ALL CRY THE CHILDREN - 1/? By Various Mayan God Plane - Apocalypse's Citadel Displayed holographically is a stadium sized gathering of alternate reality Apocalypses. Each is seated on a Mayan throne which depicts the wheel of rebirth. Each throne bears a placard in Mayan numerals, each number is unique and refers to the reality divergence from the original Apocalypse. The Original, refereed to only as the ONE, address his gathered selves. ONE: "And how the usurper came to be at the Tribunal of Elders is unknown to me. It is clear that he choose that time to interfere, when I was least able to alter his machinations. Had we met in the past, I would have CRUSHED HIM!" ALL: Hysterical cheering. ONE: "Now, as the High Lord of Earth, his first duty as an Eternal will be to realign the Nexus, eliminate the alternate realities we created after escaping Immortus." As the ONE speaks, several alternate Apocalypses vanish. ONE: "So it has begun. The last reality to be conditioned will the one in which Loki ascended to the seat. That is reality 2053." Apocalypse 2053 shakes his fist. "We must DESTROY him in the PAST before he completes his mission. That amount of time is indeterminate, and must be extended as much as possible. MY brothers, you must do everything within your powers to change your realities! You must engage in death and destruction and temporal casualty. As the new High Lords sorts through this confusion, we will strike!" All cheer. "Apocalypse 6219." 6219: Stands. "All in blood." ONE: "Your world was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Your time is idle. I am sending you to the God Plane of ASGARD. You will be our Assassin." Triumphant applause. "You must use all discretion. Loki the Eternal will be guarding his past self Loki the God. If you reveal yourself, you will be destroyed. You must engineer the God's destruction through intermediaries." 6219: "As we have always done." More of the gathering vanish. ONE: "Go now! Reign in Chaos and BLOOD!" They leave chanting "Armageddon, Armageddon," but the ONE mutters, "No, Ragnaroc." Xavier's Mind - Flashback Xavier, fallen ill before Magneto, sees his life flash before him. Xavier, his astral body, emaciated hovers above the world. Each time he looks down he sees a sequence of events that have led to death and blood upon his hands. He sees himself, wired to a machine, trying to kill his X-Men to be saved by God. He watches Colossus slay Riptide after the brutal Marauders slaughtered the Morlocks. Countless Shi'ar, many he never saw until this day, die as he fights for his lady love, Lillandra. His virtual daughter, Jean Grey, possessed by the Phoenix, destroys a world. Jean Grey's daughter, forced into hunting and betraying her own kind, turns assassin, bent on killing first the Beyonder, then Selene. Doug Ramsey is killed from a stray shot. Warlock dies saving his friends. The Shadow King's evil is such that Xavier planned to destroy him utterly, reneging on his dream. Xavier's astral body begins to fill with blood, and he cries out in anguish. The neophyte appears from the mist and murmurs, "your dreams might be more similar than either of you realize." And fades as Xavier witnesses again the atrocities of war, and how he helped the survivors overcome the grief, and how he allowed himself to be compromised by his patient Gabrielle Haller, and have an affair with her. She bears his son, autistic, suffering from Multiple personality disorder and dominated by outside minds. Little David Haller is nothing but a broken piece of a lost life, and the blood on his hands joins with Xavier's own, the father that never cured his own son, and abandoned him for his life with his new lover, Lillandra. Everyone he's touched, everyone he's helped, twisted, corrupted and destroyed. He knows the world would be a better place without him. He thinks of his nemesis, Magnus, and sees his own face within Magneto's helm. And then Stryffe appears, and holds out his hand, his face the vision of death. He speaks, "You looked for a virus of the body, but the Plague is of your soul. You have been judged, as God intended in the weighing out. It is time you answered for your crimes." Golan Desert Xavier is in Cyclops arms, surrounded by Magneto, Renegade and the Blue Team. Xavier: Coughs, clutching Cyclops's costume, "Not outside force killing me...it's within...The Plague....*WHEEZE* It strikes...strong mutants faster...saving Illyanna...not every precaution. *COUGH* I always thought...die in ...great sacrifice... forgive me Lil... Son, the dream, go on... *COUGH* Douglas?..." They try to save him, but with his mental admission that Magneto was his equal, Xavier lost his will fight. In the arms of his son and his friend, he dies. Magneto: It takes Magneto a barely perceptible few seconds after it's certain Charles is dead to force himself to pull away from him. He slowly moves back, away from Charles and the group gathered around him, to let the X-Men mourn their own without his intrusion. Ending up near Renegade, he doesn't appear to notice her. For a moment, if anyone looks his way, he appears to be angry with himself; then his face hardens into a mask again, but this one is different. Instead of the usual cold arrogance that makes up his public face, this one is blank, braced to respond to anything and presently responding to nothing. For some reason it makes him look much younger. Cyclops:Looks away, and under his breath, almost to himself, "Always strive to heal through the open hand, rather than hammer home solutions through the closed fist. Show the world that only through respect for our genetic diversity can we hope to come together. Be willing to fight for the beliefs against those, both human and mutant, who would try to crush the dream." Looking back to the others, "We should to return to the mansion." Looking extremely uncomfortable, he turns to Magneto. "Magnus, I know that there have been problems between us, but...despite everything, the Professor still respected you. Would you come with us for his....." He turns away from them all. Magneto: For a split-second, Magneto doesn't appear to understand Cyclops' reference; when he does, it's as though the clash of realities throws him for a moment -- he hesitates, but the mask dissolves. He hesitates another moment, eyes sweeping the group in a careful appraisal of risk, then breaks off to look at Charles' body again and nods quietly. "Thank you, Scott." He glances at the Blackbird, which is not about to fly anywhere for the present. "If you like, I'll get you home." Colossus: He simply de-armors an is in disbelief. "Prof. X, our foster father, my parents, my sister, all of them have experienced some kind of death experience, all fatal except that which my sister experienced." Colossus simply walks away from the others still de-armored. (To himself) "What is wrong with ME. It is not logical to believe that I am the cause of all of these events, but what else is there to believe. Surely this is more than a streak of misfortune. Truly this must be a forum of life's knowledge which I will never participate. A true life mystery such as the creation, or existence of God." Rogue: Shocked at the death of Charles, something that she never thought could ever happen. "No...," she whispers disbelieving. She screams, "Professor...NO!" She drops down next to Magneto, who is holding Xavier's body, feeling completely, perhaps for the first time, powerless. "No, please...," she whispers and looks to Cyclops and Magneto. Scott's anguish is evident and even Magnus looks to be affected by the loss of his long-time friend and enemy. She can't help but start to cry as she remembers how Xavier took her into the X-Men to help her, even though she was a dangerous enemy and she had committed the ultimate crime against Carol Danvers, literally stole her mind and powers from her. She was sure that she would never be accepted by the other X-Men, to become their friends and to feel like a part of a large family, but Xavier and his dream changed her, gave her more of a purpose than any she had ever had. "Xavier - actually felt like a...father to me." In the back of her mind, she wants to blame someone. She looks to Renegade, who has appeared fully. Rogue swears that if she has had ANYTHING to do with Xavier's death, that not much will stand between her and revenge. Renegade:Not caring if she is rude, reaches over and closes Xavier's eyes. She, like Rogue is crying, if not, Rogue would never have let her near Xavier. She says, "Sweat hero, do not go softly into that good night," She moves away, quickly, almost repulsed by the action of touching the dead, "That was the eulogy Trust always gave to the fallen in the war." (GM: Quote really belongs to Dylan Thomas) Genoshan Prison - Jodlin Pierces's Cell Jodlin: Jodlin's mutant power to control another's physiology, also allows him to detect another's bodies presence that can be manipulated. Jodlin deduces that the strangers at the door are gone. He also realizes that there is second bunk in his cell and its occupied. Bunk Above: "I think they're gone now mate. I pissed off the master, what're you in for. Name's Pyro." Jodlin: Laying back in his bunk and accelerating his healing. He closes his eyes. "Pyro," he says, thinking back. "You mean, you're one of those Freedom Force guys? Whatever happened to you? Last I heard you were still operating under Val Cooper. Nightline did a special last year." Pyro: "Thas right, I was innit, but it all soured when they picked up dem X-Buggers. Me shady background wasn't justified an, boom, they let me go. Not a word thanks edgewise and all. I linked back up with me *cough* mates in the Brotherhood and had a bit a racket drug runnin' in the gulf until Cortez snagged us up. 'E says were in or out. And out is out. I wouldn't say either way and so e's softenen up my tounge now he is." He picks his teeth with a toothpick, "Hey, aren't you Donald's Brood? We had you marked when the government was thinkin about what it would take to deep six the Hellfire club. Never went through, Pres and Parliament changed, but your name came up as a WILDCARD. You make people sneeze or somethin' right?" Jodlin: "Donald..." he frowns, the healing taking most of his concentration away. "Oh, you mean my uncle. Yeah, I'm a Pierce, for what good it does me. And when he wanted me to join that little circle of his, all I really could do was make people sneeze. But now..." He leans back, and feels his arm; "Now, I can do a whole lot more. But none of it will help us get out of here." "Anyway, who's this Cortez guy? You're not talking about Fabian Cortez, are you? The man struck me as a total loony. 'We must serve Lord Magneto,' and 'Magneto will save us all!' (Chuckle) "The man must think he's Peter to Magneto's Christ." Jodlin relaxes, and keeps thinking about his shoulder. Switching body mass from his overweight body, and using up the stored energy in his bodies fat tissue, Jodlin finishes healing his arm, and is now ten pounds lighter. "Anyway, have you heard anything about some Game, or a Gamesmaster who's running something against mutants? These Dark Rider-Hunter- Somethings attacked me and said they were from the Master, to see if I was worthy. Then Graydon Creed shows up and chases them off, then says he's going to kill me. He damn near does, but I show him who's boss. Then I wake up here." Jodlin flexes his shoulder a bit; "And that's the long and short of it." Pyro: "Met the Rider's me mates we did, pissed 'em good we did. Toad kissed the blarney bastards and they buggered off to puke! Hah! Gossip's got the Gamesmaster as auger'n the wage between the Upstarts. And yuir right about Cortez. His Bums bloody 'Oly ground it is. Gots to pray daily we does! Hah!" *cough* "But now that the Master's back, alls well. He rescue us, y'see. Flamin' shread the lot of 'em, Cortez first." Pyro lights up two cigarettes with his finger, puts one to his lip and stashes the pack under his mattress. "Silk?" *cough* Selected Quotes from the last round of Postings: "He's not dead...just metaphysically challenged." - MST3K "Whee! Being the teacher's pet is fun. Okay, so I have a weird sense of fun." - Naomi Gayle Rivkis "YOU KILLED XAVIER!!! ARGH!!! Well, it ought to get pretty interesting from here on out..." - Jennifer A. Vodvarka "There! More about Darwin than most have got out of me!" - D. Henry "Mutant! Mutant! Angst! Angst!" - Chris Lenger "All Cry the Children" Part 1 - 5 Pages (Beginning the second part of the Trilogy) (This is a serial work of fan fiction. It is based on the adventures of the X-Men and diverges from the comic continuity after Unlimited X-Men #1. Continuity may also differ in other respects. This story in its original form is an e-mail RPG started on Usenet .racx, and these Story Posts are combined from the actual moves of the players, with minor editing, plus my added filler. Co-plotting and most of the dialogue should be credited to the appropriate players listed at the end. Sorry, no more players will be accepted.) Previous Chapters available by E-MAIL request to Dan Adams at dadams@hpbs3339.boi.hp.com or FTP at jonal@dhhalden.no -GM/Author Scott Bachmann/di800@cleveland.freenet.edu The Players DougLock: lehoczkyy@husc.harvard.edu (Union Jack) Magneto: rivk@midway.uchicago.edu (Naomi Gayle Rivkis) Colossus: dn961@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Matthew S. Mccarthy) Rogue: jav41196@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jennifer Vodvarka) Gambit: V534YYNN@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Matt Dempster) Majik: glaw@Jade.Tufts.EDU (Gabe) Wolverine: musgse@meaddata.com (Steve Musgrave) Cannonball: tnieboer@nyx.cs.du.edu (Toby Nieboer) Cyclops: CHL701S@vma.smsu.edu (Christopher Lenger) J.Pierce: uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (John) Beast: dh340@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joshua H. Gage)