There was a time in her life that she'd have probably just left, trusting Ranma to take care of himself. But she was growing sentimental and lonely as time went on. Her war and manipulations had lost her, over time, friends and loved ones a plenty.
Most telling had been the loss of Destiny when the fortune teller had died at Moira MacTaggart's island. Nobody knew quite just how much Destiny had meant to Raven Darkholme, better known as Mystique.
The loss of Rogue had been even worse, for Rogue was still alive and as well as she could be, but for all their relationship was concerned they both might as well be dead.
She hadn't known Kurt much at all, abandoning him in panic with the gypsies when his birth had blown the disguise that had gotten her married to a local noble.
But, of course, her worst failure had been Graydon Creed. Perhaps, if she had not abandoned him upon discovering his humanity. Perhaps then many things would have turned out better. It was her own racism that had turned and bitten her in that manner, producing one of the worst threats to mutant-kind to come about. Her son.
"Listen, Ranma," she said. "My children don't hate because I'm a mutant. They hate me because of...things I've done."
"It couldn't be as bad as what Pop has done," Ranma said.
"Genma is an idiot," Mystique said. "I am not. You have three siblings, Ranma. One is adopted. She is the only one I ever had a good relationship with, but I ruined that by trying to manipulate her. The other two, I abandoned...just as I initially abandoned you to Genma." She bowed her head. "You see, Ranma, racism runs two ways. Your oldest brother was human so I abandoned him. Graydon grew hateful and tried to kill all of us mutants. A conflict developed and I believe he's dead now."
Ranma frowned, and Mystique hoped she wasn't killing her son's affection for her.
"And the other one?" Ranma asked, voice strained.
"Kurt," Mystique said. "Kurt was born bearing a similarity to this face." She gestured to her appearance. "I was impersonating a woman and had married a local noble in a rather backwater part of Europe. They were going to burn me as a witch, and I panicked. Kurt I left behind. He and Rogue, your sister, work together now. They are in the same war as me and Magneto, but they are on a different side of the lines. That is what eventually strained my relationship with Rogue."
"Huh?" Ranma asked. "You didn't seem to want to work with that bucket head."
Mystique smirked at Ranma's accidental discovery of Magneto's nickname.
"I'm trying to retire, Ranma," Mystique said. "Why else would I be with such a fervant anti-mutant as Genma? He's the perfect cover. My shapeshifting keeps me young indefinitely, Ranma, but I'm getting old in spirit. I need a holiday, a long holiday."
"Why do you keep calling him Genma instead of my father?" Ranma asked suddenly. Mystique smiled again. Her son.
"Because, he is not your father," Mystique said.
"What?!" Ranma gasped.
"Your father is a mutant as well," Mystique said. "I went to him for some help sixteen years ago, and in addition to the help I got you. He's a lot like Graydon's father, maybe that's why you're human, too."
"So, who's my father then?" Ranma asked.
"That would be me, boy," a rough growling voice said stepping out of the shadows. Mystique and Ranma stood up and stepped away. "Unless old Mystique is putting us on again."
"Logan, what are you doing here?" Mystique asked nervously.
"Quite a coincidence that we're talking about kids," Wolverine said walking into the clearing.
"Oh, Amiko," Mystique said, remembering that someone had entrusted the care of a daughter to Wolverine of late.
"Yep, and then Bucket Head shows up on the news," Wolverine said. He looked over Ranma then. "So you took on Magneto, eh?"
"Yeah," Ranma said nervously.
"Certainly stupid enough to be my kid," Wolverine said, shrugging and turning away.
"What?" Ranma demanded.
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(Posted Tue, 06 May 2003 19:26)
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