xt1me

I'd been doing so good posting something once a week & then I completely let myself down last week.
I could have just posted a Happy St. Patrick's Day message or something.

Oh, well.
At least I have something for this week.

I was recently reminded that Marvel’s 1602 exists. Back when I first read it I had an idea for a fic. Since that was literally years ago it’s obvious I’m never going to write it so here it is.

Back in ye old generic medieval time there was a village. In this village lived a redheaded maiden called Jean. She tried to be kind and gentle. And she was terribly worried about how she always knew what other people were thinking. When she was younger she just thought she was very perceptive but as she got older others thoughts became more & more clear. She started to know others secrets. No-a-days hearing voices means you’re crazy. Back then it meant you were hearing the devil.

She tried to hide it but one days one of the older men in the village started thinking lustful thoughts after her.

Let’s go full Frollo from hunchback of Notre Dame & say it was a clergyman that blamed her for his feelings. So one day he confronts Jean to have his way with her & she tries to fight back. & her telekinesis kicks in & he goes flying.

Well obviously that must mean she’s a witch.

Burn the witch.

(We’re ignoring the fact that it’s more historically accurate that most witches were stoned to death.)

So she’s tied up on the stake with the villagers all around her. She’s terrified since she can hear all their thoughts as they are whipped into a frenzy by Frollo-light.

Suddenly an angel descends from above. Everyone is shocked. The angle looks angry & asks them what they think they’re doing. Frollo quick on his feet though & immediately clames that this is obviously a sign that God is on his side for ridding the wold of another demon worshiper. The crowd is beginning to get ugly & mob-like.

But then it suddenly gets really cold, snuffing out most of the touches, and a red beam blasts overhead. The crowd turn to see a man in a cloak. A red glow coming from under his hood. And Horns coming out the top of his head.

A beast like man bounds over him and runs towards the crowd. At the last minute he jumps up over them & lands next to where Frollo has tied up Jean.

The crowd are shock when he starts to speak eloquently.

He mocks the angel saying that that his master has already won this night as can be plainly seen & he should leave. The angel argues back that the girl has not been martyred yet and there is still time to save this village.

The crowd has backed away a bit at this point, staying far away from what appears to be the devil, who has yet to come closer. But it’s dawning on a few of them that the angel & demon aren’t arguing over the soul of the girl but of the rest of the town.

There some taunting back & fourth from the demon and the angel. The demon saying that obviously if a corrupt priest has led his congregation to kill an innocent then that must mean that their souls are damned & the angle arguing that as long they repent it’s not to late for them.

While all this is happening, Jean is confused. She can’t hear what these strange creatures are thinking & it’s not what there are saying. They are hoping that she will trust them & that the plan goes ahead. There is a feeling of nervousness, more like actors preforming then of fear of death.

The mob like mentality of the crowd has broken nom. The narrative taken away from Frollo some of them are starting to think maybe killing a girl they’ve known all their life was a bad idea. Others are awed by the spectacle they are seeing before them. Some of them, victims of Frollo in any number of ways, are starting to turn on him.

Frollo, in desperation as he sees his authority going up in smoke grabs one of the few lit touches left. He knows that if he doesn’t do something drastic he’ll like be run out of town, an angel turning up & condemning you doesn’t look good on the resume.

He shots something about demons clouding their vision & only he could lead them too salvation & goes to light the bonfire. He’s interrupted when the torch gets suddenly frozen solid. He screams as his hand is frost bitten & the demon throws him to the ground. The demon laughs & says his actions have doomed him. The demon is close enough to Jean that he can cut though the ropes binding her. Jean isn’t sure what to do when he whispers to trust them.

The Angel swoops down and dramatically batters the demon away. You would have to have been right where Jean was standing to notice that they barely touched each other & the demon looked more like he jumped rather than was pushed.

The angel declares that this innocent will be delivered from evil & sweeps her into the air. He also whispers to Jean to trust them & to hang on tight. They fly away but not before he tells the crowd they must renounce evil or they will have truly condemned themselves.

With the angel gone the frightened villages are told by the demon that it is too late, their sins have caught up with them, none of them will be saved. But from the crowd a voice say that they renounce him. The demons dramatically screams as if in pain & staggers back. The crowd is heartened & start chanting we renounce you, we renounce you as the demon turns and flees. The crowd almost chase after him but in all the excitement that had almost forgot about the devil. A red beam comes from under his hood destroying the ground in front of him stopping the mob in their tracks . As the destruction kicks up enough dirt & debris to blind them, the last of the lights go out & the demon’s final taunting words remind them that they won this time but not to forget who easy it had been for them to risk eternal damnation.

By the time the cloud cleared there is no sign of the devil, the demon the angel or Jean.

By the time the angel lands with Jean she is pretty sure that her rescuer isn’t actually a holy being. After all, he thought of far too many curse words while trying to fly holding onto her for him to be divine.

He explains as they wait for the other just who they are.

Him and his friends were each born w/ unique talents. They had been hailed as miracles by some & cursed as evil by others. They had each met a mentor that believed the they were simply people born w/ gifts, no better or worse than any other, but could help change the world.

But the world didn’t exactly trust their help.

They had found that, while they did try to talk calmly w/ people like themselves when they came across them, far too often mobs could form as people became scared of what they could do.

But, they had learned that if you turned a mob into an audience you could have a chance to control what happened.

The narrative of the angel saving the innocent from the devil helped not only get the victim away but also shamed the people in the mob to take a look at what they were doing. Sometimes it even meant that the person they rescued didn’t have to cut all ties & run.

Warren played the part of the angel as, well, what else was they to do if you could fly on white wings.

Hank played the part of the demon, a mask & costume (if this is original Best) made him look the part specially in flicking torchlight. And of all the group he was the best with words.

Scott played the Devil. He had a simple long cloak and a headdress with horns attached to look the part. The ominous glow that came from the special mask he wore to control his powers did most of the work. He was the back up to make sure the mob couldn’t corner them.

Bobby was the hidden member. He dressed as a normal villager and hid with the mob. Shouting queues to them if needed & providing atmosphere by making things cold. He was also on hand to stop any fires that might spring up if things didn’t go quite to plan.

Then they invite Jean to join them.

Having just been turned on by everyone she knew she says yes.

I know the performer aspect would probably suit Nightcrawler more, but I wanted to do this w/ the original comic X-Men.