The Middle of the End (House of TM Finale)
ooc: The end of the House of TM. Steve recovered his memories and informed Jean. The two agreed to confront Wanda at the party.]
"We may never never meet again / on the bumpy road to love / still I'll always, always keep the memory of..."
The party has gone on for over an hour, and the drinking and chit chat of the early evening has turned to dinner and dancing. Couples are scattered throughout the room, moving in their own little circles, meeting and spinning off in new directions. But for this particular song, Steve and Tony occupy the very center of the dance floor. This is, after all, their song - their family's song, really, an old favorite of both Steve's and Tony's that they'd used as a lullaby for Sally in her younger years. "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Steve remembers loving the song in the other reality, too, but he's not sure he'll ever be able to listen to it again, after tonight. Tonight, the lyrics hit him with sledgehammer irony.
But he's determined to take those lyrics to heart. If this is all going to end - and it has to end imminently; he can sense Jean's growing impatience every time he catches her eye - then he's going to savor these last few moments, these last few memories. His right hand on Tony's hip, his left entwined with Tony's fingers. The wide smile on Tony's face, a face whose handsomeness Steve can no longer deny. And Sally, grinning at them from the corner, sending her fathers a completely unironic thumbs up. Steve takes it all in, every sensory detail, and burns it onto his brain. If nothing else, he'll keep this memory.
xxx
Layla watches Tony and Steve dancing from the shadows and knows the moment is upon her. She steps forward and glances about the room, meeting the gaze of various guests. Some start at her with recognition, others look away, unable to accept what their eyes are telling them. Layla simply smiles and with a flourish leaps between the two men dancing, seemingly oblivious to the crowd.
For a moment, everything is still. Tony and Steve stand, apart, but still reaching, almost touching. Steve realizes, as his body freezes, that this is it. The time has come. The memories will be restored; the world will fall apart. This is the end.
Layla stares across the two men to meet Wanda's eyes.
"Why are you here?" Wanda shrieks as she sends a hex bolt spinning toward Layla.
"You brought me here," Layla answers, calmly. "You couldn't stand lying to him. You need his approval. When are you ever going to grow up?" She smiles as the hex bolt disperses into nothingness. "You can't hurt me unless you want to hurt yourself."
Wanda lunges at Layla in fury but Layla sidesteps, still smiling. "Self-hatred is such a loathsome thing," she says, conversationally.
"Stop pretending," says Layla, and chaos descends on them all.
xxx
Tony remembers. It's like waking up, suddenly, from a dream.
But the dream is still all around him. They're in the mansion, the one that should be rubble, and Wanda is facing off against the girl -- where the hell has Tony seen that girl? -- and everyone is confused and Tony knows he has to fight, but he isn't sure who, and the one thing he knows is that he can't do anything without his armor. He needs his armor.
And he needs Steve.
A moment ago they were dancing together -- now he can't see Steve, but Tony knows that when he thought "armor" Steve thought "shield," and they can both be accessed by opening in a secret panel, in the back of the room. Tony rolls away to keep from being trapped under a mess of confused bodies and makes his way for the panel. Reaching out for it, he touches another hand.
Looking up, Tony grins and says, in his best Oliver Hardy voice, "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into."
xxx
Steve touches the panel and punches in the access code on the hidden keypad, then opens up the compartment to retrieve his shield. His mind is on the mission; he doesn't have time to think about Tony, about whether or not his memories are actually back. "I really, really wish we knew who this Morpho woman is," Steve mutters, glad for the familiar weight of his shield in his hand. After a second, he reaches further into the compartment and starts grabbing his costume, as well; it never hurts to have chainmail in a battle.
Tony's head snaps back to look at the girl. "Of course! That's Layla Fucking Miller! I didn't put it together at first because she used to be younger than that."
"Layla Miller?" Steve asks, stepping into his boots.
"Layla -- Miller," Tony repeats, sliding on his chest plate. "Reality-altering powers, maybe a mutant. We've got a whole file on her. I swear to God, Steve, you never read the stuff I tell you to read. When we get back --" And then he stops. He breathes deeply. He looks Steve Rogers in the eye. "Listen to me. I am Anthony Stark, Director of SHIELD. The house shouldn't be standing anymore, and you and I are definitely not --" Suddenly, he's biting back a laugh, and after a moment he stops trying. "You understand this, right? You're agreed we have to fix this?"
"Of course," Steve replies, maybe a little too brusquely. At least that answers the question about whether or not Tony's memories are back. And, from the way Tony just phrased that question, he obviously thinks Steve's memories just came back, too. There's no need for Steve to let him know just how long he's been agonizing over all this. "It's what needs to be done."
"All right, then." Tony adjusts his gloves, making sure the repulsors are in place. "So how do we stop them?" Last time Wanda's powers had affected reality, the act of putting them back had led to the decimation of the entire mutant population. "We ought to try a little more finesse this time, in case she decides to say 'no more humans.' Don't you think?" He's addressing Steve as the reliable teammate he has always been. Anything else, they can work out later.
Steve can't help but feel annoyed at Tony's glib tone, but there's no time to dwell on that. "We'll just have to convince her rationally," he says, pulling on his mask. Tony nods, snaps down the visor on his helmet, and they take off in the direction of Layla and Wanda.
xxx
Jean can hear the children screaming.
Sally locks eyes with Val across the room; they have to help protect the guests. But then. But then. Then . . . Val shimmers and Sally can see two of her, see her teammate and friend and see a little girl, blond and stubborn and a child. Bea, Bea is flirting with Mike and Bea wavers like heat over the Sahara, from the vacation Tony had taken them all on four years ago. Bea shimmers and Sally feels sick. Her gaze falls to her hands. Her hands, which can heal. Her hands which are just now the size and shape they will be the rest of her life, and they will get wrinkled and they will get thinner when she is old and has grandkids of her own and there is nothing there.
Sally can see it. Above her. A dark wooden beam. She can smell smoke.
A small boy streaks past her, with white-blond hair, and Sally thinks she should know his name.
"Get away from my mother!" Tommy runs to stand between Wanda and Layla, his hands clenched in fists and his jaw set in a mirror image of his father's. Wanda stares at him, then past him to see Billy pushing his way across the room from the stairs. When he reaches the center of the floor, tears are streaking down his face. "I want --" he keeps saying. "I want, I want --" But he can't find words for what he wants, and the tears only flow faster.
Jean sees all of it. She hears all of it. It's too much. Billy isn't her child, this world isn't real, but his pain is real. She reaches out to touch him. "It's all right, Billy, it will be all right. Soon this will all be over."
When she takes her hand away, he is frozen in place, a tear poised on the edge of his cheek. Sally is also frozen, staring at herself with a look of horror, and so is Tommy, defiantly glaring at Layla. So are the other guests around the edges of the party.
Everyone is frozen except for Jean, Wanda, and Layla -- and Tony and Steve, running across the room, defiantly, almost comically, dressed in their full gear.
Layla steps back and Wanda turns her gaze to the stilled chaos beyond her. Layla stands beside her, silently watching, her expression detached; one butterfly is perched on her shoulder, flapping its wings softly in time to the music. She addresses Jean. "Be careful what you wish for, Jean Grey. You get it far too often."
Jean's lip curls as she looks at the girl. "I may just take that risk, Layla Miller. We can agree, at least, that this next move is mine?"
Layla smiles enigmatically. "Queen's sacrifice. The endgame will be mine." Layla steps aside.
"All things in time," Jean agrees, then steps toward Wanda. "Now, Miss -- 'Maximoff-Grey.' Let's talk about the endgame of your pretty little world."
Wanda turns on Jean. "What have you done?" She is unhinged, her eyes bright with tears and a destructive rage verging on madness.
"What have I done?" Jean moves toward Wanda, and as she moves, she feels her feet move off of the floor, feels the flame start to run through her body. Again. "What have you done? You changed the world. You have no right. You used your friends, you used our memories, you even used our dreams. You've done that before, but this time that wasn't even enough. You tried to use --" And her voice comes dark and hollow, "Silly girl, you tried to use the Phoenix."
Wanda shakes her head. "Phoenix came to me, not the other way around. She wanted to use me to get back to you. But I didn't want to be consumed. And I realized fire also brings life." Wanda starts to tremble violently; she is past the point of thinking rationally. "Go ahead - kill me! That's what you do best isn't it? Jean only fights back long enough for somebody to kill her. Well, I don't want to die!"
Steve takes the moment to break in, his voice unwavering. "No one is going to die today," he says. His gaze locks with Jean's. "Just put the world back to normal, Wanda, and everything will be fine. No one is going to hurt you, but you need to fix this."
Wanda turns at Steve's words. "Why?" she asks him desperately. "I did it for you. This is what you chose, what you wanted. I didn't create this world or these feelings. They were already there. You don't understand. All I did was save Sally's life - to give you both someone outside yourself to love, someone who needs you. That event altered what was and what was to come. You fell in love and inspired all these others to try and have a family, a life beyond all this. But not instead of it. We are parents and Avengers. We're heroes and a family. That's all I ever wanted; why wouldn't you want it too? I saved her life! Would you rather she died?"
Steve's face takes on a wounded expression. "I... of course not, but..." he stutters. Of course Wanda would bring up the one point he still hasn't been able to reconcile. The one point he may never be able to reconcile.
Thankfully, Tony takes the cue to interrupt. "The world isn't what we want it to be, Wanda. The world is what it is. Whatever this so-called reality it is you've made, it's clearly not sustainable. You've tried this before and it fell apart before. You don't get to play God, Wanda." He glances at Jean, the flames rising around her. "Real gods don't like it."
"You were at each other's throats and she was in a coma! You both told me to fix it and so I did." She turns on Tony. "Isn't that what you always liked about me, Iron Man?" She says his name with as much contempt as he has ever heard in her voice. "I do what I'm told. 'Wanda, your brother has decided to leave and really, you're the only one who likes him so we're not going to do anything about it. Sorry.' 'Wanda, the Vision had to be dismantled and now we can't give him back his memory of you without help and no one wants to help. Oh well, get over it.' 'Wanda, it turns out your children are actually imaginary manifestations possessed by a demon. That is so sad. I know, let's pretend they NEVER EXISTED!'" Each word she speaks contains more fury. "I played along. I accepted it because I believed you knew best. I trusted you. All of you. And LOOK WHAT I'VE BECOME!"
"We tried to help you, Wanda," Tony says, his voice even. To be really honest, he isn't sure what everyone else is so hysterical about. It's a weird thing, but weirder things happen to all of them, on an almost daily basis. They just have to handle this little situation and everything will be back to -- whatever passes for normal, these days. "None of us has ever done anything but try to help you."
Wanda glares at him. "Then you have no one to blame but yourself. I am what you helped me to be. And what I have done is what you helped me to do." She turns to include Steve and Jean in her glare. "And you were happy! Happier than I have ever seen you! All of you! Why isn't that enough? Why is it never enough?" She looks at each in turn, finally settling on Steve. Her fury has abated, replaced by anguish. "Nothing I do will ever be good enough for you, will it? I will never be good enough for you." Steve looks away, unable to meet her gaze. Wanda shakes her head; all her tears are spent. "Everything will be as it must be," she says, bowing her head. And as Steve stares across the dance floor, taking one last, precious look at the daughter he'll never know again, the world fades to white.
A second later, they're back in the bedroom of Wanda's cottage, at the top of Wundagore Mountain, exactly where they were before the world changed over.
"Well," Tony begins, "now that we've got that absurd little mess cleared up --"
"OH NO," echoes a deep voice. "THIS ISN'T OVER." They all look to see Jean, the flames whipping out of her, stronger than ever. "WE'VE TRIED IT YOUR WAY, IRON MAN. AND YOURS, CAPTAIN. . .MISTER. . .WHATEVER YOU ARE. YOU'LL SOON BE EVEN LESS. IN FACT, IT'S HAPPENED ALREADY. YOUR WAYS MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE." Jean starts to rise, pointing down at Wanda. "TODAY, THE WITCH IS OURS."
ooc: written with starspangledcap, shadeof_grey, iron_tony, layla_butterfly and sal_starkrogers. x-posted.
"We may never never meet again / on the bumpy road to love / still I'll always, always keep the memory of..."
The party has gone on for over an hour, and the drinking and chit chat of the early evening has turned to dinner and dancing. Couples are scattered throughout the room, moving in their own little circles, meeting and spinning off in new directions. But for this particular song, Steve and Tony occupy the very center of the dance floor. This is, after all, their song - their family's song, really, an old favorite of both Steve's and Tony's that they'd used as a lullaby for Sally in her younger years. "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Steve remembers loving the song in the other reality, too, but he's not sure he'll ever be able to listen to it again, after tonight. Tonight, the lyrics hit him with sledgehammer irony.
But he's determined to take those lyrics to heart. If this is all going to end - and it has to end imminently; he can sense Jean's growing impatience every time he catches her eye - then he's going to savor these last few moments, these last few memories. His right hand on Tony's hip, his left entwined with Tony's fingers. The wide smile on Tony's face, a face whose handsomeness Steve can no longer deny. And Sally, grinning at them from the corner, sending her fathers a completely unironic thumbs up. Steve takes it all in, every sensory detail, and burns it onto his brain. If nothing else, he'll keep this memory.
xxx
Layla watches Tony and Steve dancing from the shadows and knows the moment is upon her. She steps forward and glances about the room, meeting the gaze of various guests. Some start at her with recognition, others look away, unable to accept what their eyes are telling them. Layla simply smiles and with a flourish leaps between the two men dancing, seemingly oblivious to the crowd.
For a moment, everything is still. Tony and Steve stand, apart, but still reaching, almost touching. Steve realizes, as his body freezes, that this is it. The time has come. The memories will be restored; the world will fall apart. This is the end.
Layla stares across the two men to meet Wanda's eyes.
"Why are you here?" Wanda shrieks as she sends a hex bolt spinning toward Layla.
"You brought me here," Layla answers, calmly. "You couldn't stand lying to him. You need his approval. When are you ever going to grow up?" She smiles as the hex bolt disperses into nothingness. "You can't hurt me unless you want to hurt yourself."
Wanda lunges at Layla in fury but Layla sidesteps, still smiling. "Self-hatred is such a loathsome thing," she says, conversationally.
"Stop pretending," says Layla, and chaos descends on them all.
xxx
Tony remembers. It's like waking up, suddenly, from a dream.
But the dream is still all around him. They're in the mansion, the one that should be rubble, and Wanda is facing off against the girl -- where the hell has Tony seen that girl? -- and everyone is confused and Tony knows he has to fight, but he isn't sure who, and the one thing he knows is that he can't do anything without his armor. He needs his armor.
And he needs Steve.
A moment ago they were dancing together -- now he can't see Steve, but Tony knows that when he thought "armor" Steve thought "shield," and they can both be accessed by opening in a secret panel, in the back of the room. Tony rolls away to keep from being trapped under a mess of confused bodies and makes his way for the panel. Reaching out for it, he touches another hand.
Looking up, Tony grins and says, in his best Oliver Hardy voice, "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into."
xxx
Steve touches the panel and punches in the access code on the hidden keypad, then opens up the compartment to retrieve his shield. His mind is on the mission; he doesn't have time to think about Tony, about whether or not his memories are actually back. "I really, really wish we knew who this Morpho woman is," Steve mutters, glad for the familiar weight of his shield in his hand. After a second, he reaches further into the compartment and starts grabbing his costume, as well; it never hurts to have chainmail in a battle.
Tony's head snaps back to look at the girl. "Of course! That's Layla Fucking Miller! I didn't put it together at first because she used to be younger than that."
"Layla Miller?" Steve asks, stepping into his boots.
"Layla -- Miller," Tony repeats, sliding on his chest plate. "Reality-altering powers, maybe a mutant. We've got a whole file on her. I swear to God, Steve, you never read the stuff I tell you to read. When we get back --" And then he stops. He breathes deeply. He looks Steve Rogers in the eye. "Listen to me. I am Anthony Stark, Director of SHIELD. The house shouldn't be standing anymore, and you and I are definitely not --" Suddenly, he's biting back a laugh, and after a moment he stops trying. "You understand this, right? You're agreed we have to fix this?"
"Of course," Steve replies, maybe a little too brusquely. At least that answers the question about whether or not Tony's memories are back. And, from the way Tony just phrased that question, he obviously thinks Steve's memories just came back, too. There's no need for Steve to let him know just how long he's been agonizing over all this. "It's what needs to be done."
"All right, then." Tony adjusts his gloves, making sure the repulsors are in place. "So how do we stop them?" Last time Wanda's powers had affected reality, the act of putting them back had led to the decimation of the entire mutant population. "We ought to try a little more finesse this time, in case she decides to say 'no more humans.' Don't you think?" He's addressing Steve as the reliable teammate he has always been. Anything else, they can work out later.
Steve can't help but feel annoyed at Tony's glib tone, but there's no time to dwell on that. "We'll just have to convince her rationally," he says, pulling on his mask. Tony nods, snaps down the visor on his helmet, and they take off in the direction of Layla and Wanda.
xxx
Jean can hear the children screaming.
Sally locks eyes with Val across the room; they have to help protect the guests. But then. But then. Then . . . Val shimmers and Sally can see two of her, see her teammate and friend and see a little girl, blond and stubborn and a child. Bea, Bea is flirting with Mike and Bea wavers like heat over the Sahara, from the vacation Tony had taken them all on four years ago. Bea shimmers and Sally feels sick. Her gaze falls to her hands. Her hands, which can heal. Her hands which are just now the size and shape they will be the rest of her life, and they will get wrinkled and they will get thinner when she is old and has grandkids of her own and there is nothing there.
Sally can see it. Above her. A dark wooden beam. She can smell smoke.
A small boy streaks past her, with white-blond hair, and Sally thinks she should know his name.
"Get away from my mother!" Tommy runs to stand between Wanda and Layla, his hands clenched in fists and his jaw set in a mirror image of his father's. Wanda stares at him, then past him to see Billy pushing his way across the room from the stairs. When he reaches the center of the floor, tears are streaking down his face. "I want --" he keeps saying. "I want, I want --" But he can't find words for what he wants, and the tears only flow faster.
Jean sees all of it. She hears all of it. It's too much. Billy isn't her child, this world isn't real, but his pain is real. She reaches out to touch him. "It's all right, Billy, it will be all right. Soon this will all be over."
When she takes her hand away, he is frozen in place, a tear poised on the edge of his cheek. Sally is also frozen, staring at herself with a look of horror, and so is Tommy, defiantly glaring at Layla. So are the other guests around the edges of the party.
Everyone is frozen except for Jean, Wanda, and Layla -- and Tony and Steve, running across the room, defiantly, almost comically, dressed in their full gear.
Layla steps back and Wanda turns her gaze to the stilled chaos beyond her. Layla stands beside her, silently watching, her expression detached; one butterfly is perched on her shoulder, flapping its wings softly in time to the music. She addresses Jean. "Be careful what you wish for, Jean Grey. You get it far too often."
Jean's lip curls as she looks at the girl. "I may just take that risk, Layla Miller. We can agree, at least, that this next move is mine?"
Layla smiles enigmatically. "Queen's sacrifice. The endgame will be mine." Layla steps aside.
"All things in time," Jean agrees, then steps toward Wanda. "Now, Miss -- 'Maximoff-Grey.' Let's talk about the endgame of your pretty little world."
Wanda turns on Jean. "What have you done?" She is unhinged, her eyes bright with tears and a destructive rage verging on madness.
"What have I done?" Jean moves toward Wanda, and as she moves, she feels her feet move off of the floor, feels the flame start to run through her body. Again. "What have you done? You changed the world. You have no right. You used your friends, you used our memories, you even used our dreams. You've done that before, but this time that wasn't even enough. You tried to use --" And her voice comes dark and hollow, "Silly girl, you tried to use the Phoenix."
Wanda shakes her head. "Phoenix came to me, not the other way around. She wanted to use me to get back to you. But I didn't want to be consumed. And I realized fire also brings life." Wanda starts to tremble violently; she is past the point of thinking rationally. "Go ahead - kill me! That's what you do best isn't it? Jean only fights back long enough for somebody to kill her. Well, I don't want to die!"
Steve takes the moment to break in, his voice unwavering. "No one is going to die today," he says. His gaze locks with Jean's. "Just put the world back to normal, Wanda, and everything will be fine. No one is going to hurt you, but you need to fix this."
Wanda turns at Steve's words. "Why?" she asks him desperately. "I did it for you. This is what you chose, what you wanted. I didn't create this world or these feelings. They were already there. You don't understand. All I did was save Sally's life - to give you both someone outside yourself to love, someone who needs you. That event altered what was and what was to come. You fell in love and inspired all these others to try and have a family, a life beyond all this. But not instead of it. We are parents and Avengers. We're heroes and a family. That's all I ever wanted; why wouldn't you want it too? I saved her life! Would you rather she died?"
Steve's face takes on a wounded expression. "I... of course not, but..." he stutters. Of course Wanda would bring up the one point he still hasn't been able to reconcile. The one point he may never be able to reconcile.
Thankfully, Tony takes the cue to interrupt. "The world isn't what we want it to be, Wanda. The world is what it is. Whatever this so-called reality it is you've made, it's clearly not sustainable. You've tried this before and it fell apart before. You don't get to play God, Wanda." He glances at Jean, the flames rising around her. "Real gods don't like it."
"You were at each other's throats and she was in a coma! You both told me to fix it and so I did." She turns on Tony. "Isn't that what you always liked about me, Iron Man?" She says his name with as much contempt as he has ever heard in her voice. "I do what I'm told. 'Wanda, your brother has decided to leave and really, you're the only one who likes him so we're not going to do anything about it. Sorry.' 'Wanda, the Vision had to be dismantled and now we can't give him back his memory of you without help and no one wants to help. Oh well, get over it.' 'Wanda, it turns out your children are actually imaginary manifestations possessed by a demon. That is so sad. I know, let's pretend they NEVER EXISTED!'" Each word she speaks contains more fury. "I played along. I accepted it because I believed you knew best. I trusted you. All of you. And LOOK WHAT I'VE BECOME!"
"We tried to help you, Wanda," Tony says, his voice even. To be really honest, he isn't sure what everyone else is so hysterical about. It's a weird thing, but weirder things happen to all of them, on an almost daily basis. They just have to handle this little situation and everything will be back to -- whatever passes for normal, these days. "None of us has ever done anything but try to help you."
Wanda glares at him. "Then you have no one to blame but yourself. I am what you helped me to be. And what I have done is what you helped me to do." She turns to include Steve and Jean in her glare. "And you were happy! Happier than I have ever seen you! All of you! Why isn't that enough? Why is it never enough?" She looks at each in turn, finally settling on Steve. Her fury has abated, replaced by anguish. "Nothing I do will ever be good enough for you, will it? I will never be good enough for you." Steve looks away, unable to meet her gaze. Wanda shakes her head; all her tears are spent. "Everything will be as it must be," she says, bowing her head. And as Steve stares across the dance floor, taking one last, precious look at the daughter he'll never know again, the world fades to white.
A second later, they're back in the bedroom of Wanda's cottage, at the top of Wundagore Mountain, exactly where they were before the world changed over.
"Well," Tony begins, "now that we've got that absurd little mess cleared up --"
"OH NO," echoes a deep voice. "THIS ISN'T OVER." They all look to see Jean, the flames whipping out of her, stronger than ever. "WE'VE TRIED IT YOUR WAY, IRON MAN. AND YOURS, CAPTAIN. . .MISTER. . .WHATEVER YOU ARE. YOU'LL SOON BE EVEN LESS. IN FACT, IT'S HAPPENED ALREADY. YOUR WAYS MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE." Jean starts to rise, pointing down at Wanda. "TODAY, THE WITCH IS OURS."
ooc: written with starspangledcap, shadeof_grey, iron_tony, layla_butterfly and sal_starkrogers. x-posted.