From ix.netcom.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!globalcenter0!news.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!infeed2.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.Traveller.COM!not-for-mail Tue Aug 12 20:57:38 1997 Path: ix.netcom.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!globalcenter0!news.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!infeed2.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.Traveller.COM!not-for-mail From: "Alicia Curtis" Newsgroups: alt.comics.fan-fiction Subject: Preludes Date: 9 Aug 1997 06:09:08 GMT Organization: Traveller Information Services Lines: 106 Message-ID: <01bca48a$7aac8520$08e4a6ce@oemcomputer> NNTP-Posting-Host: tnt1-dynpool1-8.hsv.tis.net X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1157 Hello everyone! This is my second post to ACFF. Some of you may have seen this story on the Magneto mailing list a while back (a long while back -'bout a year). As it is, this story was originally intended to be a "pre-series" to an ongoing series that I'm working on. That's why some character names appear in the the disclaimer that never make it into the story. Although I'm still doing the series, I decided that this stands very well as a one-shot. Besides, flashbacks are wonderbar things ;)! Anywho, here goes, I hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: Erik Magnus Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto, Wolverine, and all other characters which may be used later are trademark of Marvel Comics and Copyright 1997. I am making absolutely no money off of this what-so-ever, so please don't sue me. Shifter and all other minor characters (like the woman in the bar) are Copyright 1996 of Alicia Curtis (me!). Note: Erik Lehnsherr has just used his powers for the first time. This story comes a few days after Anya's death and Magda's departure. Comments, questions, and flames (which I hope aren't many) can be sent to me at latacurt@traveller.com. Enjoy! Preludes Erik Magnus Lehnsherr sat in a smoky bar in a whole-in-the-wall town in Czechlslovakia nursing his 8th shot of whiskey. The amber liquor dulled his pain, both physical and mental, but his body still ached from the over extension of this newly discovered powers. His soul hurt worse, as his daughter's tortured screams and his wife's horror played over and over in his brain. But the liquor drowned it all: the pain, the memories, the scars. When the woman slid into the chair next to him he didn't resist her advances. His heart urged him on, screaming for a realease from the horrible pain, and she was only too willing to support the grief-drunken man with a smile that was as hard as it was gentle. Her hair was long and brown, her eyes were dark and bottomless, and Erik didn't care who she was or what her name was. He could not even remember any conversation, but he gave the money willingly without hesitation. The woman smiled and gestured to the stairs. Erik Lehnsherr followed her blurry form, unable to remember what had been said in the last 5 minutes, let alone a few days ago. His heart was too sick to remember. * * * * * * * * Between the idea And the reality Between the motion and the act Falls the Shadow * * * * * * * * Erik Lehnsherr sat on the edge of the bed damning his name and his body, damning the woman who sat coldly behind him, damning the day of his birth. The moonlight through the open window shone across his chest, painting bizarre pictures of sin and repentance, all denied. The wind howled to him, pricking goosebumps on his bare skin. "When the body knows what it wants, Stranger, the mind is powerless against it," the woman whispered from behind him. He ground his teeth together to keep from killing her, and he closed his eyes. A picture of a laughing little girl filled his brain, causing him to freeze. "There could be a child," he rasped out. She laughed, a hard barking sound from a voice that was not used to laughing. "There could always be a child." He whirled to face her, but wouldn't allow himself to touch her. "What would you do with it?" "I have no time for a child." "Even if it were mine?" She threw back her head and laughed. "There is nothing special about you! You are arrogant to think that I would waste my time and money on a child that *even you* welped." Erik couldn't contain himself any longer. He grabbed her throat in a vice-like grip. Remarkably, her eyes showed no surprise, as if they had stared into murderous faces before. The look took him off guard, but he growled out his words anyway. "Don't sleep with another man. If you find that you are pregnant, I will give you enough money to keep you well." Her eyes laughed, but he continued. "If you have a child, it is mine. I will pay you any price you ask, but the child will be mine unconditionally." His grip tightened on her throat. "Do you understand?" She forced a nod, and he let her go. She gasped in the biting air, then quickly got up from the bed and dressed. Her eyes flashed as she turned back to him. "My, you must imagine yourself some heroic knight! I expect the money, now." He grabbed for the money in his clothes, and flund it at her. She picked up the soiled paper and left without a sound. Erik Lehnsherr dropped back on the bed and sobbed, a low pitiful sound. The moon and the wind laughed at him, painting him silver in the moonlight, a betrayer's color. And his heart was too sick to forget. * * * * * * * * This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. * * * * * * * * Send all response to Alicia at latacurt@traveller.com I hoped you liked the first part of my tale! All poetry is from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" (Hmmm...the title says it all). *They passed down all the roads long ago, and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints.*