Hm... I just finished reading Revelation. Yeah, you heard me, that last chapter in the New Testament. Yeah. So things might be a bit odd... Anyway, have fun readin'!
Oh yeah, and I was re-reading Eternity of Blood, and there's a part where Morbius says, "Even if I die, my legacy will remain... Heaven is not all light and good!" Of course, since his vocal cords had been ripped out, no one saw this except for Duo. Hm...
~blah~ = Telepathy.
blah = Thoughts (I like italics... ^_^)
WARNINGS: There is some sex, violence, strong language and it has the shounen ai pairings of Duo+Heero, and Quatre+Trowa, and the shoujo ai pairings of Dorothy+Relena and Catherine+Iria. So if you don't like shounen ai/yaoi or shoujo ai/yuri pairings, then don't read this! This also has a completely new and original character, so don't take him, he's mine! ^_~
When we finally got dressed and out of our tent, the others were already eating breakfast.
"Took you long enough," Dorothy said. "Having fun in bed?"
My face burned. I looked over at Rasial. He was ignoring them. Good for him.
I looked around the table. As strange food was being plopped onto our plates, I looked around for our gracious hosts. They had taken us in when we had arrived, and quite honestly, I actually trusted them. It was a strange feeling, as if these were the angels of the Bible come to life, and that you could trust them fully. It was a weird sensation.
I caught sight of Israfil walking towards us. He had the air of a prowler around him, and in his leather vest revealing much of his scarred chest and a lopsided smile on his face, he seemed very... roguish. I immediately took a liking to him.
"How ya'll doin'? Like the food?" he asked as he sat down with us, taking a chair and turning it around, straddling it and putting his arms on the back. I pushed the food around on my plate with a fork while the others just grunted their appreciation of the grub. Israfil's warm brown eyes bore into me. "Why aren't you eating? You didn't eat last night either."
"Um, I, uh..." I paused, not knowing what to say. It was very difficult to explaim vampirism to angels.
"Our biology wouldn't be able to handle solid food," Rasial said.
"Oh really? Why's that?" Israfil was asking too many questions already.
"Because."
"'Cause why?"
"Because it would make us sick." Rasial didn't seem to like the fellow much. I didn't have the slightest clue as to why.
"Well, if that's how it is, so be it." Israfil smiled at all us girls, and gave Rasial one last look before heading away.
"What's your problem, Rasial? You didn't have to make it sound like we didn't want to eat the food," I whispered to him once Israfil was out of earshot.
"I don't know, milady, I just don't trust him yet."
I just sighed and made patterns in my food for the rest of breakfast.
"People, we've got to plan an attack."
Azrael was standing on a small podium, speaking out to the twenty-something group of angels. I guess there were more people here than I had originally estimated. He was still wearing that same singed-sleeved shirt, with its frilly neckline. As he spoke, his voice both calmed and invigorated the crowd. It was weird, listening to him as he spread his arms out and preached about the significance of this next attack.
"Good people, we must avenge our fallen brothers and sisters, those that have died to give us a fighting chance against Lucifer, the sinner of sinners, the one who shut us away from our Lord and the one who caused the guardians to slip from on high. Their deaths in another world were due to the guardians of that place, so we cannot hate them for what they have done. In fact, some of them are with us now, to help us defeat the cause of all this misery."
He pointed towards us, and I felt all eyes turn to us. Catherine and Relena, who were used to the spotlight and hundreds of eyes on them, were relatively calm. Dorothy and Iria were always calm, regardless of the situation. Rasial was indifferent to the entire predicament. Only I seemed to be a bit out of it. Normally I would also be able to handle it. But today just seemed weird. I looked around and felt the small yet distinguishable feeling of anger in the angels before us. I looked up to Azrael, and he smiled. He was testing us.
I felt Rasial's warm hand take a hold of mine, and I felt calm almost immediately. Strangely enough, so did the rest of the crowd. Rasial smiled at me, and then looked up towards the podium.
Azrael seemed a bit shocked, but he hid it quickly as he cleared his throat.
"They will help us form a plan to defeat Lucifer and his minions. We will win back our land, and the grace of our Lord!"
Cheers went up all around us. Rasial and I looked at each other and smiled. I guess we passed Azrael's test.
As we walked back to Azrael's tent to formulate a plan, I overheard people talking about Rasial. It was very odd, because most of them spoke about how they could never reach God without Rasial nearby.
"Hey Raz, were you ever here when you were young?"
He shook his head. "No. I don't know which Rasial these people are talking about, but it isn't me."
I shrugged and entered Azrael's tent.
"I'm glad you passed my test," Azrael said as we walked in. Catherine, Iria, Relena, and Dorothy were already here, discussing the strategy as Rasial and I walked towards the table. There was a large map with several angel dolls on them. Around that table were several chairs, one for each of us. So there were two empty chairs left, and there was a fluffy couch at the back of the tent. Not a couch so much as a long, lumpy beanbag chair. There was also a section of the tent cut off by a curtain which probably shielded his private quarters.
"Some test," I said. "Were you trying to enervate us or something?"
The sound of Israfil's laughter reached me from behind a curtain. He stepped out, wearing nothing but his baggy pants. "You are a very funny lady, Ms. Hilde."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rasial's face turn into an elegant scowl.
"Relax Raz, I didn't mean anything by it," he said as he moved past Azrael to the couch nearby. They exchanged a look as he walked. Maybe I've been reading too many yaoi doujinshi and manga, but maybe...
We sat down and began to talk business.
It took hours. No, really, by the time we had finished talking about how we were going to surround the base, night had fallen on the camp. I don't know why it took so long. It really didn't feel like too long. Maybe their time is different here. Of course.
The others went off to eat dinner, while Rasial and I opted to go to bed. There was no point sitting there, looking at all the food and not being able to eat it. Relena understood, and put her hand on my shoulder.
"It'll be better. Just get some rest, you look tired."
I thanked her for her kindness. Relena has so much heart that I don't understand where she gets it all. Everyone gave me looks of confidence, and I knew that in a fight I could rely on them, and that they would rely on me. It was a strange moment while that feeling of trust wafted around us. I nodded and headed back to the tent. Rasial said a quick goodnight to the others and followed me.
I looked over at Rasial as we were walking back to our tent. There was something a bit angelic about him too. His features were only slightly angled, and when he smiled his evergreen eyes held a soft glow. He noticed me watching him and looked back at me.
"Something wrong?"
"No, just wondering."
"Wondering about what?"
"Wondering if there was anyone else in the world called Rasial."
"Well, they could have meant Raziel, the angel of mysteries."
"Eh?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I am Christian, you know. I do know my angels."
"You are?"
And so he went into an explanation of his life before he died, and a little afterwards. He lived for twenty-four years wandering around Ireland and Scotland with his clan, the "Bås Dia", or translated from Gaelic "Death God." Strange name for a clan. But apparently their clan was made up of mostly druids who had a strange power: the power to resurrect the dead for a day. They were mostly shunned by the other druid clans, and when vampires took a few of the young men away, Rasial being one of them, none of the other clans helped. He still lived in Ireland for a hundred years or so, and then Serah, the half-sister of Shinigami, took him away to live in the Shadow Lands for 250 years. Then Shinigami revolted, she was killed, and Rasial came to work for him instead. Then Shinigami died a hundred years later when we were fighting Morbius, and then Rasial met me. That was basically the gist of his life story.
While he was telling me all that, we had made it to our tent, stripped off our clothes, and lay together in each other's arms, basking in the warmth of the other. I think I fed off of him while he was telling the story, because I remember the part about meeting Shinigami being told rather breathily. It's hard for me to remember.
"So Raziel is the name of an angel?" I asked him after a while.
"Yes. He's also the angel of the universal truth and knowledge. He stood at the curtain separating God and Creation, writing down everything He said. Because Raziel pitied man, he gave the book to Adam. The other angels didn't like that, stole the book and threw it into the sea. But God, instead of punishing him, retrieved the book and gave it back to Adam."
"Wow. You sure know a lot about this particular angel."
"Well, he is my namesake, after all."
Somehow, I got the feeling that this wasn't the entire story. Could this be foreboding? Could it be that I'm foreshadowing some event that happened or will happen?
Nah. That never happens in real life.
The plan was simple. While some of our fastest angels led the guards away from the gate, a few more of us would sneak in and set some fires or some sort of distraction to lead the main force against them, so while they drew them towards the gate, we would ambush them and take out what would be hopefully most of their forces. The idea was the run away when we had caused a good amount of havoc and damage to their base. This wasn't a full out attack; this was merely a hit and run exercise to decimate their forces some, and possibly their moral too. Azrael had said that we didn't have nearly enough troops to have a full on attack, so the only choice was the hit and run strategy. However, he also said that one of his men could take out three of theirs. From the looks of it, this didn't bode well for our side.
The following morning we set out to the enemy's encampment. They were in the cliffs and caves of a mountain range far enough away from our camp that it would have taken us half an hour to get there flying at full speed. But that would sap our power, and we couldn't spare any power for travelling. We had set up an alternate camp near their area so that the trip would be shorter. Fortunately, the mountains in this area were great for hiding from flying enemies. We took refuge in one of the many caves near the establishment. While the soldiers prepared for the attack, Azrael took my group aside.
"Listen, you don't really have to come fight with us. You can stay here and man the base while we go."
"No way," I replied. "This involves our world too. We're fighting for all of our worlds, not just this one."
"And if it was just for us, would you help us anyway?" he asked with a skeptical tone.
"Sure," I said. "Why else would we have been brought here other than to help you?" Of course it was silly to believe in fate sometimes. But I still do.
He nodded and looked at each of us. "Then you're all ready?"
We all nodded our heads.
"Then let's do it!"
I watched as a few of our scouts led a bunch of the guards out of caves to an ambush waiting above. The rocks provided great protection and also provided weapons at times. Then Azrael led another group into the caves to throw fireballs and basically cause a lot of mayhem. The main idea was to smoke out the enemy. As they began to trickle out, Israfil led the main group, us plus his soldiers, to the ambush site at the mouth of the cave.
"This isn't the main base, is it?" I asked him.
Israfil shook his head. "No way. We aren't strong enough to take out his main base. We don't even know where it is. But smashing this smaller base will be good enough for now."
Iria looked at me. "How did you know?"
"That this wasn't a main base? Simple," I replied, "there just aren't enough guards here. Take a look at the number of guards..." I pointed out at the group of our scouts leading them away. "Only half the guards at most ever leave their posts. If only 5 of them are chasing our scouts, then there must be at least another 5 left. That isn't enough for a major base."
Israfil looked impressed. "Wow, you sure know your stuff."
"Yeah, I was in the military for a while." That seemed like such a long time ago, though, when I first met Duo and then the other gundam pilots, and then... I shook my head to clear it, and then I stared out at the caves below.
"I think it's time..." And with that, Israfil swooped down, us following him into the battle.
With a loud whoop, Rasial flew down and charged up that powerful light sword that he used against Uriel so long ago. He was showing his true power, or at least a larger fraction of it. But my attention was soon drawn to the other guards pouring from the establishments. There seemed to be far too many for a small outpost...
I fought my way to where Israfil was dealing with two soldiers. I blasted one out of the way and we stood back to back for a while, fighting off the enemies with a practiced ease. After dealing with the big bosses first, the lackeys were easy to beat.
"How long has this outpost been here?" I asked him loudly.
"Um, only about three days or so. Why ask me now?"
I suddenly had a sinking feeling. "I get the feeling we walked into a trap."
As if on cue, the mountain was suddenly crawling with enemy troops. They sprung out of caves everywhere, taking many of Azrael's people by surprise. I went to help, saving as many people as I could from the attack. Apparently we were some of the more powerful fighters here. Speaking of whom, Azrael showed up after his fireball run and said, "There was practically no one in there! We've been had!"
What I wanted to say was 'well duh', but now was not the time for sarcasm. We hurried to save who we could and have a tactical retreat.
"Go!" I shouted, gesturing for people to retreat as I covered their backs. They thanked me and quickly flew off. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I had to throw powerballs to aid their escape, which practically directed all of their attention to me. Pretty soon I could no longer aid in the escape, since I was fighting off a whole horde of the goon squad.
"Wuah!" One screamed as a golden sword sliced through him. Ah, Rasial, my hero. He slashed a few more to get to me as I was leaping from rock to rock, trying to avoid the mob.
"Looks like you got a fan club," he teased.
"This is, no time, for jokes!" I said between breaths.
"Relax, these are small fry. Watch," he said before he lifted a hand and blasted ten of them away, knocking their bodies into their comrades below. Yet they still came.
"Jesus, there's no end to them."
"So save your energy and run like me."
"I thought you had lots of power left, Lady Hilde."
"I'm saving it for the big kahuna."
He just nodded and we kept leading them away from the retreating forces. By the time I had reached the top of the mountain, it seemed as if the entire camp was after us. I risked a look down and behind me and saw that Azrael's forces were all leaving safely. Good, I was worried a bit about them. Azrael was also leading Israfil's group along with his own, which made me wonder where his companion had gone.
I soon found my answer as Rasial and I turned to face the throng of pursuers. Israfil hacked his way through the crowd, but there truly were too many of them. Rasial let loose a war cry and started lopping off heads left and right. Honestly, I thought these guys could fight better. Buoyed by Rasial's strength, I threw myself into the battle, beating up seraph after seraph, knocking them away from Israfil's position. Soon we had formed a small circle, trying to fight our way out.
"You know, I hate being surrounded," Israfil remarked rather calmly.
"What a coincidence, so do we," Rasial replied.
I didn't want to say things couldn't get worse, because by saying that you practically welcome bad luck to your door. Just thinking that thought will summon the god of 'things getting worse' to you.
So as I was thinking of not saying that, a dark cloud began to amass itself above us. A familiar deep laugh echoed in the sky.
Ah, shit.
Lucifer appeared in all of his black glory in the blue sky. He was like a smudge on a perfectly good sapphire.
"Well well, what do we have here? Have you perhaps fallen into my trap?"
I scowled.
"Take her," he ordered, and with that, vanished back into the cloud.
The living seraphim suddenly backed off, and the ones we had killed slowly rose to their feet. Those without heads just ambled about, but once they had latched onto a living being, they stuck. Unfortunately, the first living person they touched was me. Now technically, I'm UNdead, so I'm not really living, but I'm not really dead. Either way, I wasn't one of them, therefore I was fair game. It kinda sucked, since they were suddenly stronger too. More of them came, and as Rasial tried to hack at their limbs to set me free, they just rammed themselves into him. Like a bullet to a human, the zombies threw Rasial and Israfil off the edge. I tried to reach them, but the monstrosities just kept hanging on to me. I managed to drag myself over to the ledge (it wasn't that far, maybe six feet) and looked over. Israfil was dragging Rasial away. Obviously they could see something I couldn't.
"HILDE!!!"
I tried to reply to Rasial's shout, but no sound came out. I found that I couldn't speak. It felt like my vocal cords had sealed shut. Then I felt the shadow behind me. I looked back to see dark red eyes staring down at me.
"Good night, little angel."
Then his eyebrows furrowed, and I felt like a million volts of electricity just shot through my body. I don't remember hitting the ground before my mind went to black, just a far off cry of someone calling to me...
"Hilde..."
Back to:Part 8
Hm, I'm revealing an awful lot of plot now. There were some parts that were blatently obvious, so I didn't even bother covering it up. So if it seemed like a blow to the head with a ten ton brick... then yeah, I wrote it that way. ^_^;
Anyways, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?
Copyright reserved 2002 Top Ace