Oooohhhh, people express concern about the angel storyline shadowing Noir a little. As i have said before that will change, dont worry, i mean think about it. Mireille has gone to see that "contact of hers"... hint-hint... follow the laws of the world people, she will get info and being Mireille will try and kick ass. Interesting fact for you all, according to the dictionary, an assassin is NOT someone who kills for money. In fact Mireille and Kirika are not assassins, they are either hitmen or simple killers. To be an assassin you have to kill a political figure, even if you are not paid and even if you are a psycopath! Alternatively you can assassinate someone by slandering them, even if they are NOT a political figure, you just have to ruin their reputation. Then you can say "I have assassinated you, but technically i am not an assassin!"

But because nobody really CARES, we will keep calling Noir assassins...

Yay.

Okay, this is LIKE a filler, but with IMPORTANT information! That you NEED to know, think of it as background!

Scripture V - Only a Foolish Deer places his trust in the Jackal, but sometimes one must ally with the Jackal to fend away the Lion... But what will happen once the Lion is gone?

Les Deux Magots, a small well known diner located near the centre of Paris. Mireille and Kirika had been there often it was almost always full but the drinks served there were marvellous, now however it seemed as though there would be no more happy times spent here. From the outside it did not look as though much had happened, just a few smashed windows. Mireille however was sure that the inside would look much worse.

Walking carefully up to the rotating circular door of the café , the blonde assassin looked through the glass to the inside. Shadows reached across the interior and nothing could be made out with any accuracy, but the simple fact that the diner should in fact be open was enough to warn her. Stepping into the door she placed an arm on the metal bar and attempted to open turn the door around only to feel it jam after a slow half turn. Placing her weight against it she gave another harder push, only to face the same results. With a soft sigh Mireille turned to find whatever was jamming the door closed, she couldn't quite see what it was that looked to be stuck in the door from the inside, but the hunched human shape laying on the floor, with an apendage jammed in the door made her stop.

Quickly turning back and backing out the door she turned her gaze onto the smashed window, a few swift kicks cleared the lower sill of any sharp glass still hanging on and Mireille climbed through into the side area of the two room diner, with a quick breath she stepped up to the small door leading into the café proper. The smell hit her first as the door opened, a pugnant blast of foul air that quickly overwhelmed her and made her cough and back away. It was a smell she knew, but far worse than normal. The smell of death. It was never usually this bad, as a rule she and Kirika were gone before the bodies completely cooled, but here the bodies had obviously been dead for quite a while, allowing them to truely reek.

Stepping carefully inside with a hand over her mouth and nose the woman searched the café, her small black gun drawn and held in her other hand. No sounds were made, nothing attacked and nothing stirred, however this did not serve to calm her, but rather to make her even more alert. A few more steps across the hard floor covered with crunching fragments of glass brought her to the centre of the dining area, letting her look over what was left. Tables were upturned and chairs were tossed about, the glass on the main front window was shattered. At first glance it would seem as though some explosive had erupted from inside, but there was too much glass inside the building for that. Rather something, or someone, had come in through the window first. Leaving in much the same way, but allowing a bomb to deal with all the evidence that remained.

Bodies were strewn around the floor, maybe seven or eight in total. They were generally against the walls, though one or two were crushed under tables. Suggesting that the explosion had been roughly in the centre of the Diner, blowing the already dead people into the walls. There was blood everywhere, pooling along the floor and dripping down the walls. No gun, short of a rocket launcher could be so messy, and the wounds didn't speak of firearms. They were cuts, slashes, gouges, the kind of wounds that only a very sharp object could make. Likely a melee weapon, no small knife commonly used by thugs produced such gore.

Something crunched with a wet plop under her foot, making her look down in distaste at the crushed hand under her foot. Severed. Grimacing she lifted her foot off it and stepped away, looking at the burn marks, judging where the explosion had happened and what it had been aimed to do. Sheer destruction, that was all the placement of the bomb suggested, making of the Diner a tomb with no evidence.

A typical terrorist attack on a small Diner.

Or at least, that was the story that the newspaper would spread around the next day, aided by the police. Mireille knew better, it could easily have belonged to something else... but in her mind there was no doubt. Careful to avoid cutting herself and thus dripping her own blood on the sharp glass, and therefore leave an interesting blood sample for the police, she picked up the small feather from the floor. It didn't surprise her as much as it should have, another Angel.

What did surprise her though was the feather itself.

Purest white.

"Very telling isn't it?" A melodious voice commented from behind. Mireille span on her heel while slamming a foot backwards, even as her arm tucked in against herself and shot out at the figure. In all of two seconds it was finished, Mireille now staring at a deep shadow in the diner, her gun unwaveringly promising death to whomever it was. She was calmer than she should have been, she knew. Since they had found that Angel Ramiel she had been exposed to many new secrets. She knew now that her skill might not always bring her through, not when the enemy was inhuman. The gun did not shake however.

"Into the light." Mireille commanded, jerking her head to the left to indicate where she wanted her unseen witness. There was a brief moment before Mireille heard glass crack under a heel, as a figure merged from the shadow and walked calmly to the centre of the room. Mireille nodded to herself, not really surprised at who it was.

Long red hair flowing in waves over her shoulder, lightly tanned skin and green eyes. The curvacious woman who had warned them the previous day looked back at Mireille. She was wearing the same clothes as the other night too, a red shirt over tight denim jeans. The shirt was hardly enough to cover her midriff and showed the curves of her large breasts. Despite the cold night she wore nothing else over the tightly fitting shirt.

"You remember me?" The woman asked in a sultry voice, one that would set men's hearts and groins afire. Mireille simply nodded to the question, her finger still resting over the trigger of her Walther. Just because a woman had apparently warned them did not mean Mireille could trust her.

"Yeah I do." Mireille spoke back, the harshness in her voice leaving little doubt as to her mistrust. "Are you the one who called me here?" The woman remained still, though perhaps more to gain Mireille's trust than to avoid a bullet. Could it be that all Angels were capable of stopping bullets like that other one had?

"That's right, I have some information that you might find useful, I can also offer you my aid, if you want it." There it was, the offer. Mireille had expected something like it, the information might be valuable, it might not be. But now someone was trying to win Noir over to their side.

"I'll have the information first thankyou." She wouldn't play to their games, not unless they had something better to offer.

"Very well. Is there a place we can speak privately, this Diner will not remain unnoticed for long. With all the dead bodies, the authorities are bound to show up sooner or later." Mireille narrowed her eyes at the woman, not that the gesture could be seen in the dark diner, did she trust the woman enough to bring her back to the apartment? No, of course not. But then... you never trusted anyone in this job, taking risks was what brought you success. Were the gains worth the risks however?

"Why should I trust you?" She asked the red haired woman, she didn't know what she expected as an answer, after all what answer could she give?

"Because you have no one else to trust, if you stay on the defensive too long then they'll kill you. You know you need to attack, I have the information you need. Not to mention that I can gather more, I can fight with you too if you need me." Mireille chewed on the inside of her cheek, keeping a cold and calm visage on the outside as she mulled over the woman's words. Sensing her indecision the redhead spoke again, "What do you have to lose? Your life won't last much longer anyway if you don't take my offer. You know that's true."

"Give me some information first, then I'll decide." She had said it to give herself more time, not because she actually needed it.

"That man, Angel, that tried to kill you, the one I warned you of. His given name is Azaziel, or Semyaza. He's one of the Horsemen and quite possibly the strongest Fallen Angel you will ever see. Others won't be that strong, and most can and will be brought down with a few bullets to the vital organs." Even as the redhead spoke, Mireille could sense her fear of this person, it was obvious that Mireille and Kirika were not the only ones being hunted.

"The Horseman? As in the four horsemen? Famine, plague, death and war?" Mireille was proud of her knowledge. The redhead shook her head.

"Those four are the real four horseman, not controlled by anyone. However the dark prophet, who leads the Fallen has named his four Generals after the four horseman, with each name corresponding as well. Azaziel is death. Now will you trust me?"

Mireille inspected her carefully, she had made no threatening moves but then that proved little. Those green eyes gave nothing away. This was her decision, and she and Kirika would pay the consequences for it, good or bad. There was a lot of pressure riding on her shoulders right now. A decision had to be made though, for the woman was right about one thing. Mireille always trusted her instincts, and they told her that they needed information now, or they would soon die.

"Fine. I don't trust you, but follow me. We can talk on the way back." She didn't say where they were headed of course, but lowered her gun and made a show of placing it back in her handbag. In reality it was an empty show of peace, since she could draw it in a matter of seconds. Not to mention that this woman had admitted that anything could be brought down with a few well placed shots, by defenition that meant she could be too.

"That's all I can ask for at this moment." The redhead commented as she stepped over a dead body and out of the broken door with Mireille. "What is your name though, mine is Malyssa."

"Mireille." She replied in a neutral tone. "Tell me more about why we are targeted." Mireille spoke as she led them down a few alleys, it would take them maybe forty minutes to walk back to the apartment, plenty of time to grill the woman for information.

"I don't actually know that, you must be a threat to them, it's the only reason I have to believe that Azaziel of all people would attack you." Noir? A threat to the Fallen Angels, creatures who were mythology? That just didn't make sense, Mireille assumed that most Angels of both types had little to do with Mortals. So why would two assassins bother them. Mireille would be the first to admit that with Kirika at her side they were a formiddable pair. But certainly not enough to alter the outcome of a war. How could assassins alter the outcome of a war? She thought to herself as they walked, By killing the leader obviously, provided that the entire thing is run by one man and would fall apart without him. So here that would be... the devil? Obviously someone equally powerful, someone who would certainly have more power than this Azaziel...

There was just no way that the two of them could constitute such a threat.

"Tell me more about the main war." Mireille asked, or rather demanded, "Why are the Angels fighting each other?" Perhaps it was the old theory, good verses evil, but surely such outdated concepts couldn't keep a race at war for... however long the Angels had existed, hundreds of years? Thousands? Since the beginning of time?

"Alright." The redhead replied with a nod, "First you need to understand the way things work. There are two types of Angel, Divine Angels, those are white wonged messangers of God as you may know them. I'm sure in your line of work you know not to judge a book by it's cover, some Divine Angels are what you might call evil, some are greedy, peverse, morally wrong. However they are still divine. The fact is an Angel remains Divine until it "sins" and by sin it would be a very large sin. On the other hand Fallen Angels are either those who have sinned, or children of Fallen Angels. They may be evil and corrupt, but then they may be nice too."

"But I digress, the point is it all began in an age where humans were first coming into being. The Divine are ruled by high beings known as Seraphs, which are said to be the only ones who can speak to the Lord. Back then there were five Seraphs; Metatron, Lamington, Aensor, Marinen and Morningstar. Each was extremely powerful and each held power over a fifth of the Divine. In a way they were commanders without a war. Each had a group of generals under their command, known as ArchAngels. Anyway there were many arguments but to cut it all short it began when Morningstar was sent to watch over the humans with a bunch of his followers. They did so since it was the command of his Lord, and for a long time they acted as silent guardians to the human race. However after a while some were spotted by humans, it was inevitable one cannot remain hidden for all eternity. Some made friends amongst humans and some stayed with them for long periods of time."

"What hit the war off however was when Morningstar took a human woman to his bed. Others had done the same and it was by no means rape, since the women were all more than willing to bed with these fine winged figures. However the offspring of this forbidden union turned out to be evil and powerful giants with great powers, they quickly turned on their famalies and began to kill humans indiscriminately. It was then that Morningstar ordered his host to deal with the problem, a short war ensued before the last of the giants were killed, but when the Angels attempted to return home to Celestia they were not welcome. News of the atrocity had reached the other Seraphs, who in fury at Morningstar copulating with their charges, ordered him executed. However, Morningsta was a very powerful Seraph and his followers were high on their recent victory and full of experience in fighting. As Aensor demanded that Morningstar surrender to his death the host roared with fury and defended their commander. The battle was exceedingly brutal, fast and completely unexpected and all of Aensor's host was killed in the resultant battle, before Morningstar's host fled from Celestia before the other Seraphs could order their hosts to battle."

"However it was forbidden to kill other Angels, and since only Morningstar's host had survived their wings darkened and they became Fallen Angels. Ever since then the Divine swore war on the Fallen for vengeance, and the Fallen swore war on the Divine, for casting them out. The first war was huge and was fought on Earth, it ended when Morningstar was greatly wounded as he struggled to battle the three remaining Seraphs at once. Marinen was killed in that battle. The Fallen did not retreat, even as their leader was dragged behind lines to heal, in the end the battle ended when the mortals, who were furious at their lands being destroyed, rose up and attacked the main host. Mortals had always outnumbered the Angels and in this battle they almost halfed the population, forcing both sides to retreat."

"Morningstar was too wounded to battle on and even now recuperates from his wounds, waiting until the time in which he can come forth again. Right now his armies are led by Dark Prophets, who rise and fall as mortals but in their time lead the Fallen host. Since then up until now the war has raged on in secret, Seraph Lamington was killed in the third crusade and Metatron fell not a week ago. There are no more Seraphs in the Divine host, and the war may be nearing it's end. That's it really. No one knows what the Fallen will do if they win, destroying the world seems a little unlikely, maybe they'll simply fade away, content in the knowledge that they earned their revenge?"

Mireille let out a long breath, so that was the reason why? One collossal accident? Leading to so long of war and death? Then again, Mireille knew that most wars were started over foolish reasons, why should this one be any different? Now with the Divine host losing all it's leaders there would probably be a big change in their plans, in their entire structure. If they even hoped to survive what was looking to become a very one-sided war they would need to change. Was that why they were now bringing humans into the equation? If the humans of old had managed to defeat the Angels at their strongest then perhaps the Divine and Fallen were trying to win the humans of this age over to their side.

"So this war has been going on for millions of years?" Mireille asked incredulously, red hair swayed as Malyssa nodded. "And nobody tried to stop it? Or make peace?"

"How?" Malyssa replied in a scornful tone, "How can you simply declare that there will be peace after so long? Thousands of Angels have died and every new child is taught to hate their counterparts. Sure, some have tried for peace, but nobody has the power to grasp it. If one Angel says there should be peace he would be ignored, if the Divine all decided to try for peace, the Fallen would wipe them out in that moment of weakness. The same would happen the other way around. Besides, the Divine have no leader at the moment, so there is no one to negotiate with, and the Fallen are led by the Dark Prophet who is a mortal. What mortal would set aside all the power they could gain to ensure peace for a race that will outlive them? You don't become a Dark Prophet by being a martyr."

"So where do you come into all of this then?" Mireille asked as she stopped on the spot and turned to face the mysterious redhead. "What are you?"

"Me? I'm Malyssa, that's all I am, and all I'll ever be. However, I will aid you!" Her face held no dishonesty and after a moment's silence Mireille began to lead them again.

"Why?" She asked after a while.

"Oh? Because I was ordered to do so, and before you ask I'm not allowed to tell you who my employer is. Let's just say he thinks you'll help him and is willing to aid you until then. Even if you decide not to help him, you might as well take all that you can get from him now, right?"

She was right of course, infuriatingly so. However someone who offered them service for service was easier to trust than some mysterious benefactor. Exchange of service was a game Mireille was used to.

"Well, if he can help us, then I'm willing to help him." Mireille was sure the message would get back to the man, Malyssa seemed like a very competent person. Even if there was no guarantee she, or this employer, could be trusted yet. "Tell me more about Angels, are they all immortal?"

"It's kind of complex, but basically yes. They won't die of old age, but disease, famine, drowning and wounds will kill them. In a way it all depends on the power of the individual Angel. You would not be able to kill Morningstar, for instance. Not without an enchanted weapon. But most Angels would fall to your guns."

"Enchanted weaponry? That's all real?" Mireille had once been fond of fantasy things like this, but to hear that they were real in today's world?

"Yes, of course. Again it's all complex. Only silver can be enchanted, no one knows why. Plus enchantments will only work for a very brief amount of time, and can only be renewed by an Angel. Plus it will only work on melee weapons." Mireille sigested that information for a few minutes before speaking again.

"And this would allow us to easily kill Angels?"

"No," Malyssa quickly interrupted, "You have to understand that almost all Angels use melee weaponry, because they can enchant it. As such they will be very skilled with their chosen form of fighting. So getting close enough to stab one with an enchanted blade is very hard, plus it only makes wounds that are very dangerous, not outright killing. It would still be very hard for you to kill someone of Azaziel's character for instance."

"Damn... but what would happen if we managed to kill Azaziel?" The question had been bothering her, and Malyssa's reply confirmed her fears.

"Then the other horsemen would come for you. Is this where you live?" Mireille started as she realised they were in fact at the entrance to the building they rented an apartment in. Well, this is the moment of truth, she now knows where we live...

"Yes it is. Come on." With that she led the redhead into the main building and up the stairs to the second floor, pausing at the white door to their apartment. Taking a deep breath Mireille composed herself. Reaching out with one hand she knocked three times on the door in a slow beat, alerting Kirika that it was her who was entering. Mireille knew there would be no one else inside, because if anyone had tried to enter then as soon as Kirika saw them she would shoot, and there would be holes all over the door.

The door clicked as it opened and she quickly walked inside, the first thing she noticed was Kirika, seated at the table and drinking tea from a small cup. That was hardly surprising. What was however was the youth with massive white wings spread behind his back sitting with her, another cup of tea on the table before him. Why did he come back? She tried to ask herself, and was about to ask him before the young Angel's eyes rose to look at them.

"What are-" She managed to get out.

"FALLEN!" He screamed in fear and anger just as Mireille turned to see giant black wings erupt from Malyssa's back and curl slowly around the entryway of their apartment. Even as Ramiel screamed and charged with a kitchen knife in his fist, all Mireille could do was stand there as she realised the implications of leading an enemy to their very location.

And with the speed of a snake, Malyssa struck.

Not sure if this is good or bad, but it's more of a filler/information chapter. Next chapter will be better, and MAY be quicker in the coming. Sorry about it all, just a stressing time for me. The end of college, the nearing of my final exams, the pressure to get the grades to get into the university i want... etc...

Please review.