This is more of a longer filler chapter but contains some important things like an Azrael flashback and some information on the League.
"Sir, just giving you my report. Miss Beale and I have made contact and I have begun my investigation into my given target. Also Liam Conrad is dead. I managed to smuggle myself into the Conrad family through his daughter who attends Barden with Miss Beale and gave him an injection while everyone was asleep. I did everything you asked of me Sir. Miss Beale is very oblivious to the idea of personal space by the way, she barged into my shower yesterday." Beca says in English for a change which is unusual as she normally speaks to her master in Arabic but she figured that it would be something different.
"Azrael I am surprised you are speaking English. Normally you speak to me in the formal language. I am proud of you. Miss Beale has been researched as an interesting character but I have no doubt you will complete your task. As I said the last time we spoke, you are my best student. My greatest creation. Always remember the creed and you shall be eternal in history. Say the creed to me Azrael." Michael replies and Beca takes a deep breath, remembering the creed for the League, trying to push aside thoughts of Chloe that were stuck in her head.
"'iilaa al'abad fi alzzll , watashih al'akhta' , wakashf alhaqiqat w himayat almujtamae. (Forever in the shadows, correcting wrongs, uncovering the truth and protecting society)" Beca repeats the creed to her master as if it were automatically, she had said it over five hundred times in her life and would never forget it.
"That's my girl. Thank you for your report Azrael, continue your collection of intel on your target and I'll be in contact with you if there is anything I need you to do." Michael replies and Beca says her goodbyes before hanging up and deciding to go for a run before her class.
"Chloe?" Aubrey calls out as Chloe hurries into the shared apartment and meets the blonde in the living room.
"She can sing. Like really sing Aubrey. We have to let her into the Bella's when she auditions." Chloe says. Aubrey looks up at her best friend.
"Look Chloe, I know you have feelings for this girl but if she isn't good enough than she isn't getting in." Aubrey replies harshly. Chloe crosses her arms over her chest and glares at the blonde.
"She is good enough Aubrey. Just trust me, she'll be at auditions later and you'll hear for yourself." Chloe declares and Aubrey looks at her questioningly.
"How do you know this Chloe?" Aubrey asks and watches as the redhead blushes. Aubrey crosses her arms over her chest, waiting for an answer.
"I may have heard her in the shower and sort of barged in." Chloe says quietly but the blonde hears every word.
"Chloe! From what you've said about this girl, she definitely would not have been excited about that. She sounds very reserved and like she might have some inner demons to deal with. Why would you do that?" Aubrey comments, using her psychology studies to back up her argument. Chloe throws her hands up before letting them fall again.
"I don't know Bree! She was singing Titanium and you know how I get when I hear that song. I didn't know it was her until I was in her shower. She looked really scared, she spun around so fast." Chloe says sadly.
"I wonder why, you barged into her shower with her! Just don't do it again and don't be surprised if she avoids you for the rest of her life. I'll be surprised if you didn't scare her away from auditioning. If she has as good a voice as you say then we could have used her in the Bellas. Dammit Chloe!" Aubrey replies as she walks out of the room and into her room, leaving Chloe to think about what Aubrey said.
Beca walks out of Baker Hall and puts her earphones in her ears, playing the music from her iPod. Pulling the hood of her oversized jumper over her head, she looks at the direction she wants to head and starts to run. The music from her iPod blasting through her unfocused ears, her steps matching the drowning beat of the song. Her mind blanking out as she focuses on her flashback that morning. Azrael. She hears the chilling whisper in her ear. The dark runner halts in place almost making her slip over, she rips her earphones off and looks around frantically. Azrael. She hears the voice again. The whisper sending chills from the base of her neck to the bottom of her lower back.
"Who's there?" She says as she glances around. Beca realises that the voice is in her own head as the memories start flooding back, creating an instant headache.
"Azrael, why did you stop? I have taught you to always finish off the target now do it." Michael asks Beca as he stalks around the training mat. Beca had been with the League of Angels for six months now. She looks down at her target, the other nine year old, lying on the fall, blood streaming from her nose and the gash above her eyebrow. Her name was Jophiel.
"Sir, I can't she isn't a danger and she is my age, she is just a kid." She replies respectfully, looking down sympathetically at Jophiel, she was the only person Beca had let in and allowed herself to become friends with, especially after what happened to her sister.
"Azrael, only the strongest will survive, the herd must be thinned out." The instructor replies.
"The weaker link, the weakest of the herd, they need to be dealt with, cut off, starved of resources to survive and left to die. Finish off young Jophiel." He adds. Jophiel glances up at Beca, her eyes begging her not to do what their instructor was asking.
"Michael, I can't kill a girl who is my age. She is innocent and my friend." Beca argues. Michael sighs.
"Friends do not exist in this world Azrael. Nor does innocence. Everyone is guilty of something. That is the mark that Cain passed onto mankind when he slaughtered his brother out of greed and jealously. As for Jophiel being a child, well as I said before, thinning the herd. Uriel, take your student to the post. She needs a lesson in obeying her leader." Michael asks. Uriel moves toward Beca and Michael. Beca remembering when Uriel was also known as Dr Harrison, the woman who took her from the hospital when she was nine.
"Raziel, Haniel… Get Azrael up and to the post. Clearly she needs to learn a lesson in obedience." Uriel commands and the two fifteen year old boys run over, pulling Beca to her feet and dragging her toward the post, Beca kicking and screaming in fear.
"No, no, please Michael! Uriel don't let him do this to me please! Uriel!" She screams.
"I'm sorry Azrael but you need to learn." Uriel replies calmly as Haniel and Raziel chain Beca's wrists to the post, her chest flat against it, feeling the cold stone through the fabric of her training shirt..
Raziel pulls off her shirt leaving her in her crop top. He and Haniel disappear as Michael appears with his whip. He sighs before speaking.
"Do you know why I named you Azrael? Because Azrael is the Angel of Death, Azrael guides souls to the other side. You, my dear are the best I have ever trained so far but you lack obedience and you portray too much emotion. If you do right by me than one day, you could take my place, you could fulfil your destiny and be the guide for lost souls, the true meaning of fear, Azrael, the Angel of Death! You have the power and the potential my girl, now you just need the mindset and the discipline. Fifteen lashes for disobeying a command." Michael says as he hands Uriel the whip.
"No please Uriel!" Beca cries out before Uriel brings down the whip onto Beca's back. She yelps as the sting of the whip cracks open her flesh. Uriel repeats the action. 'Two. Three. Four.' Beca counts in her head, screaming as the pain, the sting worsens.
"'iilaa al'abad fi alzzll , watashih al'akhta' , wakashf alhaqiqat w himayat almujtamae. (Forever in the shadows, correcting wrongs, uncovering the truth and protecting society)" Beca hears the others chant the Creed in Arabic including Michael, Uriel also chanting as she continues lashing her. 'Six. Seven. Eight.' Beca continues counting as Michael speaks to her directly.
"Kunt eizrayiyl , milak almawt. Aihtidan musirik . Dafn aleawatif. 'Iiqaf al'alam . Kunt munadilaan wulidat w muharib haqiqi . Faqat 'iitfayih w sayakhtafi al'alm ." (You are Azrael, the Angel of Death. Embrace your Destiny. Bury your Emotions. Switch off your pain. You were a born fighter and a true warrior. Just switch it off and the pain will end.) He speaks. Beca listens to her master's words and accepts them. She wants the pain to stop. She takes in a deep breath and focuses on pushing her emotions behind a wall in her mind and shutting them away. As she does, the sting of the whip is possible to bare, her emotions gone, her sadness, her love, her care, her anger gone. She stands up independently without relying on the wall to hold her frame and embraces the final three lashings without any sound or movement.
"Very good Azrael, now to finish your test." Michael smiles as he moves away.
Raziel unchains Beca and she stands without any issues, ignoring the fact that she had fifteen open and bleeding wounds on her back, she follows her master to where Haniel is holding Jophiel. Michael glances at Beca, moving in to her ear. She smells the mint toothpaste he used that morning on his breath, laced with a hint of bourbon, no whiskey like her father.
"Finish her." He whispers, his voice sending chills up Beca's spine, not of fear but adrenaline. Michael steps back to where Uriel is standing and watching.
"Az, please no. You're my best friend. !" Jophiel yells as Beca moves forward, nodding to Haniel to let Jophiel go, he does so and Jophiel falls to the ground. Beca kneels down and puts her hand on Jophiel's shoulder. Jophiel latches herself to Beca, hugging her tight, her face in the crook of Beca's neck. Beca helps her stand up and firm, not returning the rib-crushing hug that her friend was giving her. Michael smiles to Uriel.
"You're not like them Az. You are different. You aren't like them. Please." Jophiel cries into Beca's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Jophiel." Beca says as she caresses both sides of Jophiel's chiselled jawline, Jophiel relaxing into Beca's hands. Beca closes her eyes and tightens her grip on Jophiel's jaw, twisting her head in an unnaturally direction creating a sickening crack that echoes throughout the training arena. Beca lets Jophiel go and her former friend falls to the floor, she watches as the life, the spark leaves her eyes. The room suddenly fills with applause as Michael and Uriel start to clap.
"Very good my student." Uriel says.
"Azrael, you my dear are the one I think. You are going to be the strongest, the fastest, the most lethal out of all of us. Well done my dear. Jophiel was never strong enough, she needed to go and you needed the test and you passed. How does it feel my dear?" Michael asks. Beca looks down at her hands, the hands that just stole a life from a body, the body of a friend but she couldn't help but also feel the numb in her mind, she didn't care that she just murdered her best friend, she didn't care at all.
"It feels good… Master." Beca replies with a grin.
"My Angel of Death. Azrael." He says, taking Beca's face in his hands. That was the last day Beca felt any emotion. That was the day she embraced that she was Azrael. She truly became Azrael that day.
Beca snaps out of her flashback, a sudden itch on her back. She stops running and looks around, realising she has run further than she wanted, ten miles to be exact, she turns around and starts running back to Barden University.
Beca arrives back at the dorm room two and a half hours after leaving for her run. She was going to be late for her class. Her flashback throwing her completely off balance. Stripping her running gear off in record speed, she gets into the shower. The boiling hot water runs down Beca's body, streaming over the large scars over her back, arms, legs and abdomen. Beca reaches around and touches one of the scars on her lower back, remembering back to her flashback as she was running, the sting of the whip snapping her out of her trance. She gets out of the shower, her skin as red as a tomato, and gets dressed before heading to class.
Beca was sitting in her history, away from Chloe which was a surprise to the redhead. Chloe noticed Beca was 10 minutes to class and would continually look back to where the smaller brunette was sitting a couple of rows back.
"So guys we are going to delve into the ever fun topic of Middle Eastern History, focusing on certain myths today." Dr. Matthews, the psychology professor announces. Beca's head shoots up and a small smirk creeps on her face, betting with herself in her mind if the League and her assassin name will be brought up. Chloe glances up and remembers that she promised Beca she would pay attention in this topic, besides Chloe was really interested to see what was so impressive about Middle Eastern Mythology to the short brunette.
"The first and most well-known myth being the League of Angels." Dr Matthews adds and Chloe tilts her head to one side. Beca smiles, that's ten bucks she's already won.
"The League of Angels was said to be an ancient group of assassins that kill people who do wrong by the world. They were ruthless, stealthy. Enough to the point that there was never evidence of them which is why they are a myth. No one knows if they are real and if they are, where they operate from or even why they name themselves the League of Angels. Yes, Miss Mitchell?" Dr Matthews notices Beca has her hand up and the rest of the class turn to Beca, including Chloe.
"It's because they supposedly named themselves after Angels of Heaven. There are millions of angels. The leader would probably be Michael as he is the right hand of God, opposite Jesus at God's left. After that would be the three archangels mentioned in the Bible. Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. Following them is the other angels, the most well-known being Metatron, Ezekiel and Azrael." Beca answers and the class including the professor sit in shock. Chloe watches the brunette in amazement. She wasn't kidding when she said Middle Eastern was her favourite.
"How do you know this Miss Mitchell?" Dr Matthews asks.
"Middle Eastern Mythology is my favourite topic. I've been to the Middle East and they mention it a lot there, you can't help but be interested so I asked around." Beca fires back her usual answer for that question quickly.
"Well thank you for contributing, you should all pay as much attention as Miss Mitchell and I'm glad you brought up Azrael because Azrael is the only name in the myths, said to be the most feared of the assassins." Dr Matthews returns to his lecture and the class all perk up and start listening, thinking that the topic was actually kind of cool. Chloe however was mesmerized by both the lecture but also Beca.
"Who has heard the name Azrael before? Anyone?" Dr Matthews asks and Beca's hand shoots up along with a couple other students. The professor picks one of the other students, his name was Jesse and Beca recognised him as the guy that serenaded her the first day she arrived.
"Yeah, isn't Azrael in Batman? He is the crazy guy that is brainwashed to kill people." Jesse answers earning a few laughs from the other class members, Beca's face flattens at the joke.
"No Jesse, Miss Mitchell? I'm sure you have the correct answer." Dr Matthews asks the answer of Beca, a smile on his face.
"Azrael is not a video game or comic book character. Azrael is mentioned in many forms of religion from Judaism to Sikhism. Azrael is most commonly known for being referred to as 'The Angel of Death.'" Beca answers, her face hardening as she glares in Jesse's direction.
"Thankyou Miss Mitchell. She is right." Dr Matthews speaks up, breaking the awkward silence from the stare off between Beca and Jesse. Chloe continues to listen to the lecture as she writes down the name 'Azrael' in her book. She liked the name, it was kind of beautiful considering Azrael was supposedly the Angel of Death.
"Azrael is mentioned mainly in Sikhism Scriptures. God sends Azrael to people who are unfaithful and unrepentant for their sins. Azrael appears on Earth in human form, hits sinful people on the head with his scythe to kill them, and then extracts their souls from their bodies, delivering them back to God to await judgement. Islam doesn't refer to Azrael directly in the Qur'an but the Angel of Death is mentioned. Watching over the dying, separating the soul from the body, and receiving the spirits of the dead in Muslim belief. Rather than merely representing death personified, the Angel of Death is usually described in Islamic sources as subordinate to the will of God. Taking souls as God asks. Yes Mr Swanson?" Dr Matthews looks to Jesse again.
"So basically this League of Angels is an old Assassin's Creed rip off group and this Azrael is like Altair in the first game. Nothing is true, everything is permitted Sir!" Jesse jokes and the rest of the guys around him hi-five him and laugh along. They all shut up when they hear Beca scoff.
"What? Got something else to add Mitchell." Jesse snarks and Beca turns to face the basketball player, sitting with the rest of his teammates.
"Altair in Assassin's Creed was based off Azrael you idiot. Some of the creators were of Middle Eastern decent and decided to create the first game in Jerusalem with Altair. The second and third games were made because the first was so popular and they decided to put an assassin in every important historical event, Assassin's Creed was the 12th Century during the Third Crusade in the Middle East, Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood and Revelations were late 15th Century Renaissance during Pope Alexander VI's rise to power, Assassin's Creed 3, Black Flag, Rogue and Unity was during the 18th Century, which I pray you know is the American Revolution, Caribbean Piracy Age and French Revolution. The newest game, Syndicate I think it's called is during the mid 19th century during the reign of Queen Victoria I. They've made other ones like Chronicles during 16th Century China and Liberation also in the 18th Century. However those are all games based off one person, one assassin, Azrael was the real life thing, even if it is just a myth, there is always some truth to myths. Azrael was not some video game character, Azrael was said to be the Grim Reaper in reality, or even the spawn of the Grim Reaper. Also that creed is total bullshit, the League of Angels only supposedly hunted people who did wrong by the world, they wouldn't go kill innocents because 'everything is permitted' as you so stupidly put it. Their goal was to try save the world that the human race was destroying and still to this day are destroying. The Middle East still believe this group exists even today." Beca answers back before turning back to the front just as the bell rings for end of class. Chloe watches with wide eyes as Beca just shuts off what happened, like it was nothing to her.
"You sure know your history Miss Mitchell. She is right Mr. Swanson, perhaps you should pay as much attention as her and you'll bring those grades up. Anyways class, we will pick this up in our next class. Have a good day." Dr Matthews says as he starts to pick up his stuff, the class laughing at his joke toward Jesse as they pack up. Beca grabs her things quickly and leaves. Chloe trying to grab all of her things so she could catch up to Beca.
So Jesse got schooled! HAHA loved writing that!
I love Assassin's Creed by the way, I'm a history nut and love Renaissance in particular which is why Assassin's Creed 2 is my favourite. I just love how they keep to history around those times but simply change the story to include whatever assassin is the main character. I mean they even had Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VI die from a poisoned apple which he did, the whole Pazzi conspiracy including the attack on the Medici at the mass was included which I loved. I have played and finished all the games mentioned. I also looked into it and some of the creators are Middle Eastern, the game is made by various diversity, belief and religious groups which is cool. Also all the research on Azrael is on Google so I don't take credit for it.
The flashback was sort of a start to Beca's history after what happened in Chapter 1. It's almost the birth of Azrael, the assassin and goes into why Beca has her emotions shut off not to mention the scars on her back which I'm sure some of you were wondering about.