X-Men Origins: Mystique

Chapter 1: New York City, 1950

“Almost done, Mrs. Darkholme. Just one more push.”

Mrs. Darkholme grunted as she gave it another push, painstakingly trying to expel the child that had been growing inside of her for nine months from her body. Her husband was still down the hall, waiting for the past five hours to meet their new baby. The pain was excruciating and the only reason she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t died was because she’d already gone through this once before when her son was born three years earlier.

After that one last push the doctor pulled the child away from her and handed it to a nurse who wiped it clean with a towel, wrapped it in a pink blanket and handed it to its mother. “Congratulations, Mrs. Darkholme. You have a healthy baby girl.” Mrs. Darkholme sighed and hugged the child to her chest. She had a daughter… and beautiful little girl.

A few minutes later her husband walked into the room. “How’s my favorite girl?” he asked cheerfully.

“Which one?” Mrs. Darkholme giggled weakly. It was only then that Mr. Darkholme noticed that the child was wrapped in a pink blanket. “It’s a girl.” His wife said enthusiastically.

Mr. Darkholme sat in a chair next to his wife’s bed and looked happily down to his new daughter. She still hadn’t opened her eyes yet. He reached over and lightly pressed his finger against the tip of her nose and, to his surprise, his daughter reached up rather quickly for a new born and clutched his finger as tightly as her little hand could. “She’s gorgeous.” He said. “And so strong.” He added, laughing.

After a few more minutes of cooing over their new daughter the nurse took the baby and walked away, taking her to be examined for any abnormalities. Meanwhile Mr. and Mrs. Darkholme were busy thinking of names for their new daughter. They thought of almost every name they could think of but nothing seemed right for their little girl. By the time the nurse and doctor returned with the baby they were still discussing it.

“Excuse me.” the doctor said. Both of the new parents fell silent and turned to him. “I have to inform you that we did fine one minor birth defect.” A look of horror suddenly came over their faces. “It’s nothing serious.” He reassured them. “She just has the brightest yellow eyes.”

The nurse handed the baby girl back to her mother and, sure enough, her eyes were open now and showed bright yellow irises. “It shouldn’t be a problem at all.” the doctor explained. “You have nothing to worry about.”

The parents took his word for it and turned back to their daughter. “We still need a name for her.” The mother reminded her husband.

Mr. Darkholme looked down to his daughter curiously, staring blankly into her bright yellow eyes. Then, as if mesmerized by her, he muttered the first name that came to mind. “Raven.” He said.

“Raven…” his wife said, thinking it over for a few seconds before smiling and nodding. “I like it.” she said.

Her husband smiled and patted his new daughter lightly on her soft head. “All right… Raven Darkholme it is.”

THIRTEEN YEARS LATER

“Ready or not, here I come!” Raven called as she turned away from the wall. The dark, back allies of New York City seemed completely empty with the exception of a few trash cans and dumpsters and the stray cats tat rummaged through them. But Raven knew that somewhere in these allies her brother Alan and her friends were hiding, waiting for her to find them.

Raven, now thirteen, had gone from the adorable little girl that she was born as to a slightly mischievous and rebellious teenager that her parents had dreaded. It wasn’t like she was one of the, as her parents called them, hippies that were starting to consume the country; she just questioned her parents authority on almost a daily basis. Her hair, which had been a light red when she was born, was now a very dark brown and reached down to the middle of her back. She was always running around the city with Alan and their friends so she preferred to wear her brother’s old clothes instead of the long and constricting skirts and dresses her mother always insisted on buying for her. In fact, if it weren’t for her long hair and having hit puberty a few months back, she could’ve passed for a boy if she wanted.

Raven slowly walked down the ally, listening carefully to make sure none of her friends had hidden in a dumpster or on a fire escape. It wasn’t long at all before she managed to locate all of her friends, leaving only her brother Alan to be found. She giggled to herself, knowing that her friends had no idea that she had a slightly unfair advantage in Hide and Seek. The bright yellow eyes Raven had been born with gave her an uncanny ability to see clearly in the dark and, despite rarely doing more than running errands for her mother, she was unusually fast and agile. Her hearing was also quite acute, so she could hear even the slightest rustling from quite a ways away.

“C’mon out, Alan!” Raven called. “You know I’ll find you eventually!” She jumped around the corner, expecting to find her brother pressing his back against the wall, but saw only a few rats scurrying away.

Raven scowled and stormed off. She may have had an advantage when it came to finding people, but he brother was an expert in hiding and staying hidden. If Raven ever managed to find him at all he was always the last one found. Raven stepped lightly into the crowded sidewalk outside of the ally. One of Alan’s many tricks was disappearing into crowds and then hiding in plain sight. She’d often found him leaning against a wall, simply munching on an apple or reading a new paper.

Raven stepped back into the ally and glanced around, looking for any subtle clue as to her brother’s whereabouts. But before she could observe the area completely she felt a slight stinging in her abdomen and clutched her stomach. “What the…” she muttered, but before she could finish the pain returned, worse this time but still nothing she couldn’t handle. “Better head home.” She said to herself. “Feel like I’m gunna throw up.”

Raven turned around to merge with the crowd again and start towards home, but again the pain in her abdomen returned and this time it made her knees buckle and her face grimace. She staggered over to the nearest dumpster and sat down on the side opposite of the street. Alan would know that something was wrong is she didn’t find him soon enough and come looking for her. All she had to do was wait her until he found her. But soon the pain stopped fading in and out and became continuous, becoming worse as time passed. It probably wasn’t even five minutes later that she was on the verge of crying, but Raven was tough and dealt with it as much as she could.

Raven looked up to the sky, seeing that it was now a mix of orange and yellow. The sun was setting. She didn’t even realize how late it was when they’d started the game. It would be dark soon. Who knows what kind of creeps would stumble upon her at night… especially in an ally… in New York City, of all places.

Raven clutched her stomach again as the pain worsened. It had been concentrated in one spot before, but now it was starting to spread. She could feel pain throughout her torso as well as the beginnings of her arms, legs, and neck. It was too much. “Alan!” she cried out.

“Raven?” she heard her brother call back. “Raven, where are you?” All she managed to say was “Dumpster” but that was enough for her brother to find her. “There you are. You had me wor…” he paused and his jaw dropped when he saw her.

The girl sitting before him was defiantly his sister, he was sure of that, but she was unlike anything he’d ever seen now. To put it simply, she was blue. Quite literally her skin had turned blue and scaly and her hair was starting to turn bright red. This hideous transformation, coupled with the yellow eyes she’d always had, almost made her look like a snake! “Oh my god…” he muttered.

“What?” Raven demanded. “What is it?”

Alan helped his sister to her feet and then took off his jacket. “We need to get you to a doctor, now!” he said as he pulled the jacket over her shoulders and pulled the hood up, concealing her blue face. He then squatted down and offered to carry her on his back. He ran her to the nearest doctor in the city… but along the way it started raining and Raven caught a glimpse of herself in a puddle.

LATER

Raven sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office, with her long hair now handing over her face to hide her condition, with Alan sitting next to her protectively, giving a death glare to anyone who even tried staring at Raven. The doctor and their parents were in the other room discussing Ravens condition. She knew that the staff knew what was wrong with her. When the doctor examined her she saw an expression of shock, amazement… and for some reason disgust on his face. Her parents were being given the bad news now.

Raven and Alan looked over to the door as their parents emerged from it. Their mother was crying and her father was obviously enraged but doing his best to hold it in until later. Their mother turned away as soon as Raven was in sight, obviously unwilling to look at her. But their father looked right at her, glaring at her with every ounce of rage, disgust, and hatred he could muster. He mouthed a word which Alan couldn’t quite make out, but Raven, with her keen eye sight, knew exactly what he wanted to say.

“Mutant.”

Raven couldn’t believe it. How could this have happened to her of all people? Both of her parents were completely human and she was positive that none of her grandparents, cousins, aunt, or uncles were mutants either. It was impossible! The doctor had to have made a mistake! She thought of everything she could: a strange rash that covered her entire body, some kind of blood disease, anything would’ve been better than being a mutant!

She remembered how she looked before and started sobbing. She could picture her long brown hair and her flawless skin perfectly… she was beautiful. But now her fabulous brown hair had turned an ugly red color, almost like blood, and her flawless skin had become hideously blue with scales covering most of her body. She was a monstrosity now…

She was a mutant.

Raven pulled her hands away from her face and, to her amazement, the blue was fading away back into a slightly tan color and the scales were reseeding back into her skin. Her hair was also changing back to its natural color!

“Of my…” her mother gasped. “… It’s a miracle! Our baby girl is becoming normal again!”

“Don’t be so sure.” said the doctor as he stepped through the doorway. “I’ve dealt with many mutants before. I’ve seen everything from people with wings to people who can catch on fire at will. You’re daughter isn’t normal… she’s a shape shifter.”

A FEW WEEKS LATER

Raven was completely miserable now. Sure, she could change her appearance into anyone she wanted, but she was still inexperienced with her abilities and couldn’t keep a false shape for long. During school she often found herself rushing from the class room and hiding in the bathrooms when her blue skin started emerging randomly throughout the day. Soon some people were starting to get suspicious and Raven, knowing that almost everyone she knew hated mutants with a passion, stopped going to school all together.

Her home life wasn’t much better. Her mother barely looked at or talked to her anymore and her father had taken to drinking. Alan was the only one who seemed to still love her and consider her human. But often enough their father came home from work drunk and started yelling and shouting at Raven. Her mother just sat their, doing nothing to stop him, and whenever Alan stood up to defend Raven their father would hit him, yell at him for a few minutes, and then continue yelling at Raven until she ran to her room, crying.

Raven sighed, looking up to the moon from her roof, and relaxed, letting her appearance change back to its scaly blue form. It was another one of those days where her father drunkenly yelled at her for no reason. She decided to hide on the roof of their home that day, only able to get up there thanks to her newly discovered agility (which she guessed was another part of her mutation). She could hear her father still yelling inside and Alan yelling back to defend her. Eventually she guessed that Alan had had enough, because she heard the front door slam and Alan complaining on the side walk.

Raven took her more human form again and slid carefully down the roof and jumped off of their one story house, landing gracefully on the side walk and walking up to her older brother. “Why did this have to happen to me?” she asked quietly.

“Nothing’s wrong with you, Raven.” Alan insisted, clutching his fist. “Our idiot parents are just too thickheaded to see that you’re still their daughter and not some monster.”

Raven smiled, allowing herself to turn blue again, and pulled Alan into a tight hug. “Thank you, Alan.” She sighed.

“You don’t have to thank me, Raven.” Alan insisted, hugging her back. “Just promise me that you’ll always think of yourself as human, and not some monster… I could care less if you were white, black, or blue… you’ll always be my sister and I’ll always love you.”

Raven’s smile grew wider and she pulled him closer, kissing him on the cheek. Alan chuckled, pushed her away and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “C’mon.” he said. “I hear this new restaurant called McDonalds is pretty good.”

“All right.” Raven agreed, taking her more human form again before they started down the street.

A few nights later Raven was lying in her bed, silently listening for any subtle sounds through the darkness of her room. All she could see was the window and the small row of light under her door from the hallway. That day her father had come home drunk from work again, but amazingly he didn’t yell at anyone… or even speak for that matter. He just walked in the door, gave one glare at Raven and went to his bedroom… he hadn’t come out since, even for dinner.

This had Raven very worried. When her father glared at her she could see the gears working in his head. Drunk or not he was planning something… and it wasn’t going to be good.

Raven heard the almost silent sound of footsteps in the hallway. She waited a few seconds for the footsteps to get louder and closer to her room. It wasn’t long before she saw a shadow blocking the most of the light from under her door. She had to admit, she was terrified. She knew it was her father outside of her door just from the sound of his breathing. She sat up and waited for the inevitable to happen.

And sure enough, it did.

Raven’s father kicked in her bedroom door, revealing his half drunk, half crazy expression and the knife in his hand. She screamed as he stormed into her room, raising the knife above his head to stab her. On sheer instinct Raven pulled the covers from her bed and threw them at him, then rolled off as he stumbled towards her and blindly started stabbing into her mattress. Raven quickly got to her feet and ran into the hall, her father roaring in rage and chasing after her.

By now Alan and his mother had woken as well and were in complete shock at the sight of Raven running from her father with a knife in his hand. Their mother there, completely paralyzed with fear, but Alan acted immediately, tackling his father to the ground and holding him down as best as he could.

“Stay away from her!” Alan shouted to his father, taking the knife from him and struggling to keep the old man down. He looked up to Raven and told her to run as far away as possible. But Raven just stood there, paralyzed by what was happening. “Go!” Alan ordered again. It was only then that Raven snapped out of her trance and dashed for her room, grabbing a bag and a few clothes before climbing out her window and running off into the darkness. She took one last look back at her old house before dashing further down the side walk… never to return again.