Memories

Protector of Children

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

Etana ran. She reached the cliff in time to see the woman fling her bundle over the precipice. Without a second thought, Etana leapt forward, spreading her wings out wide, not knowing this would be the last time she would fly so easily. She regulated her speed so she fell at the same rate as the bundle, caught it and then slowly began flying upwards. She soared over the top of the waterfall and alighted in front of the terrified woman.

"Stay away from me!"

"How dare you, Raven Wagner! This is your child! How can you abandon him?"

And then the mob arrived and the blue woman jabbed a hand at Etana.

"She! She said she was an angel! She promised to give me a child! And she cursed me! She cursed my baby! She is a demon!"

Etana's eyes widened in shock as the mob turned to look at her, to take in the black fur and huge wings, the silver eyes and hair which reflected the torchlight. And then the first stone was thrown.

The wings curled round to defend the newborn and the stone hit one of the bones. She tried to run but the fists were raining down now and it was all she could do to curl herself around the baby. Now she could look at him properly and looked into the big yellow-gold eyes, so innocent and without malice. Azazel's spawn. Her uncle. And already, she felt kinship with this child. After all, it could have so easily been her who was abandoned by her parents. Instead, they died for her.

She screamed as one of the main bones in her wings gave way under the repeated pounding and from peering through the cracks in her wings, she could see Raven running for safety. She managed a few steps before falling to her knees, still staring at the little baby who deserved so much more than he would be given. Then she heard a voice, as powerful as the water rushing over the falls.

Desist!

The hands stopped their onslaught and Etana dared to peek out. The river itself had risen up, and a magnificent figure had appeared, a woman as tall as a house.

Run. I can hold them off for long enough to let you get away. Go to Margali.

Etana nodded then sprinted away, clinging the precious bundle to her chest, ignoring the spears of pain in her wings.

"She wasn't meant to be destroyed."

"She wasn't though?"

"Taking her flight? In her eyes, that was destruction."

I need you to transport a child.

Etana didn't look up from the sword, kept on running the whetstone down the blade.

"I'm not taking in another of your strays. James has been tortured beyond recognition! Max died! I can't go through that again! And the last time I did what you told me to –save Azazel's son instead of kill the mother- I ended up with my wings broken. I'll never fly again."

This is a simple movement. I need you to take a girl from an address in Provence to Alberta. A man will meet you, and take her from you.

"Why?"

She has a…fate to fulfil.

Etana stopped sharpening the sword.

"Who is the man who will take the child?"

His name is Robson-

The sword clattered to the ground as Etana leapt up.

"You want me to hand an innocent child over to Weapon X?! After all they did to James?! That's it! I'm not doing this anymore! I'm fed up of your games, your manipulations! I'm not your pawn anymore! I'm sick and tired of your sacrifice plays, your endless denials and half-truths!"

You have to do this, Etana. Without this, everything I have worked for will be for naught. We are tied together and-

"NO! I am not handing over an innocent to those…those monsters!"

And what if the child gave consent?

"What child could consent to something they don't understand?"

I give my consent for you to take me to Weapon X and hand me over to them.

Etana froze, her hands in the middle of waving angrily.

"You? All this time? You're a victim of Weapon X?"

I am Weapon X-ii. I am the failure. I would not kill.

Etana's mouth was wide open.

The pair of us, we're tied together. Without your cooperation in this matter, I do not exist as I am today. If I do not exist, then you die before you are twelve-hours old. Your move.

And Tora faded out of existence, leaving Etana staring at the wall, upon which was an address and a meeting time and place.

Phoenix sat bolt upright, her whole body stiffening.

"She never would!"

Then she rounded on the masked woman.

"You knew! You knew, all this time, and you never even told me! How could you?! How could you!?"

The woman raised her hands warily.

"You didn't need –or want– to know the truth. I'm sorry."

Etana ran through the woods, clutching the toddler to her chest. The girl didn't cry. Her big amber eyes were staring up at Etana, questioningly. Then she tried to hug her and Etana broke down into tears as she kept on running, each step taking the girl further away from the loving family she should have had.

She slowed and held the girl up. There was nothing of her adult self there. No pain in the eyes, no scarring, no fear. Etana knew she'd done horrific things over the years. The King's Hand was an indiscriminate killer. She'd been forced to balance lives over the years, to weigh up who was worth more than the others, to calculate who she should save. But this was the one thing she couldn't do.

Yes, she had been given permission from the woman this girl would become. But the child had no say. And then Etana sat on a fallen log and clutched Marie Circen to her chest and cried.

If she were not the Malach Hamavet, she would never be given a place in the Chosen.

Death was pointedly not looking at the pool. She'd tended to distance herself from Etana's mortal exploits, only sending her messages when she needed the Malach Hamavet to work. Seeing her break down probably wasn't going to be helpful for when she went back to the Afterlife and needed her to do lots of organisation and the messy jobs.

She stood in the shadows. Her contact was on the other side of the square, foot tapping impatiently. She looked down at the little bundle strapped to her chest. The girl was sleeping peacefully, her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth. Etana gently teased it out from her lips and looked at the child.

It would be so easy to just run now. Either find a way of returning the girl, or raise her as her own, so she would never become that fearful, inhuman being made of water and a heart of ice, who was willing to condemn herself to a lifetime of suffering, just to keep some stupid timeline on course. She was about to turn on her heel and vanish when she felt a trickling drop of water on the back of her neck. She was wearing a hood that completely covered her face, so there was no way it could be an accident. The hissing voice in the base of her skull displaced any notion of running with the girl.

You swore. The timeline must be kept on course.

And slowly, with her lead heart somewhere in the vicinity of the Earth's mantle, Etana walked across the square to the man who impatiently held out his arms.

"Give me the girl."

I give my consent.

Etana almost teleported then. Get away from here, get away from the man, get away from her. But there was nowhere you could run that she wouldn't be found. So she held out the child, who mumbled happily in her sleep. This was the hardest thing she had ever done.

The man almost snatched Marie and then pointed to a briefcase.

"Your money's in there. Take it and leave."

She was sorely tempted to stab him, bring the knife up under his ribcage to puncture his lung. She didn't want to take the money but then she knew what she had to do.

Two hours later, money rained from the sky in the poorest sections of the world.

"Blood money. How could she take it?"

"She never touched it and gave it to those who needed it more than she did."

A.N. Jeanniebird was the one who gave me the idea for this. She asked how Weapon X knew about Tora's powers -here's your answer.