AN: I am going into Azraels past a bit with this, in the game, he finally kicked the bucket and I'm including this here to fill in a few blanks in the current Saga as well as fill in a bit more of the time Xander spent in Sunnydale before the current part. This is a sort of sidestory for the series, but it's seperate enough to not fit any of the other parts. Also the reviews here are from part 3 of Shadow of Death
The Sithspawn: Thanks, it will get a whole lot more complicated
JWolf: Actually he is a fusion of the three, its just that the fusion isn't totally equal due to the raw force of mind in Azrael. Anyway, I am going back to fill in the gaps, the conversation with Faith is something I just can't get to sound right, or like anything I really want it to. I'm working several groups togather to make Xan/Az's life more interesting. Also, I will keep on filling in the gaps, this is something that I keep trying to get but I can't keep writing it chronologically, I keep hopping around, also, in the RPG Azrael is now dead so I have that as part of this one.
SHAWN PROVONCHA: Glad you enjoyed it.
xXx
Ten thousand Wraiths launched with Scouts and Corsairs as the Fourth Fleet exited hyperspace.
A screen of Interceptors, deployed by the twelve Carriers, circled the capital ships while they awaited the enemy response.
"Colonel," the Hyperion's captain stated, "The orbital defenses the bugs set up caved, we're preparing to deploy ground troops."
"Roger that," Azrael responded as he locked his helmet in place as left the bridge, "Prepare my dropship."
The ghost took in a deep breath, and then a second.
His gauntleted fist slammed into the side of the lift, "Damn it, Kerrigan, whatever happens, it ends here!"
xXx
The hot, recycled air of the dropship was oddly comforting as he relaxed against the harness.
The song playing in his ear, a half forgotten memory of the one he had loved.
"Rei, I will be with you," he hissed as the high G maneuvers pushed him down into the padding, "In this life or in death, I will be with you again."
His face became blank for a moment before resuming the face the troops had taken to calling the grim reaper. The dropship settled in and the hatch swung open and the unit he worked with moved out, a fourteen men, seven of them were marines, two were fire bats, an engineer, a medic, a pair of bike scouts, and a Goliath.
The hulking Goliath lumbered out as he saw the burning landscape before him, the results of the weapons fire that scorched the surface from orbit, but they didn't have enough firepower to destroy all life on it, so they did as much damage as they could.
Burning creep reached his nose even through the filters, but a quick diagnostic revealed that it was just an illusion, he hadn't actually smelled the stench, just a reflex to that which was around him.
His cloaking device faded him from sight as he slipped off into the smoke, the new explosive canister rifle's laser sight sweeping around him. His custom armor eliminated even the traces the normal armor left behind that the sensors could spot.
From over the horizon the steady staccato of fire from the Siege Tanks kept the rhythm of millions of dropships descending from the sky and soldiers preparing for the onslaught to come from below.
The Zerg had a disturbing habit of burrowing into the planet itself, the entire thing was an immense hive.
A grim smile crossed his lips, his prey would be down, and he could sense her now, the traitor would pay for what she caused.
xXx
Jason died early, his armor failing as they entered the tunnels and six Lurkers pulled him under. As his former allies life signs vanished, Azrael triggered that armors self destruct system, the Lurkers died with their prey.
Tarn and Vahn died in an ambush, the demolitions charges and mines on their bikes blasted a way deeper into the tunnels for the rest.
Nadia remained behind as a rearguard when the tunnels shrank to small for the hulking Goliath to pass through around the time they met up with four fire teams to make their way even deeper. But even then, that left them with just under forty troopers and one Ghost.
He was one of the two ghosts that had reached this point, only him and the traitorous Kerrigan, after the fall of the confederacy and the rise of the Zerg.
xXx
Xander snapped awake, his mind reeling from the memories that filled his thoughts.
The way Azrael fought, a trail of corpses that would never cool because of the heat of the world. Callously killing his own ally instead of a rescue in order to take down more enemies.
It was the madness that was touching him even now as he used the awesome power granted to him when he merged with his other parts. Azrael's training made that part of his mind equal to his original, but that was only because Alpha saw Azrael as the biggest threat of those within him.
The man that had lead soldiers into battle on countless battlefields, on numberless worlds. The killer and living death that left his mark in blood across the stars. The being that had truly become 'Death The Destroyer Of Worlds" in his own abandonment of life at the core of the Zerg hive-world.
Sheer power refined with an unnatural finesse that made the ghost into the perfect killer.
xXx
Hours, days, weeks, or perhaps months later, he did not know, but he and his remaining forces reached the core.
The Queen of Blades sent all of her remaining forces against what was left of the might of the army of the Angel of Death. The swarm met the marines and firebats in a head on collision that neither would win.
The carnage was spread all around the chamber as even her remaining drones joined the battle against Azraels remaining troopers.
His cloak faded as he joined the fight, the signature cloak billowing around him, the monofilament was as deadly as his psionic blades.
"Traitor," he spat as the fight cleared, only the two trained as ghosts still among the living.
One a monstrous creature that looked like a demoness, claws extended wide, her face an off color. A fusion of human and Zerg DNA, she was the thing of nightmares. She was Kerrigan the vaunted 'Queen of Blades' and unquestioned mistress of the swarm.
Azrael stood opposed to her, his armor accentuating the rumors that he was death given flesh. The power within him shattered the controls that were forced upon those trained to be Ghosts, and his further training by both of the major groups of Protoss, the eerie glow of psionic blades flashing across the massive chamber. His anger radiating outwards with an almost visible effect. He was Azrael, he was the bringer of death, he was the one all feared as the Angel of Death.
xXx
The memories kept flashing through his head and he staggered out of his apartment in search of some peace, only pausing to don his armor and grab his weapons.
It was a quiet night under the crescent moon, even the normal hazards of night in Sunnydale didn't appear to break it.
He heard a sound and spun, blades flashing to life as a snap-hiss resounded. It was familiar in a way, but he couldn't quite place it.
A robed figure stood atop one of the mausoleums carrying a double bladed energy weapon. Then it clicked in his startled mind, a light saber, a yellow one?
"Jedi!" he hissed, flipping backwards, "How did you get here?"
"The same way you did," came the response, a female voice.
He opened his mind and reached out as Azrael had been trained, feeling the flows of loose thought.
"So which are you Amy or Bastila?"
"How?"
"Some of my abilities, it is similar to some of yours, and yet different, stray thoughts, you aren't shielded that well, infact, your broadcasting, could be the Jedi training," Xander responded, thoughts about the different training types he'd learned in his travels, "Just something the I picked up from a friend of Azraels."
"I'll answer if you will."
"I am the sum of my parts in a way, and in others not, I fused myself into one as best I could at the time."
xXx
Destruction reigned around the two warriors as their power ripped through the planet itself.
"Die!" he roared as he unleashed a maelstrom of pure psionic energy that vaporized a huge section of the surrounding area.
The planet shook violently.
"Nadia, get the hell off this planet," he roared into the comms system as he remembered the Goliath still on the planet, "I'm letting everything out, and she'll do the same!"
"On my way boss," the girl responded as the dropship came into view through one of the rifts in the planets surface.
An explosion signified the counter to his strike as the two warriors pulled out all the stops in their power.
The raw energy released tore through the planet itself as the destruction began.
xXx
Only two ships awaited the dropship as it cleared what was left of the atmosphere, a heavily damaged Arbiter and the Hyperion.
"This is the Scythe coming in for a landing, do we have clearance?"
"Roger that Scythe, bay one as usual," came the response, "Tell the boss that Liberty wants to talk to him the moment he gets back aboard."
"Sir, the boss, Azrael didn't come back."
"Oh god!" a scream reached them as the docking bay sealed behind them, "The planet!"
"Get us out of here now, whatever is going on down there, the whole damned thing is imploding!"
xXx
"Die traitor!" Azrael screamed as he drove both blades into his hated foes chest with the last of his strength.
He heard her scream and felt the power released begin to collapse as her lifeforce was extinguished.
"Rei, baby, I'm coming," he whispered before the power took him.
xXx
The planet seemed to glow at the seams where Nadia could see through the screens.
"My god!"
It detonated in a swirling miasma of raw fury that expanded as the ships began to accelerate away entering hyperspace just before the blast would have consumed them.
She activated the probes that watched the system and watched as several winked out, overcome by the destruction as it consumed the systems star and onwards.
"He truly was death, the destroyer of worlds," she whispered, a wish for her superior crossed her mind, "May you find the peace in the after that you couldn't here."
xXx
The flash ended and tore Xander back to the present.
"I as well fused, a new being," she answered with a slight bow as both deactivated their blades.
"Why did you show yourself now?"
"The force guided me, I believe," she answered, "Need to talk?"