Wow, I got a review! *Squeal* I love the smaller sides of fanfiction, it always makes it more special whenever you manage to get someone to notice you. Unfortunately, it's also harder to get people to notice you. Ah, my lovely little dilemma.
Anyway, 'Anon' (Get ready, this is long!):
I'm glad you're liking it. I think fourth-wall breaking is basically becoming my 'thing' now.
As for the whole 'wings having blood' thing, I'll try to address that in-universe at some point, because I know a lot of people neglect the Author Notes, or at least don't know what you said and don't want to take two seconds to figure it out and get the context, so... where was I going with that thought?
Anyway, to answer that is a little more complicated in my mind than it should be. Charlie, as stated rather lazily in Chapter 2, is special as she prefers having them out, and so it'll likely be that hers are actually tangible, whereas Raphael's are not. She does not just 'stop using them and make them disappear,' rather having to force them back. Therefore, most of your question isn't 'valid,' but to give you some peace, if she did force her wing to go away to whence it came, the lose of blood would still affect her because she is bleeding her own blood, a hole was just ripped in her back after all.
This chapter really fails to address that, to keep some sense of lightheartedness, even though around this time shit gets real for a couple chapters.
Chapter 6
Raphael let out a small frightened gasp and broke away from his attempted assault, diving to save his partner, who simply fell, fully awake now, but too stunned and not exactly aerodynamically stable enough anymore to do anything about her current predicament.
He successfully caught her and landed on the ground. He glared up at the bird demon, and briefly glowered at the ogre, and most definitely growled at the cowering dog/wolf/whatever. They all seemed to be chuckling madly, though the canine was also partly whimpering. The bird tossed the severed wing to the cowering dog, which snatched it up and made a mad dash for the exit, disappearing from sight in a mere second.
Raphael gently shook Charlie. "Yo, come on, stay alive, ya hear me?"
"You sound like an idiot," she complained in response, with a neutral sounding voice, hanging limply in his arms.
Raphael chuckled sadly. "I'll sound like the stupidest creature on the planet if it keeps you alive."
"Whoever said I was going to die, ya idiot?"
"No one, but with that bland tone of voice, it kind of gives the impression that you've given up on life."
"Maybe I have."
"Ah, don't say that."
Raphael looked up at the demons again. Both of the remaining creatures were slowly advancing, looking at them hungrily. They seemed to either be allowing them a couple final moments, or were just being stupid and not rushing forward to devour them because they just weren't thinking. Maybe it was both.
"Alright, you still got Marie's soul?"
"Course, I'm not going to drop her after all the shit I've gone through to keep her safe." She weakly held up the hand grasping the soul to illustrate the point.
Raphael smiled. "Good, good. You up for some running?"
"My leg's been bitten, I'm missing a wing, which is causing my back to ache, I'm rather beat up in general, and simply breathing is starting to hurt," she informed him before sarcastically remarking, "Of course I am."
Raphael purposefully ignored the sarcasm and said, "Good… because I've got a new plan."
"Oh boy, this outta be good."
"Shut up."
"Fine, fine, what is it?"
"RUN AWAY!" Raphael yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping up, turning and fleeing towards the entrance. Despite the fact that he asked her if she was up for running, he actually didn't allow her feet to touch the ground, as he carried her in his arms.
"This is not going to work," Charlie commented pessimistically.
"Course it will!" Raphael shouted with as much optimism as he could put into his voice considering the situation. He swung around and fired two energy balls at their pursuing adversaries, which, rather surprisingly, hit both targets dead center, stunning them. This is surprising because he wasn't exactly good at aiming while swinging around and firing at moving targets 10-something meters away.
"I do not know how I did that!" Raphael confessed as he turned and continued moving.
It wasn't long before they heard the demons catching up with them. With a growl, Raphael swung around again and fired blindly into the darkness. Once again getting lucky, both shots managed to connect.
"How the hell are you doing that?" Charlie asked, rightfully bewildered.
Somehow, Raphael managed to shrug. "Like I said before, I have no clue! Maybe I just gained the superpower of being really fucking lucky."
"That is not a superpower!" Charlie complained, used to his antics and stupidity by this point, but exasperated by it all the same.
"It is now!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Thank you, I will."
It didn't take long for the demons to shake off the light that attempted to wound them, and soon, they were catching up again.
Raphael grunted. "I can't keep this up," he muttered, annoyed.
"I got an idea," Charlie said. "Stop."
"But if we do, they'll just catch up."
"One way or another, they will, so I want you to put me down!"
"Hell no, you'll get killed."
"Do it!"
"Fine!" Raphael skid to a halt and put Charlie down on her feet, looking at her worriedly as she struggled to remain upright. The demons, having not expected this and somehow missed the shouting contest, very nearly raced past them and didn't notice. They paused, interested. They knew they had their prey backed into a corner (metaphorically, of course, though they would have preferred literally).
Charlie turned and shoved Marie's soul into Raphael's hands. "Now run," she commanded.
Raphael got the implication easily. "Oh hell no, I am not going to leave you here!"
"Too bad!" She yelled in response, summoning her weapon again and firing a shot at his foot, causing him to jump away.
Raphael took a step forward, negating the backing away.
Charlie snarled and snot a line in front of his foot, as though to put up a marker of how far he can stand. To their surprise, this raised up a physical translucent yellow barrier, keeping Raphael from her.
"Oh, OK, this just turned into an anime," Charlie muttered, exasperated. Looking up to the ceiling, the closest she could get to the sky, she yelled, "Make up your mind, universe!"
Raphael smacked the barrier, and was annoyed to find that it was solid as a rock. He growled as the demons snarled angrily at having lost half their prey and approached the remaining child. Looking down at the soul, he muttered, "Dammit, Marie. Now look at what you've done." He himself was unsure if he wanted it to ever be seen as playful. At the moment, he was just pissed off. Looking back at Charlie, he was horrified to find that she had cast away her weapons, merely sitting on the ground and awaiting death. That, or she fainted. Either one was entirely possible. He was surprised she hadn't passed out much earlier. With a growl, he yelled, "Alright, universe, she got her power, now give me mine!"
To his surprise, this call was answered, and the soul clutched in his hand disappeared in a flash of red. Before he could even look down to try and figure out what just happened, suddenly the world flew past him in a blur, and when it stopped, he was on the other side of the barrier, feeling like he wanted to throw up. The two demons stared, unsure of what just happened, while Charlie jolted awake, having indeed fainted.
"What did you just do?" Charlie asked.
"I told the universe it owed me. I don't think it took that lightly," he informed her, trying to keep the nausea down.
"So the lesson you're just now learning here is to not tell the universe to give you something?"
"Sure, let's go with that."
Raphael nearly fell over, but managed to catch himself and merely fell to a knee. Charlie reached out and gently placed a hand on his back to try and comfort him.
Surprisingly, this had the side-effect of causing a similar teleportation as before, this time dragging Charlie along for the ride. After a moment, it ended and dropped them off on the other side of the barrier.
"Holy crap," Charlie gasped.
"That's one way to put it," Raphael replied, somehow not losing his lunch in the process.
The two demons, both of which had been staring in stunned silence before, let out vicious, angry roars.
"It appears we are dead," Raphael said casually as he watched the creatures smack the barrier, which quickly started to crack. He wanted to run so much, but he knew that wouldn't help. He was too disoriented from that teleporting stunt, and even if he was fine, he refused to leave his partner behind, which would slow him down. He leaned against the wall in the hopes that it would help settle his churning stomach before his untimely death.
Charlie followed his lead and sat down beside him. "I think I figured that out half an hour ago. You're a bit slow."
"I take offence to that. And we weren't even here half an hour ago."
"I know. Doesn't mean I didn't know we'd get killed."
"Why'd you agree, then?"
"Because Elisabeth wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, remember? Nor would you, I'm sure."
"You know me too well."
Charlie let out a bitter laugh. "Unfortunately," she said.
"Normally, I'd tell you to fuck off for that." He flinched when there was the sound of glass shattering as the barrier broke. "But it appears we've met our end, and I don't want those to be my last words."
"Then get out your last words now. I think they're done waiting."
Indeed, the two demons were glowering and panting angrily. Their main prey had escaped their grasps, and their toying with the teens had only lead to disaster for them. They had no intention of allowing the children to live any longer.
"Then let it be… 'Shnazlehocker'." (No, don't ask me where that came from. I don't know. Broken up like this 'Sh-naz-le-hock-er')
"E-Excuse me, what?"
"You heard me."
The downed warriors looked up at the creatures that would soon kill them.
Glaring, Raphael said in almost a defiant tone of voice, "Shnazlehocker."
(A couple minutes before that mess…)
Elisabeth waited for what seemed like forever for her two warriors to return. She had accompanied them to the entrance of the underground, and now was just sitting there, cradling the comatose body of her daughter. Yes, she brought Marie along. Why wouldn't she? The poor dear just looked so serene lying there, seemingly dead in the eyes of everyone but a small group of people. OK, maybe it was just the least bit really fucking creepy.
The point is, before we get too side-tracked, is that she had waited. And waited. And waited. And she was fed up with waiting. And waiting. And waiting. So, she was just about to get up and go give those two kids a piece of her mind, even if it ended up killing her because she would literally be walking into a den full of evil demons that would surely love to see her more dead and ripped apart than a half-eaten stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving evening.
She was just about to go do that, but Alfred stopped her.
"But why?" She complained, stomping her foot on the ground in a very unlady-like manner.
"Because you will get killed if you do."
"You don't even know what I'm planning on doing," the duchess muttered with a false pout.
"No, I do not claim to possess that knowledge, but I am aware that whatever it is, it's, for lack of a better term, utterly stupid."
With a small, child-like snicker, she said, "Wow, you're right."
"I believe you should distance yourselves from those two. They're rubbing off on you."
"No, only Raphael. Charlie's the somewhat sane one of the bunch."
Alfred looked down at the body his mistress clutched. "I already feel bad for poor Marie. She'll be so confused when she resumes spending time with them."
Elisabeth laughed. "Yes, I agree."
The duchess was just about to get up and head down the dark tunnel regardless of what her bodyguard seemed to want when something rather unexpected happened.
In a flash of red light, resting there by the stairs was a green soul. The two adults stared at it, wide-eyed, for several moments before Alfred worriedly approached it. He reached for it, and carefully grabbed it, surprised when it seemed to try and force its way towards Marie. Blinking in surprise, he looked to the duchess, who gestured for him to just let it go. He did, and the soul floated towards the lifeless body.
The soul entered the young woman's body, and suddenly she was living again. She took a deep breath, and Elisabeth let out a small, happy gasp, hugging the poor girl close.
After freeing herself from her mother's grasp, Marie stood and stretched, wincing when almost all of her stiff joints popped simultaneously. She looked around sleepily, blinking in surprise to find that she was in the middle of a deserted public area. "What the heck?" She muttered to herself.
Looking around some more, she noticed something important.
"Where's Raphael?"
Elisabeth cocked her head to the side, confused. That's what she's worried about? Wait, that's actually an important question!
Jumping up, the duchess admitted, "I have no idea."
Marie looked at her mother like she was crazy. "But he was fighting demons!"
"How do you know that?"
"It's weird; I can remember some of the things that happened when I was a soul." She shuddered before saying, "I nearly got eaten." She jolted as she remembered something important. "We need to help him!"
Without hesitating a second longer, the newly-revived girl launched herself down the stairs, with his mother and butler following closely behind.
"Why does she not remember Charlie's there too, if she knows that Raphael's in danger?" Alfred asked.
"Hopefully, it's not because she died," the duchess replied. Raising her voice, she called out to her daughter, "Wait, it's dangerous to go alone!" Marie slowed and looked back to her mother, who slowed as well, pulling an object from her pocket and holding it out to her. "Take this."
Marie was understandably surprised to find her mother referencing an old-school NES game.
(And now continuing the mess that our two 'heroes' got themselves into…)
"Shnazlehocker."
Oh, I'm sorry, did I say continuing? I meant, continuing after this random word of recap.
The demons seemed confused and also satisfied with this final word and lunged, intent on murdering the children dead.
They were stopped from this attempt as well, however. A white shot of pure energy rushed forward and stabbed into the bird's side, knocking it over into the ogre, which, despite being massive enough to normally not get pushed over by the smaller creature, was caught off guard, and as such fell over with little resistance. They both landed in a crumpled heap.
Raphael looked over in the direction the projectile came from. There stood a person, wearing shining white armor. His first thought about this was, 'Oh, that's going to stain so easily.' His second thought was, 'Wait, what, who's that!?' His third thought was, 'Dammit, now my final words mean nothing!' Finally, his fourth thought was, 'Salvation! Run away!'
Acting upon this final thought, he jumped up, forcing his still churning stomach to lie still for a couple seconds while he dragged Charlie to her feet, who grumbled in response, as though saying, 'The universe is just fucking with us at this point,' or possibly, 'Just let me die already!'
Picking his partner back up, Raphael broke into a run that was no faster than a mid-morning jog. Inwardly, he half-cursed and half-thanked the universe for the various luck-based events that had been happening.
He paused as he approached the white warrior. He found himself staring, mostly because the white color, accompanied by the wings, made them look like they were trying to imitate a biblical angel. Blue eyes stared back at him with kindness, before they darted back to demons, who managed to get out of their previous predicament and were beyond furious at this point.
"Run?" Raphael asked, his voice resembling a mouse's as he stared into the jaws of death once again.
"That would be smart," the new person said. Raphael noted that their voice sounded oddly-familiar, but he couldn't dwell on it. If he did, he'd surely be run through.
Breaking back into a jog-run, he risked a glance back to the warrior, seeing them shoot a couple arrows at the demons. They had anticipated the attacks, though, and dodged. The warrior jumped, seemingly skittish, and dashed away in fear. Raphael filed that away as well. There was just something about them…
Seeing that they were about to be caught, Raphael swung around and fired two balls of light at their foes. Having not expected that, they were both hit… again.
Charlie, who had been watching, half-conscious, over his shoulder, muttered, "You've got to be kidding me."
"What did I tell you, I have the superpower of being super fucking lucky!" Raphael bragged.
Charlie merely glared at him, no longer wanting to waste what little energy she had left on arguing with him.
A final couple seconds passed, and suddenly he was rushing past Elisabeth and Alfred. Stopping, Raphael looked back and yelled, "Better run away, those demons are really pissed off!"
The duchess didn't move, however.
The frightened white warrior came rushing in; hiding behind her like a child would with their parent.
It slowly occurred to Raphael who it was that saved them as the momentarily forgotten memories resurfaced and he recognized the voice and the eyes and the overall nature. He didn't say it out loud, because he'd probably be stared at as though it was the most obvious secret the world's ever seen. However, he did exclaim it in his mind. 'Marie?! But how? When did her soul return to her body?'
Elisabeth raised her hands, creating a barrier akin to the one Charlie summoned, which the demons ran head-first into. Smiling, she looked to Marie, who stared back for a second before snapping into action, nodding and taking aim. The demons roared angrily, and turned to flee.
Marie growled viciously at this behavior, an act that surprised Raphael, and fired shot after shot at them, which for some inexplicable reason, traveled right through the barrier as though it never existed. The ogre fell, an arrow straight through its knee.
Cringing for the poor (not really) creature, Raphael quoted, "'I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.'"
"That is so outdated already," Charlie pointed out with a tired groan.
"I know," Raphael shrugged. "But do remember that would actually cause some serious damage."
"Yes, I'm well aware of that. Still makes me want to cringe when you say it, though."
Raphael opened his mouth to repeat it, just to annoy her, but stopped when they heard the somewhat familiar sound of a demon being sealed in a pendant. Looking up, they were not surprised when that's exactly what they found.
Marie seemed to be looking at the jewel in her hand in shock. "Strangely, a demon I shot in the knee being sealed in a tiny jewel is not the weirdest part of my day so far…"
"Yeah, don't worry, it'll get weirder," Raphael promised. "Where'd the bird go?"
"It got away," Elisabeth said. "It really wasn't all that difficult to tell."
"Well, sorry for being distracted."
Scoffing, Charlie muttered, "Yeah, you were distracted because you were busy annoying me with bad Skyrim jokes."
"I think 'internet meme' is a better term."
"Don't care."
"Shouldn't you two be passed out by now?" Elisabeth asked.
"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding us," Raphael said. The two then inexplicably passed out.
Marie stared, stunned. "Dare I ask what just happened?"
"Nah, best not to," her mother informed her. "You'll get used to it soon enough. I have. After all, I've had to deal with it for several weeks now and am basically immune to their shit by now."
"S-shit?" Marie asked, confused at her mother's word choice.
Elisabeth seemed surprised for just a moment at her daughter's lack of knowledge of her less professional side. Then she remembered her child had been absent for several weeks and had missed her decent into madness. OK, maybe it wasn't that extreme, but close enough.
"Just how much have I missed?" She continued.
Elisabeth merely sighed. "Way too much."
I had such issues with Marie's armor! I really thought it should be a blue, but not the same tone as what appears on her outfit, more of a cobalt. But I just thought that didn't fit, and it didn't even cross my mind to use the lighter coloring from her dress-type-thingy. So I settled with white, my second choice. Maybe I should have used green for it to match her soul color... Great, now I'm questioning my choice!
I originally had this chapter split in two (technically three) and later put them together so I would met my 3000 word quota, which is the norm for this series. It's blatantly obvious where things were stitched together.
Two weeks exactly! Yes! Anyway, don't expect the next one for a while, I've already ran into a block four hundred and eighteen words in.