This story takes place in the universe of Stage 01.

Disclaimer: I do not own FNaF, which belongs to Scott Cawthon. I only own Ember, Vivian, Veronica and all of the Demons who appear in this story.

Edit: Added verse.

Chapter 1

Rise Higher Than the Morningstar

And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

—Numbers 14:14

Her back always ached. The pain of constantly putting pressure on a part of her body caused her to strain every day. She was barely conscious whenever they weren't out. Every other kid her age made fun of her, because she couldn't run. She could barely walk. But that was only when she hid them. Her wings. She had got them because of a mistake. It had been her own fault; a mistake of her own doing.

Her father had taught her about his profession when she was very young. He killed demons. He summoned them and killed them, ridding the world of whatever curse they cast upon humans. But one day he had fallen. It had been a spirit of Greed, her mother said to her a few years later. It had corrupted his mind, and brought him to his knees. And then it had killed him.

Now her mother was frail. All she could do was lay in bed, and cry as her daughter looked after her, joining in her weeping. Sometimes she couldn't sleep at night. Her mother's cries were too loud, too fierce. But she knew one thing. She was going to carry on what her father started. And that was when she got her wings.

xXx

Ember crept silently down the basement stairs, listening for anything down below. But all she heard was dripping water. Cautiously, she stepped off the stairs, walked towards a pentagram in the centre of the room. 5 candles, unlit, lay around the points of the star, their melted wax frozen. And inside the circle were the offerings. Ember had laid them all there, a few weeks back. She had been reluctant to carry out another ritual, after what had happened. But she had to put a stop to the curse she found upon her city.

It was barely noticeable, at least at first. She had discovered it when she was at the river, trailing her hand through the clear, running water. Well, it was usually clear, anyway. This time it was very different. There was a sticky fluid, crawling through the water, contaminating it. You only noticed it when you touched it; it was transparent. She had tried to put it off for a while. She had figured out which demon was responsible; Bavalach, the goat frog. She had laid out all of the correct offerings. The chalice and the grapes, the water and the bread, and the grass. But she hadn't had the urge to do it until today, when she had filled her cup and drank. The feeling hit her like a bullet. Her throat felt like it was on fire, clawing its way down into her chest, then her stomach. She knew then that she had to put a stop to this, no matter what.

So now she was back here, standing in the centre of the pentagram, lighting the candles one by one. At least she was armed, the way any sane person should be. Crucifix throwing stars. Holy water bombs. Salt syringes. And her harpoon gun, armed with a spear, a crucifix cut through the head. Whenever she needed a staff, she just separated the spear from the harpoon gun. It had been her father's, many years before. And now she used it the same way he once did.

As Ember lit the final candle, the offerings began to stir. Mist began to rise from the pentagram, and she backed away quickly as the offerings were sucked in one by one, except for the chalice and the grapes. She watched in amazement as the grapes began to turn to wine before her eyes, filling the chalice to the brim. Then a furred, ragged hand shot out from the mist, and grabbed the chalice. Ember took a deep breath as the hand tipped the chalice back, into the mouth of a goat's head, which began to rise from the mist. Finally, the mist cleared, and the demon was complete. From the waist up it appeared to be a humanoid goat, but from the waist down, it was a frog. Its webbed feet slapped the floor as it leapt towards Ember.

"Bavalach, the 20th Head of Lust." Ember said, trying to hide the fear in her voice. The demon tilted its head.

"You summoned me?" He asked, in a growling, deep voice. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to stop." She said, gripping the trigger of the gun. "You mean the water?" There was glee in the creature's voice, sadism dripping from his mouth. "They should feel pain. They should understand pain. The pain of the fallen angels." He licked his lips, and began pacing towards her. She wasn't afraid of him any longer; she remembered having rigged her sprinkler system with holy water in case he attacked her. "But they don't deserve it." She protested. Bavalach smiled. "I disagree." He grabbed for her waist, but she was ready for it. The shirt she was wearing had two holes in the back, specifically placed. She spread her wings, and flew over him, landing on the other side of the pentagram.

Bavalach turned around and grimaced.

"Your wings." He muttered. "Which ritual did you mess up?" He asked. She hesitated for a moment.

"Avaren." Ember replied. "The 87th head of Greed." Bavalach growled. "So you offered him too much. It figures." Something flashed in her eyes. "I heard those words in my head 5 seconds before they came out of your mouth." He frowned. "What?" Ember grinned. "You're a Lust demon. You're easy to predict." He snarled. "So that's how you knew I'd go for your lower half. You did your homework. I applaud your effort. But you won't last long against me." "We'll see about that."

Bavalach lunged forward, swiping at her legs. Ember easily sidestepped, and stabbed one of her crucifix throwing stars into his side. He groaned and stumbled as blood and water poured from his side. Ember smiled at the sight.

"How ironic. You're a demon, yet you've been wounded the way your greatest enemy was." Bavalach screeched at her, leaping forward. Before he could close the distance, Ember raised the harpoon gun and fired, the crucifix spear pinning him to the wall. She stepped forward, ignoring his squeals of pain. "Believe me, I don't enjoy doing this." He looked at her, and for a moment she felt pity for this monster, this demon. "But I know you're not going to stop." Then she grabbed his horns, and ripped his head off.

xXx

The walk to Ember's school was a short one. It was only a few blocks away, and since she lived near the forest, she travelled through there instead, where she could open up her wings without the risk of anyone seeing. Of course there were certain risks about travelling in the forest. For one thing, there were so many bodies hidden beneath the ground that it was basically a hotspot for spirits and demons. Most never came near her, since she always carried a crucifix and holy water. But a few sometimes decided to come too close for comfort.

Luckily though, this time none of them approached her. She saw a few though, mostly Demonites. They were skeletal humanoids, with ram skulls as heads. Demonites were actually demons who hadn't yet discovered their domains, or abilities, and therefore all of them shared the same form. However, Ember found that most Demonites weren't dangerous, just curious, and friendly in some cases. That was, until they found their domains, and became fully fledged demons.

They clung the edges of the dark shadows, observing her curiously, tilting their heads at her wings as she walked past them. The wings themselves weren't very big; they were about 3 quarters the length of her legs, and only about as wide as her chest. Each wing was tipped with a sharp talon, which glinted evilly in the sun.

When she arrived at school, she was greeted by the most annoying person she had ever met; Veronica Silver. As far as Ember was concerned, Veronica was the ultimate combination of each of The Seven Deadly Sins. To call her mean wasn't enough; she was a complete monster. Just seeing her gave Ember the urge to puke, and one day she actually had, though that was because Veronica had given her a strong punch to the stomach. But as far as she could tell, Veronica didn't bully her because she could barely walk. She did it because Ember was pretty. Maybe even prettier than her.

The difference between them was that Ember didn't go all out on trying to hook up with boys, the way Veronica did. She'd decided even when she was very young that trying to pick up boys was a waste of time, and whenever they'd try to hit on her, she'd secretly inject them with one of her syringes, giving them a terrible migraine and forcing them to retreat to the bathroom to vomit.

"Hey look." She grinned, and elbowed one of her cronies. Ember had never bothered to learn any of their names. To her, they were all the same. Big and stupid. And ugly. Really ugly. "It's Hot Rod, rolling in." She hated the nickname Veronica had given her. It was meant to be ironic, since she was so slow.

"At least I'm not a stingy little bitch." Ember drawled back, giving Veronica a look of hatred. She staggered through the gates, ignoring the mocking laughs coming from behind her.

"Hey, Ember." She smiled and turned around as she saw her friend Vivian. "Hey Vivian." She grinned as her friend fell into step beside her. Vivian was one of the people who couldn't give a crap about a person's reputation, unless she'd experienced it herself. Veronica had spread a message that Ember was crazy, and dangerous. Vivian hadn't believed a word. She'd called it complete bullshit after meeting Ember.

"Veronica giving you a hard time?" She asked. Ember grimaced.

"I guess so." She continued limping as she entered the building, her wings burning. "Um, Ember?" She turned towards Vivian. "Yeah?" "I've been meaning to ask you for a while…" Ember raised an eyebrow. "Why I walk so weird?" Vivian swallowed hard. "Yeah." Ember snickered at Vivian's nervous face. "Don't be so friggin nervous to ask me. Well, the easy answer is that I had an accident." Vivian frowned. "And…?" "And…" Ember bit her lip, and kept limping forward. "It did something to my back. Permanently." "Oh."

Vivian was silent the rest of the way to class. Ember eyed her, and noticed her head was down.

"It's alright. You're not the first one who asked me a question like that."

And he was a demon. You killed him last night.

She cringed as she thought of the night before. She had never liked killing unless it was necessary. A few times she had managed to befriend demons. There was the tailed spider crab Wrath demon Malech, who she'd convinced to stop blighting crops, Ridharg the sloth dog, who'd used to cause deaths in childbirth, Kronyc the four winged bat, who'd used to be a bringer of rabies, and Galhater the dragonfly, who once spread the dreaded sleeping sickness. All of those names were demons she'd managed to stop without violence. She'd managed to befriend them, make them see the world differently, and all without violence. Now she felt guilty as she thought of Bavalach, who had only wanted people to understand his pain. But he had gone too far. He had poisoned the city's water source. There wouldn't have been any turning back for him.

I still killed him though.

"Ember? Ember?" She snapped out of her momentary guilt trip as Vivian shook her. "Are you alright?" It took her a moment to remember where she was.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She muttered, trailing off and limping towards her class. Vivian eyed her, worried for her friend as she stared into space, hardly registering the world around her. She decided then that something was seriously wrong.