"We're here to be different; to show the world they don't have to fear us with loaded guns."
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Ximena Dominguez has lived one too many lives. The ending of the last wasn't one she liked to repeat. From a young age her mutant abi...
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
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GRIEF. XIMENA KNEW IT well. It followed her around like a witches familiar, probing and reminding her that death was just around the corner for those closest to her. Her mind was a waste field of lost friends, a lover, a family. All lived great lives only to encounter her and be cursed with an early grave.
She hated it. Hated what she'd unconsciously done. And for a long time, she hated herself. Loathed the very illustrations that ghosted from her mind, her fingers, her subconscious. It was like a plague: her gift.
It seeped into the minds of others and sought out their greatest fear. Their deepest, darkest secret laid out before her and blasted over their cornea, trapping them in their own personal hell. She thought her mutation was a poison for the longest time.
It gave her intel and stripped her away of humanity. A conscience. A heart.
She was a villain in the stories. The boogie man striking fear into the bones of children at night.
It was like this for the fifty years of her life. After realizing she could not age after waking up from the very depths of hell itself in 1976, she simply existed. Until, Professor Xavier found her.
He guided her, made her feel normal despite her fear inducing abilities. She saw him coming a few months in advance but didn't know much of him or why he was seeking her out. His approach was gentle, almost too gentle. Like she were a stray, rabid cat just waiting to pounce.
His words were soft and wise, persuasive. Xavier wanted to show her how beautiful her gift could be. Truth be told, that's what really won her over. He showed her she didn't have to terrify – she could inspire. She could create worlds of euphoric destinations. Ximena could sprinkle elaborate dreams for imaginative little sleepers. She could weave webs of enchanted castles which housed heroic stories.
She didn't have to be the bad guy.
This life-changing revelation led her to volunteer as a mentor at Xavier's School of Gifted Youngsters. From then on, she smiled more, laughed genuinely and experience true acceptance from her fellow mutants. There were others much like herself. The notion was magnetizing, she always was a curious soul.
That was ten years ago.
Since then, she had adjusted to her role comfortably. Ximena and her peers worked together to ensure that mutants get the opportunity to live freely, boldly, and fearless amongst homo sapiens. She wanted peace, not war. Which made the Senate Hearing they were attending in quiet that much more important and frankly, disheartening.
