Even Angels Have Scars

Even Angels Have Scars is a fanfic Backstory written by Blue Frodo for the film version of the Incredible Nightcrawler from X-Men, aka Kurt Wagner. It begins with a circus fortuneteller named Margali Szardos traveling with her two children and the rest of their troupe. They come upon an angry mob burning down a cottage that, from the sound of crying coming from inside, still has a baby inside of it. Ignoring the midwife and mob that try to stop her, Margali rushes inside and saves the baby. Said baby turns out to be blue, have only two fingers and a thumb on each hand, and also has a tail…

The story follows Nightcrawler as he grows older and shows how he became an acrobat, why he is so religious despite his appearance, and most notably how he got his scars by the time of X-2: X-Men United. While Kurt does experience minor prejudice as a child (the circus he grew up in protected him immensely), things really start getting progressively darker for blue-and-fuzzy when the Big Bad Azazel, his father makes his debut. This story is also hella long, clocking in at 56 chapters and 140,459 words. However, most fans of the fic actually wish it were longer.

The sequel Until Death Do Us Part is also pretty good, but hasn't been updated since 2008.

Tropes used in Even Angels Have Scars include:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Amanda seems to have a crush on California skater Christian. Christian’s actually a nice guy, but he’s rebellious enough to count. This crush, however in unrequited because Christian is gay
• All Love Is Unrequited: Kurt’s love for Amanda. Amanda’s crush on Christian. Christian’s love for Wolfgang.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: Demonic Watcher Azazel wants son Kurt to be his Dragon, take over the world (OF COURSE!), bring humanity to its knees, and kick puppies. Kurt just wants to be a pious circus acrobat and goes to extraordinary lengths to stay one.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Kurt, in a weird sort of way.
• Author Appeal: Back in Black.
• Backstory: Whole damn point of the story
• Big Bad: Azazel
• Big Screwed-Up Family: Nightcrawler is the son of a demon/angel and is the foster son of a powerful sorceress and foster brother of his crush Amanda. His foster aunt Martuska hates him for looking like a demon and later reveals to have known all along what Kurt really was and actually helps him get rid of Azazel, albeit in a very painful and nightmare fuel-y way.
• Break the Cutie: Kurt, big time.
• Character Development: Besides Kurt, the various OC’s get plenty of development and are well thought out complex characters that add to the story and how Kurt
• Chessmaster: Azazel, who has been manipulating Kurt’s life from behind the scenes from the time he was born.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He may have a tail, he may have fangs, he may be the son of a power-hungry demon/angel, but nevertheless Kurt is a very fun, kind person.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kurt can be this at times. Christian is this a lot.
• Determinator: Kurt. In spades.
• The Dragon: Azazel’s entire plan is to force Kurt to do his bidding on earth.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: While the sequel is still going, EAHS ends on a rather high note, and yes, Kurt earned it.
• Embarrassing Nickname: “Nightcrawler” was Kurt’s nickname as a baby because he would crawl out of his crib at night and play, leaving everyone wondering in the morning how his toys got out of his toy box. It later became his stage name, much to his six-year-old self’s chagrin.
• Fallen Angel: Azazel is rather heavily implied to be one of these. Actually, it’s pretty much directly stated.
• Foregone Conclusion: Kurt is going to have his famous scars from the movie by the end of this. And by the end of the sequel, Kurt will either be with the X-Men or in Stryker’s hands depending on where Blue Frodo stops it.
• Foreshadowing: Tipene “Kiwi” Black’s and his son Amiri’s Maori tattoos.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Kurt. Well, half ‘’mutant’’ half demon hybrid. If you count Kiwi as his brother, then him too.
• Healing Hands: Margali. With one hell of a price.
• Horny Devils: Azazel, but unlike most examples, his being a man-whore is strictly for procreation purposes.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: There’s an aversion and a variation. The aversion is that Kurt likes his powers and the people at the circus have always treated him like family. When he does dream of becoming normal, it scares the hell out of him. The variation is when he finds out about Azazel’s plans for him does whatever it takes to be able to just stay Kurt Wagner the acrobat and not become a sort of Anti Christ.
• Jerkass: Lola. Seriously, is the fact that Kurt’s “costume” doesn’t exactly come off any reason to run off and accuse him of being a rapist?
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It’s a bit of a stretch to call Martuska one of these. She has her reasons for how she acts, she did help Kurt in the end, and in their second-to-last conversation she seemed to genuinely empathize with him. But for the most part she’s pretty unpleasant.
• Laughably Evil: Even though he’s a bastard who manipulates everyone including his son, Azazel is incredibly fun to read in the chapters he’s in.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: It does take place in a circus.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Kurt’s papa Azazel. Kurt is confused at first, and is later horrified.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: When Azazel first shows up, he’s in an expensive suit.
• Manipulative Bastard: Azazel yet again.
• Mythology Gag: A sort of funny, sort of sad one. When Kurt was eight, he was playing hide-and-seek and was about to walk into a church to hide. His friend Lars told him that a woman had said that he couldn’t go in because if he went into a church, he would be struck by lightening. Lars actually wasn’t being mean, he believed the lady and was really trying to keep Kurt from being hurt. It’s the beginning of a very sad scene that marks when Kurt begins to realize that he really does look different than everyone else. In X-2, Storm and Jean find adult Kurt in a church and Storm gets him to come down by striking the beam underneath him with a lightening bolt. In the prologue, Kurt writes in a letter to another friend-come-sort-of-adopted-father named Wolfgang that Wolfgang should tell Lars he actually was hit by lightening in a church.
• Nakama: The circus.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: You just had to summon Azazel, didn’t you, Kurt? To be fair, his stepmother and stepsister were angry at him for things that weren’t his fault and no one was telling him anything.
• Nightmare Dreams: Kurt has one where his blue skin peels off to reveal normal skin beneath it. It freaks him the hell out.
• One-Scene Wonder: While he does actually appear in more than one scene, the main baddy Azazel still shows up in all of like, five chapters. Out of fifty-six. He’s not even in the sequel. All you see of him there are two paintings he’s in. Actually, make that one painting and one drawing. Still, when he does show up, he steals the show with his evil affability and charisma.
• Our Angels Are Different: Well, as everyone knows, angels and demons are one and the same. They just have different agendas. And are based in Enochian and Christian Mysticism rather than on Lowest Cosmic Denominator winged thingies or horned dudes with pitchforks.
• Our Demons Are Different: See above.
• Rule of Cool: Kurt’s acrobatic routine to AC/DC’s Back in Black.
• Rummage Sale Reject: All of Kurt’s clothes are made from scrap costume fabric.
• Scars Are Forever
• Shrug of God: Whether or not you want Mystique to be Kurt’s mother. Or if you want Kiwi to be his brother.
• Slice of Life: Kinda. Most of the story is Kurt’s life in the circus and his relationships with its various members.
• Invisible to Gaydar: The doctors that help Kurt. Christian is also one of these. The entire reason he joined the circus was because he thought Wolfgang was gay and wanted to be with him. Alas, All Love Is Unrequited…
• Trauma Conga Line: Chapters 49/48-54/53. Things do start to get better for Kurt by the end of Chapter 54/53, though.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: See Rule of Cool above.