I'm so sorry for the wait!
Summer vacation made my life become a place of boredom, and I had a slight case of writer's block when trying to think of ideas for this fic.
On the plus side, I DID end up deciding that I would also work on my Fire Emblem/K.R. Gaim crossover, after reading a crap ton of FE fics, so yay?
Regardless, on to the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Date-a-Live, only my impersonations of their Angels.
...Also all of the non-canon material I might be adding.
"Well? Which will it be? Please make a decision; I can wait."
Tohka stayed silent, due to her conflicting emotions not being able to rest.
She loved Shido too much for this, and a majority of her decision solely rested on not killing him.
However, a smaller part of herself yearned to have her true strength back, to her horror, even if it meant killing the one she loved...
Tohka immediately cast aside the desire that this side was trying to pull her to.
There was no way she would be able to live if she killed the only person who she ever loved...
"I-I don't know..." she whispered to her Angel. "...why Sandalphon? Why must you do this?" She then started to openly glare at her Angel, any forms of depression no longer showing themselves on her face. Her expression started to turn angry, as her violet eyes met his own. "Why do you try to force me to attack the people I care about?! Why do you hate me having feelings for another?!"
For the briefest of moments, Tohka could have sworn that the barest flicker of sorrow etch itself on Sandalphon's face, before he turned away, his eyes averting to the side of the room. She gave a pause.
What was that?
For a moment, Tohka could have sworn that his tone of voice was a bit uncertain, almost as if his heart wasn't really into with what he said. Judging by the expressions on Reine's face, it seemed as if she also noticed this.
He stood there, silently, as the other occupants in the room simply stared at his pondering form, all of them tense if he were to go and lash out with the greatsword still embedded into the room's floor.
"I already told you." He kept his eyes averted from the other occupants of the room. "It's because they make you weak. What you want to protect isn't what I want to protect."
"That's a lie, isn't it?" Tohka looked a his bewildered expression, before gesturing at the greatsword still embedded into the ground. "You may be saying what you believe, but I can tell that you don't truly mean all of what you say."
Sandalphon gave her a small glare.
"...And why do you say that? I told you already, I don't respect you as a queen anymore. Even though I'm your Angel, I no longer have any wish to protect you!" The pitch of his voice kept on increasing, until he was practically shouting. "I meant everything I just said! Why can't you understand?!"
He was now openly glaring, the pained tone in his words becoming even more obvious.
"You used to actively seek strength, in order to ensure that your throne would never get taken! With each enemy we defeated, our strength would only grow, and both of us could live with a unified goal at heart! But now... now...!" He pointed a trembling finger at Shido, before giving him a hostile glare. "You sacrificed all of your ambition, all of your will to grow stronger! Steadily, I kept on growing weaker and weaker, with my bond to you thinning itself with each second you were in love! And to make it worse, all of MY existence is dependent on solely that... mongrel! All because of him... you abandoned me!"
Sandalphon now started to breathe deeply, seemingly having nothing else to say. Despite all of his previous anger... now, the Angel looked lost, the pain and sorrow in his eyes covering the noble coldness he had previously had.
Shido couldn't help but feel for him, despite his previous impression towards the other boy.
"His expression... he looks just like a lost child... In a way, it's rather...understandable."
Sandalphon was a part of Tohka, and as much Shido hated to admit it, the Angel was right, to a degree. Tohka did feel happier with Shido now a part of her life, and no longer had any reason left to actively fight and challenge anything to grow stronger. With that, Sandalphon would have felt... left out, in a sense. Since he was an Angel, he probably knew Tohka the best with their previous goal in gaining strength, and had probably felt truly connected to her mostly in combat. Now, with Tohka having no other reason to fight, and her mana sealed up within Shido himself, now... Sandalphon now had to solely depend on a complete stranger with his very existence.
Shido gave a glance at Tohka, who now had both of her hands clutched to her chest, her expression slightly sorrowful herself.
"Tohka... what are you going to do now?"
"Well...?" Sandalphon slowly regained his composure, nothing of his previous demeanor showing on his face. "What are you looking at?! Why are you-?!"
Tohka simply placed the palm of her hand on the flat of the blade, with Sandalphon visibly flinching at the contact. She looked at Sandalphon gently, her eyes almost...motherly. Her body language showed no more hostility, and she now only showed empathy for her Angel. It was almost... strange to see Tohka like this.
Shido looked at Tohka with a confused expression, before he reached out to touch her, but was stopped by Reine, who simply shook her head.
"Don't interfere. This needs to be resolved by them." her eyes seemingly said.
Shido gave an uneasy expression, but retreated, obviously not content with his inability to help. Tohka, noticing this, gave him a reassuring smile.
"Ah. Excuse me...?" All occupants in the room turned to the speaker, who returned their stares with a dry look.
Kotori seemed to pause as she started to register the mood, before looking at her fellow Spirit and Angel with an indescribable expression.
"Am I...disrupting something important?" Kotori made a move to retreat. "If you all need a moment, I can leave..."
To Shido's surprise, Tohka was the one who responded.
"Ah, please, you don't have to leave. We're... almost resolving our differences." She gave a glance at Sandalphon, who barely made another attempt to glare at her. "What do you need?"
Kotori looked unsatisfied at the answer, after giving a look at the greatsword still embedded into the floor of the Fraxinus, but decided to let it go.
"Well, I just wanted to let all of you know, we picked up Yoshino a few minutes ago."
When Shido gave her a look of worried inquiry, she gave a small laugh.
"Don't worry Big Brother, she's alright. None of the AST managed to find her. I never knew that Onii-chan was that worried about her... maybe he's a lolicon?"
It took Kotori some effort to not laugh at the wide eyed expression he was currently giving her, while sputtering incoherently at her 'revelation'.
"WHA-?! I'm not a that type of person! I was just trying to make sure she was safe!" Shido looked absolutely depressed when Reine gave a deadpanned look at him, not even trying to defend against his younger sister. Tohka simply gave a confused look at this, and Sandalphon... looked like he was struggling not to chuckle himself, despite his previous attitude.
Kotori noticed this, but decided to continue.
"Anyways, jokes aside, Yoshino wasn't hurt at all. But..." Everyone looked at her questioningly, minus Sandalphon. "We picked up a rather... interesting "friend" of hers."
Kotori have a grimace at this.
"Friend? What type of friend?" Shido gave Kotori a confused look, before noticing a faint... cheering getting closer to the group.
"You'll see why." She said, as the cheering started to get louder. Shido gave a look at the rest of the occupants in the room, who all looked just as confused as him. But Sandalphon... looked dreadfully at the direction of the cheering.
"Oh dear... he's here..." Kotori popped another Chupa Chup into her mouth before pulling out a pair of earmuffs... from who-knows-where. "Just a warning, he's rather... energetic." And with that, she covered her ears, while staring at the infirmary door.
"Huh?" Shido blinked at this, before giving a glance at her point of interest.
"Vroom! Vroom!" A bright voice kept on saying, as it made its way towards the infirmary.
The cheering kept getting louder and louder, until it apparently stopped in front of the door.
Then, without any warning, the door slid open... and a white blur jumped out of the opening, making Sandalphon jump at this.
"VROOMVROOMVROOM~!" The blur started to skid, before doing a jumping forward roll, and landing perfectly fine in front of the group."ANNNND, SAFE!"
The figure then crouched down, before standing up, pumping both of his fists into the air.
"I'M HERE~!" It yelled, making the entire group minus Kotori to cover their ears from the volume of the noise.
Shido now saw why Kotori was even wearing earmuffs; this person was as loud as a stadium speaker!
"..." No one said a word for a while, all simply staring at the figure, who was giving all of them a massive smile.
Shido stared, absolutely confused.
Tohka blinked at the display, not sure what to do.
Reine gave a stoic stare, seemingly unfazed.
Kotori looked unimpressed.
And Sandalphon... facepalmed at the person's antics, muttering "crazy, hyperactive idiot".
The person in question was a young boy, wearing what looked to be a pure white bunny eared hoodie sweater and bright green baggy shorts. His hair was a bright blue and seemed to be really curly, while his one revealing eye was a bright pink. His right eye was covered by a rather peculiar black eyepatch with a little cross, almost suspiciously like Yoshinon's...
Overall, with his clothing attire, any other person could mistake him for a cosplayer. If they were to take his age into account, he could probably get mistaken to be a hyperactive child who was fed too much sugar and caffeine.
"So!" The boy brightly exclaimed, before giving a pointed look at his, still dumbfounded, audience. "How did you like my 'Epic Intro'? It was awesome, right?!"
"..."
No one could say anything for a while; any coherent thoughts were currently thrown out of the window.
Then, Reine picked up her coffee mug and clipboard, before taking a sip and started to take notes of the mysterious boy.
Shido gave a start, before realizing something.
"AH! Wait a second, I recognize that look..." He started to think, before he heard a soft panting coming from the still opened door.
"Hurry up Yoshino! I know you can do it!" Yoshinon's voice echoed through the hall. "He's just beyond this door!"
"Hah... Okay...hah..."
"Hmm?" The boy blinked, before running back to the door and peering through. "Ah! You can do it Yoshi-chan!"
"Hey, idiot bunny! Don't go off talking to Yoshino so familiarly!"
The boy gave a wide grin, before going through the opening.
"What's that? I have to help Yoshi-chan? Okay!"
"Stupid usagi! I didn't say that-! Hey! Put Yoshino back down!"
"Eek!" Yoshino sounded absolutely embarrassed...
"ALRIGHT! FULL THROTTLE~!"
"Wait! No-WAAAAIIIIIT!"
The bunny boy quickly ran back to the group as quickly as he had left, now holding a blushing Yoshino, and an absolutely mad Yoshinon.
"..."
The group only looked on in complete dumbfounded confusion, with Kotori (Who had taken her earmuffs off at some point) now facepalming, and Sandalphon... completely covering his face with both hands, muttering what Shido could have sworn as, "stupid, crazy, caffinated, hyperactive idiot".
"HAHAHA! Nothing compares to the absolutely adorable expression you make, Yoshino!" The boy now let Yoshino down, who immediately fell to her knees, while trying to cover her blushing face with her one free hand. He then proceeded to rub his cheek on her head, not noticing that Yoshino was starting to turn an even darker shade of tomato red.
"Idiot!" Yoshinon bopped him on his head (not that it did much damage), before giving the equivalent of a puppet glare at the boy. "You practically scared Yoshino half to death! Apologize, you rabbit wannabe!"
"Hmm? What was that, sock puppet? Was that a thank you?" The boy innocently smiled at the doll, who spluttered in rage.
"S-sock puppet!?" Why you little-!" The rabbit puppet immediately started to beat on the cosplayer's head, each hit making a small "pomf" on contact.
No one really had the courage to tell her that her attempts at harming the taller boy...
"Ah, excuse me?" Tohka said to the rabbit boy. "How do you know Yoshino-chan?"
The boy started to rub the back of his head nervously.
"Ah, well, it's kind of hard to explain..." At this moment, Sandalphon started to walk up to the rabbit boy.
"Oh! Hey, Sandy-senpai!" He gave a large wave. "You're here too?! Great! This makes explaining easier then!"
"Sandy-senpai?" Tohka looked like she was trying hard not to laugh, while Kotori simply gave a small smirk.
Sandalphon gave a glare at the two, before he turned back to the boy.
"You owe me a lot "Raspberry". I nearly got killed while trying to take all of the attention off of you!" The Angel said in a disgruntled tone. The boy got up before giving him a sheepish look.
"Uh...sorry? It's just that, I really wanted to explore the city a bit..."
Shido could have sworn that Sandalphon was trying not to pop a vein, his expression becoming even more ticked off.
"You were not just 'exploring the city'! You were messing around the entire place, quite obviously if I might add! I had to run around the area and try to ensure that you and your liege didn't get killed in the crossfire! I even had to take unnecessary damage while going for the AST who were targeting YOU! While you were in the market, I was getting hit with missiles while frantically trying to keep AST off your back! While you were walking around in the residential district, I was focused on taking out people who were going after me AND you! While you frolicked in the amusement park, I was trying to ensure that no one was able to enter the area, from ground AND in air! So don't give me that- that-"
He struggled to find a word that wasn't as 'strong', after looking at Yoshino.
"-donkey, Raspberry! You were having fun, while I was fighting for our lives!"
"..."
"So that was the reason why he looked so wounded..." Shido gave a look at the still disgruntled Angel, starting to see him in a new light.
'Raspberry' simply picked his ear, before looking back at his 'senpai'.
"Ehhh... Sorry?"
"...You..." Sandalphon sighed. "I give up. Raspberry, you win."
The bunny boy gave a small cheer, before doing a front flip.
"Tch. Plebian." Sandalphon muttered to himself as he watched the rather showy display of acrobatics.
"Wait," Shido gave an incredulous look at 'Raspberry'. "Your name is really Raspberry?"
The boy gave a small laugh before wiggling his finger.
"Ah-ah! Nope! Sandy-senpai has a tendency to give names of different fruits and nuts to people he meets, since he's TERRIBLE at remembering names." Said Angel gave a 'humph', before turning to the group.
"Disregarding that, I guess I should tell you all what "Raspberry's" real name is."
He took a deep breath, as if in preparation to make a dramatic intro.
"Everyone, may I introduce you to one of my comrades, the bearer of ice and snow, the very one and only-"
The bunny boy jumped from the side, while accidentally hitting Sandalphon's face with a fist pump.
"-Giant monster ice rabbit of Yoshino's!"
While Sandalphon was sent flying one way, the newly introduced Angel gave them a dazzling smile, before announcing loud enough for the entire ship to hear.
"I'M ZADKIEL! "
...
...
...
No one said a word at this, all of them too stunned to do anything else but stare.
Minus Yoshino.
And Kotori. (Who was now trying to keep her growing headache in check.)
And Reine. (Who was still overseeing the events with her stoic expression.)
And also Sandalphon. (who was still trying to recover from his short trip into a wall.)
But slowly, as the words sunk into their minds, comprehension dropped on both Shido and Tohka's faces.
"EHHHHHHHH?!"
Just how chaotic was this day going to get?!
And how many Angels were running loose in Tengu City?
Residential District
Zafkiel lazily lay down on the roof of a house, his eyes half-lidded as he watched the clouds in absolute boredom.
The AST which had attacked him had been easily dispatched, barely even making an appetizer suitable for the amount of energy he had spent.
Then, he gave a huff.
How the hell was he supposed to know that they were so weak?
He even made sure to summon a smaller group of clones compared to the force which had attacked him, but it was to no avail.
"Humans are way too weak." Zafkiel thought to himself, before occupying his thoughts with the clouds again.
"Ara ara? What do we have here?" a familiar voice rang out.
"Oh Lord, why have thou forsaken me?" Zafkeil cursed, as he sprang up from his perch. "Well, I did stay here for too long, and the number of bodies I left behind is..." He thought of the AST he had taken out. "...rather numerous...curses."
He quickly snapped himself from his stupor, before turning around to look at the target of his misfortune.
"Hmm? Have we met before? Your presence feels rather...familiar to me." She took a long look at him, before noticing his choice of clothing.
Zafkiel didn't even try to respond, instead giving the girl a stoic expression which masked his true feelings.
The sheer... gall of this woman to casually talk to him... infuriated him.
He had hated her the moment she had become a Spirit.
He absolutely loathed her for using his powers so casually.
And he absolutely SEETHED at the fact that this... human, had corralled him like a slave, ever since she absorbed the Saphira Crystal which had imprisoned him.
"Humans are way too weak." Zafkiel remembered what one of his fellow brothers had taught him. "They are fragile, pitiful beings, just like ants. Their lives are short, and they constantly wage war with each other. Remember this Zafkiel: NEVER let humans corral you like a slave. They will take your power, and use it for themselves; transform your divine majesty into an enslaved tool. I pray that this will never happen to you... as it did for me."
Ever since then, he had heeded his fellow Spirit's words, even when they had disappeared from their spiritual plane. He had always kept his thoughts to himself, always hiding his true feelings whenever Father had praised the humans for their tenacity to never give up. He had kept his temper in check, when Father had shunned his brother, after he had revealed his true feelings against humans. And he kept his emotions reigned in, when Father had cast away his brother, to fall.
Humans were at fault.
They caused his brother to fall.
They made empty promises to Father.
They lied, cheated, and killed for their own prosperity.
They were at fault for making FATHER to seal him and his fellow Angels away.
THEY prayed to Father for their own SELFISH NEEDS.
THEY CURSED Father, when things didn't go THEIR WAY.
THEY WERE THE REASON WHY FATHER HAD ABANDONED THEM!
...
...
...
That was why he, Zafkiel, Angel of Time and Decay, would make. Them. All. Pay.
"Tokisaki Kurumi, aka. Nightmare." Kurumi perked up at this before narrowing her eyes, a flintlock pistol and musket appearing in her hands, while a large clock appeared behind her.
He glowered at her, before gripping onto his pocketwatch.
"You are not worthy of wielding those weapons, nor are you worthy of even controlling time itself..." he clicked his watch open, before removing his eyepatch.
Kurumi took note of this, before her expression turned into one of recognition. Any surprise she had was masked, as she watched the watch expand itself into a large clock.
"Ah, I was wondering where you were. When I couldn't feel your presence, I was surprised to sense you over her. It appears that you've... already fed yourself already, haven't you...Zafkiel?"
Zafkiel opened his right eye, the golden clock shining with murderous glee.
"They were the appetizers... and I think my main course is here!" He yelled as both of his armaments appeared in his hands. "Prepare to die, human!"
Kurumi's expression darkened, before she pointed both of her guns at her Angel.
"Don't associate me with them, weapon! It seems I'll have to beat into your head just exactly who your true master is!" She then gave a psychotic grin. "It's punishment time, my Angel~"
Zafkiel roared, before pointing his flintlock at the 'I', Kurumi doing the same with her own duplicate.
"ALEPH!/Aleph!"
Then, both of them disappeared in a burst of speed, before clashing in the middle of a battlefield of corpses...
Well...I REALLY hope I didn't make everyone too entirely OOC...
I probably did...
Anyways, I guess you guys now know what happened to the AST who fought against Zafkiel! Or Zaphkiel... Whichever works!
Well, anyways, see y'all in the next chapter!
Review and subscribe my friends!