"Volare!"
Solare landed lightly on the ground to face his sister in worry. Volare looked up in relief at Solare, brushing up strands of pink hair out of her face as she said, "Solare, this situation is out of our hands."
"What do you mean?"
Solare looked around, frowning. The air hung with the stench of Demons, and he could see it was close to poisoning Volare's weaker shield of holy aura, who was now sprawled on the floor. He grasped her hands in his, strengthening her as he said urgently, "Were you attacked?"
"No... I knew this one was too strong for me, so I fended it off. But it possessed a character from the Oda Dimension..."
"Quiet, Volare," Solare said, "Just rest for a moment."
As Solare healed Volare's weakened shield, Luce arrived; as soon as she landed, her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched.
"Demons." She said in disgust.
"Luce, take care of her for a moment." Solare instructed, and Luce took Volare's hands from his. He took flight and beat his wings to keep airborne as he quickly searched their surroundings. Practically empty roads stretched out from the abandoned gas station, but towards the north and south highways and masses of people loomed out. Solare frowned; Demons were everywhere...
He stepped back down to hear Luce say in dismay, "I don't think Silver Angels are going to be able to withstand the Demons here, Solare. Your sister's already on the verge of buckling."
"Was it a high level Demon, Volare?" Solare asked, and Volare shut her eyes.
"No... but I could tell it was headed off to a higher level Demon. It tried to take this one's soul..." She gestured towards Gin, who was now beginning to stir. He opened his eyes groggily, and stared at the three people surrounding him with a bemused expression.
"You okay?" Luce asked, and Gin mumbled,
"No. Who are you?"
"We're just passerbys," Solare said quickly, hastily vanishing his wings and causing Gin to blink and squint at him, "and you were knocked out, so..."
Rubbing his forehead, he peeled off the blood-soaked headband and threw it onto the concrete as he staggered to his feet.
"Are you sure you can stand?" Volare asked in alarm, and Gin shrugged floppily.
"I can manage," He grunted, and started to walk towards the road in an unsteady line.
"Hey!! Where are you going? Don't you need a doctor?"
Gin shook his head as he growled, "I'm fine. Thanks. Go away."
The three angels looked after Gin's swerving back in partial amusement before Luce said quietly, "We'd better get Volare back Up."
"I'm sorry." Volare murmured, but Solare and Luce shrugged.
"I'll look for the Demon that got you. Luce, you look for Kale as soon as you get down here, alright?" Luce nodded as Solare turned, wings bursting from his back before a pale light shone from her and Volare.
Gin thought he felt something warm against his back, and something soft brush against his cheek, but when he spun around he didn't see a soul in the empty gas station. For some reason, this bothered Gin. He was sure that there hadn't been anyone there in the first place - he'd woken up alone - so why did he feel as though something was missing?
He shrugged it off, and began to make his way towards where he'd last seen Krieg go. There'd been something wrong with him, and he'd do what it'd take to rein him in before the captain went haywire. After all, he said to himself, no one can stand up to Don Krieg...
He didn't seem to notice the fact he was completely healed.
*
"KALE!!"
Luffy snapped his eyes temporarily towards the door that had banged open, but paid for it as a cracked tile struck his temple. Rendel stared as Luffy ducked under a further torrent of tiles and called back, "Hey Violet! I'm a little busy though."
Rendel did a quick scan of the situation. There was Luffy's body, currently in possession of its rightful owner, 17 years old and jumping around to avoid attacks from a deathly-pale man who looked insane. She tried to force back a headache. Perhaps the small vision she'd just had of gold wings hadn't been for herself... because no Messenger Angel could ever bring back Luffy's age and power into this world, not even for a short while.
She'd spent too much time thinking; the man noticed her, and glared straight at her. The moment his yellowed eyes pierced through Rendel's, the second she realised with a start that this was no ordinary maniac.
"A high level Demon?! Kale, what on Earth do you think you're doing?!" Rendel yelled, but she was interrupted as the Demon charged towards her. But she swiftly jumped away from it, cartwheeled over the rough cement floor and swiftly grabbed Luffy by the front of his jumper, pulling his chin down to level hers. She was far shorter now that he had grown.
"I don't want Kale to do anything!" Luffy protested, and they were minorly diverted while Luffy grabbed her and pulled them both down, barely managing to duck a sharp tile aimed for their heads, "I just managed to get this body back, and now--"
"But it's a Demon! It's not just another bad guy!!" She tried to explain before narrowly avoiding clawed swipes at their heads. They rolled to the far left of the Demon as Luffy responded,
"I know. But you guys were doing everything uptil now. I need to do something this time."
"Mortals are no match for Demons!" Rendel said exasperatedly, "Just bring Kale out, he'll do something about it!"
"Like what?! Pray it away?" Luffy snapped, and this time, he struck the wrong chord in Rendel.
Her eyes narrowed before burning silver, and she aggressively tore off her jacket and threw it onto the ground. The Demon was starting to run up at them from behind her, but she ignored Luffy's attempts to move them out of the way. Instead, she grabbed his face and forced him to stoop down temporarily so she could stare straight into his eyes. Luffy let out a noise of alarmed protest, but before he could force himself out of her grip, a sliver of light pierced through the back of Rendel's shirt. The words died in Luffy's throat as a pair of silver wings burst out.
"So cool!!!" Luffy managed to cry out as she soared up to the sky, looking as though she wanted to thwack him but didn't have the hands to. She was grabbing Luffy's face with her hands and concentrating on not losing eye-contact. As the Demon below crashed past where they had just been standing, Luffy found himself completely locked with Rendel's gaze. Kale's soul was responding to her calling gaze by glowing gold through Luffy's eyes, but her silent beckoning wasn't enough; Luffy was too stubborn.
"Let him out!" Rendel commanded. But Kale's soul stuck steadfast at the back of Luffy's mind. Before Rendel could attempt once more, however, the Demon was extremely angry at the fact they were in the air - and responded by jumping an almighty leap, snarling with claw-like fingers at hand. Luffy was shocked to find himself unpleasantly thrown out of control of his body as Kale shoved him out of the way abruptly, shouting,
"RENDEL!!" It was far too late, however; the nails of Cabodi's fingers were curled and dug deep into her stomach, and by the time she hit the tiles, blood was seeping through her clothes, a cry of pain escaping her. Her eyes flickered weakly of silver light as the Demon smirked, letting out a satisfied growl as it thrust his hand into her chest. Her eyes widened, and she seemed almost frozen; but, with great difficulty, she took her hand to grab at his arm and gasp,
"No, you c-can't take her--"
The Demon had taken too long. A sudden blast caught it at the stomach, and it fell on its side, shrieking as Kale proceeded to hammer it with an abundance of Holy Wind. Rendel stared; she had never seen Kale look so genuinely angry. His teeth were bared as he clenched them tightly, continually muttering prayers as he stormed blast against blast upon the shrieking Demon.
Rendel might have stayed on the floor quietly for all it was worth; after all, the high-level Demon on the floor did not seem remotely likely to counter-attack anytime soon. But Kale was too distracted to notice that the door behind him had crashed open and several figures loomed out from the darkness. Her eyes widened as they started to run towards him.
Still recovering from the close call Yuko's soul had just had, Rendel found her throat too constricted to speak; but even if she could have, she wouldn't have risked Kale looking away from the high-level Demon. Forcing herself up, in a flurry of silver feathers she was at the door. Kale didn't notice Rendel behind him, causing minor explosions from the floor to blind the crowd of possessed people with a cloud of dust and broken tiles.
But even Silver Angels, especially injured ones, have limits.
One of those that had crashed through the door was the Demon that had had the people with him possessed in the first place. Rendel found her throat grabbed and her whole form thrown up, her wings beating uselessly as she heard the possessed humans start screeching incoherently and a deep, delighted chuckle right infront of her. She thrust her hands towards the floor, desperately choking out a prayer and causing the tiles to erupt beneath the feet of her captor.
But this only succeeded in throwing the Demon off balance temporarily - Rendel noticed for the first time there was a normal, unpossessed human thrown over its shoulder. The Demon teetered backwards for a split second, then with a roar it threw its weight forwards by shoving the human onto the floor. Rendel saw out of the corner of her eye the figure try to scramble away, but the Demon slammed his foot heavily against her back, choking the girl's scream.
Ignoring the girl and focusing on his prize catch of Silver Angel now, the Demon leered at her. Then it abruptly backed off; Rendel could smell the Demon's putrid breath let out in a snort of disgust as it tried to push its way to devour her soul, only to be blocked by a barrier Kale had cast the moment he'd thrown the first Demon off Rendel.
Then the pressure was released from her neck, but she was thrown face-down; she tried to move, but the possessed humans had regained their sight and movement, and piled upon her limbs, pinning her limbs down in a crushing weight. She beat her wings fruitlessly - then realised with dread what they were planning to do as she felt their cold claws dig painfully deep into the joints of her wings past the feathery exterior.
She tried to vanish her wings, but not before a dreadful ripping sound filled the air; a wind ripped across the roof, slamming the door shut and catching Kale's attention. He whipped around in alarm and stared as the wind blew a litter of blood-soaked silver feathers into him. If Rendel had thought he had been angry before, compared to what he was next, it was nothing. The air suddenly swelled with heat as Kale let out an exclamation in Divine Language that caused Rendel's eyes to flick open in shock.
But the high-level Demon was no where near damaged enough to allow Kale that much distraction. It tore towards him, chewing on its tongue ferociously as it sank its nails into Kale's neck. Almost too angry to think, Kale gripped the Demon by its arm, causing it to howl at the heat Kale's skin was emitting, before jerking it and throwing it at the pack of possessed people.
They scattered like birds as the Demon fell with a loud crack amidst their feet, but the other Demon with its blue-and-white striped headband stood ready; picking up the girl that had previously been on its shoulder and under its foot, it ran towards the railing and kicked the high fence down with a single stroke. Then it lifted the girl high above its head, making as though to throw her off the building.
Kale's eyes widened as he felt blood drain from his face, whispering with dismay, "Nami...!" His eyes surveyed the Silver Angel, now being pinned down by another horde of possessed people, and Nami seconds from plunging to her death, her eyes wide and screaming obscenities as the Demon made jerky movements with its arms, as though it were about to throw her off.
"Stop that!" Kale yelled. All eyes were on him as he looked desperately around. Nami mouthed 'Luffy', her expression scared and surprised, and Kale gave a short nod. "Put her down." He said.
The first high-level Demon picked itself up from the ground before staggering towards Kale. The Gold Angel knew all too well what the shuddering gasps of wheezy growls meant - he knew what it was asking for return for Nami's life. He braced himself for the impact. Sure enough, the Demon paused for a moment just before Kale; then drew his arm back before drilling his fist into Kale's side.
Rendel barely managed to gasp from her view from the ground as she saw Kale fall heavily to the ground, clutching his side painfully, but making no movement to react. Her vision blurred as she saw the Demons and the possessed people surround him and proceed to try and pulverise him. Rendel did not shut her eyes, but the tears spilled over her lower lashes anyway.
*
Hmm. I guess it's been a bit too much if I suddenly woke up now, huh?
You don't seem so worried on the outside, but I'm sure your insides are begging to differ. I'd know, obviously; what else would have let you let me go?
Things are a lot different in here than in you, I guess. This girl's not as strong as you'd like, you know. I bet all you'd have to do is insult her a bit and she'd go crying for that other person she liked before.
Looking through her memories, she's got loads of that other guy. That white-haired person - I think he's a really annoying marine in our past life? She's got hardly any memories she's cherishing of you.
Alright, I guess that's normal - after all, you guys haven't really known each other for that long.
I guess it's also a bit harsh for me to judge the girl like this. But honestly - her technique sucks. She needs to fix herself up; her confidence seems to be pooled where the sword is. You've noticed too, haven't you? The way she moves isn't aligned as well as your moves are to the sword's arc. But don't you go telling her that now - she might as well be a rival in the future...
...I guess I'm a little depressed. I mean... this girl is totally unlike me. Her self-esteem needs a serious makeover, her ideas on justice are just so cocky and messed up, plus she's such a damn pushover. Any guy could get their way with her, I bet!
But she's got a bit of my looks, I'll admit that. She's even got a couple of my dreams... and she's got... she seems to have gotten something else of mine.
Despite her seemingly pushover attitude, it does seem she's got her eyes set high on the guy right for her. Looking around her soul you get to see a load of things that don't usually see the light. Aa, now look here - she wants a guy that's compassionate, caring and romantic! Hah! You've got none of those attributes.
Besides, don't you want a girl who's a bit more feistier than this, with a less stickler-like attitude to rules, not to mention someone who doesn't ask you so many questions? She's drop-dead annoying if you ask me.
So how did she manage to get herself into you, may I ask?! What's weirder is that it looks like she's got her sights set on you too. But you guys are completely incompatible, if you ask me. Hmph.
'Course, she is a bit like me. And she's... oh fine, she's a bit stronger than she looks. Her confidence is improving... thanks to you. I guess she needs to be a bit justice-orientated, or you'd go completely wild without restraint. And I suppose she only asks you questions because she cares.
Geez.
You're doing her good too, you know. You've somehow made yourself a place in her - some sort of mentor and role-model to look up to. But at the same time you're someone she really wants to get to know. She somehow has it figured that your loss is something she can't do anything about, yet it's something that's paining you somehow constantly.
She doesn't want to heal you... I don't think so.
Somehow she doesn't seem to think it's her place to do so. You know that really annoying 'I am gonna protect everyone' attitude you've been sporting since I've gone? She seems to want to adopt it, too.
That is, she wants to protect you too.
Being the dense person you are, I bet you didn't even think about why she was the one who got her soul taken first, and not yours. You're one of the people who are destined to be fully part of the return to our world, remember?
She got taken first because when that Demon tried to get you, she grabbed it from you. Even though she knew it was something stupid to do.
Sort of like how you know what you're doing now is near-impossible and frankly reckless and stupid, but you're doing it anyway.
I can't tell if this is growing up or backwards, but whatever it is, I have a feeling it's nothing about logical inconsistencies at this point.
I think you both don't even seem to realise what you guys are feeling! Both of you are as dense as bricks!! Birds of a feather may flock together, but honestly, this is just too much...
...Wow. Time really flies... considering this is the second life. Geez... if you didn't take me with you, I'd probably be happily in another body by now. Maybe we would have been acquaintances in GLU, right? Dumb cabbage-head.
Remember to take me back when you get her soul, 'cause otherwise I'm gonna get rejected and lost in the ghostly, Earthly realm of spirits. And if that happens, you can be sure I'll find a cross-dimensional portal, meander over to the Going Merry and kick your butt. Like always.
I'm keeping my eyes shut for now because I don't think you could take it if I started talking to you, huh? It's been too long...
...maybe a little later, ne?
*
Usopp glanced up desperately as Krow began to bolt up the stairs; he didn't have any idea how Kaya was going to manage avoiding Krow upstairs long enough for him to recover and get help.
Then Krow gave only a half-glance behind him, and though his face was twisted in anger, Krow still managed to twist it further into an infuriatingly lofty smirk.
Usopp was suddenly struck with the silent words being said by Krow; you're hilariously pathetic. As the words ran through his mind, Usopp stared blankly after the running figure before the full weight of the words began to incense his mind.
Sure he wasn't strong, but he wasn't pathetic. He'd really be pathetic if he acted stronger than he really was... Problem is, I usually act weaker than I am, Usopp realised. He glared up at Krow, suddenly filled with intense fury.
But the prudent side of Usopp surfaced suddenly, and relaxing the engineer sank back onto his bleeding legs. I can't help the situation I'm in, he tried to think reasonably, I mean, I'm not as strong as I'd like to be...
Next to him the weak cough of Merii caught his attention; he cast a glance at the shivering and dying blood-drenched man who'd thrown his life to the winds in order to protect Kaya.
Kaya... Usopp thought helplessly, I'm sorry...
Usopp looked up again to see Krow near the top of the stairs, and he narrowed his eyes.
I'm sorry that I'm not strong, that is. Not as strong as I want to be... not as strong as I need to be, in order to protect you to the same degree as Zoro, or Sanji, or Luffy... but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try.
With that thought, determination flooded him, and Usopp forced feeling into his numbing legs. Pfft. These leg wounds are nothing. They don't affect me in the least! He felt the blood squeezing out and dripping into his shoes as he tried to stand, and thought quickly, fine - maybe I'm not Superman, so this does freaking hurt. But it's nothing to me if it means I can protect someone...!
Forcing himself up on shaky legs and blinking blood and water out of his eyes, Usopp half ran, half stumbled to the stairs, whipping out from his pocket the small bag of marbles. His hands slippery with blood, it took a few seconds to fit a marble into a make-shift sling of his 'kerchief.
"KROW!!" He yelled on the top of his lungs, willing the shaking of his legs to stop, and as the man began to turn Usopp wasted no time in throwing his arm back slinging a marble forward with all his might.
Unfortunately, because Usopp had been so concentrated on the power of the shot rather than the aim, the marble failed to hit Krow squarely between the eyes. Instead, the marble struck Krow right up his left nostril.
Letting out a howl of surprise and pain, Krow staggered; Usopp, likewise shocked, still managed to retain his wits enough to sling more marbles into Krow's face. The second marble sank into Krow's right eye and the third crushing the bones in the bridge of Krow's nose with a wet sounding crunch. Still howling, Krow staggered over a step and immediately tripped and fell down the stairs, hitting every fourth step with a crunch before landing in a heap at Usopp's feet.
Usopp was so shocked for a minute he could do nothing but stare, but Krow suddenly started to stir. Screaming, Usopp somehow found the strength to grab two vases and a drawer and send them crashing over Krow's head - and still screaming, the engineer practically flew up the stairs.
*
Rendel jerked her head round as the distinct sound of pounding footsteps ascending rapidly up the staircase to the roof; the Demon and the possessed mob seemed too occupied with Kale to notice until it was too late.
With a great crash, the door was blown off its hinges and it slammed right into the group surrounding Kale; they let out high shrieks of pain as Sanji stood framed by the doorway, trying to catch his breath and take in the view of the rooftop. As the mob hurried to their feet, spitting angrily as their eyes rolled maniacally, Rendel realised with a start that the people on her were temporarily diverted.
A quick prayer later and the people on her were blasted off; rolling aside, she quickly picked herself up to her feet and ran to Kale.
Sanji was finding everything hard to absorb. Luffy looks older, for some reason; I guess that might be Kale's doing, but what's Rendel doing here? I guess she's involved herself somehow. Krieg's over there, but where in the world is-- The model did a double-take and his jaw dropped. NAMI-SAN?!!
"Sanji-kun!! Luffy!!" Nami cried, craning her neck over Krieg's arm still dangling her over the fallen railing.
"Hang in there, Nami-san!! I'm coming!!" Sanji shouted, and with a strengthened vigour - mostly from the bewildered incomprehension - the cook proceeded to kick his way spectacularly through the possessed mob towards Nami.
"Kale," Rendel breathed, praying desperately for him as she gathered his hands into hers, "Kale, come on, don't zonk out on me now, we need you the most..."
Kale blearily opened his eyes; he didn't seem able to talk. Rendel bit her lip to stop herself from cursing the Demons out loud. They had blasted into Kale so much Evil he didn't have much of himself left at the moment to move. Kale slowly lifted a hand, trembling slightly, but managed to curl it around Rendel's back.
"Kale...?" She said questioningly, having to raise her voice over the ruckus the possessed humans and Sanji were making, when she felt a warmth start to centre from her back.
"You're... still bleeding." Kale croaked, and he fell into a dead faint. Rendel's eyes rounded with concern and surprise, realising he'd spent the last of his conciousness to stop her wings from bleeding - when the boy sat up so suddenly their heads met with a bang.
"What the--" Rendel tried to keep her head from spinning, and as the stars winked at her from the corners of her eyes, she scarcely managed to notice that his body had shrunk back to its twelve year old status.
"I'M BAAAACK!!!" Luffy roared, seemingly unphased by the collision, and he leapt to his feet. Then he looked himself. "Ehhhh? I'm back to a little guy again!" He brooded for a few seconds - then swiftly ducked out of the way of a wayward broken tile.
"Took you long enough!!" Sanji yelled, round-housing a few men aside, and Luffy immediately jumped into action. He began deftly tripping and kicking people over; both him and Sanji began fighting their way through the tidal wave of the Demon-possessed people, assisted by the occasional small explosion thanks to Rendel's prayers.
Krieg's Demon had no idea what to do at this point, but it did know that it seemed to be fighting a losing battle. So it did the most distracting thing it could do - it threw Nami over the roof.
"Eh?" Said Nami.
For a split second, everyone stared, gobsmacked at the scene. Silence reigned for a second. Then chaos resumed as Sanji suddenly flipped a man over and threw him into Krieg.
Luffy ran towards Krieg, hollering a war-cry - and proceeded to easily jump off the roof after Nami, yelling, "I'm coming!!!"
Sanji stared after him before rushing over to the broken railing and looking down. A whirl of gold feathers brushed against his cheek, and Sanji saw the back of Luffy's shirt torn open with a pair of glowing wings, zooming down towards Nami's falling form, before the back of his shirt was grabbed and he was thrust back onto the rooftop.
"Sanji!!" Rendel yelled, "A high-level Demon just ran down the stairs after Nami and Luffy!"
But Sanji did not have time to contemplate this statement; Rendel finally gave into the limits of the human body and crumpled onto the floor as Sanji backflipped to get out of swinging range of Krieg, who was madly swinging a possessed human around like a club.
"Well," Sanji muttered as he eyed Krieg through narrowed eyes, "at least it won't explode when it touches me..."