Do you know what a prologue means, angel?

It means the introduction of a new story.

A new start.

A new beginning.

Half a century later, Christmas Day

Lavi was still looking up at the darkened sky, watching the full moon descending ever so slowly into the horizon to give way towards the dawn of another new day. Leaning against his balcony's edge, Lavi heaved a sigh as he enjoyed the whispering nothingness of the night wind. The Black Order clan was still sound asleep, only the occasional tweeting of birds and rustling of trees accompanied the musing Demon Lord.

Lavi still had troubles sleeping during the nights; his bed too large and his heart too empty. Whenever he had tried to sleep peacefully, he would be plagued by nightmares and flashbacks of that certain time. It happened fifty years ago, but Lavi still felt the aftermath like it was just yesterday.

~.~

As soon as Lavi was standing outside the dome, he charged right into the spell's surface and pressed onto the spell angrily. He remembered screaming and cursing for everyone to hear as Neah's powers flowed through him and into the dome's magical structure. He had to put Neah's power into the forbidden spell before it became stronger. His heart gripped in fear when he thought that Allen was still inside the dome, but he had to prioritise the millions that were trapped inside the spell.

Saving one person means not being able.. To save the other!

Lavi roared in fury as he chose to become the hero that he had never wanted to become.

"Get away, Lavi! The spell's about to explode!" Tyki shouted into Lavi's ear as the Judgement Knight pulled the wrathful Demon Lord away to a far distance.

True to his word, Lavi witnessed helplessly as the dome expanded monstrously before shrinking down into a smaller size. The purple symbols that etched in the surface began to glow brighter and brighter, until they too broke into little pieces. Unable to hold itself together, the massive black dome burst out to release a giant wave of pure energy.

Thankfully, nothing was destroyed by the dissipation of the forbidden spell. The people who were trapped inside the dome were unharmed and God's creation was granted a new lease in life. Alas, the angels couldn't find both Allen and Saint Earl anywhere no matter how hard they looked. There were no ashes or bones; nor a whiff of their familiar scent anywhere. It was as if their very existence was wiped away from the face of the earth. The only thing left of them was the memories that everyone had of the two angels. That was it.

"ALLEN!"

Lavi cursed to the reddened sky above, stubbornly rejecting the fact that his beloved angel was gone from this world. He felt tears coming out of his eye, yet Lavi didn't give a care. Nothing was meaningful to him now that his world had turned upside-down with the absence of Allen; Lavi had retreated to the world of black-and-white, where he felt nothing but the gaping gloom. Nobody could blame the Demon Lord's depression. After all, Lavi had sacrificed his only purpose in life to save the world.

~.~

"Neah!" Lavi growled to himself, "If I'm your so-called 'favoured child', why give me a stupid message like that? You knew that it would separate Allen from me! Why, Neah, why make me the bearer of bad news?"

"To cleanse both yours and Allen's sins, of course," a noble voice spoke out from behind him.

Lavi was so exhausted that the appearance of the humans' God didn't affect him in the least. Heck, his demonic powers had never felt the same after he had used Neah's own borrowed powers to destroy the dome. It felt like he was missing something crucial.

And Lavi knew what that something was.

Nevertheless, Lavi didn't want to think too much in the delicate subject of his lost love. He was tired of everything and his only wish now was to sleep and never wake up. Hopefully, he could at least join Allen in his dreams since the cruel reality mercilessly took the angel away from him. He looked at Neah with surrender, "you took everything away from me; what more do you want, Neah?"

Neah came forward and he clasped Lavi's broad shoulders as a sign of comfort, his smile soothing to anybody but the wearied Demon Lord, "I want you to be happy, Lavi… See, one of my angels have lost their sheep. Please give him the message that the lost sheep has returned home,"

Lavi rolled his eye in exasperation, "who's the idiotic angel this time? Tyki? Wisely? Oh Hell, please don't tell me it's Rhode,"

"Actually, you know this angel quite well," Neah's soothing smile turned mysteriously into a smirk, "he's short in stature, but he has a heart of gold. But of course, I made him in My spirit. I believe that the angel lives in the Church of Saint Allen Walker… Ring any bells yet?"

Without another word, Lavi took to the brightening sky and left Neah alone on his open balcony. Stepping away from the shadows, the newly-awakened Mana chuckled at the flying Demon Lord, "young people nowadays… Not even a thank you!"

"That's why they have you to guide them, Mana," Neah said in pure contentment before he went back to his throne in Heaven, satisfied that his will was done.

~.~

Lavi landed quickly onto familiar ground as he looked around in frenzy. He saw Father Bak humming to himself, the Head Priest was wearing his mass robes and was arranging his shoulder blades in place. He wanted to call out to the human, but Father Bak was looking away from him with a cheerful expression on his aged face.

"Ah! You found him!" He gestured to the returning herd of sheep that was being led by the most beautiful angel that had ever walked the earth. Lavi's breath stopped short as he felt his heart beating once again into life, watching in disbelief as Saint Allen Walker came walking down (barefoot, of course) from the hills. The sunrise shone magnificently just beyond the angel's white wings, illuminating Allen's perfection and faultless image.

Allen was carrying the black sheep in his arms as he smiled serenely at Lavi, "Yeah, I finally found my lost black sheep-" here, Allen placed the sheep down onto the ground without taking his precious silver eyes off of Lavi, "-it was just waiting to come home,"

Lavi kissed Allen with all the love that he had kept secretly to himself for years, revelling on the shiver that came from Allen's slim body. The angel's sweet scent was suffocating, but in the good way. Lavi felt like he was drowning in Allen's refreshing holistic aura, and he willingly surrendered to his own desires. Allen's lips were cold yet comforting, his beating heart betraying the angel's nervousness and excitement. Lavi ignored all that as he cupped his beloved's cheek to kiss Allen passionately again and again and again, until they were both absolutely devoid of air.

Lavi bit down onto Allen's lower lip as he remembered Neah's message. Hugging Allen tightly and feeling his wings curling around Allen's own, he choked out reverently,

"I'm home, love,"

~The End~

And so ends my story 'Abandoned Churches and Broken Wings'. I hoped you enjoyed the entire ride with me, through the thick and thin of them all. This has been the longest and (probably) my best story I've ever written these past years. Allow me to explain to you what Lavi/Allen had done to save the world, if you're still a tad bit confused.

Neah knew everything that was going to happen, especially Mana's betrayal. But he couldn't do anything to help/stop since his ultimate gift to His Creations was free will. So He cursed Allen with the absence of love not as a punishment (like all the angels believed), but to aid the demons and to enter the dark spell without losing his consciousness. When Lavi confesses to Neah about loving Allen, Neah sent Lavi to restore Allen's powers. Lavi, who was granted temporary power from Neah, had to use those said powers to destroy the spell from outside. But here's the catch: Mana (the caster of the spell) had to be inside the spell for it to work. So Allen has to stay inside the spell to stop Mana from 'resetting' the world and kill Lavi.

So basically, the fully-restored Allen played as suicidal bait in the inside while Lavi destroy the spell from outside.

Poor Lavi, he had to sacrifice his love for the good of mankind. And he's a Demon Lord! Awww, my heart is melting!

Luckily, Allen and Mana is reborn, isn't it?

Again, I do hope everything is in order and that you really loved this story. If you have any questions or comments, talk to me. Any ideas or suggestions or any random thing that comes to your head (or if you just want somebody to talk to), I'll always be available to you like Allen is towards Lavi *insert heart shape* I want to thank you all for supporting/reading/loving/enjoying this story. I love and treasure each and every one of your beautiful reviews! It has been a wonderful journey for both you and me, and I hope that I'll see you again for the next one! Whoops, is that a spoiler for another story I have in the works? Haha

Have a wonderful life and I'll see you in my next story, yeah? -Kid Darkness, over and out.

Without you, Allen wouldn't have met Lavi