The Journal of Baron Christian Wagner
Entry #425
March 14, 1994
Business continues to go good. Wagner Investments is nearing a deal to enter the oil drilling business; my contact on the deal, a guy by the name of Azazel, is confident his superiors will cave and lower their price soon. I really like Azazel. He's a guy of medium build, black hair, a goatee. He likes to grab a beer after work, and seems to reciprocate my friendship.
My wife grows more and more distance. She's always been secretive about her past, but this is a new level. I suspect Raven is having an affair. I do not know yet if it's someone we both know, or a face new to me, but I intend to find out.
A longtime friend of mine is an expert in phone tapping; I will bring him in to determine if she calls anyone while I am at work. If that should not yield results, I may have to hire a private investigator. But, one way or another, I will find out what she is up to, if my suspicions are correct or if it is somthing else.
I must hide my journal; Raven is not aware of its existance as far as I know, but I can't have her stumbling upon it and discovering my plans before they should come to fruition. That's all for now.
Raven Darkholme stood in her room while her husband scribbled away at some business work in his study. She was looking at herself in the mirror, looking at her true self. The blue skin that she always hid from Christian. She loved him, and he loved her, but even the truest of loves has secrets. This was one of hers.
She was a mutant.
Raven would eventually reveal this fact to her husband, in time. But she would have to be careful about how she went about it. The few mutants that had come out and admitted their abilities to the small German town nearby the Wagner estate were ostracized, condemned as monsters. Christian had not openly expressed a hatred of mutants, but there was a chance he did.
Raven needed to find that out somehow, before she revealed her true form. If he did, it would be something she would have to bury, never to be dug up again.
Even as these thoughts drifted through her head, her mind wandered back to the guy she had met a few days ago. He was a mutant, like her. He had red skin and black hair, and had appeared in her house past all of Christian's layers of security. His name was Azazel.
Raven had been scared out of her mind at first sight, but she couldn't call the police. She had tried; the room he had appeared in didn't have a phone, so she ran across the hall to one that did. Somehow, that Azazel guy beat her there.
"You don't wanna do that." he said, leaning casually against the wall by the phone. "If you tell people about me, how long do you think it'll be before they find out about you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Raven snapped, shoving down the screams that wanted to leap from her throat. Did this guy know she was a mutant?
When she blinked, he had changed. The red skin was gone, as was the sharp tail she had just noticed swishing behind him. He looked like a normal guy, even kinda handsome. Another blink, and he was back to red mode.
"I can disguise myself, same as you." he said. "Except yours is shape shifting, a little more advanced." He picked up a valuable statue of an angel off a shelf, staring at it in spite and tossing it around in his hands. "Raven."
Somehow, Raven wasn't surprised he knew her name. She stomped forward and snatched the statue from his hands, placing it back on the shelf carefully. Then, she turned and dragged him closer, staring into his dark eyes.
"What are you doing here, and what do you want?" His eyes glittered with amusement, and suddenly he was out of her grasp and across the room.
"What do I want? What DO I want?" he mused. "I think the better question is, what do you want?" He picked up a picture of Christian and smirked at it. "Surely you aren't happy, living with a human who hates you."
"Christian loves me." she snarled. Turning, she walked out of the room, determined not to talk to this guy anymore. But then he was walking down the hall beside her.
"Yeah, but he doesn't know you're a mutant, does he?" Azazel asked her. "He hasn't seen your true beauty." The way he said it made Raven feel like he had been spying on her, like he had seen her in her true form. "I somehow doubt he's even capable of seeing it as beauty."
"I don't want to hear it." Raven turned and barged into a random room. Inside, Wallace, Christian's head of security, was in the middle of dressing himself. Why he had been undressed in the middle of the day, Raven didn't feel like asking.
"Mrs. Wagner!" he choked out, hurriedly pulling up his pants. "My apologies, I...I didn't realize you were stopping to see me." he stammered. Azazel popped into existence on the bed behind him, grinning. He began swirling his tail through the air, hovering the point behind Wallace and jabbing like he was going to stab the security head.
"Stop that!" Raven yelled. Wallace's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards, nearly colliding with the mutant. Azazel disappeared moments before impact.
"Mrs. Wagner? Are you alright?" Wallace asked. She shook her head.
"I...I don't know. I've been feeling a little nervous lately for some reason. I was gonna ask you to double check your security." He nodded understandingly and stood up.
"No problem. I can assure you nobody will ever get in this mansion without me knowing it."
"But if they do get in without you knowing, you won't know you're wrong. Could you check anyway?" Wallace looked confused, but he nodded.
"Very well." He left, but turned back for a moment.
"You should get some rest. You've been far too active lately." He departed, undoubtedly to go gossip about her with his security team and not to check on security. When Raven walked back out in the hallway, Azazel was waiting.
"You can't keep me out." he said. "Nobody can, especially not a pathetic sack of meat like that." He was suddenly behind her, putting his hands on her shoulder. "Just think about what I said about your husband. I'll be seeing you again." he whispered into her ear.
When she turned around, he was gone, but now, days later, she was still thinking about him. And, despite how much he worried her, how much she wanted to be loyal to her husband, she still wished he would show up again.
The Journal of Baron Christian Wagner
Entry #434
March 31, 1994
Today, Wagner Investments, my ever growing outlet for business, closed my long worked on oil drilling deal. In celebration, I threw a party. Something strange is happening.
I noticed Raven talking to my friend Azazel. They seemed to be deep in some sort of argument. This struck me as odd, seeing as I was under the impression they had not met before. My suspicions about Raven having an affair came back to me; I began to suspect that He may be Azazel.
My phone tapping has yielded no results. Raven has not made a single call out of the house since it was installed. I hired a private detective and he has not seen her leave the house either. Yet, there she was, talking to a man younger and admittedly better looking than myself. Many people would probably say that he is a man more fitting for a beautiful woman like Raven.
They left the party and entered an unoccupied room of the hotel we were celebrating in. Unnoticed, I followed them, and listened at the door. I could here the argument continuing. She said she didn't want to see him anymore, and wanted him to stay away from me. He assured her that his business with me had nothing to do with her. In a rage, I opened the door.
Raven was alone.
I am certain I saw Azazel enter that room with Raven. I am certain I heard them arguing. I am certain I heard Azazel tell her he would never leave her alone. And yet, he was not there.
I inquired who she was talking to, and Raven told me she was thinking out loud. When she left, I carefully searched the entire room, but Azazel was nowhere. He had slipped away, through some method that escapes my thoughts.
I must confront him, but I need more. I will have my detective take a closer look at the house; perhaps I shall provide him with a key so he can check inside as well. When he finds something, I will take it to Azazel and demand he leave my wife alone. I may have to fight him, though I hope I don't.
I don't often get what I hope for.
It was a cool, rainy day in late April, and Raven was standing outside on the balcony. She was in her true form, letting the droplets splash on her and run down her skin. It felt good; sometimes that house was so stifling she thought she would go crazy.
"You look good in the rain." a voice said. Raven turned and struck, punching Azazel in the chest. He laughed even as he fell on his rear. "And you look even better when you're hitting people."
"I'm worried Azazel." she said, pulling him to his feet. "What if Christian finds out?" He pulled her closer and she wrapped her arms around him.
"So what if he does?" he asked. "What could he do?" Azazel always had that attitude of superiority. He felt better than humans, and he made her feel the same way. That was one of the reason Raven was slowly falling in love with this strange person.
She had struggled against it for weeks, but she couldn't deny the attraction she felt. After she finally caved, Raven had been haunted for days, staying up at night watching Christian as he slept, fighting against the urge to wake him up and tell him everything. As time went by, she grew to like him less and less. He was tense around her these days, and short and curt in his speech.
"I think he suspects." she warned Azazel. He chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Don't worry, my love. Soon, we will leave, and then you will not have to worry about Christian Wagner anymore." he said when they separated.
"He would find me anywhere. His resources are endless." Raven protested.
"No human could ever find you where we will go." he told her, and she gave up trying to convince him, simply losing herself in the joy of being with him.
The Journal of Baron Christian Wagner
Entry #449
April 27, 1994
My private detective, a guy by the name of Timothy Mullins, brought me most disturbing news today in the form of a batch of photographs. What was captured on film terrifies me; I have never been so afraid of my life. I thought he was bringing me pictures of my wife and Azazel, but instead it was something far worse.
Demons.
Right on my balcony. While watching the house, Timothy caught sight of a blue skinned woman exiting onto the balcony. He snapped several pictures of the naked redhead standing in the rain, staring into the distance. Then, another figure shows up. Timothy claims this new arrival simply appeared out of thin air. This one has red skin, and a tail. He truly is a demon, even more terrifying than the first.
Then, the pair proceeded to make love, if it can be called that when demons are doing it, on my balcony. Why? Why are such creatures in my house? What do they want? Does Raven know? Perhaps she isn't having an affair, perhaps she has already seen these demons and has been distant out of worry.
Have they threatened her? I must find out more about these figures. I must find a way to drive them from my home. I must.
Entry #452
May 6, 1994
Timothy Mullins has disappeared.
His wife called me today, in a panic. He had told her he was working with me, and she was hoping I could confirm that he was indeed here. But he was not; he has not reported to me for several days.
I checked his office, and found it trashed. The sight made me extremely nervous that I would find a dead body, but I did not. However, someone definitely wanted something in the office.
It's my fault. I told him to find out more about those demons, and they did this. I know they did. I know he's dead. I am responsible for his death.
Azazel has disappeared as well. His company doesn't even seem to exist, and my board of directors is furious. They sent investigators, who reported back that there are no oil fields. I've been scammed; the bastard took my money and ran. If I wasn't so occupied with my present problems, I would track him down and end his miserable life. Fortunately for him, I have more pressing issues.
Like learning exorcism.
It had been months, approaching a year, since Azazel had last visited Raven. She regretted ever falling for him. He was gone. She had told him the horrifying yet wonderful news, and he had split.
She was pregnant.
Now she was laying on a table, in unbelievable pain. Doctors surrounded her. She was giving birth.
Christian thought it was his baby. Or at least, that's what Raven hoped. But she was so distracted by anger anymore she couldn't be sure.
The birth was a haze. She remembered hearing herself screaming, moaning in pain. Pain so piercing and powerful she was certain she would not survive. Finally, it was over.
Raven felt confusion as her vision slowly cleared from the fog of her mind. The doctors lacked the enthusiasm that usually accompanies birthing a child. Her husband was staring at her in horror from behind a window. Slowly, she twisted her head to the side, focusing on the nurse holding her child.
Her blue child.
The nurse held the child with no tenderness at all; she held the newborn like she wanted to drop it and run. Raven came to an even worse realization.
In the stress and pain of childbirth, she lost focus and reverted to her true form for everyone to see. She saw Christian mouth a single word.
"Demon." He backed away and was soon out of sight.
The Journal of Baron Christian Wagner
Entry #520
February 16, 1995
Raven is gone. She was the blue demon.
I can't believe I've lived with her. Held her. Loved her. And never knew exactly what it was that was in my arms. I shudder to think about it.
I can only assume that the red demon was Azazel. He disappeared shortly before I discovered my wife's pregnancy. He must be the true father of that monster that came out of my wife.
I disposed of the child. Snatched him right from the nurse's hand and took him outside to a river. The medical staff did not attempt to stop me; several even urged me on. I threw the newborn demon into the river.
When I made it back to the operating room, Raven was gone. I inquired hopefully that one of the doctors had taken her away, killed her too. But it turns out she staggered out on her own. The doctors say there's a good chance she will die on her own after the difficult birth.
I hope I soon find the b
Raven stared down at Christian's dead body, a knife stabbed clean through his neck, his head resting against the book he had been writing in, staining the pages red.
Tears leaked from her eyes, and she tried to stop them. She thought back to the moments after her son was born. The struggle to stand and escape. Seeing Christian throw her son into the river. Diving in unnoticed after him.
She remembered the feeling of the filthy water soaking her body; her child's screams as he nearly drowned. Somehow, she made it to him. Somehow, she pulled him from the river.
He was waiting outside now, strapped into a child seat in Christian's car. Raven reached into her newly deceased husband's pocket and took his keys.
Still she could not stop crying. She wasn't sure if the tears were for Christian, or herself, or Azazel, or her child. But she pushed on, walked out, leaving his body for that incompetent Wallace to find later.
Raven slid into the driver's seat, and inserted the key. She sat and listened to Kurt's gentle snores in the seat beside her, and wondered how anyone could hate such an innocent child, whatever his appearance. After several moments, she turned the key and the car roared to life.
As she pulled out the drive, Raven changed her name. Somebody might come looking for her, to try to arrest or kill her in punishment of Christian's death. So she would be someone else. Someone mysterious.
From then on she would be known as Mystique.