'Ello, there!

Here is the second of who knows how many chapters this story will have.

For this chapter, the focus is switched to Charlie, because I can.

By the way, 'tant pis' means 'To bad' in french, which if used in a mocking tone, of course, will be mocking.

Last chapter, I was spelling Elisabeth wrong, with a z. It's been fixed now, but geez. The sad thing is that even the game managed to do it as well.

Thank you to the two people that reviewed, and it's really nice to see some favorite and follow the story as well.

By the way, I think I need to rename this story. What should it be called?


Wings 2

When Charlie woke up, she found she had a splitting headache. With a groan, she slowly sat up, trying to remember what happened. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite grasp anything beyond walking out the door in the morning. It was then that she bothered to realize that she wasn't at home, nor any of her friend's houses.

Hearing a sound to her right, she turned her head. In through the door located there popped a head with bright red hair and a blue fedora with a red stripe. His hazel eyes stared at her for a moment, while she stared back.

"You're finally awake," he stated.

"Yeah," Charlie responded, not sure what else to say. "What the hell happened?"

"Demons and magic. Or was it energy?" He answered simply, walking up to her. In his hand, he held a simple, grey, lifeless pendant. Around his neck hung a similar one, only a bright red color.

"That answers nothing," Charlie told him, crossing her arms.

"I'll tell you the whole story, if you just hold out your hand," Raphael said.

Though she was confused, she held out his hand to him. Before she could even blink, Raphael pulled out a pocket knife and created a small incision, wiping the blood flowing from the new wound onto the lifeless pendant.

"There we go," he said, throwing the bloodied object onto her lap.

"What the hell as that for?!" Charlie yelled, delicately placing her finger in her mouth to keep the blood from getting everywhere.

"Now you're stuck with me," Raphael informed her.

"What?" Charlie questioned. Raphael pointed to the pendant in her lap. Looking down, she saw that the blood was being absorbed into the jewel, and it was turning a golden color. A voice spoke to her.

"It appears that your friend has forced you into a contract. Tant pis," it said mockingly.

"And what's the supposed to mean?!" Charlie yelled.

"Your dumbass friend has opened a box of demons and now has to collect them all up again. He's chosen you to accompany him."

Charlie's lips moved upward in a smile when the pendant called him a dumbass. It quickly fell, though. "But why me? I don't want to be a part of this!"

"Sorry, but Marie's missing a soul, and I don't want to drag her into his anyway. So I chose you," Raphael explained.

"Marie's soul is missing?" Charlie asked, to which Raphael nodded. "Ok, you owe me an explanation."

"That I do," Raphael nodded, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Walking out the door in the morning."

"Oh," Raphael muttered. "Alright then." He took a deep breath and then retold all of what happened in the underground tunnel. Throughout the story, bits and pieces of Charlie's memories returned to her up until the second box was opened, after which there were no more memories to be retrieved.

After a moment of thought, she slapped him, yelling, "You idiot, we told you something wasn't right! Now look at what you've done!"

Raphael sighed. "I know, I fucked up. Elisabeth's already scolded me enough. Was the slap really needed?"

"Of course it was! You deserve a thousand times worse! You released demons onto the world!"

"Actually Elisabeth has some sort of mythical power that allows her to keep the demons in the city."

"How fucking convenient," Charlie muttered, rolling her eyes.

"I know, right?" Raphael shrugged. "So anyway, here's the story Elisabeth just told me a couple minutes ago. A couple hundred, thousand, some large number of years ago, a couple 2,3 humans managed to get here and built some underground tunnels to live in, which were amazingly expansive, considering how many of them there were. Those were what we explored. In those times, demons roamed the land. Those people took it upon themselves to seal them away. Any creature except those humans that encountered the demons were possessed."

"Why did the demons never possess the humans, though? Wouldn't they learn that they were being locked away because of them and try to destroy them?" Charlie asked.

"That's where things get interesting," Raphael told her. "You see, those people had mastered their inner darkness and because of it, couldn't be taken over. They could also use that darkness as a weapon, and defeated their enemies with it."

"That sounds like something straight out of an oddly morbid fairy tale," Charlie commented.

Raphael laughed. "I know, right? I prefer to think of this all as a poorly put together RPG. Anyway, they roamed the land and sealed the demons inside a box, which they then placed inside of a chest covered in runes to help prevent the creatures' escape. As yet another precautionary, they put a magic spell over the corridor the demon box was down. If you could see the corridor for whatever reason, then the signs down there will also change to your language so you would know that going down there would be stupid."

"Well, clearly that part of their spell failed," Charlie muttered. "What was up with the skeletons, though? Those don't make any sense."

"Also a part of their spell. It was meant to strike fear into the hearts of anyone that could see the area," Raphael said. "Anyway, Elisabeth is, unbelievably, a descendent of one of those people. Meaning Marie is a royal French, Babylonian, and also part demon hunter. What are the odds, right?"

"Probably one in infinity," Charlie muttered.

"More than likely, that's correct. So, because of this unique jumbled batch of bloodlines, Elisabeth just so happens to know what's going on here and this will help us in every way she can. Our first goal is to retrieve Marie's soul.

"Apparently the demons are bitter as fuck about their imprisonment, imagine that, and want to rip her soul to shreds and feast upon what's left in the end. Fortunately, they're constantly fighting themselves over her. So she'll probably survive long enough for us to find her, with any particular luck."

"Where would they take a soul, though?" Charlie asked.

Raphael shrugged. "I have no clue. Elisabeth's working on that now. So, while she's doing that, come on, you need to learn what your new job entails."

Before Charlie could say anything in protest, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of bed. He pulled her all the way to the expansive backyard, where Fondue had been frolicking all day since Raphael and Marie left to explore.

Releasing her and spinning around to face her, Raphael held up his pendant. "Focus your energy into your pendant," he told her.

"And how do I do that?" She asked.

Raphael laughed and attempted to explain, only to fail miserably because it couldn't be describe. Charlie was left to figure it out through trial and error, but managed to do it in just 10 minutes.

Upon managing it and being engulfed in golden armor, she jumped back in shock and nearly screamed.

Raphael snickered at her reaction. "Don't worry. It's armor, it won't eat you."

Now mad, evidenced from the tense shoulders and flared wings, Charlie moved to hit him over the head. Scared, Raphael waved his hands in a frightened manner and said, "Don't hit me! Your strength is monstrous right now! You'd bash my skull in!"

Charlie stopped and relaxed. "Huh. Neat. Ok, I won't hurt you, on purpose anyway. What now?"

"Now, you need a weapon," Raphael told her. He summoned his, sending energy into it to make the blade. Charlie studied it.

"Your blade's as thick as a toothpick," she pointed out.

"Hey, I just got this today, do you really expect me to have mastered it?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Ok, I know I'm unbelievable," he flipped his hair, even though it was too short to do so, in a 'I'm perfect' manner, "but I'm not that unbelievable."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just, what am I doing?"

"Well, let's first think about what weapon you should have. I was chatting with Elisabeth, and she informed me that long-ranged shots will cost a lot of energy over time, which can be deadly in a fight. Judging from your fighting style when Napoleon was trying to kill us all, I'm assuming that you would prefer taking the enemy out from a distance."

"That would be preferable. So, if I want to have long-ranged capabilities, I need to use it sparingly and have short-ranged abilities too," Charlie realized. "So unless I want to sharpen a bow to the point where it's part blade, I'm going to have to think outside the box."

Raphael nodded. "Correct. I bet you could take a short ranged weapon and find a way to make it fire like it's a gun. These are just energy weapons, after all. They're a lot more flexible."

Charlie nodded. "Right. And while I'm thinking that up, maybe you should fix your toothpick of a blade."

Raphael looked down at it. "Yeah, that would be good."


Half an hour later, while looking up some unconventional weapons on a provided laptop, Charlie stumbled upon an interesting one that just might work. She called over Raphael, who had managed to upgrade his toothpick to a stick. He glanced at the weapon on the screen and raised an eyebrow.

"Worth a shot, I guess," he said with a shrug. "I don't see how you could get any long-ranged capabilities from it, but whatever."

"Trust me. I thought about that," Charlie told him.

Charlie set aside the laptop and stood. With Raphael's instruction, she summoned the weapon's base, which was basically just a pair of fingerless gloves. Next, she created four beams of energy, two for each hand, protruding from the knuckles.

The two inspected the weapons. "It's... kinda short," Raphael commented.

"I know that," Charlie said. She pointed the weapon on her right hand to the sky. "However, if I'm correct, then..." One of the beams shot from it like a rocket, disappearing into the sky in a matter of seconds. The recoil from the shot knocked her off her feet. Raphael stared at the sky where the beam disappeared, and then looked back down at his friend.

"How'd you figure that out?" He asked, a look of bewilderment on his face.

Charlie slowly stood back up. "Well, you mentioned that you fired off a ball of energy at me when I was possessed. You said you shot it by forcing it away with some more energy, so I figured I could apply the same idea to a weapon like this. It's probably pretty costly, but it's the only way I can see having both short and long ranged abilities without having a bow and smacking nearby enemies over the head with it."

Raphael chuckled. "Huh, neat. So you think that it'll work for you?"

Charlie shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

Raphael nodded. "True, but we probably shouldn't go looking for fight. I'm sure you're tired after getting possessed, and then having that demon forcibly expelled from your body. I'm rather shocked that you haven't complained that you're tired yet."

"Now that you mention it, I'm beat."

"Then you should probably get some rest," Elisabeth advised, popping up out of nowhere.

"When did you come out here?" Raphael asked, startled at her sudden appearance.

"I walked out here five minutes ago," the duchess informed them, raising an eyebrow. "How did you not notice?"

"Well, for one, you didn't say a word or make a noise to indicate that you were here," Charlie told her.

"And you weren't what we were focusing on, so we didn't pay any attention to you," Raphael added.

Elisabeth shook her head. "That will never do. You must be on the lookout for the demons at all times. The vast majority that aren't competing for Marie's soul have hidden away in humans, going about their host's days for them, albeit with a much ruder personality. You won't find them like that."

"Why aren't they all trying to get Marie's soul?" Raphael asked.

"They're lesser demons, they couldn't stand up to the big ones in a fight. So they just back off. They take control of humans, feeding off their darkness and, for some reason, attempt to blend into the society. Except for a select few, like a water demon, which nearly drowns its host because of its need for water, and is thus inside all day chugging water unless it's raining."

"Ok, I know you're a descendent of the people that sealed these creatures away, but why do you know all this?" Charlie asked.

"Because they recorded the information and passed it down to their children, who passed it onto their children, and so on and so forth, with stories about their ancestor's bravery."

"Ok then, anyway, we must be on the lookout for demons at all times, or something...?" Charlie asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Oh, right. You must be on the lookout because there are only subtle changes when a demon takes over. Of course, the person will have the demon's personality. On rare occasions, the demon is actually not all that bad in terms of personality. Other times, they're downright nasty. The other change that takes place is their eyes turn a demonic red. If they can get with the times fast enough, the demons might think to use eye contacts to get rid of that issue. Try to take out as many as you can before that happens."

"Anything else?" Charlie asked.

"Nope. You can leave now. Tomorrow morning, report here as soon as possible, after 6 o'clock, though, don't come 4 at in the morning." She looked pointedly at Raphael as though he had done it before. Considering how much time he spends with Marie, that wouldn't be a shock if he had.

Raphael rolled his eyes. "But bugging you early in the morning is half the fun!" He joked.

"Do that, and I will have Alfred snap your neck," Elisabeth threatened.

"Well, here's someone who likes their beauty sleep," Raphael chuckled. "Come on, Charlie, let's get out of her hair."

Charlie looked down at her armor, and then looked to Raphael, who still wore his. "What are we supposed to do about this?" She asked.

A look of realization spread onto Raphael's face. "Oh, right." He proceeded to show her how to remove the armor and wings.

When the metal was gone, Charlie rolled her shoulders, a look of discomfort on her face. "I feel like I'm missing something."

"What, your sanity?" Raphael joked. In retaliation, Charlie swiftly kicked him in the shin, causing him to hop around on one foot.

"That feeling might be caused by the fact that your wings are no longer there," Elisabeth told her.

"Wings?" She asked, having not noticed they were there to begin with.

"You had a new set of limbs. How do you fail to notice that?" Raphael asked.

"Some people adjust to this role easier, and will fail to notice the wings, though another would find them rather jarring and unsettling. Those people, supposedly, will have an easier time learning to fly. According to the ancient books, anyway. Of course, this comes at a disadvantage. Whereas Raphael finds it odd to have wings, you find it almost painful to not have them."

"Joy. Is there any way to fix that?" Charlie asked.

"Not according to the books. They say the best solution is to just let them out any chance you have and to suck it up when you can't," Elisabeth answered.

"But isn't the armor and wings a package deal?" Raphael asked. "They've only appeared so far together."

"You just require some control over your abilities," Elisabeth answered.

"And how long do you figure that'll take?" Charlie asked, always the impatient type.

"Well, considering your current level of control, I'm guessing you could pick it up in a couple days."

"Sweet. See you tomorrow, then," with those lovely parting words, the two teens left the area.


A bit of a lame ending, but I couldn't think of anything else.

And please, tell me a better name for this story, or if I should just leave it.

Also, quick thing to note, Charlie's weapons are based around Kid Icarus's Beam Claws. I love those things. They murder everything except on multiplayer, but that's to be expected because I'm not up against AI, rather people that actually know how to play. (I'm not that bad, but I can't even beat the second level on 9.0) Still, I have very few issues when using them. They're fast, and their firing rate and range is practically broken. I hardly notice the lack of damage they supposedly have.