltering as she led the young girl along a path that was invisible to her companion. But she seemed certain of herself and her destination.

One of the blue tipped ears protruding up from her curly brown hair flicked back, and the woman nodded. "You're welcome, for the first, and as for the second... I wouldn't leave my worst enemy in His hands, not if I could help it, let alone..." she trailed off. "Here, this way," she said, rather than finish her sentance. She ducked down under a low branch, holding back the scrub slightly so Illyana could step through.

When the branches settled back into place the 'road' behind them was blocked from their view, and they from its. The woman made her way down a hill, continuing to hold back branches for the girl behind her.

The blonde girl nodded once, quickly, narrowly avoiding a patch of dead -- and probably, if you stepped on them, loud -- branches, keeping her eyes on the lithe figure in front of her, expression inscrutable. Although she looked reassured by the strange woman's words, she instinctively jerked her head back every so often, checking for any sign of pursuers. "Thank you," she said softly, after a short silence where the wind blew dry leaves across the ground. "I am meaning," she clarified, talking quickly enough that she nearly stumbled over her words, "For that, and also for -- helping me."

Stepping between the branches -- grateful for the help in keeping them back, since it meant fewer scratches and less chance of an infection -- Illyana nodded again and followed the woman down, trying to imitate her grace and fluidity. Fear and exhaustion had made her clumsy many hours ago, though, and it was all she could do to keep moving the way she was, with a minimum of wasted movement and a maximum of stealth. She brushed a branch away from her face. "He's -- " she began, and then stopped abruptly. "I am understanding," she said instead.

The woman nodded, unsurprised that the girl had cut herself off. She considered talking about Him to be less than wise, especially while out in the open. And that wasn't even including how damned painful it could be to talk about him. She led Illyana a few more minutes in silence, the hill below them becoming more steep. It started to level out slightly, and then she paused besides a series of bushes. Her ears flicked in every direction, her eyes scanning the woods around them.

Soon her shoulders untensed fractionally and she moved the bush next to her aside, revealing a cave in the side of the hill. "Inside," she said, her voice even lower than usual - He hadn't found this place yet, but it didn't pay to be incautious.

She ducked inside, flicking one last glance at the quiet woods over her shoulder. The silence around them was nearly stifling, and, not for the first time, Illyana found herself remembering the almost-continuous noise of the mansion. She pushed the thought away. "It's safe?" she asked, glancing around at the walls of the cave, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light.

The woman slipped in behind her, the branches closing behind them with a sight 'swish', filtering the slowly increasing light outside. "Yes," she said, her voice more firm. "He hasn't found this place yet. I... We should have another few weeks at least before He does, maybe a little less, since He'll be looking for you."

"Don't worry," she added when she saw the look on Illyana's face, her eyes glowing faintly in the dim light revealing cats' eye pupils. "I won't let Him have you again."

A strange expression crossed Illyana's face, and she made her way a little deeper into the cave, trying to see how deep it actually went, before leaning against a wall. "He won't stop looking," she said, not looking up. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying at the thought of running from Him forever -- not because He hated it when she cried, but because she knew enough by now to know that she'd just feel sick and achey afterward. "He'll send S'ym to look, probably," she added, swallowing convulsively at the thought of the oversized demon.

"Oh, that one." The woman's voice held a tinge of disdain. "That one can be delt with. They've not found me yet, and I won't let them find you. Come. Sit." She gestured to a couple of low stones that made a natural shelf. "I've got food."

While the woman was clearly not quite used to 'social niceties' anymore, she remembered enough of her previous life to have some idea what to say, and knew the girl would be tired and hungry.

And Illyana was tired and hungry; she fairly collapsed onto the spot the woman motioned, as though the journey's strain had suddenly decided to take effect. She felt as though somebody had extracted the bones from her legs. "Thank you," she said again, though now her voice was hoarse. Somehow, the woman's firm manner and sureness was comforting; she hadn't ever heard anyone -- except Him -- talk about S'ym so casually.

The food was laid out without fuss - mostly slightly wilted vegetables and some dried meat, but with a pair of small, fresh apples, and two full glasses of fresh water - before the woman settled gracefully onto one of the other stones.

Illyana ate her portion in quick, breathless bites, as though she was sure somebody was going to take it away before she was finished -- meals with Him were much like that, food as a reward for good behaviour, for some new spell learned, and its removal as a punishment for some wrongdoing, imagined or otherwise. "It's good," she said, glancing up shyly, suddenly aware that she was probably breaking all the rules of etiquette that she'd ever known. "This is -- I am meaning -- " She stopped, unable to think of the right thing to say.

The woman had pushed the larger portion towards the girl, aware she'd probably been underfed - she certainly looked it, and she waved away her attempts at politeness, claws glinting vaguely in the dim light. "Don't worry 'bout it," she said. "Doubt I'd know what to say in your position either."

A brief nod towards the near back of the cave showed what was clearly a pile of leaves and grasses, laid over with a rough blanket. "If you're tired, you can take a nap when you're... done." It was unlikely she had enough food to get the girl actually full, and even if she did, they couldn't afford to eat everything one go. "If not, I can show you around a bit, or..." she shrugged, unsure how to be social. "Whatever."

The younger girl sat in silence for a moment and took a long drink of water, deciding between the oblivion of sleep or seeing more of her new, if temporary, home. Curiosity -- and a familiar affinity for the woman, a friendliness that she had missed desperately since coming to Limbo -- won out. "I would be liking to see more," she said tentatively.

"Sure," she said, standing up. "Obviously, this is the room. A little farther back it's a little colder, so that's where the food is. Don't eat it all, but this is... this can be your home, if you want, so you're free to take what you need. Outside..." she paused, then moved closer to the entrance and knelt down, gesturing for the girl to follow her.

"Down here," she pointed to a low, well hidden break in the bushes, "you can see out. Make sure you don't see anyone or anything before you come and go." Her tail swished lightly as she peered outside. "Looks safe. Ready?" An ear flicked towards the exit, and her hand hesitated at the bush, ready to push it open, but not doing so until the girl said it was ok.

Illyana nodded, standing and moving towards the exit. "Is okay," she affirmed, steeling herself against the thoughts of 'outside' and 'unsafe'. This, she knew instinctively, was important.

The woman nodded, pushing the branches aside and not-quite crawling out, looking perfectly at home moving on four limbs. She stayed low to the ground once outside, but slowly rose when nothing happened.

"Up the way we came," she said, her voice dropping, becoming automatically more quiet, "is the path, to the road, to places not worth going to. Down the hill..." She set off, leading the way, still talking softly. "...is food, and the river." The branches before them parted, revealing a small, slow moving brook. It seemed clean enough, and the water they'd drunk earlier had tasted fine.

She pointed to a small, descrete patch of earth near the edge of the woods. "Garden," she said. "Some vegetables and fruit. They don't grow well, but they grow enough. My... my hunting ground is a ways down stream, and up there..." she gestured up the stream, "is a nest - wild creatures, not to be disturbed. They leave me alone, and will leave you alone, as long as we leave them alone. They're no fonder of Him or His creatures than we are."

The sun had risen higher in the sky since they'd disappeared into the cave, and, with the brighter light, Illyana could make out details she'd missed upon first encountering the area. She hadn't even known that places like this existed in Limbo; that they did, and that she was standing amidst one of them, was enough to make her smile shyly. "I am understanding," she said quietly, keeping her voice low and nodding. "Are -- does anything come here, too often?" she asked, craning her neck to see possible routes for an attack.

"No," she said, noting the girl's warriness with a smile - it was a good reaction to have in this place. "Occasionally I see, or feel, things passing above, but the trees give cover from that, and the wilds upstream help give cover from anything on the ground. When you are not so tired I will show you some of my other bolt holes. For if something does happen to this place," she explained. "The ones which are not used often have been safe for years, but any place that has much activity will usually be found within a few months. "

A nod of the blonde head; affirmation that she knew and accepted this. "He is having mirrors," Illyana said, thinking back to His palace, trying to remember something that would help. "They look -- for people, and things -- so that he does not always have to. But they do not work always," she added hastily. "The magic does not work so well, the further away it looks." She pushed her hair behind her ears, self-conscious, feeling as though she ought to know more -- and although she was used to feeling helpless, she was not yet resigned to it.

She nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Usually I have gotten the feeling of being watched, or sought, before I spot patrols looking for me and have to abandon a place like this. He knows I'm out here, but, although He would like to get His claws into me again, He can not find me, and would not be able to keep me if He did." Eyeing the girl briefly, she added, "Come, you should rest. There will be time... for many things." She nodded, pointing the girl back up the hill.

Illyana walked up, rolling a sore shoulder to stretch the muscle. She turned back to face the older woman, suddenly remembering something. "I was forgetting," she said, looking very young and somewhat embarassed. "I am called Illyana. Is there -- I am meaning, what should I call you?"

The woman held back the bush, gesturing the girl inside and glancing around before following and answering. "Names have power, Snowflake, and you should guard them more closely," she said, looking serious. "But you may call me 'Cat'."

Illyana's eyes snapped to Cat, surprise at the unexpected nickname etching deep into her young face and widening her eyes. Then she nodded, slowly and a little bit tremulously, and ducked back inside, features working with confusion and astonishment.

[Cat and Illyana, a few months later. It's not always like losing your best friend.]

The fire crackled gently in the middle of the cave, casting tall shadows on the uneven walls and darkening deep corners. Illyana sat quietly, cross-legged, on the floor, firelight flickering over her slightly grubby features. Usually, when she found herself without an exit to guard sentry over or clothing to patch (as best they could), she took the time to ground herself, to clear her mind of crowded and unwelcome thoughts.

It wasn't working. The past few months had been tense, and often Illyana found herself without the energy or the conviction to think too much; today, though, had been long and slow and painfully boring, giving rise to thoughts that she absolutely did not want to entertain. It was enough that she had to be constantly vigilant -- but the question nagging her was too much, and she barely understood her own curiosity.

She had waited for months, measured every remembered word against reality, and worried herself to desperation. She took a deep breath, imagining courage flooding her instead of smoky air. "Cat?" she asked, keeping her voice soft.

Cat looked up from where she was skinning and dressing her latest catch for dinner, apparently oblivous to the blood staining her claws, a small streak of which had been brushed across her cheek.

"Yes?" she asked, eyes glowing in the low light.

The young girl paused for a moment, then forged ahead, not unafraid but unable to remain silent. "I was wondering -- if I could ask you something," she said.

"Of course." Cat nodded, setting the animal carefully down on it's skin so as not to let it get dirty - she always took care that the food was clean and well cooked, so that while there wasn't much they could at least be sure it wouldn't make them sick. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Illyana was hasty to reply, shaking her head so that her hair -- still slightly damp from its rough cleansing that afternoon -- fell into her eyes. She pushed it away and continued. "It's only -- I've been wondering something, and -- I -- " She stopped and took a moment to collect herself. "When you brought me away," she said carefully, "you used a nickname for me. 'Snowflake'. And my brother, it was his nickname for me, and then from everyone else as well -- and I am wondering, how did you know it?" She paused and looked doubtfully at her companion. "I did not give it to you, the nickname, that day."

"No," Cat agreed, looking down for a second. "No, you did not give me the right to use that name that day. My appologies..." She trailed off, biting at her lip, and one sharp canine could be seen in the corner of her lip. "I knew it... I knew it from a long time ago, 'Yana."

Confusion crossed Illyana's face, and she leaned forward, biting her lip as she tried to think of what to say. "It is not that I was angry, but I -- am not understanding, I think," she said finally. "I know you only from here, when you took me away from the palace." She peered into the dim, faltering light, as though she were trying to find the answers written conveniently on the walls.

"You know, by now, what this place is, yes?" Cat waited for Illyana's nod before continuing. "And you know, then, that there are places outside of it, places like your home, yes?"

"I -- yes. " The girl nodded in affirmation, unsure of where this was going but sensing that she would get an answer soon.

"I am not from here. I was brought here from a place... not entirely unlike your home." Cat looked serious, her voice was low. "I... I was not His goal, not who He was looking for, and He was very angry when he got me instead of... instead of the one he wanted. That, eventually, is how I ended up like this." Her ears flicked back, flattening on her head and she looked away, clearly somewhat upset.

Illyana bit her lower lip, wanting to reach out, to comfort Cat, but realising that this would probably be the wrong thing to do. "He did it to you?" she asked softly, surprised; she'd assumed that her mentor had always looked the way she did, that it was a mutation, the way things were. "Because He was angry." And that, at least, was not a question -- she had witnessed Him in a rage many times over, and knew the things he did once sufficiently angry.

Cat nodded. He'd done many things to her, but this was the most obvious, and Illyana was still very young - too young to know some things. She, at least, would protect the girl from them, while she could. "Yes. I... I was not always like this. This is not my mutation."

"Then -- what is?" The question was out before Illyana could censor it, and she winced. She hadn't wanted to press this so far -- was beginning to see how unhappy the topic really was -- but she needed to know. There was something she was missing, the last piece of a very complicated puzzle.

Cat sighed. She had seen the girl who had tried so hard to get Illyana away from this place - so long ago, had even stopped one of her attackers when it became obvious she did not have the fighting talents of Cat herself. She had seen her, had recognized her, and Cat had learned enough from Belasco while she was still his captive to understand what it meant, and what it would mean.

"Take that rock by you," Cat nodded to a small stone near the edge fo the wall, "and throw it at me." It was not a request.

Illyana's brow furrowed immediately at the order, but she obeyed quickly, used to doing things without asking questions. She picked up the stone and threw it tentatively, not wanting to cause any lasting damage.

The stone had no real strength behind it, but it served Cat's purpose. It flew towards her and passed straight through her shoulder, falling with a slight thud to the ground behind her. She didn't say anything, simply watched Illyana, wondering what she would say.

Illyana went silent, as though the stone had knocked the air out of her own lungs. "That is -- " she whispered hoarsely. "Kitty could do that," she said finally, looking at Cat with a muddled comprehension, on the edge of actual understanding. "She was -- in the mansion."

Cat nodded, slowly. "Yes, I know. Many years ago, before I came here, before He tried to capture a dear friend of mine and... got me instead," she edited herself, not wanting to say that that other girl had died in Belasco's attempt... "Before that happened, the friend He wanted told me that I could use the name her brother had given her, that I could call her Snowflake."

Illyana's thoughts went into overdrive as she processed this -- later, she was unable to describe the way she felt, just that it had not been the answer she'd expected, had never even entered her mind that it was possible. After a few long moments of quiet, she nodded. "I am understanding," she said quietly, shock still reverberating in the pit of her stomach. There were things she wanted to say but didn't have the words for, things she would probably never have the words to say -- that she understood was the least of what she felt. She paused again, and looked up at Cat with slightly teary eyes -- not on the verge of tears as she might once have been, but prompted by sheer emotional overload to have some response. "You can -- if you would like, you can be calling me Snowflake. I would not mind."

Cat smiled softly back, eyes dry only because she no longer remembered how to cry. "I... I would like that, yes. Thank you, little Snowflake."

Illyana smiled at Cat and stayed quiet; she felt better, centred, even if she was still spinning from Cat's revelation. She felt -- almost -- like things would be all right from now on.

Cat turned back to getting their dinner ready, thoughts a whirl, flying back to the night Belasco had tried to capture her world's Illyana, and had gotten Cat and a small, 'useless' corpse instead. This chlid, she promised herself, would not end up like that one had. Somehow she'd find a way to save Illyana this time.

(Homecoming log in this post, due to space constraints.)