Down the Rabbit Hole

Shadowed Past

The crisp morning air blew Lacey's hair across her eyes. She batted it out of the way with her gloved hands before jamming them back in her pockets. Her boots crunched along the gravel path at the side of the institute as she made her way into the gardens at the back. She sat down on one of the benches and took her book out of her bag. She had been at the institute for four months now and was completely settled in. She was attending Bayville High with most of the other students, there was training and extra classes at the Institute and she was spending a lot of time hanging out with the students here as well as the Brotherhood who had become like an extended family to her. After Wanda had invited her over that day she had been visiting them at least once a week. She spent most of her time with Wanda, Tabby and Betsy but she got a long with the guys too particularly Lance, who was dating Kitty, and Pietro, Wanda's twin brother. She felt like she had a life now, people who cared for her. She felt a chill go down her spine and she glanced up from her book to find a man in front of her. She jumped back hitting the back of the bench. Although she could see him she got the impression he wasn't really there as he seemed to come in and out of focus. That and he seemed to be floating several inches off the ground.

"Ms McNulty." He greeted her. "It is nice to finally see you in person."
"Uh... who are you?" She asked.
"My name is Dr Strange. I should have come to see you before now, but I wanted to give you time to settle in first."
"Am I supposed to know you?" Lacey asked, racking her brains. He smiled at her kindly.
"No. We have never officially met. But I have known about you for a long time."

"How come?"
"Oh, I watch over things. It is my job to make sure the balance between good and evil is retained."

"Well sorry to say this but you're kind of doing a sucky job." Lacey informed him.
"I only watch over this reality. Not the one you have come from."

"How did you..."

"There is a very complex story behind all of this, and it is time you were told it. After all, it is your story." Lacey looked at him expectantly and he began to explain.
"A number of years ago your God visited this reality and just as I sit here with you now I visited him too. Someone as important and powerful as God comes to visit it's only polite to introduce yourself. He told me he was visiting other realities to the one he watched over trying to find some meaning. He was becoming disillusioned with what he had created, the angels and such, and was looking for ... well for want of a better word, an escape. While he was here he studied your friends, the mutants, and he realized that they were just what he was looking for. So he came to me and expressed a wish to have a mutant guardian for his reality. So he, myself and another powerful being from this reality called the Beyonder, created you." Lacey stared at him, unable to speak. "Now God had seen how powerful the mutants were and he wanted to pool all of that power into one being. So to do this he knew that he would have to break the mold a little and make you part angel. Only a very small part." He reassured her. " It would also mean that you would be able to withstand anything the angels threw at you. So you were created and sent down to earth in your world to be born into a normal family. Feeling that his work was done, God left Heaven and everything there behind, safe in the knowledge that you would be there to protect humanity should the need arise. Only there was a slight hitch in his plans. Somehow, after he had left Raphael learned of your existence and decided you were too much of a threat to his plans, and even though you were but a child at the time he decided to get rid of you. So he had Gabriel create an alternate reality around you where you would stay trapped forever." Lacey stared at him open mouthed, letting the words sink in.

"Then... how did I escape?"
"My guess would be that God set you free. Just in time too by the sounds of it."

"Wow." Was all Lacey managed.

"It is a lot to take in. I must be going now, I just wanted to make sure you knew of your origins." Lacey's head snapped up at this.

"Did Death send you?" Dr Strange smiled at her before fading out, letting her draw her own conclusions.