Author's note: I own nothing, never have, never do, never will.
This is an alternate universe fic, as well as my second X-men Evolution fic. Even though it is an AU fic, it will be doing my best to keeping all of the character's original personality as best as I can, so if something gets out of place, don't kill me. I'm not perfect. So, with that in mind, enjoy the story. Any reviews/feedback would be greatly appreciated!
PS: Also thankies to Berzerker Prime, who helped me with the story line! Love ya lots, babes! ^.~
The Untold Fantasy
Written by Kyheena
Chapter One: The Beginning
"It is time." The cold, blade-sharp voice echoed in the vastness of the near-empty chamber. "Eighteen years after the first has been born. The Hearts have began to make their celestial journey." The only other people in the throne room except for herself was Queen Mystique's two best trained assassins, Wolverine and Sabertooth, both bowed low to the ground before the huge, jewel encrusted throne. The jewels were a mask though to hide the true form of the throne. At a distance, it looked beautiful, really, glistening in a thousand different colors like a captured rainbow, but the closer you got to it the more you could see its crudeness, like cruelty embodied. It was a twisted black thing, looking like a mass of entangled vines that reached out on all sides like claws and talons, reaching, searching, deadly. Much like the woman that sat upon the cushioned seats.
All in all, Queen Mystique was a very beautiful woman until the coldness of her features and very heart and soul brushed against you, making you feel as if the body had been plunged into freezing water. Mystique had once been a very beautiful woman; she still was, in a way, if you could set aside the fact that she had blue skin, naturally. The cool shade of blue, almost looking as if it could never possibly hold a scrap of warmth, was a striking contract against her hair, which was bright red, a shade that was not usually seen on a person. If she could be considered a person anymore. And her eyes…her pale eyes, almost colorless irises, could be colder than ice if she ever felt as if she was being disobeyed. And the first rule to being ruled under Mystique's hand was that it was very, very stupid to question the Queen's word.
"Do you know what that means?" Each word had a dangerous edge. And, to her liking, both of her assassins remained silent, heads bowed to the marble floor which was so dark it seemed to absorb the light of the oil lanterns that lit the chamber. Mystique stood up and swept over to the nearest window. "It means that their powers will show themselves, and soon." She peered out the tall narrow window, through the carefully cleaned and polished glass, to the courtyard just outside and to the sky beyond. It was just twilight, the sky stained in different hues of purples and deep burgundy, and the stars were already beginning to show themselves. There was no moon tonight, but Mystique already knew this.
In the distance and from where she could see from where she stood, she could easily pick out the one blood-red, pulsing star amongst the other silver twinkling ones. She knew also that there was another one to be rising soon, in the opposite direction. Two of the Hearts of Heaven rising on the same night, and soon to be more. "Harailt." The Queen breathed to the red star. "And Adhamh's behind it. The others will rise too, perhaps in the next few days, but there's no doubt that the Children will begin to discover their…unique abilities as soon as tonight. Wolverine, Sabertooth, do you realize that this event has not been seen in over three thousand years?"
"What does my Queen plan to do?" Came Sabertooth's deep, rumbling growl of a voice.
The Queen remained silent for a moment before answering, possibly for dramatic effect rather than because she did not know the answer to the question. "What else is there to do besides to start gathering them?"
Wolverine looked up at the Queen. Had he not been one of her best warriors, merely a regular soldier instead, she would have thrown him against the wall and held him there until she received a proper apology. "Now?" He asked, he voice thick with caution and carrying an air of one stepping through a pit of sleeping adders. "Your majesty, you said yourself that their powers will be weak and make it hard to track down."
"Weak yes." The Queen agreed. "Hard to track, maybe. Impossible? Definitely not. The powers are faint, but they are still there, my dear Wolverine. And they grow quickly, every day as the Hearts rise higher into the skies. With my powers, I can catch their scent within a matter of days, no matter where ever they are. And I am aware that the Full Circle will not be completed for another number of months, perhaps not even for a full year. Perhaps longer. But can you tell me why I want them now?" Her pale eyes swept back to the two big men, and the temperature of the chamber seemed to drop another few degrees.
Sabertooth answered first. "Because Xavier will be on the scent as well."
A wicked grin broke on Mystique's beautiful yet cruel face and she made a sound that suggested that she was pleased with his answer. It was also a sound of disgust. "Yes. Xavier." The name came out as a bitter spat. "He, too, will be looking for the Children too as of tonight. As much as I hate to admit it, the man is not stupid. That is why we will begin our search before he does."
"Tonight, my Queen?" Wolverine's voice was still cautious but now held the slight hint of disapproval. It was his own blind luck that kept the Queen from noticing. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts.
"No, Wolverine." Her voice became soft, sending a shiver down his spine. "Not tonight. Now." She turned away from the window and crossed the length of the throne room in long strides, her dress making hardly a ripple as she moved with more grace than a roomful of dancers placed together, giving her the illusion of floating. When she reached the heavy tall doors they opened at her mere touch, making hardly a sound as they swung on huge hinges. She glanced over her shoulder once and with a wave of her gloved hand, bade for her assassins to join her. They rose from their kneeling position in the first time in what felt to be hours and followed their Queen out of the throne room.
No amount of lamps could banish the darkness from the halls of the palace, but that was simply how it was; dark. Perhaps it was just the way it was built. Or perhaps it was because that it was Mystique that walked through its halls daily. Right now the halls were empty and their steps echoed loudly off the walls, creating a very unpleasant and uncomfortable atmosphere. Or maybe it was Wolverine that felt it; Sabertooth did not seemed to be phased. Yet, it took a lot to shake the bigger man. Still, Wolverine had been in the service of the Queen for nearly twenty-five years, and he still was not used to being in her presence for very long at one time. It made him feel as if he was coming undone from the inside.
The halls twisted and turned, branching off into all different directions, making it so that anyone who had not lived in the palace for as long as he had to become lost quite easily. Actually, Wolverine was convinced that if he had to make this trip on his own, he would still get lost. They walked further, walking down and in endless circles as the air around them turned colder, more chilled. In the winter time, he was able to see his breath before when they went down this way. After what seemed like hours of walking, they finally reached the doors.
The image on the doors were always haunting to the assassin. They were made entirely out of dark wood that probably weighed a couple tons each, and each side was set with five blood-red jewels in a perfect semi circle. With both doors put together, it made a perfect circle of ten jewels that sparkled darkly in the little light that were was this deep into the castle. And in the center was a hand, a clenched fist made of gold, holding three silver lightning bolts. If the average bystander ever saw these doors, chances were that they would not know what the symbol meant. Wolverine knew, though, and had hoped that he would not be around if the symbols ever came to life. Now it seemed as if he would not get his wish.
Mystique gazed upon the doors for a few silent moments, looking at it almost lovingly, until she extended a hand and gently caressed the doors as if they were living creatures. With the same eerie silence, the doors began to open slowly, very slowly and very quietly, opening into a vast chamber beyond that could have swallowed the throne room easily. The room was circular too, the dark floors and round walls dark with no lamps or any other source of light to speak of. The only light there was came from the silvery illumination of the stars shining above. With a satisfied smile, the Queen stepped in, her two assassins following close by. They had rarely been inside the Ceremonial Tower before, so it must have been something of great importance.
There were golden symbols embedded all around the floor, set in circular patterns and symbols which held very little meaning to even Wolverine. Something told him that only the most experienced stargazers could make out what they meant. Towards the walls were symbols that particularly caught his attention, looking more like pictures or some type of sigil, and each one was different. There were ten of these symbols and set the exact same distance apart, again in a circle, all centered around the very center of the Tower. They were in the exact same positions as the jewels on the doors on the outside were.
Above them, the ceiling rose the entire height of the palace, up towards the sky, where it stood open, roofless. The light of the stars were more than enough to give the three enough light to see by. Had the moon been out tonight, then it would have almost been as bright as day within the Ceremonial Tower.
In the center of the Tower was a hole that plunged straight into the ground, and looking as if it went on forever, the darkness of its depths a darker shade of black. It was large enough in diameter for Wolverine and Sabertooth to jump into at the same time and not crowd each other, and it would have taken a very large hole to allow them to do it. All of the golden inscriptions spiraled to the edge of the hole, swirling and looping in on themselves until they became so thin and complex that Wolverine got a headache if he looked at them for too long.
The Queen stood at the edge of the hole, keeping her head high but still looking down into its depths. Then she did something that neither assassin had ever seen before. Very slowly, she began to chant below her breath in a tongue that neither understood. It was not more than a whisper, but it echoed in the chamber, growing louder and more intense, sounding like the voices of a hundred ghosts. Then she drew out the curved dagger that she kept in her belt, held up her other hand, and drew the blade across her skin in one smooth motion, cutting through the cloth of the glove and her skin alike as blood poured from between her fingers, dripping into the gaping hole before her. Sabertooth and Wolverine exchanged quick, confused glances at each other but did not say a word. The Queen knew what she was doing, apparently. It would have been a foolish move to interrupt her now.
The chanting hit a new level as the volume and the number of ghostly noises increased, the blood on Mystique's hand began to glow. Not only glow, but it stopped dripped. Or dripping down, at least. The drops of blood were now dripping up, above her hand, and condensing into a small orb a few inches above her hand, suspended in mid air, glowing the whole time. The Tower chamber soon became bathed in an uncanny red light that cast dark shadows on her assassins, which watched the whole spectacle in silent, questioning awe.
Suddenly Mystique clasped her hand into a fist and dropped it at her side, the chanting still continuing and the glowing red orb of blood hanging suspended in the air, pulsing. Then with a sound that resembled breaking china, the orb hardened and became clear, looking exactly like the jewels in the doors. A small smile appeared on the Queen's face as she snatched the crystal, canceling out all its light except for where it illuminated her face from the space between her cupped hands, them tossed it into the well.
The well roared to life with the sound of thundered, spewing out a column of acrid, bright-green smoke that flashed sharply in Wolverine's eyes, blinding him, making him throw his hands in front of his face and stumble back a step. Blinking against the green light in his own head, he peered at what had come out of the well.
The column of green light looked like a giant, solid pillar that glowed brighter than a thousand torches, spinning slowly as flashes of yellow lightning raced up its entire length. It looked as if it extended beyond the opening of the tower. The Queen stood before it, her arms outstretched and looking very satisfied with her work, what ever it was. Even Sabertooth, a man of very little emotion besides anger and hatred, looked surprised.
Mystique sighed, lowering his slender arms to her sides. "Ah…beautiful…simply exquisite…now, tell me. Where do I find the first Child of the Hearts of Heaven?"
A this ring of light flashed up the length of the pillar in the blink of an eye and before the Queen an image began to form in the slowly rotating column. It was smoky at first, almost hard to make out, but it soon took the form of a person, a young girl of about fifteen or sixteen years of age. She was a pretty girl with a slender, attractive face, her chestnut-brown hair drawn up into a pony tail at the top of her head. "Oh…" The Queen sounded surprised. "That is Harailt? No, it cannot be…" There was silence for a moment as Mystique listened to a voice that Wolverine nor Sabertooth could hear. "Ah…she is Aignéis…not the First, but the closest. Yes, I see now… Wolverine." Her voice was hard, the way it got before she gave an order. "Study the face of this girl well. She will be the first to be brought here."
"Her?" Wolverine asked as he looked back at the ghostly image of the girl. She was so young…he knew that the Children would be, but it was different now that he had seen her face. "But she…"
"So you dare question me, Wolverine?" Mystique's words were low, dangerous, dripping with venom. Wolverine swallowed, then stammered an apology quickly. "And I did not say kill her. I want you to bring her to me. To have the Children dead would completely ruin any plans I have for them. They must stay alive until the Full Circle. Unless…" A cold sneer appeared on her full lips. "You feel as if you cannot deal with bringing back a little girl into my care?"
Wolverine clenched his jaw tightly. He hated being mocked, especially with Sabertooth standing so close by, but he still did not like the idea of fighting against a little girl, whether it was to kill her or not. Yet, if it would keep him in the Queen's favor and, even more sweetly satisfying, drive the thorn even deeper into Sabertooth's side that he had planted there originally…
Wolverine rolled his hand into a tight fist. The medal claws under his skin sprang to life, sliding out of his knuckles with a sharp hiss of medal.
------
To be continued…
------
