Lyrics from "Cry Little Sister," by the Sisters of Mercy, "The Lost Boys" soundtrack.
Immortal fear
That voice so clear
Through broken walls
That scream I hear
What am I doing here? Setsuna sighed to himself. He was alone in the dark, crouched in the bushes several yards behind the church parking lot. Church...he hadn't attended mass since his parents' divorce. No sense in keeping up that pretense, sinner that he was. Such impure thoughts he had about Sarah... God would not want him showing his face in His house, now, would he?
The parking lot was empty. So what am I doing here now, when there's not a single priest to confess to?
There was no easy explanation. Setsuna had simply felt something calling to him, drawing him to this building. He'd walked down unfamiliar streets, through foreign alleys, but hadn't known his destination until he got there. He couldn't recall ever doing something like that before. Why take off walking without an objective? And here he was, in front of a church he'd never seen before. I should just leave, he thought, but...he couldn't...not yet. He had to wait. It would be soon, he thought. Then again, he hadn't finished his homework, and he had to get up for school in just a few more--
Suddenly Setsuna's breath caught as two figures walked by, almost close enough for him to reach out and grasp the trailing ends of a trench coat. But he didn't dare. Instead, he held his breath until the two strangers were across the parking lot. One carried some sort of container, and he seemed to be in charge. It was a he, wasn't it? Long hair, but a commanding air and striking presence, such authority in the being's directions to the shorter young man beside him...
The boy watched as the taller figure disappeared into the church. It was some time before the other stranger gathered the courage to follow. And then it was not very long at all before that same stranger came running back out into the night like a bat out of hell. Setsuna craned his neck for a better view. Why were the cathedral lights on now, at this hour?
Suddenly the earth trembled and rocked, throwing the strange young man to the parking lot pavement and making Setsuna fall flat with his hands over his head for protection.
What was that noise? It sounded like the roar of ocean waves...
But it wasn't. The church was burning.
Setsuna peeked through the bushes at the fiery blaze across the way. "Oh, my God..."
It got worse. The stranger's companion came out of the building, his body enveloped in flames.
The younger man shouted something at the burning figure, then the one that danced in flames laughed.
Laughed.
He was on fire.
What is he--?
My God...
Setsuna had never been so frightened. That creature on the steps... Was it Satan? It certainly was not human.
Then the....thing....opened its mouth, letting out a shriek of hell's wrath.
"ALEXIEEEELLLL!!!"
Setsuna's head began to buzz, and his vision started to cloud. Was the fire dying down? It wasn't even warm anymore. In fact, he felt a chill taking hold of his body. Setsuna felt as though he were falling asleep...
Organic angel Alexiel opened his eyes--the boy's, that is. She stayed inside him, where it was safe, where she could be protected and not have to worry about discovery. But suddenly, there she was--out in the open, exposed. It was dangerous, but the bushes provided just enough cover.
She raised his head to the direction of the sound. The building was completely engulfed in angry flames. That...beautiful...church...
True, she'd turned her back on God now, but still--to destroy a thing of such beauty... I can be thankful, at least, that no one was hurt.
But some of the flames stood out from the rest, and they seemed to be moving closer, almost in a human shape... "Upon my word! It's--"
Suddenly she realized what had happed. Subconsciously, she had answered the calling. She'd clearly heard his voice over the rush of flames, over the confusion raging inside the boy's mind. Nothing could keep out that scream, the scream that she'd heard from HIS lips.
Rosiel!
She wanted to spit his name like a bad taste, vile utterance that it was. But she didn't dare. Was it the boy's fear, or her own? They were, together, frozen to the spot.
The flames dissipated like a breath of air in less than a cloud of smoke, and Rosiel bent over his assistant, making comforting gestures. Alexiel knew that no reassurance was coming from her brother's mouth; he just wasn't capable of that sort of compassion.
As if to prove her point, Rosiel took a long, sharp knife from his partner's shaking hands. Alexiel's eyes widened in apprehension, and she didn't blink at the terrifying glimmer of steel as her brother bent over the other figure and pulled the stranger's head closer...
The unknown figure, still crouched on the pavement, shrieked bloody torture, begging to be spared the pain, grasping at Rosiel's slender arms. The blade turned in the inorganic angel's cruel grip, unhindered by the flailing arms of the one receiving the vicious punishment. It wrenched free with a slight effort, and the pitiful creature screamed like a dying man. Again, he was begging for release. Again, the knife came down, twisted...
Alexiel didn't have to be any closer to know what was happening. She could smell the blood. She moved one hand to his stomach, one to his gaping mouth, trying to keep the boy's body from heaving as it wanted. She couldn't let him see this; she would have to endure it on her own. He couldn't know, wouldn't understand...
Mercilessly, Rosiel stood and pulled the other angel by his hand, dragging him, quite literally screaming, from the horrific scene--luckily, in the opposite direction from which they'd come. The poor fellow stumbled after his master as quickly as he could, considering he'd just had his eyes permanently removed from his skull.
Alexiel watched with escalating fear as the church crumbled to nothing, his body trembling as her tears slid gracefully down the boy's face. This was not finished. It was only beginning.
She was asleep before Setsuna could hear the wailing sirens.
W-what the hell...?
Setsuna woke up, scratching his head in confusion. He was lying down in the grass, and it smelled terrible. He hated the stench of earth. What was he doing outside, anyway? The last thing he remembered--
A flash of red and blue, not an unfamiliar scene, brought him out of his stupor quickly.
Cops!
He'd been involved in more than one fight, on and off campus, and he'd been hauled into "The Station" more than once.
But what had happened that made him forget where he was even?
He sat up, but realized that the flashing lights didn't belong just to the Tokyo police force. There was an ambulance and also a fire truck nearby.
Oh, right...that church...
What am I doing here, again?
No reason at all, a voice in the back of his head told him.
Right. Time to split.
Setsuna quickly ran a hand across his face, wiping his dripping nose. His face was soaked, streaked with--what? Tears? But why?
No time. Move!