Memories
Old Promises
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
Hank was sleeping on his keyboard when Logan burst in and shook him awake.
"Whur…Logan…? It's six in the morning…?"
"Yeah, and Tora ain't up!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"She normally wakes at five!"
What Logan said was true. Hank swore and ran upstairs, finding Tora curled up under the covers looking ill.
"Who slipped the gamma emitter in my coffee?"
"What?"
"This feels like radiation poisoning…"
Hank glanced over at Logan. Unsaid words flashed between them. When had Tora learnt what radiation poisoning felt like? She looked slightly green and she was curled up in a ball.
"This is worse than…"
What it was worse than never came out because she threw up. Hank blinked then smiled slightly.
"Logan, I think Tora is just suffering from morning sickness."
"Oh…"
Tora's red head stuck out from the covers.
"I want my healing factor back."
Jean groaned.
"I'd forgotten that. That was why I didn't have kids."
Her companion laughed.
"Oh, that's only the beginning. Then you get sleepless nights, puke on your shoulder, smells and who knows what else. Oh, and intensive trouble finding a half-way decent babysitter on short notice."
"I remember the letter. 'Will all supervillains give me twenty-four hours warning before you try to take over the world so I can get a babysitter.'"
Etana reeled back with the force of the punch, blood splattering on fur. She glared at her assailant.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I am not the evil, twisted wife of Apocalypse from your reality. And I know that because my teacher was a time traveller and reality jumper."
The big man shrugged.
"I'm never going to get a chance to do it to her, so I felt I needed to get it out of my system."
"Well, that's my eighth broken nose this century. I'm going to get Hank to patch me up."
He nodded at her.
"You seem pretty decent in this reality."
"Blame Captain America. Him and his morals."
He laughed. Then frowned.
"Have you met Apocalypse in this world?"
"Yes. I threw him off the top of a pyramid. That was after he proposed…"
"You…threw Apocalypse…off the top…of a pyramid…?"
"Yes. After I told him he was an arrogant, er, there isn't a word for the next bit in English. Just insert the rudest word you know. Times it by a hundred and you're almost there. Then I broke his nose and threw him off the pyramid."
"I think I'm going to like you."
"Good to know. So Nathan, when are you going to tell Scott?"
"Probably not for a while. And remember to call me Cable."
"Sure…Nate."
"Surrup."
"Oh, and don't make any references to Tora throwing up. Her healing factors on the blink."
The two women laughed.
"She never did tell us how she broke her nose. Or that Apocalypse proposed to her."
"It was a long time ago…"
"You think you'd remember that."
Tora sighed. March and the boredom had set in. No missions, no training. All she could do was help Hank and he'd banned her from the lab because she hadn't got her healing factor. So now she was reduced to babysitting Franklin Richards, which to tell the truth wasn't actually that boring. He was a smart kid and he seemed quite easy to deal with. And he could play chess which meant they didn't have to watch TV or anything like that. Instead they talked and laughed. Franklin told her things that she had missed out on, like games and childhood jokes. She told stories from the books she had read and introduced him to Etana. That had been a touching moment. He had tilted his head to one side and then asked, very plaintively 'Can I touch your wings?' Etana had smiled and extended one out for him to touch. It ended up with a game of hide and seek that involved teleportation, flight and something being set on fire. But once Etana had put her wings out and they'd aired the place to get rid of the smell of singed feathers, Franklin had gone to sleep with his head on her lap and the look Etana had given him made Tora wonder why Etana had never had children.
The image froze of the tender look in Etana's silver eyes. She did look gentler than she normally did. Her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, at odds with her usual loose hair or elaborate hairstyles for fighting. The fur and feathers around her eyes were slightly singed but she looked content and slightly wistful.
"I never saw her looking like that."
"She wanted children. She never had the chance to have them."
"Yeah. It's sad."
Etana looked at the raw skin under the patchy fur. Exactly as the Master said it would happen. She'd been avoiding the others for days. It was now mid-April and she had one last thing to do before she went to see Hank and tell him. She closed her eyes and teleported, arriving outside a door.
Etana stood at the door for a second before knocking.
"'Tana?"
"Steve. I need to talk."
"What about?"
"I've contracted the Legacy Virus."
She tilted her head back, waiting to see how he reacted.
"You better come in."
She stepped in and smiled slightly. The room was a typical 40's bedroom, with the shield hanging above the bed.
"Who knows?"
"Just you."
"Beast will find a cure."
"Yes. Yes he does."
He was finding it hard to see how she was taking it so well. She'd just informed him she had a fatal illness in the tone one used to say 'I have a dog'. She gazed at him with those silver eyes.
"I came to tell you that if you come to see me I'll refuse. Not because I don't want to see you. I don't want you to have to see the effects of the Virus. It's not pretty."
He knew about the virus. Everyone did. But it was something that happened to other people. The idea that the Shadow, the Darkwing, could catch it, much less die from it was inconceivable. She had lived through war, genocide and numerous assassination attempts. Steve reached out a hand and touched her arm. Aside from dancing, this was the closest they'd been physically in years. Somehow the comforting touch on her arm became an embrace as Steve tried to deal with what he'd been told and Etana's bleak future. She pulled away from him, silver eyes sad.
"Captain, what we had died. Don't try and bring back the dead."
He looked hurt but simply nodded.
"You better go then."
Etana nodded then turned to go.
"See you around Discus-Boy."
Steve didn't see the tears in her eyes or the thoughts in her head. It was better for them both this way. Less hurt when she died as she surely would. Steve didn't know she was hoping, praying that he would call her back. How could he? He wasn't a telepath. Both knew deep down that Steve would never see Etana alive again. And that old questions would never be answered. Old dreams never lived. Old promises broken.
Phoenix gasped.
"Cap!"
Her companion smiled.
"Yes."