Ch. 2: Of Demons and Angles
Laharl ate his breakfast in silence as he tried to ignore Flonne's weird behavior more and more. Not long after Laharl left, seeing as Flonne really wasn't in the mood to talk that morning, Etna managed to get all the prinnies gathered and sent back into the castle. There hasn't been much talk on the moon at all. Everyone who was outside tried to ignore it after awhile since there was talk about it all over the Netherworld of it's occurrence.
After breakfast Laharl just sat on his throne as usual, but continued to think of the strange moon as he slouched on one arm. He didn't find it weird that there was a moon in the sky, it's the Netherworld after all so anything could happen, but what he did find weird is the fact it appeared after Flonne had turned into a demon. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got since he couldn't get Flonne's behavior off his mind. Finally, he banged on his chair's arm as he got up and walked down the corridor.
He kept walking for a few minutes until he stopped at Pleinair. She was a type of bunny looking demon, with the white long ears, completely white clothing and had ruby red eyes. She looked back at the demon that just kept looking at her as he started gritting his teeth, making her a bit nervous. Her eyes started to open up as she saw he was about to speak.
"Open the cage, I'm ordering some new vassals." Laharl commanded. Pleinair bowed in respect as she opened the cage that stood suspended behind her.
As he stepped in the cage door behind him closed, and the cage was being lifted into the air. The cage lifted him up until the ceiling above him opened a whole, and the cage continued to ascend until he entered a room that was completely pitch black. It had finally come to a complete stop as he saw the front of the cage open up. The minute he stepped out of the cage, the hole, now on the floor, opened, and the cage descended down.
After waiting for a few seconds he saw two glowing blue orb materialized on his left and right. He inserted his arms into each of the glowing orbs, making a weird noise as they locked into place.
"What is your command?" Said a mysterious voice that echoed throughout the room.
"Character creation." He replied. "I want a female cleric, skilled." His whole bodied suddenly glowed as it looked like small blue orbs were forming from his body, and were being sent directly through his arms and into the orb. This was the process of using mana.
A female cleric was exactly what he needed at the moment. Like Flonne, they were fallen angles as well, although as far as he knew, unlike Flonne, they didn't have strange behavior after become one. Being banished from Celestia, but still holding their beliefs in such things as light and hope made them the perfect people to get answers from when it came to questions related to Celestia and Angles.
As the orbs started to glow, a demonic rune started to form in the center of the room, starting with the form of a circle. Inside the circle, was a giant triangle with the ends that went past the circle. And finally, the last symbol were more circles that appeared on the ends of the triangle. It started to glow a bright violet as a Cleric started to form in the middle. They had a mix of black and red robe, and always long hair, much like Flonne's.
Finally, the last of the blue spheres inside Laharl's body entered the spheres before ending. The orbs connected to his arms disappeared as the mana had been completely depleted.
"Greetings, Master Laharl." The cleric said, bowing in respect. "What is your request?" She asked. Laharl started to lower his eyebrows.
"I have a few questions I need answering." He said.
At the same time, Flonne just continued to cry in her room. There were a number of things that were making her sad. The first thing was the fact she was growing strangely, and she didn't know why. The other reason was because she had no idea how she was going to keep this a secret from Laharl or Etna. She jumped as she heard the door rattling as it slowly opened. Being nervous about the fact someone broke into her room while it was locked left her a bit scared. Thinking it was Laharl, she grabbed a pillow and through it at the door the minute she saw someone step in.
"Go away!" She yelled. Her eyes widened though as she saw Etna catch the pillow as she entered the room.
"Well...not quite the greeting I was expecting." Etna joked, looking at the pillow.
Flonne began growing extremely nervous. Not only did she have to hide the fangs that started growing, she also had to find a way to hide the wings that grew uncontrollably on her back. She grabbed the sheets that were on her bed, and put them all around her as she turned around, looking at the wall before Etna could shift her glance back at Flonne. Etna just sighed as she walked over and sat on the chair Flonne had at the end of her room.
Etna just stared at Flonne, cross legged, as she kept waiting for Flonne to say something whether it be about her or the moon. The more Etna waited, the more Flonne became nervous. She couldn't tell if she noticed her wings or not, but didn't want to really know either way. Her eyes suddenly widened as she heard Etna walking towards her. When Etna stopped next to her bed, she began to grow extremely nervous as she knew Etna was reaching for the covers.
As Etna reached from the covers, she stopped as she saw Flonne tugging the covers. She sighed as she simply put her arm back to her side before finally speaking.
"Flonne..." She started. "Just let me see." She said, waiting for a reply. Flonne's expression went to complete depression as she decided to stop hiding the weird changes, and let go of the blankets, causing them to drop to Flonne's legs in the process.
Etna's eyes looked at her, surprised at what Flonne was trying to conceal. She knew that there was something wrong with her mouth at first from when Flonne was trying to hide it, but she wasn't expecting her wings to grow. On the sides of Flonne's face, Etna could see tears rolling down, followed by a little bit of sniffling as Flonne squeezed her fists. Etna decided to sit next to her on the bed, not only so she had somewhere to sit, but hoping it may make Flonne feel somewhat better.
"So...this is what you've been hiding." She said, looking at Flonne's back. Flonne just sniffed a bit before nodding slightly. "Can I see it?" Etna asked. Flonne looked at her somewhat confused, not knowing what it was she meant. After waiting a few seconds, Etna repeated the question, but in more detail. "I mean can I see your mouth."
"Oh..." Flonne said, finally realizing what she meant. Still being nervous, she opened her mouth slightly, revealing the fangs that were in her mouth. Etna looked at her somewhat surprised, but it didn't take her as long to respond this time a it did before.
"Is this all that you've been hiding?" Etna finally said. Flonne just nodded slightly. "Flonne, it's nothing to worry about. It's most likely just part of your demon transformation. A lot of demons are like this." Flonne's eyes opened in surprise as she said this.
"R-Really?" She finally said. Etna just shook her head. Flonne sighed deeply, thinking she had nothing to worry about, until she looked outside. Through her window, she could see the mysterious moon outside, as if it was looking down on her. She started walking to the window as if she was in a trance. Her body just felt like it was moving on its own, as it was shaking with every step she took, until she was standing right outside her window. Etna was starting to feel a bit worried, as she could see the moon's reflection in Flonne's eyes again.
"Flonne?" She said, trying to snap her out of her trance like state again. She got up and walked over to Flonne, and shook her by the shoulders. "Flonne, wake up!" Etna said, a bit louder as she got a bit worried.
"E...t...na." Flonne said weakly. Etna's eyes shot out, seeing how Flonne was barely able to put a word together. "C...all...i...me..." She said again, as the moon started to shine in her eyes a bright light, even though it was still morning, and the sun wasn't anywhere near the direction she was facing.
"Flonne! Snap out of it!" She said, shaking her harder. Flonne began to scream in pain, as she started to levitate as if being pulled from her chest. Etna watched in shock as she saw a dark, immense aura glowing around Flonne.
Back at the room Laharl was in, he just kept looking at the Cleric, thinking of what to ask. He couldn't tell if he should ask first about the moon's strange coincidence, or just Flonne's weird behavior. Either way, they both had to do with her and that's what he wanted to know about.
"When an angle becomes a fallen angle, does anything happen to them after?" Laharl finally asked. The cleric just nodded her head.
"No, all fallen angles were banished from Celestia, mostly for committing a sin, whether it be harming one another, or making a disastrous problem for all of Celestia." The Cleric said, still paying full attention to Laharl.
"What about Flonne though? Do you know why she's having some weird after affects?" Laharl asked, lowering his eye brow even more.
"Flonne was...different from the rest of us angles." The Cleric said, causing Laharl to increase his glare. "She had a special kind of love for all things, where as most angles only show long for our own kind and the humans, never demons. It's just a theory, but my guess is something within is causing Flonne to act weird."
"How could Flonne's heart be causing her problems? I mean, sure she's a love freak, but that's no reason to act weird all of the sudden." Laharl replied. He looked at the Cleric strangely again as she nodded.
"I never meant within her, or anybody's heart." The cleric said. Before Laharl could asked what she meant, the whole castle began to shook. When Laharl looked at the ceiling, he saw debris and stone's starting to fall from the ceiling. Looking back at the Cleric who wasn't able to answer all the questions in time, he glared as he knew he would have to find the rest of his answers later.
"Get out of the castle while you still can." He ordered, turning around to the cage that appeared again. The both of them hopped in as the cage started to descend. Within mere seconds, the two of them exited the room, and were back on the ground floor.
As Laharl looked around, he saw hundreds of prinnies running away, but all running from one direction: Flonne's Room. Laharl gritted his teeth as he started running past the oncoming wave of prinnies that kept running in the opposite direction, pushing him back a little every step he took. Finally, after a few seconds, the oncoming waves of prinnies finally ended, making the run to Flonne's room so much easier.
After a few seconds, he finally came to Flonne's door. He crashed it open without even hesitating to open it by the slightest. He gasped at what he saw: Etna was on the floor, with blood on the floor around her, and Flonne was sitting next to the wall, with her knees in the air, crying. She looked at him with full tears running down her face as soon as he entered. He gasped as he saw the huge wings on Flonne's back, and the fangs growing from her mouth.
"It...It's not my fault!" She said, crying tremendously.
Laharl rushed over to examine Etna's body. He was somewhat relieved she was still breathing, but wouldn't mind if she wasn't, to him, she was always a slacker. Laharl looked back Flonne who was covering her eyes with her arms, still crying. He ran over to see if she was ok, until he smelled a bit of blood coming from her. The only problem he had with it is the fact the scent of blood wasn't Flonne's, it was Etna's. Laharl switched his gaze to Flonne's hands, hearing something drip from them.
"Let me see your hands." Laharl said, causing Flonne's eyes to go wide.
"W-What?" She said weakly.
"Let me see your hands!" He shouted, this time more demanding. Before he could grab her arms, she pushed him on his chest, knocking them to the floor, as she ran away, still with tears falling from her face. Luckly for Laharl, he never seemed to wear a shirt, so he was expecting somewhat resistance, much less being pushed. His eyes went wide as he saw bloody hand prints on his chest. He looked back into the hall where Flonne ran off too.
Flonne was too depressed. She knew whatever was wrong with her she couldn't stay in the castle. She had no memory of what happened to Etna. The last thing she remembered was looking at the moon when she started feeling lightheaded, then she suddenly blacked out. The next thing she remembered was waking up. She opened her eyes slowly, and her vision was dazed a bit, but she was sure there was someone on the ground next to her. As her vision cleared, she gasped as she saw Etna lying right next to her with blood dripping from her mouth. She crawled backwards until she backed into the wall. When she crawled, she felt her hands somewhat wet. She gasped as she saw blood completely smeared all over her hands.
"What's going on?!" She screamed throughout the castle, the next thing she knew was Laharl crashing through her door.
She wiped her tears with her arms as she just kept running. She never stopped, knowing that every second Laharl might try coming back to kill her if he knew what was happening to her, although then she would get some answers as to what was happening to her. She didn't stop when she ran out the castle, she didn't stop as she ran out of town, and she knew that she would have to keep running. Running for her entire life, not wanting to look back, not wanting to have her friends suffer for what she was going through, not wanting to be swallowed by the darkness that kept chasing her...