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BAMF! GRACE AND KURT REAPPEARED, FINDING THEMSELVES ON THE PLATFORM BEHIND XAVIER IN THE CEREBRO OF 143, AKA JASON'S, ILLUSION

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BAMF! GRACE AND KURT REAPPEARED, FINDING THEMSELVES ON THE PLATFORM BEHIND XAVIER IN THE CEREBRO OF 143, AKA JASON'S, ILLUSION.

Kurt stared in awe of the room, and the billions of white lights rotating above. Dark Cerebro's hum was getting faster and faster, the white lights brightening.

The little girl looked up to see Grace and Kurt at the far end of the platform behind Xavier. "Professor!" Grace called out, but her voice was a faint whisper among many.

The platform between the little girl and Grace started to stretch to near-infinity. Cerebro was now gigantic - the perspective was off; the rotating globe seemed to be the actual size of the earth. The platform was so long that it looked like an endless highway stretching into the void.

At the front, Xavier looked around, but saw nothing. "I hear them...but I can't find them."

"Then increase the signal." The little girl firmly ordered him.

He closed his eyes again, concentrating. The droning was getting louder.

In the back of the platform, Grace was running towards Xavier, but making no headway. Kurt cowered behind her, scared. The little girl suddenly appeared in front of her, glaring. "Stay away!"

Grace took another step, then the platform between her and the girl suddenly broke, and fell into the abyss, creating a massive chasm between them.

Grace closed her eyes for a moment. "Kurt, whatever you see, it's not real." She called out to him. When her eyes opened, they were glowing red.

Grace was no longer in Dark Cerebro, she was in the Mansion. Xavier slowly wheeled through the hall. He stopped once he reached Grace. He looked up at her and smiled. "Grace. I was just trying to find you."

"Professor, you have to stop Cerebro now." She told him.

"I just have to locate the others, and I was going to show our friend the mutants of the world." He started to wheel himself away.

"Friend?" She asked and the little girl, Jason, appeared with tears in her eyes. "Professor, you weren't looking for the mutants." Xavier turned back to Grace, confused. "Professor, none of this is real. It's an illusion. You have to see beyond that."

The little girl grabbed one of Xavier's hands. "Don't listen to her. She's lying!"

Grace pleaded with Xavier. She grabbed Xavier's other hand, holding it tight. "This is an illusion, Professor! You've been inside of it for too long."

The girl's eyes suddenly changed, one becoming green and the other blue, just like how Grace's eyes look normally. Xavier looked between Grace and the little girl, thinking. Realisation crossed his face. "Jason..."

The girl narrowed her eyes. Xavier turned to her. "No." Xavier stared at her, concentrating. "NO! Stop! You're hurting me!" The little girl got furious, and the entire room flashed from illusion to illusion, an amalgam of horrible nightmares and desolate landscapes, death, pain, agony, terror. "Get out of my head!"

Suddenly, the image of 143, Jason, flashed in the illusion as Xavier broke it down. Grace saw this and concentrated. Grace got inside the little girl's head, as she said to Mystique, sending her to the 'gates of hell'.

The girl screamed as Grace's illusion rippled. Her face twitched and flashed into the leering, ghoulish image of Mutant 143, then back to the little girl.

She disappeared, revealing 143 completely. Grace's illusion dropped.

Grace opened her eyes and she was back in Dark Cerebro, which was falling apart. Girders and pieces of structure were falling from above. BOOM! The room was rocked by another hit. The platform shook and bent.

Xavier closed his eyes, reaching up. He quickly removed the helmet. The light faded and the humming stopped.

Grace stared at Mutant 143, her twin brother, whose face was emotionless, but his eyes seemed to be filled with sadness, possibly remorse.

The room was hit hard. The ceiling above began to flake and crack. A giant cider hit the platform, destabilising it. Jason was knocked off the edge. Grace helplessly watched as he tumbled into the abyss.

Kurt walked closer to Grace and Xavier, doing his best to wrap his arms around the two.

BAMF!

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