Chapter 12

Before Illyana could react to her evil self she was set upon by a gang of demons. It was then, as she tried to fight them off, she realised all her demonic strength and power was gone. She was human.

They chained her up and she was dragged off through the streets until they entered the tallest tower. It turned out to be where Darkchylde had set up home.

Of course. Her ego would demand she live where everyone could see her.

Thrown in a cage and then dragged to a balcony overlooking the city.

"Ah Bayville," Darkchylde breathes in the scent as she stands at the edge, hands resting on the ledge. "You like what I've done with the place? I was thinking of calling this little event 'Inferno'. What do you think?" she asks for Illyana's opinion.

Bayville? Illyana looks down. "You've brought Limbo to Earth," she states what has happened.

"A piece of it, yes," Darkchylde confirms. "And soon, one day, the whole planet will be merged with my domain. That little shield they set up to contain me cannot do so forever," she states confidently...ok arrogantly. Another of Illyana's flaws but that is what Darkchylde is. Illyana's flaws, weaknesses and darkness made manifest. Only in this future quite literally made manifest and separate.

"What do I think?" Illyana queries, surprised her opinion is being sought.

Darkchylde looks at her, expectantly. "Well truth is I've actually missed you. Being able to torment you, feel your guilt and suffering as I indulge myself..." she trails off with a cruel smirk.

Illyana rolls her eyes. "You are me!"

Darkchylde laughs. "Well then it seems you enjoy tormenting yourself then. We'll be having so much fun together from now on. I have a list, a long list of things I've wanted to do to you for all those years you kept me locked up! Christmas has come early this year!" she declares.

"You don't understand."

The tone catches Darkchylde's attention. "Oh really?"

"I'm not who you think I am. I'm from the past. Someone has been yanking me through time and across varying timelines," Illyana confesses to her demonic self. Why? Because the odd thing is Illyana knows how Darkchylde will react and can therefore use this situation to help herself.

"That so?" Darkchylde questions as she swaggers her way over to the cage. She leans in, taking a close look at Illyana. "Whatcha know. You are telling the truth," she can see.

"And I'm fed up of it," Illyana says. This is another reason why she admitted it. She's had quite enough of this.

"Well I can't blame you and also I'm deeply annoyed that someone would dare mess with my past. I really thought I had protected my own timeline by now," Darkchylde remarks, miffed.

"You and me both," Illyana mutters before she sighs.

"So what other timelines have you been to?" Darkchylde wonders.

"One where Clark was a dictator and one where he and I were attacked by the other Hell Lords because they...feared our combined power," Illyana chooses to phrase it as.

"Huh. The dictator one sounds fun," Darkchylde remarks. "A Clark like that..." she licks her lips at the thought of how she could have used a darker Clark. "And yeah, I can see how They would fear us. Once I have merged Earth with Limbo I will have the power by myself to destroy them, take their realms, merge Hell back into one and be the new Satan."

"Aren't we ambitious," Illyana mutters in scathing sarcasm.

"It's a gift," Darkchylde boasts.

Illyana rolls her eyes. And to think this is what lives inside her. If Clark had any sense he would run far away from her. Speaking of Clark. "Where is Clark? In both worlds we were together. Where is he in this one?"

Darkchylde leans against the bars of the cage. "Before we get to that you know even despite being pure evil and all I truly miss all the fun we had with Clark. It was the only times you let me out, him, you, me, all 3 in bed...sorta."

"Where is he?" Illyana repeats, not dignifying that with a direct response.

"Not here."

"Are you going to elaborate or just not say to annoy me?"

"Oh I'll tell you but you probably won't like it."

"I know I won't like it but these timelines I shift between always revolve around me and Clark so spill it."

"Very well. Clark got swapped round with his evil double from a mirror universe. He was the one who separated us, thinking I would help him conquer this world for him."

"You betrayed and killed him didn't you," Illyana assumes.

"He was so uninteresting!" Darkchylde whines like a petulant child. "Sure he was a heartless monster who didn't feel like it was a good day unless he killed someone but people that corrupted are boring! It's the challenge of turning someone good to the darkness that makes it fun. That guy had no imagination. He was just a thug who thought his power could get him what he wanted. Some days it was hard to believe he was actually a version of Clark. Clark Kent still remains the greatest prey we have ever hunted. He, at least, was imaginative. You know I really should go bring Clark back and see if I can do it," she idly mentions.

"Do what?"

"Corrupt him of course."

"You'll fail," Illyana states confidently. "Two months in Limbo didn't succeed in destroying him."

"Yeah but that's because it was only two months. Imagine if I had a decade...or a century. By the Dark Gods just imagine the endless battles we could have," Darkchylde says, practically salivating at the mouth at the prospect. "Gods just the idea of trying to have my wicked way with him is making me so hot," she groans. "I've been so focussed on breaking that shield I forgot all about him," she admits.

"Uh huh. Focus here," Illyana tells her. "I'm trying to figure out the point of why I'm being shown these futures."

"What am I? Your Guardian Angel?"

"Hardly," Illyana scoffs at Darkchylde even saying it. She takes a moment to think. "Were we together, Clark and us, before this mirror Clark arrived?"

"Sure...kinda."

"Kinda?"

"It had stopped being too serious. We couldn't get past our issues of 'hurting' each other. More like Friends with Benefits. After all, for beings like ourselves, it's not always easy to find a mate you don't have to worry too much about breaking."

"And the other Clark learned of our nature," Illyana muses.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Darkchylde asks, thinking that seems an abrupt change of topic.

Illyana is starting to get an idea. "If we hadn't been together in any form this may not have happened."

"It's possible. Less likely certainly but it still could have."

"Ok. I've had enough of this. Show yourself!" Illyana demands. "I know someone is shifting me. I want to see your face!"

Darkchylde rolls her eyes and scoffs. "As if that is going to work," she derides her human self.

Only it actually does. Illyana shifts once more into a mystical space, with floating stairs and floors at odd angles.

"You know I am disappointed you didn't work out who was shifting you," a bodiless voice says.

Illyana's eyes focus on the stairs as a distortion appears...and that distortion takes a shape and that shape is her. Dressed in a black top that exposes her midriff and black pants with a triangular piece of cloth tied around her waist, hanging down the back. "Me. Of course it would be me doing this to myself," Illyana comments as if it should have been obvious. She brings her hand to her forehead and shakes it sadly.

Her other self looks mildly amused.

"How old are we now?" Illyana asks this other her.

The other Illyana looks off into the distance as she tries to recall the information. "Ooh, I don't know exactly. A thousand or so I think."

"And why, a thousand years from my time, are we doing this to ourselves?"

"I needed some time to think it over before I came to a decision."

"A thousand years?!"

"More or less. It was an important decision. Not to be rushed."

"Decide what?"

"To answer the question we were asking ourself at the party. What future did we have with Clark?"

"But you've lived that future already."

"I lived a future. I wanted to explore the other possibilities so I shifted my younger self, you, through them. Your experiences become my experiences."

Illyana frowns. "And what of this future? Did you and Clark stay together?"

"No. I'm the version of our future that never let Clark talk us into trying to carry on. Remember in our room. The talk we had."

Illyana nods. Part of her was seriously doubting carrying on but Clark persuaded her round to giving it another chance.

"I regretted my choice," future Illyana confesses. "We lived, we loved but part of us always wondered if it would have been better with Clark so I set you adrift through the timelines to see the possibilities of what could have happened. It was not as I hoped."

"They all ended badly," Illyana summarises. "Clark practically a tyrant. The Hell Lords attacking and Mephisto stealing our child...and the less said about that last one the better."

"Oh Inferno will happen one way or the other I'm afraid. Not quite like that but it will happen."

"Thanks for the spoilers," Illyana mocks.

"I could have shown you the future you fear the most. The one where Clark and we destroy each other."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was going for the possibilities where that didn't happen."

"But it did happen. I may not have physically delivered a killer blow but in one way or another Clark was destroyed. Becoming a tyrant, losing all that which makes him the man we love. Dying, defending me and our child...and well you yanked me out of it but I can imagine what Darkchylde would have done to him. It may have taken decades but she would eventually break him wouldn't she?"

"No-one, no matter how strong they are, can resist forever," future Illyana confirms. She sighs. "The truth is I've not really found an ending where Clark and we have a happy ever after."

"Does anyone get a 'happy ever after'? That's the stuff of fairy tales...which are the watered down versions of much darker stories to begin with."

"That's true...and it's funny isn't it?"

"What is?"

"However much we hate Black Swan she's responsible for us knowing stuff like that."

Illyana frowns. Black Swan did oversee quite a lot of her education as she grew up. She can't deny that. Doesn't mean, for an instant, she forgives the woman. No. Illyana will destroy her one day. She folds her arms across her chest. "So are you saying you put me through all this, including child birth, just to show me I can't have a future with Clark?"

"Just had to add the child birth part didn't you?"

"Do you know how much that hurt?!"

"I'm you so yes, I do remember."

"You're not answering me," Illyana points out in relation to her and Clark.

"I'm not going to tell you what you to do. Decide for yourself," future Illyana tells her younger self. "The point was to open your eyes to the possibilities and then choose."

"Does that include what I choose to do about Witchfire?" Illyana queries.

"That was only one possibility for her. Like ourselves there is a clash of light and dark within her. Right now, in your time, she's just an ordinary girl, going to school, thinking she might be a mutant as her mystical powers begin to manifest. To kill her for what she might become...even for us that wouldn't be right. By that argument we should destroy ourselves just in case our darkness takes over."

"I've had that debate. Clark is the one who keeps encouraging me to think positively."

"And he always will, regardless of whether we are together or merely friends. Now then. I think it's time to send you back," Future Illyana decides. "I've given you a glimpse of the possibilities but only you can decide what path to take," she tells her younger self.

Trouble is after seeing what she has seen Illyana is starting to think there is only one choice to make.

"Take care of us," Future Illyana says with a wink before she sends her younger self home.

Illyana finds herself blinking away spots from her eyes once again.

"Hey, hey, hey," a voice cracks in and her spotty vision sees trails of golden lightning flash around her.

When her vision clears Illyana realises she's back where she began. At the party, having her confrontation with Live Wire. Bart has stepped in between them, trying to play peacemaker.

"Ok I think that's enough," Bart says to the two girls.

"She started it," Leslie says huffily.

"If an adult was here I'd think they'd say it doesn't matter who started it. It's stopping, now."

"Yes. It is," Illyana says. She needs to get out of here and think. "Bart, can you do me a favour?" she requests of the speedster.

"Yeah, sure," Bart agrees.

"When you see Clark, if you do so before myself, can you tell him I need to talk to him."

"Ok," Bart says in confusion. "But you know you can just shout on him," he points out due to Clark's superhearing.

Illyana shakes her head. "It's not urgent. Just whenever you see him," she says, needing a little time to prepare what she is going to say.

"No problem," Bart agrees.

"Thank you," Illyana says gratefully before she leaves with an elegant grace she naturally carries.

"Bitch," Leslie mutters at Illyana's back.

"Look who's talking," Bart retorts.

"Listen speedy," Leslie starts to say but Bart cuts her off.

"No. You listen," he says sternly. "You can crush on Clark all you like, that's your prerogative but if you think for one second he's gonna betray his relationship you know nothing about him. Clark's a loyal guy and would never knowingly hurt the feelings of someone he cares about and here's some advice; he really doesn't dig chicks who think all this is some sort of game. You want even the remotest chance he'll pay attention to you then you have to be genuine and show there's more to you than this shallow, superficial bitchiness you display like 24/7. Geez I was a con artist and a thief and I was more real than you are," he gripes at her, throwing his hands in the air and walking off, leaving Leslie there just...gawking.

Bart walks off to his girlfriend who grabs him and kisses the life out of him. "Guh?" is his less than articulate response to that.

"That was so hot," Jubilee tells him about what he just did. "If only we were both 17," she idly mentions.

Bart, out of character for him, stammers and splutters. "You...you...mean...like...sex?" he queries in a whisper.

Jubilee smirks. "Glad to see you're thinking of it."

"I'm a teenage boy with a hyper-accelerated metabolism...and you're...well you own a mirror right?"

Jubilee's face lights up. "Aw, you think me beautiful do you?" she coos.

"You know I do...beautiful," he says, using the word as a name of endearment.

That gets him another kiss...and then dragged away to a more secluded spot for some heavier making out. Some days it's good to be the Fastest Man Alive.

"Bart said you wanted to talk."

Illyana's smoky blue eyes take in the figure of her boyfriend who had dutifully come to her room per her request. She was not looking forward to this. "How was your night out?" she asks first.

Clark shrugs. "Distrust, dislike and wariness. SHIELD chasing me. Same old, same old," he tries to play it off lightly but it's clearly starting to wear on him.

"Isn't that what you wanted? To be chased?" Illyana reminds him.

"Doesn't mean I have to like the fact people look at me like an inhuman thing," Clark argues. "But you're right. This is what I brought upon myself. If it protects my friends I can live with it. Don't have a choice do I?"

"We always have choice."

"And I made mine months ago when I stormed into Congress. I can't undo it now even if I wanted to. All I can do is what I said I'd do, what I believe my powers are for; to use them to help people. They don't have to thank me. They don't even have to like me. In all probability they never will," he assesses dimly the future as he currently sees it.

Illyana can't answer that even based on what she saw.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

Illyana swallows. Before she met him it would have been easy. She could say these words and feel nothing. Certainly not the regret and guilt she is experiencing right now. This must be what it is to be human. A demon does not feel these things. "I've been thinking...about us."

"Oh?" Clark queries. He suddenly has a bad feeling about this.

"It's...it's not going to work," she just says it.

Hurt and puzzlement flash across Clark's face. "I know the last few weeks haven't been great but I thought we agreed to work on it," he reminds her.

"I have tried but...it's not working, Clark," she says, trying to dampen down her emotions.

"Is this because I left you at the party?" he wonders, thinking he might have made a mistake. "I was just trying to avoid a scene with Leslie but if I made a misjudgement there I'm sorry," he apologises.

"It's not that, Clark," Illyana assures him. "It's just...not going to work. That's all."

Clark's blue eyes narrow slightly. "You want to try that again. Only with the truth this time," he suggests, clearly not buying this hogwash.

"If we stay together Clark...I'll destroy you," Illyana says with an emotion filled whisper.

"I thought we talked about that," Clark argues.

"I saw Clark!" Illyana suddenly snaps.

"Saw?"

"The future. I saw the future. I don't mean just physically. If-if we stay together everything I love about you will be destroyed."

"You saw what exactly?" Clark presses, trying to get a more detailed answer out of her.

"Enough," she answers vaguely. "I'd rather avoid the details but I saw enough to know what I must do now."

"The future is not set. It changes. Every choice we make alters it. I don't need to tell you this. You probably understand it better than I do," he argues with her.

"And I'm choosing to alter it in a way where you live and remain the man you're suppose to be. For the 1st time in my life I'm being selfless. I'm letting you go."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Clark asks, truly not understanding where this is coming from so suddenly. "What if I don't want to let you go?"

"That part is not your choice to make, Clark. You can't force me to stay with you."

"Oh of course I can't, Yana. You know that's not what I remotely meant!" he says, his voice rising as he gets more agitated. He's taken to pacing around the room now. He runs his hand through the hair. "I don't understand."

"I know you can't because you didn't see what I saw but I can't allow that future...any of it to happen. If I did it would be the one stain on my soul I would truly despise. And you said it yourself Clark, in the last few weeks...things have not really gotten better. Maybe they're not suppose to. Maybe it's a hint. In the end though, what matters, is that I have made my choice. Please respect it," she begs him to.

Clark stops his pacing and faces her. "Do you love me?"

"Clark," she tries to warn him off.

"Do you love me?" he repeats.

"You know I do...and that's why it has to end. Let me save you...from myself. Let me do that."

Clark searches her eyes. "I really can't say anything to change your mind can I?" he starts to realise.

Illyana shakes her head. Nope. Her mind is made up. At all costs those futures will not come to pass and this is the only way she can see to do it with near certainty.

Clark takes a shuddering breath. "Ok," he says in a hoarse whisper. "I'll respect your choice...on one condition."

Illyana looks at him. She really just wants this to end before she can no longer hold her own emotions in. Gods this hurts far more than she ever imagined it could but she has to do this. Has to. "What condition?"

Watching all of this from afar is what seems to be that future version of Illyana. She stands there, upon the roof, looking with eyes for which walls and ceilings mean little, for awhile before reaching round, behind her back, under the cloth and pulls out a large pendant. She flicks it open and inside are 3 blood red stones. "You know the funny thing is how easily you bought you were actually travelling through time when it was all in your head," she speaks to the stones. The stones that are the 3 fragments of Illyana's soul. "Then again it's easy to manipulate someone when you possess the majority of their soul," she reflects...and as she reflects her skin pales to purest white, as does her hair. Her body shifts and changes until not Illyana stands there but the Black Swan.

"Ahh, that's better," she says as she cracks a few of her joints. "You know Illyana it's nothing personal," she says to the pendant. "I actually do like you but my job is to protect Clark's destiny and nothing and no-one shall be allowed to interfere in that task. You are too dangerous and unpredictable. As I said to him the outcome of a fight between you two would be impossible to predict. That's a liability I'm not willing to live with...and well, as long as I hold this pendant in my hand I can ensure you will not be a threat to him. I hold power over you. I can influence your choices. In this case that means pushing you to end your relationship with him. I know this seems harsh but I promise you Illyana I have plans for you as well and while it may take awhile and a whole heap of suffering for you there is a better future for you as well. Trust me," she says with a dopey/insane smile.

Black Swan snaps the pendant shut and next pulls out an old fashioned pocket watch with which she checks the time and clucks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Now then...where to next? Oh yes. Central City. Need to see a man about a particle accelerator," she recalls her next task. She snaps her fingers and space/time cracks apart and Black Swan steps into the chasm and onward on her own journey.

It is not until the New Year before the condition Clark imposed on Illyana became clear. It happened on the 1st training session of the year for the New Mutants when Logan announced they were getting a new teammate.

That was when Illyana walked in, dressed in one of the uniforms. She didn't appreciate Clark's condition but agreed because it got him to accept their relationship was over. Years later she would appreciate him for it. The sessions allowed her natural hunting/fighting skills to develop against new and different foes. It also forced her to make new connections and eventually friendships with her teammates.

Before, she had clung almost exclusively to Clark and, to a lesser extent, her brother. Over the course of time all these extra connections will help her keep connected to, remind her of, her humanity in her long struggle to regain it fully.

A similar argument can be made in regards to Clark. After the trauma of Apocalypse he clung to someone who could see, what he believed to be, his corruption and not be reviled by it...like Clark is. Away from Illyana he is forced to confront it, come to terms with it, accept it and move on to believe he can still be the person he wants to be. Though that itself is a struggle he faces many months of.

In the immediate aftermath of his break-up he flew up his to Fortress to get that Solitude that is in its name. While there an idea struck him. It was Illyana's words about seeing the future. Well she's not the only one who can do that. He has the means to see the future too.

He pulled, from its safe place, the golden ring the Legion gave him and recalled what they said to him.

"If you ever wish to visit us just think 1,000years ahead and the ring will do the rest. We'll be waiting."

Clark slipped the ring over his finger. "You better be waiting Rokk," he muttered as he closed his eyes and thought about moving forward 1,000years.

In a flash of purple light he vanished.

One final consequence for Illyana. When the New Mutants were waiting for the session to begin, the team leader; Havok asked the obvious question. "Is there a codename you go by?"

Illyana tilted her head slightly, blinked a few times and then gave an answer, recalling something she had learned from her trips into the future. "Call me...Magik."

Elsewhere…

Around a table in a darkened room sit the 3 main conspirators who now have total control over the Hellfire Club.

Sebastian Shaw. Adrienne Frost. Selene Gallio.

Of course there were many others who were involved but these 3 run the whole show now and they were meeting to discuss their next steps.

Selene sits, on a throne naturally, regal and poised. "While some...aspects did not go as planned what was important is that the Hellfire Club is ours," she summarises events. Therefore she is not as displeased as she could be.

"So what now, my Goddess?" Adrienne wonders.

"I took control of the Inner Circle for one single purpose. To use its resources to restore my true Godhood...and to destroy that sickening light powered twit the world calls Superman," she says, the hatred seething in her voice.

"How will you achieve that?" Sebastian asks, going along for as long as it serves his purposes...and right now allying with Selene has gotten him near total control of the Hellfire Club. Selene cares little for the day to day details but its through those he can establish his own power base until he is untouchable.

"There is an object we must find that has long been lost. It is known as the M'Kraan Crystal. It was created by an entity that is one of the fundamental forces of creation. It is connected to it. With the Crystal in my possession I will summon and then merge myself with this entity and gain its limitless power. After all how do you destroy a God-like being? With a True God that's how. Jor-El's son will be burned away to ash by the Fire Incarnate," Selene says with a sickening gleam in her dark eyes.

Adrienne and Sebastian share a look but their focus is soon turned back to Selene who rises to her feet and with a swift pull, removes the cover on the table, revealing it to be made of ancient stone, worn by age. Carved into it is the symbol of a great fiery bird.

Selene chants, "Behold the key to ultimate power. Behold the Phoenix!"

The End.

Author's Note: I debated with myself for ages about whether I would break Clark and Illyana up or allow it to continue but, even though I did find them quite cute at times, I couldn't see it lasting. They need to heal from their traumas before either of them are truly ready for a proper long lasting relationship. And who better to interfere in it than the Black Swan. She's a bit of a character ain't she. And seeing a man about a particle accelerator in Central City...now can't imagine who that is? I'll give away a spoiler. A visit to Central City is going to come down the road as we explore Bart's past and answer the question of who is Bart Allen really? If you are expecting a story about Clark and the Legion I'll have to disappoint you. While he will spend some time there I won't be writing it in any detail. Only mentioning that it happened. And yes the end scene is the hint of the beginning of the Dark Phoenix story. What Selene doesn't realise yet is that the Phoenix is already on Earth and merged with someone; namely Jean which is not a surprise when even Jean herself doesn't realise the power she has within her. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. This is it for this short story. We'll continue in the story proper in Year 3.2: Clones, Copies and Collectors. Up first a Spidey centric arc; The Clone Saga.