Memories

Secrets of Etana

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

Tora sat in the room thinking about what had just happened. She'd been falling and unable to stop, even if she tapped into Dragon's power. And then something had appeared around her, a body made of water, who caught her with it's immaterial hands (still working that one out) and slowed her fall. And for a second, she'd sworn she'd seen her own face looking at her. She brushed her hand over the smooth material of her new uniform. The silver symbol was irritating her. A dragon, roaring to the sky. Wings outstretched. Serpentine body twisting. Then she remembered. She dived into her personal files and brought out the letter, forgotten in the months since Etana's death. The symbol on the seal was identical to the Dragon sign on her chest. Frowning, Tora unsheathed a claw and ripped the envelope open.

Dear Tora,

Hello again. I take it by now, you've joined with Dragon. If you haven't STOP READING THIS INSTANT! Well, this is the last letter I'll ever write and it is the most difficult letter I'll ever write as well. You see, even now, I still have many secrets. Some are little. Some are my great regrets. But all of them aren't really secrets. You see, my Master knew everything about me. My Master. She was my angel. She brought me and my father's body home, told my uncle my name. Taught me to survive when my guardians died. Guided my hand through the ages.

In other news, I hope Jamie's doing well (you tell me all about him!) and that you are extra nice to Jean. Strokes aren't pretty. Right, I'm off to the Medi-Lab. See you soon. Or not. Well, you may see me, a young me. I may see you again. I'm not sure. Oh, and if anyone tries to resurrect me, can you stop them. I don't think I could stand another five thousand years on Earth.

Love,

'Tana

The lighthearted tone of the letter was offset by the tear smudges. Tora crumpled it up and screamed an obscenity. Stupid, stupid, stupid! That explained everything. And then her hand went up to the necklace Etana had given her three years ago. For the first time ever, it was warm. Frowning, she pulled it off and started. The inscription had changed.

"She Who Rides the Waves of Time Is She Who Wears This Chain and Feels The Warmth of Ages."

Weird. Wait a second. Etana had got this off her Master. Who apparently got it off Tora. So that meant she would give Etana the necklace… After thinking about this for about ten minutes, Tora started looking for aspirins. There's only so many circular paradoxes a person can take before their head explodes. And even for someone who's just started thinking in twelve dimensions, time travel is still hellishly tricky. Especially when you've only just started thinking in twelve dimensions. Most people, scratch that, 99.999999999% of people, can't think in four dimensions, let alone twelve. Even Reed Richards could only manage ten. But when you suddenly let in something that watched the Universe being formed and probably had quite a lot of input into what happened, then all normal rules go flying out the windows.

Actually, I think in infinite dimensions. I cut down to twelve just to acclimatise you.

Acclimatise me! Wouldn't it be easier to get there, say one dimension at a time?

But you'll need to help with some of my duties, which are very interesting to say the least, and I need you to think in as many dimensions as possible.

Go fish.

I do not understand that phrase. And congratulations, you have mastered sarcastic tone in telepathy. Very few can do that.

Just go away.

Fine. I'll be in the memories area of your mind if you need me.

Why there?

Lots of emotion. Don't worry, I stay out of the room marked Private. I'm not that desperate to be human. You could have given me warning yesterday.

Yes. That was very polite of you, leaving like that. And the blindfold made me laugh.

In between-

Right, conversation over.

Both laughing in their minds, Tora marvelled at the ease she felt with Dragon. And they'd only bonded yesterday. It was like a missing part of her, a piece that had been taken away when she was born and now it had been given back.

"It makes you feel that, you know."

"Jean!"

"Yeah. I guessed what you've thinking from your emotions. It's not like that. You think it's a part of you and then it thinks, or worse still does, something you would never do and you realize you aren't the same."

"Says the woman who can't tell if it's Phoenix talking or her."

"That's…That's different."

"Yes Jean. It is. You yourself said it. Dragon only takes one person. It's like I've come home Jean. After all these years of not knowing what I was, whether I was Marie or Xii or Weapon X-ii or Tora or Tigress. Now I know."

"So what are you?"

"I am Dragon. And I am Marie and Xii and Weapon X-ii, only not very much, and Tora and Tigress. But mostly I am Dragon."

She smiled and got up.

"I need to go. I have a class to teach."

And walking away, humming under her breath, Tora didn't notice the little water dragon floating alongside her. She was too happy.

Death laughed.

"She didn't notice a piece of her soul bobbing alongside her?"

"Human's have a thing with souls. They like putting them in swords."

"She just had to be different."

"Well you have to admit, Jeanne was a very good listener."

"She was a tiger. A grey-blue tiger."

"A Maltese tiger, thank you very much."

"Huh?"

"Coat colouration. Like white, tabby and golden tigers but Maltese tigers are much more rare. There have been sightings but nothing concrete."

"There are tabby tigers?"

"I am an archivist Death. I notice things. Or file them at any rate."

"You hit him?"

"I didn't hit him. I threatened to. I waved my claws at him. But I didn't touch him. And he didn't turn up to detention. Again. Trust me Charles, the Quire boy is trouble. I get this weird feeling every time I look at him. Not to mention Dragon starts panicking. Look, I know he's your 'special student' and all that, but Charles, he is more trouble than he's worth. He asked me today why I wasn't with Magneto after what people did to me."

"And what did you say?"

"I said that two wrongs don't make a right and I feel a lot better saving their butts because it makes them feel guilty and I don't even think we should be called mutants. It doesn't help our case at all."

"What are you suggesting we name ourselves? Homo Sapiens Superior isn't very popular."

"We should be Homo Sapiens Sapiens. No mutants, no mutates, no baseline humans. Life would be a lot easier."

"You still threatened him."

"Listen Xavier. That kid is a temporal catastrophe waiting to happen. Not to mention he's a dangerous mutant supremacist who can't wait to go off and start a new Brotherhood. You thought Magneto was bad Charles. At least Erik has a reason. But Quire? He's just in it for the kicks. And I think he's doing Kick as well. No way does someone gain control of their telepathic abilities so quickly, unless they're using something evil. And I should mention, that stuff stinks to high heaven of bad."

"Tora, your concerns are noted. But you can't scare pupils."

"I didn't scare him. He did not say a word, wet his pants or in anyway smell of fear."

"Tora…"

"Look, the things he said. Charles that kid shouldn't be here. I know you think everyone should get a second chance. But he's dangerous and he's got a plan. I'm referring him to Scott and Emma-" her distaste at White Queen's name was palpable, "-and I want you to lay off the special treatment. In return, I'll keep my temper when around him. Oh, and congratulations on your talk at the Senate. I thought it was inspiring, although I was rather annoyed you showed the photos of my injuries."

"I wanted them to see what happened to a mutant who listened to reason and to show we aren't all evil."

"Yeah, and my back was shown to the whole world. Next time, tell me please."

"Of course Tora. Just please stop threatening students. It's more in line with Logan's line of thinking than yours. And send Quentin in after you."

"Of course oh High and Mighty Lord of Mutants."

"Wah-What!"

"I had you on there Charles. Don't worry. I'm just teasing…My Lord. Different reality. Couldn't resist."

And laughing she exited the room, having reduced Charles to spluttering.

Death smirked.

"She had a sense of humour, I'll give her that."

"Tell me about it."

"Sarcastic, and able to come up with comebacks."

"Number One requisite for being a hero."

"I thought it was having a spandex suit?"

"That Two. Three is having a reason. E.g. Spider-man's uncle died, Logan sort of got dragged into it, Scott-"

"Right, you don't have to tell me the motives of every hero in the universe."

"Tora, I've got the babysitter. We have two hours… Tora?"

She was sitting in the corner of her room, crying her eyes out.

"What's wrong?"

"Look…"

He turned to the laptop.

"Weapon X? Tora, we've already been through all this-"

"Read it."

He crouched down. It was a list of financers. AIM, representative George Tarleton was first on the list, surprise surprise. Second was Roxxon Oil, again, big surprise. Fourth was the US Government. Then Logan's fixed on the third name. Shadow International, representative Etana Aingeal. Shadow International. A corporation/charity that was now an offshoot of Worthington Industries. A company Etana had set up to move her funds around and find ways of getting them to the people who needed them. Mainly buying crops for ridiculously high prices. Which she could afford to do. But financing Weapon Plus? Why would she do that? And Etana was there. Had watched Tora suffer. And never raised a finger to help her. Why? And what would he do when he got down to the grave. It would probably involve digging her up and screaming at her for an hour or two, then find a way to reality jump to a universe where Etana was still alive and stab her a few times. But Tora's hand caught his.

"She was trained by a time-traveller. I think I must tell her teacher to do that."

"WHAT!"

"If I don't get trained, then I join the X-Men aged fifteen and die on my first mission or join the Brotherhood and kill countless people."

"You mean…"

"Better that I suffer to get here than live a normal life and die or become something I don't want to be."

"Tora…"

"It's my life Logan. And read her letter. It's encrypted. A normal hacker would get the simple message. But if I do this… I discussed this type of encryption with Etana and she showed me a way of decrypting it even further. There."

New words scrolled over the screen.

So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry. So Sorry.

Logan snorted.

"She meant it Logan. She means it."

Death sighed.

"So she was responsible for my 9218 counterpart getting eighteen thousand simultaneous entries."

"Actually, that was X-ii."

"She blew up about eight cities!"

A.N. I just realised I've past Chapter 50 ages ago! And I was going to have some sort of celebration. As for how much longer this will go on for- I honestly haven't got a clue. OK, I know how much more I have to write of my timeline before I get to the ending (already written) but as for how much content it will include? No idea.