Memories

Family?

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.

As with their spilt, no one other than Tora and Logan knew what had caused their sudden, stronger friendship. Someone would come down in the middle of the night and hear them talking quietly in the living room. In the Danger Room they'd fight back-to-back, becoming an unstoppable fighting force, using their enhanced senses and similar training to allow them to know what the other would do and compliment it at exactly the right time. It would be slightly scary for them both to go into a low crouch and then, whilst Wolverine launched himself at the enemy, Tigress would flip over backwards and land on it's head. As soon as it was down they'd be back to back again, chatting about reading material or something stupid like that. When they were yelled at Tora had just turned her predatory golden eyes on them and said that the digital chips in her head really did most of the fighting and she could shut off connections between parts of the brain so she could multitask effectively. Logan had just told them he'd been doing it longer than anyone else in the room because the original X-Men team had only been founded seven years beforehand, in 1998*.The second team had been going for three years. He'd been doing what he did for much longer than that. At which point Tora coughed slightly and mentioned she'd been training years before that, back in the 80s. '87 to be precise. She'd managed to successfully stop that conversation. Probably it was the fact she'd been born about 1984 that did it.

And after training they disappeared into the computer room. People going in and out saw them sitting at terminals having arguments about whether to include New Orleans into the search. What search was a bit of a puzzler. Bets were going in thick and fast about what they were searching for. Course, no one wanted to be the one to ask. In the end the subject was tentatively raised at dinner. The answer had been nothing anyone had a bet on.

"We're lookin' for her family. Going through the birth records for the years she could have been born in, following them up, trying to find anything at all."

"Why didn't you ask for help?"

"Cos you can't understand. Peter and Kitty have families, Kurt has his foster family, 'Roro and Scott know what happened to their family and Scott has Alex. But me. I don't know who my family are. Closest I've got are the Hudsons. Tora ain't even got that. She's been alone and I know what that's like. No surnames, no clue to who we might be. Just a few empty words and a couple of scents. That's all we have."

She was sitting there quietly, head down slightly. Then she looked up quickly with that motion that was so catlike.

"I don't want to continue. It hurts. We've already gone through all the Quebec and major French speaking areas of Canada. We've done New Orleans and countless other cities. I don't care anymore. For all I know they sold me out when they found I was a mutant. And if I do find them they won't want this. A scarred, broken warrior. They lost a child. They won't want a woman who's seen far too much and will always be looking over her shoulder."

"But…"

"She'd been looking through all files, seeing children who grew up happily, had everything she'd lost out on. When you have nothing, even those who had very little seem much higher than you."

Logan was walking past her room in the night when he heard the screams. He hesitated before knocking once and going in. She was writhing under the sheet, claws out. He heard the words she was crying in pain. Things about metal burning and freezing. Begging to be left alone. Screaming insults to people he couldn't see but picture oh so well. Then she caught his scent and the thrashing stopped. She was still asleep, still in pain, but she relaxed. The screaming quieted to a low muttering. For the first time he properly looked around her room. It was blank, impersonal. The only suggestion that someone lived there were the book on the bedside table, a metal collar that caused him to snarl slightly and a coffee cup which Kitty had bought her with a cat on it. Her animal whine of pain remembered brought him back to reality. He'd known she had nightmares but so bad she screamed out like it was happening all over again? No, he hadn't known. She threw back her head and howled loudly. Why weren't the others coming to help? He hadn't a clue how to help his friend from the demons in her head. In the end he reached out and caught her flailing hands. She still tried to pull away and he didn't want to move in closer. But gradually she calmed down again and he felt better about leaving her to sleep.

When she woke the following morning she realized the night had been almost entirely nightmare free. Instead she'd dreamt she was running, running free and wild in the woods and there was no one to hurt her, trap her, pull her down. And for some strange reason Logan had been there too.

"She never stopped having the nightmares did she?"

"They lessened over time. But she never shook them of entirely. Sometimes they'd come back worse but overall she eventually got them under control. Other nightmares pushed them out the way."

"Can we get onto the bit I really want to see?"

"You're hopeless Death, you know that?"

"That's me darling."

"DON'T call me darling!"

"Hello Monsieur Circen, Madame Circen. My name is Ororo Munroe and I'm a student at the Xavier Institute. Until the lectures start, would you like to see the grounds?"

The lectures had been Stark's idea. The leading researcher in genetic mutation Charles Xavier using his school to host lectures on human-mutant cohabitation. Various lecturers had been invited and most had accepted. Word had got around that Dr Henry McCoy, Avenger and former X-Man would be giving some talks. Maybe some of the X-Men would be there. And the Circens, the French mutant rights activists who were all completely human. All except for the daughter who had disappeared. For weeks the pictures of the toddler with a huge smile on her face as she tugged at the fur of a cat who seemed quite happy to be mauled by the child had been on the front pages of papers everywhere back in the eighties. But bigger and better news had pushed it out of the way. The other daughter, a fifteen year old raven haired girl looked like she was bored senseless.

Tora was the only student not giving selective tours but was weaving in and out of the crowds reading some of important documents and running errands for the Professor. Her hair had been pulled up in a tight ponytail that didn't really suit her. There was a look of slight concentration on her face as she took in the statistics on the sheet, stepped neatly around people and absent-mindedly offered out drinks from the tray on the other hand. She'd gone and separated all the parts of her brain again to multi task effectively. However, Storm was quickly whisking the lecturers around the school.

"Over there is Scott Summers. He was one of the original students and brilliant at spatial geometry. Over there is Kurt Wagner, a gymnast. He used to work in a circus as a trapeze artist. Kitty Pryde, a fully certified genius. Can do almost anything with computers. Peter Rasputin is an amazing artist. I know Logan's around here somewhere, he's…well he can do quite a lot. And Tora's helping the Professor I think. She's a linguist."

Logan suddenly shot past making a remark about rescuing Johnny Storm from Tora before he tried to flirt with her.

"What was that about, Mademoiselle Munroe?"

"Tora will sit quietly listening to him and then go 'Pardon?" in whatever language she's learning at the moment. She doesn't do relationships very well."

"Porquoi?"

"Speak English, Eloise."

"Fine then. Why doesn't she do relationships?"

Kurt suddenly arrived at Ororo's shoulder.

"Are we talking about Tora? She may be a genius at languages but she can't hold a decent conversation for karamelle."

"That isn't her fault Kurt. You haven't had to hear her nightmares. Some of the stuff she screams is…horrific."

"What happened?"

The two X-Men glanced at one another. They couldn't exactly tell the Circens that Tora had been tortured, beaten and turned into a living weapon. In the end they settled for the closest thing to the truth.

"She grew up in care homes where she was abused. She still has some of the scars."

"Paurve fille."

"She doesn't talk about it. She'd rather everyone forget about it. Logan's the only one she talks about it too."

"Why does she ignore it?"

"She finds it easier. She refused the therapy when offered it. I think she had to become detached from others. At any rate she has a habit of wandering off in the middle of conversations or hopping from one thing to another."

All five turned to look at the young woman whose brow was now furrowed as Logan tried yet again to explain that the blond man she'd been talking to was trying to hit off with her. He was saved from her questions by Beast bounding exuberantly up to the platform to begin his talk.

"Greetings. I feel most welcome back at my old place of learning whence I once studied hard and probably cheated in lots of tests with my partners in crime. That was before all my escapades with the X-Men and Avengers of course. Well-"

Hank launched into one of his lectures with lots of long words and scientific terms. Tora sat completely still, committing the entire talk to memory and probably also translating the whole thing into twelve different languages as well. She was nearest the door so she was the first to hear the people outside. Therefore when the people burst in with anti-mutant banners it was to see a petite woman with a slight smile on her face dropping reams of paper onto the floor. You couldn't blame them for laughing when she asked them to leave politely. And when she wasn't so polite you couldn't blame them for running. A 5 foot 4 martial artist who seemed to have experience dealing with multiple foes at once is rather scary. Especially when they saw her eyes. Eyes with slits for pupils that widened playfully when she saw their fear. She dealt with them so quickly no one had the heart to intervene. After all she'd spent the whole day trying to be something she wasn't. She turned round when the last one had run screaming like a baby out the door.

"Mr Stark, I thought you had hired security?"

"I did. Can I hire you? Where did you learn that?"

"When you grow up like I did, you learn to fight. And I already have a job."

She sat back down, oblivious to the fact all the gazes at the meeting were now on her and rearranged her notes. Most of the people in the room were wondering who the girl was and what her upbringing had been that meant she could take on an anti-mutant mob single-handed. Ororo saw the Circens frown at one another. Then he leant forward and asked to meet Tora.

The rest of the talks went without a hitch. When it was over Tora was approached by Ororo leading a middle aged couple and a teenager over to her.

"Ororo?"

"Tora, will you meet the Circens. Henri Circen, Esme Circen and Eloise."

"Bonjour Monsieur, Madame Circen. Et salut Eloise."

None of them answered. The woman leant in and looked at her closely.

"Henri, I think it's her."

"Pardon?"

The man looked at her, taking in the black streak in fiery red and then looked at her eyes.

"C'est sa! Esme, c'est sa!"

Tora backed away slightly in confusion. Her lips opened and closed slightly.

"Pardon Monsieur, Madam? Qu'est-ce-que…?"

"Marie. Marie is that you? Please let it be you."

"Pardon? Madame, je ne pas compris…"

"It is you Marie. I'd know your eyes anywhere. Cherie where were you? All this time… Don't you remember us? Oh, Marie what did they do to you?"

Tora's eyes were widening, her face showing an expression of pain, confusion and maybe, just a little bit of comprehension. Stuttering out a word she had held close all this time.

"Maman?"

Suddenly she turned and ran, trying hard to get away from things that were hammering on the barriers thrown up around her. Logan came running over.

"What's wrong with Tora?"

Storm was just looking slightly dumbstruck.

"Tora? Is that what you call her? She isn't Tora. She's Marie. Our daughter Marie."

Logan swore.

"You went and told her that straight out didn't you? She's lost and confused and she'd just got it all under control then you come barging in and shatter everything she's built up."

And without another word, the feral mutant went charging after his friend.

"She is extremely messed up."

"Death, shut up. Do you want to be expelled for excessive talking just as we reach the point you've been dying to see ever since you turned up?"

*I'm working on a 14-year timeline, with the first team of the X-Men starting in 1998 and the ongoing Schism arc happening in 2011.