Improper Guardian
Chapter Forty
By: Brenli
Hours and hours passed. Nema spoke. Michael spoke. They found themselves repeating the same messages over and over again. He had been lied to. She had been lied to. But she continued to fight a war for the greater good. And he continued to get lost in whatever sick web had been weaved around him. And their hearts suffered and broke many times, but Michael made sure to point out that Nema had suffered more. She had denied this each time, but he was quick to tell Uriel that Nema had a rather large humble streak, and did not ask for pity OR praise in most cases.
They were the ones who spoke the most, which was fitting. Setsuna and Jibril spoke a couple times more. Raphael also took a turn at the stand. But it was mostly Nema and Michael who stood. Sometimes Nema shifted her weight from side to side because her feet began to ache. And Michael would lean forward and cross his arms over the edge of area in which he stood to give testimony, for the exact same reason.
Over time, the pair almost forgot the weight of the trail. They became absorbed in telling their story. Soon, that's all it was. Storytelling. And they did not notice how the colder, crueler half of the courtroom was softening more and more as they watched them speak. Or, more particularly, was they watched HER speak. She was unbelievably pale and foreign-looking to them, but she was animated, she moved and spoke like any other Angel, and most importantly, she made them feel like perhaps she had felt too much pain. Even for an Improper Child.
"… And that brings us to here." Nema waved a hand around the room as she leaned on her left hip, "And for now, that's all there is to it."
Uriel nodded. "Then you have finished your story."
Nema felt a laugh bubble up inside her as she realized that was all she'd been doing all day. "Yes." And she turned to face the room. "… So now I've spent all day telling you my life story. I know you must all have numb legs, and I apologize for that… I'd imagine Uriel will all offer you a recess, soon. And when you take the recess I'd like you to think over all of what you've been told today, and remember that even though Michael likes to SAY I'm being modest, I'm not. My life has been easy compared to many other Rabbits'. And I want you to wonder if you could have dealt with a life like mine, or worse than mine. … And before you vote for or against my plea for equality, I want you to ask yourself if you have someone you could afford to love."
She allowed the murmur of confusion to grow. "… It's not a silly question. I believe it's important. I'm going to present statements of a more logical kind, now. As Queen of the Revolution, I have a better idea of how many Rabbits exist than many of you do… There is a hefty amount. And in my opinion, that's not a problem. But I have spoken with many of them, and have heard of results from the military surveys Michael dished out when he joined me… and 96 percent of the Rabbits are not born of Rabbit and Rabbit relations."
"She feeds you lies." Cheriour spoke from his corner, which had become considerably darker after she had broken his nose.
"I have papers, official data that you may check." Nema retorted. "… Of that 96 percent, 52 percent are born of Rabbit and White Wing bearing. The rest are born of two White Wings, like myself… And I know that many White Wings have stepped forth today and turned themselves in for what is still considered a crime… such as Raphael." She bowed to him in respect. "I admire that bravery… But I have seen how many are cuffed… and unless the ones that are cuffed had families of 12 or more, there are more White Wings out there that have made Rabbits."
The room was silent.
"I'm not asking you to confess. That's not what I'm here for, and you have the right to keep quiet about what you've done behind closed doors. But if you have ever loved someone… or if you have given birth to a child, and given that person up because it was wrong… I want you to know that this is the chance to change that. I have orphans that can learn to love their parents. And I know many people that are waiting for their lovers to come back to them… If you left your child behind, or broke your lover's heart because you felt like you HAD to… you DON'T have to, anymore. I want to change that, not for myself, not for Michael. For you."
"More lies. For all we know, she is pregnant and just wants to ensure that her bundle of sin gets a cozy cradle." Cheriour mumbled.
"For your information, I'm NOT pregnant, and I can take a pregnancy test if you don't believe me. Thank you." Nema snapped, temporarily losing composure. "… I'm also doing this for my kind. NOT because I think we deserve big mansions and condos with backyard pools and whatever other ritzy things… oh, and it's not about cozy cradles, either." Nema bit back her sneer. "… I am tired of hiding. All of the Rabbits are. We want nothing more than to walk out in the sunlight without having to worry about death. We want to be able to breathe in the same general area as you. We wouldn't mind talking to you, now and then. We don't want to hide… we have taken some very wide measures. Living in the ghettos withIN the ghettos. Hiding underground. Running for Assiah. I have heard stories about having to hide underground in ASSIAH. … And I know a man that denies his identity as a Rabbit to save his own skin, and he is lucky enough to get away with it." After a pause, Nema turned to Uriel again. "… I think that I may know two men that deny being Rabbits."
Uriel looked down at the Rabbit Queen. "… Are you going to reveal them, Miss Mudou?"
"… One asked to remain unidentified, should the trial go against me, and I uphold that request. The other man may not be a Rabbit, but I have reason to believe that he could be. … And I would like to reveal him."
Nema turned again, and lifted one snowy finger in the direction of a sullen-looking man. "I accuse Cheriour of being a full-fledged Rabbit."
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"… What the fuck?" Katou's cookie dropped from his hand.
"That's not for real, right?" Doll looked to Barbiel.
"It hardly seems possible…" Barbiel replied, "Making an accusation like that makes no sense. What does Nema even gain from saying that?"
"That and this Cheriour prick has been slaughtering Rabbits for God knows how long…!" Katou snorted. "No one's gonna buy it. Nema just fucked up… people are gonna think she's a loon."
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"You're a loon…!" Cheriour growled from his seat. "You've made perhaps the most illogical, idiotic comment I've ever heard…! How typical of a Rabbit…!" He finished in a low hiss.
"If it's so idiotic, wipe that scowl off your face and stop acting like you've got something to hide!" Nema snapped back. "I have paperwork…" And with that Raphael stood and brought Uriel a thick pile of papers.
"And these would be…?" Uriel asked with a dark, arched brow.
"They are reports and general records of Cheriour." Nema told the Earth Angel. "All the files the I could find, and for your convenience they are ordered from the earliest found till the most recent."
Uriel thumbed through the papers. "… Are you sure?"
"I have checked them myself."
"… Then the earliest known records of Cheriour are from near the beginning of the Rabbit Hunting?"
"That is not true!" Cheriour said firmly. A barely noticeable tremor shook his voice.
Nema looked over her shoulder at him. "Then feel free to supply more paperwork." She looked again toward Uriel. "There are no school records or training records of any sort. These are things he would have received in his childhood, with or without a rank. But most importantly… there is no birth certificate. There IS no Cheriour. Cheriour does not exist."
The room was silent until Uriel looked to Cheriour and asked him, "… Do you have a birth certificate to present to us, Cheriour?"
There was a long pause, but every Angel in the room clearly saw him shaking. "… This is PATHETIC and POINTLESS!" Cheriour stood. His icy demeanor was gone, and he was a very different man. His eyes remained hidden behind his blonde bangs, but his scowl did a good enough job of expressing his anger. "What does this have to do with this trial? It is irrelevant!"
"My autobiography was irrelevant. It's your turn to give up something 'irrelevant,' too." Nema told him.
Cheriour appeared ready to scream at her, but Uriel pressed on. "… A birth certificate, Cheriour?"
He continued to frown. "… I have none readily available."
"… I would also like to say that I knew a woman that I wish were alive today. Her name was Nyssa… she was responsible for a Rebellion that was short-lived due to a personal heartbreak. Because she loved a man that decided to fight against her and killed her family… That man's name was Ashriel, and he was a Rabbit that turned against his kind because he believed in the ideal that damned himself." Nema took an unsure pause before pressing on. "… I have no birth certificate for an Ashriel. That is one of the problems that comes with being a Heaven-born Rabbit. But I do have this…" Now Raphael brought forth another stack of papers. "Nyssa's family had been killed in an attack on the slums she had lived in. What you have before you, Uriel, is a death count. On the second page I have highlighted Ashriel's name…"
"… Yes, I see that." Uriel said as he flipped over one page.
"If you observe the date of Ashriel's death and the earliest known records of Cheriour's, you'll notice they are only one week apart. … I know one week is a bit long, but I think it's enough to wonder if…"
"HOW DARE YOU MAKE UP LIES!" Cheriour suddenly exploded, causing the room to gasp. "YOU LITTLE WHITE-HAIRED, RED-EYED WITCH! WHAT DO YOU GAIN FROM TELLING THEM THINGS LIKE THIS?"
"Nothing." Nema's ruby-red eyes pierced into him. "Absolutely nothing. But I'm doing this for Nyssa… Because she deserves it."
It was true, however, the Uriel did not know what to do with this information. So after a long pause, the Angel of Judgement took up his gavel and tapped it twice. "The host of Angels shall begin the vote. This will take quite some time… so we will not return to this courtroom until the sun has set."
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"NEMA! NEMA, A QUESTION, PLEASE! WHY DID YOU BRING UP THAT INTERESTING CHERIOUR/ASHRIEL IDEA?"
"… Nyssa was regarded as insane by the Rabbits because she told them that Cheriour was Ashriel. After finding out it's definitely a possibility, I thought I would at least prove her right, even if it was after her death."
"So then you REALLY believe that Cheriour is Ashriel?"
"I think so, yes."
"MICHAEL!"
"WHAT?" The Fire Angel screamed back.
"You've been notorious for saying that you will love no woman! What makes this girl different?"
"Isn't that fucking obvious? LOOK at her! She's gorgeous and she'll fucking kick your ass! Wanna see?"
"NO, NO THAT'S OKAY!"
"MICHAEL, NEMA!"
"YES?" They yelled back in unison.
"DID YOU PLAN THAT PROPOSAL?"
Nema looked at Michael, who cleared his throat. "… No, I'm too fucking awesome to PLAN proposals!"
"… WHERE'S THE RING?"
"WHEN DO YOU PLAN ON GETTING MARRIED?"
"WHERE WILL YOU HAVE THE HONEYMOON?"
"ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE KIDS?"
This made the couple step back and blink rapidly as the cameras flashed. The last question made Nema blush, so she half-hid behind Michael as he answered, "No ring yet; don't know when, BUT PROBABLY SOON; don't know where we'll have the honeymoon, and we DEFINITELY don't know if we're having kids!"
The reporters were talking as if Nema had already won, and the Rabbits were free…
Cheriour felt sick. There was no way all of his carefully executed work had been for nothing…!
All because of… a little bunny girl?
Oh, he would have none of that. None.
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The sun set, and very slowly the people filtered into the courthouse, silent as the grave, awaiting the appearance of the Great Judge, Uriel. Nema had looked and noticed that Cheriour had returned with his Rabbit Hunting cloak flowing over his shoulders, clutching the sides tight against him as he stood with that firm scowl and the blonde hair covering his eyes.
Michael reached out to touch her hand and realized that it felt cold as death. She looked so nervous, he was surprised she wasn't trembling… He opened his mouth to say something, but then Uriel appeared, and everyone rose in respect to him, and than sat back down.
Uriel maintained a cold, strict face. "The verdict is in…" He began, and his voice seemed to echo.
They waited with baited breath.
"And Mudou Nemaelle…" Finally, even Uriel had to let himself award her with a smile. "You are innocent."
Innocent… guilty of nothing, not of living or loving… guilty of NOTHING.
Nema had not allowed Uriel to go on and state what Cheriour's sentence would be, as he was now guilty of war crimes and rape. She had stood, wide-eyed and shocked, and then hopped and pronounced a great big flurry of foreign words, words from Assiah that she hadn't used in a very long time.
The rest of the room, caught up in the excitement, did not allow Uriel to continue, either, as they stood and gave a great cheer in Nema's honor. And after a trial as strange as this, Uriel did not CARE. He'd rather just say the rest of the verdict the next day, when the general public had calmed down at least a LITTLE. And as he watched Nema nearly tackle Michael and give him a great big kiss, he was sure that probably was the best thing to do, anyway. Everyone was too happy. Why spoil it with talking about punishments?
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"Yes!" Doll cried gleefully, stealing the last cookie from Katou before he could eat it.
"Hey!" Katou snapped.
"You're fat!" Doll replied curtly.
"And you're evil!" Katou grumbled, trying his best to hide the smile on his face.
And Barbiel bounced little Abel in her arms and laughed along with him. "Abel, sweetie… we'll get to take you to your REAL home, now…!"
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He felt sick.
God, he felt sick…! He'd lost… he had LOST! Cheriour couldn't breathe. He looked behind him. This side of the room… had BETRAYED him…! They even stood and applauded for her…
Behind the curtain of blonde hair, Cheriour's eyes narrowed, and his arms, hiding under his cloak, began to shake in anger. And he watched her, spreading out her black wings in a daring show that made many of the White Wings slightly uneasy, but intrigued.
That little bunny girl… "YOU RUINED IT!" He suddenly cried, "FUCKING RABBIT!" He swore crudely.
And it happened so fast, yet it seemed to move so slow. For in the heat of such a strange trial, Cheriour wasn't checked for weapons, and he brought out two short swords he'd held in the straps against his back, hiding under that black Rabbit Hunter cloak.
And he cut through five White Wings because they got in his way… and Nema was trying to run to him and attack in return, but was caught in the pandemonium of running bodies and guards trying to pull her away. They tugged and tugged on her snowy arms, and she pulled and pulled.
And then she screamed.
And Michael watched it in slow motion… or at least, that was how it had seemed. The two blades slicing down through the black feathers, and the flesh, and the bone…
And Nema fell to the ground, wingless.
That was the cue to run for their dear lives. Everyone ran. Uriel, and Cheriour, and Raphael. Setsuna and Jibril had initially tried to stay, but Raphael had ushered them out, and the courthouse temporarily became Hell.
Then no one was there except for 5 dead bodies and Michael himself. In the midst of the chaos, Nema had scrambled into hiding somewhere, leaving behind the two big, beautiful black wings that Michael had adored.
The Fire Angel's wide green eyes fell to the vision of these two wings. Those couldn't possibly be her wings… That just… could NOT be right.
… There were going to get MARRIED, for God's sake!
And then he heard a strange kind of moaning, something mixed with a sob, coming from behind the tall podium where Uriel had stood for the trial. Michael sprinted to the sound. Then he began to wish hadn't done so.
Two slightly feathery stubs were all that was left of Nema's beautiful ebon wings. She was half-curled up on the floor, making those sobbing kinds of moans, her white flowing all around her. She was in the throes of a very specific and dreaded kind of pain.
Michael's brain went on overload. It made him forget what she would be turning into, and instead of running away, he ran TO her, and gently touched her face. Nema's whole body went into a spasm at the feeling of flesh, and Michael asked her the dumbest question ever. "Nema! Are you okay?"
She responded with a scream as she pulled away from his touch, falling away from him, crawling away.
"NEMA!" Michael called out. The worry was so foreign coming from his lips, but with too many things running through him, he could not find it in himself to care. He thought he was already near tears.
"… It hurts…" Nema said this in a small, pained kind of whine. She sounded more like a wounded animal and less like herself. A wave of burning pain took over her, but she fought it. So long as Michael was here, she would fight it…! "God, it hurts…!"
He was a fool. Oh Lord, there was never was a fool as big as him, for he dropped down and scrambled closer to her. He made stupid demands. "Nema, tell me what's happening! Tell me what to do!"
"THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!" She howled, and her voice was half beastly, and half human.
And Michael already knew that he could do nothing… but this was not an answer he would accept.
"Please go…!"
"NO!" Michael firmly refused the fragile plea, rushing forth and taking the precious face of hers and pressing kisses all over it. The flesh burned against his lips, which was saying something, for the Angel of Fire, but he continued to kiss her feverish forehead. "I'm not leaving…! You need me…! I'm not gonna leave you anymore…!"
"Go…"
"I'm going to marry you…"
"Go…" Nema choked on a sob, swallowed some growls.
"I'm going to protect you…!"
"FUCKING GO!" She kicked him away from her, and she watched him begin to cringe and press and hand to his head. "… Don't make me do this…" Tears coursed down her cheeks.
She was threatening to kill him… Michael tried to focus his vision on her, but it was hard, with all the pressure against his skull. "… I want you to kill me if you're going out, too. That's the only way I'll take it."
Nema was shaking, but it was difficult to tell if it was just her trying to hold back her inevitable fate, or if there was added sadness to the tremors her body endured. "… I can't do it…!" And Michael felt the pain in his head slip away.
And then Nema was in his arms, pressing a wild kiss to his lips. And Michael wanted to die this way. Let Nema lose herself and become a ghoul… he would be fine with it, if she made him her first mindless kill.
She began to come to a shaky stand, and he stood with her. And then she pushed him. He pulled her back to him, and they stumbled on, giving sad and desperate kisses.
He was pressed against the doors. Nema's kisses traveled in a crooked line down his neck. She was tearing buttons off his shirt, ripping the cloth open, and he thought she was going to make their final moment at least a bit more pleasurable…
But then she sprang up, and this every last ounce of humanity left in her, she whispered, "Do not regret loving me. I will never regret loving you."
And she pushed him through the door she'd unlocked while distracting him with seduction, shut it, and locked it.
And then Michael heard a high pitched scream twist into the lower growls of a ghoul, and he knew Nema wasn't even Nema, anymore.
She was nothing.
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"What happened to the screen here?" Doll asked with a wrinkled brow. "Cheriour cursed and the screen just goes blank?"
"… That can't be good." Barbiel murmured worriedly. "Katou, what are you doing?"
"Calling Setsuna." Katou said as he dialed the number.
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Setsuna would not pick up that call. No, instead he was fall together with Jibril, and the two Angels would mourn the loss of their daughter, and the crowd would be lost and confused, and Uriel would send out orders for a group to break in a shoo the albino ghoul to Hades, where he would deal with it, later.
"… Michael." Raphael called softly to his friend, watching him stand there, the breaths coming shaky and broken, the face streaked with tears he did not register.
And then Michael heard the sound of a cloak flapping in the wind.
He snapped.
"COWARRRRD!" He screamed. He nearly got his arm sliced of while twisting the wrist that held the other, but Michael was not apt to caring at this moment. "FUCKING COWARD!" The sword dropped. Michael managed to steal the over and smoothly tripped the cowardly Angel, Cheriour. "I'LL KILL YOU… I'LL KILL YOU!" Michael did not use the sword just yet. He pummeled the Angel's chest and face, enjoying the bruises that bloomed already, reveling in the nose the broke yet again. The War Angel drowned himself in the bloodlust spurred by death and mourning. "WHAT KIND OF MAN IS IT THAT WILL STRIKE A GIRL AFTER VICTORY'S BEEN CALLED?" He hit him once, twice, three times. "I WILL GIVE YOU PAIN FOR ALL THE BULLSHIT YOU PULLED!" Now Michael stood, stomping hard on Cheriour's chest, enjoying the sound of cracking ribs and watching blood come out of his mouth as he coughed. "Nema and I decided that we would KILL you after the trial…" And the Violent Angel pushed the tip of the sword against Cheriour's throat, and hissed to him, "Trial's over. Now say goodnight!" And he drove the blade in, twisted it, and dragged it out of that Angel's neck.
And that provided Michael with enough satisfaction to keep from killing anyone else…
Except for himself.
Raphael had cried out and ran to him, but Michael still turned the blade toward himself and shoved the cold metal through.
It was a new sensation… killing himself. Strangely, being stabbed through the heart seemed to be a slower death than he thought it was. The pain didn't seem as big a deal, either… and he was familiar with the loss of blood.
And when he blacked out, he was, strangely, one of the happiest men in the world.
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A rough kick startled the poor Archangel into alertness. "… What the fuck?"
"Indeed!" A familiar voice snapped and kicked him again.
"N… Nema?" Michael groaned when she kicked him a third time.
"Who the fuck do you think?" God, she was livid. She moved to kick him a fourth time, but he caught her ankle pulled her down onto the floor.
They began to struggle. They rolled in their attempts to pin each other and soon they were rolling down a slope, which abruptly ended against a wall that Michael hit his head against.
She slapped her palm against his forehead and shoved his head into the wall a second time. The wall was black, as was everything else around them, but Nema had that kind of heavenly glow to her. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF ME?"
"Because you killed yourself, asshole!" Nema swore right back, but this time she began to cry. "Who told you that's what I wanted?
"What?"
Finally, she pulled away. "… Go home. There are more people that care about you than you think."
"But you're the only one I…" Michael paused. Nema swiped her tears and looked up at him. "… love." He finished. "You are the only one who… knows who I am."
"Everyone knows who you are. You're Michael. And Michael is Michael, and that's exactly why I love you." She gave him a small smile. "You think people expect this and that of you… No one's asking you to be mean all the time. You can be kind, like you were around me… I think you'll find that you're a better person than you think you are."
"Then I want to find that out with you."
"But that isn't an option, anymore…" God, she was trying so hard to keep the tears away. Michael wanted to kiss her until she smiled again. "… I WANT to be there with you… You proposed to me, and I thought that I could die a happy girl, then… I just didn't think that… I actually would."
"Nema –"
"No, I am worse than dead…!" Nema bit her lip to keep back the sob. "But it was beautiful, every moment with you…! And I would do it again, even if that meant I would go out like that…!" She sniffled and smiled. "I do not regret loving you… Please tell me you don't regret loving me."
Now Michael kissed her, brushing her hair back. "I don't."
"Not a day?"
"Not a minute." Michael paused. "… But I will miss you."
Her smile remained, but it began to soften into a frown. "… Then you know what happens next."
The Fire Angel found it in himself to smile a little bit. "… You know?"
"Hmm?"
"There were nights that I thought I'd just been having a great dream… Then I would wake up, and it never was a dream, after all."
Nema nodded, the frown becoming more apparent. "… It won't be like that, this time."
"… I know. But I… can't do anything about that."
"I'm sorry…"
"Me, too."
"It's time…"
"What?"
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"Michael…?"
"… What…?"
"He's coming to. Give him breathing room."
"… God… My chest…" Michael coughed as he stirred in bed.
"Mika-chan…"
"… There's only one bastard that calls me that…" Michael's blue-green eyes slid open and stared up at Raphael's face.
"… Do you hate me?" The Wind Angel asked.
"Hate you?"
"For bringing you back?"
Michael stared up at Raphael for a while, and felt tears build up in his eyes. He blinked them away and allowed them to tumble down his face. "… No. I don't…"
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AUTHORESS NOTE: Hate me now. I know you want to. One more chapter left… No matter how angry you are, stick it out to the very end, minna-san!