Disclaimer: The X-Men are the property of Marvel. Golan and Cirrus belong exclusively to Star and are used with permission. Corrinth retains all rights to Ilehana Xavier and Ori. Lamby retains all rights to Blaze.
A/N: This story is a joint work between Lamby and Corrinth, based on Corrinth's X-Men the Movie fanfiction of the same name. Reviews always welcome.
07
"To be honest Vixen, Storm has a point." Blaze stated, her irritation with all this rubbish clear in her tone. Ilehana made no move to face her flatmate though she knew the briefing room was now empty other than the two of them. "I'm not too hot about this whole thing either."
"The X-Men are the Guardians, Blaze." Ilehana answered quietly. "I have all the evidence I need."
"But we don't." Blaze pointed out succinctly. "And as far as I'm concerned I have plenty of power to be struggling on with. I don't want any more, and you know I don't hold out much for this destiny stuff."
"How dare you!" Ilehana finally spun her chair round and got to her feet. Her fists were balled, arms as straight as ramrods by her sides. "After everything I've done for you over the past year! You think it was chance that had me turn up in Paris looking for a thief, just as you were on the edge of losing control? Looking for a thief to borrow a tablet of stone alluding to the Guardians of Destiny!"
"A year later and I still lose control! Or have you forgotten Vancouver already in your quest for power? Yeah, sure you have helped, but just how much Ilehana?" Blaze stood and shouted back, feeling her powers swelling up inside her, fighting them with everything she had. She could not lose control now or she would kill her friend! Forcefully she bit back on her fury, taking a deep breath before trying to speak again more calmly. "Maybe here's not the best place for me to be; I mean, look at the number of times it's come so close to destroying me?"
"And where else should you be, Blaze?" Vixen asked in return, her voice gentle but steady. "Still out there, thieving and lying to yourself that you're doing okay?"
Blaze gave the tiniest of shrugs. Vixen was right, of course; at least she had done some good with the X-Men. Sometimes, though, she missed the freedom of her old life, where there were fewer rules, and a girl could be herself, where the only person you had to impress was yourself... She shook her head, "Sometimes I just wonder if I belong here, that's all."
Right then Blaze knew she had to leave. This was it, as far as she could come as an X-Man. Dread and disappointment choked her, forcing sobs from her that she was powerless to hold back. Seconds later, she felt Ilehana encasing her in a warm hug, and Blaze was powerless to pull away. Ilehana let her cry, let her sob out her anger and frustration, never saying a word and keeping her telepathy reigned in. While Blaze cried, Ilehana wondered why it had been so easy to keep her powers in check now when she'd lost them so easily against Jean... she put it down to the different relationships as Blaze sniffled.
"I'm sorry." Blaze muttered. "I'm just... Lost, I guess."
"I know." Ilehana admitted.
"The tablet." The redhead asked suddenly, brushing her hair away from her face. "You said it was about the Guardians?" Ilehana nodded. Blaze bit her lip nervously; wanting to make amends for upsetting Vixen and not sure if this was the way to do it. "What did it say?"
"It talked about the Key." Ilehana freely admitted. "It said he will be the one to unlock the power of the Guardians."
"You have got to be kidding me?" There was a trace of the old Blaze in that question. "You are telling me that I single-handily air-lifted a two tonne lump of rock out of and then back into a museum, fulfilling your pangs of conscience, and inside two hours, for it to tell you that you need a key to undo a lock? Heck Ilehana, I could have sold you my lock picks and been done with it!"
"When you put it like that..." Ilehana had to smile. "But there is more I've found out about the Key, such as he will not know his place until the final moment."
"That's all very well." Blaze began, "But did the ancients who wrote the prophecies realise that if he doesn't know who he is, and we don't either, if a fight starts between us and Mystique we can't guarantee he wont be killed in the crossfire?" Blaze smiled at Ilehana's suddenly worried expression. "There was more on that tablet, wasn't there?"
"Yes but I..."
"Obviously couldn't break the code." Blaze filled in the gaps for herself. "But if I know you at all, you'll still have it all scribbled down somewhere, even if you don't understand it. Let me see it. Go talk to Storm, convince her or whatever, give me half an hour and let me see if I can't spot something you haven't. You know I can do it, I don't have this ridiculous photographic memory for nothing, Vixen."
"Alright." Ilehana conceded. "But only because one of us at least does believe in Destiny..."
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"Storm?" Ilehana tapped on Ororo's bedroom door. At Storm's invitation, she pushed opened to see the air elemental perched on the windowsill, embracing the wind as it rushed round the room in a frenzy of activity, the purpose of which evaded both mutants. "We need to talk."
"I won't do it." Storm insisted. "I won't be a toy for you to manipulate."
"I understand your fear. I'm a telepath, Storm, and right now your fear is oozing from you like blood from an open wound. There is no danger here, you will be in full control of your powers at all times." Ilehana's voice was calming, smooth, and Storm searched her mind for any sign that Ilehana was invading her thoughts. There was none.
"No." Storm insisted loudly, as if volumes might make Ilehana understand. "Why won't you just let it rest, Vixen? Can't you see how much this hurts me?"
"I'm sorry, Storm." Ilehana offered quietly, "I never meant to hurt you. But I do think you're destined to be more than what you have become. I'm offering you the chance to do some real good in the world, not just to save my father, but to protect the lives of the people out there, to fulfil my father's dreams of a world where humans and mutants stand united... To fulfil your fate, Guardian." Ilehana finished in a lordly tone.
"And what about you, Guardian?" There was a hint of scepticism in Storm's tone, and Ilehana was glad to hear the vitality returning to her.
"I'm no Guardian." Ilehana corrected her, "I am the Chosen One, the one Mystique is mistaken in thinking is my father. By the end of this - whether we go through with it or not, I shall have less power than I was born with." It was as she saw the doubt on Storm's face that Ilehana finally used her telepathy to show Ororo the truth about her role in the Guardians legend. Ilehana assured her that if at any time she wanted out, there would always be a door open for that. And finally, Vixen sensed from Storm a distraught horror.
"You would do that for your cause? For us and your father?"
"I must. But Storm, no one must know of what I have to do. Some of them would never go along with it if they knew. Promise me?"
"I promise. And I will go with you," Storm agreed, "Because after everything, I owe my life and so much more to your father. No matter what I feel about this, he needs us, and I will pay my debt to the Xaviers."
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"What are you doin'?" Bobby asked, bringing Blaze her requested snacks and leaning over her shoulder to see the computer screen. It wasn't often he thought a computer was talking gibberish. "Vixen said somethin' 'bout you tryin' to crack a code? How's that work?"
"Its just like playing hangman," Blaze smiled.
"Yeah, right." Bobby agreed sarcastically. "If you were playing it in Chinese or something..."
"Which dialect?" Blaze asked slyly, not looking up from the screen. "I hear a language, see it written, whatever, I pick it up. Makes me very good at code cracking."
"And modest too." Bobby chipped in as Ilehana entered the room again.
"Damn I hate being right all the time!" Blaze suddenly swore, kicking her chair across the room as she stood. Ilehana pushed Bobby aside carelessly as she poured over the screen. Blaze had done it, the whole passage translated, and Ilehana could read it aloud.
"The Key will release the power of the Guardians. His power is to break matter, liberate energy..." Vixen turned to Blaze who was stood cast in righteous fury, a splinter away from charging right out the door.
"This whole damn thing has been a set up from the start! Mystique's been playing us every chance she got to get her slimy hands on Gambit because he's the Key!"