day blah bah blah - in battle, side-by-side
OKAY HI. So. This is not XMFC. It's not even old retired dudes. It's not even 616. This is Xavier and Magnus from X-Treme X-Men issues 2-3 on the bronze-age-greek-god-steampunk world that our merry band of multiverse hopping mutants land on for their first proper mission arc. For those not reading X-Treme X-Men (aka like, everyone because it was cancelled due to low sales figures), the titular X-Men are a team led by Alison Blaire (aka Dazzler) from 616 and the severed head of Charles Xavier in a jar, joined by Former Governor General Howlett (aka an alternate Wolverine) and Kurt Waggoner, aged fourteen (aka an alternate Nightcrawler). They're tasked with finding and killing ten evil alternaworld Xaviers, lest the multiverse unravel.
Some relevant bits of this particular arc are here, here, here, here, and here.
But! I feel like it's probably pretty readable on its own as a bronze-age-greek-god-steampunk AU? :D? :D? :D?
Anyway, I'm just generally pleased to have written it! If you do read it, I hope you enjoy!
***
in battle, side-by-side (~2200)
***
It's Xavier who finds him, caked in dust and tears, when he finally wanders from the wreckage.
"Magnus?" he calls. "Magnus!"
And Magnus can only collapse against his old friend and weep. His parents. His sister. They're all gone. His entire family snuffed out before his eyes, murdered by the gods they were trying to appease, the gods they had worshipped their whole lives.
Xavier had been saying for years that reliance on the gods made them weak, that the gods couldn't be counted on, shouldn't be counted on. It was dangerous, he said. Many shunned Xavier for his blasphemies, but the gods had always been open to discovery and independence. They saw no need to punish non-believers, and so Magnus stayed close.
"The boy needs a friend," his mother had said, wary as she was of his heresy. Magnus had been happy to provide that friendship. Xavier was brilliant and charming and he has been right all this time. Magnus feels a fool for doubting him, but that foolishness is dwarfed by a sadness so deep he can hardly bear to stand.
"It's okay," Xavier says, embracing him tightly. "You survived, Magnus. You survived, and that's what matters. You can help us take back what's ours."
It's startling, how quickly his sadness morphs into this all-consuming need for vengeance.
"Tell me what I have to do," Magnus says.
Xavier smiles at him and takes his hand.
***
They work together to build their new world, preaching their own brand of fealty, one rooted in science and reason. Xavier teaches them that their gifts are not from the gods, but rather twists in their biology, variations as simple as those that dictate the different colors of their eyes, if rarer. He uses his own biological twist to shield their new city, their utopia, from the wrath of the gods and he teaches all of them, stands in the public forum and speaks about engines and electrics and all the brilliant ideas he's fostering in the scientists, so long as they can stave off the deities. People gather and listen, smiling, sometimes for the first time in ages. They linger afterwards and ask questions, and then scatter back to their lives and their jobs.
It's a more efficient place, now that they don't rely on the gods for everything. While their little settlement might not be thriving, there's a certain pride that comes from knowing that this is their own doing. They've carved this life themselves, without help from the gods. They've harnessed the powers of science under Xavier's tutelage and soon they may even surpass the life they led before the gods turned on them.
It's a triumph, and Magnus embraces the self-sufficiency he never knew he craved.
"You're changing the world," he tells Xavier.
"Not just me," Xavier says, and touches Magnus' wrist, just fleetingly and sweetly enough that Magnus' heart sings.
***
In public, Xavier lectures. In private, they train. Magnus' gift had been used for the family business, previously. His family has known this gift generations back. The strength of his control was seen as a blessing from the gods. The gift hadn't been so strong in years, and Magnus was apprenticing with his father almost before he could read, twisting metal into statues and wheels and plows effortlessly.
He makes weapons, now--armor and canons and the intricate metal parts for the things that Xavier and Richards and Stark design. He molds tiny trigger mechanisms and bends huge sheaths of metal to his will.
"You're more than even this," Xavier murmurs as he sweats in the heat of his workshop, their shirts shed in deference to the fire roaring behind them. "You can be a weapon yourself. You can use your mutation to defend yourself as easily as you use it in the workshop."
Xavier never calls them "gifts." He says that name implies benevolent bestowal from the higher powers that have turned on them. Mutation, he says, is the scientific term for the change in their biology, the one that allows Magnus to manipulate metals and allows Xavier to speak right into Magnus' mind, warm and intimate as he helps Magnus unlock his true power.
Magnus has never used his gift to destroy, only to create.
"You've been missing half your potential, my dear friend," Xavier tells him. He smiles, then. A benevolent bestowal. A true gift.
***
He's glad for Xavier's training once they start going on raids.
"We have technology the gods aren't expecting," Xavier assures him as they plan out the first. "There are so many innocent people out there being tortured by the deities. Murdered as your family was. They deserve a chance at the freedom we have within the city."
Freedom is relative, of course. There are restrictions in the city. Their resources are limited. There's a certain hierarchy of priorities when it comes to scientific inquiry and the best use of time, but they're small prices to pay for the safety afforded by Xavier's mental shields. It's a small price to pay to ensure that no other child should be orphaned.
They go out together at night, landing their craft in the village square. The mortals wander out in awe and Xavier stands atop it and speaks to them.
"You don't have to live like this, under the oppressive rule of gods who demand worship in exchange for persecution! You don't have to allow yourselves to be degraded by your mortality! Come with us--allow us to open your minds to the possibility that we, too, can be as powerful as the gods!"
Magnus' blood roars through his veins at the speech. The crowd looks wary, but there are those that join them, even as the God of Thunder appears after a jagged crack of lightning illuminates the sky.
There's screaming and rumbling, general chaos as the god gives chase. The craft has weapons built in, but it is their gifts--mutation--that brings the god down. Xavier strikes, causing the god to fall to his knees in pain, his head between his hands. Magnus strikes while he's distracted, wraps him in great sheets of metal and tosses him away, giving them just enough time to escape to the safety of Xavier's mental bubble.
The refugees are frightened and injured, tended to by McCoy and Banner. Stark and Richards examine the airship for damage. Xavier is grinning madly, with an unholy exuberance that sets Magnus alight.
"We did it," he says, clutching at Magnus' elbows. "We took on the gods, Magnus. You did. You took down a god yourself, with your powers. How does it feel? Does it feel good? Is it still there under your skin, that power, that--"
Magnus slams him against the side of the nearest building, out of the light of the bonfire, away from the bustle of the camp. He ruts mindlessly against Xavier, hot all over with the power, with the intensity, with the fire that sings in his blood whenever Xavier is near.
He marks Xavier with his teeth and nails, claws at the buttons of his waistcoat, tries to hold him still despite his power, his presence, and finally gives in to Xavier's hand unclasping his trousers and sliding inside. Magnus sobs his climax into Xavier's neck, grateful that Xavier has shown him this life beyond the gods, has given him something new and infinitely more precious to worship.
***
They go out side by side after that. They save lives and lose lives and battle the gods side-by-side. Xavier's ability informs them when there's to be trouble, and they go out, sometimes alone, sometimes with others, but always together. There are days they return dirty and bloody, days they dress each other's wounds in the cavernous rooms attached to the laboratories, the rooms that Xavier now occupies. There are days they return triumphant with a dozen mortals in tow, all unharmed and grateful, and Magnus and Xavier ride out the high on the settee in Xavier's office, tracing old scars greedily and laughing through the excess of adrenaline.
Xavier seems content--happy, even. Thousands of mortals are still being murdered every day, but their little city is thriving and it's due to Xavier's leadership. He has people to direct, ideas to spread amongst their people, and Magnus warming his bed at night. He can understand Xavier trying to make the most out of it, enjoy life while he can. It's not the simple life Magnus led with his parents and sister all those years ago, but it's good in its own way. He misses them every day and yearns, every day, to avenge their deaths, but even with that burden it's easy to see that this is a better life. A freer life.
He trusts Xavier. He trusts Xavier with everything the way he used to trust the gods. There aren't many people he would give that much power to, but Xavier who is humble and wise, deserves it. Xavier doesn't abuse the power, not the way the gods did.
***
Magnus goes to Xavier the night after the visitors from another realm tumble into their world. He's concerned--he's seen Xavier collapse under the strain of his mutation before, comforted him through the headaches and the vomiting, but what happened in the amplification room was different. The blood startled him. The vehemence that they find these other telepaths and...and kill them.
It's always been the gods. They've never gone after mortals before.
"Xavier?" Magnus asks. He's away from the groups of citizens down on the streets, off on his office balcony on his own.
"Magnus," Xavier says. "You seem concerned. You've nothing to worry about, I'm fine."
"I worry," Magnus says. "This plan--these people aren't prepared for war. And to attack the telepaths--couldn't they help us? Couldn't they be turned against the gods?"
Xavier shakes his head so hard and so sharply that Magnus steps back.
"No," he says. "No. They want to kill me, Magnus. They've aligned themselves with the gods. They've made their choice!" He turns and stares at Magnus. His eyes are piercing. "Do you want to see me tortured, Magnus? After years of staying by my side, after years of helping me realize the true destiny of this world, do you want to see me bleed slowly out of every orifice while I'm torn apart mentally and screaming in pain?"
Magnus shudders at the very thought. His hand darts out to catch Xavier's and squeeze it tightly.
"I would never," Magnus says.
"Those telepaths will ruin everything I've worked for, everything you've built with me," Xavier says, clutching Magnus' hand in his own. "They must be stopped."
Magnus nods and projects his faith and his loyalty. They've come this far together. After the millions of their people murdered, Magnus isn't going to question Xavier now.
"We march at dawn," Magnus says. "We're take out the telepaths, and maybe a few gods while we're at it."
Xavier kisses him with a ferocity that Magnus isn't expecting, but he doesn't let himself flinch. He kisses back, does what he can to calm Xavier's nerves. They'll need to focus tomorrow, and it will be best to go into this with no regrets and no secrets.
***
Magus' focus is on protecting their people, incapacitating the gods, and finding the telepaths. He trusts Xavier to take care of himself, he learned that long ago, Xavier links to him, gives Magnus an awareness of his position, of what he's doing. Magnus knows exactly where his Xavier is when the other Xavier makes his revelation.
"Xavier's been mind-controlling the gods!"
It's like the air around him disappears into a vacuum, like he's walking through honey. It absolutely can't be true. It's an illusion, a lie from the other telepath, the other Xavier, it has to be--
But there's fear across the telepathic battle link, there's anger and frustration and a stab of something that tastes like truth.
And then Xavier says it.
"Dammit!" Xavier says. "Come, Goddess! Serve me one last time!"
The world is crumbling down around Magnus. He's back in the temple the day he lost his parents and Ruth, struck by the same hopelessness. He put his faith in the gods and they betrayed him. He turned that faith to Xavier and now it's happening all over again.
It can't be true.
It is, Magnus.
It's the other Xavier, the floating head. The voice is the same, but the tone and the feeling, the warmth is missing. The familiarity.
He's pulled their strings all this time. He killed millions. Your family. He's been using you. You can't protect him, not any longer. You must let him pay.
He sees the devastation of his world dancing across his vision, the deaths on his conscious, the times that Magnus himself has been injured and bleeding.
Xavier could have stopped it all. Did he care? About Magnus, about any of it--
There's a sharp pain in his head, a cry of outrage as the other Xavier is ripped from his mind, as his Xavier eyes the others, eyes the Queen, and the little blue boy--
Miss Blaire throws a bolt of energy and Magnus can't stop his first instinct to run to Xavier, still. It's ingrained. He wonders if Xavier planted those feelings, too, or if they were real. Could they ever have been real, built as they were on lies?
Xavier was the cause of all the devastation. Xavier has ruined everything Magnus held dear, from the death of his parents to the mockery of a life he's built in the aftermath. Xavier has betrayed everything good in their world, has committed atrocities that Magnus' mind can't begin to process.
He must be stopped. Miss Blaire won't do it, but he must be stopped and Magnus' heart is breaking, his world is dying, but it must in order to be reborn.
He has tears in his eyes, but his grip is as sure as he wishes his heart could be.
*
the rest of the days:
1. Holding hands
2. Cuddling somewhere
3. Gaming/watching a movie
4. On a date
5. Kissing
6. Wearing each others’ clothes
7. Shopping
8. Hanging out with friends
9. Making out
10. Eating icecream
11. In a different clothing style
12. During their morning ritual(s)
13. Spooning
14. Doing something together
15. In formal wear
16. Dancing
17. Cooking/baking
18. In battle, side-by-side
19. Arguing
20. Making up afterwards
21. Getting married
22. On one of their birthdays
23. Doing something ridiculous
24. Doing something sweet
25. Doing something hot
Some relevant bits of this particular arc are here, here, here, here, and here.
But! I feel like it's probably pretty readable on its own as a bronze-age-greek-god-steampunk AU? :D? :D? :D?
Anyway, I'm just generally pleased to have written it! If you do read it, I hope you enjoy!
***
in battle, side-by-side (~2200)
***
It's Xavier who finds him, caked in dust and tears, when he finally wanders from the wreckage.
"Magnus?" he calls. "Magnus!"
And Magnus can only collapse against his old friend and weep. His parents. His sister. They're all gone. His entire family snuffed out before his eyes, murdered by the gods they were trying to appease, the gods they had worshipped their whole lives.
Xavier had been saying for years that reliance on the gods made them weak, that the gods couldn't be counted on, shouldn't be counted on. It was dangerous, he said. Many shunned Xavier for his blasphemies, but the gods had always been open to discovery and independence. They saw no need to punish non-believers, and so Magnus stayed close.
"The boy needs a friend," his mother had said, wary as she was of his heresy. Magnus had been happy to provide that friendship. Xavier was brilliant and charming and he has been right all this time. Magnus feels a fool for doubting him, but that foolishness is dwarfed by a sadness so deep he can hardly bear to stand.
"It's okay," Xavier says, embracing him tightly. "You survived, Magnus. You survived, and that's what matters. You can help us take back what's ours."
It's startling, how quickly his sadness morphs into this all-consuming need for vengeance.
"Tell me what I have to do," Magnus says.
Xavier smiles at him and takes his hand.
***
They work together to build their new world, preaching their own brand of fealty, one rooted in science and reason. Xavier teaches them that their gifts are not from the gods, but rather twists in their biology, variations as simple as those that dictate the different colors of their eyes, if rarer. He uses his own biological twist to shield their new city, their utopia, from the wrath of the gods and he teaches all of them, stands in the public forum and speaks about engines and electrics and all the brilliant ideas he's fostering in the scientists, so long as they can stave off the deities. People gather and listen, smiling, sometimes for the first time in ages. They linger afterwards and ask questions, and then scatter back to their lives and their jobs.
It's a more efficient place, now that they don't rely on the gods for everything. While their little settlement might not be thriving, there's a certain pride that comes from knowing that this is their own doing. They've carved this life themselves, without help from the gods. They've harnessed the powers of science under Xavier's tutelage and soon they may even surpass the life they led before the gods turned on them.
It's a triumph, and Magnus embraces the self-sufficiency he never knew he craved.
"You're changing the world," he tells Xavier.
"Not just me," Xavier says, and touches Magnus' wrist, just fleetingly and sweetly enough that Magnus' heart sings.
***
In public, Xavier lectures. In private, they train. Magnus' gift had been used for the family business, previously. His family has known this gift generations back. The strength of his control was seen as a blessing from the gods. The gift hadn't been so strong in years, and Magnus was apprenticing with his father almost before he could read, twisting metal into statues and wheels and plows effortlessly.
He makes weapons, now--armor and canons and the intricate metal parts for the things that Xavier and Richards and Stark design. He molds tiny trigger mechanisms and bends huge sheaths of metal to his will.
"You're more than even this," Xavier murmurs as he sweats in the heat of his workshop, their shirts shed in deference to the fire roaring behind them. "You can be a weapon yourself. You can use your mutation to defend yourself as easily as you use it in the workshop."
Xavier never calls them "gifts." He says that name implies benevolent bestowal from the higher powers that have turned on them. Mutation, he says, is the scientific term for the change in their biology, the one that allows Magnus to manipulate metals and allows Xavier to speak right into Magnus' mind, warm and intimate as he helps Magnus unlock his true power.
Magnus has never used his gift to destroy, only to create.
"You've been missing half your potential, my dear friend," Xavier tells him. He smiles, then. A benevolent bestowal. A true gift.
***
He's glad for Xavier's training once they start going on raids.
"We have technology the gods aren't expecting," Xavier assures him as they plan out the first. "There are so many innocent people out there being tortured by the deities. Murdered as your family was. They deserve a chance at the freedom we have within the city."
Freedom is relative, of course. There are restrictions in the city. Their resources are limited. There's a certain hierarchy of priorities when it comes to scientific inquiry and the best use of time, but they're small prices to pay for the safety afforded by Xavier's mental shields. It's a small price to pay to ensure that no other child should be orphaned.
They go out together at night, landing their craft in the village square. The mortals wander out in awe and Xavier stands atop it and speaks to them.
"You don't have to live like this, under the oppressive rule of gods who demand worship in exchange for persecution! You don't have to allow yourselves to be degraded by your mortality! Come with us--allow us to open your minds to the possibility that we, too, can be as powerful as the gods!"
Magnus' blood roars through his veins at the speech. The crowd looks wary, but there are those that join them, even as the God of Thunder appears after a jagged crack of lightning illuminates the sky.
There's screaming and rumbling, general chaos as the god gives chase. The craft has weapons built in, but it is their gifts--mutation--that brings the god down. Xavier strikes, causing the god to fall to his knees in pain, his head between his hands. Magnus strikes while he's distracted, wraps him in great sheets of metal and tosses him away, giving them just enough time to escape to the safety of Xavier's mental bubble.
The refugees are frightened and injured, tended to by McCoy and Banner. Stark and Richards examine the airship for damage. Xavier is grinning madly, with an unholy exuberance that sets Magnus alight.
"We did it," he says, clutching at Magnus' elbows. "We took on the gods, Magnus. You did. You took down a god yourself, with your powers. How does it feel? Does it feel good? Is it still there under your skin, that power, that--"
Magnus slams him against the side of the nearest building, out of the light of the bonfire, away from the bustle of the camp. He ruts mindlessly against Xavier, hot all over with the power, with the intensity, with the fire that sings in his blood whenever Xavier is near.
He marks Xavier with his teeth and nails, claws at the buttons of his waistcoat, tries to hold him still despite his power, his presence, and finally gives in to Xavier's hand unclasping his trousers and sliding inside. Magnus sobs his climax into Xavier's neck, grateful that Xavier has shown him this life beyond the gods, has given him something new and infinitely more precious to worship.
***
They go out side by side after that. They save lives and lose lives and battle the gods side-by-side. Xavier's ability informs them when there's to be trouble, and they go out, sometimes alone, sometimes with others, but always together. There are days they return dirty and bloody, days they dress each other's wounds in the cavernous rooms attached to the laboratories, the rooms that Xavier now occupies. There are days they return triumphant with a dozen mortals in tow, all unharmed and grateful, and Magnus and Xavier ride out the high on the settee in Xavier's office, tracing old scars greedily and laughing through the excess of adrenaline.
Xavier seems content--happy, even. Thousands of mortals are still being murdered every day, but their little city is thriving and it's due to Xavier's leadership. He has people to direct, ideas to spread amongst their people, and Magnus warming his bed at night. He can understand Xavier trying to make the most out of it, enjoy life while he can. It's not the simple life Magnus led with his parents and sister all those years ago, but it's good in its own way. He misses them every day and yearns, every day, to avenge their deaths, but even with that burden it's easy to see that this is a better life. A freer life.
He trusts Xavier. He trusts Xavier with everything the way he used to trust the gods. There aren't many people he would give that much power to, but Xavier who is humble and wise, deserves it. Xavier doesn't abuse the power, not the way the gods did.
***
Magnus goes to Xavier the night after the visitors from another realm tumble into their world. He's concerned--he's seen Xavier collapse under the strain of his mutation before, comforted him through the headaches and the vomiting, but what happened in the amplification room was different. The blood startled him. The vehemence that they find these other telepaths and...and kill them.
It's always been the gods. They've never gone after mortals before.
"Xavier?" Magnus asks. He's away from the groups of citizens down on the streets, off on his office balcony on his own.
"Magnus," Xavier says. "You seem concerned. You've nothing to worry about, I'm fine."
"I worry," Magnus says. "This plan--these people aren't prepared for war. And to attack the telepaths--couldn't they help us? Couldn't they be turned against the gods?"
Xavier shakes his head so hard and so sharply that Magnus steps back.
"No," he says. "No. They want to kill me, Magnus. They've aligned themselves with the gods. They've made their choice!" He turns and stares at Magnus. His eyes are piercing. "Do you want to see me tortured, Magnus? After years of staying by my side, after years of helping me realize the true destiny of this world, do you want to see me bleed slowly out of every orifice while I'm torn apart mentally and screaming in pain?"
Magnus shudders at the very thought. His hand darts out to catch Xavier's and squeeze it tightly.
"I would never," Magnus says.
"Those telepaths will ruin everything I've worked for, everything you've built with me," Xavier says, clutching Magnus' hand in his own. "They must be stopped."
Magnus nods and projects his faith and his loyalty. They've come this far together. After the millions of their people murdered, Magnus isn't going to question Xavier now.
"We march at dawn," Magnus says. "We're take out the telepaths, and maybe a few gods while we're at it."
Xavier kisses him with a ferocity that Magnus isn't expecting, but he doesn't let himself flinch. He kisses back, does what he can to calm Xavier's nerves. They'll need to focus tomorrow, and it will be best to go into this with no regrets and no secrets.
***
Magus' focus is on protecting their people, incapacitating the gods, and finding the telepaths. He trusts Xavier to take care of himself, he learned that long ago, Xavier links to him, gives Magnus an awareness of his position, of what he's doing. Magnus knows exactly where his Xavier is when the other Xavier makes his revelation.
"Xavier's been mind-controlling the gods!"
It's like the air around him disappears into a vacuum, like he's walking through honey. It absolutely can't be true. It's an illusion, a lie from the other telepath, the other Xavier, it has to be--
But there's fear across the telepathic battle link, there's anger and frustration and a stab of something that tastes like truth.
And then Xavier says it.
"Dammit!" Xavier says. "Come, Goddess! Serve me one last time!"
The world is crumbling down around Magnus. He's back in the temple the day he lost his parents and Ruth, struck by the same hopelessness. He put his faith in the gods and they betrayed him. He turned that faith to Xavier and now it's happening all over again.
It can't be true.
It is, Magnus.
It's the other Xavier, the floating head. The voice is the same, but the tone and the feeling, the warmth is missing. The familiarity.
He's pulled their strings all this time. He killed millions. Your family. He's been using you. You can't protect him, not any longer. You must let him pay.
He sees the devastation of his world dancing across his vision, the deaths on his conscious, the times that Magnus himself has been injured and bleeding.
Xavier could have stopped it all. Did he care? About Magnus, about any of it--
There's a sharp pain in his head, a cry of outrage as the other Xavier is ripped from his mind, as his Xavier eyes the others, eyes the Queen, and the little blue boy--
Miss Blaire throws a bolt of energy and Magnus can't stop his first instinct to run to Xavier, still. It's ingrained. He wonders if Xavier planted those feelings, too, or if they were real. Could they ever have been real, built as they were on lies?
Xavier was the cause of all the devastation. Xavier has ruined everything Magnus held dear, from the death of his parents to the mockery of a life he's built in the aftermath. Xavier has betrayed everything good in their world, has committed atrocities that Magnus' mind can't begin to process.
He must be stopped. Miss Blaire won't do it, but he must be stopped and Magnus' heart is breaking, his world is dying, but it must in order to be reborn.
He has tears in his eyes, but his grip is as sure as he wishes his heart could be.
*
the rest of the days:
1. Holding hands
2. Cuddling somewhere
3. Gaming/watching a movie
4. On a date
5. Kissing
6. Wearing each others’ clothes
7. Shopping
8. Hanging out with friends
9. Making out
10. Eating icecream
11. In a different clothing style
12. During their morning ritual(s)
13. Spooning
14. Doing something together
15. In formal wear
16. Dancing
17. Cooking/baking
18. In battle, side-by-side
19. Arguing
20. Making up afterwards
21. Getting married
22. On one of their birthdays
23. Doing something ridiculous
24. Doing something sweet
25. Doing something hot