It was Kevin’s idea. Wasn't it always? Kevin Cruz, always getting Amena into trouble.
Their parents were out on a double date- Kevin’s dads tended to leave him at Xavier’s for date nights, and Amena’s moms decided to follow suit after both children had begged them for a solid week.
The night was supposed to be one of being spoiled by their Aunt Cessily and their Uncle Santo; to watch horror movies neither of them were allowed with Uncle Victor; to get into trouble and make mischief and be fast asleep when their parents got home.
And then Kevin had remembered the time machine in Hank’s lab.
A question, a session of begging, and a double-dog dare later, Amena was standing in front of it while Kevin fiddled with the controls. It’s dangerous, obviously, shown by the yellow tape surrounding it on all sides, but it wouldn’t do much, would it?
Would it?
Kevin hit a button, and with a scream Amena tumbled into a formerly non-existent portal, deep into its depths.
-
When she hit the ground, eons or seconds later, the rug she landed on seemed familiar. She sat up- scraped knee but no other injuries visible- and looked around.
Emma’s office? The time machine hadn’t done anything, then.
She stood up, fully intending on dueling Kevin for playing such a rude prank, and found herself not alone.
Emma- an Emma- sat at the desk in front of her. Slightly less wrinkles (not that Emma ever had many), a different jacket, less scars than the oh-so familiar body of her pseudo-grandmother.
“Who are you?” Not-Emma asked, peering at Amena with interest.
The girl stared blankly, thoughts running too fast to make sense. She was in the past- how far, who knew?- which means- and-
Her moms were going to kill her.
“I-” she started, chin wobbling, before bursting into tears.
“Oh, dear.” Not-Emma hurried over, pushing hair out of Amena’s eyes. “What is your name?”
“A-Amena.”
“And your last name, Amena?” Amena could almost see the gears turning in Not-Emma’s head- the woman had a penchant for adopting scared children.
“K-K-Kinney-Qadir,” she gasped out, before her chest grew tight again and she started sobbing again.
Not-Emma’s eyes grew wide. “Could you repeat that?”
-
Not-Emma kept Amena in her office. Not-Emma smiled and asked her to wait there and said she’d get something for her cut.
She left and was gone for about ten minutes before the door opened. A teenage boy, black hair, green eyes, and affinity for red.
“Mom, Kev killed all the vegetables in the fridge again- who are you?”
“Uncle Julian?” she asked, before thinking to stop herself.
His eyes widened. “How do you know my name? Wait, Uncle? What? Who are you?”
She bit her lip. “You’re my uncle! I’m from the future, have you seen my moms?”
(An adult probably wouldn’t have done this. Amena knew this; but there was only so much you can blame on a nine year old lost in time and space).
Julian opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.
“Family meeting,” he said. “Come on, kid. Family meeting.”
-
The meeting took place in the living room, once Julian snuck Amena out of the office. Every face was familiar, if younger- her Uncle Brian’s face less worn and beardless, Aunt Cessily’s mercury without a single scar.
And her mothers.
Her Mama came in right away, eyes twinkling at Amena, shorter than usual; her Mom came later, softer, her shoulders tense and eyes wide, hair short and shaggy around the ears.
Uncle Julian took to the center of the room. “Emma had this kid in her office- she says she’s from the future, right, kid?”
Amena nodded, willing tears away again. Her knee hurt.
It didn’t work, and soon tears were dripping down her face again, her whole body shaking.
“And she says- she says- ah, kid, it’s okay, don’t cry- Raya, she says you and the clone are her moms.”
“Don’t call her that,” Amena said instinctively, voice watery. “That’s not nice.”
Uncle Julian raised his eyebrow and then turned back to his friends, shrugging rapidly. “Dude, I dunno, but apparently this is a thing that’s happening.”
“Kiddo,” Aunt Cessily said, voice soft, “Can you tell us a little more about why you’re here?”
Amena bit at her nail, her vision still blurry. “Nuh-uh. Not all of you. Could have b-big consequences. Hank said.”
“How about you just tell a few of us, huh?” Aunt Cessily encouraged.
“Mama.” Amena decided. “And Mom.”
“Would that be us, honey?” her Mama asked, gesturing to her Mom.
“Uh-huh.”
“Okay.” Sooraya walked over and pulled her into a hug, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed.
“Let’s go to our room, okay? Julian, can you please explain to Emma?”
“‘Course, Soori.”
-
Mom followed behind them with a lost expression on her face, barely blinking as Mama took Amena’s hand and led her up the stairs. Their dorm room was small, Sooraya’s side decorated with photos and posters, Laura’s holding nothing at all.
“So. Hello.” Sooraya sat them both down on her bed, rubbing circles on Amena’s back as the last of her tears faded. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”
“I-It was Kevin’s idea. Honest.”
“Who’s Kevin, love?”
“Uncle Julian and Uncle Brian’s son. My cousin. H-he said we could play with the time machine, and no one would notice, and then we could go and have candy a-and then he dared me a-and it was Kevin’s idea.”
“I can see that. Kevin will get a very stern talking to. But we were wondering where you’re from? What year? It’s 2013 right now, I am 14 years old.”
“2-2-2027. I’m nine. You’re my moms.”
“Okay, sweetheart. Deep breaths. What’s your name?”
“Amena.”
“That’s a very pretty name. So you accidently got stuck here? Does anyone know?” Sooraya’s eyes were kind, even more than a decade younger.
“Kev d-does. My moms are coming home later and he’ll- he’ll tell them.”
“Okay. How long from now is that?”
“A few hours.”
“Alright, dear. How about this? I go get something to clean up that knee, and then we get you some food and you wait until your moms get here?”
“Mmkay,” she nodded, and Sooraya smiled again, standing up slowly and exiting the room after squeezing Laura’s shoulder lightly.
Amena cocked her head at Laura and Laura repeated the gesture.
“Hi, Mom.”
Laura flinched, her claws sliding out with a snikt. They slid back in and popped out again, over and over. Amena watched in morbid fascination- her Mom never used her claws in front of her- until Sooraya reentered the room, placing down the band-aids she had gotten to take Laura’s hand in her own and holding it until Laura slid her claws away again.
“Okay, Amena, let me see that cut.”
She did a very good band-aid job, an X on Amena’s knee in Hello Kitty colors, and then sat back down again. “Okay. Would you like to sleep a little now?”
“Mhm.”
-
When she woke up, her Mama was fast asleep next to her, their hair tangled together on the pillow.
Her Mom was still wide awake, eyes glowing slightly in the dark as they always did.
Amena got up, tumbling off the bed and going to sit next to her. Laura’s entire body tensed and her breath hitched when Amena leaned on her, but she relaxed after a few seconds.
“Mom?” she asked, Laura looking down at her. “Can you read me something?”
Laura’s eyes widened before taking a deep breath, voice coming out changed (mimicking ran in the family). “Once upon a time, there was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive piece of wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood.”
(Her Mom had told her once that the voice she used to tell this particular story was her Grandmother’s, the same words she had used when her Mom was little.
She never talked about any other parts of her when she was little. Amena never got the courage to ask why).
Amena set herself on her Mom’s lap, closing her eyes.
-
X-23 recited the story until Amena fell asleep, heartbeat slowing into a crawl and hands wrapped around X-23’s wrist. She was so small. She was so, so small.
A few minutes after the child beings to properly sleep, X-23 lifted her up with ease, placing Amena carefully on the cot alloted to her but seldom used. Tucking the blankets around her as carefully as she could, X-23 brushed the girl’s hair out of her eyes and turned around, shimmying under Sooraya’s bed and tucking herself in the corner.
Amena said she was her mother. Amena said she and Sooraya had had a child- a beautiful, happy, healthy child- together. Amena said that Sooraya loved her. Amena said that they all loved each other.
Why?
She was not meant to be loved. She was meant to protect Sooraya and die for Sooraya and fight for Sooraya and love Sooraya, yes, but that love was not meant to be returned. Love was so rarely returned.
She tucked herself into an even smaller ball.
If Amena was hers and Amena loved her and Amena was her daughter, then in the future X-23 was not X-23. That was the only possible explanation. Somehow, in some way, X-23 was more than a weapon, in fourteen years. Somehow, X-23 was Laura Kinney in more than just given name.
Somehow, she was more.
She counted Amena’s heartbeats until her body and mind shut down, a peaceful release from the questions plaguing her mind.
-
Sooraya awoke at one in the morning, finding her future daughter curled in Laura’s cot. Sighing, she dusted herself, using her second form to push her bed aside.
Laura lay curled in the corner, hands around her head.
Sooraya reformed and sighed again, kneeled next to the sleeping girl, and pushed her hands aside slowly, moving her thumb across Laura’s cheek. The other girl made no motion to have awoken, but her cheeks tinged red, Sooraya grinning softly.
Laura opened one eye. “Hello.”
“Laura, why were you under my bed again?”
“The child needed my cot.”
“You could have asked me to share.”
Laura huffed, stood up and squatted on the balls of her feet, peering at Sooraya through her bangs. “You needed the bed.”
“Come on,” Sooraya said, pulling Laura up. “We’ll share for tonight.”
-
(A secret: X-23 loved sharing the bed with Sooraya. Loved the way she laughed in her sleep, loved the smallness of her body in comparison to X-23’s own, loved her face when there was no worry on it, loved how she smelled and how she looked and how she was Sooraya.)
(A secret: Sooraya loved sharing the bed with Laura. Loved how their bodies fit together in a space too small for them both, loved the warmth of her against Sooraya in the dark, loved her face without a scowl, loved the whispers in language Sooraya didn’t know as she slept.)
(A secret: at three a.m, Amena wriggled herself in the middle of her mothers’ bodies and slept with her head tucked under Laura’s and Sooraya’s arms around her middle.)
-
At five a.m, a flash of light went off in Emma’s office and two women landed on the rug, hands wrapped tightly together.
Emma didn’t even blink. “I suppose you’d be my students all grown up? Your daughter is in your dorm room.”
-
Laura headed in first, as always, all for nought; the three sleeping bodies in the middle of the room showed no sense of danger.
Her smaller self had Sooraya and Amena on her chest, arms wrapped over them both. Her wife, directly behind her, bumped her shoulder affectionately. “Do you remember only having a twin bed to share?”
“Less room. More spooning.”
Sooraya giggled and Laura felt her face heat up, even after all these years.
And then her younger self was up, shooting out of the bed and tackling her, claws aimed directly for her face.
Laura threw her off, dangling the teenager by her arms. “Hello!”
The younger girl snarled. “Who are you do not touch them-”
“We’re her mothers.”
Younger Laura stops struggling immediately. “You are me.”
“Yes.”
“And you- you are Sooraya?”
She blushed, too. Laura rolled her eyes, a rush of endearment for her fourteen year old self coursing through her.
“Yes. Hello.” Her wife waved, using her other hand to shake Amena’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, wake up.”
“Mama?” she murmured, sitting up groggily.
Laura dropped younger Laura and caught Amena as she threw herself into her arms. “I’m sorry it was Kevin’s idea I want to go home-”
She sobbed into Laura’s shoulder and Laura rocked her back and forth, stroking her hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It was an accident. Ssssh.”
Sooraya kissed Amena on her forehead as the younger Sooraya woke up, taking younger Laura’s hand. “You have a wonderful daughter.”
“Yes,” Sooraya agreed, smiling at them both. “Be kind to each other.”
Laura clicked the time-machine bracelet Hank had dug out for them and the little family disappeared in a burst of light.