Blaze had barely left the building when a brown-haired young boy cut across her path, running as though his life depended on it. A dark-haired girl followed hot on his tail, shouting as she ran.
"You are so toast, Bobby Drake!" The child pulled back an arm, calling on her mutant powers. A fireball shot forward as she threw it to just miss her friend, she'd never really hurt Iceman.
"Amara! No!" Logan cried out from the doorway, Magma had misjudged the throw, hadn't seen the curly haired stranger in the path of her fireball. All three X-Men stopped and gasped as the fireball bore down on Blaze and then stopped, dancing at the end of her fingers.
"Hum," Blaze mused appreciatively. "This is hot."
"Um, hot enough to melt rock." Magma filled in, head tilted to one side as she watched Blaze caress the fireball Amara had created. "How are you doing that?"
"What," Blaze frowned, looking down on the pint-sized X-Man, "You can't control fire even though you create it?"
"No," Magma's voice was turning sulky. There was only one mutant she knew who could actually get fire to do what he wanted, Magneto's henchman Pyro.
"Well you got the power Small-Fry. The control will come in time, trust me." Blaze turned her palm upwards and let the fireball sit leisurely in her hand. Then she began to draw the heat and energy of the fireball into herself, adding Magma's power to her own store of energy and putting the fire out. "The only piece of advice I can give you is not to try and force it. That's when bad things happen, okay?"
Magma nodded, aware as Blaze seemed not to be of Wolverine and Bobby stood watching them both with eyes goggling. Seconds later Blaze started the car's engine and drove away.
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"Dad?" It was a question asked hesitantly, unsure of the reaction in would get. Ilehana was not prepared for the answer.
#My daughter. # Charles Xavier's telepathic words communicated so much more than just a welcome. The feelings he sent along the link were of joy, pride and love so overwhelming they broke down emotional barriers Ilehana did not even know she had set up. In a second she went to him, embracing her father and not fighting the tears. She'd not left because she had fallen out with him. She had been in a no-win situation she just had to get out of. Even as she tried to explain telepathically why she had left him he was pushing it all to one side, so glad was he to have her back.
A short while later Vixen sniffed and pulled away from her father's embrace. He smiled and indicated she sit.
#You've grown so beautiful,# he told her, talking mind to mind as easily as if he were speaking aloud. #I sense Wolverine has noticed this too…#
#Drop it Dad.# Ilehana was smiling not scowling, well used to her father's good-natured teasing on the subject of Logan. How could it feel as if no time had passed since she had last sat in her father's company?
#Of course,# he agreed, smiling too. #Perhaps instead I should be asking why you of all people have adopted a stray fire elemental? I thought you couldn't stand fire Ilehana?#
#I admit it surprised me a little too, but Blaze is so honest about her powers that it's hard not to admire her. Not so long ago she was fighting and losing a daily battle to keep her powers under control. She's learnt to accept her firepower so much it is everything she is now, if that makes sense?#
#I believe it does, but do you think she is still dangerous? Is that why you have come home?# Ilehana shook her head gently at her father's questing. One step at a time.
#Yes, Blaze is dangerous but she's no more a threat than you or I. Nor is she the reason why I'm here. She's here for me, a concerned friend…# Charles Xavier was suddenly overwhelmed with fear. What was wrong with his daughter?
"I've been having dreams," Ilehana began aloud, feeling less vulnerable that way. "Nightmares so vivid it's like I'm living them, like I can reach out and touch the people in the dream with my own hands. When I wake up I remember it all perfectly and it's the same every time. I'm afraid to go to sleep and when I explore my own mind with my telepathy I feel as though there is another's work there. Dad, I think someone has been messing with my memories…"
"Tell me about the dream," the Professor encouraged, though something struck a chord deep within him and filled him with dread.
"I'm small, not very old. I'm with Mom and we're shopping. Some men come into the shop and threaten the boy behind the counter. I've wandered off talking to someone, maybe mice? Next thing I know the building is shaking, a refrigeration unit falls over me, protecting me but I can hear screaming. I reach out telepathically for Mom, but…" Ilehana couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, instead shaking stubborn tears from her cheeks. "I don't understand it, you told me Mom died in a car crash, that neither of us were there…"
Charles Xavier had long known this day would come but it didn't mean he was prepared for it. He felt ill, ashamed. How to explain? "Ilehana," he began, waiting until she looked up at him before continuing. "You're right someone has altered your memories. I'm ashamed to admit it but I…"
"You?" Vixen froze, the betrayal cutting too deeply. "You changed my memories? Lied to me about how Mom died? How dare you!" Her anger fuelled her change; shape shifting quickly Vixen became a sleek grey wolf with black-tipped ears. The wolf shook its head with teeth bared, then darted and leaped carelessly through the open window.