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#2
JUN 09 |
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“My Brother’s Keeper”
Emma Frost looked at the letter and felt her heart jump. It happened every time she looked at it and she had long ago passed the dozen mark. This was the last thing she needed and the one thing she wanted. Family had always been a complicated matter for Emma. She had killed her older sister and hadn’t heard from her younger one in years. Now the one sibling she actually cared about was knocking at her proverbial door.
Hello Ems! It’s been too long sugar plum. Meet me at Dad’s favorite lil café in Manhattan. You know the one. I’ll be there all day tomorrow on business. Feel free to stop by and chat.
-Love your brother (Christian)
It was unnerving because of how short it was and how much it avoided saying. History existed between the two siblings and the most recent segments of it were not at all pleasant. She had spent her life double dealing and cutting the throats of everyone around her because of what was done to Christian. But he seemed to be so happy.
“Emma something is clearly bothering you,” Charles Xavier said as he wheeled himself into Frost’s office. “And it has been all day.”
There was little point in trying to hide this from Charles so Emma handed him over the letter. He read it and said, “You never told me you had a brother.”
Tears threatened to flow from Emma. “There are so many reasons why and none of them seem any good right now.”
Charles took Emma’s hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m a good listener.”
Emma looked in those eyes and saw something infinitely kind and forgiving. She sat down in front of him and buried her face in her hands. “I thought my father had broken him. I gave up on him.”
“What happened?” Xavier asked seeing the distress that his beloved was clearly under. Usually Emma had the aura of a tigress on the prowl, but now she was jittery as a squirrel. She couldn’t find her composure and Charles wondered what had been unearthed in her.
She could feel Charles’ caring stare and it only made her feel worse about what she had done. Leaving people to their fates had never been a problem for Emma after Christian, but leaving him behind broke her heart. And now—
“My father found out Christian was gay and had his lover deported. Poor Christian wasn’t able to take it and tried to hang himself,” Emma said as she began to choke up and make-up ran. “My dear ol Dad looked him up in a mental institution. The one time I went to visit him he was completely gone.”
“You are not responsible for your father’s—
“But I left him!” Emma said with such force she could have rocked the entire room. “He needed me and I left him. Adrienne and Cordelia was one thing. He knew they didn’t love him, but he thought I did. And I left him.”
Xavier sat Christian’s note in Emma’s lap and pressed both of his hands against it. “Emma this isn’t the letter of an angry man. He wants to talk with you. Don’t make the mistake of leaving him again.”
Emma looked up with a make-up stained face and softly asked, “Where do I start? I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
Charles smiled and leaned forward to wipe away a tear from Emma’s cheek with his thumb. “Tell him that you love him.”
The bedroom was a cool temperature not at all like love and held color like the doldrums. A few paintings of stiff people best forgotten hung from every drab colored wall. In fact, the liveliest decoration in the entire room was the bedspread. It was a powerful swirling of black and white that seemed to portray a struggle between despair and hope.
Christian Frost tugged at his black tie to make sure that it was on snuggly and said, “She has the invitation. She’ll be there.”
Frost’s benefactor stood behind him and asked, “How can you be sure?”
“Emma is my little sister. She’ll come out of guilt. Emma could always be goaded into something out of guilt.”
The benefactor laughed. “Then you really have been away for a long time. Emma is far from being that child.”
“Maybe to the rest of the world, but not to me. She’ll come because if it isn’t guilt then it’s the thrill with Emma. The idea of her brother being some angry scumbag out to hurt her is just too tempting for her. It would validate the way she is today and Emma needs nothing more than validation.”
“Just keep this one thing in mind,” the benefactor said. “I have my own designs for Emma and they are not to be tampered with. Ignore your old emotions and remain the man you are today.”
Frost slid on a pair of sunglasses and laughed, “You make that sound as if it’s going to be hard.”
“It was not my intention to. I simply felt that I needed to remind you of what is at stake.”
“How long have I been with you?” Christian asked. “You brought me out of that asylum and showed me the world for what it really was. My allegiance is with you.”
As the benefactor disappeared into the shadows, he parted with, “Remember who saved you Christian. Do this for me and your rewards will be great.”
A cold shiver rolled down Christian’s back at the thought of that asylum. His father had made went out of his way to throw him into the single worst one he could find. For years Christian hung in a medicated stupor that he even till this day he only had pieces of memory about. But those pieces were horrifying and chilled Christian to the bone. He didn’t have a single person to turn to and the one person he thought would be there—
Enough! You’ve run this through your head a million times. You’ll see her today and then your questions will be answered, Christian thought in a self-made attempt to calm down.
“I will freely admit that I am concerned for her,” Xavier said as he moved down the hall with Warren Worthington by his side. “She was truly shaken.”
“That’s hardly typical Frost behavior,” Warren said as took a glance at his Rolex. “But we all have our secrets that make us feel vulnerable. I can attest to that.”
“You should have seen her,” Xavier said. “She was distraught. I don’t think she could handle it if her brother’s intentions are truly negative.”
“Could you blame him if he did though? She left him to rot in an asylum knowing good and well he had no business being there,” Warren said.
Xavier saw a bit of Warren’s own guilt reflecting in that comment. “She didn’t have the ability to free him at the time. Her powers were just emerging and she had no financial capability. It was a rough patch in Emma’s life and I believe she truly regrets her actions.”
“If the reaction you seen is genuine then I have no doubt she’s remorseful,” Warren said as he took a few steps in front of the Professor to open a classroom door for him. “But sometimes remorse isn’t enough.”
“But it’s a start Warren. You of all people should know that,” Charles said.
Feeling uncomfortable under Xavier’s glare, Warren asked, “So what class is this?”
“Religious Studies,” Charles smiled. “Quite a vigorous elective if I must say so myself.”
“Good luck with that Professor,” Warren said as he backed away. “Don’t stress yourself about Emma. She’ll figure her own problems out.”
Charles tried to take that comment to heart as he moved to the front of his class. He put on the biggest smile he could muster and opened the class with a question.
“Who knows who Mary Magdalene is?”
Christian held the cup of tea tenderly with both of his hands. He was trying to not let people see that his hands were shaking. His only comfort was that his sister was probably just as nervous. Though he noticed from studying her life that she seemed to have developed a much thicker skin from what she had when they were younger. The Emma he read about seemed so much different from the young woman he had known all those years ago. His sister had been the gentlest and most compassionate of his siblings and he never felt as if he had to hide anything from her. He could hardly say the same for Adrienne and Cordelia. Adrienne was an opportunist and Cordelia was just cruel.
Emma had been different though. She understood him. That was why he never could quite wrap his brain around why she left him. The Emma he loved wouldn’t have left him to wallow in some mental institution. What had happened? He intended to find out today.
“I never quite got why Winston enjoyed this place so much. It’s too dingy for my tastes.”
Christian looked up and saw his sister in a powder blue dress pull up a chair across from him. He laughed and said, “You always hated the idea of getting dirty.”
“And Cordelia seemed to enjoy her fair share of grunge,” Emma replied as she crossed her legs.
Doing his best to calm his hands, Christian took a drink from his tea. “When was the last time you heard from the dear?”
Emma thought back to the last time she had seen her little sister while teaching at Snow Valley. She hadn’t heard from Cordelia since then and honestly if Christian hadn’t of brought it up, Emma would have cared less. “It’s been a while Christian.”
“As long as you don’t intend to shoot her.”
Emma’s blood ran cold as her usual lofty exterior. How had Christian found out? Or did he even know at all? Maybe he heard a rumor and was trying to get some confirmation out of Emma. How did you admit to your brother that you killed your sister in cold blood?
Adrienne had been the source of much grief in Emma’s life. She had been what ultimately resulted in the break up of Generation X. Adrienne’s actions had nearly resulted in the death of her students and Emma was forced to take things into her own hands. It wasn’t a pretty decision, but it was a necessary one. She refused to be hounded by Adrienne for the rest of her life. It was because of her actions that Christian was even locked away in the first place. She had been the force that pushed the snowball down the hill.
Emma shifted uneasily in her seat and asked, “You must have heard about Adrienne?”
Christian motioned with his hand for a waiter to come to the table and his response to Emma was covered over by a cacophony of blaring car horns. “I know what you did and I don’t blame you.”
What Emma heard was “I know what you did and I blame you.”
“I did what I had to do Christian. She had put my life and the lives of my students on the line. I had no other choice.”
Christian nodded. “I know. You were always better than me at making hard choices.”
Emma heard smugness where there was none. “So you just came all this way to cast judgment on me? Well, I am not sorry for anything I’ve done! And I certainly don’t have to explain myself to you.”
Her brother held up his hands in mock defense. “Whoa luv! Slow down. Where is all this coming from? I’m not asking you to apologize for anything.”
Emma buried her face in her hands and began to cry. “Well you should. I left you.”
Christian’s face became tight and stoic. “That you did. And I’ve often wondered why.”
Another difficult position for Emma because how could someone give any sort of reasonable answer to abandoning their sibling in a mental institution? Nothing that Emma said would be enough. No amount of time would allow Emma to think of a sufficient answer. So all she could give was the truth.
“At first, I felt like I couldn’t face you because I failed you. Dear ol Dad had beat me and used you to do it. Then as the years went by I just figured you hated me and it would be a waste of time to try and see you. I know I’m not much of a sister—
“So is that why you brought your X-Men with you?” Christian asked as the waiter finally came to the table. Smiling with charm, Christian said, “Please bring my sister a latte. Thank you.”
Emma was doing her best to keep her mouth from dropping. Charles had insisted that Cable and Wolverine accompany Emma in case her brother was potentially out for blood, but they were nowhere in sight. To her knowledge, Christian had no mutant abilities, but considering that her and her sisters had it stood to reason that Christian might have manifested some as well.
“Don’t worry sis. I have men here too,” Christian said as he looked around to see if the waiter was bringing Emma’s latte.
“I should have told you that lattes go straight to my thighs darling,” Emma said still trying to wrap her mind around exactly what was going on.
Christian laughed. “I doubt Charles at his age cares much. I never took you as one for older men, but with our father it’s not hard to see why.”
Wanting to avoid anymore talk of Winston Frost, Emma asked, “So who are these men and what are you doing with them?”
“The blokes are the superpowered guards on the planet. Singularity Securities is a business partner of Frost Biological Solutions so we scratch each other’s backs. That’s why I really called you here Emma. I want you at my company.”
“You haven’t given me much to work off of Christian,” Emma said. Part of her wanted to say yes right then and there if it meant working with her older brother. This was business though and Emma had built her life on making sure to take only the right opportunities.
Christian slid Emma a gray jumpdrive across the table and said, “The company is called Frost Biological Solutions. We’re dealing with everything from genetics to pathology to zoology. I want to understand the natural world inside and out and I want to be able to manipulate it for the betterment of mankind.”
Emma took the jumpdrive and slid it into her purse. “You sound like a corporate version of Charles. Who else is working with you?”
“It’s a family affair. Aunt Hazel and her kids are working for me as is Uncle Dominic and his wife. You remember Jeffrey don’t you?”
The image of clumsy Jeffrey Frost almost made her laugh. “Of course I do. What does he do? Make sure your building is klutz proof?”
“He’s the head of Public Relations actually. I’m trying to make the Frost family strong again. Winston tried to tear it down and I want the chance to build it back up. Having you on my team would give me a ton of corporate clout. And it’d give us a chance to catch up.”
“I have so much work I’m doing with Charles,” Emma said as she quickly stood up from the table. “I’ll look over your files and let you know my decision. I just need some time to think about this dear.”
“And you have it Ems. Just don’t make me wait too long,” Christian smiled.
Emma loved seeing that smile again and wondered if she could live with herself if she parted ways with her brother again. But there was so much to be done with X-Corps and The Institute. Could she really leave all that behind?
“I won’t keep you waiting. I assure you of that Christian,” Emma said as she turned away from her older brother and briskly walked away. Too many thoughts were swirling in her head and if there was one thing that Emma Frost did not like being then it was being confused.
Christian watched his sister leave and tried to rub the stress away from his eyes. He needed Emma more than she could possibly know.
Later that night…
Christian sat alone in his hotel room in the dark without a single appliance on. The first few buttons of his dress shirt were undone and he had a glass of Patron in his hand. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world that could assuage him right now, but he figured he would try.
As he took back another burning swig, a demonic voice entered the room.
Did she agree to your terms?
Christian sighed as he twirled the glass slightly in front of him. “She hasn’t yet, but she’ll come around. My sister still feels guilty about leaving me behind.”
And you feel guilty about bringing her into the fold now.
“You can’t understand why?” Christian asked slamming down the glass by the telephone behind him. “She’s my little sister and she didn’t make this deal with you. I did.”
Your sister is far from some innocent little child. She has made many enemies and allies over the years, but none of them trust her. A woman like that is exactly who we need with us.
“If no one trusts her what’s to make you think that she will be so loyal to us?”
Because of you my dear Christian. Because of you.
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The End...
The plotlines presented in this issue will be picked up later on in X-Force. So look out for that. Christian Frost is going to be a prominent character in the months to come. I’m surprised at how much I have come to like Emma since joining this site. Having her behind the idea of X-Force along with Logan was a sweep of genius on Erik’s part and has really helped me in creating tension on the title. So look for Emma in my titles. She’s on fire.
-Brent
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