" AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Megan continued screaming until finally she, along with everyone else in the room, had hit the grounds of Limbo.
Everyone got up off of the ground and proceeded to look around at the hellscape around them.
" Okay, what the hell happened? Where's the common room?" Santo asked.
" You're supposed to be protecting us, you jerk! You're a New X-man!" Megan told Santo.
" Shut up!" Santo demanded. " I'm thinking."
" Oh God." Megan groaned.
" Santo, we're in trouble here, for real!" Victor exclaimed. " We're in Limbo."
" Don't worry, guys The X-men will come for us... Right?" Nick asked Victor.
" They don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to their students lately, do they?" Victor replied sarcastically.
" No problem, we're going to be okay. This is going to be okay." Alani argued.
" Girl... Blindfold... You saw this occur with your powers. What happens next?" Nezhno asked Ruth.
" They will come... But no, not in time." Ruth replied sadly.
This response rose an anger in Santo.
" Blindfold, I am going to kick you in the junk if you don't shut up. Everything you say is bad." Santo told the girl.
" Are you insane, Santo? Aren't you supposed to be taking charge or something?!" Victor asked the boy, who is supposed to be one of the next X-men. " What is miss Frost teaching you?!"
" Look, Lizard boy, I just hit stuff! I don't know what to do!!" Santo exclaimed.
" Yes, please, Anole. She will not listen to you, but you have to save her. excuse me, you will have to save Pixie. She is too important to fall to darkness." Ruth told the boy.
" What?! I--- AIIIIHHHHHH!" Megan was going to ask what Ruth was talking about, but then she suddenly caught a glimpse of a horde of demons coming straight towards the group.
" Watch out!!" Match was the first to strike, using his fire to blast away at the demons in front of him.
The demons attacked the students, viciously. Santo, Victor, Wolf cub, and Match tried their best to defend the girls and Nezhno. But it was to no avail, the more they put down the more seemed to rise against them.
" Santo! Get to blindfold! Protect her!" Victor yelled to rockslide as he hung off the side of a demon's corpse.
Blindfold was one of the few mutants remaining whose skills weren't suited for combat, so it was only natural that her being there would put the others in danger.
" Blindfold, look out!" Megan yelled to the girl. However, upon realizing her mistake she corrected her mistake. " Sorry! I meant Move!" Megan yelled back. She flew in front of Ruth to protect her and hit the demons in the face with her pixie dust, which when used on an enemy makes them see their worst nightmares. But Pixie doesn't know that.
With the demons on hold, at least for the moment, Santo tried using the opportunity to try and blast the demons with his fists.
" Rockslide, stop please!" Ruth told the boy. " No, it doesn't work anymore," She tried warning the boy. But Santo ignored her warning and the moment he tried to shoot his arms out his entire body exploded, seemingly killing him.
" Santo!" Victor yelled. He wanted to mourn the death of his friend, but he knew that at the moment survival was more important. " Everyone regroup at Blindfold's position! We need to work together, we need to-" Victor was trying to get everyone together, but as he was giving out orders a tentacle demon caught him off-guard and sliced off one of his arms.
" Victor!!" Megan screamed in terror.
Victor collapsed on the ground holding onto the spot where his arm was torn off, trying to staunch the blood, while the same demon prepared to finish him off for good.
However, just before the demon could deliver the killing blow, a quick strike from an axe separated the demon's head from his body.
" She is here. The Darkchild is here." Ruth spoke.
Riding on top of dragon like demon, with a large two-sided axe in her hand was none other than Belasco's apprentice, The darkchild, Illyana.
The demons in the area quickly dispersed in fear of the woman, allowing the young students to get their friend and gather together for a moments respite.
" We have to get victor to a hospital." Alani exclaimed.
" How?!" Ben asked the girl.
Illyana took one look at the group and then pointed to Megan.
" N'astirh. Bring me that one." Illyana told the flying demon.
The demon hissed and flew straight towards Megan, swatting aside Match and Wolf cub. The demon tried to grab Megan, but before it could Nezhno, who had been standing to the side, finally used his powers and grew large in size. He punched the demon in his face, and the demon hit the ground.
" Stay down, Demon." Nezhno commanded the demon.
" Nezhno?!" Megan was astonished by the size of the boy. He easily towered over her, and maybe even Santo.
The demon, however, was not finished. He got back up to his feet and Nezhno punched him again, as hard as he could. But that was it, Nezhno's powers quickly began to work against him, bringing him great pain and turning him back to normal.
" Megan... I cannot help you any... uhhhh!" Nezhno promptly hit the ground.
Megan tried to help the boy up, but he was completely drained.
" You're fighting me?" Illyana asked the group. " I saved you!! You're only alive because of me! Because I pulled you away from him. " Illyana explained to the group. " If it weren't for me, your innards would be strung across Belasco's castle walls right now." She said, she looked to the group and smiled, not kindly, maliciously. " So, if you want to see your friends again... I need one of your souls." Illyana hopped off her perch and started walking towards the group. " I can feel it you know. Belasco is hurting your friends right now. I know what he's thinking. What he's feeling...But he's stronger than me. He made sure of that." Illyana explained.
" I don't understand... What do you want?" Megan asked the woman.
" The only thing that can kill him... Is a soulsword. And I've lost mine." Illyana told the girl.
Illyana continued to stalk towards Megan, but the others wouldn't allow it.
Alani was the first to try and stop Illyana, only to be blasted away by the woman with relative ease.
" Alani! NO!"
" In order to from a soulsword, one needs a soul." Illyana explained to Megan. " Now tell me... Do you want to save your friends? Would you give your soul to save them?" Illyana asked the girl.
" You want... My soul?"
" Megan, No! Don't listen to her! We'll find another way!" Victor yelled.
" Nic, on my count. One. Two. Three!" Match and Wolf cub lunged at Illyana, but with a snap of her finger they too were quickly dispatched.
" No more saviors, little Pixie." Illyana told Megan. In a flash, Ruth, Nick, Ben, Alani, and Victor were all imprisoned in a large mass of Rock. " You are alone." She told the crying pixie. " I can feel them dying. I can hear their cries"
" Please stop. I don't want any more of my friends to die. I'll do whatever it takes." Having heard enough, Megan finally surrendered herself to Illyana.
Illyana smiled and raised her hands up to Megan's chest.
" Try not to scream." She told the girl.
A torrent of magic began pouring out of Megan and the girl began screaming loudly in pain. And Illyana took great pleasure from it.
" I was six years old. Belasco took my soul from me piece by piece to form bloodstones. He took my innocent soul and twisted it, to use it as a sacrifice to the elder gods. When he had all five pieces of my soul, he would have the power to bring them to earth. You and I, little Pixie... We will use your innocence against Belasco." Illyana explained to Megan.
Meanwhile, Ruth was trying to convince Victor to save Megan.
" Excuse me, she cannot be trusted. It is almost time. You must save her, please." Ruth told victor.
" Megan! Let her go!" Victor yelled.
Illyana ignored Victor and continued sucking the soul out of Megan's body.
" Innocence is power. And power is the Soulsword."
" Please stop... It hurts!" Megan yelled.
And Illyana replied solemnly that she knew.
" Megan! Megan!" Victor yelled. He pushed so hard against his rocky entrapping's.
" The soulsword is your life, Megan. It is your soul forged into a weapon." Illyana explained.
" She lies. She wants the bloodstones. She wants their powers. She is taking it all." Ruth spoke.
" With your soulsword your innocence can destroy. It can cut magic and make spells bleed. It can kill Belasco. With your soul, Pixie... I can kill Belasco." Illyana sneered wickedly as the soulsword began to take shape. However, what she didn't account for, Victor, had broken free of his prison and slowly his arm began to regrow much larger and very much stronger than before. Victor approached Illyana from behind and with all his might, punched Illyana in her back. The force from his strike disrupted Illyana's spell and knocked her to the ground. Pixie, as well, collapsed to the ground her previously beautiful pink hair now turned black with only two long streaks of pink remaining, suggesting how little of her soul remained.
" Please... Just stop." Victor asked the woman as she began to get back up. " Don't do this. Because I'll hurt you if I have to." Victor told the woman.
Illyana got up, absolutely angered by victor striking her.
" You will suffer for-" Illyana raised her hand to attack Victor, but in that moment, Ian appeared, and slammed his elbow into Illyana's side sending her flying into a nearby cliff with extreme force.
" Sinclair! Boy, am I glad to see you." Victor exclaimed.
With a flick of his wrist, energy shattered the prisons the others were trapped in and freed. He then turned around and grabbed Pixie, lifting her up off the ground.
" Pix, you okay?" Ian asked the girl.
"No." Megan cried and crawled up into a ball in Ian's arms.
Ian turned his head back to Illyana, who was pulling herself out of the rock wall, with anger or madness in his eyes.
" Your dead." Ian told the girl.
" Hah! So, my champion has arrived." Illyana barked.
Ian was confused by what she meant. Who was her champion, and why did she seem so happy to see him. These thought picked at his mind, but he didn't care.
" Well? How are you going to kill me?" Illyana asked. " How do you plan to get out of here if you do?" She seemed almost certain that she had things under her control but there was one last thing she didn't account for.
The ground started rumbling, shaking, violently.
" What the hell?" Illyana asked.
The rocks of Limbo slowly pulled together in the shape of a giant, hulking, rock and Lava monster.
" Get the fucking hell away from my friends!!" The rock monster was Santo and he had reformed himself from his old rock into a new being, much more powerful. " You hear me devil chick?! I don't care how hot you are. I'm gonna rip off those horns of yours and use them as toothpicks!" Santo told the girl.
Illyana replied, by blasting Santo in his face, but it did little to no damage at all.
While Santo handled Illyana, Ian continued to look after Megan.
" Megan, you're gonna be okay, now. We're gonna get you out of here." Ian told the girl. " Wait a minute... What's this?" Ian asked. He opened Megan's hand and small dagger with a golden hilt and a blue blade appeared in her hand.
" My soul." Megan replied.
GRRRRRRMMMM
" Your stupid little light show isn't doing squat, Dazzler." Santo told Illyana as he slammed her into another wall. He took a small jab at her by equating her magic to nothing more than a light show, like Dazzler. " I saw you hurt them... Hurt her. All I could do was watch. But now... Now you're dead." Santo told Illyana.
" Santo! Wait!' Victor yelled to the boy.
" Borkowski? Dude... What happened to your arm? That's gross." Santo asked Victor
" It.... I don't know, it grew back like this and shut up! We need her to take us to find the others!" Victor told Santo.
" He's right, Santo." Ian spoke up.
" Heh! The rock persons new form may be resistant to magic. But I will still kill- uhhhH!" Illyana was trying to threaten them again, only for Santo to squeeze her torso and crack a few of her bones.
" You'll shut the hell up goat-legs and take us wherever we say!" Santo told the girl.
" I... I can't. He sealed his castle from me... My powers. My magic... I can't." Illyana explained. She then began going into a haze, speaking nonsense out of fear. Her attitude doing a complete 180. " Who are you? Where's Kitty? Where are Dani and Sam? Please... Where's my brother?" Illyana asked the group in fear. Like a little girl who was afraid of the dark.
This confused everyone present.
" .... Come again?" Pixie asked the girl.
" Wait a minute... Illyana? Your colossus' sister. What the hell is going on? Why are you here?" Ian asked the girl.
" I... I remember. I remember my life with Piotr, then coming to the school. Belasco, the X-men, the New Mutants... I remember dark times... The inferno. Then nothing. When Belasco took back Limbo, he used his magics to summon me... Pulling to him every bit of my essence, every memory that he could find. I appeared before him... But my soul was missing. Instead of Illyana he got Darkchild." Illyana explained.
" That's messed up." Santo stated. " If you went to church, would you catch on fire?" The boy asked.
" Santo, not the time." Ian told the boy. " So, let me get this straight. Belasco, wanted you... But not you. Why wouldn't he want this version of you?" Ian asked. It would seem that this more vicious version of Illyana would be exactly what the demon lord would want.
" He wants my soul... Not me. He wants to have everything that I was. And I'm going to kill him before he gets it." Illyan proclaimed.
" Okay, Illyana. We've heard your story. And while I don't trust you a bit, we do need your help. We have to get to Belasco's castle to help our friends. You get us there and I promise you Belasco will die." Ian told the girl.
" As much as I would love to take your offer, I told you already that I can't... But the girl. Pixie can." Illyana stated.
" Speak plain!" Ian demanded.
" The creation of the bloodstone has made a hole in her soul, which has filled with black magic. And she has a soulsword now... of sorts." Illyana explained.
" A hole in my soul..." OHMIGOD! I'm evil now! You turned me evil! You BI--"
" Whoa! Megan!" Ian exclaimed.
Ian stopped Megan mid-sentence, preventing her from cursing Illyana. Megan gasped and quickly covered her mouth and face to hide her embarrassment.
" Now, Illyana... How can pixie get us there?" Ian asked.
" I can teach her a spell... A teleportation spell." Illyana replied.
Ian looked at Megan and then back to Illyana, thinking it over he realized they didn't have much of a choice. But still, he didn't trust the woman in front of him. Not by a mile.
" This decision is up to you. Can you do it, Megan?" Ian asked the girl. At the end of the day, Ian knew it had to be her choice.
Megan thought it over for a moment, even looking down at her soul in her hand.
" Yes." Megan replied. " Let's do this." Megan knew that this would be the only way to save her friends. So, she accepted Illyana's offer.
" Alright, then I trust you, Megan." Ian spoke.
" Perfect." Illyana replied.
" Just one last thing." Ian spoke. He leaned close to Illyana and glared at her. " I don't trust you, Illyana. You do anything to Megan ever again, and I'll ensure you never get your soul back." Ian told the girl.
Illyana was not pleased by the threat, but at the moment she had no choice but to accept it and roll along with the punches.
While this group had seemingly been saved and relieved of their torment, the others who were brought here, were not given the same reward.