The next day
It was afternoon at the Xavier institute, the students had already finished their training for the day and were now released to themselves.
" Dude, all this training sucks. Why can't we get a break?" Julian complained. He was sat down at one of the few lunch tables in the cafeteria next to Santo, Ian, Sooraya, and Laura.
" I know right, I just want to watch Tv." Santo added on. The giant rock boy, placed his head on the table, making it shift, and started groaning.
" I think it has been educational. Miss Frost has been very demanding with results, and we have certainly made improvements." Sooraya spoke. She looked down at her bruised hands and rubbed them together. " Though maybe it is a little too much."
" Yeah." Ian grumbled as he played with his food.
Julian turned in his seat and looked at the man.
" Dude, you doing alright? You're quiet today. And I mean more than I'm used to." Julian asked the boy.
Ian looked down at his plate of spaghetti, twisting it in place.
Laura reached over and poked him on the arm and Ian's head shot up.
" Huh! What's up?" Ian asked. His head shot back and forth, side to side, looking to see what was going on as he was so distracted a moment ago.
" Dude, what's going on with you? Are you doing alright man?" Julian asked again.
" Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Just uh- doing some thinking." Ian told the boy. He took a bite from his spaghetti and returned to the plate.
" Well, you wanna tell us what it is? I can't read minds man." Julian asked.
Ian looked at Julian with one of his eyebrows raised, like he was questioning him and his intent.
" Don't worry about it. Nothing important anyway." Ian finally replied. He got up from his seat without saying another word and walked off.
" Dude, WAIT UP!" Julian yelled after Ian. He and the others got up to follow him out of the cafeteria. " Where are you going?" Julian asked as he and the others caught up to Ian.
" Just to the break room. I wanna see what's on Tv." Ian told the boy.
" Well, why didn't you say so. Let's go!" Santo yelled. He ran past Julian and grabbed Ian by the arm and dragged him off
" EugghhhhhHH!" Ian sputtered as Santo pulled him along.
Julian looked to the others and shrugged his shoulders.
" Eh, whatever. Let's go." Julian stated.
The group followed Santo to the breakroom, and once there they sat down and joined the two along with a few other faces.
" Hey, what's up guys!" Victor called out cheerfully.
Julian and the others waved back and took a seat on the ground in front of the tv.
" SO, what are you guys watching?" Julian asked.
" I have no idea, man. Santo tried to take the remote and the girls nearly floored him." Ian told Julian. He pointed over to Megan, Noriko, and the stepford sisters who were all sitting on the couch bundled up together. He then pointed over to Santo who was lying on the floor sadly.
" I only wanted to watch wrestling." Santo sobbed.
That got a chuckle out of the boys in the room.
" Well, now you get to watch love and the restless." Megan told the boy with a smile on her face.
" Eh, I don't want to watch this. Had I known you ladies were here I would have just gone to bed or something. I think I'm just going to go to bed." Ian stated. He got up from the floor and without saying another word he walked away.
Julian and the others watched in silence as his figure slowly disappeared down the hall and finally the boy spoke up.
" Geez, what's up with him today?" Julian asked.
" No idea. Didn't you guys have your training today? Maybe he's just tired." Victor argued.
" Nah, he didn't come to training. Can't be that." Julian replied.
" Why does it matter? Maybe he's just having an off-day, now be quiet guys I want to see this." Noriko told the two boys.
" He-"
" Hey guys what's up?" Josh asked as he walked into the room, cutting off Julian.
" Not much, just sitting around watching tv, telling stories all that fun stuff." Santo replied.
" Oh, stories? That sounds like fun, I got one for you." Nick, the young wolf-cub, spoke up excitedly.
" OOOOH! Alright, this is so much better than tv." Megan exclaimed. She raised from her seat excitedly and joined the others in a circle around the floor.
" Alright, who wants to go first?" Santo asked.
" Eh, I'm out of here. You guys tell scary stories if you want. I'm gonna go check on Cessily." Julian spoke up.
"And I don't want to be here for story time." Noriko stated as well. Noriko, who had wanted to watch tv, was annoyed by all the noise the group had been making and decided to follow in Julian's footsteps and just left, letting the others have the room for themselves.
" Alright, I'll go first then." Santo exclaimed.
Julian scoffed as he exited the room, knowing that whatever Santo was about to say was going to be ridiculous.
With his friends having fun and with nothing to do, Julian decided to check on Cessily. Ever since she came back, the nights have been filled with her waking up and screaming. Some nights, Ian takes care of her, some nights Julian did, but everyone at some point stops in just to make sure she's safe.
Julian slowly opened the door to Cessily's room and walked up to her bedside.
" Nnnn... no... please." Cessily pleaded, she grabbed onto her pillow tightly and shivered.
Julian leaned down and gently held her hand.
" Shhhh, Cess. It's okay. You're safe now. It's just a dream." Julian told the girl.
As Julian comforted Cessily, Noriko walked into the room.
" How's she doing?" Noriko asked the boy.
" I don't know. She wakes up screaming." Julian replied. " I know we got her out of there, but she won't tell me what they did. She's tough, Ashida. She'll get through this... Right?" Julian asked the girl.
Any other day, any other night, any other time and Noriko and Julian would be ready to kill each other. It is a known fact that those two despise each other more than anyone else in the entire mansion. But right here, right now they are both worried about their friend.
" Yeah, of course she will." Noriko replied hopeful. " Hey, do you think you can take a quick break? I need to talk to you about something." Noriko asked the boy.
" Yeah. Yeah, sure. I've got a feeling it's going to be a long night anyway." Julian replied. He leaned down and kissed Cessily on her forehead and then walked out of the room with Noriko.
Back at the break room, Santo had just finished telling everyone how he had beat sentinels, apocalypse, and how he had scored with lady mastermind. Of course, everyone knew this was a lie. Or almost everyone.
" Cool." Nick exclaimed. He was amazed by Santo's so called story of greatness, but others weren't so easily fooled.
" He's making it up, nick." Ben proclaimed. At some point the young Match had joined the others along with Ruth, Loa, and Nehzno.
" You weren't even there when the X-men saved the cuckoos!" Victor exclaimed, already poking a large hole in Santo's story.
" Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Well, you come up with a better story!" Santo yelled. " If any of you tools want to make it onto the team then you're gonna have to suck up better."
" Blindfold? Do you have a story to tell?" Megan asked the girl.
" She does, yes, thank you. You need to know, please. You need to know why. You need to know how it began." Ruth replied. " The demon lord came from hell to take the girl, yes. He wanted her innocence, her soul to appease his dark masters, to let them enter our realm and feast. A fellowship of heroes fought to win her back... They failed. The girl fell to darkness. Now the demon lord was her master." Ruth spoke.
" Whoa." Santo mumbled. He was taken aback by the story.
" Geez Blindfold." Victor crawled up close to Santo. He was visibly scared from the story.
" Um, good story. It's done right? Please?" Megan asked. She too was scared of the story.
But little did they know that the story had just begun.
" The Heroes feared she was lost, they did. Then she appeared before them once more but changed. Older. Darker. Changed. Her soul was now stained black." Ruth continued.
" Guess not." Megan grumbled.
" They didn't realize, excuse me, that time was different there. That for the minutes she was gone, the girl was trapped in hell for years. And in the time, she was trapped, yes, so began the demon lord's tutelage of the stolen child. For seven years, he raised her as his own. He taught her the dark arts, gave her a taste of the power withing her. But piece by piece, he shattered her soul. From the shards, he created BLOODSTONES to allow his masters entry to our world. She struggled to resist the darkness growing with her. And she was not alone in her struggle against the demon lord. Several of the girl's heroes had remained in Limbo, where their bodies and souls were twisted by the realm's darkness. They helped the girl rebel against the demon lord. She forged a soulsword and rose up against her master, banishing Belasco from Limbo." Ruth explained.
" Whoa, Banished? You should have had her cut his head off with blood up from his neck. Or something like that." Santo told Ruth.
" Wait, Rockslide, this... I think this is real. I read about this in the X-men's files." Victor told the boy. He was now more visibly frightened than before. The concern growing within him was restless. " Belasco and Soulsword, I mean... Those are real things. This is something that happened to the X-men."
" Hey, mu story happened too. Especially the Lady mastermind part." Santo argued. He was still making light of the situation thinking things were just fine.
" Will you shut up about that?" Victor asked the boy.
" You're totally jealous, lizard boy." Santo laughed.
" Do you guys smell something burning?" Nick suddenly asked as the smell of fire entered the room.
" Ha, very funny nick." Match said to the boy. He thought Nick was making a joke about him, since his head was on fire. But he was wrong.
" Excuse me." Nehzno spoke up. " But could you all lower your voices. Especially you rock person. I am trying to meditate, and your voice is grating." Nehzno told the boy.
" SHHH! Quiet, Nehzno! Blindfolds telling a story." Megan told the boy.
Everyone was quiet once more and Megan urged Ruth to continue telling her story.
" Belasco waited, yes. He waited for an opportunity to steal his apprentice back. And then, something he was not expecting... She died. When Belasco returned to Limbo once more to collect souls for his masters, a human sorceress had taken the mantle of Magik. The black sun faded. He was defeated once again. The elder gods exiled him. Punished him. But even Exiled to the hellish realms beneath, Belasco was not without power. And he sensed something happening in the worlds of light above him. With a blood sacrifice of a minor demon, he was able to access old magics. The simplest of spells. And through his spell he saw two siblings force all of reality to change." Ruth explained, her reference of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff causing the house of M went over the other heads as no one but a select few remember the events. " And he saw his apprentice. He saw Illyana Rasputin."
" Wait, wait, wait... He saw Illyana Rasputin?" Victor asked the girl.
" You mean, Colossus' sister? Isn't she, you know, dead?" Victor asked.
" Blindfold, what kind of story are you telling? Is this really happening?" Victor asked.
" The demon lord's apprentice lived once again." Ruth continued. " But then, just as suddenly as Illyana had reappeared among the living to the exiled Belasco, she disappeared once more. For one brief moment, though, Belasco felt her. Now gone, hidden in the light realms, he thought. The demon lord began his quest to take back what was his. And so, he began the journey through the dimensional veils to Limbo. But Belasco's return to Limbo would not go unchallenged. The Hellish realm Belasco had molded into his own image over the years had changed. It was now in the hands of a soul not so black as his. And she sensed him coming. The moment he set foot in Limbo; she turned the land itself against the demon lord. As well as Limbos denizens. For weeks, Belasco cut his way through the demons of limbo, every bloody step taking him closer to the sorceress who overtook his throne. While she sensed him, he sensed her as well. She was a light in the darkness of Limbo. But she had no idea the rage that Belasco would unleash on her. For you see, the sorceress had taken the name of Magik. And Names have power." Ruth explained.
" When first they fought, Belasco could have unveiled this pretender's true identity. But perhaps part of him wanted to believe that his apprentice was alive. But now, the deception angered him. That anger gave him power. And the sorceress no longer carried the true Magik's soulsword. Overwhelmed by the ancient demon lord's power and rage, the sorceress was defeated, and expelled from Limbo through the dimensional veil. In truth it mattered not to Belasco whether she lived or died. She did not matter now. Amanda Sefton fell, she fell to earth two days ago. Limbo was under control of Belasco once more, and the land became darker than ever before, yes. He resurrected his demon army this morning and looked up toward the realms of light. He could not sense his apprentice anymore, but instead he smelled her faint scent on the children last with her, the children inhabiting the X-men's mansion above. He thinks we know where she is, yes. The demon lord is coming for us." Ruth told everyone as she peeled the blindfold off of her face.
Everyone in the room immediately felt terrified by Ruth's story.
" I don't like you anymore." Megan told the girl
" That is one freaky chick." Santo stated.
" Oh my god." Victor, seemingly being the only one to truly grasp the situation, exclaimed. " She said that Amanda Sefton was defeated two days ago!! This is happening!" Victor yelled.
" What are you talking about? It's just a story." Santo told the boy defiantly.
" No! This is happening right now! We have to tell Cyclops! We have to get the X-men! Victor exclaimed.
Feeling the terror of the situation, Megan looked back at Ruth.
" Are we going to be, okay?" She asked the girl.
" No, thank you. I am sorry for your loss, Megan." Blindfold told the girl.
" What?" Megan asked.
" We have to get out of here right now!" Victor yelled.
But it was too late, the smell that Nick had smelled earlier was a portal to Limbo.
Suddenly the group was engulfed by the floor of the mansion into a portal that led straight to Limbo.
" AHHHHHHHHH!" Megan yelled as she and the others fell.
Unfortunately, they were not the only ones to be pulled through a portal.
Ian was walking through the halls of institute mindlessly. He was still trying to understand what Ruth asked him before. He couldn't wrap his mind around, he had been fine, but for some reason, ever since she brought it up, his mind has been going around and around in circles. He was confused, and he didn't like that. He hated this feeling. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat. He just felt heavy, his mind was heavy, and things he used to be confident about were beginning to be complicated for him. He felt angry, so angry that he couldn't figure it out. But he also felt sad. He didn't know the reason, but he just wanted to cry for no reason.
Unfortunately, before he could figure it out, he was suddenly pulled down into the same kind of portal that the others went through. at that moment, another portal opened to his side and a massive explosion came rippling through the mansion.
" WHAT THE HELL?!" Ian exclaimed. He fell through the floor, just barely missing the explosion. He landed hard on the ground below, and when he looked up, he watched as the portal to the mansion closed.
The explosion that overtook the mansion was widespread and in an instant every single student in the mansion was pulled into Limbo.
" Heh! You have no idea how right you are, boy. Gahhhhh!" Ian looked around and saw himself surrounded by demons of all shapes and sizes.
Ian's mood changed from somber to complete anger. Without hesitation, he blasted the top of the green, snake like, demons body clean off. Leaving behind the lower tail like portion of his body to fall to the ground with green blood spewing out of it.
" I'm in a real bad mood today. I've been trying all day to figure out what it is that's bothering me, and then you low-rate trash demons, called me here." Ian grumbled.
" You're not the only one here, boy. Master Belasco has- Guh!"
Ian cut the demon, in the blink of the demon's eye, his head was torn off and was currently in Ian's hand. Ian squeezed as hard as he could, and the head exploded.
" If any of my friends are hurt, then. You. Are. All. Dead." Ian told the demons. Ian's eyes started glowing red, and with the clap of his hands, he sent out a large wave of energy, obliterating the demons in front of him.
When the dust cleared, the remaining demons looked upon Ian in fear.
" Where's your master?" Ian asked angrily.
The demons all pointed off in the direction behind Ian.
Ian exploded into the air, and in the direction of the Demon Lord's castle. Whatever was bothering him before, had taken its place in the back of Ian's mind. Right now, it was more important to save his friends.