apachefirecat

Title: Sisters Draw Near
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Rating: PG/K+
Pairing: Several pairings are mentioned, but not necessarily in good light. Among them are Captain Britain/Meggan, Pete Wisdom/Shadowcat, and Colossus/Shadowcat.
Summary: The X-Women come together.
Content Notice: (skip) This story deals with the darker side of the relationships in the X-Men, although not heavily. Domestic abuse is definitely brought out.

Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Marvel Comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission.
Author's Note: This is for Day One at Poetry Fiction's March 2022 Fest, the Light prompt at All Bingo's Body Parts Bingo, and 1 Million Words' A to Z: X
Word Count: 1793









Whispers ran rampant amongst the gathering women. They were not all whispering, but no matter how loudly they talked, in those early morning/late evening hours, only a handful of hours before the sun would rise again on a world that despised them all, their voices, no matter how pitched with emotion, sounded like whispers. They did not want to be found here. Some feared their men's reactions; others knew their lovers adored them but did not want them to doubt them. Still others did not wish to appear weak and needy or simply did not want questions raised. There were enough problems amongst the teams, enough issues with all the mixed relationships that ran amongst the groups.

They did not want an increase of trouble in any way. Indeed, that was the very thing that had brought them here tonight underneath the shade and cloak of the waning moon. The hope with which they gathered was that they would find understanding and compassion here away from men's prying eyes. They would find compassion with their sisters for most knew that only women could truly understand the plights of womankind. The men only knew what it was like to deal with a world that hated and feared them for their genes, and on occasion, for their race or religion, but the women gathering had been trod upon and hurt by even the men in their teams.

One had had to best her once-co-leader while stripped of powers by another man and had to fight her way back to her rightful position; likewise, she had had to send that teammate, and fellow leader, back to the wife and child who needed him so much more than their team did. Several others were constantly tried on the fields of romance by the very men with whom they worked alongside, including at least two who, the others sorrowfully knew, had felt the powerful hands and venomous words of misdirection by their own lovers. Several had father issues, or mother issues, or issues with their entire families. But they all knew pain and sorrow existed far beyond the world they fought each day to save, and it impacted most of their waking, if not sleeping also, moments.

"I still say the clothes are unnecessary," Ororo whispered. Her blue eyes sparkled with the wit and mischief of the girlhood she had tried so often to leave behind on the streets of Cairo and the African wilds. She'd tried to leave that little thief behind her, but she would always be a part of her. She'd finally had to accept that fact and hoped to be able to lead others in their gathering that night to accept the parts of themselves from which they tried so hard to run. She knew very well how almost impossible it was to have peace in one's outer world when peace did not exist within one's self.

Several of the women laughed at her remark, her serious countenance only adding to the humor they found in the situation. Betsy shrugged a single shoulder. Instead of her usual ninja costume, tonight, she wore a soft kimono. They all had different things they wished to receive from these clandestine meetings. For her, she wanted to atone for her past mistakes, find forgiveness both in and beyond herself, and find peace with all that had made her the woman she was, including her confusing adventures in Japan. For someone British born, she most certainly felt by far more at home in the Orient, but they were both parts of the woman she'd always been destined to become.

The shorter woman beside her glanced with quick, furtive looks around at her teammates. She had once considered these women more of a family than even her own birth parents, but so many of them had changed their attitudes about her when she had lost her powers, and even more so had turned from her when she herself had been turned into a creature of the night. A whisper of large, translucent wings brought the Vampiress' red eyes to one of her most loyal friends. Pixie might have been one of the relative newcomers to the X-Men, but she had never tried not to be Jubilee's friend. She had truly shown a complete lack of prejudice, never once changing her actions towards her when she had been forced to be human again, been turned into a Vampire, or become, thank God, the mutant she'd always been born to be.

Pixie reached out, took Jubes' hand, and squeezed it softly. She knew there were still very many teammates around whom her friend no longer felt comfortable because of the hatred they held toward other species. It wasn't right, she thought. Looking around them, she saw far more than mutants. There were Werewolves, Sorceresses, Jews, former Brotherhood members, and many more differences among them. They had no right not to trust her friend, especially after Jubilee had been with them for so very long. She noticed another Fae member coming shyly up beside her and smiled and bowed her head in silent greeting.

"We are all nervous, Jubilee," Meggan whispered, and not for the first time, she considered speaking first. They were all going to have a chance to speak in this private, protected ceremony about their various plights, but she had been looking for help perhaps the longest amongst them. She loved her Brian with all her heart, but she did tire so very much of his drunken behavior. She shivered, though the wind was warm. It had been a while since he'd last struck her, but she always expected the blows to come every time he drank.

Meggan and Pixie stopped in unison when Elizabeth suddenly stepped into Meggan's pathway. Jubilee only paused when Pixie's hand entwined with hers tugged her back to the pink-haired Fae's side. The teenagers' eyes darted quickly between the two older women. Jubilee had heard the tales, and she'd seen a couple of the marks that Brian had left on his wife in the past. Why the woman had ever gone through with the marriage, she'd never understand, but they were not here to judge. If Betsy was going to start something in defense of her brother --

But instead Betsy silently folded her arms around Meggan and brought the childlike Sprite into her warm and welcoming embrace. "I'm sorry," she spoke the first truth of the night. Tears slipped down Meggan's cheeks as she held her tightly.

"It's workin'," Rogue whispered to Ororo.

Kitty stood beside 'Ro, a purple dragon wrapped around her lithe shoulders. He was the only male there, but Lockheed couldn't speak. He would never give away their secrets. She reached a hand up and scratched the dragon between his leathery ears. The cooing purr he emitted was the only sound he could make, despite what Pete Wisdom had dared to say years before. Watching Meggan, she had to wonder if marrying Wisdom would have worked out any better for her. He hadn't seemed the kind to abusive, but then, too, neither did Brian, and everyone knew Pete had had a drinking problem. Still, she missed him, but some things, even now, were left better unspoken. "I knew it would," she whispered in agreement. "We just have to get away from the prying ears of men."

Now, at last, she understood why her mother had only spoken ill of her father, even though their love had died long before their divorce and it had taken her years to accept why they could no longer be together, when her dad had not been around. Some people really didn't need to be around each other, or at least share a sexual or even just romantic bond. She and Wisdom were two of those. She feared the same might be true for herself and Piotr, but that was another thing she was not yet ready to voice. Thinking of Piotr filled her heart with enough conflicting emotions, but she had to wonder if she would perhaps lose her best friend again if she did leave him. After all, Illyana was Piotr's little sister far before she was her friend, but watching Betts and Meggan gave her hope that she wouldn't lose her friend.

Illyana softly cleared her throat as she stepped in beside Kitty. "Sisters over brothers," she whispered, sliding her hand into Pryde's. Kitty hadn't realized until just then that moisture was growing in her eyes, but she sniffled and wiped her tears away. She pressed her head momentarily into Lockheed's reassuring tail; the little dragon had a strange but awesome way of hugging his mistress with that tail. He cooed and licked her cheek.

"Shall we begin?" Jean asked, but every woman fell silent when a new one entered their group. Jean, Kitty, and Ororo all stared hard at the proud woman dressed in a mere slip of a white dress stepped into their midst.

"It's more than she usually wears," giggled one of the younger X-Women.

"Hush, child," Ororo snapped at Roxie. "We are not here to judge anyone. We are here to help all with whatever their plight may be." She raised her voice and the hand-crafted, wooden staff she carried at once. "Welcome, all, to the Inner Circle of the X!" Thunder crackled out of seemingly nowhere, and lightning hit the staff she wielded.

"There's a little too like the Hellfire Club for me," Emma admitted, surprising them all.

Ororo smiled, though the expression was thin. "Very well," she said. "Let the first order of business be a naming."

Several names were passed around, but eventually the Raging Roses were chosen. Hours later, as their very first meeting was coming to an end, Rogue sat beside Ororo, toasting marshmallows in the fire Lockheed had started for the women. She grinned at her, her eyes alight with both the reflection of the fire and the spiritual lift the meeting had given her. "That was some intro, Stormy!"

Ororo seemed puzzled. "What?"

"Th' whole lightnin' hittin' yoah staff thing."

Ororo met her eyes evenly. "That was not my doing, Rogue. That, as is all our friendships and our loves no matter how greatly they infuriate us at times, was the Goddess' blessing."

"Oh." Rogue leaned back against the tree behind them and gazed up at the night sky. It was full of stars, but it was nothing unusual for Ororo to call lightning out of a clear, blue, or black, sky. Maybe the Lord was watching out for them after all. She might need to get to a church on Sunday, if she wasn't too busy saving the world. She laughed at the idea. Oh, how Mystique's little girl had grown!




The End