Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel. They're not mine, no money is being made. The story belongs to me, Magik, the author. You get the idea yet?

by Magik

    I look up at the girl who's hand I hold. She is a mirror image of me, only older and harder. Her blond hair is long, her eyes a cold sky blue. And even though we are very different, we are the same. We both know this. They knew this and they kept it from me, so I would not be scared. Well, I have left them now.

    The girl looks down at me and a small frown passes over her face. A glint of something catches in her eye and she opens her mouth to speak, then closes it again.

    "I always believed in angels," I say.

    "You won't once the journey is finished," she replies.

    "Am I dead?"

    "Yes."

    "Are you?"

    "I never existed," she snaps. There is a cold, sharp edge to her voice and I feel her pain no matter how hard she tries to isolate it.

    "There are pictures of you."

    "Pictures mean nothing, Illyana. There are pictures of Bigfoot too."

    That's the first time I hear her speak my name. Our name. And there is no hint in her voice, no laugh of coincidence that we share that name.

    "What shall I call you?"

    "Magik," the word rolls off her tongue. She is used to this name. She likes it. She has patterned her life around it. It has become her.

    We walk in silence for a long while. I holding her hand while she stars vacantly ahead like there is nothing for her to hold hands with. As we pass over a group of trees a chill blows through me.

    Magik turns to look at me. "What?" she asks.

    "I...it was such a strange feeling. Like I was walking over my own grave or something."

    She laughs and brushes the blond hair out of her eyes. "That's because we were. Come on." Magik tugs my hand and we float down to the ground.

    There. A grave stone. All ruddy brown with speckled of gray. The name engraved on it is Illyana Rasputin. A bunch of purple flowers rests on the grass before it.

    "How long has it been?"

    "A while," she answers and shuffles her feet.

    "But..."

    "Time has no meaning for us, child. We are endless and forever," she informs me as she takes my hand and we float back up into the air.

    "Where are we going?" I ask wiping one tear from my eyes. I see a flash of light as she draws her sword, then it disappears again.

    "To hell."

    "Have I been that bad?"

    "No. We have someone to meet there. A life to avenge."

    Suddenly I don't feel so safe with her. Her teeth are slightly pointed and her eyes glow red. I wan to run but this is me. I can't run from my future. "Whose life?" I question, praying that it is not the life of Katya or Piotr. Wishing for it to be one of her friends who has been killed.

    "Ours," she answers and I look at her. The light of the stars shine off her eyes and I see, if I stare deep enough, I see a tiny glint of hope. And that hope reassures me that I am safe and that whatever Magik has lived through it has been my life. We are one. Now we must free ourselves.