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Lightchylde Remastered
by Brian Newberry

Part Three

Consciousness came back slowly and painfully. Every part of her body ached, as she floated in a hazy fog. In the dark distance she could hear a faint buzz and beep.

Her body was in pain, but during her life she had dealt with much worse. This was nothing compared to the tortures she had endured. But in the void, it didn't matter. It was like the pain was someone else's, not hers.

In her dreams she saw dragons and demons, damsels and devils, magic and horrors. The centerpiece of the dream was a pentagram with three glowing red points. Beside it was a sword. Through the darkness the sword called, driving away the nightmares. It was a bright, shining beacon chasing away everything in its path. She rushed to it, eager to take it up.

She grasped the sword in both hands. Power seemed to flow through her body. She turned to the pentagram and destroyed its evil with the sword.

As the pentagram shattered light flowed around her body. It wasn't just the light, though. The sword was becoming part of her. It was melting into her body, flowing into her hand, bonding itself to her. The light formed a set of armor around her body, bright and new. It made her appear like a fairy tale warrior, a hero off to save the day. Her battered body was suddenly infused with renewed energy. Blonde hair that had been tattered, covered in blood, greasy, and dull became long, flowing and luxurious. Bruises, cuts and scars faded into nothing, the pain a distant memory.

The changes the sword brought about were not only physical ones. Emotional scars from the past were pushed aside. She still remembered them, they were still a part of her, but they no longer had the power over her they once had. The good times became more prominent in her memories. Knowledge filled her mind. Spells long forgotten in favor of darker ones came back unbidden. White magik replaced black.

In the void of her mind the girl examined herself. She was the same, but different. Something important had changed about her. Evil no longer raged in her soul to be let out. Inner demons had been slain. For the first time in her life she was not fighting an internal war with herself.

Tears of happiness flowed down her face.

Tears were running down Peter's face. "My snowflake has come back," was all he could say. He was stunned. Peter could see his sister Illyana through the window into her recovery room. Her body was hooked up to medical machines and IVs. She looked badly beaten, but she was alive.

Kitty gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hank says she's going to be okay," she told him. "She doesn't have anything wrong with her a little time won't heal. Just a few broken bones, deep cuts, bruises, she's dehydrated and slightly malnourished, but that's it." Kitty turned Peter away from the window. "There's no trace of the Legacy Virus in her system. She's not going to die of it again, Peter!" Kitty cried along with the large Russian man. They embraced and shed tears of joy for Illyana. "Hank says she should be up in a few hours and we can see her then."

"I can not believe this!" Peter told her. "My little snowflake has come back to me." While the two had their backs to the window Lockheed had somehow snuck into the room. When Kitty turned back she saw him lying curled up next to Illyana's body.

Kitty exhaled in frustration. "I know he's as excited as we are, but I'd better get that dragon out of there before the big blue furball has a fit."

She stepped up to the wall and walked through it. "Come on, dragon, we're not supposed to be in here," she told Lockheed. Gently, Kitty picked the mini dragon up off the bed. He cooed to her in response. "I know, I know. I wanna stay too, but we're supposed to leave her alone to heal. Now come on."

Lockheed wiggled out of her grasp and jumped back on the bed. "Naaaaaa," he said to her, sticking his tongue out and shaking his head.

Kitty was quickly getting irritated. "All right, dragon. Have it your way. You brought this on yourself. You're gonna make me do this the hard way huh? Well if you don't come with me right now, I'm going to call up Wisdom and see if he wants to come for a visit!" she said. "How do you like that?" Lockheed's eyes got wide and a small bit of smoke came out of his flared nostrils.

"Damn," she mumbled to herself. "That didn't work. Now what?"

Before she could come up with something else, though, things went crazy.

A brightly shining sword appeared out of nowhere in the air a few feet over Illyana's bed.

Peter rushed into the room, yelling for Dr. McCoy the whole time. The Beast quickly arrived to see what the ruckus was all about. "Oh my stars and garters," was all he could say, for at that point Illyana was floating above the bed as well.

All of her medical equipment disconnected itself from her body. Her blankets fell to the ground and her hospital gown melted from her body. "What the hell's going on?" Kitty asked. "Somebody do something!"

Peter changed into his Colossus form and tried to approach his sister. He was stopped a few feet from her though, by an invisible barrier. No matter how hard he hit it, he got no farther. Kitty tried to phase her way into it, but was also kept out. Lockheed looked on calmly from the bed.

"Dr. McCoy, you must help us," Peter yelled at the Beast. "Call the others before something happens to my Snowflake! I will not lose her again!" Peter pounded at the barrier with a fury he'd never known. The walls in the room were shaking, but the barrier still held.

While they were all looking at her, Illyana's hands flew up and took hold of the sword. A brilliant flash filled the room, blinding them all.

When their vision had cleared they saw a beautiful, fully armored, and fully healed Illyana floating above them. In her hand was a sword that looked like her old soul sword, but where that sword had radiated evil, this one was filled the room with a peaceful feeling; where it had demons carved into it, this had vines and scenes from nature. Her armor no longer had the demonic look it had acquired. No spikes protruded from the shoulders to impale enemies on. The new armor was seamless, all one piece. The headpiece appeared to be a set of wings. Illyana's hair flowed out the top and her face was framed by the armor. Metal vines appeared to grow up the armor and when she would move it looked as if a wind was gently blowing through the leaves.

Illyana gently floated to the ground and looked at her stunned friends and family. Every jaw was dropped and each face was amazed.

Finally, Illyana found her voice. "Peter, you really are alive!" She ran to her brother. He opened his arms wide to greet her.

"Da, snowflake!" he said through his tears. "And so are you! So are you!" They held on to each other for dear life and cried.

Kitty stood awkwardly to the side watching them until she couldn't stand it anymore. She got up behind Illyana and joined in, making it a group hug. The three laughed, cried, and talked unintelligibly. After a while, the Beast cleared his throat, making his presence known. "If I may interrupt this joyous gathering, I don't think Ms. Rasputin is quite up to this just yet."

Illyana pulled herself away from her brother and her best friend. "Dr. McCoy, I assure you I am perfectly healthy," she told him, very assuredly. "In fact, I've not been this good in years!"

The Beast glanced over her quickly and noticed that the outward signs of her trauma had disappeared. And she did seem to be very energetic, to say the least. "Still, Ms. Rasputin, I would advise against any strenuous activity until Dr. MacTaggert and I can give you a proper examination."

Kitty was starting to get fed up with Hank. "Beast," she told him, "are you blind? Can't you see she's fine? You can check her out later. Right now she's ours!" Kitty turned to her friend. "Come on, Illyana, we've got a lot of catching up to do."

The group left a flabbergasted Beast to clean up the mess in the med-lab.

Continued in Chapter 4.

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