Memories
Fated
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The door opened. A boy stuck his head out.
"Yeah?"
"Is Scott Summers here?"
"DAD!"
"What is it, Chris?"
"Woman at the door!"
The man hurrying down the stairs wore shades, but they were pushed up onto his head.
"Chris, go play with Rachel and Nate."
"But…"
"Now."
The red bubble hit him in the chest. His eyes widened.
"Wanda. What the hell is going on?"
"Tora's gone insane. Who else is here?"
"Chris… That's Cable. Rachel and Nate. Marvel Girl and X-Man. They're all kids. Emma's here. Jean and Maddie are dead."
"Alex?"
"Lives down in the main States with Lorna."
Wanda's hand flew to her mouth.
"Tan is going to be mad when she hears Lorna exists."
"Tan?"
"Er… She's kind of my grandmother…"
"The Shadow… Is your grandmother?"
"Adoptive."
"I'll get Emma."
"Have you found Hope?"
"Hope Spalding. Lives on the other side of town. Don't bother, she's not even started school yet."
"But we might need her…"
"Drop it. Okay? She's got enough problems as it is. And… Wanda, what are we going to do?"
Wanda looked torn.
"We're getting everyone we can. And then we're going to vote."
"On what?"
"On whether to force Tora to fix this or whether we leave it be."
Scott looked horrified.
"What do you mean, 'leave it be'?"
"Scott, a lot of people I've 'woken' so far… they prefer this life. Cap doesn't want to go back, even if that means he'll get his youth and strength back. Bruce Banner has kids –and not Skaar-kids. A normal, happy family. And look me in the eye and tell me that until five minutes ago, you weren't perfectly content with your life here."
Scott looked away.
"It is a burden off my mind…"
"See. Get the White Queen and the kids together. It's easier for me to do this just once."
Ten minutes later, Wanda had the humorous situation of watching Cable try to get used to having the body of a twelve-year-old again. Marvel Girl seemed quite comfortable in her eight-year-old body and X-Man had basically ignored the fact he was now a rather cute six-year-old. Emma had just stared at Wanda then asked in her most imperious tone, "I sincerely hope you weren't responsible for this."
They walked out to the car and Wanda raised the rather touchy subject of Jean and Maddie to Scott, who sighed.
"Jean and I were childhood sweethearts. We ended up parting ways and I married Maddie and had Christopher. It didn't work out. Maddie had mental health problems and in the end we got divorced. I won custody and Maddie later committed suicide. I met up with Jean again when Chris was two and we got married shortly afterwards. Ray turned up pretty soon, as did Nate. Chris didn't really remember Maddie and regarded Jean his mother. Jean…Jean was killed in a car accident… I got to know Emma better through the following psychiatry sessions and she moved in last year. It was some three years after Jean died. Ray and Chris weren't impressed, to say the least."
"Oh… I can see why you might not like this world too much either."
"What about you?"
"Long story. I'll go back to Cap and Etana first. They met in the War as Tan was working on Project Manhattan and needed an assistant. After the war, they went back to Germany to see if they could find Etana's family –she'd fled the persecution- and instead they found the boy who'd lived down the road and Etana used to look after. They successfully adopted him and Max Eisenhardt became Max Rogers-"
"Wait! Magneto is Cap's adopted son?!"
"Yes, I registered some surprise as well. Father went back to Europe and married my mother. They had Anya and shortly afterwards, returned back to the States. Almost ten years after that, Pietro and I were born. My mother died –complications or something. Father needed help so we basically moved back to my grandparents' place. Anya never married –she looks after Father mainly. Pietro married Crystal –not an Inhuman but still the same person, if that makes sense. They had a daughter but separated later. I married Victor Shade, which you may remember as the name Vision used as a cover. He had a younger brother, Jonas… We had the twins. They're Wiccan and Speed, not Tommy and Billy, before you ask. We're a pretty happy family."
She stared off into the distance. Scott stopped when they reached the car.
"You got Stark on this?"
"I needed his resources. You're some of the last. We're still tracking down Alex and a few others. But all in all, we've got almost all the X-teams, all the different Avengers, the Fantastic Four and a couple of Defenders."
"Have you found Logan? Or Tora?"
"I found Tora, Logan, X-23 and the kids. Thing is, I couldn't do anything. I expect to be able to get Laura on the way back. Logan will be tricky. I may have hurt Tora and I bet he's not going to leave her side for a while. And she'll stop me from doing anything she doesn't want me to do. This is her world after all."
"What do you mean?"
"Imagine us all living out her dream. And because we're all dreaming it, it's become reality. We need to decide whether to keep on dreaming or whether to wake up."
Scott stared ahead.
"Would it really be so wrong to say I'm actually tempted to stay here…?"
"Yes, well, I suppose 'my wife died in a car crash' is better than 'my wife every now and then became a Ravager of Worlds and I cheated on her with a reformed villain'."
"Jean, we talked about being bitter…"
"I know, I know, it's beneath me, la-di-lah."
They milled together and then Wanda stepped up.
"I don't know if everyone's heard yet. But we've got a plan. We're going to find Tora and wake her. We'll have already taken a vote on what we think is for the best and then we'll either request that she fixes this or makes it permanent."
A hand near the back stuck up.
"Yes?"
"Will the votes be private?"
"I don't see why we need…"
Tony shook his head.
"No. This needs to be done in the open."
Magneto rose and Wanda bit her lip. This could be difficult…
"I believe that we should not only leave this as it is but that we shouldn't disturb Tora and also that we should all forget what has happened."
That was…unexpected. Everyone was staring at him. Scott spoke slowly.
"Erik…?"
Magneto lowered his head.
"I had lived a life of suffering. Always hated. Often feared. And now… Now I have the life I could have lived. Maybe… Maybe because there aren't mutants, I finally feel freed."
"Father…?"
"I doubt anyone will want to hear the views of a mass murderer and former terrorist however. So I hand the floor over to a man I know you will listen to. Captain?"
Steve stood. There were a few murmured whispers. He looked tired. Tired and old. Almost frail. But there was that stubborn, determined look in his eyes that everyone there recognised.
"I… I know if I go back… I'll hopefully get another eighty years. But… But I've had a life here. A good life. Actually better than I've had back before it all. And I know it's all a lie but what if it isn't. Tora sees alternate realities. What if this is simply her mimicking another? This world… If Wanda hadn't avoided being changed… Would we be happy? That's the question to ask yourself. Would you be happy to spend the rest of your life here, without any memories of what happened? Ask yourself that. Then vote. I vote to stay. I vote to live this life here, even if I'll probably die within a few years. Because I've already lived."
Bruce rose.
"I… I vote to return. No, Betty… Listen… The Hulk… I may hate the Hulk but the Hulk saves lives. There I can do stuff to help people in a physical way. Here… Here I'm just Bruce Banner and that's great but as the Hulk I can save people."
And that was it. People declared themselves. Tony voted for returning. The Vision, against. Speed, against. Wiccan, for. Wanda kept track as everyone declared themselves. Daredevil, for. Luke Cage, against. Reed Richards, for. Johnny Storm, for. Sue Richards, against. Cable, for. Cyclops…against. Hawkeye, against. Beast, against. White Queen, for. Wanda stared at her sheet. There was a clear winner. She looked up and she saw the look in Tony's face, knew that he knew. He slumped, defeated. Wanda cleared her throat.
"We need to go and ask Wolverine, Poison and Dragon their votes. It won't topple the vote but we should still ask them."
"What's the final decision?"
Wanda looked up, her eyes unreadable.
"We stay."
About three-quarters of the room cheered.
"So why…"
"You really think she'd let them explain?"
"No, probably not…"