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*****
"Try this one, and this one, and definitely try this!"
Raven was like a whirling, busy butterfly, flitting rapidly through the racks of formal wear as she handpicked dresses for Gwen.
Gwen sat on a nearby sofa, her head resting heavily in her hands as she watched Raven's tireless activity with a look of utter helplessness. Piece after piece, Raven brought over a mountain of silk, lace, and chiffon for her to consider.
Standing off to the side, the salesclerk wore a smile that bloomed like a radiant flower. From the looks of it, she had just encountered a premium, "big-whale" client. This single sale would likely net her more commission than she usually saw in a month.
Raven eventually marched over, cradling a massive bundle of dresses in her arms, and arched a sleek eyebrow at the girl.
"What are you just sitting there dazing for? Hurry up and go try them on!"
As she spoke, Raven dumped the pile of garments into the arms of the nearby shop assistant. The assistant's posture dipped under the sudden weight, her jaw tightening momentarily, but in her heart, she was singing for joy.
"Beautiful young lady, please follow me to the fitting room," the clerk said politely, gesturing toward the back with a practiced, elegant sweep of her hand.
Caught between the polite clerk and the visibly excited Raven, Gwen let out a long, weary sigh. She stood up and followed the assistant into the fitting room.
Raven sat back on the sofa, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons. She propped her chin on her hand, her fingers drumming rhythmically against the armrest, as she began to wait with high anticipation.
When Gwen finally emerged, Raven's eyes lit up instantly.
It was a black gown, draped over Gwen's frame like a layer of magnificent, midnight feathers. It gave her the aura of a haughty, elegant black swan. However...
Raven tapped her temple, murmuring softly, "This looks a bit too mature for her age."
She gave Gwen a dismissive wave. "Next one."
Gwen nodded resignedly and retreated back into the fitting room. Raven, meanwhile, turned to the clerk and pointed at the black dress. "Go ahead and wrap that one up."
Even if it didn't quite fit Gwen's current vibe, it was still a stunning piece of craftsmanship. Raven figured she might as well buy it anyway.
"Of course, Ma'am!" the clerk replied, her voice beaming with delight.
Over the next hour, Gwen cycled through a dozen different looks. There was a fiery, passionate red; a tranquil, serene blue; and a vibrant, energetic green that seemed to hum with life.
Each dress Raven chose brought out a different facet of Gwen's temperament. Raven nodded repeatedly, her satisfaction overflowing. "Wrap all of them up," she commanded.
In that moment, the salesclerk looked at Raven as if she were a literal angel descending from the heavens. "Right away, Ma'am!" she chirped, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. The prices in this boutique were anything but low; she was looking at a windfall.
"You're buying this many? I can't possibly wear them all..." Gwen said, feeling the weight of the excess.
"If you can't wear them, you can collect them," Raven said with a playful wink. "A woman is always missing exactly one piece of clothing from her wardrobe."
Gwen opened her mouth to argue, but then thought better of it and closed it again. Fine, do whatever you want. Changing clothes is exhausting enough.
Despite her outward exhaustion, Gwen found herself thinking back to Raven's earlier words. A small spark of curiosity flickered in her mind regarding her potential prom date.
"I wonder who it'll be..." she whispered to herself.
When she noticed Raven's inquisitive gaze turning toward her, she quickly cleared her throat. "I didn't say anything! I'm definitely not 'excited' about the prom or anything like that."
"Oh, really?" Raven drawn out the word, her tone dripping with amusement.
Gwen looked away, her cheeks coloring slightly.
Just then, the clerk returned with the neatly packaged dresses. After helping the two ladies carry the bags out of the shop, she stood at the entrance and watched them leave, a brilliant, genuine smile on her face. In her eyes, those two were the most beautiful angels in the world.
While Gwen and the others were busy—or being made busy—preparing for the graduation prom, thousands of miles away from New York, near the border of North Dakota, the air began to ripple.
Like a mirror being struck by a hammer, cracks began to splinter across the fabric of space. Seconds later, a figure stepped out from the fractured void.
"Here... there was a deviation in the teleportation?"
A girl with lithe, short hair murmured to herself. Her sharp, arched brows twitched slightly as she inhaled, her nose twitching as she took in the scent of her new surroundings.
It was a landscape of rugged scrubland, sheer cliffs, and dense forests.
Standing atop a high precipice, she oriented herself. She pulled out a smartphone, glanced at the data on the screen, and allowed a small smile to touch her lips.
Good. She had made it. Another world—the world she had been anticipating for a very long time.
"That psycho didn't lie to me," she muttered.
Following the direction she had just identified, she began to walk forward. Directly ahead of her was a sheer drop of dozens of meters. She walked as if she didn't even see the edge, stepping out into empty air and falling from the cliffside like a stone.
Yet, as she plummeted, there wasn't a hint of panic on her face. Instead, she wore a look of wild, unbridled joy.
When she was about ten meters from the ground, she twisted her body mid-air, adjusting her posture. She slammed her hands toward the vertical rock face.
Snikt!
The sound of rending flesh echoed as two gleaming, metallic claws slid out from between her knuckles, burying themselves deep into the cliff wall.
SCREEEEE!
The friction between stone and blade sent a shower of sparks flying into the air. Amidst the ear-piercing screech of metal on rock, she used the resistance to slow her descent, sliding the rest of the way down the cliffside with practiced ease.
She landed and brushed the dust from her hands. With a faint smirk, she began walking toward a distant highway she had spotted from the heights.
"I'll go try my luck. Maybe I'll run into someone stupid enough to give me a reason to teach them a lesson."
Her expression became one of eager excitement.
Unfortunately for her, she was disappointed. After waiting by the road for an hour, the only thing that stopped was a long-haul truck driven by a man in his sixties.
The old driver was incredibly kind and even more talkative. From the moment the girl stepped into the cab, his mouth hadn't stopped moving for a single second. Her mind involuntarily flickered to a certain bald man she knew back home—someone known as the Professor—who could talk several times more than this old man.
Thinking of it that way, she decided the old trucker wasn't actually that annoying.
Before she even had to ask a question, the man had nearly finished narrating his entire life story. Listening to the endless "blah, blah, blah," the girl propped her head on her hand, staring out the window at the blurred scenery. She felt a sudden, strong urge to wrap the old man's mouth in duct tape.
Suddenly, the old driver seemed to realize something. He offered her a warm, grandfatherly smile. "Look at me, just rattling on. I haven't even asked what your name is."
The girl lifted an eyelid lazily.
"Laura."
"Laura, eh? That's a beautiful name!"
Laura looked at him with squinted, skeptical eyes. The old man gave a sheepish, guilty laugh. To be honest, it was a very common name; he was just being polite, but the way Laura looked at him made him feel like he had committed some sort of social crime.
Just then, a news report on the truck's radio caught Laura's attention.
"...Recently, the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Kent, discovered a hidden base built by supervillains beneath the Pacific Ocean. After destroying the facility, they apprehended several high-profile criminals and transferred them to the Superhero Association's maximum-security prison. Reliable sources claim that this operation was..."
Hearing the news, Laura's lips curled into a grin.
The Professor X of this world seemed to be quite active as well!
And the X-Men of this world...
Remembering the X-Men she knew from their peak years, Laura—a member of the younger, newer generation—began to look forward to the meeting.
Noticing the change in her expression, the veteran driver immediately pivoted and began regaling her with stories of the local superheroes.
(End of Chapter)