aterat | I'm only a nightmare

Who; Illyana + Anyone!
What; Nightmares and magik
Where; Red Building and near the edge of the forest
When; Early October at night
Warnings; None so far!

Nightmares. It seemed like it had been an eternity since she had experienced nightmares like this. Memories bubbled to the surface of her childhood in Limbo. Every waking moment there had been a nightmare and night never held any reprieve. The older she got though the more accustomed she had become to living a nightmare. Perhaps it was something to do with the loss of bits of her soul. Or perhaps it was simple conditioning. You grow used to horrors when they are all you see. Eventually, nightmares had faded from her life completely.

Until now. Now they returned with brutal vengeance. Reminding her of things she wanted nothing more than to forget. At first she just woke with tears and fear. Both were things she wanted nothing to do with. Others feared her, not the other way around. Not anymore. Yet as the nightmares grew more frequent and more memorable the fear grew within her. Then the bear imagery began to appear.

With that she screamed. Those in the red building may find themselves hearing the young woman's scream occasionally. She's always quick to leave her room and the building itself, teleporting out in an attempt to avoid sleep itself. Her teleportation leads her to the edge of the southern forest.

"It cannot be you again," she said loudly to the forest itself. "But if it is, I will find you." Her tone seems weary but firm. Defiant and filled with bitterness. "You do not scare me." But the nightmares did. That would not be something she would admit readily.

Any who stumble upon the scene will be met with a scene straight out of an occult book. Candles line the way making a path to a fiery circle with a pentagram in it's center. Above is Illyana can be found floating with her eyes closed. Any who have encountered her before will notice the change in her appearance: a prehensile demonic tail can be seen flicking in irritation and large curved red horns now protrude from her forehead. She's muttering something in a strange language that cannot be linked back to most familiar languages, even the most ancient ones.

It is not something she would wish many to see, but something about the imagery in the nightmares has made her more reckless than she might usually be.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Worse?" This had Steve pondering. So far his world had faced quite a few things and there didn't seem to be an end to the threats. World War 2, the aliens in New York, Ultron, it just didn't end. Maybe Thanos wasn't their last threat either. And that bugged him hard.

But his blue eyes looked up at Illyana with a nod. "That's good to know."

"Humans," she said with the slight hint of a smile. "Purifiers and the Right were consistent problems," And in her opinion a consistent problem that had no ultimate solution was far more to deal with. At least a big solitary enemy could be dispatched of with little question.

"Belasco and the Elder Ones were a threat to all lifeforms our planet. There were countless timelines where they had consumed the universe. I hope your universe does not encounter them."

Here Steve was trying to take notes. Purifiers and Right. Ok that he could remember, but then Illyana mentioned something or someone else. "This Belasco and Elder Ones sound serious." How the hell were the Avengers supposed to fight more threats that they didn't know about? Would Fury have intel on these threats? Would he even remember these names if he went back home..?

"Then the timelines have to be interfered with or prevented from happening." Not that he knew much about that at this point in time.

"They were," a strange little smirk tugged at her lips at the memory of both. "They were ancient embodiments of true evil. My very soul was ripped from me by Belasco to ensure their release upon your Earth. But I found a messenger to teach them that even they could fear." It was a personal vendetta for her, one that was more than a decade in the making.

"Timeline interference can be a dangerous thing for those with no knowledge. Sometimes you end up creating a problem worse than what you began with. Do you have a Dr. Strange in your universe? He could tell you of those things."

Hearing about a soul ripped from a body almost had Steve wince. He could only imagine such a thing and of course really didn't want to imagine it. Blue eyes slightly narrowed in confusion as to how a messenger could put fear into such creatures (he couldn't call them people in his mind) but she was here, so that was proof she'd somehow managed it.

Thinking of Vision at her words and Tony and Doctor Banner's interference and Ultron, Rogers shook his head. But his head lifted at the name. "Doctor Strange.." His voice trailed off.

She tilted her head curiously at his reaction to the name. "Do you know him then?" Despite not being a mutant Illyana did have some degree of respect for Strange. A certain degree of respect had to be given from one sorcerer supreme to another after all. Besides, his accomplishments were nothing to ignore. Even for someone like her.

"Seems like it." Details were fuzzy and he hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention. There were a lot of other things that had happened in that time too like getting his lights punched out by Thanos. That was a thing.

"How do you know him?" It seemed like she definitely had advantages of knowing some of the people in his world already which made him curious about this whole time travel business. Could something like that be done at will and not by chance like had happened to him?

"He is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. I am the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. Most magic users know each other." That was the simplest answer she could give. "I have also known some of his enemies. Hell talks." She shrugged. "He understands more than most of your kind."

That pronouncement had him thinking. This guy was a supreme sorcerer? That probably wasn't in any sort of intel that they had access to. And Steve wondered if even Director Fury knew. He wouldn't be surprised to learn such a thing through really because Shield kept tabs on everything, even stuff they didn't want the Avengers to know.

It was like Tony had said 'Fury doesn't tell you everything.'

"You make it sound as if we wouldn't be on the same side. Or that you wouldn't want to be." He wasn't sure about this Avengers divide and the other group Illyana had spoken of.

His head shook the more he thought about it really.

She shrugged somewhat nonchalantly. "Your kind looks out for your kind. The Avengers have rarely stepped in, even when it has been humans attacking us." There was no denying that fact left a sour taste in the mouths of almost every mutant that chose to side with the X-Men. Even when it was human terrorists attacking their schools, the Avengers still kept out of it.

"That does not matter here though. If there was need, I would fight with you." She tilted her head slightly. "And perhaps you are different than the one I know of. You seem to know less."

Steve couldn't deny that humans looked out for each other. The Avengers had been there in New York, they'd been there against Ultron, and they'd been through Thanos. But this whole mutant business threw him for a loop. Why would the Avengers turn their backs? It made no sense to him as he stood and tried to piece the puzzle together.

But Illyana's words cheered him..sort of. They did, until she mentioned he knew less. Yes he did but it still bugged him. However, he wasn't going to argue. An agreement was more important than his pride, unlike an old teammate he could think of.

"I think I should say thank you."

She looked momentarily confused and shook her head. "I don't know why you would say thank you. What have I done to deserve thanks?"

Steve smiled slightly. "If we're going to make it here, we all need to work together. If we don't, someone might show up one day and take us out." Yes he was thinking Thanos here but who knew who else had the capabilities that the Titan had. He had the feeling here that this time period if it could be called as such was just older than him somehow. While it was nice at times, it was creepy.

"So it's nice to hear that no matter what's happened in your other timeline, we'll be able to work together in this one."

"Perhaps you are correct. I am not overly used to working with others." Even with her current team she didn't always work with them. Perhaps she should have considered doing that more often.

"It would be disadvantageous to us both if I allowed our differences to interfere too much."

Steve had to silently laugh and so put his head down to try and hide his smile. He recalled telling Tony that the Avengers were more the Iron Man's than his own. But still, he went back to rescue those that had so loyally and bravely fought at his side. Even as the one that people looked to (as Tony had said he was the Boss) it was hard to work with others at times.

So finally he looked back up at Illyana and nodded. "I appreciate that."

I'm only a nightmare

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject