Disclaimer: I *borrowed* all of my characters (except for Kali) from Marvel, but
I’m not profiting from it in any way so I would truly appreciate not being sued.
Warning: Some disturbing scenes are featured in this chapter. There is no sexual
content though -- just violence.
I would love to hear what everybody thinks about this story. Is it good/bad?
What you like/don’t. Anything! Thanks. cvotulle@vt.edu
Revelations: Part 5
Chris Votulle, June 1997
Scott looked at Bishop incredulously. “You know her? How?”
“Actually, I never knew her, but the Witness did. At least I think that’s her --
the resemblance is truly striking” His brow creased and he rubbed his temples as
he tried to make heads or tails of the whole situation. Weird things seem to happen
a lot when you’ve traveled back in time.
“Tell me about it.” Scott was extremely curious about this girl and her powers.
The possibility that Gambit might know something about her, in whatever time,
piqued that curiosity.
“Supposedly she died before I was born, but I recognized her from her picture.
One day, when the Witness went out on some personal errands, Shard and I went
poking around his room. We didn’t trust him and wanted to see what he might be
hiding from us. I went to his closet to see what he had in there. It was a huge
walk-in closet, but there weren’t any clothes in it. There was nothing in it at all
except for a small table. On that table was a candle and a picture of that girl.” He
pointed to Kali. “She had the strangest eyes. I could swear that she was looking
right through me, to my very soul, even though it was only a picture. I was so
transfixed by those eyes that I didn’t even hear the Witness come back. I expected
him to be furious with me. Maybe he was, but he didn’t show it. Instead of
fuming and scolding, like he usually did, he just looked me in the eye and told me to
leave -- and to never come back there again. I left, but not before I saw him sit
down and that table and start talking to the girl in the picture. He called her ‘ma
petite ange.’ I swore that he was mad.” Bishop shrugged. “It wasn’t the first
time.”
“The next day Forge came by to discuss something with the Witness -- I don’t
know what and I doubt that it was important. After they had finished I caught
Forge on his way out and asked to talk to him alone. He was always indulging me
in my questions about the mutant wars so he consented easily enough. I
questioned him as to whether or not he knew anything about the girl in the photo
whom the Witness called his little angel. I could see a look of surprise cross his
face which quickly changed to one of sorrow. He said that most of what he knew
of her was speculation since the Witness wouldn’t talk about it. However, he did
say that she was involved in the mutant wars and that she went by the name of
Sirius. He also said that it was rumored that she sacrificed herself for my father
when she allowed herself to be killed in his place and that he had never forgiven
himself for her death.”
“Normally I would have been satisfied with that much information, but for
some reason that I cannot explain I was compelled to discover more about that girl.
I went to a local museum that kept records of the wars and commenced looking up
any information on someone named Sirius. It took me quite some time, but
eventually I found a reference to someone of that name. It was a list of all of the
mutants who were in charge of several different divisions of the mutant army.
Sirius was listed as one of two people who were responsible for engineering and
executing espionage expeditions. The other person listed was a mutant named
Gambit, but this meant nothing to me at the time since I only knew him as the
Witness.”
Scott nodded. “I see. Is that all?”
Bishop shook his head. “It was for the time being. I soon gave up my quest to
solve the mystery of this girls connection to my father due to a lack of both
information and sources for that information. Eventually I forgot all about her until
many years later when the Witness brought her up himself.”
“When he was older, the Witness suffered from mental imbalances and would
often have spells where he lost all knowledge of where he was or what he was
doing. He often imagined that he was back with the X-Men and would hold
one-sided conversations with you. Shard and I usually let him play out these little
fantasies since they always subsided after a small amount of time, but it always
upset her to see him like that. One time one of these episodes lasted an unusually
long time and Shard interfered by trying to get him to snap out of it. She managed
to get his attention, but he didn’t see her for who she was. He stared at her and
started crying and rambling. He said, ‘Oh, ma petite ange, why’d y’ do it? Why
didn’ y’ let me die? God knows I deserved it after all that I’d done. Yet y’ took
dat death away from me and embraced it as you’re own. Hell, if not for me den y’
wouldn’t ‘ave been able to keep me from dyin’ in de first place. I guess dat mean I
killed y’ twice over, neh? Forgive me, petite. I’ll always love you.’ He fainted
immediately and when he awoke he had no recollection of what he had said and
refused to talk about it. I always meant to bring it up again, but I didn’t see him
much after that. I hated myself for abandoning him, but I just couldn’t stand seeing
my father lose his mind.”
Bishop’s shoulders slumped forward as he once again came to terms with his
failure to care for his father as his father had cared for him. Knowing that Scott had
all of the information he wanted, Bishop walked away without saying another
word.
* * * * *
Kali found herself standing in the middle of Scott and Jean’s living room. Jean
was currently in the kitchen making tea, leaving Kali alone for the time being.
It was a very simple room without much decoration. A few couches, a coffee
table and a television made up the extent of the furniture. There was an intricate
braided rug on the floor directly in front of the fireplace. Over the fireplace was a
mantle which housed several framed pictures. Kali looked them over carefully.
The first picture was of Scott and Jean on their wedding day. They both looked
ridiculously happy, but Kali figured that that was how people *should* look upon
getting married. She couldn’t help feeling a little envious, wondering if she would
ever find someone who could make her as happy as the two people in the photo.
The second picture was of a large group of people who seemed to be wearing
colorful, spandex outfits. She recognized Scott, Jean, Bobby, Dr.
McCoy, Sam and Rogue, but all of the other people were strangers to her. She
figured that they were the X-Men and that she would probably be meeting the rest
of them pretty soon.
She turned her gaze to the third picture on the mantle. Something about it was
very captivating. Puzzled, she picked up the picture and stared at it intently --
trying to discern what possible meaning it could have to her. Suddenly, she felt a
sharp stab of pain in the back of her head and everything went black.
* * * * *
She jumped up and down on her Mommy’s lap, giving up all pretenses of
trying to contain her excitement. Her parents had decided to take her and her
brother to the theater as a special treat for her third birthday. They were going to
see a magic show and she couldn’t wait for it to begin. She had seen a magic man
once on TV and he was amazing! He could make things appear out of thin air and
then summon them back again to the nothingness that they came from. She found
that if she concentrated very hard that she could make magic too. She could make
things appear, but they didn’t come out of thin air -- they came from her hands.
She would reshape parts of her hands to form objects. She showed the trick to her
Mommy and Daddy once. They said that it was a very good trick, but she must
be careful never to show it to anyone else. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t
show her trick to anyone else. Her parents seemed scared by her trick and that
confused her. Her brother liked the trick though. He told her that he could do
some magic too. He could talk to her with his mind and told her that they shared a
special link. She didn’t know what that meant, but she liked it. She loved her
brother and she loved feeling special.
She squealed with delight as the lights went off in the theater signaling that the
show was about to begin. Her brother quickly elbowed her in the ribs to quiet her,
but she was so ecstatic that she barely noticed. A pretty woman came out and did some tricks with a tiger. That was
very impressive. A tiger is big and scary. After the woman and the tiger were gone
a big man came out. She couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a large cloak
with a hood, but that only made him more interesting. He said that he needed a
volunteer from the audience -- a very special person to help him do magic. She
started jumping up and down again.
She was utterly crestfallen when the man picked not her, but her brother.
However, her brother was absolutely delighted. She knew that he loved being the
center of attention and what better way to do it than by being on stage? He turned
to her and stuck out his tongue -- gloating gleefully -- and ran up to the stage.
When her brother reached the stage, the magic man put his arm around him and
held him close. He whispered something into the boys ear. The boy smiled and
waved at his parents saying, “Hi Mommy and Daddy!”. Then the man took off
his cloak and her Mommy screamed. Why did Mommy scream? The magic man
wasn’t that ugly, but he did have creepy eyes that glowed red. Her Daddy got up
and looked like he was going to run to the stage, but the man reacted by picking up
her brother by his throat and holding him out over the edge of the stage. That made
her Daddy stop. She was scared. She had never seen her Mommy and Daddy
frightened before. What was happening? Her brother was choking and kicking
wildly, people were running out of the theater, her Mommy was crying, and the
magic man was laughing. What was the magic man doing? Why was he so mean?
She held on to her Mommy desperately, looking for some kind of comfort. The
magic man was saying something to her parents, but she couldn’t hear it. Her head
was swimming and her ears were pressed against her Mommy’s sweater.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and her Mommy screamed again. She lifted
her head and looked at the stage. Her brother’s face was turning blue and the man
holding him was snarling at her Mommy. She then turned her head to look at her
Daddy, but Daddy wasn’t there! Neither were the seats surrounding the area.
Instead there was a large black scorch mark. She started crying softly.
*THUMP*
She looked at the stage again and saw her brother lying in a crumpled heap at the
man’s feet. For a brief moment she thought that he was dead, but thankfully she
saw his chest moving up and down. She couldn’t imagine life without her brother.
He was her only friend -- her bestest, special friend. She struggled to get free of her
Mommy’s arms so she could go to her brother, but Mommy wouldn’t let go.
“If you hadn’t run away from me, none of this would have been necessary.
Surely you didn’t think that you could hide forever? That was most foolish of
you.” The magic man was talking to her Mommy.
“Please. Let my son go. I’ll do anything you want. Anything! I’ll go back.
I’ll never disobey you again. I swear!” Her Mommy’s eyes were wide with fear
as she pleaded.
“I have no intention of letting your son go as you are no longer of any interest
to me. I would never dream of settling for you when I can have your precious
children. They are infinitely more valuable to me than you or your *husband* ever
were. Thank you for creating them.” His voice was extremely calm.
Her Mommy sobbed as she sank to her knees, clutching her daughter to her
chest.
“Give the girl to me.”
“Never.”
She looked on in horror as the man hit her Mommy with some kind of energy
blast. Her Mommy fell back on to the floor and released the girl from her grasp.
“Mommy?”
Her Mommy looked up at her and somehow found the strength to stand. She
grabbed her daughter’s wrist and started to move towards the exit at the rear of the
theater.
“Take one more step, my dear, and I kill you.”
Her Mommy started to run, tears streaming down her face. She had barely gone
ten feet when she was hit by another energy blast -- this one fatal. She collapsed,
clutching at her chest and gasping for air.
She screamed. Her Mommy was lying on the floor and there was blood
everywhere. Horrible red sticky blood covering everything. She started to shake
uncontrollably. It was her Mommy’s blood that was spattered on her shirt. It
was her Mommy’s blood that covered her hands and dripped to the floor. This
couldn’t be happening! Where was the magic? Was this all a trick? She didn’t like
this trick one bit and desperately prayed that it would stop.
“Mommy, get up. Please get up!”
She grabbed her Mommy’s hand and felt her lightly squeeze back, but Mommy
didn’t try to get up. Her Mommy would never get up again. She looked her
daughter in the eye and whispered to her so softly that it was just barely audible,
“Mommy loves you, Kali. Never forget that.”
* * * * *
“Tea’s ready.” Jean came out of her kitchen carrying a tray which had on it two
mugs of chamomile tea. She noticed Kali standing near the fireplace, but thought it
odd that she hadn’t turned around at her voice.
“Kali, hello are you there?” She still didn’t move. Jean put down her tray and
walked over to her. She was alarmingly pale and seemed to be in some sort of a
trance. Her hands were shaking vehemently as she clutched at a small picture that
Jean recognized as one that she kept on her mantle. It was of Scott and his brother,
Alex, when they were very young, with their parents. Jean gently took the picture
from Kali and put it back in its spot.
Kali blinked dazedly and looked at the woman in front of her. “Jean?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“What happened?”
“I was hoping that you could tell me that. I came out of the kitchen and found
you staring at this picture of Scott’s family.”
Kali shook her head as she tried to make some sense out of what had just
happened. “I don’t remember.” She put her hands to her head as the pain started
to return. “I think it was some kind of memory flashback. I don’t know. It’s all
so fuzzy and it hurts when I think about it.”
Jean led her over to the couch. She could tell that Kali was telling the truth and
she didn’t want to upset her anymore by pressing the issue too much. “Then
don’t think about it for now. This is the second time this has happened to you
today, right? Something here must be triggering suppressed memories of yours.
Try to forget about it for now, but later I’ll take you to see Dr. McCoy and see if
he can do anything to help you.”
“Oh please don’t do that! The memories aren’t suppressed. At least I don’t
think they are. It just seems like I’m experiencing them all over again rather than
simply remembering. Just please don’t make me go back to that lab.”
Jean was dazed by the instant stab of fear projected by Kali. “Okay. I told
you before that I won’t make you do anything that you don’t want to. You don’t
have to go back to Hank’s lab, but will it be okay if he comes to see you
sometime?”
Kali looked down at her hands hesitantly. “I guess that would be fine with me.
I’m sorry to cause so much trouble. Are you sure that you want me to stay here
with you?”
“Of course I am. Does that mean that you’re considering it?” Jean’s face
brightened.
“I don’t know. This is all happening so fast and I don’t want to rush into
anything. Could you maybe give me a couple of days to decide? I mean, I still
don’t really know anything about this place and I want a chance to find out.” Kali
couldn’t believe what she was saying. Every instinct in her body was screaming at
her not to stay in this place, but some nagging voice in the back of her head told her
that this was the place for her. That somehow she belonged there. She couldn’t
quite figure it out, but vowed that she would spend the next few days trying.
“If it’s a couple of days you want, then you got it.”
Jean relaxed back into the couch and smiled. “So,
how about some of those questions you wanted to ask me?”
(
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