Disclaimer- Wow, these things get old quick. All of the characters of Excalibur and the like are Marvel’s characters and not mine, but this story is copyrighted to me. This is just for fun, so don’t sue! MY BLUE EYED GIRL Part 2: In Limbo in limbo "Belasco?!" Amanda shouted. "I know who you are!" Amanda was scared, but after the ride that she was just put through, she wasn’t ready to stand and take abuse from anyone. "Rambunctious, are we?" Belasco laughed. "Well, I don’t believe I’ve had the proper chance to meet you, Amanda. I know who you are, and you know who I am, but it’s just so much nicer to do this things politely, don’t you agree?" "I’m not about to take any of your crap, Belasco," Amanda threatened. "What have you done with my friends, and what have you done with my mother?" She wasn’t really sure what she was up against, but she’d rather fall fighting than die cowering. "Nothing, Amanda. You wound me with your accusations," Belasco grinned devilishly. "I have done nothing but start a game. A game, my dear one, one which I shall indubitably win." Eyes narrowing, Amanda stood up and walked in front of Belasco. "What have you done with them?!" "The same I shall do with you, Amanda. Finish you off." With this, Belasco sat back in his throne, grinning at his control over the X-Woman. Amanda, not about ready to be threatened, only got angrier. "You will all be gone when I am done with you." A blast of magical energy hit Belasco straight in his face. Shocked and angry beyond belief, Belasco bellowed. "What?! You dare attack me?!" Amanda looked him right in the eyes and grinned. "Yeah, you better believe I do," Amanda grinned. *** "I can’t believe it, Illyana, that’s an amazing story!" Kitty exclaimed. "So Belasco went all the way to your world and kidnapped you, and then brought you here?" "Yes, Kitty, that is what happened. I have been his slave for a long time now, and he, in return, has taught me magic. I have learned magic and control over my powers, and other things. But, I…I just can’t beat him on my own…..I’m so afraid of him……he’s been my master for so long……." Illyana trailed. Kitty walked over to her and put her hand on her shoulder. "Illyana, if I know you, and believe me, I do," Kitty reassured, "you’ll pull through this." "Da," Peter agreed. "Katya is correct. You will pull through this, snowflake, and we will help you." Peter seemed to take to Illyana nearly immediately. Kitty and Kurt wondered if he realized that this was not the Illyana he grew up with. "Illyana, what is that in your hand?" Kurt asked, curious. Illyana had been holding something that looked like an amulet the whole time that they had been there. "It’s my amulet," Illyana explained. "It holds part of my magic, just like my choker does, and allows me to channel my energy and cast spells anywhere, even on Earth." Putting her hand to her stomach, she reached into her stomach and the amulet disappeared. "The two objects are bonded to me, and I can ‘store’ them in me, sort of." "Like the soulsword," Kitty whispered. "What did you say?" Illyana asked. "Nothing, I was just talking about something the Illyana we knew had. It was called the soulsword." "What?!" Illyana got up from where she was sitting and paced the room. "Belasco has the soulsword, and he’s planning to use it against you guys!" Kurt and Kitty looked at each other, remembering what happened last time the soulsword became a threat. "Oh, great," Kurt said. "What else does he have planned for us?" Illyana paused. This was taking a lot out of her. She was not used to being so cruel to her Master, but she knew he was bad and had to be stopped. She was just afraid that he would hurt her again. "A woman. A woman called Margali Szardos." Kurt sighed and looked disappointed. "I should have known," Kurt said. "He would use everything against us that he could, wouldn’t he? Well, I suppose he’ll find us not so easy to defeat now." Peter had been quiet for awhile, thinking about something. "Illyana?" Peter asked. "Do you know anything about what happened the last time we teleported to Limbo?" "That’s right!" Kitty exasperated. "We were put in a logic trap and had to figure out what differed from us and various alternate versions of ourselves!" Illyana, looking guilty, answered. "I had to teleport you. Belasco made me. I was worried that you would all die, but you made it out more than okay. It was then that I realized you three would be the perfect people to help me." "Well, Illyana," Kitty began, only to be interrupted by a shocked look on Illyana’s face. "They’re here!" Illyana shouted. "Your friends are here!" "Where? Show us, Illyana!" Kitty demanded. "Please, show us!" "They’re, they’re…." Illyana paused, and then reached into herself and pulled out her amulet. It glowed and the air flickered until a scrying pool appeared behind Kitty. In it, they could all see Pete Wisdom on the ground, getting up and brushing himself off. "Take me to him!" Kitty shouted. "Please, teleport me there!" She wanted to be with Pete. She felt scared and worried in Limbo, and she knew that Pete could protect her. Kurt was worried about her and didn’t want to split the team up like that, but he knew that Kitty felt bad, especially after her accident, and needed some time alone with Pete, especially at times like this. "Okay," Illyana said, looking at the others and seeing their nods of agreement. They all agreed Pete would be the best person for her right now. With a spinning disc of white light, Kitty was teleported to him. *** "Och! Where are we, Douglock?" Rahne inquired. Douglock answered with a series of blips and bleeps, and then he turned to her. "We appear to be at our destination, Rahne. We are in Limbo," Douglock answered her. "But the others appear to be spread out across it. I scan Meggan to be the closest to us, while Pete and Kitty are farther away, and Amanda is even farther. Kurt and Peter are the furthest away." "What? Well, Dougie, we have tae find them! Let’s go find Meggan first!" Rahne insisted. "That sounds good," Douglock agreed. *** Meggan woke up in a pool of gunk. Getting up and brushing herself of, she realized she was alone. She was in a dark, dank cavern, and none of the other members of Excalibur where anywhere around to be found. Meggan’s eyes shifted so she could see better in the dark, and she could see that she was in what seemed like a dungeon. Walking to the door, she knocked it down. So far, so good, and no signs of any sort of living life. Walking down the hall, Meggan approached another room. Walking into it, she realized it was a clearing, leading to another one. She walked into what felt like a forest, even thought the "forest" only had one tree. She could feel great magic emitting from the tree, good magic. Meggan walked to the tree, basking in it’s benevolence. Grinning, she sat at it’s trunk. Sounds of movement were emitted from the other side of the forest, and Meggan got up from her seat and peeked from behind the tree. From what she could see, there were three demons entering the forest. The large one was blue and had a large nose ring. His fangs stuck out of his mouth and he pouted. The middle one was pudgy and red. He had horns which had rings at the end of them, and was carrying a black bag. The smallest one was green and had a long snout like a dragon’s. She didn’t know what they were doing here, but she could tell and sense that they did indeed have some power. Meggan hid behind the tree, wondering what to do. "What’s that, Hendragon?" one of them, the smallest one spoke to the largest of the three. "Nothing, Wyror, nothing at all," Hendragon answered. "Are you ready, boss?" The largest one, Hendragon turned to the normal, middle-sized one. "Yes, Hen, we’re ready. But remember, we are to be careful taking down the tree. Belasco sez ya never know what may happen when we take it down," the middle-sized one lectured. "Boss?" the little one, Wyror, interrupted. "How’d this tree get here, anyhow?" "Well," Boss answered, "a long time ago de X-Men came here, and some of 'em stayed here and became magicians. One of 'em was called Storm, and before she died she made this tree. Belasco sez it’s supposed to still hold great power, but I don’t tink so. I tink he’s just bein stupid." From what Meggan could tell, they were direly wrong. But their story was very interesting. Meggan was never really able to hear all of Illyana’s stories about her time in Limbo, the only ones she heard were the ones Kitty remembered, but it seemed like a sad story. She wasn’t about to let her friend’s tree die, and not by the hands of such grunts as these three demons were. The three demons walked closer to the tree, still unaware of Meggan’s presence, and began to plan. "Hendragon, I want you to pick it up and smash everythin you can. Wyror, burn it all. Meanwhile, I will see if I can do any damage to it with the chemicals I found," Boss ordered. "You may begin." While Boss was giving his orders, Meggan had flown above the tree and now perched at it’s peak. Speaking to the ground, she prepared to attack. Hendragon took a step towards the tree, and was immediately tripped by a root. He fell and brushed himself off, and took another step. This time, instead of just tripping him, Meggan had the ground encompass his entire foot. Hendragon, with a surprised look on his face, fell right to the ground, squirming. "Get up, you idiot!" Boss yelled at him. Meanwhile, Wyror was preparing to burn the tree down. Huffing and puffing, he took a deep breath and began to shoot a blast of fire at the tree. Before the fire could even form, though, Meggan suffocated it with air and put the fire out immediately. Looking confused, Wyror tried again, with the same result. Boss, getting angrier at the two demons incompetence, got up from where he was kneeling with a beaker of a solution of some sort. "Look, if you two can’t handle this, I will!" He took a step to pour the chemical on the tree, but before he could Meggan tripped him with a root, and the chemical instead spilled on the ground. Speaking to the ground and the chemical, she eradicated it using her elemental powers before the chemical could do any damage. Boss got up, turned around, and walked towards his bag. Reaching for it, the bag was sucked into the ground before Boss could do a thing. Meggan began to giggle at the demons’ defeat. She was actually having a little bit of fun protecting the tree. The demons only got angrier, especially Boss, and approached the tree, ready to tear it limb for limb. Nearly close enough to touch it, Meggan concentrated and used all of her powers this time. The whole earth rolled up, forming in front of the demons and creating a slide. They were knocked down yards away from the tree. Getting up, they turned away from the tree. "It’s alive!" Hendragon shouted. "Let’s get out of here!" Boss screamed. "Ahhhh!" Wyror shouted, flames bursting out of his mouth as the demons ran out of the forest. Laughing Meggan flew to the ground, grinning. She enjoyed that. From behind her, a light began to glow from the tree. Turning around, Meggan saw a translucent black woman with white hair. It was a ghost, the ghost of the sorceress Storm. "Thank you for protecting my tree, dear spirit. I know who you are, and I know who your friends are, and I promise you that I will aid you in your travails should you need my help," Storm whispered to Meggan. Bowing, the spirit disappeared and the forest went back to normal. "Meggan! There ye are!" Rahne shouted once she walked into the forest. Running to her, she gave the blond girl a great hug. "We were worried about ye! Are ye okay?" Grinning, Meggan answered her. "I am fine, Rahne." *** Kitty appeared in the hallway behind Pete. "Pete!" she shouted at him. He turned around. For a second, it looked like he didn’t recognize her, and then a flicker of recognition crossed his face. "Katherine! How are you doing?" Something stirred within Kitty. "I am fine, Pete," Kitty frowned. "What are you doing here?" "Well," Pete said, "we are here because Amanda brought us here to find you guys." "It’s nice to see you, Pete," Kitty greeted, walking up to him and giving him a hug. Reaching around her, Pete freed his hand. "It’s nice to see you, too," he said, preparing to shoot her in the back with a hot knife. To Be Continued in Part 3: A Grave Beginning As always, all comments, suggestions, flames, complaints, compliments, babblings, ramblings, and questions are more then welcome at PhaserBob@Aol.com. Author’s Note: The issue refered to in this story when Kurt, Peter, and Kitty were kidnapped by Belasco and put in a logic trap was Excalibur #103. It’s a good comic. Pick it up if you can.