Memories
Open Wounds
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If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
"Take a seat, Broo."
The small alien shuffled in and sat down, his big eyes staring into hers.
"Am I in trouble?"
"Not at all, Broo. No. I'm just here to talk."
Broo shifted in his seat. Then he looked up.
"They're scared of me."
Tora stopped leaning on her desk, walked round and sat down. Clasped her hands and leant forward.
"Shall I tell you a secret, Broo?"
"Er…"
"They're scared of me as well."
He blinked.
"Why?"
"Because, Broo… Broo, you don't understand. You are compassionate by nature. That's the reason your kind cut you off from the hive mind. But me… At times, I feel they cut the compassion out of me when I was twelve years old and stained in blood. You would never just let go of your emotions and let insanity rule. And I have. It's… It was the worst feeling in the world. And at the same time, it was the best. To be free of all inhibitions. To honestly not care that you are torturing your friend. And you don't understand that, Broo. You're ten times the person I am."
"I… I don't understand."
"Yes. You don't and that's wonderful. Because you care. And right now, caring is the most important thing you can do."
Broo blinked again. Tora smiled.
"Do you honestly think you're the first Brood capable of feeling compassion? There's another, right here on Earth."
His eyes widened in amazement and maybe joy.
"Another… Like me?"
"Well… Not exactly. No-Name is a Warbound of the Hulk. She was one of your Warrior Prime. And she is an incredibly compassionate being. Not by genetics, like you. But by the bonds she made in the arenas of Sakaar. I've pencilled in some meetings with you. She was most interested in meeting you."
"Mrs Logan…?"
"Yes, Broo."
"They… They still think I'm going to kill them. They still think I'm going to be Brood."
Tora sighed.
"I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do this."
She opened a drawer and pulled out a gleaming knife. Broo flinched then stared up in confusion when she placed it on the desk, hilt facing him.
"I…I don't understand…"
"Stab me."
He blinked again, staring up in confusion now.
"I don't…"
"Broo, take that knife and stab me."
"I don't want to…"
"Broo, do it!"
He reached out, touched the knife then pushed it away. Tora picked it up and rammed it into his hand, guiding the point to her stomach and glared at him.
"Stab. Me."
"I don't want to."
"DO IT OR I SHALL TAKE THE KNIFE TO YOU MYSELF!"
"But…"
"Broo, do it. Or else."
A single tear slid down his face as the blade slid in and then he was crying and Tora was already on the other side of the desk, rocking him back and forth, her injury already healed.
"Broo, you cared. You didn't want to hurt me, even when I threatened you. That shows a lot of compassion. That shows more than I'm capable of, certainly. You care and because you care, you are strong."
He sniffled a little more.
"That's not what the Brood say…"
"The Brood are stupid. Look, I've had you taken off the Space Survival course for meetings with No-Name. I think they'd do you more good than anything the school can provide right now."
He sniffled into her shirt a few more times and the rest of the session passed with him being rocked back and forth. And Tora felt the terrible itching in her stomach that had nothing to do with the knife wound healing and everything to do with guilt.
"Tough love. I suppose it did show him that he cared…"
"But was it too harsh?"
Death blinked at them.
"This is some human thing I'm not aware of, isn't it?"
"Come in, Evan."
The boy shuffled in, quite possibly looking more terrified than Broo.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No. Why do you all seem to think that?"
"Er… Because we suddenly get dragged out of class and made to wait in the corridor in front of a new office with your name on it and I couldn't hear anything."
"It's soundproofed and has anti-telepathic ceramic shielding. I have some rather…unique mental shields. Whatever you say here does not leave here."
"So what am I supposed to say?"
"Evan, we've noticed you aren't…fitting in."
"I'd noticed."
"Can you tell me why?"
"Because they all think I'm Apocalypse. Whoever Apocalypse is."
Tora stared at him.
"Do you want to know who Apocalypse is?"
He shrugged.
"Kind of. But at the same time…"
"You're scared of what you might find out?"
"Yeah…"
Tora reached into her desk and pulled out a file. Placed it on the desk and slid it over to Evan.
"This is almost everything we know about Apocalypse, minus a few bits of sensitive data that we are withholding for the privacy of those involved. I don't expect you to read it. I'm just giving it to you so you know we aren't withholding information from you."
"What's being withheld?"
Tora sighed and leant forward.
"Events pertaining the 'Twelve', the identities of the Horsemen of Apocalypse and all data gained from Cable, as the future is –and always has been- in motion. The intel provided by Tigress and…her associate has also been removed. The 'what-if's and the identities of those manipulated by him in essence. Nothing important. All of the major stuff on En Sabah Nur is there."
He stared down at the file, the name stamped on it, the X embossed in one corner and the words written in block capitals.
TOP SECRET. FOR SENIOR X-MEN ONLY.
He knew who the senior X-Men were. They all did, in that oddly arranged school. The first two teams, Shadowcat, Dragon, Rogue and Gambit. The ones people saw when they thought of the X-Men.
"Thank you."
And then he walked out, clutching the folder to his chest, wondering if he should –could- read it.
And Tora span her chair around, so she stared out the window and then glanced down at the photo on her desk. Etana, smiling that infuriatingly knowledgeable smile. Evan had glanced at it once too often to be mildly curious. He was intrigued by Etana. And given Apocalypse's history with Etana, that was worrying. She picked up the Rubik's Cube and gave it a few idle turns. He hadn't glanced at any of the other miscellaneous clutter on the desk, only given a perfunctory glance at the picture of Curt, Jamie, Eva and Laura that took pride of place. But he kept looking at Etana, hidden away behind the team photo of the first two teams, Kitty, Anna-Marie and herself. Looking down to realise the Rubik was solved –all colours solid blocks- she put it down and picked up the photo of Etana. It was one of the best she had of Etana alone. A result of ambushing the woman with a camera hidden away. There was something endearing about Etana's hatred of photographs being taken of her. A relic of an older age, a warier woman.
She span around again then sighed when her pager started beeping. Pressed the button.
"I'll head right over, Luke. Logan can't come, school board meeting."
Phoenix glanced over as her host tensed up, dread rolling off her in waves as the walls of the room closed in, the claustrophobic sense stating more clearly than anything that this was something she'd rather not see but was going to force herself through, just to show that she was over it.
"Your habit for flagellation hasn't stopped, I've noticed."
The woman started, almost as if she'd forgotten that they were there. Then she sighed.
"I need to do this. I have to. Because… Because I've been running for far too long –to the end of the Universe- and now I need to stop and face up to what… I need to face myself."
A.N. Since I now appear to have a life outside writing (help, it's horrific!), I'm going to have to stop writing one of my stories and you know, start living. If you don't want it to be Memories, go vote. Thanks! (For MTJAK followers, don't worry, I've written forty or so chapters in advance)