Disclaimer : I do not own Mighty Max. This fic will have slash/yaoi pairings. That means male x male. May have lemon scenes and scenes of NCS and violence. If you are under 18, please don’t read. If you don’t like seeing men with men, don’t read. Everyone else, please enjoy the story!

Long ago, dark and light clashed for control of the world. In the end, the darkness won. The Cap of Power was in the hands of the most evil of dark lords, the Skullmaster. At his right side, Virgil, a fowl, once protector of the ancient prophecies and of the Capbearer himself, reigned. For Virgil had forsaken his duty to the light for power in the darkness.

My name… is Max. I was to be the next Capbearer, the Chosen One. Perhaps, if Virgil had not succumbed to the darkness and fought for the light, he may have been able to stop this from ever happening. As it stood now, the darkness ruled everything. I’m not Max the Capbearer or even Max the Chosen One. Instead, I am a slave to the power of Skullmaster.

Everyone in the world knows the ruler is Skullmaster, and Virgil at his right-hand side. I’d seen them on TV, the dark lord looking handsome and regal, yet I could feel the power of evil from him. Some say he changed forms so that the people would be more willing to accept him. Those who have seen his true form, rumored to be the most fearsome of all, have never lived to tell the tale.

It was my 14^th birthday when my life changed forever. Our city was never a happy place under the rule of the dark. Crime seethed through the streets, my mother worked two part-time jobs to keep a roof over our heads. The school I went to preached of respecting and fearing the dark lord. And so, it was that very day as I was on my way home that I felt a sense of dread fill me. Something bad was going to happen. I had to get home quick!

The moment I turned the block I could see it… or rather them. My mother being interrogated by dark soldiers and him… Virgil, speaking to her. She seemed to be fighting, refusing to give them something. But, what could they possibly want with us?

A hand on my shoulder made me gasp as it pulled me against a rockhard body in the shadows. ‘Hush, Chosen One. You can’t let them see you,’ a deep voice whispered when my eyes finally got a chance to see who my captor was. A tall man, like a giant, knelt next to me, his large arm still around my shoulders as he watched the soldiers.

~Chosen One?~

‘My mother…’ I whispered, as an urgent need to run to her, to protect her from something, surged through me. ‘You can’t save her. All you can do is run,’ the giant replied, even as my eyes widened on a gun one of the guards was pointing at her. ‘NO!’ I struggled to free myself from the man’s arm to no avail as her body tensed and jerked back, the bullet piercing her heart with amazing accuracy.

The guards spoke not a word as they pushed past the unmoving body of my mother and into the house. I stared in shock until Virgil’s eyes turned from the doorway and seemed to stare directly into my own. He knew I was there.

The giant pulled me to my feet and dragged me down the street. Behind us, I could hear the guards racing towards where we had just stood. They’d see us… they’d kill us both just like they killed my mother.

‘AAARGH!’

I half turned in time to see the giant go down. His eyes were on me, as if telling me to keep running… forever. The guards were closing in, the man still didn’t move from his kneeling position. There was blood on the ground, they must have shot him.

‘BANG!’

I nearly screamed when I felt the bullet whiz by my ear. If I looked in the mirror now I’d probably look like a vampire from being so pale with fright. I barely had a chance to think, my body was running again, agilely ducking into an alley and racing to the other end and around the corner. My breath was coming fast and hard, my heart racing in my ears. I ducked behind a garbage bin and watched several pairs of legs in army boots run past my hiding place.

When I knew they were gone, I stood up carefully and looked around. No one. Then I remembered the giant… and my mom. What the hell was I going to do? I couldn’t just leave them. My mom… no, the giant. He tried to help me. I had to help him. If they were chasing me they wouldn’t have bothered to stay with him, right? Or, maybe the chicken had gotten him. I shivered when I remembered the look on the creature’s face when our eyes met.

Trembling, I walked back towards the alley and bumped into something, falling hard on my ass. My eyes widened as I gazed up from the dark boots, to a long purple robe, and into the face of the man who ruled the world… Skullmaster.

Well, shit.

…tbc…

Author’s Note: I’ve only seen a few episodes of Mighty Max. This fic does have yaoi and slash pairings in it. It’s an alternate universe, what might have been if Virgil had sided with the Skullmaster in the first place and ruled the world.

If Max had never met Norman or Virgil, if his mother had been killed, if he’d been all alone in a world where he was the hunted. The chosen one, the cap master, those things made him a target for the forces of darkness. Oh, and Skullmaster’s current form is a middle aged man, handsome and dark haired, violet eyed, a form he substains with his power.

Ok, now that everyone knows what’s going on. If you don’t like slash or yaoi, that means male x male stuff, don’t keep reading. If you like it, please review!