Dr. Strange did not quite know what to make of this patient. If she were anyone else, he might have diagnosed yet another case of Dead End Syndrome. Some of the symptoms- the bouts of anxiety and the apparent hallucinations that she insisted were real- were consistent with what his hardest case, Robert Reynolds, was experiencing. But the differences made her case far more interesting. She suffered no inferiority complex and none of the characteristic phobias. In fact, all other things considered and her mercurial temperament notwithstanding, she seemed in relatively good shape.

And she was a mutant.
"So is it for your family's sake then, that you fear the imminent extinction of homo sapiens?"

"No," said Cassandra. "I'm more concerned about the imminent extinction of everything."

"Could you clarify?"
"Okay, I'm not afraid of things ending at their intended time. I'm more worried of someone playing God, picking apart reality, and unraveling our whole universe. Or maybe just giving up on all of us and ending it all before it's time."

"Any particular someone?" said Dr. Strange.
"Well, yes, but I'm not sure who it is. I look back on that point in time, where my trouble began, and it's all kind have muddled, which really irritates me!"

"Your memories, you mean?"
"No, not my memories. The timelines themselves. That's what I do," said Kassandra, her voice suddenly sounding overdubbed and out of synch with itself, her image suddenly going blurry and transparent.

"I can phase out of temporal synchronization," she continued, powering down and resuming her normal appearance. "When I do that, I can control the flow of time. I also have access to everything that is happening or has ever happened. This means, among other things, that I can't forget a thing. Problem is that lately, I'm seeing things that hadn't happened… in this reality anyway, and forgetting things that have.

"I tried to check my timeline when this trouble started. Or timelines, rather. I started seeing two for each person, with maybe one or two exceptions. Anyway, I checked mine at that point, and it was as if someone grabbed all of time, shattered and rearranged it, like breaking and setting a bone all wrong. So I know one of these realities isn't right, but I'm not sure which one!"

"And you think someone did this to you?" Dr. Strange could not yet rule out paranoia.

"Not to me, no. And probably not intentionally."
Well, there went that idea.

"But," she continued, "I can't figure out who did this or how it happened. It's as if that part of the timeline was just… dissolved in that void."

Dr. Strange leaned against his desk, head in hands. But before he could suggest it, Kassandra said, "And no, hypnosis will not help me get that back, nor do I think I really want it yet."

"Are you afraid of what you might find out?" At last Dr. Strange had hit on something. Not a diagnosis, but, at any rate, something.

"Yes," said Kassandra. "Yes, I am."
"And how do you hope to address this fear?"

"Bit by bit for now, until I'm ready to take it head on, I suppose. But there is one more fear I need to address right now, Doktor."

"Yes?"
"My mother-in-law got word of these episodes I've had, and has been using it against my husband and me. She never took me seriously, especially after she asked me the truth of these diaries, and I told her. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear."

"So these issues with your mother-in-law…"
"…actually existed since Kurt and I started getting serious. I could handle that. But it's gotten worse since, all this condescending talk about how, while needing adjustment is nothing to be ashamed of, and while keeping me as a pen-pal or whatever is one thing, actually marrying someone with a 'condition' is another, and garbage like that. That, among other stunts she's been pulling, is really bothering Kurt."

"So you'd like me to tell you that you are not mentally ill, is that it?" said Doctor Strange.

"No," said Kassandra. "I'd just like some answers. I mean I'd be content even to know if there was a problem, so we could do something about it. But to hear from Madame Web that I wasn't ill, to even be able to confirm that in my timelines, and still have these things happening…"

"Do you find that frustrating?"
"It scares me! I mean, what if what I'm seeing is indeed real?"

"Well," mused Dr. Strange. "I'm afraid I can't really help you that much. It doesn't appear that I've discovered a mutant variant of Dead End Syndrome, nor do you appear to suffer any biochemical imbalance. I'm not convinced that what you are seeing are hallucinations, either."

"Oh, nein!"
"But you are obviously suffering some trauma on account of this. I would recommend taking what you're seeing simply as news from another reality. Terrifying news, no doubt, but I think you're handling this fairly well, all things considered."

"WAS!"
"However, you could stand to learn some relaxation techniques."