A/N: changed second ch.
Time skip, a week later
They were outside doing a training exercise.
Azazel was outfitted in his new suit, which he was not happy about. It was similar to Logan's black uniform with yellow stripes on the shoulders, the difference between the two was that Azazel's was blue where the stripes was and that the pants had a hole cut out for his tail and wrapped around his cloven feet that was like Kurt's. He wasn't fond of showing his cloven feet, but seeing that no one stared at Kurt's feet when he joined them, he felt a little better, though he smirked at bit when Kurt spotted him and saw his feet.
Though the difference between Kurt's cloven feet and his own was that his had claws, the same with hands and the claws were black like his hair. And the pads on his feet were thick with calluses, though you couldn't tell; from his training and the fighting he was forced into.
He was denied his blades for this exercise, so he had to dodge the blades and lasers either by ducking, jumping, bending backwards, leaping from tree to tree, sliding under them, he was also told not to use his powers. Which he was fine with, as he was just as comfortable using his physical strength and abilities as he was using his powers.
Halfway through the course, he saw Logan waiting with a time watch. His ear twitched, a stray blade was coming at him, turning he saw that Kurt was behind him and the blade was headed right for him. He quickly teleported to him and knocked him down just as the blade flew by them.
" Keep your ears open. " he told Kurt after they saw the blade go on and hit a tree.
" Uh, yeah, sure, okay. " Kurt replied a little shaken as he hadn't even heard the blade coming until he was pushed to the ground by the man.
They got up and ran to the finish line,
" You alright Elf? " Logan asked as they came up to him.
" Ja! Thanks to Azazel. I didn't even know the blade was coming at me! " Kurt answered him.
" How did you know it was coming? " Logan asked turning to Azazel.
" I heard it. " the man answered shortly, looking over at Kurt, giving him a once over to be sure that he was alright.
" But how? I didn't even hear it until it was right at me! " Kurt asked turning to him now.
Azazel raised his arms and pulled his shoulder-length black hair back, showing his pointy ears that had a silver loop ring in them with a smaller loop near the tip of them. He let his hair fall when he saw they had gotten a look at them,
" My ears are more than just for show. " he answered him as the others came up, the last one came through and Logan hit the stop watch.
" Not bad. Better than last time. Now go shower down stairs and get ready for school. " Logan said.
" Grab onto to me. " Azazel said to them.
" Can you teleport all of us down in the lower level? " Jean asked as they all held onto each other as several others held onto Azazel.
Her answer was a smirk before a flash of fire flared around them and when it disappeared they were all in the lower level of the mansion.
" How's dat? " he asked with a cocky smile as he saw their amazed and surprised looks.
" That was amazing! " Kitty squealed, making him flinch and shake his head.
" Not so loud, Kotenok. " he said as the ringing stopped.
" Oops! Sorry! " she replied.
" Now let's get cleaned off and get you brats to school, da? " he said with a smile waving them towards the showers.
Once the last one was in the showers, Azazel bamfed away to his room. There, he took off his uniform, got a clean three piece suit out and laid it on his bed. He then grabbed a clean towel, his body wash and 2-n-1 shampoo, bamfed out of the room and into the upstairs bathroom where he took his shower.
When he finished, he heard the teens coming down the hall and waited until they were all gone before going out into the hall. He usually did this after the teens had left for school, but today, there was a straggler.
" Oof! " Kurt breathed as he clashed into him, the force knocked Kurt back, Azazel didn't budge an inch. His tail shot out and caught Kurt before he hit the ground.
Looking up, Kurt gave a nervous laugh, " Hehe. Sorry about that. " he said as he was pulled up in an upright position.
" Net. Don't apologize. The fault is mine. " Azazel said calmly as he released Kurt's arm.
They stood there for a minute or two in an awkward silence, Azazel looking at anything but him and Kurt doing the same, well trying to as the scars the man had kept drawing his attention. He had many, some were even burns of some kind, and some were deep.
" You have scars? " he heard Azazel ask, startling him slightly.
" Uh, a few. But not as many as you...uh, I didn't mean to stare...I " Kurt answered nervously, scratching the back of his head, looking away again.
" Lucky you. And they're kind of hard not to miss. Now off to school with you mal'chik(youngster)before your late. " Azazel replied, stepping out of his way, Kurt nodded and took off down the hall after his friends.
Azazel watched him go. Shaking his head, he went on down the hall to his room.
Time skip
Azazel watched as the teens came back from school. He was outside, practicing Meditation, tomorrow he was to use Tai Chi, after that, he was to see Charles and talk about what had been done to him. Personally, he'd rather just slice something to pieces than talk about what he had been through the last seventeen years,
He noticed that someone new was with them and she was with Kurt. He saw her reach over and touch his watch, he tensed as he watched Kurt turn to normal again, but the girl didn't even blink, in fact, she smiled. Kurt did as well as he wrapped his arm around her. He relaxed when he saw this and smiled.
' He has it easier than I did growing up. ' Azazel thought as he stood up to leave the mat.
He met them at the front doors, " Who is dis? " he asked Kurt as he and the girl went by him.
" Oh! This iz my girlfriend, Amanda! Amanda, this iz Azazel the man I've been telling you about. " Kurt introduced.
" Nice to meet you! " Amanda greeted, holding out her hand to him.
" The pleasure is mine my dear. " Azazel greeted as he took her hand and kissed it on the knuckles, much like he had done with the other girls earlier last week, making Amanda blush slightly and giggle as she replied,
" You are such a gentlemen! "
" I grew up around girls and was taught to respect dhem. " he replied feeling more at ease with her as she didn't flinch away from his appearance.
" You have sisters?! " Kurt asked, getting excited that there might be more like him and Azazel.
Azazel frowned, " Net. Cousins. And they were...normal compared to me. But they didn't make fun of me for it. They only accepted it because I am family. And of course there was my matushka, mother. " he said as he saw their curious looks. " She's the one that really taught me how to respect women. The older I got, the more she'd pressure me into finding a nice girl to settle down with and give her many grand-kids. But with the line of work I did then wasn't suited for a wife or a child. " he answered as they walked through the mansion.
" What kind of work did you do before, uh, the fighting? " Amanda asked a little nervous about mentioning what Kurt had said at school about a new mutant that had come to the Institute and how he got there. She, like the other mutants was horrified by what the man had been put through and had called it barbaric what he had been forced into.
" Mercenary. As well as an assassin. " he answered nonchalantly as though as he was saying what a beautiful day it was.
" Is, uh, is that why you were taken? " Kurt asked this time a little creeped out by how calm he had answered Amanda.
" Net..well, maybe. They wouldn't have known about me if not for someone dat I once called friend. Because of him, I was taken from my love and our child, who was only an infant at the time. He wasn't even a year old yet. "
" Who was this friend? Maybe we know him. " Kurt asked.
" He was another mutant. He went by the name Magento. "
Kurt gasped and faltered in his walk. " Di-did you know my mother too? " he asked after he calmed down.
" Perhaps. What was her name? "
" Raven Darkholme. She goes by the name Mystique. "
Azazel was quiet for a moment as they walked into the library. " Red hair? Blue skin? Yellow eyes? Shape-shifter? About dis tall? " he asked as he held his hand up next to his shoulder, which is where Mystique's head would be on him, even in her high heels.
" Ja. That's her. "
" Than my answer is also Ja. I knew her. Nice girl. "
" Mystique? Nice? The Mystique I know is not nice! She's always angry. Cold. Distant even. "
" Dat doesn't sound like the Raven I knew before I was taken. The Raven I knew was like your Kotenok. But without the valley girl attitude. Something must've happened to her to be like that. Or someone hurt her and hurt her badly. Why is she not here with you? "
" That is a long story. " Kurt looked over to Amanda, not yet ready to tell her about how he got to be with his adoptive parents.
Seeing this, Azazel dropped it by saying, " If you like, you can tell me about it later. Today it seems like you and your Geliebte(beloved)need to study for a test or whatever it is they have you doing these days. I never was one for school. " he bamfed out of the library, leaving the two teens alone.
" You alright Kurt? " Amanda asked as she placed a hand to his shoulder. All she knew about his birth mother was that she was his and his friend's enemy, angry, cold, distant, a shape-shifter, dangerous, manipulative and that she was actually their principal! Which is why as a safety precaution he had asked her to ask him and his friends questions that only he or they would know if she met up with them on the street and vis versa. It was actually his sister, Rogue's idea to do that and it was a good idea.
And now that she has red hair, blue skin, yellow eyes; she now knows where Kurt got his beautiful eyes and color from, and is almost as tall as Azazel.
" Ja. I'm alright. And I'm sorry about not wanting to tell you about..."
" Hey, it's fine. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. "
" I know. But it's also because I'm still unsure of all the facts myself. I think that the Prof. and Logan are keeping something from me. "
" Maybe their keeping it from you so you won't get hurt by it. They don't like seeing you hurt. Whether it's physical or mental. "
" And that just makes me question it more. Is it that bad that they won't tell me? Do they think I can't handle it? What was done to me that night? Why was it done to me? "
" Their just protecting you. "
" And that makes me question the day Mystique left me with my adoptive parents. Was what happened to me so bad that she willingly left me with them? Was that her way of protecting me? Giving me away? Why not leave with me? Was she that frightened of Magneto? "
" She must've been. You told me once that your mother doesn't scare easily. So this Magneto guy must've been really awful to her and she didn't want you getting hurt by him either. "
" Maybe your right. But sometimes, I wish she would just tell me herself and not lie to me about it. Heck I even want to ask her who my real father is. Rogue didn't see him in any of her memories that she got from her or even later when she had her dream about what happened to me and we found out that she was my mother. Is he like my mother? Or is he worse? "
Amanda didn't answer him, she only held him to her in comfort. She couldn't believe something like this happened to him. He was a kind, gentle, caring, happy, funny, sweetest, most nicest boy she had ever met. And what he spoke about, though he didn't really tell her anything, just from the sound of it was awful. It must've been real bad for his teachers here to not tell him what they found out.
He returned her hug, holding her for a long time, neither one knowing about the red-skinned man outside the door listening to what was said, who clinched his fist, gritted his teeth, and tail swished around in tune with it's owner's emotion's.
Time skip, later that night
" Come in Azazel. " Charles said from the other side of the door.
Azazel opened the door and walked in, Charles was by the firplace, a book in his lap. " I didn't mean to disturb you, Professor. " he said, nodding to the book.
" You didn't disturb me Azazel, I was just about to put this back. " Charles replied. " What can I do for you? "
Azazel was hesitate for a moment, " I wish to know more about Kurt. " he finally said.
" How do you mean? "
" I think you know why I wish to know. I also want to know what has happened to his mother. "
" I see. Are you sure you want to know? "
" Doesn't a father deserve to know what has happened to his son while he was forced away from him? Or what has happened to the woman that that father has loved and who had bore him that son? "
" So our suspicions were correct. "
" How can you suspect when it is so obvious? Now please, tell me what has happened to them. They are not how I remember. "
" Very well. Who do you want to know about first? "
" Kurt. "
" Alright. Though we are only guessing from what we have found so far ourselves. "
" The one called Rogue told me of her memories that she had taken from Raven a few days after I came here. "
" Well that shortens the story some. After I confronted her about it, I was able to get the coordinates to the castle when she let her guard down. I then sent Logan to investigate. He reported that the lab from the memory was some kind of DNA lab. And I'm afraid that's all we know. "
" So Erik experimented on Kurt with DNA? Could Logan tell what kind of DNA it was? "
" I believe that it was animal. I had a thought afterwards that I didn't voice to Logan, Scott, and Jean. That because of Mystique's shape-shifting, Erik wanted to see what would happen if he used animal DNA on him and perhaps turn him into a weapon. Or even further his mutation. "
" I once called that man my friend. I once trusted him. And now I find out that he wasn't who I thought he was. Like Raven said, that man is a monster. Kurt was just an infant! He wasn't even a year old yet! He had to have been a month old at the least! " Azazel yelled getting more angry.
" Please Azazel, calm down. You'll wake some of the students. "
Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to relax. " What of Raven? Why did she stay with him? Why let Kurt go? The Raven I knew wouldn't let that boy out of her sight and if she did, it wouldn't have been for long. And would've fought like a mother Siberian Tiger to protect him. And what is dis about Rogue being Kurt's sister? "
" Well I can't answer the first two, but I believe the third is because she was protecting Kurt from Magnus by leaving him with his adoptive parents. And as for Rogue, I believe that she adopted her either because of her powers or maybe she was just trying to fill that void that was left in her heart after having giving Kurt up. Raven did seem, at times, to care about them. But we can't tell with her anymore with how much she has lied and manipulated us and them. "
" Erik must've hurt her really bad. You know what she is, was like then as well. "
" Yes. She was like Kitty in many ways, but also like Rogue and Kurt, who didn't scare that easily and wouldn't be pushed around. And who was the kindest, caring, and gentlest person I had ever met. Well until you got her angry or hurt the ones she cared for and loved. She doesn't even smile any more, a true smile, not the ones she has now that mean something bad is about to happen to who ever is in her sights. "
The two men were quiet after they shared a small laugh at the memories they had of Raven before she changed to the cold and distant Mystique they and the students now know.
" Do you think that there is a way to bring her back to the way she was before? " Azazel asked.
" I'm afraid that I don't have the answer for that one. Only she can do that. If she wants to. " Charles answered sadly.
Here's the new ch 2! hope ya'll like it better than the last one.
Thank You to those reviewed, favorited, and followed last ch.