Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
White Feathers
It was the middle of the afternoon. The sun was shining amidst the dark clouds that covered the sky.
In the public garden a girl was sitting on a bench, her hair was moving gently, with the breeze that was blowing and making the leaves from the nearby trees rustle.
She was clutching a book, hopeful but, as time went by, her mood started to darken. Her fingers tightened on the book until her knuckles turned white. Brown eyes looked at each side of the trail but nobody came. She finally had enough and threw the book to a nearby bin and headed out, a bitter murmur on her lips.
Something started shimmering on the now abandoned bench. The shimmer solidified and fell to the wood with a hollow plink. A small light blue crystal rolled on the bench before stopping.
"Ah! You're mine!" the dark haired figure muttered before jumping down from the tree to grab the crystal.
"Don't you get bored of doing the same thing?" said a voice. "You darks are always looking out for people's misery…"
Straightening, the dark haired youth turned towards the voice.
"And you lights never cease to be judgmental. You may come out, Lyon…"
"I'm amazed that you still remember me," said the light grey haired figure, coming to stand out of the shadow. "It's not every day that dark royalty deigns to notice a lowly light like me, isn't it right, Gray?"
"You? A lowly light?" Gray let out a laugh. "I think that you might've been exaggerating on the telirium as of late. Or did you have a cup of gallium?" he let out a snicker.
Letting out a snort Lyon got closer. He leaned against the back of the bench and put his hands on his jacket's pockets. "Gallium? I don't have access to the reserves, as some might have," he threw a pointed look at Gray. "But I didn't lie – and I'm in full possession of my faculties – I could never attempt to compare myself at you-"
"Of course not. You deem yourself better already." Gray cut in.
"In that case why haven't I been chosen? I should be leading and…" he cut himself abruptly. "But I'm not here to talk about politics. I just saw you over there, working. And decided to come and see how everything was going."
"Well, the way I see it, you shouldn't have to worry. I know that you're going to step up soon. My Master told me that we're at the same level, sensibly. So, no worries," he flashed him a grin. "But you can always take comfort in the fact that you're not on the Semi clan. That would've been…"
"Pffft, terrible! Quite a big shame, for sure. But I've heard that since they're so new we might be in for some surprises…" the other cut in.
"As we darks say, let 'em come. We'll take good care of them."
"Not if the lights get there first. You'll see. On the next festival we're going to break the balance and win, fair and square!" Lyon jumped so that he was standing on top of the bench's back.
Gray snorted and waved unconvincingly. "You can always try. But for now, I better go. Work's done, for today." And with that he let his dark blue wings unfold and, after giving impulse on the back of the bench, flew up.
"I will be seeing you." Lyon said in a murmur, with his back turned to where the other had jumped from. Stepping down to the ground he brought his jacket a bit closer. His wings wanted to come out but he couldn't, not yet. For him work wasn't done yet.
The large kitchen was busy, as always, during the dinner. People were yelling at each other, laughing and having a good time, overall. The orange light that came from the lamps overhead, along with the fires that had been lit in the large fireplaces gave the room a cozy ambiance.
Natsu sat down, laying down one large tray overflowing with food. The smart remarks didn't take long to appear.
"I'd take a bit more care with the amount of food you're ingesting, huh?" someone said.
"Maybe he thinks that eating enough he might end up in any of the other clans." After that people started laughing.
Natsu ignored them and started eating. It was better if one had their stomach full before going to work. And, speaking of work, he had to hurry, it was almost his time to start. Inhaling his food at inhuman speed, it didn't take long before Natsu was placing his tray on the counter that was meant for the used dishes.
He almost ran down the hall, excited about meeting with his friends. Well, they were his team and this newly formed team had its first mission on that day.
The debrief didn't take long. Their instructions were clear – go out to the city and get as many crystals as possible – and before long, the newest team, Plume 5, was out.
The street was shining as the sun reflected on the wet surfaces, it had stopped raining not long ago, and Natsu was breathing the scent of the earth, crisp and clean in the air. That, alongside with the sun that was shining on the sky while doing its trek to the horizon, put him in a good mood. He got up from the wall he was sitting in and landed on the ground. Startled, he remembered to look to both sides of the street but it was, thankfully, empty. The pink haired angel let out a relieved sigh, scratching his head sheepishly. He could've gotten in trouble if he had been seen, since people didn't know they existed. Well, they did know of them but didn't think that they existed in reality, having always been something related to religion and divine concepts. To tell the truth, it wasn't like those ideas were wrong but they weren't completely right, all the same. Angels – all the kinds of them – were there to do their missions and fill the hourglasses, and at the same time the different classes of devils were there to do their share too. That way, their missions and equilitarium levels remained constant.
But, apparently nobody had seen him so he was safe…
Natsu decided to follow the street until he reached the main street. As soon as he got there he saw the young girl helping the old lady crossing the street so he hurried to the place they had just left and knelt on the sidewalk, as if to tie his laces, and grasped the small droplets that condensed to form a pink crystal.
Natsu took his time looking at it, getting up and rolling it in his hand before placing it, a bit awkwardly, on the tiny pouch. He smiled, content, since his day was going better than expected. He started walking down the road, looking around the busy streets, searching for more people and that was the moment he saw that he was being looked upon. First it was a guy from the Dark clan and then, a few streets down, a girl from the Light clan.
They were looking at him discreetly but Natsu's intuition told him that he was being tracked by the others.
They thought that the Semi clan was just a bunch of no goods? Well, he didn't like that mentality. Nor did he like being tracked by others who looked at him up from their noses. This situation was pissing him off! But what could he do?
While he was waiting on a traffic light, he got it! He could set up a trap…
His train of thought was broken when he saw a woman exiting the supermarket, a certain aura around her. Her black hair was caught in a bun and her outfit told how she had just left work. But the smile… Natsu hurried to flank her, bumping his shoulder against hers. The woman turned to him, slightly surprised but Natsu gave a quick apology and she dismissed the whole thing. Natsu stopped and leaned against the wall of the supermarket, discreetly letting the pink crystal fall into the pouch.
Yes, the day was going well, so far. Despite those nosy angels from the other clans. But he was starting to think of something that would teach them not to mess with the Semis. All the while, that wouldn't leave him in trouble too. He was the leader of the team and had already heard enough lectures by the Master. But it didn't impeach him from thinking that she was a sour grape in quite a bunch of days…
But, back to his mission, collecting more crystals.
As he kept wandering through the streets, Natsu walked by a park. The greenery surrounded him like a balm. He loved being surrounded by nature as it was a sign of the work of the higher stations – which were unknown, for the most.
After a long walk amidst the trees Natsu came to a stop by a bunch of people who were watching a football game. He can hear people saying that there are only a few seconds left and that the score's even. But then one of the teams was attacking and a guy managed to dodge the defence and shoot. The goalkeeper did try to reach it but by scarce centimetres, he missed and the ball hit the nets.
The team that had just scored erupted in cheers as a whistle sounded.
Natsu leaned against a nearby tree, remained under the shade as he watched people gathering and going away.
The hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle and he could sense that the others were near but they wouldn't get the crystal. It was his and he dared the others to try to get it.
Nonchalantly, he headed towards the goal where the last goal had been marked and knelt there, attracted by the faint shine of the crystal that was there, undoubtedly.
As soon as his hand curled around the small drop of essence a strange shiver coursed down Natsu's spine. His breath caught on his throat and he furrowed his brow, looking around in a distracted manner. Not seeing anything, Natsu hurried to drop the crystal to the pouch, like he had done to the others but the strange feeling was still gripping him.
He started walking towards the tree line to look for a reason for that weird feeling when a small bleep came from his pocket. Quickly he grabbed the device and flipped it open. He read the following message; "TEAM PLUME 5 REQUESTED TO RETURN TO BASE ASAP". That broke his previous train of thought and suspicion and started walking to a more secluded area.
It didn't take long until he was flying in the sky, back to base.
A/N: So I have this chapter sitting in my hard-drive for over two years. Decided to post it today and will finish it soon, it'll be my project to complete after Mystique Voyage.
This story is dedicated to the amazing Shiny Pichu-chan. Hopefully she'll like it. Hm, I'd promised you this a long time ago (don't know if you still remember it ^^') but then I had some troubles with this story and we kind of had a bit of an on and off again relationship. It is mostly planned – I have too many notes scattered about this story… xD – so, it is to be completed soon. So, this story is only meant to have around five chapters – never more than ten! – so, hang on tight and let's see where this thing goes. :3
The title comes from a song by Kajagoogoo with the same name.
Oh yeah, a quick note, I'm from Europe and over here (and to most of the world that is NOT the USA) football means the same - and I have a bit of dislike for the word soccer so, yeah. Here's my disclaimer about that.
Merry Christmas or whatever it is you celebrate, hopefully this season will go well to everybody and I wish you all a wonderful season, with friends and family and that everything goes well.
This story is unbetaed.
Feedback is, as usual, awesome and might help kick the muse into work. xD
And here are some random notes. You might've wondered what those things I was talking about were, hm? ;)
Telirium – small cookies that fill someone with energy. One of the most common snacks between the younger angels.
Gallium – a fine wine, used in some rites. Only Ambrosia trumps it. It's of the Œnomolry brand (they're the best).
Equilitarium levels – they divide the angel and demon's world, showing the amount of crystals that are to be in the hourglasses. They're always 50/50 and then each angel has a 'quota' they need to fill, hence the teams, to be faster to reach their levels through teamwork.