Thou Has Conquered, O Pale Galilean- Watchmen (Dan/Adrian)

Jun 03, 2009 16:23

Author: Bitterfig
Fandom: Watchmen (movieverse)
Title: Thou Hast Conquered, O Pale Galilean
Pairing: Dan (Nite Owl II)/Adrian (Ozymandias)
Summary: Adrian never understood the appeal of martyrdom till Dan attacked him. After that he wanted more.
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 462
Rating: R
Warnings: Twisted violence and sexuality, religious themes.
Author’s Note: Written for the prompt June 3- Watchmen, Dan/Adrian: topping from the bottom - "Adrian always wins."



Thou Hast Conquered, O Pale Galilean

On the day he deceived and saved the world, on the day he killed millions to save billions Adrian Veidt came to understand, for the first time, the allure of Jesus Christ.

Prior to that day, Adrian had regarded the crucified Christ with a mild distain. Like the poet Swinburne he regarded Christ as a “pale Galilean” who turned the world grey. Adrian preferred the more vital Gods of Egypt, Greece and Rome compared to whom Jesus seemed weak and pathetic. Martyrdom seemed like an absence, a lack of energy, color and strength.

That all changed when Dan attacked him.

It had been ridiculous really, a childish, self-righteous attack that Adrian could have easily deflected.

Yet he didn’t. He took it. Surrendering to Dan’s undisciplined pummeling he experienced what it felt like to sacrifice one’s self for humanity writ large, to take on the suffering of the masses, to know their pain and give it meaning, to be misunderstood and persecuted that others might prosper. There was strength in this, strength and unspeakable beauty.

They left him, in his fortress at the end of the world without a thank you. A triumphant pharaoh entombed in his pyramid amidst the waste of the Arctic rather than the desert, a lonesome savior without even his beloved lynx for companionship. Not that such things concerned Adrian, he had known that if his plans were discovered they would be greeted with horror rather than gratitude by those unable to fathom his vision. What he hadn’t expected was how the hostility, the violent misunderstanding of someone like Dan gave his work meaning.

Alone, Adrian remembered the intoxication he had felt as Dan bludgeoned him. He touched his bruises tenderly. He wanted it again. He wanted more.

Dan had stopped too soon, a few blows was hardly enough. Adrian wanted to be beaten senseless and bloody, to allow himself to be stripped naked and ravaged. Precisely because he had always been above carnality, more interested in ideas than bodies, Adrian felt the need to experience humiliation and violation of a sexual nature, to give himself over to it…

This was what Adrian wanted and there was no question in his mind that he would get it.

Dan had seemed sincerely revolted by what Adrian had done and clearly wanted nothing more to do with him but that was the most minor of obstacles. Adrian had bent nations to his will. Daniel Dreiberg would hardly pose a challenge. After all, to Dan’s limited understanding, Ozymandias was a supervillain now and Nite Owl was still a hero. It was inevitable that they would engage at some point in the future and Dan’s childish anger would once again explode.

Then Adrian would win, he would get exactly what he wanted.

He always did.

bitterfig, watchmen

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