History Before The X-Men
By Time And Life 21
Hanna was lulled asleep after Thomas came to bring her food. Gambit had to wait for Hank to give him the go ahead and take it easy on his leg for the rest of the day. After he left, Scarlett popped in and sat on Hanna's bed, waking her up.
"Scarlett, leave me alone." Hanna said as she turned onto her stomach and buried her head into the pillows.
"Non!" she smiled.
"I'm getting my stitches out! And I want you to be there when I writhe in pain." Scarlett said as she placed the back of her hand on her forehead.
Hanna sighed heavily. She wondered why she was friends with Scarlett in the first place.
"All right fine. But after, you are leaving me alone. I've been seeing futures left and right here and it's giving me a migraine." Hanna said as she pinched the bridge of her nose to stave off the pain.
Scarlett tilted her head in worry.
"Is it too much? Do you want me to get Xavier?" Scarlet asked.
Hanna shook her head and sat up and popped her back.
"No. It's just regular everyday visions. Nothing too important." She said as she yawned.
"Femme tenace." Scarlett said as she decided to fall on her back on Hanna's bed.
"I may be stubborn, but you are just as stubborn as I am. You don't even want to see your only son after you get your stitches out. You already have a ticket to leave tonight to go to France." Hanna frowned at her friend.
Scarlett was silent.
"He was raised by the LeBeaus…I wasn't expecting that." She muttered.
Hanna shook her head. Scarlett then snapped her head to Hanna.
"Vous avez vu que venir, non? You knew he was going to be raised by them." Scarlett accused.
Hanna huffed and crossed her arms. "I saw many out comes of the kid, either he was going to die on the streets, be an assassin, or in the Thieves' Guild as a lower class thief. I'm just as surprised as you are. This is a rare instance that was not my doing. I may manipulate many lives, destinies, and fates, but that was not my doing. All I can say is that it was a BIG stroke of luck that he was in the Thieves' Guild as an adopted son." Hanna said as she defended herself.
Scarlett looked a little sheepish.
"Désolé. I didn't think about that." She said as she rolled on her side.
"You are fine, Scarlett, I'm just wondering why you don't want to see him." Hanna said as she took a strand of white hair and tugged it a little.
"Pensez-y! The moment he sees my eyes, he will make a connection. I don't want to shock him beyond all comprehension. Like you said, we wait. Azazel and Kurt on the other hand…well, je serais choqué. Once I see them both with my own eyes, I will consider coming back earlier." Scarlett said as she sat back up.
"I'll hold that to you, Scarlett. In fact, as soon as I get out of this damned bed, I'm going out and buying tarot cards and a few packs of regular ones." Hanna said as she fell back on the mattress.
"Oh! Can you pick some up for me?" Scarlett smiled.
Hanna looked at Scarlett with a skeptical look.
"You already stole your son's staff AND his pack of cards…" Hanna deadpanned.
Scarlett chuckled.
"Well, if he wasn't making eyes at little Rouge, he would have noticed that I stole them." She smiled.
Hanna laughed at her friend.
It was then that Hank walked into the Med Bay along with Storm.
"Miss LaChance, it's time to get those stitches out of your eyes." Hank said gently. Scarlett visibly winced.
"You'll be fine Scarlett," Hanna said as she placed her hand on top of her friends, "I'll be near, okay?" She said comfortingly.
Scarlett nodded and exhaled breath she was holding.
"Ok, je peux le faire." She said as she got up and walked over to Hank and Storm.
"So, I hope you'll be gentle with me." Scarlett said as she smiled nervously.
"She'll be fine. It won't be the removel of the stitches that will hurt her…it's opening her eyes for the first time in 13 years." Hanna thought comfortingly.
It was a painful hour of silent whimpering and Storm holding Scarlett's hand in case the pain became too much, seeing that general anesthesia wouldn't work in her body for the amount of time that it would take to delicately remove the stitches. Her metabolism is too fast for her body to work it out. Finally, Hank placed some antiseptic on her lids with a q-tip and was finished.
"I do hope that your eyelid heal quickly. But other than that, you are done." He smiled at the work his had done.
Hanna had decided, in her nightgown, to get up with her IV and silently moved next to Storm. Scarlett's eyes flickered a moment before she slowly opened them. She grimaced as the light hit her eyes and had fully opened them. Hank had a look of surprise on his face, as did Storm. Hanna just smiled at her friend.
"Hey Devil eyes, nice to see them again." Hanna said smiling.
Red on black eyes twinkled in the bright light.
"Yeah, nice to see you too, Renegade." Scarlett smiled wickedly.
Azazel's tail was twitching along with the ticking of the clock that was hanging on the kitchen wall. He was in a state of calm…ish. He managed to keep his mind off the subject this long…he can keep it off for just a bit longer.
More ticking went by. He would not even look at it. Thomas was on the other side of the room eating into his food. He looked over at Azazel and rolled his eyes.
Azazel didn't give Thomas the satisfaction that he was being tempted. His tail kept keeping the rhythm of the clock.
He closed his eyes.
Not making any contact with the object in front of him. But that only enhanced his senses. He could smell it.
It was tempting…it was making his mouth salivate. He clenched his fists together and growled.
"Хорошо!" He shouted as he grabbed the large burger in front of him and took a large bite out of it.
Thomas was chuckling at his friend's behavior. He recalled Azazel saying something about decent American food, and Thomas, at his friend's expense, had decided to go out, (In more proper clothing. There was no way he would be caught dead wearing just sweats and a tank top. No matter what the decade.) And buy a few burgers for himself and Azazel.
He may have flat out refused to eat them…but in the end, the crimsoned skinned man would break and stuff himself. After he was finished, he muttered something about making some ukha or orkoshka, for himself in the future.
"You liked it an you know it." Thomas said as he leaned back into his seat.
"Da, da. So what? There nothing else to eat in fridge." Azazel sulked.
"You could have asked Ororo. I'm sure she would have made something for you." Thomas said as he got up and placed his plate in the sink.
"Nyet. I would not put pressure on her. She had enough on plate as it is." Azazel said, silently mentioning Scarlett and Hanna.
"I know, but it wouldn't hurt. We're her friends as well. No need to shut her out." Thomas smiled as he leaned on the counter.
"You are also troubled by something else and it's not Storm or the food." Thomas said seriously.
Azazel was silent and his face went stone cold. For a moment, he saw the old war-worn Azazel for a moment.
"Ach…" Azazel sneered. "Darkhölme." He said with a bit of venom and hurt in his voice.
Thomas caught on.
"Oh. You still think she was the one who had...Kurt?" Thomas asked.
Azazel scrunched his nose.
"I've met three women in lifetime. Darkhölme was last woman I have fallen for." Azazel said, as his angry look started to turn into a silent mask of sadness.
"You wouldn't have known about him anyways. Think about it, she shot you, left you for dead. How was she supposed to know?" Thomas said as he grabbed a glass of water and offered it to the demon like man.
Azazel took it from his hand and drank it.
"You are correct, comrade. But if I had known…" Azazel frowned.
"You still would have left the kid alone. Our line of work is taxing. No place for children. Even though…" Thomas wasn't one to talk.
They have raised two children in their presence to a certain age and then put them somewhere safe while they were still young.
Azazel sighed in defeat.
"If I see that woman again…" He said as he clenched the glass in his hand…it cracked and broke.
Thomas wasn't fazed.
"Who knows what you would do. All I know is this, make sure you don't make a scene." Thomas said seriously as he picked up the glass.
"Da." was all he had said.
Then...
"Bonjour mes beaux garçons! Your favorite thief is back in business!" Scarlett sang as she came bounding through the kitchen door.
Her state of dress was different. She was wearing a thigh high black skirt, knee high red boots, tight white shirt with black tribal flower accents, and was wearing a brown half trench coat that flared out in the back. She was wearing fingerless gloves and black sunglasses. Her red-brown hair was up in a high ponytail, letting her straight bangs fall just above her eyes, and fringes had framed her face.
"I'm heading out to France in deux heures. I will be back by the end of the week." She said as she grabbed an apple out of the fridge.
"I take that your eyes are doing just fine?" Thomas asked.
Scarlett took off her sunglasses, revealing her red on black eyes, and smiled.
"Yes, turns out there were minimal damage to my eyes. Looks like my eyes were just too lovely to ruin." Scarlett said as she started to bite into the green apple.
"I'm heading out now. See you later. I promise." Scarlett smiled as she placed back on her sunglasses.
"Scarlett…be careful, it's been a decade since you last saw your family." Azazel warned.
Scarlett turned around and smiled coyly as she took out a pack of cards, shaking it in her hand.
"Oh don't worry. I know how to handle myself. Adieu!" She said and took off like a shot.
Thomas chuckled.
"She'll be back soon. There's no way that she'd leave Hanna here with us." He said as he plced his head in his hand.
"Of course. You assassin, she's a thief. Both have something in common." Azazel smiled.
"What do we have in common?" Thomas questioned, raising a eyebrow.
Azazel smiled.
"Hanna, of course." He said as he picked up the last pieces of glass and put them away in the garbage. Thomas shook his head.
"You are right about that." Thomas smiled gently.
"I'm going back down to see her. How about you?" Thomas asked. Azazel shook his head, politely declining the offer.
"I'm thinking of going out. If I can hold human form for more than half hour." He said as he looked at his red hand.
If he focused hard enough, he could faintly see his skin color and claws receded back and turn into a normal human hand.
"Good luck with that." Thomas said as he left the kitchen.
Leaving Azazel to his thoughts.
Rouge just couldn't focus on her trigonometry class. The Elite just kept popping up in her mind and she just couldn't help but ask the same damning question. Where or when has she seen them before? Her head was hurting just thinking about it.
After class got out, she was exhausted. She wanted her mind to just slow down and just take one thing at a time. Kitty met up with her after school and noticed that her friend was not looking too good.
"Rouge, like, you look pale! I mean, paler than usual, have you been sleeping alright?" Kitty asked worried for her friend.
Rouge just looked at Kitty and sighed.
"I'm fine, Kit. Just been worrying about this trig test that's coming up." Rouge said, hoping that Kitty would buy the lie.
"Oh yeah! Math totally sucks. But I'm hoping to pass my calculus exam and I would get my GED and go to collage. Maybe Bayville University. I hear that they have a great computer engineering program." Kitty rattled off on her dream program.
Rouge was glad she distracted Kitty. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone about The Elite right now. Most of the Kids at the mansion were very curious about the new residents and had seen Azazel and Blaze around. They haven't really seen Spade or even Renegade out on the upper levels. Rouge sighed as she looked at Kitty as she kept on rambling. About shoes this time? She really needed to stop thinking about The Elite. It was starting to become an unhealthy habit if she kept questioning them nonstop.
"Hey Kit?" Rouge asked as she placed her gloved hand on her friend's shoulder, getting her attention.
Kitty stopped her rambling and listened to what her friend had to say. Rouge was going to regret this, but she had to get her mind on something else.
"Wanna go to the mall? I need to pick up some new clothes anyways." She strained her words.
Kitty's face lit up like a supernova and grabbed Rouge's gloved hand and dragged her to the car.
"Let's go!" She shouted as she babbled off more useless information about the difference between wedges and slingbacks.
Rouge welcomed the distraction.
TAL21: Well heres another chapter. There was a little more background for The Elite. So i hope you enjoyed it! :D Rouge is really suspicious. She knows that somewhere somehow, she had seen those faces before. She just pulling out her hair trying to figure it all out! And Scarlett's eyes has been unseen! YEA! :D Betcha didn't see that one coming! (Okay, maybe ya did. XD) The stats for this story is unbelievable! over 2,000 views, 38 reviews, 16 faces and 26 follows. I'd say i'm doing pretty good so far! :D But things are going to heat up a bit. Gambit is wondering where the hell his staff and pack of cards went, Rouge is having a migraine, Hanna's getting sick of being in bed, Scarlett's off to France, Azazel is moping, and Thomas is just trying to be there for his friends and his wife. Something is going to happen in the next chapter and it ain't going to be pretty. Please….LEAVE DETAILED REVIEWS AND OPINIONS! I would one to hear from you! NOW FOR THE SHOUT OUTS!:
Jay Eddon: Thank you for the positive review! I really try and work at my grammar a lot, as well as my spelling. Sometimes i just screw up for no reason. XD And Deadpool is awesome. No Doubt about that.
Scarletnightcrawler: 75 degrees in Nevada? Shoot, that's warm weather compared to Idaho. when it hits the 20s, we put on our coats. the mid fifties we are still wearing our flip flops, shorts and Tank tops! Anyways, as for Azazel's confrontation, i have never read any of the comics…ever. I only have the movies and cartoons and maybe snippets of pages here and there to work on. All i know is this: Azazel is from another dimension in the comics. But in my story (and maybe a few others) Azazel was just born in a Russian Gypsy camp. He has no clue who his father is. Because In X-Men: Evolution they twisted a lot of things. (I still wish they did "A Rouge's Tale") But other than that, i thought it was fitting, given my limited knowledge of the comics. :)
ZellaStormz: Rouge and Gambit quotes are AWESOME! I can't get enough of them. Every time i hear them i just fangirl all over the place. Rouge and Gambit are my OTP. Gah! Anyways, I have always enjoyed the Pheonix and Dark Pheonix Saga, as well as the Savage lands…BUT! I would have LOVED to see a Genosha arc! Just thinking about it, i wish they did it! :D
TAL21:I'm done! I'm heading off to bed and i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :D It's going to be a cold night for me, but i hope to wake up to a lot of reviews in the morning! It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and surprisingly I get more ideas that way. SEE YOU GUYS NEXT CHAPTER! :D
Question Time!: If you were to have one day to hang out with ONE of your favorite X-Men characters for a day, who would it be and what would you be doing? (I.e: Stealing things from Tony Starks, going to a rock concert, camping in the wilderness, etc.)
KEEP ON READING AND WRITNG! :D