Improper Guardian

Chapter Nineteen

By: Brenli

"… Gone. She even slipped away from Hades…! What happened…? What did we do…?"

"… I know what we did. We left her."

"She had Michael…"

"And isn't that why we left? We shouldn't have done that… It would've driven us mad, but we should have stayed."

"… And now she's gone off to start a war."

"You don't know that."

"I do, too! Raphael told us she was talking warfare… and now she's gone, and they think she's in Heaven! And you know our daughter. If she's angry enough, she'll do it, just like Michael."

"Yes, just like him."

"… But now we're going to fix it, aren't we?"

"… Yes. But I'm scared."

"Scared? Why are you scared? This isn't anything new to us! We know where we're going!"

"No, I know where I'M going. They kept my body in the Water Garden after putting me back into THIS body, after all. But where are you going? Back into Alexiel? Won't that be a treat for Kira in the morning…"

"Hahah! That would be great!"

"SETSUNA!"

"It's not like Alexiel would be GONE. And Kira oughta be happy that Alexiel and I were actually separated for at least a while…! On top of that, you don't know that for SURE, anyway, Sara. So let's go, if you're ready."

"We'll try to meet up in Hades…?"

"Always a good spot…"

"… Okay. I'm ready."

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"Now, now, it seems I've picked up a Hunter with a bit of an ego and not much common sense…" Cheriour smiled his usual, icy smile and snapped a blood-stained whip at the Rabbit Hunter responsible for allowing ten Hunters to pursue Nema.

"I'm sorry, sir!" The Hunter cried as he jumped back from the whip.

"I would have been a little more willing to let you off lightly if you hadn't given me such an attitude, you know… but I suppose that can't be helped. Twenty lashes with this whip," Cheriour tossed the already bloody whip to another of his henchmen, "and pour salt over the wounds."

"Please, sir!" The Hunter begged desperately. "I had good reasoning…!"

"You sent ten Hunters after one measly Rabbit… When each Hunter can pick off a Rabbit on his own. And this is good reasoning?" Cheriour said with even tones that made him difficult to read into. He turned and waved him off. "Take him away."

"IT WAS NEMAELLE, SIR!" The Hunter screamed desperately as he felt himself being pulled back.

"Wait." Cheriour said dully, looking over his shoulder, though his eyes, as usual, were hidden by his thick, golden bangs. "… You believe you saw Nemaelle?"

"Yes! I have seen that face of hers, before, and I know it was her! I knew you would want us to capture her, seeing as you are so i-interested in her –" The Hunter endured Cheriour's sharp slap.

"I am not 'interested' in any Rabbit." Cheriour said coldly. "She is ugly and a sin, yet by God's system, she was awarded a Guardian Angel, and not just ANY Guardian Angel of lower rank. She got Michael-sama." A tiny sneer was beginning to form on his face. "Nemaelle is a glitch in God's system, and a threat to my project. It is for this reason that she is must be deleted. … And now you say she is in Heaven?"

"… Yes! Yes, sir!"

Cheriour stroked his chin for a moment, his bottom lip puckering in deep thought. "… She would not be so foolhardy as to challenge me… Or is she?" A frozen smile morphed Cheriour's features. "… And just think of what I can do…! My goodness, Nemaelle, you have helped me formulate a most delicious plan…"

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Jinho whistled to himself as his dark shoes tapped against Tokyo concrete. His Dark King had heard yet more rumors regarding Nema and his younger brother. All sorts of strange rumors… Jinho could list them all. Michael had slept with Nema. Michael had been caught and arrested. Nema had attempted suicide. Not long after, she had been killed. She had been resurrected. She had lived in Hades. And the last rumor: Nema had gone missing. Such a confusing mass of rumors exploding at once seemed to grant Jinho the permission to come to Assiah once again, and so on he walked, twirling his black cane about and tipping a new top hat to passersby.

He was looking forward to the new visit. If the rumors were false, he would have a merry time driving Michael mad and making the first rumor true. While Jinho admitted to thinking Nema was very beautiful, he had a particular fondness for playing the role of a dark Cupid. To him, there was nothing more satisfying than driving a man in denial so mad he would throw away his excuses and indulge in the primal, yet disturbingly pure impulses to claim that which he was holding himself away from. It was devilish, yet angelic in its own right. The paradox had always pleased Jinho.

Now he stood and rapped on the door, and to his surprise the door slowly opened. It had not even been shut all the way, as though the inhabitants no longer cared if anyone entered or not. Jinho entered, noting the rearranged furniture. Nema's parents were home.

There was curious trail of pictures. They were pictures of Nema, at a precious few months old, her red eyes wide and innocent as she sucked in her little white fist. Jinho followed the trail. As he walked, Nema became older. By the time he passed the kitchen, he'd passed the image of Nema and himself in their tree. Jinho picked up the picture, smiled, and put it in his coat pocket. He kept walking. Pictures of Nema just entering secondary school. Nema in the doorway, prior to a trip to Harajuku. The last picture was a curious one. It was recent, taken just before Setsuna and Sara had left for vacation. It was a picture of Michael and Nema, both of them looking thoroughly angry with each other, standing with arms crossed, though two of Michael's fingers poked out from behind her head, forming bunny ears.

At last Jinho's dark eyes turned up to see what the trail of pictures led to. Out in the backyard, draped across Jinho's tree stump, were the bodies of Setsuna and Sara. Jinho arched a brow and stepped into the yard. Under the weight of Setsuna's hand was Nema's suicide note. And near Sara's limp hand laid an empty bottle of arsenic.

"… I see." Jinho said solemnly, taking off his top hat and bowing with a flourish.

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"Here we are." Rujiel said, holding a hand back to make the two women he led come to a halt. "Sounds like someone's getting up on the soapbox again."

Nema ignored the authority Rujiel seemed so bent on displaying and took advantage of her short height, stepping under his arm and peeking through the long hole in a simple, dirty sheet serving as a door.

There literally was someone on a soapbox set in the middle of the room. It was the woman Nema had earlier encountered, and her son, still partly bloodied, stood on the ground beside her. She had merely a foot of open space around her, and all the other spaces were littered – literally littered – with I-Children, dressed in torn clothes, looking tired, hungry, and slightly ill.

And they were all very, very angry.

"… They threatened to rape me, those evil White Wing devils!" The woman cried. "In front of my son!"

A moody cry rose from the crowd. "Have they no morals? And think, God favors THEM!"

"I'm not even through! My son's innocence is sullied! In order to save me, my dear son had to steal a gun from one the White Wings and shoot! Five years old and already committing murder!"

This seemed to spur an even angrier cry. "What kind of world is it when our CHILDREN must sin in order to live? What kind of sick, sick world is it?"

"My mom forgets to mention Nema!" The little boy called out.

"Nema?" The mother asked. "… Oh yes, that was her name!"

"Yes!" And the little boy hopped up on the soapbox with his mother. "There was a girl who helped save us. Don't think we'd even be here if she hadn't helped save us!"

"Who, who?" Several asked.

"She told me her name was Nema, and she was the coolest I-Child you ever did see! She can make heads EXPLODE!"

"Whoaaaa…!" The younger voices cooed.

"Yeah! I ran into her when I was hiding. I thought she might be dead, but she wasn't."

"She possessed an abnormal amount of bravery. I'd dare say she was crossing the lines into pure recklessness, but I will always be grateful…!" The mother added to her son's simple praise. "She was dressed beautifully, I tell you… If she were not an I-Child, I'd believe she was one of the highest ranking Angels! A Queen!"

"A violent Queen!" Her son cried with childish glee.

"She even wore the crown. It was a lot like your crown, Lilliel!" The mother said to a little girl of seven years, who was touching her own, broken mini-crown with a small white hand and smiling sheepishly. "She seemed clumsy and lost, I will admit that… But I tell you, while we were with her, I felt like I was safe. I felt like my son was safe if she was there."

"It's the way she fights. She fights like fire, quick and deadly! Like Nyssa did!" Her son grinned.

"You mean before she lost her marbles?" A voice quipped sarcastically, spurring a few laughs.

"My son speaks the truth, though. I swear to you all… She was like Nyssa at her best, but she wears a petticoat and a crown."

"Where is this Nema, then?" An even voice pressed into the crowd, and across this small room another dirty curtain moved aside.

She was tall, and she moved gracefully in her pair of dark gray pants and her own pair of black boots. Her white tank top was slightly wrinkled. And her eyes… the most shocking set of green eyes pierced into the entire room. And judging from the silence, this woman was Nyssa.

"… Well? Where is this new face you are so excited over?"

"… I don't know." The mother said quietly. "As many as ten Hunters were after us… So she set herself up as a lure and led them away, so we could make it here safely."

Nyssa only nodded, letting that information settle over the room like a slap in the face. "… If there were ten, she would be lucky to be alive. A shame. I think I would have liked to meet her, if she was truly me 'at my best.'"

"Then meet me."

Nema shook off Rujiel's hand and pushed aside the curtain, stepping through in all her bloodied glory. She spurred gasps and low murmurs in wonderment, and several pairs of red eyes focused on her, wide and amazed.

"… Aren't you a peaceful picture?" Nyssa said dryly, stepping closer to Nema.

Nema couldn't be sure if Nyssa meant this as an insult or a friendly joke, but she took it lightly, with a lop-sided smile. "I've had a rough day."

"I would imagine so. It's true you had ten Hunters after you?"

"I did, but nine quit."

"Ohhh. That's much more understandable." Nema thought Nyssa was beginning to sound more hospitable, but then the green-eyed I-Child took Nema by the hand and pulled her into the circle. "Let's get you up on the soapbox, then. Everyone is almost literally dying to meet you. So we shall interview you. How does that sound?"

Somehow, Nema hadn't considered that if she were really going to start a war, she would have to speak in front of a large group of people. It was stupid of her to ignore this fact, but all she could do now was go along with it, so the mother and her son stepped off the soapbox and Nema stepped on.

"Your name?" Nyssa asked plainly.

"Nemaelle, Mudou Nemaelle. Call me Nema." Nema responded.

"Mudou? Are you related to the Messiah, then?"

Nyssa seemed to be making herself out as the interviewer, and at least that would make things easier. "He is my father."

Nyssa ignored the low murmurs of praise. "So you are Assiah born and raised."

"Yes."

"And how long have you been in Heaven?"

"… Less than one day."

The murmurs grew and suddenly Nema got the feeling that Nyssa wasn't going to make this as easy as she thought. "Less than one day and already killing Rabbit Hunters… What are you, then? A Messiah-in-training?"

Nema bit back the scowl starting to pull at her lips. "I'm not that proud."

"But you are proud enough walk around with your wings displayed…!" Rujiel's voice spoke up as he leaned against the wall in the back.

"No one asked you, did they?" Nema snapped.

"A bit of a brave spirit, aren't you?" Nyssa sounded half in awe, and half sarcastic. "It should be obvious to you now that Heaven is no safe place to be for an I-Child. Why have you come to Heaven?"

"Assiah isn't any safer! The Rabbit Hunters hunt there, too." Nema felt fueled by the verbal disapproval the other I-Children expressed. "I had died in Assiah but was resurrected in Hades, and I snuck out of Hades to come here."

"That was YOU?" Several voices asked.

"You ran out of Hades?" Rujiel cried. "Nyssa, the girl's mad. No other way around it."

Nyssa's green eyes traveled to Rujiel, and she shrugged. Meanwhile, Nema stood straight and stiff on the soapbox, enduring the incredulous remarks directed at her. "We had heard of a lucky little I-Child that had been granted such safety. For a week, Nema, you had been the subject of much envy, though we didn't even know your name."

"I'm not anyone you need to envy." Nema said plainly.

"Maybe so, but now I feel compelled to ask: Why have you left Hades to come to this poor excuse for Heaven?"

Here it was, the moment Nema could boldly state her wild, ambitious dream. "I came to start a…" What? A war? Somehow the word didn't fully express her intentions. "… A revolution."

The initial reaction was not one Nema would have liked, though it was impossible to expect every I-Child to come to arms within the very second the idea was mentioned. Many eyes, mostly pairs of red, but a few pairs of other colors widened in shock. Others in the back looked down. Rujiel blatantly laughed behind a pale fist, and Nyssa merely arched a brow. "A rebellion."

"More than a rebellion. I want change." Nema defended herself swiftly.

"And what good can we do against troops like those Hunters?" Nyssa spoke so plainly it sent chills down Nema's spine, but she shook it off, gripping the Angel Crystal cross tightly in her closed fist.

"How will you know if you don't try?"

"Oh, but we have tried."

"Then what made you stop?"

At last Nyssa paused, appearing to chew on the answer thoughfully. Finally, Rujiel answered for her. "… It was short lived."

"Then I say you haven't tried hard enough!" Nema said firmly, the edges of the cross in her hand biting into her white flesh. "If anything is short lived, it hasn't lived long enough!"

"Then what do you propose we do?" Nyssa asked.

"It isn't obvious? Don't you know that you do have White Wing ALLIES? Call them together! Seek their guidance, and they can train you! If you weren't ready for war before, you will be then!" Had they never considered that idea before? Were they so sure that all White Wings were only scum?

"The Anima Mundi…" Nema heard the little girl named Lilliel say softly.

Again Rujiel snorted. "And who? Raziel, that traitor? Nema, ignore my little sister. She wishes the Anima Mundi were still around."

"We all do…" Lilliel toyed with the bow keeping her mini-crown in place and looked over her shoulder at her older brother.

"… Who are these people?" Nema asked the room, and to her surprise several began speaking in turns.

"The Anima Mundi were a rebel group. They, with your father, deleted God from the system!"

"Raziel-sama, as their leader, was put to power!"

"Yeah, I know that much!" Nema said, holding her arms out to quiet the sudden racket she had spurred.

"And you know that Raziel-sama integrated God back into the system?" Nyssa asked.

"Yes."

"Then you know only book knowledge. Now we share with you the things WE know, the things the White Wings refuse to believe because they think we are liars!" Nema could hear a low snarl starting in Nyssa's throat. "The truth of it all is, Raziel-sama is an I-Child…! Many of our kind were even IN the Anima Mundi! When he was put into power, we expected freedom! We had stars in our eyes, just like you!"

Then Rujiel began speaking for Nyssa. "Not more than one month into his reign, he decided to reprogram God, and HE says he's being safe, but WE say he's a coward and a LIAR. The I-Children in the Anima Mundi left him. In this room alone there are ten former members of the Anima Mundi! Reduced to THIS because Raziel is being 'safe'!" Rujiel spat.

"Raziel-sama is a Rabbit?" Nema asked incredulously. "He looks nothing like one!"

"What, those white wings of his? Fortunate genetic altering thanks to those cruel experiments they performed on him! But he seems to have forgotten that. He seems to have forgotten US!"

"Then we will FORGET Raziel-sama for now!" Nema reasoned quickly. "We have remaining bits of a rebel force? And White Wing allies? And you're not using ANY of these resources to your advantage?" Nema scoffed. "And you all think I'm mad…!"

"What's the point in fighting, when we tried once and failed?" Nyssa snapped from her position standing before Nema.

"You want a point? Go to those God forsaken fields I came back from! Look for the body of a little girl named Isobelle! There's your point! If you won't fight for yourselves, fight for the honor of your dead!"

The stirring within the room of I-Children became filled with questioning voices. The most heartbreaking of these poor people was Lilliel, who blinked up with wide, surprisingly pale pink eyes and asked, "Isobelle is dead?"

"My baby is dead…!" Isobelle's mother cried from her spot in the doorway. "I had Nema perform a mercy killing…! To save my poor little baby…!"

The stirring turned from shock to anger; even Nyssa and Rujiel looked heated with news of what may have been yet another death out of many. Nema gripped the Angel Crystal cross one more time, praying now more than ever for her Angel, even if her Angel was a White Wing chained up in prison, to let the right words slip out of her mouth. "For too long you've let them get away with spilling the blood of your kin! They think that because their wings are white, they can get away with murder! Can they? Only if we can, too! I'm not wishing a plague on their innocent. I'm not nearly as heartless as THEY are! But I will gladly… GLADLY rupture the hearts of their corrupt! I will hunt them down EACH day, just as they have with us… and I will destroy them for the ones like Isobelle!"

Nema stood proudly now, as they room full of dark-winged, pale-bodied people let out another angry cry, but it was louder, more fierce than any Nema had heard so far. "You may sit down and turn away if that is what you honestly wish to do. But I believe that deep down you ALL are tired of being kicked at, spit on, raped and murdered! Tell me if you are!"

This time Rujiel wore a crooked, but impressed smile and held up a fist with the vast majority of the room. Even Nyssa managed a nod.

"Then we won't WAIT anymore! I ask the former members of Anima Mundi to put your talents to good use! EVERYONE who knows of a White Wing ally, call them to us! We'll give 'em Hell… we'll make Rabbit Hunter blood rain down from the skies!"

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Michael was getting plain sick of the restraints and the monotonous patterns the filled his days. His brain was resorting to having the most messed up dreams in attempts to entertain his bored self, though he had to admit this last one was most exciting. It was fast-paced dream, a fiery dream, full of blood. It was some strange battle amongst people, but he could only make out white wings and black ones. He himself was locked in what he could safely say was one of the best battles of his life, but it was only when he was pinned and staring at an Angel Crystal blade pointed between his eyes that he could make out his opponent. It was Nema, looking bloodied and disheveled, but somehow she had never looked sexier to a man like Michael. "Heh…! You've gotten better!" The Fire Angel said ceremoniously.

"Michael-sama."

Oh, damn that fucking icy voice of Cheriour's…! Some day, one day soon, Michael would bust out of this prison, and when that happened, Cheriour BETTER wish he was FAR away from him!

For now, the safety of Angel Crystal-coated glass saved Cheriour from any bodily harm. "I see you have been sleeping well."

"Yeah what the fuck do you want?" Michael snapped bitterly, tugging on his chains.

"I have come with some news I know you are bound to regret."

"Well why don't you throw it at me and we'll see how much I fucking regret it?" He wondered if he sounded too smug. He probably did. But the thing was, Michael wasn't sure if he really COULD regret much of anything, considering that Nema was now completely, utterly untouchable, living in Hades, waiting for him.

"Among the body count for the first half of today, I found the body of Mudou Nemaelle."

Michael suddenly burst into laughter. Well, if that wasn't a complete lie, he didn't know what was! Nema… dead! What kind of stupid trick was Cheriour trying to pull? Well, he wasn't fooling Michael. Even if Michael decided to tell Cheriour where Nema was, Cheriour couldn't touch her! Hah! Fucking brilliant! He OUGHT to hang that kind of bait just out of Cheriour's reach. What was Cheriour gonna do? Run up to his room and cry his icy little heart out?

"… So it seems that you do not regret the death."

"YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT!" Michael half-coughed, half-yelled triumphantly in his laughter.

Cheriour's lips lifted in an icy smile, though Michael was willing to believe that just maybe his hidden eyes were expressing worry. "…Am I?" His voice shook just slightly with hints of his own laughter.

Michael ignored him. "I have no fucking CLUE what you're trying to do, but Nema isn't dead, you fucking LIAR!"

"… And you would know this… how?"

"Heh! This is too fucking priceless. Fine, I'll tell you! Nema isn't dead because I KNOW where she is! You wanna know where she is? I think I'll fucking tell you! She's in Hades, asshole! Hah! Try and hunt her now!" Oh, that felt just too good…! How sweet it was to punch a decently sized dent into whatever Cheriour's scheme was! How fucking perfect, after all the shit he'd gotten away with! "So tell me, how shitty do you feel now that you're up-to-date on what's going on?"

But Cheriour did not seem in the least bit surprised. "With all due respect, Michael-sama, I believe that you are the one that is missing a piece of information."

"Really?" Michael said carelessly, chuckling to himself, still reveling in the verbal blow he threw at Cheriour.

"Bring him in." Cheriour said placidly, and in walked Raphael, has face belying some cross between fear, anger, and regret.

Michael ignored this, too. "Raphael! Come and join the party! This prick is trying to mix up shit again, and we've got him cornered!"

"Again, with all due respect, Michael-sama… I believe that a different person is cornered." Cheriour said.

"Oh, FUCK YOU!" Michael exclaimed with glee. "… What the fuck is with the long face, Raphael?"

The Wind Angel had a hard time starting. "Michael… Nema… isn't in Hades, anymore."

The words were said quietly, but they stabbed into Michael's moment of fun and twisted inside of him. "… NANI?"

Raphael shook his head. "Michael I am SO sorry… I can't express that enough –"

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?"

"She ran, Michael! She ran off! You have to understand… she started reading about I-Children… and I swear I've never seen her so angry! She was talking war, Michael…! We're sure she ran up here!"

Nema talking war… Nema running off… these all sounded like things Nema would indeed do, but Michael refused to buy into it. "Those are fucking lies! Haven't you checked anywhere else?"

"EVERYWHERE! All of Assiah, and I even got connections to HELL through Setsuna. She is NO WHERE ELSE. She HAS to be here!" Raphael cried, exasperated. He watched Michael fuming in his chains, bright green eyes burning right through Raphael's head. "Michael, I am so… sorry…"

"Allow me to cut into this melodramatic moment." Cheriour said coldly. "I can further prove that Nema was indeed in Heaven, for my Hunters killed her. If it will grant you any solace, it is to my understanding that she was hard to kill. At one point as many as ten Hunters were after her…! A record, to let you know. She DOUBLED the last record of Most Hunters Needed to Kill a Rabbit. She will live on in history; this much I know."

Raphael's mouth curled into a tight scowl as he looked down and away, clearly disgusted with Cheriour. Michael was not any less disgusted, but was too busy maintaining his short, erratic breaths again. This was NOT how this was supposed to work at all. He was supposed to break out, rip Cheriour to pieces, scoop up Nema, and begin wreaking the havoc only he and Nema could possibly make as a duo. THAT was the ending. The happy fucking ending! There was NO OTHER fucking option! But here it was, a completely different path, laid out before him as though it were the only way to go. What kind of cruel world was it, anyway…?

"So, tell me… how shitty do you feel now that you're up-to-date on what's going on?"

That did it. Michael screamed bloody murder, and for white felt like several minutes he was unable to be seen, lost in a room filled to the brim with flames.

"You have to wonder why he does that whenever he's about to hyperventilate. It will just make it worse." Cheriour said boredly.

"I guess that's something only people with hearts can understand, then." Raphael said in a low hiss.

Cheriour only seemed to find that comment amusing. "If you can still hear me, Michael-sama, I would like to let you know that in spite of her death you are still to be charged with your sin. You will still be branded Fallen, and your rank as War Angel will probably be passed on to me."

The flames licking Michael's cell died down dramatically. "And you can rot in Hell!"

Cheriour ignored the Fire Angel's remark. "I would like to let you know that, considering this recent event, I am willing to let you go through a sort of 'community service,' if you will, to clear your sins."

Raphael didn't like the sound of this already. "It's some kind of trap, Mika-chan! Don't take it!"

"This is Michael's decision, not yours." Cheriour said to the Wind Angel. "I would like to make a request to use you."

"Use me? Didn't know you were gay, Cheriour!" Michael sneered.

"I will overlook that remark. Now, you see, I am only doing this out of kindness…"

"Out with it already!" Michael snapped bitterly. To be honest, he wanted them both to leave. He was getting sick of being alone so much, but with this news at hand, oh God, he wanted very badly to be left alone.

"Very well. If you become one of my Rabbit Hunters for a certain number of kills, I will grant you freedom. We can pretend that Nema never happened."

Pretend that Nema never happened. That was so much easier said than done. He could've made this proposal a year ago, and Michael would've taken it with pleasure. Now, it hurt to consider that idea. Pretending Nema wasn't real. Pretending he'd never had to watch over her, or fight for her, or… anything. It was no different than the day he'd finally realized that he would have to try and kill his own older brother… it was a very specific pain, one that made him feel cheated and stuck. So stuck. "… How many kills?"

"Michael!" Raphael scolded in shock. There was no way he was seriously considering on taking up this deal. It wasn't worth it. The freedom wasn't worth it if it came with that kind of burden… pretending someone he loved was never real! It wasn't even REAL freedom!

Cheriour simply smiled that cruel smile of his. "It is a decently sized number, but upon consideration that you successfully killed 100 of my Hunters during those few Sunday night fights you created, I know it is a number you can reach with ease."

"What. Number." Michael said through gritted teeth.

"777."

"You think you're fucking funny?" Both Archangels swore at once.

"My, I hear an echo." Cheriour commented. "Seven hundred and seventy seven is a good, strong number. And a truly Heavenly number, obviously. So yes, 777."

It frightened Raphael to watch Michael lower his head and sigh. He was seriously thinking about doing this! "Michael, don't do it!"

"Ignore Raphael-sama. This is your decision to make and yours alone!"

"You'll be killing Nema's people!"

"Nema? Who is Nema?" Cheriour asked coldly.

"Nema isn't nonexistent yet! Michael, if Nema saw you killing her people, how do you think she'd feel?" He watched Michael close bright green, angry eyes. "… Is it worth knowing she would HATE you for it?"

Cheriour sighed. "If we must consider Nemaelle, who is a dead girl, mind you, then consider this, Michael-sama. There is no point in being guilty for a sin you can never fulfill again. Do you suppose that Nemaelle would want you branded Fallen, when you will never see her again, and never touch her again? Would she want that kind of burden placed on you?"

It seemed like a very, very long time was passing by, but still all three Angels remained in their positions. Michael couldn't decide what the apparently murdered Nema would want him to do. Would she selflessly want him to move on with a cleared name? Would she haunt him in anger if he chose to kill her kind? Well, at least she would be haunting him. Oh God, either way she would be haunting him, with or without his wings turning black…! No matter what he did, he surely lost. And wasn't that the story of his life, anyway? When it came to the things that REALLY mattered… the things he eventually cared for… Those were the things that always went away. But… at least one thing COULD always stay.

A pair of white wings. The ONLY thing that ever stayed.

"… I'll do it."

Raphael was completely silent, but then Michael had the slamming of a door, and knew he'd left being much less than happy. When he finally looked up, Cheriour smiled icily. "Until your 777th kill, you realize that I am your superior, Michael." He no longer addressed him as Michael-sama. And that was okay. Michael wasn't even sure if he deserved that title, anyway. Not anymore.

Michael responded with a simple nod. Within two seconds, two Rabbit Hunters appeared, one of them unlocking his chains, and the both of them following him out of his cell.

It felt very odd and wrong, leaving his cell. He had hated that place with a passion for so long… But as he left, a part of him wanted to throw itself back inside. Wishing he never had to make this decision. Wishing Nema were still here. Damn her! Fucking fool! Why did she run? If she'd wanted a war, he could start ten for her the very moment they were together! A whole world of wars, just for her, if that's all she actually wanted!

"Let the Heavens know that the Archangel Michael, as of today, has become a Rabbit Hunter." Cheriour announced to all the Hunters in the hall. It was the ugliest thing Michael had ever heard. "And now, for you." He held out a black cloak to the red-headed Angel. "Put it on, and let everyone know whose side you are truly on."

Michael stared and stared at the black cloak, and then felt the fabric fall onto his hands as he took it. It was lightweight, airy, but as dark as the imaginary void Michael felt himself slipping into. It was completely ugly because of what it symbolized at this moment… but Michael slipped it on.

A great, ugly cry of celebration echoed in this great, ugly hallway. But in Michael's blue-green eyes, nothing, nothing at all, was as ugly was himself, right at this very moment.

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AUTHORESS NOTE: It is GENUINELY pissing me off how everything is keeping me away from "Impy." I'm just glad I shot all my finals in the head. Spring Break is coming up, and though I have heard that I am going to be working for a lot of it, this SHOULD still mean that I'll have more time for my preciousssss… "IMPY!"

Yes, I am more than certain you all HATE me now, don't you? MWAHAHAHAH! Michael needs a hug. Everyone should give him a hug, even if he's wearing that evil cloak, now!

And I finally mentioned SOMETHING about Raziel! And I am sure that a lot of you are going, "WTF, he's a TRAITOR?" Well, he's not, really, but you'll understand it one day. I'll make sure you do.

Also, if Nema's wartime speech has shades of "The Boondock Saints" and their final prayer/speech in it… well, I'm just gonna tell you that I KNOW. It just seemed like a very NEMA kind of thing, so I tweaked it and had her say it? Is that a problem? Are BOTH Kaori Yuki AND Troy Duffy gonna KILL me? If they do, then "Impy" will be on PERMANENT hiatus! Can't have that, can we?

That's what I thought.