Memories
Temporal Insanity
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"This woman is a traitor, convicted of killing our High Lord. The whole world shall watch her execution, as befits a monster like this demon."
Etana stood quite still, an odd look on her face as her hands were clasped together, a power suppressor tight around her wrists. The whole regime was in shambles but they had time to organise her execution. Etana had looked rather bored throughout the whole trial and now seemed preoccupied with cleaning her fingernails as well as she could. Tora stood slightly to one side, thankful that the bruises from the beating had faded. She had been the distraction, the one who had kept Logan from responding to Apocalypse's final scream. But she hadn't done her job properly. Etana had been captured and tortured. Tora had heard the screams from below, known what Etana would have gone through. So now was time to make up. Logan stepped forward, the sword in his hand. Etana stared at him, her silver eyes challenging him. He shifted, obviously uncomfortable with her unwavering stare.
"Bow your head."
"I do not bow to traitors."
"You are the traitor."
She smiled and raised her head back.
"I have never been afraid to die. Would quoting Star Wars right now be wildly inappropriate?"
"What?"
"Strike me down and I will become more powerful than ever before."
The blade was brought up, ready to be plunged into Etana's stomach. And Tora leapt, screamed as the blade shattered on her spine and collapsed right onto Etana as brimstone enfolded them and she half-gasped when she realised that Kurt had been planning a rescue mission and she, idiot as she was, had just proceeded to prove that she was the spy. But then she was being rocked by soft arms and she smelt Kurt hold her close.
"That was so very you…"
She smiled muzzily then fell into unconsciousness as her body started healing the wounds.
xXx
"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"
The boy stared up at her, his blank mask displaying no emotion.
"I'm… I'm… I'm…"
"Who are you and why are you dressed like that?"
The boy stood up and dusted himself down, somehow displaying a certain measure of self-consciousness in his bright orange and black ensemble.
"Well…aside from the fact you just almost knocked me out… I'm actually a superhero. In training."
"Obviously. Well that's who you are. Why are you here?"
"I'm here to rescue you. From Dr Doom. You don't know me but… well… I mean… We never actually met but I've seen all the old footage. I mean, you're Dragon. I'm sort of the advance party. I'm here with your dad and your half-brother and –sister."
"I'm sorry, I don't quite comprehend. My name is Marie Circen."
"Ah… Well you're either just pretending to be amnesiac and I totally don't blame you or you actually are amnesiac and nothing I'm saying makes any sense to you. But… Can I rescue you and then explain?"
"Well…actually I don't want to get rescued. I'm getting married tomorrow morning you see."
She could see the surprise in the boy's face, despite his mask.
"To who?"
"To me."
She turned and smiled softly.
"Victor."
The boy's hands raised into a guard position.
"What did you do to her?!"
And then Victor raised his hands and hit the boy with magic and Marie cried out in fear as Victor's eyes darkened behind his mask.
"You should not have come here."
"You shouldn't have kidnapped her."
"I know this will disappoint you child, but Marie Circen is here of her own free will."
"Marie Circen is here because you've put her under one of your freaky spells."
"Marie Circen is right here and I can speak for myself."
"Marie! Get to safety!"
"Tell her the truth Doom. Tell her why I'm here! Tell her who she really is!"
"Enough!"
"Victor, please, stop!"
"I am trying to protect you. I am trying to protect us all."
"Your name is Marie Circen. You're a feral mutant who gained the power to alter reality at your will-"
"What?"
"He's talking nonsense Marie."
"You were married to another mutant, Wolverine. You had twins, Eva and Curt. You were told they died shortly after they were born-"
"I am warning you, boy…"
"But your kids are…"
"…You are playing with fire."
A concussive blast hit the boy in the face and he fell. Marie crouched down, her long green cloak nestling around her feet as she checked the boy's pulse.
"Victor, how could you—?"
"He'll live."
"He's a child. He didn't harm me and had no intention of hurting me. If anything, I may have hurt him."
Her fingers traced over the jawline and then went to where she thought the join between the mask and his shirt was but there was nothing. Victor held his hand out and helped her up before brushing one gloved hand over her face.
"You are too trusting my love, even of me. Tomorrow you marry the king of Latveria, a man with more enemies than allies, all of who will become your enemies. So, please hear me when I tell you, it is not too late to reconsider."
"If you have enemies it is because they don't know you like I do. You saved me and the only family I had. You keep on saving me. And after the wedding tomorrow, nothing and no one will ever come between us."
"Thank you my love. I will heal the boy."
Marie touched the mask softly.
"Thank you. Thank you for believing me when I came to you, desperate for help. They… they were all I had. They…they found me when I was a child… There was a dying woman next to me… My mother, they thought. She said my name was Marie Circen and I had to be kept hidden. When they were accused of stealing…they wouldn't! They never would! It's just a cruel lie!"
He touched her face once more before gesturing a Doombot to gently pick up the boy. Marie walked to the window and closed her eyes. She'd been so afraid when she'd gone to Doom's castle to beg for the release of her foster family, her only family. They may have been gypsies but they weren't thieves. And Doom had somehow fallen in love with her. Marie opened her eyes and reached up for her lucky charm. The little blue stone felt so warm to the touch, a little dragon on a silver chain. She turned away and fell onto the bed, so conflicted and slightly worried. And then she knew what she had to do.
She unlocked the door and stared. The boy's mask was no longer on his head, revealing black hair flecked with red. Unconsciously, Marie's fingers brushed the black streak in her hair. The boy's mouth dropped open.
"Whoa…"
She smiled, feeling a little rush of satisfaction that the dress impressed him like that.
"You like it?"
"It's…wow…just wow… It's perfect."
"It is, isn't it? It's all been so wonderful, falling in love, the king proposing to the poor gypsy girl who came to him on a mission to beg. It's been too perfect and then you show up and I don't know my fiancé anymore. So before I walk down the aisle towards him, please…tell me everything. Please…tell me about this… 'Dragon'."
"On one condition. You have to show me a way out."
She ushered him out of the door and opened the secret passage, stopping to pick up one of the lanterns and lighting it. The boy took it off her and went ahead.
"Dragon was a young woman from Europe and met with the Avengers, helping them save the world. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, noticed a similarity in their appearance and insisted the woman went with them. Tests revealed she was the half-sister of the Witch and Quicksilver. Marie –that was her name- was a feral mutant with the ability to heal from almost any injury and had the senses and reflexes of an animal. She briefly joined the Avengers before going to join with the X-Men. There she met –and fell in love with- another X-Man, Wolverine Shortly afterwards, she gained huge power through a cosmic entity called the Dragon. She had twins, but they were born prematurely and she was told that they had died. It caused her to have a mental breakdown and she blamed the X-Men for her children's loss. She attacked them and a number of the X-Men –and one Avenger- died. Dragon was whisked away to Genosha by her father and was never heard from again. A young hero named Iron Lad began recruiting a new member of Avengers as a method of protecting the world from his older self, Kang the Conqueror. The first Young Avengers Iron Lad recruited was me –a former mutant- and my sister found in an alley after the Weapon Plus project we'd been a part of abandoned us and I'd ended up bonded to an alien symbiote. A set of genetic tests from Iron Lad provided an interesting result and we realised… oh no…"
"What? What did you realise? Oh…"
"What have I done!?"
"Everything you were told not to."
They whipped around to see a man with blue skin and huge, metal wings.
"You teamed up with Magneto. Started a war with Doom. And somehow found Dragon. Which will make my job a whole lot easier."
His wings raised and suddenly shot a series of razor-sharp metal feathers, cutting the dress's skirt as she stumbled. The boy's hand flung out.
"Angel, stop! What are you doing?!"
"What does it look like? I'm saving the world. Like she was supposed to!"
A tear slid down her face as he pinned her down, right wing pressed to her neck and forcing her head back.
"Why are you doing this?"
"It's not personal Marie, believe me. You were a friend. But you betrayed us all. You went from being one of the greatest heroes ever to a murderer. If I was as big a threat as you are, then I'd want you to do the same for me."
The boy leapt, his mask now on his face, odd since he hadn't seemed to be carrying it."
"She's not a threat! She has no powers, no memories. She's not a threat to anyone."
"Thanks for telling me that. Her powers would have made her almost impossible to kill."
"What's wrong with you? You were one of the original X-Men. You're supposed to be a good guy!"
"So was she. Until she killed Bobby, reanimated Jean Grey and forced her old friend to kill Professor X, Emma Frost and her own husband as well as twenty-four teenagers and a visiting Avenger then wiped out an entire species with three little words. "No more mutants". Right Marie? Well you got your wish sweetheart. There's less than two-hundred of us left, thanks to you. And thanks to me, there's about to be one less."
Marie's eyes were wide with fear and there was none of the steel Warren was accustomed to seeing.
"Not if I can help it."
Archangel was sent flying backwards from the blast and Marie's head snapped around.
"You alright?"
"Iron Lad!"
"I'm back Poison. And I'm here to protect you. The future depends on you staying alive."
Iron Lad shot off into the battle and the boy grabbed her arm.
"We have to get you out of here. Half the people here want to lock you up and half the people want to kill you."
"I…I don't understand. Why do they hate me?"
"Because you're powerful. Oh $*&."
Victor's eyes were almost black in rage. Marie held out her hands in a desperate plea.
"Victor, he's a child!"
"Apparently he's more than that. Even without his symbiote in a functioning state, Poison still managed to escape his cell, contact his allies and kidnap you."
"He didn't do any of that. I'm the one who freed him."
"You…?"
"The boy travelled halfway around the world and risked his life looking for me. I had to find out why?"
"And did you?"
"He told me his story, yes."
"And do you believe him?"
"Do I believe I'm the avatar to an all-powerful cosmic entity who lost her son then murdered her teammates –her friends? No, Victor. But the real question is, why are you so afraid I'd believe such a story?"
"DOOM!"
A man in a red helmet leapt down, hammering Victor down to the ground.
"Victor!"
"Marie…we've got to get you out of here."
"I can't just leave him."
"Believe me, Doom can take care of himself. You have to get you somewhere safe where no one will try to capture you. Or kill you. Or marry you."
"I think we might be able to help with that."
"I'm so happy to see you lot right now that I almost don't care you're all about to yell at me for using that teleporter I stole from Deadpool."
Hawkeye glared.
"Good, because…"
"I said 'almost'."
Marie blinked.
"The Young Avengers, I presume?"
"Guys, allow me to introduce-"
"Dragon."
A girl with short red hair, dressed in blue and yellow, snorted.
"I can't believe it, Butt-face. You actually found her."
"I'm not Dragon."
"This is Marie Circen. She has absolutely no memory of Dragon and no powers. And neither do I at the moment because Doom did something to Poison. It's horrible. All quiet. I hope he'll wake up soon."
Wiccan gulped.
"Well, you see, I sort of got zapped by Doom when he meant to get Mom and I haven't got any powers. Hi Ms Circen. I'm your sort of reincarnated half-nephew. Now can we get out of here before Doom, the Avengers, the X-Men and whoever else are-"
"MARIE"
"Too late."
"No it's not. That's the thing with time travel. It's never too late."
The last thing Marie saw was Victor shouting her name as he ran towards her, along with the helmeted man, a man with white hair and a lightning bolt on his chest and a woman in red who looked like someone had stabbed her in the heart. Then they were in a ghostly red bubble and the boy in armour was tapping at screens.
"Where too?"
"I think you know."
"Cassie—"
"If we're going to undo this, Kate, we need to start from the beginning. The day Dragon brought Phoenix back from the dead long enough to kill my dad when he wasn't even an X-Man."
"So you can save him and change history?"
"I won't. I promise…"
"You won't be able to stop yourself. And you'll create a divergent timeline with two Cassies in it neither of whom will want to come home with us."
"Forgive me, but we seem to be on the run because of something I've done. So, if reliving the past could help me remember, maybe I could set things right."
"I'm sorry, but we've learnt the hard way that once you start messing around with the past."
"We couldn't be changing the past. I've developed a new technology that would allow us to inhabit a moment in time without altering it."
"Then maybe Marie will remember."
Patriot grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "then maybe she'll lose control and kill us all".
"How reliable is this new technology?"
"I promise you Kate, no one will ever know we were here."
The building that appeared before them was gleaming, built in an X shape with a statue in the courtyard. A golden sign proclaimed it to be "Xavier's Institute of Higher Education".
"Oh my."
"Do you recognise it?"
"You know where you are?"
"No. I'm sorry."
"Maybe if you took a look around. My dad brought me here once on Avenger's business. Oh my G- DAD!"
"Cassie, NO! And I thought Curt would be the problem…"
"Don't worry Kate. She can see him but he can't see-"
"Cassie?"
"…her."
"Daddy…"
"What on earth are you doing here? Sweetheart, is everything okay?"
"It is now."
"In my defence, this is new technology."
"And apparently useless."
"I'm still beta-testing it but the results have been…"
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"The minute I power back up, I'll get us out of here Kate. I promise. Before Wolverine turns up and Curt starts crying."
"Who are your friends?"
"Um… They're from school. We're…dressing up as…Young Avengers for Halloween and I promised them a tour of the mansion but when I went there they said you were here and wouldn't let me in without you after the incident with Iron Man's repulsors…"
"You want to introduce me?"
"You have no idea how much."
"This is Nathaniel."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you sir."
"That's a pretty impressive get-up young man. They all are. Although I have to say the Phoenix costume is in very poor taste, especially considering the X-Men thought of her as their heart."
"No… That is Phoenix."
They turned to see the woman staggering towards them, red hair flecked with granules of dirt, green uniform torn and filthy and her skin tight over the joints, eyes milky when they had once been green.
"Nathaniel, get us out of here now."
"I need a moment to get my power levels back up."
"We don't have a moment."
"Cassie, what's going on?"
"Marie! Everybody! Run!"
They ran, Cassie pulling her father's hand vigorously.
"Marie…? What the…?"
They glanced back and saw Marie leaning towards the woman.
"Marie…"
"Mon …"
"MARIE! COME ON!"
"Jean…"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Jean Grey…"
"Please Marie… Don't make me do this. Please?"
"MARIE!"
"What is she doing?"
"We have to go now!"
"Not without Marie!"
Speed grinned.
"Don't worry. I've got her."
Jean's eyes clenched shut.
"I'm sorry."
And the firebird soared to the sky, burning right through the front of the school.
"Kate?"
"Billy…?"
"Curt?"
"You okay?"
"I'm not dead. So that's something."
"I'm okay."
"I'm fine."
"I'm not injured, if anyone is interested."
"Dad? You alright?"
"What just happened?"
"I'm trying to find out."
"Phoenix just blew up the school."
"But…Phoenix is dead."
"She is now, that's for sure."
"But…"
"Dad, the important thing is you're alive."
"If that's true… then why are we at the Avengers Mansion and why is there an Ant-Man memorial statue?"
The words flew back and forth, no one quite sure what to make of it, Curt being oddly quiet. And then he exploded.
"SO IT'S OKAY FOR CASSIE TO RESCUE HER DAD BUT I'M NOT ALLOWED TO TRY AND FIND MINE WHO I'VE NEVER EVEN MET!"
"Who's this?"
"Er… This is Curt Logan. Wolverine's son."
"Does anyone know how we got here, because Iron Lad didn't bring us here?"
"If Nate didn't…who did?"
"I did."
She hovered towards them, dressed in blue, a silver dragon roaring on her chest, her eyes filled with steel.
"You were right Poison. I am Dragon. And I remember everything."
"Wow. Tora was actually capable of something of the likes of House of M?"
"Yes."
A.N. Only two realities this time. Sorry, I couldn't resist the idea of Tora being the one behind M-Day and the Decimation. If you want it continued –to find out how Tora was able to alter reality- tell me.