Big hint as to why Zaffies and Tsu-chan are this way: think that one section last chapter with "Fuck Albireo". And there have been an infinite amount of times I've screwed this story up with PWAFD. Let's count the similarities:
- wings. (entire story; Sunaziki and Akari in the major)
- some type of structure in the opposing and allied forces. (the deck; Arono and his cronies)
- another world with striking similarities and yet bizarrely different. (Carteli; Yugi and Yugi)
- canon is your destiny, bitch! (not until THE chapter; Ash mainly, Mika not as much)
- magic colors. (everyone, all the time; and we have Diamond to teach us the difference and Yugi to explain why)
- remember the past, since only you can make the future. (KRIS! No one else, really…maybe Sunaziki, Arono, Mika, and possibly Kotake)

Sadie's notes: they use the f-word. OOOOOOHHHHH. A lot, though, so don't say that we didn't warn you. And there is some slightly graphic stuff in this chapter, so if you're scared, wait until next chapter to wet your pants.

-&-&-&-

Riprendere

Chapter Nine: Allegro

-&-&-&-&-

"They're the real thing. There is no way that they couldn't be, since they broke the illness on Pandora. Speaking of whom…do you have the box?" Oblivion said, facing Pandora. She nodded and took the small wooden box out of one of her many folded robes. She handed it to Oblivion, who then passed it on to Francoise.

"But…why?" Francoise asked. She opened it, but Hope was not inside. It was empty. She closed it again and latched it.

"You were able to open it and free Hope the last time. If you truly are Pandora, in time, you'll be able to open it and see a tiara in there." Oblivion explained. She looked out toward Lunapolis, where the moon continued to shine. "But if you're not, then you won't be able to get into the temple, no matter who goes with you."

Now with more questions than ever, the ringing of the bells atop the church could only shock Francoise. She knew that it Energy and Wrath were the ones ringing them, and as they did, Pride and Sloth shut the doors to the church. Death ran her scythe over the handles to open the doors and they melted away.

Wrath allowed himself to be carried about halfway down from the top of the church, then jumped the rest of the way. Energy flew the entire way.

"I just noticed. Etoile's earrings…she has more than seven." Ra noted. "I thought you were only allowed to have seven max."

"No…in cases like hers…she can pierce with diamonds. We have." Envy said, pointing to places where there were diamonds in her own ears. "There are a few very rare cases like that, and she is certainly one of them. Wait until she gets going, and oh shit, you're in for it."

Etoile curtsied, but then dropped into the splits and pointed. "Zaffiel at twelve o'clock. Looks pissed." She grinned and snapped back up to a standing position. "Ah, she's brought Nirine with her. I wish it were Kummi, though…"

"Easy on me for now," Wrath said, wagging a finger. Pride nodded in agreement.

"I've got to side with her on this one…I want to beat the crap out of Kummi." Mirllyne added, fire sprites sitting on her shoulders and flying around her. Kage cocked an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I'd love to kick the living shit out of Arien too. Can you agree with me on that one?"

Kage sighed. "There's no winning."

-&-&-&-

"I'm pissed."

"I know you are."

"I want to go back there and rip his balls off, cook them, and give them to him for dinner."

"A little harsh…but…okay."

"A LITTLE? AFTER WHAT HE DID TO HIS SISTER!"

Nirine fell silent and could only watch as Zaffiel shook with anger and pain. It had finally happened. Albireo had caught them and was now severely punishing Tsukasa. He had first given her a minor beating in front of Zaffiel, then ordered her away and promised he'd get to her next.

Her tears slid off her cheeks and hit the ground with little noise. Nirine wished for a second that she had a camera so she could record this, but thought twice on it. Zaffiel was already being punished; she didn't need any more crap.

"YO, BITCHFACE!" Etoile shouted, sprinting over. Nirine sighed. Now was really not the best time, but who was she to judge.

A brilliant blue blast was slammed back by a rose pink one, and clouds burst into the skies above. Zaffiel was obviously serenely pissed at Etoile now. Nirine held her hands out and a warm golden glow wrapped around them.

"And already, she's on it…" Kage trailed off. She looked to her side to see D.S. there. "You know, she hasn't told him yet. Will she?"

"Eventually. She also hasn't told you something." D.S. replied. "Oi, incoming."

Kage held up her arm and was protected by a mint green shield. She sighed and clapped her hands, then laid them to the dagger at her waist. In an instant, it was a halberd with pale green markings all up and down. She smirked.

(And this is the part where you learn your mother can kick ass.) Kage declared, charging out of her green bubble and twirling the halberd. It was a surreal moment.

The sky turned golden and Zaffiel's clouds began to pour rain. Each of the sins suddenly blazed their color, and all the coordinating earrings (on them or not) twinkled. Kage stopped mid-leap with her halberd held high over her head. Etoile's hands pulsed blue magical light, and Zaffiel's had rose-colored orbs floating around them. All around Joe and Francoise white light burned, and draped over Nirine was a black cloak of shadow.

"TAKE THAT!" Mirllyne shouted, Excalibur pointed at Nirine's heart. As she ran, Excalibur began to glow. With each step, it got brighter and brighter, and then…

Mirllyne screamed, as did Nirine, but both for different reasons. Mirllyne let go of her sword and stumbled backwards, and Nirine slowly fell to her knees. Red stained her clothes and her golden irises were slowly overtaken by black. Excalibur surged with light, as if it were sucking it away from the angel.

And suddenly, all that was left was the sound of the rain hitting the ground. Mirllyne fell; her face had turned chalky white. Kage landed neatly next to her, halberd pointed toward Nirine. There was really no need for it, though.

Excalibur was burning with light from the blade and the crystals. As Mirllyne touched it, she yanked her hand away. It drew itself out and sat on the ground, its glow slowly fading away.

Nirine was dead.

"Was that you, or was it that fucking sword?" Zaffiel asked, stepping toward Nirine. "You do know that it is a holy sword, and only…dead. There's nothing that we can do now for her, that we can't."

-&-&-&-

Fiella dipped the cloth back into the bowl and continued to wash Tsukasa's limp form off. In the state Tsukasa was currently in, she could do little more than cry and curse Albireo.

"You're not going to be able to do very much, you know." Enala said. "I don't care if it was your idea or not, but it was a stupid one regardless to bring back Albireo. The guy lives to kill and he doesn't care who he is as long as he can."

"I hate to say it, but she's right." Fiella agreed. "If you're this bad, it's something to think about how badly he'll do in Zaffiel. As much as a lot of us can't stand her…" Here she received a glare from Tsukasa, "We all have to realize that the only way this happened was because someone did the same thing to her."

"You know…yeah. Cutting. That's what she tried…but it never worked. They say angels can't die until they complete the task they were given." Tsukasa little more than whispered. "It feels…almost…nice. I…have some…too…we…did…cut…uuuunnnhhh."

The twins' eyes locked over her unconscious form. Fiella simply continued to work while Enala finished weaving the bandages. But both knew that Tsukasa was unraveled completely now – though prying into her for information would be easy, it wouldn't be smart. Zaffiel would be at the top of her guard to watch out for her little lover and would be beating even more angels.

"Is that little girl better?" Fiella asked. "From yesterday."

Enala glanced up from her loom. "The scarring won't be too bad, but for the present, it'll hurt like hell. Good thinking, not using telepathy."

"She'd be able to hear us that way, I'm not stupid." Fiella replied. "This'll leave a nasty scar – right across the eye."

"I know you're not." Enala said, sighing. "That is strange – it's almost as if he meant it to be that way. He cut her right across the eye in the shape of a star."

-&-&-&-

Death's wings anxiously fluttered, and she nervously played with her scythe. She danced from foot to foot and her eyes were set on Nirine's corpse. Oblivion laid a hand on her arm.

"Not yet. Wait for Zaffiel to leave, then you can do whatever you'd like." Oblivion said. "With her here, you'll only piss her off more than she is right now."

"She has a point there." Pain agreed, taking Death's other arm and her scythe. She grunted slightly, but shifted her eyes from Nirine to the now fighting Zaffiel and Kage. Kage's halberd whipped through the air to deflect the blows from Zaffiel's slim wooden staff. As scary as it was to see the most feared angel from three hundred years ago fight the current most feared angel, it was equally beautiful.

The blades of Kage's weapon caught the light and Zaffiel's raindrops turned them and the brilliant moonlight into a rainbow hanging in the north. Suddenly, Zaffiel froze. She dropped her bo staff and fell to her knees.

"Good girl, much more obedient than that whore of a sister of mine." It was no other than Albireo, standing in front of Zaffiel with a sword held against her neck. "Thank you for beating her down so nicely, Kage. I'll take this time to return the favor I owe you and kill her right in front of you."

"You wouldn't dare," Kage said, paling. "I…no. You'll owe me a greater debt if you do."

"Oh, but I won't. I already got to Tsukasa. Enala and Fiella, stupid bitches they are, are back there helping her lick her wounds." He sneered, making a tiny cut across Zaffiel's neck. The angel snarled, grabbed the staff, and stabbed him in his sensitive area with it. She took advantage of it, seized him by the neck with her staff, and in five seconds had the situation reversed.

"How does it feel? How does it feel to have the little angel you had as your slave about to kick the crap out of you? How does it feel, you fucker? Tell me!" Zaffiel ordered, quite literally kicking his ass. As she panted, her eyes burned with bottled up emotions waiting to get free.

"Fuck you too, Zaffiel." Albireo choked out, then grabbed the staff outside of her hands and swung her over his head as if she were only a feather.

"STOP IT!" D.S. screamed, holding out a hand toward them. And, true to the two words she'd said, they froze mid- about to kick one another's asses. "Kami be praised that they didn't go in for it any sooner, or else I wouldn't have been ready in time. But they meant it, we can be sure of that."

Kage let out a long breath that she'd obviously been holding the entire time. "You're right about that. She's hated him ever since he enslaved her, but the only reason she's hung around is for Tsukasa. Not only does she feel sorry for her…"

"Oh, we all know they're in l-o-v-e." Etoile sang childishly, twirling her hair around a finger. She took a couple of steps to the point where she could touch Albireo. Once she could, she whispered to them, "I'm going to kill your dear Albireo, not you. You can be there, but I'll be the one to kill him with his own creation."

She smiled such an evil smile, and then backed away. "All right, who gets to teach us how to use a gun so I don't have to get all alchemist on you?"

-&-&-&-

Etoile sat patiently, waiting for Pierre to return with Ellie and Mango. Since they knew all her interior designs, they would be able to tell if another couple of piercings would screw anything up.

"Thanks for waiting." Pierre said, returning with only Mango. The teenage girl had short, unruly orange-blonde hair and soft brown eyes. Instantly, she ran her fingers over Etoile's ears.

"These are fine. But I'll warn you: four more will be the most you can do without frying her hearing." Mango announced. By habit, her other hand combed nervously through her wild hair. "Does she work okay? Do we need to get Ellie up?"

Pierre shook his head and patted Etoile's dark hair. "No to both, Mango. One other question, though. Did you use any of the real Etoile to create this one? The real Etoile, so I've heard, is awake and pissed."

Mango yanked on her hair. "Hmmm…nope. See, her hair's darker and so are her eyes, I think. I'm not sure, because I never met her. But we made her completely from scratch material and only used what Zaffiel and Tsukasa told us as design."

"I'm going to kill her to prove I'm better, you know." Etoile stated, standing and brushing Pierre's hand away. "I can take care of the next holes. Thank you for telling me that I can only do four more, Mango. That's just enough to cover the rest of the sins."

Mango was in a slight state of shock as the robot graced past her without so much as a word of farewell. The door slid open, Etoile breezed out, and the two remaining sat down.

"Well…she's certainly bitchy enough to be the real one. Maybe excessively so, but still, better to have more." Mango sighed, shaking her head. "I'm going to get back to bed now…tired."

This time, Pierre nodded in reply to Mango. "If it were possible…could you make a clone of Death?"

Mango's eyes shot open. "Death! The angel? Sure…but it may be harder, since her talent is much harder to match than Etoile's."

-&-&-&-

Etoile aimed the gun, pulled the trigger, and a pumped-up bullet flew toward her target. The bullet had been charged with her magic and would make the wall implode. She turned and smirked.

"I TOLD YOU!" She declared, firing off another shot up into the sky.

"Be careful with that." Death warned. "I'm not going to be able to do anything for a while. Kindly disregard me for the next few moments…I have something to take care of."

Etoile easily fit the gun into her transmuted pouch. She was dead silent as she sat down on the ground. Death held up her scythe with both hands and a black rain glittered down from it. Almost as soon as it had started, it stopped, and revealed the transformed Death.

Her hair was one of the more impressive parts: it had grown, but was still uneven, falling to her chest with some outlining her face. Her tiny skirt and tank top had become a long, black robe, complete with wide sleeves. There were a few silver markings on it, but there was very little else. The hood was pulled up and had a teensy silver star where it ended; it was rounded at its peak. Her wings shot out the back and were much longer than before and now had several silver rings in them. Black slippers with silver patterns were on her feet. She rolled up the sleeves of the robe to reveal black arm warmers. Beneath the hood, pink eyes shone.

Death walked slowly to where Nirine lay dead, holding her scythe. Turning her head once away, she raised the scythe and swung it down on Nirine's stomach. A golden entity flew out of it and gathered around Death's hand. She removed the scythe and held out the hand with the golden light so it could fly off. After this, she returned to her normal state, but looked much more exhausted.

"I do apologize, but it had to be done." She said.

"Anyway." Kage began, "Now that we've gone and killed Nirine, it's only a matter of time before they find us and do the same."

Etoile fired more shots. "Trust me, we'll be fine, you worrywart. The only thing we have to worry about is getting into the temple. Francoise, would you open the box again?"

Francoise lifted the latch and gasped in surprise. Etoile lowered the gun and peered inside, then gave a loud whoop of joy.

"We've got our Pandora! Put it on." She exclaimed. "No…Joe, you put it on her."

Both were silent.

"Ah…you'll have to get better with that." Etoile said. "I've seen you two, and you're attracted to one another like positive and negative. But there is a time, and it's getting sooner with each passing second, when you'll have to cast everything else but one another aside. That's what the temple is for. To find Prometheus and Pandora."

Joe, though blushing insanely, lifted the diamond tiara out of Pandora's Box. As soon as it was clear of the box, the box splintered into wooden dust. Francoise gasped a little, as did Joe. But he set his face and laid the tiara so it was centered on her head. The second that he let it go, white light exploded from it.

"Oh yay, it fits." Mirllyne said. "Just hold still, it won't hurt."

She was right. The light spun around them like a cocoon and blazed brightly. After a few moments, it stopped, but left Joe wearing a golden circlet around his head with an emerald star at its helm. Francoise's tiara, in contrast, had a ruby star at its center.

"Prometheus and Pandora." Pandora said. "The box has shattered, Hope is freed, the sins exist in the world again…"

"Hey D.S., I know it's a random question, but is your full name Dal Segno al Coda? I mean…it's the only thing that really makes sense at this point." Sadie asked. D.S. looked at her, then nodded.

"Yes. Play to the D.S., go back to the S-mark, play until you reach the coda sign, then take the coda and play the ending. Put in layman's terms, of course." She replied, pointing to the S-mark over her left eye, then the coda mark through her right. "They thought I was going to be the angel of music…but…"

"We switched and screwed everything over." Etaf said. "Fate was meant to be the angel, but Destiny removed her wings and placed them on me instead. I became the angel, but never knew that I was born human. Fate later got her wings back…only after Destiny died."

"And Mirllyne fell in love, then was expelled…then lived on Earth." Kage said. "This is my guesswork, though. She never fell in love again, but sought out people that she thought could help her. But what she doesn't know - what I didn't know, even – is that Arthur never existed, nor did he leave her. She's had him the entire time."

-&-&-&-

Tsukasa woke up to find Zaffiel next to her. Her angel was not awake, and her smooth skin was wrapped up in bandages. Tsukasa didn't even need to think what had happened to her, or who had done it.

"I know you can hear me, you bastard." She said audibly, tightening her fingers into a fist.

"Oh, so you're awake now. How's your little playmate?" Albireo's bodiless voice said from somewhere above.

"What did you do to her!" Tsukasa screamed.

"Nothing."

"You fucking liar."

"You're right. Well, nothing she won't recover from. But it may take a while. Yours certainly will, my little sister."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Tell me, you asshole!"

"Such language! We should wash your mouth out for that! Nothing major, though. Her staff worked nicely for some of it, then I had Etoile transmute it into a dagger…well, take a look, why don't you? I'm watching you, too."

"No way."

"Then you'll be in there a while."

-&-&-&-

"That's not possible. I saw him dead in the river." Mirllyne stuttered.

"Yes, but with Excalibur next to him. He trained with that sword, didn't he? Ask the sword to reveal itself." Kage said. "Only you can do it now, Mirllyne, and he's the only thing that will unlock the temple gates."

"But…I saw his blood on the rock…and Death…" Mirllyne muttered; now with her arms wrapped around Excalibur.

"He asked me." Death answered simply, pointing to the sword. "I agree that his human body was indeed dead, but his soul and true body were not. If you would hurry it along, Mirllyne."

Mirllyne closed her eyes and said in a clear voice, "Excalibur, I command you to reveal your true form."

She opened her eyes to see a teenage boy with messy dark brown hair and icy blue eyes was standing in front of her. She grabbed his hand and traced his skin up his arm. Then she squealed in joy; this was her Arthur.

"Took you long enough." He said. "But…I'll be able to explain more later. Tell them what they need to be able to do when the time comes."

With a nod, he returned to the form of the sword in Mirllyne's arms. She pressed it in closer to her body, then placed it back to her hip.

"Well, as someone pointed out before…I glued myself to Sadie for a reason. I needed to get to Pandora because yes, I knew that it took Excalibur to enter the temple."

"Okay, before we go any further into this…one question. What is the temple, and WHY is it so important?" Francoise asked.

"A simple question with a very detailed answer." Etoile said. "I was once brought there, but was never let in; only Prometheus and Pandora are, as well as an expelled angel and a current angel. At the time, Pandora's Box had yet to be opened, so the only thing that happened near there were cleaning and protection spells. But we all knew what was going to happen, eventually, in it. Prometheus and Pandora, no, no sex, but…accept what they have to do. That's in short."

"In any case. I knew that Sadie had known you, and so I thought that you were friends in the past. For a while I was worried that I'd read her wrong, but then Joe turned up and I knew I had something right, since he had her reading too." Mirllyne continued. "And then…I met her. I thought I would be able to do something more, but wasn't able to do anything."

"So you lied…so you could come?" Ra asked. "You know, we would have let you. We're not very private. Hell, most of us wouldn't even notice."

"It doesn't matter now." Mirllyne replied. "What's done is done, and no one - maybe Dal - can change it. All that matters now is we get rid of Albireo before he does any more harm…and doesn't 'White Angel' have all your important things?"

And, due to how mature the group was, there was a wild outburst of laughter.

"All bad and/or sick jokes aside, yes." Sadie replied, sighing. "Come on, Etoile, Kage, Dal – can I call you that? – get suited up into your full uniforms. I'll just put everyone in a standard zero-zero uniform and we can…"

In seconds, all of the cyborgs from generations one and two wore red and gold and the generation three members wore blue and gold. The angels were easily singled out now in their more colorful clothing. Kage's eyes flicked toward Etoile.

"There's no more stalling. Come on, it doesn't hurt, and you know it. Besides, I could fix it without even trying if you did happen to get magically injured." Kage said. With a clap of her hands, green light swam around her and left her transformed.

You would have never guessed how old Kage was by looking at her now. Her long hair was tied back into a single braid, and her wings had extended by about two feet. The shirt she wore was short-sleeved and black with black ribbons lacing down in a V to her chest, widening as they reached back up to the neck; at the end of the ribbons were emerald stars. Her skirt was the kind that swirled when you made the slightest movement and was made of smooth black material with emeralds laced into them to form patterns. On her feet were black one-inch platforms with emeralds on the straps. She smiled, clapped her hands, and a tall, slim black staff with a green orb at the top was in her hands.

Etoile turned her head away, threw a hand up and drew it back down just as fast, so she too was now in her full uniform. The shirt was fairly tight midnight blue lace and widened significantly at the elbows. Again, two star-shaped holes had been torn to let her blue wings fly freely off. The black skirt was made of the same material as Kage's, but was instead sprinkled with sapphires and aquamarines. However, these hid the fact that she still wore chains, but these were more decorative and laced up her knees. Her hair had managed to pull itself back into a half ponytail, and cascaded down her back neatly, but the ponytail had captured all the most impressive ringlets.

Polaris' uniform was the same – but her skirt had diamonds, and she wore much fancier slippers as opposed to chains.

D.S. had also transformed within that time span. It was the first time Joe had seen her with her wild black hair down; her hazel eyes seemed to have gotten several shades lighter. She wore a white shirt that covered up to her shoulders and down to her navel that was skin-tight, then cut off. The black skirt had two slits up the sides that showed her legs that was also tight to her body, but fell all the way to her ankles. The shoes she wore were knee-high buckle-up boots, and the silver buckles glistened spectacularly. It was obvious now how tattooed she was; actually, all the angels' tattoos seemed more pronounced in Heaven.

"Well…there's not much else we can do." Oblivion said. "If they're all uniformed, then we may as well storm their headquarters and go from there."

"No, there is something left to do. We have to choose the angels that are going to go into the temple with Joe and Francoise." Etoile said, standing next to the two. "I'll volunteer myself as expelled angel. Should I be killed before we can reach the temple, who else will go?"

"I will." Polaris said.

"And I don't really have a choice in all this. I'm in for your current angel. And I have Excalibur…but that's just an added bonus." Mirllyne added sheepishly, raising her hand. Death, Oblivion, Fear, and Energy all cast her wary glances.

"We, Mirllyne, are also angels, despite the recent fallout. We must continue to exist because what we represent still exists in the world." Fear said. Death nodded in agreement with this.

"And just to get it straight, we're not really anything. We were humans…but now…hell, who knows what we are." Greed said, examining her fingernails.

Kage beat her wings mightily. "But both of you have to understand that all of us angels are willing to risk our lives for you two. You will bring the end to the Chaos tyranny on Heaven and return the angels to the skies, and make Hope even stronger in the world." She lifted a few feet off the ground. "Now, might I ask why they're all here?"

"They stole something from me! MY YURI!" Ra screamed, surprising the older angel. "But…y'know, we could die for Joe and Frannie, right?"

She received a few nods in reply.

"Good, it's settled. Let's get going. I have a feeling that this isn't going to be very pretty." Kage said, flapping her wings even more and flying off toward where the moon was just beginning to set.

-&-&-&-&-

OMGOMGOMG! WE'RE HERE!

START POPPING YOUR POPCORN NOW!

Next chapter resolves everything and leaves most questions answered! AND IT'S A SONGFIC! SEE YA THERE!