Sky Pirates
On a sky-ship docked near the ruins of the borders of the country, a small gang of mercenaries were corralling a hanyou into the lower quarters of the ship. It was a girl that looked about 15 in human age with white hair and startling red eyes, was the last to go. Like the others they'd kidnapped, her hands were tied together behind her back with chains and her wings bound together painfully with rope. They'd placed a collar around her neck attached to a leash and one of them was jerking it, making her stumble and trip while the others laughed or whistled.
"C'mon say something!" One of the men jeered. He was sitting on a crate, drinking and watching her with hungry eyes. At first she didn't do anything then he threw the empty bottle at her angrily, waving his hand at her.
It hit the side of her head, making her cry out and stagger to the side. She spun around and lunged for him but the man who had her leash wrenched her back. Choking, she fell back against the hard wood of the floor, clawing at the collar.
"That's enough out of you. We won't be having that beh'aviour 'ere," He said.
"Geeze, I thought you bird people were supposed to be a peaceful lot ain't cha?"
"Shut up Kuichi. We gotta get moving before the rest o' them find it missing."
"Ah I don' think so Aike. Found this one on its own, looked like it got into a few fights. I tell you, it was runnin' from a few o them when we trapped it an' they didn't do nothin' when it was strugglin', just watched us walk right out wif her,"
The man who was holding the leash pulled harder, starting to drag her across the deck to the trap-door.
"Oi, be careful. Don't damage the goods so bad that we can't sell it later."
"Not only that, you guys hear about those guerrilla warriors that's freeing slaves? Rumours goin' around that both the princesses have joined them. If they find us we're good as dead."
Snorting, the man who had her said, "These freaks are just animals. They have no rights. We're free to hunt them down however we want. Oi, what're you looking at me like that for freak? You want your sword? That what you want?"
She glared up at him, pure loathing in her expression. Teasing her, he waved the sword she'd dropped when she'd fallen into the trap. Something suddenly dropped on the deck in between them. It was a charm. Picking it up, he frowned at it. It exploded and a billowing cloud of smoke filled the air, obscuring everything from view. She heard panicked sounds, the clash of metal against metal and a barrage of gunfire. When it'd cleared there were four people in hooded cloaks all spread out on the ship. One had a giant sword pointed at the man who had been pulling her. Another was holding up two of the others while a giant kunochi was jammed in the floorboards beside her while a much shorter one was holding five down on the floor with a long metal staff. To her left, one figure was standing over half a dozen fallen men, twirling a gun in her hand looking bored. But she was looking at the one who was standing in front of her. She was holding both her arms out and carried a long, ornate white staff that was just about as long as her.
"Kaede-san, Ku-san, free the ones that are trapped down below," It was a girl. Her voice was calm, commanding authority.
Dropping the men she was holding, the one called Kaede leapt over to the open trap-door and disappeared down it. Swiping downwards, the one called Ku struck the men under her staff unconscious and ran over to help Kaede. The one in front of her chanted something, slashing the air. She heard more shouting and her rescuer turned around, kneeling down in front of her.
"Are you alright?" She asked gently, smiling at her.
She could only stare. It was the princess. She'd only heard of her from the stories but she was sure. She just knew.
"Oi Konoka, catch!" The one with the sword called, tossing over a set of keys. Catching them, her brows knitted together.
"Asuna, mou did you ask him which one unlocks the collar?"
Touching her forehead, Asuna laughed, "Ah my bad!" Jabbing the man's arm with the tip of her sword, she demanded, "You heard her, which one is it and if you're lying..."
"T-third k-key on the left," He stuttered.
Flipping through the keys, her face brightened as she found the right one. Sliding it into the lock of the collar, it broke apart with a click and tumbled to the floor, leash and all. As the princess set to work untying the ropes on her wings, a rope ladder descended from seemingly nowhere. That was when she realized there was another sky ship a good 20 feet above them. More than half a dozen people were gazing down at them, including the one keeping the ladder steady.
"There's too many knots," The princess muttered.
"Allow me," A deep voice said.
The tallest one had appeared near them and was pointing one of her guns at her ropes. Setsuna lashed out immediately, snapping at her hands.
"Shhh, hey calm down ok? No one's going to hurt you here," The princess hugged her, stroking her back. "This is Mana-san. You don't have to be scared."
"Princess, perhaps you should use your powers to heal her first?" The one called Mana suggested. "Her wings seem to have been hurt in her struggles."
"Oh, oh no," The princess drew back and her face fell as she saw the angle Setsuna's wings were in.
Flaring them with one powerful stroke, the loosened ropes burst open and she leapt to her feet and pushed off into the air. She made it about two seconds before crashing back onto deck. Pain exploded from her shoulder-blades all the way down her wings.
"I think they did something more than bend them," Someone said.
"Looks like they could be broken,"
"Kaede-san, can you-"
"Roger, de gozaru."
Someone picked her up. She tried to hit whoever it was but her wings were useless, pain erupting in sharp bursts every time she tried to move them.
"Kaede-san, careful!"
"She's slipping de gozaru!"
There was a sound of a gun being cocked. Setsuna shrieked, eyes bursting open and threw a wild punch. She caught sight of a stunned face, eyes wide open before something sharp pricked her arm, burning her. Startled, she stopped and glanced down. Something feathered and sharp was sticking out of her arm. She made to wrench it out but a wave of sleepiness hit her. Her eyes drifted shut and she didn't feel the pain anymore.
A.N: I sat on putting this out for a while due to a few things. One is because of the slavery and cruelty using Setsuna as an example. Another is the possible continuation of the Angels and Demon one-shot. After thinking about it I figured it would fit the overall story to do a continuation. As usual thanks to all my reviewers and readers, the Romeo and Juliet shot/s is up next. WARNING: There will be some slight lemon so if you're not of legal age please don't read it.