Meanwhile…
When Quatre got back to the mansion he walked into the common room that was the known hangout for everyone and said in his normal quiet voice, "She has converted it is the beginning." Wufei looked up and nodded his onyx eyes glinting with an angry flame. Hirro looked at Quatre with sad eyes and then quickly strode out heading for his room. When he returned he had a pocket watch clutched in his hands.
Duo recognized it immediately and said in a quiet voice that was abnormally serious or him, "That is Serefina-chan's pocket watch that her momma gave her." Hirro nodded and handed it to Cera who looked at it dumbly.
"What are expecting me to do with it Hirro?" But her story blue eyes flashed a sky blue and Cera just smiled as she picked up the pocket watch. She slowly turned it over and opened it to hear the music seep from it. She slowly closed the top and looked at Quatre and when he nodded Cera closed her eyes, her hands holding the pocket watch to her chest, her head bent as the wind picked up and seemed to envelop Cera. Noa walked in when she felt the power and frowned when she saw the picture Cera was conjuring up. What Noa saw was the Serefina she had grown up with, hugging a man that looked like Duo and the look on her face was something that Noa and wished to see all the time she had known Serefina. The look of peace and happiness that was on her face was astonishing. But Cera erased the image and then turned and looked at the people behind her with sad eyes. "We must protect this world." That was all she said before she sat down and looked at the pocket watch in her hands with tear filled eyes that seemed to show the truth of the matter. Noa walked over and enveloped her in a comforting hug and then looked at the boys around her with a quiet determination in her eyes.
Quatre looked at Cera with tear filled eyes and a voice behind them said in a quiet voice, "Quatre-kun you knew that this would happen. We will all lose the one we love before the new world is reborn. But that is only if the sacrificial lamb stays hidden in the shadows." When they turned around they saw the person they once knew as Serefina and the sadness in her eyes seemed to break the demon look in her eyes. Noa got up and tried to hug her but an invisible force stopped her within feet from her. 'Serefina-chan, I can make it so the curse on you is lifted and the people here can speak to you but you will look like the angel you once were.' Cera thought to her through their link and when Cassandra nodded she spoke the spell. When she finished there was a great force of power that struck Cassandra and she screamed as her body changed from the demon to the beautiful angel she had once been.
When the power had finished Cassandra felt the power enter her body. The blacks wings that Cassandra had accepted were pure white and gossamer again. And her dress was a toga that was short enough to give her full motion of her legs but still kept the wearer's modesty. Her sharpened canines had changed back to normal canines, so that she had the perfect image she had had 2 million years before. When she landed she smiled slightly and looked around for Shinigami. He had retreated to a corner to sulk but with some pitiful looks on Cassandra's part she got him to come and sit on the table next to her.
"Thank you Cera-chan. But I guess I can't make my wishes come true with the power I feel in my body?" Cera smiled sadly and shook her head and then looked at Shinigami with quiet eyes. Shinigami looked frazzled but even more he looked pissed and even Cera's calming voice across his mind was no comfort. Cassandra looked at him and smiled quietly before kissing his cheek. Shinigami wiped the remnants of the kiss away and then licked his hand to find the taste of honeysuckle nectar that has always surrounded Cassandra when they would meet each other back in the time before she was a demon. "Quatre-kun, you know that we must not fight on earth for the danger that it could hold to the civilians. So I will help to make the battle field of the first ancient war." Quatre nodded and closed his eyes while he chanted in ancient Arabic. Cassandra chanted the words of the ancient Angels and Cera and Noa stepped up to chant the ancient words of the mages. When they all finished chanting a portal to the first battlefield was opened, the battlefield that was the place of the first Great War at the beginning of time. And so Cassandra smiled serenely as the power left her and her normal body returned. She sighed quietly as her body returned to the one she had been cursed with, but Noa looked at her with questioning eyes and then walked through the portal.
When Wufei stepped through, a large drag on appeared next to him and Wufei smiled genuinely at the dragon before mounting it.
When Cera and Noa walked through their clothes were that of natives to the desert and two birds had appeared. One of the birds was a dove and while the other was a raven. Noa took to the dove and Cera took the Raven.
Next came Quatre and Trowa. When Quatre stepped through he realized that he was dress in light Arabian clothes of old and the turban on his head was almost unnoticeable.
When Trowa stepped through his clothes appeared to be that of a guard. The Arabian clothes were fitting enough to look good on his slim body.
The next people were Duo, Hirro, and Shinigami. Duo gained a black set of noble looking clothes while Shinigami appeared to have his normal clothes unchanged in anyway.
Cassandra was last to enter and when she walked across the sand dunes with everyone her clothes seemed to have the least to hide. The form-fitting top was tight enough to be comfortable and the pants were loose but not to loose.
When they reached the battlefield Hirro closed his eyes and his angel's wings appeared and he pulled his long sword out of the many folds of his clothing.
Shinigami pulled his weapon out of the folds of his clothing and got in to a ready position. Hirro followed his example and got into his ready position. As they both shot off they began to slash calmly. But as the battle went on Shinigami began to lose control of his emotions and began to slash wildly at Hirro. Hirro like always kept his cool and kept all of his emotions in check so he was able to keep the serene look on his placid face, unlike Shinigami who's face was changing quickly from one emotion to the next.
As the battle raged between the Angel and Demon, the demons of hell had been let loose so there was a strong scent of blood as everyone fought with the demons. Cassandra watched everything from the sky and frowned as she saw the demons creep from the shadows and attack her friends.
When a black dragon demon with glittering eyes and wicked long teeth that had come up behind Cera, and slashed her shoulder and back. So she quickly turned her daggers flashing as she began to fight the massive creature, But she soon found it was a loosing battle, her life force, and her blood spilling form all of her wounds.
When Noa saw her trouble she ran over quickly and began to fight with a short sword but the demon was stronger then they thought and soon after they started they met a bloody and dishonorable death, their bodies ripped to shreds by the demon.
Quatre, Trowa, Wufei and Duo all fought multiple other demons but they as they fought they all were ripped to little pieces by the onslaught of the demons that had rampaged them and surrounded them. Cassandra walked through the demons and fought off all the demons that were in her way and the ones that had tried to fight her.
When she reached the middle of the fighting where Shinigami and Hirro were fighting, she looked and saw that they were both bleeding from wounds that the other had caused and so she looked at the flying blades and then silently and defiantly walked in to the shower of silver, deadly blades. When both of the blades sunk into Cassandra's chest and abdomen, she thanked God that she would never lose her love again. Shinigami quickly pulled his sword out and so did Hirro only to have Cassandra fall to the ground in an undignified heap.
Shinigami held her close, close enough to him and he heard her whisper, "Some one had… to be the lamb and… I had nothing to gain and… nothing to loose so… I was perfect. Please God make… me and Shini-chan human… so that we can live with each other… for a real lifetime." Then her body went limp and Shinigami yelled with an angry scream at the one thing that she had looked up to even though she was damned.
"GOD if you can hear me! Bring her back! I want my love back and I will go to the depths of heaven to get her if you don't return her to me!" But all his screaming did was make his throat raw and make tears streak down his cheeks. So he let his anger out on the demons from hell. Every stroke took out 3 demons and the tears went unchecked down his cheeks. Hirro helped but was killed rather cruelly by a rather large and powerful demon.
When all the demons were dead, Shinigami looked at Cassandra's body and picked it up, silently calling on a portal to take him to the place were her body would be needed. Heaven was where he was going and when he entered he looked around. His indigo eyes flashed as he quickly walked to the room where HE was. When Shinigami kicked the door open HE was sitting in a huge chair behind a huge desk. Shinigami laid Cassandra on the desk and then stepped back.
"It was her dieing wish that you and her be made human but you do know that for this to happen you will be reborn, in these bodies, and will have to meet on your own?" Shinigami nodded and looked at his love with a deep feeling of hate smoldering in the hidden recesses. HE nodded and looked at Cassandra and snapped his fingers. Three angels came in and escorted Shinigami out and one picked up Cassandra. Shinigami walked next to the angel that was holding Cassandra and when they entered a huge room of marble, he squatted next to Cassandra as the angels started to put things in the huge pond in the middle. When the most powerful angel came over to Shinigami and Cassandra, She picked up Cassandra and lightly kissed her forehead before placing her on the floor. Within moments Cassandra sat up slowly and looked around confused. Her body was converted her past angel self so she looked like the high ranking angel that had helped so many lower angels through their training. But when the realization of what happened hit her like a ton of bricks she looked around and her face gained a superior and almost royal look to it.
Shinigami looked at her and suppressed a growl as he watched his love become the powerful being that he had known. When Cassandra heard Shinigami stand she looked at him and her face softened quickly before she ran to him and stood in his embrace like a scared child. Moments passed and no one had moved and then Cassandra stepped from Shinigami's warm and inviting embrace to stand in front of him and look warmly at one of the girls who she had helped through her guardian angel training. The girl looked at Cassandra with quiet eyes and an even quieter mouth.
Cassandra hugged her and then stepped back to get a better look at her, while saying in a quiet voice as she looked around her, "Stephanie, Were are my friends? They died also and they mean to much to me for me to be reborn without them." Cassandra looked at Stephanie with pleading eyes and then to Cassandra's surprise Stephanie pointed behind them. Serefina spun around and looked at the figures behind her and Shinigami. Her eyes misted over with tears as she ran to Noa and nearly knocked her over when she collided with her.
Duo looked over at her and raised and eyebrow saying in sarcastic voice, "You didn't really think that you could have gotten away from us that easily?" Cassandra looked that Duo and hugged him tightly, her feathers tickling his nose. His bat wings, like Shinigami's, flexed when she was near and she just lightly smiled at the movement before running to her brother.
"ONII-SAN!" she yelled as she collided with him. Hirro hugged her back tightly and then looked at Shinigami with critical eyes. His wings flexed into a comfortable position and when he released Cassandra, he lightly kissed her forehead in a big brotherly way. When it was Wufei's turn to be hugged Cassandra only held her hand out so they could shake hands, but Wufei pulled her into a warm, more then friendship hug. The heat from the fire in his chest, the flame of justice, heated Cassandra's very being as the hug lasted longer then it should have. When he was finished hugging her she moved on to Quatre and Trowa. They both looked at her and Quatre hugged Cassandra tightly before she shook hands with Trowa. Then came Cera and her eyes began filling with more tears. Her tears had been falling the whole time but they quickened as she hugged Cera tightly and then hugged Noa tightly.
"You two will always be in my heart, even if fate makes it so we will never meet in life we will always be one in heaven." Cassandra said as Noa and Cera began to cry. As she stepped away from her family she felt a light hand on her shoulder.
She turned to see Stephanie. "Serefina-san, the pool is ready. All you need to do is walk into it and it will give your soul to an unborn child." The last part was directed to the whole group and so couple by couple went in first then the single guys went in. Cassandra and Shinigami were last and they looked at each other before tenderly kissing each other. Shinigami stepped up to the pool and before he stepped in he lightly brushed Cassandra's tears away and also brushed the tear streaks down her cheeks away before getting ready to step into the pool. Cassandra gave one look to Stephanie before stepping in her hand tightly clasped to Shinigami's.
Nine months later… "Mrs. Najra, you are the parent of a healthy baby girl." The doctor said all the faces hidden in shadow. The woman looked at the doctor and said in a strong and confident voice, "I will name her Serefina. Serefina Najra." Then she continued cooing to the baby, "I'll name you Serefina because you're going to be the light of hope that will keep me going when things get tough." The woman's eyes looked for her husband and when she saw him in a corner, drunk and very unconscious, she frowned deeply at him and gave the doctor her baby, her eyes following it. The baby was almost hidden by her heavy eyelids but she forced herself to stay awake until the baby was gone. When the baby disappeared she glanced at her husband and shivered from the disgust that seemed to come off of the man. "The sooner I get out of here the best." She mumbled to herself as she lay down under all the comforters and quickly fell into the oblivion of sleep.
Across town another doctor said, "Mrs. Diablo, you are the proud parent of a strong and healthy baby boy." The faces of the doctor and the woman were hidden in shadow once again. The woman looked at her side and closed her eyes as she realized that her husband was late again so she said quietly, "I'll name him Christopher." The doctor nodded and the woman looked out the bay window in her room and looked to the heavens as if asking for something. The labor had been hard and long but she sat in her hospital bed looking out the window silently as she waited for sleep that had eluded her all afternoon. Her mind was troubled and she watched carefully for her husband, who was most likely late because of work. But the woman looked at her hands and was happy to see the gold band on her finger though the color had dulled with time. The woman's vision of the sunlight streaming through the window was hidden by a thick curtain of wavy brown hair that hung around her face in a halo. When sleep came to the woman she lay down quietly the sheet rustling with her movement but they seemed to hold her in its comforting embrace. As she fell asleep she smiled slightly for the first time in many years.
THE END