Work Text:
Chapter I: The Next Chapter of Their Lives
Unsurprisingly, Dr. Reyes had lied about how far the closest town was. Illyana estimated that they had only walked sixteen miles instead of the supposed twenty. Still the walk was long and exhausting. It had recently rained so the unpaved roads were muddy, and Illyana felt her boots sinking into the mud with every step she took. Mud caked everyone’s shoes, and Roberto had somehow gotten dirt onto his clothes–or was that left over from the battle that had taken place only a few hours ago.
The battle where Reyes died.
Where Illyana got thrown so helplessly no matter how hard she tried to fight.
The battle where she saw Roberto almost die.
Still despite the rough conditions and having no idea what the future held, no one muttered one word of complaint. Because no matter what happened next, the five of them were free. Free to do whatever they wanted with the next chapter of their lives. A chapter that may hurt less, or may hold more pain than the five of them had thought possible: but it was their chapter. They could write their own stories now.
As they walked, they were so separate yet so united. Dani and Rahne took the lead, walking in front of everyone else, hand-in-hand. Sam and Roberto were shortly behind the pair, occasionally cracking jokes to try to lighten the mood. Illyana walked behind them, intent to distance herself as much as possible without losing sight of any of the group. However, there was no doubt that the unlikely group were bound together by an unspeakable bond. No one brought it up, but they were all paying extra close attention to their surroundings, waiting for the boogeymen from Essex to come for them. They were counting their footsteps, waiting for something to threaten their newfound freedom.
Illyana was the most paranoid–but paranoia was her natural setting. The other four mutants had to talk her into putting her soul sword back into Limbo. Apparently “nothing screamed mutant more than a teenage girl with a giant blue sword.” She reluctantly agreed, but she could feel her powers itching, ready to be used at a moment's notice.
None of them could understand how she felt, not really. They all had lives before Essex. They all had memories of friends and family, no matter how tainted those memories were now. She had none of that. Her only memories were of captivity, of brutal training and torture, of death and destruction. She had never known freedom; had never gotten to play like other children and make stupid mistakes. In her world mistakes got you killed. Now she could make mistakes and memories. She refused to give that up before she got a real taste of it. So she was willing to take down whoever she needed to in order to make sure that she never lost this again.
It was strange that the moment that she was finally able to be something other than a perfectly molded weapon, all she could think about was fighting. But her body was a finely tuned instrument, trained at a young age to be the best. The others would never understand that.
Illyana could not really understand why she was still walking with them. Now that Reyes’s shields were gone, she could travel wherever she wanted to. She could open a portal to Limbo and come out the other side in Russia. Maybe she could find her family, if there was anyone left to find. Or she could go to the Bahamas; Roberto had mentioned once that it was his favorite vacation destination and that the water was so blue that the sun sparkled against the waves. Illyana had never even seen the ocean, so if she was going to start anywhere, she may as well start with the best destinations.
But no matter how much Illyana let her thoughts roam towards sunny beaches and relaxing swims, she knew she was not going anywhere. She could not put her finger on the reason, but the idea of leaving the other four mutants made her uncomfortable. Like there was a heavy weight in her chest at the thought of not having them with her anymore. So, she walked alongside them because, unfortunately, she was not strong enough to take all of them with her to Limbo.
‘Like they would ever survive without me,’ Illyana thought. ‘Yes, that’s why I’m staying. Not because it would help me, but because they would be dead in less than a day.’
Although Illyana knew she was lying to herself, she was not ready to admit that she was staying because she felt safe with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they finally reached the town, the sun had long since gone down, and all five mutants were exhausted and hungry. In the distance, Illyana saw a convenience store across from a rundown motel. It was not much, but it was better than a cage.
“I’ll be right back,” Illyana told the others. She vanished in a flash of blue light before any of them could protest.
Illyana teleported into the store. She quickly grabbed some protein bars, chips, and bottles of water. Stuffing the stolen goods into her pillow case, the blonde peeked over the aisle and saw that the worker was restocking the shelves. Perfect. She quickly teleported to the register and grabbed all of the cash. She teleported out of the store and to her friends--wait not her friends--before the poor man even knew she was there.
“Didya just rob a store?” Sam questioned in his thick southern accent when the blonde reappeared with a wad of cash in her hands. Illyana was confused by the shocked and horrified faces on the other mutants’ faces.
“Yes…” Illyana started. “We needed cash so we could get a motel room. The sun is going down, and we need somewhere to lay low and get some rest.”
“Stealing is wrong, Illyana,” Rahne said exasperated. “We’re not criminals.”
Illyana scoffed at that statement. “All five of us have killed people and are probably wanted by the government, but you draw the line at stealing ? Besides, how else are we supposed to get any money or supplies? Do any of you judgemental morons in front of me see anyone handing out free cash?” No one had an argument for that point; they all seemed resigned to the fact that they would have to break their moral codes to survive.
“Good,” Illyana continued, “now that that’s settled, let's go to the motel before someone spots us out here in the open.”
Begrudgingly, Roberto, Sam, Rahne, and Dani followed Illyana into the motel lobby where Sam requested one room with two queen beds. None of them had even had to discuss the rooming situation; they were all in agreement that no one wanted to be alone tonight.
The walls were brown with peeling paint. The carpet floor was dirty and had some disturbing stains. Illyana was also quite positive that the bedding had not been changed in weeks. Yet, the blonde had never felt so relaxed as she did sitting in between Roberto and Sam on the edge of one of the beds. Dani and Rahne sat across from them, and Dani kept her hand firmly in Rahne’s as if she were scared to let go.
“So where do we go from here?” Dani finally asked after over ten minutes of sitting in silence.
Roberto sighed and put his head in his hands. “Well we know we can’t stay here,” he replied. “Essex may already be looking, and this will be the first place they look.”
Dani nodded. “We will have to leave in the morning and continue traveling until we get somewhere safe.”
“But where?” Illyana snapped. “Where can we go where they can’t find us? We do not have anyone we can trust to keep us hidden. Or do you know anyone looking to take care of a bunch of teenage mutants with little control over their abilities?”
It was silent for a moment. “What about the X-Men?” Sam asked quietly, as if he were afraid that his idea was stupid.
“What about them?” The blonde asked coldly.
“They help people like us. They could keep us safe from Essex.” Sam looked like he wanted to say more, but kept his mouth shut upon seeing the cold look on Illyana’s face.
“He’s right,” Rahne said. “They may be our only hope.”
Illyana did not like the idea. She did not want to be around any more people, let alone superhero mutants that always made the right decisions. She had not made the right decision in years; she acted out of fear and a need for survival. She knew that none of them would ever understand why she had to kill all of those people. Unlike Dani, Sam, and Roberto, she had not killed them by accident. It wasn’t even truly self-defense like it was in Rahne’s case. No, Illyana had acted out of a desire for revenge and a desire to be free. None of them would ever understand that.
Yet she knew they were right. They were just kids. They couldn’t take down an organization like Essex Corp alone. If they were going to survive, they would need help. And there was no help quite as powerful as the X-Men. The blonde realized that her friends were staring at her, waiting for her reaction. She simply nodded at them, letting them know that she was not opposed.
“So, now that that’s settled,” Roberto began, “does anyone actually know how to contact the X-Men?”
They once again fell into silence. None of them had any idea, but it was late and they were exhausted from fighting a demon bear and walking sixteen miles. They agreed that they would leave in the morning and figure out the details of their plan once they slept. With that plan in mind, the five mutants turned out the lights and went to their assigned beds.
Surprisingly, Illyana had offered to take the small couch in the motel room. She wanted to have some space when she slept. She didn’t want to alarm them when she had her nightmares. Not that they cared about her well-being, but she did not want them to feel like she couldn’t handle herself. They needed to trust that she could be strong enough to help defend them from Essex. Out of the five of them, she had the most control over her abilities and the most experience fighting. Showing any signs of weakness would just make them realize just how outmatched they really were against Essex. So she laid down on the uncomfortable faux leather couch and cuddled with Lockheed as she slowly drifted off to sleep–but in her dreams, her monsters were still there.