Memories

Old Friends, Old Enemies

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Max was staggering back to his building, still stiff from yesterday's beating. Then he heard low, urgent voices. And then a slight, tiny woman stumbled out of the gap between two buildings. He barely had time to wonder how on earth a woman had managed to get to the men's area when she grabbed his arm.

"Go. She's waiting. Can't wait long."

Her voice was urgent but cracked and worn. She looked fragile, half a step away from a corpse. He tried to pull free, but her grip was like a vice.

"She can't stay long. Can't take too many. You must go now. Now!"

He opened his mouth to tell her to let go of him but the implicit message got in.

"I… I can get out?"

"The Half-Fallen awaits. Go. Now!"

The urgency was rising. Max could hear guards talking as they rounded the next corner. He'd never reach the shadows in time!

And then the woman, with a surprising strength that seemed to contradict her frame threw him towards the shadows and he crashed into the chest of a… an angel! Dark and terrible, yet also kindly. A hand clasped around his mouth as he watched the guards round the corner and sight the woman, who gave only the slightest of glances towards him and the angel before sprinting away, her stick-like legs twisting under her as she ran. Max tried to pull free, to help her but blackness surrounded him and when the light returned he was nowhere he recognised.

He turned to the angel-woman, whose silver hair was slipping out of her bun and her face was taut with some emotion he didn't recognise.

"Go back! Go back and save her!"

She slowly shook her head.

"I cannot. Everything I do relies on secrecy. Spiriting away a woman from under the noses of eight guards is impossible. Already, they are suspicious."

Max glared at her, his fists clenched.

"You have to save her!"

"She made her choice. I cannot go back. I'm sorry."

Max screamed and leapt at her, pummelling her chest with his balled-up fists. The woman –no angel would be so heartless- didn't respond, merely let him hit her again and again before slowly catching his wrists and pulling back and kneeling, so her eyes were level with his.

"I'm not a miracle worker. I just try my best. I cannot afford to be too obvious. If I saved her, I would be unable to save many others. I have to think in terms such as this, balancing lives every day. I do not like it. But I have to do it. She was prepared to die, just to save you. How do you think she would feel if I saved her, at the cost of countless other lives I could have saved? Look at me. Please, do not hate me for the choice I have to make."

Max nodded slowly.

"Who… Who are you?"

"I am Shadow. And what is your name, little one?"

"Max. Max Eisenhardt."

"Well, Max Eisenhardt, come with me. I will help you."

"Why one earth did she do that? It shaped Magneto's whole life!"

"I rather think that was Tora's idea."

"What? Tora?"

"Didn't you recognise the woman? Etana planned it carefully with her. Didn't like it, but went along with it. She trusted Tora's judgement."

"Did she ever go against Tora?"

"Once. And she almost destroyed the whole closed loop as a result."

Etana's arms were folded as she stared down at the cat.

"That was uncalled for. The boy doesn't understand. And I know what you're trying to do. This is James all over again, and I don't want the heartbreak."

The cat blinked up at her.

"And you're not telling me everything. There is something in that boy I'm not quite sure of."

The cat didn't answer, merely remained looking up at her.

"For pity's sake, talk to me! There's something broken in that boy and I need to –want to- fix it! I want to help him, because… Because I see myself in him. A lonely child who has lost everything and forced to grow up before their time. How do I help him?"

I cannot say. That is for you to choose. The boy is in your hands now. Shape him as you see fit.

"I am no mother. I am a sensei, maybe. Not a mother. I can't raise a child as young as this. Not safely. Not with what he needs. For pity's sake, I can barely display any emotions anymore, let alone the love a boy needs! I've shut everything away and I can't just open the gates to allow myself to love and it would just end up destroying me!"

You claim to be so aloof, to not love, yet look at you. You are trying to reach out and help him. Already you care.

Etana slowly sat down. The cat leapt up.

Please scratch behind my ears.

"Why?"

This body likes it. It's irrational, but it's been quite a while since I took corporal form. Humour me.

Etana started scratching the cat behind the ears. There was a knock on the door and then Max burst in. He saw the cat and his eyes lit up. Etana got a sneaky look in her eyes and held out the cat.

"She's all yours."

The cat meowed and squirmed as Max hugged it tight.

"She's so pretty! What's her name?"

"She hasn't got one. She's a beautiful cat, isn't she?"

I. Will. Have. My. Revenge.

Max's face with alight with joy at the thought of his own cat.

"We had a cat… But… But they threw stones at it…"

His eyes suddenly averted. The cat stopped squirming and gently rubbed her jaw against his face. Max sniffled and hugged her tighter.

"I… I'll just go…"

He hurried off, snuggling the cat to his chest. Etana watched him go, face barely registering the maelstrom of emotions she felt inside.

"How sad. She wanted to help him just as much as Etana did, but she couldn't."

"She wasn't doing what the other time travellers did. She was remaining within the reality, so her actions had repercussions to her actual life. The other time travellers could do well to remember that. You always jump realities."

Max looked at the cat who was sitting on the bed, washing her paws.

"I'm going to call you Magda. You're pretty like Magda is."

The cat's big eyes stared at him then slowly blinked. They were gorgeous amber eyes, contrasting sharply with her blue-grey fur with slightly darker grey stripes, like a tiger. She purred softly then leapt down and wound herself around his legs. Max slowly picked her up and cuddled her.

"You won't leave me, will you? You won't be taken from me."

He could have sworn he saw a flash of sorrow in Magda's eyes.

"Oh, what happened to the poor cat!?"

"The physical body was killed in the destruction of Haven. She tripped Max as the house fell in, meaning he wasn't crushed by a falling beam. It killed her instantly."

"That's so…Tora!"

They stood in silence, staring at the vapour trail left by the rocket flying overhead. Etana was wrapped in a long red cloak and Tora was in her semi-corporal form, the ice and water version of her human body.

"You could go and save him, if you so choose."

Etana slowly shook her head.

"He does more good in the future. If I were to save him, what would come of it?"

"You would both be a lot happier."

"But the world would not be a better place. I'm sorry. I have to put my own feelings aside for this."

Tora stared ahead. They watched in silence as the trail spluttered out and the rocket began to fall.

"He does survive, doesn't he?"

Tora smiled sadly.

"Yes. Last time I saw him, I tried to punch him."

"Why?"

"He'd got me off a lot of criminal charges."

"And why's that a bad thing?"

"Because I wanted to be convicted. Look, it's awkward, you'll catch up later."

And then Etana stiffened, her whole body tensing up.

"Haven's under attack!"

And she vanished in a cloud of black smoke, leaving Tora alone to watch Captain America fall into an icy sea.

"How could Tora do that?! She was tormenting Etana!"

"How was she in two places at once?"

"Er… Phoenix? Stupid question."

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry."

A.N. Next chapter, shocking revelation about Tora's past. And Etana's involvement in it.