Chapter One. The City of Fairies.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Advent Children/FF7 nor do I own any of their circumstances should I choose to use them. I do however own Alena Maria Strife (even though I don't own her parents or her brother).
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They say that Los Angeles is the city of Angels; heck there's even songs about it. But in my humble opinion there are very little angels in LA, perhaps none even. People come to the big city to find fame and fortune. To meet the rich and fabulous, to become someone and make something out of their mediocre lives. I wish I could claim to have come here for the same foolish reasons. But no, not me, not Alena-Maria Strife. Nope I came here to hide. Actually LA is definitely a good place to hide. No one knows your name here; no one cares unless you actually let them. And that's the operative word, let. Just because you want someone to care doesn't mean they will; in fact they'll probably do the exact opposite. I don't really understand why I came here; it's not like I can actually hide. But I guess I just needed to feel like I could. And in LA you can hide. I mean you can be murdered here and no one would actually notice until the body starts to decompose and people start to complain about the smell and that's when they call the police in.
In other words me. I'm a police officer, or that's what I started off being but only because I have a knack for seeing the supernatural in the some what natural murders. So I became a retainer to the police force, better hours not pay. I don't even get danger money and I go up against the real danger. And I'm not talking about your run of the mill murders or muggers either. I still can't get how people can walk around in this town and turn a blind eye to the things that go on here. This world isn't just composed of humans. There are Fey; vampires; werewolves; ghosts; devas; spirits; changelings and my personal favourite, demons. They walk around with the best of us and no one really knows. Well ok maybe I slightly exaggerated. I haven't actually seen a Vampire, nor have I heard any rumours of people being bitten in the neck and I don't actually know if there are any werewolves; or not real ones anyways.
There are loads of Fey who can manipulate their bodies and transfigure themselves into animals, usually only one kind because it does too much damage to the body for it to change into too many forms. I saw this one woman who tried to change into five different animals (not at the same time) and it took its toll on the body by making the bones weak and disfigured and she had to walk with a hunch and her facial structure was pretty screwed up. I also know this boy from my childhood who changed into a tiger so often that his eyes are gold with slit like pupils and fangs and even the mouth is that curled shape of felines. He was pretty cool, but I haven't talked to him in a while.
Deva's and spirits are hard to come by these days. Some believe that they've gone back to the forests to never interact with humans because the humans have ruined their world. As for the rest of my little list: the Fey (also can be spelt Fae) or Fairies are the most common but you'd be lucky if you came across a pure bred. Most have mingled with humans too much that their blood has been diluted and their powers have diminished while others have revoked the old ways. There are still some old families who respect the old ways and generally live by them and have moved to form clans in the country. There aren't many in America and fewer still here in LA.
LA is the bad apple. We deal with changelings and demons. While it's true that Changelings are fairies (you can tell by the elongated fingers and amazing metabolism) they aren't members of the fey council and so they have been exiled from the fey community. No fey will stand by a changeling, which makes it easier on the police to prosecute them when they don't have a high ranking fairie king standing up for them.
Anyways, Changelings aren't exactly a threat to adults; they just have a habit of abducting babies and molesting children, because most changelings have a taste for young boys and girls. People still blame the Fey for stealing children, but the Fey have no need for babies. Changelings are just sick minded, sometimes they even impregnate young women to bare children for them because they're a dying race. I've even heard that they're forming an army to remove the fey council from power; of course the man who told me this stank of whiskey and something like red weed.
On to Demons… what can you say about demons? The most feared of all supernatural creatures because they worship the devil. That's a myth by the way: that all demons worship the devil. No they don't usually worship the Christian god or Buddha or anything that moralistic, but the ones I've come across worship materialistic things like most humans. Money or fame or vanity things like that. I don't think they are fallen angels either because that would imply that there are angels and I have yet to see one. The most common demons I've ever dealt with have been the incubi. They're sexual demons from the medieval world who prey on women or Succubi who prey on men and contrary to popular belief demons aren't red faced men/women with warts and red eyes. No most are very handsome or beautiful which makes it easy for them to prey on women and men. Easiest way to defeat a demon is to trust your instincts, never go out alone or with a man/woman alone unless you know him/her well. Prevention is the best policy and if you have been caught by one, keep your faith. Your faith in what ever it may be is the only thing that defeats them. Say a prayer or something but just have faith.
Some demons can't be seen; they can manipulate their bodies to be invisible. It causes a lot of trouble for me trying to use my power against them. Yeah, I have magic. I'm a Demi-Fey. My father is a full blooded Fey, though he doesn't have the traits that most seem to have. Most Fey I've come across have green eyes, the colour of emeralds. My father has blue eyes. A really vibrant blue, but blue none the less.
Nobody ever knew much about my mother, but most believed that she was a witch. So that's what I grew up to believe, my mother was a witch. Well, whatever, it doesn't matter anymore; she's dead, died giving birth to me. In fact I killed her. I drained her life force to bring myself into the world, quite literally. It's hard to explain. The fey in me fights the witch in me constantly. It takes up most of my energy and each day it gets harder to fight. More so since I came to LA. While I lived at home I was surrounded by Fey who I could feed off enough to keep my energy, but here I haven't got that. There aren't many fey who are strong enough to feed me and those that are… let's say I don't feel comfortable going to them. Well, there is one Fey who can sustain me here, my best friend Serenity Gainsborough. And no the feeding is nothing sexual, well it can be but it doesn't have to be. In fact I prefer it not to be. I just have to be in Reni's company for an hour or so each day and that keeps me going. But I don't really know how much longer I can last if I keep going on like this.
Not many of my friends know of my secret. They would freak if they did. The only ones who know are Serenity Gainsborough and Marina Wells. Marina knows because her boyfriend Jesse Hood is a demi-fey and she herself is ¾ fey; though don't ask how that came to be. And well you know why Serenity knows. She's not a fey like me though. She descends from the line of fey who can manipulate their bodies into an Animagi form. Her preferred form is a dragon. And judging from her colouring and looks, I'd say she's pretty high ranking in her species. She doesn't talk much about her clan, but I don't get the feeling that she's ashamed of them, more that she misses them. I miss my family too but I can't go back. Not while he's still there.
So until he decides to leave my family home, I'm staying here.