Abby couldn't sleep all night... not knowing that Sakura was somewhere, in pain or...
or... Who knew what could be happening to her while she just lied in the hotel room,
waiting? It was morning already, but she couldn't even think about breakfast or... or
anything. Just Sakura... that's all she could worry about.
Hope filled her as the door began to open. She sat up as Marx walked into the room...
but Sakura wasn't with him. "Oh, you're awake," he said kindly, tossing her a muffin.
"Breakfast."
The man stiffened at the look of her glare. "Abby, I don't make the rules down in
Purgatory. I'm just the messenger. If I had my way, Sakura wouldn't have been cornered into
a permanent contract, believe me..."
Abby looked down at the muffin in disdain. "How could you do something like that to
her?!"
"I'm not..." Marx pulled his hat over his eyes as he tried to think of the best way
to explain it to Abby. "Sakura is the only person alive who can do this. Purgatory is
betting on her and they're betting on you, too."
"I know you used me to blackmail her, but what does that have to do with it?" Abby
asked, still clearly pissed.
"You and Sakura love each other - thus you give Sakura drive and a reason to exist.
That's why Sakura is the only person who can survive what's going to happen to her," Marx
said, opening the individually wrapped muffin h had gotten for himself. "Under ordinary
circumstances, Sakura would die or her soul would be torn apart."
Abby's horrified look wasn't lost on him and as she got up to hit him, Marx expertly
moved to a different part of the room, away from her. "It'll be fine! Since she has you,
nothing bad is going to happen! She's just... it's not going to be pleasant is all..."
She was still walking towards him, so Marx jumped over one of the beds to avoid her.
"Sakura has lived for over 2000 years without losing her marbles so she can get through
this fine, especially with you by her side. She just has the determination to get through
anything, so that's why she has to become even stronger..."
Marx tried to scramble away, but she caught him by the collar. "Then how come you
have to play games with us?! If she's going to be alright, then she wouldn't have hesitated
so much!"
"She's doing it for you, you know?!" Marx said desperately. "If you were in her
position, you would have done it too!"
Abby stopped for a moment, allowing Marx to slip away. "If it meant-" Suddenly, she
tensed up as her heart skipped a beat. Her knees buckled and Marx had to catch her.
"What... what was that...?"
He helped her sit down on the bed before letting out a sigh. "I almost forgot you
guys were connected by the heart... you're probably going to be feeling funny while Sakura
is becoming the Living Inferno again." He let out a nervous laugh. "And this kind of means
that you're going to be immortal too..."
"What?!" Abby's outburst made him flinch.
"If Sakura lives forever, you're going to live forever," Marx said, backing away.
"But... that..." She let out a long sigh. "That means I'm going to see my daughter
die..."
Marx just gave her a small smile. "Yeah, but at least you'll have lots of time
together... I never got much time with my daughters."
That caught Abby's interest. "You have children...?"
"Kind of. One's dead," he said simply. "The other... the only time I saw her was when
she was first born. Her mother died in childbirth and I was blamed for it, so her brother
chased me off."
"I... I'm sorry... but that doesn't make sense. How could it be your fault?" Abby
asked, bringing her knees to her chest as her heart ached.
"Well, angels never die from childbirth," Marx said. "I gave up my wings about 16
years ago in a deal I made with Sakura. I was cheating on my wife, so I ended up fathering
two children with different mothers."
"So you're an angel too," Abby confirmed and the young man nodded, sitting down on
the bed across from her.
"Yep, we usually exchange our wings for something soon after exile so we can fit in
with humans... I'm guessing Adrian must have exchanged his for some kind of demonic power
and Sakura exchanged hers for the power of the Living Inferno..."
"I never knew these things could be so complicated..." She let out a sigh as she
looked over at the muffin. "Could you get me some milk? My chest is hurting badly..."
He got up and bowed in a joking manner. "Of course! Marx Uramoto, fallen angel, at
your service!"
*****
"What are you going to do after all this?"
Mariah took some time to think over Alice's question. "I... I guess I would go back
to studying theology. Maybe I would still fight demons."
"Really... do you think we could..." Alice trailed off awkwardly. "Can we fight
together still?"
Mariah looked away from the hotel window that overlooked the sleepy, tired buildings
of New York. "...of course. Of course we can," she said with a smile. "There's so much we
can still do after all this is over."
Alice gave her a lazy smile from where she was lying on the bed. "That's good... I
don't have a lot of friends..."
Mariah closed the curtains and sat down on the bed next to her, seeming a little
melancholy. "But you know you have me and you have Eric..."
Alice started to curl up on the bed. "But my parents and Adrian and Miki... are
gone..."
Mariah reached out to comfort her. "We're really close to the end, aren't we? I
promise you and I will go shopping all around the city, okay?"
The young girl only latched onto Mariah. "But I'm scared... what if I can't... what
if I can't win... or I die or you're not there-"
"It will be alright," Mariah said again, using that soothing tone that reminded Alice
so deeply of her mother. "After this is over... everything will be alright."
Alice held onto her tightly, trying not to cry. It was so comforting to be with
Mariah, have her whisper into her ear and stroke her hair. She wanted them to always be
friends - always be together.
*****
"So you're really a fiend..." Krystal murmured, looking over at Isaka who'd just
gotten out of the bathroom.
The demon froze, only having a towel wrapped around her. "Does... does that bother
you?"
Krystal shook her head with a laugh. "Of course not! If I could get over you being a
demon, a girl and a sex maniac, I'm sure this isn't going to tip the scales."
Isaka just scoffed. "Sex maniac? I'm not that bad..."
The exorcist only giggled as her girlfriend started to get dressed in front of her.
"Whatever you say..."
"Hmm, are you teasing me?" The demon asked as she sauntered over to Krystal, only
wearing a nightgown.
"Maybe," Krystal murmured, sitting unflinchingly on the side of the bed. Isaka just
leaned in to kiss her without another word. It was smooth and sweet and slow... by the time
it ended, Krystal was lying on the bed, cradling Isaka to her chest.
She was softly stroking the demon's hair as Isaka said, "Why is it every time I try
to be sexy we always end up like this?"
"Because you like it when I hold you," Krystal responded. "You don't have to be sexy
or a big bad demon to please me..."
Isaka didn't say anything back as she snuggled closer to her lover. Some time passed
before the demon said, "That woman we fought with the strange powers was Lilith."
"Erin said she's supposed to be the primary subject of Project Angelus and Miki was
once a part of it as well," Krystal added. "That would explain her abilities."
"So the Shadow Organization has been toying with the idea of mass producing that kind
of power?" Isaka cringed. "I think we need to hurry up with each of our plans."
"Yeah, I just texted Faye to start getting ready to let Seth's team into the main
headquarters. They're going to do it soon while we try to track down Lilith," Krystal said,
looking at her phone. "I think we're going to have to let the fiends go for now since we
need to attack the Shadow Organization full force."
Isaka sat up suddenly, thinking about everyone else. "We haven't heard from Sakura or
Abby at all, have we?"
Krystal looked through all the messages on her phone, frowning the whole time.
"Unfortunately... Abby did send a message saying they were alright. I'm worried about them
too..."
The demon looked over at her girlfriend then over at the bathroom that Mina was
using. "I think it may be in our best interest to leave them alone for now. Chances are
that Abby or Sakura won't pick up if we try to call."
"This is a lot harder than I thought it would be... but considering the raid will be
happening on the headquarters soon, I'm not going to worry about it too much," Krystal
said, as though trying to reassure herself more than Isaka.
The purple eyed demon just gave her a kiss on the lips before pulling her into a hug.
Krystal melted into her embrace, relaxing until the sound of an opening door broke her out
of the lull. Mina let out a long sigh as she washed her hands.
"I really wish I were with Eveon," she murmured, spying the couple on the bed. She
was worried sick about her and needed to call too... Why did they have to split up in the
first place? At least she wasn't in the same room as Tsuru and Carmilla - it would have
been a lot worse to witness them all over each other...
Krystal and Isaka looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry we had to separate you," the
blonde said. "It's just we didn't want to put you in a direct line of fire."
Mina plopped down on the bed with a groan. "But I'm so worried about her! What if
she's getting dehumanized right now?"
She didn't wait for an answer as she began to call Eveon. Krystal just watched as
Isaka said, "If Eveon doesn't answer, she's going to freak out, isn't she?"
"Probably... wouldn't you do the same?"
*****
"...hi Mina! Oh, we just got attacked and... yeah... uh, can you hold on for a
minute?" Eveon tossed Miki the phone, who fumbled with it before settling on talking to the
blonde's girlfriend.
"...hello? Um... uh huh... no! No! She's fine, I promise... sounds in the
background?" Miki turned to see Eveon trying her best to purify the dark energy out of
Hina's body while the little girl let out pained sounds.
"Er... getting darkness poison is pretty painful so that's what you're listening
to..." Miki muttered.
Hina gasped for air once she could actually move and thanked Eveon. "You should
probably do Tsuki next... since she will recover faster."
"Right, right," Eveon said, going over to where the brunette was lying on the ground.
Using the light seal to get rid of the dark energy was rather like blow drying someone's
hair - Eveon just activated it and waited for all the energy to leave their systems...
boring.
"Darkness poison?! What's going on!" came Mina's voice over the phone.
"We got attacked by a strong fiend, but we should be alright," Miki said, trying to
sound reassuring.
"And who are you?"
"Uh... I... I'm Miki Uramoto... I kind of kidnapped your girlfriend."
Silence.
Miki gulped, hoping that the voice over the phone wasn't going to do anything to her
once they met in person. Eveon always spoke highly of her cute girlfriend (even showed Miki
a picture on her phone) so maybe it would be alright?
"You... you aren't doing anything with Eveon, are you?"
"What?! No! No! Why does everyone ask me that?" Miki said furiously, moving away from
the group a bit as Tsuki woke up.
"Sorry, just checking," was Mina's sweet apology. "I mean, I have to worry enough
about the sisters being with her that I don't want a wild card swooping in. She's just too
cute for her own good."
"...right..." Miki said dully. "Eveon's a great girl, but I like boys."
"Great! ...but can you make sure the sisters don't try to... you know...?"
"Of course! Heck, I think they've been hitting on me more than her, so I doubt that's
going to be a problem," Miki said, walking over to Eveon. Tsuki and Hina were already
recovering, so they decided to use their power to help Hoshi.
"Here you go," Miki whispered, handing Eveon the phone.
The blonde took it with a smile and walked off to get some privacy talking to her
girlfriend. Miki watched until a groan from Hoshi broke her out of her thoughts.
"C'mon, big sister," Hina said, trying to help the woman sit up.
"You're going to be alright," Tsuki added, but the silver haired woman merely pushed
them away, frightened.
"I feel so..." Hoshi started as she scooted away from them. "...sick..."
"Really? What's wrong?" Hina asked, trying to hold her. Hoshi just turned away.
"Big sister...?" Tsuki tried her hand at comforting the older woman but she merely
got to her feet and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry... I just need some time to calm myself..." With that, she left without
another word.
Hina scrambled to her feet, chasing after her, but Tsuki caught her wrist. "We need
to look after Eveon," the brunette explained. "I think big sister wants to be alone."
The blonde sister pouted before sitting back down. Miki was utterly confused and
said, "Let me go check on her. Hoshi's still weak from the attack..."
"Thank you, Miki," Tsuki said, helping Hina to her feet. "We'll keep an eye on Eveon
then."
The green eyed girl walked down the path Hoshi took, trying to avoid the trees in the
process. They were still out on a dirt path since after the battle with the fiend, Solomon,
so they were going to find a hotel to stay at as soon as they could walk. Miki trudged a
few more yards, until she heard the quiet sounds of someone crying.
There was a rock structure nearby and Hoshi was sitting on it, holding herself. Miki
wasn't quite sure why she was crying, but she couldn't let her sit there alone. Thus, the
younger girl walked over and sat down next to Hoshi.
"Are you alright?" Stupid question, but Miki wasn't sure how to approach the subject.
"I... I'm fine," Hoshi murmured, wiping away her tears. "It's... that dark energy
poisoning reminded me of things I'd like to forget."
The green eyed girl kicked at the dirt a little bit until Hoshi continued. "For a
long time, I... I allowed myself to be," Hoshi was choking on her words. "I let something
control me because it was easier that way... it was easier to not think about the
consequences of what I did and just blame it on someone else. I hurt my sisters badly in
the process."
Miki looked over at Hoshi, but the woman was merely looking straight ahead into the
unending forest. "I can never forgive myself for what I did. They want to move on and I
know... I know that they reciprocate my feelings and they want to..." Hoshi trailed off as
she brought her knees to her chest. "I feel horrible every time I touch them and that
complete feeling of darkness reminded me of that."
A bird flew past them and Hoshi watched it land on a branch expertly. "I know you
find us disgusting Miki... but if it helps any, I feel the exact same way."
Miki tried to search for the right words, guilt growing within her body for
prejudging their situation. "I... It's... it's alright because it's our business," she
started off. "I mean, I shouldn't judge you for that stuff and if you're all in love, it's
okay. Whatever happened before doesn't matter as long as you aren't... uh, evil, anymore."
Hoshi giggled. "Thank you for trying, but I'm afraid this is too much of a deep
rooted problem... I keep putting off the eventual so I have to deal with it one day."
"The eventual...?" Miki asked.
"My sisters aren't going to be satisfied with chaste hugs or closed mouth kisses for
long," Hoshi said simply.
"Oh." Miki took a deep breath. "Right, okay... yeah, I see."
Hoshi just giggled again, though the sound was hollow and sad. "Aren't I just an
unsatisfied woman? I spent most of my life lusting after my sisters and when they finally
offer me their love, I can't seem to fulfill their wishes... or mine for that matter."
"It's not weird," Miki said suddenly. "I... I don't have any experience with, uh...
romance of any kind, but... you care about them so much that you don't want to hurt them.
You joke and tease, but you're afraid... that's what Hina told me."
"She's right," Hoshi said. "It helps me hide some of my anxiety... I just wish I had
been a better sister to them-"
"You're a wonderful sister," Miki said. "You take care of them so well and you put
them before yourself. I don't think it gets much better than that!"
Hoshi's smile was sad, but it was a smile at least. Miki almost jumped when the older
woman pulled her in for an intimate hug. "I appreciate those words... even if you're just
trying to make me feel better."
For a moment, Miki was stuck, pressed up against Hoshi and contemplating exactly what
kind of perfume the woman used since it had a nice fragrance. She pulled back a bit,
saying, "It's true! I'd be happy to have you as my sister... it would be a privilege!"
"Really?" Hoshi asked, leaning closer into Miki, their foreheads touching. "Well, if
you were my sister, Miki..."
The green eyed girl stopped breathing as the exorcist traced one finger down the side
of her face before letting her thumb caress Miki's lips. "Wh... what about you being afraid
to touch your sisters...?" the 16 year old tried weakly.
"You aren't really my sister, though..."
"But you just... you just said... if I were your sister..."
Hoshi just giggled to herself as though Miki were missing some kind of joke. She was
quite sure she was. Where was everyone else when she needed them to save her?! Hoshi
watched in amusement as Miki's face steadily turned redder and redder by the second.
"My... you look like you want me to kiss you," Hoshi murmured, leaning in and-
The silver haired woman went wide eyed as the girl in her arms fainted. "M-Miki?!"
She shook the girl slightly, but she was merely slouched against her bosom. "I was just
kidding! I wasn't going to... to..."
Hoshi let out a long sigh, deciding to save her breath. Miki was out cold... who knew
embarrassment could do that? She felt a smile tug at her face and some of her earlier
worries wash away. It seemed that the young girl did make her feel better about all her
problems...
But what would her sisters say when they saw her come back with a passed out Miki?
Hoshi let out a groan, but started carrying the girl regardless.
Back to Project Angelus Index - Back to Original Fiction Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction