From The Other World

Different World, Different Mother

Disclaimer: Do not own anything except for the plot and River. Sorry if anyone was frustrated over the delay in this. -SarahLong12

River was not thunderstruck, metaphorically or physically when she turned around and was met by a pair of amber eyes exactly like her own. "Mystique. Mom."

In her timeline, she had only ever seen her biological mother once in the war-torn world. She remembered the day with stark clarity, even now.

 River had been scavenging. The X-Men had been reduced in number ever since the Sentinels came, and not only them-many with the X-gene worldwide as well. She prowled underground, pinching her nose at the rank stench of what exactly she did not want to ever know, and silently cheered when she found a undamaged first aid kit. Opening it, her spirits fell. There was nothing inside save for a roll of  self-adhesive bandages. She glumly pocketed it inside one of the many pockets of her stained, dirty overalls. No matter how small the reward might be, she would always accept it. 

  Then she smelled something unfamiliar. Shapeshifter, her brain helpfully supplied. She heard the soft splashing sound of  someone making their way towards her through the partially submerged tunnel. She did not turn.

  "You might as well announce your name, you know." she said quietly, aware in the underground tunnels, sound could be easily carried. And carried sound could mean Sentinels.

  "Says the one who doesn't want to show yourself." snorted a feminine voice, also speaking quietly. Despite the disbelief, the voice was weak and quavery. She was right. River had blended into the shadows with the skill of a ninja. Her father's lessons had come in handy.

  Two could play at that game, River had thought. "You first." she told the mysterious woman. There was a soft laugh, and a blue-skinned woman with red hair that might have been beautiful and glossy once stepped out of the shadows. She was closer to River than River had originally thought. A ragged grey uniform-like shirt and pants made up her entire clothing. She wore no shoes. "You sound so much like Logan, you know."

  River did not take a minute to put together the casual fondness in the woman's tone and her appearance. "You're my mother, Raven. I'm River Dale."

  The woman closed her eyes and sighed deeply, a raspy cough shaking her body. The dim lights above, throwing more relief onto her features, revealed that she looked thin and emaciated, her cheekbones sharp and her yellow eyes hollow. "I am no longer the woman Logan knew as Raven."

  "So?" River had asked, overwhelmed with gladness at finally finding her mother. "Dad still loves you. He talks about it at night. You should come back to us, Mom."

  Raven's eyes snapped open and she growled deep in her throat. "Don't be foolish, little girl." she snarled. "What I have done can never be forgiven. Not by Logan, me, or anyone else!"

  She brushed past River, who had been stunned by her sudden fierceness. Raven paused once a distance away, looking bitterly at River. "Your father should have told you." she said suddenly. "Good-bye, River Dale."

  Then she vanished.

   Afterwards, River had never spoken of it, despite her niggling curiosity to know what she was talking about, the thing that could never be forgiven. 

  Now she faced her mother again, minus the sadness that had hung around Raven like a cloak.

   What she was seeing was utterly different compared to the Raven in the tunnel, staring down her daughter. 

   For an instance, Raven was wearing a dress. A light blue strapless dress with pale blue, pointy, stiletto heels that seemed ten centimetres high and zero point one centimetres wide. The grin on her blue face radiated rays of happiness, and her red hair was done up in an elegant hairstyle, long and glossy, exactly the way River had thought it would be.

   River blinked twice.

   Apparently Raven wasn't waiting for an answer, because she chirruped: "Helloooooo River! We haven't met, have we?"

   The difference between that Raven and this Raven was....jarring. River didn't even get to open her mouth before Raven interrupted again. "Didn't think so, darling daughter," she said, completely ignoring the gob-smacked look on River's face on purpose. "After allllll, you've just only come here." 

   There was absolutely no way Raven could have missed the silent prayer to whatever deity was out there from River to save her from her totally personality-flipped mother. Yet she barrelled on happily.

  "Do you want to go to a party?" Raven sang.

  Help me! River thought.