For your AU thing (it about Mad Max so READ THIS AFTER YOU WATCH THE MOVIE) but au where Max stays at the Citadel with Furiosa
[SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE!!]
Though they asked for no title, their reign lives in legend as the Age of the Many Mothers, and the Citadel is renamed as the Splendid Green.
Furiousa spends the first few days of her reign weakened by bloodloss, yet determined to do work. Max ends up tagging at her heels, propping her up when she grunts in pain, feeding her more of his blood when she needs it.
Capable goes into the caverns, deep in mourning for her War Boy. There she sets to work dismantling the great machines of war, ripping them apart and using the scrap to make plows and irrigation systems, infrastructure to grow and build.
Dag becomes the Keeper of the Seeds and the Protector of the green. She walks the fields by day, the former Keeper’s leather pouch at her waist. The War Pups tag at her heels, repeat her strange little songs to the Wretched, who treat them like sacred chants. And to this day they live in folklore, taught from parent to child.
Fragile retreats to the Harems, and guts them from the inside. She destroys them, rebuilds them, throwing the doors wide open for the former War Pups and the children of the Wretched. The children adore Fragile. Though they roughhouse and snap at each other like feral puppies, when she’s near they quiet and scamper to her feet, eager for her approval.
Toast listens to the people. She doles out food and water and work, lends her counsel and her ear. She earns her name -Toast the Knowing, Toast the Wise - and when Furiousa steps down as their leader, she is who they name as heir.
One day, Furiousa awakens with Max at her elbow. He’s fallen asleep at her bedside, crouched over uncomfortably in his chair. He’s twitching, the corners of his mouth pulled down in fear.
“Max.” She says quietly, and he startles awake. She lifts a corner of her blanket and makes and impatient motion with her head. For a long moment, Max hesitates, confused. But then he stands and sheds his jacket, his body thick and scarred in the dim light. Furiousa looks away, and for the first of many nights they simply sleep, never more than a handspan apart, but not touching.
(There were few luxuries in Furiousa’s life. And this, human warmth and human comfort, has always been as scarce as water in the desert. Max’s body is hard but his mouth is soft and wet. She finds herself sinking into him, quenching herself on what he so freely gives. And even this is a luxury, the freedom to give herself back.)
And it’s not easy, because few things in the desert are. Immortan Joe’s remaining War Boys join with the desert bandits and coordinate an attack on Splendid Green. It’s the first of many, once nearby warlords learn of Citadel’s fall. There are losses - deeply felt - famines and refugees seeking shelter. But there are also Harvests, and Weddings, and Births, children brought into this world with joy instead of dread.
Furiousa sheds the name Imperator, so they call her Mother, a Vuvalini’s name for their highest leaders. And she finds it ironic, she who is barren has become Mother to many.
And as for Max, he had no name, but legends would tell of the Mother’s right hand, how he was reliable and strong. It was said that they could communicate without a word, that they fought like a single machine. That they were together to the end, ascending hand-in-hand to Valhalla.
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