Memories

Just A Little Sadness

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

They heard Scott shout over the com-link that they had to go to Manhattan now, as there was some sort of emergency. Tora sighed and put her half-drunk cup of coffee down on the desk. She looked at the sketch she'd been doing and grinned. They'd only been back for two weeks and in that time Dr Doom had tried to take over the world and a building in San Francisco had been blown up by Mystique. The Brotherhood job had been easy. Find them, fight them, beat them, just like they always did. The Doom problem had been harder. They'd been captured but Gambit had charged his chains so they blew up and got everyone else out. Then it had just been a charge through the castle and threats to electrocute the good doctor until he promised to give up on that plan to rule the world. She'd been hoping for a break. Not a chance.

She went downstairs with Logan and they got changed into their uniforms before the Blackbird took off.

"Why are we flying? Parking's terrible in Manhattan."

Everyone just groaned at the joke and didn't answer. Tora grinned under the mask. The other women all had open facemasks or headdresses. Jean, who had returned to Phoenix, and Rogue didn't wear anything on their heads and Storm wore a headdress. Kitty, who was now going by Shadowcat, couldn't chose. She was veering towards the no-mask course though. Eloise was angling for a position on the X-Men but Tora adamantly refused to allow her anywhere near the Danger Room, let alone the basement or the Blackbird. Jubilee, despite going around a lot with Logan, who she called Wolvie, wasn't officially an X-Man. She was getting there though. However Eloise had said if Jubilee became an X-Man, she should be allowed to be one as well and Tora had gone upstairs with a headache.

When they landed, it was obvious where they were needed. Just follow the cloud of smoke and go the way everyone else is running from. Scott was in full leader mode.

"Angel, can you find out what's going on? Tigress, Wolverine and Colossus, go ahead, clear the way for us. Beast, Storm rescue civilians. Rogue, Gambit, Iceman try and reduce the amount of structural damage. Shadowcat, Phoenix, with me. Nightcrawler, go with Angel."

He didn't bother to check to see if everyone was obeying his orders. He knew they would be. In times like this, they worked together. In the corner of his eye he saw Angel and Nightcrawler fly and teleport towards the smoke, Colossus, Wolverine and Tigress running after them, getting abandoned cars out of the way. They knew what to do. They all did. Jean linked their minds. He could sense everyone but Tora, who would be listening to Logan and Piotr. Cyclops led them towards the explosions. Angel sent a message back to him.

New bad guys. Looks like they're tech-based. There's twelve of them. So two of us will have to team up.

I can count Warren. See if you can work out who should fight whom.

Well, there's a big guy with Colossus's name on him. And Wolverine should fight the insane chick with the whip.

Cyclops heard Jean's psychic laughter. Then Angel sent an image of the three forerunners arriving and getting into the swing of things. When Cyclops and the rest got there, they appeared to be outnumbered and it showed. Tigress was fighting four, Wolverine, the three most dangerous looking, Colossus was in a headlock from the largest of the lot and Angel and Nightcrawler fighting two each. The help that the others gave them meant the fight didn't go on for long. Tigress was batted over a few blocks, but she got back in time to help take down the leader. No one noticed that she could have got back earlier or that she seemed down.

"Good work everyone."

Most smiled happily. Piotr armoured down and Warren and Ororo landed. Logan took a few steps towards Tora and suddenly everything went wrong. A shot echoed and Tora pushed Logan out of the way, staggering backwards with a long dart sticking out of her stomach. When Storm stepped towards her, Tora waved her back. A single trickle of blood ran from her nose. For a second, it seemed like time had stopped. Then a second blast emanated from the dart and she fell. Logan caught her and she managed to put her hand to his face. Slow, stuttering words were whispered. He had to strain to hear her.

"So sorry…don't cry Carcajou…I'll be watching…from…somewhere. I love…"

Her hand slid down his face, landing on her chest. The fingers on the other hand scrabbled at his chest then were still.

"Wolverine, what happened?"

For a long time, the Canadian didn't answer. When he did, it was in a deadpan tone, making it obvious he was just speaking because he had been asked.

"Healing halter on the dart. Shrapnel pierced her heart and lungs. Internal bleeding. Should have caused instantaneous death."

He was holding her close, cradling her head to his chest. His uniform was being stained with seeping blood and red hair was brushing the ground. No one was quite able to believe what had happened. Doom had slit her open in front of them and she'd laughed it off. She'd made a stupid joke on the way here. She'd been making a sarcastic remark in French to Gambit ten minutes beforehand. She'd been taunting her opponent. An hour ago she'd been having an argument with Eloise about joining the X-Men. At lunch, she'd entertained them all with a Magneto impersonation which was surprisingly accurate, despite her having never fought him. It was inconceivable that the spark inside her that survived torture, brutality and the efforts of numerous supervillains could be extinguished by something as mundane as a dart from an anonymous sniper. But then the realization set in and Kitty began screaming.

In a room in a castle in Scotland, a tiny silver orb set with sapphires started buzzing. A graceful black hand scooped it up and silver eyes examined it. Etana placed the orb back on the table and pressed the largest stone to halt it. She hung her head sadly.

"It is done."

A soft, musical voice spoke out of the gloom.

"And it has not yet ended. Go. The X-Men need you. And Etana? You mustn't tell them the truth. That will come with time. And they cannot know you know. Understand? Even Hunter mustn't know."

The Black Angel turned towards the shadows. A single tear soaked her midnight fur.

"I know."

Phoenix shuddered.

"I remember that. All too well. When we removed her mask her eyes were so empty. And Eloise was crying for hours. We wouldn't let her see the body."

"Do you want me to skip telling her parents?"

"I couldn't believe her mother could be so cold. She told us to our faces that they only had one daughter. And then to find out…"

Everyone had glassy eyes. The final words of the service were uttered. Finally Scott stepped up. Logan hadn't said a word since Tora died. Cyclops gulped a few times before he began his talk.

"We all trusted Tora. But I don't think she trusted herself. You all saw it in her eyes. That fear that she was dangerous. But we all trusted her with our lives and she never once gave us reason to doubt her. She suffered a lot more than most could and she came out of it with her humanity intact. She was a good hero and X-Man. But she was more than that. She was a good friend. The best. I know a lot of you were here three weeks ago. I don't think any of us expected to be back now, especially not for this. I'm not certain I should be the one to do this…"

Eyes darted to Logan, who was almost being held up by Etana. Everyone knew what had happened in the days since her death. He'd disappeared and been found in a bar, having drunk enough to kill an army in a desperate attempt to become intoxicated. Etana had been able to get him home and when they got to his room, he'd backed away and ended up sleeping outside. Jean had tried to scan him and just found a rolling sea of pain. Scott finished his piece on Tora and everyone dissipated. No one noticed the figure standing far away, watching the proceedings. Her face was covered in a blank metal mask which went with the armour she wore. A face below turned to look at her and the Fallen Angel made a single signal with her hand. 'Go.' The woman nodded then pressed a button on her wrist and faded out of existence.

Phoenix sighed slightly.

"Etana knew all that time."

"She had her reasons."

"I know that know. But at the time I thought she was a selfish monster for hiding that from us."