Ships: Destiny (Irene Adler) / Mystique (Raven Darkhölme)
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Marvel.
She lets you come outside today. The poppies are in bloom - you'd forgotten the movement of the seasons, suspended in a fractured dream of past and future. She helps you down the stairs, across the road - a caring young woman in a pinstripe shirt and jacket, who holds you too close to be a nurse. Granddaughter, perhaps. Her hands still feel like Raven though, and she strokes your cheek reassuringly.
"Is this tiring you?"
Try to smile without looking like you have to try. "Just a little further."
"All right."
Press on, as she does everything in her power to avoid flinching when you stumble or miss a breath. Her hands support you, far stronger than they look, but it's the way she avoids your eyes that hurts the most.
Sink down gratefully on a park bench, resting the cane by your side. Look around. The local kindergarten has disgorged its charges, spreading riotous colour and noise across the park.
"Raven... that boy near the road..."
She barely needs any more direction, moving to the threat without argument. She waits, tosses the stray ball far from the traffic when it flies her way. The child takes it and runs off without so much as a word of thanks. One future averted. Another taking its place. Perhaps that boy will grow up to hate his fellow men, to beat his wife and curse his children... but that well-worn train of thought cannot hold your interest today, especially when Raven returns to you. She looks like how Rudolph Valentino would look, if he'd lived to be sixty. "Brown eyes," you whisper, and she corrects the detail before leaning down and covering your face with light kisses. No passion; only love like prayer. You taste despair, and anger also, and try not to let it burn.
"It's getting late. Shall I get Dominic to bring the car?
Nod, and wait with her in silence. She bounds over to Dominic to berate him for being late, before returning to assist you. It's strange to watch her move like a teenager when she was old before you were born. More than just appearances, Raven is impervious to time. Quicksilver, chameleon, she changes with the seasons.
Every day, you buy her a few more hours; time to finish your plans and prophecies, time to tell Raven all the things she needs to hear. Every day she looks at you and sees the future just as clearly.
Not all mutants are immune.