"Pull!" Illyana called out and Sym pulled the lever on the catapult, launching the rulers of limbo into the air.

Xander flopped like crazy, clawing at the air clumsily as they fell towards the ocean below.

"Lock your wings in place!" Illyana yelled, putting word into action so she was falling at a shallow angle rather than straight down.

Xander quickly copied her and the two floated downwards like leaves on the wind. "This is better."

"We should practice gliding before we start on flying," Xander said after a minute.

"How about landings?" Illyana asked.

"Water, then sand," Xander said, as they came in for a wet landing. "It'll keep us from getting hurt."

"Roar!" A creature that looked like the love child of an alligator and the Loch Ness monster leapt up from the water and swallowed them both whole.

As the ripples from the creature's leap faded away, Sym looked down at the pair of demons crewing a rowboat, ready to fetch their rulers from the waters and sighed. "We're going to need a bigger boat."

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Xander hacked away at the inside of the creature's throat while Illyana kept them from falling any further.

"I blame you for this," she said as the creature thrashed about trying to get rid of them.

Xander sliced through one of the creature's main arteries, showering them with blood. "I prefer to blame congress myself."

The thrashing grew more frenzied and Xander had to drop his soulsword so they could both brace themselves. After an indeterminate amount of time the thrashing grew weaker until it finally stopped and they could relax. Finding themselves standing on the side of the throat, they both summoned their soulswords and chopped their way out, sprawling on the sand as the creature had attempted to crawl out of the ocean and puke them up before it had died.

Sym stood over the two blood soaked figures with a huge axe in his hands. "I was just about to chop my way in and get you guys."

"Thanks, Sym. I appreciate it," Illyana said.

"No problem, Boss. It's all part of the job," Sym replied, examining the huge creature. "Beach party?"

"Beach party," Xander agreed. "And if you know anyone who's skilled at leatherworking, I think we can make everyone some nice jackets."

"That would be nice," Sym agreed, smiling around his stogie. "I'll go crank up the catapult and spread the word."

"Thanks," Xander said, helping Illyana to her feet.

"We're doing it again?" she asked.

"Sure, just one of these isn't going to feed everyone."

Illyana laughed. "You are crazy."

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Two more attempts and three sea monsters later...

"OK, I think the water landing idea was a great idea in theory, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Slamming into stone is looking more and more inviting by the minute," she said as the demons cheered and drug the two latest monsters off to cook.

"Yes, but look at the bright side," Xander said.

"What bright side?" she asked curiously.

"We have enough to feed everyone, and get coats made as well, and we've also gotten good enough at chopping our way out of sea monsters that we can do it solo!"

Illyana shook her head. "That is way beyond the glass is half full."

"I jumped into a portal to hell and came out in a beach party," Xander said. "Plus, I got to see Kitty naked."

The pair grinned at one another.

"I'm sure I'll have plenty of mopey moments, but for the moment... I'm going to go with the flow and try to have fun."

Illyana nodded. If anyone knew about what it was like to have their world turn to shit and be forced to grab at any bright point to avoid giving into despair, it was her.

"Hey, Boss," Sym called out. "How about summoning us some more party supplies?"

"Got a small shiny object?" Xander asked with a grin.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

As the sun set and the party ends...

"I can't believe you're so easy to hypnotize," Illyana said as Xander examined himself to make sure he was completely human again.

"Makes it easy to implant the trigger commands to control my transformation and to gate in party supplies," Xander replied.

"Gate in?" Illyana asked.

"I really doubt I'm magically creating anything," Xander explained, "but I grew up on a mystical portal to a whole bunch of dimensions, so I can feel when I open a gate that pulls in what I want. It's kinda like fishing."

"That would explain where all this stuff comes from," she agreed.

"It really is stuff lost at sea," Xander agreed, "just not a sea anywhere close by."

Illyana yawned. "Well, it's been a long day. Let's go get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll see if we can take off without using the catapult."

"I say we try leaping off cliffs so we get glide practice," he suggested as he followed her up the rough stairway carved into the cliff.

"We need a code name for you," Illyana said, not wanting to discuss his ideas (which seemed to be based on Wile E. Coyote) for flight at the moment.

"How about Goliath?" Xander asked.

"I believe one of the Avengers uses that," she said thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah," Xander said, recalling several size changing Avengers.

"Since mine is Magik and we have a connection, it should be something similar. Like Voodoo or Sorcerer," she suggested.

"I do have some mojo now," Xander agreed in a fake British accent. "I'm sure a name will present itself at some point."

Illyana raised an eyebrow at the accent, but didn't say anything as they entered the throne room.

"How are we going to do this?" Xander asked as they only had the one bed.

"I get the right-hand side, and call dibs on being the big spoon," Illyana said.

"But I wanted to be the big spoon," Xander complained with a grin.

"You as the big spoon would lead to forking," Illyana replied, "and it takes more than a day in the silverware drawer before I'm willing to fork you."

"Well, I do have the mojo, baby," Xander said smugly.

Typing by: Ordieth!