ratcreature | recs, XMFC edition

I have read a lot of X-Men: First Class fanfic recently, and thought I'd share some recs outside of my regular AU and crossover recs (though there are still going to be AU recs here):

Fix-its

never too late to be who you might have been, by acetamide. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 19,600 words)
This is a fix-it via time travel, i.e. Charles and Erik from shortly before Cuba are transported into the future to the time X2, see how things turn out between them and then do better.

Try, Try Again by and_backagain. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 5,680 words)
A Groundhog Day AU, in which Erik eventually manages to fix the outcome.

Faults for Fixing, by beren. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 25,500 words)
In this Charles makes contact with a mutant with precognition via Cerebro and sees the possible canon future, and prevents it from coming true.

Not Half As Blinding, by keire_ke. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 29,500 words)
In this AU Charles dies a comic book death from which he gets better eventually. But meanwhile Erik doesn't leave the others.

Puzzle Pieces, by lilacsigil. Gen. (ca. 15,000 words)
Here Darwin's death was of the comic book death variety, and Magneto & Co. realize that he can be put together again. Things go wrong and it's up to Mystique to organize a rescue, and to cooperate with Charles.

Brighter Path, by SisterMu. Slash and implied het, Charles/Erik, Erik/Raven. WIP
I had a bit of trouble getting into it, because the first chapter is a sex scene that didn't interest me much on its own merits. Though it made more sense to be there later on. In this AU Erik stays after Cuba, and they work out their ideological differences not through competing mutant teams but in strategy discussions while dealing with the practical concerns of the aftermath together, i.e. getting Charles care, dealing with the CIA and so on. I also enjoyed this take on Moira and the original character that appears.

Synthesis (Scenes from an AU), by starlady. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 15,200 words)
The author claims this is not a fix-it for the ending, but it definitely is a reality where Charles and Erik are not on opposite sides in the future, and Erik stays rather than leaving, without any radical premise shifts (like the AUs below). So that counts as fixed in my book.

other AUs

Remedial Dragon Training 030, by Anon. WIP
I don't know the How to Train Your Dragon movie with which this is a fusion, but Dragon!Erik is quite awesome.

your head caught in a waking dream, by Anon. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP
The scenario here is that Charles' parents had him committed to a mental hospital, which did not help much with his telepathy. Eventually Raven (whom he met like in canon) manages to break him out with Erik's help. This is great h/c and I'm really enjoying how much damage was done to Charles and how he's slowly healing, while hunting for Shaw with Erik and Raven and killing people with his brain.

Hellfire AU, by Cesare and helens78. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 54,700 words so far in three finished stories, but the series is still a WIP)
This is a modern day period dystopia in which mutants are enslaved, but Charles and his group are part of a mutant resistance.

Skin Deep by manic_intent. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 29,400 words)
A werewolf AU. It startled me a bit that Charles shifts into a female wolf despite being a male human, but it worked quite well, and I liked the worldbuilding.

Center of Balance, by soundslikej. Gen. (ca. 1,600 words)
This is a five things story with the theme "five mutants Charles Xavier never met at age 12, and one he did" and the snippets are a great mix from sweet to creepy.

Dead Man's Paradise, by Yahtzee. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 24,000 words)
The setup is inspired by some anime series I don't know. Basically mutants who are imprisoned are used in gladiator fights for entertainment purposes, and one of those places is run by Shaw. Erik ended up there because he killed a Nazi, Charles got himself imprisoned looking for Raven. I liked that it started rather dark, but then ended more hopeful. I also liked that the dehumanizing setup twists people (sort of a Stanford prison experiment) but that Charles showing solidarity changes things for the better, so it's not completely bleak for all the dystopia.

other

Anthem for Doomed Youth, by Fahye. Slash and het, Charles/Erik, Erik/Raven. (ca. 12,800 words)
We see events of the movie from Raven's POV.

The Emperor's New Clothes, by ignipes. Gen. (ca. 3,100 words)
There are few humor stories that literally make me LOL, but this was one of them. It explores the consequences of Magneto's clothing choices.

The Fortress, by kindkit. Gen, Erik, Raven. (ca. 1,250 words)
As the long list of fix-its above shows, going with canon is a slightly tough sell for me in this fandom. That said, this is a great character study of Erik and Raven in immediate the aftermath.

A Dash of Truth Spread Thinly, by Labingi. Het and implied slash, Erik/Raven, Charles/Erik. (ca. 5,700 words)
This is a great character study of Raven post-X2 that incorporates XMFC canon.

Lastly,

unfrosted_cake is reccing XMFC fanart on

fanart_recs this month and has been posting several recs already, so if you like pretty X-Men pictures you ought to check that out. (I'm all gleeful at the high frequency of getting X-Men art links -- meanwhile I'm reccing Merlin fanart there this month at a more sedate pace, with two recs so far.)