Title: Broken Crown
Summary: With all great kingdoms - there is both the rise and the fall.
Magneto will wear his broken crown with pride with his chosen queen at his side even as they leave Earth behind. Sometimes, the only way to survive a war is to leave the battle behind entirely.
Loosely based in Xmen 1997, takes place after the Fall of Genosha, but where Shi'ar allies arrive to whisk away the survivors off-world.
Rogue/Magneto
A/N: It's been about a decade since I last wrote an Xmen fan fiction. Normally I like to write ROMY or X23/Julian or ScottEmma. However, I've always had a fascination with the Rogue and Magneto relationship….and after flipping through my comic collection — issues ranging from 1991 through 2018 coupled with the Men 97 cartoon on Disney….here's my Rogue x Magneto story thoroughly inspired with 30 years of X-men lore.
Chapter One: The Fall of Genosha
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Erik
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The rise and fall of an kingdom — from King of Genosha to Refugee — Magneto was accustomed to never being allowed to keep nice things. For three minutes — the time it took to share a waltz with his beloved Rogue — he'd had it all. The promise of her being his Queen — even if the majority of her heart belonged to another — they were going to lead their people into a bright future. A future where they wouldn't be oppressed, could show their true colors be they blue skinned, winged, red eyed, protruding bones, fanged, or simply monstrously strong.
And then of course the horrendous sentinels arrived that destroyed that dream in its infancy, crushed not only the bodies but the spirits of the Homo superior. Magneto's very abilities targeted him for destruction. Those same abilities that had saved countless lives and doomed others. The power over magnetism that kept his body from aging — still the healthy body and mind of a forty-five year old in a man who should be in his nineties. And while the toll of those years didn't show themselves physically, Erik's heart was weighed down by those countless tragedies.
He would be dead once and for all, but for the ingenuity of a young boy who nullified his powers temporarily, but doomed the rest of them to be crushed under the infrastructure of what should have been the crowning achievement of the Mutant race.
Memories of Erik's childhood and the insurmountable feeling of loss as he was thrown into the tragedy of the Holocaust where his powers over magnetism initially emerged. He lost his family for the first time, never learned what became of his sister, but gained the ability to manipulate the very atmosphere of the earth. Later, Erik found peace in a rural village. He'd been a simple factory worker with a wife and a precious daughter Anya, It had been grating to hide his powers, but he'd do it for a quiet life. All he really needed was to return home to his wife and child — reading bedtime stories to his little girl was his favorite pastime. It was during those evenings that his heart had truly known peace.
Then he'd used his forbidden ability to save a coworker from being crushed to death. His reward? It was for the hateful humans called forth by the very man he saved to find his home. Those monstrous men murdered his daughter while he'd been helpless but to watch and his wife had wanted nothing to do with him afterwards — because he was a mutant. She'd taken her own life to join their precious lost daughter. No longer a father and no longer a husband, that's when hatred filled his heart and hope was squashed forever— or so he thought.
Years later, he would meet Charles Xavier. The man was his opposite — faithfully optimistic. Though, if Xavier had gone through half the horror that Erik survived, surely he never would have guilted Erik into trying to champion his dream of peace amongst the humans. It was a dream doomed to fail for all its naivety because hate and fear cannot be reasoned with, only quelled through power.
It would be years later that someone would enter Erik's life again that made him smile. She'd not only been beautiful, but her Southern charm and sweet disposition mocked the absolute ferocity her fists contained.
He was de-powered in the Savage Lands when he first met the adopted daughter of Mystique. Rogue — as she was known. The young woman was brave and kind, in spite of being rejected by her birth family and with her powers making it impossible to connect with others physically. The pure joy on her face when he'd held her hand unharmed, naturally immune even after Rogue's powers had returned — he would never forget. That pleasant memory sometimes was the only things that stopped his simmering anger. And even when his Brotherhood faced off against Xavier's X-men, Magneto always enjoyed seeing Anna's power even when it was focused in opposition to him. Honestly, seeing her engaged in the midst of battle wondrously strong is what ensnared his heart resolutely in her direction.
The humans feared him? They should. He could destroy the protective magnetic field that made the very earth habitable against the solar radiation. They hadn't tipped him to destroying their very world just yet, but there were days when it took all his restraint to resist.
As the world faded to black, the scent of blood and the sounds of whimpering from those dead and dying around him, Magneto, King of Genosha gave up and waited to finally join those that had left their mortal coils before him.
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OoO
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Anna Marie
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This couldn't be happening. One minute, Rogue had been asked to become Queen of Genosha, and was dancing with Erik on cloud nine in front of a fledgling nation. She'd looked across the ballroom and her gaze settled on the crimson eyes of Remy and she knew that while there was comfort with Erik and affection, her heart belonged to the Cajun.
And before she had a chance to tell him, the sentinels came and the damned fool sacrificed himself. "The name's Gambit — Remember it!" She flew off with the thief before he could be incinerated, her skin burning from the intensities of the fires. At least he died in her arms and she knew as their eyes met that he knew of her love. He died with a smile on his face and peace in his heart knowing that he'd stolen her heart in the end.
Which just left Anna with the void in the pit of her stomach. The Mutant Nation of Genosha was in ruins and so many were dead. It was only when her brother found her, Kurt's warm gloved hand on her shoulder — that she realized she needed to get up. There were people trapped in the rubble and she needed to help them.
And that's when she realized she didn't know where Erik was either. She couldn't lose him too! She cared for him — deeply — always had. This was his dream and it had become a nightmare. She had to find him, or else, he might finally lose it and destroy all of humanity once and for all. She knew he was capable and frankly, she probably wouldn't be able to stop him this time.
And that's when she felt it — a familiar, calming sensation settle over her mind. The responsibility of reasoning with the Master of Magnetism wouldn't fall upon her shoulders.
'My children! Calm yourselves, I have returned and brought help,' the soothing voice of Charles Xavier echoed in the minds of everyone in the Nation of Genosha. The wayward professor had returned and he'd brought allies from the Shi'ar empire.
Rogue snorted and after pressing a kiss to Remy's cooling lips, she allowed Kurt to help her stand. Once again, Xavier was too little and too late. "Kurt, help me find Erik."
"Meine Schwester," Kurt whispered. "Let's go. Plenty of people need our help."
She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Let's go." Rogue's gaze lingered a moment longer on Gambit's ruined body. Then she rolled back her shoulders, straightened her spine and got to work. Remy died taking out that sentinel so that others might live. She would not let his sacrifice be in vain.
Nightcrawler nodded, his tail twitched in agitation. "Der Professor has returned. He's brought allies." He gripped both her shoulders, drew Rogue in for a hug and then teleported them towards a large area of rubble.
The scent of blood was strong and with fear gnawing at her heart, knowing no matter what she found, she would be too late for some, Rogue used her super strength and slowly and methodically moved away the steel and concrete. The first person she saw was Leech — the emerald skinned young boy.
His breaths were shallow, but he lived. She handed the boy to Kurt and then continued to extract the trapped souls. Miraculously, they were all alive! Weak, but breathing. "That brilliant boy must have nullified their mutant powers so the sentinel couldn't sense them," Rogue mused, tears springing to her eyes.
A familiar dark purple cape, tattered but recognizable caught her eye. "Erik," she whispered, moving the debris with renewed vigor. His crystal blue eyes fluttered, his heart sluggish as he fought against the pull of unconsciousness.
"Anna," Erik's voice was weak, raspy.
"Shhhh, it's alright now, Sugah, I got ya," Rogue murmured, tears anew streaming down her face as she pulled the King of Genosha into her embrace, hugged his larger frame against her, relieved beyond all measure that she wasn't too late for him.
He was the last one to be pulled from the rubble and it was just as well, since Rogue's strength had ebbed. Kurt's hand was once again on her shoulder squeezing briefly before he teleported away leaving the smell of sulfur in his wake.
Rogue settled Magneto's head and shoulders in her lap, running her gloved fingers through his pale silver hair. Each rise and fall of his chest was the motivation she had to try and live just a little longer.
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