THE ILLUSIONIST WOMAN

seven. The Chasm

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STRKYER'S FACILITY WAS IRON CLAD but it wasn't impenetrable. Ximena knew this was true when Raven got into the compound without a bat of her eyelashes. Their defenses were weak and because of this, the team was able to walk in unscathed.

The large spillway doors opened per Raven's assistance and Ororo knew it was her cue. Her eyes clouded over with the familiar opaque white as the winds suddenly picked up. Lightning struck, charging up the atmosphere. The grunt-men didn't know what hit them when the team stormed in, determination in their eyes.

Ximena and Jean secured the walkways, knocking the operatives out while Erik tore the metal door to the control room clean off its bolted hinges. Sparks flew and the metal screeched an unappealing sound. Revealing Raven once more.

Jean suddenly dropped the guys she was levitating, pushing them away as her attention was now elsewhere. "Have you found it?" Erik called out as they walked into the control room.

Ximena glanced at the cameras, narrowing her eyes on the points of conflict on their journey to the Professor.

"A large portion of energy from the dam, has been diverted to this chamber." Mystique turned the monitor, typing away to showcase the specific point of entry. Ximena muttered lowly to herself that this was where they were holding the Professor.

"There it is," Erik agreed.

"Can you shut it down from here?" Ororo questioned, frowning intently.

"No."

"Come. There's little time –" Magneto urged, turning on his heel, but Jean crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips.

"Not without us." He shared a dubious look with Raven, the same time Jean shared a knowing one with Ximena. They weren't stupid. Erik was up to his schemes, that was clear as day.

"Everyone, do as we had planned. Any mistakes, change it. We've got no room for error. Got that?" Ximena tilted her chin up towards the infamous Lensherr, challenging him to protest otherwise. All her attention was focused on this mission not on anything else more disconcerting. Her personal problems couldn't get in the way, so she avoided them until this current issue was proven long resolved.

"The children are being held in a containment cell one level down," Raven directed to Ororo, giving them their location before stepping beside her point of alliance.

"Aye Captain," Erik chided sarcastically, leading the way down the hall.

She rolled her eyes before following, noting that Logan had already left to fulfill his side of the action. What concerned her about his whereabouts was that he left his intercom sitting on the dashboard discarded. The sight left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she carried on. Logan could handle himself fine.

It was the defenseless, that she was fighting for.

Ximena walked alongside Jean as Erik and Raven led the way. Everywhere they stepped, metal paved their footfalls. The repetitive cling and clang of soldiers running down the halls could be heard by all of them. The anticipation mounted in them steadily.

A hissing caught their attention before a red-hot laser blasted towards their heads. Ximena crashed down to the ground for cover, already knowing who was firing at them. It didn't make her feel any better about the situation either.

"Scott," Ximena sighed.

"I've got it," Jean told them, but Ximena knew she would have a hard time fighting the love of her life.

Ximena didn't know what she'd do if she ever had to fight Logan, but it was a part of the mission. So, with a sure nod, Ximena agreed that Jean should distract Scott if not incapacitate him.

"This is one lover's quarrel we cannot get involved in, my dear." Erik quipped as the remaining three ran closer to where they were holding the Professor.

As they ran, the distant sound of rumbling was heard. Ximena's eyebrows furrowed intently, her brown eyes glancing above with growing concern. They were under a dam, which was no good if it was making sounds like that.

They rounded a corner, but Erik stopped with his arm, his other hand extended. With a flick of his wrist a cacophony of explosions set off in a change reaction. Ximena's stomach rolled at the screams of Erik's victims. The crackling of exposed electrical wires zapping in her ear, resolutely.

"You didn't have to kill them," Ximena pursed her lips as they walked over the dead bodies with little interference.

"Matters of opinion," Erik responded coolly, before putting on his telepathic blocking helmet.

As soon as he tried to open the door, a piercing pain stroked her mind. Ximena screamed in surprise, clutching her temples as she was brought down to her knees. It was a sonic, throbbing pain. Washing over her again and again like a tidal wave and she was unable to get air.

She was vaguely aware of Raven beside her, convulsing just the same as she. Erik slipping into the room, not as bothered as them. However, as her eyes rolled back, and her nose began to bleed, Ximena could only focus on her own agony. The very fabric of her humanity, ripping at the seams.

Ximena was weak, groaning as she warily lifted her head from the ground. Everyone else seemed to have recovered when the siren of pain had ended, but Ximena was coming to slowly like she had just woken up from a coma.

Her vision blurred as Magneto and Mystique walked past her in the opposite direction. The Professor was nowhere in sight, still shut behind the doors, but now, he was carrying out Erik's harsh change of plans.

"No," She seethed and ignored the blood splattering on the floor beneath her.

Ximena reached for Magneto's ankle and clutched it with as much strength as she could. "Open, the door you traitor." She glared heatedly at him from the ground. Her energy returning gradually.

"I was hoping we could work together, you and me. You have such a vengeful spirit. I can feel it. It's in your veins." Erik tutted, as if ashamed of the heroic destiny she chose. "When we are the only superior race on this planet, and you see how much better the world is because of it, you will understand. In fact, I think you'll thank me."

Erik easily wretched his foot free from her clutches, his cape swooshing as he stormed out the way he came.

Ximena was left alone, gritting her teeth in frustration. She crawled towards the nearest wall and pulled herself up with much effort. Her heart hammering as she forced breath in her lungs to give her strength. On shaky legs, she was determined to put a stop to this genocide.

Bolstering her self-confidence, she charged for the door Magneto left the Professor in. Her brown eyes flickering over the metal binding. She knew there would be no way she could push it open. Biting her bottom lip, her resentment for the metal bender grew. It was then, and only then, that she felt her hands grow weightless.

She shifted, blinking owlishly at her palms as they began to phase through the metal. It was when she remembered the night at the school, in the midst of her dream. How she slipped through the wall into the bathroom.

A new finite concentration brewed within her gut. A strained in the veins on her forehead. Maybe Erik was right, she was vengeful. Full of a fiery reckoning. Angry with what the world dealt her. Fearful of how the world saw her. It was fueling her and simultaneously, hindering her from her true potential.

"I'm coming, Professor," She whispered. Her eyes shuddered close as she tried to think weightless, whatever that would mean.

With far too much faith than should have been possible, Ximena stepped forward - through the thick, solid metal doors. It nauseated her, rolled her stomach like she was falling from a great height. When she got through to the other side, the wind was taken out of her. Gasping, blurry-eyed and physically ill, she didn't have time to rejoice that she figured out this new ability.

Her cocoa brown eyes glanced up to the back of the man in the wheelchair. She could feel his presence in the room. Even if he were invisible, she'd be able to sense him. Another illusionist. A harborer of abhorrent visions and treacherous perceptions.

Just like her.

Ximena feared him, if only because she feared herself. She feared her limits or lack thereof. What her powers could do to someone's mind frightened her. It was a time to be reminded of Daniel, of her mistakes that cost him his life. She hoped... prayed, this time wouldn't cost the Professor's his.

Limping towards the illusionist man, Ximena swallowed the dryness in her throat and grabbed ahold of his temples with cracked fingertips. He jerked only once before Ximena was in a battle of wills and minds. Her eyes flashing orange before she screwed them shut. A definite punch to the back of her head that made his own temples throb. He was in her mind just as much as she was in his.

When Ximena parted her lashes, she was brought into a far too familiar room. The dark wood floors with resounding creaks as she warily walked around. Thick wool quilts made by her mother and abuela before she had passed. A sculpture of an eagle, made of grey and white ceramics. Not a chip in sight. A symbol of what was. A symbol of the past. 

Ximena knew exactly where she was, and the thought made her heart quicken. A sweat came over her forehead. Deep dread filled her strained lungs. She grasped at her sides in a flash of fear and jumped when she felt the fabric of her favorite navy blue knitted dress. Her black Mary Janes adorning her feet.

In this moment, she remembered just how curious and worried she was. It was a Sunday; she had just come in through the front door. She felt the hard wood of it behind her, could hear the sound of her neighbors coming home from mass, just like she was.

Mena tried hard to swallow the lump in her throat. "Daniel?" She called out without her control. Her lips formed the words in a gentle concerned tone, but her blown wide eyes had a mind of their own.

Each footstep led her through the small home her and her husband shared. Ximena felt her fingernails biting into her palms. A tremor in every stride.

There was shuffling coming from the other room. Ximena knew exactly what it was. The morning light came in through the shabby curtains, partially hiding the living room in shadow. The grandfather clock across the room didn't tell the time, but the ticks of her heart. Faster and faster, it zeroed in, taunting her.

"Daniel, baby?" Ximena nearly retched, inhaling through her nose as she was forced to relive her greatest fear all over again. She couldn't fight back. Perhaps the male illusionist was stronger, better than her. Whatever it may be, she wasn't prepared to see this again. She never would be. "Baby, why didn't you meet us at the church. Mamá te estaba buscando."

He had worked the night shift. At least, he was supposed to and his plan was to meet her on the lawn, as usual. But when he didn't turn up, Ximena figured he had a hard night and wanted to sleep in. Now she knew better. That he didn't go to work the night before. And that he was alone, being alone wasn't good for him.

Nostrils flaring, Ximena finally turned the corner in the hall to their shared bedroom. 

She felt a tear, a mix of her own from the past and the present, slide down her cheek. It all felt so real, too real. Because there he was.

Her Daniel.

Hunched over on the ground. Hands successfully around his gun she hid under the old floorboards. The wood was in shambles. Blankets, pillows and furniture alike flung about the room haphazardly. The curtains were torn down. Their belongings within the dresser were thrown out and emptied. He sat in a mess of his own making, shaking, groaning, muttering unintelligibly.

Ximena approached him cautiously; she was fully in this illusion now. Her desire to save him outweighed saving herself. "Dani, baby, put down the small arm. Hey, you're going to be okay. Te tengo, papi."

"No! No, no, you're in my head. Esto no es real." He shouted, turning on her. His hand was already on the trigger and Mena's heart dropped into her stomach. This wasn't how it went. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

She talked him down for nearly ten minutes before he exploded again. Triggered by the neighbors honking and getting into their cars.

No, this was new and unpredictable, and this made it all the clearer that she wasn't going to save him this time either. Her breath caught for a second at the revelation, her mind fighting with the realistic imagery and reality.

She bit her lip until it bled to tie herself to something real. Her hand twitched only slightly before she dived down towards Daniel to wrestle him for the gun. She couldn't save him, no, she would have to kill him this time.

Ximena cried as he fought her. Her inhales coming in as shuddering hiccups as he rolled them until he was above her. They were power struggling for the gun, its metal warmed from his palms. She almost believed it was him again, almost.

A groan ripped from her lips as she gritted her teeth. His weight was heavy on her legs. The broken-up wood from the floorboards stuck into her exposed legs with splinters. "No pelees conmigo, Daniel," She pleaded, her fingers burning with how tight she was holding onto to the gun. "Please."

Ximena suddenly head butted his forehead, momentarily disorienting him. She jerked the gun out of his hand and rolled. Adrenaline rushed through her veins like an unstoppable geyser. His nails dug into the back on her legs as she struggled to kneel. Crawling away in horror from his demonic pursuit of her.

"Ximena!" He shouted in blood thirsty desperation. Her cries of pain and heartbreak were his only response. She didn't want to kill him. Her first love. The amount of guilt and anguished she has held onto over the years were nothing compared to what she felt right now.

The dark, black look in his eyes. The desire for mercy.

Ripping the band aid off, Ximena quickly turned onto her backside and fired with an agonized scream. The bullet landed right in his open mouth in the middle of reaching for her. Her tear-streaked face splattered with the blood of him.

She did a slow, shuddering blink and opened her eyes

to the metal chamber.

Ximena had fallen a few spaces away from the illusionist man. His head bowed. It was only when her eyes came back into focus that she saw Logan kneeling above her, eyebrows impossibly furrowed in concern. Lips pulled into a taunt frown. His hand was on the side of her face as if he had been lightly slapping it to wake her up.

"You alright?" He muttered gruffly, reaching his hand out to help her up.

"What happened to him?" Ximena asked instead, shaking her head as it pinched in pain. Her brown eyes glanced to the bowed head of the illusionist man; Logan only spared him a quick look before his eyes inevitably fell on her worst for ware features.

"He's gone." Logan revealed shortly, his lack of detail made Ximena purse her lips in understanding. She felt a sting of guilt. It's not like he had a mind of his own. It was clear he was raised wrong.

Mena grasped Logan's rough hand as he helped up stand. His arm immediately going around her waist as her knees nearly buckled. "I've got you. C'mon, we've got to get out of here before they find us."

"Who?" Ximena's eyebrows furrowed as she limped along, her eyes lingering on the dead man behind her. Something wasn't sitting well with her, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was.

Whatever Logan said went in one ear and out the other. Her mind swimming with confusion. When she almost hit the metal doorway, her hand shot out to catch herself. Ximena was expecting the usual sting on her palm from the quarter burn she earned previously, but when it didn't come, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. 

With a quickness, the brunette snatched the knife from her lower leg sheath and turned on her heel. Before Logan could strike to protect himself, Ximena stabbed him in the right side of his upper chest. She almost second guessed herself when he showed signs of pain. But as they both tumbled to the ground in a heap, the entire illusion disappeared, and Ximena awoke to the exact same place she walked into.

Her fingers on the temples of Stryker's son, Jason.

The room had dropped to a considerable temperature. She realized her legs were shaking. A furious wind whipped and whistled around the room. Sheet metal ripping from the walls and slamming into the opposite sides, as if by tornado.

"Ms. Ximena!" The German accent of Kurt shouted with a shivering voice from behind her, which caused her to spin around. Ororo and Kurt stood there, her weather manipulating friend causing the room to shake. "We must get out of here!"

Mena shook from the cold, nodding her head. Her dark locks lashing out around her. She squinted her eyes through it and rushed around Jason to the Professor. Snatching his helmet off caused Xaiver to jump in her seat, eyeing his surroundings with a fresh and un-warped perspective.

Storm calmed the winds, her eyes returning to their normal shade. With the sudden peace and quiet, a new creaking sound began. It was a distinctive noise, a rumbling in the unstable structure of the walls.

The metal panels began to drop. The ground beneath their feet trembling as if it would come down at any moment. As the cement ceiling caved, Ximena looked to Kurt with urgency. "Get us out of here, please."

A puff of blue and black smoke teleported Ororo and Xavier out one at a time. Once Kurt came back, she turned to him with a determined gaze. "Both of us," She pointed to Jason, voice an unwavering statement.

He briefly glanced between them two and reached to grab a hold of Jason's shoulder tight. Intertwining their hands, Ximena was teleported to the hallway intact just before the ceiling crushed them all.

The hallway was already crowded with the children, Ororo, Professor, Scott and Jean.  Ximena nearly fell into Jean once they teleported back. The red head sighing out of breath of exasperation and relief.

"Thank god you're alright," She murmured with a strained smile. "Come on, everyone. We don't have much time. We have to get out through the spillway."

The bulk of them rushed through the cement tunnels, Ximena pushing the back of Jason's wheelchair as he stared unresponsively. Their footsteps were thunderous, but the freighting sound of rushing water proved tremendous motivation.

As they rounded a corner, Ximena could hear the water getting louder. Her apprehension was proven rightly placed as Logan appeared from down another pathway. He slammed his claws into the controls, shutting the doors permanently to evade the furious waves of the rushing water. "You don't want to go that way, trust me."

"C'mon, there's another way out of here." He spared a short glance towards Jason as Ximena pushed him, his fast strides falling in line with hers.

Mena rolled her bloody and bitten lips together as they emerged into the snowy tundra. A white blanket of terrain laid before them. Towering spruce surrounding them as her exhausted footfalls crunched the snow below her. The powdery white reached her knees, making it hard for her to walk let alone push Jason's wheelchair.

She watched as Logan carried a young student of hers in his arms and she had no doubt she'd admire it had she had time to. The helicopter they were looking for had been stolen, no doubt by Erik and Raven. But as soon as they were trying to think of a way to get to the jet, it shakily appeared above the treeline.

Ximena grinned at the jet's front shields, seeing it was piloted by Marie. The falling snow stuck to her frostbitten, wet cheeks and eyelashes. Even with the fumbled landing, Ximena couldn't have been prouder of Marie than she was at this moment.

As the illusionist was about to take Jason on the jet, she saw Logan pause in the corner of her eye.

Her eyebrow furrowed, wondering what he saw to make him linger. He turned to her with a second of hesitation, eyes downturned with confliction. Parting her chapped lips, Ximena exhaled a white smoke in the air.

"Hurry," She encouraged him, sending Logan on his way.

Whatever it was, must've been important and she wasn't going to stand in his way. Especially, when he hadn't yet stood in the way of hers.

Ximena boarded the jet with shaky legs, strapping in a muted Jason, then went straight to Marie. Her smile warily and exhausted yet motherly all the same. Marie's breaths came out anxious and jittery; however, the calmness in which Ximena held her settled the fear. Her head burrowing in Mena's chest.

"I am so proud of you," Ximena whispered on top of her head, holding tighter before letting her go. She brushed her white strands from her flushed face. "You did good."

"Bobby," Logan called as he trotted up the ramp.

"I got him." He handed the young boy to him, coming up to Ximena in a loose jog.

She looked between his smoldering eyes, silently. Trying to figure out if he was okay. Her hand came up to rest of his hairy cheek, a flicker of a small smile curling her lips. "You alright there, Wolfie?"

"I am now." He nodded assuredly, laying his hand on top of her own. It was warm compared to the frigid outside temperatures, warding the leftover trauma within her away. Steadying her rapidly beating heart.

"Oh no," Ororo muttered worriedly. "The vertical thrusters..." She started turning the jet engines on and off, growing erratic at the malfunctioning sirens sounding. "The vertical thrusters are offline."

"They're not responding," Scott added.

Logan kept his eyes on Ximena, his head slightly tilted in their direction. "So fix 'em."

"We're trying."

"Has anyone seen John?" Marie asked aloud, glancing around the group with a frown.

Ximena did a quick head count around the room. Brown eyes scouring the students with growing concern. "Where the hell is he?" She called out.

"He's with Magneto," Jean sighed out, averting her gaze in distress.

A silence hovered over the group as they swallowed such news, coming to terms with it in their own ways while they chaos continued in the front of the jet. Ximena made it her mission to check on the kids one at a time. She grabbed the first aid from the above compartment and went down the line.

Her hands were gentle as she checked over their heads and used a tiny flashlight to check for concussions. "It's alright guys, we'll get out of here soon." She worded carefully, tilting a little boys head back to eye a bruise under his chin. It looked worse than it was, which was a small comfort in the midst of uncertainty.

Contrary to her words, the lights on the jet flickered on and off, an ominous threat before it completely sputtered out of commission. Against the ticking of the clock of the cracking dam, the jet no longer held the power to get them to safety.

Ximena tried to remain calm. Her sweaty hands peeling back a band aid wrapper. Her nails having trouble with their anxious twitching. The brief flash of her burn-marked palm caught her eye, causing her stomach to churn. This treacherous hill was never-ending.

When she finally got the damned wrapper open, she looked up to place it on a student's scraped knee. It was in peripheral vision that she saw Jean running out of the jet and down the landing. A lightning strike instantly shot her chest at the sight.

The brunette abruptly stood, "Jean? Where's Jean going..."

 Ximena went to follow before the ramp was slammed shut in her face. She pushed against the door, slamming her hands on the button to unlock it with no response. She was becoming more frantic by the second. "Jean! J-Jean what are you doing, come back!"

Logan kneeled toward the Professor, pleading with him. "Doc, you have to do something."

"She's blocking me out," Xavier confessed with sorrowful eyes.

"JEAN, JEAN PLEASE." Ximena hysterically shoved the doors. She tried to close her eyes and focus so she could phase through the door, but her mind wouldn't listen. Her eyes flashed back and forth between amber and brown like the flickering lights of the jets to no avail. Her headache mounting with each try.

"We're not leaving, lower the ramps!" Scott shouted at Ororo.

"It's not us! She's holding the door." Storm shook her head, watching as the lever lowered to power up the engine. "... and controlling the jet."

"We were supposed to go through this together," Ximena cried out, shaking her head as Logan grabbed a hold of her. She struggled against him, trying and failing to leave his strong grip. Her body trembled with her sobs; the rest of the jet seemed to be white noise. All she could register was that her friend was gone. Her friend was gone. Her sister was gone. Her Jean. Someone who understood her. Someone with whom she loved.

Another person she loved was abruptly ending their life, leaving her. Trying to face their demons alone and losing. Knowing she could be there to help. The combination of revisited trauma and her loss of Jean sent her spiraling. The realization rocked her, and soon, her sobs became wails, breaking the hearts of all those who were forced to listen.

The roar of the dam bursting, laying waste to the snow-covered ground below them signified Ximena's heart cracking. The burn of her tears mirroring the fall of a beloved friend.

The whisper within her head was Jean's and it only muttered one final word in a trembling, low voice, "Goodbye."

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." Scott and Ximena's cries were music for Kurt's prayers. Jean's absence was not made lighter by them, but the echoing scriptures gave them room to grieve.

Made their loss a reality.

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Unedited. Nov 6 2022

My poor Ximena keeps losing them left and right. man. But I'm so proud of her for overcoming Jason's Illusions and still being that b*tch by bringing him with them anyway. Character Development, say what?

I worked hard on this lmao took forever to finally finish it. I'm posting this again by popular demand and because I love Ximena and Logan. Updates won't be on top of each other, but I'll definitely make time for it.

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