Mutatis Mutandis

Summary: Bobby Drake is a god among snowflakes.

Taking the last step off the gangway, he can't say for sure what set this day apart from all others this morning, what has brought him here today instead of yesterday or last month or next week. Nothing but the vague realization that if he doesn't do it before anything else gets in the way, he may be too late.

God knows I've earned a vacation.

A lovely story that really earns its 'saving the world' tag on AO3. Superheroes interacting with real world problems can be a tricky thing to pull off, but this is beautiful and such a perfectly Bobby way of handling things.

God Among Snowflakes

Summary: Memories, dreams, reality - they're all the same colour to Logan.

He used to be afraid of the dark, a long time ago when he was small and didn't have fur. No, hair, it was hair, and he couldn't forget that, or who knows what else he might forget. Like his favorite shirt or Mississippi or that song he heard one time before he was Here.

Or his name. His name. His name ... his name was ... was ...

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

A disturbing look inside Logan's dreams. The imagery does a great job of getting the trauma across.

Green

Summary: Kurt and Ororo, chatting on the roof.

It was quiet on the far side and he quickly became absorbed in his thoughts. He didn't notice the soft breeze increasing. When she appeared in his view it so startled him that he nearly lost his perch. She floated gracefully on the currents of air at her command, turning an elegant back flip before settling on the roof, smiling at him.

He met her smile. "You could have been a legend in the circus."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said with a laugh. "What would they call me? The Astounding Storm?"

"No, you would have been an angel..." he said. His eyes twinkled as he continued, mimicking a ringmaster's boastful patter. "An ethereal, angelic aerialist with the power of the elements at her beck and call! Thrill as she performs her death-defying aerial tricks! Wonder as she brings down the rains from heaven to your very faces!"

Storm, Nightcrawler, the evening breeze and some friendly - or maybe more than friendly - conversation. Kurt and Ororo really are adorable together, and this is a charming story.

Grotesque

Rogue and Wolverine enjoy the hockey game ... or maybe not, in Logan's case *g*. A cute idea for a cute picture.


The Hockey Game by ~MouseThatRoared on deviantART

Summary: Motels, money, murder, madness.

She pulled a small, glassine bag from her pocket. It held a miniscule metal triangle. "He hit bone," she said. "He had a cheap knife."

He drew a deep breath, then regretted it, his nose and mouth filled with the foul stench of fear, blood and death that hung in the air.

"Told you it wasn't you," she said, taking his hand and leading him back to the car. "I don't know why you were so worried."

"How did you--" he broke off when she turned and raised an eyebrow. She shouldn't be able to read him like that. Not after so many years apart. "Find it," he finished, and they both knew that wasn't his original question.

It's been five years since Logan left Rogue, but now he needs her help to solve a series of murders. Together, they fight crime! Dark and atmospheric, and I love the procedural aspects.

Jim Morrison's Dead

Summary: One Rogue. Two timelines. Three personalities. Every possibility. Rogue discovers who she is, could have been, and everything she can become.

Standing in the middle of the lot, I stared around me, trying to get a grip on the situation, which was spiraling toward Freaky real damn fast. Slowly, I put down my bag and realized I still had my change clutched in my hand.

One five, three ones, some metal, enough to get a cab. I took the coins to stuff in my jeans pocket and began to fold the bills when I froze, staring in shock at them in my hand.

I mean, how often, really, do we take a good look at our money?

You know, if you were only going to read one story in this fandom (although heaven knows why you'd be here if you wanted to do that) this would be an excellent choice. Jus Ad Bellum is a wonderful novel on so many levels. It's a great exploration of Rogue's character and the relationships she forms with very different group of X-Men. It's an exciting adventure with action and romance and suspense. Most of all though, it's a long, hard look at the ideologies involved in the conflict between mutants and humans, and at how far people on both sides are willing to go when pushed. By the end, I understood where every character was coming from, and that's its most impressive achievement.

Jus Ad Bellum

Summary: Karen Stryker is left alone to deal with with her son, the great illusionist.

Out of the corner of one eye, Karen can see the heel of a dirty sneaker and one swinging arm disappearing from the top of the staircase into the second-floor hallway. This is the third time Jason’s hit her with the drowning nightmare. It’s not his worst, not as terrible as the ones that made her afraid for a while to look at or touch the man she still thinks she loves (despite everything, yes?) or to face her own reflection in the mirror. But with each try, this one has been a little different, a little more convincing, a little more real. He’s getting stronger, and how the hell is she supposed to make him stop? Ground him? Keeping him inside isn’t a punishment, it’s a necessity. Take away his privileges? Hah. His mind -- and his parents -- are the only toys he needs.

Dealing with a mutant child isn't easy at the best of times, and when your child is willing - eager, even - to turn his power against you it's even worse. This really made me feel for Karen Stryker, a character we only hear mentioned in passing in X2, and understand her husband's later actions a little better.

Keeping House

Summary: On the run, Toad visits an old friend.

At a quarter past two, Anagram was standing on his balcony, looking over the edge. He wasn't entirely happy with this. He wasn't fond of heights. But he wanted very much to know how Toad intended to get up the side of the building.

"You are living posh," Toad's voice said over his head, and Anagram jumped, dropped his cigarette, and whirled about, ending up with his shoulder blades pressed to the railing.

"Fuck!" He grabbed the railing, staring up at Toad, who was clinging to the side of the building with nothing more than his hands.

I always thought Toad has a very British punk aesthetic in the films, so it makes perfect sense to me that he used to be a bass player. In this story he meets an old bandmate and they both get something they need out of the encounter. I really like the way this digs into the politics of mutation and how it might intersect with other kinds of identity issues.

Kissable Fanatic, Unhinged Minim Artists

Summary: Jean never said no.

You never told me no. That's what I remember about you and what I won't forget.

"Come on out," I said, when your parents brought me a shell of a girl. "It's safe, now."

My voice was calm, commanding. Your sea-green eyes, too old for any child, met mine and recognised me.

"Yes," you said, the first time you had spoken in weeks, and your mother cried with joy.

A dark and evocative take on the relationship between Xavier and Jean, and at what she might have been looking for when she walked out of that jet.

The Lady of Alkali Lake

Summary: What would you do if someone told you that you were special, that you needed to come learn how to use your unique talents? If you were Jean Grey, 11 years old in the summer of 1977, Star Wars would give you something to think about when the Jedi come to you.

"I know a man who wants to start a school, a special school for kids like you."

"Kids on crutches?" Jean was sceptical.

"Kids with special gifts that nobody understands yet."

"Like you," Jean said, before she realized that she was pulling it out of his mind.

He didn't flinch. "Like me," he said evenly. "I feel what other people feel. Similar to what you do, but not nearly as strong. It's very useful to me as a priest."

"I bet," Jean said. She and Annie had talked about the Jedi Knights, about what would you do if someone showed up and said that the Force was strong in your family.

"Would you like to talk to him?" Father Michael asked. "His name is Professor Xavier."

A gorgeous story about Jean's introduction to the mansion, and about how fiction gives her the tools she needs to understand herself and the people around her.

Last of the Jedi