Memories
Prodigal
Disclaimer: What do you think?
If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
Wolf was confused. Why had the woman, who had been so angry before, stood between him and her husband? He had heard her pleading for him to come back, begging the man not to hurt him. Why? Why? WHY? So many confusing things. Who was he? Who were his family? And why had the waters surrounding him felt so…soothing. He could breath them, when before, water had been a hated substance. He had felt the power and absorbed it and become strong. And there had been something like him, something familiar. Something that had comforted him. Something warm and all-embracing. Something like what he thought a mother would be like.
Sometimes, when Wolf wasn't training, he daydreamed about a life he couldn't have. He'd have funny, vibrant parents who let him do anything he wanted, he'd have a little brother to use as an accomplish in his madcap schemes and a little sister to boss around. No older siblings. They'd boss him around. Wolf leapt up over the bridge and continued to run. He wasn't going back, that much he was sure of. He wasn't going to see the looks on his tutors faces when they realised he'd failed.
Phoenix didn't say anything, just reached out and clasped the hand of her friend.
"It's okay. Everything turned out okay."
"I know."
Logan watched as Tora buried her head in her hands, shuddering. She was wearing the old orange and black costume. As she'd said, it was a matter for Tora, not Dragon. She seemed intrigued with the orange X on her black gloves and was deliberately not looking at him. Logan moved over and pulled her close.
"It'll be okay. I promise."
She looked up, the white eyecovers hiding her emotions.
"You told me yourself. Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I promise I'll do my best."
She didn't seem to hear him, instead returning to looking at her hands.
"Look, please talk to me."
She shook her head.
"I…Look, I just don't want to talk."
He nodded and allowed her to move to the other side of the Blackbird. He didn't need Emma and Charles to tell him to know what she was thinking. Maybe it was just they'd started to get used to acting as a unit, finishing each other's sentences and going out of their way to make life easier for the other. She would leave out food when he was out late doing, as it was called by everyone in the house, 'Logan stuff' and operated on a 'don't ask, don't tell' basis that made her a lot easier to be around. In return, he would deliberately get up when one of the children cried to allow her to catch up on sleep. He'd noticed Eva was a much more difficult child than Jamie. She screamed a lot but then he was sort of to blame for that. Tora's approach to raising Jamie was, 'If he cries and he's not hungry, wet or tired, he's attention seeking. Leave him for five minutes. If he still hasn't stopped crying, go and check on him.' Logan panicked every single time Eva cried and ran to check on her straight away. Tora normally rolled her eyes and stuffed her head under the pillow at that point and groaned at this. He kept trying to make eye contact, but Tora was sitting cross-legged on the floor, concentrating on her breathing, meditating. Logan knew she was arguing with Dragon by the slight twitch around her lips. She was frowning now and then suddenly the dragon curled from out of her and reshaped into a small cat which solidified to a soft bluish-grey colour with dark black splotches on it's coat. The cat sniffed and padded over to a corner and curled up to sleep. Tora relaxed and looked up.
"I've got us a little extra help."
"What the…"
"I splintered off a little of Dragon as well as a little of myself to make the cat. Dragons are just a little too conspicuous."
"Great. What use is it in a fight?"
"Show him."
The cat uncurled and kept on uncurling until a huge tiger was glaring at him. Only the tiger was a different colour, the soft bluish-grey. It blinked slowly at him.
"Can it talk?"
"No. It's just a construct of raw power and with a part of my personality. Change back now."
The tiger blinked and turned back to the small cat.
"I didn't give it free will. Given more time, I could have allowed it to speak and given it basic free will. At the moment though, I just need something that can scout out and protect Curt if necessary."
Logan nodded and didn't say anything. Tora was in her pensive mood, the one where it was useless to talk to her. Sometimes, she remained silent for hours on end then would suddenly leap up and start talking before returning to her silent thoughts. He accepted it as a part of her. Not one of her best facets, but certainly one of the easiest to deal with. She closed her eyes.
"We should sleep."
He nodded and reclined the seat.
"The beginning of a beautiful companionship."
"Don't you mean the beginning of countless arguments?"
"What happened to Jeannie?"
"She was set free."
Wolf was sitting in the alley, stroking the cat. The cat had just turned up. Wolf liked cats. Or maybe he just liked this cat. Wolf had never had likes and dislikes before. It was fun. He liked the outdoors and chocolate and running. He didn't like queues and prunes and crowds. And apparently he liked cats. And cats liked him. Well, this cat did. It was pretty. It had warm golden eyes and blue fur. Wolf hadn't known you could get blue cats. But then, there was a lot he hadn't known. He hadn't known you had to have bits of green paper to get on the train. He'd found some green paper and drawn the little faces on them but he'd just been laughed at and thrown off the train. So he'd walked until his feet had bled, then he'd walked even more. He just wanted to get away. From Them. He wasn't certain who They were. Maybe it was his trainers. Maybe it was the man and woman. Or maybe it was just her, with that terrible look on her face as she'd begged him to come back. Wolf wasn't certain. All he knew was that he wasn't alone anymore. He had…The Cat.
"You want a name?"
The cat blinked.
"I'm going to call you Cat. Because you're a cat."
Cat didn't seem too impressed with his (Hers? Its?) new name but Wolf had realized pretty early on that Cat wasn't easily impressed. He stroked behind Cat's ears and felt a rush of satisfaction when Cat purred. Then he heard a gun being cocked and scrambled up. One of the guards (who were there to 'protect' him) was standing in the entrance to the alley, gun trained on Wolf's head. Wolf moved backwards, preparing to attack. Cat though had no such reservations. It ran forward then leapt, suddenly elongating until a huge tiger (tiger? I thought Cat was a cat?) roared and suddenly tore through sinew and bone. The scream was cut off and then Cat…turned back into a cat? (Really, really weird!)
Who are you?
(I'm you.)
Cool! So I get a voice in my head, who is my head?
(Yep!)
Way cool!
(Look, shouldn't we be, I don't know, FINDING OUT WHY CAT TURNED INTO A TIGER!)
Sorry brain. But, we are clinically insane.
(Yes, well, you don't have to be sane to find out about the cat/tiger. Unless we're hallucinating, but we haven't suffered hallucinations before.)
Wolf blinked. He had a friend! Well, not a friend because Brain was a part of him, but like a friend. Then he heard the voices.
"He has to be here. The cat was with him."
"Tora, he'll have run by now."
And then the woman appeared him front of him. She was dressed in orange and black. Behind her was Weapon X, in yellow and blue. She held him back.
"Curt?"
The name was like a half remembered dream. Wolf shook his head to dispel the confusion.
"What did they do to you Curt?"
"Who's Curt?"
(YOU, Dumbo!)
Wolf blinked. He didn't move as the woman signalled and Cat leapt up around her neck, curling until the unblinking golden eyes fixed on him. The woman reached out a hand and Wolf batted it away. She reached out again and caught it, placing them palm-to-palm.
"What do you remember? What was your life?"
"I've been in training since I was a child."
"Curt, you're three months old."
No.
(Yes.)
"Who are you?"
"At the risk of sounding like Darth Vader, I'm your mother."
"LIAR!"
He span away, striking out at her face, bone claws sliding out, tearing the mask. And he saw golden eyes, just like his right eye.
"Who…?"
"Trust me. We won't hurt you."
"Everyone hurts me."
(She didn't. She was hurt protecting you)
The look of sorrow was deep in her eyes.
"You sent Cat to spy on me!"
"I sent 'Cat' to look after you."
"What?"
"You saw what it did to protect you. I would do exactly the same. Cat is me."
And Cat purred before turning into a trickle of water and curling into the woman's fist. She looked at him defiantly.
"I care for you. More than you could possibly know. Find the thread. In your mind. Eva's at the other end."
"Eva?"
"Your sister."
"I have a sister!"
"This is sounding like a Star-Wars spoof."
"Who's he?"
(Who do you think dumb-idiot?)
"Logan, if you come out with another Star Wars-esque line, I will never forgive you."
"I'm her husband. Yer dad."
Whoa. So not real!
"But your Weapon X!"
"I used to be."
"But… You can't be my… dad. You're… You're… a legend!"
The woman…
(Mother, Curt… Mother!)
Okay, Mother rolled her eyes.
"He snores. And hogs the quilt."
(You really thought a legend would be perfect?)
All Wolf could do was splutter. Were these really his parents? They were legends in their own right. He'd heard all the stories from the guards. The slaughter of the entire facility by Weapon X. The speed at which Weapon X-ii had picked up every little thing. They were the people he had been trained to be better than. And they were his parents! Somehow, deep down, Wolf- Curt- knew that this wasn't a lie, wasn't a cruel physiological trick. This was real. He swallowed, trying to make his mouth a little more moist after it had dried.
"I wanna go home."
(That's the spirit Curty-Boy)
Phoenix gave an odd smile.
"He never recovered, did he?"
"No. There was no way of undoing what was done to him. For better or worse."
A.N. Merry Christmas everyone, especially Jeanniebird and adelphe24! I'm going to be without Internet over Christmas but don't worry, I'll keep writing.