51 Chapter 50

Ilyana

Moira transported me and the rest of the young mutants to a nice upscale house in Uptown, New York. It reminded me of the Mansion because it was so big, but the owner seemed obsessed with white and beige.

Every surface of the house was covered in it, and Moira's eyes seemed to twitch each time one of the kids knocked something over or spilled juice on the furniture.

Kitty played babysitter to our group of 35, phasing through walls to break up fights, arguments, and cajole kids who were overreacting.

I sat in the den with Bunny and Floppy with a nervous twist in my stomach, eyeing the dinner set out for us with no appetite.

How could I eat when Piotr was in danger?

Even Floppy and Bunny couldn't make me feel better. The pain in my stomach seemed to grow with each passing moment. Aunty Moira had promised to tell me what was happening at the mansion the second she heard something new, but it had been nearly an hour since I said goodbye to Piotr.

"Come on, Floppy and Bunny," I said, dragging them along. I was tired of waiting. If anyone knew what was happening, It'd be Kitty. I saw Uncle Hank give her an earpiece before we left.

I found her in the Den by herself, yelling into it.

"You have to let me come back!" Kitty insisted. "Dante and his wizard just took out our third heaviest hitter! All of the scenarios we drilled had Logan at the center. Sure, Piotr can take Dante, but you never know with him. The big lug could be in real danger!"

"Real danger?"

Piotr was in trouble?

Kitty's words played over and over in my head again, and the feeling in my stomach got worse. I could hear my heart drumming against my chest, my throat started closing up, and a headache nearly sent me stumbling. I bumped into the door frame, alerting her.

Kitty saw me and reached out.

"Ilyana?"

And that was when the world turned red.

I stumbled forward in surprise, the wooden floors beneath me replaced by white sand. The sky was a deep shade of red, deeper than any sunset I've ever seen, and there was no sun or moon in the sky.

I clutched Bunny and Floppy tight as I turned around and around.

"Kitty?"

What happened to the world? Did–did I break it?

It was when I saw a shadow high above me.

It looked human, except it was not. It had two bat wings spread out wide, with a tail swishing behind it. It held a big fork in its hands, and the upper half of his face was scaled over. He wore a big dark cloak that buffeted in the wind.

"A Human who's come to Limbo of her free will?" it licked his lips. "One so young, no less. The Lower Court will enjoy breeding you."

I stood there frozen for a long moment before the scream found its way out of my throat.

"D-D-Demon!"

Floppy flew from my hand as I turned tail and ran.

The demon cackled.

"I love it when they run," it said with a loud beat of his wings. I knew he was strong and had a few seconds at most before he caught me. So, I shut my eyes and wished myself to Piotr.

It'd called this place Limbo, which meant I was not on Earth. If I had somehow made myself appear here, I bet I could do the opposite if I wanted it bad enough.

It turned out I was right.

A strange light enveloped me, and I suddenly found myself back at the mansion grounds, but the landscape looked very different than I remembered.

The grounds had been scorched, the air was hot, and there were patches of black glass and strange white fire everywhere.

Near what remained of gardens, I saw the source of the devastation. It was Dante, bruised all over and covered in burns, with both of his fists covered in fire. He was punching someone over and over again, and as I squinted through the heat, haze, and smoke, I saw that it was Piotr!

"Stop!" I yelled, running over to them. "Stop fighting!"

—

Storm

I blinked away with a groan, sitting upright on the small patch of roof I found myself.

"Are you awake, Miss Ororo?" Scott called out in a panic, and I turned to him, blinking in obvious confusion. The top half of his face was covered in sticky foam, as were his arms and some of his neck. Pyro and Bobby lay unconscious beside him.

"What happened?" I asked groggily.

"They took us out is what happened," he said, "but the fight is not over yet. Colossus is still fighting Dante."

I slowly turned to the mansion's ground below, and my breath hitched at the destruction unfolding. There were small patches of white fire, and the entire landscape had either blackened or glassed over. At the heart of what was once vibrant, two titanic forces raged against each other. One was a badly burned, slippery, brutal tyrant, while the other was an implacable mountain that burped white fire.

"Something is not right," I said. "Dante is down there fighting someone, but it's not Colossus. At least not entirely. He's wielding fire far more potent than John should be able to manage."

"You think Dante somehow infected him?" Scott asked a little too quickly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Unlikely," I said. "This feels far more powerful and insidious."

The exchange consumed me entirely, my pulse rising and falling with each ebb and flow. And just when I thought Colossus was about to win. Dante turned things around with a swift dodge and an uppercut to end all uppercuts. The attack sent Colossus flying, and Dante followed, leaping after him. He smashed into the downed giant, creating an even larger crater, and slammed his fists into Colossus's chest.

The blows came fast, and Colossus threw some of his own, each carrying fire that burned the young demon hunter badly, but that only seemed to spur him further on. Fist clashed against metal repeatedly until blood mixed with fire, and that was when I saw Ilyana.

She materialized some distance from the fight, clearly turned around and confused, but yelled her little heart out when she saw Dante and Colossus. Like the naive child she was, she yelled at them to stop and ran towards them.

My heart dropped, and I summoned all of my strength, which had been slowly recovering, calling the wind to me. Air currents whisked me away from the roof, and a darkening cloud sent down a small discharge that scorched the foam, restricting me.

With a roar, I broke free and swooped towards Ilyana.

Behind me, I saw a portal open up under the downed X-men, displacing them as it'd done to me, but I could not let myself worry about them or Logan. He could handle himself, and John, Bobby, and Scott were three of Xavier's finest. They would find their way back to us.

—

Dante

Just because the Phoenix Force's hold over Colossus was weakening didn't mean the bastard couldn't still throw down.

Our fight devolved into high-stakes fisticuffs, each punch promising untold pain.

Each of Colossus's cosmic-fire-empowered fists that landed punched through my cloak despite the skill's partial fire immunity stacked on top of my new fire resistance skill.

On my end, each fire-clad fist that connected tasked an already overtaxed body and brought it that much closer to a total collapse.

I'd cut down on Burst and even Demon Evade, conserving my energy, banking on my Myriad Martial Art Mastery to see me through the ordeal, but the damage was piling.

Hal of my torso, some of my back, and my right leg were covered in fresh cosmic burn wounds that were working their hardest to kill me. If I were not perpetually expelling Angel Energy, I'd be dead.

HP:167/620

You've been inflicted with Cosmic burn -40% health until fully healed.

I barely held on, but I refused to let the bird win.

When Colossus's stance shifted, and he punched out, launching a thin streak of cosmic fire, I knew I had my opening. I leaned out of the way just in time to feel the side of my body heat up, and I came up with a burst to the jaw. My other fist started charging demonic energy as I laid into Colossus, pressing the advantage.

I used footwork, stepping to the side to dodge a vicious diagonal swipe chained into an elbow and backhand swipe, but I kept up and pressed back with a two-step kick that targeted the liver and jaw, rocking the giant.

Ten more seconds passed like this, with Colossus chasing and me backpedaling and thinking on my feet. Finally, an opportunity presented itself.

Colossus over-extended himself when he came for a snap hook, and my fist slammed straight into his jaw with a thrice-charged Burst.

The blow hefted Colossus off the ground, flipped him over, and threw him deeper into the garden.

I came down on him with a double fist as he landed, further deepening the crater, and unloaded all of my anger and frustration on him.

I dodged fiery punches that singed my hair and bruised my face. I even dropped most of my fiery cloak to reduce energy loss, leaving only my fist wrapped in fiery energy. Through sheer force of will, I stayed on, roaring as my fists turned to pistons that rained down destruction.

My knuckles cracked, my wrist sprained, and I was pretty sure my shoulder and arm bones fractured as well, but I kept on punching.

Everything faded into the background. The mansion, the mission, and even Jean, all that was left were my fists, fury, and the Phoenix.

I had a fist in the air when a scream ripped through my haze.

"Stop fighting!"

"Ilyana?" I turned to find young Ilyana running toward us with Storm on her tail.

She was several dozen paces away and would never get here in time if I wanted to end it all, and judging from the streaks of blood leaking from Phoenix-Collosus's face, chest, and arms, I was pretty fucking close. They held a tint of redness that bore an unnatural burning corrosiveness.

Chalk it up to demonic energy, I suppose.

I looked at the weeping Ilyana and down at Colossus, who was barely breathing, and hardened my heart.

It was him or me, I reminded myself.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, and I reared my fist back.

"No!" Ilyana screamed just as Storm reached her, and they were both consumed by a disk of light.

Holy shit!

I blinked in confusion, then realization. It was fucking happening. Ilyana and Storm were trapped in Limbo, weren't they?

And just when I thought I could put off dealing with the demons.

I looked back at Colossus, whose breathing seemed to have grown even more labored. The fiery white wisp saturating his body was almost completely gone, and I heard the bird's voice in my head clearer than ever.

"We will meet again, much sooner than you think."

The Phoenix's presence then vanished from Colossus's body.

I took a shuddering step backward, putting some distance between myself and Colossus as my demonic cloak finally faded.

My heart felt lighter, glad I hadn't had to kill him, but I didn't think I would've regretted it if I had.

Like I said, It was him or me.

I felt bad leaving Piotr just lying there, but I had to get to Jean.

All this would've been for nothing if SHIELD poked her, and she decided to wipe out New York in a temper tantrum.

With a grunt, I put one painful step in front of the other while I burned Angel regeneration, repairing whatever damage I could.