It's always been clear that comic and superheroes are the modern mythology. And fulfills the same psychological needs for people. So I figured what if a AU paid homage to the myths that help give us the entertainment we have today. The characters here will keep their names and accent, to further the connection between the myths of past and present, otherwise I'll try to be as correct as I can with daily life.

The story of the Trojan War—the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece–straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired Homer some 400 years later in the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C.."

Recent excavations have shown an inhabited area 10 times the size of the citadel, making Troy a significant Bronze Age city. Layer VIIa of the excavations, dated to about 1180 B.C., reveals charred debris and scattered skeletons—evidence of a wartime destruction of the city that may have inspired portions of the story of the Trojan War. In Homer's day, 400 years later, its ruins would have still been visible.

Some legends are told, some turn to dust or to gold. But you will remember me. Remember me for centuries ~Fallout Boys

Prologue

Arcadia...1170 B.C

Deep in the heart of Arcadia's famed mountain valley, surrounded by the cypresses and of the Peloponnese peninsula, the walled citadel of Kallistē stood proud and gleaming behind the protection of its limestone gates, it's richness and bounty proclaimed for all to know by the gentle rustling of it barley fields, and silver touched orchards. Normally, the harvesters would be out among the sheaves this time of the year, iron sickles flying as they gathered bundles into wooden carts drawn by oxen. Maidens would be treading grapes into the finest wine, their long hair dancing around them as they flashed coy smiles at men. Meanwhile, more settled members of the city would be relaxing in the shade with a fine cup of kykeon with their spouses, while children played in the shade.

But alas, the gods were fickle, and apparently had decided that such joy was not to be had this year. And possible any year afterwards, seeing that all they knew and cherished in this world could vanish in the disgrace of war, misery, and enslavement. Queen Pricilla of Ancantopolis felt her delicate frame shutter within her fragrance robes, in a way that had precious little to do with cool stormy air that encompassed her lonely figure inside her guest chambers. And everything to do with inescapable shroud of dread bearing on her loved ones from Hades itself.

Tonight's talk upon the crimson painted benches of King Jean-Luc's Megaron hall sent her gentle heart into a terror, and her feet into a quick retreat from the men and their grim talk of hopeless odds, armies right outside their boarders, and last defense. Returning to the rooms so graciously loaded to her, Pricilla hadn't bother to remove the gold-beaten circlet, or its trailing silver veil from her fair tresses, and took strange comfort in the rhythmic clanking of her many bangles and dripping earrings as she paced the tile floor. How ironic that each of her jewelry was shaped like arrowheads, for a people at war, a Queen in exile.

She breathed shakily, a hand held to her fair mouth as she forced her mind to slow down, and remember all the facts, least she go mad. Right now, a scattering of leaders from the local kingdoms were gathered together in silent dread. Powerful men in the bronze clad armor -her husband among them- had pleaded their loyalty to their confederacy new leading family, Jean-Luc and his two sons. Miraculously, the infamous bickering and personal wars of the Arcadia people had been set aside as they faced the most difficult decision of their lives. For the first time in living memory an outside threat upon their sovereignty loom above their heads like the gods' wrath.

Though all kingdoms of the earth, few were the unspoiled, harmonious wilderness of Arcadia. Many had coveted it over the years, but the land's free people had always turned such ambitions away by means of the phalanx and spear. But never had the danger been so relentless, so greedy, devouring kingdom after kingdom with the apatite of a glutton...

She shuddered. The unholy triumvirate of En Sabah Nur, Essex the Sinister, and the Savage Sabertooth was curse sent upon them by the gods, she was sure of it...but what Pricilla could not understand, for the life of her was why, why had the guardians who'd watched over them for so long suddenly turn from them now? Mndful of the stories passed down through the year, relating what happened to men who failed to honor the gods, Pricilla had never failed to make certain her husband gave each deity in the Pantheon their due. This piety had increased ever since she'd given birth to their Anna, now that there was something so much more dear to keep safe in such a world as this.

Just the thought of her sweet child made the worry in her heart pump faster, her hand twisting the rings that bejeweled them. Anna was here with her, ever since her husband gave the order for their beloved white-hewed Ancantopolis to be evacuated for the safety of the ally. At the tender age of five, the little girl had looked upon the excitement as an adventure of a life time. While she had romped and explored her new surrounds with wide eye wonder after their arrival, blissfully unaware in the sweet innocence of a child how her life had utterly changed after the very first day...

The sound of the chamber doors opening caught her ears, and turning, Pricilla was just in time to witness her peeved-looking sister step over the cedar threshold, eyes flashing with barely contained irritation.

Pricilla sucked in her breathed, and tried to force her hands to stop trembling as thunder cracked -there were many things that could make Carrie look so, her sister was always ill at ease in new places, and there was no alarm on her face...surely nothing could be wrong.

"What is it?" the queen asked, stepping forward to meet the sapphire eyes so like her own. Though without the same amount of softness. Carrie had never allowed herself such gentle manners -her lightening fast mind too quick under her tiredly gathered brown curls for such things. But there was concern in them as well.

"Anna's not in her chamber," her lady sister said without delicacy, getting to the crux of the matter, no matter how her sister's eyes widen. Pacing herself now, the matching blue peplos swaying with her steps, Carrie let out a heated snort. "And naturally, the guards and her nursemaid didn't notice a thing. We ought ta dismiss the lot of them. Ah was hoping for their shake that she came to you-"

"Not, she didn't," Pricilla exclaimed, a hand flying to her throat, feeling its rapid pulse. "How could -Ah just checked on her!"

Carrie stopped her pacing and held up a hand. "Calm yourself. This is just Anna being a imp again, Ah'm sure of it. Think Cilla. We know that when Anna has trouble sleeping at home she'd find herself a place to hide, and pretend to be brave. Where are the most likely places here?"

Pricilla bite her lip, as the reasoning struggled to take her over. Carrie was right, of course, this was just like Anna -such a sweet, stubborn little thing. Unlike most children, her daughter hated asking for help, be it with fear or panic or pain. Instead her strong little spirit would rail and fight against whatever it considered a threat to her. Or failing that, retreat to where she felt it was safest.

It pained Cilla that she apparently was no longer considered first under that category. That place mostly likely belonged to her father...but after him...the most likely choice would be...

Her shoulders slumped as the answer suddenly became clear. "Remy's room. Anna would be in Remy's room."

"Remy..."Carrie repeated flatly, even as she fell into step besides her sister as they existed the room.

"Remy," Cilla confirm, certain beyond doubt as they made they journey down a series of pillared hallways, the torch lights dancing in the refection of their jewelry. She pulled her shawl closer around her as her saddles announced her coming.

The queen sighed as their destination drew closer, the double doors guarded by one of Jean-Luc's most faithful subjects -one who was also his kinsman, who respectfully stood at attention as the royal women drew closer.

XXX

"Yo' Majesty. My lady," Lapin greeted them, his ponytail of red hair shinning under his helm."I assumed yo ere fo' Anna..."

"If you knew she was here, why didn't you take her back yourselves," Carrie asked him, with a narrowing of her eyes. Cilla sighed, no wonder Anna had a suspicious side to her nature.

Lapin offered a wryly smile. "I can't begrudge the petites for findin' comfort. Its good some of us can. Sides, Mattie with dem in dere."

Neither could Pricilla. Besides, what's the harm, the queen thought children were far too young for trouble to come of it yet -Anna was five, and Remy only ten. Mattie was no fool. Neither was Lapin. He was a fine choice for guarding his younger cousin.

Then she corrected her as she and Carrie brushed pasted him into the room. Younger cousins.

And lo and behold, there the little imps were. It took their eyes a moment to adjust to the dimmer light come off the low burning blazer, cloaking the room in warm shades of red and black. Which provided an astonishing effect on the murals of lions and charioteers that covered the walls. Gingerly stepping around the toys the lay spewed over the floor, the Queen and her sister came to the side of sleep couch that held two figures instead of the one little boy it was suppose too.

Curled next to Remy, Anna looked even smaller than her darling girl normally did; burrowed like a squirrel under the older boy's arm with an intensity that never left her, even in sleep. Remy, on the other hand, slumbered with a graceful lightness and cocky ease in which he seem to do everything, face relax and a smile twitching in his dreams, while his free hand cushioned his head.

The Nurse Mattie -caretaker and minder of Kallistē's royal princes for three generations- looked up from her sewing and smiled at the royals, though she raised a dark finger to her lips. "Don' wake em, it'll take forever t' get dem asleep again."

Breathing out, Pricilla settled on the bed's corner and carefully began rearranging her daughter's white sleep tunic so it wasn't falling off her thin shoulder. When that was done, the Queen gently smoothed aside strands of Anna's wild curls. She was truly a beautiful little girl, with a delicate heart-shaped face and tumble of aubrun hair, save for the few white locks of alabaster that Pricilla was brushing away. Black eyelashes pressed themselves soundly against her daughter's full cheek, each lash as stubborn as their mistress's pouting pink lips, which were nearly buried in the tan skin of Remy's side, as the boy slept only in a loin cloth.

Besides her Carrie sighed, and rubbed the arch of her nose, while the emerald eyes she shared with her niece peered down at the children.

"Well, if nothin' else, Ah suppose we oughta be grateful that Anna's already attached ta her husband."

Cilla wince. Acknowledging that fact in her head was nothing. Saying it out loud was another. "Carrie..."

An eyebrow lifted. "As Ah recall, those was the terms ya agree to Cil, you and Jean-Luc both."

And it was true, they did. In order for an alliance to be made between Ancantopolis and Kallistē, a bond strong than oath was required. And as Jean-Luc had charmingly put it, he had a son, and they had a daughter. But originally, the plan had been to merely betrothed them until they were older...the war had caused the treaty to be put into effect far sooner than Cilla would have desired. There was something mocking in the fact that her five year old daughter, whom she had carried for nine mouths, belonged to the little boy besides her rather than her own mother, in the eyes of the gods.

This was reinforced when Anna's arms tighten around both Remy's arm and her favorite doll of carved ivory. Normally, a girl sacrificed her toys to Artemis after she was married, but given Anna's age, the adults were willing to bend the rules regarding that.

And while she was ashamed to confess it now, the Queen had worried, in the beginning, that she and her husband had been giving their child to something both dangerous and below her station. Remy was not Jean-Luc's by blood, and his origins were keep secret, but judging from the clever hands that had sneaked her bangles more than once (before returning them as Mattie held his ear) and quick footed ways the boy had about him, Cilla suspected the streets had call the auburn haired child son before the palace had. And while Remy looked for all the world like a regular little boy, lanky yet always hungry, that notion was through out the window like a javelin the moment his eyes were open under his unruly bangs. A sea of black with rings of red flame for eyes, there could be no clearer sign that the child was one of the Gifted -a mortal chosen by the gods to a vessel for their power, acted out upon the world.

Some of the Gifted were devoured by their abilities...utterly destroyed by them. Mind, body, and soul. Such was the price of great power. As the philosopher Xavier had said, the only way to manage it, and therefore gain the ability to use it as the gods intended, was a firm bond with the human potion of the Gifted induvial life. To love and serve others.

Of course, not everyone, included the Gifted, agreed with such bein ideals. That was partly why En Sabah Nur was devouring them as he were. In all the lands he conquered, any gifted he came across were enslaved to his service...with the help of those already enthralled.

Cilla shuddered at such a fate befalling Remy, mischievous and quick-witted as the boy was, he was also generous in spirit -as shown by the way he had gradually charmed Anna into nearly eating out of his hand as they'd played in the courtyards of the citadel, always underfoot.

It all seemed so much, for such young creatures. But neither complained.

"No, they don'," Mattie agreed when this thought was shared outloud. "Remy knows it won't change anyt'ing. But my Queen, I must ask...what be de latest word with de men folk?"

Pricilla stilled, and could not answer. So Carrie did it for her.

"They go ta battle in the mornin', nurse."

The dark skinned woman sucked in her breath. "Gods above..."

Silence came then before Mattie dared to speak. "Has...has yo' husband spoken on what t' do if things...don' go our way?"

"Yes..." Cilla managed. "If things...go badly, then we, along with Henri's family are to flee to coast, and take a ship to beg asylum from Xavier's city of Troy."

Mattie's eyes went wide. "T'at desperate den eh?"

Cilla winced. Xavier was one of the most notable Gifted, a mind reader of extortionary talent. He could've lived like a god-king. Instead, he chose to live like a human one. Still, most of the world rulers considered him a cracked pot. Rather than rule by the means all kings did, Xavier had lead his people across the Aegean to build a new city based on his ideals of service and sacrifice. All willing to work and live the dream were welcomed to come and lived there. Make a life there. No matter who they were, or where they were from.

It was a nice dream, she had to admit...but dreams died quick deaths in the presence of En Sabah Nur.

XXX

Meanwhile done in the Great Hall of his house, Jean-Luc stared into the crackling fames of the hall's central hearth, as if hoping Hestia would speck assurance to him from the rippling heat that he had not that damned his nation and friends to their end. Looking up, his face was impassive as he examined his confederacy. His eldest, Henri, was on his right. Owen, Lord of Ancantopolis and his in-law was on his left. Both men were with him. Together, they had convinced with other with a combined flavor of charm and firm reasoning.

To fight was the only option left for them. En Sabah Nur would never be bargained with, the monster only understood submission that Jean-Luc was not willing to give him. He would be damned to Tartarus before he yield his land and sons to that beast. In his hand, the king further crushed the scroll send from the enemy against his throne's armrest, for in plain words the enemy had offer to allow him his throne in return for both the surrender of his city...and his youngest child.

Jean-Luc breathed in deeply to smother his rage. He knew why Remy was demanded - En Sabah Nur had made similar demand upon other households with Gifted children. The monster warlord took them, broke them, raised them as his horsemen, pure killers with no sense of honor. Then then kept them in his service for the remaindered of their lives.

He would not surrender Remy to such a fate. Nor his country.

Not while he breathed.

Okay how was this AU? Like it love it? Obviously mutants exist, so will the powers and the x men, after a fashion. Mutants are treated with a heathy respect, but are still feared, like the demigods of old. So will the Trojan war make an appearance. How do you like the idea of Rogue and Remy being married as children -it plays a big role latterin the story, and fits the time period.

Kallistē is a Greek word translating to the fair, or handsome, beautiful -the closest word to Lebeau

peplos was a type of dress worn in Ancient Greece

Kykeon was a early beer

Please review.