Belladonna squirmed in her seat. Guild meetings were too long and boring for a child like her. She wished that she could be outside playing in the sunshine. Instead she was stuck in this stuffy old church with a bunch of grown-ups blah-blahing. "Why do we have to be here?" she whispered to Sarah. Her sister just looked at her irritably.

"Shhhh!"

Belle pouted. Just because Sarah was older than her.. She blinked. Wait, that wasn't right. She was the older one. Belle looked around her and saw that she was all alone now, standing on top of a pile of rubble. She looked down by her feet and saw a man's hand with a large ornate gold ring on the index finger. "Papa?" she cried. She fell to her knees and began to dig him out.

"Forget it, chere, he's as dead as you are."

She looked up, startled by the sound of another voice. "Remy?"

Remy stood before her, one arm wrapped around Candra, the other hand holding a charged piece of stone. They both gave her an evil smile.

"Good-bye, Belle," he said as he threw the rock at her.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Belle looked around again. She was in her room at N'astirh's fort. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. The fear left her body, replaced by cold hatred. "Soon, Remy, soon," she whispered.

"Ow! Madre de Dios!" Angelo glared at Jamie. The other man grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, Ange buddy. Trying to be gentle here. We shouldn't have waited so long to fix this up." Jamie was stitching up the shoulder wound that Angelo had received from Marrow. "Only a couple more stitches to go." Jamie pulled the thread tight and stepped back, admiring his handiwork. "There. With the poultice that Darkchylde gave us, it should be as good as new in a few days."

The grey-skinned youth looked down at his shoulder. "Not soon enough for me, vato. I want to get out there and kick some demon butt." He jumped off the makeshift operating table.

"Why are you boys always looking for a fight?" They turned to the sound of the female voice. Copycat stood in the doorway and smiled at them.

"Well, 'Nessa, we figure the sooner we help this chick out, the sooner we can get back home," Jamie replied. She walked over to them and leaned against the wall.

"Why the hurry? Home's not any better than this place. Here we have demons that want to kill us. There we have humans that want to kill us."

Ange and Jamie looked at each other and shrugged.

"Maybe so," Jamie said, "but it's still home."

"I want to go home," Marrow hissed as she threw a bone dagger at a rat. The dagger hit its mark and the rat fell twitching on the floor, surrounded by the bodies of a dozen other small animals. Her fellow assassin, Feral, was lying on the floor beside her, watching her with half-closed eyes.

"Yeah, well we ain't goin' anywhere while your hermana is shackin' up with El Feo," Feral replied as she stretched. Marrow merely frowned as she speared another rat. Feral looked at the rat with some interest. She stood up and padded over to Marrow's latest prey, poking at it with a claw. The rat made a small squeak. Smiling, she picked it up and started chewing on it. Marrow made a face.

"That's my rat."

Feral gave her a bloody grin. "S'not like you were gonna eat it, verdad?"

Marrow sighed. She knew that Maria was looking to start a fight, but she just wasn't in the mood. "Not now, I've got a headache." She ignored the other woman's pout and pulled at a bone protruding from her wrist. "Why don't we just get this attack over and done with? I'm tired of this place. What the hell are they waitin' for?"

Feral licked her claws and shrugged. "Some ritual. I heard them talkin' 'bout it. Belle's gonna be his wife or somethin'."

"Great. Just great." She took aim at something that looked like a giant cockroach with fur. Feral shook her head.

"Not that one, chica, somethin' more edible."

"Screw you."

Feral winked at her. "Promises, promises."

Gambit stood just outside the outer gate of Darkchylde's fortress, his fingers itching for a cigarette to hold. He had a bad feeling about how everything was going to turn out, and he longed for nicotine. He was considering rolling up some of the odd foliage around him and smoking that when he heard footsteps approaching him from behind. "'Lo, Darkchylde."

"How did you know it was me?"

He turned around and smiled at the demon-woman. "A t'ief just knows." She shook her head at him, smiling slightly.

"So, are you enjoying the view out here?"

"Eh, it's different, dat's for sure. Can't say I like it, though. No offence, petite."

"None taken. In fact, I'd have to agree with you. Limbo doesn't even begin to compare to the farm I grew up on. Nothing is as beautiful as nature."

Gambit merely nodded. After a few moments of silence, he turned to her. "I've been wonderin'. Why is it so empty around here? Don' you have followers or servants? How come we're de only ones in dis big ol' house of yours?"

She leaned against the wall. "I don't have any, not now at least. Most of them allied themselves with N'astirh when he first rose against me. Didn't like the idea of a ruler that wasn't a full demon. The ones who stayed loyal to me have either been killed or are in hiding."

"And so we're it?"

She nodded. "Pretty much."

Gambit frowned. "Don' like dat idea much, petite. Bad enough dat you're basically keepin' us here. Now you're tellin' me you don' even have an army for us to fight with? Don' like it at all. Maybe we should go find N'astirh and join his forces instead, non?"

It was Darkchylde's turn to frown. "I wouldn't do that, Remy, not if you ever want to see your world again."

"Now you're threatenin' us?"

She shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. What I meant is, if N'astirh wins, then you won't have a world to return to. At least, not the world that you know."

"What do you mean?"

"A long time ago," she began, "long before any recorded time, demons once ruled your world. I am not exactly sure what happened, but they were eventually driven out, much like they were here. Ever since, they have been trying to return. Even now, there are ones that have managed to breach the separations between the dimensions. N'astirh wants to facilitate their efforts. If he were to gain control of Limbo, he would be able to use her portals to allow them access to anywhere they choose."

Gambit let it sink in. "So, we don' have much of a choice, do we? We don' help you, den everyt'ing we've ever known gets destroyed."

"I'm afraid so."

He sighed wearily. Remy LeBeau was not a man who thrived on confrontations. He could fight with the best of them, but it wasn't something he enjoyed. That was one of the reasons he had turned down the X-Men all those years ago. He had decided that he would fight against Onslaught, but in his own way. And it had worked. But now it seemed that there was no other way. The Guild would have to go to war against an enemy they had never even heard of before. The uneasy feeling inside of him grew larger. This would end badly; he could feel it in his bones.

"Fine. Den let's attack, get it over with."

"I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately I have no idea where he has hidden himself. Either he keeps moving his base, or he's cast a cloaking spell too powerful for me to sense."

"So what? We have to wait for him."

Before she could reply, a movement in the distance caught her eye. "Hold that thought," she said before stepping into one of her discs. A second later she reappeared. "Get inside and tell everybody to get ready. We're being attacked."

Dazzler frowned as she fried another demon. This was too easy. They had already killed off most of the small group that attacked them. Even Angelo, with his injured shoulder and inexperience, had managed a few kills. She paused in her fighting, trying to figure it out. Where were the more powerful creatures they had faced the other day? Why would N'astirh send out such a pathetic excuse for an attack force? A thought came to her and she rose into the air quickly, ignoring the shouts of concern from her friends. She looked around. There, on the other side of the castle. A large stone monolith had appeared out of nowhere. She flew down to examine it. Strange markings covered all four sides of it. She reached out to trace over the patterns with one hand. Before she could react, something struck out from inside the structure. She stumbled backwards, her hands clutching at the large wound across her abdomen. As the figure began to emerge, she gasped and flew into the air, her blood falling to the ground.

Candra smiled at her friends. "If that's the best this N'astirh can do, then we should be home in no time."

Darkchylde looked worried. "That's just it. This wasn't his best. Those demons were barely soldiers. He's holding back. But why?"

"Maybe he's just testing us," Angelo offered.

Gambit shook his head. "Non, we more den proved ourselves already. Petite's right, somet'ing doesn't seem right."

"Omigod! Allison!" Everyone turned to Copycat, who was kneeling next to Dazzler, trying to stop the blood that was flowing from her stomach.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" Darkchylde asked.

Dazzler took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain. She pointed to the corpses. "They were...distraction. A-attack...on other side." She coughed, blood splattering her hand.

"Copycat, you an' Skin take her inside," Gambit ordered. He turned to Darkchylde. "Let's go see what dis t'ing is."

She nodded and opened up a portal. They stepped through and emerged on the other side. As Gambit came through, he was immediately knocked down. He heard Darkchylde cry out as something very large appeared above him. As a clawed hand swung down at him, he felt himself being yanked back through the disc.

"What the hell was dat?!" he demanded.

"In a second. Quickly, everybody get back inside." Darkchylde sealed the gate behind them and led everyone down the main hall.

"Remember the demons I told you about, the ones that once ruled Earth? That was one of them, the N'garai." She shook her head. "Curse it! I can't believe I let N'astirh catch me so unaware. If he's already summoned them, then we have precious little time." They entered her throne room.

"Actually, girl, you have no time left."

A demon stood in the middle of the room. Candra cried out at the sight of the bodies of the other thieves on the floor behind him.

"NO! You monster!" Gambit and Jamie held her back as she tried to attack him.

Darkchylde glared at him. "N'astirh, you will pay for the lives you just took." N'astirh chuckled.

"Wasn't him, chica," a voice hissed right before its owner leapt into the group, her claws flailing.

"Assassins!" Gambit yelled as he got a throwing spike ready. He charged it up and threw it at Feral. She yowled and tried desperately to remove it before it detonated. As she pulled it out, it went off, blowing her apart.

"I'll gut you for that!" Marrow screamed as she charged him. She slashed at him with her hands, her fingers covered with razor-sharp bone. He ducked and rolled, kicking up with his legs to catch her in the chin. Before he could continue with his attack, Marrow leapt away. He stood up warily, waiting for the next attack.

"Gambit! Over here!" Jamie called out. They were waiting by a disc. He ran toward it, as N'astirh shouted, "They're escaping!" He dove through and found himself in a dark room.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"One of the lower basements," Darkchylde replied. She was seated on the floor beside a large circle engraved into the floor, drawing figures into the dirt.

"Mind tellin' us what we're gonna do now, petite? Or are you jus' gon' draw pretty pictures all day?" Gambit asked Darkchylde. She looked up at him, the irritation evident on her face.

"We don't stand a chance against both N'astirh and the N'garai. We need help, and I'm trying to summon it. Now everyone step back." She stood up and spoke in a language none of the thieves could recognise. The circle she had drawn into the ground began to glow green. After a few moments something began to take shape in the middle of it. It began to rise slowly.

Gambit looked at it in shock. "Isn't dat one of the N'garai?" The demon turned its head toward Gambit and growled.

"Not N'garai. Ru'tai." Darkchylde replied. "They were once enslaved by the N'garai." The demon looked at her.

"You speak of the Ru'tai's most hated enemy," it stated. "Why have you summoned Pilgrimm?"

"We need your help."

Pilgrimm spat on the ground. "Why would we help meat? What do you offer?"

"Only a chance to avenge your race. We need help defeating the N'garai."

The demon looked around the room, studying each individual with its red eyes. Finally it spoke again. "The Ru'tai will help destroy the N'garai. After that, we will destroy you."

Darkchylde grimaced. "I will call you forth shortly," she told it. Pilgrimm nodded and disappeared as the green circle closed.

"How come I feel like we just made a deal with the Devil himself?" Jamie asked.

Darkchylde smiled humourlessly. "Probably because you just did."

Belladonna paced restlessly. Feral's remains had been disposed of, but the stench of charred flesh and singed fur was heavy in the air. Marrow was taking her fury out on some of N'astirh's lesser servants, and Revanche was meditating in one of the other rooms. "You don' t'ink dey just gave up and left?" she asked N'astirh.

"Do you?"

She gave a short bark of laughter. "Remy always seemed to like leavin' me behind."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I know Darkchylde well, and she wouldn't give up so easily. They will return, and when they do, we'll destroy them together..."

"My Goblin Queen."