Like embarassing childhood pictures, only in text.
So you're interested in reading about Mom and Dad's infamous Era of Stupid, and various events around it, and you've got a zip file in your inbox with five fics inside? You've come to the right place. Pull up a chair, sit down, and I'll debrief ya on some of the details that didn't show up in the stories for a multitude of reasons, but they're details which kinda are, while not in the 'need to know' category, are firmly fixed in the 'damn useful to know' one.
First off, ya gotta know, for the longest time the family didn't know squat about the dragon gods except what Nassus told them. And Nassus did not like Tiamat. One bit. As far as the Spandex Brigade knew of her, she was the 'enemy'.
I'll let that marinate in your heads a moment. The Summers family, and the rest of various X-related peoples, thinking of someone as 'enemy'.
Moving on. She also had... issues with the concept of being Mommy, which led her to be afraid to try. She let Susan's mother raise Shara, and probably would've done the same with Dad too, except not even Samantha and Nathan could raise two sets of twins roughly a year apart in age, and two dragons only a day younger than their youngest set of twins, especially with one of them being a shadow dragon... all at once. So Nassus kept Dad, except she raised him as an apprentice, rather than a mother.
That left a lot of room of bad blood between Dad and his twin sister for a long time. Shara grew up for a while thinking she was with Samantha because her mom didn't want her, and Dad knew the truth all along, and didn't get why she was so hostile to him.
Dad's teenage years come around, and he does his level best to recreate himself, not as Morkoth but as Shadow, some image of a heartless, vicious shadow dragon mercenary who didn't give a shit about anyone.
Take that factor, and add it in with the whole swearing allegiance to Tiamat thing -- remember the 'enemy' perception? -- and that's got people's notions of him colored.
Plus, Ben was an arrogant, full-of-himself jackass when he was a teenager, and that did nothing to help the whole personality-clash with Dad, or the "Dad's serving the enemy of our family" mentality.
Mom was also the baby of the family, for all intent and purposes, so everybody else was all ultra-hyper over-protective (kinda like you, Brother &hearts: )
So.
We've got a cast with a raging case of Teenage Arrogance and Epic Stupid. Fun times, fun times. :D
Parting note- these were written down in the 1999-2001 time block, so they're a good ten years old as far as the writer's abilities go. Something else to keep in mind if they're not up to the usual par.
And don't forget, this is the Summers Family. Even if you only keep your vision narrowed down to what's called Marvel Canon, temporally-displaced family members is... not terribly unusual. Not everyone you meet is growing up in a time span that reflects when they are born. Case in point, Mayana Drake, the adopted daughter of Bobby and Amy Drake. You get to meet her, but what's not yet known (except by a few select parties) when these events are taking place is that she's actually Gwen Parker's daughter... and Gwen hasn't even gotten pregnant yet, and is only a few years older than 'Yana. Wrap your brain around that one and welcome to the Summers Family. We're like the Elric Family, only bigger (and with the biggerness comes the greater crazy. It's like a fandom- two fandoms might be equally crazy, but the bigger one will have more.)
... You either didn't think that part of your idea through when you gave Emily and Annamarie back to Envy, Brother, or you thought it through a little too well. Someday, the Elrics just might dethrone the Summers Family.
Maybe.
But until then, you have my dad and mom's epic stupid to point and laugh at while I go hide behind the Gate now. :D Ta!