Wings
"Spawn of Darkness," an eerie voice called out through the void, "Accept your fate. You are to lead the Demons into battle to destroy humanity and create a paradise for our kind. Everything you have ever known and lived has been a lie; you are a being meant for nothing but destruction. Question that foolish mother of yours. She will have to tell you the truth when it is put out right in front of her face!"
"You lie! How can I be a Spawn of Darkness? I am a human being! My mother is definitely human and my father is too. Why would a Demon go about being a Demon Hunter? Leave me alone!" shrieked Angelique. She looked around to see the source of the voice to no avail; it had hidden itself.
A low chuckle responded with, "Your mother seduced your father into abandoning his own. He lost all of his power for a wretched human woman! Now he actually thinks that he is human. But you must realize the truth…Child of the Dark Prince!" His chuckle became full blown laughter at that point.
Suddenly, Angelique felt black fire rising from her back in the shape of wings. It was obviously drawing her closer towards the Demon; trying to turn her into one of them. However, the plans were interrupted when a light came down from the heavens. Looking up, the child saw two Angels floating above her; one with blond hair and blue eyes and the other with brown hair and brown eyes and a face resembling her mother's. A barrier surrounded Angie; shielding her from the Demon's power. The wings upon her back transformed into white hot light; breaking the spell and dispelling the nightmare around her.
S...S
Angelique woke up from her nightmare; sweat pouring down her face. She was terrified. 'That being said that Daddy was the Dark Prince. Can't be; Mommy killed him with the power lent to her by the Maiden of Light. And if that were so, then why would the Angels be protecting me? Poitreene's servants are the Angels while the Dark Prince is Calamity's. And Poitreene and Calamity are always fighting.'
She shrugged it off as a nightmare; fearful over what reason had driven her father from home to become a freelancer. There was no way a Demon as evil and powerful as the Dark Prince would have fallen for a human girl. Nor would someone who had devoted her life to slaying Demons fall for one.
S...S
"Eat your lunch Angie," Prier scolded, "You need to grow up big and strong. When Daddy gets back…he's going to be amazed at what a big girl you are." They were on a picnic with Culotte, Francoise, Jacques, Éclair, and Homard. Éclair was giggling at how stern Prier sounded without showing anger. She began to wish for a child of her own. Maybe in another two years or so; Homard and she were going to be married in about six months and that would give them some time to themselves before the kid.
"Hey Mommy…I was wondering about Daddy. Why is he on this journey? Why hasn't he come back home to you and me yet? I know we get letters from him all the time, but I just want to know more about my father," Angie blurted out. In truth, she feared her overactive imagination would say something far worse about him than him being the Dark Prince. Better to know the truth and quell those silly dreams.
Prier was stunned. She really didn't think now was the right time to tell Angie all about the reasons that Croix had for leaving; her full explanation had been that he had some unfinished business to attend to and he never knew that Prier was going to have a child when he left. The child had seemed content for awhile; why had she suddenly changed her mind and wanted to know? But of course, she had to tell her daughter something. She stated, "Well, he had to find peace of mind. Someone he really cared about was killed and he was so distraught that he nearly lost the will to live. It was only by meeting me that he found new strength to go on within himself. But he has to clear his mind of the past pain."
Suddenly, the same low chuckle from Angie's dream was heard in the forest. "Pathetic human woman! You aren't doing the girl any good by beating around the bush. Tell her of her real heritage; her Demon's blood. Tell her that her power should be used for the purpose of waging war on all humanity!"
"I think you've got the wrong person," Prier yelled back, "Either that or your band of Demons have less intelligence than a Zombie inflicted with Forgetfulness. Angelique's father is a human being; so am I the last time I checked." The angry growl told her that her message had been received in just the way she'd wanted it. Zombies were some of the stupidest creatures in the entire world without status ailments.
"Fine then! Taste my wrath! May your bloody body be an offering that Lady Sang presents to our Master when he returns from his joke trip into human society!" he screamed at her. At that moment, a dark smoke rose up in the clearing. And into the scene stepped a Gargoyle; one of the minor Demons.
Homard laughed. He stated, "If I remember correctly, Prier and her band have killed a ton of Gargoyles in the past; as well as their elevated forms. How hard can one more be?" He pulled out his swords as Éclair transformed into Dark Éclair; her Aura Sword clutched firmly in her right hand.
The Gargoyle let out a low shriek. Then it did something that none of the other Gargoyles the team had faced had done. His very voice seemed to effect the gravity in the clearing; pinning the group of Demon Slayers to the ground. Prier, noticing Angelique was unaffected by the spell, shrieked for her to run away. Get herself to safety so that she didn't have to suffer the same fate as her mother and friends.
However, Angelique was Prier's daughter in more ways than one. She refused to back down when those she loved were in danger. Not only that, but she had her mother's notorious temper problem. Since the beast didn't seem to notice that she was still free, the child stepped forward. Inside of her very heart she could hear two voices; a rough Demonic and a light Angelic one. They both told her to fight with every ounce of her strength; that her powers would protect her and her loved ones from the enemy.
Angie closed her eyes and concentrated. "Horus's Wings!" Suddenly, the same black fiery wings from her dream sprouted out from her back. Her body rose up off of the ground and faced her opponent. At that time, the flaming pinions tore from her back and struck at the Gargoyle. It turned to see whom had thrown the attack; who had used such Demonic force. Seeing the child, he was pleased at what she'd learned.
"You truly are the Spawn of Darkness," he congratulated, "I am proud that I will one day be serving you. Now that you see that dark power within yourself…you should understand why you must come along with me. Lady Sang and Lord Loup will be quite happy to see that you've grown so much."
"I am not one of you! I believe Mommy much more than some Demon. Some humans were just chosen to possess special powers and I happen to be one of them. Besides, Darkness isn't my only weapon. Divine Retribution!" she shrieked. At that time, the Wings of Light from her dream reappeared on her back. Like with her Dark spell, she floated in front of the enemy. But this time, beams of light had shot out at her enemy; not feathers as in her other skill. The Gargoyle cried out one last time and was gone. With his death, the spell was released and the others free from the control of the high gravity.
Culotte muttered, "So anyone who possesses Dark powers is automatically a Demon while anyone who possesses Light powers is automatically an angel. They should have told that one to Alouette; she was definitely human despite her high Holy power. Or Angelique; same thing there. And Croix was not a Demon; he had strong Dark powers but I could definitely feel a different type of life force than a Demon when we fought him at the church. I guess Demons think just like humans used to."
Prier looked at her child; fearful that the full truth might come out at any time. 'They know that her father was the Dark Prince. But they think he's a Demon. So they're putting two and two together to say that Angie is a powerful half-Demon and they're not going to make the same mistakes they did with Noir. So things should be getting much more hectic around here. I won't let them get her; they'd die trying.'
Teefa's Last Words...
One thing you should know about me is that I have this huge obsession with wings; playing Breath of Fire games and making Nina one of your best party members, as well as listening to Virginia's colorful analogies in Wild ARMs 3 will do that to a girl.
If the Demon's intentions were too obvious, then don't worry. I knew that any references to Darkness might bring about the same reactions. But now we've got to see how Prier deals with this. How much crap is she going to put up with?
My updating policy is twofold. A) I update after I get at least one review; not because I'm vain but because I want to make sure readers get too far behind. B) I update on Mondays, Wendsdays, and Fridays because I've seen that every day can get a little too overwhelming from my 3 plus years as a writer. Though I do update sometimes on the other days if I go awhile without reviews and then get one; however it is counted as the next posting day in line. Also if I wait a few weeks I tend to yell "screw it" and post anyway.
Croix's powers aren't explained that much in this story, however I am currently working on another fic that is a series of flashbacks into his childhood with him telling Prier about it. His powers have more focus in that one.