Three months later
Sunlight spattered off the windows of the mansion as Raven grappled on the grass with her opponent. The shapeshifter was actually having to try - she realized this with a certain appreciative surprise. But although her assailant was powerfully built, he didn't have her agility – she got her calves locked around his throat and one arm twisted behind his back. Teasingly, she tightened her ankles, heard him choke.
"Enough?" she asked.
"Enough!" he rasped, smacking his spare arm on the lawn. She squeezed his neck a little more – just to make sure he knew who was in charge here – then sprang away, lithe as a serpent, leaving him to crash in an ungainly sprawl onto the ground. Alex spat a mouthful of turf out, swore under his breath, then staggered to his feet to shake her hand.
"Nice work, Blue," he said. "You were so good I had to let you win." She cheerfully gave him the finger, then turned back to the watching group of teenagers who constituted their physical training class. They applauded, and she gave a theatrical bow.
"So guys, did anybody spot Mr. Summers' first mistake?" Alex snorted. A girl with light lavender hair stuck her arm up so fast she almost dislocated her shoulder, gazing at Raven with such adoration it was almost embarrassing.
"He dropped his guard when he managed to punch you to the ground, didn't protect his feet." Raven smiled in approval.
"Quite right, Betsy, and so I-?" She looked around expectantly. A little Japanese boy with a scarf wrapped round the bottom half of his face raised his hand. His quiet voice was hard to hear from behind the cloth.
"You took his feet from him, Mystique." She nodded.
"That's right, Hiro. I took his feet from him, because he gave them to me. Your enemy will give you things – their feet, an arm, their blind spot. They won't offer them up for long, so take them the second you've got the chance. Don't think; just do it. You can deal with what comes up next as soon as you've taken the upper hand."
She looked at their admiring faces, all so painfully eager and young suddenly she could hardly stand it. She shouldn't have to be teaching these children how to fight; they should be doing the same things as their human counterparts, ditching class and dating and dicking around out there in the wide world, oblivious as babies. They should be safe. She was horrified to feel tears prick her eyes, swallowed them back. Like Erik said, should was a word for those who could afford it. Not for the hunted; not for mutants. She stiffened her spine and brought her hands together in a clap.
"OK then guys, you all did good today. Nice sweep kick, Sarah, and Philip, I saw how you've been working on your mat holds. Keep practicing, and I'll see you all on Wednesday. Dismissed!"
The little knot of students split off into ones and twos, some making for the mansion, others continuing to practice further off on the lawn. Alex gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder, none the worse for the whupping he had taken, and tossed a cheery "get you next time, Blue!" over his shoulder as he swaggered off. Raven sank down onto the grass, lounging on her elbows and trying to let the August sun and the sound of childish voices rising and falling around her soothe away the sadness that her reflections had suddenly thrown up. A shadow fell over her, and she squinted up at Madeline.
The girl was panting, had obviously been running. She was wearing one of the hooded grey tracksuits that had been over-ordered when the 'first class' had arrived, and which consequently constituted about eighty percent of Madeline's wardrobe (in spite of Raven's exhortations to take on more of her abandoned clothes). A look of disappointment suffused Maddy's red face.
"Damn it! Did I miss your class again?" Raven nodded.
"What's Hank doing, tying you to the bench?" Madeline rolled her eyes and slumped down beside her.
"It's not his fault, really, both of us just get carried away – although for some reason, we always seem to get to the most interesting point of our class just before yours are due to begin. But I'm really making progress, you know? He thinks I'll be ready to take my SATs before the fall – although I don't know how that's going to work. I think you need to be officially alive to sit the exam."
Raven slanted a look at Madeline. The two had become close over the last few months, but Raven still knew very little about what Maddy's story was. She knew about the sense of smell, and that Maddy was more than averagely smart – no-one could go from never going to school to practically acing their SATs in a term without something extra about them. But there was more to it than that.
Raven had little patience with Charles's fiat that Maddy's past and Maddy's power were better left alone for the time being. She loved her brother, but he could be such an old woman sometimes! Raven had tried shamelessly to wheedle the truth out of her friend, undeterred by Maddy's demurrals and Charles's chiding. She had reluctantly subsided only when Erik had taken her aside, and told her in no uncertain terms to let it drop. Raven knew to pick her battles, and while bickering with Charles was second nature to her, defying Erik when he looked like that was not.
It didn't really matter anyway – Maddy was a fellow mutant, and needed their help. That was enough for Raven, by and large. Moreover, she genuinely liked the girl; something about her utter lack of expectations and preconceptions made her refreshing company. It didn't stop Raven being curious, however; and if Maddy happened to let something slip, Raven wouldn't be the one to stop her.
Not today, though; Maddy was nudging Raven's elbow, looking pleading.
"Are you too tired for a little one-on-one? I know the class is over, but I really have been practicing my moves – I wanted you to see how I've improved!" Raven got gamely to her feet, pulling Maddy up after her.
"Tired? Are you kidding? I could put that great lump Summers down ten times a day and never break a sweat. Come on then, show me what you got."
The two girls sparred under the sun, Raven holding herself back so that Maddy could get some practice with the basic blocks and punches that were all she could manage at the moment. The girl was naturally small, but her frame hinted at the possibility for strength. However, she was having trouble gaining weight and putting muscle down. She was frustrated by her lack of progress, and the more she came on the more resentful she became of her skinny limbs and underworked physique. She came at Raven now with all the fury and commitment of that frustration, her memory of the techniques perfect but her lack of power betraying her, and after half an hour she was soaked in sweat. When Raven accidentally went too far and knocked her off her feet, the girl lay gasping on the grass, eyes clenched tight in exasperation.
Raven sat down beside Maddy, patted her on one heaving shoulder.
"You're better. Really, the practice is paying off." The girl shrugged.
"Not good enough. Not yet. I want to be strong, want to be able to take care of myself. I don't want anyone to be able to-" she broke off, once again diverting herself from what Raven was sure was a reference to her mysterious past. With a deep breath, Maddy rolled over, gave Raven a grateful smile.
"Thank you for helping me. I know it must be boring for you, blocking these baby punches. But I really am trying to get better, and I couldn't do it without you." Raven grinned back.
"It's nothing, really. And boring? What do you think it is, getting smacked around by Alex all the time – a treat?" Madeline laughed, pulled herself up to sit beside Raven.
Raven remembered the first time Maddy had met Alex: she had been so intimidated by his bully-boy humour. Over time she had realized how much of his bluster was insecurity, how much of his roughness and making fun was the natural consequence of having passed his formative years in prison, in solitary, with no-one but his guards to model his manhood on. Raven remembered the occasion when she had overheard Alex making a joke of Charles and Erik's relationship to a cluster of laughing students. She had nearly broken his jaw in the fight that followed; but the next day he'd come to her and apologized, even offered to confess what he had said to Charles and Erik and ask their forgiveness too.
"Well, maybe the Prof, anyway," he had qualified. "He's done so much for me, and I owed him better than that. I owe him everything, really. But Erik? He's not a totally bad guy I guess, but I figure that if I told him the stupid things I said, he'd probably just crush me with an anvil." Raven had been merciful and accepted his apology on Charles's behalf (no need to have upset him, after all). After that, Alex had tried to rein in his more uncouth impulses, cutting out the bad language and off-colour jokes in front of the younger kids, and acting with such deference to Charles that Raven thought it rather sweet. Of course he still teased people now and then; but he made sure it was always people who could take it – people like the almost horizontally laid-back Sean, or Raven herself. Never Charles. Never the weak or the defenceless; never Hank. For that alone, Raven was willing to forgive Alex a lot.
Madeline was talking about her science classes with Hank, tossing out polysyllabic gibberish with gay abandon. Raven tried to compose her face into an expression of interest, but found it hard to be as compelled by solutions and formulae as Hank – and obviously Maddy – were. Her attention was wandering when what Maddy said next brought her up short.
"Raven? What's the problem with you and Hank?" Raven stared at her questioningly.
"Whenever I mention your name, he goes all quiet and – sort of – angry? But not angry, really; sad. I don't know. He smells different, anyway. It's weird. And you as well; whenever I talk about him to you, your eyes go somewhere else. I know it's none of my business, but – you're both such good friends to me. And you've known each other much longer than I've known either of you. But I never see you together. I just wondered, is all." Taking note of Raven's stricken expression, Maddy began to backtrack. "Feel totally free to tell me where to get off if I'm out of line-" but Raven was shaking her head.
"It's fine, Maddy. It's just – it's difficult. With me and Hank. Hah. 'Me and Hank'. There never was a 'me and Hank' really; we never got a chance. His damn 'cure' soon saw to that." She could hear the bitterness in her own voice; but it felt good to let it out, after all these months of tiptoeing around Hank, trying to heed Charles's advice to give him space, to give him time, to let him come to terms – with what? With being what he was? Her frustration was tinged with tenderness, which only made her angrier with him.
"He told me that he made the serum from your DNA, the one that – didn't work. Does he – blame you, or something?" Maddy asked. Raven shook her head again.
"Oh no, he doesn't blame me. After all, that wouldn't be fair. I told him not to take it. And whatever else he may be, Hank is always scrupulously fair. Damn him. He just can't stand to look at me. He likes to try and pretend to himself he hasn't changed, or that he can go back, or even that he could still find a cure, could become human. When he sees me walking around, mutant and proud, it reminds him of everything he wishes he wasn't. And he feels like I betrayed him, I guess. It was supposed to be the two of us, two freaks who wanted to be normal. If Erik hadn't come along and set me straight, then I guess that's how we would be – two frightened little self-hating mutants, clinging to each other for comfort. But I can't go back to being that girl. I know who I am now. I've got nothing to be ashamed of. And I can't pretend to wish I wasn't what I am just to make him feel less alone. No more than he can pretend to love himself the way that he is, to love me the way that I am-" Raven broke off, surprised by how quickly it had all flooded out, her hurt, her anger, her sense of betrayal. Maddy put her hand over Raven's, gave it a comforting squeeze.
"You still love him." It wasn't a question. Raven ducked her head, sighed.
"I don't know. I think so, sometimes. But it couldn't work. Not while he's still denying who he is. And anyway, a war is coming. Even if things were perfect between me and Hank, it's not exactly a time to be making plans." The bleakness with which she said these words seemed to silence Maddy for a moment. She just squeezed her friend's blue hand again, apparently brooding on Raven's words, words Raven already regretted. Not that she didn't think that it was true; Charles might be in denial, but she still woke up some nights with the bottom dropping out of her stomach, seeing in her dreams the sky full of missiles aimed at her, her family, her friends, just because they were mutants. She had seen what she could expect from humanity. She wasn't going to be caught napping when the inevitable confrontation came.
But true or not, it was a lot to burden Maddy with. Raven had been given to understand that she'd had precious little security in her life until now. The safety of the school might be illusory, but it was an illusion Maddy was entitled to, for a while at least. She opened her mouth to say something to dispel her grim prediction, and then almost swallowed her tongue when the air cracked like a thunderbolt and Azazel appeared in a cloud of red smoke inches from where they sat.
The scarlet mutant turned and saw her, a dazzlingly white smile splitting his face, his hands spread wide in apparent delight.
"Ah, siniy ved'ma!" he exclaimed. She put a hand over her chest, and eyed him sourly.
"Jeez, Azazel, can't you get a bell or something? You almost gave me a heart attack!" The Russian's face fell.
"A thousand sorries, moy dorogoy. I just come to bring a little girl from asylum to Professor. Very bad place; very powerful girl. She's with him now. I wanted also to check how is Vasiliy, boy I bring in springtime from Donetsk. Xavier said he is in your class?" She nodded, getting to her feet.
"The class is over. But he's fine. Settled in well, making new friends. In fact, he's just over there, with Philip and Andrew, under the tree." She pointed. Azazel glanced over, but couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her face for long.
"Da. Perhaps I will go say hello. It is good to see you, Raven. Always. And this is your friend?" he said, suddenly noticing Madeline, who was staring in awe at him. Raven nodded, pushed her forward.
"Yes, this is Maddy. She joined us a few months ago. Madeline, this is Azazel." Maddy put a hand out nervously.
"Hello." Azazel shook her hand courteously.
"Privet, Maddy. Is pleasure to meet you." But he was already looking past her, back at Raven, pinning her with a gaze so intense she felt obscurely uncomfortable. "Perhaps we speak later, siniy ved'ma. Do svidaniya." Then with a nod to Madeline, he flicked his tail and vanished once again, only to reappear in a puff of smoke amidst the startled boys under the tree. Maddy whistled.
"Jeeeee-sus. Just when I think I've seen the coolest mutant power. Damn, I wish I could read minds, or bend metal, or change into other people, or pop out of nowhere like that! As it is, I can barely throw a punch. Some people really luck out with this mutant X gene, huh?" She sounded despondent. But then she looked sideways at Raven, a mischievous look in her eye.
"Someone's got an admirer." Raven grimaced.
"What? Get out of here!" Maddy rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on, Raven! If even I can see it…" Raven shrugged.
"I don't think so. I mean, Azazel? He's pretty much a murderer." Maddy's eyes went round, stared over at the polite, immaculately dressed red man as he talked chummily with a pale little boy who looked delighted to see him.
"What?" She said incredulously. Raven sighed, and gave her a quick run-down of the history of the Hellfire Club, the attack on the CIA compound, the crew of the Russian cargo ship (leaving out the more complicated stuff about Erik's vendetta against Shaw and Charles's maiming). Maddy looked shocked – as well she might, Raven reflected. Nobody just meeting Azazel, who was invariably good-natured and courteous, would ever suspect he could be such a brutal killer. But she could still remember her terror as he approached their little band in the CIA facility, a feral grin on his face as he dropped man after man out of the sky, the short swords he always had with him in his hands.
"So what's he doing here?" Madeline asked, eyeing him warily. Raven sighed.
"After Shaw died, Charles asked the rest of them – Emma, Janos, and Azazel – if they wanted to join us here. Had to bust Emma out of jail first, of course – Erik enjoyed that part. Didn't take long for him to realize he couldn't stand her, though. Nor could anyone else. She didn't last long, was gone God knows where within the week. Janos stuck it out a bit longer, but he never really fitted in here. I think he went back to Hungary in the end. Azazel never joined us, really. Charles keeps a room free for him, but he comes and goes. That's why you've never seen him here before – he disappears for weeks and months, then pops up out of nowhere, usually with some kid that Charles found on Cerebro and asked Azazel to look out for. It's not like you can send him on a mission, not really. He just turns up when he wants, does what he wants. Seems friendly enough, though. He and Erik get on like a house on fire."
"And Charles?" Maddy asked. Raven scowled.
"Charles drives me crazy. He can't stand Azazel really – can't forget what he did to the CIA guys, or those Russian sailors. But he's determined that reconciliation is the only way to peace, so he makes himself be civil anyway. You can practically make ice cubes in mid-air when they're together. Sometimes I wish Charles would just go ahead and get mad, throw something, you know? It's not like he doesn't have reasons to. But he's just so God damn good the whole time it's enough to make you sick." The irritated affection in Raven's tone took a lot of the sting out of her words. Maddy smiled indulgently, turned the conversation back to Azazel.
"So how do you feel about him? Are you more in Erik's camp, or Charles's?" Raven put her head on one side, considering.
"I'm not too sure. I mean, I asked him once, about the CIA attack. He said that Shaw had told them we were being held against our will, that they were going to torture us. He thought that he was on a rescue mission; not that that would justify how much he was enjoying it, of course." Maddy frowned.
"Do you believe it?" Raven nodded.
"Yes I do. I know it sounds unlikely, but you have to know him. In some ways, he's as naïve as a child. I don't think he can have spent a lot of time around people until Shaw recruited him, not looking like he does. He never lies – doesn't seem to know how. So he believes what you tell him. And he's kind of idealistic – he buys into the big ideas, communism, mutant supremacy, whatever. He's not a fan of subtlety, or compromise. I think that's another reason why he and Charles can't get along. Chalk and cheese."
"So he obviously likes you. Do you like him?" Raven frowned. It wasn't as if she hadn't noticed Azazel's interest in her. Before she'd come to terms with her mutation, she had spent her life inhabiting the skin of a deliberately desirable woman – she knew what it meant when a man looked at her like Azazel did. And it wasn't as if he made the slightest effort to hide his desire. She had to give him points for persistence – after all, she had dropped a chunk of sub on him back in Cuba, and had industriously avoided being alone with him as soon as she had worked out how he felt. It wasn't, she insisted to herself, that she was afraid of him. Not anymore. It was just that she didn't know how to react to somebody wanting her – really her, in her natural form. Least of all Azazel.
"I don't really know what I feel. OK, he's done some pretty awful things – but so has Erik, and I don't know where I'd be without him now. They both had good reasons, or thought they did. But he's so wild, you know? I don't feel like he's someone I could trust. Not that he would betray us. It's just one day you'd turn around and he'd be gone, just like that. There's no holding him down." She shook her head, suddenly aware that she had given away how much she had been thinking about Azazel. "And anyway, all that aside, it's hard to get past how he looks." Maddy raised her eyebrows a fraction. Raven gave a slightly shamefaced smile.
"I know right? Me, of all people, discriminating over someone's looks. Give him his due, he's a snappy dresser; and some of those scars are kind of sexy. But come on Mads, he looks like the devil!" The two girls laughed together guiltily. Composing herself, Maddy asked:
"Do you think he's the devil?" Raven watched as Azazel played with the children, teleporting them high into the air, letting them drop, then popping into place to catch them before anybody could hit the ground. It was like a very high stakes juggling trick, and Charles would probably have a fit if he saw; but Raven smiled at the delighted shrieks from the boys, and Azazel's harsh laughter booming across the lawn. He met her gaze suddenly, and grinned like a tiger. She shook her head.
"No. No, I don't."
Raven pulled herself together. Never mind if Azazel did intrigue her; no matter if she was flattered by his attention. Like she had said, this was no time for making plans like that. "Come on Maddy, we've still got a couple of hours before dinner – let's run through those attack routines again." They resumed their practicing, but Raven's mind was wandering, and before long she'd accidentally pinned Maddy again.
"Done showing off, Mystique?" Raven saw Maddy's face light up at the sound of that sardonic voice.
"Erik!" The younger girl sprang up, moved to meet the metal bender. He was dressed in the same tracksuit that Maddy was. He looked taken aback by Maddy's eager greeting – he still wasn't accustomed to the easy affection Maddy doled out to anybody she liked.
"You're back! We missed you. Are you well?" He nodded his assent.
"Are you ready for a run?" he asked, jerking his head up the path that cut a circuit around the house. She nodded agreeably, turned back to Raven.
"See you at dinner?" Raven nodded, watched as the unlikely pair fell into step and jogged away, leaving the blue girl alone with her thoughts.