All characters herein are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copy write to me.
Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at
mshakespeare@callnetuk.com
This is the (first) sequel to 'Heart of Darkness' - please read that first! Please note that this story jumps viewpoints, and I don't actually say who the thinker is, though hopefully it should be obvious!
Homecoming
They seem so sad. Of course they do - they have lost a friend. Little do they know that they have lost another, one they think still lives. The redhead is one I am not familiar with,though her face stirs something in Katherine's memory for some reason - I must try to understand why, and whether the girl is a threat to me. The blonde girl is the one who features so strongly in my stolen memories, the demon-sorceress, Illyana. The beautiful black woman with the long white hair - what a fine figure of a woman she is, it is almost a pity that I have to kill her - is Ororo. And the old, bald-headed man is the mind-wizard, Charles Xavier. I number them in my mind - after all, it is good to know whom you will kill. But for now I must play my part, the part of the body I inhabit. The blonde opens her bag and out flies a little purple dragon - Lockheed, Katherine named it - but it does not seem happy to see me. I wonder why - surely it cannot sense that I am not who I seem? Or maybe it can - dragons, in the Land of the Rising Sun, are often creatures of great wisdom. I must be very careful now, else my deception will be revealed. Katherine would be heartbroken to have caused the death of her mentor, so I will play that role to the hilt.
Ororo - the Windrider - is where I should start, I think. I approach her, then stop, looking guilty as tears run down my face. "I - I'm s-sorry, Ororo! It's all my fault! If I hadn't - "
She steps forward and embraces me, pulling my head against her shoulder. "No, Kitten, it is the fault of this 'Ogun' you mentioned to us on the phone. Logan would have been happy to sacrifice himself to save you, or any of us, you know that." She continues to murmur condolences into my ear.
Xavier will be listening to my thoughts, so it is time to use some of the mystic skills I have learnt over the centuries. I call up the mind of Katherine, let it take over for a while, and retreat to my own memories to summon up the guilt and self-condemnation she would feel. There are - incidents - in my very long life which have left long-buried feelings of guilt and self-loathing. I summon them up - an easy task for one who has trained his mind as thoroughly as his body - and let the mindreader see the emotions they would expect, as I cry my eyes out, just as Katherine would have done.
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Now what the hell is that dragon doing?! Kitty's back, yet he seems to be hiding from her! I dunno - has he been up to something he doesn't want her to find out about? I guess that must be it - though I don't know what it can be, he's been hanging around Rahne and me ever since Kitty went off to visit her father. And look what happened.
God, Logan dead. I wouldn't've believed it, yet he's not here. We all thought he was unkillable, the unstoppable survivor, the man who could take any injury and keep coming. More fool us. Ororo's trying to act as if nothing's the matter, but I know she's been crying. Kurt and Piotr are devastated, Scott's acting as if he's been hit on the head by a ton of bricks. Even the other New Mutants are in shock - they knew his rep, they'd seen him fight. Even if he killed this Ogun, like Kitty said, it's a trade we'd all rather had never been made. Maybe that's what's got Lockheed so shaken up - she must be heartbroken, and blaming herself for what happened.
I've got to be there for her, just like all the times she was there for me, when the memories of Belasco got too much to bear.
But why is something grating on my nerves, like nails on a blackboard? Something isn't what it should be, something about my old roommate. I think I'd better speak to her.
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Now danger approaches. The blonde sorceress, with a look of distrust on her face. "Hey Kitty, you didn't tell us what happened over there. What did this 'Ogun' want with you, anyway?"
She is suspicious. Of course, a sorceress - perhpas it is my magic that she senses. Well, it is a truism that the best lies are those which mix truth with falsehood. So, I must dissemble. "He - he was Logan's old teacher, his sensei. Logan had found out that he was evil and left him. M-my father was involved with the Yakuza - money-laundering. When I stumbled into their meeting, he decided he wanted me as his 'disciple'. What he meant was, he wanted to replace my soul with a copy of his own. Logan broke in to save me before he could finish, they f-fought, and, and - oh God! I'm so s-sorry!" I cry more, to show just how guilty I 'feel'.
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I thought I scented the taint of magic on her. It's like what Belasco did to me. Now her soul is marked, just like mine. Damn him! If he was alive, I'd summon demons to carry him off to Limbo to be tormented for eternity! My best friend, the one person who stayed with me no matter how bad I got - even Piotr sometimes gets nervous around me, but not Kitty!
Still, if she's touched by evil, maybe I'd better keep an eye on her in the future, just in case. After all, who knows what evil seeds that bastard might have planted in her ......
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Ah, that would explain a lot. I had thought that Kitty's mind did not feel as it did before she left to visit her father. True, her grief seems real and genuine, but there was something ... hidden, something deep, just as there is in Illyana. I was reluctant to make a deep mental probe, as I feel that it is morally wrong to do so without due cause, but, I was beginning to wonder whether it might prove necessary.
Perhaps I shall insist on such a probe once we are back at the mansion.......
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Now, the redhead. Her image is familiar to me through Katherine's memories, but her name is not known to me. Whoever she is, she is someone whom Katherine has not seen for some time. Time. Why does the word 'time' echo in my mind when I say it?
Wait - I believe that 'time' might be the key to understanding the mystery. Something in Katherine's memories to do with time. I must search through those memories until I find what I need to find.
Ah yes - there is an image of this redheaded girl, this .... Rachel. That is the name, Rachel. Katherine knew her, or will know her, in the future, or a possible future, one where mutants such as herself and her friends are hunted down and killed in internment camps. Rather ironic - they did the same to those of Japanese descent in the Second World War, for no other reason than their racial origin. The Americans have not changed, it seems ......
I wonder how it is that she managed to reach this time? She must have some ability to manipulate the timestream. I must try to find out what it is - it might be useful to me if I can have it at my disposal. Perhaps this is one I should concentrate on seducing ......
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Well, there's Kate, Kitty as she is here, just fourteen years old, not the woman I remember from the future. And Logan's dead. This .... this is just more proof this can't be my past, because he died during the attack on the Baxter Building. Our meddling with the past failed. I guess all I can do now is to do what's right, and try to stop any other X-Men dying before their time. Kate - sorry, Kitty - especially. She was, or will be, my best friend - I have to watch out for her, protect her. I don't want anyone else to die before I've got to know them again ......
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I believe that I have fooled the redheaded mind-witch and the weather-worker. The demon sorceress will have to wait. The Professor, however, will have to be dealt with a lot sooner. Fortunately, I have something with me which might suffice ......
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FIN