Excalibur (Marvel Comics) - Of Kings and Soldiers (fantasy)
Author: Little Firestar
Rating: K+
Fandom: Excalibur (Marvel Universe)
Characters: Pete Wisdom, Kelsey Kirkland, mentioned Brian Braddock, Merlin and Roma
Summary: Because he had chosen the amulet over the sword, Brian stood among the victorious. Fate hadn’t been that merciful with Kelsey, even if she had done what she did to save lives- it’s not right that she loose her reason for happiness.
Spoilers: events to Avengers disassembled storyline (2004) and New Excalibur (2005)
Genre: Fantasy
Once upon a time, there was a citadel, that stood at the center of the whole creation, a gate between every universe, every reality. This place was called Otherworld, and it was guarded by Merlin (who, in his youth, had transformed Arthur in the greatest king the world had ever known) along with his daughter, Roma.
Merlin and Roma used to travel across the multiverse looking for a rightful soul willing to take the mantle of the Captain, who, among his equals, was to protect the multiverse, and among those chosen warriors stood Lord James Braddock, who, to get his spouse, traveled from reality to reality, for Merlin had decided that his progeny was to rule on all creation and guide the Captains.
The Captain called James arrived, one day, in a universe, where a young woman called Elizabeth stood, and everyone and everything told him that she was the one, and so, since his feelings were returned, he wed her, waiting for the day that his son was to become king on all creation.
The couple, though, didn’t find happiness; not only their first born and soon to be king lost his mind to a creature that traveled the stars to destroy all of creation, but, soon, lost their lives, and only many years later young Brian, second born and twin to Elizabeth Braddock, discovered the truth about his lineage, when he first met Merlin and Roma.
The guardians knew that, being an heir to James and Elizabeth, even if he wasn’t the firstborn, Brian was to take his father’s mantle, but, still, decided to ask him to decide upon his fate. The young man was asked to choose between the Sword of Might and the Amulet of Right, and Brian, being the son of Sir James and a rightful soul, decided that if he was to rule upon the whole creation, the Amulet was his choice - Roma and Merlin smiled, given him the amulet so that he could be the new ruler of Otherworld, and gifted the young man with the power of Captain Britain, making him the incarnation of the land of Britain and of the Spirits of his citizens.
Many years passed, and Brian, who had, meanwhile, married the young mutant called Meggan, was ruling on Otherworld, when Morgana LeFay, sister to the late King Arthur, decided to attack him on the holy soil of Avalon, for she knew that if the incarnation of the land and of the spirits was to fall, all the country was going to follow his fate, making possible for her to take what she had always assumed belonged to Morgana and Morgana alone.
Brian, though, knew what was at stake, and so, with his mind and his heart, he reached a proper soul, asking it to take upon as the captain, the living incarnation of the country and of the Spirits of the citizens of Britain.
Her name was Kelsey, and she was dying, breathing her last instant of life while defending her family and even a man she had never met before, but who she knew being a so-called super-hero.; Kelsey immediately accepted Brian’s offer, but, when he asked her to choose, she did something no one had ever dated to do: she took the sword instead of the amulet, so that she could fight the ones who were hurting her children.
For the sake of our story, it’s not important what happened after that, but just know that Sir Brian was saved, and Kelsey, who defeated her enemies and saved Steve Rogers, was doomed to never talk to her children again if she didn’t want for them to die of an horrible death.
All because she took the sword instead of the amulet, in order not to kill and attack and hurt, but to defend innocent souls.…
A long time ago, Brian had told him the story of how he become who he was, Captain Britain, living emblem of their nation. It wasn’t a long one, and maybe not even complicated, but Wisdom always thought that it was a strange one, and that, somewhere, there were things that didn’t feet too well, like it was too good of a story to be true- or at least, completely true.
(Besides, there was the problem of the people who told Brian the story, Merlin and his daughter Roma, self-proclaimed keepers of the omniverse, who weren’t well known for their sincerity).
The story narrated that, in every dimension, every time a captain fell, another one was chosen; it had to be someone close to death (but not any death, they were to be young and courageous and so on) and while their spirit was in the space between this world and the next one, Roma and Merlin were to appear, and ask the faithful question.
Every member of the corps of the captains was asked the same question in their time of death: would you prefer to choose the sword of might, or the amulet of right?
Brian told him once, during a night out, that he didn’t know of anyone who had ever accepted the sword over the amulet, and Wisdom didn’t voiced his answer- that it was probably because every member of the Corps was somehow linked to Brian himself, a version of the man, or of someone somehow related to him.
No one did, except one person.
When Kelsey was asked to be the new Captain Britain, it wasn’t Merlin who made the faithful question, nor his daughter. It was Brian himself, in a desperate attempt of finding somebody else to be the living embodiment of the land and spirit of Great Britain while Morgana was so close to kill him and take over the Reign, killing two birds with one stone.
Kelsey, who used to be a mother, and had died saving Captain bloody America and Hawkeye, took the sword, accepted strength over reason, force over wisdom. And, somehow, took the power as well; Brian often told him that obviously she ended up allying herself with some wonnabe world dominator, having chosen the wrong side, the wrong artifact, something that nobody had done before - lately, to their biggest surprise, it come out that there was actually a whole corps of rejected captains who had taken the sword over the amulet, just to be then abandoned by Roma and Merlin, and their wonnabe world dominator was none other than a Brian Braddock coming from another reality, going by name of Albion.
In the hour of need, a dying Kelsey, mother, housewife, choose the sword, like many other had done before her without being remembered in the chronicles of the Corps, and was abandoned, forced to promise to never reveal the truth to her beloved, while in his last hour, the man who was going to become Albion had taken the sword as well, just to kill his enemy and conquer, get his revenge on the ones who had tried to enslave Britain.
Albion took the sword to bring pain to everyone, included the innocent, while Kelsey made the same decision in order to defend her family, and even a stranger .
“I never met someone who took the sword over the amulet…” Brian repeats once again as they look at the footage of the recently renamed Lionheart, fighting alongside Albion, and, at his side, Pete can’t help but wonder.
He wonders why Merlin didn’t ask others to join the Corps, why being so childish, so obtuse. Because Albion was a conqueror, an evil man even who just wanted to get more and more power, while Kelsey had done the same choice to protect the innocents, her beloved ones, her family, and even, the bravest thing of them all, people she didn’t know.
After all, if Brian was the king of the Multiverse, he was going to need soldiers as well, and what better soldiers than the ones who wanted to protect their people?
Rating: K+
Fandom: Excalibur (Marvel Universe)
Characters: Pete Wisdom, Kelsey Kirkland, mentioned Brian Braddock, Merlin and Roma
Summary: Because he had chosen the amulet over the sword, Brian stood among the victorious. Fate hadn’t been that merciful with Kelsey, even if she had done what she did to save lives- it’s not right that she loose her reason for happiness.
Spoilers: events to Avengers disassembled storyline (2004) and New Excalibur (2005)
Genre: Fantasy
Once upon a time, there was a citadel, that stood at the center of the whole creation, a gate between every universe, every reality. This place was called Otherworld, and it was guarded by Merlin (who, in his youth, had transformed Arthur in the greatest king the world had ever known) along with his daughter, Roma.
Merlin and Roma used to travel across the multiverse looking for a rightful soul willing to take the mantle of the Captain, who, among his equals, was to protect the multiverse, and among those chosen warriors stood Lord James Braddock, who, to get his spouse, traveled from reality to reality, for Merlin had decided that his progeny was to rule on all creation and guide the Captains.
The Captain called James arrived, one day, in a universe, where a young woman called Elizabeth stood, and everyone and everything told him that she was the one, and so, since his feelings were returned, he wed her, waiting for the day that his son was to become king on all creation.
The couple, though, didn’t find happiness; not only their first born and soon to be king lost his mind to a creature that traveled the stars to destroy all of creation, but, soon, lost their lives, and only many years later young Brian, second born and twin to Elizabeth Braddock, discovered the truth about his lineage, when he first met Merlin and Roma.
The guardians knew that, being an heir to James and Elizabeth, even if he wasn’t the firstborn, Brian was to take his father’s mantle, but, still, decided to ask him to decide upon his fate. The young man was asked to choose between the Sword of Might and the Amulet of Right, and Brian, being the son of Sir James and a rightful soul, decided that if he was to rule upon the whole creation, the Amulet was his choice - Roma and Merlin smiled, given him the amulet so that he could be the new ruler of Otherworld, and gifted the young man with the power of Captain Britain, making him the incarnation of the land of Britain and of the Spirits of his citizens.
Many years passed, and Brian, who had, meanwhile, married the young mutant called Meggan, was ruling on Otherworld, when Morgana LeFay, sister to the late King Arthur, decided to attack him on the holy soil of Avalon, for she knew that if the incarnation of the land and of the spirits was to fall, all the country was going to follow his fate, making possible for her to take what she had always assumed belonged to Morgana and Morgana alone.
Brian, though, knew what was at stake, and so, with his mind and his heart, he reached a proper soul, asking it to take upon as the captain, the living incarnation of the country and of the Spirits of the citizens of Britain.
Her name was Kelsey, and she was dying, breathing her last instant of life while defending her family and even a man she had never met before, but who she knew being a so-called super-hero.; Kelsey immediately accepted Brian’s offer, but, when he asked her to choose, she did something no one had ever dated to do: she took the sword instead of the amulet, so that she could fight the ones who were hurting her children.
For the sake of our story, it’s not important what happened after that, but just know that Sir Brian was saved, and Kelsey, who defeated her enemies and saved Steve Rogers, was doomed to never talk to her children again if she didn’t want for them to die of an horrible death.
All because she took the sword instead of the amulet, in order not to kill and attack and hurt, but to defend innocent souls.…
A long time ago, Brian had told him the story of how he become who he was, Captain Britain, living emblem of their nation. It wasn’t a long one, and maybe not even complicated, but Wisdom always thought that it was a strange one, and that, somewhere, there were things that didn’t feet too well, like it was too good of a story to be true- or at least, completely true.
(Besides, there was the problem of the people who told Brian the story, Merlin and his daughter Roma, self-proclaimed keepers of the omniverse, who weren’t well known for their sincerity).
The story narrated that, in every dimension, every time a captain fell, another one was chosen; it had to be someone close to death (but not any death, they were to be young and courageous and so on) and while their spirit was in the space between this world and the next one, Roma and Merlin were to appear, and ask the faithful question.
Every member of the corps of the captains was asked the same question in their time of death: would you prefer to choose the sword of might, or the amulet of right?
Brian told him once, during a night out, that he didn’t know of anyone who had ever accepted the sword over the amulet, and Wisdom didn’t voiced his answer- that it was probably because every member of the Corps was somehow linked to Brian himself, a version of the man, or of someone somehow related to him.
No one did, except one person.
When Kelsey was asked to be the new Captain Britain, it wasn’t Merlin who made the faithful question, nor his daughter. It was Brian himself, in a desperate attempt of finding somebody else to be the living embodiment of the land and spirit of Great Britain while Morgana was so close to kill him and take over the Reign, killing two birds with one stone.
Kelsey, who used to be a mother, and had died saving Captain bloody America and Hawkeye, took the sword, accepted strength over reason, force over wisdom. And, somehow, took the power as well; Brian often told him that obviously she ended up allying herself with some wonnabe world dominator, having chosen the wrong side, the wrong artifact, something that nobody had done before - lately, to their biggest surprise, it come out that there was actually a whole corps of rejected captains who had taken the sword over the amulet, just to be then abandoned by Roma and Merlin, and their wonnabe world dominator was none other than a Brian Braddock coming from another reality, going by name of Albion.
In the hour of need, a dying Kelsey, mother, housewife, choose the sword, like many other had done before her without being remembered in the chronicles of the Corps, and was abandoned, forced to promise to never reveal the truth to her beloved, while in his last hour, the man who was going to become Albion had taken the sword as well, just to kill his enemy and conquer, get his revenge on the ones who had tried to enslave Britain.
Albion took the sword to bring pain to everyone, included the innocent, while Kelsey made the same decision in order to defend her family, and even a stranger .
“I never met someone who took the sword over the amulet…” Brian repeats once again as they look at the footage of the recently renamed Lionheart, fighting alongside Albion, and, at his side, Pete can’t help but wonder.
He wonders why Merlin didn’t ask others to join the Corps, why being so childish, so obtuse. Because Albion was a conqueror, an evil man even who just wanted to get more and more power, while Kelsey had done the same choice to protect the innocents, her beloved ones, her family, and even, the bravest thing of them all, people she didn’t know.
After all, if Brian was the king of the Multiverse, he was going to need soldiers as well, and what better soldiers than the ones who wanted to protect their people?