Memories
Therapy
Disclaimer: What do you think? If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
Emma sat opposite the woman –her friend- slumped in the chair opposite. Once glossy hair was now lank and sparkling eyes, always looking for the humour in a bad situation, had a deadened look.
"Tora."
"Emma."
"You have to snap out of this."
"Out of what?"
Emma gestured in despair.
"All this!"
"I thought we agreed not to comment on each others dress habits."
The blue lips fell open.
"Tora?"
"What?"
As suddenly as the little spark of humour, of the old Tora, had arrived, it had gone, swept away in grieving and pain. Emma sighed. This had been going on for three days, where they went back and forth, Tora not caring what happened. Emma frowned.
"I need your help for what I'm about to do next."
"What?"
"I know Jean got into your head once. I need you to lower your shields."
"I can't."
"You can Tora. You have to."
"NO!"
"Why?"
Tora dropped her head into her hands.
"Ashamed."
"Of what? Your past? I promise I won't go there."
No answer.
"Is there something you don't want me to see? I won't go there if you don't want me to."
Tora shook her head.
"My mind's a death trap for telepaths. Especially you."
"Why?"
And she felt the shields warily drop down. And against her gut instinct, Emma gently entered Tora's mind.
The dragon roared and tried to get at her but Tora was holding it back. She turned to Emma and nodded, a single piece of affirmation. Go where you need to go.
Emma nodded in return and watched with detached curiosity at the battle that Tora was fighting. It seemed to involve Tora pulling pieces off Dragon and throwing them back at it. Then a single crystal shield was slung up between Tora and Dragon.
"Where did you learn that?"
"Jean gave me lessons."
Now Emma could look around properly, she could see that the shield was made of the same stuff as the walls of the cavernous room she seemed to be in. Tora grinned.
"Yeah, it's pretty lonely in here. I keep hearing my thoughts echoing."
"You're not Tora."
"Well I am, but I'm not. I'm not your Tora but I am a Tora if that makes sense."
"Why are you here?"
"Well the other Tora, your Tora is over there, through the door."
"What door-? Oh."
"Yes, I thought that when I first saw it as well."
The door towered over Emma. Whereas everything else was made of the pearly white crystal, that distorted things you could almost see through it, this was made of jet black stone, carved with images that Emma didn't want to look too hard at. She thought she saw a girl being savaged by dogs but she looked away before she saw anything worse. The other Tora was staring at it glumly.
"Worst moments in our lives are used to decorate our doors. Not sure why. Oh, there's Etana's death. She's always very quiet about that. I swear she spends more time piggy-backing in my mind to have a chat with Etana than she spends in here."
"Is that when she gets that blank look and comes out with something profound?"
"Yeah, probably."
Then a roar split the air. The Tora grabbed Emma and pulled her through the door just as watery jaws snapped at where she would have been.
They were in a maelstrom, being buffeted by winds and what felt like metal slashing across their faces.
"HOLD ON!"
"What do you think I'm doing?"
"I've never done this before. Oh, that's the one she's in."
They were dragged towards the door, the Tora seemingly holding onto an invisible thread.
"Welcome to an alternate reality!"
And Emma was treated to a full-blown Technicolour version of herself, smiling oddly.
"I'm afraid I can't pick him up. This outfit is Dior, you know."
Tora's voice echoed around the space they were in.
"Look, he won't puke or anything. Just hold him while I change Eva."
And Emma watched as her alternate self picked up a baby with a look of wariness.
"Can't I hold Eva?"
"Curt's the quiet one. Eva here is trouble."
Everything became crystal clear to Emma. Then she turned and saw another Tora crouching in the corner, gazing raptly at the baby in Emma's hand.
"Is that my Tora?"
"Yeah."
"Right."
Emma walked over to the crouching woman.
"You have a daughter Tora. Come back and look after her."
She snarled at the White Queen, who automatically tried to shift to diamond form.
"Tora, you can't do this."
"Why not?"
"Because we need you. X-Men stand by their own and you aren't standing by us. You're wishing your life away. You have a son and a daughter Tora. Look after them."
"Logan-"
"Logan can look after them? Really? You think he can feed and change Eva, look after Jamie, teach self-defence and work with the X-Men?"
Sad eyes looked up.
"Just go Emma."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"My lift's gone."
And the other Tora, who had brought her here, had indeed left.
"I can't work that thing out there. I was almost swept away. How do you manage?"
"With difficulty."
"Please, help me get back. I need your help. We need you."
"No one needs me."
"YOUR CHILDREN NEED YOU!"
And Tora looked up.
"I failed one of them already. I don't want to fail the others."
"By standing by, doing nothing, you're failing them. Do you want us to have to tell them that their mother died because she stopped caring? Or maybe, we could lie and tell them their mother loved them and died to save them. COME BACK YOU IDIOT!"
Tora stood up and Emma suddenly had the impression of height. Tora, here, in a different reality and in her own mind, was stronger than Emma.
"Fine. Hold on."
And they were swept through the burning void between the worlds before reaching the door. Just as Tora reached out to press her hand to it, Emma grabbed her arm.
"Dragon's through there."
"So?"
"It tried to kill me."
"Not a chance."
And she tugged Emma through the door.
"LISTEN YOU GREAT LUMMOX! EMMA IS A FRIEND! YOU DO NOT TRY TO EAT HER!"
The dragon backed up.
"She hurt Phoenix."
"I ripped her to shreds and stuffed the shreds in a black hole. I don't see you trying to eat me."
The dragon sighed and suddenly became a lot less threatening, decreasing in size until it was able to curl up around Tora's arm and rest it's head on her shoulder.
"Miss Emma Grace Frost, accept my humble apologies about my aggression towards you. Happy now?"
"Yes. Right, as Emma said, I have two children who need my help."
And Emma was pointed to the door marked 'EXIT'.
She blinked. Tora's mind had been…interesting. A seething mass of contradiction and wilderness. Tora, who gave the impression of calm and refinement, actually seemed to be a person with a wild, free, uninhibited being. Maybe even more so than Logan. There had been no order to her mind. Everything was piled together and sorted through later. Emma had never even thought she could touch a mind like that. And then the shields were back up, so Emma couldn't sense Tora's mind anymore. Golden eyes blinked.
"I need to go and see Logan."
The dead look had gone. Tora was back. Emma allowed a brief smile to flit across her lips.
Phoenix made a noise halfway between amusement and despair.
"Tora was always like that. She'd go through hell and then make some quiet remark and go about as normal."
Death laughed.
"If Dragon hadn't got there first, I would have loved to have her as an avatar. That perfect mix of black humour and understatement."
"You stay well away Missy. No going back in time to possess her."
"Who said I'd do that? What?"
One and a half pairs of eyes were staring at her.