The X-Men characters featured in this
story are property of Marvel Inc and used without permission.
No profit is made from these works.
AJ Rovner/Unicorn was created by Abby
Rovner and is used with permission.
Ziska Xavier is my own creation.
The story takes place after Legion Quest
“Look alive
kid!”
“I can handle it.” she argued, then doubled over as her lungs filled with smoke.
The smoke filled his eyes and he couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him. But he knew the place well enough; the patio door wasn’t far away.
Then he heard something, creaking floorboards and foot steps. Not his, he was standing still. Not Ziska’s either, hers were lighter. He looked around, finally seeing a shadow behind a flame, between the two of then and the patio door, rushing towards him. He held Ziska by her bare arm, pulling her closer. “Get to the elevator, ten steps to your left. Then get downstairs. The lower levels have a protected air supply, you’ll be fine.” Without another word, he let her go.
******************************************
As Ziska
manages to pull away the connection is cut, and that is all
On the
other hand, it is a good thing that
“That was my crash course in evasive maneuvers and you nearly being burnt to a crisp.” Ziska responds. “In my timeline anyway.” As the elevator closes behind her, she considers carefully how to explain her situation. “Sorry, this will be a long story.”
“As I understand it, we have plenty of time.” Emma responds.
******************************************
It took a few trips with the elevator, but finally everyone is back in the sitting room. Charles and Jubilee are already there.
“Where those there before?” Monet asks. Everyone notices that the picture frames look different, a few being replaced out right. All the changes include Ziska at various ages. Jubilee is already admiring the new pictures hanging on the wall while Charles holds another frame in his hand.
Though she can’t actually sneak up on her father, Ziska doesn’t announce herself as she stands behind him. “That one looks familiar.”
Charles is
looking at a group shot, taken on a vacation shortly after the Krakoa incident with the
newly enlarged roster. A young Ziska has
been added and is now standing next to her father. Finally, he speaks. “I imagine this would have played out quite
differently in your time line compared to ours.”
Ziska shrugs. “Here, you didn’t have to worry about keeping
a pre-teen occupied.” Charles reaches for her hand, but she steps away. “It’s for your own good.”
Charles already
knows. The lower levels are covered with
cameras, and he saw the aftermath of when
“That’s the short
version of it. It is one thing to change
matter to make room for me.” Ziska
stands next to her father as she straightens a picture on the wall. “But it’s another to rewrite everyone’s
memories out right. So, when I touch
someone, memories are transferred in full, but can only be recalled when
triggered.” She looks back at
“So, you could re create
versions of us from your time line?”
Hank asks,
“Not really.” Ziska replies. “The memories come with the emotional baggage
your alternate selves put on them, but neither they nor I can’t overwrite your
preferences and psyches here. Although
it looks like a lot of the details are the same anyway. There’s also a chance you may recall
something if it was explicitly about me, even if I’m not present.”
Remy asks the next
question. “What d’ you mean with
‘probationary period’?”
“My memory powers are temporary. After I hit twenty one, it’s all over
with. Whoever I didn’t have contact with
until then just won’t remember me. It’s
a mixed bag really. Some people I’d
rather forget myself.”
“Did we ever meet?” AJ asks.
Ziska turns
sharply. “Not that I can think of. Uhm… by the way, who are you?”
“Abby Rovner, but call
me AJ if you want. I’m supposed to start
teaching here this year. English, archival,
and help out with the research in the lab.”
Angelo raises his
hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but I got a
question about this… changing items bit.”
“And that would
be?” Ziska asks.
“What happens to
pictures that had David in ‘em? Are they
erased?”
In an instant, Ziska
becomes white as the wall. “I don’t
know. But if yes…” She cannot finish what she wants to say. What
about Mom?
******************************************
By the time they get into
Charles shakes his head. “None that I can see. No matter what we try, this will be hard on her.”
Ziska’s eyes start to tear up. “Back in the city, none of your alternates ever mentioned Mom. But I saw her once. She obviously didn’t want to be there.”
Charles sighs. “Gabrielle raised David by herself. I didn’t know about him until he was practically an adult. They had a hard life. David was in situations a child should never have seen. Ziska, I… I can’t make any promises about what will happen in there.”
The
elevator door chimes and opens to a hallway.
“No turning back now.” In his traditional
wheelchair now, Ziska gives Charles a hand, still careful not to make contact.
Gabrielle Haller’s
“Yes, but I don’t know if she’ll appreciate the company I keep.” Charles replies.
“Just a
minute!” Gabrielle calls through the
door. Ziska meanwhile steps out of line
of sight for the view port, so that only Charles is
visible. Finally, Gabrielle opens the
door, still dressed in a robe. “I wasn’t
expecting any visitors, you should have called ahead.” Then Gabrielle looks to the right, and sees
the young woman standing before her.
Charles watches as her knees collapse under her, but before he can even
lift his hand, she catches herself on the door frame.
“I’m
sorry Gabrielle. I had no idea what I
could possibly say.”
Gabrielle
regains her composure and looks at the stranger. “Who are you?
Why are your pictures in my house?”
“My
name is Franziska. I… I’m David’s
sister.”
******************************************
Charles tries to explain what was going on, but to no avail. Even if he didn’t have a choice, even if it broke his heart, Gabrielle cannot understand how Charles could possibly replace their son. Or perhaps it was easy for him. He hadn’t been there. He didn’t raise David. For a moment, she considers if maybe she had done things differently, David could have been spared, could have had a normal life, could have been cured, could have learned from his father… but that’s all gone now. Finally, Gabrielle realizes that Charles stopped talking some time ago. The girl just sits quietly to the side.
Gabrielle’s voice quivers as she speaks. “What do you expect me to say? ‘Welcome home’? Or do you expect me to take this… memory transfer and forget about My SON?”
Charles shrinks back in his chair. “I would never ask that Gabrielle.”
Her voice rises in anger. “Then what are you asking? To let a stranger into my home part time? To bond with a daughter I did not raise or even give birth to?” Her body shakes and her pulse starts to race, tears streaming down her face. “What about DAVID?” She stands up and reaches for a picture on a console, of a very young David. “I will not forget him. Not now, not ever.”
Charles starts to speak, but he seems to cut himself off and looks at his “daughter.” Telepath? Like father like child I see. Gabrielle thinks to herself.
Finally, the young woman stands up and walks towards yet another picture frame hanging on the wall. Originally, it was a picture of Gabrielle herself, Charles and Erik. Now, it is still Charles and Gabrielle, but it includes a little girl. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.” The woman says, and touches the frame. It lights up for a moment and the original picture of the three former friends is restored. “You’ll never have to think of me again.” She waves her hand in front of Gabrielle’s eyes and takes a step back. Gabrielle is dazed and as her eyes keep glowing, she also takes a step back. By her second step, a small shockwave emits from her body, similar to the one when Ziska arrived.
Before Gabrielle fully recovers, Ziska wipes away her tears and those on her mother’s face with her bare hand. Without any warning, Gabrielle comes to her senses.
“I’m sorry Charles, I don’t think I heard all of that, would you please start over?” Gabrielle says, as though she didn’t recall any of the events that just happened.
“We were asking if you would mind if we planted flowers on David’s grave.” Ziska replies.
Gabrielle is shocked for a moment, but then her face softens. “I think he would like that… I’m sorry, who are you again?”
Ziska swallows an imaginary lump in her throat. “I’m… David’s sister.”
Startled, Gabrielle’s eyes widen, and she takes another step back. “Oh… I... I’m sorry, I forgot.” Still holding the picture of David when he was young, she shows it to Ziska. “I wish you could have met your brother. I think you two would have gotten along.”
******************************************
“What did you do to her?” Charles demands.
As tears are running down Ziska’s face, she replies. “I let her go.”
She’s barely said a word since she wiped herself from her mother’s memory, and Charles can’t think of a single thing to say to help her. Despite being obviously upset, she carefully maneuvers his wheelchair through the lobby into the parking garage with minimal bumps in the road. Or she was using her powers as a suspension.
Or maybe Charles is just too preoccupied to notice any bumps in the road.
“What happens now?” Charles asks.
“What do you mean?” Ziska replies without missing a step.
“She has all of David’s documents. Won’t your birth certificate be there?”
“I’m not replacing David in her life. As far as Gabrielle is concerned, I’m your child by another woman. Everything she has of David is intact and even if I were to share memories with someone, she won’t appear in them, since she doesn’t have them herself. I’d also imagine that her name is off my birth certificate.”
The situation makes Charles even more uncomfortable, as this is the end of the mother-daughter relationship. With Charles in the passenger seat, Ziska stows his wheelchair in the trunk, the cushion on the side. As she slams it shut, Charles still senses her hurt. She’ll never be able to speak with her mother again, at least not as her daughter. But he understands why she did it.
When she finally gets into the car, she re adjusts the rearview mirror. “It’s better this way.” She simply says.
Charles doesn’t want to push the issue too far. “Will you be alright?”
With the turn of the ignition, the car starts to purr. “In time, I guess. I mean, I really kinda expected this reaction.”
“How so?” Charles asks.
“I didn’t go to boarding school because I showed promise at a young age. That came when I was ten and early pieces of telepathic memory started to kick in.” Ziska starts. “I was sent away because my parents couldn’t decide who should have physical custody of me while I was in school. They both hated it, but couldn’t come up with a better solution. Worked out even better when work became more complicated for both. But in the end, Mom resented that I turned out so much like my father, mutation and all. From what you have told me, Gabrielle had a hard enough time with David’s life. Do you really want her to remember all that?”
“No.” Charles replies. “I wouldn’t wish that mindset on anyone.” Years of schooling taught Charles not to take it personally, but his heart is still breaking. She doesn’t think of him as her father at all. And although he doesn’t have any recollection of her childhood, she does have the ability of letting him share those memories. But now, the head wins out over the heart. He has some time before she has to make up her mind.
“Do you mind if I go out for a while?” Ziska asks as they pull into the driveway.
“Out?” Charles asks surprised.
“Just for a drive, alone. I need some time to clear my head.” She replies.
Charles doesn’t really believe her, but couldn’t think of a single good reason to say no. “No, I don’t mind.”
As they approach the house, they see Scott standing ready to handle the wheelchair.
“Do you mind if I take a different car?” Ziska asks.
“Not at all.”
When she pulls up by the front door, Scott makes quick work of the wheelchair, but by the time he turns around, Ziska is gone. “I take it things didn’t go too well?”
Still upset, Charles slowly answers. “Not well at all. The ‘powers along the same line’ she mentioned earlier are deleting herself from someone’s life. In this case, she erased herself from Gabrielle, because Gabrielle thought it meant she would lose all her memories of David.”
“Would it have made a difference if you had gone tomorrow instead of tonight?” Scott asks.
“No, and even if, I don’t think it would have been for the better. Though the pictures of David were unaltered, other pictures including Ziska appeared. And that would have been a bit hard to explain.”
As Scott rolls the wheelchair slowly up the ramp, both turn sharply as they hear an engine start up and see a bright green sports car peel out of the garage.
“Was that Sean’s car?” Scott asks.
Charles shakes his head. “He wouldn’t drive that color. I guess some of Ziska’s things came with her when she arrived. Although… nevermind, I’m sure we’ll get to that eventually.”
“Speaking of her arrival…” Scott starts. “She didn’t by chance tell you what color she painted her room in her time line, did she?”
Finally thought the door, Charles regards Scott carefully. “Do I want to know where you are going with this?”
“You have to see it to believe it.” Scott replies.
******************************************
Before she even gets to the gate, Ziska pulls over and starts to cry her heart out. She didn’t lie when she said that she expected her mother’s reaction. But that doesn’t make it any easier. And what if her father also doesn’t want the full package either, especially after the things she’s already told him?
Forget about that for now. She thinks to herself. She checks her wallet, finding her driver’s
license updated to say “Under 21 Years Old” and the same hundred dollars she
had with her when she died. Forget everything. Just go. She keeps driving south out of
town, back towards
******************************************
A few weeks
after Ziska turned fourteen, she accompanied the New Mutants on a trip to
She watched the news quite a lot in those days; needless to say, she was terrified. Her powers were intentionally dampened by her father, as, like with Jean, he didn’t think she was quite ready for the responsibility of telepathy, telekinesis and pyrokinesis at the same time. Unfortunately, being surrounded by so many telepaths, she grew a natural resistance to other telepaths. So, when her father and the others realized she was missing, they weren’t able to do much about it. She looked for a pay phone to call him collect, but none of them worked. Its late fall and the weather is turning cold.
Frustrated, she incinerated a rolled up newspaper on the street. But her antics didn’t go unnoticed. “Nice work.” A voice called from a shadow. Ziska turns to see a boy her age in the shadow. He and his clothes were covered in dirt, and the overstuffed backpack he has suggests he lived on the street.
“Hi.” She replied.
“Don’t sweat it.” The boy replies. “I’m a mutant too. See?” He held his hand over a flower pot, and instantly the dirt starts to spin around. “It’s not much, but it’s something. By the way, I’m William. Who are you?”
“Everyone has to start somewhere. I’m Ziska.” Ziska replies. Before she finished her sentence, it started to rain. “Great and all I have is this t-shirt.”
William laughed. “Well, if you’re worried about staying dry… I know a place.”
Even with dampened telepathy, Ziska wasn’t helpless. Her mother had always warned her not to talk to strangers. Her father was always on her case about not reading other people’s minds. Maybe that’s why he cut her powers down. And maybe that’s why she ignored both of their requests. She read his mind quickly, and realized that he was… no “threat” as her mother would view him. “Is there a phone there I could use?”
The “place” had turned out to be an old warehouse, and yes, there was a phone. Many homeless people where living there, and some runaway teens were using it as a pseudo night club, a place where they could be themselves. Before they entered, William warned her that they are the only mutants there. After a few minutes there, she made a collect call home, assured her father she was safe and told him she would stay here until someone came to get her. She spent hours in that warehouse talking to William while the rain poured outside. In return, Ziska promised William she’d ask her father to let William come to the school. To which he readily agreed.
******************************************
What a difference seven years can make. Ziska thinks to herself. For the next three years to follow, William became her best friend… in her time line.
Ziska is sorely disappointed though as she pulls up to the warehouse. Aside from being abandoned, it is in ruins, and she sees scars of an old fire. Damn it! She disregards the caution tape and has a look around. She sees some plants grow in a distance. As she walks closer, she realizes that someone is tending to them. Someone was growing themselves some food. As she is in arms reach of a tomato plant, she hears footsteps behind her.
“Get away from my food.” A man’s voice calls behind her.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to take any. I’m just looking for a friend.” Ziska replies.
“Get out!” He hollers, and Ziska makes for the door.
As she walks away, she sees a paper pad with a drawing on it. “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, what of it?” He asks gruffly.
Ziska recognizes William’s signature. “I’ll give you one hundred dollars for it.”
“Stop wasting my time and get out!” William scoffs.
She pulls out her wallet and shows him her money. “Still think I’m wasting your time? A hundred bucks for the picture; do we have a deal?”
He comes closer. God, he’s gotten thin. She thinks to herself. His light hair was practically knotted and much longer than she’s ever seen it. Initially, he reaches for the money. Realizing he might touch if he keeps coming closer, she puts the money on the same platform where she picked the pad up from. But that doesn’t sit well with William.
“What the hell are you trying to pull lady?” William yells and grabs her arm. He holds on as his synapses go off. He also remembers the first time he met Ziska.
******************************************
In the weeks since he left home, he hadn’t met another mutant that didn’t have any agenda of their own to use him, or who didn’t think he was worthless because he could control... dirt. That’s when William decided he would learn how to use his power and make something of himself. Although, at the time he never thought such a chance encounter would lead to such a difference. He doesn’t remember the details in between, but over the next three years, he and Ziska became not only friends, but worked together using their powers. He also remembers that the third wheel to their duo was Wolverine.
******************************************
It takes William a bit longer to recover. Long enough for Ziska to run up the street and buy some food.
“Sorry about that.” Ziska says as she hands him a sandwich. “Their veggies looked kinda disgusting, but I watched the clerk open new packages of chicken or tuna salad. Your pick.”
William doesn’t care which sandwich he gets, it’s his first decent meal in a week. “I knew I liked you for a reason Zee.” He takes a bite, but then gags on it and jumps away from her.
“You okay?” Ziska asks.
William swallows the piece of bread still in his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine. But you… you’re… you’re here!”
It takes Ziska a moment to realize that since so few of her memories are only of the two of them and at times Logan, he probably remembers things about her from… after she was taken. “Do you really want to hear the story?”
******************************************
They’ve been speaking for hours. William takes his situation in stride. In his opinion, the new memories of those three years are much better than those he’s had in the last six years here. And Ziska is glad to have found someone to talk to so fast.
“What are you going to do now?” He asks.
“Go back I guess. I don’t know where else I could go.”
“Not what I meant Zee. Are you going to give anyone else their memories?”
Ziska is looking for excuses. “Isn’t the question if they want them or not? Okay, you’re life here was crap, but we’ve only knew each other three years. For the others it will be much more.”
William chuckles. “This load of crap from the chick that said that people can only recall what they want to? Last I checked good memories are worth more than bad.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“When you got stuck here, you called your father from there.” William starts and indicates the post where the shattered remains of a phone are. “I was only a few feet away from you, remember? I could hear almost everything he said. I never thought I’d hear a parent that wanted his freak child to come home. Well, at least mine didn’t.”
Ziska remembered that William often talked about missing his family. “What happened?”
William shrugs it off as if he didn’t care anymore. “Same thing as when I left. They could ‘grow to tolerate’ being a freak of nature, but my being a ‘freak by choice’ would have to be ‘un-chosen.’”
“Choice?”
“Hey, you
know the church doctrines as well as I do.
At least I met a cute guy when I stopped over in
Ziska smiles and starts to nod. “You always did like the whole lemons to lemonade bit. Could you do me a favor?”
“Depends, what is it?” William asks.
“Tag along?”
William considers. “I don’t know. I was just thinking of redecorating this place. How do you feel about a red accent wall over there?”
“I’d feel a lot better if it came with a roof.” Ziska deadpans.
William rolls his eyes. “Alright, if you’re going to twist my arm about it.” He finally replies. As they walk outside, William stops dead in his tracks when he sees the car. “How’d you pull this off?”
“Pull what off?”
He pats the roof of the car. “I remember you getting this car, and the paint job.”
“Yeah… oh, wow, I don’t know then. It was in the garage when I left.” Then she realizes what William is getting at. “Aw crap…Dad is going to kill me when he remembers this!”
******************************************
Charles Xavier, by nature, is an early riser. Though his students need a flexible schedule pending their work load, Charles rarely stays up late when he can avoid it. It’s well past midnight, and there has been no activity at the gate. Are you coming home? He wonders as he looks out the window.
There is a knock on his office door, even though it is open. He turns to see AJ standing there. “You don’t strike me as a night owl.” She quietly says.
“I’m not. But I am a father. At least, I intend to be.” He replies and looks out the window again.
She walks in and sits down by the desk. “She’ll be fine.” AJ says.
Instead of turning around, Charles looks at the reflection of her face in the window. “You seem very sure of that.”
“Call it an instinct. Rarely steers me wrong.” AJ replies.
“I appreciate that.” He turns back to the desk. “I’m afraid with all the happenings today we neglected to finish your orientation.”
“Does reading the book count for anything? I’m not sure if I’m up for this tonight.” AJ replies, but before the professor can object, his computer shows an alert. “Saved by the buzzer.”
“So it would seem. That is the front gate.” Charles replies. “We can do this tomorrow.”
“Good night Professor.” AJ says as she heads up the stairs.
As Charles directs the hover chair to the front door, he waits a few minutes as he sees headlights approaching. Since she obviously doesn’t want to wake anyone by opening the garage door, Ziska stops the car in front and comes out… with a guest.
“I hope you aren’t up waiting for me.” Ziska calls out.
“Of course I am.” He responds. He watches her face contort and she blushes. “Not that I was tired.”
“I’m sorry,
I should have called.” She waits for the
stranger to stand next to her. “I’d like
to make some introductions. This is
William raises an eyebrow. “You have an uncle?”
Ziska bites her lower lip. “No… I don’t William.”
Exasperated, William sighs. “We talked about this Zee.” He turns back to Professor Xavier. “I’m sorry sir; your daughter can be pretty stubborn at times.”
Charles reaches up to shake William’s hand. “I take it you are here to enroll?”
“Yes, I am sir. If you have room, I mean.”
Charles smiles at the new student. “Yes, we have room. Go up the stairs, take a right then a left, fifth door on the left.”
“Cool, same room even.” Jeff responds as he bounds up the stairs, but turns around half way up. “You two have to talk!” Then he keeps walking.
Charles turns his attention back to his daughter, who would only be happier if she could slink off. “So… he thought I was your uncle?”
“Because I didn’t introduce you as ‘my father’ and he only has memories that include me, and possibly Logan.”
Charles
presses on. “And that is because you
previously shared your memories with
“Yes, that about covers it.”
“Then yes, I do think we should talk.” Charles backs away from the door giving Ziska room to close it. Then he moves ahead to the gallery.
Meanwhile, Ziska starts looking at the paintings. “Piotr does some good work.”
“Please, don’t change the subject.”
With no other escape routes, Ziska sits down and looks at her father. “What do you want me to say? I’d think from everything you’d heard, you’d want to stay as far away as possible.”
“Whatever would make you think such a thing?”
She takes a deep breath, but still starts to cry. “The way you’ve been talking all day, it’s obvious that you regret not having been part of David’s life. But you didn’t have a choice then. You... he… you were more in my life... and you had a choice, but opted to be a hero. And yeah, I get that the fate of the world kinda comes first every time… but that didn’t make MY life any easier.” He voice starts to trail off as she cries harder. “And just a few hours ago, Mom made it clear she wants nothing to do with me. I don’t want to go through that again.”
Charles pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and hands it to Ziska. “That can’t happen here Ziska. I do want to be a part of your life.” By now, Charles also starts to cry. “I also do want you to be a part of MY life. And for me, that includes the past. I can’t undo what I did wrong previously... but I can learn from my mistakes.”
“They weren’t your mistakes!” Ziska replies between sobs.
“I choose to take the responsibility.” With that, he again reaches for her hand. “Please… just give me the chance.”
She slowly looks at him. “This is a one shot deal you know. No going back.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Without another word, she reaches for his hand, and he instantly remembers. He remembers wishing August would never end. Wishing Gabrielle had taken the job at the U.N. sooner. He remembers watching her give her first speech at a graduation as a graduate, then as an invited speaker.
In her time line, he was there for her the day she was born… and until the day she was taken. He finally realizes just how luck he really is. He pulls her closer, and for the first time in this time line, wraps his arms around his daughter.
Now linked telepathically, He talks to her Thank you.
Again showing her prowess as a telepath in her own right, she replies. No; thank YOU…Dad.
The End