The darkness feels cool on her skin after the wretched heat of the basement. Madelyne finds it the only thing to be grateful for as she's hurdled farther and father along, unable to even scream. The magic she'd used is almost up, barely alive in her chest as she's carried to some unknown place. There's no time to berate herself or to think of what else to do when she finally lands on her hands and knees. Her teeth rattle in her head from the impact, knocking the breath right out of her.

She sucks in as much air as she can -- if it could really be called air, what fills her lungs -- before sitting up. Madelyne pants, wiping furiously at some tears on her cheeks, and looks up to assess the darkness around her, only to meet her reflection instead: wearing the green bomber jacket she'd brought with her in Genosha, her hair a mess in the forest behind her.

Startled, she stands -- and realizes that there are five mirrors before her.

He told the truth: she would have to choose again.

They spin, whorl, purposely trying to make her dizzy. Madelyne keeps her ground, reaching out with her mind to force them to stop. There's a jerk before her telekinetic power is shut down -- she can feel it, gritting her teeth as her control is wrested away.

The mirrors move until they finally settle, the reflection showing not her as she was, naked and panting, but as the Goblyn Queen, smiling, half mad. Or, she assumes it's herself as the Goblyn Queen in the first mirror; the one immediately to the right of her seems to be her, but in a different, purple outfit. This version of her seems older in a way, sadder, stranger in some sense. The on on the left of her has her in a white version of the Goblyn Queen's outfit, looking more serene than she's ever felt in her life.

Cautiously, she turns to face the two behind her. In one, she wears a black and red Phoenix costume, surrounded by fire burning so hot that it's rendered white. And the last is her as she'd been in the very first dream she'd had: cradling Nathan, wings at her back, and Scott at her side.

Possibilities. All were possibilities for herself.

What will you choose, Madelyne Pryor? All of the women in the reflections -- all pieces of her -- speak at once, voices booming in the blackness. To---

"Shut up," she snaps, turning to the mirror in front of her. "I know what I am! I know what I want--"

She reaches out to touch her reflection, the one of the Goblin Queen--

Only to find herself jerked backwards, forced to the center. Madelyne tries to steer her own course, but she can't. The demons -- the Goblin Force itself -- desired for her to choose differently this time.

Her hand touches the mirror in front of her and the reflection changes. It's not her as the Goblin Queen she knows; it's her as another version of it. Dressed in purple, her eyes glowing green, her expression sad. Behind her is Alex, cradling a son that she's never had.

"Who are you? Who -- who am I?" Madelyne asks of the reflection, able to see demons at the edge of her reflection.

"I'm Madelyne Pryor, Marvel Woman," she says. Her voice echoes, rolling over Maddie. There are memories, impressions there: a house in Alaska, a romance, going before demons to broker a deal. "And I am you, as a hero. I was strong enough not to try and kill my son. I was strong enough to wield the Goblin Force to save others. Am I not a better future for you?" Her hand attempts to lace itself with Maddie's own, "Isn't that what you always wanted? Power enough to win? To have never harmed your son?"

Madelyne looks at her, looks past her. At the details that don't seem right: Alex's expression seems to wary, her son doesn't even look the same as Nathan. The green glow of her eyes --

"I know what I did," Madelyne has to use all of her strength to withdraw her hand, "I don't want this future. I don't want to pretend it didn't happen."

The version of her -- Marvel Woman -- lunges toward her. Madelyne braces herself, only to find that the reflection changes in a snap. This time it's the version of her in the black and red costume, her face pressed against the glass. Her eyes are completely black, her expression serious.

It's more Jean than her, and something about her makes Madelyne terrified as her hand reaches for hers. She can feel the heat coming from her, the threat of being devoured alive.

"No," She says, not even daring to place her hand on the mirror. "Whatever you are -- you aren't me or the Goblyn Force."

The not-her in the mirror shudders, dissipates, and takes the heat with her. The version of her in the white version of the Goblyb Queen's costume takes her place. She brings no heat with her, only a sense of peace, stillness. A stillness that Madelyne doesn't trust. Something with it feels wrong in that stillness.

"i don't want to be you," madelyne rebuffs her immediately. "whatever you are, you aren't me."

"yes, you do," her hand reaches out and catches madelyne's arm before she can jerk it away properly. she doesn't give off heat like the other. what happens instead, is that she gives madelyne a taste of what she is, in all that white: the goblyn force, tamed, crystallized. no demons, no monsters, nothing. there is no chaos beneath her, no insatiable hunger, none of madelyne's roiling emotions. "you want this. you want to tame it, become a hero. that's why you came here, isn't it? to take control of your life?"

her grip is strong, intimidating as she stares at madelyne, seeing right through her. "no," she struggles out, "no i don't --"

the grip on her tightens. her doppelgänger's head rises, defiantly into the air. "admit it. you want control. and control means that you have to take responsibility for your actions, future and past. and the only way to do that is if you take a stand, madelyne pryor. if you offer to be more than yourself, to take on the burdens that you've long denied." as she speaks, madelyne can feel visions pouring into her: the power that could be felt if she threw down sinister, if she assumed herself leader. how easy it would be to become powerful, to restore order, to be so much more.

it slithers inside of her, the visions, the words. "you want this. you need this control, this redemption. it's the only path you have open to you." madelyne struggles, not wanting the flood of memories: of wanting to kill nathan, wanting to destroy everything in her path. the guilt she's carried surges inside of her, makes her hand shake. "the only redemption you have is by my hand."

she's jerked forward, and that's when madelyne realizes that she's almost wholesale in the mirror. that the doppelgänger looks disturbingly vivid, expression gloating and hard.

that's what does it, that expression. the glory inside of it, of being righteous, sure of her own ends and the promise inside of it: that she would change madelyne, would change everything about her in service to this one goal.

anger flares up inside of madelyne, raging hotter than anything she's felt. her free hand extends infront of her, catching the still solid enough doppelgänger's face, digging into her cheeks with vicious determination. "i don't regret it. scott deserved it. sinister deserved it," the snarl in her throat overpowers the mirror, and she feels it shatter around them. that familiar feeling wraps around her, of magic so raw, so powerful that it was a miracle her body could host it. "he abandoned me! he left me to die!" green magic sparks at her fingertips, the other her's expression melting from vainglory to panic. "scott summers deserved everything i wanted to do to him! i would do it again if i could!"

the doppelgänger chokes, and with a snarl, madelyne feels the goblyn force explode from her fingertips. the world is awash in a sickly green, as she feels the magic accept her once again, as it's host, as mistress. strength flows into her limbs, her very spirit, the goblyn force nesting inside it's chosen host. madelyne laughs as she feels herself become whole, her old costume materializing around her, the familiarity settling on her with finality.

she can her demons gathering, laughing with joy. she takes pleasure in summoning them, making them bow before her.

and this time, when she lays her eyes on the horde before her, she lifts her head up and smiles. "hello, my children. mother is back. and this time," madelyne scowled, "things are going to be different."