Disclaimer: 'Angel Sanctuary' is created and owned by Kaori Yuki. 'Chronicles of the Fallen' and all of its installments are created and owned by Brenli, with 'Layers' being owned by Jael in collaboration. 'Layers' is the second installment in the 'Chronicles of the Fallen' series. Please read the first installment, 'Improper Guardian,' to avoid any confusion in regards to the characters and events to occur in 'Layers.' This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons or events, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Layers
Prologue
By: Brenli and Jael
They could hear the muted sounds of others, many others milling about, deep in the underground levels of this abandoned, graffiti-covered building. How many years had it been since any of them so much as thought of passing by this place...?
Once upon a time, hiding under all this red brick and multi-colored spray paint, these had been the secret headquarters for the leader of Rabbit Revolution... the infamous Rabbit Queen. Now it served as a safe haven for... a different kind of would-be leader.
One of the group of three Rabbit men unfolded a crumpled, dirty sheet of lime green paper, scanning over the words printed on it:
'Do you still hurt, starve, mourn? What can you do to live better? Will the Queen help you? AZRAEL HAS THE ANSWERS.'
"What do you want?"
The group of men jumped, looking down at the hole near the bottom of the building. Another milky-pale face looked up at them, stubble lining his jaw. "... We're here to listen to Azrael."
The stubbly man gave them a once-over with skeptical eyes, but waved them in, walking away before all three of them had slipped down into the dark hallway.
"... Could use some sprucing up."
"Hey, you shut up!" The stubbly man glared at them from further down the hall. "You want this place to look pretty? Call up the Queen and ask her to take care of it! Preferably with her own spoiled hands!"
As the stubbly man grumbled and continued trudging down the hall, the group of men swallowed the lumps in their throats. The shortest one nudged the one with the paper and whispered, "You sure about this...?"
"... He's worth listening to, isn't he?" To be honest, he wasn't sure. He reached out to gently pull the torn edges of a large poster back together... Rabbit Revolution propaganda. A picture of Nemaelle, the Rabbit Queen... marked up in red and black spray paint, a line right across her little, snowy-pale neck, crosses over her eyes.
"Hey!"
The three men jumped again.
The stubbly man had pulled aside a curtain and was motioning for them to enter the soap box room with a jerk of his head. "He'll be out on the soapbox, soon; get in here."
They slipped in silently and soon melted into the large crowd of fellow Rabbits, many equally nervous... some of them silent and waiting patiently at the edge of the stage, staring expectantly at the soapbox set in the middle. A small but potent reminder of life pre-Revolution... when the soapbox room wasn't an auditorium, but a empty room with a single soapbox set in the middle. A sign of hard times... murderous times, and it set everyone on edge.
The stubbly man disappeared behind a set of double doors, the murmurs in the crowd grew comfortably loud, but scared. Someone on the other side of the large room, a woman, fearfully quaked, "Have you read the Sunday paper? The government says Azrael sent them another threat..."
Someone replied, "No way; won't believe that till it's on TV..."
"You have a TV? You're a lucky, rich bitch!"
A ripple of cynical, but uneasy laughs traveled through the crowd, echoing off the walls of the soapbox room until the double doors were suddenly thrown open with a loudness that made the whole crowd gasp and fall into silence. There he was... Azrael, the Rabbit whose name and face had begun to appear more and more often in the media. The would-be terrorist who sent Heaven's government threat after threat... and asked for the ears of all his Rabbit brethren during the evenings, just like tonight.
One man whispered to the one beside him, remarking on just how plain he looked. How he was so infamous, and yet he appeared before them in nothing but a loose and tattered grey sweater, black pants with a hole in the knee. Dirty and scuffed boots... He mentioned to his friend that Nemaelle had looked nothing like that when she first appeared before them... From the moment she had appeared in Heaven she had looked so different than the rest of them, with colorful clothing made of unripped fabric. Yet Azrael...
He looked just as frayed and worn as they did.
Azrael strode up to the soapbox with his back straight, his stride sure and steady. He planted one booted foot on the soapbox and began to speak to the crowd, who had begun to quietly murmur, again. "First of all, I want to thank all of you for coming. That took courage… because I know what they're saying about me." He spoke to them with a firm, confident voice, free of any stutter or hesitation.
"The media is calling me a tyrant. A terrorist… But am I really? How can they call me that, when all I am doing is trying to take what is rightfully ours? You are all here, because like me, you're sick of the hand you've been dealt. Tired of being treated as a lower-class citizen, simply because our parents are angels. Tired of being treated like this because of something that is, and has always been, out of your control.
"Several years ago, I, like you, had faith that things were going to turn around. When I heard rumors of a warrior 'Queen' who could kill a man by looking at him. A 'Queen' who was going to change everything for us. But tell me, brothers, did she change anything?"
The crowd murmured and several shook their heads.
"No," Azrael agreed. "No, she didn't. She married a White Wing. She married Michael."
The crowd murmured again, many shouted angrily.
"How could she?"
"He killed my brother!"
"I feel the same way you do, brothers. Nemaelle is a traitor to the cause… Our savior became Michael's whore. Michael was directly responsible for the Battle at the Fields… And how many did we lose? And she ran off with him that same day…! And need we forget how Michael went on a killing spree, leaving hundreds of us dead in his wake…? And she ran off with him.
"But I am telling you now, brothers, that I will never abandon you as she did. Join with me, and together we can give the White Wings a war that they will never forget.´
"How do we know that we can believe that?" One man piped up. "I remember when Nema first started all this… she made so many promises, too. And nothing has changed…!"
"I'll tell you right now why I am different, brothers." Azrael's lips formed a soft, careful frown. He had never really wanted to share what he was about to tell them. And yet… "Nemaelle was born on Assiah. Where she lived a comfortable life. She never knew what it was like to be cold and hungry. She was never touched by tragedy. She never experienced loss at the hands of a White Wing. I will tell you now that I lost my twin sons and their mother during the Hunting.
"I was forced to watch as they shot my sons, and raped their mother right in front of me. And let me tell you, my friends… that's not something anybody can forget. That's not something anybody can forgive. Nema may be willing to try and coexist peacefully with White Wings, but how can we? After what they did to us? What they've always done to us?
"No… They deserve nothing less than the same genocide they gave us. And I will not know a restful night's sleep until every White Wing has paid for the sins of their brethren. "
His words struck the hearts of all those Rabbit men and women, still tired and worn down despite all that their Queen had promised to do for them. Those words sank through their skin and nestled in their hearts like little barbs, stirring up their pain and pulling a great, angry cry from their pale lips. Several men held their fists in the air as they cheered for Azrael's cause, women applauded and cried out for him to come to their aid, to do what Nema had failed to do. Even a young mother hoisted a her child onto her shoulders, a little boy with snowy fists held high as he proclaimed that Nemaelle was dumb, that Azrael would be the best there ever was. A great laughter flooded the soapbox room, cheerful in an aggressive but powerful way as Azrael's name became a cry that everyone chanted.
Azrael turned his back to the crowd he had stirred into uproarious applause. He did not utter a word to a single soul as he made his way back to his room. His face only a solemn frown.
He brushed the white hair out of his red eyes and stepped into his room, sealing himself into darkness and much-needed silence.
"I'm surprised you told them about your family," a voice in the dark said. "I didn't think you'd ever share that with anybody."
Azrael felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle, and his heart raced in a moment of temporary panic. "It needed to be done," he said. "Perhaps now, they can learn to trust me." He turned to face the woman in his room. She leaned against his window, arms crossed. Her upper body hidden by shadows.
"You've always had a knack for stirring up a mob. It makes you a valuable asset, Azrael."
"I'm glad you think so, Celestiel-sama," Azrael said, bowing his head slightly. He swallowed the sudden dryness in his throat, wishing he could have kept his silver tongue in the presence of this terrifying woman. "I don't mean to be rude, but... why are you here? Shouldn't you be-"
"I came to see how things were going. Apparently, they are going well."
Azrael's lips formed a thoughtful frown, and he nodded. "Yes... They are. Everything's going according to plan."
Celestiel chuckled. "Viva la revolucion."
xXxXxXx
Authoress' Note: Happy birthday to you...! Happy birthday to YOU...! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HALOOOO...! Happy birthday to you! (And many morrrrre...!) We realize that April Fool's Day is not actually your birthday, but... close enough, especially because we're EARLY! XD E'vrybody, go search up HaloRecoil here on FF. Net. Because she is awesome, her birthday is coming up VERY soon, and her story 'The Coming of the Seraph' is most enjoyable, thus far...! YES, YOU HAVE JUST BEEN GIVEN A PROMO, HALO. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGAIN! XD