Sebastian Shaw was impatient.
It was one of his worst qualities in his opinion.
Not his absolute worst, by any stretch of the imagination, but close.
"You're late." He hissed at the young girl who had only just arrived on the scene.
Shrugging her shoulders, delicate wings folding back into her back, the girl rolled her eyes. "Sorry."
"You have it then Angel?"
Angel maintained eye contact, reaching into her cleavage and pulling half of a golden scarab out of her pocket, "Men are all the same."
When Shaw reached over to grab it, Angel backed away, a wicked smirk on her face. "Ah, ah, ah… money first."
However, as she tried to back away again, she felt her whole body freeze and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move. Taking advantage of this, Shaw plucked the golden piece from her hand and smirked.
"Don't worry…" he pulled the other half out of his pocket, "… you'll get what you deserve."
As soon as he put the two halves together, the scarab beetle came to life and zipped off into the distance.
"Follow it!" Shaw snarled, getting into a nearby car, a gorgeous blonde woman at the wheel. They sped off, leaving Angel to fly on behind them. Eventually, the scarab came to a stop, diving down and disappearing under some soil as the earth started to rumble.
Slamming on the brakes, Shaw practically leapt out of the car, laughing in amazement as a giant lion's head rose up from the sand, eyes glowing gold. "Finally." He hissed, "After years of searching, I've finally found it… the Cave of Wonders."
"Holy shit…" Angel whispered, yelping when Shaw grabbed her arm and pulled her closer.
"Now remember my dear…" Shaw slowly ran a finger down her cheek, "… Bring me the lamp. The rest of the treasure is yours but get me that lamp!"
Angel hesitated for a brief moment, before nodding and making her way slowly over to the giant lion head, missing how the young blonde woman moved to Shaw's side.
"Where did you get this one?" she asked, a slight sneer on her face.
Silence.
Shaw just watched as Angel crept up to the lion's mouth, peering inside. The inside of the mouth was glowing, and steps formed in the soil. When she went to step inside, the lion growled and rumbled, prompting Angel to fly back in alarm.
"WHO DARES DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?!"
"A-angel!"
"KNOW THIS. ONLY ONE MAY ENTER HERE. ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES FAR WITHIN. A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."
Angel slowly turned back to Shaw, confusion on her face.
"Go on my dear. It'll be alright." Shaw called out.
Angel did as she was told, however, as soon as she placed her foot on the first step, the lion roared and the mouth closed down on top of her, the soil covering and suffocating her as the wind swirled around.
"NO!" Shaw cried out in anger.
"FIND THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!"
The lion collapsed back into the ground, and the two halves of the golden scarab rolled down the small hill that had been formed.
"What a shock." Emma muttered, bending over to grab the two halves, before slowly straightening up, "Maybe we should forget about this lamp."
"Patience my dear, patience." Shaw sighed as she handed him the two halves, "Angel was obviously less than worthy."
"…. You did pick her up from a strip club."
Shaw ignored the comment, "A chosen one may enter…" he mused, "… we must find this Diamond in the rough."
…..
"MUTANT! MUTANT!"
Erik rolled his eyes at the sound of people gasping and making a break in the opposite direction, running away from them.
Humans.
"You'd think they'd never seen the devil before." He chuckled, as Azazel grunted beside him, "You'd think everything would have changed after the new laws."
"We are still different. And different is scary."
It was true.
Even though the Prince had fought for new laws to be passed, protecting mutants from persecution and hateful attacks, it didn't stop people from being afraid. No law could stop that.
"Come on." Erik eventually sighed, "If we head to Main Street, we can probably- "
"- We cannot."
"…. Pardon?"
"We cannot go onto Main Street." Azazel explained, "Did you not hear about the parade? The new Princess for the Prince?"
Erik rolled his eyes, "Oh… that."
As they got closer and closer to Main Street, something moved, prompting Erik to glance in that direction.
Children… streets rats as they were commonly referred to. Children, usually mutants, who ran away from their homes or orphanages and were forced to scavenge for food on the streets.
These two were younger than most however, only about eight…. And Erik knew that he had a soft spot for cases like this.
"Here." He grunted, handing the girl $50, "For food and stuff."
Without waiting for an answer, he continued to follow Azazel to Main Street, where a large crowd was gathering, all eyes on the heavily decorated woman waving out of the window of a large, expensive-looking car.
Erik couldn't help but sneer at the show of riches. There were mutants starving on the streets, and then there were humans like this. He could guarantee that this woman didn't give a penny to charity.
And then the children ran out into the road, not paying attention until they heard the car brake, inches away from hitting them. As soon as the car stopped, the princess burst out, her eyes focused on the terrified children.
"Miserable little brats!" the princess sneered, gesturing at a nearby guard who had stepped forwards, "Get rid of them so we can continue!"
The guard strode over to the cowering children, hands moving to his belt, where a metal truncheon sat. Before he could hit the children however, Erik suddenly appeared, stopping the truncheon mid-air and throwing at the windshield of the car, cracking it.
"You know…" Erik chuckled, staring at the royals, "… with all that money, you'd think you'd be able to afford some manners!"
The guard attempted to grab Erik and throw him to the ground, only for Erik to stop him with the belt on his buckle and throw him into the mud puddle, moving to the side as the guard pushed himself to his feet, spluttering in anger.
As the Princess headed towards the palace, clearly not wanting to waste any more of her time with Erik, the mutant called out after her.
"Don't worry Princess!" he called out, "I'm sure you'll find true love to break the curse. Must be hard being a Beast!"
Offended was a good look on her face.
"You are a worthless freak…" she hissed at Erik, "… you were born a freak and you will die a freak. And freaks die alone!"
The gates slammed shut behind her, with Erik resisting the crush them, like the same gates that had separated him from his parents all those years ago.
"You alright?"
Erik glanced over at Azazel, before grunting and shaking his head, "Ja… let's get out of here."
Together, they made their way to their shared flat… their flat they were squatting in, but their flat nonetheless. It was very scarce but had a lovely view of the palace that was on the outskirts of the city.
It wasn't a perfect life, but they wouldn't change it for the world…. probably.