💥𝒢𝑜𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒲𝒾𝓈𝒹𝑜𝓂💥 [𝒳-𝑀𝑒𝓃]

Chapter 15: Perfection

"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself."

- Coco Chanel

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Elizabeth Grace's POV

"Raven," I start, seeing Raven's downcast face as I pass by her in the hallway. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright," she says. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. Your expression tells me it's something."

I hear her sigh as she leans against the wall. Something is troubling her. Something is bouncing around in her brain that is painful and unkind. That much is obvious. What it is—that's a bit more of a mystery.

"Hank..." she sighs sadly.

"What's wrong with Hank?"

"Nothing is. He just thinks there is."

"You mean his feet?" She nods. "But I mean, it's a mutation—a really cool one at that."

"He wants to fix it."

"But it... doesn't need to be fixed. Does it?"

Raven sees right through me. She knows it's not just Hank's feet that I'm worried about. Just as Erik knew there was fear rooted in my powers, Raven knows there is shame rooted in my appearance. My eyes are as much a mutation as his feet.

"It shouldn't..." Raven tries to convince me. "It really shouldn't. Humans should strive to be more like us."

"You sound like Erik."

"Both of you look highly depressed," Erik states, approaching from down the hallway as if I magically summoned him somehow.

"It's nothing..." we both try to cover for what's going on.

"I heard the latter half of the conversation, you know."

"Oh."

"I've told you this since I first met you—both of you. Neither of you needs to change yourself. You don't need to be like everyone else."

"But Erik," we both start.

"Perfection," he says. "Both of you are nothing less. You are something the world has never seen before. It's something to take pride in... not to shy away from."