Beyond - Legends Mirror Walk (AU; Ben, Marvelverse ... and more Bens)

Author's Note: A strange little piece from the Betsyverse ... and beyond; something I've been pondering for some time, the idea of a Skycrawler meeting alternate universe versions of himself ...

DISCLAIMER: LFL's are LFL's. Marvel's are Marvel's. OCs are their own. This is a work of fiction. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue.

NOTE: Betsyverse fans, this is set between chapters in Karrde Reign - which I will update soon. Really.

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40.4 ABY/4.2008: Xavier Institute for Paragenetic Studies, Salem Center, New York, Earth, Unknown Regions:
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"So, you want to learn who you might've been?"

Ben looked over his milk - which was white here on Earth, but it tasted pretty much like blue milk, and it wasn't bad - and looked at Illyana Rasputin. "I've been curious since Aunt Betsy talked about alternate timelines, yeah," he said, watching the blonde girl's lips twitch.

He'd heard the stories even before he met her - she'd been a little girl when a ... well, demon had kidnapped her to "Limbo," a dimension between dimensions, and Illyana had grown up super-fast, becoming a sorceress. She'd fought her dark side, eventually deaging back into a little girl, then grown up "normally" - she was 14, now, a year older than Ben -

but she'd taken back her Soulsword, and was running Limbo again. Her ability to teleport was back, too - not just through space, but across time and alternate timelines.

I really oughta be careful what I ask ... Ben wondered; Illyana seemed nice enough, but she bossed around her boyfriend, Chuck Lehnsherr, and she had a pretty ... naughty streak.

Illyana grinned again - that sort of grin where Ben swore she could read his mind, even if she wasn't a telepath - and cracked her knuckles. "There is a place - Otherworld - that's sort of a ... tamer cross-dimensional nexus than Limbo is. At least, the locals are more polite than my subjects are," she suggested.

"Isn't that where Aunt Betsy's dad, James, came from?" Ben asked.

Illyana nodded. "You do keep up on X-lore. Impressive keeping that much straight," she approved, standing. Ben finished his milk, then checked his lightsaber, blaster pistol, and vibrodagger on his combat belt - he kept the "triple whammy" close by even if he wasn't an active member of the Galactic Anti-Skrull Guard anymore.

We're waiting for Uncle Talon to coordinate the U.S. government forces with the superhero teams to go after the Skrulls, and Mom's with Hope, and Dad's working with Professor Xavier and the others, so ... I guess I could do this now, Ben figured.

He looked at Illyana and asked, "How'll I get back?"

She grinned - uh-oh - and said, "It's not like I'm not going with. It's crazy-cool enough knowing Jedi are real; seeing alternate versions could be even more fun. Besides, if Saturnyne shows up, you'll need someone to explain your presence."

"Isn't she the uptight blonde 'Omniversal Majestrix' or something? While Roma's the brunette 'Guardian of the Omniverse'?" Ben asked - like Illyana, he was dressed in a yellow and black Xavier's training uniform, which served as body armor, so he wasn't too worried about trouble ... too worried.

Illyana arched an eyebrow and put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "You really know too much about this stuff. But I guess Betsy didn't have much else to talk about when she wasn't gushing over finding out she was a Jedi," the teleporter laughed -

Ben tried to keep from feeling like he was falling when Illyana opened a stepping disc beneath them; it was weird, not at all like the air displacement and gut-wrenching sense of travel he felt when he was traveling with Tahiri's teleporting bantha, Bangor. Illyana's teleportation was more subtle.

They passed through some kind of sulfur-smelling place with a weird sky - Limbo, Ben guessed, he didn't pay too close a

 

Promises, promises....