Get ready, cuz it's another chapter!
I'll be blunt, my grammar does suck in some of the areas in my previous chapters, and one of my greatest weaknesses in writing is story length. If any of you know ANYONE who can assist me with my story, then please, leave a review or PM. If any of you CAN assist me with this story, then the help will be greatly appreciated! I really need a Beta!
Also, thanks to the efforts of Prototurtle, I finally have good builds for the Angels appearing in the future! Thanks a lot for your help!
Just a forewarning: not all of this is going to be sticking with canon in the future. The Addition of humanoid Angels in this story will be changing many of the events in the story, especially the characters themselves. Don't worry, most of the characters we know and love won't change as much, but given enough time, it might be happening... who knows?
So without further ado, to the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Date-a-live. If I did, then I would make Shido look like Jojo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and give him a unique Stand, which looks like Shiori.
What can I say? Jojo for the win.
Fraxinus, Medbay
"It's extraordinary." Reine said, as she worked on the scanner's results. Her sleep deprived eyes seemed to flit from side to side, as she mentally stored every bit of information she could get from the sentences which kept on appearing on the screen. " I don't know how to describe it. He has the external and internal body structure of a regular human being, but his spiritual levels are quite... unique."
She gave a look at both Shido and Tohka, both who were sitting patiently across the patient's bed. Or, trying to be patient, at least.
Tohka was steadily looking at the strange boy with a small glare, but her attempt to scowl looked quite ridiculous, with her jutting her lips out in a rather "cute" fashion. She kept on wringing her hands back and forth, seemingly not giving a care about the uncomfortable individual sitting next to her.
Meanwhile, Shido was trying to make himself a bit more comfortable, while also trying his best to hide his own uneasiness, Tohka's attitude affecting the general atmosphere of the entire medical facility itself. Occasionally, he would try to prod Tohka to shift her eyes from the strange boy, but would always pull his hand back, whenever Tohka gave so much as a little twitch of her brow.
He turned his thought of attention to the comatose boy, who looked so much like Tohka herself, while musing in his own thoughts.
When he and Tohka had went down to the area the strange Spirit had been, Tohka somehow managed to summon both her Astral Skirt and sword without much difficulty.
Shido couldn't help but smile at that. Tohka's overjoyed expression to still have her powers was nice to see, even if they were both in a battlefield. Who couldn't do the same? Tohka just had that type of infectious feeling around people.
With the help of Tohka's powers, they had managed to defend themselves against the AST's forces, and not seriously injure any of them.
It was only after they crossed the street, they met him...
Flashback: Tengu City, Residential Area
Tohka and Shido turned another corner, just in time to avoid being spotted by flying by AST soldiers. Shido slumped over and panted, while taking a look at how Tohka was feeling.
Said girl didn't even break a sweat, even while carrying around that heavy sword and armor. Actually, Tohka still seemed like she could run a marathon in that outfit, without even needing to rest afterwords!
Shido simply sighed. It seemed that Fate would only surround him with amazingly strong women...
Tohka scanned the area for more AST forces, but stopped her search, upon noticing a strange familiar figure leaning on...a throne!
"Shido!" He turned his eyes towards Tohka, and then the direction she was looking at, before widening his eyes. Tohka made a dash for the figure, who was really looking in a rather sorry shape, compared to his previous state the last time they had seen him.
"Tohka! Wait up!" Shido forced his tired legs to chase after the violet Spirit, his attention now fully focused on the other wounded Spirit.
Said Spirit managed to take a look at them with vibrant purple eyes, and seemingly muttered something under it's breath, too faint to discern. For a moment, it seemed as if the Spirit was going to straighten it's current position, only to start to fall forward. Shido gave an obvious wince at the sound of the Spirit's face crashing into the floor, before moving closer, till he was close enough to the Spirit to turn her over.
He gave a momentary wince at the spirit's wounds; weren't Astral Dresses meant to provide at least some degree of protection to a Spirit?
The figure's long purple hair was practically the same shade as Tohka's own, and when Shido propped him up, he could see that the spirit's face had some of Tohka's characteristics, but with a more masculine look.
Wait...what?
Now that he had an actual close up look at the Spirit...he could discern that this was DEFINITELY not a girl. The body structure was too broad, and no matter how one could look at the Spirit's face, the delicate features had a sense of masculinity which could not be hidden. This was definitely a male.
Then, Shido blanched.
Oh no...that didn't mean he would have to kiss-!
He gave a groan at what this situation now implicated, a rather improper image leaping into his mind, before shrugging off his upcoming dread. Better worry about this another time...
Meanwhile, while Shido was checking the Spirit's vitals, Tohka had moved closer the the still hovering throne, her face in a relieved smile.
Then, her smile froze. Slowly, a frown appeared on her face, and she then made an attempt to touch her throne. Immediately, the throne sent out a large wave of force, launching Tohka back a few paces. The Spirit seemed confused at first as she got up, but her confusion turned to a slight panic. She once again reached out to her throne...only to be rejected once more. She wordlessly got back up, and stared at the throne, obviously trying to keep her composure..
"...Sandalphon...why won't you accept me?! I'm here! The Spirit you must defend! Why do you reject me?!" she angrily yelled at the throne.
Said throne merely didn't do anything, only silently float in the air, as if it was waiting for Tohka's next move.
Tohka then quickly raised her sword overhead, her eyes burning with an emotion which was very un-Tohka-like: steely anger. The grip on her sword tightened, and her expression kept it's angry look.
"If you don't accept me...I'll have to make you submit with pure force!"
With a yell of anger, the Princess brought her blade down on her throne...
"Tch. I knew it. You did become weaker. All because of him..."
... only for the holy blade to shatter on impact.
Tohka could only blink at this, her expression unreadable. Wordlessly, she backed away, while dropping the remains of her blade, the fragments transforming back into mana. The throne stayed hovering in the air for a few more seconds longer, before it shimmered into nothing, it's form breaking apart into mana once more.
Shido could only look at his friend's expression with a look of apologetic sorrow, he being unable to bear looking at her despairing face. He walked over to her, and gave her shoulder a squeeze, before walking over and silently propping the other purple spirit up onto his shoulder. After a few silent seconds, Shido contacted Kotori on his earpiece.
"We've finished it Kotori. We have the Spirit. Please teleport us back."
Kotori was silent for a few moments, before responding.
"Are...you okay, Big Brother? How is Tohka?" she asked tentatively.
Shido could only shake his head.
"I'm fine. Tohka on the other hand..." he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.
Shido heard Kotori give a sigh, before she said something indiscernible to another person.
And then, in a few more seconds of silence, the trio disappeared in a flash of white.
"Shin? Are you alright? Oi, you're still awake, aren't you?"
Shido blinked as Reine's voice interrupted him from his stupor, before realizing that both Tohka and Reine were staring at him, the former a little concerned as she exchanged glances between him and the-
Oh. He had nearly forgotten about him.
"Reine-san, how is he? The Spirit, I mean." Shido looked at the teen in question with concern. "Those wounds were pretty serious, was he able to recover?"
Reine looked a Shido questioningly, before shrugging, and turning her head back to her computer.
"If you want to know how the "Prince" is doing, I was about to get to that." She tapped on a few keys in successive order, before bringing up a picture of the teenager's vitals. "To be honest, I believed that the boy wouldn't make it for the first few hours, ever since we brought him to the Fraxinus. However, much to my surprise, actually everyone's surprise, his wounds started to heal at a rapid pace, after Tohka changed back from her Spirit form. This led to me creating an hypothesis about this boy."
Shido raised an eyebrow at this.
"What is it?"
Reine gave a stifled yawn, before continuing.
"Tell me Shido, when you sealed Tohka's mana away, how did it feel to you?"
Shido looked at Reine with a bit of confusion.
"Warm and mellow...but what's your point? I don't see why this has anything to do with the Spirit boy-" he trailed off, after noticing that Tohka, who had been quiet all this time, now stood up.
"Shido...I probably should have mentioned this earlier... but when I got near this...person...I could feel something. Almost like the feeling when I eat soy bread!" Shido gave a sweat-drop at Tohka's crude comparison, before returning himself to Tohka. "I felt...warm. Happy. Protected. It's like when I'm with you!"
Shido nodded at this.
"So, could this be some family member you forgot in the past, Tohka?" Shido asked questioningly.
Tohka shook her head.
"No, I may not be able to remember my past, but I can promise you Shido: this person isn't family. It's...I can't describe it...like a...like a-"
"...missing puzzle piece? Hmn?"
"...it's like a missing piece from a puzzle! I feel like he's a part of me, as strange as it sounds...but I don't know why..."
Reine decided to interrupt at this moment in time.
"As I was saying Shin, this feeling which you had, Tohka's and the Commander's insecure links to their Angels, and this Spirit?" Shido gave a nod, slowly piecing down each clue together.
He gave a gasp. Wait, could it be?
"I think it all fits together. Somehow, all of these factor into the reason for this Spirit's arrival. Somehow this Spirit-"
"Actually, if you don't mind, the proper term to describe me would be Angel." a regal voice broke through the quiet room.
"-is not actually a Spirit at all-!" Reine quickly turned around, just in time to see the occupant of the bed...
...getting up.
Shido gaped at the self-proclaimed Angel, his mind halting to a complete stop. Tohka was looking at the occupant of the bed with hope in her eyes, her mouth slowly moving up and down in pure shock.
She then made the first move in addressing her Angel.
"A-are you really, S-San...?"
The Angel's expression turned into that of a small smile, before he gave his best attempt of a bow, despite his current state of dress.
"I am indeed Sandalphon, my Princess. The Sword and the Throne of the Empress..."
Tohka gave a beaming smile, and Shido could feel a bit of relief at this situation...
"...only, that is what I would have said, if I still had an Empress to serve."
...before the situation turned even worse.
Tohka's expression fell in almost an instant, with Shido being a little confused at the Angel's reply. Then, his temper rose, the stress of having to find Sandalphon and other past problems becoming too much to bottle in.
What did he say? Did he really just say that?!
"Why do you say that?!" Sandalphon turned his head to Shido, his once warm smile replaced with an icy cold expression. Shido unconsciously shivered, but still held on. "Tohka needs you! You're her guardian! How could you just blatantly make that heartless claim?!"
Shido kept on glaring at the Angel, while Sandalphon met him with his own cold glare. Then, the Angel sighed, before messing around a lock of his purple hair. Sandalphon then looked at first Shido and then Tohka with a weary look on his face. Tohka, whose shock from the rejection of her by her Angel was still fresh in her mind, couldn't stop looking at Sandalphon with tears at the corner of her eyes. Her Angel looked at her with an unreadable expression, before he spoke.
"Yes, I am her guardian, aren't I? Unfortunately, Itsuka Shido, you're looking at this from the wrong side of things. You see, I have been observing what you have done to my Princess." The Angel glared at Shido, who had realized which subject the Angel was digging into. "You stole her powers, making the once strong ruler who I looked up to turn into nothing more than a weak individual, no longer pursuing strength. So yes, I am the guardian of the throne. However, when my ruler gave the throne to you, I could no longer respect her."
Tohka's tears started to fall down, but she forced herself to listen to her Angel, regardless.
Sandalphon, either noticing it or not noticing it, didn't take any heed of her feelings.
"At the moment when she wouldn't take back her crown, I was...awakened. I was actually given a chance to express how much I feel about this relationship! And hear me well, Itsuka Shido, YOU are the main problem in the growth of my master." Sandalphon got off the bed, before standing up straight, his frame towering a few inches more than Shido, the purple eyes looking with disgust. "I may be cruel, and I may be unfair, but remember this: I care about my own master's growth, not for her discarding her will to get stronger for something as pitiful as love."
"So, you have two options right now, if you want to convince me, Yatogami Tohka..." Tohka visibly flinched at her full name being spoken, with Shido looking rather tense.
Sandalphon's words seemed to echo throughout the room.
"Either prove to me that your ideals are greater than mine in combat...or..." He manifested his greatsword in front of Tohka, with everyone in the room tensing up. Tohka couldn't stop herself from listening to the next choice...
"...kill Itsuka, with that very blade." He clasped his hands behind his back.
"Well? Please make your choice."
On a rooftop near Ground Zero...
"Hmm...quite interesting." A figure sat on an abandoned house, gazing at the destruction from the sword wielding Angel's fight. "It seems as if the oaf can fight without killing anything. Never knew that..."
He scoffed
"Bah, what am I saying? Curses, I'm getting too sentimental..." a small feminine whimper sounded from his right side, the noise giving the figure a noticeable vein on the top of his head.
He turned to the struggling AST Wizard he was currently using as a cushion, the girl trying to escape from her captors.
Well, keyword being trying, as the girl's limbs had all been shot in select areas on her joints, preventing her from making much progress.
The figure gave a "bleh" at the Wizard, who started to panic once more at her current situation, ignoring the pain of her wounds. He sighed, and then reached underneath the cape covering his left shoulder...
...before pointing a flintlock pistol at her head.
His lone visible red eye hardened into a steely glare, as the girl froze at the firearm.
"Will you please stop struggling? You're ruining my view."
He started to thumb the trigger of the pistol, but before that could happen...
"Captain Alisa!" a female AST soldier jumped onto the roof, followed by more soldiers making their way to his location. "Get away from her, Spirit scum!"
The teen gave a sigh at this, before fingering the rim of his top hat.
"Honestly, these idiots sure don't know when to stop, do they?" And with that, he shifted his left arm out of the cape surrounding it, his hand holding onto an old gold pocketwatch. He took a deep breath, before exhaling, clicking his pocketwatch open...
*click*
...and black started to radiate from the device. The teen threw the watch in the air, where it seemed to hover in midair, before expanding, transforming into an armless clock, with Roman numerals representing the 1-12.
"You know, I really don't like to fight against ladies like yourselves, but I cannot condone one thing you must keep on calling me." He undid the eyepatch on his right eye, revealing a closed eyelid. Some of the AST didn't realize who this Spirit was, the others beginning to show actual fear on their faces. "I'm not a Spirit.
He opened his eye, the gold clock glowing brightly, contrasting itself against the black and red clothes it's owner seemed to prefer.
"Rather, I'm an Angel."
"N-no! I-i-it can't be!" The soldiers started to visibly panic, their previous demeanor now entirely gone.
The Angel gave a small grin, relishing in their fear.
"Now then," he softly said, while a musket appeared in his left hand. "why don't you let good Zafkiel take care of you ladies, hmm?"
"Don't worry..."
He pointed his musket in the direction of XII, while the flintlock faced VIII.
"...I'll be gentle."
"Zafkiel: Het!"
Dark magic entered the flintlock, and then the barrel was faced towards it's wielder's head. The trigger was pulled...
...and an army of Zafkiels appeared around the AST, each holding a musket of their own, with their demented smiles scaring the soldiers thoroughly.
Zafkiel kicked the wounded AST Wizard off the roof, the injured girl conveniently falling on some trash bags which lessened her impact. He then turned towards the rest, his expression practically glowing with murder.
"Get em~"
And the guns were fired.
The Blade's Princess
And that, ladies and gents, is how you finish a chapter!
Be sure to review and favorite, and PM me if you want! I'm willing to take ideas! (and no OCs.)
Any OCs in this story don't have much relevance to the actual plot. They're just meant to fill in roles, that's it.
Anyways, I'll see you all later!
Ciao!