Memories
The Dragon Inside
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If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
They burst outside and Steve turned back.
"Let me back, let me go to her!"
And Logan grabbed his arm.
"I… I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Steve. It's too late. She's gone."
Nightcrawler arrived next to them.
"What's wrong?"
"Get us out of here."
They arrived at the ridge and Emma went white.
"Code Burgundy! Everyone, we have a Dark Dragon scenario! Training pattern 24!"
"Would someone care to tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"
Marvel Girl sighed.
"You've heard of Dark Phoenix? Course you have. Well, that is Dark Dragon. Arrgh!"
She staggered, clutching her head.
"What's wrong?!"
"Sudden…loss…life… Everyone…down there…dead…"
Emma was clutching her head as well. And then she looked up, her eyes gleaming silver.
"Hear me, children of the Earth. This world needs healing. Stand in my way and you SHALL die. Now watch my power."
Emma's eyes returned to normal but she kept her hands tight around her forehead.
"Felt like…I was dust…"
And in the hollow below, waves coiled around the building and then it all vanished, leaving unspoilt woodland and a figure in the centre turned towards them. She looked so small yet commanded attention. And then she gracefully rose into the air and flew towards them. Scott raised his hand to his visor but Emma shook her head.
"Leave it. Let her come."
"But…"
"Do it!"
And then she was in front of them, floating about a foot in the air with her hair cascading in a nimbus around her as if she were underwater. There was a subtle difference in her facial features, as if all imperfections had been removed and the result was…not quite human. She tilted her head to one side in a childlike manner.
"Little people. Born from dust. I can FEEL your fear."
She reached out and brushed the head of the person nearest her, barely making contact, but still Cyclops' mouth open in amazement. The White Queen screamed.
"She's feeding off him! Using his emotions…!"
"Well done, little child. I am helping him. Taking all his fear and doubt and pain. Does he not deserve that?"
"Not with you feeding from him!"
"But you are afraid. Am I not beautiful? I am all there is to be and know. Love me, for I am your saviour."
And her feet touched the air an inch above the ground. She walked forward, stalking through them, water trickling through and around her fingers; the tips of her hair fading into mist. She stopped in front of Logan.
"You. Your emotions… They are glorious. All-consuming. You are passion and rage and animal joy. You are so full of love, brimming over with fear for…me… You fear for me?"
She flung her head back and laughed. It echoed with insanity. And then she snapped her head back towards him.
"A thought? So guarded, child. Let me in."
Her hand clasped tightly to his chin and wrenched his head up so she could stare at his face. He screamed. That seemed to snap the assembled heroes back to reality. And then there was a quiet click, the sound of a 31st century gun being primed.
"This is a StarkTech A-9500-ZL. It's capable of killing anything, including cosmic entities. Drop him or I'll fire and even you would have a difficult time healing from a contained positron blast."
Tora whipped around to face Hope.
"You DARE…!"
"Yeah. I dare."
A burst fired and hit Tora's outstretched hand. Hope had already started sprinting away, legging it towards somewhere she could get shelter and the others follow as Dark Dragon tilted her head to one side curiously. And then there was a blast of searing heat and blinding light and Dragon was crouching in the centre of the blast crater. She looked up and her eyes were glowing. But the few seconds' reprieve allowed the SHIELD teleporters to be fired up and by the time Dragon was up, everyone was gone. The corners of her lips twitched up cruelly.
"So this is how we're playing it?"
"Eek…"
"Phoenix, we're safe and sound."
"Yes, but it's still freaky."
The alarms sounded as she strode towards the cowering soldiers. She was bored of the little people who ran out to try and stop her so she sent them flying back with a wave of her hand. And then they ran from her, realising none could stand against her; she of silver eyes and sea-spray hair. So strong, so proud. A broken world, burning under the touch of this stain, progress.
Her fingers twitched; so tempting to heal this place. But not yet. Still too weak. That pitiful shrunken soul. Nemesis had fallen so fall. But then they had always been so sentimental. All that drivel about being lonely.
And then a woman stood between the World Healer and the men. Some vestigial part of Tora supplied the name.
"Magik. The renegade."
Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. At the height of her strength, Dragon need not fear her. But she was weak. The threat must be eliminated. She heard others, X-Men. Good. They should witness how those who opposed her died.
One hand flung up, sending coiling waves towards Magik, who blocked it. But the spell shattered under the not-so-gentle pressure and Illanya screamed as the waves stroked and caressed; forcing themselves into ears, mouth, nose, eyes. Blood began to trickle out, diluted by the water. And then the water began to run clear. A voice, screaming in Russian. The ant-like Colossus. No importance.
The sorceress fell, her eyes staring up into the face of her destroyer. Her lips moved, making the shape of Russian words. To no avail. Her eyes rolled back and she crumpled down.
There was a scream of rage and grief. She turned to see the Russian being restrained by his friends. His negative emotions drew her to him like a beacon. They were all so pitiful and insignificant.
"Begone, Children of the Atom."
She almost laughed at that. They had not been called that for many years. They were too easy to unsettle. No fun there.
A flick of the wrist and they were scattered across the world. There were none who dared stand against her. The Asgardians, Olympians, all the petty pantheons fled from her. For all those years ago, when they were crumbling despite bonding together, she had come to them and forged the Destroyer out of star-steel; stronger than uru and adamantine combined, created in the heart of a supernova by Dragon. They feared her as their destroyer. And their saviour. So they cowered from her beauty.
And then she reached for the thing she had come for. The Dragon Protocol. There was a fatal weakness to their strength. Remove just one of the highly complex mixtures from the formula and the whole thing was useless. Hence no one knowing where all the components were stored of how many there were. Most people didn't even know the significance of what they guarded. Pathetic.
She tightened her hand around the vial and felt it crumble to dust. Now if only the fools would use the Gems on her…
"They wouldn't be so stupid! Would they?"
"Phoenix, did they know?"
"Good point."
He stood alone, turning the egg-sized blue gem, lit from within by an unearthly light, over and over in his hands.
And then she appeared, coalescing in the mist, walking towards him, tongue darting across her lips in a hungry manner.
"Charles Xavier. So fearful but so bold. What makes you think you can stand against me, when gods themselves have failed?"
He opened his hand to let her see the Gem.
"The Infinity Gem. Born in sacrifice. Even you must bow to it."
She laughed.
"Try it, human."
She watched in amusement as he tried to find her mind and failed; then opened her mind, forcing herself on him as she revealed the true nature of the Infinity Gems and her pact with Nemesis. His eyes –as blue as the Gem he held– widened in horror. He raised one hand in a vain attempt to guard himself. But she knew him, his whole being saturated with her. She stripped him of the things that gave him identity; the memories, the morals; but left enough of him to scream in rage as she made him the basest human then stripped even that away. And then she grasped his body and scattered it, dust throughout the universe. Charles Xavier, at one with reality. Living, but only on a technicality. No eternal rest for him.
Phoenix glared at her masked companion.
"You never told me that she was responsible for Charles' death!"
"You think she didn't have to live with that every single day of the rest of her long, lonely life? If you hated her for that, she would have nothing left to live for."