I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
I was the son my parents loved for thirteen years before the Nazis came and separated us. The next time I saw them was in the camps. It was a year later; I was performing my assigned duty of removing the gold teeth of those who had just been killed, when I spotted them. My mother and father were naked, having just been gassed, and clinging to each other. I could do nothing but continue my assignment as if they were not there.
I saw things too horrible for the mind. Shaving the hair off the dead, walking past bodies of children years younger than myself, hearing the screams of the young girls and women as the guards visited them. My only joy was in watching the guards go mad. It was not a frequent occurrence but it was one that I savored. I supposed the pressure of genocide was too much to bear. They would shout out apologizes or cry out about the senselessness of it all before blowing themselves away. It was our only form of entertainment most days.
I became aware of my ability to manipulate magnetic fields, which gave me control over metal, a few years after my entering the camps. I quietly honed my skill and formulated a plan to escape. I told no one. One night I woke up, crept into the women quarters, woke the youngest girls, three under the age of twelve, and after much convincing, they followed me out where I manipulated a hole into the steel gate and we escaped to America.
The girls found families to take them in. I lived in gutters and back alleys, living off of scraps and molded cheese and yet I was content. There was no stench of death in the air and no threat of the chamber hanging over my head. I found out that there were more like me, with abilities, and there was even a name for us. Mutants.
It was many years later that I bumped into one of the young girls. Magda looked healthy and had the air of a life well lived. We fell in love and her parents approved. They were a nice couple, respected in the community. We were married in the fall.
Years later her parents succumbed to sickness and I inherited their business. It was that year I met Charles. We became fast friends and eventually I told him of my power. He informed me he was a telepath. He was starting a boarding school for young mutants. He asked me if I would be interested in helping him. I said yes.
We spent many years transforming his mansion into a school, building secrets into the basement. We were happy, doing something for people like us, until people started to get nervous and then they became violent. Attacked Magda and I. I protected us the best I could. Unfortunately I picked up on Charles’ belief to not be aggressive with our powers and Magda did not survive.
Charles and I went our separate ways after her death. I wanted revenge. He wanted to pass laws and be advocates for mutants. He didn’t see. He didn’t see how this was the beginning. This is how it started last time.
Charles started his X-men and after a few years I had my brotherhood.
We had the idea to turn all non-mutants into mutants. If we were all the same, there would be no witch hunt. After years of trial and error the machine was ready to be tested. It worked but if it was to work on a grand scale, the supplier of the power would not walk away alive. I did not know of any other magnetic manipulator yet I was needed, I could not perform the task.
Mystique heard rumors of a girl who could absorb your life and in the cases of mutants, their powers. We tracked her down and I sent Sabretooth to retrieve her. Unfortunately for us, she found herself in the company of the notorious Wolverine. Of course Charles knew of the trouble and sent his precious children to save the day.
We got her in the end but were thwarted by the X-men.
I must admit that when Pyro joined up the brotherhood, I felt as if I had taken something from Charles. He did not stay with us long. After Mystique sacrificed herself for me, taking the cure that was intended for me, he left.
Soon after, while I was using poor Jean Grey to do my biding, I was attacked with the cure, making me human.
Years later I received a visit from an unlikely guest.
Rogue.
She visited me while I was playing chess in the park. Just sat across from me, smiled and asked if she could join me. I nodded and gestured to the seat across from me while noticing that Wolverine was with her. He stood back from us, leaning against a tree, smoking a cigar. We played in silence for some time before she paused, trying to decide her next move.
“I don’t understand” She said.
“Well, my dear, chess is very difficult.” She looked up at me and smiled gently.
“Not that. I have this game won in four moves.” I looked and after a moment I realized she was correct.
“So, if it is not the game, what is it you do not understand?”
“You.”
“Why do I puzzle you?”
“It’s just after everything you have been through, you turned out just like them.” I have rarely been confused in my life, yet I was.
“I beg your pardon.”
“You lived through the holocaust.”
“How-”
“My power. It doesn’t just absorb abilities, it absorbs memories also. It’s like I lived your life with you.” I felt sick with guilt for that. “You’ve experienced firsthand what happens when someone believes they are superior to a group of people. You started to justify killing for your cause just like the ones in the camps. So I don’t understand. Why’d you become like them?”
I was stunned into silence. I had not realized it. I was no better than those who started the genocides. I wanted humans gone for no other reason than they lacked the gene to make them a mutant. How had I been so blind?
“I did not realize.” If my sweet Magda could see me now, she would be ashamed. She said nothing, just looked around the park, taking in the view.
She brought her hands to tuck back a stray lock of hair and I noticed for the first time that night that her arms and hands were bare.
“May I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Did you get the cure?”
“No… and I have you to thank for that.”
“Me?”
“In part, yeah. I was going to get it, was standing on line to get the damn thing, but you and wolverine in my head kept yelling at me not to. You told me my skin is a part of me, and removing it would be removing what made me me. So I jumped off the line and ran back home. Eventually I got control.”
Wolverine grunted and she held up a finger, signaling to give her one minute. She turned her attention back to me and tilted her head, placing a bare hand under her chin.
“You are aware I am a weak old man, with no powers. You did not need a bodyguard.”
“What- oh him?” She nodded her head in his direction, “He’s not my bodyguard. He’s my fiancé.” I noticed her hand was bare. She knew what I was searching for and pulled a chain from under her shirt with a tag and a diamond ring hanging from it. “I don’t like to wear jewelry so I keep it here. The professor says to tell you hello. I know how close you two were.”
“He was like a brother to me.”
We were quiet once again and I took her in. She kept the stripes in her hair after all these years. I wonder why but I believe it impolite to ask, especially since I am the cause of said stripes. The first time I saw her she was a child. Pretty, but thin. Now she was a remarkable looking woman. She was confident and unafraid. I am glad now that my plan on the Statue of Liberty was a failure.
She stood up. “I just needed to let go of some things. I needed to see you and talk to you. Tell you that I’m sorry for the things you saw and lived through. Well… now that I have, I’m going to go. Thanks for letting me say my peace.”
“Of course. Thank you also. You have helped me more than you know.” She shrugged before turning and walked towards Wolverine. She smiled at him before he embraced her, sending me a dark glare.
Before today, I was bitter and depressed, angry at the X-men, lonely and guilty that none of my brotherhood survived, but after speaking to Rogue, I realized the mistakes.
I hope Magda can forgive me.
Viva La Vida by Coldplay
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Catholic choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world
It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People could not believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Catholic choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
(Ooooh Oooh Oooh)
Hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Catholic choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Not sure if I'm 100 percent happy with this chapter but I can only rewrite so many times.
Chapter 3: Magneto
Song: Viva La Vida by Coldplay
Chapter 3: Magneto
Song: Viva La Vida by Coldplay