Angel's Tale by Oriel
Rated: PG-13 for language, partial nudity, mild shonen ai and violence.
Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter since it's still unchanged. Besides that, I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to this story. And I don't have much time to work on it. Damn college homework!
" ": dialogue
/ /: thoughts
* *: flashbacks
===============================================
Chapter 3 - The Hunt
* Next time we meet, we will be enemies, Mikael. *
"NO! ANIKI! I DON'T WANT TO!"
The red-head angel's eyes were wide open in fear, yet he couldn't see anything around him. Neither could he hear the soothing voice of the blond doctor who begged him to calm down. Trapped in a nightmare, he was flailing his arms frantically in the air before finally dozing off from the tranquilliser that had been administered to him. A single tear streamed down his cheek.
/ Please, don't turn against me again. /
****
Mikael's eye fluttered open and darted confusedly about the room.
Pale blue walls, white, shiny floor, spotless ceiling...
/ Where is this place? /
He could hear the steady, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor near him and the soft whirr of a fan.
/ The hospital... /
As he slowly regained his consciousness, he found out that a tube had been stuck into his nose, bringing him oxygen, and his chest was covered in a multitude of electrodes and wires.
/ Why am I here? What happened? /
He brought a shaky hand to his chest, ripping off the wires and then taking the tube out of his nose. He then managed to put himself in a sitting position, wincing as an arch of pain ran through his body, coursing through his flesh and racing down his spine. He waited a few seconds for the room to stop spinning and jumped out of bed, his bare feet hitting the ground with a muffled thump.
"Where do you think you're going like this?"
Surprised, the Great Power slowly turned his head in direction of the familiar voice.
"Oh, I hadn't seen you."
His best friend, Rafael, the archangel of Wind and Heaven's greatest doctor was sitting on a chair on the other side of the bed, arms folded over his chest, gazing silently at his short friend.
"Whatcha looking at?"
"Mika-chan...?"
With rage glimmering in his amber eyes, the short angel bounced over to the chair with an energy he didn't know he possessed and gripped his friend's collar tightly, threatening him with a clenched fist.
"Don't call me that!"
Rafael just glanced up at him and spoke in a monotone voice.
"Cover yourself up, please."
Mikael peered down upon his own nakedness, his face now flushed in embarrassment as he quickly turned away to cover himself with the white bed sheets, cursing under his breath for not noticing his predicament earlier. Definitely, too many people had got to see that side of him lately. The blonde smirked and stood up, lifting a slender, yet strong hand to Mikael's shoulder.
"Glad to see you're doing better now, Mika-chan."
Mikael froze at the contact of his friend's smooth, warm skin against his own and peered over his shoulder. For a few seconds, a small, honest smile crossed his face, but it soon faded out. The red-head slapped the blonde's hand away.
"Tch, I've always been doing just fine."
Rafael walked over to a desk and picked up a clipboard. He took his specs out of the front pocket of his white doctor coat and pushed them onto his nose.
"Bullshit, Mika-chan! You've been in a coma for a week now!"
"..."
The above-mentioned Mika-chan raised a thin red brow, confusion etched all over his face. The two archangels stared at each others for a few seconds, an awkward silence filling the room. Then all of a sudden, the red-head rolled his head back and let out an insane cackle.
"Nice joke. Haha! Me? The superstar of angels? Unconscious for a week? Pfft! Yeah right!"
He burst out in another fit of mad laughter as Rafael glared at him.
"Alexiel told me you'd been sick---"
The red-head cut him, placing his index finger on his friend's lips.
"Bah, you won't believe the insane babbling of that stupid woman, will you?"
The archangel of wind sighed and rolled his deep blue eyes.
"Furthermore, Mika-chan, when the rescue team brought you here, you were delirious because of a high fever. Then you spent the rest of the week slipping in and out of consciousness."
"Tch, no big deal. I'm fine now. You worry too much."
Mikael stood on the tip of his toes to slap the back of the doctor's head.
"Now get me some clothes, I'm leaving!"
Rafael shook his head softly.
"You're not going anywhere. I still don't know what caused you to be sick."
The short angel gritted his teeth.
"I said I was FINE AND that I WAS leaving."
With a desperate sigh, Rafael lowered his head in a submissive way. It was useless to argue. Mikael had made his decision.
"Alright, Mika-chan, you win. But just promise you will take it easy for a few days, at least until I am sure that whatever happened to you won't happen again."
Concern could be read in his soft, deep voice. Mikael rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement.
"I'll visit you tonight. Just to make sure you're ok. See you then."
As soon as Rafael had walked off, an evil grin spread across Mikael's face.
/ As if I could actually stay still for more than a few minutes. /
He took his hands from behind his back and uncrossed his index and middle fingers as he cackled with glee.
/ Rafael, my friend. I thought you'd know me better. /
****
The frontier between Heaven and Hell.
A battlefield.
The stench of blood and death all around.
But among the cries of terror and agony, a single scream of joy could be heard throughout the rocky plain.
"MUAHAHAHA! THIS IS GREAT!"
The red-headed barbarian was immersed in his killing spree of demons. Hundreds of them were agonising at his feet. He sat carelessly on one of the corpses, wiping thick, dark blood off the blade of his fire sword with the ripped clothes of one of his victims.
He found it utterly amusing how he was always able to find relief in killing demons. It distracted him, made him forget about his own pain, allowed him to escape the cruel reality that was his. The spill of blood, the scent of death, the terror in an enemy's eyes: those were his own kind of drugs. He just couldn't get enough of it all. Never could he satisfy his lust for blood and vengeance.
/ Who are you trying to fool? /
"SHUT THE HELL UP, FUCKING CONSCIOUSNESS!"
His body, shaking violently with rage, burst into flames, engulfing the remaining demons in the same action. He fell to his knees, his breathing labored and uneven.
/ I know. I won't be able to avoid it all my life. Some day... Eventually... Lucifer... /
"Mikael-sama?"
He turned around to see who had called his name when a hand clutched his arm firmly then twisting it in his back to keep him from escaping.
"Come with me."
Mikael's negative reply was ignored by his mysterious attacker.
Then nothing more than the familiar, coppery taste of blood at the back of his throat...
... and a headache for sure.
****
Alexiel brandished her almighty sword, Nanatsusaya, in the air and chopped two demons' head off in one shot. Blood splashed over all over her. Rafael stood behind her, bemused, as she fought off more demons.
"Where the hell are they all coming from? No matter how much I kill there's always more."
How had she let herself be dragged at the frontiers?
That night, she had simply been sitting at her desk, busy filling out the mission report by herself since Mikael was sick, when Rafael stormed into her office, claiming that the Archangel of Fire was now nowhere to be found and had assumed that he was either with her or had gone demon hunting at the border. Knowing that fighting wasn't really the doctor's thing, she had kindly proposed to help him.
But now he was just letting her do all the work!
"Rafael! Snap out of it and help me!"
The archangel of wind mumbled a faint apology and drew out his own sword, its silver blade shining dully in the dim moon light. Gathering his strength, he formed a wind shield around them to push the demons back. He then charged at one of them, digging his sword into the frail, deformed body, jumped on another one, slicing him in half.
AS they finally got rid of all the demons around them, Alexiel kneeled down beside one of the corpses, examining it carefully.
"How... strange!"
Rafael furrowed a blond eyebrow and walked up to the woman. He bent down, using his sword to support his weight.
"What is?"
"Those demons are not the usual lower-class demons we see around here."
Seeing that he wasn't replying, she glanced up at him, seeing nothing but confusion on the man's face. She sighed.
"They are high-class demons."
Rafael's eyes grew wide in surprise. He peered up at the bloody mess of corpses around them and cursed himself for not noticing that all of them bore the same black mark somewhere on their bodies. A mark he knew all too well.
"And there, look!"There in a poodle of blood was Mikael's precious fire sword. But its owner was nowhere to be seen. Surely, something had happened to him. He would always bring it everywhere with him. He never parted from it.
He stood up quickly, pulling Alexiel onto her feet in the same action.
"Quick! We have to go to Sheol! I have a feeling that Mikael is there. And that he's in danger."
===============================================
(That's it. Sorry for the cliff-hanger again. But I'm telling you now: it's going to happen a lot. ^.^; Gomen ne, but I have to make sure you'll want to read more. Also, it might seem as though some stuff happen for no reason, but just be patient. You'll see... Chapter 4 and 5 should be posted soon since I've almost finished to write them already. I just lack time because I got so much homework in college! Keep the reviews coming!)