Disclaimer- I don't own the book Lady or the Tiger or the X-men.
Dedication's-This is for Sabretooth who in my other story chased John around thus setting in motion this story.
In a very old time there lived a semi-barbaric king named Erik, whose ideas were large, florid and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy and of authority so irresistible that at his will he turned his varied fancies into facts.
Erik- Don't write this word for word it will take forever.
Remy- Why is he the king I am the Prince of Thieves?
Me- Don't worry I won't *shaking my head and mouthing the word not* and Remy I needed you for another job.
When his domestic and political systems worked as they should he was bland and genial, but whenever there was a little hitch, and there was some trouble he was blander and more genial because he was pleased by nothing more than straitening the crooked and crush the uneven places.
John- What does genial mean.
Me- Cheerful now let me continue.
One of his barbaric notions was a public arena, in which, by the exhibitions of manly and beastly valor, the minds of his subjects were refined and cultured. The arena was built neither to show dying gladiators, nor to show the conclusion of a conflict between religion and hungry jaws. It was built for purposes to widen and develop the mental energies of the people better.
John- I do not understand the word valor.
Wanda- The way this is being written is confusing
Remy- When do I come in and I just noticed that Sabe's name is in the title why?
Me- All of you shut up and Remy I get to you when I get to you.
This vast amphitheater, with its encircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages, was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance. When someone was accused of a crime that was of interest to the king, there would be a public notice that told when the day the criminal's fate would be.
When everybody had assembled in the galleries, as did the king sitting high on his throne gave the signal, a door beneath him opened and the accused stepped into the arena. Opposite of him were two doors, exactly alike and side by side. It was the duty of the accused to go and open one of the two doors. He was to have no help in deciding which door to pick. If he picked the one, out came a hungry Sabretooth, the fiercest and most cruel thing that could be produced, which immediately sprang upon him and tore him to pieces as punishment of his guilt. That moment the case was decided, doleful iron bells were clanged, great wails went up from the hired mourners posted on the outer rim of the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed heads and downcast hearts, wended slowly their homeward way, mourning greatly that one so young and fair, or so old and respected, should have merited so dire a fate.
But, if the accused opened the other door, out came a lady, one most suitable to his age and station that could be picked among the fair subjects. They would be immediately married and that was the reward for innocence. It didn't matter if he already had a wife and family or that he loved another. The king would not have any subordinate arrangements to interfere.
Wanda- What a stupid way to tell who is guilty or not.
Remy- I think Sabe's likes his part.
Erik- Why do you say that?
Remy- Once his part came up he started smiling and now he won't stop laughing about how can kill and not get in trouble because it was his job.
Victor- The description is very accurate.
Me- Vic you need help now let me finish.
After the accused picked the lady another door opened from beneath the king and a priest, band of choristers and dancing maidens playing golden horns went to where the couple stood. Then the two were wed, brass bells rang, people shouted their hurrahs and the innocent man led his bride home.
The king thought his method in perfect fairness. The criminal couldn't know which door held the lady and which held Sabretooth. He would open whichever he pleased, and would either be devoured or married, guilty or innocent.
The arena was a very popular; when people gathered they knew not if they were to watch a bloody massacre or a wedding. This uncertainty gave an interest that could by no other means be met.
King Erik had a daughter named Wanda who was as blooming as his florid fancies and a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. She was the apple of his eye and was loved by him above all humanity. Among his courtiers was one named Remy he was a young man of that fineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens.
Remy- I'm courting Wanda. Why?
John- How could you let Wanda date Remy? I am the love of her life.
Wanda- How ironic in real life my dad hated me and in the story I'm the apple of his eye.
Erik- I thought I had her memories altered?
Me- I gave her memories back you were horrible.
This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many months, until one day the king happened to discover its existence. He quickly had Remy imprisoned and the day of his trial decided. People were greatly interested in this trial because no one ever dared to love the king's daughter.
The Sabretooth would be unfed until the day of the trial so that he may pounce on the accused with much desire. And throughout all of the land a beautiful young maiden was to be chosen in case he was innocent. Everybody in the land knew that Remy was guilty he had loved Wanda and Wanda had loved him back, but King Erik would not allow inference with his system. It mattered not how the trial went for King Erik would have disposed of Remy and he took great pleasure of watching the events.
Remy- I'm probably going to be killed just because I dated his daughter. And here I thought Wolvie was bad about me and Rogue.
Wanda- Please let him die.
Finally the day arrived and people from all over came to watch the trial. When all was ready the signal, was given and the door opened. Remy walked into the arena and turned to bow before the king. His eyes though were fixed on Wanda who was at the right of her father. From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it. Possessed of more power, influence, and force of character than any one who had ever before been interested in such a case, she had done what no other person had done - she had possessed herself of the secret of the doors. She knew in which of the two rooms, which lay behind those doors, stood the cage of the Sabretooth, with its open front, and in which waited the lady. Through these thick doors, heavily curtained with skins on the inside, it was impossible that any noise or suggestion should come from within to the person who should approach to raise the latch of one of them. But gold and the power of a woman's will, had brought the secret to the princess.
Wanda- I think it was my hexes that got me the secret not gold or my will.
Me- Nobody has powers in this story. Well except Victor.
And not only did she know in which room stood the lady ready to emerge, all blushing and radiant, should her door be opened, but she knew who the lady was. It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the princess hated her. Often had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned. Now and then she had seen them talking together; it was but for a moment or two, but much can be said in a brief space; it may have been on most unimportant topics, but how could she know that? The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door.
Remy- can Rogue be the girl behind the door?
Victor- What does it matter anyway you're going to get mauled by me.
John- That's what you get for stealing my girl.
When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat there, paler and whiter than any one in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady. He had expected her to know it. He understood her nature, and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king. The only hope for the youth in which there was any element of certainty was based upon the success of the princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment he looked upon her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul he knew she would succeed.
Then it was that his quick and anxious glance asked the question: "Which?" It was as plain to her as if he shouted it from where he stood. There was not an instant to be lost. The question was asked in a flash; it must be answered in another. Her right arm lay on the cushioned parapet before her. She raised her hand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one but her lover saw her. Every eye but his was fixed on the man in the arena.
He turned, and with a firm and rapid step he walked across the empty space. Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed immovably upon that man. Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it.
Me- Finally it's done horrible but done.
Wanda- You mean this is one of those story's where it's not finished can you finish this one?
Remy- Yeah let me marry Rogue.
Wanda- No let Remy die.
Me- How about I include two more chapter's each one will include an ending. I will start on it later okay?
Remy- Do mine first.
Wanda- Make him suffer Victor.