It's a bird! It's a plane! Look it's a big shiny disclaimer making sure no one sues me! I don't own Evo or the other Marvel characters 'borrowed' for this work of fiction.

Shame and Resurrection

One

Awareness was the last thing to return; before that there was only the cold, dark void.  The Void was free of pain, of hunger, of memories she knew she had but didn't want to possess any longer. She knew it was true because the keeper of the Void told her how lucky she was to be there.  The Void was free- pure and simple.  As far as she could determine there had been precious little freedom before the Void; she knew enough to appreciate the womblike atmosphere of the Void.

The only thing she was sure of was that she did not want to be reborn. The world was a dangerous place. Full of suffering, anger, hatred, war-fear.  Fear was a memory she didn't have to try to access; it permeated every crack of the Void keeping her nestled in the center.  Safe from it all.

Then awareness flooded the Void in one crystal moment.  Dim light reflected from a familiar silvery shape bringing back one thing that the Keeper had forgotten about the world-love.  Twin blue pools of love staring straight into the Void they shook away some of the coldness that had seeped into her.  Like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man love poured towards her-it was something she had missed.

Gathering all of her strength she kicked towards it reaching out with all her might just to grasp that shimmering warmth one more time.  She bobbed to the surface and it all came flooding back-who she had been, what she had done, who she had loved.  All the pleasure and pain all at once.  It was exquisite in it's torment.

Turning she faced the man who had thrown the lifeline of his love to her over the empty wastes of the Void, "Piotr? Where am I?"

Warmth encircled her, pulling her tight. Nothing else mattered-existed for that matter-if it wasn't the man holding her close. She didn't notice the darkness gathering its strength back.  Didn't care when she felt it grasp her once more.  She had seen him again. 

Brutally she was pulled back into the Void and silenced.  The Keeper tried to wipe it all away, to take the love she had felt for that brief perfect second. She let it all go without a fight.  Let the Keeper back in control because she knew it was she who allowed it.  If she wanted to she could return to the world again. She had been a fighter before and given the time to build her strength she could be again. But for now she was content to bide her time.  She would fight when she was ready.

All she needed was one reason.  All she needed was his love.

**************************

"How you doing today Chaton?" Kitty jumped as Remy's voice came over the loud speaker and into the cell she occupied.

Turning to the window of the room designed to dampen her insubstantiality Kitty Pryde smiled thinly to her friend-two weeks and the best that Beast and Dr. Reyes could come up with to cure her was to subdue her powers.  While the young woman was thrilled to not fall through the floor, or any other surface or object; being cooped up in a ten by twenty 'cell' with little to no human contact was no picnic.  Wonder how Rogue does it all the time? Kitty mused before returning to reality and her visitor. "I'm okay Rem. Thanks for the books."

"De rien Chaton," his smile was just as brittle as her own-he was hiding something from Kitty.

Moving to the window Kitty placed a hand on it and looked up into his eyes so full of dark fire, "What's wrong Remy? Has anything happened to the others? Is it Warren? Piotr? Illyana?"

He shook his head sadly and Kitty felt her hysteria fade back to acceptable levels, "Rogue then?" she lifted one eyebrow, "She still hasn't forgiven you?"

"Dat fille is de mos' tête dure Remy has ever had de misfortune of meetin'.  Tried appologisin' mais non…she won hear it. Tried beggin' mais non dat don work any better." He scrubbed a hand through his shaggy auburn hair, "De worst is…she won even look at Remy."

Kitty held her breath-was she imagining things or was Remy Lebeau nearly in tears over a woman?  If he hadn't cut such a fine figure of despair she would have been tempted to photograph the moment for prosperity.  That was if Kitty had a camera that she couldn't phase through. Just another thing you can't have right now, she reminded herself for the hundredth time before focusing back on Remy.  Curling her fingers into a fist to control her own emotions Kitty offered Remy a weak smile, "You know how she is Remy.  Rogue loves you, but she has trust issues for her trust issues.  She feels you betrayed her…" Kitty continued before he could interrupt, "Even if you didn't really, it's not like you knew what Malice was going to do with that information or that she would do it in Cypher's body.  Give her time, that's why she's angry; she can't hurt Malice for what she's done without hurting Asli too.  She needs to vent and unfortunately you signed on as her whipping boy."

Remy's sigh was heavy making the intercom unnecessary-people miles away probably heard it. "For de girl who couldn't put two words together without de word 'like' you're pretty smart. Remy will take de advice."

"Don't knock my grasp of the English language-yours is shaky too." Kitty frowned and made shooing motions with her hands, "Now go on…Find Rogue and try again.  Don't take 'no' for an answer.  Be the charming, debonair Swamp Rat who made her love him the first time."

"A bientôt den Chaton." Remy waved as he left the viewing area outside of Kitty's room.

Nodding Kitty watched him go a reassuring smile plastered on her face.  Once the door was shut once more the smile faded and Kitty Pryde burst into tears.  For the thousandth time she cursed Asli Fraser-since she had come into their lives no one had been truly happy-she was ruining the wonderful relationship Rogue had with Remy and even 'dead' had destroyed any hope Kitty had of having Piotr love her.  It's not fair, Kitty dropped onto her bed to sob, why has everything that girl touched turned to dust?

No answer was forth coming from the empty room.  Once more Kitty was left alone to cry herself to sleep.

**************************

Shadows chased each other in and out of the soft puddles of light created by the sporadic placement of street lamps. The pools didn't offer much illumination in the drizzly spring evening-but all spring evenings in London were wont to be drizzly and this one was no different. Pulling her long black coat closer to her body Betsy Braddock wished that she had listened when her assistant Ania told her to catch a cab. No, you don't like listening to common sense; Betsy growled to herself and started walking a little bit faster. It had been a long day of fittings to get ready for fashion week and all Betsy could think of now was getting out of the rain and jumping into a nice hot bath the minute she returned to her apartment.

Rounding a corner Betsy lowered her head in an attempt to keep the worst of the rain out of her eyes; this too was met with abject failure. Slowing her pace Betsy pushed a wet mass of her long purple hair away from her face to allow better visibility, her mother always told her it wasn't right for young women to walk the street alone at night.  The sound of clicking heels behind her told Betsy that another woman had chosen to ignore a mother's well intentioned advice, technically then I'm not alone; she rationalized. 

"Excuse me?" A velvety, polite voice from behind Betsy called out softly.

Turning Betsy smiled at the young woman; she was inches shorter than Betsy herself but wore high heeled boots-Prada, the clothes hound in Betsy identified them.  The rain had caused the young woman's chin length dark hair to revert to its natural curls, framing a delicate and elfin face toped with clear grey eyes. It was an attractive package but too fresh for the American accent that went with it.  Reaching out with her telepathy Betsy determined the girl meant no harm, "Yes?"

"You're Lady Elizabeth Braddock…the model?" the girl bit her lower lip as if embarrassed by her boldness.

Thoroughly charmed Betsy's smile widened-it wasn't often she was recognised without an excess of fan fare-as if being a super model made her more than mortal.  Even with her aching feet and wet clothes Betsy simply wanted to please the girl, "That's right. Can I help you love?"

"Oh yes," the girl reached into her pocket and fumbled about looking for a pen, "Now where did I put that…"

Grasping whatever it was she was searching for the girl broke off mid-sentence and removed a black tube from her pocket.  Betsy watched the cylinder intently as the girl moved it to her right hand and pushed a hidden button.  It expanded to a full two feet in her hand before Betsy's eyes-why was the girl brandishing an asp instead of a pen?

"You can come with me Psylocke." The girl's eyes became black pools of emptiness.

Before Betsy could utter a reply the girl lashed out into a high kick with one of those magnificent boots, giving Betsy a chance to admire it close up as she lifted her hands and caught the girl's foot inches from her face.  "You know love; you forgot to say the magic word."

With a twist of her wrist Betsy sent the girl spinning; admiring how the move really didn't throw her opponent off guard. A well trained thug, Betsy sighed-this was going to harder than she thought. Quickly she took the time to shrug out of her coat before lowering herself into a fighting stance; Betsy didn't take her eyes off of the other woman as she also rid herself of her own impeding wet fabric. "You've got me at a disadvantage love-I don't have the foggiest idea who you are," Betsy smiled as she began to circle her attacker.

"That's not the important part." The other woman circled the opposite direction looking for an opening.

Betsy couldn't resist the temptation to stick her tongue out, "Humour me."

The girl twirled the asp in one hand-it took skills Betsy had to admit as she watched warily.  In a blink the girl lunged forward forcing Betsy to counter the parries with short, hurried blocks.  The motion slowly backed the purple haired woman against the wall; Betsy's eyes went wide when the asp pressed against her windpipe.  How long had it been since someone had bested her in hand to hand combat?  Playfully, the girl rested her head on Betsy's shoulder and the telepath barely restrained the shudder the girl's icy touch caused.

At her throat the pressure of the Asp increased and the girl leaned in close running her tongue up Betsy's cheek, "The name is Malice. It'll be the last thing you scream before I take you."

Bitter fear coiled at the base of Betsy's spine, had she really faced all the obstacles in her past to simply die in a back alley one rainy spring night? Stiffening her resolve Betsy closed her eyes and uttered a silent prayer to all of the Gods and the Goddesses too just in case. The seconds stretched into a minute and Betsy hesitantly opened one eye; she could sense a battle flowing in the other woman's mind but it was too faint for her to pick up on.

The girl's eyes flared open a clear grey once more and she pulled away slowly as if moving underwater; Betsy put a hand to her throat and welcomed the sweet rush of oxygen back into her bloodstream. "Go." The girl's voice was choked but all of the earlier velvet purr was gone-it was a very normal voice, "I can't hold on long.  Run. Xavier. He'll help you. Please."

Betsy watched as the girl lifted her hands to her head and fell to her knees.  Normally, the telepath would have stayed to aid the obviously confused young woman but the fear resting in the pit of her stomach took the girl's words at face value.  Without a look back Betsy began to run as fast as her legs would carry her, she kept going-even when the girl in the alley began to scream.  For the first time in her privileged life Lady Elizabeth Braddock ran as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.  Something about the girl's tormented screams told Betsy that they just might be.

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I'm back kiddies! So who saw that coming? Hummm? Anyone who guessed Betsy gets a gold star.

I down own the song "Spilt Personality" it's all Pink's…which sucks because I had to stop dyeing my hair pink because of her…grr…

Pink –Spilt Personality

i do trust so i can not love
can't no man be trusted
oh no, no, no
and i would not dare to open up
this life of mine is dusted, pink
well my rent's past due and now
my car won't start
i hate the bus
aren't you glad to
have somebody
to talk to?
 
tell me what do they
see when they
look at me?
do they see my
many personalities?
oh, no, no
 
can you help me
does anybody hear me
can they even see me
this is my reality oh oh
 
is it my turn now,
when is it my turn pink?
said i'll say it again,
you're my only friend
you protect me from the world,
i basically
protect you from yourself
though i can't go on
i'm not satisfied
with this being the end
this is just the beginning
 
tell me why can't i
just reach up
and simply touch the sky?
tell me why can't i
spread my arms
and fly and fly and fly??
tell me why can't i say this?
why can't i do that?
tell me what do they
want from me?
tell me how to act
 
chorus (x2)
 
so i'm putting it all on the table
you don't know me
well enough to label
me sick or even disturbed
when you break it down,
i'm just two girls
trying to blend, trying to vibe
trying to live just one life
everybody's got insanitites
i got a split personality

Now the responses.

Ravyn Nyte – Yeah, I don't know why ff.net hates you so. Did you kill it in another life? Run over it's dog? Sleep with it's boy/girl (I'm being PC) friend?  I really hadn't thought of pairing Beast with anyone but he and Cecilia work well together.  Poor Warren…he's going to be beaten in prose as much as Scott. 

Star of Chaos – Teehee! I foiled you this time! *happy dance*  Thanks for the compliment. No Antarctica…just fighting and not talking.  I promise they'll make up. And Tori rocks my world.

Ish – Teehee…see your theory wasn't that wrong.   And yes, 'More Rock less Pope' should be my slogan. I'm sorry abouth the Romy badness...I really am…I'll make it up to you.  But look Kitty and Remy bonded.

Pixie Flyer – Yep I figured you'd like the boots and fetish club stuff.