A/N: ok people, this story is being written by two authoress' so bear with us. This is the prologue.
Prologue: history of the beginning.
As most stories start, once upon a time, but this story starts before those fairy tale mushy beginnings. This tale starts in two places, Heaven and Hell.
You see, Heaven was the paradise after death; a lot to keep up for in a reputation. The every mortal wish coming true and the endless peace throughout the holy house of the Lord, all of the Angels knew their place and followed the rules to the T; all but one.
Grace wasn't your ordinary Angel; her wings were the darkest of blacks and her halo was pure silver, a stark contrast to the white wings and golden halos of the other Angels. Grace hated everything about her job, all of the happy mortal souls, all of the blissful Angels; everything. There was one thing that Grace could never understand, why would most mortals wait by the tell tale Pearly Gates for the ones that they left behind on Earth. She just didn't see the point in it.
One day, she had angered most of the Angels; stating that there was no point to the mortals waiting for their loved ones. Gabriel had gone to God himself and had spoken to him, telling him of all that was said; God forced a meeting of the Angels to discuss what should happen.
The chambers of the Lord were in uproar, different Angel's stating their opinions, others rejecting them right off of the bat; all the while, Grace sat silently by the door that led into God's study. Angels glared at her for her silence and she just shrugged them off, opting for lounging in her seat and staring at the door beside her.
God barged through the door and was followed closely by Gabriel, Grace's face fell when she saw that the arch Angel had something to do with this. Silence fell upon the room and everyone bar Gabriel sat in their seats.
'My Lord, Grace has no understanding of love and therefore cannot remain in Heaven; everything will fall from grace with her here.' Gabriel stated, spinning to pin the Angel with a glare.
He pleaded with the others to see this and that grace was to be banished from Heaven, but his case did not go unquestioned. Michael stood and spoke his thoughts.
'If she is to leave Heaven, then where is she to go? She will not last on Earth and Hell will rejoice at the fact that they have another Fallen in their ranks!' his tone made others see the major ramifications of Gabriel's plan.
'Very well, Grace, you are to be banished to Earth so that you learn to understand love.' God spoke; his voice rang out over the chamber and silenced all retorts and arguments.
Grace's face became one of shock and horror before a pair of Archangels grabbed her upper arms and hauled her to her feet. God walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a small mahogany box, opening it he took a bracelet from inside and replaced the box in its place; he stepped over to Grace and one of the Archangels held her left wrist out, placing the bracelet on her wrist was the only thing God did before grace vanished before their very eyes.
Grace had felt a tugging on her wrist once God had placed the bracelet on it; she had opened her eyes and found herself lying on the ground of a strange place, the sky was blue and trees surrounded her. 'Where am I?' she thought as she sat up, reaching behind her back to scratch and an itch, she pulled back as if she was burned.
'-THE HELL?!' she screamed as she turned her head to look behind her, noticing that her wings were nowhere to be seen.
-------Crystal Roses--------
Brimstone, blood and screams filled the air as one of the five children of the devil himself sat in her room and listened to music, one of her favourite songs began to play and she leapt to her feet and began to waltz with an invisible partner; dipping herself as if she were at one of the many balls that were held at the Palace, her wings stretched and helped with her balance. A demoness knocked on the door and opened it, only to be blasted with the sudden change in volume.
'My Lady, your Father requests your presence in the throne room.' She said; bowing her head as the heiress turned her menacing violet eyes on her.
'Oh alright.' The teen sighed as she dashed from the room and down the many halls of the Palace.
As she neared the doors to the throne room, she could hear all of the pleas from many of the mortals that were in the room, she smirked as she threw the doors open.
'DADDY!' she screamed as she ran at the Devil.
A dark chuckle rang out through the throne room ash the teenager tackled the Devil; making him fall into his throne. Many mortals were shocked at the scene, others were terrified; the demons that stood guard were impassive to the display of affection between father and daughter. A throat being cleared broke the tow members of Hell's royalty from their moment and they turned their attention to four boys. The youngest of which was in tears and the second eldest was holding a demoness by the arm, Satan leapt to his feet and so did his daughter.
'Draven, what is the meaning of this?!' Satan bellowed at his second eldest child.
He just smirked and threw the demoness to the ground in front of him, snarling at her when she went to get up and run away.
'Rachel, can you please tend to Johnny. You are the only one that can get him to stop crying.' The eldest, Damien, said as he stepped forward, glaring at the demoness on the ground.
The girl nodded and went to tend to her little brother, picking him up and shushing him, she soothed him until he fell asleep and them she turned cold purple eyes onto the demoness that dared not move.
'What did you do?' she asked, her tone made the demoness in question flinch at the underlying tone of 'lie and you will die by my hands.'
Satan moved over to his daughter and took his youngest from her arms as she began to advance on the demoness, her eyes had darkened in anger and her snarling grew louder with every step. The demoness began to crawl backwards but was shortly stopped by the two elder brothers of the pissed off princess, the second youngest clutched in the second eldest's arms.
'What. Did. You. Do?' the question rang throughout the hall and seemed to only get darker in the echo.
The demoness refused to answer and thus sealed her fate; Rachel had run past her and slit her throat in the process. She wasn't the third born of Satan for nothing. Her father nodded approvingly and herded his children over to his throne, sitting them down and waiting until they were left alone.
'Now, as three of you know; it is time to send the next born to Earth to corrupt souls. Rachel, it is your turn.' His words were absorbed and the third eldest nodded, his words also woke his youngest from his slumber.
'Why is Rachel going to Earth father?' Azriel, Satan's fourth born asked as he watched his father hand his little brother to Damien and take out a bracelet.
'Because, Azriel, it is tradition to send every child born of this family to Earth so that they can corrupt souls. It is your sister's turn as Damien and Draven have already gone up and it is also so she can find someone to love and spend the rest of her life with since she's the next ruler after I am gone.' Satan explained as he knelt in front of Rachel and placed the bracelet on her right wrist.
The second the clasp was done up, Rachel was no longer in Hell; but on Earth, surrounded by trees.
She checked for the signs of the bracelets power and sure enough, her wings were gone. She stood up and dusted herself off, sighing; she walked in no general direction.
'It looks like I'm gonna have to learn to live like this for a while; only going for a flight every once in a bloody night.' She said dejectedly to herself as she walked.
-------Crystal Roses-------
Grace tried to stand but every time she got on her feet, she fell back on her arse; she decided to just sit there and pout for a while before she felt an unsettling sensation creep up her spine. Her head shot up and she leapt to her feet, walking in the direction that the feeling seemed to respond to; as she took every step, the chill became more pronounced.
She came to a stop when she saw a girl with short cropped jet black hair and dark clothes walking toward her, the feeling set off warning signals in her head and when the girl stopped and looked directly at her, they became louder.
Rachel looked at the girl that stood in the middle of the road and a feeling that she had come to call 'the Fallen sense' kicked into overdrive; she glared at the girl and snarled under her breath. 'What in the thirteen levels of Hell is a Fallen doing in this area of the Mortal realm?' she thought as she weighed her options, killing the Fallen before her sounded the best.
Without thinking the girls simultaneously unclasped the bracelets from their wrists, unleashing their god-like powers. Grace stood in shock as shadows travelled toward the darker teen and formed the largest pair of wings she'd ever seen, each feather was so black that they had either a purple, green or blue tint to them if they moved into the light at the right moment. Rachel watched in amazement as the Fallen teen's back split open like a slash wound and jet black wings sprouted from the bloody mess, and the Silver halo that appeared above her head; such traits in an Angel were unheard of.
Both stood in their positions, waiting for the other to attack. The game lasted all of three quarters of an hour as Rachel lost her patients and flew at Grace with such agility and cat-like reflexes that the Angel was caught off of guard, Rachel barrelled into the Fallen and pinned her to the ground underneath her.
Grace started to writhe under her captors' weight and reached out with her left hand, clasping the darker teens' wrist and tightening her hold; trying to pry her hand from her throat. Rachel's eyes widened as a flash emitted from the Fallen Angel's hand and her own and a tingle ran through her appendage. She pulled he hand back as if she had been burned, looking down to her hand; she saw the tattoo like marking of silver smoke. Pulling her sleave up as far as she could, her eyes widened in shock and fear; her whole right arm, from her hand to her shoulder, was covered in the marking.
Grace watched as the girl on top of her withdrew her hand from her neck and watched her reactions to the silver marking on her right arm, she smirked until she caught glimpse of her own left arm. As the other girl had Silver, Grace had black. The other girls eyes seemed to become lifeless as she slowly stood to her feet, looking around and noticing that light was fading into night and she sighed in defeat.
Grace sat up and shook herself out of her shock and stood as the darker teen began to walk away, reaching out and grabbing her shoulder, she halted the teen in her movements. She smiled at the girl and a ghost of a smile lit the girls face.
'What's your name?' Grace asked, hoping that she would get a response.
'Rachel, yours?' she replied in a strained voice, Grace burst into a smile.
'Grace.'
And such was the beginning of the strongest friendships in the History of Heaven and Hell.
-------Crystal Roses-------
Weeks had passed since the girls from opposite sides became friends and they had established themselves in an apartment in the middle of Paris, France. They had acquired jobs as ushers at the Opera Garnier; Grace had become obsessed with its mystery and loved the feel of walking through the halls. During one of the operas, both had snuck into Box five and had sat there until they had to sneak back out again; the whole vibe of the Phantom of the Opera intrigued both of them to no end.
Often on their breaks or days off, they would visit the wooded area that they had met and just sit together; talking about their lives before their Mortality Experience. Rachel had been shocked to find that Grace had been banished because she didn't understand love; just as Grace had been stunned into silence about Rachel being Hell's next Ruler.
'So what happened exactly; I mean how did you get to rule instead of one of your older brothers?' Grace finally asked as they both came out of their hysterical laughter.
'Cerberus died and daddy had to get a new one. And what better way to choose the next ruler than to have the new puppy Cerberus chose its master; it's a tradition in Hell but only comes into effect if there is more than one heir.' Rachel explained as she fiddled with the bracelet on her right wrist. Suddenly her phone began to ring.
'Bonjour? Oui, monsieur, elle est avec moi. Merde, alright nous serons dans quelques minutes.' The conversation was quick and Grace looked at her incredulously.
'How do you do that?' she asked as they both stood up.
'Do what?' Rachel answered.
'Slip into another language just like that.' She explained, snapping her fingers for emphasis.
'Loads; and I mean LOADS of practice.' The demonic heiress answered, walking along the pathway with her friend.
'So what happened?'
'Phillip and Jeremy have called in sick and we were the only two available. Look on the 'bright side', the Phantom of the Opera is playing all week.' Rachel added the last part as her friends face fell, immediately making the Angel happy.
'Ok, ok, don't bust your jaw. Sheesh.'
-------Crystal Roses-------
Both arrived home at roughly three AM the next mourning; completely exhausted. Rachel had walked into her room and was asleep before she landed on her bed, Grace wasn't too different. Both curled up in their beds, sighing in content and drifting into a very deep sleep; to be plagued with dreams, but both had one thing in common, their dreams had a particular man starring in each of them.
As Grace obsessed about Phantom of the Opera, Rachel obsessed about Labyrinth; neither knew why but the Goblin King intrigued her to no bounds. And the music was so addictive, not to mention the criminally tight pants that he wore.
All in all, both girls woke up the next morning thoroughly happy and ready for the day; well one of them was. Rachel wasn't too happy about being woken up by 'The Phantom of the Opera' blaring from the stereo system in the lounge room. She bolted upright as the organ began its haunting tune and she threw the covers off of her legs and bounced off of the massive four poster bed and ran into the lounge room.
'WHAT THE BLOODY HELL, I WAS SLEEPING YOU GIT!' she raged, the Angel seemed to only snicker at her, she had a severe problem; the 'just shagged look' wasn't helping with the angry rant.
The bout of anger was cut short as the doorbell of the apartment rand and Grace ran to answer it. When she opened the door, however, she wanted nothing more to slam it shut. Standing there, in all of his glory, dressed in a tailored suit, was none other than Gabriel.
'What do you want?' she snapped; glaring at the older Angel.
'I'm here to tell you that God wants you to kill the demon that you are associating with. He has been watching you and he's not happy.' He stated smugly; thinking that the demon was a lowly half-breed that was on Earth as punishment.
'Well you and god can get fucked. I'm not going to kill the only friend I've had in over a millennium just because she's from Hell.' She hissed, completely pissed at the task and the messenger; her anger alerted Rachel of the Angel at the door and an idea popped into her head.
'Who is it G'?' she asked as she sauntered up to the door and Grace opened it to reveal Gabriel.
The Archangel stared in awe at the seductress walking toward him, the way that her hips swayed in her walk and her ruffled hair gave her a mysterious look, grace sneered at him but it went unnoticed.
'You must be Gabriel; I'm the demon that God wants grace to kill.' She said; her voice was so sweet that it caused Grace to look at her in shock.
'Now why would God want such a beautiful creature such as you killed?' he asked, his voice sounded as if he was in a trance.
'Because, I'm the next ruler of Hell.' Her voice sounded so innocent, like a small child's. the statement caused the Angel to snap from his stupor.
A sneer graced his lips and he looked down his nose at the Heiress and snarled as best he could, Rachel just laughed at him. She turned to Grace and tilted her head to the left in a cute manner.
'What language G'? French, Italian or Romanian?' she asked as a positively evil glint lit her eyes like fireworks.
'I think Romanian; might educate the git a bit before it takes effect.' She smirked and averted her eyes, she found that glint absolutely horrifying on Rachel's good days and today wasn't one of them.
'Angel a ridicat, veti auzi acest blestem. Nu mai ai va intra rai dar cheltuiesc o eternitate in iad, au constant de demoni pentru dumneavoastra vanitos suferintele.' She said as the room darkened and her eyes seemed to glow, Gabriel felt time stop before pain shot through his back.
Grace watched as the Archangel's wings were torn from his back and as he was sent strait to Hell, turning to the girl next to her; she was thankful for not being on the receiving end of that curse.
-------Crystal Roses-------
It was late and the Opera Garnier was closed, the ushers were cleaning up after the last show and all of the dancers were going back to the hotels; Grace and Rachel were up in box five with a fellow usher named Nicholas and they were having an argument.
'There is no way that either one of us would date you Nick, no fucking way.' Grace hissed at the American usher.
'Oh come on, please?' he begged and it was getting on Rachel's nerves, another curse was right on the tip of her tongue.
'NO!' Grace yelled, trying to get the blond to understand plain English.
Rachel finally snapped and turned on the guy, stalking up to him until she had backed him into the back of the box, she hissed at him and he had trouble trying to hear her.
'You are on thin fucking ice my pedigree chum, and I shall be under it when it breaks. Now fuck off!' she glared at the door handle and it flew open.
Nicholas flew out of box five before you could say 'Run, Bitch. Run!' and the door slammed shut again, grace walked over to her friend and laid a hand on her shoulder, the Heiress sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose to relax herself.
'c'mon, our shift's over and I know what will vent your anger.' She said as she led the girl out of the box and out of the Opera Garnier.
She took her back to the apartment and told her to gat dressed in baggy pants and a t-shirt and be waiting at the door in five minutes; the angry teen obliged and was at the door in two. Grace walked out of her own room in a similar outfit and both left again, Grace led them to the wooded area where they met.
'Why are we here?' Rachel's cynical behaviour had surfaced in her anger and now she was so snappy that she would shame a crocodile.
'You need to calm the fuck down and what better way to do so than a spar?' Grace smirked as the other girl's eyes lit up at the promise of a good fight.
'Fine by me!' her enthusiasm shone in her words and her eyes and she made a quick job of stretching.
'Powers or no?' She asked nonchalantly as she waited for grace to stretch.
'Definitely using powers.' Grace nodded as she finished and stood in her fighting stance.
Rachel mimicked her friend but changed her stance and the game of 'loser bleeds first' began; Rachel waited until Grace lunged at her and ducked, causing the Angel to fly over her and crash a few feet away. Grace got back up and lunged at her again, this time, hitting her square in the jaw with her right fist; Rachel turned her whole body with the after math of the punch and brought her left elbow down on Grace's ribs.
The fight lasted for hours, neither wanting to bleed and thus lose first; as both girls brought their right fists back and let them fly, they felt and odd feeling flare up in their arms. As the fists connected dead on, a blast of white and black emerged from the respective deity and when it faded, neither was to be seen. They had miraculously opened rifts in time and space and sent themselves to two completely different times and places.
-------Crystal Roses-------
A/N: there is the prologue, and just remember that two authoresses are working on this. Please read and review and give us good feed back. Until the next upload; The-Unique-Ones. The translation for the French is 'Hello? Yes sir, she is with me. Shit, alright we will be there in a few minutes' and the Romanian is 'Angel of high, you will hear this curse. no longer will you enter Heaven but spend an eternity in Hell, constantly hounded by demons for your conceited plight.'