War Between Four Walls [Crucible, Part Two of Two]

title: War Between Four Walls [Crucible, Part Two of Two]

Continues the story begun in Fire Forged [Crucible, Part One of Two]

author: ninemoons42

characters / pairings: Main pairing is Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr. Secondary pairings are Scott Summers/Jean Grey and Mystique/Azazel. Also includes an ensemble cast of X-Men and mutants past and present.

warnings: Discussion of physical and mental abuse of adults and children; abduction/kidnapping [mentioned/implied]; torture [mentioned/implied]; battle scenes and graphic violence. At least one character exhibiting symptoms of PTSD. Angst and pining. Low-fantasy crapsack world.

Author's notes, credits, and acknowledgements appear at the end.

disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.

summary: After the events of Fire Forged, Erik must deal with his emotions and weigh what he has and what he's lost in the balance. At the same time, he has to help Charles battle his inner demons, and he has to prepare for what is quite possibly the fight of his life. Erik teeters between joy and hope and fear as the drums of war beat and a new song enters his world and his heart.

War Between Four Walls

Crucible, Part Two of Two

One

He wakes up all at once, lifts himself up easily onto his elbows, and looks out the window. A clear winter’s sky, a handful of stars like pinpricks of light in the deep purple darkness. It’s a long way towards morning yet, if the shadows on the horizon are anything to go by.

For as long as he can remember, Erik has always loved the winter, has always loved the memories of snow and quiet and great roaring fires. Winter is when he rests, done with the chores and the myriad little tasks of the sunny days. Winter is when he turns his hands to looking after people, after the children of the mountain hamlet and after his soldiers; when he continues on the same path his parents had taken, when he was a child – when they had looked after him during their journeys through forest and over mountain and all the way to the distant ocean. The world’s noises dying down to a reverent hush under a blanket of snow. Maps and trails and fires made out of fragrant wood, pine and ash and smoke.

He thinks of his mother’s voice, sounding out the names of the stars and teaching him his letters and numbers even as she mended their summer clothes, or knitted new hats and scarves for the deep cold months. He thinks of his father’s hands, tracing out constellations in the ground at their feet and coming back from a good day of hunting, laden down with berries and fish and game.

He’s gotten better and better at remembering that his wife never had taken to winter the way he had. She had loved summer best. She had loved warmth and heat and a thousand shades of green. She had loved walking through forests and fording rivers. Never a hint of fear or apprehension in her face. In the years since her death, he’s learned to content himself with remembering, to draw comfort from the wistful smiles caused by the memories of her. The distant sound of her laugh, the light that had danced in her eyes whenever she bestowed one of her rare smiles on him. The wound of her loss, long since healed, and its faint scar on his heart.

Beneath the stars, reflecting their distant pale light: snow as far as Erik’s eyes can see, piled in drifts. A winter full of snow and rain, he thinks, and he looks out at the houses shrouded in darkness from within, covered in snow from without.

In the distance, the quiet of the night is broken by yet another flurry of branches snapping under the weight of the snow, under the freezing cold. A hard winter, such as the mountains seem to have, but in its own way a pleasant one, even enjoyable. The children can’t get enough of the snow and they play games in it at all hours. They sing and they dance and they occasionally fight pitched snow battles among themselves. They laugh themselves breathless; they draw others in with their contagious joy. They seem to stop only for sleep and meals and lessons. A happy industry, one that brings smiles to every face, and Erik can’t get enough of it.