Memories
Comparisons
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"Darkholme!"
Kurt turned to see Tora, the other one, Dragon, striding towards him, an unreadable expression on her face. He wondered what he'd done wrong, whether he'd upset her somehow. Unlikely. She was too polite to do something like that.
Then suddenly she swept in and kissed him on the cheek. When she drew back, he could see the mistletoe held deftly between two fingers and the tears streaking down her face.
"Merry Christmas, Elf."
And she walked away, a definite sense of defeat in the slump of her shoulders. Kurt shrugged. Everything that woman did defied reason. She was illogical in every way.
Phoenix blinked.
"That was her and Kurt's custom… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I wasn't there…"
The two Toras were walking along the corridor together, talking softly under their breaths.
Kurt Darkholme stared after them. They were an enigma, the pair of them. Both were very…guarded, but in different ways. His Tora, Tigress, was iron-hard and it was very, very hard to get past her barriers, but when you did, Gott it was worth it! The other, Dragon, was different. For all her supposed openness, Kurt could sense the barriers. He actually knew that he was scared senseless by both of them.
For all Tigress made a merciless and efficient killer, Dragon also terrified him. Because he knew that she, that both of them, were good women. And a good person will kill you with barely a word. Etana was the same. When she killed someone, it was always quickly, efficiently, in as pain-free a manner as she could devise. There was no torture, no gloating. Many times, Etana's 'victims' never even knew she was there. He had seen her once teleport with such precision, the man had been decapitated whilst the cloud was still vanishing. Even after extensive training and fighting in the field, he could never be as good as Shadow.
He remembered the day she had turned up at the door to the house he shared with his mother, propping up a comatose teenager with her uninjured arm.
"RAVEN!"
His mother froze.
"Etana. What… How… You escaped!"
The black woman nodded, then gestured to her bleeding arm.
"I got injured. I needed help. And you still… You're still my friend."
Raven whipped around to the fifteen-year-old boy.
"Kurt, medical supplies! Now!"
"The girl… You have to treat the girl…"
"Etana, that wound is infected. I'm not letting you go out to die!"
Etana glowered at his mother.
"Dammit Raven! This girl has heavy-metal poisoning and is already half-dead with starvation! She's one of McCoy's experiments!"
That shut his mother up.
"Get her on the table."
The body was stretched out, emaciated, covered in blood, filth and gore. Kurt stared at her.
"Vas…"
"Kurt, this is Etana. You might not remember her, but she helped me when you were born."
The woman nodded and he got a glimpse of her right arm, shredded flesh hanging off the bone. She gave him a slight smile.
"I've had worse kid. Help your mother. The girl is my priority."
"Why?"
His mother glared at the stranger.
"Because she's an idiot and that's what she does. Kurt, give me the antibiotics. She cut out her tracker and the wound's become infected."
He handed them to his mother who was already cutting the blood-soaked clothes from around the many, terrible wounds.
"Etana, this girl is going to die."
"Not if I can help it. Just get her clear, I'll do the rest."
"Healing? Etana, you're too weak!"
"I have all this blood dripping on your floor. I might as well do something useful with it."
Mystique sighed then nodded. The woman ran her arm over the girl's cuts, and Kurt leapt forward, grabbing her arm. Then screamed. The small scratch on his finger from earlier now burned like acid was poured into it. His mother dragged him back.
"STUPID BOY! Etana's blood will burn you!"
As Kurt watched the injuries started to heal on the girl. Etana, the woman, was grimacing as more and more blood poured out of her. Finally the last of the girl's injuries were healed and she allowed Mystique to clean and bind the shredded arm. Metal-poisoning tablets were carefully washed down the girl's throat and then Raven sat down and glared at the dark skinned woman.
"Right. Talk."
And she did, using names Kurt had never heard. McCoy, Sinister, Prelate Summers, Magneto, Weapon X, Apocalypse. Wait, he had heard of Apocalypse. He was the mutant who had taken over America. Then she pointed at the girl.
"She was McCoy's response to Weapon X. I barely got her out. They pumped her full of adamantium. Her healing's on the blink. She was dying, had already torn out her tracker, been beaten half to death when I got there. I needed help and I thought 'Raven'."
"I can't keep her."
"I don't want you to keep her. I just need somewhere to stop until I heal, then I'll take her and you'll never hear from me again."
And that had been that. Three weeks later, Etana had taken the still only semi-conscious girl and Kurt hadn't seen her for another five years, when he joined Magneto's X-Men. And everyone had been in a happy muddle because the Shadow was coming.
When Etana had arrived, she was followed by a slender, wiry red-head, with golden eyes and the look of a trained warrior. It had taken him a while to link this deadly beauty with the dying girl. And when he did, he wondered if she ever remembered the gawky teenager who sat up with her as she screamed, hallucinating about terrible, horrible things.
Then he'd seen her fight, moving fluidly and with great, perfect grace, dancing around, graceful claws stained red with blood. The Shadow had moved in perfect unison, the two appearing to be two bodies with one controlling mind. And he had fallen hard and fast in love.
"Oh, how sweet."
"Phoenix, would you…?"
Phoenix grinned, raised her hand and clouted Death around the ears.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
"I hate humans."
Tora's eyes were unfocussed and Tigress stepped into the darkened room. A single tune played over and over again.
"Dragon?"
She looked up, her scarred face so lost.
"What's wrong with me? I…I used to love another song by them more but I can't listen to it anymore."
"Why?"
The woman crouched down to her double.
"Why can't you?"
Dragon's head tilted back.
"Because that one has hope. Ask Logan. He'll tell you how it kept me close to him when I was gone."
"And this one?"
"It's so hopeless. It's how I feel. It could have been written for me."
…All dead, all dead
All the dreams we had
And I wonder why I still live on
All dead, all dead
And alone I'm spared
My sweeter half instead
All dead and gone, all dead…
Tigress blinked.
"Who's your 'sweeter half'?"
And Dragon's eyes darkened.
"My version of your lover. My closest confident… I need him, Tora… I need him more than oxygen…"
…All dead, all dead
But I should not grieve
In time it comes to ev'ryone
All dead, all dead
But in hope I breathe
Of course I don't believe
You're dead and gone
All dead and gone
Tigress leant in and let Dragon cling to her.
"We'll bring him back. I promise. I will find a way to save you."
And then Dragon looked up and there was no life in her eyes.
"But everyone is dead. All dead. All gone. All die and I will be alone. I… I don't want to be alone… Everyone will die and I don't want to be alone…"
"You won't be alone Tora. You will never be alone. Because we will all be with you. All of us will always be there for you…"
And then Dragon stared at Tigress and there was nothing human in those eyes.
"Tigress, at the rate we're going, there won't be any other us out there. We're all dying…"
And then her eyes flashed with a burning sorrow.
"I wish I'd went with him and been to one to die instead. Maybe then I'd be able to feel whole…"
"I pity her agony. I fear what she could have done."
"Death, loss alone means nothing to her. She didn't care anymore. All she wanted was your comfort but you couldn't, wouldn't come for her."
"I tried. She called me but the Dragon held me at bay. Every night I fought with the Dragon in preparation for her coming but the Librarian shielded her from my gaze."