Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everyone! Welcome to the 2023 Christmas special! We're doing the other half of the angels for this season. It was a struggle at first but I made it work. There was a certain number but I ended up adding a couple more characters. I thought I had enough to fill up this season. Nope! It looks like I am going to need add a couple more people to fill out the season. I might come up with someone before I reach the season finale. There is going to be one more key before 2023. I will be going into more about the mystery of Komui before the next year. For now, enjoy this Christmas special!
Key Eighteen: Holle:
It's quiet down here. Too quiet. But that wasn't going to last for long. Everyone in the City and the Tower can tell that something bad is happening. Up until now, it's been taking its sweet time to happen. The question is how long before the first signs start to surface? Well, we're about to find out the answer.
You all sit around and not notice a thing. But it's there, trust me. It will only be a matter of time before you can feel it too.
Max
She's been tracking where Lenalee goes as of late. Less of the dead haven't been taken to their assigned final destinations. So far, nobody has noticed. Max and Linda didn't know how much longer that would last. The twins resolved to get to the bottom of this.
Max looked at the screen with a confused look on her face.
"What is this?" she asked herself. The activity log listed locations that weren't on the route. She managed to tag twenty-five of them in all. She put them all together into one text document. Max plugged in each one into the map. Each time she did, a location for an abandoned church came up. On the surface, it would be nothing. Just an answer to where Lenalee had been going. Max decided to ask the girl. Not accuse her of anything. Just gently talk to her.
Her email notification went off on her computer.
"Hm? What's this?" she asked. Max clicked on the notification. Her inbox popped up on the screen. There was only one message waiting for her. Max clicked on it. She read through the message. At first, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Just a report of what was going on in their branch of Heaven. Max felt her eyes glazing over.
But then something caught her attention.
The first word of each paragraph was bolded and bigger than the rest of the words. Max scrolled back up and started reading again. She had to read each word about two or three times. The angel's eyes widened as she put the pieces together.
"Linda!" she shouted. She got up and ran out of her office. This just changed everything.
Grace
Drip.
Grace looked up at the sky. It started to rain out of nowhere.
"Uh oh!" she said. The rest of the angels looked up. Wait… Rain? Where did it come from? Grace began to panic as she ran.
"Grace?" Kit asked. The angel didn't turn around. She pushed herself to keep running. The boy ran after her.
"We have to get out of this rain!" she yelled. They didn't have to ask. Grace shut her eyes as she ran.
"But where are we going to go?!" Kit shouted. There was no shelter in sight. The sand became wet slush at their feet and ankles. The blowing winds didn't help either. The drops felt like little daggers on Grace's cheeks. A little bit of blood escaped on the cheek.
She tried to look around through the rain. The thickness made it harder to see. She couldn't even tell if the boys were still following her. She didn't have time to look around. The sand made it much harder for her to run. It was a struggle to remain standing. Grace had to shield her eyes as she kept walking.
Suddenly, Grace fell over face first. She tried to get up but it felt like an invisible weight was pushing down on her body. She breathed heavily as she tried to get up. So many thoughts flashed through her head. Was this going to be the end at last? She couldn't die but was this going to be an endless cycle of drowning and dying? The drops of rain felt like tiny knives on her bony little back.
Suddenly, a hand held her face down. Grace tried to look up. She only got a view of somebody looking down at her as they held her down. Only one thing floated through her mind.
Don't be afraid; just let it take you. It won't be long.
Then everything went black.
Linda
Linda read over Max's screen.
"This is worse than we thought," she said. She turned to her sister.
"How long have you known about this?" Linda asked.
"I just learned this this morning," Max said. Her sister frowned as she rubbed her forehead.
"What should we do?" Linda asked. Max shrugged. Her sister wrinkled her nose.
"Damn. How corrupt is Heaven?" she asked. She noticed the panicked look in her sister's eyes.
"What?" she asked. Max quickly put her finger to her lips as she shushed her. Linda quickly closed her mouth. They looked up when they heard footsteps walking up to the doorway. Will stood in the doorway.
"What did I miss?" he asked.
"Not much," Max said. The twins stared at him as he walked into the room.
"What?" Will asked. Max and Linda shook their heads.
"Nothing," Linda said. "Nothing. It's just…" Will raised his eyebrow.
"Just?" he asked. "That it's weird to see me out here, isn't it?" The twins said nothing. The other angel frowned.
"Ha-ha," he said in a flat tone. He stuck up the middle finger. Linda stood up with her hands on her hips.
"Now that was uncalled for," she said. Will rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with," he said.
"What do you have to share with us?" Linda asked. Will said nothing as he handed the box to the twins. Linda and Max looked down as he opened the lid.
Alma
She sat on the bed, waiting. How many times has she done this? Alma stopped counting by this point. Tonight, she was all dressed in pink. Her face was painted up like a brand-new Christmas toy.
The current monster sat across from her in the chair. He took a drag of his cigarette. Alma sat, waiting. She opened her mouth. He held up his hand.
"Don't speak," he said. Alma closed her mouth. Her heart flipped in her chest. She never knows what she is going to expect from these jobs. Some monsters can be violent with their desires. Some, not so much. Alma couldn't read him. He didn't make any eye contact. The angel sat up straight on the bed. Her body started trembling.
"I don't understand the point," the monster in the fancy suit said. Alma started to speak again.
"No. Don't talk. You just sit there and listen," he said. The angel stared at him, not knowing where any of this was going.
"Why are you here?" the monster asked.
"I was sent here," Alma said.
"Okay… but why?" he asked. She pressed her lips together. What was this? He kept his eyes on her. Alma shifted in place. She gulped as she lowered her eyes.
The monster in the nice suit rose to his feet. The angel froze. What was he doing? He walked over and patted her on the head.
"What is your purpose?" he asked. Alma stared up at him. Every inch of her body screamed at her to run. The monster smirked at her.
"Here is what we are going to do tonight," he said. His tone held her in place. Who was this man? Come to think of it, she had never seen this monster before in her life. Was this a new one? Her thoughts were washed away when he leaned in for a kiss. Only one command told her where the rest of this night was going.
"Strip."
Cricket
Tate and his crew were preparing to go to war. Cricket knows that he won't be able to do much but he is going to try. They've been on the move for days now. What was the end goal here? Where were they going to go? Even Tate didn't have an answer. Then again, there wasn't any room to ask.
Cricket stared at Tate's back. Deep down, he knew that everything was going to be fine. Well, fine-adjacent. Where were they going to go?
"Are we going to leave the city?" Cricket asked aloud. The other angels in the group turned and looked at him.
"What?" the smaller angel asked. "I just want to know. I mean…"
"Yes," Tate said. The others in their group looked up. Their leader didn't turn around.
"We don't have a choice," he said. "I'm sure that you all can feel that something is coming to this city." Cricket took a step forward. He pressed his lips together.
"Will we go to the outside?" he asked. Tate looked over his shoulder.
"It will seem that way," he said. The group didn't say anything. There was nothing out there. Were they really going to do it? They didn't have any other plans. By now, everyone could feel that something was going to happen in the city. Tate and his group had the right idea to get out while they still could.
Cricket lifted his head.
"Alright. Please lead the way," he said. He walked up to Tate's side. The leader patted him on the head. The other angels glared at the smaller one. Cricket didn't care. He going to follow Tate until the end of this continuous loop of misery.
And then it started to rain.
Tyrone
The rain is getting worse. The Escape Crew had to hide down in the sand. Tyrone's fire power would be no use in this situation. The city has had storms like that. But this was different. Tyrone didn't think that he had seen anything like this before.
The rain became heavier. Tyrone felt like his skin was burning from the water and sand. Drops of blood joined the mix. He clenched his teeth and tightly shut his eyes. How long was this storm going to last? Was it like this all over the city? It couldn't be just them.
"Hey! Anybody out there?!" he asked. The fire angel could barely hear his own voice over the rain. It didn't help that it was getting heavier.
They couldn't stay out here. They don't know how this rain really is. Let alone how to get out of it. But it would have to let up, right?
Tyrone tried to tuck himself into a tighter ball. That's when he heard someone calling him in his head in the distance.
"Over here!"
Will
This is not his element. However, the situation has changed. Will pulled open the box. Linda and Max looked inside.
"What are we looking at?" Linda asked. Will flashed her a huge grin.
"One answer to at least one of our problems," he said. "Here." The tech angel reached into the box. He drew out an instrument made of glass.
"What exactly is that?" Max asked.
"Honestly, I don't really know," Will said. "I put it altogether last night." He held the large tube in his hand. He turned it around and around in his hands. The tech angel tried not to keep holding for long.
"Ow," he whispered to himself.
"How hot is that thing?" Linda asked. Will hoovered his hand over the glass. He quickly drew it back.
"Don't touch it," he said. "I can feel it from here."
"And how is this going to help us?" Max asked.
"Did you bring the disks?" Will asked. Linda handed him the box of disks.
"Thank you," the tech angel said. He opened the box and pulled out a desk. Will took a breath.
"Okay," he said. "Here goes." The tech angel plugged the disk into the glass machine.
Miranda
She's back on her mission again. Miranda is starting to suspect that they are onto her. She had been doing a good job of keeping her investigation to herself.
The angel looked at the box on her bed. There was still that flash drive to go through. Now she had this box to go through too. Something about all of this screamed trap. Who sent all of this? Miranda looked at the letter in her hand. That was the first thing she opened when she made it back to her room. The German angel took the time to read it to herself. The first thing she noticed was that in written in her native tongue. The more she read, the more confused Miranda became.
Dear Engel,
If you are reading this, it means the package has found you successfully. I am not sure if you haven't noticed it or not, but something is coming for us all. There isn't much you can do to stop it. You might have already seen the signs. Something has gone horribly wrong. It might be too late to stop it but you can slow it down.
Inside the box is everything that you need to pull it off. I don't need to tell you to be on your guard. You can't trust anyone in Heaven. Be careful of those trying to get close to you. There are those who are not what they seem. You don't have much time. I can't fully explain everything here. Open the box and you will have everything you need to know.
There was no signature at the bottom. Miranda looked through the letter front and back. She looked over at the box. It looked like she didn't have any choice. Miranda reached for the box.
Suddenly, there was a knock on her door.
Komui
He's been missing for close to a month now. Nobody is really talking about it. They won't even look at his closed office door. Only a few people are worried. So what happened to Komui? No one has an answer to that. But there are theories.
Many theories.
There was no way that he quit or get fired. Why would he walk away from a cushy job? Some of the angels are saying that it had something to do with what he was researching in his downtime. What if that was what made him disappear? A few angels believed that Komui might have made some of the higher-ups mad. Maybe they did away with him? But all of that can't be possible, can it?
The best part? Lenalee has no idea what's going on back in Europe. But she is about to find out soon.
Kaoru
"What have you gotten yourself into this time?"
They leaned back in their chair. Kaoru had been there to bail Will out every time he did something stupid. They didn't complain. It proved that Will wasn't so boring after all. However, this time was different. Will was about to play a dangerous game.
At first, Kaoru didn't know where this was heading.
"Do what now?" they asked.
"Linda and Max think there's something wrong with Lenalee," Will said. Kaoru gave him an odd look.
"And you want to break into the forbidden files to help them?" they asked. The other angel slowly nodded. Kaoru sat back in their chair.
"Heh," they said. Will frowned.
"So you're not going to help me?" he asked.
"I didn't say all of that," Kaoru said as they held up their hand. Will stared at them confused. Kaoru cut him off before he could speak.
"That being said, I am intrigued about where this could possibly go," they added. "I will help you."
"Thank you," Will said, bowing his head.
"What do you need me to do?" Kaoru asked. Will looked around for a moment before he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small flash drive and placed it on the table.
"You can start here," the tech angel said.
Kaoru frowned at the screen. They stared at all of the files in front of them. Will was going to owe them big time. Koaru took a deep breath and got to work.
Anne
Something isn't right about Anne. She doesn't remember anything about her past. She doesn't remember when or how she started working at Heaven. Nobody asked any questions about it.
Anne has been acting like a normal angel. (If such a thing existed.) She never really interacted with the other angels. That was until she met Miranda.
Something inside of her told her to latch onto that gloomy German angel. Anne didn't have a real reason why. However, there was something else.
Anne stared at herself in the mirror. She didn't recognize her own face. The angel shivered as she stepped back.
"No. No. No."
A sudden chill struck Anne in the spine. Her heart started racing against her chest. A spark of memory ran through her brain. Everything keeps skipping through so fast that she can barely keep up. However, one color sticks out in her mind.
Blood. So much of it everywhere. And the screaming. Oh the screaming. Anne covered her ears and backed away. She thought that she was going to throw up. Through all of that she saw everything. Anne lowered her arms to her side.
She closed her eyes and whispered something in the darkness to herself.
"I know what you did and I wanna scream the truth."
Heaven
There is so much going on in Heaven. The toxins are starting to push past the gates. All of the angels can tell that something is wrong. Even the higher-ups are starting to notice. The question is what are they going to do about it?