Disclaimer: I only own Blaze; Ilehana Xavier is used with express permission of Corrinth; I do not own and am making no profit from the X-Men characters or their world.

A/N: My take on a classic X-Men story, re-set using my OC Blaze and fitting into the timeline that Corrinth and I share for our X-Men stories. Its set not too long after Darkest Hearts, so about three or four years after X2. I promise this wont be a long-winded effort, at least not compared to other stories I have written! Please read and review, and let me know what you think?

L'ange de morte 1

The girl had never run so fast in her life as she ran now, breath panting, past some woman pushing a pram, past the convenience store where a man exclaimed as she cut across his path back to his car. She hadn't meant to do it! She didn't want to hurt anyone! But the teenage boys from her school didn't care about that, jocks who hated everyone who wasn't exactly like them, wasn't normal, especially mutants………

As the teenagers rounded the corner they could just about make out their quarry running down an alleyway. Shouting their hatred, they were so intent on their target they didn't see the fireball until it was too late. It hit the three of them side-on, not burning, but pushing them over with sheer unbridled energy until they lay sprawled in the filthy gutter. Not knowing where the attack had come from, the girl they were chasing had only fused a computer, nothing as scary as a spontaneous fireball right in the middle of an L.A. street, they got to their hands and knees and scampered away, afraid.

The redhead on the sidewalk put her red-hot hands on her hips and pouted. Then with a sigh as she let the teenagers leave she turned back to the pram she had been pushing. The tiny newborn inside, barely three months old, cooed and wriggled as the red-haired woman bent down to rearrange the babe's jacket.

"I have no idea where that came from……… I guess maybe it's not so easy to stop being an X-Man after all." Blaze sighed, letting her daughter coil her tiny hand around her finger. "No doubt your Dad'd have a fit if he knew I'd just put you in danger, at least he would if he could………"

"Perhaps the child's father would have a point?" A strange man's voice asked over Blaze's shoulder. She started to turn, hands foremost as she readied her mutant power to defend herself. The blond-haired, blue-eyed man who addressed her held up his own hands, but in an appeasing gesture. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. It was a brave thing you did for that girl. But perhaps it was a fight you should have left to someone with something less precious to lose? You are not the only one who hates to see discrimination against mutants."

"I………"

"Look, pushing that pram seems like hard work. Can I maybe offer you both a lift? As an apology for scaring you, and for not coming to the rescue quickly enough?"

"Do I at least get to know your name first?" Blaze enquired coyly, dropping her offensive stance a little as the strange man smiled down at her and her daughter. "I don't like to accept lifts off strange men without knowing at least that about them first?"

"Do you often get offered lifts by strange men my friend?" The blond man asked laughing, pointing the way to where his large car sat by the shop. Blaze smiled too, trusting she was a good judge of character as she clicked the brake off the pram. "Warren Worthington………"

"The billionaire?" Blaze exclaimed as she took this so, so normal looking man's hand in a firm but fair grip. "What are you doing on this side of town?"

"Shopping, actually." He nodded to where his brown paper bags lay abandoned on the sidewalk. "So, um, do you have a name at all my friend? Its just I don't often let strange attractive women into my car without knowing at least that about them first………"

"My name………" Blaze ignored his flattery of her as she debated which identity to give Worthington. Should she trust him with her birth-name or her mutant alias? She kicked the pram to set it folding as she hugged baby Jessica to herself, knowing protecting her daughter was her first priority. "………Is Gemma Anderson. And this is Jessica, my daughter."

"Very pleased to meet you Gemma, Jessica." Warren gave a little comic bow as he opened the car door for the mother and child. "Your partner is a very lucky man to have such a beautiful family."

"Partner?" Blaze snorted her laughter to hide her insecurity. "I'm afraid it's just the two of us, Warren."

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just………" He was obviously embarrassed as he climbed into the driver's seat and fumbled for the ignition.

"I was talking about Jess' Dad, when you overheard me before." Blaze finished for him, smiling gently. "It okay, really. We were……… friends a long time. But we don't see him anymore. He doesn't know anything about Jessica, and that's the way I want it to stay."

Warren met Blaze's eyes briefly before starting the engine. Baby Jessica gurgled happily as the expensive car slid away from the curb, and her mother's new friend asked where he could drop them off………

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"And it is with great pleasure tonight I welcome the eminent businessman Warren Worthington, and his lovely lady friend of course." There was knowing laughter around the room full of mature men in matching grey suits and their equally mature wives all dressed in matching little black dresses ten years out of style. On the top table, Blaze wriggled uncomfortably. She didn't have a good track record with posh parties. But Warren placed a gentle hand on her arm, rolling back his shoulders as he stood to address the assembled businessmen. Blaze knew that suit he wore hid a secret that would soon change these men and women's mind about their guest speaker. Archangel.

Archangel or not, whatever he was talking about was boring even to one a sharp witted as the fire elemental. Her mind wandered. Perhaps if it hadn't what happened next would have been prevented. But as Blaze glanced at her watch, wondering if Jessica was sleeping okay, if the babysitter had any problems, if her mobile was working, a stranger stood up and began walking determinedly towards the platform on which Warren stood alone.

"Can I help you?" Warren stopped his speech to address the stranger who was looking up at him with such cold, evil eyes. The cruelness of those eyes took Archangel's tongue away, made him freeze in near terror. Blaze snapped back to reality as the strange man spoke in a voice deeper than the ages.

"Come my horseman, my angel of death, and serve the mighty Apocalypse!" The man raised a hand, and purple energy raced towards Warren, as he stood frozen on the pedestal. The minute the light hit the mutant billionaire, Warren's eyes clouded over. He shuddered, muscles going into spasm. Blaze pushed back her chair, sending it falling over, starting to run towards her friend. Warren's expensive suit ripped along the seams on shoulders and spine, great white wings expanding in endless glory in the light of the room. The man who called himself Apocalypse laughed coldly and was gone. Women and men both screamed as Warren took off after the stranger.

A wall of thick red fire blocked his way. Blaze stood, hands extended, calling his name. But he didn't know her anymore. He didn't know who he was. Turning, barrel-rolling midair he spun and flew straight at Blaze, great wings beating hard. She stared him down, all the time calling out his name, trying to get him to remember. At the last possible moment she ducked, letting the winged mutant fly over her, crash through the panoramic window behind the high table and disappear………