History Before The X-Men
By Time And Life 21
The next day, it took Azazel at least 4 tries to metamorph into his human form. The first time his skin color was tan, but he still had the tail, legs, and fangs. The second time was the opposite of the third time, he managed to hide the tail and legs, but the skin and fangs were still there. He never had this much of a problem before.
Now he looked like a tan skinned aristocratic man. He never saw the reason why he should hide himself amongst the humans in the world. But he realized that if he wanted to survive, he was to adapt to every situation. That's how he has survived in the real world for so long.
He had decided to change his clothing. As much as he loved his Armani suits, he knew that it was best to blend in, in this small city. He put on a pair of jeans and a red shirt, then a black leather jacket. He placed on nike shoes to finish off his look. He looked at himself in the mirror. Looked like a punk, as Thomas would put it, but at least with his suit he would look like a mob boss or the devil himself. Now…he just looked like some delinquent. He sighed. Oh well, at least he looked human enough. Couldn't do anything about the scar on his face though.
He left the Institute and walked down the streets of Bayville. The last time he was here, it was a bit smaller. He admitted that it was a great change for him. 13 years in a basement in a bunker wasn't exactly what he wanted to do in his life. But he will adapt to it as best he could. Thomas was just trying to get used to the fact that televisions nowadays were flat screen and high definition. Hanna was amused at the fact that him and Thomas were still getting used to all this new 'modern' ideas and such.
"Well, she has an advantage, she sees the future." Azazel thought to himself, completely oblivious to some people staring at him.
He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and sighed. Then he turned his head and saw people turn away from him and minded their own business. Then he looked at a shop mirror. He still looked young. That was a disadvantage of being a mutant like him. His age should be in his late 40s, but he looked like he was in his early to late 30s. Azazel wasn't one to be vain, but he felt older than anything else. He shook his head and kept on walking. As he was subtly observing his surroundings, he was being followed by a group of teen boys. Nothing escapes his attention and his hearing.
He pretended to be oblivious to the fact that he was being followed and walking into an alleyway. The group of men thought that they had cornered him. He turned around and saw them. They looked like regular street punks with bats and chains.
"May I help you?" He said as he raised his eyebrow.
If they wanted a fight…he could easily get out.
"Yeah, ya see, we don't like newbies on our turf, see?"
One of the lanky kids said as he went up to him with a knife in hand.
"Oh help me, a knife, whatever shall I do?" Azazel thought as he rolled his eyes.
His face clearly said, 'Don't mess with me.' But the kid didn't seem to see that.
"Oh, I sorry, I new here." He said in heavy accented broken English.
He can speak it well enough, but if these kids are looking for a fight, he could only hope that they wouldn't pitch it on him. The teens laughed at him.
"Man, where he from? Russia?" The teens laughed at him, before one of them decided to try and punch him in the face.
He leaned to the right to dodge and hooked his leg behind the teens and tripped him backwards.
He hit the ground hard as another teen took his bat and swung at him. Azazel dodged and grabbed the bat pushing it back sharply to hit the boy in the face and he went down. The next teen took his chains and tried to choke him, but Azazel grabbed the chains, ripped it out of his hands and punched the kid in the face. The teens were down around him groaning on the floor.
Then, in perfect English, "I would not have beaten you to the ground if you just left me be. Oh well, lesson today: Don't mess with Russians." Azazel smirked as he stepped over the bodies of the boys, and left the alleyway.
He looked around and noticed something…he was lost.
"Черт возьми." He cursed.
He tried and retraced his steps to go back to the institute, and he was still lost. He found himself in a park and had decided to sit down on a bench and rest there for a bit. He could easily teleport himself back to the Institute, but he didn't want to make a scene in front of the humans in the park. Maybe Hanna would see him and send Thomas after him or something.
Screw it. He was going to enjoy the nice sunny day to himself. No Scarlett, no Thomas, No Hanna. He leaned back against the bench and closed his eyes. He could feel the sunlight on his face. He didn't know how long he was there until a shadow was casted on him. He could smell the scent of poppies and chrysanthemums and popped open his right eye.
There was a woman standing in front of the sun. She had sunshine yellow hair that flowed down to her shoulders, grey eyes, and an oval shaped face. She was wearing white hip hugging skinny jeans, a green shirt, and ankle boots, and a brown jacket. The woman looked familiar…then it hit him. He slowly sat up in a languid way and put his elbow on his knee, placing his chin onto his hand, putting on a show of an innocent man.
"May I help you?" He said cautiously.
The woman's eyes then turned to ice. Her cherry red lips went into an angry frown.
"Azazel." She said coldly.
He recognized that voice and he sneered. It was more than thirteen years…
"Raven…I almost didn't recognize you." He said tensely.
She glared at him. He was tensed. If there were a fight to be broken out between the two of them, it would have to be elsewhere. But he wouldn't pull the first move. No way.
"I thought you were dead." She said as she widened her standing stance, as if she was waiting for him to pounce at her.
"I often make people think that." Azazel said as he stood up. He towered over the short woman. He wanted to scream. Yell. Even through punches. But he didn't. Because he didn't want to.
"Where have you been? You disappeared off the map." She said cocking her hip. Azazel remembered last night about Thomas saying that Hanna's little sister was the one who screwed up their mission, but he bit back the comment.
There were too many humans around. So he did the next best thing. He walked away.
He was angry. He had a right to be. But in the end, he was more disappointed than mad. He heard quick footsteps catching up to him and walking by his side.
"Why follow, Raven? I believe you have made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me." He said not looking down at her.
There was silence. A very tense silence.
"You disappear off of the radar for more than thirteen years and you show up here unchanged?" The blond woman glared at him.
Azazel stopped and turned to her, baring a fanged warning.
"What does that have to do with anything, Darkhölme? I'm alive, I'm still around, and yet you show up after 16 years in my presence? If I knew you were here, I would have returned to Russia instead." He said as he clenched his fists.
The shape-shifter looked down, as if she was ashamed.
"I tried to find you." She said almost inaudibly.
"You should have tried harder. But, since you shot me…" He was cut off.
"I didn't have a choice. You were trying to stop me." She countered.
"I offered you a place where you didn't have to hide. But you took off elsewhere instead." He said suddenly stopping and loomed over her. They were in a more secluded part of the park. Hardly anyone was around.
"You left syn to die." Azazel glared at her. A look of shock flitted across her face.
"How…" She furrowed her brows.
"Is not so hard to see similarities." Azazel said shrugging.
"The fangs. The ears. The legs." He paused. "The tail." He finished.
She took a step back as if she was hit.
"You can't possibly know that." She said and she clenched her fists.
"You don't even know…" She was cut off.
"I can't hold this form for very long. When you shot me with that dart from SHIELD, it was an enhancement drug. It was meant only for human biology. Not mutant biology. Very violent reaction. I truly though I was dead after I fell off the cliff." Azazel explained.
"Form?" Raven asked.
She was very confused. She never saw Azazel after shooting him. He smirked harshly.
"Ah…that's right. I knew of your original form." Azazel's gaze softened.
"Skin as blue as the oceans and eyes of glowing canary yellow eyes. You were very lovely that night." He said gently.
He could see a slight blush dusting on her cheeks.
"But you didn't know mine." Azazel said as he let his natural skin tone slowly take over. His tan skin bleeding crimson. Raven stood back shocked.
"You have blue skin and strange features, it only fair I show the same." Azazel said as he fell back into his broken language.
His fangs grew back and his tail unraveled from under his shirt. His legs started to bend unnaturally as they reverted back to hooked ankles and similar anatomy to a large dogs. His ears pointed and twitched.
Raven had a look of horror at first, and then anger surged through her body.
"You…you were a mutant as well?" She seethed.
"You never asked if I was mutant. So I never said." He smiled.
"So it's true…the X-Gene really does go through the father's side." Raven growled and she shifted to her natural form. She was wearing a black halter midriff top and a knee length skirt with slit up both sides.
"So there really is nothing wrong with…" She seethed and glared at Azazel with cold yellow eyes. "
Is nothing to be ashamed of, though I blame you for shooting me with dart." He walked closer to her and cupped his hand under her chin.
"I grow tired of talking." He said seriously. Raven backed away then went into a defensive fighting position.
"She always did look beautiful when she fought." He thought to himself.
"Goodbye Моя любовь. I might, how you Americans say, 'See you later.'" He said as he teleported away, leaving only a puff a smoke and the smell of brimstone.
Leaving Raven, in her thoughts and the next time she sees him…maybe she would explain everything.
Hanna opened her eyes, which was slowly bleeding back from gold to dark blue. She breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back into her bed, suddenly tired from her fate manipulating. She saw a future of Azazel and Raven Darkhölme meeting in a park, and they were locked in a heated battle of hearbreak, anger, sorrow, and hatred, and something buried in there that is love. They would have exposed themselves to the public and things would have went down hill very fast. It was a last minute fate manipulation that took a lot of energy and a lot of pulling and pushing go the lines.
Thomas walked though the med bay door with food. This time it was a BLT with milk and a side of grapes.
"Are you okay?" Thomas asked his exhausted wife.
"I'm fine. I just had to manipulate a difficult future that's all." She smiled gently.
She would keep the secret that Azazel had met his former love today. She would keep it until the day she dies.
TAL21: Okay, this is a slight bit of a filler with a little more but vague background of Azazel and Mystique. This actually fit pretty well with my story as i try to incorporate the characters into the more modern decade. And this little gem just came to my mind. :) I hope you guys enjoyed it, Next up, it's been a week since Scarlett has been to France, and she returns elated that her family is doing well. But unfortunately, Her father retired and handed the guild over to her brother! So, i'll see you guys tomorrow! Drama will be coming up. Will Gambit find his staff and cards? Rouge will over heard something that confuses her, and Kurt and Azazel will have a family moment. NOW FOR THE SHOUT OUTS!:
Scarletnightcrawler: Yeah, i wanted to have a bit of my own take on Azazel because using the 'Land of Demons' is a bit overrated for me. Plus, Family!Azazel is more interesting. :)
KittyWolfM: Thank you for the positive review! :D I really do try and get close to the cartoon as much as possible without mary-sue-ing the whole thing. So thank you for enjoying it! :D
Dark Lord of the X-Men: YOu didn't get your fight scene with Azazel and Mystique, but i hope it is better. :) As for Amanda and Kurt, i don't know how to put her in there as far as i can throw the idea. But I can try. But Azazel will have a hard time with being a father due to the fact that hey, he was quickly introduced to Kurt and he's still trying to process it. :) But there will be moments! :D
Jay Eddon: Oh, don't worry, Rouge will be finding out sooner or later. :) As for your suggestion: I have already thought of it. :) As for my time zone, I live in Idaho. So i'm usually posting between Nine or 11 depending on my days. Thank you for Reviewing! :D
ZellaStormz: Rouge and Gambit are my OTP. That is all. :) The Genosha Arc is actually my favorite arcs out of the series. So yeah, i just wonder of how they would have pull fit off.
fluffsterzz: Awesome! Welcome to the story! :D I hope you enjoyed it so far! :D
TAL21: And we are done! I'm heading to bed now, i'm tired as hell. But i hope you had enjoyed the chapter and get ready for more drama! Story-telling from Hanna's (Or shall i say, Renegade's) side will be told soon! Going into a whole new background and telling the X-men how The Elite came to be! :D PLEASE LEAVE OPINIONS AND REVIEWS! :D See you guys tomorrow night! :D
Question Time!: If you were to join the X-Men what name would you have for yourself?
KEEP ON READING AND WRITING!