God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
Though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy places where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolation he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Scene One: The Hideout, BostonAsmodai stumbled inside the house, his eyes focusing on the pair waiting for him on the couch, their sealed forms rather not unlike humans at first glance. One tall and rather thin, his features still as angelic as ever, Focalor, Pursuer from Pandemonium and their leader in the hunt for Samael and the other escaped Sinners.
There had been others besides Aion's band, that had snuck out from under their noses in the Chaos caused by Chrno and Aion… And for fifty years they had remained hidden from the Pursuers… Forced to wait in patience for the link to them appeared, now they had a chance to capture them and return them for judgement or death, which ever came first. It was Focalor's duty to capture Samael and prevent God's plan from being recognised and done upon the earth… Chaos was meant to reign.
"Looking nice there, Little Brother," Adramelech snickered, his pale features mirroring the darker reflection of Asmodai… twins… "Decided to put up with a nice light show?"
The darker twin snarled something about Barriers and purification, while he dragged a wooden chair across the floor, straddling it backward to rest his crossed arms on the back of it. "I got the item you wanted, Focalor." The feather was long and slender as it lay in his palm, it's pale white and black colouring blurred together along its length. "One feather from that mutt. What on earth you want it for, I have no idea."
"He is no mutt." Their leader intoned softly, much like the rather calm Aion, Focalor had had his problems with the way Pandemonium had been run… but there had also been rather odd rumours about the Devil. Some that made the twins rather sceptical about what he was planning to do with the Sinners once they were captured. It was said that after the thousand years of exile the Fallen Angel Focalor was wishing to return to heaven… But nothing came of it. "Respect that which is more powerful than you, Asmodai, never think less of the strong because they could simply kill you for a drop of arrogance or aggression towards them."
His dark glasses slide a little down his nose as he leaned forwards a little over the back frame of the chair and glared at Focalor. "Just because he is stronger, doesn't mean I let him walk all over me!" Hissed out the dark twin from between clenched teeth, Asmodai was known for having no tolerance for practically any 'suggestive' comments… or women for that matter. He was no charmer and would show any creature its place was below him… yet he was not stupid. Or that is what his twin hoped.
Adramelech snorted out a breath, his pale white-silver hair swaying as he got to his feet and strode over to confront his brother. "You're an idiot!" And whacked him solidly on the head with the rolled up newspaper he had been reading. "Got yourself half purified!"
The younger of the pair actually whined at the reprimand, his hat been pushed down to shield his eyes and face, "I only wanna prove I am no push over." But in trying to prove so, he showed he was… The irony… ah the sheer cruel irony.
"To Samael… we are nothing more than light weights." Adram said, considering his brother with rather bemused crimson eyes. "Focalor… What do you intend to do?"
The Leader of this group of Pursuers held up the single feather in his hand and grinned menacingly. "Trap him of course with his own attack. God's Plans are going to backfire right on him."
"That's where I come in." A deep voice said from the shadows of the room, making the twins jump at the angel's voice echoed in their ears. Lucifer stood there, the once 'prince of light' of Heaven was now the one that directly opposed God. "I want the destruction of Heaven."
After the revolt of some Angels in Heaven underneath Lucifer, many were cast down to join the Devils in Pandemonium, becoming known as the Fallen Ones… some still had very large grudges against those who had been at the forefront of leading the Lord's army against them… Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel and Michael, the Four most powerful Archangels that protected God's Throne. Others had found it a blessing to be free of Heaven and live on earth. However, there was a lot of contention between the Fallen Angels and the Devils, for neither side liked the other, except for those Fallen Ones who had become Pursuers like Focalor…
"You know well that our revenge is at hand. God's designs allow us the freedom to chose which method to bring about his own downfall… Aion wants to bring Heaven to earth and Earth to Heaven… I want to destroy Heaven, for the stain upon us had been there for far too long… the name that burdens us with having to live beside Devils. I am tired of being suppressed by a being who has never truly walked this pathetic world." Lucifer glared at the twins, who immediately flinched away from those fierce blue eyes. "Many here are just pitiful creatures that are nothing more than insects compared to us, Focalor."
Asmodai sent the chair crashing to the floor as he leapt to his feet at that insult, he was snarling viciously at Lucifer, his crimson eyes narrowed behind the dark shades, claws and fangs bared in outrage. Wanting to kill the Fallen One over that direct blow to his ego, he was prevented by Focalor, who thrust Asmodai back down into his chair and held him there and growled out under his breath.
"Take it. Or you will end up dead, for your own stupidity… I thought you just learnt this lesson… Don't prove us wrong in letting you be in on this, Asmodai."
"You Fallen Ones are all the same… weak cowards."
A fist connected with his cheek at that. "Watch your mouth, Asmodai before I decide to kill you myself." Focalor gazed at the beautiful Fallen One instead of the bleeding Devil, who once bore the title of the Light of God, yet was stripped it… Because of his arrogance and lust for power. "Decided finally on a plan, eh? How you gonna get in?"
"Through Heaven's own Gates!" Lucifer laughed, his blue eyes glittering with a cruel hatred and bitter-sweet joy that was twisting his stunning features into a hateful mask of wicked intent. "Uriel is the Key to God's plan… now she will be our tool to shatter Heaven and bring about our glorious vengeance against the human's precious Lord!" The burn of loathing within this Fallen One for God sent a chill running straight through Focalor…
"Are you certain Uriel is upon the Earth?"
"Fool." The glinting menace of his blue eyes settled on Focalor, who was one of the only ones that was allowed to question Lucifer's ideas because the Fallen One had a soft spot for the stoic Pursuer. "There were sightings of Samael in San Francesco, and also of his companion… an angel with flaming wings. Now who would that remind you of?" The Angel asked sarcastically, his blonde hair shadowing his features, darkening them as his sapphire eyes sparked into flame, burning at him as he watched the other with the abhorrence he would show any enemy.
The other Fallen One sighed, knowing the answer… "Uriel." Now… "Remember Lucifer… this time I am leading…"
The sapphire eyes glittered, while the elegant Fallen One moved to sit on the edge of the couch. "Very well then, since it was you who made this possible with your supporters amongst the Devils… I give you my support Focalor. As long as in the end, Uriel is mine…"
"Then we have a deal…"
Scene Two: St Uriel's Church
Brother Zakk Bellamy felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of a Sinner right behind him, well he wasn't expecting it. Yet, the welcoming grin on the Devil's face was enough to make the boy return it, actually embracing the Sinner with a laugh of delight. "Raum… been a while since I saw you last."
The German Devil flashed the Brother a grin, ruffling the youth's auburn locks with affection. "If I recall the last time I saw yah, young Brother, was when yah were pullin' me from a cage. I did appreciate that, stupid humans…" He laughed, quiet bemused by it, raising a hand to prevent the boy retorting to the comment. "Not yah, Brother Zakk. Nor the White Raven, though how anyone can call her human is beyond meh." His thick accent made his words sound rough, sharper than they should probably be, yet it suited the tall red haired Demon all too well. His cunning eyes studied the pair, standing in the centre of the debris strewn dais.
"Consider those two…" He gestured broadly towards the pair, who were talking quietly that neither could quiet hear what they were saying. "One can beh called a Devil, the other… well lets just say, Keziah Aaron is not human in the slightest. Just look at them and yah can see it straight off."
"Consider us two?" Zakk joined in the humour of the situation, "Me a Militia, you a Sinner, but, I loved playing the part! Should have seen it on the Train ride up here… We had Asmodai absolutely convinced the Order was up to something 'evil'."
From under long strands of vivid red hair, blue-violet eyes gazed at the teen with a smirk, "I can believe that, Zakk." The Sinner wrapped an arm around the thin shoulders of the boy, his tall frame almost impossible to describe as other than a giant in human standards, dwarfing even the thin teen. "The Order… I still can't believe Father Remington actually agreed to allow us to come down to New York, in the middle of this crisis… though by the time we get there. Hopefully Aion will be defeated."
"San Francesco is in ruins." The laughter immediately stopped, "Thousands are dead… Samael was there… after it happened… I saw Samael… workin' and… Uriel too." Raum was instantly turning to gaze down at the boy, blue-violet eyes met azure and the humour instantly died as reality struck both very hard. "Could she had stopped them?" Was all he asked, gaze flickering the indigo-haired girl standing in the arms of the four-horned Devil. "If she was alright… could she have stopped Aion?"
That made him jolt to a stop… "Keziah stop Aion?" The thought of that, seemed unlikely… but was there truth in it? "How exactly? She might be the Contractor of the Angel of Death, but I don't think she is that powerful… whatever you seem to be suggesting about."
"Why come here to St Uriel's church to meet? Why not all go straight to Boston?" And some of the things clicked into place… "Why does Asmodai and other Devils call her the White Raven? Why did Uriel, an Archangel of God appear?"
"What is she exactly?"
"Do you really want to know…"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Samael?" The girl asked softly, gazing up into the vivid teal eyes of the raven haired Devil. "I don't understand why I am so important… You can obviously use your powers… I saw what you did against Asmodai… Though I can understand and appreciate you taking me away from there…"
"I am bound." His fingers lifted her hands to the collar around his neck, allowing her fingertips to trace over the jewels that adorned the smooth worked leather. "Chained to Earth and Pandemonium. The Earth is falling… Humanity is collapsing in upon itself…" Samael gazed down at her, trying to understand more of what was happening around them both. "God has cast down his Archangel…"
"Samael… Azrael. No…" She corrected herself, There is a Devil and an Angel in him, Samael and Azrael. "A thousand names throughout time, yet none your own… Who are you?"
"A name of my own?" His eyes glowed in the dark, shimmering with the demonic powers within him. "And which is your own? You cry for the earth, yet Heaven weeps without your light."
"Damnit." Keziah poked him hard in the chest, frustrated with the riddles he had just given her instead of answers. "Who are you? More of a question, since everyone keeps saying it, who am I?" Arms cradled her against his broad chest, his breathing and strong heartbeat lulling her. "I won't get an answer to that will I?"
"No." The horned one answered, wings folding down over her body, hiding her from the sight of Heaven and Earth. "The time in not right, White Raven. Even those who have Faith are falling to the Earth and into its chaos." Time had no meaning to him, nor life and death. "Every life comes and goes at the will of God. My duty stands at the line between Heaven and Hell, Pandemonium. I am the last to take the life as the Lord wills. To crush hope and bring the soul to judgement."
"San Francesco? I keep seeing it in flames… It was burning and the world lay in ruins. How do I know that… It's on the other side of the country!"
"Shh…" The Angel of Death soothed, I am sorry my world darkens your own. "The Will came down hard upon the city and we were called to answer it. You are my Contractor, so I took you with me while you were asleep..." And the price… the price of that… neither of us understands completely. "Death is collared to follow the Will. We were there… as I watched over those lost lambs and saw..."
"There was a light there too…" Face turned up to look into the teal orbs watching her, for a moment he was confused by the look of awe on her face. "It was beautiful. I saw… an Angel."
"You did, my Little One? Tell me of you angel." He needed to hear it, to know if what she had seen matched what he knew of Uriel. He had seen things too, as he knew he would… "I have seen many angels… maybe I can even tell you his name."
"No." Shaking her head, eyes blinking a little as her brow furrowed as she tried to remember exactly what she had seen. "It was a she… Beautiful… She watched over the souls and the Astral Lines. Six wings of gold and red, like fire, and her aura was so strong it lit up the entire sky… She was singing, I think…" Keziah Aaron shuddered in his arms, biting her lip as the Devil Blood weakened in that moment. Her legs wanted suddenly to give out from under her at the remembered angel, who golden eyes had seen right into her soul... Yet the image seemed to be as if she had been looking at a reflection in water… as if staring back at herself… in a mirror. "Who is she?"
Instantly the Devil held his Contractor close, leaning down to watch her pale significantly with the arrival of Raum and his Sinners. He knew this would happen… "That was Uriel, the Archangel of Salvation. The Lord was rescuing his lost sheep." Sweeping her up into his arms, his gentle voice touched her ears again. "You are obviously unwell, I will carry you." He smirked a little down at her, evidently pleased a little that he was allowed within reason to hold her close and protect her as he should.
A blush stained her cheeks, making her look far younger than her sixteen years. "I…. Thankyou." Caught right out this time, shyly the girl let him hold her. "What does the Contract mean?"
"Each time I use my powers when I go full Devil, the powers within you increase, as they feed off my Demonic energy… And the marks upon you become clearer… The forces of the Will become stronger within you…" Raven locks sheltered his face from the moonlight slanting down over them where they were within the ruined church. "The Will is that of God and Pandemonium, his wishes and plan of the Earth."
"So when the 'Will' becomes strong enough…?"
Sighing, the powerful Devil replied despairingly, "The Contract forces me into action. We are his backup plan…" A anguished chuckle came from him then, his shoulders slumping under some burden that weighed him down. "Yeah, God has a backup plan if the first doesn't succeed, try again. We are that plan."
God has a back up plan… Now that's comforting. She mentally rolled her eyes, surprised that the Lord would be like this. A jolt accompanied that, and Keziah glared up at the Heavens. "Okay I get the point, my Lord. No need for reminders… Shesh." What the hell? Did she just say that…
"Well that's more like it." Raum said with a grin as the Crow moved out to interrupt the pair. "Been waitin' for yah to tell him not ta kick you around, Keziah." The German Devil grinned, running a hand back through his thick crimson hair before gazing at the others appearing behind the two. "Though, Samael yah are rubbin' off on her…"
A raven brow went up at that as the stoic calm over took his caring features, and death became him. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"Kez!" Zakk called with a wolfish grin, waving excitedly at her to try and convince the two Devils, now was not the time for one of their odd debates, which others had told him the two excelled at. "Were going to Boston!"
Oh dear, now he is going to be hyper for days over this… Kez rolled her eyes at the over-excited teen, trying to figure out when her luck had run out and she had ended up surrounded by a bunch of guys… "Sounds like fun… as long as I get some Boston Cream Pie… though I have no idea why they call it a pie."
Scene Three: San Francesco Flash back
The dark raven-haired demon wielded his sword amongst the fields of destruction, his teal eyes burning with the fierce flame of his duty. His four thin black horns swept back from his face also were linked by a tiny circle of smaller horns that formed a crown of ebony beneath wild raven bangs. Covered with the last traces of Astral, the Devil flung back his head and roared out a howl of fury as he was confronted by other Devils who wanted to prey on the souls he had just released…
Abruptly a brilliant purifying light from above destroyed them with the sweeping motion of a hand, their cries of despair silenced back into the earth where they belonged. Instead of dying, the Devils were reverted to safer seal ones, touched by the mercy of the Archangel hovering there above the earth, six burning wings spread wide behind her body holding her in the evening air. "Samael…"
Instantly the Devil froze, his sword held to defend himself as his feathered wings shimmered pure black in the night air instead of white and black… the demonic part of him had become strong with the clouds of Death hovering around him. "Angel!" The beast stalked across carnage, his body moving with a predator's grace as his wings fluttered behind him. "Come down here Angel… I have my own way of dealing with your kind…" His knuckles crackled as he held up clawed hands,
"Collared One."
The jewels upon his collar suddenly were radiating crimson light, the Devil was chained by the Contract upon him, and holy chains bound him in place, forcing him to the earth. Heavy links wrapped around his limbs tightly, not allowing him the freedom of any real movement. With a howling bellow of absolute loathing, Samael was raging against his confinement. Streaks of dark crimson blood rose from where the shackles cut into his flesh, where his violent struggles had rubbed his pale skin raw already.
The Angel's gentle hands rested on his horns, touching them gently and running her fingers back through his wild raven mane, and strangely it seemed to calm him. Like a unicorn, calmed by the touch of a maiden. "Quiet now, Samael… there is no need for anger."
Abruptly a soft purring came from beneath her hand, the demon on his knees at her feet, yet his teal eyes turned upwards, the violence that had been there a moment before, now was filled with love. The polarity of those two emotions was startling. "Uriel." Samael breathed out, wanting to touch her… for so long he had been without her… Why did now God torment him with her presence? "Why are you here? And not Keziah?"
A frown made her beautiful features look so terribly sad… as if someone had ripped out her heart… "Please… don't say that name…"
The Devil shifted under the chains, they clanked together as he moved, his mighty wings trying to stretch under the bindings over their soft feathers… At the top of the ebony feathers the colour began to drain away…. Loosing the pure back to fade til grey until it revealed an untainted white beneath. With this, she knew he had come out of the rage that had consumed him… the violent hatred for his duty and the pain that accompanied loosing some souls to those who preyed on them. The Angel within, Azrael had returned from the depths of the pit… to restore calm to him.
"Why? Why Uriel?" The strange horned angel asked softly, his voice barely heard above the cries for help and the howling winds. "Look into the water and tell me what you see."
The fiery angel pulled away to gaze down into the bay waters beside where they hovered on the edge of the dock side… and the reflection of a hybrid staring back at her. Keziah Aaron stared back at her in the water… "NO!" Her fiery aura soared around her as she began to cry… she didn't want to be what she saw… she was an Archangel of God, not a mortal.
And clatter of metal links struck the ground as strong arms wrapped her up in odd bi-coloured wings. "Stop fighting it… Uriel. These chains you bind me with, will bind the Devil, but not his heart for long..."