Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Marvel Comics. They are being used only for entertainment and no money is being made off their use. The story belongs to me, Magik, the author.

by Magik

Part One: Once Upon a Time

The Past:

    The girl glanced at the man who called himself god and then back out the window. She was ten and the world was beginning to look like an awful place. She was no longer a child. Now she was a mutant who was going to be trained to serve the man who called himself god. With a sigh she brushed a lock of stray blond hair out of her blue eyes.

    "Paige Guthrie," the man said and looked at her with cold, black eyes. "Your time had come, little one." He offered her his hand and she took it. There was no fear in her, she had not yet learned the fear the man she would one day call master. No, she was still very much a child. She was still fearless and innocent as she left that room. But when the screams began, that was when her world crashed down.

The Present:

    Paige Guthrie followed the hulking form of her teacher, Piotr Rasputin through the carnage of the plant. She gritted her teeth and tried not to think about the past.

    "Paige, you okay?" Jonothan Starsmore asked as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

    She jumped and whirled on him, tears clinging to her eyes. "Ah'm fine, Jono."

    "Jus' asking, gel," he said, sounding hurt.

    Mentally she chided herself but then pushed the thought of hurt feelings to the back of her mind. She had been taught that life came before feeling. If you wanted to stop and feel the world, you'd be dead before you could blink.

    Just then Jono was pulled into the crowd of people.

    "Jono!" she felt the scream rise from her throat and she knew that her feelings could no longer be pushed back into the pit of her stomach.

    One by one her companions were pulled into the throng of people and when she looked up she saw Piotr and Kitty Pryde floating away with the child, Illyana. Paige bit her lip hard in hate but as her eyes locked with the little girl's, the hate softened. At least she will get a chance, Paige thought then turned to look at the crowd.

    "Ah'm comin', Jono. Ah'm comin'," she whispered and the left herself and the unconscious Vincent, on her back, be pulled into the crowd. The scene reminded her of something she had seen as a child but she couldn't remember anything but bits and pieces. Bits and pieces and the laughter of a man who called himself god and who she had learned to call master. Surfacing memories of a dark time.

    "Paige, gal, welcome ta hell."

Part Two: A Glimpse of Hell

The Present:

    Paige continued fighting even though it had been hours since she started and her friends had long since disappeared in the gang of bodies. She was surrounded but not going to give up without a fight. From outside something caught her attention. The doors were closing! And running to stop them was her teacher Colossus. He reached the iron doors, even had his finger in them, pulling them apart and then...Then he looked inside and he saw a hopeless cause. He saw hell and it scared him. Paige locked eyes with him as he let go of the door and it slid shut.

    A hand reached through the crowd and grabbed her. She stifled a scream in her throat and turned around ready to bash the suckers head in and turned to find..."Master," she whispered as the man looked at her.

    He smiled his cold smile and then snapped his fingers. Before he eyes the whole world just froze in place. "Find your friends, Paige Guthrie," he commanded and she rushed to do so.

    They were all barley alive and spread all over the room. She pulled them over to where her master stood one at a time. First she drug Skin over. He looked pretty bad, almost dead, and all he could do was look at her with dazed eyes. Then she spotted Jono and pulled him over. He smiled at her and tried to speak. Vincent was dead and she howled like a beast when she saw that. With a shaking hand she closed his eyes and turned to her master. "Is there nothin' ya can do?"

    "No. I'm sorry. That one is dead."

    She howled again and then bent down and brushed his lips with hers. "Mondo..." she called out.

    "He's dead."

    "Ah knew that but Ah jus' wanted ta make sure," she replied.

    Her master narrowed his black eyes. "These two can be saved."

    "Tha's good."

    Her master smiled and then snapped his fingers again. The world melted away and Paige almost smiled. Almost. She still saw Vincent's eyes, wide open, his body broken. He hadn't even had a chance. Inside she howled again but outside tears were enough.

The Past:   

    The girl stood on the platform and looked down. She was young and innocent. One of the guards passed her and she bit her lip and nervously shifted her weight.

    "You see, Paige. You see what would become of you if I had not rescued you," the man she called master boasted as he came up behind her.

    The child turned to him power in her eyes. "Tha's not my family," she exclaimed. "I know my family an' tha's not them."

    The man's brow furrowed and he called to one of the guards, "Bring up one of the bodies."

    The next thing Paige knew she was face to face with her brother Josh. His brown hair was covered in blood and there was a whole where his heart should be. The girl did not cry as her master had expected her to. Instead she reached out a hand and touched the boy's face. "Tha' ain't Josh," she insisted. "Tha' ain't him."

    The man smiled a cold smile and then raised the girl's head so she was looking at him. "You are a strong one, Paige Guthrie. Your family has been slaughtered while you watched. Your brother's lifeless body has been brought before your eyes and still you refuse to believe, refuse to cry."

    "Excuse me for sayin' so, Master, but what good would cryin' do. It won't bring anyone back. It won't change the world. There's no point init," she stated brushed her blond hair off her face and then looked back out at the lines of humans.

    "Right, child. You are right. Come inside now, there is much I will teach you." The man lead her inside.

    Inside her head the young Paige was screaming and crying because that had been Josh and it had been her family. She was heartbroken but she wouldn't let him see it because then he would kill her and she couldn't avenge anyone if she was dead.