sakura_no_miko | Archived fic rec

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Erik/Charles

Warnings: character death (multiple), violence, World War II, mild sexuality

Other notes: alternate universe, fix-it fic, time travel, historical fiction, angst

Length: 11k

Summary: Written for the following prompt: Erik dies, or finds a reversey-time mutant, or a magical time travelling device, and wakes up in the past. This time, though, it’s before he ever met Charles - in fact, it’s before his mother died.

He can save his mother that one time (thanks to his mastery over powers carrying back), but what does Erik do after that? Does he stick around, or escape and run to find Charles again (and hope everything doesn’t go wrong)?

Like Rescuers/Stirrings, this is a fic that has Erik emerge as a hero during WWII and change the public perceptions of mutants.

There’s a lot of pain in this story. Well, of course, anything dealing with Magneto is going to have a lot of pain, a lot of anger, and a lot of bad decisions. So, in a way, this fic is taking the hard route–trying to write a Magneto who has all that passion, but without his key characteristics.

And it is amazing. When you reach the end, and understand how much he’s changed himself, it’s just perfect. I think there’s a danger of being too maudlin with fix-it fics. Even the term itself–“fix-it.” Change what’s broken, make it better. This fic takes the route, not of just making everything better, but making it different. There’s still pain in this story–but different pain. Whether or not you agree that it’s better is up to the reader.

The author notes that this is a companion of sorts to her earlier work Undone (a story where Charles time-travels and changes things), and you can definitely see the growth from one story to the other. I also rec'ced The Winter of Banked Fires by this author earlier. It’s also a fix-it fic, but without the time-travel elements, if that’s more to your tastes.

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Originally posted on tumblr on 7/04/12

Archived fic rec - Enigma