BLINDFOLD: Page 3 of 3

Biography - Page 3

Even after everything that had happened, Blindfold still couldn’t get David out of her mind. Using astral projection, she decided to spy on him and found him at a strange religious cult called the Church of the Happy Host. When the church leaders gave David a pill to see whether or not he was a mutant, Blindfold managed to dispose of the pill without anyone knowing. Blindfold soon realized that the cult was actually the one that had corrupted her brother years before and was furious with David for being there. When he soon let on that he knew she was watching, she told him off for meddling in things he shouldn’t. As he was explaining his intentions, though, he let slip that he considered the meeting a date and Blindfold started blushing. When he was called away by the church leader, she gave him a peck on the cheek and continued to watch over him. David managed to work events so that the church goers were arrested by SWORD for supposed crimes that David committed. As they were taken away, Ruth thanked David for dishing out some justice on the hateful group. Ruth left too but not before she made it clear to David she would be interested in seeing him again. Without Ruth realizing, though, David managed to get his hands on a diary full of prophesies that Luca had written and left at the church. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #7]

On their second date, Ruth and David met on the psychosphere, the dreamworld version of the astral plane. From there the two young lovers watched as David used his influence to help a young boy with his powers. Whilst at first they had slightly differing opinions on how he should help the boy, David ultimately came around to Blindfold’s way of thinking. Before they could get too cozy, though, Blindfold was forcibly removed from the psychosphere by the same entity that had pushed her out of David’s mind a few weeks earlier. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #8]

On their next date, the two actually met in person but the venue ended up being just as strange, as David teleported them both to the Moon. David began telling Ruth the story of Aarkus, an ancient cosmic being of which he had seen visions and which was destined to wipe out all mutants. Blindfold was alarmed and told David they should alert the X-Men, but became unsure after he showed her images of Aarkus destroying any team that challenged him. When David promised Ruth that he would take care of Aarkus, Ruth realized he essentially wanted permission to attack the being and was adamant that the being shouldn’t be punished for a crime it had yet to commit. To her surprise, David replied he wanted approval because he had already done it five hours earlier. He showed her Aarkus’ base on the Moon and revealed he had tampered with the being’s mind whilst he was asleep. Ruth was furious but David remained unapologetic. Instead, he sent her back to the school with Aarkus in the hopes the X-Men would educate him. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #9]

Despite David’s actions, Ruth couldn’t stop thinking about him and so she used Cerebra to spy on him without his knowledge. As well as accidentally catching him sleeping in the nude, she also discovered Luca’s diary, which David had taken a few weeks earlier. When David woke up, he immediately teleported himself away and it took a while for Blindfold to locate him. When she did, she discovered he was at a medical testing center in San Francisco and was signing on to take a cure for his mutation. Blindfold hurriedly put together her own ad-hoc X-Men team and went to rescue David from himself. When she got there, though, she discovered that she was simply a pawn in David’s game and he had counted on them coming for him.

As events unfolded, it was revealed the Red Skull was the one creating the cure for mutants and David was there to stop him. After a tense fight, in which David had to give himself over to the dangerous personality in his mind, the Red Skull fled. Afterwards, Ruth and David talked about their relationship and what the future held for them. Both Ruth and David were now well aware of the future that was headed their way. David was somehow going to end up absorbing all the mutants into himself and killing the entire race. The only outcomes either of them could see was that either David would die by Blindfold’s hand or every mutant, including Blindfold, would die. Despite all that, David told her that he would continue to fight for a future where they could be together. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #10-12]

David travelled to the UK next and enlisted a group of British mutants into helping him sort out a problem he foresaw arising. Blindfold stayed behind in America but used astral projection to keep tabs on him and was disappointed to see he was using his powers to force the various mutants into working for him. However, she had misunderstood Legion’s plan and that the mutants were all working together to wipe mutophobia off the map in the UK. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #13-14]

When David’s mother was murdered, he initially lost control again but soon found his focus and decided it was time he met with Cyclops. Blindfold was becoming his emotional support more and more and she spent a great deal of time inside his mind. However, she was also being worried at some of his actions and how he achieved them. When David confronted Cyclops, he immediately started a fight and laid waste to most of the X-Men. Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos proved to be trickier but Ruth surprised Emma, knocking her out with a punch. Ruth likewise pulled an unlikely victory against the Cuckoos after David slyly gave her a power boost. In the end, it was left to David to fight Cyclops alone. However, during the brawl, the two combatants accidentally knocked into a mutant girl whose powers had just manifested. Unable to control them, she started absorbing every living thing around her into one homogenous mass. When Blindfold saw it, she immediately thought that this was going to be the incident that would end either David or her. David was immediately absorbed into the growing mass and he begged Ruth to kill him with Magik’s soulsword.

Knowing what would happen if she didn’t, Ruth reluctantly picked up the blade and prepared to stab him, only to be stopped when a hand grabbed hers. When she turned around, Ruth saw Luca, now in possession of a body constructed out of metal. Luca had foreseen what was about to happen and was there to make sure it would go exactly the way he wanted it to. Once again, though, David had played everyone for fools and everything had been part of one big plan. He broke free of the mass, stopped Luca from killing Ruth and then destroyed his body once again. Blindfold was confused but David explained he needed to draw Luca out so he decided to make it seem his prophecy was coming true. Everyone was disgusted by his actions but, as the dust was settling, David had another psychic episode and the errant personality that had been plaguing him for so long broke free. It took control of Luca’s body and then disappeared, leaving David and his shattered psyche behind. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #15-18]

David was taken away and it was weeks before Blindfold had any idea where he was. She eventually found him on board the SWORD space station where he was undergoing an unconventional form of therapy. By the time he left, he had a new outlook on his situation and a newfound control over his powers. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #19-20]

When David came back to Earth, Blindfold entered his mind but found a much different landscape than before and an even more different David. He was now absorbing all his personalities into the David Haller one and changing with each new one. Ruth was shocked at how much he had changed and worried that she could see he was continuing down the path that would led to one of their deaths. She begged him to stop but, despite his confession of love, he told her he couldn’t. He gently put her to sleep so she couldn’t get in the way and then went to confront his out of control personality.

With the help of the X-Men, David managed to destroy the personality’s body that it stole off Luca. With her brother dead once and for all, the powers that were stolen from Ruth returned to her. She woke up from her sleep and, whilst her body raced towards David’s location, she managed to astrally project her psyche there first. Taking the name Destiny, she told the X-Men that it was now too late to save David. Her boyfriend tried absorbing the wayward personality into his new form but, as he did so, it triggered a massive change within him and he started to become the thing Blindfold had feared. Unable to stop himself, he started to absorb the consciousness of every mutant around the world into him, all except Ruth.

Her body finally made it to David and, when she arrived, he saw she had become a powerful being in her own right. Manifesting her own sword, she hacked and slashed at David’s form to no avail. Eventually, she forced David to allow her to enter his mind one last time so she could see him again. Inside David’s mind, the two made love for the first time. However, as soon as it was over, David could no longer hold back the inevitable. The two lovers bid goodbye and Ruth was forced back into her own body again.

Despite her best efforts, Ruth too was on the verge of being consumed by David’s power until the young man found the self-confidence he needed to stop it all. With his full array of powers at his disposal, David altered reality itself and removed himself from existence. For a brief moment, everything went blank but then Ruth found herself back in her old body again at Westchester. It was now the day Xavier had died and none of the events of the past few months had happened. No one knew who David was but, when a lone voice called from inside her head, she discovered he had somehow left a fragment of himself inside her mind. [X-Men Legacy (2nd series) #21-24]

The X-Men went through numerous shifts in their status over the next few months and eventually Ruth parted ways with them. In her absense, most of the team was killed during a confrontation between X-Man and Legion. With the X-Men gone, there were very few mutants left to stand up to the growing opression that was being inflicted on the race. Ruth joined up with Loa and Velocidad in a bid to stay alive and they decided to head for the Morlock tunnels where they thought they could hide from the various factions out to kill them. Loa was killed along the way, underlying the fact that the remaining mutants were being picked off one by one. With the power of precognition Ruth was forced to watch numerous futures unfold in her mind and was starting to lose sight of what was the present and what was the future. The futures she saw were grim, as they all ended up with her dying brutally at the hands of others. Instead of telling those around her of her concerns, Ruth kept them too herself, sinking into a deep depression that would lead her down a fatal path. Believing that she was taking control of her own destiny, Ruth decided to kill herself before someone else did. Before she did it though, she wanted to help her allies one last time and so she left the Morlocks in search of some former teammates.

She first met up with Cyclops, who had just come back to life again and was determined to restart the X-Men. Ruth warned him not to follow the path. as she only saw death in the future. However, before he could question her anymore, she left. Knowing that she wanted to end her life on her own terms, she decided to live the high life for a while. Obtaining a winning lottery ticket, she bought herself a house and pampered herself, waiting for the next friend to find her. Sure enough, Jamie Madrox knocked on her door, having been sent by Cyclops to locate her, but she simply sent him away with a cryptic warning about his future. Her final guest was Wolverine, who had tracked her down by following Jamie. Wolverine was worried about her but she deflected his concerns and made him promise to meet up with Cyclops so they could watch out for each other. After ushering him away, Ruth was left to enact the final part of her plan. Resigned to the fact she was going to die one way or another, she cooked herself a nice meal, ran a bath and then took her own life. When Cyclops eventually caught up with her, he discovered Ruth's body in the bathtub, with the words "This is forever" scrawled on the wall in her blood. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #11]

Feeling isolated and under the weight of her own confusing powers, Ruth felt that there wasn't a way out other than death. She never got to see if the visions she saw were real, or whether Cyclops and Wolverine would usher in a brighter future for mutants.