Ok folks, this is my first try at fanfiction....and the first at fiction in
quite a while, so please, be as critical as ya like, as that's how I'll be
able to learn.  merci!

Disclaimer: All this stuff is Marvel's, I'm not getting paid for it, I'm
doing it just because I don't think Marvel should've gone and killed
Illyana (or regressed her age) and hoping they watch these newsgroups, it
will give them an out to bring her back (please please please).

Archivers: go for it, just tell me where :)

~Denotes telepathic communication~
 italicized Denotes private thought

Second Snowflake

Professor Charles Francis Xavier has seen it all.  Everything from the
far-side of the universe to the sum of all of his own pride, anger and
hurts trying to destroy the world.  Needless to say, this is a man that
you can't surprise often, and it's even harder to amaze him. Professor
Charles Francis Xavier, telepath, father-figure to all those who battle
for his dream is surprised, or more accurately he's amazed. Standing in
front of him are two of his "children," two of his students but what's so
amazing about this, is that he held one of these students in his arms as
she died.  Yet Illyana Rasputin is there standing before him in her New
Mutants uniform no less. Turning to the other student, Katheryne Pryde 
he asks "Ok, again from the top, what happened?" At this prompting Kitty
begins her tale.

--Two Hours Earlier-- 

Kitty Pryde is bored.  She shouldn't be bored, because she has plenty of
homework to do, but she feels more like reminiscing.  So up she goes off
into a dark corner of the attic looking through her belongings until she
comes to a small blue book with a lock on its outside.  As she looks at
this little book she begins to smile, and thinks back to her best friend,
Illyana. Still smiling she slips open the book and a small slip of paper
falls out.  She picks it up and unfolds it and starts to read:

Kitty, 
Just a note to tell you, if anything ever happens and you need to get in
touch with me, I've bound one of my stepping disks in the northwest corner
of the attic.  The only other person who knows is Piotr.  Don't forget how
to use them now. 
TTYL 
Illyana.

Kitty laughs at first, then suddenly stops as the ramifications pop into
her mind-- Ok, Illyana is the ruler of Limbo, the place where time has no
meaning and any numerous versions of you can exist simultaneously.  Now
Rahne freed Illyana from limbo by pulling a younger version of her out
during Inferno, but what if that's not the ONLY Illyana hiding in Limbo?
If I remember right, Kurt fought himself, and an older Storm helped us,
yet we escaped, yet they were still there, so that means, maybe there's
another Illyana hiding in Limbo!  Eager to see if her theory is true, and
even more eager to potentially bring her best friend back from the dead
kitty runs to the stepping disk and finds herself standing in the not-
quite desolate landscape of Limbo.

"Hello! Anyone here?!?"  Weird, last I saw of this place was all desert
like mountains, now it's a paradise.  Off in the distance Kitty sees a
white tower standing, silently beckoning. Turning around and seeing that
the stepping disk she used to come here had already disappeared, Well, I
guess I'm here to stay. With that thought, Kitty heads off to the tower.

Meanwhile, in self-said tower, a young lady is poring over her texts which
ream the room.  C'mon, C'mon, I know the reason is in here somewhere.  So
preoccupied with the texts at first she doesn't notice the slight stir as
the young X-Man enters the tower, but since she is Sorceress Supreme of
this realm, that oversight doesn't last long, and by the time Kitty enters
the upper room, the young girl is dressed up in full armour with a sword,
which glows with its own light in her hand.

<POV Illyana Rasputin> 

Here I am, catching up on my readings, of course not everyone reads tomes
of Necromancy as a study guide, but hey, being the sorcerous supreme of
Limbo, does has it drawbacks, then alluva sudden, I feel something that I
hadn't felt in a very long time, a stepping disk to Earth.  The signature
flare to that other time is quite unmistakable, but it's been what, five,
six years on that side since I was last able to open one, an occasional
viewing scrye but that's it. I'd long since given up hope of making it
back after I bested that uprising during Inferno.  Hey Magick, that's
enough wool-gathering, whoever is coming this way from that portal has the
taint of my magic to them, so I guess that means it's time to armour up.

<POV Third-person omnipotent> 

As Kitty phases into the room, trying her best to be cautious, she notices
a slight movement at the corner of her eyes, and dodges just in time as
the Soulsword comes crashing down beside her. Amazed, Kitty yells at her
best friend,  "Whoa! 'Yana, it's me Kitty!"  At those five words, Illyana
stops her attack and looks at the young mutant standing in front of her
and manages one word "Kitty?"  Tears of joy and surprise well up in her
eyes as she jumps into her friend's arms.  After a long embrace, the two
girls part and Illyana asks the question that's been bugging her for what
seems like forever, "How come ya'll didn't come hunt me in here sooner
than this?"

Kitty at first is taken aback by the question, then realizes just how
right her previous thoughts on the subject were and, with a swallow, she
opens her mouth and says, "Well it's because at the end of Inferno, you
were like, transferred back into a little girl, and you were living a
normal life with your parents, and then you got sick, and about a half
year ago you up and died on us, and it didn't hit me until just tonight
that you might still be alive here in Limbo."

"But anyways what happened to Limbo?  It's peaceful."

"Oh it became like that after I finally destroyed Belasco, about a year
ago when my Soulsword showed back up in Limbo."

As the afternoon carries on, the two young girls chat away with one
another until the time to return to earth has been reached, and with 
a slight gesture and a half smile on her face, Illyana's mutant power 
flares to life, and transports the two girls home.  Right in front of 
a bewildered Professor Xavier.

~The Present~

Professor Charles Xavier is watching his two students, thinking on the
things that had happened this evening.  Professor Charles Xavier, teacher,
father, leader, is a hard man to amaze, but tonight it has been done, and
the good professor is a happier man because of it.

--
Gone Crazy.  Back Later.  Leave Message

kidan@geocities.com
www.geocities.com/Heartland/3241