Magneto was beginning to feel a cool wave of energy course through him. So close as to almost be one with him, Dr. Bett calmly placed his left hand on Magneto’s shoulder and his right hand, with stethoscope resting in the palm, against Magneto’s chest.
As calmly as the placement of his hand, came the words from Dr. Bett’s mouth.
“Don’t be afraid. Don’t run away- stay where you are.”
Magneto, born from tireless experiences of Intern year, knew a last gasp struggle with Dr. Bett would be moot. The poison Dr. Bett had so effortlessly and stealthily placed on Magneto’s mucous membranes was already causing a microscopic cascade of cellular apoptosis.
“Et tu, Dr. Bett?”
It was all Magneto could think to say in the moment before his death.
“Only Magneto had to die for this ambition,” responded Dr. Bett, recalling Brutus in the moments after he joined the assassination of Caesar.
Since his birth, Magneto had anticipated the greatest threat to his existence to come from his progenitor, Ean the Intern. From Ean’s grueling experience, Magneto had arisen as a counterbalance to the unbridled instincts and passion necessary for survival in Medical Residency.
Magneto had provided the organization and realization necessary to prevent Ean the Intern’s passions from destroying himself from within and ending this fantastic journey in its infancy.
Inadvertently, Magneto became the genesis for the Super Ego, Dr. Bett, who would become the moral compass on their tenuous journey.
Having given rise to Dr. Bett, Magneto was astounded of his own capabilities, but even more so, he was in awe by the strides Dr. Bett had made.
Each step Dr. Bett had taken brought Ean and Magneto closer to their ultimate goal. It also provided them even greater strength. His passion increasing along every one of Dr. Bett’s strides, Ean became harder for Magneto to control.
Magneto’s sole purpose now seemed to revolve around keeping Ean’s passions in check and preventing them from obliterating their common purpose as the completion of Residency loomed ever closer.
Dr. Bett had entrusted this responsibility upon Magneto, from which he expected a long and successful existence.
His last moments, so close to the end of their journey, had not been anticipated.
As the end of Residency became a reality, Dr. Bett began to feel the weight of Ean and Magneto with each step he took. While both had been necessary for his own creation, he could not envision the next journey coming to fruition if he would have to be responsible for them both.
This misunderstanding, which blinded Dr. Bett ever increasingly, gave rise to The Death of Magneto.
While Ean could at times create trouble if not adequately balanced by Magneto, Dr. Bett believed Ean’s instincts to be invaluable to their next journey. Simultaneously, Magneto’s own strength, as a counterbalance and as his own entity, could not be overlooked.
Dr. Bett, after painful deliberation, could see Magneto becoming too powerful to control due to the opportunities awaiting them on their next journey. Eventually, Magneto’s strengths could make Dr. Bett unnecessary.
More importantly, Magneto’s relationship with Ean, while needed at this stage, was not deemed to be necessary by Dr. Bett in the future. Dr. Bett could harness Ean’s energy on his own.
And if Magneto eventually realized that Ean was beholden to him, and not Dr. Bett, it would be Magneto, and not Dr. Bett, who would truly be in charge of this journey.
This was a reality Dr. Bett was not willing to allow.
There was a brief moment when Magneto looked into Dr. Bett’s eyes as his vision blurred and the sound of his own heart faded.
Dr. Bett looked as caring and thoughtful as ever.
It was a moment not foreseen by Magneto. But he was comforted by it.
That was the moment. The Death of Magneto.
Elbrecht's Corpuscle 