X-23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutting_edgex23) wrote2008-05-23 07:38 pm
cutting_edgex23) wrote2008-05-23 07:38 pm
What happens in Limbo stays in Limbo (And X has no idea she is now 17)
X-23 is not sleeping. She is fighting. It is not the same as fighting the ones who took Cessily--as killing the ones who took Cessily, who hurt her--but it means she is not thinking.
Much.
She does not know what else to do.
And then there is fire, and she is falling, and she does not stop fighting.
The demons--or whatever they are--do not appreciate that. She can feel them, tentacles, coils of flesh, rending claws, slip-sliding around her, and pulling her down.
It burns.
Her hands are leaden weights when they are covered in heavy stone gauntlets. Her feet have not been touched. But a few of the monsters are dead now. Because of her.
She will have to thank Joris when she sees him again.
(Her friends--her teammates--are here with her. And they are afraid. Dying is not in the mission parameters. She has to keep them safe.)
There has to be something--
Oh.
"Hope Abbott. You are an astral projector. Go up to where the light is. The Institute is there."
She needs the girl to listen. They all need the girl to listen. But X does not know how to make her. She can only hope.
This is not something X is very good at.
And then Belasco--the red demon in the fur-lined cloak--kills David. No one does anything.
They could, some of them. Sooraya has her sand-form, she should be able to slide between the cracks in the rock surrounding her. Cessily is also a shapeshifter, even if she is terrified.
But they do nothing.
X does not understand.
snikt
The claws in her feet sever the muscled coils holding her still. A similar motion slices the chain between her hands.
"Trance, go!"
Elixir can still save David. There is time. (There has to be time.) Hope has to get the message through.
X has to keep them all alive.
A judicious application of claws slices the protection off her hands. And then--all claws bared--X cuts Cessily and Sooraya free. They have to fight. She hopes they will try.
And then she goes after Belasco. The sigils on her claws do not gleam in the light. But she knows they are there. Maybe it will be enough.
She deals him a blow to the midsection, then another to the face. But she cannot pin him, she cannot slice through the spinal column.
She can, however, make him angry. (Angry, and maybe afraid. X is not good at parsing emotions.)
An indication one way or another might be the speed at which he fries the flesh from her bones, muscle and tendon evaporating in a sudden flash of heat and light.
"Laura!"
If she were still alive, she would be very confused about why it is that Cessily and Sooraya choose this moment to begin fighting.
*******
" . . . to me, abomination."
She does not scream, but the sound of breath inflating lungs that were not there a moment ago is painful.
Fortunately X learned to ignore pain a long time ago. She does not have time to do anything save blink, once, confused by the transition from death to life.
Then she's dying again, body impaled on the spikes Belasco creates. X has always served as an example. A teaching tool.
This time is no different.
But this time, Belasco has made a mistake.
Laura--X-23--heals. And there is still blood left in her body.
Elixir only speeds matters along.
And by the time first Julian and Nori show up, and then the Darkchild that Belasco has been asking about--
X has a plan. She does not require claws in order to be a weapon.
It is in the blood and bones of her. It always will be.
"--Now I correct my mistake. Die."
Belasco does not have time to use the power he has been gathering--and X does not care about this Ilyana Rasputin.
She launches herself at the demon lord, claws flashing in the light. He staggers back, the breath knocked from his lungs.
"She was not your only mistake."
X learns. It is something people--and demons, apparently--often forget.
She gestures to the Cuckoos, newly freed from their helmets. They were the first to be imprisoned, after all. And they have not moved since.
X--and David--figured there were reasons for that.
"Take him."
They try. But after the first shock of surprise--
The three-in-one are not strong enough.
And in the ensuing chaos, as Ilyana and Belasco face each other, as the X-men appear just slightly too late to save the day--
X does her damndest to protect the people she cares about.
That is all that is important.
That is all that will ever be important.
Death has only served to clarify her purpose.
Her choice.
X-23 is necessary. Laura will never forget that.
And it will be okay.
Much.
She does not know what else to do.
And then there is fire, and she is falling, and she does not stop fighting.
The demons--or whatever they are--do not appreciate that. She can feel them, tentacles, coils of flesh, rending claws, slip-sliding around her, and pulling her down.
It burns.
Her hands are leaden weights when they are covered in heavy stone gauntlets. Her feet have not been touched. But a few of the monsters are dead now. Because of her.
She will have to thank Joris when she sees him again.
(Her friends--her teammates--are here with her. And they are afraid. Dying is not in the mission parameters. She has to keep them safe.)
There has to be something--
Oh.
"Hope Abbott. You are an astral projector. Go up to where the light is. The Institute is there."
She needs the girl to listen. They all need the girl to listen. But X does not know how to make her. She can only hope.
This is not something X is very good at.
And then Belasco--the red demon in the fur-lined cloak--kills David. No one does anything.
They could, some of them. Sooraya has her sand-form, she should be able to slide between the cracks in the rock surrounding her. Cessily is also a shapeshifter, even if she is terrified.
But they do nothing.
X does not understand.
snikt
The claws in her feet sever the muscled coils holding her still. A similar motion slices the chain between her hands.
"Trance, go!"
Elixir can still save David. There is time. (There has to be time.) Hope has to get the message through.
X has to keep them all alive.
A judicious application of claws slices the protection off her hands. And then--all claws bared--X cuts Cessily and Sooraya free. They have to fight. She hopes they will try.
And then she goes after Belasco. The sigils on her claws do not gleam in the light. But she knows they are there. Maybe it will be enough.
She deals him a blow to the midsection, then another to the face. But she cannot pin him, she cannot slice through the spinal column.
She can, however, make him angry. (Angry, and maybe afraid. X is not good at parsing emotions.)
An indication one way or another might be the speed at which he fries the flesh from her bones, muscle and tendon evaporating in a sudden flash of heat and light.
"Laura!"
If she were still alive, she would be very confused about why it is that Cessily and Sooraya choose this moment to begin fighting.
*******
" . . . to me, abomination."
She does not scream, but the sound of breath inflating lungs that were not there a moment ago is painful.
Fortunately X learned to ignore pain a long time ago. She does not have time to do anything save blink, once, confused by the transition from death to life.
Then she's dying again, body impaled on the spikes Belasco creates. X has always served as an example. A teaching tool.
This time is no different.
But this time, Belasco has made a mistake.
Laura--X-23--heals. And there is still blood left in her body.
Elixir only speeds matters along.
And by the time first Julian and Nori show up, and then the Darkchild that Belasco has been asking about--
X has a plan. She does not require claws in order to be a weapon.
It is in the blood and bones of her. It always will be.
"--Now I correct my mistake. Die."
Belasco does not have time to use the power he has been gathering--and X does not care about this Ilyana Rasputin.
She launches herself at the demon lord, claws flashing in the light. He staggers back, the breath knocked from his lungs.
"She was not your only mistake."
X learns. It is something people--and demons, apparently--often forget.
She gestures to the Cuckoos, newly freed from their helmets. They were the first to be imprisoned, after all. And they have not moved since.
X--and David--figured there were reasons for that.
"Take him."
They try. But after the first shock of surprise--
The three-in-one are not strong enough.
And in the ensuing chaos, as Ilyana and Belasco face each other, as the X-men appear just slightly too late to save the day--
X does her damndest to protect the people she cares about.
That is all that is important.
That is all that will ever be important.
Death has only served to clarify her purpose.
Her choice.
X-23 is necessary. Laura will never forget that.
And it will be okay.