Just an fyi, there may not be a true order to these lol, but this one is fun. Include much pining...
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It was a quiet evening, which was a nice change of pace. Zaffre had finished his assignment early, and now he was taking it upon himself to sample Julius Caesar's personal vineyard. The grapes were quite delectable. He might take some for himself to make up a fine wine. He pocketed some of the seed pits for now. Using a minor demonic miracle, he sent a sizable bunch to his home, and took to the sky. The sky was clear, and the air was mild. Just how he preferred it.
He soared over the small Greek town, looking for his favorite tavern. Good, it was still open. He was about to duck down to land in a dark corner when a bright blur in the sky caught his attention. Whatever it was it was large... it couldn't be? He narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue and saw that it was. Raphael was heading to the coast, almost as if a hell-hound was on his tail.
He took off after the Seraph, which considering he had his secondary and crowns out it was a chore and a half.
"Oi! Raphael!" He called out, trying to catch his attention. He really hoped to catch the angel before he got too far over the sea, he really hated flying over water. Luckily Raphael slowed down and looked over his shoulder.
"Zaffre?" Raphael's golden eyes glinted in the moonlight, full of worry and sorrow. "What are you doing here?"
Zaffre hid his windedness. "I was about to ask you the same thing. Where are you off to in a hurry?"
"Something is happening in Alexandria, I have to go." Raphael maneuvered around the demon.
"Alexandria? What is going on in Alexandria?" Wasn't that the name of the town Caesar was interested in? Well, the man was interested in a lot of towns. He was certifiably insane, which helped his whole assignment in the end-run. Gotta love those no-effort temptations.
"Caesar's leading an attack on it, he plans on burning it to the ground."
The Seraph took off at top speed, and Zaffre had to struggle to keep up. "How did you find that out? And why does that concern you? Since when do you get involved in human politics?"
"From one of the other senators. And, if he burns Alexandria, the Library will be destroyed! I can't on good conscience let all that knowledge go to waste!" Raphael concentrated, he had to hurry, he simply could not let all the collected knowledge from the past centuries be erased. The Almighty would understand his rash decision. I mean, she wasn't TOO upset over him saving those children back in Mesopotamia...It was only a millennium sequestering in heaven... His thoughts slowed him down, just enough for Zaffre to grab his wrist.
"You can't go to Alexandria, Raph. It's too dangerous."
The seraph pulled his hand from the grip. "I don't care if I get discorporated, I have to at least try!"
Zaffre had to stop him, even if he had to fight. If his hunch was correct, it would be more than just a discorporation risk for the angel. He used the last of his power to get ahead of the angel and wrapped his arms around Raphael.
"Raphael you can't go to Alexandria!"
"Let me go, Zaffre. I WILL fight you."
The demon sighed, resignedly. He had hoped to avoid revealing the truth. But he had no choice. The seraph was stronger than he was, and could take him down without breaking a sweat.
"This isn't just about discorporation, Raph. Your very existence would be on the line!"
This caused the angel to stop struggling. He pulled back to look at his friend's dark blue eyes. "What are you saying, Zaffre?"
"Caesar isn't using regular fire against Alexandria. He has hellfire."
Raphael pulled away. "What... what are you saying? How would Caesar have hellfire?"
Zaffre sighed, brushing his dark curl out of his eye. He avoided looking at the angel. "Look, let me explain, Raph."
The seraph crossed his arms, looking at him with eyes full of hurt. "I'm listening."
The bat looked around. They were still over the sea, a few miles from the shore. "Let me treat you to a drink?" Zaffre gave the angel a half smile, which was left with an unflinching frown. He sighed.
"I was tasked to tempt Julius Caesar's soul, not that he really needed any help with that. There's something about these Romans. He mentioned conquering, he mentioned something along the lines of trying to get Alexandria to get them to share in their wealth of knowledge. I didn't exactly tell him if it was a good or bad idea. He started gathering his troops to mount his attack, and wanted me at his side for luck, or some reason. I really am not one for fighting." He winced, and fingered the dark curl that once again fell in front of his eye again. Damned thing.
Raphael watched as the demon seemed to try to distract himself from the near slip up, by messing with the odd curl. He liked that curl, it was one tuft of hair out of a bunch that was different. It was a perfect representation of Zaffre. He watched as his friend tried to regain his composure.
"So I had to think of some way to get out of it. I gave him a small amount of hellfire. I... I certainly didn't plan on him using it that way. Raphael, you KNOW the last thing I would want to do is..."
He trailed off when Raphael placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're right, Zaffre. You aren't one to start a fight. I shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion."
"I'm a demon, it comes with the territory for an angel to jump to such... conclusions about a demon."
Raphael smiled sadly. Zaffre was always one to self depreciate. He wished he could help the demon think better of himself.
"You really must let me make it up to you! How about a drink?"
That perked the fruit bat up. "Oh! I do know a wonderful tavern back in Athens."
...
"This whole thing going on in Rome for the past, however many centuries. Each emperor is worse than the last! I can spend the whole of existence here and take credit for all the corruption." Zaffre took a deep swig of the wine in his cup. Sometimes he wished it was possible to stay drunk all the time.
"I have noticed that. It's such a sad state I've seen. I try to help with some minor blessings here and there."
"You? But you're a seraph! Aren't there other circles that would be better suited for this menial blessing work?"
"Well, yes. But I am here by choice. It gets boring being cooped up in heaven, only watching things from a distance. I just want to help make a difference. It just doesn't seem to work very well."
Zaffre snorted, staring into the dark red wine. "Well, you know what they say about good intentions..."
Raphael waited for his friend to finish his thought. "What's that?"
"Hmm?" The demon looked up, eyes bleary.
"What do they say about good intentions?"
"Oh! Well..." He waived his hand as if to rant about something, then paused, hand frozen mid air. He wrinkled his nose. "I forgot."
Raphael could not help but burst out laughing.
"Listen, Raph. I really must Apollo... Apollolo..." He narrowed his eyes as his tongue got stuck on the word, but the angel got the gist of what he was saying.
"It's quite alright, my dear." He stared at the demon fondly, watched as the black curl fell in front of his dark blue eyes. He couldn't help but think they were like a pair of deep blue sapphires.
"What was that?"
"Sorry?"
"Did you say something about sapphires?"
Raphael felt his cheeks flush. "No, don't think I did." He covered his face. "I think I'm too drunk to think straight. I should sober up."
Zaffre nodded. "Yeah." He looked out the window of his room, the sun was coming up. They must have been drinking for six hours straight. He was certain he heard sapphire. Or was it Zephyr? Who knew.
"I'm going to go find a place to get some rest before the sun gets too high up, Raph. We should get together again soon."
"That sounds wonderful. Thank you for the company, my dear. Sleep well."
He watched as Zaffre turned into a bat and flew off into the woods. He used a small miracle to clean up the room. Raphael stretched his arms over his head. He wanted to go check on Alexandria. Even though there was still the danger of hellfire, at least he knew what to expect, and can avoid the fire. Besides, he wanted to help the humans the best he could, even if he couldn't get directly involved.
"Until next time, my precious Sapphire." He muttered under his breath, and took to the sky towards Egypt.
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I made a Christmas comic, check it out on my tumblr