Enjoy!

10. the Misery

In a world where being good has no value and hatred is one of the few known emotions, it's difficult to stay positive. the amount of money a person has determines the amount of power said person has, that money ruins lives. Once any individual has a little money and with that a little power, most become hungry for more. Everyone has that dream, the dream to become an Influential Individual, II for short. Most go down the criminal path in search for money, as did Beca Mitchell, better known as Azrael, so we'll call her that. Azrael, she's not the usual scrappy fuck-up, she's more than that. Azrael's existence is a myth and her story is a legend, she's not named after the angel of death without reason. Some say she's a ghost that can walk through walls, some say she's just a normal bounty hunter, but every poor soul fears her. They have a reason to do so, Azrael is one with the shadows. She was born in them, moulded by them and she became a part of them. Disappearing in one shadow and appearing in the next, Azrael is always lurking for blood, always prepared to kill.

"You have the privilege to hear the story of one of the most feared things of this world, so sit still and pay attention. Beca Mitchell was born a normal girl from a poor family, she had a lovely mother but her father abused them both, one day when she was 4 he hit her mom so hard that she died. She was so sad, she screamed and cried but that was a mistake. Her father grabbed a small knife and threw it at the small girl, despite him not even trying to hit her, he did. It stabbed Beca's eye and that's how she lost sight in her left eye. The last words he said to her before he walked out were fear no man, show no weakness and protect what is yours, good advice. A door slammed shut and a four year old girl had to pull a knife out of her head while her mother lay dead two feet away. That was the day Beca Mitchell died, that was the day Azrael was born. Azrael left her birthplace with a promise to make her father pay, she trained herself. She lived on the streets and that's where she made her only friends, the shadows. This one day she was climbing up the side of a building but she fell down, she was 5 btw, she landed with a soft thud but was heard anyway. Scary looking men came to investigate the sound but they couldn't find anything, Azrael was pulled into the shadows and protected by them. I know this sounds like it can't possibly be true but you better believe me, continuing: after that day the small girl trained even harder, learning how to fight from the shadows, learning how to survive, how to sneak, how to steal and how to use them. The shadows were weird things, they were always there but at the same time they were not. A shadow is the darkest in the light, always remember that.

Oddly, it was only a month after the girl turned 11 that she got her new name, Azrael. She'd stolen a book, she wasn't good at reading but could understand these words angel of death; Azrael and she liked the sound of it. From that moment on, if anyone asked she'd say "I'm Azrael" and at first people would laugh but when rumours started spreading about a girl who called herself Azrael, a murderess who drained her victims of blood and left them to die slow. That's when they started to take her more serious, they did everything she asked but she didn't let it get to her head. From that moment on Azrael took her job much more serious, she got herself all black clothes with a mask and weapons. Two swords on her back, two knives on her side and a few smaller ones up her sleeve, all of these she stole from a blacksmith. Azrael was strong, she was still small and she was still angry but she was also patient. Patience has saved her life more than a few times. Now she's still lurking in the shadows searching for her father, killing everyone that tries to stop her or just annoys her. Remember, always look over your shoulder" that's the story, only the last few sentences are known. Five years later is now, Azrael doesn't talk, she's a human with emotions but she's really good at not showing them. Normally she doesn't dare go in II territory, even she's scared of the man and woman that rule here. Fear no man her father's words shoot through her mind and she focusses on the task at hand. She needs to show these people what's going on outside of their world, she needs to make them suffer for making all of those people on the streets live miserable lives. She came here without a clear plan but she's trying to make one right now, sitting in the hallway of the Beale estate, safely surrounded by the shadows. The II didn't believe in Azrael's existence, why would they even?! There was no way someone would get in here without them noticing. Wrong. The small woman already got in and they had no clue, idiots.

Deciding to walk around for a bit she gets up and wanders from shadow to shadow, only visible for a small second each time.

"oh fuck you! Get out of my face, GET OUT" a voice sounds really angry and it peaks Azrael's interest, a door to the left opens and a man walks out, no storms out. He slams the door shut and a certain figure in the shadows decides to not follow him, instead taking a step back and appearing in the only shadow in the room the shouting came from. Not like the other rooms in the house, this room is colourful and bright. Nothing like Azrael has ever seen before, she looks for the person that shouted and sees a redhead lying on the bed. She seems to be crying, in order to get closer Azrael steps out of the shadows and makes her way to the side of the bed. The short woman squints her eye and looks at the woman in front of her, she's beautiful. She hasn't noticed Azrael yet, not that that's unusual. For once the murderess doesn't feel like killing, she feels like helping so she clears her throat and makes her presence known. The redhead looks up, sees her and opens her mouth to scream, nothing comes out though. Her mouth closes again and she looks like an idiot, Azrael tilts her head and keeps her eye on the redhead in front of her.

"never thought I'd see you, especially not here" Red sits up and wipes her eyes "don't look at me like that" Azrael keeps looking, she looks intimidating with only one eye and a scar where the other is supposed to be. Her mask only covers the bottom half of her face so her eyes are always visible, well eye. Her eye is navy blue and many brave man have shat their pants while being stared at with that one eye, not the redhead though. She notices that the smaller woman is not going to talk so she does all the talking herself, only asking questions that can be answered with yes or no.

"are you here to kill me" the answer is a shrug, not that reassuring.
"you are Azrael right? The angel of death" a nod, that's something.
"are you here to kill someone" a nod,
"do you have to" another nod.
"can you tell me who" Azrael tilts her head again and the redhead realises her mistake "okay fine, can you show me?" the murderess walks to the picture frames on the wall and searches for a familiar face, she slides a small knife from her arm into her hand and smashes it into a picture. Footsteps sounds in the hallway and Azrael makes her way back to the shadows, giving a small nod to the redhead before disappearing. Five minutes later, Robert Swanson is found dead in his office, a stab wound in his heart. Right where the small knife had been, this kill didn't prove anything, it didn't help her, it didn't earn her any money but it did give some satisfaction. After some "research" Azrael had found out that her father had a second family, one that he started after he destroyed his first. And that family is rich, his new wife is an II and friends with Robert Swanson. Azrael plans to destroy everything he holds dear and then throwing him in the gutter, like he did with her. Once that is done she's going to bring down this whole fucking fucked up system and make sure every II got what he/she deserved, then when she's getting old and shit, she wants to move out of this miserable place and look for a place to settle down. A place to call home and a place where she can die happily.

In the week that followed more II's died, and now Azrael found herself in the house her father lives. In his son's room to be exact, his son can't be older than a few months and Azrael pick him up. She rocks the baby and takes off her mask "hi little boy, I'm your big sister. Don't worry everything will be fine, big sis just has to take care of some business okay?" that's when the door behind her opens and her father walks in

"who the fuck are you?! What are you doing with Max, please leave the kid out of this" Azrael turns around to face her father, a flash of recognition crosses the man's face. He's shocked, terrified and screams as Azrael snaps the babies neck and puts the body back in its bed. Azrael grabs her bigger knives and without much effort she brings down her father, who is now sobbing

"remember dad, fear no man, show no weakness and always protect what's yours" then she drags him into the shadows and walks out in a slave house, the merchants are happy to take a free slave and part one of Azrael's plan is successfully finished. Her father will never be a free man again and will suffer the same pain as she did all those years ago.

She goes back to the Beale estate, back to the redheads room, she doesn't know why but it calms her. Most of the time she doesn't even make her presence noted but she just sits in the shadows watching the redhead, she wants to talk to her. The woman with the fiery red hair and the piercing blue eyes, too young to be an II and too friendly to be like the rest of them. This woman is not scared of her and she shouldn't be, Azrael means to do her no harm. Today she's sad, it was 11 years ago that her mother died and it was always a sad day. Her mother was the only thing she ever really loved and she doesn't know if she'll be able to love again. Upon arriving in an empty room Azrael takes her mask off and softly starts to sing

"On lonely nights I start to fade, her love's a thousand miles away, memories made in the coldest winter, goodbye my friend will I ever love again? Memories made in the coldest winter, it's 4am and I can't sleep, her love is all I can see, Memories made in the coldest winter, Goodbye my friend will I ever love again, Memories made in the coldest winter, Winter, winter."

A voice joins her and as Azrael looks up she sees the redhead, she doesn't stop singing

"Goodbye my friend will I ever love again, goodbye my friend will I ever love again, goodbye my friend will I ever love again. If spring can melt the snow away, can it melt away all our mistakes. Memories made in the coldest winter, goodbye my friend I won't ever love again. Never again"

Azrael allows a moment of weakness and breaks down sobbing, she never had time to grieve over her mother and now she feels save, soon feeling Reds warm arms around her. A thought hits her like a slap in the face, she feels at home in this woman's arms. Without ever having a proper conversation with the redhead, without knowing her name, without her knowing who Azrael really is. But for now, that doesn't really matter, for now this is enough.

Part three of her plan is done while the second part is not even completed, Azrael found her home. Even if it's just for a few minutes, Azrael can put down her guard and let Beca out, she can be the person she was never able to become.

"you have a beautiful voice you know"

"thanks, I never got the chance to ask but what's your name?"

"it's Chloe"

"nice to meet you Chloe, I'm Beca"

And everything is perfect, in this moment

But it's brutally disturbed when a man bursts in the room, Azrael has heard Chloe talk about wanting to get out of here so many times that that is what she's gonna do. She pull a sword from her back and spins Chloe around, putting the sword on her neck. Azrael is back and Beca is hiding again, her mask is still off but that's okay, they'll never recognize her here.

"miss Beale!"

"one move and she dies" my cold voice makes sure the man stops dead in his tracks, I whisper to Chloe "I'm not gonna hurt you okay" and a small nod is all the answer I need. "does this man have value to you Chlo?" a shake of her head and a second later the man lays on the floor, choking in his own blood, a knife stuck in his neck.

"wanna get out of here?"

"yeah" Azrael takes Chloe's hands and slowly pulls her in the shadows, to wherever they want. To a new beginning, to another world. Walking hand in hand to their own happy ending.