<ooc - Sorry this has been so long in the pipe guys...>

General Beni held his finely-crafted sabre out in front of him, testing the strength of his right arm. He tried a few practice swings and a slight twinge of pain in his upper arm told him the arm wasnt completely healed just yet. He re-sheathed the sword and placed it on his desk, before walking through to the makeshift war-room they had set up in Trevor Stead's dining hall. The severely-dressed officers sitting around the long table looked somehow incongruous with the extravagant furnishings. The conversation around the table died down as Beni entered, so that the great doors swung closed and banged loudly behind him in the sudden silence. Some of the officers wore looks of surprise, and the General could guess at what they had been discussing. But despite Ciaphas and Green's attempted assassination, Beni had insisted that business should continue as usual - they could not afford any pause with the enemy at the gates of Bevelle. Penance's imminent attack had been weighing heavily on all their minds.

"Penance's army surrounds us on both sides of the land strip, and his fleet is blockading both avenues of seaward escape. Ladies and gentlemen, we must prepare for a siege. What are the states of the city's defences?"

"About as well as can be expected, sir," a sapper <ooc - military engineer> officer replied, "The walls are in good states of repair but I don't know how well they'll hold up under the kind of magic we've seen Penance employ so far."

"We've got conventional ordnance to worry about too," another officer put in, "What's to stop Penance's fleet bombarding the city?"

"Not much - our naval assets aren't great," a female Guado in naval uniform replied, as the Hypello admiral next to her nodded gravely, "From airborne reconnaissance of Penance's fleet we estimate our Bevelle task force is outnumbered 5 to 4 in capital ships, and at least 2 to 1 in light cruisers and destroyers. The only reinforcements we got from the south were the destroyers Defence, Reliant and Warratah; the Thunderchild, we lost at Luca..."

There were more mutters, particularly from the Al'bed, at the mention of their flagship cruiser's sacrifice.

"And those figures are not counting siege ships like missile cruisers and landing craft." the Guado finished.

"So a breakout isn't likely then," Beni sighed.

"No, sir. Neither can we expect ships to run the blockade and bring supplies to the city."

"Hmmm..." the General mused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. The supply situation was what was worrying him most. Bevelle was crammed with more civilians than the city's food supplies could support indefinitely, and even if Penance decided storming the city was too risky, he could just as easily starve the defenders into surrender. But the strength of Penance's fleet brought up a more immediate problem.

"So do you think an amphibious assault is likely?" he asked.

"Nooo, sir." the Hypello admiral slurred, "Luckily the docks are not az vulnerable as those in Luca, and ooour nay haz the support of ooour air fleetz, whooo can cut ze seeeaborne attack to ribbonz if they attemptz a landing, and Penance knooows zis."

The mention of the air fleet, previously under command of Major Ciaphas, brought up unpleasant feelings that were visible on the faces of many of the officers. Not only his betrayal, but the fact that a replacement was not immediately obvious. Beni's first choice would have probably been Captain Hartlock, who despite being more of a frontline pilot than a strategist was the most experienced and high-ranking candidate. But of course Hartlock was dead...

Beni tried to put the Major's imminent court-marshal and the Kebel debacle out of his mind.

"Could we use this to our advantage?" a gravely-voiced Ronso spoke up from the other side of the table, "An airborne counter-attack against Penance's fleet perhaps?"

"I'm afraaaidz not, sir," the Hypello continued in his slow, lilting tone, "Ze enemy fleet mustered tooogether haz tooo much anti-aircraft capability and wooould wreak havoc on ooour airshipz."

"So we have to just sit here? Surrender the initiative completely?" the Ronso seethed.

"No, we are not just going to sit here," Beni broke in, "I want you to start running simulations for disruptive sallies to see if any are feasible. And even if Penance's forces are shaken by the loss of their Unsent, we cannot expect them to remain so, so we should treat some kind of attack as imminent."

He walked over to the far wall, upon which a large map of the city was pinned.

"Now, key defensive areas are here, here and here..."

* * *

 

<ooc - Damn! Once again I havent thought ahead and Eevees fighting in a dress :P No drop-kicks then XD >

Later that morning, Eevee was pacing up and down the gardens of the Stead mansion, the dew soaking the hem of her dress and staining the material a deeper black. A chill morning breeze was raising goose bumps on her bare arms but she didnt seem to notice. She had her dagger sheathes strapped to her forearms and was twirling one of the blades in her hand as she always did when she was tense. She turned around as, finally, Neji came walking out across the garden with Keiji behind him.

"Eager to start are we?" Neji commented mildly on Eevee's early arrival.

Eevee didnt answer, only glared past her god-father at Keiji, who was shooting her an equally venomous look.

"Do you want to spar to warm up or will I take you through some combat drills?"

"Spar," Keiji answered instantly. Neji saw the looks the two young Angels were giving each other and frowned.

"Alright, but go easy." he warned.

Keiji walked forward and pulled on his knuckle-duster gloves, curling and uncurling his fists threateningly. Eevee drew her other dagger and twirled it into a downward grip.

"Geuloth du knifr," she said almost as an afterthought, as if she had been seriously considering not blunting the blades first.

Without waiting for Neji to say "go" they ran at each other. Keiji swung a punch and Eevee blocked with her wrist, the dagger held flat against her forearm so that Keiji's metal-studded gloves sparked against the blade. She countered with a swift dagger lunge that scraped past Keiji's chest as he jerked his shoulder back to spin his torso out of the blade's path. Angrily Keiji came forward with a punch that Eevee had to turn aside with both her hands, Kieji spinning round to follow through with a karate chop that Eevee stopped with her forearm. An angry snarl escaped Keiji as he drew his arm back, clenching his fist so that a Thunderstrike crackled around the magical glove. His fist lanced forward like a steel hammer, and an alarmed Eevee took a step back, bracing herself on her back foot as she brought up her hands.

Keiji's punch slammed into a disc of white light that flared up a couple of inches in front of Eevee's crossed hands. They pushed against each other, faces etched with savage concentration as pulses of energy flowed visibly from their hands into the opposing spells. Eevee's Shield spell swirled and coruscated, and a sheath of lightning roiled around Keiji's fist like a sparking silver glove as each spell strained to over-ride the other. Eyes locked through the arcing magical discharge, their face-off was abruptly broken as the pent-up energy exploded, the magical backlash flinging both teenagers backwards.

Keiji recovered first, catching himself on his hands and backflipping onto his feet. He saw Eevee land on her back, and kick out to flip herself back onto her feet <ooc - yes it is possible to do that in a dress>, but then she suddenly disappeared and all Keiji saw was a black flash streaking towards him. Before he could react something had swept his feet out from under him, and as he fell forward something slammed into the back of his neck so that he cartwheeled over himself and landed hard on his back. Winded from the impact, he looked up to see Eevee reappear out of the Timeshift just as she swept her arms down to her sides, coming to rest away from her body with her daggers held reversed. She was looking down at him with anger and a hint of scorn on her face.

"Come on Keiji, get up and fight back," Neji ordered from the sidelines.

"How can I fight what I can't see?" Keiji shot back angrily, pushing Eevee away from him as he got up.

"Even Timeshift can be beaten, son. Use your demonic reflexes. Anticipate her movements."

"Dont worry Keiji," Eevee put in with a mocking smile, "I'll go easier on you this time."

Keiji let out an angry growl.

This isnt a fair fight, a voice inside his head said, I only have my father's demonic power and she can draw on TWO Aeons.
You're not going to let HER beat you, are you? came a different voice <ooc - inner demon, though he doesnt realise it at the time>.

Keiji raised his arms and released his demonic powers. A swirling black vortex surrounded him as the bat-like wings burst from his shoulder blades. With a shout he leapt upwards, rising up a good 20 metres before turning in the air and coming down head-first like a bullet.

In response Eevee closed her eyes, her powers appearing as a shimmering white aura, before opening her eyes to reveal white-in-gold irises as she materialised her own wings. Extending them and sweeping them down, she launched herself upwards to meet Keiji head on.

The attack was too fast to follow but in an ice-blue explosion Keiji was thrown back through the air; he caught himself and swept back into the fight and the two winged combatants spiralled up through the air, corkscrewing round each other as they traded blows, blocked and counterattacked. Keiji lunged forward with a fireball-wreathed fist but hit only air as Eevee flipped up over his head. She punched down, her metal dagger hilt backed up by the heel of her hand, and in a white starburst Keiji was sent rocketing downwards, tumbling through the air and slamming into the ground in a shockwave of released energy.

Eevee drifted down and landed a few metres away but Keiji was strong and defiantly pulled himself to his feet, managing to grin lopsidedly at her through the blood running down his face to show her the fight wasn't over yet.

Eevee snarled back at him, gripping her daggers so tight that pain shot through the half-healed cuts on her palms, inflicted by Keiji's knuckle-dusters the previous day. The pain merely focussed her anger and she came running forward, Keiji twisting aside from a wild downward slash of her dagger then jerking his head back from a horizontal follow-up from the other. Eevee sidestepped to his left but as her left arm flicked out he blocked savagely, his knuckle-dusters raking a deep cut in her forearm as their wrists collided. But Eevee was already spinning fluidly inside his guard, striking backwards with her right hand so her blunt dagger jabbed hard into Keiji's ribs. The hit threw Keiji to the ground, and he landed at Eevee's feet as she spun round and came to rest with both daggers crossed behind her head. She was breathing heavily, and her clenched jaw betrayed the acid pain where Keiji had gashed her. Her face was pale but full of barely-suppressed fury as blood ran down her forearm onto her wrist.

Neji did not seem impressed.

"Come on guys, this is sloppy," he chided them, "I don't know what's up with you two this morning but your anger is making your attacks wild and messy. Sharpen up. And get up, Keiji, she didn't hit you that hard."

Furious at the rebuke, Keiji pulled himself to his feet yet again, ignoring the pain from his bruised ribs. Despite Neji's words neither of them made any attempt to reign in their anger as they launched at each other again. Eevee raised one dagger to attack; Keiji aimed a karate chop at Eevee's waist beneath the upraised arm, but Eevee's other hand punched across her body to deflect the blow, her dagger blade digging hard into Keiji's wrist. Rolling with the blow Keij spun round to continue the attack but Eevee's other dagger caught him in the back halfway through the manoeuvre, sending him staggering forward. He spun to counter her follow-up lunge with a sweeping forearm block, but Eevee dropped her dagger point and lunged low so that the blade sailed under his guard, beating his defence yet again. With an angry roar Keiji made no attempt to deflect the dagger as it slammed into his abdomen, instead lashing out with all his strength at Eevee's face.

A high-pitched shriek escaped Eevee as the Thunderstrike punch slammed into the bridge of her nose, discharging lightning mixing with flying blood as the hit sent her reeling backwards. Clutching his stomach Keiji saw Eevee using her wings to flail for balance, finally catching herself and looking back at him with seething eyes. Blood and tears were streaming down her face. Without taking her eyes off Keiji, Eevee cuffed the blood away from her nose, snarled, and charged at him in a blur of Timeshift speed.

There was a spray of blood. Neji shouted something. Keiji reeled back with a cry of pain. Eevee had been so angry that her dagger, even though blunted, had drilled right through Keiji's shoulder, ripping the blade out of her hand as Keiji twisted away. Eevee dropped her remaining dagger and jumped back in shock with her hands over her mouth, but Keiji just tore the short blade out of his shoulder with seeming indifference and leered at her.

"Where are you going? I'm not finished yet! I'm not gonna lose to a selfish bitch!"

For a second Eevee's bloodstained face showed only stunned disbelief. Then it twisted into an angry grimace. Yelling incoherently, she smashed Keiji to the ground with her fist.

"Say...what...you...frakking...BASTARD!?" she screamed at him, calling on fire, ice and lightning to wreathe her fists as she slammed them into Keiji again and again.

Neji was yelling at her to stop. She ignored him, flinging Keiji back like a rag doll with a powerful Bisingr fireball. She ran forward to attack again but suddenly a black wall of energy reared up in front of her. Colliding with it she fell on her back, and looked around to see that the black wall now surrounded her on all sides - Neji had her confined within a Dark Prison spell and was looking at her with diamond-hard eyes.

"Fari told me your father acted like this once, Evelyn," he said severely, "Tanis had to hold a dagger to his throat before he calmed down. Please don't make me have to do the same."

He gripped the hilt of the Set sword in deadly earnest.

Her shoulders sagging, Eevee nodded, and the shell of black energy dissipated to leave her kneeling on the damp grass. She got up and followed Neji as he ran to his son's side. Keiji was lying on his back with his teeth gritted in pain, residual smoke rising from his tattered clothes with the after-effects of the Bisingr.

"Look what you've done to your ally," Neji said in reprimand, fighting to keep his voice calm, "To your friend!"

He stooped down, picked up Keiji and carried him indoors as Eevee looked on in horrified disbelief. Stammering something inaudible, she turned and wandered off in a daze, cuffing at her eyes.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Fenix at 11:57, 2007-05-06

<ooc - hehe, 'shame about the attitude' sounds about right...>

Keiji pulled himself up into a sitting position and turned round to see that it was Eevee at the door.

"What do you...?" he began, but the bitter words died on his lips. Eevee was standing uncertainly in the doorway, hugging her arms pensively. She had discarded her dagger sheathes, but a gauze bandage was wrapped around her left forearm where Keiji's knuckle-duster had raked a deep cut. A self-administered healing spell and a splash of water had cleared the blood from her face, but her red eyes betrayed the fact that she had been crying.

"Stop hovering, Eevee," Keiji sighed, beckoning her into the room. Eevee obeyed and knelt down by the side of the bed, resting her clasped hands on the duvet.

"Keiji...ummm...are you okay?" she asked.

Keiji bit back the four or five scathing responses that came to mind and replied:

"I'll be up and about again by tomorrow. Demon blood heals quick."

He tapped himself on the chest with his fist.

"Well hard, eh?"

It was a feeble attempt at a joke, but Keiji couldnt help himself smiling nonetheless.

"Something like that." he replied.

"Look, Keiji..." Eevee blurted out suddenly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I was way out of line..."

"Woah, hey," Keiji retorted, "I was the one who called you a selfish bitch."

"That's not the point. Frakking Farplane Keiji, I'm sorry, I really am."

Keiji sighed.

"Me too."

He shifted position slightly, and winced at the pain from his chest.

"Here, let me help," Eevee said, leaning over and placing her hands flat on top of Keiji's bandaged torso. There was a momentary blue glow and the pain instantly lessened to a tolerable level.

"Thanks."

Eevee didn't smile, but at least her face looked a little less careworn.

"Let's just forget about it," Keiji said, "Except as a lesson not to mix stupid arguments with martial arts."

He grinned.

"Friends?" he offered, putting out a bandaged hand. Eevee reached out to take it, but a few inches away she hesitated.

"Oh come on, Eevee."

"I'm sorry Keiji, I've been an utter bitch to you and I understand you're just trying to help, but I just can't let anyone in right now."

Keiji blinked at her.

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said."

Eevee pushed off the bed and stood up, hissing through her teeth.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You come to terms with things your own way, just remember we're all still here for you when you want us."

Eevee stopped with her hand on the door-knob.

"Thank you," she said, before turning away and leaving the room.

Keiji leaned back on the pillows, a puzzled frown on his face.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Fenix at 19:48, 2007-05-06

"Exactly how am I going to explain this?" Jacen asked Larek and Zell as he looked out the broken window that Laguna had recently crashed through.

"That's Fari for you," Larek replied, adding a fond smile to his shrug.

"What were they doing anyway?"

"Search me..." Larek shrugged again, "Probably practicing. She was telling me after she'd fought Ghede that she was afraid she'd lost her edge."

"Laguna was her original trainer," Zell explained, "But now they're about on par."

"Magically and martially," Larek nodded, "Though Fari of course can also fly, shape-shift and use Leviathan..."

They were cut off as a bright flash streaked past outside the window.

"What the...?" Jacen muttered, and reached for his rifle.

* * *

Restless, Eevee went back outside. Having tried all morning to occupy herself one way or another, as a last resort she picked up her force-lance and went to find a quiet spot in the garden to run through some of Alarielle's combat drills. As she pulled the rune-inscribed tube out of the black sash round the waist of her dress and shook it once so that it pistoned out to its full length, she wondered vaguely where her elven teacher was now. The elves who had survived the Calm Lands battle had returned to Bevelle, but of the few she had seen - going about the streets or heading towards meetings in General Beni's makeshift war-room in the Stead Mansion's dining hall - Alarielle had not been among them.

Neither, she reflected as she swept the staff around her in rapid, graceful arcs, turning on the spot to face an imaginary opponent, had Tyrion or Silarion. Up until now she had been swinging and twirling the staff one-handed, but now she regripped it in both, stubbornly ignoring the pain from her injured left arm. She spun the force-lance above her head and pivoted, slashing the weapon down in a diagonal cut. A jolt shot up her arms as it jarred unexpectedly against something in its path. Keiji stood in front of her grinning, his gloved fist raised where it had intercepted and stopped the sweeping blow.

"Shouldn't you be in bed resting?" Eevee asked pointedly as she lowered the force-lance and deactivated it by spinning it to the horizontal. She waited for the telescopic shaft to slide closed before stowing it at her waist.

"When I want someone to lecture me I'll go talk to my dad." Keiji grinned, "And it's even more rich coming from the one who put me there."

"I told you I was s-" Eevee began indignantly.

"Woah, woah!" Keiji replied, putting up his hands. His right arm was still heavily bandaged but either his demon blood was accelerating the healing more than usual or he was forcing himself to ignore the pain, "And I said it was okay, remember? Anyway, I'm up because I can't afford to stay in bed. That's one weakness I can do something about.

"What are you talking about?"

"I am. I'm weak."

"No you're not," Eevee said in a slightly exasperated voice as they began walking through the apple trees.

"Yes I am, compared to you and my dad and Fari anyway. Look at you, you totally kicked my arse this morning. No matter how much training I do I can't keep up with you guys."

"You defeated Xipetotec didn't you?"

"Aye, but Penance is going to be different isn't he. There's no way I can..."

Suddenly Keiji's voice faded away and time seemed to slow down as Tritoch's Farsight screamed a warning at Eevee. Instinctively she threw herself sideways, taking Keiji with her in an undignified tackle, as a powerful lightning bolt hammered down and struck the path they had been walking along. The paving stones were blown apart and the nearest trees shredded with the force of the blast as Keiji and Eevee were carried along by the shockwave and finally slammed down a good 20 metres away to go tumbling across the lawn.

Demons! was Eevee's first thought, and she swore to herself.

"Frak! What is with us and getting attacked in this jinxed garden?"

In a heartbeat she had pulled up her knees and flipped back onto her feet, reaching across her body to draw her Atellian force-lance in the same movement. She slammed her thumb down on the firing rune and three pulses of white light blasted from its fluted barrel towards a dark shape that landed on one knee ahead of her. A white shockwave swept out to intercept the bolts and they exploded in bright flashes in front of the figure, instantly wreathing them in smoke. As the haze cleared, Eevee got her first glimpse of her antagonist. At the corner of her eye she registered several other shapes descending to land on the garden, and she heard a shout of alarm from Keiji, but she was unable to tear her eyes away from the figure facing her.

The first thing she saw were the silhouette's eyes glowing through the smoke, and her first thought was that her attacker must indeed be a demon, but then the fog cleared a little more and she saw that the figure was Atellian, with chiselled features, slate-grey eyes that glowed eerily with a pale light, and stern eyebrows. His hair was steel grey, almost blue, and fell close to his eyes. His white-feathered wings rose high above his shoulders, and unlike most Atellian soldiers he carried not a force-lance but a long straight sword with a carved golden pommel and crosspiece, and its silvery-blue blade glowed with the reflection of the coruscating lightning that leapt and crackled across it and over the hands of the Atellian, which were protected by black fingerless gloves. Also unusually for an Atellian, he wore no armour, only a dark shirt and trousers under a white jacket worn open with collar turned up and sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

Without warning, a shout or even a change of his stern, unreadable expression, the mysterious Atellian swept his wings down and launched towards Eevee, whirling his sword dexterously above his head. The blade's glowing contrail became a whiplike stream of lightning that discharged towards Eevee with a flick of the Atellian's blade. She raised her free left hand to materialise a glowing Dyann Ra spell, but she still staggered as the lightning bolt exploded violently against its golden bubble. The Atellian came hurtling down towards her, sword flashing in its own light. Eevee extended her force lance and raised it two-handed above her head in defence. At the last second she had to slide one hand down the shaft as the Atellian's sword sparked against the lance barrel where her fingers had been a moment before, hitting with a ringing concussion that almost buckled her arms. Static discharge arced out in all directions, setting the nearby trees aflame. The Atellian struggled to push his blade down towards Eevee's head, his face still set in an eerie impassiveness that was almost soulless in its lack of animation. Eevee pushed back, staring into intensely cold, glowing eyes that betrayed nothing. Suddenly her eyes fell to the Atellian's neck, and the silver chain hanging around it.

On the chain was a small pendant, shaped into a form Eevee instantly recognised.

The Judgement Aeon, Ramuh. The same pendant her father had worn.

Her opponent was an Avenging Angel.

* * *

<ooc - okay, that WOULD be a cool place to finish it but I also have to introduce Alia...>

Zell, Larek and Jacen saw the first explosions go off among the apple trees in the corner of the Stead Mansion's extensive garden, and saw two Guardsmen appear shouting from a side door only to be blasted back through it by an invisible force.

The three men swore and turned as one away from the window, all but throwing themselves out of Jacen's room.

"Zell!" Larek yelled as he cleared the banister with a vaulting leap and hit the stairs below running, "Get Neji!"

Zell yelled an affirmative, fumbling with his mana gun as he pushed aside a confused Guardsman and sprinted down the stairs after Larek.

"Jacen!" Larek called up to the sniper.

"Already on it!" Jacen yelled back, slotting bullets into his black rifle's five-round magazine and yanking back the bolt as he ran, heading not after his companions but up the nearest staircase, reaching the landing and dipping his shoulder to shunt open a nearly-closed door without breaking stride. Several civilians cried out in protest as Jacen pounded across their bedroom and skidded to a halt at the balcony outside, which had an excellent view overlooking the entire grounds of the mansion. Several trees were aflame, smoke rising into the sky. Slowing his breathing Jacen dropped to one knee and brought his rifle up to his shoulder, scanning the garden below for movement as he aimed between the pillars of the balcony wall that concealed him from the view of anyone below.

A flash of movement caught Jacen's eye - a winged figure darting amongst the burning apple trees. His fast reflexes served him well, and in an eye-blink he had the crosshairs centred on the shadowy demon, his finger already tensing on the trigger.

But he never fired.

A rustle of wind on his left startled him, and he froze and missed his shot as something appeared at the edge of his vision. His head snapped round as a tall, elegant figure hazed into life beside him, appearing as if out of thin air in a swirl of wind. Jacen's eyes travelled up a delicate, cream-coloured dress that seemed to shimmer gold, past slender legs that stood barefoot on the stone. A black belt circled the woman's waist, with glowing runes hanging on short delicate chains all around it. A close-fitting top covered her chest, with separate, wide-cuffed sleeves the same colour as her dress and with the same ghostly shimmer covering her arms, decorated with silver thread and black banding at the cuffs and held in place by elaborate runic clasps around her upper arms. In her right hand was a cruciform staff, similar to the one Tsunami had possessed, glowing with inscribed runes and a trio of azure-coloured gemstones. A silver chain with a pendant in the shape of a mystic bird was at her throat, and majestic white-feathered wings rising from her shoulder-blades marked her out as Atellian. Jacen's eyes travelled up to the Atellian woman's striking face, with its soft features, almost-glowing hair that cascaded about her shoulders like pale liquid gold, and almond-shaped blue eyes which glowed with some magical inner fire. But it was a cold fire, and in those two glowing foci of the Atellian's expressionless face, Jacen could see his own face reflected, wide-eyed with fear.

"How the...?" he mouthed silently as the Atellian appeared beside him, his voice dying in his throat, but nevertheless the silent protest of disbelief unfroze him.

He twisted, trying to bring his rifle to bear but the Atellian woman was far too fast, her cross staff sweeping out and colliding with Jacen's temple. Jacen's vision exploded into stars and he registered himself spinning through the air and being slammed hard against the balcony wall, before everything rapidly faded to black.

Spreading her wings, Tritoch Angel leapt gracefully off the balcony, her expressionless eyes fixed on Keiji and Eevee below.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Fenix at 22:25, 2007-05-22

<ooc - part 1>

Eevee had been so shocked at learning her attacker's identity that she almost didnt react in time as the pressure against her force-lance vanished, the lightning-wreathed sword suddenly sweeping in from the side. She spun her lance into a vertical parry and leapt back, the Atellian who had once been an Avenging Angel following her so that their weapons clashed again in midair, the Angel somersaulting over Eevee's head so that they landed several metres apart, facing away from each other. Immediately both spun, weapons raised, Eevee extending her wings as her Aeons' power surrounded her like a halo. Ramuh Angels previously-blank face showed expression for the first time in the form of a grim smile.

Eevee held up her force lance and tapped the master rune to begin channelling her power into it, bands of white energy sweeping across the staff and lighting up the runes that covered it. She had never managed it before but now with the power of her Aeons the force lance blazed into white light, sweeping a bright contrail through the air as it rose to meet Ramuh Angel's sword. As the weapons collided there was a blinding flash of released energy, the magical backlash throwing both combatants backwards. Riding out the shockwave, they steadied themselves with their wings and landed - Eevee in a double backflip, Ramuh Angel in a spider-like crouch.

But upon Ramuh Angel's face was a look of horror - his lightning-wreathed sword had burst apart in the impact, the blade shattering into dozens of glittering shards that rained down between the two, sparking with residual discharge. Ramuh Angel thrust the useless hilt into his jacket and launched himself up and away from Eevee with a powerful beat of his wings. Eevee tracked him with her force-lance, pulsing blasts of white energy after him, but he weaved skilfully through them and hit the ground running, withdrawing his wings as he sprinted away. Eevee spun her force-lance to the horizontal and let it retract, sprinting after him as he leapt the garden wall in an explosive jump and disappeared into the gravel driveway outside.

Eevee used her wings to boost herself over the wall, kicking up off a stone gargoyle and somersaulting to the ground in time to register her opponent sprinting off towards the tall iron gates that separated the mansion grounds from the rest of Bevelle. The two Al'bed guarding the mansion's main entrance at the other end of the drive were shouting and running towards them but they were too far behind to help as Ramuh Angel launched himself at Trevor Stead's personal hovercar that was parked just inside the gates, smashing the passenger-side window with a flying dropkick and swinging himself through. He exploded feet first out the driver-side window in a shower of glass and his feet barely touched the ground as he cleared the high gate with a terrific leap. Eevee spread her wings and flew over the wrecked car and the gate to land on one knee on the tarmac outside. She barely had time to register the lightning-scorched corpses of the two Gaurdsmen who had been guarding the gate before a white flash of lightning came powering towards her. She deflected it with a quickly-cast Dispel, and as the sparks dissipated she saw Ramuh Angel disappear in a Timeshift blur down the street, bowling over any civilians that got in his way. He reappeared at the foot of a high-rise building, launching himself upward and using window sills to pull himself higher as he scrambled up the sheer wall.

Thrusting her force-lance into her belt to leave both hands free, Eevee sprinted towards the building and leapt upward, beating her wings to push her higher as she tried to keep up with the impossibly-fast Atellian. Ramuh Angel bounded upwards to grab another window sill and glanced down to see Eevee speeding after him. He pulled back his arm and a ball of lightning crackled into life between his fingertips. He punched his open hand down to release the missile. Eevee jinked aside, but by the time she had recovered Ramuh Angel had kicked off the high-rise, twisting in midair and materialising his wings to soar off down the narrow street and latch onto the wall of another nearby skyscraper. Two Guardsmen were running towards him from below, shouting and with guns raised. He blasted them both with a double-bolt of Firannon lightning.

Shimmying quickly up the side of the building, Ramuh Angel somersaulted over onto the flat roof and stood, retracting his wings and looking around. A smirk crept up his face, which quickly evaporated as Eevee swept up and over the edge of the skyscraper and landed opposite him. She ripped a dagger from the sheath strapped to her right forearm and hurled it spinning towards Ramuh Angel. In a blur of Timeshift motion he reached up and caught it - reappearing bent slightly over backwards with the dagger grasped close to his right ear - and threw it back. As Eevee frantically dodged aside, he came at her with a flying dropkick. It knocked her backwards but she turned the fall into a backward roll and came up again. She threw a punch at Ramuh Angel, which he deflected with his forearm. Eevee ducked under a roundhouse kick but Ramuh Angel continued the spin, crouching and sweeping his foot round again in a low arc. Eevee jumped over it but caught a third attack in the side of the head as Ramuh Angel came up again like lightning in a high sweeping kick. It sent her tumbling off the edge of the building, but she caught the ledge as she went over and used her wings to launch herself back up. Blood streaming down her temple, she snarled as she saw Ramuh Angel leap down to the roof of an adjacent building before running to the edge, spreading his wings and gliding down into the street below. She ran after him, flicking her fallen dagger up off the ground with her foot and catching it as she threw herself off the skyscraper, pulling her wings in close and freefalling.

Spreading her wings and pulling up at the last moment, she hit the ground running and saw ahead of her the red-bandana-wearing Guardsmen outside the Bevelle precinct house spin to the ground in sprays of blood as a white blur swept past them. Ramuh Angel reappeared out of the Timeshift on the top step leading up to the precinct house before the Guardsmen had even hit the floor. Grinning, he sent lightning arcing from his fingertips, which blew in the reinforced security door in a storm of metal fragments.

Pushing through screaming, scattering civilians, Eevee retracted her wings and sprinted after Ramuh Angel as he kicked aside a Guardsman and destroyed the doors to the main lift with another lightning bolt. The Guard officers behind the reception desk were still ducking for cover as he stepped into the lift shaft, gathered himself, then launched upwards, leaping from wall to wall. As he grabbed the third floor ledge a bolt of energy streaked past him. He looked down in alarm to see Eevee at the bottom of the shaft with her force lance pointed up at him. Without hesitating he punched his fist upward and sent a bolt of lightning slamming into the lift cage above. With a shriek of tortured metal it broke free of its cables and hurtled down the shaft. Just before the blazing cube of metal reached him he punched a lightning-wreathed hand through the sliding doors in front of him, and dived after them as they fell outward into the third floor corridor in a cascade of sparks.

Eevee looked up in horror to see the blazing lift come screaming towards her. She crouched under the protective golden bubble of a Dyann Ra spell as the lift crashed into the ground and burst apart, sending metal shards scything out into the corridor and ricocheting around inside the shaft. Up out of the blazing pyre of twisted metal came Eevee, launching upwards on glowing wings and leaping through the shattered third-floor doors in a diving roll. A Guardsman came running up the corridor, skidding to a halt in shock as he tried to process both the wrecked lift shaft and the teenage girl with wings and an Atellian weapon who had somehow got into the precinct house.

"Who are you?" he challenged her, then "Hey!" as she raised her force lance and blew out the grating covering one of the air ducts in the wall. He was still fumbling with his sidearm as she leapt up the wall and vanished through the smoking hole.

Retracting her wings Eevee moved in a crouching run down the cramped duct, her boots clanging on the metal. It tapered sharply not far ahead, but at a flashed message from her Aeons she dropped and skidded on her back along the narrowing duct, and in the corridor below Ramuh Angel whirled round in disbelief as a grating clattered down from the ceiling behind him, followed quickly by Eevee.

"Stop!" a Guardsman shouted as he emerged from a side door, and bullets sparked against the metal walls as Ramuh Angel blew out a strip window and dived through it with Eevee in hot pursuit. Alarms began blaring as the Guardsman slammed his fist against a panic button on the wall.

Both Angels materialised their wings and glided down into the walled courtyard below. Ramuh Angel then retracted his and spun to face Eevee as she levelled her charged force-lance at him. At that moment Guardsmen with automatics came pouring from the doors of the precinct house. Though dishevelled and breathing heavily from the chase, Ramuh Angel smiled.

Because the Guardsmen's snub-nosed machineguns were pointed at Eevee.
<ooc - Sorry, it may seem like I'm rushing through this but I need to get back in time to help Keiji  Well, not help per se...more like...ah screw it, I'll explain later...>

(occ - there you go, just imagine its a little longer then it actually is. And i might go back and change the ending cause i don't think it works very well.)

 

Ghanima danced out the way of Fariels high kick and grabbed her leg, the pair of them stood for a second looking at each other, "Let me guess, Penance brought you back to life right?"Fariel smiled, drawing one of her swords and slashing up at Ghanimas arm.Ghanima released Fariels leg and jumped back.

Ghanima rose her hand, water swirled into a long flat shape and hardened into a sword of ice, "Sorry, but thats been done."Fariel commented as Ghanima came towards her.

She attacked with a mix of kicks and slashes, Fariel managed to block and counter at the same speed but neither managed to land a hit, "Ghanima this is pointless!"Fariel dropped down and spun around in an attempt to kick Ghanimas feet out from under her but she jumped over and kicked at Fariels head.

Fariels arm was protected by her bracer as Ghanimas foot hit it, quickly she grabbed Ghanimas leg and jumped forwards, the angel lost her balance and fell backwards, they both raised their swords.

Ghanima was left pinned beneath Fariel, their swords pressed against each other between their faces as they stared at each other.

"Unless you want to die for a second time, stop this nonsense!"Fariel ordered but no matter what she said to the angel she was ignored.

Fariel had the better position and her sword slowly forced Ghanimas down until it was upon her neck. "Snap out of it, stop letting Penance control you!"

There was suddenly the sound of water and Fariel whipped her second sword out of its sheath and braced herself as she was flung through the air by a powerful blast of water, Fariels crossed swords held back the blast until she weaved her own spell around Ghanimas.The water rushed around behind her and became a platform, Fariel planted her feet onto the water and pushed off it, flying back towards the other Angel that had taken the chance to get back to her feet.

Ghanima rose her sword as Fariel came towards her.The pair collided and went crashing into a tree, Fariels crossed swords scratched down either side of Ghanimas sword and pierced her shoulders, pinning her to the tree."I warned you."Fariel whispered into Ghanimas ear, "You should have practised your swordsmanship while you were alive" Fariel stepped back, Ghanima stared at the ground.

That was too close, she nearly had my head when we hit each other thereFariel sighed as Leviathan didnt reply.Im sorry, Leviathan, it must hurt to see your old angel die again.

Fariel ignored Leviathans silence and stepped forwards and took her swords, lowering Ghanima to the ground she laid her down, she went to take Ghanimas sword but it shattered as she touched it.The old angel was still alive, Fariel smiled, she would have refused to go down like that too.

"Go back to the farplane and stay there."Fariel sighed but jumped as something out the corner of her eye caught her attention, pyraflies dancing through the air, going towards Ghanima, not away.

Laguna who had awoken near the beginning of the fight sat perched in a tree, just as confused as Fariel that the pyraflies were one by one filing into Ghanimas body.Jumping down from the tree he drew one of his swords and moved to Fariels side."Are you alright?" He asked.

"Youre the one that hit your head off a tree."Fariel grinned.

Fariel drew her swords and Laguna drew his second as Ghanima took a deep breath and jolted upright breathing heavily, she winced as pain shot through her and she laid down again.Fariel moved closer and kept one sword aimed towards the angel as she stood over her, "Which part of go to the farplane didnt you quite get?"She muttered but paused as she saw the obvious change in expression on the angels face.

"Forgive me, Angel."Ghanima smiled.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Asreal at 14:05, 2007-05-29

(Just a quick boredom post to save me typing it later. THis is Fariel and Sorata heading back to the manor. Come on Sean, it's your turn to move your peices)

 

Fariel watched quietly as the pyraflies descended into Rumah Angels body, she questioned Leviathan for the Angels name and he simply said, Sorata.

Sorata watched her as she healed his wound that Eevee had given him before sitting up. "Ghanimas waiting with Laguna, cmon." Fariel said simply, trying not to engage a proper conversation with him.The Angel accepted Fariels hand and was aided to his feet; he was a little unsteady at first but regained his strength quickly enough.

Fariel led him through the back roads to the Stead Mansion, avoiding Guard patrols as to not confuse them with the situation, Soratas silence soon became unbearable and she tried to communicate with him, "Your names Sorata right?"

"Did Leviathan tell you that? " Sorata answered, Fariel smiled, she could imagine Kobie saying the exact same thing, talking to him would be slightly more awkward then she first thought.

"Dont get the wrong idea, just because I healed you doesnt mean I trust you."Fariel changed the subject quickly.

"Life would not be as interesting if everyone trusted me from the beginning."He paused, "Who was that young girl that was chasing me, while I was..."

"Possessed, controlled, completely defenceless due to Penances influe-"Fariel mocked.

"Stop!"Sorata ordered, "That was uncalled for, Angel.That is no way for our kind to act."

"My name is Fariel Oreen, host to Leviathan." Fariel stated for Soratas benefit, "And 'our kind', doesnt have set rules in which we abide by in our actions, so stop talking like my dad."

The pair of them had stopped walking and were facing each other now, "And that young girl was Evelyn Kobie, host to Tritoch and Rumah."

"What? " Sorata knitted his eyebrows together, "Thats not possible."

"You'd be surprised."Fariel rolled her eyes."You should know that when it comes to 'our kind' anything is possible." Fariel smiled and extended a hand to Sorata."Sorry for being horrible, I know this isnt yours or the other Angels fault."

Sorata nodded and shook her hand, "Apology accepted, Fariel. I guess I owe Evelyn an apology as well when I next see her."

"Eevee."Fariel corrected.

"Eevee?"

"Thats what she prefers to be called.Now come on, Neji, Keiji and the others are still in trouble.Some of your friends still havent regained control yet."

"Well then, if we are to get their in time, I suggest flying be quicker then walking."

I" agree, try to keep up. " Fariel laughed launching into the air, Sorata quick behind her.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Asreal at 22:45, 2007-05-31

Neji landed smoothly before Haldir still hidden safely behind his powerful shield.

"You think that shield can stop me?" Neji taunted, but his taunts seemed to land on deaf ears as Heldir simply stared at him blankly. "I could break that shield and blast you into nothing but considering where we are and our surroundings Id like to avoid any collateral damage, Ill only have to pay for what I break, so lets do this the clean way," Neji withdrew one his swords and in an instant had a blue lightning edge appear on his arm, then with one pulse of power it burst to a red, smiling he brought his hand up near his face and the bright sparkling red reflected off his eyes, "Now then elf lets see this shield of your withstand this."

Neji charged forward in full sprint but was surprised to see that Haldir still did not move, he simply stood there blank expression in his face his shield still up, at range Neji leapt slightly in the air and brought his lightning edge down on Haldirs shield it collided with great force but instantly Neji could see something was wrong, the shield did not break not even crack from the attack meant to cut through anything and soon felt his lightning edge disperse and he was forced to jump back to avoid a Haldirs counter attack.

Neji landed half crouched on the soft grass, "What the hell?" he said in disbelived wide hided as he gazed upon Haldirs triumphant shield.

"Ah I remember!" Diablos voice rang in Nejis head

"Remember what?"

"Haldir, the demonbane, youll have to forgive me but I was thoroughly sealed inside my previous host and didnt get as much freedom as I get with you, most of my time with them is hazey, see that sword its demonic and has demonic magical properties he trained himself to use the power in the sword and developed away to merge it with shield magic thus creating a shield especially designed to counter all types of demon magic,"

"This guy is something else," Haldir began to slowly approach Neji, "But he still cant win," Haldir suddenly timeshift towards Neji, taking out second sword once again Neji crossed the blades just in time to catch Haldirs frontal strike they stared at each other through their blades before Neji won the test of strength and threw Haldir back, showing off his elf dexterity he flipped in the air landing safely on his feet, timeshifting again Haldir charged once more but once again only met Nejis blades, they engaged in a skilled sword fight Haldir using a combination of timeshift and elf dexterity to attack Neji from several angles, but the highly skilled warrior would not be bested that easily he trained with elves for 17 years he knew well their battle style and how to beat the dangerous timeshift ability, eventually once again Nejis strength forced Haldir to lose his footing and step back.

"Its over!" Neji shouted leaping after Haldir his blade pointed forward, but then suddenly appearing in between the blade point and its target came the same shield, it not only effective against magic but physical attacks as well, Haldir landed unharmed.

"Hmm, doesnt look like this fight will ever end, neither of us can bypass each others defences," Neji fixed his gaze to Haldir, "he must realise that too," Neji spun his swords and stood ready for another round with Haldir but to his surprise he never charged instead Neji stood in amazement as Haldir withdrew his sword.

"Diablos any idea what hes planning?"

"It could be one of two things, surrender or Ultima, and knowing a mindless zombie its likely to be the latter,"

"He wouldnt? in the middle of a city? swarmed with people," Neji said in disbelieve, and then Haldir began to glow. "He is! Ah crap, I gotta stop this!" Neji shouted charging forward.

"Its too late," Diablos yelled as Haldir was about to unleash the devastating power

"Dark Prison!" Neji yelled suddenly encasing a Haldir in a strong prison of black, the blast was completely unleashed the second later and Neji flinched as he struggled to hold the prison together, the prison Neji began to tremble as the power grew uncontrollable and then, it stopped. Neji stood out of breath he wiped the sweat from his brow and lowered the prison, where it was lay Haldir his body smoking and clothes ripped, the area around him scorched and dug up.

"That was close," Neji said standing over Haldir.

-- Edited by The Underdog at 22:39, 2007-06-08

<ooc - Red skin and green hair? :S Talk about flamboyant :P Right, this is everything I've been writing over the past day or so. I cut a few bits out of Penance's Gaiden just to make it shorter, but if anything is downright wrong just let me know. Feel free to add in bits that happen between the scenes eg Ciaphas and Green - I'm going to add a post that runs parallel to this one involving Larek and Jacen.  Anyway, enjoy :) >

Fariel and the Avenging Angel called Sorata arrived just as Neji was helping the injured Diablos Angel, who was still lit up by the afterglow of the Pyraflies who had just swept into him, to his feet. Laguna, still slightly doubled over from his injuries, was approaching from the other direction with Ghanima.

"Looks like theyve got everything under control then..." Fariel smirked.

"Your name?" Neji was asking the disorientated Diablos Angel, hoping to steady him with a straight question. The Atellian's dark eyes looked up at Neji from a face still covered in the swirling tattoo-like marks of Diablos.

"My name is Revast, Celestial Champion of Atellier and former host to Diablos."

Meanwhile Keiji sat in a brooding silence binding up his wounds and Zell was locked in conversation with Alia and explaining the situation as best he could to a dazed Jacen, who after coming to had immediately discovered the fight was over and run outside to help.

"Where is Eevee?" Sorata asked Fariel. Fariel pointed out her god-daughter, who was leaning against a nearby tree and looking very drained now that the adrenaline had ebbed from her system. She was in a bit of a state - the wound on her forearm was oozing red through the bandage, while the gashes on her palms also seemed to have re-opened, leaving bloody marks on her force-lance which she was now trying to clean off. Blood was also clotted in her hair and around her right eye where Sorata had kicked her in the temple.

"Holy frak girl, do you take no pride at all in your appearance?" Fariel teased her, walking over and casting healing spells on the girl's injuries, "Right, now you're presentable this is..."
"Judicator Sorata, High Judge of the Atellian Council and former host to Ramuh." Eevee interrupted her in a flat voice. A smile tugged at the corner of Sorata's mouth.

"That is Lady Ghanima, an Atellian priestess who was a student of Lady Rayne..." Eevee continued, pointing out Ghanima.

"Rayne...?" Fariel murmured, taking a second to remember the elven priestess who had gifted her with her shape-shifter bracers in the temple where they had done their Angel Trials, "Ah yeah, course, she had those funny blue tattoos down the sides of her face and neck too...must be their priesthood's idea of a fashion statement..."

"...And that's Lady Alia, a half-elven Treesinger who you picked as a host to Tritoch because of her close connection with nature." Eevee went on, looking at Zell's companion who was, now the vacant undead look had left her eyes, the youngest and most gentle-looking of the Atellian Angels.

"So Ramuh has told you about us." Sorata smiled.
"Tritoch knows you as well."
"Hmmm, so you were right..." Sorata nodded to Fariel, "Tell me Eevee, how did you come to have the power of both Ramuh and Tritoch?"
"I've always had a little bit of their power," Eevee said in a slightly guarded voice, "Because my mum and dad were their previous hosts. When Penance killed them, they transferred their Aeons to me so Penance couldn't absorb their power."

She said it all matter-of-factly, making it clear she did not want to discuss the subject further. Sorata nodded his understanding, frowning slightly.

"Alright, smartarse," Fariel said to Eevee, having just come out of her reverie, "Leviathan ain't talking so who's the last one?"

All three of them turned to look at the fifth Angel, the elf who had fought Neji.

"I am Haldir," the elf replied before Eevee could speak, turning and walking towards them as if he had heard Fariel's comment. Which, she reflected, given those great big pointy ears and the elven penchant for sensing thoughts, he probably had, "I was their elven guide. I am very sorry for what we have done, but now you weakened Ghede's abominations enough for us to return to our bodies, there is much we need to share with you."

"Like what?" Neji asked, sheathing the Set sword and its twin across his back as he joined them.

"Like how to defeat Penance."

* * *

 

The new Angels had gathered with the old in one of the Stead Mansion's deserted drawing rooms. A number of smaller tables had been pushed together to form a haphazard dining surface, with the carved mahogany chairs pulled up around it. With the Guard having brought rationing into effect in anticipation of a long siege, the Angels and their companions were making a poor meal of bread and cheese accompanied somewhat incongruously by a fine Hypello wine, part of the connoisseur Stead's extensive reserve.

Desks, bookcases and decorative candles and lamps were placed around the room, but the latter stood unlit as ample light was provided by a machina-wired chandelier overhead, casting a slightly-shimmering white glow over the table as darkness fell beyond the tall windows.

Haldir was leaning back in his chair, his meal finished, thinking quietly. Neji, with one elbow on the table and his fist resting against his mouth, was watching him. The Atellian Angels looked impassive, Fariel bored, and Keiji sat next to Revast waiting for Haldir to begin the promised lecture on some things he thought they ought to know about Penance. Zell on the other hand was not paying as much attention and kept glancing furtively at Alia. Eevee sat on Keiji's other side looking tired and wan after two days of intense activity with no sleep in between. Her skin looked very pale against the black material of her dress, and every now and then she shivered slightly as if cold.

Haldir took a sip of wine, put down his glass and began to speak.

"Let me take you back over 5000 years, to a time when the Atellian and elven civilizations were at the peak of their power. The monster we know as Penance was the son of Summoner Juliann, a member of the Atellian High Council and one of the most celebrated Summoners in history. It was she who led our army against the demonic forces of Set, our long-standing enemy, when he threatened our planet from the Demon World. Juliann confronted Set at the Demon Gate, a bridge between our two dimensions located near what is now Zanarkind and long ago destroyed. Our forces were victorious, but Juliann was captured during the fighting and carried back to the Demon World.

"What happened there is still a mystery to us, but somehow Set brainwashed Juliann and impregnated her with a demon-hybrid child as part of a plan to bring down his enemies from within; Juliann was then released from captivity back into our world. Making up a cover story about escaping the Demon World herself and taking time out to recuperate in a small mountain village, Juliann was welcomed back to Atellier and reinstated on the High Council. Though her pregnancy caused whispers and questions among her peers, no-one thought anything sinister of the apparently-normal Atellian boy who was born at the end of the year.

"However, it soon became apparent that the child, whom Juliann christened Penance, was no ordinary boy. His strength was unnatural and his temper quick, and for that the other Atellians feared him. Penance himself did not understand the origins of his abilities until his 17^th year, when his mother died of a mysterious illness - possibly engineered by Set during her time in the Demon World. On her deathbed, Juliann told Penance who his father really was.

As was the Atellian tradition, Julianns place on the High Council was taken by her son; though many voiced concern at Penance's youth and unpredictable temperament, none could dispute his claim to a seat on the Council. Their fear and jealousy of his strength and position were matched by the secret hatred Penance himself harboured for the other Atellians who persecuted him.

"The Council tried to dispose of Penance by sending him and a small army against a second demonic incursion at the Gate, instructing him to launch a suicidal pre-emptive attack on the demons. This was a mistake, for Penance addressed his troops telling them that the Council had knowingly sent them to their deaths, igniting in them the same hatred for the Council that Penance himself felt.

"Penance walked into the demon camp demanding to see his father, and knowing who he was the demons let him pass. However at the demon command post he was met not by Set but by his future lieutenant Beelzebub, who informed him that Set had been slain and replaced as king of the Demon World by Diablos, with those demons who refused to join the usurper being cast out, Beelzebub at their head. Beelzebub carried with him three artefacts given to him by Set before the final battle against Diablos, with instructions to escape with them and deliver them to his son Penance and then to swear allegiance to him."

"And these artefacts were...?" Fariel interrupted, trying to speed on Haldir's long-winded storytelling. Sorata frowned slightly but Haldir merely took another sip of wine and continued.

"One was Oblivion, the demon-forged sword which he carries to this day. Another was the orb that you found in his fortress at Sheol and is now in the possession of Gau. As you know, it is a powerful necromantic device that allowed Penance to summon spirits from the Farplane and force them to do his bidding, and it was instrumental in the war of attrition he waged against our people, allowing him to grind down our armies with wave upon wave of Fiends and Unsent.

"The third was a magical jewel which he had set into his chest, and this appeared to act in a similar way to the elves' forbidden Life Drain spell, allowing him to absorb the power of those he defeated. This artefact was, and is, the most important of the three, for reasons I will explain shortly."

Fariel rolled her eyes, though not so that Haldir or Sorata saw it. She ignored Leviathan's admonition.

"The rest," Sorata took over in a heavy voice, "Is history, preserved by the elves, and it was the darkest hour for the Atellian race. With an army of Atellian rebels and now a host of demons under his command, Penance set about gaining even more allies. One who answered the call was Gaget, the master engineer who had long hated the Council, and others included the demon Xipetotec, Master of Pain - and Ghede."

"Woah, wait a minute, Ghede was alive 5000 years ago?" Fariel asked in confusion.

"Ghede and his kind were a failed experiment supervised by the Council, breeding human with Atellian in the hope of creating a soldier with the Atellian ability to fly and the increased resilience of a human. The actual results however were flightless men with the frailty of Atellians, making them poor soldiers, although they were gifted with high intelligence which they put to use in biological and genetic applications, probably driven by a desire to correct their inherent weaknesses. However Ghede and the others conducted unethical and sadistic experiments on each other and on kidnapped humans, and were condemned by the Council and hunted down mercilessly, almost to extinction. Ghede and his few surviving brethren took refuge in the Thunder Plains where they were rediscovered by Penance; given free reign in their experiments they swelled his ranks with vile creations derived from Fiends, humans and even demonic subjects. Ghede was able to extend his life by unnatural means, and as a result he survived to rejoin Penance in this, his second invasion."

"Not any more though..." Fariel said with a smug grin.

"And let's not forget Gaget, I eighty-sixed his metal arse." put in Zell.

"Yeah, and I took out Xipetotec in Luca." added Keiji.

Sorata inclined his head, "Indeed, my fellow Angels, you have dealt many serious blows to Penance in this war, destroying some of his most powerful generals and also depriving him of one of the three artefacts.

"But returning to what I was saying, Penance now had a powerful army, and with it he declared war on his former brothers of the Council, marching on Atellier. The Council sent out their armies to meet him but Penance was too strong, using the jewel to absorb the power of those he killed and increase his strength. Even the Summoners could not stop him, their power ultimately only feeding Penance's, and now seeing the power to be gained from defeated Aeons Penance began to attack the Summoner Temples, taking the power of the Fayth for himself. In desperation the Atellians called on their elven allies, but by now Penance had grown too powerful even for their master mages to defeat, and he stole their power just as he had the Atellians'. It seemed nothing could stop Penance's inexorable march and one by one the cities in his path burned, until only Atellier itself remained.

"In one final gambit, the Council's new High Summoner, Ethrel, called upon the highest powers to help them - the First Aeons. Rising from the ocean depths appeared Leviathan, the entity which kept all water pure. Coming down from the heavens came the balance bird Tritoch, master of nature and creator of the elven race. From the land where he had once walked among mortals bringing order to chaos came Ramuh. And finally through the Demon Gate, seeing the danger posed by Penance to all life, came Diablos the king of all demons.

The greatest battle in the history of Spira took place, but although they decimated his armies and greatly wounded Penance himself, even the First Aeons could not prevail and were driven from the mortal world. But the fight was not over yet and the First Aeons came to High Summoner Ethrel in a dream, instructing her to bind their spirits to four powerful Atellians who took the battle to Penance once again at the head of the remaining allied forces. Though defeated, their sacrifice delayed the already-weakened Penance from launching his final attack on Atellier.
"Once again the First Aeons bound themselves to another four but were once again defeated, and five times the cycle continued until Ethrel died from exhaustion. This could have been the end had not Ethrel's apprentice, the half-elven Eden, taken up her mantle to create a sixth generation."
"You." Eevee said simply.

"Correct." answered Sorata, "And this time Eden sent with us an elven guide, here he nodded to Haldir, Who would not possess the powers of the Aeons but would nevertheless wield the elven race's greatest magic against Penance. We passed the trials created by Eden at the Temple of Angels..."

Both Fariel and Neji frowned slightly as they remembered their own trials at the ruined temple in Bikinel Sands.

"...And made our way through the ruins of Atellier to confront Penance. While Haldir held him off with his anti-demonic shield we combined our powers and channelled them through Revast, using all our life energy to let him open a portal to the underworld through which Penance was dragged along with his army, trapping him back within the now-deserted Demon World."

"Only he didn't stay there did he?" Fariel said pointedly.

"No," said Haldir, rubbing his chin with one hand, "This is where the jewel set into his chest comes back into the story. It would seem that Penance had accumulated enough power within it to find a way round the seal we put on the portal. Though he had to wait millennia of our time, maybe millions of years in the Demon World, the lock eventually began to lose some of its power. As it was designed primarily to repel demonic energy, Penance succeeded in jettisoning the part of him that was still Atellian into our world to be reunited with him later."

Keijis face darkened. Tsunami.

"Then he drew on the power of his jewel and used his full demonic might to smash our enchantments and escape."

"So we can't seal him in the Demon World like we did before?" Neji asked.

"No we can't," piped up Eevee, and everyone turned to look at her in surprise at her sudden take-over of the conversation, "We need to find a way to imprison him once and for all. Somewhere he can't escape. That's what my..." she swallowed before continuing, "That's what my mum and dad were trying to do. But they underestimated the power in his jewel as well. Ramuh and Tritoch couldn't do it on their own. Penance broke free and killed them."

"Why did they attempt it without the other Aeons?" Haldir mused, shaking his head.

"My mum and dad made the decision," Eevee went on, relaying the story as Ramuh and Tritoch had told it to her, "In spite of everything Laconfir warned them about. He said Penance could only be defeated if me and Keiji fought him alone. But they tried to do it themselves, so we wouldn't have to. They did it," she finished in an expressionless voice, "Because they wanted to protect me."

Neji, who was sitting on Eevee's other side, made a move as if to put a comforting arm round his god-daughter's shoulder, but she pushed her chair back and stood up before he could, silently turning away and leaving the room through a side door without another word. It was Fariel who broke the awkward silence that followed.

"Just leave her. So what do we have to do?"
"While Penance still possesses the jewel," Revast spoke up, "He may be able to prevent us imprisoning him. So we must physically remove it from him."

"You make it sound so easy..."
"I'm sorry my fellow Angels, if we had known this before we might have been able to prevent Penance's return by ripping the jewel out of his chest before hurling him into the Demon World."

"Hey that's a point, Fariel said, "What happened to you guys after you sealed Penance?"

"Well like Sorata said," Haldir began, "The spell took all our life force, and we were unable to resist when with a final act of defiance Penance unleashed a magical backlash that destroyed both us and what remained of Atellier. Only the Temple of Angels, which was mainly underground and protected by powerful spells of warding, survived. When the elves returned and inspected the blasted desert island that remained - a desert that you now call Bikinel Sands - they found only a few Atellian survivors and the bodies of we five Angels."

Though it must have been strange to be talking about his own death, Haldir said all of this calmly.

"We were entombed in the ancient Ellessar burial grounds, and the few Atellian survivors went on to found Zanarkand and pass on the Summoner practice. A few relics of their highly-advanced technology remained at Bikinel Sands, which were rediscovered by the Al'bed and were a major catalyst in their drive to master Machina. The cities of Zanarkind and Bevelle rose without any knowledge of the war that had come before, and the two remaining elven communities retreated to their homes, raising magical forests over the ruins to conceal them and nurturing a dream of one day rebuilding their cities through the gateway chapel in Ellessar woods. They preserved the saga of the Angels in their histories; however Revast was not given as much credit as he should have been in the tales - perhaps the prejudice of my kin stemmed from the fact that Revast contained the power of Diablos and so like Penance was also technically half-demon, but no matter - and this angered Diablos. When Sin came into being the resentment of Diablos led him to believe Sin's lies and betray the other First Aeons. Sin continued his rampage while the elves, without the talents of the Atellian Summoners to re-bind the defeated First Aeons to new hosts, were forced to wait while the Aeons regained the strength to attach their spirits to human hosts chosen by the Aeons themselves at birth. All of this however, is nothing new to you my fellow Angels."

Haldir smiled slightly.

"But unfortunately one other relic of our age survived. Ghede. Though Penance's other generals were dragged into the Demon World with him, Ghede was not present at the battle and so he survived. He broke into the elven burial grounds and removed our bodies long before Penances return, using his unholy knowledge of genetics to regenerate our bodies and also to graft our cells into his own, granting him some of the power of the Angels."
"So that's how he could Timeshift and shape-shift and all the rest of it..." Fariel mused.

"Lightning Edge from Revast...and Haldir's demonic shield - that must have been what gave him immunity to my demon magic." added Keiji. Haldir nodded.

He turned us into weapons to aid Penance's cause. Soulless abominations with which he hoped to destroy you. But we watched from the Farplane as he corrupted our former bodies and when you bested them in combat, we were able to come back from the Farplane and re-possess our bodies. And now we will fight alongside you to banish Penance once again. We may not have the power of the First Aeons, that honour has passed to you, but we retain all of our other abilities and they are at your disposal."
"Penance must be pretty frakking scared now!" Zell said cheerfully, banging the palm of his hand against the table in celebration, "His plan backfired rather spectacularly!"

"We'll have to act quickly," Neji said, leaning forward in his chair, "What should we do?"

"The situation is grim," Revast said, "Once again Penance has pushed his opponents back to their final refuge much as he did at Atellier and although he is weakened by your efforts he is rapidly recovering and his final onslaught is imminent. Time is running out to banish him and save Spira."
"We," Alia put in, "That is, we Atellian Angels, will fly to the ruins of Zanarkind and see if there are any Atellian artefacts still buried beneath the ruined city which might aid us. Then we can join your fight against Penance, or distract his bodyguards to make it easier for you to engage him."

"Tomorrow morning then," Neji said decisively, "Come on, we're going to need some sleep..."

All those gathered around the table stood up as one and most began to leave through the room's main door. Alia however remained standing with her hands on the back of her chair, staring at the second door through which Eevee had vanished about ten minutes before.

"Is everything alright?" Sorata asked her, turning back and noticing that Alia hadn't moved. He followed her gaze and guessed what she was thinking. He sighed. Being Ramuh's previous host, and with Ramuh as well as Tritoch having now passed to Eevee, he too felt a certain protectiveness towards the girl.

Alia began striding towards the door, and Sorata followed her.

* * *

Alia saw that Eevee's bedroom door was ajar, and pushed it gently open. She glanced around and quickly spotted Eevee sitting at the foot of her four-poster bed facing the newly-lit fireplace, just as she had been doing the previous night when fear of nightmares had kept her awake. However after nearly three days without sleep her energy reserves had completely run down and she had fallen asleep in spite of herself, slumped against the four-poster in her pyjamas with her hair still wet from the shower.

Alia shook her head and picked up Eevee's limp form from the foot of the four-poster before placing her gently down on her bed and tucking the embroidered duvet round her.

"Keiji and Eevee must be the youngest Angels in history," Alia whispered, "She's, what, 16? We can't blame her parents for wanting to protect her from Penance, whatever powers she might have had."
"Alia, you know age is not a determining factor for our kind."

"But still, to have to face Penance alone...to lose her parents..."

"Her parents died fighting Penance, and to protect her. She knows that."

"They can't protect her now though, can they?" Alia countered.

"Our kind are no strangers to loss. Neji and Fariel lost family and loved ones. Keiji lost his mother."

"But they can take solace in the knowledge they'll see them again in the Farplane. What about Feyd and Sonya, trapped in the Void?"

Sorata sighed, knowing there was no easy answer.

"For her age, she's strong. She'll cope, eventually."

"I don't want her to have to cope," Alia sighed, "I want her to be okay."

Eevee shifted restlessly in her sleep, giving what sounded like a dry sob. The nightmare was clearly on its way. Alia placed her hand over Eevee's forehead, closing her eyes as she did so. Eevee's movements subsided, and her expression became peaceful again as Alia cast a charm for dreamless sleep.

"It's strange," Sorata mused, "Our dreams were usually spent in communion with the First Aeons."

"Is she fighting them?" Alia asked, looking worried.

"No, I dont think so - but there is a part of her she seems to be shutting them off from, just like everyone else."

"She's not really trying to shut everyone out. She's trying to shut off her feelings. She doesn't want to be hurt any more."

"Yes. She isn't fighting her Aeons or her destiny as an Avenging Angel, on the contrary she's throwing herself into it as if she had nothing else to live for."

"I think that's probably how she feels."

-- Edited by [BOSS]Fenix at 19:42, 2007-06-09

Zell had just returned to his room after a much needed wash, now in his casual clothes he planned for once to sleep instead of train yet still on cautious side keep one of his pistols at his side, he started to open the door when he heard someone in his room, gripping his pistol he pressed himself against the door, he counted to three and burst through, but was releaved to see the person was Alia, she turned it him.

"Bad time?" Zell put his pistol back into it's hoister.

"Nah women are alway welcome here," he smiled

"Ah and is that how you treat every women who you find in your room,"

"Most of them," he said sarcastically, "But umm why are you in my room?" Alia looked around the room.

"I like it, think I might stay here tonight,"

"Ha, not likely, this room was left to me, you can stay with the other Atellians angels,"

"Nah, Haldir snores,"

"Alrite, must be an elf thing, trust me I lived with them for 17 years, but seriously why are you here?"

"Oh so cold, and straight to the point,"

"I've had a long day,"

"Very well just wanted to say how impressive you are," Zell raised an eyebrow, "You defeated me and also claim to have defeated Gaget, not bad for a non angel,"

"I ain't just a pretty face,"

"Also, I'd like to see your armor up close," Zell shurgged his shoulders, their nothing he loves more than showing off his work.

"Ah typical women more interested into material value, very well," Zell walked to the window his armor hanging outside, airing out, he picked up the armor and brought it before Alia who immediatly took it from and examined it.

"Impressive, feels comfy,"

"I put alot of work into it,"

"It's Atellian,"

"Yeh but not just Atellian,"

"Bit of Machina? is it?"

"Umm yeh,"

"The study metal plates a mix of dark matter and normal metal, the result a very heavy but strong armor, the dark matter in unstable and can cause problems to skin, there for small cuts are used, and you put in some Machina metal to protect your skin along with comfy material, nobody likes cold metal,"

"Umm, yeh, ho-"

"The armor is comfy powerful but not perfect, although you can avoid what could be a possible fatal injury it isn't full prove, their for the armor being flexible and light is vital so you can evade which is prefered, but still the dark matter metal provides excellent protection from physical attacks,"

"you know quite abit,"

"You'r not the only who ain't just a pretty face," Alia winked, "But this, I'm sure this is your secret weapon," Alia raised the crystal attacht the Zell's glove.

"It's also Atellian,"

"A cross between elf and Atellian, made crystal is made from mirror glass,"

"I never understood it really, a know how it works and how to use it, I just thought is was crystal's enchanted with reflect magic,"

"If it was reflect then it wouldn't be able to store the energy would it?" Alia smiled, Zell shrugged his shoulder again.

"It was only a guess, hey! what are you doing?" Zell protested as Alia started to put on the armor.

"Trying it on silly," Zell couldn't do anything to stop her and instead sat back on a chair. The armor was far to big for her and hung loosely. She smile and did a victory pose mocking Zell's attitude whenever he wins a fight and gave him a thumps up.

"The free spirted angel, surpose theirs always gotta be one," Zell smiled amused. Alia removed the armor and tossed it to Zell.

"You can good gear Zell, your armor your weapons,"

"Wait till you see me airship,"

"Maybe another time, but now seriously Zell," Alia walked up to Zell and took his hand, "The crystal you have is powerful and will be a great use in the future, but it has a back lash," Alia gently opened his palm, in the center was darkened skin smouldered.

"I know to much energy causes the crystal to overheat and burn my skin,"

Alia gently put her finger on the burnt spot and it lit up fading away.

"Thanks," Zell said looking into Alia's eyes, she returned the gaze and smiled, razing her other hand he began to ruffle up his hair.

"Loving the hair," she said before walking to the door, she turned around, "Night night Blondie,"

"I'd say it more fair," Alia opened the door "Thought you were staying here the night?"

"Maybe another time," she said winking and closing the door behind her, leaving Zell alone a gleaming smile appeared on his face and he struck a victory pose.

"Oh yeh, I'm the man," he said before jumping into bed delighted and creeping off to sleep.

(With all the doom and gloom thot we need something a little more light hearted plus Zell's the man, had to show of his greatness)

The wolf sat quietly on the roof of the manor, although the two angels had joked about teaching each other a few tricks they opted against it to get some rest for the following day, but something was nagging at Fariels conscience that stopped her from sleeping.A light drizzle breezed over past her as a light shower begun.

Fariel was about to call out to her Aeon when her name was heard no more then a whisper over the wind.Her wolven ears swirled to pin point the direction the voice had come from, then it was there again, she looked down at the dented radio sitting between her paws and watched as the red light blinked on and off as the whisper appeared.

"Fari..." There it was again.

Fariel hesitated; she wasnt imagining it, "Larek?" She choked, the whisper sounded as if it were full of sadness, it could have been a trick of the frequency because of the long distance, but that nagging feeling returned."I need to go to Kebel."She said aloud, as if telling herself she had to go, she half expected objections from Leviathan but she could tell he was feeling uneasy about the voice on the radio as well.

Her attention was distracted from her Aeon as she saw Laguna running down the drive looking around desperately, then he called her name, obviously he had heard the voice and was as concerned as she saw.Changing to dragon form she abandoned the radio and swooped down from the rooftop, Laguna yelled objections as Fariels clawed foot grabbed him and took him into the sky with her.He climbed onto her back but didnt need to ask where she was heading, he knew already.

oo0oo

The skies were void of anything living as the dragon neared Mt Gagazet, what disturbed her though was the smell of smoke and blood getting stronger.

Falling from her high altitude Fariel circled down and landed on the centre flat of Kebel, Laguna slid off her scaled back as she changed into her normal form.

They stood in silence as they looked upon the horrific scene, bodies littered the area and smoke was fuming out of a few of the branching tunnels.

Movement caught the corner of Fariels eye and she saw Breezer, bloodied and taking in jagged breaths.Fariel was by his side in a blink of an eye, her hands moved to his chest wound, he had been stabbed; it had gone through his lung."Breezer..."She whispered touching his cheek, he looked at her through blurred eyes and breathed words, she had to lean in to hear them.

"Custodians...no warning, they tore through without, warning."He coughed, Fariel began to weave a healing spell but he weakly moved her hands away, "Too late, save Larek"

"Larek." She breathed, "Where is he, do you know?2

"Chased away by the bastards," Fariel looked to Laguna, but then past him, a team of six custodians marching in two rows were coming towards them through one of the tunnels.

Something in Fariel snapped then, seeing their faces made her blood boil.First her chocobo partner, her Crusader colleagues, her parents and now this.No more!She growled, her wave swords wiped out their sheaths and were flung through the air, their leather bindings unravelled as they flew, their ends wrapped around Fariels hands.

Before the Custodians could react the two at the front were skewered on her swords and dragged forwards as the swords were torn out their torsos and back to Fariel.Laguna backed off a few feet and drew his swords.The remaining four didnt know where to look, at Fariel or the closer Laguna.

Typically they split into two groups, two went for Laguna and the other two went for Fariel.Laguna darted out the way of an oncoming sword and clashed the second mans with his own.

Fariel didnt waste her time, one of her swords wiped out again.The custodian it was aimed at rose his sword to meet it but it was only a distraction from the other sword that shot through his torso, the man charging towards Fariel at his side faltered, only catching a glimpse of the first sword as it swung around and lodged itself into the mans neck.

"Fariel, where are you going?!"Laguna yelled after her as she disappeared into one of the tunnels.Slashing down the one remaining custodian before him he perused quickly.

oo0oo

Larek slid down the wall clutching the large gash that covered his chest, one of many wounds; his other hand gripped a bloodied radio.In front of him, looking just as battered stood Sheana, feebly holding a half-conscious Rico up, Dante and Kale were there also.Dante fell to one knee and breathed heavily, his many wounds taking their toll.They had been chased into the dead end after a gruelling battle that they had obviously lost.

They didnt even suspect that anyone else was alive, and they had given up their last hopes that Fariel was going to come to the rescue.They knew that a large group of Custodians were right behind them, they were out of places to run to, supplies to aid them, and certainly people alive to save them.

They readied their weapons; the group of custodians flooded in and started to surround them, "LAREK!"All the custodians spun around as their centre section was sent sprawling as a small tidal wave crashed into them, "Get the hell away from them you heartless fraks!"Fariel growled.

"I knew she would come." Larek closed his eyes.

The custodians that didnt stand up again after Fariels water attack where the lucky ones, the remaining fell prey to an onslaught of blades and magic from the Angel.The battle was short lived and only Fariel was left standing at its end, blood splattered on her clothes and dripping off her swords.She sighed in relief as she saw the small band of survivors, but her eyes quickly focused on Larek, his eyes were closed, Fariels swords clattered on the stone floor as she rushed to Lareks side, casting futile healing spells upon his wounds.

"Larek," She cried, "Dont you dare die," tears rolled down her cheeks, as she cast her healing spells she could feel his disintegrating condition, she knew it was pointless to try and save him but she continued despite the fact."Larek, open your eyes, open your frakking eyes!"She yelled, the other survivors lowered their eyes as they watched the sad scene.

"Fari..." Larek whispered, "Thank you."He managed a smile; Fariel wrapped her arms around his neck and threw healing spells into him but to no anvil.

Laguna walked in just as Fariel laid Larek down onto the stone floor and leant down to kiss his cold lips.Fariel rose in silence to her feet, she heard footfalls echoing down the tunnels towards them, more custodians burst into the room. Fariel spun around, anger and pain etched across her face, "DIE!"She growled, blue fire shot out, the screams of the custodians died quickly as all trace of them disappeared into the flames.

Tears were rolling down Fariels face, everyone remained silent, none dare say a word.The invading custodians were soon fleeing in a terrified state for the calm lands from Fariels wrath.

oo0oo

A couple hours had passed before Fariel returned to the others, in the tunnels, Laguna and Sheana were healing the wounded as more survivors made their way to the cave.Feeling a little safer knowing that Fariel was back, but little did they know that not one of the invading custodians had left Kebels space breathing.

To make a point, Fariel had flown to the Calm Lands with one of the dead custodians and dropped him outside Penances castle before heading back.

It will be sunrise in a couple hours Fariel; you should head back to Bevelle and inform the others. Leviathans words were quiet; he knew Fariel wasnt in the mood for him to boss her around.

I'm well aware, Ill get Laguna and head back Fariel answered looking across the room to Larek were he laid, moving through the groups of survivors she knelt down beside him, she drew a small ring out of her pocket and slid it onto her finger, "Im sorry I was late...I promised to protect you and I failed...I guess Ill have to live out both our lives...I love you."Forcing back her welling emotions she stood and turned away from him, "Laguna, were going back.Sheanatake care of everyone. " The pair she had addressed nodded; Laguna was quick to her side, "Lets go."

oo0oo

To Fariels surprise General Beni was walking the gardens of the Manor when she returned, she dismissed Laguna and approached The Guard leader, "Gerald."She said simply, "Youll be happy to know that Kebel is no longer" She took a breath, just saying it made her feel uneasy.

"How, when, why?" The general was not at all comforted by this news; a pang of sadness filled him as he saw Fariels face.

Penance" sent a small army in a few hours ago, practically nothing is left."She informed him, keeping composure, although it was difficult.

"Werent there any survivors?"He regretted asking because his only response was Fariel turning and flying away towards the manor.

Bevelles next, isnt it? Fariel asked Leviathan

Most certinallyWas the reply.

-- Edited by [BOSS]Asreal at 00:08, 2007-06-11

-- Edited by [BOSS]Asreal at 00:09, 2007-06-11

<ooc -  Bloody hell...anyway, this happens shortly before the meeting>

Jacen stood at the top of Bevelle's southern wall, his hands resting on the parapet, oblivious to the Guardsmen who moved around him patrolling the wall. Stretching all across the southern peninsula were Penance's troops, covering the rocky ground like a vast black carpet, torches flickering luridly in the evening light.

"Thousands of the bastards..." Jacen murmured to himself. The northward horizon he knew would present a similar picture, with the other half of Penance's army hemming them in from the north. Hazy shapes on the seaward horizon marked Penances fleet maintaining their distant but tight blockade.

"Completely surrounded..."

"You might say that just lets you attack in any direction you like."

Jacen turned and saw Zell climbing the narrow stone steps to join him atop the wall.

"We've been wondering where you were. Don't stare at Penance's army for too long, it'll only depress you."

Jacen looked at Zell steadily, not sharing his good humour.

"Don't worry Jacen, with Neji and co on our side we've always got a chance. Sure we're surrounded, the supplies that Kebel is sending us through their tunnel network are nowhere near enough, our food stocks are limited and General Beni and his crew are in the dark as to what the enemy is planning coz there's about a dozen different ways they could attack the city...but there's nothing we can do about that."
"Actually..." Jacen said slowly, suddenly looking up and assessing the broken terrain that separated Bevelle from the demon army, "There's a lot of cover out there; I reckon it'd be possible to sneak up to Penance's lines and find out what he's doing."

"You're joking, right?" Zell said, looking at him incredulously, "Beni already thought of that and the first scouts he sent out didn't come back!"

"I could do it."
"No you couldn't. Penance has set picket lines all over the place and his demons have got a sixth sense or something...they're almost impossible to hide from."
"We managed it in Guadosalam."
"You're mad."

Jacen merely cracked a lop-sided smile.

"It's not as if the Guard will let you pass the city gates anyway - no-one's allowed in our out," Zell persisted as they turned and began walking back down the stairs to ground level.

"If I can evade demons I think I can evade the Guard..." Jacen muttered under his breath.

"Say what?" said Zell, then looked down at his watch, "Frak, I'm supposed to be at the meeting with Alia and the rest!

He picked up the pace, jogging back towards the manor. Jacen, who had no need to hurry, lagged behind.

"Don't try it, Jace." Zell called back over his shoulder as he ran. Once again Jacen merely smiled. He let Zell continue to run off ahead, and once he was round the corner and out of sight Jacen followed, also heading back to the Stead Mansion so he could pick up his rifle and knives.
<ooc - I'm posting as I write, so the rest will come soon>

<ooc - this will come after Bryn's last post, the time delay is explained>

Only when he had reached the walls of Bevelle did Jacen allow himself to relax. He had crawled most of the way back, occasionally standing to sprint to the next available cover, and as a result his clothes were muddy and his hands bleeding. He stood up and looked behind him, and breathed a sigh of relief to see there were no signs of pursuing demons. More than once he had been sure he would be trapped and discovered, but his stealth and more than a little luck had seen him through.

He couldn't relax yet though. He began running round towards the dock, looking to get back into the city the same way he had got out. Now he wasn't solely focussed on survival, he began to worry about what he had heard.

Custodians, fighting for Penance in the belief that he was Sin reborn? "The prophet" Ghede? And worst of all, Kebel was about to be attacked - probably already under siege. He cursed his delay as he re-entered the city and sprinted down the side streets towards the Stead Mansion, having to avoid the main thoroughfare because of the Guard curfew which was in effect - if any patrolling Guardsmen spotted him, he'd be arrested.

I've got to warn Fariel!

He saw the open square in front of the walled manor's gate up ahead and slowed, flattening himself against a building wall. He swore under his breath - two Guardsmen stood outside the gate, and the wall was too high to climb.

Thinking fast, Jacen ducked into the alleyway behind the large building and unslung his rifle. He fired a single shot into the air.

As soon as he heard the screams from nearby windows and the alarmed shouts of the two Guardsmen, Jacen ducked and ran, skirting round the other side of the building so he broke into the square just as the Guardsmen disappeared up the main thoroughfare looking for the place the shot had come from. Jacen sprinted for the gate, knowing he might only have a few seconds. He threw his rifle through the gate first then leapt up and grabbed the bars, pulling himself up and somersaulting over the top so that he landed in a crouch on the other side. He immediately dived sideways behind the wall, out of sight, and pulled his rifle in after him. The shouting outside continued. Slowing his breathing, Jacen stood and checked his watch. He swore loudly - it was almost dawn, he had been delayed over 2 hours by being forced to evade Penance's demons. Anything could have happened in that time.

He sprinted across the mansion grounds. Now he was back inside the Stead manor he didn't need to worry about stealth.

"Fari!" he shouted, "Fariel, where are..."

He pulled up short as he saw a solitary figure kneeling in the middle of the garden, her hands over her head and her wings dragging limply across the ground.

"FARI!" he yelled again, "Custodians! Penance sent them to attack Kebel! They might be there already! They..."

The words stuck in his throat when Fariel slowly stood up and turned towards him. The entire front of her top, as well as her trousers, arm warmers and the skin of her arms and face, was covered with blood.

"Frakking Farplane..."

"You're a bit slow on the uptake, Jacen." she said in a hollow voice.

One look at her tear-stained face and the realisation hit Jacen like a hammer. He was too late. Much too late.

"Sweet Aeons, Fari..." he stammered, the words he was trying to say backing up like a logjam in his throat, "I'm...If I hadn't been delayed..."
"Don't bother Jacen," Fariel said bitterly, "Just go."
"Look, Fari...I..."

He was cut off by a small column of water that blasted into the ground just in front of him, forcing him to jump back and showering him in ice-cold spray.

"Frak. Off." Fariel said quietly in a very dangerous voice.

Jacen turned away.

Tavna ducked and weaved, skipping lightly through the minefield of exploding Demon Balls. Shuruk'jaar swiped backhand at her with his claws but she ducked, came up and ran up the demon's armoured chest, backflipping off and knocking him back. Catching his balance Shuruk'jaar let out an angry growl and punched one razor-ended wing towards her. It merely cracked against a rock behind her as she flipped over his head, stiletto dagger flashing in the early morning light. Shuruk'jaar twisted and sparks flew as he turned the blade aside with his armoured forearm. Tavna landed and as she spun to face Shuruk'jaar her dagger flicked out; Shuruk'jaar stepped back and the blade sang through the air a harmless 6 inches in front of his neck. Tavna stepped forward to continue the attack but ran into the demon's fist as he suddenly sprang off his back foot in a fast uppercut. The assassin staggered, caught herself and lunged, but hit only air as Shuruk'jaar disappeared in a swirl of black, rematerialising behind her. Tavna whirled but the demon's hand slammed forward, his clawed fingers closing around her throat and lifting her off the ground while his other hand seized her knife arm and held it out the way. He began to close his fist, baring his elongated canines in a sinister smile as Tavna began to make stifled choking sounds.

But the assassin thought fast; unable to break Shuruk'jaars vice-like grip she flicked the dagger up out of her trapped hand, caught the cartwheeling blade in her free hand and rammed it down into the demon's arm, the narrow blade biting deep into the joint in his armour at the inside of his elbow. Shuruk'jaar roared in pain and released Tavna, purple blood seeping through his fingers as he clutched his injured arm. Tavna fell to the ground and backflipped away, landing on her feet as the demon let out a snarl and came sprinting towards her. He lashed out in a spinning slash but Tavna dived underneath both his fists and rolled past him. Shuruk'jaar kicked out backwards and sent the assassin sprawling; Tavna rolled onto her back and had just pulled up her knees to flip back onto her feet when Shuruk'jaar's blade-tipped wing came scything down, punching through her chest just below the breastbone. The assassin's eyes opened wide in silent shock and she coughed up blood as the demon hoisted her up into the air in victory, but in a last act of defiance Tavna slashed her knife at the wing that had impaled her, the stilleto ripping through the leathery membrane. Roaring in anger Shuruk'jaar flicked his wing so that the dying assassin was thrown aside like a rag doll.

Breathing heavily he furled his damaged wings away behind his back and looked up. More and more pirates were joining the battle, driving his demons back. A group of them came pounding towards him, Soven at their head. Shuruk'jaar growled and faded away in a ripple of fire - all around his remaining serpent demons followed suit and teleported away from the hopeless fight.

"Frakkin' wimps..." muttered Soven as he slowed to a walk and sheathed his sword. He gazed down indifferently at Tavna's bloodied corpse, then abruptly registered a sudden pang of sorrow that his past self would not have felt. He looked away, turning his eyes instead on a bloodstained Tanoj.

"How many'd we lose, 'Noj?"

"Well the Claw went down with all hands near the start o' the fight, add to that another 20, maybe 30 casualties? But compared to the mess we made o' the bad guys we've no done too badly at all."
"Aye, coulda been a lot worse." agreed one of the Shadows from behind Tanoj.

Soven looked towards the city and saw a few dazed mutants still milling around in the scorched scrubland, unable to escape the same way as the demons. Anger gripped him.

"C'mon boys, there's a bit more fightin' to be had yet!"

* * *

After dispatching the mutants who had been trapped between his troops and Bevelle, Soven immediately headed for the besieged city, strolling casually up the pile of loose rubble into the breach to be met by awed Guardsmen and Ronso shock troopers.

"No a bad job if you ask me." Soven joked as he walked past them.

"You're insane," a junior Guard officer said to him with a mixture of fear and awe, "Do you know how risky it was to drop right into the middle of the enemy army like that?"

Soven turned to look at the man, adopting a mock-thoughtful expression.

"Aye, I'm pretty sure the answer to that one is 'yes'. But lookie here mate, do you know how effective it can be to drop-assault an ongoing ground attack?"

"I...er..." the Guardsman faltered, lost for words.

"See for yourself," Soven said, putting an arm round the officer's shoulder and steering him up to the top of the pile of rubble so they could look out through the breach at the broken ground beyond, where his Shadows were carrying their wounded back into the airships and flying for the safety of the city before Penance's army could regroup.

"Observe the debris, the pleasant lack of incoming fire, and the arses of many demons fleeing for safety."

He clapped the officer on the back, turned and began walking down the street, a hundred more important things on his mind. He had to find that Summoner - time was running out for Promise. He clenched his fists in anger. That bastard Soren was going to pay.

<ooc - that is, if he hasn't already...dunno how the Soven/Soren fight in Sheol is gonna go yet>