In another universe...

Hall of Mirrors

kateprydes © 2025
started ━ september 5, 2022
published ━ january 3, 2025
status ━ ongoing

Devin Seo used to believe that she was brave, as every child once was. It was partially her parents' fault. Every time she'd clawed herself awake, screaming until her lungs were raw from another nightmare, they'd tell her how brave she was just to close her eyes. Her father would smile, kiss her on the forehead and tell her that she got it from her mother. At some point it should've had some sort of placebo effect, even pretending to be brave should've made her less of a coward.

Fear is innate, courage is a learned behavior. The human body has natural mechanisms to respond to fear, the sympathetic nervous system kicking into gear, reallocating energy so we can get as far away as possible. But you must learn to be unafraid, you must learn not to run.

Devin's philosophy is that no one is unteachable, there are just those who refuse to be taught. Her parents, Avery, Professor Xavier, Scott, all tried to teach her to stop running, to be unafraid. She never stopped moving for long enough to retain any of it. 

She has this dream — when she can convince herself to fall asleep — of running, sprinting, like something is chasing her through the mansion, through her classroom, through small-town middle America. She tries to stop, but there's a disconnect between her mind and her body. Rather, her body is not her own. Initially, cold air stings the back of her throat, and the muscles in her legs ache in annoyance, she's just running in circles. Her breathing becomes erratic, the soles of her feet begin to blister, and her muscles move on from a dull ache to harrowing screams of agony, she should just stop to catch her breath. Even when her legs feel like they're about to give out, she never stops.

Devin wakes up out of breath, searing pain radiating throughout her body at every little movement.

She learned a long time ago that they're never just dreams. Most kids didn't wake up from night terrors with constellations of scratches and bruises across their small, shaking bodies. Most kids didn't get night terrors either, they had pleasant dreams, even escaped to their own personal dreamworlds while awake. She learned that when Avery fell asleep during math and a horde of cartoon characters began parading through Mrs. Castillo's pre-algebra class.

Maybe, that's all this is. Devin and Avery had been attached at the hip since they were five, perhaps their connection was deeper than that. It's wrong, insensitive, selfish to think that all the sickness and death, wasn't real, that it was just a broadcasted nightmare. She's aware of that. She won't open her eyes and have them all, have Scott, back.

So, Devin runs and runs. Heart racing, breath shaking, muscles screaming, until it finally caught up to her. She's cornered, coughing up blood, and she can feel the nightmares closing in. Then a window opens and she's staring at a reflection of herself, though slightly different. She wipes the blood from her chin, the taste of iron lingering on her tongue as she walks through.

On the other side, she wakes up in a world she does not belong in, being stared down by familiar faces that she does not recognize. She tries to run, but she's found herself stuck, unable to move and unable to return to what she ran away from. The walls begin closing in, and when Devin Seo can't run, she hides.

And cowards can always find the best places to hide.

Devin Seo / PARACOSM

Avery Merritt / EPIDEMIC

Scott Summers / CYCLOPS

JEAN GREY

content warning
This story may contain mature themes such as explicit language, substance/alcohol use, death, violence, depictions of mental illnesses, and sexual references. I will be putting trigger warnings where necessary.

copyright
I only own any original characters and plotlines featured in this story. I did not create any of the gifs or psds used, credit to their respective creators. Beautiful, Amazing, Showstopping cover by bayports <33

other
I formatted this using dark mode and georgia font at the smallest setting. I have no idea if this will affect your reading experience, but this is here just in case something looks weird.

disclaimer
This piece of fanfiction is not meant to promote or support any property currently enabling the illegal occupation of Palestinan land and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. I encourage you to boycott the platforms currently housing the source material and find alternative methods of engaging with it (🏴‍☠️). I would be happy to provide additional resources. Thank you & Free Palestine.

author's note
hello n welcome to a little slice of my stupid evil brain where scott summers is ever present like a fucking tumor. he's not my roman empire he's my brain cancer and i hate it here.

anyways

the inspiration for this fic came from a multitude of sources, the main ones being The Sandman (fuck neil gaiman) Dimension 20's The Unsleeping City, and Everything, Everywhere All at Once i feel like it's pretty self-explanatory after that, multiverse, magic and dream shenanigans

if you're thinking hm dreams, magic, multiverse, this sounds a lot like multiverse of madness, you'd be correct. my god complex and i decided that we could do it better and by better i mean scrapping all of it as to not continue to white wash one of the most iconic comic book stories of all time, but keeping the themes of grief makes you do some wacky things.

so this fic will mostly follow x-men the animated series / '97 and the comics, but i do what i want and i'm going to change things i don't like or if i think my ideas are better. i'm a long time x-men fan and these characters are all so special to me and i can't wait to make their lives worse

(i will keep repeating myself with this: do not use disney+ to watch those shows. do not buy marvel comics. both disney and marvel are on the bds boycott list. there are alternate, ethical ways getting to that content, i've been doing it for years!!! spend that money on people in gaza who are desperately seeking aid, i literally have so many links, just ask!!)

in terms of the dream world/the dreaming or whatever, marvel's version is kind of lame like the nightmare character has some potential but like especially compared to dc and the sandman universe. so i will be taking extreme creative liberties and spruce it up ;) i'm going to try to give it and how it influences devin and the story kind of psychological thriller vibes but i don't write enough to have developed my skills to be able to confidently pull that off, so if i fail miserably no i didn't it was never supposed to be like that in the first place

anyways that was a load of nonsense, thx for reading i really appreciate u and i hope u enjoy!!!!

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