Our Lady of the Cloven Hooves

Disclaimers: They’re Marvel’s. If they were mine I would have done a much better job. Thanks goes to Luba Kmetyk for beta reading. If you don’t like reading about hetero and lesbian sex, why are you still here?

The sudden light of a stepping disk made Kitty look up from her calculus homework. “Hey roomie, you okay?”

“I’m fine.” But Illyana slumped, and her eyes lacked their usual determination.

“You want to talk about it, Yana?”

“No.” The blond sorceress stripped off her clothes and got into bed, rolling over so her back was to Kitty.

Kitty put down the textbook and sat down on Illyana’s bed. “Hey, this is me, remember? Your best friend.” She imitated a bad spy movie, hoping for a laugh: “Ve haf vays of makink you talk!”

Illyana rolled over and glared. “Read my lips, Pryde. Leave it alone.”

Kitty sat on Illyana’s bed and stroked her forehead. “I’m not going away.”

“You can’t fix this.”

“Maybe I can. And either way, you look like you need to get something off your chest.”

Illyana watched Kitty’s face for a long moment. “S’ym and another demon are each trying to take Limbo from me by force. If I don’t keep them both down, one of them will probably kill me and open a portal to Earth.”

“Jeez. Can you stop them?”

“I’m keeping them down with certain spells. But if they gather enough power to break the spells, it’s over. And I can’t raise more power without damning my soul further. It’s a no-win situation.” Illyana’s voice was hollow, calm, and her eyes focused on a distant spot over Kitty’s shoulders, determined not to cry over the fate she’d resigned herself to.

“Why can’t you raise power?”

“Well, power equals energy, right? When it comes to magic, emotional energy is a pretty strong battery. So the quickest way to get it is by hurting or killing someone. The second quickest way is sex magic. And much lower down the scale, if people worship you, you can feed off their prayers.” Illyana sat up and started gesturing with her hands to emphasize her words. “Now, no one’s likely to worship me, and you’d need thousands of really devout followers to get that sort of energy. And if I hurt or kill or rape anyone, I damn my soul even further.”

Kitty’s mind was whirling, analyzing the situation. “Would any energy work? I mean, if we went to a power plant, could you drain that?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know how to convert it.”

“Maybe Doug and I could rig up a machine to do that.”

“Not Doug! I don’t want to bring everyone else into my problems!”

“We don’t have to tell him what it’s for. But if it really bothers you, I can do it on my own. Hardware’s my specialty anyway. Okay, that’s one option. If you really don’t want to bring in other people, I guess you’d be against using a telepath to harvest emotion. Professor X told me that people project a lot of emotions, a telepath could just pick them out of the air without hurting anyone.” Although, with the professor off with the Shi’ar, and Rachel gone, they didn’t have a telepath on hand... “Or Dagger, in New York. She naturally generates a ton of life-energy, we could probably ask for her help.”

Illyana frowned. “I really don’t want to bring in other people. Do you really think you could build a converter?”

“I can try, but it’s going to take a while to do it on my own. I’m good, but I’m not the best.”

“I don’t know how long I have,” Illyana said gloomily.

Kitty watched Illyana for a second. Her roommate had been slowly slipping further and further into corruption. Every time Illyana used her powers, her demonic armor became more complete. And knowing Illyana, she’d only mentioned this in the first place because it had reached a crisis point. There was probably a lot more wrong than she was letting on. Illyana needed help. Fast.

“Don’t worry, Illyana. I’ll start work on the converter first thing in the morning. It’ll be ready in no time. Everything’s going to be okay,” Kitty promised with false confidence.

Illyana curled up against Kitty, not meeting her gaze.

Doug walked down the hall to the lab, rubbing his bruised shoulder. Even with Warlock’s help, Doug was barely surviving the Danger Room sessions. How long would it be before the team decided they’d get better results if they dumped Doug altogether ‘for his own safety?’

He hated it. He hated having the most useless power in the world. The New Mutants had known about his mutant gifts long before he did, but first contacted him when Warlock arrived, because he was the only one who could communicate with the deadly, terrified alien. Now that Warlock understood English and had become a New Mutant in his own right, Doug might as well be a civilian for all the good he did the team.

The only one who didn’t treat him as a fifth wheel was Kitty. When he was with her, it was like they were the only two people in the world. She’d make machines complex enough to challenge his mind, and he brought her creations to life. He made them sing.

Doug poked his head through the doorway, surprised to find Kitty already there, crouched over parts and blueprints. “Hey Pryde, what’s the program?”

Kitty looked up and rubbed her nose, squinting through her glasses. “Hey Doug. What time is it?”

“Late. What’s that you’re working on? You didn’t tell me you had a new pet project.” He couldn’t keep the tinge of hurt out of his voice.

“It’s still in the experimental hardware stage. I was planning on showing it to you once I was up to software, your specialty.”

Kitty was never a very good liar. She had never intended to show him this project. Something was very wrong. “Well, what’s it for?” He pushed a little closer and glared down at her, scanning her notes and diagrams.

She reddened even further. “It’s a converter between magical and electrical energy,” she said, trying a half-truth, “converting psychic or magical force to electricity. For emergencies. That way, a psychic or a sorcerer could power a machine, if you were stuck somewhere without a generator.”

It was a cool idea. He played along for a moment, sneaking little glances at her desk every time she ducked her head to avoid his eyes. “I get it,” he said, thinking of the applications of her supposed converter, “like another dimension, like Limbo, or an enemy base, where a power drain would be noticed.”

“Exactly.”

“Clever. How can I help?” Please, he thought, please let me in. Please stop lying. I thought I was important to you.

“Not right now. I’ve been working on this blasted thing for hours. I need some sleep.”

Doug frowned. “Are you mad at me, Kitty?”

“No!”

“Well, what is it, then? Usually you love working with me--” His eyes widened as his mutant powers of comprehension finally grasped the schematic. “Wait a minute. This is a converter all right; electrical energy to magical. What the hell is going on, Pryde?”

Kitty cringed. “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry, Doug.”

“There’s only one mystic you care enough about to lie to me. This is for Illyana, isn’t it? What is this about?”

Kitty pushed him back from the workbench gently. “Doug, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about this. But it’s Illyana’s business; I can’t tell you without her permission. Please, just keep it to yourself until I can explain.”

“Keep what to myself?” he asked bitterly, “You haven’t told me anything.” He should have known. It was dangerous, so she had to protect pathetic, helpless Doug Ramsey.

“Doug...”

“All right. Look, it’s late; we’re both tired. I’m going to sleep.” He stormed back down to the Danger Room. The others were long gone. He punched in a workout program and fought until he was as bruised as the computer would allow, then limped upstairs to toss in sleepless dreams.

Under Illyana’s half-hearted rule of Limbo, the terrain had become somewhat vague as the pockets of time and space fragmented further. Even in her castle, a place supposedly under her complete control, Illyana would often find blank walls where once there had been doors, and demon hidey-holes where she’d grown used to seamless corridors.

S’ym could sneak up on her at any time in her own home and she wouldn’t sense him until it was too late.

Illyana sat cross-legged on the floor of her study in Limbo and created a silver pentagram in the air around her. There were two ways to fight S’ym and N’astirh: she could wage open war with them physically or on the Astral Plane, or she could make Limbo a holy place, too pure for their lesser magics to corrupt. But how could she create purity when she wasn’t pure herself?

She’d tried it before; what she’d thought would be an easy task. The acorns she’d created were dead, rotten to the core. Just like her own soul. The only pure emotion she had now was pure rage, the kind that had created the soulsword. But rage was only good for killing, and killing clearly wasn’t working.

If she could make her castle into a citadel, a fortress of purity, she’d be better able to dig in her heels for a long fight. And once she created the citadel, she could use it as a template to cleanse the rest of Limbo until S’ym had nowhere to go.

Illyana looked around the luxurious, blood-red carpet with its spells and cryptograms that seemed to change shape in the corner of her eye. At the stone walls, slimy and pungent with leaking water, yet somehow warm and pulsating. At the bookshelves whose contents changed every time she looked. At the desk, a marble and mahogany monstrosity whose clutter failed to completely cover bloodstains, legacies from its earlier life as Belasco’s sacrificial altar. Then she closed her eyes and tried to pull at the energies of the room, shape them by conscious will.

A meaty, scaly hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her upright. Her eyes snapped open. S’ym hadn’t seemed this huge since her childhood. Panic froze her, but she quickly clamped it down and invoked the soulsword.

S’ym laughed. “You wanna fight, little girl?”

Demons, S’ym’s henchmen, suddenly surrounded her, grabbing her, holding her helpless, hurting her. Panic raced through her again, and all her spells and years left her. I’ve been bad, I’ve been bad, S’ym’s going to punish me, oh please don’t let it hurt too much this time--

“You made a mistake, little girl. You denied what you were. If you’d embraced it, you might have had a chance.”

She’d almost let herself forget what pain felt like. And terror. S’ym generously refreshed her memory. He gripped her left wrist and pressed it at angles it was never meant to go, until she gasped with agony. Then he snapped it.

The pain ripped through her nerves and down her spine, snatching tears from her eyes and punching her stomach with a clawed hand. But when S’ym reached for her soulsword, Illyana’s outrage overrode her pain and fear. “That’s mine!” she snarled. “And you’re not taking it from me.” She fought back now, slicing through his fat tail, knocking the cigar from his mouth, fighting off the demons that came to his rescue. He’d drained too much of her power for her to defeat him, but her fury lent her enough strength to escape, fleeing through a disc to the X-Mansion so fast that the portal closed on her hair, clipping the ends. Illyana hugged her knees and rocked back and forth on the carpet in silence.

Wet grass soaked Kitty’s sneakers, but she continued through the woods in the colorless dawn light. By the boathouse, Logan practiced his katas, but he paused when he smelled her approaching. “Morning, punkin.”

“Good morning.” She made her way over to him. “I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“I’m listening.” He crossed his arms, watching her.

“I want to learn how to use a sword. I mean, I can use one if I have to, but it’s all Ogun’s training. It makes my skin crawl.”

“Why the sudden interest?”

“I just don’t like having skills I can’t use. I want to take control.”

“Someone botherin’ you? You in over your head, kiddo?”

“I’m not. But I think someone else will be if I don’t learn this stuff.”

“Mm. Punkin, want some free advice?”

“Sure.” Kitty crossed her arms in an unconscious mirror of Logan’s pose, preparing herself for a lecture.

“If you clean up other people’s messes, they’ll never learn to clean them up themselves.”

Kitty jerked backward. “How’d you--?”

“I didn’t. You just told me. And there’s only one sword I know of that could make you smell so upset, and only one reason you’d need to use it. She asked you to take over Limbo?”

“No! She doesn’t even know about this.” Kitty bit her lip. “Logan? Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“I promise.”

“These demons are trying to get control of Limbo. I’m trying to find enough power to help her ward them off, but I don’t think I can get it for her in time. I did a little research, and I figured out that if she makes me her knight, her champion, I can use the soulsword to kill them for her. Then she can use the extra energy to clean up Limbo, make it a good place.” She didn’t mention how close Illyana was to damnation, or how helpless and frightened she seemed. Logan would definitely decide to bring in the cavalry, and Kitty couldn’t violate Illyana’s wishes by bringing in the whole team.

“So the blood will be on your hands instead of hers. You think you can live with that?”

“They’re just demons.”

“They still scream.”

“I can live with it.”

He paused, considering. “Shouldn’t be too hard to teach you Kendo. With your martial arts training, you already have the strength and control. How about I train you in the mornings in exchange for some friendly sparring? We haven’t done anything outside of the Danger Room together since Japan.”

“It’s a deal. And thanks.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Can I watch?”

“Be my guest.” With that, Logan got back to his kata.

On the way back to the mansion, Kitty found Peter in the kitchen, fixing himself a snack. It had been a while since the breakup, but every time she saw him, her stomach twisted.

“Katya! I’ve been wanting to speak to you.”

“Ah?” God, those baby-blue eyes still made her stop short. It wasn’t fair that such a gorgeous body housed such a clueless jerk. And Peter was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. She hated getting between Illyana and her brother.

“It’s about my sister,” he said, right on cue. “She’s not been herself lately, I think she looks a little ill, but she says she feels fine. Is she sleeping enough?”

Of all the X-Men, Colossus was the last person Illyana would want involved in her troubles. Kitty had seen the eviscerated metal body in Limbo, and seen Illyana’s lack of reaction after a childhood of seeing it every day. Illyana would not want to be responsible for her brother’s death twice in one lifetime. Kitty faked embarrassment. “Oh you know, it’s nothing to worry about. Just, ah, female complaints.”

As she’d hoped, that shut him up and made him blush, and she made a clean getaway.

But she returned to the room to find Illyana curled up on the floor, rocking back and forth. “Yana?” Kitty shook her friend.

Huge blue eyes, wide with terrified tears, flew open. “Kitty, I can’t…”

“Shhh, shhh,” Kitty put her arms around Illyana and slowed her rocking.

“H-he broke my wrist.” Illyana hiccupped.

“We need to get you to the infirmary--“

“No! They can’t know! Just stay with me, please? I can heal myself when I’m calmer.”

The two girls stayed like that for a long time, until their alarm clock signaled that it was time to get up for class. Illyana pulled herself together, crawled away from Kitty, and made a healing pentangle to repair her wrist. Then she hurried out of the room without looking at Kitty.

Illyana wasn’t going to last until the converter was built, at this rate. And she wouldn’t last until Kitty had the strength and knowledge to fight for her. There had to be another way.

Kitty cornered her after school, when they both came back to the room to do their homework. “You told me there were two major ways of getting power. One was hurting people. What about the other way? Um, sex magic. Does it have to be rape? Voluntary sex wouldn’t damn your soul, would it?”

“Kitty! Jeez!” Illyana rolled her eyes. “Believe me, a guy would notice what I have to do to harvest it. I’d die of embarrassment asking any of the guys in the New Mutants, and they wouldn’t ever agree to something like that. No, I’m just going to have to wait for the machine and hope that’s enough.”

“Um, Illyana?” I can’t believe I’m doing this, I can’t believe I’m doing this... “Does the person you, um, harvest...have to be the opposite sex?”

Illyana stared at her. “Kitty, you’re not saying what I think you’re saying.”

“I think I am. Um, does it hurt?”

“Kitty, we are not discussing this.”

“You’re right, we’re not discussing it. Because I’m volunteering.”

“Kitty!”

Kitty touched Illyana’s arm. “You’re my best friend. I let go of you once. I lost you to Belasco. I’m never letting go of you again.”

Illyana swallowed and touched Kitty’s cheek. “You’d do this for me?” Kitty nodded. Illyana could see Kitty was working on the same battle instincts that made all X-Men plunge into situations they might have avoided if given time to reconsider. Illyana was moved beyond words by Kitty’s offer, but the more mercenary aspects of her soul told her not to give Kitty time to reconsider. “I’m going to transport us to Limbo,” said Illyana, “I don’t want to worry about interruptions.”

A stepping disk appeared and the two girls were suddenly bathed in heat, standing on a broken watchtower overlooking a barren, rocky waste. Kitty looked around. “Can’t you change what it looks like?”

“In theory. Belasco did. But that takes time and surplus power, and I don’t have either.” Another stepping disk took them to a bedroom with a lavish, four-poster bed. “My old room in Belasco’s citadel. I’ve still got a lot of personal wards up here. It’s pretty safe, for Limbo.” She caught Kitty’s nervous look. “You don’t have to do this.”

Kitty swallowed, then reached over to kiss Illyana. The sorceress’s lips were soft and swollen, sweeter than Peter’s mouth, but fiercer. Kitty shoved that thought away and gingerly began running her fingertips up and down Illyana’s arms, exploring her. But as Kitty continued to kiss her, Illyana slowly grew fangs, horns and a tail, nearly bruising Kitty’s lips in her eagerness.

Kitty pulled back. “Do you have to be the Darkchilde for this?”

“I don’t know any other way. I have to tap into the magic.”

Kitty nodded, accepting this. She’s your best friend. She doesn’t look any more alien than Nightcrawler. But it was the evil the changes represented that disturbed her. Right. Like you haven’t had your fair share of demonic taint. Logan had been ready to do whatever it took to help Kitty; Kitty should be willing to do the same for Illyana.

She kissed Illyana again, one trembling hand reaching up to stroke the horns, the other delicately stroking Illyana’s tail. Illyana moaned into Kitty’s mouth. Her large, full breasts, which Kitty had long envied, pressed enthusiastically against Kitty. Illyana broke off the kiss for a moment to utter a spell. A silver pentangle appeared on the ceiling, drawing a silver mist from the two girls into itself.

Kitty paused, waiting to see if the spell made her feel strange. It tingled but didn’t hurt. She pulled off their clothes with phased hands and took a long look at her roommate. Illyana was magnificent. A long fall of soft blonde hair, a seductive Darkchilde smile, proud, firm breasts that somehow stood up without a bra. The nipples were already hardening, begging for -- Kitty leaned down and took one hard little pebble into her mouth and tentatively sucked on it.

Illyana groaned and pulled them both backwards onto the bed, her tail curling around Kitty’s leg and gripping her tightly. Encouraged, Kitty nipped and tugged and sucked urgently first at one breast and then the other, oblivious to anything else.

Kitty couldn’t believe what was happening. She’d never needed anyone like this before, but somehow she found herself craving Illyana like a drug. She cried in protest when Illyana pulled away, then her prayers were answered as Illyana pushed her down on her back and started nipping at Kitty’s pert breasts with sharp fangs and eager, swollen lips.

Kitty cried out, squirming under this assault, but Illyana held her down with one hand, making a hot, wet trail from Kitty’s breasts to her mound. Whether Illyana had done this before or whether the demon part of her knew what to do, her movements were far more expert and delicious than Kitty’s amateur curiosity and enthusiasm. Kitty could feel Illyana’s hot breath on her mound, her nails on her thighs. Then the delicate pink tongue started lapping at Kitty’s juices, first nervously, then with growing eagerness and appetite, reading Kitty’s reactions and modifying her technique with a lifetime’s experience of pleasing others for survival. Back then, she’d been a slave. Now, she was clearly in control. Kitty writhed in pleasure as Illyana licked up every drop of Kitty’s moisture, and the silver mist grew brighter, blurring their vision.

They were both stumbling into unknown territory, but from different angles. Kitty’s only real sexual experience was the heavy petting she’d done with Peter, which meant she was half-improvising on what he had seemed to like, half-remembering what he had done to her and trying to mimic them, taking cues from Illyana’s winces or delicious moans.

But Illyana’s experience came from the rough play of demons, growing up in Limbo. She had a tendency to bite until she drew blood, scratch until it hurt. Several times Kitty had to force her to back off and be more gentle. But as Kitty grew more aroused, the pleasure blurred the line between rough pain and needed stimulation, until she didn’t know or care which was which.

Kitty jumped in surprise as she felt something probe her mouth. Her eyes jolted open to find Illyana’s tail seeking entrance. Kitty welcomed the intruder, sucking it hard, exploring it with her tongue, while Illyana continued her full-scale assault on Kitty’s clit. Kitty could feel something building inside her, growing in intensity. She whimpered around Illyana’s tail, begging for more.

But Illyana stopped, pulling away and standing up in all her demonic glory, her mouth and chin still glittering with Kitty’s juices. She had to know the tables were turned, that she was the master now. “Serve me.”

Kitty’s desire drained in an instant, leaving her scared and cold, but her X-Men training turned her fear to adrenaline. She sat up and glared, hiding her fear. They were too close to a dangerous edge. “Like hell.”

Illyana shot Kitty a glowing-eyed scowl and snarled. But then she caught herself, and the red glow faded. This was her best friend, not a demon rapist she needed to avenge her lost childhood upon. If anyone was demonic here, it was Illyana. “Kitty?” she asked in a shaking voice, suddenly fragile.

Kitty held out her arms and the blonde sorceress fell against her, crying. Kitty rocked her back and forth, making soothing noises. She’s trying, Kitty reminded herself. She just doesn’t have much practice being a decent human being. You’re the one who offered to do this. If she’s going to be gentle, it’s up to you to show her how.

With that thought, Kitty kissed Illyana on the mouth, cradling the demon sorceress in her arms. She kissed away Illyana’s tears, meeting Illyana’s uncertain gaze with a brave smile. Illyana bent her head, nestling in the curve of Kitty’s throat and kissing her so delicately that Kitty wondered if she’d imagined it. Gently, carefully, each girl nuzzled the other’s lips, throat and breasts, building to the intensity they’d felt before.

But finally Illyana pushed Kitty down on the bed again; squirming around so each girl lay on her side, with their mouths nestled between each other’s thighs. Kitty stared at Illyana’s glistening entrance for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. She began imitating as best she could the unbelievable sensations Illyana inflicted upon her, discovering the sweet folds with her fingers and tongue, mapping Illyana’s pleasure points, testing each to make sure she got it right before assaulting it with greater enthusiasm. Kitty could feel the pressure building again, tensing her belly, her thighs, until her whole body was shaking, rigid. She clung to Illyana, drowning, losing control. The pressure grew fiercer, the tingling buzzing in her head reached a crescendo, and Kitty stifled a scream against Illyana’s clit as the silver light obliterated them both.

When she’d recovered somewhat, Kitty found herself curled in Illyana’s arms, resting on her breasts, back on Illyana’s bed at home. Illyana was back to full human form, much to Kitty’s relief.

“Kitty? You okay?”

Kitty parted her lips. “Wow. I think so. Did you get what you needed?”

Illyana was trembling a little as she kissed Kitty’s hair. “That and more. It should be enough to last me a while. Thank you. You were so brave.”

“Yana?” Kitty twisted up to look at her. “I’m working as fast as I can on the converter. But if you ever need that again, just ask.”

Illyana opened her mouth to say something, but instead hugged Kitty, burying her face in Kitty’s neck.

It was nearly five o’clock; Illyana would be in the Danger Room with the rest of the New Mutants. Kitty hurried inside and downstairs to wait for her. But halfway down the stairs she slammed into someone and they both fell to the bottom in a painful heap.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Doug yelled.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you,” said Kitty. Now she noticed that his arm was in a sling. “Are you all right?”

“Leave me alone,” he said, climbing to his feet and starting up the stairs again. “She’s not in the Danger Room, if you’re looking for her.”

Kitty hurried up the stairs ahead of him and blocked his path. “What happened to your arm? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” he snapped. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He tried to get around her, but Kitty kept placing herself right in front of him.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” asked Kitty. “I’m your best friend.”

“Friends don’t keep stuff from each other,” he said. “Damn it, MOVE!” he shoved her with his good shoulder and charged up the stairs.

Kitty ran after him and got in front of him again. “Is that what this is about?” she asked. “I told you, Illyana made me promise to keep it a secret.”

“So is it that you can’t trust me to keep secrets, or are you just trying to protect poor, helpless Doug?” He pushed past her again.

I can’t lose him, Kitty realized desperately, I can’t handle all of this and lose him too. “Doug? Please, just wait a minute. Let me find Illyana. It really is her business; I have no right to tell you without her. But she’ll let me tell you. She owes me.”

The pain and self-hatred slowly smoothed from his face. Kitty slipped her hand into his and pulled him down the hall to the room she shared with Illyana. She tapped on the door, in case Illyana was changing or something. There was a long pause, then Illyana called, “Come in.”

Illyana was sitting on the carpet. She looked tired, but her back straightened and her chin lifted rather than let Doug see her weakness. “What’s up, Pryde?” she asked.

Kitty paused a second. Illyana was clearly in bad shape, very hurt and scared. Maybe this wasn’t the best time. Illyana looked like she needed a power boost rather desperately. But Doug was hurting as badly as Illyana was, and if Kitty didn’t at least ask to tell Doug what was going on, she’d lose him. “I need you to let me bring Doug in on this.”

“If I’d known you couldn’t keep your trap shut, I’d never have told you.” Illyana glowered at Kitty with the full weight of her anger and betrayal.

Kitty stared her down. “You’re not mad at me. Something else happened, didn’t it?”

“Why? Want to go shout that from the mountaintops too?”

Kitty didn’t bother to respond. Doug’s hand squirmed in hers, but she held fast to it and didn’t drop her eyes from Illyana’s glare. “You can’t make me choose between the two of you,” Kitty said finally.

Illyana dropped her gaze and nodded.

Kitty turned to Doug. “Two demons, S’ym and N’astirh, are trying to take Limbo from Illyana. She doesn’t have the power to fight them off. That’s why I’m building her a converter.”

Doug’s eyes widened. “The X-Men could help--”

“The X-Men died in Limbo once because of me,” said Illyana. “I’m not going to let it happen again. This is my fight. I just need the power to do it right.”

Kitty nodded. “The converter is coming along slowly. I’m having trouble first identifying exactly what magical energy is made of, and then figuring out how to change electricity to it.”

Doug frowned. “I’ll do what I can to help, Kitty. But what if they attack in the meantime? I mean, if Illyana doesn’t have the power to hold them off…”

This was as good a time as any to break the news about her Kendo lessons. After all, it seemed like she’d be done soon; she was getting better every day. And Illyana certainly needed cheering up. “That’s what I was coming to tell Illyana,” said Kitty. “I think I’ve found a way to fight S’ym and N’astirh for her. I think I could even take on Belasco.”

“No!” said Illyana. “Whatever it is, forget it! Belasco did things to the alternate you that you couldn’t imagine in your worst nightmares. I won’t have another Cat on my conscience.”

“You haven’t even heard what my idea is yet!” Kitty protested.

“Yeah, Illyana,” said Doug. “If they attack before the converter’s ready, you’ll need all the help you can get. You said you don’t have the power to hold them off yourself.”

Illyana glanced at Kitty and said, “We’ve, ah, found an interim solution, so to speak.” Kitty blushed beet red.

“Spill it, Pryde, all of it,” Doug demanded.

Kitty wished she could just phase through the floor. But Doug had already made it clear that if he didn’t have all the information, he’d no longer consider her a friend. She just hoped he’d still respect her after what she had to say. “Sex magic,” she finally muttered.

“WHAT?!”

“Shut up, Doug, do you want the rest of the house to hear?” Illyana hissed.

Doug’s eyes went huge. “You mean Illyana’s, um, doing it with demons or something?”

“No, she’s doing it with me. So help me God, Doug, you tell anyone and I’ll kill you,” Kitty said.

Doug yanked his hand out of Kitty’s and backed up a step. “But -- but you’re both girls,” he finally managed.

“Give the boy a prize,” Illyana growled.

Doug stood there for a long time, darting looks at both of them in terrified confusion. But finally he seemed to calm down. He took a few deep breaths, and then said in a voice that only squeaked a little, “Illyana, are you sure this isn’t going to hurt or damn you or Kitty?”

“I’m already damned. But no, it hasn’t tainted Kitty, and I would know.”

“Mm.” Doug leaned back, considering the two of them for a moment. His face reddened, and he stared fixedly at the floor. “Mind if I, um, volunteer?” His face was now as red as Kitty’s.

Kitty stared at him, wide eyed. “You volunteering to be with her or with me?” she finally managed. Fantasies of kissing Doug warred in her brain with nightmares of him dumping her for Illyana.

“Um, with you?” said Doug. “Maybe with both of you?” Red didn’t begin to describe the color of his face now.

Kitty and Illyana looked at each other for a moment, silent debate between them.

“An extra partner would mean a much bigger harvest,” said Illyana slowly, testing the waters.

“Okay,” Kitty agreed, “let’s try it and see what happens.” This was definitely not how she’d pictured being with Doug. But at least she was finally going to be with him.

“We’ll ‘port into your room about an hour after lights out,” said Illyana, “and we’ll take you to Limbo.”

“Eleven o’clock,” Doug agreed.

Doug waited in the dark in his room, staring up at the ceiling. What the hell was he doing? What had possessed him to make that offer? Yeah he’d had fantasies about Kitty, and every guy he knew had fantasies of Illyana, but those were fantasies. He’d never gotten past first base with a girl; what the hell was he doing offering to have sex with two girls in a demonic ritual? Two girls who were friends and teammates, no less. Kitty was his best friend. If this went badly he’d lose her. That was why he’d never tried anything with her before now.

He was blinded by a sudden light and felt strong hands gripping his waist. When his vision cleared he was in a stone walled room, lit by a silver pentangle above a lavish four-poster bed. Kitty’s hands still clasped his waist. She was blushing slightly. Doug figured he was probably as red as she was. Illyana was already leaning against one of the bedposts, watching them. Her horns pushed though her bangs, and her tail peeked out of her slinky red lingerie. The effect aroused him in a way he found disturbing.

“So,” Doug said, trying to ease the tension.

“So.” Kitty’s fingers were hot and nervous on his hips.

Suddenly Doug jerked back, remembering. “Oh, man! I forgot! Condoms.”

Illyana grinned. “It’s all right, Dougie. As long as I’m using the energy drain spell, you can’t get either of us pregnant. Not enough energy left over to create life. And we’re all virgins, we don’t have to worry about disease.”

“You’re a virgin?” Doug gaped. And just as suddenly, “What makes you think I’m one?”

“I’m a sorceress. I know these things.” She looked away. “Belasco was saving mine. Everything else was available to whatever demon could take it, and Belasco himself made sure my training was complete for serving him in certain rituals.”

“Oh.” Doug stared at his feet. Now that the moment had arrived, he felt too embarrassed and scared to try anything. He’d often fantasized about kissing Kitty during one of their late-night hacking sessions, but that was in private, not with Illyana watching them. If you don’t do something soon, you’re going to look like a dork, he thought to himself.

With that, he forced himself to close out his awareness of Illyana, of Limbo, everything except Kitty’s soft brown eyes and fine-boned face. The Disney song “Kiss the Girl” sparked in his brain, and he started giggling a little as he leaned in to brush his lips against Kitty’s.

He hadn’t known that her soft lips would play with his in that inquiring way, or that her warm breath would tickle his cheek and send electric sensations down his spine, making more than his temperature rise. Not now! he thought at his cock, She’s going to know I’ve never really kissed a girl before if I get hard just from kissing her! But Kitty smiled against his mouth, seeming to take it as a compliment. Relieved, Doug relaxed into the kiss and decided to try something new. He moved his mouth down to her throat, nibbling and biting. She seemed to like that.

He was vaguely aware of a silver mist, a blurring at the edge of his vision, but he had more important things to think about at the moment. He tried something Roberto had told him about, tracing his tongue along the curves of Kitty’s ear. He grinned, delighted, when that made her knees go weak and forced him to hold her tighter to support her weight. As her head bowed to tease his own neck in the same way, he felt like cheering. I can do this! I’m a god!

Then Illyana, evidently tired of being ignored, slipped up behind Doug and started kissing the side of his neck that Kitty had neglected, simultaneously sliding her hands around his body to caress his chest and cock. Her fingers squeezed him, stroked him, caressing every sensitive spot without a single misstep. Illyana was definitely an expert at this. Doug groaned and thrust eagerly into Illyana’s hand as she caressed his balls, slipped behind them to finger his prostate, working his body as skillfully as Kitty’s hands might work an arcane machine.

She forced him to turn and go to his knees. Doug drank in the sight of her, a peaches-and-cream confection of soft skin and blonde hair; round breasts that defied gravity; begging for his hands to release them from the silken confines of her red lingerie; wide, innocent blue eyes that belied the darkness in her soul. “Serve me,” she said.

Oh yes. Doug pushed up the silk that covered her thighs to reveal the soft blonde curls glistening with moisture and heavy with a scent that made him impossibly hard. He gripped one creamy thigh in each hand and leaned forward to slip his tongue into her sweet center.

At first he explored her tentatively, sliding his tongue across eager nub, hot cavern, and the odd maze of flesh hidden in that nest of curls. Then, taking her whimpers and movements for signals, he proceeded to pleasure her with growing confidence … and growing enjoyment. He loved the power he had over her, the way the slightest quirk of his tongue could make her lose all control, the way her grip tightened on his hair, begging for him to lick her harder, faster...

She cried out, a long, keening sound, and Doug’s mouth flooded with her juices. Her fists were clenched in his hair, and he grinned. Serve her? He might be the one on his knees, but there was no question who was in control here.

As Illyana’s grip on his hair loosened, Doug turned and saw Kitty sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and watching him. Damn. He’d forgotten all about Kitty. She must feel horrible, watching yet another guy ditch her for Illyana. He could see the naked hurt in her eyes.

He crawled forward on all fours, apology in his eyes. When he drew close, he kissed her, trying to show her with his aching passion that he was sorry, that he cared about her.

When they came up for air, she whispered sadly, “You taste like her.”

Doug cupped her face in his hands, feeling strangely adult here, reassuring the girl who’d always been stronger than him. “Then help me replace it with your taste,” he said. He moved in to kiss her again, and at first he could feel the sadness locking her up, making her cold to him. But then her mouth became more pliant under his, nibbling on his lips and moving down to bite his throat, to pull his shirt off and attack his nipples, kissing, licking, biting, sending sharp sensations to his aching, urgent cock.

It was obvious what her game was. If Illyana had him under her spell, if she’d made him worship her in that most intimate way, then Kitty would focus her attentions on him, bring him the pleasure Illyana had denied him. Her fingers slid down, less expert than Illyana’s, but her inexperience felt more genuine to him, and she paid attention to his reactions and gave him more of what seemed to please him best.

Kitty blushed and grinned a little, then knelt and took the head of his cock in her mouth. She couldn’t manage more than that, so she wrapped her hands around the shaft, squeezing and pumping as her tongue teased the slit of his cock head. It was more than he could bear, and his hands rose to push her head further down, but he stopped at the last second, not wanting to force her. The pleasure was maddening, he was teetering on the edge and his hands were trembling an inch from Kitty’s hair. The urge to thrust was unbearable.

And then her fingers slid to the sweet spot just underneath his balls and he lost it, shooting an unbelievable load of cream into her mouth. He came back to earth and looked down at her, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “That was incredible.”

Kitty grinned and got to her feet. “Liked that, did you?”

He kissed her and laughed. “I taste like beer!” He kissed her again. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel out of his depth. He knew what he was doing, he was important. He moved backward to sit on the bed, pulling Kitty with him to stand between his legs. “I’d like to return the favor.”

Kitty’s mouth quirked again in that nervous grin. “I’m not stopping you.”

He put his hands on her butt and coaxed her to bring her knees up so she sat in his lap with her crotch brushing his and her breasts in his face. Her body was leaner than Illyana’s, her breasts smaller, but turned him on more in a way. Illyana had a sex-kitten appeal, pin-up perfect. Kitty’s tough, self-reliant beauty reminded him of Linda Hamilton in the Terminator movies, someone who just seemed sexier the tougher and more dangerous she got. She’d always intimidated him. Now he felt like a match for her.

He lifted her slightly so his cock rested at her entrance. Her lips brushed his ear. “I’ve been waiting for this a long time,” she said, and slowly lowered herself onto his cock.

The sensation was unbelievable. It felt like a hot, slick fist gripping his cock, a thousand times better than anything he’d ever done on his own. She moved up and down on his cock, bringing him a little deeper each time, until he met with a barrier. She tried to push down and let him through, but she couldn’t do it on her own. His eyes met hers, and she nodded. Doug shifted his grip to her waist, and she steadied her knees against the bed. Then, with a quick thrust, they moved together, breaking through.

Kitty bit back a scream, and the silver mist drawing off of them into the pentangle completely whited out Doug’s vision for a second. When he could see, he looked up at her face. “You okay?”

Kitty nodded, but seemed shaken. Doug moved slowly, carefully, until Kitty started moving with her earlier enthusiasm again. Now she completely encased his cock, and the silky heat was unbelievable, seeming to beg his cock to thrust deeper and deeper. She was twisting slightly at the bottom of each thrust so that her clit brushed his skin. Doug leaned forward and caught Kitty’s nipple in his mouth, sucking and biting on it. Her cries took on an almost musical quality, and she was clenching tighter and tighter around him.

Doug was close to losing control again, and he wrapped his arms around Kitty, trying to pull her closer and closer.

And then it was like she went nuclear, white heat and liquid pressure begging him to come as spasms wracked her body. Wave after wave of pleasure exploded behind his eyes, down his spine, shooting out of his cock. He shot his come deep inside her, muffling a scream against her shoulder.

It was a long time before either of them could move. When they finally loosened their death grip on each other, Illyana greeted them, “Ready for another round, guys?”

Kitty whirled, sword in hand, to meet Logan’s attack. He’d taught her Kendo pretty quickly, then he had added Chinese sword techniques to the Japanese ones he’d given her. Despite his heavier frame and supposed age, Logan moved as swiftly and as tirelessly as Kitty, pushing her, inch by inch, to the end of the dock. If only he knew that she was letting him advance.

Kitty lunged and retreated again, and Logan leapt forward, realizing only too late that his quarry was now standing on air. His leg slipped off the pier and he slammed down hard on his crotch. As he curled up in a ball, he groaned, “That was a beginner’s mistake. Shouldn’t have fallen for a trick like that. Good job, Pryde.”

Kitty knew better than to help him up; his pride was more bruised than his groin. Instead she waited in silence to see if he would continue the lesson or call it a day.

“I think you’re ready,” said Logan. “You’ve got the skills, and those moves show a sense of humor; your style, not Ogun’s. If you can’t beat Illyana’s demons now, then you need to forget about keeping secrets and just call the X-Men.”

“Thanks, Logan,” said Kitty. “I’m going to go tell Yana the good news.”

“Kitty?” Logan called after her as she turned to go. “What happens when you win?”

“What do you mean?” asked Kitty.

“Does it all go back to the way it was? Or are you just going to keep fighting her battles?”

“I’ll go after Belasco. If he and S’ym are out of the picture, I think Illyana can take care of the rest herself. They’re just larger than life to her because she’s been afraid of them so long.”

“As long as you know when to stop,” said Logan.

Kitty practically danced back to the house. She’d done it in time! Whether or not she finished the converter, she could save Illyana!

She took the stairs two at a time and didn’t even bother to open the door to her room, racing right through the two inches of wood.

Illyana wasn’t there. That was odd; she didn’t have Danger Room practice now, and Illyana saw little point to going into town, since she couldn’t relate to kids her own age. She tended not to leave the mansion without Kitty or the X-Babies to brighten the trip. So where was she?

Her excitement damped, Kitty made a quick check of the mansion. Illyana wasn’t in the Danger Room, the library, the kitchen, Kitty and Doug’s workroom, none of the usual places. Finally Kitty checked Magneto’s office; Illyana was the most often disciplined of all the mansion’s residents.

Illyana wasn’t there, but Magneto was. “Sorry, sir,” said Kitty, turning to leave. “Just looking for someone.”

“Wait, Katherine.” He beckoned her to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. She sat down across from him, her mind racing. She hadn’t done anything requiring a sit-down lecture, had she? Had he discovered their secret?

“I fully admit, there are certain problems I didn’t anticipate when I agreed to take over Charles’s responsibilities as headmaster,” said Magneto. “I hadn’t thought about the difficulties that arise from running a house full of teenagers, whether they be human or mutant. If I ignored the situation between you, Doug, and Illyana, I’d be remiss in my duties. Katherine, I do have some experience with these situations, and I know how awkward, how isolating they can be. You can talk to me.”

Up until the end of that speech, Kitty had been twisting in her chair, unable to take the tension. But what the hell did he mean he had experience in this? They couldn’t possibly be on the same page, could they? “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, stalling for time.

“I’m not blind,” he said. “For the past month, Illyana and Doug have arrived late and breathless to every Danger Room exercise, every lesson in the library. And every time they go off together, you also disappear for hours at a time. When I do see you, you’re nearly killing yourself practicing martial arts with Wolverine or working late into the night in your workroom.”

Kitty squirmed miserably. Oh man. Not only were they grounded, not only would Illyana have to face the demons alone, but the whole mansion would know what they’d been up to for the past month.

Magneto looked pityingly at her. “Katherine, it’s all right. It’s only natural.”

“It is?” She stared at him, mouth agape.

“Of course. The three of you have been close friends for so long, and everyone knows how infatuated you are with Doug. It’s only natural to feel jealous when the two of them start dating.”

Oh thank god. He didn’t know. “Um, ah?” she croaked.

“Your friendship was a balanced threesome, and now the two of them seem to be shutting you out. I know how hard that can be. Truth to tell, that was part of what separated Charles and myself, so many years ago.”

Kitty stood and edged towards the door. “I’mgladwehadthistalkthankyousomuch.” No. Much as she wanted to flee, Magneto had put himself on the line here. He deserved better than that. She took a deep breath and tried again slower, “It’s good to know someone knows how I feel. It was really nice of you to talk to me. And just so you know, the Prof wasn’t perfect. Yeah, he did some things better than you, but he wouldn’t have had this conversation with me.”

That was an understatement. Professor Xavier had talked with her, all right, given her the same lecture he gave all his students. Basically it had come down to: You’re too young to even think about such things, but when you get older, be sure to date only mutants, so that you won’t have to risk their blind prejudice at your admission, or risk them becoming casualties or hostages when villains come after you. Breeding better mutants for a brighter tomorrow, more like it. Kitty had told him she’d already had this conversation with her parents and grandparents, who had all told her she must date only other Jews so that her children wouldn’t have the problems mixed marriages always bring. If she obeyed both her parents and the professor, that left Magneto and Sabra as her only options. That had shut him up.

“There’s a lot of things you do better than him.” Kitty continued. “You’re a good headmaster.”

Magneto smiled. “Thank you, Katherine. That was very kind. If you see Illyana or Doug, can you have them come talk to me? I want to make sure they know certain things about safety…”

“It’s all right,” Kitty hurried, hoping to save her friends from a similarly awkward conversation, “I talked with Illyana, because she didn’t grow up in this dimension and I wasn’t sure she knew about safe sex. She told me she knows about condoms and everything, when the time comes.”

Magneto nodded. “Thank you. I know how awkward that must have been. I’ll see you at five for our Danger Room session?”

“Um, can I change the time? After what you said, I’m thinking that Doug, Illyana and I should have a long talk about our feelings.” Actually, since she’d wasted half the day looking for Illyana in the huge mansion, she wanted the evening free so she could get to work whacking demons as soon as possible.

“Again, that’s extremely mature of you, Katherine. Yes, we can do the session tomorrow at eight o’clock.”

“Thanks, sir,” she said, and hurried back to her room.

Illyana still wasn’t back, so Kitty decided to catch up on her homework. Between one thing and another she’d let her schoolwork slide.

But she couldn’t really concentrate. Where were they? They’d been off together all day, and neither had thought to find her and include her? Was Magneto right after all? Have they been going off without me before this?

The past month, making love to Illyana and Doug separately and together, had been incredible, better than anything she could have imagined. But there was always this competitive aspect, showing off, shutting out, butting in. Doug was obsessed with proving his worth, proving he was needed, to the point where he’d go seven or eight rounds with the girls, then spend the night nearly breaking himself working with Kitty in the lab. Illyana had an irrational terror that the two ‘normal’ members of the trio would go off together and leave her to fight her nightmares alone, so she kept showing up at the lab and flirting with one or the other of them until whichever one felt neglected reminded Illyana that they were working for her benefit and threw her out. And Kitty, who could see so clearly why anyone in their right minds would love both Doug and Illyana at first sight, was always trying to think of reasons why they loved her and coming up short. Looking back, thinking of the number of times those two had gone off without her, Kitty wondered if her fears at least were grounded in reality.

After about an hour, a stepping disk appeared and Illyana and Doug emerged from it. Kitty fought down a jealous twinge. “I’ve got news,” she said with a forced smile.

“The converter’s running?” said Illyana.

“No, not yet. But close. I’ve been doing some research, and I found something interesting. You’re the queen of Limbo, right? Well, according to my medieval sources, the queen can knight someone and make them her champion. She gives that champion their weapon, and every blow they strike, it’s as if she struck it. That was their way of allowing women to defend themselves in trial by combat, by proxy.”

Illyana frowned. “Kitty, it’s hard enough trying to kill one demon with ordinary weapons, and you want to send some poor sap in against all the demons in Limbo? No, we are not getting anyone else involved in this, especially not so that they can die trying the impossible!”

“I’m not talking about involving anything else. I’ve been training to fight with a sword. And as your champion I’d have the right to wield the soulsword. I did it before, when the Beyonder killed you, but if you’re still alive we have to do it this way. I can DO this, Illyana.”

Illyana paused her eyes focused on some distant point. Kitty knew that look well; Illyana was watching some dark memory. But finally she asked, as though her voice was traveling some great distance, “What do I have to do?”

Kitty dug a slip of paper out of her pocket. “Just summon the soulsword and say these words.”

Illyana called up the soulsword, and Kitty knelt before her. “Do you swear yourself to the service of the light and the protection of innocents?”

“I do.” Doug was watching, looking sick with jealousy. Kitty was suddenly aware that she had chosen to do this in front of him, rubbing his nose in the fact that he could never hold his own in battle without Warlock to help him. Yes, it had hurt her to see him alone with Illyana, but she had thought herself better than this kind of petty revenge.

“Do you swear to uphold my word as law, and guard my honor as your own?”

“I do.”

The sword touched Kitty’s shoulders, singing her with magic. “I dub thee a knight. Be valiant, knight, and true.”

Something shifted inside Kitty, and she was abruptly reminded of the way Ogun had subverted her, used her body and mind as his own. She had wielded a sword in his service, too, and despite Logan’s training, the memory reverberated like a tuning fork. Something inside her was screaming, but she stretched out her hands and let Illyana lay the sword across them. Kitty took the sword in one hand and it shifted shape, taking on the form of a katana. Soulsteel poured down from it, over her arm, her body, taking on the shape of Samurai armor. She sheathed the sword and both armor and sword dissipated. She could feel them still, in the back of her mind, ready to emerge at her command.

“Is that it?” asked Illyana.

“That’s it.” Kitty rose, feeling stronger, calmer. “I’d like to get started right away, if you could open a gate to Limbo for me.”

“Are you sure? It’s late, maybe you should wait for morning,” said Illyana.

“I’ve waited long enough for this.”

Illyana looked at her for a long moment, then created a stepping disk and let her go without a word.

The battlefield had clearly once been a garden beside a house and pool; the walkways remained, but the plants were long since rotted. She had found a large concentration of demons there, feeding on the last remnants of magic left by the previous tenant. Small game, but eventually she’d have to kill them all anyway. Might as well practice before she went after more dangerous prey.

The demons here were mostly imps, scavengers, but there were a lot of them, and though they were spindly, they more than made up for it in speed and claws.

The difference between Kendo and other sword disciplines is that where other disciplines work on making the sword an extension of your body, Kendo makes your body an extension of the sword. There is much more focus on attack than defense, and you fight in straight lines. Though she knew other disciplines from China and Spain, knew how to integrate kicks and punches into her sword work, knew how to vary her angles of attack to keep her opponent off-balance, Kitty found herself using pure Kendo forms, lost in the simple surety of the style.

Finally Kitty stood amidst a pile of demon corpses. The blood was the same steaming red as the sky. It was a good beginning.

Sometimes Doug felt horribly alone.

In the beginning, he’d been so overwhelmed by everything, so amazed at his fantasies turning to reality. More than once, he’d lain back on Illyana’s decadent bed in Limbo and stroked himself to a slow climax as he watched the two girls at play, confident that he was welcome to join in at any time as a valued partner. Now his jealousy turned his mathematic talents to an obsession with keeping score. How many seconds did either of the girls spend kissing him versus kissing each other?

It didn’t help that Sam and Roberto now treated him to silent glares whenever he walked in the room. He’d never been close to Dani, Amara, or Shan, but his naivete used to be a bond with Rahne, and now he couldn’t look her in the eye. Warlock, at least, didn’t hate him, but Doug avoided spending time with the alien machine, knowing Warlock’s child-like tendency to blurt out secrets would ruin his secret life.

Kitty was always either off killing demons or home from the wars, trying to drown herself in pleasure and certainly not in the mood to deal with Doug’s insecurities. He’d tried being alone with her, without Illyana, but neither of them had condoms and both kept thinking guiltily of the wasted energy.

The only peace he found was between Illyana’s thighs. With Kitty gone so often killing demons, saving Illyana’s world, Doug got Illyana’s body more and more to himself. Kneeling before her, moving inside her, he could pretend she needed him more than anyone in the world.

Sometimes Doug couldn’t tell which of the three of them he hated most.

The mansion was deserted. The X-Men were gone, all was quiet in the New Mutants’ wing, Magneto was asleep, and a storm raged outside. It was the perfect time to finish and test their invention, and if they caused a blackout, they could blame it on the storm and get away scot-free.

Illyana fidgeted, watching Kitty and Doug work as single-mindedly as they had been doing for the past six hours. “How’s it going?” she asked, finally unable to contain herself.

“Almost done,” said Doug, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Illyana was never sure whether to be amazed or jealous when she watched Kitty and Doug working. They complemented each other so well, half the time they seemed to know what the other one needed without saying a word, the rest of the time they chattered away in technical jargon that made Illyana’s head hurt. Kitty and Doug were clearly perfect for each other. Illyana had no place here.

Then she smiled. What was she so scared of? She had Doug wrapped around her little finger. He was so at home between her legs that his knees were scabbed over. And Kitty was ready to die for her. She could sneak off with either of them whenever she liked, but none of them owned condoms, nor could they buy them without everyone in the mansion knowing, so there was no chance of Kitty and Doug having fun without her. She was the center of their universe.

Doug switched off his equipment, handed the last two chips to Kitty and slumped in his chair with a groan and a huge stretch. Kitty slipped the chips into place, then yawned and stretched as well. “I think that should do it.”

“So how does it work?” asked Illyana.

Doug bent and picked up a power cord, plugged it into the wall socket. “The extension cord goes through the gate into Limbo, we turn this sucker on, and you grab the metal handle,” he said. “If we did this right, you should have the powers of a God.”

“And if you did this wrong?” asked Illyana.

Kitty dug under the bed for Illyana’s sneakers and held them out. “Rubber soles.”

Illyana’s lip curled. “You fill me with confidence.”

Doug echoed her smirk. “That’s not all I fill you with.”

Kitty glared at him and busied herself with carefully picking up the machine. “A little help here?”

The lightning crackled outside, and the rain hit the windows in sheets. Kitty and Doug wrestled their collection of wires, switches and panels through Illyana’s stepping disk to the high tower with the marble pentagram in the floor, the tower Illyana used for open air spells.

Doug bit his lip as he set the machine down. “After this is over, you’re not going to need me anymore.”

Illyana clenched her fingers in his hair and pulled him up to kiss her. “That’s not true. I’ll always need you.”

“We’ll always need you,” said Kitty. She checked over the machine one more time, then flicked the switch. A blue nimbus of power danced and hummed over the machine, across the metal grip. Illyana watched the skies. She could feel the power building in the machine, raw energy eager for a master. Somewhere in the red wastes, S’ym and N’astirh could feel it too. They would come and try to take it from her. She let it call them to her.

Two dark shapes eclipsed the sun. “Maybe you should be on the other side of the stepping disk,” Kitty told Doug.

“I can take care of myself, Pryde,” he snapped.

Kitty readied her sword and airwalked off the parapet. It was her job to keep S’ym and N’astirh close enough to be affected by the spell but too far way to damage Illyana, Doug, or the machine, buying Illyana time to cast the proper spell. Since the soulsword worked just as well intangible, she might as well level the playing field a bit.

But S’ym was no ordinary demon. He’d been Belasco’s second-in-command for centuries for a reason. Underneath that cigar-chomping, fat, purple, DT-reject exterior was more speed and strength and skill than Kitty could have imagined. He kept ducking under her guard, blowing sulfurous cigar smoke in her face to blind her and make her choke.

She’d been trying to keep S’ym’s body blocking N’astirh for going to the tower, but in a fit of blind coughing she heard Doug’s scream over Illyana’s chanting.

She turned to find N’astirh on the parapet, his talons gripping Doug. The part of her that was Kitty panicked, seeing her friend in danger, but the part of her that was Ogun noted that as a New Mutant, Doug should be expected to take care of himself, and if N’astirh kept his attention on Doug, it would give Illyana time to finish the spell. And then Illyana would be all hers…

The thought stopped her cold. I’m an X-Man. I’m supposed to be better than that. She turned solid and grabbed S’ym’s shoulders for support, then launched herself backwards at the tower, flipping in midair to land on N’astirh’s back and rip him off of Doug. Doug was scratched, but otherwise okay. But S’ym had closed the gap, and Kitty couldn’t fight them on the tower without risking damage to the machine.

S’ym alighted on the parapet and grinned at Illyana, who stopped chanting. “Hiya toots. You’re wasting your time. You could never stand up to me. There’s no power you can gather that I can’t take away from you.” Behind him, N’astirh bared his teeth in a vulpine smile.

Illyana’s fanged smile widened. “Even before Belasco, you were my first teacher. And you taught me that the one with the power makes the rules.”

She shouted the last words of the spell and grabbed the handle.

There was a nuclear flash. The power coursed through her arm, into her body, and out into the world, a blast of pure energy that seared the world clean. It blasted through every stepping disk, to every time and place, obliterating every trace of demonic life from the face and history of this plane. And the power kept growing, it was filling her, burning her alive…

It was abruptly gone. Illyana collapsed against the parapet. She had never felt so empty, so dead. Spots danced before her eyes, obscuring her sight. As they cleared, she turned to find Kitty and Doug sprawled on the floor next to the machine, struggling up on their hands and knees.

“What happened?” Illyana croaked.

Doug wheezed, trying to catch his breath. “Machine overloaded.” Indeed the sparks and smoke coming out of the machine bore little resemblance to the elegant power it had held only minutes before. Weeks of work, obliterated. At least it had been put to good use.

The three teenagers crawled back through the stepping disk to Kitty and Illyana’s room. It was pitch black. Kitty tried the switch, to no avail. “We must have blacked out the mansion,” said Illyana, calling up a sputtering little glow to light the room, and all three of them gasped at the sight it revealed.

The whole room was blackened charcoal. The computer was slag, the beds were burned down to steaming metal frames.

“Oh man,” said Doug. “If we burned down the mansion, Magneto’s going to make pretty sculptures out of the iron in our blood.”

“Lockheed?” Kitty cried. “Lockheed!”

Still leaning on each other, they ventured out into the hallway, where the purple dragon hissed resentfully and curled in the safety of Kitty’s hair.

A flashlight beam cut across their path. Magneto. “Where have you three been? After what happened to the others, I thought you were injured or dead! I should strangle you all for running off like this, hunting for trouble and not telling me what’s going on!”

Illyana’s brain, still high on endorphins and muddled with pain, had trouble catching up to the tirade. “ ‘The others’? ”

Doug stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kitty and the New Mutants in front of Magneto’s desk, but he was barely aware of them. Magneto’s eyes burned through all of them. “Moira MacTaggert says Rahne is unlikely ever to walk again. Kitty and Illyana’s room is completely demolished. I want answers.”

The students glanced around at each other, but as the more verbally adept team leader, Dani was left with the unenviable task of going first. “The New Mutants found a creature we decided to call Bird Boy. He’d been hurt and starved, and we couldn’t speak his language, so I used my power to call up images of what he feared and loved the most, and we used that ‘hot or cold’ method to find the scientist who had made and tortured him and his friends. It was awful. All these creatures that had to fight to see who was the best, all of them scared and hurting--”

“Where was Doug during all this?” asked Magneto.

Roberto’s lip curled in disgust. “He and Kitty and Illyana were, you know, off on their own.”

“What do you mean by that?” Magneto demanded.

Roberto reddened. “They’ve been running off all the time, having orgies. The rest of us haven’t been talking to them.”

Magneto turned to Kitty and his face darkened with fury. “Orgies?”

Kitty blushed and babbled. “It wasn’t like that! Illyana was going to lose Limbo; the demons were taking over. Doug and I were working on a machine together for her to try and see if we could increase her powers for combat. That’s what happened to our room, the machine blew up. It was a stupid mistake, and we’re really really sorry, but it wasn’t … you know.”

“I’ll deal with you three later.” Whether he believed Kitty or not, Magneto turned his attention back to Danielle. “So you broke curfew and ran off to attack a mad scientist in his lair, with all his defenses. You’re students, children, you’re learning here because you aren’t ready to become X-Men and tackle world threats. How could you be so stupid and irresponsible?”

Dani stared at the floor and said nothing.

“It’s fairly clear here that since there were two disasters here tonight, this wasn’t a bunch of idiots blindly following a ringleader. You each had the power to back out, and you each decided to go along with something dangerous and stupid. You’ve also made it clear that you won’t listen to me and I can’t police you effectively. You leave me no choice.

“From now on, this school works on the buddy system. You stay with your assigned partner and watch them at all times. If they run off and do something stupid, you’ll both be punished. And to make sure you don’t try to cover for each other, I’m pairing Roberto and Doug, Kitty and Danielle, Amara and Illyana, Sam and Warlock. Warlock, if Sam goes off to have adventures, he’s going to get hurt like Rahne. Do whatever you have to to keep him in line. Dismissed.”

They all filed out.

Doug mutely followed Roberto back to their room. He kept thinking of Rahne. If he’d just been there, maybe he could have translated something in Bird Boy’s speech, given them some advance knowledge of the dangers. “Why didn’t you tell me about Bird Boy? I should have been with you guys, I could have helped--”

Roberto flopped down on his bed and glared at Doug. “You were off doing the nasty, we didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, what the hell could you have done? Thrown yourself in front of the bullet? It wouldn’t have made a bit of difference whether you were there or not.”

Doug’s chest tightened. He sat down on his own bed and curled up, facing away from Roberto. Neither of them slept.

Kitty watched the ship fly off, then turned to look at Illyana and Doug. Kitty wished that one of them was a telepath so that they could at least speak to each other unchaperoned, but no such luck. And with her computer totaled, she couldn’t even send Doug an email.

The next few days were hell. Since her room was totaled and Dani was her keeper, Kitty had to sleep in Rahne’s bed. Illyana and Doug weren’t speaking to her, and she had no idea whether they were speaking to each other. But she hatched a plan to change that.

Since she was stuck with Dani and suspended from X-Men duties, Kitty did Danger Room sessions with the rest of the New Mutants. Her ninja skills came in handy here, giving her just enough edge and polish to make it clear that she was an X-Man, of a higher caliber, even if some of the New Mutants had more impressive powers.

But after practice they all went off to the locker rooms to shower, and the showers each had locking doors for privacy. Kitty locked one, turned on the water, then phased through the floor, skimming underneath it until she found Illyana’s shower and pulled the sorceress underground with her. Then they slipped over to the boys’ shower and grabbed Doug by the ankles, dragging him under as well.

Illyana made a witch-light, and the three wet, naked teenagers shivered. “I miss you guys,” said Kitty.

“Me too,” said Illyana.

“We shouldn’t be here,” said Doug. “They’ll get suspicious.”

“Afraid of getting in trouble, Dougie?” Illyana mocked.

“No, just afraid I’ll lose all my friends and they’ll never trust me again.”

“I thought I was your best friend,” Kitty whispered, hurt.

Doug laughed hollowly. “Friends? We’re not friends anymore, Kitty. I don’t even think we count as human beings. I was off fucking you two while my friends were getting shot!”

Illyana’s hand cracked across his cheek. “In case you’ve forgotten, you weren’t fucking me when Rahne was getting shot. You were finishing up your machine and helping save my life. That’s what this was about, right? You wanted to be a hero and help save the damsel in distress. That was me!”

“Yeah, well, since then I haven’t seen you running off to repair Limbo and make it livable again,” said Doug. “I think your life was never in danger. I think you just wanted a useless boytoy to play with. Well, I’m sick of it. I’m going to go back before I get in trouble, and I’m going to make myself useful, and maybe they’ll trust me enough to let me really help people again.”

“How could I go off and fix Limbo? We’re grounded, Doug, I’d get in trouble if snuck off.”

“That never stopped you before,” said Doug. “You usually take a stepping disk out the minute Magneto says you can’t. I bet you just made all this up to get attention.”

“Doug, you didn’t see her before we started helping,” said Kitty. “You didn’t see her with a broken arm and bruises. You didn’t see how scared--”

“Shut up, Kitty! I don’t need you defending me. If the little creep wants to crawl back to his loser friends and make nice, then we’re better off without him.” With that, Illyana made a stepping disk and teleported out.

The little alcove was suddenly plunged into darkness as the witch-light vanished. “Are you going to take me back to the showers, or what?” Doug asked tightly.

Kitty reached out, blind in the dark, until she encountered Doug’s cheek. He flinched away. “Leave me alone.”

“Doug?” Kitty started crying.

“Don’t you understand?” he snapped, “I can’t touch you without thinking of all the kinky things we did! Rahne will never walk again because we were off fucking each other.”

“That’s not--”

“Look, I know we weren’t fucking at that exact moment, but they didn’t trust us, they didn’t include us, because we’d been off fucking for weeks. I should have been there!”

“I was just going to say that there was nothing you could have done,” said Kitty.

“Well, Roberto, Magneto, Illyana, Sam and everyone else in the mansion will be so glad you share their opinion,” said Doug, “because they’ve all been going out of their way to remind me of that fact.”

Kitty reached out, trying to apologize, to comfort him.

“Don’t touch me!” he screamed. “God, I feel like I’m never going to be clean again...”

Kitty took him back and left him curled in a steaming corner of the white-tiled shower.

Dani sat on a stump and did her homework while Kitty and Wolverine sparred. There was no lively banter, no fun, just two fighters grimly trying to take each other out.

But Kitty didn’t have Wolverine’s stamina, and it was only a matter of time before he pinned her between two claws, the third still back in its chamber as a reminder that he could have killed her.

They both lay down on the lawn, out of earshot of Dani, to catch their breath and cool down. “How’ve you been, punkin?” he asked softly.

Kitty opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Tears welled up and spilled over her cheeks.

“That bad, huh?”

It was a while before Kitty could control herself enough to speak. “You were right about Illyana. She hasn’t done a thing to help herself since this whole thing started. It’s been a week, and she hasn’t even tried to clean up Limbo as far as I know. And Doug … Doug won’t even look at me. He keeps saying he feels dirty, and that he should have been able to save Rahne.”

Wolverine nodded, still watching the sky, giving her space. “I never told you why Mariko and I stopped seeing each other after we defeated Mastermind.”

Kitty turned to look at him.

“She said she couldn’t just sit back and let me rebuild her honor for her. That wasn’t the way it worked. I had to let her do it herself. Some things are worthless if they’re handed to you. You have to earn them yourself.”

Kitty looked up at the sky again. “I really messed up, I guess. But it’s too late to undo it. I already fixed all of Illyana’s problems.”

Logan turned to look at her. “You’re just telling yourself that because you don’t want to let go. It’s not too late for Illyana. It’s not too late for Doug, either.”

After another week, standards began to slide back to normal. Students could leave class to go to the bathroom without an escort, and the students turned a blind eye to each other sneaking off at night. Danielle wanted to go to a secret meeting of the New Mutants, which gave Kitty the time she needed for a secret meeting of her own.

Kitty made sure the door was locked behind her before she turned on the giant communication screen and dialed Miur Island. Moira answered after a few rings. She looked old. “Kitty? What can I do for ye?”

“I called to see how Rahne is doing,” said Kitty softly.

Moira’s face fell. “I cannae repair th’damage tae her spine,” she said. “Even when she changes shape, Rahne has nae feeling below her waist. T’would be hard on anyone, but the poor bairn is convinced tha’withoot her mutant powers she’s of nae worth tae anyone. She’s no e’en talking.”

And Rahne didn’t have a lot of self-esteem to begin with; she couldn’t afford to lose what she had. “I know it’s not my business, but is she suicidal?”

Moira’s expression hardened. “Yuir right, it’s no yuir business.”

Kitty was taken aback by Moira’s tone, but then again, if she were the one contemplating suicide, she wouldn’t want her mother discussing it with Rahne. “Doug’s doing pretty bad over here. Everyone keeps telling him that he couldn’t have done anything to save Rahne, and it makes him feel more powerless than ever. He’s been struggling with this since he joined the New Mutants, this sense that he’s worthless if his powers aren’t combat-oriented. It suddenly occurred to me that if they were each trying to convince a friend that combat isn’t the only measure of a person’s worth--”

“--They might realize they’re talking aboot themselves,” Moira finished. “Tha’s no a bad idea, lass. Tell Doug--”

“No, it has to come from you. Don’t tell either of them it was my idea. They won’t listen if it comes from me.”

Moira nodded. “Verra well. I’ll call back and talk tae Doug. Thank ye, Kitty. This is a kindly deed.”

The supply boat was little more than a sailboat, and it pitched back and forth as it made its way to Muir island. Moira was waiting on the dock for him in that same yellow jumpsuit and white lab coat she always wore. “Thank ye for coming, Doug,” she said as the boat docked, “Th’poor bairn has barely left her room since she came here.”

Doug nodded tightly, not trusting his voice. Moira smiled and led him up the bluffs to the main building, through the corridors to Rahne’s room. She knocked on the door, but there was no response. Moira waited a moment, then opened the door.

Rahne was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Rahne, dear? Someone to see you.” Then Moira gracefully backed out of the room, leaving Doug alone with Rahne.

“Hi Rahne,” said Doug. He scuffed his shoe on the carpet. “How’re you doing?”

“Lady Moira says I’ll never walk again.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she turned her head to look at Doug. “How do ye manage it, having a power tha’s useless in battle? How do ye go on? How do ye pull yuir weight?”

Doug stared at her. How could she be so innocent, so naive? “You’re asking me--” He started laughing hysterically. “Haven’t you been paying attention for the last two years, since I joined the team? I can’t handle it. I left the team after you got hurt. Everyone kept telling me, ‘It wasn’t your fault, Doug, you couldn’t have done anything even if you’d been there. You’d just have been in the way.’ Look at the facts, Rahne. You’ll never run another Danger Room session, or fight evil after curfew. There’s no place for either of us at Xavier’s.”

Behind the tears, her eyes blazed. “Ye’ve no right tae complain, Doug. Yuir body is still whole, and even if it were ye lying in this bed, yiur power’s would be as strong as ever. Any time th’team meets an alien race or needs tae bypass a dread machine, they need ye. I cannae feel my legs, Doug! What use is a werewolf in a wheelchair? I’m no’ smart or skilled in anything except battle. Now tha I cannae fight, I’m naught but a burden on Lady Moira.” She turned away to stare at the ceiling again. “I’d be better off dead.”

Doug sat down on the edge of the bed, not even stopping to think before he spoke. “You’re not useless, Rahne. You’re smart, you’re a fast learner, you’re caring, you’re fully trained in weapons and tactics, and you still have a wolf’s senses, even if you don’t have a wolf’s strength and speed anymore. I can think of a dozen top professions, from doctor to minister to children’s storyteller, that you’d be great in. It doesn’t have to be X-Men or bust. Look at Beast! Or Forge, or Dazzler!”

“She can dance,” said Rahne, but a note of hope had crept into her voice.

Doug leaned over and smiled with a ferocity that matched Wolverine’s. “If there’s a way to dance in a wheelchair, I promise you we’ll find it.”

Brown paper packages tied up with strings… Humming inane show tunes beat giving herself an ulcer. Kitty’s stomach churned anyway. She adjusted the heavy cardboard box in her arms and used the soulsword to open a gate to Limbo.

She found herself on the top-most parapet of Illyana’s citadel, the one with a marble pentagram in the floor, ideal for casting spells that required open air. The black scorch marks from the fried machine were a stark reminder of how much things should have changed here. But beyond the citadel, sharp red rocks covered the land, and sulfurous winds scraped her throat raw. The land was silent, empty.

It strengthened her resolve. Kitty went inside and phased through walls and floors until she found Illyana doing her homework in the basement workroom.

“Kitty!” Her eyes lit up and she motioned for Kitty to come closer. “Missed you, lover.”

Kitty submitted to the kiss, but didn’t respond to it.

“Doug said he wouldn’t be back until Friday,” Illyana continued, “And you’ve been so busy training with Wolverine. I feel all alone here now…” she pulled Kitty closer.

Kitty pulled away. “Have you found anything in the grimoires to help heal the land?” she asked.

Illyana frowned. “Belasco’s books are all about destruction. I’m trying to follow what I remember of Storm’s lessons, but I didn’t have a lot of time with her, and I was very young.” She grinned. “You know it’s impossible when trigonometry is easy by comparison.”

“Doug was right. Two weeks ago we killed off your rivals and gave you enough power to do whatever you want. It’s just as hellish as ever out there. Have you even tried to fix it?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Kitty. It’s hard to create anything healthy, anything good, with a tainted soul…” She broke off as Kitty shoved the package at her. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Illyana opened the cardboard box and found several packets of seeds and a large sack of fertilizer. “It’s not this simple! How can you be so cruel?”

“Create water. You can do that easily. Or if you’re afraid you can’t even create pure water, haul it bucket by bucket from the mansion’s sinks. We’ve killed all the demons; there’s no opposition now. No excuses. You’ve got your own private world, and you can do what you like with it. I want to know if everything you told me, all those tears you cried, were real.”

“Get out. You have no call, no right, to hurt me like this.”

Kitty swallowed, bracing herself for the worst. She got down on one knee and offered Illyana the soulsword with outstretched hands. “My lady.”

“Go!”

Kitty was slammed backwards through a portal to their room in the mansion. When she regained her balance, she leaned against the doorframe and pounded her head against the wood. With any luck, Illyana would snap out of her fantasy world and start doing something about her life. At least Doug was safe, repairing his life with Rahne in Scotland. She’d done the honorable thing and lost both her friends. She should have learned by now, doing the right thing guaranteed pain.

Hoping for news, whether to salve or salt the wound, Kitty put in a call to Muir Island.

Illyana forced down her tears and wiped the traces from her cheeks. Kitty had hurt her terribly, but she couldn’t have done it on purpose. She just didn’t understand the pressures Illyana was under; how hard she had to fight to keep the demon inside her from breaking loose. Instead of wallowing in her grief, she should find Kitty and patch things up. With Doug gone to Scotland until next Friday, Illyana had been alone since she’d fought with Kitty. They had to put this fight behind them and move on.

She used a locator spell to find Kitty, then teleported in from barren Limbo.

Kitty was in the communications room, talking to Moira on the monitor, and she was so engrossed in the conversation that she didn’t notice Illyana’s arrival.

“--Doug’s really settled in here,” said Moira, “I think yuir plan is working perfectly. I had th’idea of asking them tae help me in th’lab. Doug’s o’erjoyed tae find a job where his powers make him worth his weight in gold, and he and I are teaching Rahne tae be a lab assistant. Every day he wheels her in her chair doon tae th’bluffs and they talk for hours. I think they’re in love.” Moira’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Kitty, I didnae think before I spoke--”

“It’s all right,” Kitty managed. “I’m not surprised. He and I destroyed whatever chance we had of working out. But I had to get him out of here. It was destroying him.”

“Tis a good thing ye did,” said Moira, “But are ye sure ye dinnae want to tell them the truth? I hate taking credit when they thank me for bringing them together.”

Kitty shook her head. “They’d think I was a bossy know-it-all, treating them like X-babies. I don’t know, maybe they’d be right. Either way, if you tell them it was me, it’ll taint or destroy whatever bond they’re creating.”

Moira nodded. “Well, I won’t forget it. Ye brought me daughter back tae me. If ye ever need anything, however costly, just ask.”

The screen went dark. Kitty turned and jumped when she saw Illyana watching in the shadows. “Yana!”

“You lied to me,” Illyana hissed, her tail swishing between her hooves. “You plotted behind my back. You took him away from me out of spite; you knew you couldn’t have him so you made sure I couldn’t either! And then you had the nerve to lecture me about acting like a mature adult!”

“Illyana, I--”

“You swore an oath to uphold my will as law,” said Illyana, her voice dangerously low. She summoned the soulsword to her hand. “You’re an oathbreaker now. Fair game.”

Kitty paled, but shifted her stance, bracing herself for an attack. “Illyana, I swear I didn’t do it to hurt you. And I swore to serve the light before you. I’m not an oathbreaker if I disobey you to help innocent people. I wrote that in in case something happened and you went dark.”

“Dark. You haven’t seen dark.” Illyana stepped out of the shadows, revealing her horns, cloven hooves and tail. The soulsteel armor covered most of it, gave it a smooth metallic sheen, but the effect, she knew, was still disturbing. “Dark is my using your blood to conjure the fourth bloodstone. Limbo is mine to do with what I will. Doug is mine, too. And you can’t tell me what to do with either.”

The lights flickered and went out. Kitty ran, but Illyana conjured a stepping disk right in front of her and Kitty fell into Limbo. Illyana followed.

Kitty was unarmed, and the soulsword could hurt her even in her phased state. Illyana took full advantage of this, driving Kitty backwards and slashing at her with the magical blade.

Kitty kept trying to parry with her hands, ducking past the blade to try and block Illyana’s wrist and break her elbow, but the soulsteel armor covered Illyana too well for Kitty’s moves to have any effect. She charged forward, slicing open Kitty’s shirt, cutting her arms and legs, her face. Kitty stumbled and hit the ground, looking up at Illyana with pure terror.

“I make the rules here,” said Illyana as she raised the blade for the final strike. “You’re not leaving me.” The sword plunged down.

Illyana felt a curious sensation as the soulsword vanished from her hand. She looked down and saw the soulsword sheathed in her gut. Her armor was melting away, flowing onto Kitty. Blood soaked Illyana’s shirt and jeans, and she tried to catch it, scoop it back into her body, but it kept slipping through her fingers. She just couldn’t hold on…

Kitty stood and wiped the tears from her face with a bloody hand. She hadn’t meant to kill Illyana. But when she thought she was going to die, she’d called for the soulsword without thinking, and lashed out.

Illyana was dead, and if Kitty didn’t get home soon, she would probably bleed to death as well. But she had no clue how to open a stepping disk. Illyana used to heal herself all the time. How did she do that? Kitty closed her eyes and concentrated, and the soulsteel slid into the wounds, stitching torn tissue together. It wasn’t as elegant or complete as Illyana’s method, but it was the best she could do, and it would keep her alive until she could find a way back to the mansion.

The air was growing cooler, cleaner. Kitty looked out over the parapet and her forehead crinkled in surprise. Cool gray clouds washed away the red sky, began to spill rain onto the twisted, sterile rocks.

Kitty tore open the packets of seeds and spilled the brown nubs into her hands. Eggplant. Squash. Apple. Pear. Beans. Nasturtium. She called for wind, and the breeze grew stronger, lifted the seeds out of her hand and swept them out into the rain to fall where they would.

Unlike Illyana’s armor, which had crept slowly along her body, Kitty’s armor was complete: the do, kabuto, kote and suneate of samurai armor. And under the armor more soulsteel wove her wounded body together, cradling her, letting her heal. Underneath her feet, the citadel changed from castle to pagoda.

The grimoires now stood in recessed rosewood bookcases flanking a low Japanese table in the room adjoining the wide rectangular balcony. It would take a long time to search the books for the spells that would send her home. She bent and picked up Illyana’s body, though her mending wounds complained at the strain. The look of surprise and pain frozen on Illyana’s face made her seem like a small child again.

She would bury her friend. Someday, when she knew how to get back to the mansion, she would have to explain what she’d done. Years spent here would be mere seconds back on Earth; she had time. But for now, she thought, looking out over the landscape again, I’ve got a lot of work to do.

End.

Back! Back, I say!