Author's note and disclaimer: This fic is based on the anime Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne only. I own no characters, places or plot that lead up to this fic. All of that belongs to Arina Tanemura and Toei Animation.
After the dust finally settles
Chapter one
A young woman walked back and forth on the cracked, icy ground that a cruel and crazy plot involving demons, fallen angels and two thieves with power from Heaven, had decided to offer her to stroll on. She took great care not to slip, since her body already protested against every single movement. Neither were her clothes in the best condition; torn and dirty from the gun and swords battle she had been involved in hardly an hour ago.
But despite the aching and sore spots, Toudaiji Miyako simply could not sit still. The first reason would be the fact that if she sat down, she would suffer severe frostbites on top of everything else. Secondly, despite promising to trust in those she waited for, her blood boiled with impatience.
The beams of light exploding from the distant, dark tower at the end of the frozen path had given her some hope. That and the bit about the tower dissolving. And the sunlight and rain of glittering flower petals.
But that were several looong, slooow minutes ago. By now, she could jump up and down in annoyance, and would do so if it had not been for aforementioned soreness.
"Aw, man! What are you guys up to?!" she finally shouted at the tower.
Only a brief echo answered her. Huffing, Miyako crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the defiant horizon.
"Making a future detective wait!" she muttered, "there's a crime, right there!"
She paused, and spent a couple of minutes amusing herself with thinking of exactly what crime that would be. Just as she hesitated between "disrespect" and "dissolute" – though the second one not sounded quite right – a pair of lighter silhouettes emerged from the shadow of the tower's remains.
Not for a second did Miyako hesitate; she instantly knew that the distant figures were her friends. If the size being unfit for demons had not been clue enough, the three big ponytails sticking out from the left silhouette's head spoke too loudly to be ignored. She had hunted that sight throughout many, many nights and knew what to look for.
"Finally!"
Miyako ran – well, marched as quickly as her body allowed – towards the approaching couple, who sped up their walk in return.
"I'll get you for making me wait so long!" Miyako shouted, "committing dissolu- disrespect towards a detective, that's-"
Her not too logical rant was cut off by a big hug from the ponytailed one.
"Can't we get a lighter punishment, for good behavior?" Kaito Jeanne softly murmured into her friend's shoulder.
"Well, uh…"
Miyako raised her silently groaning arms in an attempt to return the hug at least half as strongly.
"I suppose so, but the jury must decide," she mumbled, and got a squeeze in return as Jeanne chuckled.
She noted, with the part of her brain not busy overflowing with joy for seeing her friends safe and sound, that Jeanne for some unfair reason seemed to be both clean and healed. Then a pair of stronger arms closed around both of the young women.
"I get to hug two ladies for the price of one!" Chiaki grinned, "being sentenced for disrespect matters not anymore!"
Jeanne and Miyako let him get away with it without even a warning glare, too happy to be safe again to bother about the boy's behavior. At least until he grinned even wider and continued:
"Though that dissolute thing sounded much more fun."
Miyako nearly swallowed her tongue.
A blink of an eye later, Chiaki danced backwards to avoid the combined forces of two girl's fury and attempts to smack him to kingdom come.
"Now they're dissatisfied!" the hand-sized Access Time shouted from a safe position far above the human spectacle.
Immediately his position was violently changed due to the fist of a green-haired angel, no bigger than him.
"Dissolve!" Fin Fish cried.
The shout might have sounded more unsettling had she not been equipped with her wonderfully squeaky little voice again. As he fell, Access found a goofy smile stuck on his face, as opposed to the cringe which should have naturally been there. He quickly regained his flight and shook his hands at Fin.
"Why are we suddenly in dissonance, after all that's happened?" he shouted.
"It's not my fault, it's your Sinbad's disability to listen to his brain trying to dissuade him from being such a pervert which causes this dissension!" Fin said, hands on hips.
They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. That was as long as they possibly could keep the giggles under control. After the past events, the relief apparently decided to boil down into a bit of complete silliness.
And all was right in the world.
At least until Chiaki sunk to the ground with a groan, his legs giving away under him. Miyako and Jeanne immediately stopped their threatening advance and instead rushed to his side.
"Are you alright?" Jeanne asked, looping his right arm around her neck for support.
"Never better…"
Chiaki managed a weak grin, and held up the pointing and middle finger of his supported hand in the Victory sign.
"If you're just faking this to get closer to us, I'm arresting you for obscenity," Miyako warned as she took the youngster's other arm.
"I'm not… that bad, am I?" Chiaki said.
But he only got none too encouraging glares in reply to that, and deeply sighed.
The trio turned towards the path ahead and began walking, with Fin and Access fluttering on above them.
Five minutes later, they were reminded of something important as the road ended. Abruptly.
"Oh, right…" Chiaki said with a grimace, "they cut off our way out."
He turned his head and gave Jeanne a mildly amused look.
"And who said we weren't planning on going back, meaning this wasn't anything to worry about?" he asked.
"Do you want a few more bruises?" she replied.
"Not right now, really."
Jeanne could not help but smile a little at his flat tone, and produced her ribbon from a hidden pocket in her dress.
"Then, we're going down," she said.
A nearby ice fang provided an anchor and with a quick lash Jeanne wrapped the end of the length of cloth around the uneven claw.
"Will that really be enough?" Miyako said.
She looked over the edge of the cut off road with a healthy deal of disbelief, watching the city far, far below.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Jeanne promised.
Miyako met her friend's gaze, and the hesitance faded almost instantly.
"Alright, if you say so," the future detective said.
Jeanne turned to Chiaki.
"Can you make it?" she asked.
He produced a snort.
"Easy," he claimed.
"Hold on tight, then."
Jeanne gave Chiaki one last warning glare to keep him from saying something along the lines of "gladly!", before stepping forwards. Miyako and Chiaki wrapped their arms tightly around the blond girl's shoulders and waist.
Empty air surrounded them, and the wind howled in their ears as the three people stormed downwards towards the unforgiving ground. But after only a few seconds, the fall turned into a gentle swing as Jeanne's ribbon caught their momentum and stretched to allow them a safe journey to the town.
They all sported arm cramps when reaching the cobblestones of the deserted fountain plaza, but it was nothing that a few minutes of screeching in agony and frantic rubbing of sore muscles could not fix.
"What a bother. Shouldn't they have thought of that before they jumped?" Access sighed, sitting cross-legged and cross-armed in midair.
As he received no reply, he looked up to see Fin watching the place they had just left behind. Following her gaze, he saw why. The Ice Fortress was evaporating, and with it the dark clouds that had covered the sky for far too long.
The female angel seemed entranced by the sight, and her face looked a few shades too pale than normal. This change did not fit well in Access' mind. He approached her, but careful this time as he still recalled the pain earned by the last glomp.
"It's going to be okay now," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Fin jumped, but as she turned her head towards him the color was returning to her cheeks and she even smiled a little.
"Definitely," she said, firmly.
"That's the stuff!" Access grinned.
In his mind he jumped with joy of coming one step closer to winning Fin's heart. Maybe next time he would dare to place a hand on each of her shoulders without fearing bodily harm.
Down on the ground, Miyako's arm cramps finally subsided and she stretched out with a sigh of relief. Looking around, she frowned at the lack of people.
"Where is everyone?" she said, thinking aloud.
Jeanne and Chiaki paused, and glanced upwards to look at the two angels above. Access looked at Fin.
The female angel's shoulders fell and she was unable to meet any gaze aimed at her.
"After I was defeated, everyone should be returning to normal after being frozen," she mumbled in a tiny voice.
"Fin…" Jeanne softly murmured.
"What are you looking at?" Miyako asked, breaking the awkward moment.
Chiaki acted quickly, throwing out his hands in an overblown gesture and managing a laugh.
"Oh, just our guardian angels that only we can see," he said.
Miyako eyed him in disbelief.
"Really!" he said.
With a shake of her head, Miyako wrapped her arms around herself as if she still froze, despite the rising temperature.
"Please, don't talk with me about angels," she muttered.
A shudder shook through her, and she was too busy trying to regain her composure to see Jeanne cup her hands against her chest, as if the thief cradled something to her heart.
As per usual for him, Chiaki appeared unfazed by the drastic change of his friend's mood.
"These are good angels," he said, smiling as widely as ever.
Miyako studied his perfectly calm demeanor – quite a feat of his, considering his ragged state – and eventually decided that he either saw things that were not there or simply tried to cheer her up. This time the second option sounded better.
"If you say so, then," she said, managing a small smile.
Chiaki nodded approval. During all this he tried to ignore Access, who floated back and forth above Miyako's head, making funny faces.
A hand landed on Miyako's shoulder and she turned her head to find herself looking straight at a familiar face surrounded with soft locks of brown hair.
"Maron, when did…" she started.
But once again she was silenced with a tight hug.
"You can forget about that angel now, Miyako," Maron said, "she'll never come back, I promise."
Miyako refused to admit weakness aloud, but briefly returned the hug before pulling free.
"Alright already, I'm fine now!" she stated, punching the air, "sheesh, who do you think I am?!"
Maron softly chuckled at her friend's antics, while gently rubbing her cheek against the tiny head of the angel who had curled up on the young brunette's shoulder.
Fin tried to smile.
'-'
"Mom! Dad, I'm home!"
Miyako burst through the door after one last glance over her shoulder. From the apartment came shouts from her parents, relieved to see her safe and sound despite "being outside in that sudden snowstorm".
Even if he had recovered along the way back home, Chiaki still kept one arm hanging over Maron's shoulder for support.
She was not quite sure if he really needed any help, but she let it slide this time.
"I guess I better call pops and see if he survived," Chiaki muttered as Maron opened the door to his apartment.
"And change clothes!"
The two humans and Fin looked down at Access, who held up a tear from Chiaki's dark sleeve for inspection.
"This thing is just about ready for the trashcan, Sinbad," the black-winged angel said, "you need to slip into something more comfortable, if you get my drift."
He winked.
There was a silence.
"Perverts apparently attract each other," Maron said and shoved Chiaki inside his apartment.
Access just barely managed to avoid being squashed beneath his partner-in-crime's arm as they both fell.
The door closed behind the two boys, and nobody listened to their loud protests about this cruel treatment.
"Sheez!" Maron and Fin huffed in sync as the taller of the two marched into her own apartment.
Maron closed the door, stepped out of her shoes walked further inside her home. She paused however as she came far enough to spot the abandoned tray with its two cups and pot of long cold tea.
'Noin…'
But she did not speak of the freed demon aloud, knowing that Fin already had enough pain to deal with. Even if Noin's struggle in the end led to his salvation, the path there was nothing that the little angel needed to be reminded of.
Instead, Maron turned her head towards her small companion and mustered up a smile.
"Welcome home, Fin," she said.
The angel could not possibly reach all the way around Maron's neck, but her tiny arms hugged as much as they could.
"Maron, I'm home…"