Memories

Lone Friend

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Zillah flopped back onto her bed. Garfunkel gave a disgruntled "nark" at being displaced and waddled off, leaving a single glossy egg on the bedspread. Sighing, Zillah carefully picked it up and stuck it in the small incubator Dr McCoy had let her have when she explained that Garfunkel "wasn't very good with eggs". It was entirely possible the egg wasn't fertilised, in which case she'd probably introduce the others to the joys of fried dodo eggs.

The door opened and Akira entered. The unlikely duo had ended up sharing, mainly because no one else was willing to share with them. Zillah because everyone was scared of her and the legacy she bore with the name Bat Etana; Akira because no one wanted to believe that a ten-year-old was capable of dissipating an earthquake or was happiest when at one of Dr McCoy's impenetrable Physics lectures. They were alone and they bonded with that lonliness, despite the age difference between them. Somehow, the two only children had formed a close, almost sisterly bond. They were both out of place and felt afraid, and lost in this new world.

"Quentin Quire…"

Zillah looked up and snarled. Akira had pen scribbled all over her face and arms, spelling out obscenities in Japanese. The way they were written made it quite clear Akira had been made to write them herself.

"I am going to kill him!"

She got up and marched out, heading towards the student area.

"QUIRE!"

He turned to her.

"Hey, Shadow-freak. You will take your top off and dance on the tables."

She darted forward and grabbed him in a hammer-lock.

"I've been taught telepathic shielding since I was two. Now, are you going to come with me to apologise to Akira or will I have to circumcise you? I can do it with a blunt knife as well."

Kid Omega gulped and let Zillah drag him through the school by his ear. The other students watched. Neither of the two students making a spectacle of themselves was very popular, and a direct confrontation between them had been bubbling under the surface for weeks. Zillah had been favourite to beat Quire to a pulp, and quite a lot of money would change hands later.

Akira peered out the door as Zillah dragged Quire up to the door.

"Now apologise. Or shall I get the flint?"

Quire gulped.

"I'm sorry."

Akira's brown eyes blinked in confusion. Then she switched to Japanese.

"You didn't have to do this."

Zillah grinned and responded in the same language.

"Of course I do. We're friends. Friends look after each other."

Akira smiled and then spoke in English.

"Forgiven."

Zillah released her captive who sprinted off and reentered their room.

"Like I said, we're friends."

Akira smiled shyly, before switching to their other tongue.

"I don't think I've ever had a friend before."

"Neither have I."

The image froze on their shy smiles. Phoenix almost reached out and touched the water.

"They were so alone."

"How do you think Zillah reacted to Akira's capture? Why do you think she became more like Etana?"

Akira shivered and looked up at the camera fixed on her face. The light was blinking, she was being recorded. And then the boy whose face she still hadn't seen stepped in front of her.

"Well, Wolverine. You promised to care for your students, so I'm here to show you exactly why you shouldn't have made that promise. I'm assured this girl is one of yours. I don't know and quite frankly don't care what her mutant abilities are. In fact, I'm wondering whether she even has any, as the most harm she's done any of my men was to kick them. And not even that hard. In fact, they laughed most of the time, because she kept apologising."

Akira gulped back tears. So what if she believed in a pacifist ideology? Hitting the men who were kidnapping her went against everything she believed in. Maybe Zillah would have got herself out of this by now. Wait, that was stupid. Zillah wouldn't even have been silly enough to go to the library and get captured. And if she were, she'd have kicked her opponents somewhere that actually hurt, like the groin. Apparently, Krav Maga preferred strikes like that and it was easily Zillah's favourite martial arts style.

A hand reached down from behind and grabbed her head. Sharp nails dug into her jaw but she didn't give them the satisfaction of yelping. The boy was speaking again.

"So now I'm going to get Mr Creed to show you exactly what will happen to any student of yours we catch who isn't willing to join our school."

He turned to face her and his smile was cruel.

"Smile. You're on TV."

The hand on her face was brought up and she clenched her eyes shut as she felt sharp nails –almost claws- touch them.

"Now, now. Open your eyes. It will be easier for you that way. Look at me."

Her eyelids flickered open. The cruel boy's face was full of laughter. It was the last thing she saw before the claws dug into her eyes.

The whole room wavered with the pain that radiated from the pool. All three cosmic entities automatically brought their hands up to their eyes. Phoenix gasped out something that sounded like "Oh my…" before screaming as the pain set in.

Logan's hands crushed the back of his chair as he was forced to watch Sabretooth gouge out the eyes of his student. Zillah had run into his room two hours ago, panicking because Akira had gone to the library and not come back. And as they began to panic, he had received the message from Kilgore. Now he was being forced to watch his student being tortured. And not any student. But Akira. Quiet, competent Akira, whose powers were slowly killing her and who would never dream of turning them on a living being.

In the chair next to him, Zillah's lip was covered in blood from where she had bit it. He would have sent her out. Except she kept teleporting back in, trying to call for Akira. In the end he had given up. She was too like Etana. And maybe this would teach her not to disobey him again.

Akira finally started screaming. It seemed to be a delayed reaction, but Logan knew best. There was something about her, something that hated showing the slightest sign of weakness. She hid inside herself and seemed to resist showing emotion. Screaming like this… It was the most out of control he had ever seen her, except when she was talking science with Hank. Then her whole face lit up, her eyes alight with passion for understanding. Her eyes…

There was so much blood and her screams echoed, even through the tinny speakers. He could smell fresh blood, but that was Zillah, from where her lip was chewed to shreds in anguish. And then as Kilgore and Creed began the taunts he was ignoring, he watched as Akira stopped her gulping sobs and then seemed to look around. Her hands twisted.

There was a blinding flash of light.

Then the camera cut off.

"Why on earth did Logan let Zillah watch?"

"You try keeping her out of his office when her friend was missing!"