Title: Seek and Find
Author: Tiamat's Child
Rating: PG
Pairing: Destiny/Mystique
Summary: Movieverse. After the attack on Liberty Island, Destiny goes to visit a friend. Femslash.
Seek and Find
Tiamat's Child
You, Irene, who calls yourself Destiny, know what you need to do.
Take a coat, take a hat, take a cane, take your smoked glasses. Out the door, down the inner stairwell to the street. Mind the burgeoning echoes of what will be. Trust your memories of the future.
Take bus line nine. Smile at the young driver who chirps hello to you. Find an empty seat. You will have it to yourself for the entire length of the ride.
Find the second bus route. Doze while you wait. Be shaken awake by the earnest young man in the next seat.
Get off in front of Mercy Hospital. Go inside. Ask the clerk on duty for Trevor Huffington. Say you are an old friend. Say you came as soon as you heard.
Listen to the clerk talk about how good it is that Mr. Huffington has someone who cares for him, since he hasn't any family. Wait. Listen to the directions you are given. Walk down the hall, take the elevator up three floors, find room Number Three Hundred and Seventy Two.
Open the door.
Step inside, and feel yourself flinch internally at the stench of sterilizer trying to cover up the scent of blood and bared muscle and failing badly. Almost cry at how pale the figure in the bed is, stamped firmly into your memory of the minutes that will come. Stand very still, waiting.
Whisper, Yes, I'm here, when the unfamiliar voice asks, Irene?
Cross to the bed, sit on its edge. Say, Well, Raven, it looks as if you've finally met someone aside from me who can best you.
Rejoice in the answering laugh.
Kiss. It's been too long since you had a kiss from Raven. Too long since Raven's had kisses from you. You need to make sure it doesn't get longer.
Talk. Not about the mission, or about what the two of you need to do next, but about the rent, dishes, the possibility of getting a cat. Be told that there is no way there will ever be a purebred in any house Raven lives in. Laugh. Say you were thinking of adopting one of the kittens the neighbor's tabby is expecting. Mention that one will be a calico.
Leave when the nurse asks you to, but not before a goodbye kiss. Grin to yourself at the nurse's surprise. Walk to the door. Pause. Turn around, remembering what you have forgotten. Say, I'll be back tomorrow, rest till then, you need to get better.
Listen to the answer. I'll be waiting. I'll get better.
Make a delicately risqué comment about the scars that will be left when the wounds heal, and exit to the sounds of Raven's chuckles. Know that Raven is laughing as much at the nurse as at you.
Walk out into the city and tip your face up, trying to catch sunlight on skin. Know that the world stands a fighting chance. Resolve not to worry unduly.
Walk home, content.