Tommy and Illyana | Takedown Aftermath
Oct. 13th, 2018 06:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ax_magik posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ax_mainIllyana takes Tommy to Limbo and fixes him up.
It was with more than a little trepidation that Illyana summoned up a stepping disk to the school - or, more specifically, to Tommy's room there. The team-up of a few days earlier notwithstanding, she had promised Pietro she wouldn't sneak in to the school. Not because she really cared if the Professor got his nose out of joint, but because Pietro cared that he'd called and yelled at Wanda about it.
On the other hand, though? It was Tommy. And if he wanted to get healed up, she wasn't about to say no, or to make Billy 'port him to the base just so she could 'port him to Limbo from there.
She had to admit, she decided as she caught sight of Tommy's face, that healing was definitely in order. "Hey. I'm not gonna ask how you're feeling, because I'm pretty sure I can answer that just looking at you," she offered with a smirk. "Ready to get fixed up?"
Sitting on his bed, Pita curled up in his lap, Tommy made a face at her. The sling was driving him insane, the broken rib was worse, he hadn't slept with anything like calm in two nights, and he was so beyond dealing with any of this. On the other hand- "From your descriptions of what it's gonna feel like, no. But if I have to stay tied up like this for another minute, I'm going to start blowing shit up," he groused. "I can't even put a goddamn shirt on with everything strapped together like this. How the hell do they expect me to keep still for six weeks?"
"Hey, don't look at me - I don't have the patience to stay injured for more than an hour," Illyana pointed out. She came over, scooped Pita out of Tommy's lap before the injured speedster could protest, and happily snuggled her against her chest. "Hey Pita. Long time, no see."
Pita sniffed Yana over carefully, her lip curled upward and mouth slightly open. She got over whatever that was after a second, though, bonking the top of her head against the underside of Illyana's chin and starting a low, rumbly purr. "Traitor," Tommy muttered in the cat's general direction. She'd been good, though, purring and rubbing up against him when he'd gotten back to the room, and being careful with his injuries. Almost like she knew that he'd been hurt. "How're things?" Tommy asked, poking Illyana gently with one toe.
"Eh. So, so." Illyana made a face as she plopped down at the foot of the bed, still petting the cat. "Everyone's still in post-mission moods, so that's fun." She made a face. "Also, Pyro and I broke up. So, sort of..." She shrugged, letting that finish the sentence. "How 'bout you, other than the obvious?"
That one he didn't expect. Tommy ignored her question and zeroed in on the thing she'd said right before it. "Do I need to go punch him?"
Illyana blinked, surprised, then offered a faint smile and shook her head. "Nah. Though if you'd asked Monday I might've said go for it. He was being a total ass. I appreciate the offer, though." She made a face and eyed Tommy curiously. "You've got a girlfriend, right? Do you figure if she's not with you 24/7 she's looking to break up with you?"
He'd all but given up on fighting the terminology, especially since Wynonna had been on the team that had come for him. That meant something bigger than he was willing to think about. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Tommy snorted with derision. "If she spent that much time with me she'd definitely start planning to break it off. And I seriously don't need to be hanging around her girl-talk sessions with Terry. There are things no guy needs to know."
"Okay, so I'm notwrong." Illyana sighed. "I mean, I know getting his powers turned off had to have freaked him out. But that's no reason to get all pissy because I went to talk to Nico while he was in the shower, especially since he wouldn't talk about it anyway. Or because I spend time in Limbo. I mean, he was the one who said, 'You should take over the place.' You don't take over a dimension full of demons and then not spend any time there, right? That'd be really stupid. Unless, y'know, you want them to organize a coup. Besides, I've been remodeling."
"The place needed it. He broke up with you because you talked to someone else while he was taking a shower? I mean. unless it was you turned down an invitation to join him in it," Tommy grinned, then shrugged. "That's just dumb. Billy and the Meathead suck face constantly and even they spent half the summer in different cities."
"Actually, he told me to break up with him and get it overwith," Illyana confessed. "I was so pissed off I just said fine and told him to dump my clothes out in the hall." She tilted her head forward to rub her forehead against Pita. "I don't get it. I mean, I know there's a shitload of things I don't get anyway? But I really don't understand this. And he didn't even say anything about the dragons. I worked hard on those. And all he said was that I did it for myself."
She was jumping from thought to thought almost as fast as he did, but Tommy barely blinked at that. "Any guy who isn't impressed by dragons isn't worth your time," he said firmly. "Dragons are fucking awesome."
"I guess." Illyana paused, then lifted her head and offered a crooked smile. "Anyway. Enough about me. You wanta go get this over with, and then I'll give you the grand tour? You can see the dragons for yourself."
"There's no way to make this not suck, is there?" Tommy grumbled, slowly pulling his legs underneath him and getting to his feet. The bruising had started to turn green around the edges, but that didn't mean anything hurt any less. He was moving like an old man, gingerly, carefully trying to shift so that he didn't set the flares of pain going again. "Elephant tranquilizers? Knock me on the head and put me out of my misery?"
"Well, I can knock you out," Illyana admitted. She got up and came around to wrap an arm around him carefully, supportive rather than friendly. "I didn't figure you'd want to be unconscious in Limbo, but it'd be fine if you do. I'm gonna take you inside the tower anyway; it'll be safe."
It was a sign of exactly how miserable he was that he actually considered it for a second. But memories of what Limbo had been like last time -- not to mention Billy's broken wrist and Kitty's stress -- made him shake his head. "I'm not so good with being unconscious lately," he admitted. "I'll keep my eyes open."
"Fair." Illyana summoned up a stepping disk, and they reappeared a moment later in Limbo, inside the room she'd set aside for magical working. A pentagram took up a large part of the center of the floor, but off to the side of the room was an area with a scrying mirror and a pile of pillows, and she jerked her chin in that direction. "C'mon, you might as well get as comfortable as possible."
His legs weren't broken but it still took a lot longer than Tommy wanted to get his ass over to the pillows and sink down on them. His powers were there, but using them made everything else ache and he got tired way faster than he wanted to. All part of the healing process, apparently. The healing process could go fuck itself. He wanted his body back, and his powers back, and most especially his freedom of movement back. He could survive a couple of minutes of awful in order to get there faster. He'd lived through a lot of shit already, right? What was one more?
"I like what you've done with the place," he joked, looking around the room. It had a lot less 'sense of impending doom' hanging over things, and hopefully a couple fewer evil killer demons, which was always a plus.
"Thanks." Illyana smiled as she sat down on the floor in front of him, close enough to touch him though she didn't, yet. "It's been an uphill battle, but, y'know, worth it." Or mostly. In any case, nothing that involved magic came without a cost. Tommy, at least, understood that, and hadn't bitched when she'd explained just how much this was going to hurt. It just sucked that he was going to have to pay for this after everything he'd been through already.
She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, then froze, holding her breath as a thought occurred to her. Someone had to pay, yeah - there was no way around that. She'd always assumed that it had to be the person being healed, mostly because Belasco'd always made sure she paid, whether she did the healing spell or he did. But was that really how it had to be? She couldn't think of any reason why it would. And considering Tommy'd not only come along to help when she'd needed him, but hadn't bitched about it afterwards...
She owed him.
She exhaled, reopened her eyes, and offered a crooked smile as she reached to thread her fingers through his. "Ready?"
Tommy curled his fingers close around hers and braced for impact. He was used to pain, he could cope with pain (no he couldn't. He was a big damn baby and this was going to be awful, and-)
Nothing happened, at least nothing awful. Was the spell working? Tommy opened his eyes in time to see the grimace cross Illyana's face, so something was obviously happening - but what?
It was working. The pain - how the he'll had he dealt with that for days? was escalating, pouring into her, and Illyana let put a whimper, her eyes screwing shut and her fingers tightening around Tommy's. Collarbone, ribs, face - she wasn't sure what was the worst, only that she hadn't actually, consciously realized that people could do this kind of damage. No wonder...
Whatever epiphany she might have had was lost as the healing reached its apex, and she let out a cry that started out as pain and ended as triumph as the pain suddenly, miraculously stopped leaving Tommy whole and her gasping for breath. She opened her eyes, forced a faint smile, and managed, "Well. That was fun."
He felt the pain drain away from him as Yana started to make these awful hurting noises. Tommy was momentarily distracted by the crawling sensations of his bones knitting themselves back together under his skin, things shifting and pulsing and moving where they really shouldn't have been. The pain he'd been living with for days now drained, seeping under his skin, rolling down his arms in waves, the combination of sensations unnatural and so wrong. His stomach turned, nausea filling the void where the pain had been.
Yana screamed, and-
And it was over. His head... didn't hurt. He could breathe without pieces of his ribs jabbing into him, and if his arm wasn't strapped to his chest, then maybe he could move that too. Warm and somehow fizzy, he wanted to run, jump, test everything to make sure it still worked. A whole lot more mobile than he had been even a couple of seconds ago, he reached out to grab her. "You okay? The hell happened? I thought it was supposed to hurt me."
Illyana shrugged her shoulders, waiting until she'd managed to catch her breath before replying. "Yeah, well. Tried something. It worked. I think. Are you okay?" If he wasn't, after that, they had a definite problem, because she wasn't sure she could do it again just now. Or maybe not for a while.
"Sit here on the pillows for a while, you look like shit," he said, momentarily distracted by how much pain he wasn't feeling by the way all the colour had drained from her skin in those last few moments. "And... yeah? I think? Help me get this stupid sling off."
"Aww, but it's such a good look for you." Illyana leaned in and tilted her head, trying to figure out how the sling was on, then started unfastening velcro until she had the sling where he could pull his arm out. "Wherever things were actually broken will probably ache a little for a day or so, but it shouldn't be too bad." She frowned. "Or maybe I'll ache for a day or so? Not sure which. We'll find out."
Tommy held his breath for a moment, nervous even to try. Curiosity got the better of him real fast, though, and he slowly unbent his elbow for the first time since McCoy had strapped him into the shoulder brace. His fingers all moved, his arm and shoulder felt ... pretty good, honestly. There was a funny lump in the bone where he'd broken it, probably not enough to see but enough that he could feel it under the skin. Still! "It worked," he said, impressed.
Illyana rolled her eyes and grinned - a little shakily, but genuine nonetheless. "You've seen me in a swimsuit, Tommy. Did you see any scars? It's not like I've never done this before. It was one of the first spells I learned."
"When you were in a swimsuit I wasn't looking for scars," Tommy shot back with a grin. A grin that faded some when he thought about how much pain he currently wasn't in. "Does that mean you felt all of it, all at once?" He asked, concerned.
"Mmmm." Illyana took a deep breath and awkwardly got to her feet. "You wanted to see the dragons?" she prompted instead of answering. "There's usually some flying around over the tower; I think they like the fire moat."
And they weren't talking about it, so he shrugged and let it go. He moved his arm again, tentatively, muscles spasming along the length of it. It didn't feel like it had before, though, more like they were just mad that he hadn't moved them in ... what? Close to forty-eight hours. Tommy got to his feet, flinching and waiting for the stab of pain from his rib, but it had been replaced with a dull core-muscle ache that felt more like too many sit-ups. "Yeah, I want to see dragons," he agreed. But before she could turn and go, he reached out and gently grabbed her hand. "Hey, you."
"Yeah?" Illyana's eyebrows rose, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
"Thanks," he said simply. No sarcasm, no jokes, just Tommy, being serious for once. "I know you'd have gone on the rescues anyway, for Pietro if nothing else -- but you didn't have to come back. Or bring me here, or any of this. And I'm glad you did."
Illyana felt her face warm, but she just smiled a little and shrugged. "No big deal. Besides, it's not like I've got a ton of friends who don't freak out when I bring them here. I'm not about to let anything happen to the ones I have." That was her story, anyway. She didn't figure he'd question it.
He squeezed her hand tight, then let go before shit could get weird. "Oh, there's freaking out. I'm just good at keeping my thoughts and feelings hidden behind a carefully curated mask of indifference." He got that out with a smirk, the giddy rush of endorphins hitting him as he started to move, his head almost swimming with how light he felt. Tommy paused for a second and stripped off his shirt -- over his head, like a boss -- and started to unwrap the tight elastic bandage that had been holding his ribcage together. "Hang on. This stuff is itchy as fuck."
Illyana's eyebrows rose and she grinned. "Mmm, free show. I feel like there should be music for this." She held out her hand for his shirt - it had to be easier than holding it and unwinding at the same time - and started humming something that seemed appropriate.
"Eyes down, blondie," Tommy teased her, not really caring. He was a whole lot more interested in checking out the vast purple and blue bruises he'd seen before being wrapped up like a Mach-2 mummy, but the skin revealed when he finished getting rid of the bandages was pale and healthy-looking, barely any sign that he'd been beaten within an inch of his life only a couple of days before. "Not bad work," he commented with real appreciation. "Give me back my shirt?"
"Aww, do I have to?" she teased, but she handed it over without delay. "Though I should take that as an insult, really. Not bad. Hmmph. You look fine to me."
Tommy was distracted by the way his head wasn't hurting anymore. He flung his shirt back over his head and tested his powers. One quick zip around the room, and Yana would barely even notice.
She wouldn't have noticed, most likely, had she not spent as much time with Pietro as she did. As it was, she barely had enough time to recognize the sudden change in the air and what it likely meant before he was back, and she smiled. "If you want to go for a run, go for it. There shouldn't be any trouble so long as you don't go past where the acid lake used to be. I haven't gotten that far yet."
He didn’t bother to ask again to make sure she didn’t mind – it was like being given permission to fly again after having had his wings clipped. Tommy put on speed and zipped around the section of Limbo that Illyana had carved out for herself. He didn’t stay to ogle the dragons for too long – it would be more fun with Illyana there to tell him about how the hell she’d managed that – and he was back to where he’d started from less than a minute later. Maybe. Assuming time worked the same here as it did back home. “Very cool,” he did grin as he skidded to a halt, the crappy running shoes he’d been wearing when they’d teleported in here smoking a little at the heels. “Do I still get the guided version of the tour?”
Illyana was still laughing at Tommy's sudden disappearance when he reappeared, his shoes smoking. "Do you actually want one?" she asked, her own grin tilting. "You don't have to fake it, if you'd rather get out of here. Let's face it; pretty much everyone does. I'm used to it." Even if she'd been working her ass off to make it less threatening, she was well aware that pretty much everyone had places they'd rather be. Some of them were just more vocal about it than others.
"I asked, didn't I?" he pointed out. "I'm not in the habit of blowing smoke up people's butts for stuff I don't want to do."
"I'm not sure why you'd do that anyway, but you're the one who pointed out you were a pro at doing the whole indifference thing." Illyana made a face at him, then grinned. "But sure, you can have the guided tour. I've been dying to give one anyway."
He swept his arm -- the one that had been in the sling and damn it felt so good to move it again, despite the muscle aches -- toward the door. "Lead on. I did the obvious circuit, but probably missed stuff." And yeah, he couldn't deny that parts of what he was seeing in Limbo were bugging him, reminders of that first awful run through the mirror. But it wasn't the reality of it anymore. They'd killed Belasco and Yana was in charge, which meant (he really hoped) that Limbo would like him too. And if not... it was still better than being tied up by the Right. Talk about getting some perspective.
"Okay, first the tower." Illyana led him towards the door, gesturing towards the spiral staircase in the middle. "I didn't really want a throne room, but the demons insisted, so..." she continued on, giving him a tour of the finished portions of the tower as they climbed higher and higher - the new throne room, which bore little resemblance to the old one, the library, her room and a couple of guest rooms, one of which had obviously been occupied by Nico on occasion, until they finally reached the top. "You'll like this," she guessed as they entered, smiling as she gestured into the round room. The walls were lined with windows - not floor to ceiling, because honestly, she hated the feeling she was going to fall out, but starting not far above knee height and extending to a high, domed ceiling. She headed for the windows and grinned out at the view. Where there'd been a forbidding landscape, things were - not parklike. She'd wanted that, badly, but it didn't seem to be within reach. Still, there were trees here and there, and some stretches of grass. Water, that wasn't poisonous or acidic. Beyond that, you could see the rocky area with the volcanic blasts, which she'd left intentionally because she'd liked it, and beyond that, the remaining wilds of Limbo. But they were distant - farther distant even than they'd been the week before.
And there were dragons. Small ones, the length of her arm or a little longer, but perfectly formed, flying around the tower, playing in the updrafts caused by the mingled green and purple flames of the fire moat. Her eyes brightened, seeing them, and she rested her hands on the railing she'd had the demons build a foot or so from the windows and leaned forward. "What do you think?"
"It's a hell of a lot better than the last time I was around here," Tommy replied with an approving nod. "I kind of expected riding-sized dragons, but the little ones are kind of cute."
"Easier to work small," she explained. "Also, I wanted to make sure they weren't going to be too much to handle." She shrugged. "If they were going to go after people, I'd rather they try it when they're still small enough to smack out of the way. Some of them will probably keep growing, though."
"Like fish, right? Grow until they get as big as their tank? That's cool." He thought of something and grinned at her, wild and free. "Any of them, you know, breathe fire?"
Illyana grinned back. "They're dragons, Tommy. Why would I spend all summer making dragons that couldn't breathe fire?"
"That's my girl." Tommy watched them for another second or two -- a lifetime of contemplation, for him. "Flying would be cool," he said wistfully after the silence dragged on too long. "The Beaubiers have it good."
"Mmmmm." Having talked to Jeanne-Marie after the missions, Illyana wasn't sure she was ready to go that far. "I dunno. I prefer my heights with railings," she admitted. "Besides, you've got the whole exploding thing, which is pretty awesome. They can't do that."
"Very true," Tommy nodded along with her assessment. "Still, if Billy can fly without killing himself, how hard can it be?" he joked at his brother's expense.
"Not something I'm in any hurry to try, either way." Illyana grinned. "But I'll tell you what - if any of the dragons get big enough to carry someone? You're welcome to try taking one for a ride."
"Sweet," Tommy proclaimed happily. There were benefits, he decided, to that whole 'sorcery' thing. Even if some of it still gave him the major heebie-jeebies. "So we've seen the dragons -- what other cool stuff have you got hiding out in here?"
Illyana grinned and gestured towards the stairwell. "Wait and see."
It was with more than a little trepidation that Illyana summoned up a stepping disk to the school - or, more specifically, to Tommy's room there. The team-up of a few days earlier notwithstanding, she had promised Pietro she wouldn't sneak in to the school. Not because she really cared if the Professor got his nose out of joint, but because Pietro cared that he'd called and yelled at Wanda about it.
On the other hand, though? It was Tommy. And if he wanted to get healed up, she wasn't about to say no, or to make Billy 'port him to the base just so she could 'port him to Limbo from there.
She had to admit, she decided as she caught sight of Tommy's face, that healing was definitely in order. "Hey. I'm not gonna ask how you're feeling, because I'm pretty sure I can answer that just looking at you," she offered with a smirk. "Ready to get fixed up?"
Sitting on his bed, Pita curled up in his lap, Tommy made a face at her. The sling was driving him insane, the broken rib was worse, he hadn't slept with anything like calm in two nights, and he was so beyond dealing with any of this. On the other hand- "From your descriptions of what it's gonna feel like, no. But if I have to stay tied up like this for another minute, I'm going to start blowing shit up," he groused. "I can't even put a goddamn shirt on with everything strapped together like this. How the hell do they expect me to keep still for six weeks?"
"Hey, don't look at me - I don't have the patience to stay injured for more than an hour," Illyana pointed out. She came over, scooped Pita out of Tommy's lap before the injured speedster could protest, and happily snuggled her against her chest. "Hey Pita. Long time, no see."
Pita sniffed Yana over carefully, her lip curled upward and mouth slightly open. She got over whatever that was after a second, though, bonking the top of her head against the underside of Illyana's chin and starting a low, rumbly purr. "Traitor," Tommy muttered in the cat's general direction. She'd been good, though, purring and rubbing up against him when he'd gotten back to the room, and being careful with his injuries. Almost like she knew that he'd been hurt. "How're things?" Tommy asked, poking Illyana gently with one toe.
"Eh. So, so." Illyana made a face as she plopped down at the foot of the bed, still petting the cat. "Everyone's still in post-mission moods, so that's fun." She made a face. "Also, Pyro and I broke up. So, sort of..." She shrugged, letting that finish the sentence. "How 'bout you, other than the obvious?"
That one he didn't expect. Tommy ignored her question and zeroed in on the thing she'd said right before it. "Do I need to go punch him?"
Illyana blinked, surprised, then offered a faint smile and shook her head. "Nah. Though if you'd asked Monday I might've said go for it. He was being a total ass. I appreciate the offer, though." She made a face and eyed Tommy curiously. "You've got a girlfriend, right? Do you figure if she's not with you 24/7 she's looking to break up with you?"
He'd all but given up on fighting the terminology, especially since Wynonna had been on the team that had come for him. That meant something bigger than he was willing to think about. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Tommy snorted with derision. "If she spent that much time with me she'd definitely start planning to break it off. And I seriously don't need to be hanging around her girl-talk sessions with Terry. There are things no guy needs to know."
"Okay, so I'm notwrong." Illyana sighed. "I mean, I know getting his powers turned off had to have freaked him out. But that's no reason to get all pissy because I went to talk to Nico while he was in the shower, especially since he wouldn't talk about it anyway. Or because I spend time in Limbo. I mean, he was the one who said, 'You should take over the place.' You don't take over a dimension full of demons and then not spend any time there, right? That'd be really stupid. Unless, y'know, you want them to organize a coup. Besides, I've been remodeling."
"The place needed it. He broke up with you because you talked to someone else while he was taking a shower? I mean. unless it was you turned down an invitation to join him in it," Tommy grinned, then shrugged. "That's just dumb. Billy and the Meathead suck face constantly and even they spent half the summer in different cities."
"Actually, he told me to break up with him and get it overwith," Illyana confessed. "I was so pissed off I just said fine and told him to dump my clothes out in the hall." She tilted her head forward to rub her forehead against Pita. "I don't get it. I mean, I know there's a shitload of things I don't get anyway? But I really don't understand this. And he didn't even say anything about the dragons. I worked hard on those. And all he said was that I did it for myself."
She was jumping from thought to thought almost as fast as he did, but Tommy barely blinked at that. "Any guy who isn't impressed by dragons isn't worth your time," he said firmly. "Dragons are fucking awesome."
"I guess." Illyana paused, then lifted her head and offered a crooked smile. "Anyway. Enough about me. You wanta go get this over with, and then I'll give you the grand tour? You can see the dragons for yourself."
"There's no way to make this not suck, is there?" Tommy grumbled, slowly pulling his legs underneath him and getting to his feet. The bruising had started to turn green around the edges, but that didn't mean anything hurt any less. He was moving like an old man, gingerly, carefully trying to shift so that he didn't set the flares of pain going again. "Elephant tranquilizers? Knock me on the head and put me out of my misery?"
"Well, I can knock you out," Illyana admitted. She got up and came around to wrap an arm around him carefully, supportive rather than friendly. "I didn't figure you'd want to be unconscious in Limbo, but it'd be fine if you do. I'm gonna take you inside the tower anyway; it'll be safe."
It was a sign of exactly how miserable he was that he actually considered it for a second. But memories of what Limbo had been like last time -- not to mention Billy's broken wrist and Kitty's stress -- made him shake his head. "I'm not so good with being unconscious lately," he admitted. "I'll keep my eyes open."
"Fair." Illyana summoned up a stepping disk, and they reappeared a moment later in Limbo, inside the room she'd set aside for magical working. A pentagram took up a large part of the center of the floor, but off to the side of the room was an area with a scrying mirror and a pile of pillows, and she jerked her chin in that direction. "C'mon, you might as well get as comfortable as possible."
His legs weren't broken but it still took a lot longer than Tommy wanted to get his ass over to the pillows and sink down on them. His powers were there, but using them made everything else ache and he got tired way faster than he wanted to. All part of the healing process, apparently. The healing process could go fuck itself. He wanted his body back, and his powers back, and most especially his freedom of movement back. He could survive a couple of minutes of awful in order to get there faster. He'd lived through a lot of shit already, right? What was one more?
"I like what you've done with the place," he joked, looking around the room. It had a lot less 'sense of impending doom' hanging over things, and hopefully a couple fewer evil killer demons, which was always a plus.
"Thanks." Illyana smiled as she sat down on the floor in front of him, close enough to touch him though she didn't, yet. "It's been an uphill battle, but, y'know, worth it." Or mostly. In any case, nothing that involved magic came without a cost. Tommy, at least, understood that, and hadn't bitched when she'd explained just how much this was going to hurt. It just sucked that he was going to have to pay for this after everything he'd been through already.
She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, then froze, holding her breath as a thought occurred to her. Someone had to pay, yeah - there was no way around that. She'd always assumed that it had to be the person being healed, mostly because Belasco'd always made sure she paid, whether she did the healing spell or he did. But was that really how it had to be? She couldn't think of any reason why it would. And considering Tommy'd not only come along to help when she'd needed him, but hadn't bitched about it afterwards...
She owed him.
She exhaled, reopened her eyes, and offered a crooked smile as she reached to thread her fingers through his. "Ready?"
Tommy curled his fingers close around hers and braced for impact. He was used to pain, he could cope with pain (no he couldn't. He was a big damn baby and this was going to be awful, and-)
Nothing happened, at least nothing awful. Was the spell working? Tommy opened his eyes in time to see the grimace cross Illyana's face, so something was obviously happening - but what?
It was working. The pain - how the he'll had he dealt with that for days? was escalating, pouring into her, and Illyana let put a whimper, her eyes screwing shut and her fingers tightening around Tommy's. Collarbone, ribs, face - she wasn't sure what was the worst, only that she hadn't actually, consciously realized that people could do this kind of damage. No wonder...
Whatever epiphany she might have had was lost as the healing reached its apex, and she let out a cry that started out as pain and ended as triumph as the pain suddenly, miraculously stopped leaving Tommy whole and her gasping for breath. She opened her eyes, forced a faint smile, and managed, "Well. That was fun."
He felt the pain drain away from him as Yana started to make these awful hurting noises. Tommy was momentarily distracted by the crawling sensations of his bones knitting themselves back together under his skin, things shifting and pulsing and moving where they really shouldn't have been. The pain he'd been living with for days now drained, seeping under his skin, rolling down his arms in waves, the combination of sensations unnatural and so wrong. His stomach turned, nausea filling the void where the pain had been.
Yana screamed, and-
And it was over. His head... didn't hurt. He could breathe without pieces of his ribs jabbing into him, and if his arm wasn't strapped to his chest, then maybe he could move that too. Warm and somehow fizzy, he wanted to run, jump, test everything to make sure it still worked. A whole lot more mobile than he had been even a couple of seconds ago, he reached out to grab her. "You okay? The hell happened? I thought it was supposed to hurt me."
Illyana shrugged her shoulders, waiting until she'd managed to catch her breath before replying. "Yeah, well. Tried something. It worked. I think. Are you okay?" If he wasn't, after that, they had a definite problem, because she wasn't sure she could do it again just now. Or maybe not for a while.
"Sit here on the pillows for a while, you look like shit," he said, momentarily distracted by how much pain he wasn't feeling by the way all the colour had drained from her skin in those last few moments. "And... yeah? I think? Help me get this stupid sling off."
"Aww, but it's such a good look for you." Illyana leaned in and tilted her head, trying to figure out how the sling was on, then started unfastening velcro until she had the sling where he could pull his arm out. "Wherever things were actually broken will probably ache a little for a day or so, but it shouldn't be too bad." She frowned. "Or maybe I'll ache for a day or so? Not sure which. We'll find out."
Tommy held his breath for a moment, nervous even to try. Curiosity got the better of him real fast, though, and he slowly unbent his elbow for the first time since McCoy had strapped him into the shoulder brace. His fingers all moved, his arm and shoulder felt ... pretty good, honestly. There was a funny lump in the bone where he'd broken it, probably not enough to see but enough that he could feel it under the skin. Still! "It worked," he said, impressed.
Illyana rolled her eyes and grinned - a little shakily, but genuine nonetheless. "You've seen me in a swimsuit, Tommy. Did you see any scars? It's not like I've never done this before. It was one of the first spells I learned."
"When you were in a swimsuit I wasn't looking for scars," Tommy shot back with a grin. A grin that faded some when he thought about how much pain he currently wasn't in. "Does that mean you felt all of it, all at once?" He asked, concerned.
"Mmmm." Illyana took a deep breath and awkwardly got to her feet. "You wanted to see the dragons?" she prompted instead of answering. "There's usually some flying around over the tower; I think they like the fire moat."
And they weren't talking about it, so he shrugged and let it go. He moved his arm again, tentatively, muscles spasming along the length of it. It didn't feel like it had before, though, more like they were just mad that he hadn't moved them in ... what? Close to forty-eight hours. Tommy got to his feet, flinching and waiting for the stab of pain from his rib, but it had been replaced with a dull core-muscle ache that felt more like too many sit-ups. "Yeah, I want to see dragons," he agreed. But before she could turn and go, he reached out and gently grabbed her hand. "Hey, you."
"Yeah?" Illyana's eyebrows rose, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
"Thanks," he said simply. No sarcasm, no jokes, just Tommy, being serious for once. "I know you'd have gone on the rescues anyway, for Pietro if nothing else -- but you didn't have to come back. Or bring me here, or any of this. And I'm glad you did."
Illyana felt her face warm, but she just smiled a little and shrugged. "No big deal. Besides, it's not like I've got a ton of friends who don't freak out when I bring them here. I'm not about to let anything happen to the ones I have." That was her story, anyway. She didn't figure he'd question it.
He squeezed her hand tight, then let go before shit could get weird. "Oh, there's freaking out. I'm just good at keeping my thoughts and feelings hidden behind a carefully curated mask of indifference." He got that out with a smirk, the giddy rush of endorphins hitting him as he started to move, his head almost swimming with how light he felt. Tommy paused for a second and stripped off his shirt -- over his head, like a boss -- and started to unwrap the tight elastic bandage that had been holding his ribcage together. "Hang on. This stuff is itchy as fuck."
Illyana's eyebrows rose and she grinned. "Mmm, free show. I feel like there should be music for this." She held out her hand for his shirt - it had to be easier than holding it and unwinding at the same time - and started humming something that seemed appropriate.
"Eyes down, blondie," Tommy teased her, not really caring. He was a whole lot more interested in checking out the vast purple and blue bruises he'd seen before being wrapped up like a Mach-2 mummy, but the skin revealed when he finished getting rid of the bandages was pale and healthy-looking, barely any sign that he'd been beaten within an inch of his life only a couple of days before. "Not bad work," he commented with real appreciation. "Give me back my shirt?"
"Aww, do I have to?" she teased, but she handed it over without delay. "Though I should take that as an insult, really. Not bad. Hmmph. You look fine to me."
Tommy was distracted by the way his head wasn't hurting anymore. He flung his shirt back over his head and tested his powers. One quick zip around the room, and Yana would barely even notice.
She wouldn't have noticed, most likely, had she not spent as much time with Pietro as she did. As it was, she barely had enough time to recognize the sudden change in the air and what it likely meant before he was back, and she smiled. "If you want to go for a run, go for it. There shouldn't be any trouble so long as you don't go past where the acid lake used to be. I haven't gotten that far yet."
He didn’t bother to ask again to make sure she didn’t mind – it was like being given permission to fly again after having had his wings clipped. Tommy put on speed and zipped around the section of Limbo that Illyana had carved out for herself. He didn’t stay to ogle the dragons for too long – it would be more fun with Illyana there to tell him about how the hell she’d managed that – and he was back to where he’d started from less than a minute later. Maybe. Assuming time worked the same here as it did back home. “Very cool,” he did grin as he skidded to a halt, the crappy running shoes he’d been wearing when they’d teleported in here smoking a little at the heels. “Do I still get the guided version of the tour?”
Illyana was still laughing at Tommy's sudden disappearance when he reappeared, his shoes smoking. "Do you actually want one?" she asked, her own grin tilting. "You don't have to fake it, if you'd rather get out of here. Let's face it; pretty much everyone does. I'm used to it." Even if she'd been working her ass off to make it less threatening, she was well aware that pretty much everyone had places they'd rather be. Some of them were just more vocal about it than others.
"I asked, didn't I?" he pointed out. "I'm not in the habit of blowing smoke up people's butts for stuff I don't want to do."
"I'm not sure why you'd do that anyway, but you're the one who pointed out you were a pro at doing the whole indifference thing." Illyana made a face at him, then grinned. "But sure, you can have the guided tour. I've been dying to give one anyway."
He swept his arm -- the one that had been in the sling and damn it felt so good to move it again, despite the muscle aches -- toward the door. "Lead on. I did the obvious circuit, but probably missed stuff." And yeah, he couldn't deny that parts of what he was seeing in Limbo were bugging him, reminders of that first awful run through the mirror. But it wasn't the reality of it anymore. They'd killed Belasco and Yana was in charge, which meant (he really hoped) that Limbo would like him too. And if not... it was still better than being tied up by the Right. Talk about getting some perspective.
"Okay, first the tower." Illyana led him towards the door, gesturing towards the spiral staircase in the middle. "I didn't really want a throne room, but the demons insisted, so..." she continued on, giving him a tour of the finished portions of the tower as they climbed higher and higher - the new throne room, which bore little resemblance to the old one, the library, her room and a couple of guest rooms, one of which had obviously been occupied by Nico on occasion, until they finally reached the top. "You'll like this," she guessed as they entered, smiling as she gestured into the round room. The walls were lined with windows - not floor to ceiling, because honestly, she hated the feeling she was going to fall out, but starting not far above knee height and extending to a high, domed ceiling. She headed for the windows and grinned out at the view. Where there'd been a forbidding landscape, things were - not parklike. She'd wanted that, badly, but it didn't seem to be within reach. Still, there were trees here and there, and some stretches of grass. Water, that wasn't poisonous or acidic. Beyond that, you could see the rocky area with the volcanic blasts, which she'd left intentionally because she'd liked it, and beyond that, the remaining wilds of Limbo. But they were distant - farther distant even than they'd been the week before.
And there were dragons. Small ones, the length of her arm or a little longer, but perfectly formed, flying around the tower, playing in the updrafts caused by the mingled green and purple flames of the fire moat. Her eyes brightened, seeing them, and she rested her hands on the railing she'd had the demons build a foot or so from the windows and leaned forward. "What do you think?"
"It's a hell of a lot better than the last time I was around here," Tommy replied with an approving nod. "I kind of expected riding-sized dragons, but the little ones are kind of cute."
"Easier to work small," she explained. "Also, I wanted to make sure they weren't going to be too much to handle." She shrugged. "If they were going to go after people, I'd rather they try it when they're still small enough to smack out of the way. Some of them will probably keep growing, though."
"Like fish, right? Grow until they get as big as their tank? That's cool." He thought of something and grinned at her, wild and free. "Any of them, you know, breathe fire?"
Illyana grinned back. "They're dragons, Tommy. Why would I spend all summer making dragons that couldn't breathe fire?"
"That's my girl." Tommy watched them for another second or two -- a lifetime of contemplation, for him. "Flying would be cool," he said wistfully after the silence dragged on too long. "The Beaubiers have it good."
"Mmmmm." Having talked to Jeanne-Marie after the missions, Illyana wasn't sure she was ready to go that far. "I dunno. I prefer my heights with railings," she admitted. "Besides, you've got the whole exploding thing, which is pretty awesome. They can't do that."
"Very true," Tommy nodded along with her assessment. "Still, if Billy can fly without killing himself, how hard can it be?" he joked at his brother's expense.
"Not something I'm in any hurry to try, either way." Illyana grinned. "But I'll tell you what - if any of the dragons get big enough to carry someone? You're welcome to try taking one for a ride."
"Sweet," Tommy proclaimed happily. There were benefits, he decided, to that whole 'sorcery' thing. Even if some of it still gave him the major heebie-jeebies. "So we've seen the dragons -- what other cool stuff have you got hiding out in here?"
Illyana grinned and gestured towards the stairwell. "Wait and see."
