Chapter 4

Raven's eyes went wide. She recognised this man. The callouses on his hand felt so familiar to her. His hand fit around her arm like it had been there before. And his voice… She recognised that too. Finally, when she looked to the hand he had placed on her arm and saw it to be of a bright, vivid red, and covered in rough scars, she knew this man completely.

Memories rushed back in a steady stream, flashing in front of her eyes. She turned to the man, slowly, and met his eyes with hers. His hair was still immaculate, his dark suit still crisp, and his blades were still sheathed by his side. Behind him, his tail swished steadily from side to side.

"Azazel?" She whispered, uncertainly, unable to discern whether he recognised her or not. It was probably the latter. The man took a step back, with his eyes gone wide. "Mystique?" He asked, taking his hand from her upper arm and pulling it back. Raven nodded slowly, tears beginning to pool again at seeing her lover again.

Azazel looked uncertain. He didn't know what to think at the moment. He could recognise the woman's voice. He recognised the shape of her face, and the contours of her shoulders. The lines of well-defined muscle; all of that he knew. But her skin was not blue, and her eyes not gold. But when he narrowed his eyes, and imagined the blue skin and golden eyes on her, he could see her again.

His spine stiffened, and he cautiously took another step towards her. His large red hand encased the nape of her neck, and she titled her head up. Her eyelids fluttered closed. The reaction was so purely her that Azazel was overcome by a wave of nostalgia.

His deep voice muttered something undiscernible, and Raven opened her eyes. In that moment, Azazel swore he saw the tiniest flicker of fleeting gold in the swirling blue depths. But there were only blue eyes and black hair. "What has happened to you?" He whispered, broken English twisting the words around. Raven pulled away. "Erik… My mutation…Sacrifice…" Were the only things she could get out of her mouth.

Azazel pieced the words together, and frowned. "They were supressed?" He asked, and Raven could do nothing but nod. Azazel's eyes flitted away when sounds from the hallway behind them intensified. Hank, together with Logan and Storm turned the corner and saw the two. "Azazel?" Storm inquired, but the man looked stoic as ever.

Emotions were raging inside the red mutant's mind. His mate had returned, and he was so confused by her sudden presence that it sent his mind reeling. It was dangerous, he reminisced, to have let someone get so close to him. But Mystique had burrowed her way into his heart, and he in turn, burrowed his way into hers.

But her sudden appearance was so startling that Azazel didn't know what to think. The woman he had seen sneaking through the hallways was so distinctly her that it would have been impossible to assume otherwise. But the change in skin, hair and eye colour confused him. She was human. She was no longer mutant. Azazel did not mind.

He had fallen in love with her because of her daring and outspoken personality, of her tenacity and determination when it came to simple or complex tasks she was asked to perform. He loved her for the simple little quirks that made her his. None of these things had seemingly changed when he saw her again, after all those months, even years.

Hank stepped forward. "Ah, I see you've found it, then?" He asked, moving his eyes in between Raven and the door she stood next to. Raven nodded. Hank brushed past Storm and opened the door with a key. He opened the door and motioned for Raven to step inside. Azazel motioned for her to step inside. Raven frowned. "Azazel?" she asked.

"Da?" the man responded.

"How long have you been here?"

"Azazel switched his loyalties quite a while ago. Even before all of this began. He has become a valuable team-member." Storm answered for him, standing off to the side. Raven looked over to her, and her frown deepened. "Erik told us, he told me that you were on a mission. I believed him. What were you doing?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. Azazel took a wary step back and lifted his hands in a backing-off gesture.

"I told Erik that I would go away on a mission. Erik did not ask. He let me go." Azazel explained. He took a step forward and reached for Raven's arms. "I have trusted you with everything. But this, this I could not tell you. I feared for you." He said. Raven lowered her eyes, still fuming. But her fury subsided, and she turned away from Azazel and walked into Hank's lab.

Raven couldn't believe him. She was happy beyond measure at having Azazel back again. But the truth he hid from her made her bitter. Oh god, he didn't even know he had a son! Kurt had been born when Azazel was away on a long mission, almost the entire length of her pregnancy. He knew of nothing. Nothing of how Kurt was ruthlessly ripped away by members of a touring German circus, and of how Mystique could only watch as her only child was taken away from her.

He knew nothing. He knew nothing of her pain and of her suffering. Nothing of how she had cried herself to sleep on numerous nights, wishing above all that Azazel would come back to her. In the end, he never did. It should have intensified her dislike for her mate, but instead it solidified her resolve in leaving Erik for good. Azazel made an honest choice of good over evil, and Erik was evil, she realised now, and she stood by his choice.

Raven turned around against better will, against a mind that was screaming for her to burrow herself into his toned arms and just forget. She wanted to, and desperately, but she refused herself the privilege.

Hi! Thanks for reading chapter 4! There's only one to go after this before it's over, so get your reviews in! I really liked this chapter, because Azazel DUH and all these couple feels are killing me. It's such a shame they didn't include Azazel in Days of Future Past. Have any of you seen the trailer yet? One word. INTENSE.

Anyways, thanks again for reading and I'll get back to you in five days with the last chapter.

Reviews are appreciated...VIRTUAL COOKIES.