Pawns
by Quicksilver
Part Ten
The night air suddenly seemed to become a dozen degrees colder, and Jeanne's stomach twisted painfully - at least she wanted to claim it was her stomach. She refused to believe that Sinbad – Chiaki - whoever the hell he was - had captured her heart. He was someone she couldn't trust, and he'd just proved it.
"You… you…" She stared up at him, feeling her blood pound through her veins as she became lightheaded. This couldn't be happening, not now.
"Maron," he said softly, glancing away from her so he didn't have to meet her accusing eyes. "We need to talk."
Her real name sounded strange coming from Sinbad's lips. Her head hurt from the identity confusion, and she wondered when the world had gone nuts. "No… no… no…" she muttered, shaking her head in denial. "This is some nightmare. I'm going to be waking up, anytime," she whimpered, trying to deny the reality of the situation.
"Maron, we need to talk!" he declared again more firmly.
It was too late to try to deny her identity. So she did the only thing she could; she lashed out, striking his cheek soundly. The resounding "smack" echoed over the rooftops, and Jeanne wondered if she, in her magically enhanced state, had hit him too hard. He clutched his cheek, which was rapidly swelling, and looked at her with grim determination. "I deserved that, but one smack is all you'll get," he informed her. "Now that you've had your moment of hysterics, I suggest that you calm down and be a little more rational."
"Rational… rational!" she demanded, repeating his last word with amazed scorn. She stepped towards him threateningly. "Why should I be rational? I just learned that one of my closest friends is my rival, the agent of the devil himself, and I figure it out when he kisses me! Tell me exactly why I should be calm?" she asked, emphasizing the last two words with jabs to his chest hard enough to bruise.
He caught her hand and held it firmly to keep her from damaging him any further. "Because you need to listen to me. Neither of us can make that Checkmate on our own. We're going to have to do it together, and for us to succeed, you're going to have to trust me."
"Never!" she snapped furiously. His blue eyes seemed wrong to her as she stared at him still trying to integrate his two identities. He had to have known who she was - he had said her name before, he had brought her back to her apartment when she had drained herself, he had moved in next door to her, which couldn't have been by chance. "Why did you do it?" she asked softly. "Why did you pretend to be my friend? Why did you pretend to care about me?"
He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Maron, let's go back to our apartment building and discuss this sitting down. It will take some time to explain."
"I don't want your excuses, you bastard! You'll just lie!" She turned to leave, but he stopped her.
"Ask Fin Fish about a Named demon. Ask her how to Seal it. She'll tell you you're not strong enough to take one on. And when you two have talked about it, you can come and see me. I'll be in my apartment waiting."
"When Hell freezes over," Jeanne said icily, and then jumped off the edge of the building.
Miyako paced around the foot of the tower, seeking the item Jeanne had dropped. It was the second time Jeanne had left something behind, and it might be the item she needed to find out who the golden-haired kaitou truly was. She wanted Jeanne to be captured, and right now she could almost taste the triumph of victory - it was that close. Jeanne was becoming sloppy, and if Sinbad hadn't helped her tonight, then it would have happened.
A surge of irritation welled at the thought of the male thief. He was becoming erratic, and while that increased the possibility he'd make a fatal mistake, it also annoyed the hell out of her.
She frowned as one of the searchlights reflected off something on the ground. Dashing forward, she reached the item, carefully putting a pair of gloves on before picking it up. Holding it up, she stared at it thoughtfully.
It was a bottle of holy water.
The small golden cross on the base of the vial looked much like any other, but the bottom bore a small sticker-the break she'd been looking for. "The Church of the Good Shepherd, Juuban, 544 Sakura Drive," she read aloud. She was amazed that it hadn't been broken in the fall, but God was finally smiling on her.
"Miyako? Do you have something?" a voice asked.
She pivoted on her heel, meeting her father's look with excitement. "I found what Jeanne dropped! It has an address on it!"
The experienced detective blinked a few times. Then he started to do a little jig, much to his daughter's disgust. "Wahoo! We've got her!" he said, picking her up and spinning her around in his enthusiasm.
She flushed. "Dad!"
"We'll go there first thing in the morning!"
"I have classes," Miyako griped.
"I'll write you a note to get out. You've worked so hard on this case that you deserve to be there for this break." He chuckled and set her down, a wide grin on his face. "Bag it, and go home and get some sleep! You'll be up early tomorrow!"
She nodded and went over to one of the cars to get an evidence bag, wondering how she would ever be able to sleep tonight. She was so close to catching Jeanne that she could practically taste it!
"What am I going to do? Chiaki is Sinbad!" Maron declared as she burst into her apartment, startling the waiting angel.
Fin looked surprised, then thoughtful. "That would make sense. We should have figured it out a while ago. What gave him away?" she asked.
"Never mind that!" Maron said, trying to ignore the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. "What matters is that our enemy is living next door to us! An agent of the devil is sleeping less then twenty feet away!"
Fin looked slightly guilty. "Well, technically speaking, he's not the devil's appointed agent," she said uneasily, scratching the back of her head with embarrassment.
"What!" Maron demanded, her voice only a few decibels short of a roar.
The angel reeled backwards. "Do you remember why Lucifer Fell?" Fin asked.
Maron blinked. "He fell where?" she asked.
The green-haired jun tenshi sighed. "It's not part of the bible, but there's stories about the world before. Some of them are true, others aren't. There's one that says that Lucifer once was once the most favored of God's angels, the brightest star in the sky."
Maron's eyes widened in shock. "The devil was once an angel?"
"Yes, long ago. Before the Fall." Maron could hear the capital in Fin's pronunciation.
"What happened?" Maron asked after a moment of reflective silence.
"Lucifer had an argument with God. He wanted to give humans knowledge they shouldn't have. Knowledge that was dangerous. God disagreed. It brought about a great war in heaven, and in the end, Lucifer was forced out, taking a third of all the angels from cherub all the way to seraphim with him. They were the ones that became his demons. He was very bitter, and still believed he was right, which led him to tempt Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Some people respect him for it-in ancient languages, Lucifer means 'light-bringer.'" She spat the final sentence out hurriedly, as though it tasted bitter and vile. "Without Lucifer, mankind would still be in the Garden of Eden. Some people thrive on chaos, though, and claim he was right to give mankind the knowledge that was denied to them."
"So how does Sin-Chiaki fit into all this?"
"I'm not sure," Fin admitted. "When he first started with his Checkmates, I was positive he was the devil's agent, but now..." She played with the tips of her feather nervously, straightening a few quills carefully.
"Did Access Time Fall with Lucifer?"
"No, but other angels have Fallen since. I thought Access might have." Her green eyes filled with tears at the very thought.
Maron cupped her hands so Fin could sit in them as they continued their conversation. Fin gratefully accepted the support, too emotionally drained to continue hovering. "So the demons I Checkmate are the angels that Fell?" The thought made her uneasy. The fact that she was imprisoning beings that had once been angelic was not pleasant, no matter what they were.
Fin shook her head, the long tendrils of hair bouncing against her cheeks. "Most aren't. 'Demon' and 'devil' are used interchangeably, but they're really two different things. You actually Seal devils, which are lesser forms of evil. They never knew God, so they never denied him. Denying God is simply the worst thing that can be done." She shivered at the thought. "Devils are created from pools of negative emotions. They lack much thought aside from the desire to harm people. That's why they have to be Sealed. When you Seal them, you negate the negative feeling and leave only the power behind. The pawn is the physical form. With proper training, you'll be unable to unlock the power and use it for other things."
"What have you been doing with the pawns I've collected?" she asked.
"The petit clare has them. I've been saving them for you, should you need them and if you don't, then I'm going to give them to Gabriel-sama or Michael-sama."
"Gabriel-sama? Michael-sama?" Maron echoed.
The little angel nodded solemnly. "Two of the four Archangels. I don't see Uriel-sama or Raphael-sama much."
Maron felt a little dizzy. She'd known, intellectually, that Fin was an angel, but for the first time, her friend's true nature was penetrating. She dealt with Archangels from the Bible… she remembered a time before humans had been thrown out of the Garden of Eden… It scared Maron. Why would Fin want to be her friend?
"Fin, Chiaki said that I should ask you about a Named demon, and how to Seal it."
Fin blanched. "Oh, God protect us," she whispered, "that makes sense."
"Huh?"
Fin took a couple of deep breaths, obviously struggling to avoid hyperventilating. "A Named demon… that would be what's in possession of Tokyo Tower."
"Explain," Maron commanded. She was sick of all the evasions and half-truths.
"A pool of evil can attract a true demon - that's one of the former angels that Fell - to take possession of it. These are more powerful since they have a greater intelligence, are bitterer, and they're more evil. Each of them has a Name- the one they used before the Fall - that is why they're called Named demons. They're the highest level of demon power present on Earth. As for Sealing it, you're not powerful enough to."
"What?" Maron demanded.
"A Named is able to resist you, and it can fight back. That's why you're having such an impossible time with this and why the lights exploded on your first attempt."
"Chiaki said we had to work together. There's a way?" Maron demanded.
"Theoretically you could combine your powers, and that might work especially if-" Fin broke off, shaking her head.
"If what?"
"I'd rather not think about it. It's a last-ditch resort."
"Fin," Maron said irately, "I want the truth."
"Please, it's better not to think about it. Don't make me tell you until I've exhausted all other options," she said. The angel was practically begging.
"Fine. But I want the complete details on whatever plan you devise."
Fin nodded solemnly. "Agreed."
"I'm not happy with you." Maron gazed at the wall thoughtfully before heading to the kitchen to make a cup of tea; chamomile, to soothe. "Would you like some tea?" she offered her friend.
"I'd better not," Fin said reluctantly. "I have some work to do. Maybe I was wrong about Access Time."
"What did Chiaki have to do with all this?" Maron asked. "How did he get involved? Why is he doing this?"
"I'm not sure but he's working with Access. Access belongs to a faction of angels that disagrees with one of the policies God has been working on. It hasn't reached out-right rebellion, but we're worried."
"What policy?" Maron asked.
"I'd rather not say. We should talk to them."
"Fine." Maron headed for the door.
"Not tonight, Maron!" Fin said, starting to hover again. "I need to go find some things out."
"But I won't go to sleep! I'm too nervous about this!"
"Skip school!" Fin declared.
"I can't! I just got well enough to go back!"
"Say you had a relapse!" Fin snapped back temperamentally, on the verge of losing her control.
Maron tried one more time. "You're the one who's always on me to be on time!"
Fin saw Maron's genuine distress and forced herself to calm down. "Maron, this is more important. This may very well be the most important thing you've ever done. A Named is something that comes along rarely, and when it does… well, the last time there was a Named, Joan of Arc died Sealing it."
