Prologue
There are certain expectations of demons set out by the heavenly society. Most of those expectations are extremely loose, do an evil deed once a month or more (mostly depends on which demon. There are some who prefer to only do once a week but there was a famous demon called Elium who liked to do 50 evil deads before breakfast)
Those expectations become more strict the higher the rank is, for example, it is expected of Venus, J, Lucifer to avoid communicating with lower class demons and other "evil" people, to tempt 15 humans 3 times a week, to stick to his neighbourhood of high-class pure demons, to follow the rules, all this and more but Venus, J, Lucifer is a demon, a descendant of one of the most famous fallen angel who had never followed the rules.
So as Venus, J, Lucifer's mother had expected, he made sure to break all the rules and expectations set out by the heavenly society at the beginning of each day, usually around 1 or 3 AM with his best friends Jin, Misha, Yael and palo. They made such a strange friend group, but they will kill with and for each other, clean the blood and hide the bodies, be each other's alibi, like true friends do.
They got drunk and talked to beautiful strangers about the meaning of life or tea (although, Palo could swear that those two subjects are awfully similar to each other to him.)
This happened to be one of those times where Venus, J, Lucifer was wasted, higher than the angels and talking to a beautiful stranger
"A TOAST TO ME BEASTIES bEstIEEs, said beasties" Bellowed the short fairy, raising her wine, she was a rather small thing that reminded the bartender of a small dog, it may look innocent and cute but in reality it was a vicious Hellhound of noise and chaos. Her friends were trying to get her off the table but she was stronger, and surprisingly steadily raised her glass, the vampire kid followed with his champagne, the tall siren with a thousands pockets raised her beer, the tired angel next to her raised a thin and delicate bottle of gin, and Lord Venus, J, Lucifer or as his friends refer to him, Jas, raised his strawberry juice mixed with vodka, and then the stranger, not a friend of the gang (at least not yet), looking out of place.
The stranger may be beautiful but did not belong here. No. No one like the beautiful stranger has been welcome to Hell ever. But then again no one really belongs in Hell they all just survive through the day until their soul no longer can take it and they move Aboveground.
Chapter 1, Lorde Venus, J Lucifer of the eastern north of the damnation of mortals souls AKA Hell, Area of Circle 5
Jas's head was exploding with pain. Not for the first time he had no recollection as to what happened before he went to sleep or more accurately what happened before he passed out still dressed to impress on the floor of the kitchen (usually he manages to make it to the living room before completely shutting down underneath the couch.)
He looked around confused as to why he was on the floor and why he even bothered waking up. The floor was in geometric patterns of gold and black, Xeza loved the aesthetic and most of the house is like this. Trying to get up from the floor led to more dizziness and pain.
Maybe he should have listened to Palo and go light on the dri- wait no, he had a blast even though he was pretty sure Palo was just as wasted as he was, and he wouldn't change a thing next time even if the mornings were hellish even down in Hell. But it's always worth it and it seems like the last adventure was even more worth it because sitting in the bar in the kitchen was someone who looked familiar but Jas couldn't quite place where, maybe from last night or maybe from thirteen years ago. Jas's memory wasn't the best but why would he never admit it?
"Good morning" Xeza's upbeat voice was like an axe slicing his head.
"Met your new friend, such a polite little thing. Wonder why my own friends can't be like that"
Jas's 'new friend' was the stranger, they were holding a jade and golden teacup, their nails all uniformed and coloured purple with golden geometric shapes, their long black hair with purple and green sheen was tied in a neat braid, their eyes lined with gold in little clouds shape.
He could see why Xeza liked them, he was 80% sure they both partied hard a few hours ago, except they didn't look like it. If anything it looked like they were in their own home. they had the air of royalty without the snobbish and holier-than-thou bits.
"I believe I had the pleasure but I was extremely wasted. So?" he offered his hand towards the strange queen, they took his hand in their soft one and smiled warmly "it's Lux" they said their voice was warm and gentle,"and you are Jas" he smiles sheepishly "Guilty as charged, sorry I didn't remember your name. I usually don't drink that heavily."
"Yes you do" Xeza remarked, humming and smiling.
"So do you!" he said defendly
"Like mother like son'"
"You are his mother?" Lux asked surprised ,
"I know. trust me, I am just surprised as you are" Xeza winked at them. It was true that Xeza didn't look old. They had a few similarities for those who don't look close, both of them had black hair although Xeza's was straight like feathers of a raven and Jas's was curly, they both had a thin lean frame which made them fast and a drinking habit, but other than that they could have been distant cousins. But for people who did look close, it was also the little things, the way their eyes were shaped, they both had a thin face, and ears that slightly stick out of place, they had the same hands the way they were shaped the little scars at their long fingers
(Jas would never admit this but the scars are from the times Xeza tried to teach him to sew, after she told him that maybe he had a pianist hand and she mistaken it for a creator. She was right and he still plays her from time to time)
Lux smiled, their dark eyes glittering with amusement, looking at Jas then at Xeza, trying to see their similarities. Jas decided he liked their eyes, like an unsolved riddle.
"So do I want to know what happened last night?" Xeza asked, her tone mockingly serious, raising an eyebrow at Jas, who turned pale."No"He admitted guiltily, she laughed. "Alright I won't ask, have you seen Yael last night?" he paused, remembering Yael on the table shouting a toast. "Yes, a bit hard to miss"
Lux turned to Jas "Which one was Yael?"
"Tiny angry one with the red dress"
Lux nodded, remembering"The one who kept climbing on tables?" Jas smiled and shrugged
"She does that sometimes, when she is drunk"
"She also likes trouble,"Xeza sighs, and looks at Jas "and I am glad she's enjoying herself but one of these days she is going to get into a fight with the wrong people, so just keep an idle eye on her and keep her away from kidemónas"
"Who is Kid-emón-as?"Lux inquired, looking a bit confused with the strange name.
Xeza and Jas both looked at them surprised, "how come you don't know what Kidemónas is?" Jas asked perplexed, "are you not from around here?" although it seemed the answer was obvious: you don't live in Hell without not knowing what kidemónas is. Xeza explained to the bewildered Lux "Kidemónas is a title, not a person, it's the fallen angels that refuse to accept their damned fate and, for some reason, still take orders from High."
"Kind of like police" Jas butted in making Xeza sigh, "Sorry." "Yes, like human police except they are still trying to enforce heavenly rules in Hell, so you can imagine how well that's settling in with everyone."
They all heard a knock on the door to the house, before Xeza could react, Palo Del La Rasha swaggered into the kitchen as if it was a stage, his entrance never missing theatrical elements. Wearing his usual attire of black platforms, dark blue button up, along with a long pleated skirt and his favourite diamond bracelets and necklaces that came as a set from a different world. His mouth split into his cat-like grin, his fangs glittering in the kitchen's light.
"Mama! It's been too long," he exclaimed.
Xeza smiled at the nickname and wrapped her hands around him. "I believe it was just yesterday." "See, that's too long."
"Why do all my friends hug my mum but not me?" Jas asked, feigning misery. Palo' grinned as he wrapped his long arms around his friend.
"Have you met Lux?" Jas asked Palo, a bit red-faced. Palo looked behind Jas's shoulder and grinned widely. "Why, of course! I believe we met last night," he offered his hand. "I apologise if I did anything uncouth. I don't usually drink that heavily."
Lux shook his hand, smiling when Jas shook his head from behind Palo's shoulder. Jas immediately stopped when Palo turned around and declared,
"The twins are on the way, and they're going to pick up our favourite little table-dancing queen." He sauntered over behind the counter, and started to make coffee.
"Why do you call Miss Lucifer'Mama'?" Lux queried curiously, Palo shrugged,
"I have never heard dear Jas call his mama anything but her name, so I decided someone should call her Mama."
Xeza handed him a small clay pot with honey
"And I don't mind it one bit,"she smiled widely. Palo took it, putting at least half of it into his coffee mug, before handing it back to Xeza, who placed it back with the rest of the little clay pots of spices, sweeteners and teas.
Jas was wandering around the kitchen, opening cabinets and closing them, revealing about the same amount of alcohol as one might find in a bar and an unexplainable number of teacup sets organised by colours. He started to pull out random things from drawers and placed them in a different drawer than where they originated from.
"How about I'll go and make waffles? That way, you can stop messing around with my kitchen."
Jas flushed red, nodded. "Thanks, Xeza."
"Our Queen and Savior, Mama. We'll be in Jas's room."
Palo took Lux's hand and led them down the hall after Jas, who ran to his room. The hall's walls were filled with paintings of the Lucifer Line, most looking serious, but Lux could glimpse further down the hall a picture of Xeza and young Lucifer making funny faces. Before they could go see it up close, Palo nudged them to a dark red wooden door.
The inside of Jas's room was a fascinating mix of punk and royal. The walls were adorned with his graffiti and photos of the gang. Yet, amidst the rebellion, there are subtle nods to his noble heritage. A few antique pieces of furniture are scattered around the room, juxtaposing the punk aesthetic with regal elegance. His skateboard leans against an ornate dresser, and a framed family crest hangs above his window, a huge thing that overlooked the backyard, which was mostly kitchen herbs in elegant pots, trees and high ramps for skating. A big pile of paint spray cans were lying next to one of the walls further from the door but it was covered in a huge sheet.
"I see you are working on a new art project," Palo sauntered to the giant sheet,
"Yes but you are not allowed to see it," Jas said in panic. "Because . . . it's not done"he continued more calmly.
Palo cat grinned and gave a mock bow,
"Very well, my friend."
Jas smiled, calming down. They heard a knock and turned their heads to the door. There was a girl leaning on the door, her electric blue hair was in braids that pooled at her feet, it stood out against her lavender skin and faded brown eyes, she was wearing a dark purple vest showing off her muscled biceps with little acid burns and tattoos, her simple cargo trousers had at least thousands of pockets that made a clicking sound when she walked.
She smiled, "What are we looking at?"
"Oh we are not supposed to look at it. Jas's new artwork," Palo made a delicate gesture at the blank sheet on the wall with his hand, she glanced at it and grinned and looked at Jas and said "Misha is complaining to your Mama about me, because I dragged her before she was fully awake and Yael is still asleep." She hopped onto the bed sitting with her legs folded like a monk, "It's nice to see you again, Lux. How are you doing on this fine day?"
"I am alright. Thank you Miss Jin, how did you sleep?" Lux inquired, grinning at the mock polite conversation, Jin waved her hand "So and so, I could always use more."
"Jin, dear. I am always all for taking a cat-nap," Palo said sweetly, Jin stuck her tongue at him. "And I am always all for biting a vampire."
Palo paused and looked at her, serious all of a sudden,
"What do you think would happen? If you bite me will you turn into a vampire?" Jin paused, taken aback, "maybe you will turn into an angel? Or a siren?"
Jas looked at his friends, wondering why he ever became friends with them.
"Do you want me to try?" Jin asked, looking slightly confused.
"Wouldn't I die from it? Or will you? Because if you die, Misha will torture my soul and I would rather that will not happen ," but Palo looked curiously at Jin, who got up and walked over and started to discuss her theories on what would happen. Lux looked at them both looking slightly horrified, then at Jas they whispered
"Should we stop them?" " , no. I wanna see this "
"But they are probably going to kill each other" "I know. it's fascinating"
"Jas. We should stop them" Lux said, concerned.
"Who should we stop doing what?" A short girl with short shocking red hair that matched her dark blood red lips was standing in the doorway, she was wearing a simple black dress with a slim odd looking chain gun that hung at her hip and a long red leather jacket, walked in. "Jin is going to bite Palo," Jas explained.
"Why?" she asked, walking over, looking at Palo and Jin. Palo had taken out a silver dagger with a pearl at the hilt and was trying to demonstrate to Jin how to use it on his neck.
"To see if Palo will be turned into an angel or a siren or dead or if Jin would now be a vampire," Jas clarified.
"I see," the girl said, although she still looked confused. Lux looked at the girl recognizing her as 'Tiny angry one who is a little table-dancing queen'
"Oh hi. Lux right?"Yael smiled sheepishly "Sorry. I usually don't drink that heavily"
"Yes she does"Jas mouthed above Yael's head.
"Should we stop them?" Yael looked back at Palo who was now rather violently motioning the dagger against his neck, "I think we should," Lux said worriedly,
"I wanna see what happens," Jas complained.
"This can't be a good idea," Yael grinned fire in her eyes, "but it would definitely be entertaining to watch."
A girl with short midnight hair, bright purple eyes that glowed against her dark blue skin, she was wearing a dark green jumper and cargo trousers similar to Jin's but they made the sound of hard plastic banging on each other as she walked in and immediately went to Jin and grabbed the dagger.
"What do you think you are doing?" she asked sharply.
"We are testing a theory of what would happen if I 'Bite' Palo, and mix our blood," Jin said cheerfully but Misha's eyes turned Jin's happy smile into an eye roll and a sour face and whined "Come on adai. You never let me do anything fun." "I let you get wasted last night." "That doesn't count, besides this is a scientific experiment." Misha continued to look at her sister with cold eyes and a stony expression, Jin sighed unhappily and gave the dagger back to Palo, who looked equally disappointed.
Misha shook her head and sat down on Jas's desk, her feet on the chair.
"So what are we doing today? Other than crushing my dreams," Jin asked with a pointed glare at Misha who stuck her tongue at her. "We could go to ST Crowely's park, heard there is going to be a new AG entrance. We could go and mess it up," Yael said smiling, excited by the notion of destroying things, "It's going to be metal."
"You'll need nutrition first," Xeza said sternly, walking in holding a big tray with a red plate with a stack of waffles, little dishes with berries, sugar and honey, with two pots tea and coffee and a large clear fancy looking bottle of hard spirit and with six different cups.
"Thanks Xeza," Misha said as Xeza handed her a purple teacup with golden stars filling it with coffee and hard spirit.
Xeza smiled, "I'm serious. After you eat, you could go and destroy the government for all I care." The gang nodded and thanked her and she closed the door after she left.
"You heard Mama, we get to go and destroy a government, so which one do you want to blow up first?"
Chapter 2, Yael Taiyo-Ra of the Sunflower Valley, Disunlealive
It was too hot. It's always either too hot or too cold. There was no mid, it used to annoy Yael until she grew used to it but it's still annoying. Not to mention the horrible light, it wasn't red but it wasn't like the sun's yellow. It was like looking at the sun through a peach's skin. The ground had broken human toys and little pieces of glass. It never stopped her from walking barefoot, leaving little traces of blood that grass and little yellow dandelions sprouted from. The street light was red and useless like most of the things in Hell.
Yael looked ahead to see the rest of the gang had already reached the gates of St Crowely's and she jogged to reach them, ST Crowely's park was one of the biggest ones in Garatis, it wasn't filled with the greenery Yael was used to. But there was a certain beauty to it.
"You are suspiciously calm and quiet." Palo cat-grinned at her, his pearly fangs glinting in the pinkish light,"Are you alright?"
She shrugged and smiled, her dimples showing as she said, "Just thinking."
"Oh ok. Now I am really worried," he said, putting the back of his hand to her forehead, "you are definitely catching something."
She slapped his hand away gently, glaring up at him "I am not sick."
Palo scoffed and said, "You are never this quiet, what are you thinking about?"
She shrugged, she didn't really want to tell him but knew he would bug it out of her. So she pointed at the trail of grass and dandelions behind her.
"I think I might actually miss seeing more of it," she said, trying to sound dismissive.
But Palo stayed quiet for a moment before nodding, "It is understandable. You are in a different climate than what you grew up in," he said looking at the rest of their friends who were walking before them.
ST Crowely's didn't really have grass but deep dark soil with a few big dead trees. The path soothingly cold soil, the traces of blood from her feet started to leave more than simple grass and dandelions, but more little colourful flowers and stinging nettle that Palo was careful not to step on. There were other signs of grass and flowers that weren't Yael's, it was a little comforting sign that she wasn't the only fae-shifter in Hell.
"I'll feel better when we get to blow something up," Yael said and she jogged to catch up with the rest of the gang, Palo walking back to his usual speed. This was probably the most annoying thing that everyone in hell seemed to be taller than Yael.
She ran and caught up with Lux and Misha who were talking about something boring. She listened for a moment, they were talking about human Christian culture. Boring.
"So where exactly is the new entrance?"Jas asked, looking at Yael who shrugged, "no idea. But we'll see it, I think," she said, uncertain.
"So we are just looking for construction signs, right?" Jin asked "take a left" Misha added
"Why left? There's only the old witches' cathedral" Jas turned around to look at Misha confused but Jin replied, "because there is a construction sign over there and a 'no trespassing' one." She pointed at them. There was also the sign of death but they all ignored, it's hell you ignore a death sign like how humans ignore the 'terms and conditions'.
"Seems promising," Yael noticed that the signs were newly placed and she could see the white uniforms of kidemónas. She looked at Lux, expecting them to say something about how they shouldn't do it. But Lux looked excited and they were smiling, looking up at the signs.
Jas stepped forward towards the signs. They could all see the thin barrier around the old cathedral, mostly there for privacy than for protection. Yael grinned and walked towards the old cathedral, the path already familiar.
"What do you think you are doing here?" One of the kidemónas noticed them and suddenly about five of the wretched were in front of them blocking their way, Yael put on a soft smile of admiration, "Just looking around, officer, sir. This looks interesting," She said practically batting her eyes up at the ridiculously tall kidemónas who smiled down at her,
"Well too bad, sweet. This is government property, you need to go." She nodded, "oh I understand sir, sorry, we didn't mean to cause trouble, sir."
Then she turned around her soft smiling falling, her eyes were aflame with mischief and she grabbed Lux's hand and said in a cheerful voice "Come on, Lizzy let's get out of here."
They all walked slightly away and went behind a giant pine tree, hiding from the wretched but to other people it looked as if they were admiring the tree.
"Lizzy?" Jas said in an incredulous voice.
"Officer sir." Jin said in a breathy voice and they all burst laughing.
"Ok. ok," Yael said after a few minutes, "I have a plan." Jin grimaced, "is it to flirt with the slime of the city because I might not go to your funeral," she said wrinkling her nose "or wedding." Yael laughed softly, "no we gonna bomb 'em." "Do you even have bombs?" Jas asked "because I don't usually carry TNT's with me."
Before Yael could reply, Jin pulled out a couple of small vials with white and red powders in it. "Always" she said, "you don't know when you need to blow up something," she smiled, Misha smiled prideful at the small vials "Athur and Malrin? brilliant "
"What are they?"Palo asked, looking at the vail confused "Athur is the white powder and Malrin is red, separated they're harmless but together they have a surprisingly strong explosive reaction," Jin smiled, grinning at the vials, "and now we only need a way to get over the barricades" Misha continued, her poker face was one of the best Yael has ever seen and after a few of quiet seconds where they all looked at each other and burst out laughing again. "Alright, Palo and Misha will go around to the west side" Jin said, handing Misha 2 vials of arthur and 2 of malrin.
"Yael and Jas, you go from the north, Lux and I will go from this side. Jas, you need to be quick when you handle those two, pour the red to the white and shake it for 3 seconds, pour it and back away fast you'll have about..." Jin paused thinking "2 second to get out of the way, it'll spark and cause a minor glittery performance, it would have been quiet if I didn't add Lorasance but I did, so it is mostly for distraction not discretion" Palo nodded and pocketed the vials. Yael could feel the rush of adrenaline, hear blood pumping faster than usual, like a colony of bees buzzing around in her green veins.
They went their separate ways, Yael practically bouncing as they headed north, Jas repeating the instructions. There were plenty of times where Jin or Misha gave them specific instructions on how to deal with their weapons, chemicals or very few bombs; usually harmless ones. They went behind the cathedral, it used to host sermons but now it was mostly abandoned; the high priestess has moved AG, Edenia and most of the witches community moved with her. She was a sweet old lady and she always allowed Yael to be in the sermons after she found out that Yael would climb up onto the roof and listen to the sermons out of curiosity.
The backdoor of the cathedral was blocked by the thin walls of a the construction fence, pausing in slight confusion as to what to do next "Jin didn't said where to put the powders," Jas said as soon as Yael realised, "well we don't need it on the fence, we both can get through it. Maybe she meant the cathedral itself?"she suggested, both of them standing under the fence looking confused. "Maybe," Jas shrugged.
"This was a terrible plan," Yael grumbled, holding her hand out. "Alright give me one of the arthur and a merlin" "I'm pretty sure Jin called it Athor and Milen," Jas said as he handed her the two vials, pocketing the other two. Yael pocketed them as well and climbed up the fence quickly and with a jump she was on the other side. Jas followed as well, still looking slightly confused. "Now what?" he asked "now we see what a glittery performance is, I guess," she shrugged. Jas took out the red vial and the white one. The red vial was a thin tube-like glass but the white one was round and was only filled halfway. "You remember the instructions, right?" Yael looked nervously at Jas who was uncorking the white viaL.
She remembered what happened last time they forgot Jin's strict instructions and shuddered, seeing Palo's bone and melted skin was not on the list of things she wanted to see again.
"Of course," Jas said, "I need to put the red powder with the white powder, shake it and pour it and get away."
He poured the red powder to the white and gave it a quick shake and poured it onto the fence, grabbed Yael's arm and they backed away into the back door, peeping behind the safety of it. Nothing happened.
"Maybe you did something wrong?" Yael whispered, Jas looked like he was about to reply with something sarcastic when the loud popping noise came from the fence and they whipped their heads to see glitter and sparkles glowing everywhere, the poor fence was melted onto the brown soil. The popping noise were like the magnified sound of popcorn mixed with soft gunshots.
Jas grabbed her arm and they rushed out of there, hearing alarmed shouts from builders and the kidemónas running towards the noise.
Inside the cathedral everything was of stonework that felt cool underneath her bare feet.
She grabbed Jas leading the way to a nook in the wall where there was a statue of Thalos, looking high and mighty as the godd of the sun and death. Behind the statue there was a small slit window and old incense.
The kidemónas were rushing to the noise, but there was more popping noise coming from the other side. Yael can see the confusion of the wretched, shuffling around, not sure where to go until they made the mistake of splitting up to investigate. There was a strangely large amount of guards for a simple portal, maybe she heard wrong, maybe this is something different. But there was no time to wonder about that.
They had very little time to wreak havoc without getting caught. She heard a small thud and looked up. The coloured stained glass roof had two shadows walking carefully on it and through a little broken area Palo dropped in elegantly then Misha dropped in, not so gracefully. "Nice of you to drop in," Yael grinned when they both jumped in surprise and turned around to the statue of Thalos, Yael stepped out, smiling widely. "Merde." Palo sighed in relief seeing Yael "Thought you would fight a godd?" Misha shook her head saying, "Now is not the time to do jumpscares or puns."
Yael shrugged "Alright, the portal should be in the front", walking towards the vast room where the sermons used to be held, to her surprise they left the praying mats and candles in their places. Maybe a sign they don't want the gods' wrath, but they'll eventually have to take down this place to make the AG entrance more 'welcoming'.
Since the gods don't live in Hell, she'll have to deliver their wrath for them.
The whole thing was ridiculous, why not just build the AG somewhere else? She looked around trying to memorise the whole place even though they were going to wreck the place to torment the ones that will destroy it. Jas walked towards one of the candles "Why did they keep it here?" he asked, looking between Yael and Misha, probably the only ones in the gang with knowledge of witches.
"They'll keep it until they have the warrant to destroy the foundation," Misha said,
"and build something more pretty." "That is poppycock,"Palo grumbled.
"Tell me about it" Yael said softly, the cathedral was beautiful and if they didn't destroy it, in a few years the graffiti and vines would take over the place but it would be so much more beautiful than.
Too bad it won't get to it. Jas took out a spray can, and walked to one of the mats circling it with a magenta eye around the mat and made an x on the mat itself.
"Do we have a plan?" he asked over his shoulder as he strode towards a large window depicting a scene of Thalos flying over the mountains, rising as the sun. Yael has seen the mountain ranges thousands of times in real life and each sunrise looked more magnificent than the one before.
"We could tie the wretched all up and use them to reflect our creative selves" Palo offered
"Are we really going to do something that stupid?" Misha scoffed
Chapter 3, The Spare Prince of the Thrones, Palo Del La Rasha
There was a time where Palo would have never been found anywhere near a cathedral on his own account, there was also a time when he didn't do stupid reckless things to feel alive, But maybe he wasn't the only one like this.
But as Palo ran away from the kidemónas, he started to question why he even bothered to keep doing stuff like this. He didn't stop running once he went through the back door, Yael jumped out from behind the statue of the weirdly hot godd and knocked out two of the wretched.
He could hear Jas whooping as Misha dropped him from the ceiling onto one of the wretched. Dived in with her large midnight blue wings picking up another wretched and yeeting him onto the other ones.
He looked at Misha, who was twisting her hand at a kidemónas who made the mistake of aiming his vismpes at her. He fell to the floor, his eyes glowing purple blood coming out of his ears and nose. Another one came charging at Palo but before he could do anything, a beautiful red garnet knife pierced his shoulder as he screamed in pain and fell to his knees, Palo bended down, grabbing the knife and hitting the back of the wretched's head with the butt of the knife before throwing it in the main direction of Yael, not really worrying about hitting her.
She caught its blade and stabbed a poor guy's eye out before kneeing him in the privates and elbowing the back of his head. She didn't aim to kill but there was a large amount of blood on the stone floor of the cathedral that surrounded her, the sound of bullets and screams echoing beautifully, the acoustics were amazing.
He looked down at the unconscious cops sprawled on the floor.
"Could have been cleaner" he muttered, poking his leg to a kidemónas who was bleeding from his leg, receiving glares from Misha and Yael. Jas was too busy pocketing the wallets and valuables, everyone knows kidemónas make a large salary for doing the dirty work of the heavens.
Yael's pistol and knife were gone, although he had no idea where she kept it and her pretty blood knives, her dress had no pockets and she wasn't wearing any cargo trousers.
"We are missing a couple of wretched, I counted 23. where could they be?" Jas asked, counting the guards, there were only 12 guards on the floor. He stood up, dusting off his trousers.
"Whatcha you doing in here?" Jin asked, arriving from the backdoor looking down at the mess of kidemónas. A couple of her long electric blue braids' ends were no longer blue but damped with red blood, blood splatters on her cheeks and clothes. Lux walked behind her, also covered in blood but smiling softly, obviously happy although Palo had no idea what they could possibly be happy about.
"I'm guessing you got the other ones?" Misha asked looking at her sister, taking out a starry embroidered handkerchief handing it to her
"Why are you covered in blood? Did you kill anyone?" "Probably. They wouldn't stay still" Jin defended herself, taking the handkerchief wiping the blood away.
"It was a bit gruesome,"Lux said, sounding worried, their small smile turning into a frown that creased their forehead, "And those Kid-emó-nas will probably not be back to normal anytime soon." "Or have kids," Jin grinned at Lux's horrified face.
"Thanks, that's great. Could you gather them up here, please. We're making a work of art" Jas said, bending down and dragging a kidemónas to the two who are already in a sort of pile before pausing, "Where are the builders?" "We took care of them too,"Jin smiled.
"Ah. Thank you," Jas nodded, matching Jin's sweet smile."You are very welcome."
"I can go and get them," Palo offered, "I'll join you," Yael smiled "I wanna see the damage." Jin nodded and headed back outside through the door,
"Come on then, I'll show you."
They followed her as she walked around the cathedral leading them to the front of it.
Palo could hear a strange humming noise that vibrated inside his lungs and body, like a colony of bees inside of him, buzzing around trying to find flowers in his veins and lung lobes.
He turned around to look down at Yael behind him, who must have felt the same thing because she stopped walking and looked around trying to locate the sound, her eyes fascinated by what made the sound and vibration.
"It's the portal. it's still unfinished that's why it's making that noise, so be careful" Jin explained, perhaps sensing their unease.
"What would happen if we went through it?" Yael asked, her voice filled with wonder. "Don't!" Jin snapped, turning around alarmed and grabbed Yael's arms.
"Whatever you do, do not walk through an unfinished portal." Yael looked alarmed at the sudden change of tone. "Alright I won't," Yael said
"you can take your hands off, you know. it's not like I'm about to jump into an unfinished portal." Jin let go of Yael's arms and said "I'm serious. This goes to you as well."
She glanced at Palo and waited until he nodded and put his hands as he said, " I swear I won't jump into a not ready portal."
His fangs glinted in the soft pink light as he smiled, "Besides one simply doesn't go jumping while wearing platforms." Jin looked down at his shoes, shaking her head in disbelief. "Alright then," she nodded and continued walking, not waiting for either of them to catch up, taking a sharp left to the front entrance of the cathedral.
The humming grew more intense when they turned the corner, and a sharp metallic smell hit him. The unfinished portal was just floating there, a bit higher than his head, just floating.
It was one of the brightest things Palo ever saw in Hell, it had an orange hue and staring directly was starting to hurt his eyes so he looked down blinking away the purple spots in his eyes.
"It looks like the sun," Yael whispered, sounding confused and fascinated. Palo nodded still seeing purple spots, he looked down on the ground and immediately saw blood, like a giant pool of blood and he was stepping in it with his lovely vintage shoes. He groaned, stepping back away from the blood and then he saw the bodies, he grimaced at the scene.
"Lux wasn't kidding, gruesome is the word," he muttered under his breath, glancing up at Jin who was grinning proud at her masterpiece.
"How did you do it?" Yael asked the question that Palo wondered, except she said it as if the horrifying scene was the best strawberry shortcake in all of the realms and she wanted the recipe.
"Misha gave it to me," she shrugged taking out from one of her many pockets a thin rod, she clicked the middle and it extended with an odd end, it looked like a speaker but when she held it to one of the builders on the floor it buzzed with electricity and the poor dude's body shook and trembled at the buzzing. The blood came from some of their ears, noses and an occasional thin stab wound. And she clicked the middle bit again making it shrink and placed it in one of her pockets. Palo wondered how she knew where everything was, how could she remember all of it? He could barely remember what he drank last night, although it had to be some heavy stuff for him to have a headache that morning, and knowing himself. It was probably some fancy champagne.
"Right we should probably get them to Jas," Palo said quietly, still slightly horrified at the scene. He bent down and carefully picked up the builder (not for the builder's sake, he just didn't want to get any more blood on his clothes). Yael did the same picking up two of the poor guys and carrying them on her small shoulders. Jin simply grabbed a wretched leg and dragged him all the way to the back door. Lux was around the corner walking towards them "There you are, Jas wanted to get started, he has an idea on what he wants to... spray,"they said, their perfect eyebrows furrowed slightly creating a little crease,
"Whatever that means." Yael nodded and walked through the back door and dumped the two guys she was carrying to the pile of unconscious, probably dead people, "I can go and get the ones that are left," she said, smiling and practically bouncing when she left through the backdoor. Maybe she had something against the front door, but then again everyone in the gang has something against the front door except maybe Lux.
"What are you gonna do with them?" Palo asked, dropping the man he was carrying next to the others.
"Something outrageous," Jas's grin was one of a child who was left alone in a candy store and was told he could eat whatever he wanted. Yael walked in carrying two wretched on her shoulders and dragging a builder, dropping them on the pile with a heavy thud
"That's the last of them," she said sitting down next to them.
"Right then, let's begin." Jas started looking through his bag, the sound of spray cans clinking together, he crouched down and empty the contents of the bag. Cans dropped to the floor making a crackling sound against the stone, brushes falling as well. He groaned in frustration looking around his bag, more brushes and pens fell out.
He looked up at the gang and sighed
"Who has the rope?" They looked around at each other.
"Did we even bring any?"He asked,
"We didn't bring any rope" He groaned, realisation dawned on him.
"Alright. New plan" he said getting up from the ground.
"Scratch that, I think I got a better plan" he said smiling up at Palo,
"I need your sword"
"depends what are you going to do with it" He looked at his friend, hesitant to let him have his precious mother-pearl sword, but he relented and pulled it out of his sheath. Its blade black, a purple shine in the low pink light. He offered the hilt to Jas, who smiled and took it.
"You better not get any more blood on my clothes" he warned,
"You should stand back then I am going to make a mess,"Jas grinned.
Palo immediately stepped back from Jas, he had that mad glint in his eye, like the one before the Incident.
Chapter 4, "Lux"
Art was something Lux never understood. Perhaps there were some things that were better left off misunderstood, in order to keep the balance. If one person knew too much... it was a danger to the higher society, even the immortals do not know everything. Some people know this but some people are arrogant and are therefore fools believing they can and need to know everything, they cannot.
Lux was one of the people who were aware they shouldn't know everything and how dangerous it is to know too much.
A scientist shouldn't be very religious as it goes against their work.
A book lover shouldn't be very ragious, as they have the knowledge of how to hide the body properly, not that it was that illegal in Hell to kill someone (a fact that disturbed Lux deeply, but why should heaven care if a few low levelled demons would be gone, if anything it is better for them)
That being said Lux hated not understanding art, it was something that always bothered her, especially abstract. Godds know how annoyed she was whenever she saw abstract art or even graffiti she couldn't read or understand.
Jas however seems to be the opposite, with his spray cans he believes whatever he has created, is a masterpiece of art.
Before Lux could comment on the mess of art, a sharp loud noise, that wove in and out. They held their hands over their ears, Yael reacted similarly except she looked more pissed than scared. What seemed to be about thirty more Kidemónas arrived slightly behind them,
"Front door?" Palo asked, looking at Jas who nodded quickly and they all started to run despite the warning shouts of the guards. Misha flew above them and reached the doors before any of the others, pushing it to open, but it wouldn't budge. So she took a step back and ran at it, her shoulder breaking the door off its hinges.
"It was a pull, not a push" Yael muttered, Lux looked down at the little red fae standing next to her momentarily forgetting about the guards,
"It is a way to open a door" Lux replied, Yael shrugged, looking behind her. The guards had their strange guns out and were shouting warnings, they're going to open fire if they don't stop. The rest of the gang paid no attention to the warnings or the guns. Lux could feel their adrenaline pumping in their dark veins, and something else, like a humming noise that buzzed in their lungs. A strange but wonderful sensation, like a warm fuzzy blanket.
They looked around and saw that the others must have felt the same sensation,
"Jin said it's because of the portal" Yael explained, looked behind and took Lux's hand and they broke into a run stepping over the broken door, stumbling to a stop because Jin and Palo who were in front of them were not running, just standing there.
The giant portal was unfinished floating higher than their heads, like a strange sun, golden and bright.
Once Lux's gaze fell down from the strange sun, they understood why the others had stopped. Another twenty guards were in front of them with their guns out, Jas smiled and put his hands up, Palo and Jin followed, although slightly confused.
"Don't worry, Loves. We surrender," Palo said, cat-grinning, mischief in his eyes.
Misha is nowhere to be seen. The other Kidemónas caught up with them surrounding them all. Lux and Yael turned their backs to Palo and Jin, both of their hands raised behind their heads. Fifty guards for just a little mischief that seems like overdoing it, even for an aboveground entrance.
"What's the plan?" Yael whispered glancing behind them to Palo.
"Shhh. No plan" he breathed back "That is an awful idea"
"I am painfully aware" "SHUT IT" one of the guards in front of Jas and Palo shouted,
"Or what? You gonna kill a bunch of unarmed kids? Oh how the rumours will thrive on your stupidity and ignorance" Palo crooned back, unalarmed with the threats. The guards in front of Lux and Yael hesitated with their weapons looking at each other. Hell didn't have rules but killing an unarmed person goes against some sort of moral code they seem to have, and Heaven probably won't look kindly on a blind murder.
"This is private property" one of the guards said, still looking rather nervous.
"This is a place for worship" Yael retorted, a flash of rage in her beautiful uneven eyes. "Not anymore sweetheart, got paid quite a lot of– to wreck this worthless place" he replied, it was his mistake. Lux may have not known Yael for very long but they could understand that this place meant something to her.
But they knew something bad was going to happen. Yael's green veins turning pink, her beautiful red lips pressed together, her eyes closed unmoving. She turned her head sharply to the side and then she wasn't there anymore, but rather behind the kidemónas who dared insult her, a beautiful red knife covered in blood as he fell to the ground beneath her. The others haven't fully reacted when she pulls off her odd chain gun and starts to fire it, without pause the others have started to react.
Jin threw something shiny towards the main direction of Yael who caught it and threw it onto some poor guy's head. The glass broke something oozing yellow from it, it must have been painful because he was screaming.
"That looks painful," They muttered, wincing as they noticed there was a shard in his cheek , the sound of gunshots and scream filled the area, making Lux wonder what the other people who are walking through ST Crowely are thinking it is, maybe a celebration party, they weren't even sure if gunfire and shouts of pain is a normal thing in Hell but they pushed the thought away. Noticing Misha on the roof, taking a dive head first, just as she was about to hit the ground she spread her wings making a couple of the guards fall unconscious.
"This wasn't the plan," she grumbled as she walked towards Jas who shrugged and said "I wasn't aware there was any."
"Why would they have fifty on AG duty?" he asked her, she threw her hand out and twisted it towards herself making a guard fall, blood coming out of his ears.
"Beats me. But there is no need to continue to be here. You got to do art, Yael got to damage someone and Palo bloodied his outfit. I don't think we have any more reasons to stay" he nodded in agreement. Palo smiled and addressed the Kidemónas
"Well it was very lovely of you to welcome us to the new portal, but we must get on. I believe Mama is making crème brûlée for dessert and she makes the best one ever. So what I'm saying is. Bye" he smiled and stretched his arms out. Misha grabbed Yael, her large blue wings spread out taking flight, Jas followed, his black leathery wings spread out with Palo on his back. Jin smiled looking at Lux "Ready?"They shrugged and nodded.
Jin took a step back. Large purple wings stretched out as she started to run towards them, her arms around Lux's waist as they flew upwards after the others, barely avoiding the portal. Lux couldn't help but feel relieved, laughing with delight at the wind in her face and at the sensation of weightlessness, her tense body relaxing.
The adrenaline high subsided as Jin flew next to Misha, who was holding Yael by her arm, Yael's hand gripping her forearm. There was a sound of a bang and Misha and Yael were no longer flying next to them, Jin faltered, confused and turned around. A net had trapped Misha and Yael dragging them both back towards the cathedral. Jin turned without hesitation flying towards her sister, there was a glint of red flash and the net tore, letting them get out momentarily before another bang, another net. Yael's knife dropped and Jin rushed forward, Lux having to grip her shoulders so they wouldn't fall to the ground. Misha and Yael plummeted down to the ground, Jin diving, her hand reaching the net and she grabbed it flying upwards. Lux took out a slim golden dagger and tore the net, freeing Yael and Misha, who took flight Yael safe, on her back between her wings. There was another bang but it missed
"Hit or miss, I guess you never hit" Yael shouted tauntingly back at the Kidemónas. Jas and Palo landed on a tree unfortunately not that far from the cathedral looking up at them, Jin perched on a large branch near theirs, Misha following her sister letting Yael down gently on the branch next to Palo, who looked down at his small friend patting her shoulder for some reason.
"So flying is not an option," Palo said, his hand on Yael's shoulder"What now?"
Jas looked at them incredulous and asked "Am I the only one who is not blind?"
They all looked at him confused, "We could use the portal," he said like it was the most obvious thing and for Lux it did seem that way. However Jin, Misha, Yael and Palo all started to disagree, their faces showing an almost comical horror and disbelief.
"Why not?" Lux asked, confused by their horrified reaction. "Because of the third rule to living in Hell, never enter a portal you don't know where it leads, especially incomplete ones" Misha said, "Last time I decided to take a random portal I ended up with my wings twisted and in the middle of {super secure prison with cool name}"
"Fine not the portal. But that also means I have no other idea" Jas shrugged. "We can try flying again and if that fails then we run,"
None of them had any other ideas so they just nodded.
Yael got back onto Misha's back, her arms around Misha's shoulders, waving at Lux. Jin has her arms around Lux's waist again and they all take flight, this time Jas and Palo behind and Misha and Yael in the front, this time flying over the cathedral, the portal in front of them. Maybe Misha was going to pretend to go into it, a bang and a net but it goes straight to the portal and disappears from view. A silver spark caught Lux's attention and a heavy chain warped around Misha's ankle dragging her down. She tried flying upwards despite the heaviness. Her eyes turning the shade of the night and her hand on her ankle, the chain turned almost instantly into a silver snake falling to the ground. The release of the heavy chains made her lose her balance, propelling her straight through the strange sun. There was no time for the shock and worry to set in as another sparkle of silver flashed towards Jin and she dove after her sister, Lux looked back as Jas was flying behind them with a determined look on his face, Palo's face in his palms. Then Jin flew through the portal even though it was definitely not part of the plan. The warmth wrapping around Lux's bare arms like a warm blanket, the buzzing in her chest was now more like drums in her lungs and veins. It was only for the barest of a second, and then they crushed.
Chapter 5, Doctor Daru. J. Eliazo, Angel of the Starry Sea, Phds
There were navy and pale blue feathers everywhere. Jin's back on a hard wooden floor, Lux's stomach on her left wing, Misha's leg underneath her right wing. Lux just got up and away from Jin's wing when Jas crushed into Lux making her fall on top of Jin, again. Palo on top of Jin and Lux, Jas laying down on the ground next to Misha, groaning in pain. Palo got up and offered his hand to Lux, who took it.
"Sound off, is anyone dead?" Palo asked, "Someone will be, unless you get off my wing" Jin groaned, startling both Lux and Palo and they sheepishly got off her wing, Lux offering their hand to her, she took it and got up. Her wings folded into her back again. "Not going to be doing that again," She warned.
Jin looked around, the portal was nowhere to be seen, no humming in her veins.
They were in a spacious office, with a lovely wooden floor. A desk made from a dark red wood cluttered with papers and stationery, a tall black chair. The window next to the desk was huge, its curtains shut. Jas walked over and lifted the curtains a bit, but a bit was enough to make them all flinch from the bright, warm light, nothing like the light in Hell. Palo waved the shock away, strode over and looked outside the window, the others joining in as well to look through the window. Jin was sure that she wasn't the only one who received a shock. They all knew it was supposed to be an AG portal but there is a difference between a portal station and being in one of the tallest buildings in a human city.
The view was breathtaking, and from the look on Misha's face, Jin knew her sister wanted to take a dive. It wouldn't surprise her if she did. They could see everything, the little people on the street looking like little colourful dots, the cars looking like squares or rectangles on the busy street, compared to where they were looking from, everything seems small, the other buildings. There was another tall building with huge glass windows right next to the building they were in, reflecting the building they were the same height and connected with a glass bridge a few floors above them and another one a few floors below them, it made her think of falling through them, the image strong in her mind, the glass shattering against her limp bleeding body. Jin backed away from the window, feeling slightly sick by the image. She looked around at the office again, the cluttered desk caught her attention. She stumbled over to it, sitting down on the tall chair. Most of the papers weren't understandable, at least not to Jin. She opened the laptop not sure what she was expecting but it asked for a password, "Misha," she called and her sister looked back at her, "Password" Misha walked over and leaned over Jin's shoulder to look at the screen, it was wide and thin, the background set to a blurry blue colours. Misha simply typed something and it let her in.
The screen opens to some kind of files, with some sentences blacked out.
"What are you doing?" Palo asked, sauntering away from the window and to look from behind Jin's shoulder, "Trying to see whose office this belongs to and if she is any important" She explained, "how do you know it's a she?" Lux wondered, walking over as well. "Her name is Louise Ingrid Violet Edward" she replied, browsing through Louise Ingrid Violet Edward's open tabs, "That is a long name" Jas muttered "How do you know?" "it's on the medal, there" she pointed at the wall next to the shelves of books, Jas walked over reading the engraved, "Ooh, medal of {science thingy} sounds interesting" "Exactly, but the only vibes I'm getting off of her laptop, is that she's a control freak. All of her tabs are organised, alphabetically" Jin said, "Try the calendar" Misha murmured, "that one is always good to check" Jin flipped through Edward's bookmarks and clicking on her calendar, it was as freakishly organised as her tabs, all colour-coded and alphabetically.
Jin clicked on today's date, "What's the time?" "11:34, it's right there" Misha sighed exasperatedly pointing at the small clock on the corner of the laptop.
"Right well, she's in a board meeting, she must be important to be in one. She even wrote down who's going to be there but not the topics" Jin said, looking at the notes of the meeting, "I'm not recognising any names" Misha rolled her eyes "It doesn't tell us what this place is" But Jin continue looking through the calendar mostly ignoring her sister, something caught her eye. A green tag but every other tag was warm toned not jade. It said a visit but no other details other than an address, Jin grabbed her small notebook and scribbled the address, it looked familiar.
"Mish, do you know this place?" she pointed with her pen at the small address, Misha looked at it slightly confused, "It looks familiar, but I can't think anything of it, why?" "Look at the rest of her tags"Jin said, the others following her gaze "this isn't the only visit tag but it's the only green one and it doesn't have any other details, which means... "she waited for them to finish but they haven't caught on "Look at the rest of the tags, she never mentions the subjects but always people and the reason even if some of them are vague, but she even counts the people and names them in. and yet this tag has no people, no subject, no reason"the others still looked slightly confused but Misha must have caught on because she said "It means it's a secret." Jin nodded, she shrunk the screen, making the current month and next two months appear. She can see the patterns of pink board meetings every two weeks, the red tags of reports deadlines every week on Wednesday, and the green tag appears every month on the second Friday of the month. "So what if mysterious Human lady has a secret meeting place, it could be a secret lover" Palo suggested, but Misha shook her head "She's meticulous, if she has a spouse and they see her calendar they would get suspicious of the green tag immediately" "Could be a more complicated situation without a spouse" he remarked "Could be, but unlikely. But this isn't one of your romance books, Kitty" Yael said, her hand on Palo's shoulder, who sighed and shrugged "Than what is it?"
"Can't you look it up on the maps app?" Lux asked, actually making sense. Jin opened a new tab of the maps and typed in the address. Nothing. She tried again, this time taking out the specifics and just searching the area, this time it did show something. It was just some green fields with no farms nearby, "that's ... just weird" she muttered, moving the map around, trying to find any kind of buildings within 3 miles but found nothing "Jin-Jin" she looked at her sister whose eyes were fixed on the map "go back to the calendar and see when did the green tags started"
Jin frowned but did anyway, it took a couple of minutes but eventually found it. 5 years, 4 months ago Edward started the green tag, she clicked on the first green tag. It said almost the same thing, 'name: visit, duration: 2 hours' on the second Friday of the month but in the notes it wasn't empty, there was the address and a file attachment. She tapped it and it opened as a new tab, it looked like a mix of a letter and a report, some of the lines black out. But Jin understood the basics of what it said ;
Dear Ms Edwards
The new building is in —- it took us 5 months just to get approval from the board members but we reached the goal in the end, now we simply need to get the patients themselves. —- are already on getting them to the building. I must say, I'm impressed and glad we got the building and have now got the other members' trust behind us.
The other members are a rather exhausting lot. They are also asking for a monthly report and a meeting. I believe that part is up to you. I wanted to thank you properly for the opportunity to save humanity. —- .
We've already got our first patient, he's a difficult one, but Doctor —- is already coming up with a new technique. She already gave a name to the project, she calls it 'NHS Rehabilitation Sanctuary' she also always goes on and on about the amazing view of the building. If you do not mind, I would love to join you on some of your monthly visits.
—-
It felt like a stone, tumbling down from Jin's head all the way to her feet, realisation kicked her butt when she read 'NHS Rehabilitation Sanctuary'. As if someone shattered the beautiful glass building and they were falling down, but at the same time it also felt as though something clicked, all those cluttered papers that at first didn't make sense, clicked into place, like a puzzle, although some of the little jigsaw pieces were still missing.
Jin knew she wasn't the only who felt it, Lux was looking confused, Yael's eyes were wide, Jas's expression was blank as he read the letter again, Misha's eyes were already calculating something, Palo bite his lower lip before murmuring "I knew a lover was a possibility" "I think you're focusing about the wrong thing, Kitty" Yael murmured back. Jin couldn't understand why they were speaking in a low voice, it wasn't like anyone heard them earlier. "What are we supposed to do now?" Jin asked, looking at Jas who looked just as lost, "We get out of here" Misha said, "Like right now"
Chapter 6, High Priestess Daru. S. Misha, Siren of the watery sky, Phds AKA D5
Jin closed the tabs, opening another dark window with little icons. She deleted the tabs they opened and put the tab that was before, making sure nothing was out of place. Palo strode over to the door, his hand on the handle and he pulled it towards him, it didn't budge, he tried to push it. Nothing happened, "My mates, I think it's safe to assume. We're doomed" Palo said, he had a smile on but it didn't reach his eyes. "Move over" Misha said softly, reaching down to one of her pockets on her left calf, feeling something long and round she pulled out a screwdriver. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Genie, I think this is yours" she unbuttoned the pocket and handed it to Jin, who took it and started to rummage through her own pockets. Finally finding the wrong pocket and unbuttoning it, it was the one above her right knee, and handed it to Misha.
During this whole transaction, the rest of the gang looked utterly confused by the switch of pockets. Misha fished something out of the pocket, it was a silver key ring with lock picks, skeleton keys, and bumper keys. Crouching down to look at the lock itself, it wasn't a complicated thing. With a delicate touch, the skeleton found its home within the lock. With a satisfied sigh, Misha pulled back, getting up and pocketing the rest of the picks. She placed her hand on the cool metal handle, she nudged the door towards her, it swung open."I think we're undoomed" she said, giving a small bow to Palo who smiled and sauntered through the open door, Yael grinning widely, her dimples deepening and walked out as well.
The hallway was white, clean and ugly. At least in Misha's eyes, it was too white, too blank. The walls white, the ceiling an ugly shade of beige, the doors painted white and unmarked. Palo looked around, and started going to the left "Dude. wait a minute"she called after him, he stopped and twirled around, she crouched down again and locked the office's door, it took less than a few seconds and then she was up again.
"Alright" she said looking up at Palo "Why are you going there?"
"Gut feeling?" he said but he sounded unsure, a strange tone on the over-confident bastard, "Alright. lead the way then, posh boy" Misha said, waving her hand in a gesture for him to continue walking. He shrugged and strode forward, Yael bouncing on his left and Lux looking around curiously on his right. Jas glanced at Misha, "I'm going to assume you have a plan if anyone asks what a bunch of weird kids are doing?" he asked, although he already knew she had multiple plans, each easily manipulated to whatever situation they might be thrown into.
"Obviously. Quite a classic one as well, field trip. We detached from our teacher and the rest of the students because we thought we saw one of our parents who works here," Misha explained, "However there's also the 'We got lost' card we can use, I prefer to use that one, less risk of exposure to lies." He nodded, "A classic one" Jin remarked, her arm around her sister's shoulder "By the way, that was one of your slickest pick yet." Jin smiled, but Misha simply rolled her eyes and said "It was too easy, besides it was just a simple tumbler lock. I wish it was more challenging"She simply sighed, stretching her fingers in front of her. Her blue nail polish was starting to peel off, her golden ring seemed alone without her usual assortments of other rings, its little ruby glinting in the white light, two smaller moonstones on either side of it. It was a gift from Nami, the thought of the honey-sweet memory brought a small smile to her lips.
Misha's forehead hit Palo's broad back, she stumbled back in surprise more than pain. She peeped over his shoulder, wondering why he stopped walking.
"I suppose we should head downwards, right?" Yael asked, looking around at the others "Right, we need to get to an UE and back to Hell"Jas said, Yael nodded and started to go down the stairs with the others following her. The stairs were as spotless and white as the rest of the building.
Huge glassy windows showing the ground, it looked so far, Misha knew that if she fell through this window she would feel the thrill of the wind in her face, her wings folded so they wouldn't break against the strong window. At first she would go head first then slowly she'll switch her position so that her toes are pointed to the ground, her face to the fluffy clouds, then just when the ground seems to be too close she'll spread her wings and fly off to the clouds. Feeling the cold and harsh wind, her hands spread wide, trying to catch every bit of the wind. Lux calling her name brought her back to focus and out of her daydream, she looked in front of her and realised her friends were already a floor away, she rushed, skipping a few of the steps. Lux was waiting for her, their friends a few steps away, they began to go down the stairs once they saw her.
"Are you alright?" Lux asked, their perfect eyebrows slightly raised and their lavender eyes trained on her face. She smiled and nodded "Fine. Just got distracted for a moment" She brushed her short blue hair away from her eyes, pulling out a small red hair tie and pulling up her hair in a bun as she and Lux went down the stairs.
The hair tie didn't belong to her and she usually didn't even use it, but she always seemed to have it on her, with or without realising it.
The spiralling stairs were persistent and eventually tiring Yael and Jin, who had the shortest legs in the gang. Yael walked in front of all of them as they walked through the door, it led them to another white, ugly hallway with unmarked doors.
There was a man walking with his head bent down, looking at the papers in his hands. He was wearing clean red ruby with pale green, like a muted turquoise contrast trim scrubs, Misha knew he was a diagnostic radiographer just based on his scrubs.
His dark hair dishevelled and in small braids that hung around his ear, his pale eyes moving fast along the lines. Palo walked towards him and stopped in front of him, startling him as his crazy pale eyes looked up at Palo who towered over him and was grinning his princely smile that made people nickname him the Feline Prince.
"So sorry to bother you, sir. But we're a bit lost, do you mind directing us to the lifts?" He said. He had dilated his pupils to look like regular human's pupils, but still had his golden shine. "Oh... Of course,it's...um" the strange man hesitated looking around just as confused and lost as the rest of them
"It's actually where I'm going... so just ... follow me" he said, and he continued to walk, his pale eyes glancing from the bunch of weird kids he's leading and then back to his papers, glancing back at them every few steps. Misha could tell he was nervous, maybe it's their strange appearance or perhaps he has never seen children, both possibilities being very valid and highly probable.
Jin slowed down, walking next to Misha who was walking behind everyone, ensuring they were all following the strange man. They both looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and their eyes slightly narrow. It was their way of asking 'what is this dude's deal?' Jin smiled and shrugged, her eyebrows going to their regular position and her eyes narrowed down, she gave a quick glance towards the pale eyed man then back at Misha, 'What lie are we telling?'. Misha leaned towards her sister and mouthed, 'we got lost during the school trip. He seems lost anyway, he won't know anything about it' Jin nodded, she walked slightly faster and whispered to Lux the plan then to Yael, who nodded at Palo whose ears twitched when he heard the plan so he whispered it to Jas, he turned around and grinned back at Misha with his thumbs up.
This was their strange way of communication. Efficient and quick as the whole affair only took less than a minute, and that way all of their stories would match.
The man hadn't even noticed anything but took a right through a doorway without a door, it was a small room with three lift doors on their left and more stairs on their right, but in front of them was another hallway without walls, well it did have walls but made out of huge glass windows, it was one of the bridges that led to the other building.
The man stood still, his gaze down at the papers in his hands. Jas stepped forward and pressed the button down, the man didn't even notice. Misha stepped quietly behind him, peeping from his shoulder, pretending as if she was looking at the hallway, but she wasn't. She looked down at the papers in his hands, skimming through the lines. There was a liner chart on the bottom of the page with a green line going down towards the end and a pink line stabilising in a clear almost straight line, on the top corner of the chart was written in clear mechanical font, 'NHS RS. Doctor Tinura's report on the Sanctuary '. She took a step back, unsure how to react to the new info, her frown attracted Jin's questioning look, she was too short to be able to read the papers the way Misha did so she relaxed her muscles and looked down briefly with her hand on the back of her neck. She had used this gesture thousands of times, it had a simple meaning, It meant 'not now'. Jin nodded. Her long blue braids have come undone, her purple hair ties missing and her thick hair is in mismatched waves and curls, and when she nodded her curls bounced, it reminded Misha of the sea waves Jin loves so much.
There was a light ping, like a bell and the lift doors opened. The strange man walked in first not really looking where he's going and stumbled a bit when he walked straight into a tall man with paper white skin and a pastel yellow suit, who smiled apologetically and walked out of the lift, there were two women in the lift now and the strange man and the gang. The women were both wearing pastel colours, one a light pink suit and with a bright magenta tie, her brown hair in a tight bun, the other an ugly shade of pale blue skirt and a button up white shirt that actually complimented her dark eyes and blond curls that fell on her shoulder.
They were talking excitedly in low voices, they stopped briefly to greet the man, smiling and calling him John with respect.
Both of the women glanced at the strange group of the vibrant and wear-down appearance of the teenagers, the brown haired one glanced at 'John' perhaps hoping he would explain who they were, but his eyes were glued down to the papers.
Jin stepped to the giant panel of buttons and pressed G. There were also underground floors, but something caught Misha's eyes as her eyes looked over the many buttons, there was no 0, G button than -1. She didn't know why it bothered her, it's like the memory is tickling her prefrontal, maybe it was normal in the human cities not to have a 0 button.
The woman in pink turned away from her blonde friend and towards Jin, "Excuse me young lady. May I inquire what brings you youngsters to this place?" she asked, her tone clearly telling them that they don't have much of a choice but to reply.
"Well, I must be honest. We're mostly lost around this big place,"Jas said charmingly before Jin could say something, Misha had to turn her face away to hide her smile, he was a natural at bending the truth and he would make a great politician when the time comes. She saw Jin's grin hiding behind her uneven vibrant blue hair.
"You just happened to wander through the building unaware?"The blonde lady scoffed in disbelief.
"Obviously not, We were here to see my friend's Mama, she works here" Palo interrupted, putting on a small smile. This caught the attention of the strange man,
"In what department? Is she in the labs?" he asked curiously, his pale eyes looking down at Yael, who glanced briefly at Misha who nodded so Yael nodded to John and asked, "Yes. how did you know?"
"Mery right? Lovely woman, always goes on about her kid and their friends,"John said, his eyes glancing into each of their eyes
"So which one of you is hers?" he asked, Yael smiled, her dimples showing.
"It's me." he looked at her, his pale eyes looking her up and down
"It's nice to meet you, Charlotte."His voice soft and low but his tone is pointed, he looked back down at his papers. This silenced the women for a few seconds, but Misha noticed they were both glancing at Palo than at each, their eyes narrow in suspicion. The door pinged again and they were on floor 20, and a tall woman in a pale green suit walked in and nodded at both of the women in acknowledgment. She frowned slightly when she saw the gang standing in a corner of the lift, John standing between them and the women. The woman in green reached for the G button and saw it was already pressed.
Misha saw the way the women looked at each, giving little signals the same way Misha and Jin secretly interact with one another. Misha gave Jin a little tag on her wavy hair, without turning she gave a quick glance at Misha, before turning her gaze back to the women, she brushed her fingers against the side of Misha's stomach, a warning 'prepare for possible attack'.
Misha barely had time to respond before the woman in green turned to Palo,
"Young man, I couldn't help but notice you're not wearing your tag, why is that?"
She asked, her eyes glancing down at Palo's bare wrist than at his golden eyes.
"Why would I wear a tag?" he asked, his smile not wide like his usual, keeping his fangs out of sight. This brought the attention of John and he looked up at the woman then glanced down at Yael. His pale eyes met with Misha's dark blue eyes, and there was understanding there, he knew that none of them were human, that they shouldn't be here and that Yael wasn't Mery's child, let alone was called Charlotte. She could see the hesitation in his eyes for a brief second, then it was gone.
"It is the law, it is part of the Treaty. How is it you got in here without one in the first place?" she asked, frowning in suspicion.
"Ms Edward, these are Mery's kid and her friends." John said, and before anyone could say anything more, the door pinged and opened. In an unspoken or gestured understanding the teenagers broke into a run even though the doors weren't fully opened yet, leaving behind strange but nice John and the pastel women. Startling a bunch of pastel wearing people, they stumbled back in surprise, like a flock of pastel geese being flown away by a strong wind.
Lux grabbed Jin's hand taking the lead and they ran straight for what looked like the entrance and exit, the pastel women shouting warnings and commands.
As they broke out onto the street, they all flinched at the bright light of the sun but didn't stop to get used to it. Someone grabbed Misha's hand and pulled her to run faster, looking down she saw the perfect black nails and fingers tainted in vibrant and faded colours and she knew it was Jas's hand. She could hear the shouts of surprise and anger, being in a human city was not on her list of things she wanted to do. She glanced behind her and saw at least 15 guards all dressed in white, a horrible choice as blood would be not easy to get out of it. She thinks of taking out her knife when she remembered, this isn't Hell. You can't just go knifing people, especially since the judges usually don't look kindly on non-humans.
The streets were filled with people, mostly humans. Misa wasn't sure how she knew that they were human, but the scent of a busy human street filled her nose, the scent intoxicating her, making her stumble a bit but Jas took her arm and steadied her.
The busy street almost parted away for them to run when they heard the white guards' shouts of 'non-humans impersonating humans' warnings.
Jas was in the lead, sprinting but not sure where to. Palo grabbed his arm and pushed him to the road, Jas stumbled then ran before the colourful cars could run him over.
The others followed him, making the cars stop and blasting their horns.
As Yael ran across the street she made a rude gesture at the cars, grinning widely and sticking her tongue out. One of the cars, a low blue one, started the engine again in an attempt to run over Yael but she was too fast, even with her short legs.
Lux and Misha were the last ones, she looked back and saw the white guards already starting to cross the street. She raised her hand, she could feel the engines humming in her veins and she tugged on them, closing her outstretched hand, making all of the cars go onto the road, blocking the guards. There were shouts of surprise and anger.
Lux tugged on her arm, and they both ran following their friends, Palo waited for them and ran behind them making sure no one got left behind.
Jas took a quick left to a narrow alleyway, the others had no choice but to follow a bit unsure as to where their friend was going. Jas has completely stopped, breathing heavily and leaning on the alley wall. Jin, who at first didn't notice that he stopped, had to backtrack.
"Shouldn't we continue to run away from human law enforcement?"Jin asked, sounding a little winded. Misha smiled at this, Jin always refused to go on runs with her and now she was paying the price.
"Hold up," Jas muttered, his palms on his knees and his head bent down still trying to catch his breath. They heard the shouts of the guards, Misha touched her fingers to the edge of the alleyway wall, and the guards ran oblivious to them and ran ahead ignoring the alley.
"Now, what?"Yael asked, her breaths already returning to their natural steady rhythm. Jas slid down to the ground, sitting with his hands around his knees,
"Now, we know for certain that humans are full of crap" he muttered, Misha knew that he was thinking of the file they saw at Edward's office and the way she talked to Palo. "I mean, what are we going to do now?" Yael muttered, looking around at everyone, "well we don't have tags, so firstly we should make ourselves look more ... you know..." Jas said, looking up at Palo who sighed and nodded.
"Jin, do you happen to carry a mirror in one of those pockets?" he asked, and she shook her head
"Sorry," Misha reached to the pocket on her right thigh and pulled out a small circular mirror and handed it to Palo, smiling slightly, it wasn't a happy smile but a sympathetic one. She knew how much Palo loved his strange appearance. He took the mirror and checked himself, his fingers brushed over his eyes and his golden irises changed to a shade of brown, but when the bright sun hit his eyes she could see the honey shine. His fangs looked too small, but it looked more humane. It didn't suit him. He handed the mirror back to Misha who looked at her own reflection. She looked at her golden freckles against her dark skin, she changed them to be just dark brown, it looked boring. Her dark blue eyes were too vibrant so she dulled them down a bit. She glanced at Jin, her lavender skin was now just pale white with hints of pinkish orange, her yellow eyes turning brown but she left her blue hair alone.
"Great, now we look boring." She muttered, disappointed by their appearance.
"Firstly, I always look fabulous, and for that matter, so do you. Secondly the orange uniforms of prison would look bad on your blue hair and would ruin your whole aesthetic." Palo said "So, I think it's safe to look boring for a few hours" "Hours are too much but you have a good point" she mumbled, he nodded. She put the mirror back in her pocket and looked around.
"I still don't understand what that letter was about or what it means," Lux said, their eyebrows furrowed. The others looked at them, surprised.
"It means that humans here are the only ones who are truly free," Jin said softly, but Lux still looked confused so Misha tried to explain her theory,"NHS means non-human-specie, the tag that Edward talked about, it means your danger level and your specie. It means you're not human. Rehabilitation Sanctuary, it could be a lot of things. But my most likely theory is that they take non-humans and they try to make them more human, more harmless and easier to control."