Memories

Agony

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They all stood in a circle. Curt gulped.

"Are you sure about this, Jubes? I could hurt you…"

"You could also give me my powers back. I'm not afraid."

Curt gulped.

"I am. I don't want to hurt you. Because… Because… Because-you're-the-best-thing-that's-ever-happened-to-me, okay!"

"Curt. Listen to me. I trust you. I trust you to do this and not hurt me."

Curt gulped, closed his eyes then relaxed.

"I'm ready."

And then the orange dragon materialised around him and he gasped, whether in pain or amazement, no one was quite sure. He reached out. And Nori could hear him muttering something under his breath.

"Doughnut, doughnut, doughnut… Chocolate sprinkles… Vanilla icing… Pastry… Jam… There! Not backwards… Forwards… Forwards… Forwards…"

And then they both screamed and collapsed backwards. Pyrotechnics shot up into the air and Nori cheered.

"You did it!"

And then she froze. Jubilee's head had snapped up and her eyes were blood-red. A wild vampire was always terrifying. And suddenly Noriko wondered exactly how long Curt had forced Jubilee forward. How long had she gone without feeding? Jubilee lunged and Surge screamed. Then gasped as everything slowed down. It felt like they were moving through treacle and Curt was running unimpeded between Jubilee and Noriko then time snapped back to normal and Jubilee collided with Curt and her teeth dug deep into his neck. Curt gave a little, helpless cry and the two onlookers were frozen in horror as they watched the vampire feed. Curt's knees buckled and he fell. Surge tried to move forward but Speed caught her arm.

"No. He wants to do it like this."

"How do you know?!"

"Because if he didn't, Poison would have her pinned against the wall until he had a chance to give her a blood pouch."

And then Jubilee drew away, her lips red with blood and a look of horror on her face.

"Curt… No…"

He was pale, almost white. He tilted forward and back slightly then crashed face-first into the floor. Tommy shot forward and picked him up. Slapped his face.

"Come on, Curty-Boy! Wake up, you idiot! Come on! I'm not going to let my best mate die on me! Come on! Wake up, you stupid, foolish hero! You and your freaking hero complex! If you die, who's going to make jokes at Billy!? Who's going to help me blow stuff up!?"

And then Curt coughed and grinned at him.

"I thought you didn't do feelings, Tommy? Nice to know my best friend likes me for my talents in handling explosive substances."

Tommy promptly dropped him.

"I still don't do feelings."

Curt grinned as he weakly pushed himself up.

"Yeah right. You know, everyone thought that about Magneto until he started crying when he thought Cia was dead."

"Whoa! Who's 'Cia'? And Magneto cried?!"

"Well, he didn't cry as such but he kept going down to talk to her tree. Hey, did you know I'm your adoptive uncle?"

"WHAT!?"

"Obviously not. Well, you see, Magneto was adopted unofficially by the Shadow and she had also adopted Dad so I'm your adoptive uncle… Or something…"

"First cousins once removed. Now would someone care to tell me what is going on!"

They all turned to see Dragon standing in the doorway, tapping her foot, arms crossed. And as one, all four teenagers gulped.

"Uh, oh…"

"Was she very hard on them?"

"No, not really. Grounded Curt for a week –no dates, no heroing- for being 'reckless'; congratulated Jubilee then told her that trying to drink from Curt again would result in being strapped to a crucifix and left out in the sun while silver spikes edged towards her; sent Noriko home with the message that she was to be kept on Utopia for a week and just glared at Tommy until he went bright red."

Tommy paused just before he left and grinned at Nori.

"Next time, no crazy vampires or chronokinetics?"

She grinned right back.

"I don't know. That would just be boring."

Tommy smirked.

"I agree. So, vampires, zombies or dinosaurs next time?"

"I don't know. How about all of them at once?"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Finally, a girl who had the same taste in dates as he had. And he didn't have to slow down for her.

"Did it work out? In the end?"

"What do you think, Phoenix?"

"No."

"No. They were both too fast."

Tora paused as she walked down a street. A strong sense of déjà vu. Only it wasn't. She swiftly walked to a nearby coffee shop, ordered, sat down and let the winds take her.

She was walking down the street, head downcast and then she caught the scent and turned her head. A teenager was walking towards her, looking so like she had all those years ago, when she first met Wanda in that barn in Transia, after she saved her sister without even knowing it. The spade had dropped from her hands as she saw a woman with her face, a woman who looked identical to her in all but the colouration. And then her voice cracked slightly.

"Eva…"

"Mother."

Such coldness tore through Marie. She remembered seeing the infant; reaching for her daughter, her firstborn; only to be told that the children needed to be taken away from her. They were weak. They were dying. And then the knowledge that they were dead. Dead and she wasn't allowed to see their bodies. Eva… Her baby… And then she threw up the barriers to close herself off from her grief. Eventually, she made her way to Doom. And all that followed. Eva was standing looking torn and Marie wondered whether she could disapprove of her child's choice in clothing.

"Yes?"

"I want to talk to you."

Marie nodded and led her daughter to her tiny apartment. She opened the door and coughed slightly. Eva stood stoically, refusing a seat. Then she glared at her mother.

"Maybe you didn't kill her but you're responsible for the death of the best friend I ever had."

Marie lowered her head.

"I understand Scott's pain. Remember, Eva, he is not the only one who has lost a child."

"Yeah. But I don't see him killing his teammates or destroying a whole species."

Marie turned her head away then looked back.

"Do you know who was the first man to kiss me was? It was Bobby Drake. Iceman. We were teenagers, he was an X-Man, I was an Avenger and we were madly in love. We were going to elope."

"What happened?"

Marie laughed, almost bitterly.

"We grew up. By the time Professor Xavier was assembling his second team –my team- to rescue the first X-Men from Krakoa, we had fallen apart. I fell in love with Logan –your father- and Bobby had moved on. Or so I thought…"

"What do you mean?"

"It is of no consequence. What matters… What matters isn't me. Not anymore. You and Curt are the most important things in my life and I would offer to act as your mother should but we both that is an impossibility."

"What do you want of me?"

"I… I want to know what I have missed… What I have lost… I want to know my daughter."

Eva seemed to sag. And then she smiled weakly.

"I never really had a name. Not as a kid. Well, it wasn't really childhood. They called Curt 'Wolf' and me 'Lynx'. I still remember when we escaped. We were running, so fast, so far. We… we knew we were related, that we were twins. But that was it. Nothing more. And then one morning we woke up and Curt wasn't a mutant anymore. We were on the run for over a week and then…then Curt found the symbiote, dying in a back alley. He was always too curious for his own good. They bonded… Saved each other. And then Nate found us…"

Marie snorted.

"He was okay then. Crazy, but okay. The Young Avengers gathered. Nate named most of us. He called me Tigress. At the request of the real Avengers and X-Men, I took the name Wolverina instead."

Marie nodded.

"I understand."

"Do you? Do you really understand what they thought about you? They used your name as a curse. They always were terrified that someone else would turn out like you. They had countless systems set up, to alert them to any and all bursts of energy that happened to remotely resembled Dragon! Marie, they were terrified that one day, you'd come back and finish the job you started. And then you come back, all-powerful, all-knowing and you shut them down like they're all little children and Doom steals Dragon and then you just… You just order a cosmic entity back to you, like it's nothing that you can make something as powerful as Galactus do as you want it to."

Marie shook her head.

"No. I ordered a part of myself back to me. That's all I was, in the end. An empty shell of grief and rage, filled with unlimited power. And when it comes down to it, that's all I shall be. Only hopefully, instead of grief and rage, next time I'll be more…balanced…"

Eva played with her hair.

"Why though? Why did the supposed death of two children you had never met throw you off like that?"

Marie laughed bitterly.

"I knew you. I knew both of you. I carried you with me for nine months. I felt you moving –I felt your life. I felt you shift as I slept, kick when I moved too fast. I knew you both. And… And I used to get Emma to link our minds. I sent you thoughts. I told you I loved you, every day. You didn't understand but…you understood the feelings. The…the only consolation I had was the knowledge that my children had died knowing that I loved them. Eva, you can't understand until you're a mother yourself. I knew you so well. Why do you think I named you, even after your 'death'? You were never 'the twins' to me. Never 'the babies'. You were always Eva and Curt, my children who I would have given anything to watch grow up."

Eva gulped.

"Yeah… Well… The Young Avengers grew. Cassie and Kate… They showed me… They taught me about life and living and normality. But when it came to it, they went home and me and Curt stayed in the building with Nate, who was always so busy. And… And then we found Tommy… He was homeless, just like us. He came to stay with us. And… He used to be so cruel to me… And then… then Cassie told me what he meant… He liked me, but was afraid to show it. So… so I started teasing him back and… and… er…"

"My daughter has a boyfriend? Who was in juvie? Excuse me, I do believe your father will be turning in his grave."

"Yeah well, you'd know about that- Sorry! I am so, so sorry!"

Marie's face had crumpled and the woman collapsed to her knees, choking on nothing. Eva knelt.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

And then the eyes looked up at her, so dark and conflicted.

"He was so…so precious… I…I truly loved him… So much… So unique… He loved me too. Ever since he first saw me, he said… Ever since we first trained together and he saw me fight… He said he loved me the moment he watched me destroy my opponent robot before anyone else, including him."

And then she pressed her hands to her face to try and quell the tears.

"I thought he was an animal…"

Tora jerked back to reality, then glanced down at her cold coffee. No point. Not now.

She rose, paid and left. And all she could think of was her daughter.

"I always suffered from daughters."

"Oh come on, Phoenix. You and Ray got on great."

"Really? Really?"