Chapter Two-The End of the Beginning
A baron wasteland where nothing grows. No life, no trees, nothing but the parched red dust and the heated rocks and the bright scorching sun.
What better place to decide the fate of the planet?
Cell was standing in the position he was rarely out of. Arms tightly folded across his chest, eyes closed, head lowered slightly, smirk on his thin marble lips. He had been waiting slowly and patiently for over 9 hours now. The sun was still high in the sky but slowly drifting to the West. Cell knew it was only a matter of time.
'Mortality is but a pebble in my shoe. Mortality as mankind is, is nothing more than a hated enemy, despised since I first became what I am before you.' Cell played her words over and over again in his head. The woman he had met was something that had captured his curiosity. Something unique, something incredible...
Something he hadn't ever seen in a human being before, or even in the Senshi... Her incredible intelligence. Something not to be gained from books or history lessons. No. This had been gained from the incredible experiences that must of spanned hundreds of years ago. Cell became excited at this, as she possessed something he would never. The experiences of history.
Now if he could only find out exactly how much she had been through, extract her experiences and her incredible knowledge...
Night fell fast now that he had something he longed for in the approaching night.
'I fear I can not stay but a moment longer. But do not despise Seru. I assure you, I shall see you again. Just look for the shadows...' Cell smirked again. Look for the shadows. An old story of the sandman in French fairy tales, told of how the Sandman stalked the shadows of life. He appeared only at night, the shadow of the world. She had been referring to night. She obviously could not tolerate sun light. Her obvious and only weakness, that he could interpret... For now.
The last of the suns rays vanished, choked to solitude from the darkening velvet blue sky. Every single star shone in the heavens from the lack of city lights and disturbances. It was literately dancing with the millions and billions of stars, each one clearly visible.
"I always loved the night. Even when I was a young fragile mortal." Cell suddenly tore his eyes from the sky. He hadn't realized he had been staring at it, as he hated all things serene, and glared a little angry at being startled at the young woman who sat comfortably on the point of the South West pillar, glancing from the sky back to Cell again, a small grin on her dark lips. Shadows danced across her face from the deep night, yet her eyes remained a gentle glow of yellow luminescence.
"I would think someone like you would know it rude to sneak up on people like that." He stated coolly, letting his agitation show slightly. The woman only let her head roll back as she laughed. Cell frowned, trying to suppress his sudden shiver. Her laugh was so evil and cold. It made his sound like the innocent laughter of a young boy.
"I do believe you are at fault, as you should of known I was here. Your supposed to be the ultimate perfection, as I do recall your boasting to the Senshi. Cell frowned and glared angrily at her. He didn't enjoy her taunting him.
"I may be the ultimate perfection but you are just down right irritable."
"I should thank you as that was my intended objective Seru." His glare narrowed and she only smirked harder, almost as if daring him to attack her. He took a deep nasal breathe and closed his eyes for a moment, suppressing his boiling rage before again, focusing his magenta hues on her slender and powerful, inhuman frame.
Her eyes greeted his with a roar of flames. He despised this woman and yet... He was infatuated with her... No. Not her, her origins, her experiences, as he knew she had some that he would never know, some no living creature would ever get the chance to experience.
He smirked coldly and turned completely to face her, his arms tightly folded against his chest. he only glared, his anger faded from his eyes and all evidence of rage hidden well behind the smug disguise he bore. She remained neutral, not breathing, not moving a muscle, except her eyes which danced with the flaming beauty of gold's and yellows and occasionally, amber oranges.
"I must admit, I am surprised." He finally declared, his deep voice only making her smile, her dark lips parting slightly, revealing her glistening white teeth, that almost looked like they had never before been used.
"Surprised Seru? Surprised at what? Surprised I returned as I had promised, surprised I sit on a pillar, rather than in your presence, as one in respect would, or surprised that I do not fear you?" Cell hesitated a moment. In all his ages of existence and conversing, he'd never heard someone combatant him with the incredible speech and the incredible wisdom she had stated with a seemingly mundane expression in her one statement.
"I... I am surprised at you in general." He paused again, choosing his words carefully.
"I can see you, hear you, I can even smell your rich 14th century oil based perfume that chokes my nostrils, and yet... I somehow have the feeling that if there was another man present, he would smell only the breeze that laps at your locks, and see only me, the tyrant of this planet, speaking solemnly to himself."
Again Sinn laughed, her chest moving for the first time as she passed the air through her throat, freezing it into the icy laughter she produced.
"Seru... You are observant, and for this I commend you. What you say is true. I wish for no one else to see me and so they shall not. I wish for you and I to hold a personal conversation, and I can do this at my will, whenever and wherever it pleases me." Cell frowned.
"What are you exactly? Are you a witch, gifted with a magic power that exceeds mortal ability? Are you some spy for the spirit realm? I demand you to tell me!" Sinn's smile faded with Cell's arrogance and demand, her back muscles tightening as she pulled herself up straight. She shifted slightly, making herself more comfortable before she resumed glaring a little disappointed at her opponent.
"Seru... I must say... Your rudeness does come as a bit of a shock, an unwanted one at that. Your arrogance is a worry and does make me re-consider ever slaughtering those picnickers when they saw your craft arrive, or that farmer when he stumbled across your craft for the second time with the intention of moving it and disturbing you. I am beginning to regret those things, the things I did for you. For me."
"I am not rude, as I do not stalk you, declaring my only incentive is to see you agitated and annoyed for my own pleasure. I do believe, it is 'YOU' whom are rude, my dear." Her eyes slanted and a powerful scorn graced her lips with a bright and furious anger at his last 2 words.
She vanished in a burst of vapor again, the black mist carrying it's self to the arena floor, assembling it's self back into Sinn's body and shape. Only her sword was drawn now, clutched firmly in her grip, aimed directly at Cell's neck.
"You consider your life valuable Seru Chan, you shall never again call me your dear." Cell only smirked and using a powerful arm, as he gently unfolded them, pushed the blade away. A tiny sting of pain struck him from where his fingers had contacted the blade and he slowly glanced, the sword lowered at his gesture. His fingers held now, small white blisters. Cell's eyes diverted back to Sinn's with amusement and curiosity, his eyes quickly scanning the blade as they headed back to hers.
"Interesting sword. I'll assume it to be of the 13th style European, most likely French, given your powerful accent. It's obviously designed for killing things fast and painfully." Sinn smirked and stood up straight, quickly re-sheathing her sword and folding her arms tightly across her chest. Cell watched her contemplate something and draw on words that were hidden deep within her chaotic mind.
"Yes... Yes... You are all I expected. You are observant, powerful and strike fear into everyone's hearts, as well as well structured. I was right in assisting you. But if you are wise as well as intellectually stable, Seru, you will not call me 'Dear' again. It holds with it more than just an innocent word, it is a harsh prick of a memory I wish not to recall on in the near future." Cell only smirked as she choked for the word she loathed and revealed to him, another of her weaknesses.
"Very well. I'll honor your request, if you honor my previous one."
"And what, pray tell, was that?"
"What are you?" Simple, short and discrete, yet at the same time, the most complex and rudest, most insulting of all questions. He might of just as well as asked her bra size or her sexuality, seemingly, all the questions were just as rude and personal.
"I'll excuse your blunt delivery of the question Seru, but I will answer it... in due time."
"In due time? Why not now? Why will you not simply reveal your immortal status to me? I want to know what I confront, what lives for ever and yet remains so enthralled with my presence on this mud ball planet. I wish to know."
"I know you wish to know. And as I said... in due time. Now come, walk with me." Cell's eye ridges arched and he simply stared a little awkwardly at the incredible woman that was instructing him to do as she pleases. And yet, he suppressed his sudden desire to rip her apart, limb from limb with the sheer power even she had acknowledged, and followed her from the arena in silence towards the distant rocky ridge, where the giant pale 3/4 disc hovered low in the sky, fresh and finally spat from the horizon and the lethal sunlight that this woman terrified.
"Are you going to tell me yet?" He asked, obviously a little upset at being dragged to the ridge in the middle of the night with only a young woman to guide him, leading him in silence, with not apparent destination. Cell hated that. He always did things with a set goal at the end, with a set objective... A set destination. He had never conceived the idea of simply walking for no reason when he had two perfectly good wings, that allowed him the ability of flight.
"Patience Seru. I have as of yet, to break my word." She continued walking, a look of sereneness and peace on her pale luminescent face, her eyes only dancing in the moonlight that reflected into them. Cell was fast growing bored and yet he remained silent, letting Sinn have her silence.
"You do this often, don't you? Walk with no destination, no objective, in silence?"
"I do." Simplicity was bliss for her, as she seemed peaceful, at ease in a rich relaxation few creatures knew.
"Why?"
"The feeling of unsure ness, the desire to know where you are going and yet you follow only your own feet. It reminds me of what life once was when I had it. The ability to change direction suddenly, with no cause, no reason bar the fact that it's different and something new, a new form of perspective, if you must." Cell glanced down at her again then stared back around him, his agitation glowering in his eyes, and yet deep down inside, he stared out in a new born curiosity he had never known until she had told him her answer.
"If that's what you fancy. Now, if I may, your name? Or is that too to come when you fell like it?"
"That Seru, I will share with you. My name is Sinnile DeLoncray. Sinn as I have been known to mortal legends for many a year now. I was once a baroness to Lamberton, a Duchess of Yorkshire and a lady of shadows. I am what I am now though, nothing but a shadow. I hold no title any more, after so many years..." Her voice drifted off into her own thought and Cell was again banished from hearing the rest of it.
He didn't mind too much though. He had what he had asked for, a name by which to place to the face. Sinn. An odd name but still enticing and captivating. He smirked again.
"Sinn...." He hadn't realized he had said it out aloud before it was too late and Sinn slowly glanced up at him, snapping out of her little flashbacks.
"Seru?"
"Sinn... An odd name, yet somehow, it suits your appearance."
An icy cold laugh suddenly reached Cell's cubic ears and a small shiver crept up his spine, clawing at him in it's freedom.
"I do not see what is so humorous."
"Oh forgive me... I just find it ironic as to the fact, you think the name Sinn suits me."
"And why is that?"
"Because I am Demon of the shadows. That's why." Cell's eyes widened as Sinn remained chuckling to herself as they walked.
'A Demon? A Demon? She's a Demon?' Cell repeated the question over and over in his head. 'Sinn... A Demon? A Demon of the shadows. What to a demon though? What to her intentions... And why does she seem to hold Earth in such perspective?...'
As if reading his mind, she turned to him and stopped, standing by a boulder on her right and a sheer vertical cliff on her other. She smiled up at him and his thoughts ceased, but for a moment.
"I am a Demon, but do not automatically assume I am evil. Yes, I kill mortality, Yes I loathe mankind, but not as an evil creature of the fires humanity claim me to be, not as some monster in fairy tales... I loathe the human race because of it's pain it inflicts on nature and on everything else on this planet. I am not evil." She repeated, taking a deep breath as she observed cell's reaction. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared down into her eyes...
"The eyes of a demon..." He muttered before he realized he had thought out aloud. Sinn frowned and took a step back, her eyes seeming to grow dull from his reaction.
"A demon is not evil unless they choose to be. A demon is what mortality states as being the creatures from hell, servants of Lucifer himself. I am not this. I hold no grasp on religion and as far as I am concerned, there is no Lucifer, or if there is, I have yet to know of his true existence. No... Seru, a demon is a specie, crafted by humanity in it's first experiments. I am a servant to humanity, as is the Angel, only the angel has the wings of pure innocence which I believe is more evil than even I.
"An angel is corrupted in its self, and does exactly as it is told to do by its master, whomever summons it. It will never falter in mortalities command, and yet, it is portrayed as being pure and sweet and innocent, although nine times out of ten, it will murder, it's wings that symbolize mortalities serenity, often caked in humanities blood. Blood of those the angel destroyed. Blood of those humanity called 'kindred'.
"Angels obeyed their masters down to every simple whim, even if it meant self sacrificing for the pointlessness of hearing his masters voice again. Slaves to humanity. A great a many angels did horrible things. Great perhaps, but horrible. Death, destruction havoc... I hate angels. They are my enemy, more so than mortality its self is.
"Very rarely an angel would disobey its master and the moment it learned that it had a mind of its own and did not have to kill, simply because it was instructed to, was the moment the angel dissolved. Its disguise, covered in pure white, innocence, so humanity thought, would vanish in a puff of feathers and before its master stood a demon. A demon was not an evil creature as the angels were... Demons fought for humanity, opposing an angel sent to destroy a man without just cause. It was a losing battle though, as evil always persevered in reality. Humanity built walls of deception and denial around themselves, and denied that they themselves were the root of the war between good and bad. They denied that they had deliberately called the evil character 'good' which I now know was only because humanity is reflected in the angel, and the demon 'bad'.
"I know this may sound strange to you Seru as you were created by a genius whom taught you angels were good and demons were bad, but he never met an angel. He never met a demon either. I'm sure if he had, he would of programmed your memory and knowledge in the appropriate way. I am not evil. I am not evil. I am not evil... Not like you. It is true, I will not deny it, I want humanity destroyed. I welcome help with humanities destruction... But I know if your survive this attack, you will kill off every specie you come across. I know that most of them will deserve what they get, there will be a few occasional ones that actually deserve to live, to thrive... The innocence that angels were supposed to be based on. At one point in time, before I too, discovered their true potential as mass murderers...."
She stopped, sitting down comfortably on the rock now, staring into the distance that the cliff hung with. The moon was now high in the sky since they had begun their walk and illuminated the giant flats below them Cell saw his arena glistening in the bright white light, gleaming proudly, such as the arena for the planets fate to be decided should...
Eternity befell them in a cloud of silence. Neither of them could speak, as both thought of what Sinn had said. She had contradicted everything that Cell had come to believe in his entire theme of existence between 'good' and 'bad', 'Right' and 'wrong', 'Righteousness' and 'evilness'...
Finally though, a bitter dry taste of the words, all born anew from her thoughts, found his tongue and he took a deep breathe, preparing to push them into the still warm night air.
"Your a demon... You told me of the stereotypes mankind made between demons and angels. You told me Mankind, humanity was the reason, the root of it all. You even tell me you hold a power on your own, the ability to destroy mankind, yet you won't because you made an oath against it. The oath is a self made oath no? Why do you not simply destroy mankind and be done with it?" Cell began to get carried away in the excitement of a potential rival rather than opponent, an ally in the same beliefs, rather that another Senshi to slaughter.
"It's not that simple. The oath I made was to the first and only man whom ever loved me when I told him what I was. The only man who understood me, told me that it mattered not to him whether I be Demon, Vampire, Witch or monster, it mattered not to him, for he would love me regardless. I... I promised him I would not slaughter mankind unless in self defense." Her eyes fell to the ground and she suddenly found a small red stone that seemed to hold all the interest in the world to make her keep her attention focused there.
Cell laughed to himself, shaking his head. She suddenly glared at him. She had been expecting a little ridicule, rudeness perhaps, but not laughter. She had not expected him to laugh in her face about her past history, her strongest memories, he had laughed at, straight out. Inconsiderately.
"A little respect Seru, would not kill you. I held strong feelings for Azriel."
"I know, and that, Sinn, is what I find hilarious."
"I do not see how." Her anger was burning at her and she was pinning herself to the rock, her fists clenched, her teeth gnashed hard together, her lips pursed at him, her eyes narrowed and her face, flushed.
"You are a demon. You are a powerful creature and the only immortal I have ever known and here you are, telling me humanity is scum, mortality is a hopeless race and yet, here you tell me that you loved this one man, whom happened to be a human. I find it humorous that you have just completely contradicted your every belief, your every word you have just spent the last hour dictating to me!"
Sinn scorned to herself, her eyes narrowing and ablaze with a raging fire. Her body shook now in the anger she was trying so hard to control .
"Seru, Azriel was a mortal I knew when I was human myself. Before I changed into what I am now. I loved him before I understood humanities inevitable inhalation, I loved him in my innocent new years as a demon and I loved him when he told me the words I needed to hear. I loved him to the very end. A little respect for those whom now lay in scattered ruins."
"I apologize Sinn, my dear, but understand... you did contra....." He never had a chance to finish his sentence before a powerful pure white fist landed a direct punch on his face, breaking Cell's nose easily and sending him flying off the cliff. A moment passed as he caught himself in his own surprise before he steadied himself and growled angrily, staring around at the vacant and baron landscape. She was gone.
Suddenly a flicker of powerful unnatural energy behind him drew his attention and whirled around, staring mesmerized, again amazed at Sinn, whom was no less than a few feet from him, her long jacket gone now, abandoned on the cliffs ridge.
Sinn hovered in the air, two massive hooked and badly torn at leathery wings out to her sides, each double her height in length. Also a long pure white tail, the same color as her wings and her skin, luminescent and eerily pale and evil whipped out behind her in the huge surges of winds that suddenly spilled from her body in her anger.
Cell only caught a glimpse of her glowing fire eyes, void of pupils in her rage before he fell limp, blackness choking him. He could see nothing, he could feel only numbness and he could hear only the deafening silence of himself breathing. He could taste a bitter dry taste against his tongue like defeat and regret at angering Sinn and being so rude. He could, however, smell the beautiful rich perfume that clouded Sinn's aura in a rich scent of roses, oils and extravagant herbs and spices found from every corner of the world. It choked him and clawed at his nostrils, tearing at his dignity as he realized he loved her scent. He would die for her scent... It only occurred to him now, when she was gone, not around and his senses were all but switched off.
"Seru, get up." Sinn's voice was almost as sweet and gentle and rich as her perfume, her scent he had fallen in love with, addicted to...
"Seru get up." The darkness remained clawing at him, holding him in a semi conscious state.
"Seru! Get up! You aren't supposed to be able to sleep, remember? Your the ultimate perfection! you have no use for such pathetic wastes of time! Now, please? Get up? Show some signs your still with me?" Sinn's voice was growing worried but Seru suddenly turned to face her. It was not her pleading that did it. It was not the worry in her voice although it concerned him... It was the two words on her tongue that roused Cell back to his conscious state.
'Ultimate Perfection'.
The one thing no one could ever take from him. Not even the velvet darkness of relaxation and rest. not even the addictive scent of Sinn's perfume. Nothing could ever take that pride, that love for those two words away from him. It was the one thing that roused him back to her, to her reality...
His eyes opened slowly and he allowed them to adjust to Sinn, leaning over him, a smile of relief on her face but a glint of 'you-deserved-it' in her eyes.
"'Bout time." She stated flatly, moving back as he sat up suddenly, his wings fanning out behind him. The sudden pain of a broken face and the throbbing migraine form her brutal onslaught left him dizzy and aggravated and a scowl on his face and he glared with all his anger, all his evilness that filled him, he glared at her.
"You! What did you do?! What happened?! Why am I on the floor?!"
"You called me... 'Dear' again, and I did warn you against it. So I simply reminded you of my warnings. I admit though, after laughing at me and insulting my pride and my fondest memories I hold over this eternity of immortality, you did deserved getting your face punched in. Although I went too far with the psychic attacks. I apologize for that."
"Psychic attacks?"
"Demon attributes. I have psychic abilities. To an extent. I can infuse my energy with my psychic abilities and cause some serious injuries without using too much energy."
"Oh. I suppose that's why you were able to inflict so much damage so easily." Cell's comments again fell on deaf ears and he knew why. He turned to the skies in the East and he saw the light slowly creeping up. A few more minutes and there would be no night.
"Your leaving again?" Cell couldn't disguise the disappointment in his deep voice and she stared down at him, smiling with all her radiant beauty she had once possessed as a human, able to stand daylight... Once.
"Yes. I have to. If I stay, the angels will find me and I will be outnumbered, every angel alive, to one."
"Too two. I will stand and fight by your side."
"No. You don't know how, but thank you." Cell watched her, captivated by her, his head throbbing and unable to think straight, his eyes half drugged and his nose bleeding from her onslaught. He didn't seem phased as she leant down, gently brushing her lips to his with a slight reluctance, as if doing it, only because she had missed the feeling of it for well over 7 centuries. Cell even surprisingly, partially returned the favor, only to have it vaporize into a thick black mist, icy cold to his skin. For a moment, he saw her fiery irises staring back at him before the vapor vanished into the air, just as the sun broke over the dawn, the night officially retreating back to the West.
"Sinn..." Cell's eyes suddenly sprung wide open in raw anger and loathing as he realized what had just happened. She had kissed him! How dare she kiss the most powerful man in the universe! How dare she intrude on him! How dare she, how dare she, how dare she!... How dare he kiss her back!
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