Memories
Jealousy
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"Stop, you idiots!"
Logan looked up from the fight. Tora was standing there, eyes blazing and face twisted in anger.
"Victor, Kurt, stop killing the reality-jumpers. And Logan, you have an awful lot of explaining to do when you get home. And Curtis Steven Logan, you are grounded until you are twenty."
She leapt down and straightened up and Logan saw the same tattoo as this Kurt had over her left eye, only hers was stark white with a thin black line running through it.
"We need to take this to the boss. Now."
"But…"
"Victor, I am leader here and I say they are no threat. Kurt, stop stabbing Wade."
Deadpool looked up blearily.
"Hey, a hot Tigress who isn't taken. Can I date you?"
Nightcrawler instantly stabbed him again.
"No one talks to Tora Bat Etana like that."
"Kurt…"
"Sorry."
Death sighed.
"At least he wasn't thrown off a building, as I believe she once did to him…"
The masked woman laughed.
"Oh, that was wonderful…"
He looked down, seeing this other version of Tora standing in front of a gravestone, hand resting over the name. Jean sighed
"We lost the Shadow in battle. Tora took it badly. Etana was everything to her. She was the one who broke Tora out of the pens and gave her a name. They were both broken women in a way. Etana was…she was Apocalypse's personal slave and she hated him. Tora was there when Etana died and it was like she had lost her world. Etana was…well, she was everything we needed as a leader. Strong, wise, well-known by the Human Council. If she were still alive, we might not be in this mess. It took Kurt to get Tora out of her hell."
"What?"
"Look."
He gazed down to see the other Kurt walk up behind Tora and touch her shoulder. She turned, sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. The man wrapped his arm around her and then tilted her head back to kiss her. Logan looked away before he did something foolish. Because that was one of the images from his nightmares.
"Oh, the possessiveness rolling of it is absolutely marvellous."
"Death, stop being an idiot."
"They will not be safe from retribution."
"Right. I'm staying."
Tigress's arms were crossed.
"Tora, we can't lose you and Kurt…"
"I am not leaving him. He's my man and I like it here."
"Two Toras? Oh Heaven forbid…"
"Shut up Fantomex."
Logan closed his eyes.
"What does my Tora say to that?"
"Buster, I am going to skin you alive. And of course she can stay. I need some intelligent conversation."
He span around and gulped. His Tora was standing there, arms crossed as well.
"Er…how did you get here?"
"Easy. I used the Dragon's Eye. And you have a lot of explaining to do to me. Hello 295."
"Hello 618. How are things?"
"Right now, I want to skin my husband alive. You know, it is interesting that we can't link if we're in the same reality. Hello Kurt. And Jean. And Victor."
Jean was staring at her.
"Oh… Are you Dragon?"
"Voila! That's me. Excuse me, Logan, I want to get to know my darling counterpart. In the flesh, as it were."
Both Toras wandered off and they just stood and watched as their arms started waving about their heads.
"Do you think something's wrong?"
Sudden laughter split the air.
"No, I think they're just plotting to make our lives misery."
"Is the plural of Tora; Toras or Torae. Or maybe Torie…"
"Death?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Beast's eyes widened. But he wasn't expecting the Kurt doppelganger to leap between him and Tora, reaching a hand out.
"You stay away from her, understand!?"
Tora sighed.
"Kurt, our McCoy tortured him as well. I am quite capable of looking after myself. Also, I do not need protecting. When it comes to it, I will be the one who rips Henry McCoy in half. Just like he did to me."
A long moment's pause. Then, "Tora?"
Another head popped up from the back.
"Different Tora."
"Oh… Er…"
The woman behind Kurt stepped out and the tattoo sealed it.
"Look at me. Really look. Do I look like the woman you know?"
The answer was no. They were the same height and build, face the same shape, hair the same colour. But they were not the same. One had scars on the right side of her face, the other a pure white tattoo on her left eye. The hair of the Other Tora was shorter, kept in closer control. And then there was the fact she was dressed in black and white, Tigress not Dragon. But most telling of all was the little spark of life in the golden eyes. And the jealously present in the other's.
"Oh, poor dear. She was jealous."
"Death?"
"I know, I know. Shut up."
"Kindly."
Tora stood in the window, staring down at them. Her own self and her Kurt. Walking together, arms linked, talking softly and warmly together. Jealously consumed her. She knew it was wrong. Knew her other sensed that something was wrong but neither voiced their misgivings. They only went out in the dark, at night, and only on the side of the school the staff quarters were on. Tora stared down once more. The window was dark but she had no doubts that if either of them looked up, they'd see her. But they were too busy talking, discussing their past and future. Tora knew that Tigress wanted to stay here. That to her, this world was her ideal. She was free of the memories of the pens. The pens she had been forced to live in, Apocalypse's solution to Weapon X. Tora knew that she could stand Hank, if only because of his different appearance. She dreaded what would happen when Tigress met Scott. The true monster of her nightmares. After all, Cyclops had been the overeager young leader of EMF. Too ready to abuse his power, to make the defiant girl who was McCoy's pet project bow to him. McCoy had cared too much for his project to let her be seriously harmed. Cyclops' loyalty to Sinister had made him determined to ruin McCoy's favourite. The beatings, injuries and cuts always healed. The emotional scars didn't. Tigress's hatred of Cyclops expanded beyond her own reality, no matter how irrational that hatred was. Tora looked down one more time then turned away.
Her heart died a little more.
"And Logan didn't even realise he was killing her."
"How was he to know?"