“Why do they glow like that?” Storm asks softly.
“Huh?”
“Your eyes? Why do they glow? Forgive me for asking. They remind me of a friend’s.”
“Oh…I don’t know why they glow, but they do when I’m looking at energies…or when I’m angry…or scared…or a combination of the three.”
“Interesting…”
Storm feels HLM’s eyes on her after a second, and meets her speculative gaze.
HLM grins sheepishly. “I’m sorry…I was just thinking that you and the Storm in my reality are so similar.”
Ororo raises a brow. “Oh? Where you’re from, how do you know the X-Men?”
“Through Wolvie. He knew my mom long before I was created. She introduced us when I was just a little girl. A few years later, he intro’d me to you…” she trails off.
“ ‘Created’?”
HLM nods. “Yeah…I’m the result of a government experiment.”
Ororo nods slowly. “Why are you not still with the government?”
“My mom…or I guess ‘foster-mom’…saved me from the scientist dudes. Recently, Raph and I got caught by the FOH and then handed over to the pentagon or whatever. We’re still not sure. We’re also still recovering from that hell.” She notices Storm looks surprised. “What…?”
“There are FOH in your reality, too?”
HLM nods. “Wherever there’s diversity, there will always be closed minded bigots.”
Storm nods. “Sad, but true. Ignorance is easy to embrace.”
“Yeah, makes hate a hard bug to kill.”
Storm nods again. “If people learn that different can be good, life would be more pleasant for all involved.”
HLM nods this time. “That would be nice, but people have to be willing to learn. Unfortunately, most of the troublemakers don’t want to.”
With that sobering thought in mind, they spend the rest of their watch in silence.
Up next are Raph and Jae.
Most of the watch is spent quietly as Jae polishes his katana, and Raph polishes his sais.
At one point, Raph asks, “So, yer weapon talk, too?”
Jae looks at Raph with a grin. “Nope, and thank Serenity, or we’d never get any rest.”
Raph grins back. “Yeah, gotta say Diana’s sword is loud enough ta be ten Leos.”
Jae chuckles softly. “Gotta love that sibling rivalry.”
“No shit. Ya got any sibs?”
“Yeah…one older sis…a brother-in-law, and two people close enough to be siblings.”
“Big family ya got.”
Jae shrugs, holding his sword up to examine it. “It’s been a long trip, and they’ve stuck by me when they could.”
Raph nods, and they stay silent, thinking about everything that’s happened in the last few hours.
Last up are Wolverine and Diana.
Diana yawns and quietly stretches.
Wolvie grins.
“Sleep well, darlin’?”
“Yeah…could use more though. Was fighting and reality jumping for a good 22 hours before getting some sleep.”
Wolvie whistles low. “Damn. Hell of a long time.”
“You’re telling me?” Diana retorts with a smirk.
“So, you a mutant?”
“Nope, just a martial artist with a enchanted smart mouth sword that doesn’t know when to shut up, and a fate to be a warrior.”
Wolvie nods. “And yer man?”
She shakes her head. “Well…not really, he’s more of a…magically enhanced human. It’s confusing.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah…he’s a…this is gonna sound strange…”
“Darlin’, not much can phase me.”
“Ok, well he was a Guardian of Prince Endymion, but was turned into a Dark Kingdom General.”
“Prince who? Dark Kingdom what?”
Diana grins a bit. “Sorry. In our reality, many centuries ago, there was a period called the Silver Millennium. During this time, there was a kingdom, or perhaps I should say, queendom, on the moon, and a kingdom here on Earth. To make a long story short, Jae and three others were the guardians of the Prince of Earth and were captured by an evil being named Beryl, who served an even greater evil called Mettalia. Beryl warped their minds, and forced them to her side. Anyway, a war destroyed the Moon Kingdom. Before Queen Serenity died, though, she cast an enchantment trapping Beryl somehow, and over the rest of us to be reborn again with each other.”
Wolvie raises a brow. “Us? You were involved in all that?”
Diana nods. “I was a citizen of the Earth and Moon. A mutt if you will. Beryl killed me during the war, but since she didn’t destroy my sword, which my soul is somehow bound to, I was reborn.”
“Geeze, an’ I though my life was fucked up. Were Raph and HLM involved, too?”
“Well, this Raph and HLM are from a different reality, but the HLM from my reality was. She was barely alive when Serenity cast the final spell.”
“Man, that’s enough ta make a guy’s head explode.”
“No kidding, and that’s not even all of it.”
Just then, a step is heard in the darkness.
Reunions Index
Chapter Six
Chapter Eight