Title: Pride
Rating: T for some adult themes
Characters: Azazel/Mystique & Nightcrawler
Author's note/Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they are property of Marvel. I decided to have another go at writing another short story. I had a hand written draft of this lying around and I decided to write a clean version. This is set between First Class and Days of Future Past, while linking up to X-Men: Apocalypse. Azazel and Mystique have a warm and fuzzy moment with their newborn son before they're divided and tragedy sinks in.
His hands were calloused and precise from years of sword fighting, always capable of wielding a blade with ease. Yet that night they trembled as he helped his partner get comfortable, trembled as he aided his partner during the delivery, trembled as he clipped the cord, and still trembled as he picked up his newborn son. Being careful to avoid dropping the baby, Azazel's red hands gently bundled the infant in a blanket against his black clad chest.
He looked at the infant that he cradled against himself. Azazel had always been proud to be a mutant, of the scars he earned, and of his work as an assassin. However, after taking so many lives, knowing that he helped create the new life he was now holding in his arms brought Azazel more pride than anything else.
The baby, which had been wailing after being brought into the world, had quieted down and was napping. Azazel's new son had inherited after his father, the pointed ears, arrow head tipped tail that stuck out from the blanket, and the curls of hair on the infant's head was the same dark colour as Azazel's. However, Azazel had red skin and his son's was a deep blue, a gift from the mother. The three fingered hands and talon like feet were unique compared to the combined gifts of the parents.
Azazel sat on the edge of the only bed in the cabin that he and his family were using for the last few weeks, on the bed laid the unconscious form of Mystique. Her blue forehead beaded with sweat, her red hair damp, and her chest rising and falling under the sheet, Mystique was resting from the long labour after the baby was delivered. Azazel could see under the sheet that Mystique's belly, which had been swollen and round earlier, had flattened after she had pushed their son from her womb. It was a benefit of Mystique's shape shifting gift, no doubt.
As Azazel watched over Mystique and their son, he reflected how this all happened. He never thought that he would be a father back when he had just met Mystique. She was in her early twenties while Azazel was twice her age. Mystique fought with the X-Men while Azazel was with the Hellfire club, which made it impossible to start a family with her.
When Magneto convinced the remaining Hellfire members with Mystique to join his cause for mutants, things changed for Azazel. He often saw her at Brotherhood meetings, she seemed eager to carry out Magneto's plans but a little naive of the dangers that lay ahead. Azazel, skilled as he was, oversaw Mystique's training to become an assassin. At first she wasn't too happy about it because she was scared of Azazel since he killed those CIA men in front of her. However, Azazel persisted and Mystique progressed. They quickly became friends, then lovers.
Things took a more drastic change after several months, Magneto was captured and imprisoned. The rest of the Brotherhood had to divide and go on the run. By then, Mystique was pregnant with Azazel's child. Azazel and Mystique agreed that they couldn't risk putting the baby in danger if they went on the run, but Azazel had a plan. Azazel teleported them to Europe, explaining that he had a surrogate family from his youth and could find them for help if he ever needed it.
After several jumps through the forests, to avoid human contact as much as possible, Mystique began to have contractions from the stress. Realizing that he couldn't force Mystique to travel so much due to her condition, Azazel searched the forest until he discovered an old cabin that was deserted for years. When the expecting parents settled into the cabin, they found that it was a one room shelter, a bed in the corner big enough for two, a small table, two chairs, a wood stove and shelves containing very few provisions and tools.
Once settled in, Azazel was able to get the equipment and supplies they required to survive and for the birth of their child. After stocking up on water, food, clean linens, hunting tools, baby supplies, and a first aid manual, they were ready to stay until Mystique gave birth, then they would move on.
During the last few weeks, Azazel would hunt while Mystique researched the first aid manual on childbirth. When Azazel returned from setting traps, he would find Mystique doing tedious tasks such as chopping wood or just practicing her knife work outside of the cabin. He would tell her to take it easy because he didn't want her to have stress related contractions again, but Mystique brushed him off and told him that she didn't need to be treated 'like she was made of glass'.
The nights prior to the birth of their son were just as challenging. As Azazel drifted off to sleep, Mystique swatted him awake, complaining that the baby was squirming in her womb too much and that it was his fault for putting it there. Knowing that Mystique wouldn't let him sleep if the baby in her belly wouldn't, Azazel relied on some old wives' tales to settle both his mate and unborn. First, he sat up and caressed Mystique's large belly. Azazel had to admit to himself that he was thrilled to feel his child moving under the surface of Mystique's blue skin. As he continued to caress, Azazel rested his scarred cheek on Mystique's belly and whispered in Russian to the baby. Last, Azazel kissed Mystique's stretched skin, causing her to inhale sharply as his lips made contact on the surface of her belly. Eventually, the relentless squirming of the child within Mystique's womb slowed down and allowed both parents to sleep while entwined together on the bed.
It was just early in the morning when Azazel was returning from checking the traps that he found Mystique on her knees on the floor, clutching her swollen belly and moaning. Out of concern, Azazel asked if it was stress related contractions, but Mystique cried in pain that the baby was coming. Azazel quickly helped Mystique to the bed and they prepared for their son's arrival based on the directions from the first aid manual. Mystique's labour lasted nearly the whole day until their infant son passed between her legs.
"Azazel," Mystique said in a tired voice, bringing Azazel out of his long thoughts, "can I see our child?" Her luminous yellow eyes stared up from where her head rested on the pillow.
"Da," Azazel answered in Russian. He waited for Mystique to prop herself into a sitting position before handing the baby to her.
"He is so small," Mystique observed as she cradled the baby in her own arms, "to think that I was so huge while I carried him."
"He is beautiful," Azazel said warmly, "like his mother." With a long finger, Azazel stroked his son's ear.
"Also like his father," said Mystique as the baby's tail swished out of the blanket, "he has quite the tail. What do you think we should name him?"
"Kurt," Azazel suggested, "a very good name."
"Mutant and proud, Kurt." Mystique kissed the tiny forehead of her napping child.
"Da, mutant and proud." Azazel leaned his forehead against Mystique's, coiling his own tail around her while he twirled Kurt's smaller tail around his finger. Just wanting to have the moment with his family, Azazel basked in his fatherly pride.
End Note: Since they never showed Mystique and Azazel hooking up in the films and Mystique didn't reveal to Nightcrawler that she's his mother in X-Men: Apocalypse, I suppose that myself and many other fans have to use our own imaginations about the storyline concerning Nightcrawler's parentage. I'm guessing that Azazel and Mystique had Kurt in the events after First Class, they split, Azazel gets himself killed before Days of Future Past, and then Mystique has to be the one to rescue Kurt in Apocalypse.