Magical Chaos!: Crossing Over-3 by Lynceus Illyana and Hunter were just going to shop for some clothes, but oh no, there's a demoness trying to take over the mall! And that's just the beginning!

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Illyana

I woke up to find Hunter sitting up in bed, crying. Not too long ago, I was a clueless (and angry) young man. That person wouldn't have known what to do. Thankfully, I do.

I gave my sister a hug, and she held me tightly until the tears went away. She stroked my hair, a simple gesture, yet one that makes me feel very loved. I hadn't had much love in my life before I met Hunter. Long, cruel years under Belasco's wing had made certain of that.

But now that I had it in my life, I was going to hold on tight.

You see, we'd discovered something about ourselves. Something that, if anything, brought us closer together, but at the same time, was more than a little frightening. The revelation that I wasn't the Sorceress Supreme after all.

But that we were.

Confused? I know I was, when I first woke up in Hunter's arms, with Solomon Grundy cowering in the corner, and Felix Faust turned into a pigeon roost. Because just a few moments ago, I hadn't been me. I'd been another Illyana. Older, stronger, a lot more powerful.

And so had Hunter.

The Eye of Agamotto had revealed our ultimate destiny. We were two halves of the same person. And only by sacrificing our individuality, could that person, the true Sorceress, be born. The Eye would let us join together if the need was great, but I knew that every time we did that, the chance that we'd never be separate again grew.

“Talk to me, Hunter.”

She drew in a ragged breath. Once, my sister had been the Succubus Chantinelle. Daughter of the Succubus Queen. And a seductress so profound, she'd seduced an Angel. Twice!

But then Belasco had forced her to live a life not her own. My life, the one that had been stolen from me. And somehow, Chantinelle had become partly human. And then I shared my soul with her.

“I dreamed about Daddy. I mean...your father.”

“He was your father too, Hunter. He loved you. I know that. And I know you loved him.”

She nodded. “Yes, very much. Why did he have to die, Illyana? It's just so...pointless.”

“I don't know. I didn't ask for this. Neither did you. All we have is each other.”

She kissed my forehead. “We have friends now.”

“Yeah...but...”

She sighed. “I know. What kind of life can we have? Do we even dare try to have one? Knowing that one day, we won't exist anymore? That we'll be...her.”

“But she is us. I mean...we are her.”

“I know Illyana. But we won't be sisters anymore.”

I looked up at her. “You will always be my sister.”

She smiled. “I love you so much, Illyana. I...I don't think being together will be so bad.”

“Maybe not. But...I want my childhood back.” I hadn't really thought about it until now, but I'd had my childhood stolen from me. Now I was a kid again, my whole life ahead of me. I wasn't really in any hurry to grow up. But something told me that I might not have the luxury.

“Then we should do something fun. Today.”

“Johanna isn't here.” I just sort of knew that; even without training, my mystical perceptions were growing by leaps and bounds. And that wasn't including the awesome powers of the amulet I wore around my neck!

“No, she isn't.” Hunter smiled mischievously. “And what she does not know, cannot hurt us.”

“I like the way you think!”

So, after a quick shower and breakfast, we headed for the mall. Shopping was a very girlish thing that I hadn't been able to indulge in up until now. I hoped it was half as much fun as I'd heard!

-

Police cars surrounded the mall, and as we got closer, I was struck by a sense of wrongness...and the stink of Wild Magic. “Holy shit...”

People were being led out of the mall, and the Eye opened, allowing me to see the truth. I saw a pregnant teenaged girl, but her eyes were older, haunted. And inside her womb, another girl's soul was trapped inside an infant body.

Another young mother was led out with her little girl. Except I could see that the mother was really a younger teen, and her daughter had the soul of a grown woman! What in the name of the Limbus was going on here?

And there were others, lives irrevocably altered. I let the Eye close, even as I tried to hold the tears back. “No one should have this kind of power!”

Hunter touched my arm. “There are still people that need help inside.”

I nodded, and I invoked a spell to make us both invisible and incorporeal, like the wind. We slipped past the police, and into the mall.

-

I could hear screams as we emerged from a now-empty store.

“Honey, I'm frightened!”

“Don't worry, I'll protect you.”

I turned and was floored at the sight of a giant man who seemed part plant, comforting a relatively smaller 7' plant-girl.

“Woah. Now there's something you don't see every day!” Hunter sounded impressed.

The plant-guy glared at us. “We just want to be left alone!”

I let the Eye open again. I could see that both the man and the girl were the same person, a young man. The girl was simply a shard of his original soul. And yet...they seemed kind of happy together. I frowned. Undoing this mess was not going to be easy.

“Hey, we're not here to hurt you, we just want to help.” I held my hands up, to show I wasn't a threat. Yeah, right, I'm not even eight yet, how dangerous did I look to begin with?

“Honey? She's just a little girl.”

He frowned. “You can't help us. This is what I am now.”

“I think I can, I mean, you can't stay here!”

He sighed. “I just don't understand any of this. All I know is, I've finally met someone who cares about me.”

The girl smiled and hugged him.

“Ok, well, as crazy as this sounds, you were transformed by magic. Do you remember anything?”

“I was with Marion, my...ex. We were fighting, she'd...she'd hurt me.” I noticed the girl side of him seemed pretty unhappy at the mention of this Mary. “Then I started to change...into this. And then Mary..she turned into some kind of monster!”

Ugh. Great. “Nothing else?”

“...there was a little girl's voice. I'm pretty sure she said something about granting wishes.”

“Oh fuck, a djinn?” Hunter sounded a little scared. “We're screwed.”

“I never met one, but they can't be much worse than Belasco.”

“No Sis, they can. Belasco is just cruel. Djinn are motivated by something a lot more malicious. Their own amusement.”

I traced runes in the air, hiding the couple. “You'll be safe for now. Which way did Marion go?”

The plan guy pointed. “Thanks, I'll be back, and we'll talk about how I can help. I promise!”

Hunter and I headed off, looking for a monster-girl.

-

“Maybe we should have asked what she looks like now?”

I frowned. “Something tells me we'll know her when we see her.”

The part of the mall we'd come to was pretty empty. Most of the unfortunates we'd passed, the ones that could still move, were fleeing for the exits. And the ones that couldn't, well...I made sure nobody would bother them. My reserves of magic were still pretty slim, but there was a lot of ambient magic around me I could tap into. It reeked of Chaos, but you get used to that sort of stuff in the demon realms. Belasco's Dark Dimension was particularly aligned towards Chaos, as a matter of fact.

Order magic, now that's a different story.

Just then, I heard a voice cry out “Calz Vonpho Sobra Z-Ol Ror I Ta Nazps!”, which was accompanied by a flash of light, and a feminine scream of pain.

“Oh that's not good!” Hunter sped around the corner first, then froze solid. I caught up to her a couple heartbeats later, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Out in front of a store was a stunningly beautiful redhead, naked, with, um, very nice assets. Except she had six arms, and from the waist down, her body was long and snake-like, like a constrictor of some kind, with green scales. Facing her was another woman, tall and androgynous, who held a ball of flame in her hand.

“I don't know what you are, but leave now, or face the power of my Goddess!” The tall woman's voice was unusually deep for a girl, but still feminine in it's inflection.

“Your magic surprised me, but you too, shall be crushed before me! Goddess or no, none shall stand against Marilith!”

I blinked and turned to Hunter. “What's a Marilith?”

“I have no idea...but that woman used an Enochian spell. Angelic magic.”

I frowned. I knew about such things, many of the Fallen still wield such powers, but...who was this woman?

She blasted the snake-woman-thing again, but this time, Marilith batted the fireball away with two of her arms, then lunged forward. “Hunter!”

My sister sprinted forward. Having long ago lost her Succubus powers, she had, while living a mortal life, developed incredible demonic strength. Leaping up, she grabbed the snake-chick by the waist and the two began to wrestle. I'd seen Hunter best a Pit Fiend in a contest of strength, but something told me that Marilith's snake-like body was nothing but muscle...I would need to do something fast!

Calling upon the powers of the Wind, I flew next to the woman. “We need to get you out of here!”

She looked down at me, confused for a moment, then smiled. “Sorceress, I thank you for your help. But this place is my temple, I cannot abandon it.”

Just then, Marilith convulsed, and threw Hunter free, who went flying and crashed into a wall. Glaring at us malevolently, the snakey bitch slithered close. Frantically, I tried to craft a defensive spell...but it was going to be close...

A ball of flame rocketed out of nowhere, slamming into Marilith's side. She screamed and turned to face the new threat. Which turned out to be...a very young teenaged girl who looked a lot like a Succubus! Her skin was reddish-hued, and she had short, dark hair. Her eyes were yellow and slitted...and currently glowing.

Her small wings somehow held her aloft, even as she called another ball of flame to her hand. “Whoever you are, get away from Tristanoira!”

Marilith snarled. “Who dares?”

The demon-girl grinned. “Call me Purgatori.”

Hunter had, by this point, extricated herself from the wall. “...Sakkara?”

The woman next to me, who I presumed was Tristanoira, seemed quite relieved. “I wasn't sure if you would hear my call, Stefani.”

“Don't worry, 'noira. I'm not letting anyone hurt you.”

Marilith hissed. “You overestimate your power.”

“If you want to call my bluff, go for it. But I have a better idea.” The demon-girl descended to the ground, Marilith watching her warily. “Can't we talk about this?”

Marilith blinked. “Talk? Why?”

“I have no idea who you are, or what you want. Honestly, if you weren't attacking people, I'd have no reason to hurt you. I don't take pleasure in hurting people.”

Marilith sniffed. “I am not a human.”

“Yes, you are. Just like I am. You didn't ask for this, you changed, and now people see you as a monster. They hate and fear you.”

To my amazement, Marilith got a strange look on her face. “I...I don't care about that.”

“Don't you? I know I do. I try to help people, and they attack me for being different. Call me a monster.” The demon-girl (Purgatori? Stefani? I wasn't sure what to call her) walked closer to Marilith. “And you used to be human once, didn't you?”

“Yes, she did, even if she doesn't remember it.” I stepped forward as well. “The Eye of Agamotto will reveal the truth!” The eye opened, and shone it's light on Marilith, who looked at her hands and body.

“No! God, no!” She tried to hide herself with her arms. “Don't look at me!”

“I can help you, Marion.”

She stiffened. “You know who I am?”

“Your ex-boyfriend told me your name.”

“I was so terrible to him, I deserve to be a monster!”

I sighed. “No, you don't. If I can find the person who's doing this, I'm certain I can help you.”

“...I could be human again?” She sounded so frightened!

I nodded. “Yes.”

“...thank you.”

Hunter moved to my side, seemingly no worse for wear, looking rather intently at the demon-girl. “I guess some kind of introductions are in order. I'm Illyana, and this is Hunter, my sister.”

The succubus girl smiled. “Stefani, glad to meet you. Thank you for protecting Tristan.”

“Excuse me.” Hunter spoke up. “Are you...Sakkara?”

Stefani shook her head. “No, I'm not. Sakkara...has left this world, to try and find some peace.”

“Yet she is your priestess?”

Stefani frowned. “Sakkara gave me something before she left. Some part of herself, I'm not sure, really. Tristan was part of her cult, she recognizes me as her Goddess now.”

Hunter slowly nodded. “That explains her magic. She has formed a Covenant with you.”

Stefani scratched the back of her neck, an oddly masculine gesture. “Uh...”

Tristan spoke up. “Yes, when you fed upon me, you gave me new powers.”

I rose an eyebrow. “Fed upon her?”

“Hey! I'm not a vampire or anything!” Stefani held up her hands. “I'm just a metahuman...I think.”

That's when I finally spotted the ring on her finger. “Hey...that's a Green Lantern ring, isn't it?”

“Oh this? No, it's not as powerful as Jade's ring. It's just something that lets us communicate with each other...”

“And provides you with disguises. I know.” I grinned.

“Huh? You know Jade?”

“No, I haven't had the pleasure. But we've met Alena and Alison.”

“Ooh. I haven't met them yet, they're still in Vegas?”

“Yeah, and I think we're going to need their help.”

“Ok...oh hey, what about um...” She looked to Marion.

“If she promises not to attack me, I can keep her safe until you return.” Tristan smiled.

“Tristan, you're the best.” Stefani ran over and gave her...priestess a hug. Strange relationship, that. But it got me wondering. How could a metahuman grant someone magical abilities? When this was over, I was going to have a long talk with her.

Then she stepped back and addressed her ring. “Purgatori reporting in, just ran into a whole mess of trouble at the mall, not sure what's going on, but I have someone named Illyana here who does.”

“...Alena here. Ugh...I just saw it on the news. You can trust Illy. I...I'll be there shortly.” Alena sounded horrible, like she was in pain!

Alison's voice broke in. “She has really bad cramps, I don't know how much use she'll be to you guys.”

“Ali! I can't sit here while people are hurt!”

Stefani frowned and whispered to me. “Do they always fight like this?”

I giggled and Hunter just smiled.

“Ok you two, that's enough. Alena, are you sure you're ok?” Another woman, there was a sort of authority to her tone that commanded respect.

“I hope so, Jade. Are you anywhere nearby?” Alena answered.

“No such luck, but I'll try and get to you as soon as I can. Illyana, was it?”

“Yes, that's right.” God, she was probably going to tell me to stay out of this. I wasn't part of their team, and plus, let's face it. I'm just a kid.

“If you know what's going on, I'd appreciate any help you could give us.”

I wasn't expecting that! I could see now why Jade was their leader! “Yes Ma'am, I'll do my best.”

“Thank you. Good luck, all of you. Jade out.”

I whistled. “Wow, she's good.”

Stefani nodded. “I'll say! I haven't even met her face-to-face yet, but...yeah.”

“Ok, I'm on my way. Alison says she's going to try and find Johanna.” Alena spoke up.

“Good idea, she knows more about magic than anyone I know.”

Stefani frowned. “Who's Johanna?”

Hunter laughed. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

I wasn't so sure. Whoever was doing this didn't seem to care who their hurt. No, this wasn't going to be fun at all.

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To be continued...