I paced the living room. Everything is falling apart quickly, and almost beyond my control. Oh, wait, did I say almost? I meant they ARE. Sorry. I paced and paced. What to do, what to do? My best friend in the world hates me, my mother is being held hostage by my own father, and the only other friends I have are probably convinced that I don't need their help and nothing is wrong. Which was my original intention, too, but now I was starting to wish that I hadn't said everything is okay. Although, I don't need them getting involved in something that's my problem. I don't want them to get hurt in the process of helping a friend.

Oh, and the worst part? I have to be the new ruler of the Dark Angel Realm. I had spent what, my whole life and then some trying my hardest to avoid just that? What did blood-pure heirs matter anyways? Why does my father have to be crazy with power and stupid kingly junk like that? Oh. Wait. He's not worth the title of 'king'. That sounds noble and good, and he is the exact opposite of that.

I decided to take a walk to clear my head. I walked quickly towards the door, but before opening it, I stopped with my hand still on the doorknob and took a deep breath. Relax, Sophie…don't let the outside world see your fear and worry. I calmly opened the door and stepped onto the front porch of our house. The fresh air felt good blowing gently on my face, and it relieved more tension than I knew I had in me. That didn't mean all the tension was gone—no, I was still very very concerned and scared.

I turned out of our yard and onto the city sidewalk. I looked around at all the happy people and wished that that could have been my life—normal, carefree and like any other person in the world. I didn't want to have to worry about taking over the throne after my father when I didn't want to but worrying that if—no, when—I said no he would be so angry that he would just start killing everybody. No, normal people didn't worry about those things. So why do I have to? What made god think I was the right person to deal with this problem.

I stopped on the corner and waited for the traffic light to go red, which meant I could cross. I noticed a man-sized shadow loom over me. I slowly turned for fear that I knew just who was behind me—and I was right. When I turned around and looked up, I saw none other than Nezznus standing over me with a malevolent smile across his lips. I swallowed nervously and when I spoke I tried not to have a shaky voice,

"Wh-what are you doing here? Don't you have an ex-wife to kidnap?" I snapped. At first he just chuckled evilly, but then he shoved his hand onto my neck in a threatening manner. I felt the amount of air that flowed down my throat and into my lungs was slightly less now that he wouldn't remove his hand.

"If you want to live through your teen years I'd suggest you cooperate." He snapped back. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"If you had any desire to be a real father to me then maybe I would have cooperated with you a long time ago." With this, he released me and took a few steps back. I could tell that what I had said had angered him, but I didn't care. I had finally found the courage to tell him at least a portion of the truth; and I knew that if I kept doing what I was doing, someday I would tell him what I really thought of him.

"You will submit. You have no choice. You'll see," He said anxiously as he backed away from me and disappeared down the street.

After he was gone I was part relieved that he was gone, but even more panic-mode than before. He was very mad at me now, and that was not good. When he was really ticked off, things usually ended in death; no matter who was on the receiving end.

I wanted to tell myself that he wouldn't kill his own flesh and blood, but I knew him all too well. He never really cared for me as a daughter; he just kept me around so a blood relative would take his throne. Didn't he have some stupid niece or nephew or younger sibling to take over for him? Oh, that's right; he's a lonely orphan boy who just wants to be loved but went about it the wrong way.

I quickly knew what I had to do.

~…~

As Manny and Frida carried on being bored in Manny's living room, Manny heard a knock on the door and jumped up from the couch to answer it. Frida followed closely behind him, as she always did. When Manny opened his front door, he was surprised to see Sophie standing there looking stressed and very worried and scared.

"Umm, what's up Sophie?" Manny asked. Sophie looked anxious.

"Uhh..mmm…Manny, I need your help with something very important…" Without thinking, Frida peered over Manny's shoulder and blurted:

"He won't kiss you for any reasons you have!" Manny stared at her, confused at the statement. She said things like that sometimes, but he usually learned to ignore them when she told him later on that it was nothing.

"What? No, its more of a…well, let's just say its not going to be the safest thing you've ever done." With that, Frida looked a bit scared and Manny furrowed his brows in thought.

"Well what do you need me to do?" Asked Manny. Sophie hesitated before answering.

"Help me battle my father." Manny didn't respond for a moment, then let Sophie in and sat her down on the couch.

"Can you just explain what you're talking about please?" Manny asked. Sophie sighed impatiently.

"Well its kind of a long story short, but basically my father has kidnapped my mother—they're…divorced," Sophie knew that that was a total lie; her parents had never actually legally gotten divorced because they could never get Nezznus to sign the divorce papers. She continued to explain.

"and I know I can't face my father alone. He's…he's really dangerous," Sophie knew that asking them for help was a huge risk to her secret identity as an angel, but she knew that she had no choice. It looked like they wanted to know more about the situation, but didn't want to push Sophie into saying things she didn't want to say.

"Okay, I'll help you. Just tell me what I need to do when I need to do it." Manny stood and spun his belt buckle, which engulfed him in a green flame that transformed him into the mighty super hero, El Tigre. Sophie, this transformation having been totally new to her (she knew he was El Tigre, but she'd never actually seen him turn into El Tigre,). Sophie stopped gawking and moved towards the door. She was stopped when she heard Frida's conflicting opinion.

Frida took Manny out of earshot of Sophie to say, "Wait, just wait. Manny, we don't know anything about her family. She won't let us know anything, she seems so…vague. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Manny hesitated to answer as he thought first.

"Frida, she's our friend and regardless of her lack of information, she needs my help and I'm going to help her." Manny said, sounding definite and heroic.

"'I'm'? Don't you mean 'we're'?" Frida asked, crossing her arms. Manny grabbed Frida's arms and stared into her eyes.

"Frida, it sounds too dangerous for you. You heard her, she said her dad is 'very, very dangerous'. I don't want you to get hurt," Frida cooed at this in her own mind, but on the outside she was reluctant to do as she was told and stay behind.

"Manny, I want to help. I can protect myself, I don't have to depend on you all the time, I can be just as independent." Frida said. Manny sighed and shifted his weight to the other hip.

"Fine, you can help. But please, Frida, be careful. I-if I lost you…I don't know what I'd do." Frida smiled sincerely and cooed, cupping her hands together. She hugged him and they walked back to Sophie.

"Alright, what do we do?" Manny asked to Sophie.

"We have to go to an old warehouse at the edge of town. That's where he said he would be. Just follow me and we'll be fine," Sophie explained. Manny nodded in understanding and they walked out of Manny's house and into the fresh spring air outside.

~…~

Sitting in a chair with your arms and legs tied to said chair while you watch your ex-husband pace the room plotting wasn't exactly how Anna had planned to spend her day. And it wasn't exactly her favorite activity, either. She had just wondered why he hadn't duct taped her mouth shut, because whenever she had the chance she would snap a sassy remark at him; and he didn't exactly respond well to sassy remarks.

Suddenly, Nezznus stopped focusing on his daughter and turned to his wife. A part of him regretted betraying her, because she was the first person ever to believe in him being a truly good person. She was the first person ever to care for him, so why had he let her slip through his fingers? She was so sweet and innocent and pretty and smart...damned Eppar for turning me into a dark angel. You were wrong, I'm not happy with what my life is now. But then he thought of what he was fighting for and suddenly it all felt worth it again; all his romantic thoughts vanished. There was no love meant for a dark angel, he had just used her to get an heir. He didn't care for the mere opinions of some stupid mortals, no.

All I need, he thought, is myself.

Oooo-kay, now its getting interested. I can see where this story is starting to go now, and let me say I'm excited to write it. Review!