Very much NSFW fic continued from yesterday:
Fracture Forty: Forcing to Remember
She’d become Risty Wilde to be closer to her children, to try and form some kind of bond between them after years of separation. She and Rogue were becoming fast friends, or at least, she hoped so.
Kurt was a lot more distant with her. Possibly because he thought she was a norm.
Sometime after this mess was over, she’d have to ‘develop’ a shape-shifting power and see if she could become his friend as well. Maybe. She’d have to come up with new and creative ways to avoid Wolverine if she did.
Never mind.
She had another job to do, now.
Raven put a 'do not disturb’ sign on her door, just in case, and transformed into a raven. She fluttered out of her window and towards Hess’ jail cell.
If Hess wasn’t insane already, she’d see to it that she *would* be.
*
Bruna Hess was kept alone. Mostly because people were afraid of her, but also because no-one wanted her 'infecting’ any other prisoners with her particular degree of madness. She was used to being alone, to hiding, to waiting.
It let her think.
There was a soft noise in her cell.
Hess turned to face one of her dead failures. Alive again, and looking angry.
“You killed me,” said the little boy.
“You failed,” said Hess. “Failures die.”
Then he struck her. “You *killed* me!” And then he was another failure. “You killed me.”
“Go away,” Hess ordered. “I’ve never had ghosts before and I’m not going to have them now.”
“You killed me and you’ll have to pay,” said the little girl. And then she was a different girl. “You’ll have to pay for a long, long time.”
“Do you think you can make me regret it?” she demanded. “You could have been glorious! You could have been marvellous; but you *failed*. You *deserved to die.”
Now, the child was a little demon boy. “But I just wanted to be *me*," he said. "I didn’t *want* to be marvellous.”
“Get out of my sight, you traitor!” Hess roared. “Demon filth! You *never* accepted your glory!”
“Pipe down in there,” said the guard.
“If you don’t learn young, you’ll never learn at all!” Hess raved, but the boy was gone. He’d be back. He always came back to her. Always. "Think of the prestige! Your reputation! They would be *nothing* without me!“
And that was when the guard came in and helped her shut her mouth with a nightstick. It was professionally done, and didn’t even bruise the bone.
In Kurt’s place, was a jar. Its occupant, another little demon, was unscrewing its lid from the inside. The baby demon hauled himself partially out of the alcohol and looked straight at her.
"Why, Mama?” he said. “Why?”
Hess started to scream.
*
Raven lay back in the bathtub and sighed. She hadn’t shapeshifted that often since she was young and foolish. A hot bath was just the thing to relax her tired muscles. It had been a hard afternoon, driving Hess to the brink.
With luck, the old cow wouldn’t be able to look any of her accusers in the eye. At least, not any more.
And if she was still defiant, then Raven could always go back.
Until one of them surrendered.
Then, she’d have to consider something to do for her granddaughter.
_Good God, I’m a grandmother,_ she sighed. _I guess it had to happen *eventually*, but - they’re still *teenagers*._ She’d barely considered being a mother.
Grandmotherhood was something of a shock.
Especially that she’d been one for seven years *already*.
How were his adoptive parents handling this?
*
“What? But we just got *back*…”
“He’s our *tribesman*,” said Hans. “We should be there for moral support.”
“Besides,” added Andrei, “enough of the circus quit that idiot General’s hire that we practically have the old troupe back. Just think of it as a comeback tour - plus some.”
“But - your people have never been outside of Germany,” said Johannes. "That’s bound to cause some reactions, you know.“
"Come on, liebe,” Astrid soothed. “Nobody offends a Centaur twice. They’ll just have to get used to them.”
“Yeah,” Taelin Jarelmann snugged a bungee strap tight. “They were here long before we were. It’s high time the rest of the world knew that.”
Katja, Anja and Erika looked up at their father with pleading eyes.
“Come on, Papa,” said Erika. “You can’t tell me you don’t miss flying…”
“Ach…” He sighed. “All *right*. But only because most of the village is going too, and I’m not ready to grow roots just yet.”
“I’m coming, too,” said Mrs Meirs.
“Mama,” said Astrid, “You’re sure.”
“This is my grandson,” she said. “And my great-granddaughter. I’d like to see you stop me.” She straightened up to four foot ten and put her hands on her hips.
Johannes had to laugh. As if anyone would dare defy Astrid’s Mama.
*
“Why? Why did you kill me?”
“You were not a survivor. You were not strong. What I did was a mercy.”
The child fiddled with his leg brace. “You dissected me while I was alive,” he said. “Just to hear me scream. That isn’t mercy.”
“You were a failure,” Hess repeated. “You could have been magnificent, but you *failed*. You *deserved* to die.”
“I didn’t want to be magnificent. I just wanted to be me.”
*
“I *guard*,” said the Archivist. A slight frown was all that betrayed the intense anger that Kurt was feeling, somewhere deep underneath. “I do not share. Especially with *outsiders*.”
Sharon groaned under her breath.
Matt was infinitely patient. “I’m sure Kurt’s trying to explain this to you. We *need* you to share, this time. We need you to talk in order to help put Hess away.”
“And with me, you can put her in a cage?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me again how this cross-examination works.”
*
“And what were you two doing in this 'secret place’ of yours, Ms Pryde?” asked Mason.
Kitty swallowed. _He’s going to discredit me by making me look like a slut._ “We were just hanging out. Talking and stuff. You know, like, spending time together.”
“Can you tell us *why* you felt you had to spend this time?”
“Objection! Relevance,” said Mr Murdock.
“Overruled.”
Kitty started hating the judge. “I was like, waiting for a pregnancy test result,” she said. “I was like, raped a couple of weeks before. Kurt was like, my emotional support.”
Murmuring broke out amongst the few members of the public that were in the audience.
“You’re certain about that?”
“Objection! Badgering the witness.”
“Sustained.”
“Very well,” said Mason. “Back to the basement. What, exactly, did you see in there?”
Kitty took a calming breath. “The first thing I like, saw when I woke up was like, Kurt in a harness. He was like, strapped to some kind of examination table. Then I like, realised I was like, trapped, myself. I was like, maybe four feet off the ground in this weird rig? And there was like, blood on the walls…”
“You’re certain it was blood?”
“Yes.”
“What else did you see?”
“There was a little kid hiding in a corner. That was how I like, met Bluebelle? Um. And uh, kinda like, whips and these like, medieval weapons on the walls like you’d hang up power tools? And there were a few empty tables and chairs with like, straps and blood on them.”
“And you are positive that you were in Frau Hess’ basement.”
“Yes. Because I like, *saw* her go in there.”
Murmuring broke out again.
Mason looked like he was trying not to swear. “At any time, did Hess touch or hurt you?”
“No, we didn’t like, give her the chance.”
“So all you had to rely on was Mr Wagner’s and Bluebelle’s *word* that Hess was going to torture you.”
“That blood like, didn’t get there on its own, you know,” said Kitty.
Mason sighed, but subtly, so the jury couldn’t pick it up. “Do you *know* how the blood got there?”
“No.”
“Thank you, Ms Pryde. You may step down.”