Memories

Take No Retribution

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If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.

When Logan and Wanda limped back into what the X-Men were calling 'Tora Base', everyone stopped to stare at the bloodied, bruised and battered Witch who had one arm draped over Logan's shoulder.

"Someone get her to Hank!"

Logan lowered her into Rogue's waiting arms.

"We found her."

"Tora! Where! Where's ma sœur!?"

"She wouldn't come with us."

"What!"

"No way!"

"You've gotta be joking!"

Logan collapsed into a chair.

"She… She looked at me like she hated me. She… She thought that Chuck and I had kidnapped her from another life and messed with her head until she thought she was Tora…"

"WHAT!?"

He rested his head in his hands.

"I don't know what she thought. But I know hate when I see it. She hated me."

Curt hurried over.

"What's wrong with Maman?"

"We don't know."

Curt pouted.

"Where is she, Dad? I'll head over. Come on, she can't hate me."

Eloise nodded.

"I'll go as well."

And Rachel stepped forward.

"You'll need an Omega-level telepath to fix whatever has been done to her. And sorry, 'Loise, but you aren't anywhere near that power level."

The three nodded at each other. Then another voice spoke up.

"I will come."

They turned to see Laura, who blushed.

"I have only just been allowed to leave the Academy."

And Curt leapt over and gave her a huge hug.

"You big idiot. Come here, sis! Give me a hug."

Laura stood the bone crushing embrace for a second before pushing her 'brother' off her.

"I'm coming as well. Tora is likely to still trust me."

There was a moment's silence, then Logan nodded. Finally, there was a sudden burst of swearing as Jubilee shot into the room, carrying a squirming cat.

"Am I late? Sorry, had a bit of trouble in Ohio."

Jeanne jumped down.

"You really should be more careful, Jubilation."

"Oh great, you're doing the Tora teacher impersonation. Please stop using my full name."

Jeanne padded forward and as she did, her body flowed and changed into the tiger.

"Right, you horrible little lot. Seeing as I'm the only one who appears to have half an ounce of sense between us, and I am linked to Tora in a way none of you are. So I propose I plan and run this stupid rescue mission to get my worse half back."

There was a pause.

"Don't you mean better half?"

"No, I meant worse. Now, any objections?"

Eloise shrugged.

"Aside from being led by a tiger, I'm fine."

"If you want, I can take a more humanoid appearance. However, I find it…irritating…"

There was a moment's silence then Jeanne sighed.

"I'll demonstrate."

The body that appeared was tall, muscular and furry, with a feline head sitting atop a primate body with a straight back and then the hind legs of a feline and a swishing tail. She slipped back into the tiger form and sat back on her haunches.

"See, impractical and foolish."

There was a long moment's silence then Eloise coughed.

"So that's us then?"

There was awkward silence and then Rachel shrugged.

"Okay."

Curt raised a hand.

"Do you want me to slice us there?"

There was a moment's silence.

"What?"

Curt sighed.

"Basically, I create a wedge of time and push us backwards in time at the same rate everything else goes forward so to us, everything else has stopped. To us, it'll take us however long it took Dad to get to Maman. But to everyone else, we'll do it in no time at all."

Rachel grinned.

"See, he's already got the hang of it all."

Curt closed his eyes.

"Jeanne… Rachel… Laura… Tante Eloise… Me…"

And then they vanished.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow.

"Is he the reason that the whole Earth time zone was all messed up?"

The masked woman shrugged.

"He couldn't create time, just…move it around. How much time does a dinosaur need, anyway?"

"He stole time from the past?"

"He was very good at it. Didn't you ever see the Halls of Time? That was his invention."

"You mean the huge bobbins that wound or released time?"

"Yes, those things."

Phoenix whistled through her teeth.

"There definitely was an inventive streak in that family."

To the rescue mission, what had happened was everyone else in the room appeared to slow to the tiniest of movements, like a movie played a frame at a time at half the usual speed. Only the movie had a filter, a green tinge to everything. Curt whistled.

"Right, we're in the fourth segment. I can't keep us in the sixth or seventh for long but once we get moving, it's into the fifth."

"What?"

Curt sighed.

"I'm basically cutting and stretching a second into smaller and smaller pieces. It's complicated and awkward to do, not to mention tiring, so can we get moving?"

It was the work of a moment for Rachel to start moving them as fast as she could, so they hovered across the country watching the eerily silent and still world spread out beneath them, as the colours darkened to blue then indigo and finally purple. And then he swore and closed his eyes.

"This'll hurt."

And the world went black and Rachel stared at Curt, whose face was contorted in agony.

"Curt!"

"Keep…going…"

She didn't know if he was referring to her or himself so she tried to speed them up, hoping that if they got there faster, Curt wouldn't burn his powers out. She knew he was powerful –the fact he could slice time like this, so finely, was proof of that- but he hadn't the stamina or the training for anything this intense. And then Rachel saw the cave entrance, just as Logan had shown her in his memories. As soon as they touched down on the ledge, she shook Curt until the world snapped back into life and the boy slumped forward, exhausted.

"You did great."

"I…know I did…"

She glanced over at Jeanne, trying to gauge a reaction but the cat was ignoring everyone. Feeling the slightest flash of guilt, she slipped into his mind and shut him down, dropping him gently into sleep. Then she reached out to Logan.

We're here.

And Jeanne was already walking into the cave. Rachel hurried after her and could hear Eloise and Laura arguing about who was staying with Curt. And then Laura's steps deadening as she dragged Curt up onto her shoulders and resorted to carrying him. They passed the stalagmites and stalactites and Rachel wondered which was which. Tora would know and she'd probably give you a lecture on classical limestone formation whilst she was at it. For someone who liked to pretend she was just the muscle of the group or the acrobat, she knew a lot of random facts that didn't appear to have any particular relation to being a teacher or an X-Man or Avenger. She just seemed to absorb the facts, in some sort of eidetic ideal. And then the cave gave way to a magnificent hall with carved dragons staring down from the walls as far as the eye could see and lit with huge braziers. They were unchallenged but Rachel was prepared for Tora to appear at any time. Much to her chagrin, Jeanne had taken point, the long rangy legs of the tiger padding silently. Jeanne stopped and raised her head, inhaling softly.

"She was here… There are a lot of scents here, but her mind has been shielded. This way."

And the tiger was bounding off down the hallway, leaving Laura dragging Curt along at the rear. Rachel noticed and took up some of the weight from Laura, who nodded swiftly to her, the closest the steely girl would get to thanking her. And then the hall opened out into a huge cavern, where sunlight seemed to spill from glowing white crystals. And in the centre of the room stood Tora, a man in black hovering behind her shoulder as she controlled the streams of water swirling around like ribbons.

"Marie."

Eloise's voice was quiet but it carried and the water all smashed to the floor as Tora whipped around, her lips mouthing 'Eloise'. And then she saw Laura carrying Curt and a choked cry slid from her lips and she was running towards them, then gently cradling her son's head in her arms as Laura respectfully stepped back. And then Tora stood up, her eyes gleaming dangerously.

"Who did this?"

Rachel stepped forward.

"He needed to rest. He almost overloaded his mind in an attempt to get to you."

Tora's eyes had narrowed.

"You are the Phoenixspawn."

That didn't sound good. That really didn't sound good.

"You dare hurt him!?"

"I didn't…"

But Tora's hand was already out and the waves had Rachel pressed up against the wall, crushing her chest.

"All of you, always betraying me."

"Marie, I beg of you…"

She turned to Eloise.

"Why are you here?"

The way she spat out the question obviously hurt her sister, whose eyes flashed sorrowfully.

"I was worried about you."

"Tora…?"

And now Tora's eyes softened slightly as she saw the girl she treated as a cross between a sister, a niece and a daughter.

"Laura…"

"We miss you."

"Laura…"

"Please, come back. Logan… Tora, he was crying."

At the mention of Logan, any kindness in Tora's eyes vanished.

"You too? Will everyone I care for betray me!?"

And then Jeanne padded forward.

"Twenty minutes after you pushed me out, Logan was finally put through to me after begging with Scott for three hours to be allowed to talk to me. Go on. Let me in. I'll prove it."

The look on Tora's face was torn. Jeanne nodded.

"You don't trust me, but now you're afraid, because if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?"

Tora nodded curtly and then Rachel felt…nothing… Of course, Tora's link with Jeanne wasn't like usual mental links. After all, they were still the same person deep down. So Jeanne wasn't trying to allow Rachel in to shatter all the illusions. And Tora's eyes were widening and Rachel felt the pressure lift slightly. She wished she could hear the telepathic rapport that would be going on between the single person in two bodies. But she couldn't, not without trying to force her way in and Tora in this state… well, she'd probably take it as an attack and retaliate as such. And she probably would use lethal force when she was like this. And then she was staggering backwards, stumbling over and the man caught her.

"Don't listen to their lies! They are trying to trap you! Don't listen."

And Eloise's face was suddenly framed with the delicate green cat and the man went flying back.

"Don't. You. Dare. Try. And. Manipulate. Ma. Sœur."

The usually quite weak telepath and middling-level telekinetic was incited by the apparent manipulation of her sister and her powers seemed to be spiking, so the man was being tossed around like a ragdoll. Green psi-energy was gathering around her hands, always a sign that she was mad. Her telekinesis was about equal to Psylocke's, so it was entirely possible that a psychic blade would suddenly materialise. And that would be a bad idea.

"Verity, control yourself!"

The use of her old codename snapped Eloise back to her senses. The green light faded but she still looked annoyed.

"Lucky you. If I had my way, I'd have ripped you to pieces. You see, my sister has always been very protective of me and now I find myself returning the favour."

Tora was on her knees, hands clinging to her head. As Rachel walked towards her, she could hear the muttered words under her breath, the same words over and over again.

"Qui suis-je? Suis-je Tora? Suis-je Dragon? Qui suis-je? Je suis Tora. Je suis Dragon. Je suis tout et rien. Je suis humain et dieu. Je suis… Qui suis-je? Qui suis-je?"

"Tora?"

The eyes that looked up were little more than a child's, alone and confused.

"Ray…?"

"Yes. It's me. Do you trust me?"

And she held out a hand. There was a moment's silence and then the slender tanned hand slid into hers and Rachel pulled up Tora.

"Will you let me in?"

Tora's lips moved but no words came out. And then there was the almost imperceptible nod and Rachel pressed her fingers to Tora's temples and entered, ignoring the screamed "NOO!" from the man in black.

As soon as she was inside Tora's mind, Rachel swore. Whoever had been in there last hadn't any finesse. It was a crudely done mental block, where the telepath had torn right through the fragile woman and blurred the lines between fantasy and reality. Any halfway decent telepath would have been able to do something like this with surgical precision. But instead they'd ripped through Tora's mind like a hurricane.

It was difficult; finding memories, piecing them back together, hoping for the best when it came to some of the worst fractures. Once again, she cursed the amateurs who had made such a mess of the crystalline halls. Separating fact from fiction was the hardest, as Tora wasn't quite sure which was which anymore. And just as she was about to drop, she felt Eloise slip into her mind and offer the strength of the others to help with this seemingly unending task. And finally she felt the pieces begin to slip into place by themselves, as Tora herself started to help her. And then she finally slipped out of Tora's mind and saw Tora staring up at her with such relief in her golden eyes.

"Are you okay?"

The slightest of smiles touched the corner of Tora's mouth not marred by scars.

"I've been better."

And then she pulled herself up and her hands slid out and she raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, I know you brought it."

"You really do have a reliance on that thing."

"I find it reminds me of what I was. Come on, Marvel Girl. Hand it over."

Rachel grinned as she pulled out the silver headdress.

"Of course I brought it. Know which one this is?"

Tora weighed it in her hands and a smile split her face.

"I don't believe it! My first one! Look, you can tell by the scratch on the jawline where I was almost beheaded!"

"I'll take your word for it."

The movement was swift but when it was over, the silver metal was framing Tora's face and there was a slight relaxing around her eyes. Tora Logan –slightly confused woman- transitioned into Tora Logan –hero and protector of Earth.

"Right. Let's get this mess sorted out."

She turned towards the man, who raised one hand up from his position kneeling on the floor.

"No…"

"You played with me. You made me doubt who I was, everything that makes me me. You made my question everything I have ever relied on for my sense of identity. You invaded the only sanctuary I have ever had and you hurt all those I cared about."

"We… We had to save you…"

"You kidnapped me and sedated me and shattered my mind. You made me think my best memories were my worst. You twisted everything about me."

And her hair was flying in a wind that none of them could feel and she was standing over him and her eyes were unreadable.

"Yet… Yet you had a reason. You honestly believed that your way would save the world and everyone in it. You placed your faith in half-remembered prophecies from a woman who would never claim the Dragon was a god. You were misguided and confused. Little more than children. And I have nothing but pity for you."

"But…"

"But I can never save the world the way you want me to. I shall do everything in my power to save the world. But not the way you want me to. I would never consent to rule. Free will is everything. If humanity does not wish to save the world, then it shall live with the consequences. And die with them as well. If a world destroys itself, the Dragon may not interfere. That is where the Phoenix comes in. It burns what is stagnant away from all that has forgotten that it must evolve. It is my job to step in when a world or species has reached its peak and cannot rise any higher. I cannot intervene. I cannot stagnate. For that is cruelty incarnate."

"But…I…I cared for you…"

"I know. And that is why I will not take retribution. But I have a life. I have a family. I have children who need me and a husband who loves me, despite what you made me believe. And now… And now, I think I need to return to them."

And without another word, she turned and walked away, Jeanne moving in sync with her, waves coiling around Tora's legs as the tiger metamorphosed into the cat. And the man fell forward and started crying luxuriously.

Phoenix smiled sadly.

"She was always better at emotional control than I was. I would have probably burnt them to nothing and gone Dark."

"Oh, Jean. Do give yourself a little more credit."

"Oh yeah, Miss I-Am-A-Deeply-Flawed-Person-Who-Nevertheless-Feels-Extrodinarily-Guilty-If-I-Accidentally-Forget-To-Give-A-Begging-Person-As-Much-Money-As-I-Am-Carrying-On-Me-At-The-Time."

A.N. Wow. 200 chapters... I need to get a life. Or maybe I need to get rid of my life, so I don't have to vent all my pent-up emotions into writing (I'm British, we're good at emotional repression). I have to say, if this reaches 300 chapters, I will quite possibly have gone crazy. Or my friends will have killed me for being an "over-obsessive perfectionist who can't ever leave something until it's finished, are you listening to us at all? Oi, you!" So yeah. I'm hoping to wrap Memories up shortly. Well, when I say shortly... I mean, within another 100 chapters. I seem to be going for the record for longest X-Man story. And I think I should use now to thank everyone who's been here from the beginning, with a special mention for Jeanniebird, who does their level best to faithfully review every single chapter.

In case I don't get a chance to update for a while, Merry Christmas! Also, am I just posting this to no one in particular? Does anyone read these Author's Notes? Or do you just sigh and go "Suma's at it again"? Or am I just paranoid? I have to go and read all sorts of interesting stuff about antimatter and fundamental particles. Beware, I may be inspired. So, Merry Christmas and have a happy Hogmanay and New Year!