Memories
A Name We All Know
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Tora had to laugh as Logan swung Jamie up onto his shoulders. The boy chortled and clutched at his hair.
"Dada!"
People walking past laughed at the look of pure glee on the child's face. They were a part of the crowd, just a normal family. The image inducer saw to that. She'd aged herself a bit, got rid of the scars and removed the black streak in her hair. Her eyes were hazel, not the sharp gold they usually were. Eva looked small and warm in the pram. People cooed over her, told Jamie he was a smart little boy, to which he replied with great solemnity.
"Dat's what Auntie 'Tana says."
"And who's your Auntie 'Tana?"
"She's Dada's maman but not and she lives with us but not and she's married to Uncle Steve but not. She's dead but not too."
And the enquirer would hurry away looking flustered. And Logan would laugh and tug at Jamie's leg, teasing him and he would laugh as well, small fingers caught in his father's hair. The park was busy but there was still space for them to move about. Logan swung Jamie onto her shoulders and commandeered the pram, getting a slightly soppy look on his face as Eva stirred. Tora rolled her eyes.
"Oh, if Scott could see you now."
"What?"
"You look so…sweet."
"I. Am. Never. Sweet."
"Whatever you say."
They stopped with everyone else when Spider-Man swung overhead, returned his salute and laughed when he stopped and dropped down in front of them.
"Hello true believers!"
"UNCLE P-"
"Spidey Jamie, Uncle Spidey."
"Hello Uncle Spidey!"
"Hi Trubble!"
"Hey Spidey. Look, are you interested in dinner tonight?"
"Whose cooking?"
"Not Gumbo."
Tora punched Logan on the arm.
"I like Remy's cooking."
"You and him alone."
Spidey laughed and shrugged, a funny sight when he was upside-down.
"I suppose. Is it costume?"
"If you want it to be. I'd turn up in costume though, so we know it's you."
The mask twitched and Tora guessed the man underneath was smiling.
"I reckon I can come. Depends on if Doc Ock decides to rob a bank or not."
He scrambled up the webbing and swung off, yelling as he dodged the trees. Tora and Logan ignored the odd glances they were getting, as if it was perfectly normal to invite a super-hero round for dinner. And indeed it was. For them at least.
Then suddenly, someone barrelled into Logan and almost overturned the pram. Tora caught it and managed to get Jamie in as well, before crouching low over it, offering protection. Logan was grappling with the stranger, a boy of no more than sixteen by his figure. Logan's claws were tearing at the black suit he was wearing, causing blood to fall but the cuts sealed. Healing factor. Damn. Logan suddenly dropped back with blood running down his face where the boy had slashed it and Tora gasped. Two bone claws jutted out of his knuckles. As she watched, a third slid out of his wrist, encircling his hand in bone. She glanced down at Eva and Jamie, both crying and back up at Logan, whose face was now healing. She was torn. She couldn't leave the children and she wouldn't let Logan fight on his own. The boy was advancing, preparing to stab Logan. People ran, screaming but she ignored them.
"GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND!"
The dragon flared around her as she threw an arm out, sending water to smash into the boy. Her mouth dropped open. Instead of him flying backwards, the water ran around the boy and he started to absorb it. Then she caught a hint of his personality. Something she had felt before, something Dragon had hidden from her. An amalgam of them, with a hint of something, someone else she now recognized as Logan.
See little one. All is going to be well.
WHAT! DRAGON, WHAT IS THAT!
And then she caught the scent and froze. The boy was absorbed in gathering the energy and when Logan lunged, he was unprepared. Tora threw herself between them and gasped slightly as the claws pierced her abdomen, breaking the image inducer. Her eyes met Logan's.
"Don't hurt him."
"What?"
The claws were withdrawn and she felt her flesh knit back together. The boy ran and she tried to reach out for him.
"No…"
"Tora, what the hell is going on!"
"His scent Logan. Didn't you recognise his scent?"
"No. Tora, what are you talking about?"
She staggered as a particularly ragged cut healed.
"He smelt of us Logan. Of us."
"I don't get it."
Tora pointed to the pram.
"He smelt like Eva."
"And what does that mean?"
She let a tear run down her face.
"We never saw a body Logan. Never saw a body."
And his eyes registered understanding and then sorrow.
"Don't kid yourself. It'll just hurt more. They could easily have made him years ago. And in case you hadn't noticed, he's far too old."
"Could a genetically engineered being have a Dragon-Shard in them?"
Logan's mouth dropped open.
"What…"
She turned and limped over to the pram and started moving, ignoring the looks from people, ignoring the photos being taken, ignoring the gasps over the four scars on her face. Dragon wore a mask but the hair was enough of a giveaway, as if the dragon around her hadn't been enough of a clue. Logan hurried after her.
"Look, I'm… I'm sorry."
She flashed him a look.
"It's okay. Look, let's get back and ask Hank and Charles to help find him."
"You do know, it might not work out."
She blinked away a tear.
"I just want to try and find him."
"Tora, you have to-"
She whipped around.
"Don't you dare say it! Don't. You. Dare."
And she marched ahead until Kurt burst into existence in front of her.
"TORA!"
"Get us home Kurt."
"Vas?"
"It's important. Please."
He frowned then noticed the looks they were getting. Hatred and fear. He grabbed her arm, the pram and Logan before disappearing them to the car.
"Logan, you drive."
"What?"
"In case you hadn't noticed Logan, Kurt's wiped out."
"FINE! Tora, this isn't going to work."
"It will Logan. It must. Else…"
The white-haired woman was making an odd crooning noise, her hands clenched over her chest.
"Sar bit rah stal migh sta dif ssa."
"Do you really think that old K'Meeri blessing will work?"
The head tilted backwards.
"It invokes a power greater than the Tribunal. Of course it will work. Time is irrelative to The First."
She sat quite still as Charles scanned her memories and waited for Hank to bring back the results from the blood test. Logan had been splattered with the boy's blood and it hadn't been too hard to clean some off him. Charles carefully navigated around the crystal maze, attempting to find entry into her mind, something made even more difficult by the shifting walls. Finally, fed up of trying to get through the walls, he snapped at her.
"Stop blocking entry!"
She blinked and the maze fell away, engulfing Charles with a memory, vivid and bright.
The boy turned his masked face away from her. He caught the scent, of cold metal and empty spaces, of adolescence but also of infanthood, of a cat, but also of a wolf. A hint of musk, nowhere near as strong as Logan's. And something inhuman, something old, something that smelt like the sea but wasn't, something that smelt like a river, but wasn't, something that smelt like a fresh mountain stream but wasn't. And then the boy absorbing the power that was greater than anything any mortal should be able to gather and everything slid into a jumble as Tora tried to make sense of what she had seen and Dragon tried to explain but it all ended up as a mess, a tangled ball of string, knotted together and unable to be sorted. Charles was prepared to go further but found himself beingexpelled.
"Why?"
"I will never allow anyone in my mind."
"Why not?"
"My mind is the one part of me no-one has tampered with. Understand? No one goes there."
Hank burst in before Charles could answer, looking flustered.
"It matches up! The blood sample matches up with the one we took before the birth! And there are none of the usual slight chances you expect with a clone! It's him Tora! It's him!"
She didn't stand up, simply shuddered slightly. Logan came in looking grim, followed by Surge.
"You just found out?"
She nodded, seeming unable to vocalise her feelings.
"Noriko knows someone who can…help."
Tora's eyes met the student's.
"Who?"
"There's a name we all know, a person we all trust. A leader for the kids like me who don't want to be on the streets but are. A person who, in the end, we all end up gravitating to."
"Who? A name."
"But… She likes her secrecy. I doubt she'll want to see you."
"Please Noriko."
The teenage girl nodded.
"I'll talk to her. But there's no guarantee she'll talk back."
Phoenix didn't say anything as the other two leant forward. Endings and beginnings, together at the end of the old universe…and the birth of a new one.
A.N. Sorry about the delay. I've been sorting Christmas Cards for my Scout Troop.