Memories

Raging Oceans

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She had dispensed of the ragged blue clothes she had worn when she arrived and the long, sweeping robes they had later given her. Instead she slid on the graceful clothes she had found in the wardrobe. They were long and deep blue, practical but also incorporating the fluid lines of the loose robes the others she had seen wore. She pulled up the hood to cover her face, the face she couldn't stand to see for the eyes that gleamed with the sharp glint of the betrayed. Then she slid on the silver belt and turned to face the picture hanging on the wall. It was a good likeness, she admitted that. The Angel of the Dragon, her long silver hair spilling out behind her in the wind and the black wings spread out, shielding the cowering humans from the twisting bird made of oily flames that threw off belching clouds of black smoke. The First Prophet of the Order of the Dragon, an angel sent by the Lady of the Waters. She lowered her head in the slightest hint of respect for a woman she still greatly admired. Then she turned and walked out, already planning how to best complete the task before her.

She heard Iain walking up behind her but didn't slow down as he fell into step, a half-pace behind her and slightly to the right. They'd walked like this for years. Now it felt natural, ordered, as opposed to the chaos of the X-Men. She despised Chaos. Chaos was the domain of the Phoenix, the Firebird who burnt through everything. She was meant to preserve all the world, like a fly in amber, sealed forever and protected from all the changes of the outside universe. She heard others stepping quickly out of her way. One didn't want to upset the Dragon. The woman who had given up any of her prior existence; her name, her family, her humanity, to be one with the Dragon; whose devotion to the cause had meant she gave up everything for the Dragon. And then there was a low sound of the warning bell. She whipped around.

"Who would attack us?"

"They have come for you once more."

And she felt something stir in her, something that could be love, could be hate. All she knew was that it was screaming to be let out and used. So she did.

"Oh dear. She wasn't too harsh on them, was she?"

"Well, aside from almost breaking Logan, she wasn't that bad."

"Oh… Like that, was it?"

Logan and Wanda hadn't met any resistance so far. And that worried him. And then there were the statues, huge dragons staring down at them. He'd caught a few glimpses of people in blue robes slipping away into side passages but nothing so far.

"I don't like this."

Wanda gave a nervous laugh.

"None of this hall is mechanised. No trapdoors, no robots. Nothing at all. There doesn't seem to be anything down the side passages so…"

"We have to keep going down this one, like sheep to the slaughter?"

"Yeah."

And then wind suddenly whistled up the corridor, arctic cold wind, like the air off Hudson Bay. Logan raised a hand to shield his face and Wanda wrapped her cloak tight around her. And then they heard the voice, rising in the howling wind, a voice like the roaring of the ocean in a storm.

"LOGAN!"

He moved his hand in time to see a figure shooting towards them, riding a wave that was being controlled by her. And then she landed in front of them and the waters parted around them and reconverged after them. And Logan stood frozen as he stared at the woman watching him with hawk-like eyes.

She was dressed in dark blue clothes; loose trousers and a long shirt with a dragon emblazoned on the chest in dull grey. Her hair was flickering around her. And her face was contorted with hatred.

"Tora…?"

Her lips parted in a silent snarl.

"Don't. You. Dare. Call. Me. That."

"Tora?"

"You lied. All this time, it's all been one big lie. I trusted you! I loved you! I was stupid enough to think you loved me as well!"

"Tora!"

But she had already thrown out an arm and held her hand clenched out in front of her, directing the waves to do the same to him. Her eyes were narrowed and Logan's attempts to free himself just meant she clutched harder, cutting off his air supply.

"All lies. All tricks. My whole life. I was just a pet, to be kept and cared for and not allowed to exert myself unless I learnt of who I truly was. You and Xavier, two men keeping me prisoner in my own head."

"I don't…"

She was suddenly looming over him, kicking his feet from under him. Wanda moved towards her as if to strike but Tora turned without warning and flung her into one of the statues.

"Stay out of this! My fight isn't with you!"

And she turned back to Logan and her fingers touched his neck before tightening, nails digging into flesh.

"You lied. You lied to me, made me think I was someone else. You tricked me for so long. I know it was a lie from the start. So tell me. Did you ever feel more than fear of me?"

"I…don't…understand…"

"You can stop the lies. I know what you did. I know that you and Charles Xavier were afraid I would turn out like the Phoenix –like the Chaos Bringer- and kidnapped and mindwiped me. You tore any sense of identity from me and made me think I was someone else. There is no excuse for what you did, nothing to prove that the failings of Xavier to control his pet would damage me."

His eyes widened in horror as he realised what she was saying.

"It…wasn't…lie…"

"Don't you dare keep lying to me! I've had enough of lies for my whole life! Tell the truth!"

"He can't! Tora, you're choking him!"

Tora's head snapped around to face Wanda, her eyes gleaming silver.

"I am not Tora. Tora was a fabrication, a lie. I am Dragon. And don't you dare tell me about him. He choked me for eight years. He suffocated who I truly was, helping Xavier wipe my mind every time I showed a hint of remembering who I was."

"That's not true!"

"How would you know!"

"BECAUSE I'M YOUR FRIEND! I KNOW YOU! And… And I can change reality. For that, I need to know what reality is."

"You're lying!"

"I'm not! I promise you!"

But Tora had now grabbed Wanda and pushed her to her knees.

"Did Xavier tell you!? Are you in on this as well!? You are, aren't you! All my friends have been lying to me!"

"No…"

"All lies, all this time! I trusted you! I cared for you as a friend!"

"Tora… You…saved my…life… When…the X-Men wanted…to kill me, remember?"

Tora's hand loosened from Wanda's throat and she was staring at her with a lost look on her face.

"I…I remember…"

"And you told everyone all your darkest secrets, remember?"

"…Yes…"

"I owe you my life for that. If I thought for one second that you were being manipulated, then I'd have done everything in my power to help you."

For the briefest second, she saw a flash of sanity in Tora's eyes which disintegrated into mistrust.

"But that was your 'Tora'. So from your point of view, you are stopping your friend from being destroyed. But she was just a construction. A façade over the true me."

"I can't believe that."

And then Tora's eyes narrowed.

"You almost had me. Too bad."

Her fist slammed into Wanda's face and, weighted with adamantium as it was, it was lucky Wanda's neck didn't snap. Instead she simply crumpled into unconsciousness. Tora turned her attention back to Logan, her eyes glowing silver.

"I should kill you for what you did to me. But… I can't…"

She released his neck and glared down at him.

"Get out of my sight."

"What…?"

"Get out. Take the Witch, leave and never come back. If I ever see you again, I will kill you."

He gasped for air as he stared up at her, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Tora…"

"Go. Now."

And she turned away, raising her hand as she did so and flicking it, sending a wave to push them all the way out of the building, into caves and outside. Logan coughed again, then turned to see the Scarlet Witch lying comatose on the other edge of the ledge. He hurried over and cursed when he realised she wasn't breathing.

"You owe me for this one, Maximoff."

And he placed his hands on her chestbone and started chest compressions, wondering how Tora –before all this had happened- would have reacted to this.

And in the seat of his chest, he felt a burning pain, one he had felt far too often. The agony of a broken heart.

Phoenix whistled through her teeth.

"Ouch. Oh, poor Logan. I really want to go back and punch those… those…"

"Swear filter, please."

"Naughty people… Wait! Bad words! Bad words!"

She turned to the host who had a slight smirk on the unmasked side of her face.

"I bad word hate you."