Come stop your crying
It will be all right
Just take my hand
Hold it tight
I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here, don’t you cry
For one so small,
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
can’t be broken
I will be here, don’t you cry
‘Cause you’ll be in my heart
Yes, you’ll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
You’ll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You’ll be in my heart, always
Always
She didn’t speak for days, but this silence was
different the one before the outburst.
Before, Ame had been adjusting herself to the absence of her
mother. It was a frustrated silence of
denial.
This silence was a fearful one as though if she spoke the whole world would
shatter because she was holding it up on her shoulders. The X-Men were at a loss as to what bad deed
the child had been referring to.
Everyone was extremely worried about her.
She had understandably stopped going to school
and spent much of her days in the forest or by the lake.
Gambit found her sitting on the edge of the doc
on one of these days. He sat down
opposite her and remained silent for over twenty minutes. The two just stared down at the water
beneath their dangling feet. They were
so still, that when the man that Ame considered to be her favorite uncle spoke,
it made her jump.
“If dere’s anyone in this world dat know ‘bout
doin’ bad t’ings, it be me. Done a
lotta lotta bad stuff in my time.
Caused a lot a hurt to a lot a innocent people.”
Ame
looked up, surprised at this revelation.
Her Uncle Remy was one of the kindest, nicest people she knew. She couldn’t imagine him harming
anyone—other than of the “bad guys” that her family was compelled to fight.
“You caused bad things to happen to people?”
“Yup.” He said nodding slowly. He was still looking at the water.
“Did you mean it? Was it an accident?”
“Didn’ mean it. Never really want to hurt nobody. But it weren’t no accident.
I messed up and I should’a taken responsibility for it. But I didn’t, not right away. Dat’s what made it worse.”
“What?”
“Keepin’ quiet. Not fessin’ up. Never
told no one what I done for the longest time.
Only made it worse when d’truth came out.” He looked at her. “An’ it
always come out petite.”
“…Oh.”
“…In truth, I can’t think of a single t’ing you
done dat could be so bad dat you stop talkin’ to d’people who love ya. Maybe you makin’ a mountain outta a
molehill, ne? Maybe not.” He stood up. “Jus’ remember, keepin’ it in only make it worse. You got people who love ya here an’ dere
ain’t nuthin’ you could do dat d’ese people wouldn’ forgive your for. If dey could forgive me…” He slowly began
walking away.
“…Uncle Remy…”
Remy stopped walking and turned to look at her.
“…It… it’s my fault. Why my mommy’s dead… It’s my fault.
* * * * *
“But how could she possibly think something
like that? It’s absurd!”
“She’s a kid.
Kids got wild imaginations.”
“Yeah, but we partly to blame for dis little
fantasy.”
“What do you mean Remy?”
“T’ink about it. All dere lives, what we been telling Ame and Jerri? Be careful what you think, be careful what
you do, cause ya never know when your powers gonna pop up and we don’t know
what dere gonna be. Stormy…” Gambit
paused. It was the first time he’d said
‘Stormy’ out loud since the battle. “She and Ame have a fight dat day. Dey was supposed to go to d’zoo, but cause
of Arcade, we couldn’t. S’like d’fifth
time she had t’cancel dat. From what
Ame tell me, she said some not so nice t’ings after dat.”
“Ame, you know how this goes. I would like nothing better than to take you
to the zoo, but I am needed.”
“Well, I need you too!”
“Lower your voice child and remember to whom you are
talking.”
Ame crossed her arms angrily and lowered her head.
“I must be going.
You mind Lisa, and we will continue this discussion when I come home.”
Storm turned to leave, but paused in the doorway when
she heard Ame mutter under her breath.
“Well, maybe I don’t want you to come home then.”
Although
she had her back to her, Ame knew that her mother was looking at her. A moment later Storm left without saying
another word.
“Somehow, Ame got it into her head dat cause
she said that… cause she thought it and meant it at that moment, that somehow,
she made it come true.”
“Well, that clears up that conversation she had
with me.” Marrow said. “She must have
been wonderin’ if her mom hated her for what she di—well, for what she thought
she did.”
“So what do we do now?”
“The kid’s got her mother’s stubborn streak, so
simple talking ain’t gonna be enough to convince her.” Logan said. “Maybe we should see how much of Storm’s
logic she has.”
“What do you mean?” Jean asked.
“She thinks she caused this, so she thinks some
part of her powers have been activated.
We get Hank here to do a read on her x-factor and show her that it ain’t
true.”
“It’s a sound idea Logan.” Hank said. “I say
fatherhood agrees with you.”
“Just make with the tests, Doc.”
* * * * *
Storm’s eyes opened suddenly and looked about
frantically.
‘Where
am I? What… oh… the swamp.’
Her waking panic subsided and was replaced by
the giant pain that was running thought her body.
“Goddess…” She said softly. “Goddess, how am I
going to get out of this.”
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
She was startled by the voice speaking from
above her head.
“Rafe…?
Oh… I am still hallucinating.”
“If that’s what you want to believe hon, go for
it. Whether or not I’m really here,
doesn’t matter. What does matter is
that you’ve got to get you’re wits about you and fast.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if the X-Men are going to find you,
you’re going to have to act within the next hour, or else, I don’t know when
there’ll be another chance.”
“Act?”
“A power surge, hon. As big as you can make it. I want you to light up the world!”
* * * * *
An hour after Logan had given his idea, Ame was
sitting in wait, in the War Room. She
knew they must really be worried about her if they brought her in here. She had only been in this room once, to her
recollection. It, as well as the Danger
Room and other sensitive areas were off limits to the children of the
house. Now, Ame sat in the chair that
would more often than not be used by her mother, clutching her now ever present
‘Wolverine’ doll for security. Her feet
hung off the edge and came nowhere close to touching the ground.
Logan sat beside her on her left and Jean at
her right and the Professor sat beside her. They were all watching Hank punch
something into the Shi’ar computer terminal.
“Ah, there we go.” He said. At the same instant, a three dimensional
holographic display arose from the center of the large round table. Ame did not know much about science, but
from hours and hours of television watching, she knew that what she was looking
at was something to do with genes… a DNA strand was it?
“Now, Ame.” Hank began. “You believe that you
somehow caused… what happened to your mother to happen, am I correct.”
Ame didn’t respond, but she slowly lowered her
eyes.
“In order for that to happen, it would have had
to have meant that your mutant powers have somehow begun to manifest
themselves, right?”
Ame nodded slowly.
“We’d like you to look at this Ame.” Jean
said. “You see this… this is a regular
human’s DNA strand. You remember what
DNA is don’t you?”
She nodded again, but was this time looking at
the display.
Hank pressed a couple of buttons and the
original strand reduced in size. A
second strand appeared beside it.
“This is a mutant strand of DNA.” Hank
continued. “Jean’s to be exact. You see
how this part looks different?”
She nodded and Hank brought up two other strands.
“This is mine, and this, Logan’s. See how this part on all of them looks
different than the regular human’s?
Well, this part is the x-factor.
It’s what makes mutants, mutants.”
Again he pushed some buttons. Two more came up. They were different than the four previous, but more resemble the
mutant than non-mutant strands.
“This is Jerri’s strand taken from when she
came to live with us. And this is
yours, from when you were born. They
are both mutant strands, but the reason they look different is that they are
dormant mutant strands. Do you know
what that means.”
“They’re sleeping.” Ame said quietly. “They don’t work yet.”
“Precisely.
And once a mutant gene is awakened, it never looks like this again.”
“Never?”
“Never, ever, ever. I swear it.”
“Oh.”
“Now, those tests we did on you, I have the
results right here. I haven’t looked at
them yet. I wanted us all to view them
together. Now tell me Ame, if the
strand looks like this,” he said pointing to his own, “what will that mean?”
“It means my powers are awake.”
“That’s right.
Or that they woke up at least one time in your life. Got it?”
She nodded.
“And if your strand still looks like this,”
Jean said, pointing to the original, “what does that mean.”
“That my powers never woke up.”
“And more importantly, that there’s no way you
could have caused what happened to yer ma.” Logan added.
“Would you like to do the honors?” Hank asked,
spinning the consul around to face her.
“It’s the green button on the right.”
Ame leaned forward in the chair and hesitantly
eyed the consul as though it might bite her.
After a moment, she slowly put out her hand and pressed the button. The first five strands disappeared and a new
one appeared it their place. Her
original strand grew to equal the size of the new one and rested beside it.”
“…Th—they
look the same.” She said quietly, but very much in surprise.”
“They are indeed, identical.” The Professor
said. “Your mutant genes are not now,
nor have they ever been active. What
happened to your mother was not your fault. It is impossible for it to have been so.”
Ame looked down at her lap. She seemed confused.
“And if that ain’t enough to convince ya…” Hank
said.
He punched in another code and a
three-dimensional globe appeared.
* * * * *
She had be trying for nearly an hour. The strain of it, compiled with her
injuries, had given Ororo three nose bleeds.
“I cannot do this Rafe. It is too difficult. I am too… too tired.”
“You have to Arashi. It’s not your time to leave this plane. Not yet. Not for many years.
You have to return to your life.
And this is the only way you can do it.”
“If only you could come with me.”
“…I’ve never left you. I never will. No matter what… or who comes into your life. I will always be watching you. And wanting nothing but your happiness… no
matter where you find it.
“But before any of that can happen. You have to act now. This is the first—and the last step, my
love. It’s time for you to go home.”
* * * * *
“Computer?”
“Active.”
“Give me an active mutagenic display.”
The globe lit up with millions of little red
dots.
“Specify coordinates.”
“001.
The War Room.”
The globe seemed to zoom in, to North America,
then New York, and kept going until a schematic map of the War Room
appeared. There were four red dots,
each in accordance to where each X-Man was.
“Computer, please also display any non active
mutagenic signatures present in sector 001, the War Room.
A tiny blue dot appeared between two of the red
ones. Ame’s position between Jean and
Logan.
Ame looked down again. Jean gently put her arm across the small
girl’s shoulders.
“Do you believe us now, honey; that none of
this could have been your fault?”
Ame moved her head slightly.
“I—I guess so.” She said quietly. “But—It’s
just that…”
“What darlin’?”
Ame looked up at Logan, her eyes beginning to
tear up again.
“If—If it wasn’t me… then why did this happen?”
She climbed out of her chair and into Logan’s
lap, wrapping her tightly around his neck.
“…I don’t know darlin’. He said quietly. “I wish t’god I did, but I don’t.”
He loosened Ame’s arms a little and pulled her
back so she could look at him. He ran a
thumb across one of her tear-streaked cheeks.
“But you listen to what I’m tellin’ you and you
listen good. Your mom loved ya… more
than anythin’ else in this world. There
ain’t nuthin’ you could’a done or said that could ever have
changed that. Understand?”
She nodded.
“And wherever she is right now, you better
believe that she’s thinkin’ about you.
And lovin’ you.”
* * * * *
“This is your last chance Arashi. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for
all those who love you. There is a
house load of people aching to see you again.
And there’s a little girl who needs a mommy. Ame isn’t doing well with this Ororo. Remember what it was like for you? It’s different this time.
You have a choice your mother didn’t.
You can go home to our little girl.
You can hold her again. You can
be with her as she grows up. All this
you can do, but you have to act right now.
“Think of the X-Men. Think of your family.
Think of Ame. With everything
they mean to you… light up that sky!”
* * * * *
While Logan was speaking to Ame, Hank had
thanked the computer and told it to return to its normal operating
procedure. The schematic reversed, showing
Westchester, New York State, North America and then the full globe. Hank was just about to shut it down
completely, when a flash of white appeared on the globe in the southern United
States. The Cerebro, no matter what
state it was in was programmed to continuously be looking for mutant anomalies
worldwide. The white light was an
indication of one. A big one.
“What was that?” Jean asked, more to herself
than anyone.
“Computer, identify the mutant source of that
energy.” The Professor ordered.
“Unable to identify. Source is unreadable.”
The Professor knitted his brow. “Then, identify the manifestation of that
mutant power.”
“Electromagnetic stream. Vertically moving from earth to atmosphere.
Temperature: approximately 26—”
“Computer?!” Jean interrupted. “Was that a bolt
of lightening.”
“Affirmative.”
“It went from the ground, up?” Logan asked,
standing. He put Ame down.
“Affirmative”
“Computer, reverse direction of the lightening
and give us a probable location of source at the time of the bolt.”
Logan pointed to the door. “Ame, go upstairs
and stay with Lisa.”
“Why?” She asked, sounding worried. “What’s wrong?”
The door to the War Room slid open, as Gambit,
Rogue, Kitty and Nightcrawler came running in.
The Professor had mentally summoned and informed them of the situation.
“My god!” Rogue said staring at the globe. “You
don’t think it could really be…”
“Ame, upstairs. Now.” Logan commanded. This was in the voice Ame knew not to mess
with. She immediately did as he said.
She had just found Lisa, when the boom of the
Blackbirds engines could be heard, signaling a quick takeoff.
The two looked out the back door in time to see
the X-Men’s aircraft disappear into the clouds.
“What if they don’t come back?” Ame asked
quietly, not taking her eyes away form the glass.
Lisa picked the small girl up in a hug.
* * * * *
“I cannot…”
“Ororo.”
“I cannot do it again…”
“Ororo!”
Storm opened her eyes, again expecting to see
the ‘form’ of her once would-be husband.
Instead, her still unfocussed eyes picked up five forms. All more vivid than Rafe had been.
“Wha—”
She tried to lift herself up, but her fractured
arm was becoming infected and was more difficult to move.
“Easy lady.
Don’t try to move.”
She recognized that voice.
She brought her ‘less injured’ arm up to her
face and rubbed her eyes. She focus was
clearer now.
“L—Logan?”
“Hey darlin’.
We’ll have you outta here in a minute.”
Ororo suddenly felt numb. She looked to her left. Jean was smiling down at her.
‘Just until Hank can give you something.’ She
said mentally. She was sensing Ororo’s
confusion about her sudden lack of pain.
The mental link also allowed Jean to understand why she, the Professor
and Cerebro had been unable to locate Storm.
The injury to her head caused by the impact had disoriented not only her
surface thoughts, but her unconscious thought patterns as well. They were on the verge of being completely
unrecognizable. Jean mentally contacted
the Professor and let him know that she would need his help in repairing the
damage.
“You couldn’t have timed that lightening bolt
better, Ororo.” Hank said.
Ororo relaxed knowing that she was now in safe
hands. She closed her eyes and smiled
weakly.
“I had a little help…” She said quietly.
* * * * *
They
had been back for over two hours yet no one had come up from the lower
levels. Ame constantly fidgeted with
worry. Lisa tried to calm her but to no
avail.
“Ame, I’m sure everything is alright.”
“But then why hasn’t anybody come up yet? Can’t we go down?”
“Ame you know the rules.” Lisa said firmly.
The little girl crossed her arms in a huff.
‘She looks so much like
Ororo right now.’ Lisa thought.
Just then, the sound of the
quicklift, which Ame had been pacing in front of, sounded, causing the little
girl to jump.
A moment later, the door
slid open and Logan, Jean and Scott stepped out.
Ame ran and jumped at Logan
(as she often did) and he caught her in mid air (as he always did).
“Uncle Logan! Are you okay? Are you all okay?”
“Everyone’s fine Ame.” Jean
said smiling widely.
“But… what took you so
long?” She asked, still on edge.
“Come on downstairs and I’ll
show ya.” Logan said. He took Ame back into the quicklift and hit
the button to take them back down to the lower levels.
He put Ame down and squatted
to look her in the eye.
“We found your mom,
kiddo.” He said as
a-matter-of-factly. “We found her and
she’s alive. She’s gonna be okay.”
Ame’s eyes grew wider than
he thought them possible. Her mouth
dropped open.
“You—you—she’s…”
“She’s down here.” He said as the lift stopped.
Ame clenched her fists and
began to jump up and down and squeal.
Logan smiled but stopped her by holding her shoulders.
“Now, just calm down a
minute.” He said. “She’s here, but
she’s hurt. She’s gonna get better but
it’s gonna take some time. So no
jumpin’ all over her when you see her, okay?”
“Okay.” Ame said quickly,
still bouncing on her toes. She brought
her fists to her mouth. “Can I see her
now?”
Logan straightened up and
stepped towards the door. It opened and
he took Ame’s hand. “Sure thing,
kiddo.”
He led her down the hall to
once of the med room doors. Actually it
was more like she led him, walking with such excitement that she was ahead of
him. Only when stopped and said: “This
one”, did Ame begin to feel somewhat apprehensive.
“You—you said she’s gonna
get better right?”
“Promise.” Logan said,
knowing it to be the truth. Ororo had
lost a great deal of blood because of her fall. So much so, that she had required a transfusion. Logan was the best match, and with his blood
came some of his healing factor. Ororo
was already on the mend by the time they had reached the mansion. Her broken arm was almost completely healed,
as were her fractured ribs. True the
healing factor did not work as well in others as it did in Logan’s own body,
but it was enough to ensure that Ororo was out of the woods.
Ame was not aware of all of
these details, but Logan’s promise was good enough for her. Her uncle Logan never made a promise
he couldn’t keep.
The door
to the lab opened and the two were nearly knocked over by a three hundred pound
blue doctor. Hank stopped his momentum
by grabbing onto the doorframe.
“Nice
t’see you can still move when ya need to in yer old age Hank.” Logan said with
a grin.
“Look who’s
talking.”
“Uncle
Hank? Can I see my mommy?”
“I was
just coming to see what was keeping you young lady.” Hank said. He looked at Logan. “I’ve just given her a mild sedative to help
her rest. She’ll be out in a few
minutes.”
Logan
nodded and Hank stepped aside. Ororo
was in a medical bed, laying very still with her eyes closed. Ame didn’t like the scrapes and bandages on
her arms, but her uneasiness disappeared a moment later when Ororo took a deep
breath and released it.
Logan’s
little talk was forgotten. Ame released
his hand and ran to her mother’s side.
“Mommy?!?”
Storm’s
eyes tightened then fluttered open. She
slowly turned her head and smiled at the small form trying to look over the
edge of the medical bed.
“Ame…”
“Mommy!”
Ame was excitedly scampering, trying to pull herself over the ledge of the bed.
Wolverine
came up behind her and Storm nodded to him, indicating that it was okay. Logan then picked Ame up and put her on the
bed beside her mother.
“Not
too long.” They heard Hank say, before the door to the room slid shut.
Ame had
lain herself across her mother’s chest and Ororo had wrapped her arms around
her in as tight a hug as she could manage.
“Mommy,
I missed you so much…” She cried softly.
Ame’s tears were now running down Ororo’s neck.
“And I
you, little one.” She said quietly. “I
am sorry to have scared you so.”
“I’m
sorry for those bad things I said. I
didn’t mean them.”
Ororo,
under the circumstances, had forgotten about the argument with her
daughter. Hank, however, during his
mending had briefly filled the Windrider in on the situation with Ame.
“I
know.” She said and stroked her hair.
“Oh, it feels so good to hold you, Ame.”
Ame
lifted her head and smiled. “I love
you, mommy.”
“I love
you, to—too.” Storm tried to stifle the
yawn that was rising within her but failed.
Henry’s sedative was taking affect.
“Okay…
come on, Shorty. You’re mom’s gotta get
her rest so she can get better. You can
visit her tomorrow.”
Ame
planted one more kiss on Ororo’s cheek before Logan picked her out of the bed
and stood her up on the floor again.
“Good
night, mommy.”
“Good
night, little one.”
Logan
physically turned Ame in the direction of the door.
“Go on,
kid. I’ll be up in a minute.”
Ame ran
to the door, excitedly jumping as she went.
She stopped once more in the open doorway and looked back a final
time. Logan was pleased to see that the
look of joy on the child’s face that had been missing those past weeks had
returned. He heard a hyper “Woo Hoo!”
as the child ran down the hallway.
He
waited until the door had closed completely before turning back to Ororo. Her eyes were closed again.
Logan
leaned over, resting his arms on her bed and moved close to her ear.
“Ro… can ya hear me?” He asked quietly.
“…Mmm Hmm.”
Her eyes still closed, she gave a weak little nod.
He leaned even closer and spoke directly into
her ear in a lower, but deadly serious voice.
“Do not ever… do something like
that again.”
Ororo’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She managed a weak smile.
“You missed me?” She asked softly.
Logan looked at her and nodded.
“I missed you.”
He kissed her on the forehead and left the room
so she could rest.
Ororo slept peacefully throughout the night.
The End
Do you smell what I’m cookin’? (Eyebrow raised.) Call me people! stormgates@hotmail.com
(Oh, and some people have asked about this so I’ll tell you that M.I.A.
stands for Missing In Action. I believe
it’s a military term for soldiers who are lost and presumed dead in battle.)
Write me!