His Mother's Jacket
Jul. 25th, 2022 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apachefirecatTitle: His Mother's Jacket
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Shogo, Jubilee, X-23, OFC
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Shogo grieves, but his friends are there.
Word Count: 1605
Written For: Sunshine Challenge Day 7: Sunshine Jasper
Warnings: Future Fic, Character Death, AU
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
It looked like an Easter egg, he knew, but it had nothing to do with eggs as he flicked the small stone between his dark fingernails. It was still hard to believe, even after all this time, that his mother was gone, but this small stone she had found on a mission and brought back to him when he'd been only maybe four or five years of age, six at absolute max, had always served as a reminder of her. It was brightly colored, as bright as her smile and mostly the same shade as her leather jacket, the same jacket Shogo had worn into every battle after she had retired and passed it to him until his very last one when it had been shredded off of his back.
His teammates had all thought that how quickly he had dispatched with his enemy had been because of the long, bloody gashes his claws had cut into his back, but Shogo had barely realized the physical pain when he'd heard the old jacket rip in such great tears that he'd known instantly there'd be no way to repair it. Auntie 'Ro had been right: he should have learned to sew. But even when he had carefully collected the remains and taken it to a tailor, they had been unable to do anything to repair it. They'd offered to throw away the rags, and it had been all he could do to keep his temper, which his momma had likened at times to her old teacher and best friend, Wolverine, from exploding there in the shop. He'd tried another place in Chinatown, and again had barely left without showing them what the son of a Vampire and grandson of the legendary Wolverine could do when angered.
But it wasn't their fault, no more so than it was the Professor's fault that his mother was no longer with them. She had never regretted the life she had chosen except for that one, rare instance in her life when she had run away, going back to California with her lover at the time, but she had told him over and over again that her retreat there had had far more to do with the fact that she had not been in the right place for her than it had anything to do with regretting fighting for the Dream. Even though that old Dream had so often seemed impossible, he'd never seen his mother lose hope in it. Even during that time in LA, she'd been trying to convince Angelo to return with her to the X-Men, but to go where she'd truly always belonged: to the actual X-Men, not some kiddie team called Generation X.
God, how he missed that woman! Shogo thought and had to harden the tears welling in his dark eyes. He flicked the stone a few more times and heard a voice clear. His leader wasn't exactly known for her patience either, and he knew she hated being their leader. She hated it, but there was no one more fit for the job, much like his own mother when she had led teams throughout the years. Laura had been there for when Jubilee had led the new Generation X. She had been there when she had led the X-Men after Kate Pryde's death, and she had been there when she had been killed in battle. She had, in fact, been the very one who had had to pull him off of the battlefield, where he had been intent on tearing apart every last remanent of his mother's murderer.
If it had not been for Laura, he wouldn't have made it home with Jubilee's body. He wouldn't have been able to bury her, and he surely would have lost his mind. But Laura was the Wolverine's daughter, just as much as he was Jubilee's son, and she knew how to handle berserker rages and those who ached to become lost in them. She had let him grief. She had let him terrorize their enemies. But now she needed his help again, and she needed him to keep his wits about him as they went into battle.
"Well?" she asked, clearing her throat. "Are you coming?" Her eyes locked with his, and the message that went through them was simple and plain for him to see. Are you ready? She would not ask him aloud, not in front of their other teammates. If there was anyone who respected privacy even more than he did, it was X-23, former government-controlled assassin. Even after all his years fighting under the badge of the X, there was still so much that his elders had endured at which Shogo could only guess. His mother, he knew, had wanted it to stay that way for there had been things that even she had never told him, but that he was finally beginning to learn after her death as he sorted her through her things and read her diaries.
This was not an easy life by any means, but it was the life she had wanted. It was the life that she had craved and that, for all its bad elements, had been perfect for her. It was the live that had given her a home and family after her own parents had been killed, and it was the life that had led her to him. If not for the X-Men... Shogo didn't know where he would be, or even who he would be, and he did not care to find out. He was Jubilee's son, he thought, gripping the sunshine jasper and sliding it back into his pocket.
He could lose it out of his pocket, he realized for the first time. Perhaps he should start carrying it with his knife inside his boot. He'd considered putting it on a cord once when he'd been a teenager, but that had only lasted until a foe had grabbed his necklace in the heat of battle. Such a necklace could be lost even easier than the trench had been.
"Wait! I'm comin' tae. I'm sorry I'm late." The girl was a relative newcomer, but not to the Dream. It was in her blood too. She had come to them from Muir Isle when the latest formation of Excalibur had disbanded again. Her parents had actually made it into retirement, and Shogo hoped for her sake that Brian and Meggan Braddock stayed retired, although, from everything he'd heard about Captain Britain, he doubted they would. She was a sweet thing, and he didn't know if she could handle the pain that he was feeling now, the pain Laura had already endured.
She looked at him through one green eye and one blue. Shogo had a split second to remember that one of her several powers was empathy before he recognized the yellow leather laying in her strong arms. "I trust ye di nae mind," she spoke quickly, flying over to him and fluttering before him, "but I saw ye when ye buried it, an' I knae what it means tae ye."
"You..." He was trembling inside as he took his mother's jacket from her arms and examined it carefully and in complete awe. He had pain-stakingly taken the blood out of it before he'd taken it to the cleaners and the sewers and everybody he'd thought might be able to fix it. He'd given up hope and buried it in her favorite spot to watch the moon in the yard, something they'd began doing when she had still been a Vampire and something he still sometimes did now without her, when he felt strong enough to be able to endure the on wash of pain that it always carried. "You fixed it!" he breathed.
She grinned, and for the first time, he realized how beautiful Cassandra Braddock was. Of course, she was a shapeshifter, and her mother had always been a beautiful woman -- or so he'd been told -- so she chose to look beautiful... except the beauty he saw no in her eyes and on her joy-filled face had nothing to do with genes or mutant powers.
"Thank you!" He grabbed his mother's jacket and pulled it on. Flexing his arms, he tested the fit and found that it fit him as well as it ever did. A chill went through him, piercing along with the delight and relief that filled him. Having the old jacket's sleeves around him once more was almost liking having his mother's arms around him again.
Laura cleared her throat impatiently as the tears began to rip from his control. "Good job, Braddock. Let's go." She turned and charged up into the deck. Cassie smiled at him one more time before flying quickly after their leader.
There had been something in Laura's voice when she'd spoken to Cassie, however, that had caught Shogo's attention. He realized, as he flicked his mother's bright yellow collar up around his neck, what it was. The girls had conspired together to make this happen. He felt a warmth spread through him at the thought and realized that yeah, maybe his mother had been right about that too. Maybe they did both belong here -- not because of the dream or because there was nowhere else that would offer them what this place did. They belonged here, because this was where their family was. Hearing the Blackbird's engines fire up and feeling his teammates rushing around him to board, Shogo grinned and bounced up into the jet but not before he whispered a tearful, "Thanks, Mom." His mother really had been a brilliant woman.
The End
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Shogo, Jubilee, X-23, OFC
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Shogo grieves, but his friends are there.
Word Count: 1605
Written For: Sunshine Challenge Day 7: Sunshine Jasper
Warnings: Future Fic, Character Death, AU
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
It looked like an Easter egg, he knew, but it had nothing to do with eggs as he flicked the small stone between his dark fingernails. It was still hard to believe, even after all this time, that his mother was gone, but this small stone she had found on a mission and brought back to him when he'd been only maybe four or five years of age, six at absolute max, had always served as a reminder of her. It was brightly colored, as bright as her smile and mostly the same shade as her leather jacket, the same jacket Shogo had worn into every battle after she had retired and passed it to him until his very last one when it had been shredded off of his back.
His teammates had all thought that how quickly he had dispatched with his enemy had been because of the long, bloody gashes his claws had cut into his back, but Shogo had barely realized the physical pain when he'd heard the old jacket rip in such great tears that he'd known instantly there'd be no way to repair it. Auntie 'Ro had been right: he should have learned to sew. But even when he had carefully collected the remains and taken it to a tailor, they had been unable to do anything to repair it. They'd offered to throw away the rags, and it had been all he could do to keep his temper, which his momma had likened at times to her old teacher and best friend, Wolverine, from exploding there in the shop. He'd tried another place in Chinatown, and again had barely left without showing them what the son of a Vampire and grandson of the legendary Wolverine could do when angered.
But it wasn't their fault, no more so than it was the Professor's fault that his mother was no longer with them. She had never regretted the life she had chosen except for that one, rare instance in her life when she had run away, going back to California with her lover at the time, but she had told him over and over again that her retreat there had had far more to do with the fact that she had not been in the right place for her than it had anything to do with regretting fighting for the Dream. Even though that old Dream had so often seemed impossible, he'd never seen his mother lose hope in it. Even during that time in LA, she'd been trying to convince Angelo to return with her to the X-Men, but to go where she'd truly always belonged: to the actual X-Men, not some kiddie team called Generation X.
God, how he missed that woman! Shogo thought and had to harden the tears welling in his dark eyes. He flicked the stone a few more times and heard a voice clear. His leader wasn't exactly known for her patience either, and he knew she hated being their leader. She hated it, but there was no one more fit for the job, much like his own mother when she had led teams throughout the years. Laura had been there for when Jubilee had led the new Generation X. She had been there when she had led the X-Men after Kate Pryde's death, and she had been there when she had been killed in battle. She had, in fact, been the very one who had had to pull him off of the battlefield, where he had been intent on tearing apart every last remanent of his mother's murderer.
If it had not been for Laura, he wouldn't have made it home with Jubilee's body. He wouldn't have been able to bury her, and he surely would have lost his mind. But Laura was the Wolverine's daughter, just as much as he was Jubilee's son, and she knew how to handle berserker rages and those who ached to become lost in them. She had let him grief. She had let him terrorize their enemies. But now she needed his help again, and she needed him to keep his wits about him as they went into battle.
"Well?" she asked, clearing her throat. "Are you coming?" Her eyes locked with his, and the message that went through them was simple and plain for him to see. Are you ready? She would not ask him aloud, not in front of their other teammates. If there was anyone who respected privacy even more than he did, it was X-23, former government-controlled assassin. Even after all his years fighting under the badge of the X, there was still so much that his elders had endured at which Shogo could only guess. His mother, he knew, had wanted it to stay that way for there had been things that even she had never told him, but that he was finally beginning to learn after her death as he sorted her through her things and read her diaries.
This was not an easy life by any means, but it was the life she had wanted. It was the life that she had craved and that, for all its bad elements, had been perfect for her. It was the live that had given her a home and family after her own parents had been killed, and it was the life that had led her to him. If not for the X-Men... Shogo didn't know where he would be, or even who he would be, and he did not care to find out. He was Jubilee's son, he thought, gripping the sunshine jasper and sliding it back into his pocket.
He could lose it out of his pocket, he realized for the first time. Perhaps he should start carrying it with his knife inside his boot. He'd considered putting it on a cord once when he'd been a teenager, but that had only lasted until a foe had grabbed his necklace in the heat of battle. Such a necklace could be lost even easier than the trench had been.
"Wait! I'm comin' tae. I'm sorry I'm late." The girl was a relative newcomer, but not to the Dream. It was in her blood too. She had come to them from Muir Isle when the latest formation of Excalibur had disbanded again. Her parents had actually made it into retirement, and Shogo hoped for her sake that Brian and Meggan Braddock stayed retired, although, from everything he'd heard about Captain Britain, he doubted they would. She was a sweet thing, and he didn't know if she could handle the pain that he was feeling now, the pain Laura had already endured.
She looked at him through one green eye and one blue. Shogo had a split second to remember that one of her several powers was empathy before he recognized the yellow leather laying in her strong arms. "I trust ye di nae mind," she spoke quickly, flying over to him and fluttering before him, "but I saw ye when ye buried it, an' I knae what it means tae ye."
"You..." He was trembling inside as he took his mother's jacket from her arms and examined it carefully and in complete awe. He had pain-stakingly taken the blood out of it before he'd taken it to the cleaners and the sewers and everybody he'd thought might be able to fix it. He'd given up hope and buried it in her favorite spot to watch the moon in the yard, something they'd began doing when she had still been a Vampire and something he still sometimes did now without her, when he felt strong enough to be able to endure the on wash of pain that it always carried. "You fixed it!" he breathed.
She grinned, and for the first time, he realized how beautiful Cassandra Braddock was. Of course, she was a shapeshifter, and her mother had always been a beautiful woman -- or so he'd been told -- so she chose to look beautiful... except the beauty he saw no in her eyes and on her joy-filled face had nothing to do with genes or mutant powers.
"Thank you!" He grabbed his mother's jacket and pulled it on. Flexing his arms, he tested the fit and found that it fit him as well as it ever did. A chill went through him, piercing along with the delight and relief that filled him. Having the old jacket's sleeves around him once more was almost liking having his mother's arms around him again.
Laura cleared her throat impatiently as the tears began to rip from his control. "Good job, Braddock. Let's go." She turned and charged up into the deck. Cassie smiled at him one more time before flying quickly after their leader.
There had been something in Laura's voice when she'd spoken to Cassie, however, that had caught Shogo's attention. He realized, as he flicked his mother's bright yellow collar up around his neck, what it was. The girls had conspired together to make this happen. He felt a warmth spread through him at the thought and realized that yeah, maybe his mother had been right about that too. Maybe they did both belong here -- not because of the dream or because there was nowhere else that would offer them what this place did. They belonged here, because this was where their family was. Hearing the Blackbird's engines fire up and feeling his teammates rushing around him to board, Shogo grinned and bounced up into the jet but not before he whispered a tearful, "Thanks, Mom." His mother really had been a brilliant woman.
The End
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Date: 2022-07-26 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-27 01:49 pm (UTC)