I used patientalien's AA graduation as an excuse to write this, but really, I just wanted to get it on paper.
Summary: Sometimes, even destiny can't keep Mighty Max safe from harm. Warning: Character death. Rated PG.
Five Ways the Mighty One Could Have Died
1.
"You fool! You can't save the world!" Skullmaster rasps at him, but there's a barely perceptible hint of fear in his voice. It emboldens Max, and he latches onto it the way he grips the base of the reformed Crystal of Souls. It's all he has now.
"I can die trying!" the boy retorts. Soon, day changes into night, and again, and again, and then they're spinning, and Skullmaster is everywhere and nowhere at once. They glare at one another. Max feels the energy that Skullmaster has been desperate to harness coursing through his veins. It envelops him. It's too much. 'Please save them,' he thinks, not sure who he's talking to, or referring to, for that matter. 'Please.'
"Curse you, Capbearer!" Skullmaster roars, and Max can't tell which direction it's coming from anymore. When the Crystal of Souls explodes for a second time, Max stares up at the quickly-clearing sky and knows he did something right.
When Virgil resurrects at Stonehenge, he watches mournfully over the prone bodies of the Mighty One and his sworn enemy, and wonders why he came back.
2.
The dragon's blood is pungent, and Max struggles in the grip of Skullmaster's lizard minions in his attempt to avoid forcibly imbibing it. 'If Normy were here, this wouldn't be happening,' the Mighty One thinks desperately. Alas, he and Virgil both saw Norman fly off of a cliff, engulfed in flames, no less, just before they were taken hostage themselves. A few feet behind him, he knows that Virgil is being similarly herded by some of the transformed dragon worshippers. There's nobody to help him now.
Skullmaster shoves the cup against his lips. He has no choice. He drinks.
The bubbling in his stomach is the first sign of transformation. The last thing to go is his mind. The interim is terrifying; he can feel himself giving over to mindless temptation, bit by torturous bit; he forces himself not to look back at his mentor, afraid to see the disappointment in Virgil's eyes. It's far easier to just let Skullmaster's will be done.
"It is finished!" Skullmaster crows triumphantly. His laughter is accusatory, but Max isn't really bothered by it anymore. He's not really bothered by anything. "Your hero is dead, Old Friend." And even as Norman's furious roar sounds through a nearby patch of trees, Virgil knows that it is the truth.
3.
It's the sickening crunch of flesh moving through flesh, followed by a small moan of pain that makes Virgil's ancient heart skip a few beats. One minute, everything is going as destiny ordained: Norman is fighting the gigantic spider that is fated to take his life, and Virgil is locating the portal that will keep the Mighty One safe from Skullmaster. He doesn't count on the foolish boy not leaving well enough alone. "I'll save you, Norman!" the Capbearer yells.
Virgil faintly hears Norman yelling back a retort, and adds one of his own: "Mighty One, it's not safe! Come away from there!" The boy wavers dangerously close to the spider's pinchers. "It's his destiny, Mighty Max!"
"It has to be this way, Mighty One," Norman adds helpfully, straining to simultaneously speak and concentrate on holding out as long as possible, but the boy is not to be swayed. Stubbornly, he stands directly in front of the creature currently trying to eat his friend and waves his arms, trying to redirect its attention. "Mighty One, what are you doing?" Norman asks.
"Saving you!" He makes a show of getting the spider's attention. "Hey, why don't you go find another tuffet to sit in?"
Furiously, Virgil begins to make his way through the carnage left by Skullmaster's minion and towards the boy, determined to do everything in his power to shove him through the portal approximately fifty feet to the right. "Mighty One, we must -" he begins to say, and then the spider makes its move. Before Virgil can react (he likes to think he would have shielded the boy if he'd had the instincts for it), the spider brings its giant pincher down, spearing the Mighty One through the chest.
Skullmaster's laughter through the small amulet around the spider's neck is elated. Norman cuts it off just before throwing himself onto the creature's hairy back and beheading it with his sword. He rides to street-level as the spider's lifeless body sinks to the ground and rolls over onto several cars. Norman pays it no mind, however. More quickly than humanly possible, he's at the Mighty One's side, nudging Virgil away, picking up and cradling the boy's lax body in his arms. He examines the wound. The poison is working its way quickly through the Mighty One's bloodstream. It won't take long. He lets out an angry howl of protest. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way," he says to no one in particular.
Max stares up at him dimly. "You're safe now, Normy," he murmurs, the words an effort. He smiles. "I told you I'd save you." His eyes close for the last time, and Norman bows his head and weeps.
4.
Souls from Skullmaster's shattered crystal swirl around him every which way in a gossamer mist. For a moment, Max lays there dumbfounded, never having expected his plan to work. Confronting Skullmaster face-to-face and attempting to shatter his prized possession seems like a death sentence.
It is.
Skullmaster's words are terrifying, but the Mighty One knows they're nothing compared to what his sworn enemy actually plans to do to him. He stumbles in the opposite direction as Skullmaster advances until his back is, quite literally, pressed against the cold, unforgiving rock wall behind him. His breath comes in erratic gulps. He tells himself he's above begging, but he's not sure.
Suddenly, Skullmaster rears back with a furious roar. "Run, hero!" Hanuman yells at him, clinging to the underlord's cape and shoulders as if riding a bucking bronco. It would be humorous, but Max knows there's nothing funny about the situation. He needs to escape, he knows; he can't let Hanuman sacrifice himself for nothing. He can't just stand there -
But he does, and then Skullmaster is tossing the Monkey King's lifeless body into a corner like a rag doll. His eyes are red like blood, and they're the last thing that Mighty Max ever sees.
5.
"Many years ago, there was a boy. He received a red baseball cap in the mail, and this cap contained the power to transport him around the world. This boy was destined to use this magical cap to defeat a great evil. He was known as the Capbearer and the Mighty One, but those dearest to him mostly called him Max."
Virgil waited for some spark of recognition. He had visited the old man in Room 2B nearly every week for a decade. He was no spring chicken - fowl, actually - but the years had been kinder to him than it had been to his charge, if not in terms of his physical prowess, then certainly his mind. Sometimes, he looked at Virgil and seemed to see through him; he was never agitated by the fowl's presence, which was why Virgil continued to visit. And though he doubted the Mighty One would ever regain the memories that Alzheimer's had taken from him, it comforted him to be able to remind the old man that, once, a long time ago, he had been a hero.
Today, Max looked tired, more so than usual. It was rare for Virgil to find him out of bed, his once full head of yellow hair thinned to a few wisps of gray, but he seemed especially weakened today. Virgil sat on the edge of the cot where the old man laid, his watery, blue eyes half-closed. His mouth moved as though he wanted to say something, but he never did.
Virgil studied the simple pattern on the thin curtains adorning the room's one window. It seemed important to tell the whole story today. "So Max fought the great evil. He fought well and valiantly. The evil wanted to hurt Max and all of his friends so he could take control of the cap and all of its powers, but Max wouldn't let him take it. Even in the worst moments of his destiny, Max never gave up."
The old man's lips moved wordlessly. Virgil reached over and patted his hand. He hesitated, and then reached into the folds of his robes and produced the cosmic headpiece. "The Mighty One never gave up, and that's why he won," Virgil whispered. He placed the cap gingerly in the old man's hands; it was grasped feebly. "He won," Virgil repeated. "He saved the world. He fulfilled his destiny. And now he gets to be a normal boy again."
The old man closed his eyes. "Viii -" he murmured, and then exhaled, the cap still nestled in his fingers.
It was Virgil's last visit to the nursing home.