The Scott and Jean Archives
Kitty and Piotr put Illyana, Piotr’s little sister, with a bedtime story Kitty titled “Kitty’s Fairy Tale”.
Once upon a time, in the caliphate of Nhu Yorkn, there lived a young woman named Pirate Kitty. She was known throughout the land...together with her stalwart companion -- and true, er, friend -- Colossus. They were loved by the poor and downtrodden in whose defence they fought, and hated by the rich, cruel oppressors of the commoners.
Many were the attempts to capture them. And spectacular were their escapes. Colossus could magically transform himself into a man of steel. When he did, he possessed the strength of an army. And he knew how to use it, too. Later, down by the docks...
Kitty and Colossus come to the rescue of a wizard and his prince from some brute pirates. The wizard tells Kitty and Colossus that the Prince Cyclops seeks his love, Princess Jean. The princess, the wizard’s apprentice, allied herself with “primal universal forces” to save the prince’s land, but she became corrupted and evil.
Once she was a creature of light. Now she is one of darkness. A bringer of life, of love, of joy...she has become the destroyer, the chaos, the ravager of worlds. She is Dark Phoenix. She strafed the harbour with bolts of starfire...sinking every ship in sight.
The Dark Phoenix finds the wizard and the prince, with Kitty and Colossus, and attacks them at the dock. Until the wizard scares her away with a crystal containing the soul of the princess, her true self. Kitty summons her dragon, Lockheed, and the four ride the dragon after the Dark Phoenix.
They flew all through the night, following Dark Phoenix’s trail across the continent, then out over the great western ocean.
They come to rest on an island. Kitty meets a bamf who likes her and decides to follow her around. Colossus finds a bottle and sets a genie free. The Genie was a friend of the Phoenix, until the Phoenix turned evil and imprisoned the Genie in the bottle. Colossus takes the genie to meet his comrades, who are also seeking the Dark Phoenix.
Then the group meets another creature, a fiend who is in love with the princess and thought himself a rival of the prince. The fiend, who is no talk and all fight, changes his mind about stirring up trouble when he meets Lockheed.
Accompanied now by the “fiend-with-no-name” and the genie...the intrepid band continued on their journey.
They catch up with the Dark Phoenix. The wizard and the genie combine forces but the Dark Phoenix still remain strong. The fiend decides to get Lockheed to spit fire, but sends the rest of them on the dragon falling. The genie endows them with wings of all sorts so they can fly. All of them join forces and with the crystal, the wizard sets the princess free.
Propelled by the wizard’s and the genie’s wills -- sustained by the prince’s love -- a lance of blinding energy speared into the heart of their foe. The woman disappeared, transformed into its true self -- a huge majestic firebird. And battling it, the soul-self of the woman it had possessed. The combatants -- indeed the entire world -- watched in awe and terror...as a force that was as old as time, as primal as existence of self, battled a power that would not be denied.
Jean had fought this battle once and lost...and innocent lives had paid the price. Given a second chance...she does not fail.
Princess Jean is revived, and the curse on Prince Cyclops’ eyes, cast upon by the Phoenix, was lifted.
Lockheed flew our heroes -- even fiend, once Kitty talked him into it -- back to the prince’s land, where the lovers were married, and they all lived happily ever after.
After the end of the story, Kitty and Piotr leave a sleeping Illyana and tiptoe out of her room. Only to find themselves surrounded by an unexpected audience, who absolutely loved her bedtime story.
(Classic X-Men #57 is a reprint of Uncanny X-Men (Vol 2) #153.)