Of Angels and Demons: Seraphina
Disclaimer: I own nothing that doesn't belong to me :P.
Hi everybody!
So straight up-this is going to be a fanfiction that is slowly updated. I'm currently working on another story for Inuyasha, and at the moment it is taking priority. I just had this idea come to me and couldn't wait to get it out there!
In between chapters here, however, feel free to check out my InuyashaOC fanfic! I would love to hear opinions on that one as well :).
As always, please leave your thoughts in a review, I love to hear them!
Happy reading!
"Code Red Emergency! Code Red!" A nameless voice blared over the intercom system, tone filled with a sense of panic that I tried not to allow to affect me. Swallowing heavily, I keep my gaze locked on the fifty foot, solid steel door in front of me. The red lights were flashing and casting an ominous glow, another glaring warning of the intrusion into the King's Vault. Flexing my pristine white wings to their full ten foot span, I grab my bow and notch an arrow, holding it facing downwards and at the ready in front of me. Hopefully the other tactics of diversion and traps wouldn't fail, and the thieves' attempts would be foiled before they got within even a hundred meters of the door.
There was a solid slam against the steel in front of me, and dread quickly replaced the hope I had felt only moments ago.
Obviously my faith had, ironically, led me astray.
Raising my bow and pulling back the drawstring till it was taught, I keep my gaze and aim focused on the door. After the initial slam of something heavy against it, things had gone eerily quiet. Perhaps the thieves had realized that it was folly to think they could bust through such a barrier? Maybe time ran out, and they had to give up and retreat?
The latch clicks, and the door slowly creaks open.
As soon as the space is big enough I allow my arrow to fly blindly into the opening crack, pride filling me as a pained shout echoes soon after, having clearly hit one of my targets. I knew there were three of them-I could sense their signatures the moment they entered the Vault, seconds before the alarms were ever triggered. All three were demons, though only two of them were powerful enough to cause me worry.
I don't have time to notch another arrow before I feel one of the stronger signatures explode into the room, moving so quickly that I nearly missed him altogether. Dropping my bow I grab my daggers, raising them up just in time, hearing the clanging of our weapons meeting before actually seeing my attacker. Looking up I'm met with blood red eyes, narrowed at me in clear disgust. My own golden eyes reflected the same as I glare back at him, the demon still in mid-air above me from his attack. What felt like minutes, but was really only seconds, pass as I take him in with cold calculation. Spiked and gravity defying black hair, tinged with a deep blue, and striped with white along the front. His jaw was chiseled, a regal nose centered on his handsome face. He was deceivingly human-like in appearance, but the surge of power I felt as he pushed his signature on me nearly had my knees buckling under the pressure. It was hot, like flames were licking at me, and the air was saturated with the smell of burning pine.
He was a fire demon, and a dangerous one at that.
In retaliation I pulse my own pure signature forward against his demonic energy, the fire demon's blood-red eyes widening momentarily as he felt it. I watched as his body stiffened, muscles tense as it rolled over him like a tidal wave. His mouth slackens slightly, before tightening once again in resolve as he breaks the lock of our blades, jumping back away from me with a scowl towards his accomplices. Right away I see the one that had been injured by my arrow, the shaft of it still sticking grotesquely out of his left eye socket. He was human in appearance as well, though stood taller than the other two, and broader as well. Even if he looked the strongest of the three in build, his signature was the weakest.
Standing next to the tall demon was a red-headed boy, physically looking no older than sixteen. His red-hair was long and tied back in a stylish low ponytail away from his admittedly handsome face. Green eyes watched on with cool collection, clearly taking in not only me, but our surroundings as well. I could see the cogs working behind this demon's stoic expression, and it became quickly apparent that he was the brains of the operation. His signature was as strong as the fire demons, but different at the same time. Whereas the fire demon's signature had brazenly hit me like a brick wall, this red-headed demon's signature crept over me like a gentle wave. The scent of roses wafts over me, overtaking the smell of burning pine from his comrade. I had no idea what type of demon the red-head was, but his very aura suggested someone of great power and ancient wisdom.
And with me being well over one thousand years old, that was saying something.
"Step aside, angel, or we'll have no problems leaving your body burning in our wake." The fire-demon spits out, disgust clear in his every word. By nature demons hated angel's with a passion, and the same could be said in return. I twirl the daggers in my hand and take an offensive stance, one dagger's blade held backwards and flush against my left arm, the other pointed towards the demons in threat.
"Not going to happen." I bite out with determination, my golden eyes narrowed in challenge. The largest demon, the one I had struck with my arrow, chuckles ominously as he reaches his giant fist up and pulls my arrow from his eye socket, taking the useless eye with it and tossing it towards me. Despite being a harden warrior, my stomach rolls in disgust as the arrow lands between us, his impaled eye looking up at me unseeing.
"The little birdy has some nerve." The largest of the three goads. "I think we're going to need to clip her pretty, white wings." He cracks his knuckles in thread, taking a step forwards towards me. I'm about to go to meet him, knees bending and ready to launch myself towards the beast and close the distance, but a stern voice brings us both to a halt.
"Enough." The red-head's voice is soft, but it seems to echo throughout the chamber, even over the blaring alarms. "We don't have time for this."
It's then that I finally notice the feeling of something crawling up my ankles.
Gaze snapping downwards in a moment of stupidity, I see the vines slowly wrapping up along my calves and heading for my knees. It was the red-head, it had to be. He must have planted the seeds at my feet when I wasn't looking during the initial attack his fire-demon friend had made.
The moment of distraction was all it took for said fire demon to materialize in front of me, his sword coming down at me in a wide arch. I just barely manage to shift in time, though when I raise my dagger to block, it's too late. His sword scrapes down along my blade, missing the meat of my shoulder he had intended to hit and instead slicing down vertically along the middle of my body. His blade was so sharp that I didn't even feel it cutting through the skin, even though I knew, I knew the damage had been done. Having not been bested in well over six hundred years, I'm frozen in shock, staring straight ahead at where the other demons used to be. Distantly I can hear them behind me though the blood rushing in my pointed ears, each grabbing their hard earned treasures.
The Artifacts Of Darkness.
The vines are pliable, even in their strength, and allow me to fall to my knees, legs weakening as I press my hand to the deep wound along my torso uselessly. The skin there is saturated in blood, my tattered white robe no better as I look down at the red blooming slowly from the frayed edges along my cut outwards. The slice goes from my clavicle to my bellybutton, and though the wound is not shallow, nothing vital was hit either. Death wouldn't be immediate, but there was a very good possibility I would die from blood-loss if not found in time.
So be it. I had failed.
Looking up from my wound, vision blurring, I can see the distinct figures of the three demons as they all calmly walk towards the large steel door with their prizes in hand. The Orb Of Baast was clutched in the massive palm of the largest demon, and as if sensing my gaze, he smirks at me in gloat while tossing the Orb in his palm once before exiting the room. The fire demon, now carrying the Shadow Sword, doesn't even bother looking back as he too disappears through the opening.
The red-head, however, does turn to look directly at me with troubled and guilty green eyes.
I don't have much time to reflect on this weird reaction from the demon, before I feel the vines twisting up around my torso. They snake around me, binding my wings down against my body whilst wrapping me tightly from hip to just under my collarbones. I wince as they tighten even more around me, preparing myself for them to literally squeeze the life right out of me.
"That should stop the bleeding until someone can get here to help you." My mouth slackens from it's tight frown of resolve, to agape with shock at the demon's words. He was trying to help me? It's then that I notice his choice of the Artifacts, though I should have already known by process of elimination.
The Forlorn Hope.
"Who are you?" I can't help asking in my shock, breathing shallow, dizzy as I try to focus my blurry vision. The red-head fixes me with a solemn frown.
"I'm someone trying to save a person I love." He answers simply, before turning on his heel and disappearing out the door as well. I hardly have time to register what the demon had said, before blackness starts to overtake my vision and the floor rushes up to meet me with a painful smack.
I wake up to a blaring light overhead, and a soft bed underneath of me. Slowly opening my eyes, it doesn't take me long to know I'm in the Healing Wing and to remember what it was that had brought me here.
The Artifacts Of Darkness had been stolen from the King's Vault.
I had been responsible for keeping them safe, and I had failed.
"You're awake." A sigh of relief came from beside me, and I turn my head to the right to see familiar blue hair and purple eyes. Botan sat there at my bedside, worry creasing her forehead as she takes in my admittedly battered form. Even with my natural abilities to heal, the cut was still on the mend, showing just how close I really had come to death.
Death, however, would have been better than this.
"What's happened? Has Koenma found out where those demons went?" I ask as I move to sit up despite my body screaming in protest at me. Botan moves quickly, frowning as she places a stern hand on my shoulder and gently pushing me back into the bed.
"Don't move! Your wound isn't healed all the way yet. You'll rip it back open." Botan chastises, moving her hand then to press on the button at the side of my bed, the top half of the mattress moving me up to a sitting position in a much more comfortable manner. "And yes. Koenma says that the demons have all been found on Earth." She adds, her voice saying it all.
The demons were in the worst place imaginable with the worst tools known to all three realms.
Human World didn't stand a chance.
It felt like another sucker punch to the stomach hearing her, and I frown down at my lap, golden gaze narrowed with self loathing.
"We don't know who the demons are yet." Botan adds softly, no doubt sensing my self deprecating mood. "And this isn't your fault. You couldn't have taken on all three."
"Botan, I love you my friend, but don't try to make me feel better about this." I murmur to her, unable to meet her kind eyes. Botan and I had known each other for hundreds of years, having worked closely together on a number of assignments. Grim Reapers and Angels often got put on tasks together, and Botan and I worked exceptionally well with one and other. "Does…does King Enma know?" I ask, having to keep my voice steady. I had a feeling he hadn't been informed yet, or else Earth would be a burning battleground by now.
"My Father is on vacation." A new voice joins in, one I'm all too familiar with. My gaze snaps up and to the left, seeing the Prince of Spirit World himself standing at the doorway. "I didn't feel the need to bother him, not when we can have the Artifacts back where they belong before he returns."
"Prince Koenma." I bow my head respectfully from where I sit as he toddles into the room, moving to stand on the chair on the left side of my bed. "With all due respect, that seems rather…" I trail off, unsure of how to phrase it. "Risky." I settle on after a moment, noting the nervous sweat shining on his forehead over the Jr. marking.
"I have a new recruit I have set to the task. He is already on the trail of the Orb of Baast." Koenma replies, Botan letting out an annoyed sound from deep in her throat.
"I still don't agree with having Yusuke clean up this mess." Botan replies evenly, a concerned frown on her face. "He's only just come into his Spirit Energy after all." I blink in surprise, well aware of Botan's latest achievement with the Urameshi kid and his resurrection. She had told me all about it with pride, and rightfully so. Very few humans ever got the chance to come back from the dead, the occurrences happening once ever few hundred years or so. As such, Grim Reapers didn't often get the task of giving life, rather than taking life away. It was certainly something for Botan to celebrate.
"You have that kid going up against those demons?" I ask dubiously then as I look towards Koenma, speaking bluntly. "The demon that took the Orb Of Baast-"
"Gouki. He's the only one we've been able to identify so far." Koenma cuts me off to inform, his hands tucked behind his back.
"He's the weakest of all three." I frown. "The other two are high ranking demons. The fire demon himself is at least a high D class, if not stronger." I state, remembering the strength of his signature even now. That demon, however, wasn't the one that caused the shiver to rush down my spine as the remnants of his signature washes over me. "The red-headed demon was a lower S-class." I add ominously, goosebumps rushing along my arms.
"S-class? Are you sure?" Botan gasps, her purple eyes wide as I nod, frowning at the memory of him.
"And even though he looked young, and he looked human, he had the aura of someone a thousand years his senior. I don't know how it's possible." I add softly, glancing towards Koenma and seeing the nervous look on his own face. "The only saving grace we may have is that the red-headed demon apparently intends to use The Forlorn Hope to help someone he loves." I add softly, remembering him saying so distinctly.
"I'm someone trying to save a person I love."
"Really?" Botan asks, blinking in surprise. "That sure doesn't coordinate well with the other demon's and their intentions, I'm sure." She frowns in confusion. "Even still, he seems dangerous."
"He is." I agree, swallowing thickly. "But he also chose to save me, rather than to let me die." I add, remembering the way his vines had wrapped tightly around me. With his will alone he could have strangled me to death right then and there. He hadn't. "I'm not saying we should trust this guy, not by a long shot, but perhaps he is more noble than his accomplices at the very least."
"Theories are all well and good, even ones that seem to be backed by evidence." Koenma speaks up, his voice tense. "I, however, cannot risk Human World on assumptions."
"Then send me down to help." I state well before I could catch up logically to what I was saying. Botan and Koenma are both looking at me with wide eyed disbelief, tense as the silence loomed over all three of us in the wake of my very serious declaration.
"Out of the question." Botan replies firmly, standing and bracing both her hands on the edge of my bed. Her purple eyes are narrowed at me, shoulders set and ready for an argument.
"It's the best thing we can do for Earth." I reply evenly, looking towards my blue haired friend. "Even in my humanoid form I'd have more than enough power to help Yusuke gather the Artifacts. I could have taken each of those demons, had they come separately." I add, knowing that the red-head would have still been a challenge, but on his own I would have been less distracted.
"And then what?" Botan snaps angrily. "You help gather the Artifacts, and then what?" She presses. "You'll never be able to return to Spirit World again!"
"I know." I reply lowly, evenly as I clasp the blanket in my lap hard to stop my hands from shaking.
"Koenma would have to take your wings!"
"I know, Botan." I murmur softly, my chest aching at the thought already as my wings fluttered against my back unconsciously. "But what other choice do we have? We can't leave the fate of the Human World, the fate of Spirit World, in the hands of a novice." I frown deeply, looking back towards Koenma. "Let me do this. I was the one that failed you and your Father. They took the Artifacts during my guard." Koenma hesitates, his arms relaxing from behind his back to rest at his sides.
"Are you certain this is what you want, Seraphina?" He asks, and I swallow thickly as I nod with determination.
My name is Seraphina, the soon to be Archangel.
By the next morning I'm still only partially healed, wound now closed but the scar was glaringly apparent as it stretched in a neat line from my clavicle to just above my bellybutton. My strength had fully returned, enabling me to get out of bed and dressed by the time Koenma and Botan returned to my room.
As soon as they did the air around us all seemed to drop a few degrees.
Botan moved to stand beside me with her oar, her purple eyes gazing at me with question, though Koenma was the one to actually voice it.
"Are you sure?"
Those three words echoed in my ears, both of them thrumming with the blood rushing through me at my accelerated heartbeat. I find myself nodding, even though I don't remember making the conscious effort to answer.
"I've been given leave to stay with you for a while. Until you become accustomed to Human World and your new body." Botan speaks up softly from beside me, her voice filled with sadness as she takes my hand that was closest to her own, squeezing it for support. I smile weakly at her, nodding. Knowing I had someone to support me helped slightly, though I was still terrified about what would happen next.
When my wings were taken from me.
"Let's do it." My voice is dry and scratchy as I turn to look at Koenma. I needed this done now, before I chickened out like a coward. Koenma raises his hand, glowing a golden hue as I could see the deep frown behind his pacifier.
"It's been well over two hundred years since I've had to do this." Koenma murmurs solemnly, and I nod in understanding. "And it was for far less noble reasons." He add lowly. The last angel he had sent to Earth had been banished from Spirit World for treason. Gusion had held the power to tell the past, present, and future, and his abilities had been used to the benefit of Spirit World until the angel went corrupt and instead gave insight to the highest bidders. "Brace yourself, Seraphina."
No amount of 'bracing' could have prepared me for what happened next.
Burning pain unlike anything I had ever experienced in my long life spread like fire down my back. I nearly crumpled to the ground, instead hunching over as I grit my teeth to hold back the pained screams that wanted to be let loose. Through the pain I distantly hear the dull thuds, one after the other, of my wings hitting the ground behind me, consequently throwing me off balance with the loss of the weight I was so accustomed to on my back. Botan reaches out, steadying me with her hands as I breath heavily, the pain slowly ebbing away into a dull throbbing. I can't bring myself to look behind me. My beautiful, white wings, now laying ruffled on the floor, was not something I needed to see. All the same, the thought comes to me in a moment of shock.
What have I done?
"Sera…your wings…" Botan murmurs in a broken voice, her sad gaze shining with tears as she looks behind me towards the ground. I swallow thickly, still determined to not look as I slowly straighten up with her help. Looking towards Koenma, he's pale as a ghost, hand shaking as he slowly lowers it back to his side. It was never easy, taking the wings of an angel away, no matter what the cause for it was.
"Ther-I have set up an apartment for you through our liaisons in the Human World." Koenma speaks, voice shaking and looking entirely nauseous as he does. "Botan will take you there. It is where you will reside." For the rest of eternity. The unspoken words echo loudly for us all.
I would walk the Earth for eternity alone, never to return to my home.
"Let's go." I murmur softly then, nodding in acknowledgement towards Koenma. Koenma nods in return, before Botan gently helps me onto her oar.
"Hold on tight." She advises, before we're off flying through the halls and out into the night. As the cool wind whips at my face before we hit the clouds below, a thought shakes me to the core.
This would be the closest I would come to flying ever again.
The disturbance in the air was easy to feel the moment we broke through the barrier into Human World.
Below us the city lights were twinkling brightly, the air smelling heavily of a rain storm that had just passed through. It looked peaceful, despite the clear and jarring reality that Earth's doom could be right on it's doorstep.
I feel the spike of energy once again, and this time it feels all too familiar.
"Botan, Gouki is near." I frown deeply, eyes searching for any sign of where that signature had just emitted from. It was followed by another, much weaker, burst of energy. That had Botan's back snapping ramrod straight.
"That one was Yusuke. We need to find him!" She exclaims with worry, turning her oar and heading towards a park filled heavily with trees on the outskirts of the city. We come to a clearing where the signatures were their strongest, Botan lowering us down to come face to face with the largest demon, and current captor of the Orb Of Baast. "Yusuke!" Botan exclaims with worry, heading to the black haired kid that was currently unconscious on the ground. I glance towards him, relieved to see he was still breathing, before I turn my gaze back to the one eyed monster in front of me. It's clear that it was Gouki, though his physical appearance had reverted from human-like to completely demon. Several horns now sprouted out of his forehead, accompanied with a mouth filled with large teeth and a squared jaw. His skin was brown in color, body almost twice the size of his human disguise.
His damaged eye, I noted with sick glee, hadn't healed.
"Hey." I greet with a cold smirk, holding my left hand out as my bow materialized in it's opened grasp, an arrow appearing in my right hand. Notching it and drawing the bow back, I take aim. "I'm back for the other eye." I let my arrow fly, frowning deeply as he dodges it this time, his demonic energy and abilities enhanced in this form. Gouki growls at me, but his gaze moves to the side, where only feet away the Orb of Baast laid unattended. As if in unison our gazes lock once more over the Orb, both our bodies tense as we each waited for the other to make the first move.
Gouki was far too impatient.
He launches himself towards it first, giving me time to draw my daggers from their sheaths on my back and cut him off. I slice through his extended arm, cleaving it in half at his elbow. With a roar of pain Gouki stumbles back as I land protectively in front of the Orb, twirling my daggers to gain a better grip. His arm, now laying separate from his body and bleeding onto the grass, gives one last twitch of the nerves before it stills. Gouki is holding his stump with his other clawed hand, trying to stunt the bleeding as his one eye narrows at me with fury.
Good, attack angry, that's what I want.
As if on command it's exactly what the impulsive demon does, charging me head on. Quicker than he could anticipate, I twist my dagger back flush against my forearm, before swinging it forward as I jump into the air, slicing forcefully through the thick skin at his neck. Smoothly flipping over him, I land with us back to back, so confident in my deadly blow that I let him near the Orb. Turning slowly, I watch as he falls to his knees, the hand he had left reaching out towards the sphere, glowing bright green in the darkness of the night. With a gurgle as the blood rushes up his throat, he falls forward, claws coming only inches short of his target, eyes looking unseeingly ahead.
One down. Two to go.
Botan had called the clean-up crew before we left the clearing with the kid, both of us having to lift him onto her oar and hold him on as we flew back over the city to where Yusuke and his Mother lived. Landing in an alleyway, out of sight of any stragglers in the early morning, Botan and I each took an arm and hoisted the kid down the street and up several flights of stairs till we reached his home. Behind us the sky was just starting to brighten and the stars beginning to fade, signalling the start to a new day was going to be upon us soon.
"What are we going to say to his Mother?" I ask with a frown then, seeing the light through the window by the door. Clearly she was home, even though Botan had hoped the woman was still out partying as she frequently did.
"Yusuke gets into fights all the time, Atsuko is used to it." Botan replies, before hesitating as she looks at me. "Although we should probably change our clothes for appearances sake." She adds, looking from my white uniform, to her pink one, the kimonos both looking extremely out of place in this neighborhood at this time of night. With a simple snap of her fingers the Grim Reaper worked her magic, and we both were transformed into what looked to be street wear. Botan now wore a pink sweater and deep blue capri pants, whereas she had dressed me in blue jeans and a green sweater. Nodding to herself, she turns and raises her hand to knock solidly at the door. The shattering of glass can be heard, followed by some blunt cursing before the door and ripped open by an annoyed looking, middle aged, brunette woman.
"What the hell do you think you're doing knocking on my door at four in the fucking morning?!" She shouts at us before she can fully take in the scene in front of her. Her mouth drops open, the cigarette that had been hanging between her lips falling to the ground at our feet.
"We ran into your son. He told us where he lived before he passed out." Botan explains to the woman's wordless question. Stunned eyes blink rapidly at us both, looking between Yusuke, Botan, and myself in quick succession. I frown as the moment of silence drags on.
"Can we bring him in?" I ask, voice sounding a little unsure. It's enough to snap the boy's Mother into action, nodding her head as she steps to the side to let us through the door. We drag Yusuke across the floor towards a room in the back that she directs us to, laying him down in the bed. Botan sets about taking his shoes off, asking for my help to take his torn, green uniform top off as well. We work together to tuck the boy in under his blankets, Botan pausing as she sees an angry looking scratch on his cheek.
"Do you have a first aid kit?" Botan asks Yusuke's Mom, to which she nods, still looking at her boy stunned as he lays in the bed. Botan leaves the room, obviously to go in search for it herself since Atsuko wasn't going to be of much use. The brunette walks up to Yusuke's bedside slowly, before hesitating. I watch on curiously as her hand slowly extends out, moving down to rest on the boy's chest, and my eyes widen in realization.
She's checking to see if he was breathing.
'I can't say I blame her now for being in obvious shock. I don't know how well I would take my son dying and then coming back to life. I'd be a wreck every time he got into some sort of trouble.' I think to myself, frowning. "He's going to be okay. Yusuke's just been roughed up a bit."
"How do you know my son's name?" Atsuko asks sharply, turning to look at me with a suspicious gaze. I take a step back, mind racing.
"He let us know before he told us where he lived." I explain, holding my hands up in a placating manner. Her expression softens with slight regret.
"I'm sorry…I just…" She trails off, obviously finding it difficult to voice what she was feeling in that moment.
"My name is Sera." I murmur then, trying to ease into a different topic.
"I'm Atsuko, this punk's Mother." Atsuko formally introduces herself, whilst pointing her thumb down to her son, an unimpressed look on her face now. "Who's your friend?" She asks lightly, Botan finally coming back into the room with a first-aid kit in hand.
"I'm Botan. It's nice to meet you." Botan grins, ever chipper, before setting to task cleaning the cut on Yusuke's cheek.
"Do you girls drink coffee?" Atsuko asks, looking to both of us as we nod in affirmative. "Good. I'll make us all some coffee then." She mutters, turning from the room and heading into the kitchen. I lift an eyebrow at that, hearing the distinct clanging of glass bottles soon after.
That definitely didn't sound like coffee.
"She'll grow on you." Botan murmurs with a nervous laugh, before looking back towards Yusuke as she stands. "Just like he will too."
For some strange reason, I felt like Botan was right.
"Who the hell is this chick?"
The brunt question should have came as a surprise to me, along with Yusuke staring at me with questioning brown eyes. Frankly, however, his response was on cue to what Botan had prepared me for all along.
"Her name is Seraphina, and she's a close friend of mine." Botan replies evenly, frowning at the teenager. "Don't be so rude. She actually was the one that saved your sorry butt from Gouki!"
"Shhhh!" Yusuke's back snaps straight, eyes wide as his gaze darts from the doorway to his bedroom and back to Botan. "My Mom's got ears like a fucking elephant!" Botan looked slightly sheepish, before continuing on in a hushed tone.
"Sera defeated Gouki and retrieved the Orb Of Baast while you were unconscious." Botan continues, Yusuke blinking slightly in surprise before looking towards me dubiously.
I honestly didn't blame him for not believing I could take on that large beast, not in this form. Unlike my angelic form, I wasn't a sight to behold. Having had to use the washroom before Yusuke had woken up, I had gotten a brief look at myself in the mirror. Gone was the glowing ethereal light that used to surround my body, having faded with the loss of my wings. My hair, once the color of silver, was now a dull brown, thought it had maintained it's length to my lower back and it's body, falling in full waves over my shoulders. My golden eyes had been exchanged for green ones, still a rarity I knew with the human race, but not nearly as stunning as my natural eyes had been. I stood at five-foot six, just as I had before my transformation, though my athletically curvy body was now far more soft, chubby even.
In short, I hardly looked the warrior that I actually was.
"Alright, fine, so are you another Grim Reaper?" Yusuke's voice brings me from my thoughts, and I blink as I stare at him in question.
"What?" I ask, having obviously missed something.
"No, she's not like me." Botan hesitates, looking at me nervously as the tone of the room changes drastically. An uneasy energy settles over us all, Yusuke looking between Botan and I with a bewildered look.
"What's going on?" He question suspiciously. I swallow thickly before answering.
"I am-was-an angel." I reply, voice shaking slightly. Before I can go on and explain, Yusuke scoffs in clear disbelief.
"An angel?" He questions dubiously, lifting an eyebrow. "I mean, I guess after learning everything I have, angels aren't that hard to believe in. Where are your wings and your halo?" Hurt surges in my chest, the pain of loss still fresh for me.
"We don't have halos, persay, but a bright light that shines from within." I explain the last bit first. "However, I lost my light, and my wings, when I was sent to Earth to help you recover the Artifacts." Jaw clenched tight, my hands ball up into fists on either side of me.
"Lost your wings?" Yusuke asks softly, leaning forward and giving me his undivided attention now. "What do you mean you lost them?" I open my mouth to explain further, but find my throat seizing instead. Like a good friend, sensing my distress, Botan takes over once again.
"For an angel to be able to come down to Earth, they have to have their wings cut away." Botan answers, her voice still filled with sadness. "It's something that's only been done in the most extreme of circumstances. Removing the wings of an angel isn't taken lightly. Sera is now what you humans often refer to as an archangel." A moment of silence passes over the three of us, before Yusuke breaks it with another question.
"Why you?" He asks, looking directly at me with his piercing brown eyes. "Why were you brought down to Earth?"
"I was the one that had been guarding the Artifacts of Darkness when the thieves broke into the King's Vault." I openly admit, frowning deeply. "I couldn't stop them. I'm the one responsible for the Artifacts being here, and I would be the one to blame if Human World were to be thrown into utter chaos."
"Sera, it's not all your fault." Botan protests gently, frowning at me with concerned eyes. I shake my head in denial to her claim, knowing it was actually my fault.
"So once this is done, are you going to get your wings back and go back to Spirit World?" Yusuke asks as he moves to sit cross-legged on the edge of his bed. Shaking my head solemnly once more, I turn to look out his window at the brightening morning sky. The rising sun was setting off beautiful shades of pinks, purples, and golds, something you would never see living in Spirit World.
"No." I answer shortly, silence once again looming over us as I continue to watch the sun rising in the sky.
"So…what's next?"
After getting through morning coffee with Atsuko and Yusuke, Botan and I both agreed it would be a good idea to get me settled into my new home while we had the chance. Yusuke was ready and raring to go with searching for the next Artifact that he could find, so we left him to the task under the condition he called Botan's compact the moment he was on to something.
By the time we reached my apartment, which in reality was only a dozen blocks or so away from Yusuke's, I felt completely and utterly drained. All the events from the past forty-eight hours were catching up to me, and in this human form, I hardly had the same level of endurance for long days and even longer nights. Botan was kind enough to make the tour short, handing me the keys and leaving so I could get some much needed rest.
However, a shower was definitely called for first.
Unlike in Yusuke's bathroom, mine had a full length mirror that I could peer at myself with as I undressed, the steam from the shower already starting to cloud it up. Chewing on my lower lip, my eyes are zoned in on the new scar that ran down the length of my body, healed but still an angry red. Reaching my right hand up I trace along the ridge slowly from clavicle to bellybutton, knowing that this scar was here to stay now. If I had been able to stay as an angel for just another day, maybe two, the wound would have healed completely without scarring. Now, with my impeded rate of healing, the redness would fade, but the scar would remain.
The fire demon had marked me for eternity.
And I would be sure to mark him in kind.
Well there ya have it. The first chapter :) I would love to hear what you guys think so please, please, please leave some reviews to let me know if this story is worth exploring further.
Until next time!
T.O.T.