A Cry in the Dark [chi/open]

[Deleted]

As Nona flew through the sky, she could feel the seething grip that evil had on this city, even though she was miles above it. Her brow furrowed, the loss of innocence blatant in this horrid place. She shed a small tear, her heart breaking over the happenings that she had been called forth to subdue. Her great white wings soared through the evening sky, the dusky air feeling heavy upon her shoulders.

She landed on top of a building, from the look of it, a dilapidated old hospital. Many windows were broken and there was a keen smell of death about the place-- a depressing sight, indeed. She folded her wings close to her body, their feathers lightly blowing around in the breeze. She leaned against the edge of the railing, a thick metal bar that surrounded the top of the roof, and looked out upon the place she had been called to protect. In the distance, she could hear a pair of church bells ringing, and that soothed her troubled mind. One of her hands played with the fabric of her white silk skirt, the hem of which reached her feet while the other laid rested upon the silver and crystal charm that had never left her person since the time of Moses. Her finger tips ran over the etching of her heavenly name--the name she was given upon her creation--while her halo of golden hair whipped in the air.

She released the charm from her grasp and let out a sigh, the sound of a flurry of birds taking wing putting a smile back on her flawless face. She, herself stepped up onto the railing and took off, her beauteous wings taking her were she pleased.

She had plans to meet another elder angel, Zadkiel, at a diner that was not too far from where she was now. She turned wing and headed north, her eyes closing in sheer joy at the feeling of being in flight. Landing in a back alleyway--not wanting to scare any of the mortal passerby's--she spotted the diner right across the street from where she stood, her skirt blowing in the breeze. She played with the hem of her shirt, a casual white tank top that allowed a view of her well toned arms. She looked into the window, not wanting to enter the place unless she was sure Zadkiel was there first. She crossed the street, trying to get a better look and she, thankfully, caught a glimpse of another pair of glorious white wings.

Putting a smile upon her handsome face, she entered the establishment, the tiny bell giving a cheerful ding as the door whoosed closed behind her. A few human heads turned her way as she moved over to her target, the beautiful and kind Zadkiel. She was approaching him from behind, her wings laid close to her back, and she tapped him on the shoulder, saying, "God bless you, my treasured friend." It was Nona's typical greeting for one of the heavenly realm and she hadn't seen Zadkiel in ages.

[Deleted]

Malachi watched the dregs float aimlessly in the bottom of a still-hot cup of tea.

He always had been more of a tea-drinker than a coffee addict, perhaps because he'd been drinking tea since he got to earth and he never saw any reason to stop drinking the stuff. It was good, warm, fragrant, and opened a tired mind like his. The angel was usually always tired as a result of being constantly motivated by his dharma and a residual sense of guilt that he ought to be doing more besides. It suited him to be ceaselessly busy, but being in this town brought a whole new meaning to even Malachi's definition of 'tired.'

He was perched for the moment, though, on a stool at the bar of a diner out in the old, dilapidated outskirts. It was a quiet place, where visitors kept to themselves and the food was the kind of thing you ate out of exhaustion, poverty or desperation. The angel himself had nothing more than his cup of tea, but there was a distinct odor of meat and grease on the air.

The tinkle of a bell behind the winged man didn't give him cause to look up from his thoughts, but a tap on his back had him turning in his seat. Blue-grey eyes fell onto the figure of a perfectly beautiful blonde woman, dressed all in white, with those familiar white pinions at her back. The man's face grew into a warm smile at her greeting, to which he responded in kind.

"Yofiel! May His mercy abide with you, sister."

He rose, like a good gentleman, to greet her. The angel Zadkiel took one of her hands in both of his, obviously happy to see her. The two were been drawing looks at this point, from puzzled humans and overcurious nonhumans alike. The sight of a white angel in this town was rare enough, but to see two of them at once, especially in a place like this, was perfectly unheard of. It wouldn't be hard to figure out who they were, either, even if one couldn't see their wings. One was dressed in all white, the other in a white tee and khakis. They were both startlingly beautiful, and adressed eachother in a religious manner. Malachi hardly seemed to mind, though. Had anyone been of the mind to attack an angel that evening, they'd have done so before there were two of them there. He released her hand, his own falling into his pockets.

It was a testament to his time in this strange city that security was the only thing that came to Malachi's mind anymore regarding secrecy.

"It's good to see that the message came through. Welcome to Noctum, old friend..." He paused to study her, eyes catching the hint of moisture that still clung to her cheek, "Although perhaps you've already seen enough to know this isn't quite a welcoming place."

Although, if she couldn't see it from the town, a fellow angel could see the effect it had had on the long-suffering Malachi. His face, although beautiful and healthy as ever, held a sense of exhaustion and staunch righteousness that hardly came out when he was not under pressure. His wings, white with some burnishings of a coppery undertone that probably came from having been earthly so long, were still flecked with the long-lasting brown red of angel's blood. Chi's clothes were clean, but simple and easy to move in, a v-necked white tee shirt and a pair of khaki pants. The ancient bronze bracer endured on his right wrist, as did that odd, faded tattoo on his other arm, the number '141,592' which had been affixed on him since Zadkiel had last seen Yofiel. His eyes, though, were the same kind blue-grey as they had always been.

[Deleted]

She sat down across from her brother angel, the smile on her face dazzling. She'd never seen Zadkiel in his human form, and she was quite impressed, to say the least. He was indeed a beautiful man, and the human Nona loved to appreciate a well built man. His broad shoulders and muscled arms were an obvious indication that he took care of himself, but his beautiful face, and handsome smile were a sight to behold. The only thing that she could recognize about the beautiful angel were his white wings, spotted here and there with a light rusted color that looked startlingly like blood, and his easy, gray-blue eyes. It had been eons since the pair had met last, but she immediately felt comforted and welcomed by his presence.

"Yes, I came as soon as I was informed that you were in need of assistance. I am happy to be here to help, regardless of the coldness of this city and of those who inhabit it," she said, her voice dipping an octave.

A petite little waitress came up to them and asked Nona if she would like something to eat and she declined, requesting only a glass of ice water. The waitress nodded, glancing between herself and Zadkiel with a look of... Nona couldn't quite place it. Somewhere in between jealousy and disdain, but she couldn't be 100% sure. Human emotions, even in this mortal body of hers, were a mystery. The waitress harrumphed softly and then turned on her heel, glancing back at Zadkiel with a sly, plotting smile on her face. Nona rolled her beautiful cerulean eyes and then turned them in their full force back upon her friend.

"Zadkiel, the ladies man?" she asked with a grin, the little waitress's obvious display making her chuckle. "What are you going by these days? I'm rather decided upon Nonalee Stryder. I think it has a certain ring to it," she said, a twinkle in her eye as the waitress brought her the glass of water she'd requested. The blonde, beautiful angel ruffled her wings and thanked the girl, regardless of her venomous glares. She walked off once more and Nona took a small sip, hoping the drink hadn't been poisoned.

"I was in Brussels before I flew here," she said, running a few thin fingers through her golden locks. "There are some bad things going on in that city, but I've been told that Noctum is far worse." She took another sip of her water and smiled at Zadkiel, while she contemplated his beautiful eyes.

[Deleted]

Zadkiel had to laugh as the waitress looked away after affixing his tired, confused gaze with a sultry look. "Unwillingly, I think so, yes." He turned his eyes back to Yofiel, a highly amused grin on his face. "Nonalee Stryder? Yes, a very nice name. Much more creative than mine, I think. I just go by Malachi lately." It was always amusing to tell other angels that his earthly name was just a way of saying 'angel' in Greek.

He watched her drink for a moment, his mind floating back to simpler, Biblical times, when all one had to do to be a good angel was keep Abraham from stabbing his kid. Zadkiel's hand instinctively brushed the dagger at his waist at the thought, a small breath of air leaving him thoughtfully. So much had changed in a handful of millenia.

"Brussels? Really? Belgium was such a nice place the last time I was there, so refreshing. I imagine it's bustling and urban now there, though, as here...your American is very good for having just been abroad, by the way." Naturally, Malachi had not been in Brussels since 1880, when their independence was still fresh and the faces there hopeful and progressive. Malachi's eyes met Nonalee's cerulean ones and were trapped for a moment, bright blue meeting faded, demure blue. "This place is becoming a very serious problem, though. Slavery, interspecies warfare, high violent random crime...and to top it off, you would not believe who I had to deal with last week."

His brows raised as he glanced down to his tea, which was still, unfortunately, empty. "Do you remember Lailah, the angel of conception? She went missing quite a long time ago?" She was an elder angel like them-- Yofiel had probably met her at some point. "As it turns out, she'd fallen into Lucifer's hands...she was his consort, Sin of Lust. Anyway, long story short, she wandered into the church a few weeks ago with her memory wiped-- all of it, a real piece of work-- lost and confused. She's been trying to leave him ever since then, and it finally came to a head last week. He came. It was..." Zadkiel's eyes stared into Yofiel's, trying to impress on her how insane things were in this town lately. "It was...insane. He's an absolute madman."

[Deleted]

He couldn't simply ignore their presence, that would have been rude. Two children of god, those he hated so much because they were what he never was nor could ever be. His fist clenched gently, the sound of the leather gloves satisfactory to his ears. A devilish grin spread across his face as he he adjusted his glass upon the bridge of his nose, their coal black lenses shielding his glowing yellow eyes from light, and from exposure. Vanishing from where he stood outside, Memnoch would seemingly come from nowhere appearing within the building. Of course, the humans within would not be able to see him, only the two angels within. It had been so long since he'd come across one, their radiance causing nasuea within him which was induced by his own hatred for them.

Moving closer, he would sit somewhere nearby to eavesdrop on their conversation. It was not hard for one to recognize him however, his malevolent presence. He was created along side gods children, a balance, a saftey measure, yet he had strayed from his path and now he was a danger to everything that was. Part of him wanted to throttle them now, to attempt to tear them apart out of jealousy yet the more reasonable side of him wished to know what brought them together. While it was not uncommon for Angels to come together, it didn't happen just every day without a genuine reason. The curiousity sparked when he found them merely by accident, and so he would let his mind wander into the patrons, cloaking his existance to all but them.

"Lailah.." he thought to himself as he drummed his fingers on the table, he recalled that one all too well. Their conversation several months ago about collecting the sins, her attempts to cause him to slip off his path. She had tried to tempt him with lust, yet he was not subjected to such mortal desires. But what more keenly caught his attention was the mention of "Him". There was only one being that everyone commonly refered to as such, especially an Angel. "Lucifer is here?" he muttered quietly to himself. There were two people in this entire universe that he feared, knowing that they could imprison him. God, and Lucifer. It took one to imprison him, both to kill him.. but he was quite sure that Lucifer would never cooperate with God.

Vanishing once more, he'd reappear right next to them with a smirk on his face. "Evil is a point of view, is it not Zadkiel?" he asked as he appeared. His glasses would be removed as a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared upon their features. Oh they were beautiful, much more so then he had ever been or ever could be. The favorites, the ones who did not truly know what it was like to do his job. "On this lovely evening, might I inquire as to why two angels have gathered to speak of "Him" in such hushed reverant tones?" he asked with a chuckle. "Perhaps you'd care to elaborate on your encounter?" he asked. He could not be certain they would recognize him in this form, he had once been a radiant blonde haired man in silver armour bearing the mark of their God. Now he simply radiated evil, evil only felt in the most foul pits of hell.

[Deleted]

At the mention of Lailah, Nona raised a finely shaped eyebrow as she played with the rim of her glass. The angels Yofiel and Lailah had been very, very close once upon a time. That was until Lailah had vanished into thin air. The heavenly hosts had all been convinced that she was Fallen, but Yofiel wouldn't, couldn't believe it. She felt a small tear fall from her eye, a tear shed for lost and once beloved comrade but she quickly wiped it away before Malachi could notice.

"Lailah and I were, very close before she disappeared. I searched for her for a very long time before I was told to give up the hunt. Never would I have imagined she actually became a Fallen," Nona muttered, sighing. Her heart felt heavy, the goodness of her very nature was so weighed down in this wretched city, and she'd been there naught over an hour. When Chi mention Him, she perked her head up and her wings subconsciously moved around her, in a protective way. She took another sip of water before setting the glass down, her brow furrowing slightly.

But before she could say anything on the subject of the madness of Lucifer, a being phased into the air right in front of the pair, his aura seeped in malevolence, his terrible eyes glowing bright yellow. Nona gasped, the sudden intrusion startling her at first and then annoying her. Satan's minions were such a pain. Always with the theatrics. The hair on the back of her neck bristled and she could feel the sheer evil radiating from this creature.

"What business do you have with the bene ha'Elohim, vile serpent?" Nona spat, her wings tense at her back.

She was somewhat used to the stench of hell that demons exuded, but this creature was particularly smelly and she wrinkled her delicate nose at him, her natural disgust at all things evil making her very uncomfortable.

[Deleted]

Malachi felt his heart tug at Yofiel's reaction to his news regarding Lailah. "She was freed from the Son of Perdition, and lives now on the path back to her wings, but...it very nearly cost her her life. One of her wings is all but gone." The angel ran a hand behind his neck, feeling a bit anxious what with all this talk of Lucifer, their sworn enemy, and the memories of his meeting...along with the broken body of Lailah, drenched in blood and near dead in his arms. It was the most mangled he had ever seen one of their kind, including himself...and Zadkiel had been quite mangled at times.

But before he could steer their conversation onto something a bit less bleak, there was a rather rude intrusion. It was very sudden and Malachi almost felt like he'd had a heart attack he was so surprised at the demon's appearance. He heard Yofiel gasp at his side, and his wings, too, flinched slightly at the shock before spreading out somewhat behind him.

"Evil is a point of view, is it not, Zadkiel? On this lovely evening, might I inquire as to why two angels have gathered to speak of "Him" in such hushed reverant tones? Perhaps you'd care to elaborate on your encounter?"

"What business do you have with the bene ha'Elohim, vile serpent?"

Zadkiel's eyes locked onto the horrible yellow slits of the demon's as he calmly stood, wings stretching even more behind him. It had the effect of making him feel somewhat bigger in addition to the fact that he was a slight inch taller than the other man. The angel surveyed his antithesis with that same calm concern, hands easy at his sides but ready to move at moment's notice. Something about this man before him...he reeked of malintent, of course, as did most of demonkind; his synaesthetic empathic equivalent was an acrid, dirty taste in the angel's mouth and a feeling like a tight band squeezing around his upper arm. But there was still something about that face-- something familiar-- ah, damn. The elder angel couldn't place it, but he swore he knew the creature before him. And it knew his name, too... "You...I know you."

Evil is a point of view, evil is a point of view... Malachi knew there was something in that phrase that ought to remind him, but he couldn't figure it out. It bothered him immensely. What demons did he know by name? Not that many. It wasn't exactly the sort of company he often kept. The angel's brows creased in both thought and annoyance, finding it easy to look down his nose at this thing that absolutely reeked of evil. Zadkiel had a very hard time feeling fear for himself, and here, with two angels against one demon, he did not feel as though there was any real danger at hand. Not yet, anyway.

[Deleted]

A smirk slide across his features, quick to insults, quick to assumptions. While it was true, he could be called a demon, he was not keen on being mistaken as a servant of the pompous brat who resided in hell. Shaking his head slowly, his own ego would only grow as he did his job, and did it well. "It's always been so easy to get a rise out of your kind. Is this how you treat someone who has shown no ill will?" he asked slowly, his voice deep and full of sarcasm. "Here I was just simply curious as to what that brat wanted with Lailah. It's not often he ventures to the surface, especially not without something to gain." he spoke as he watched Zadkiel rise to his full height, taller then he was himself. A chuckle escaped his lips as he rose, it was obvious that he seemed confused, it was aparent even if he could not truly gleen any sort of thought.

Slowly Memnoch offered a mocking bow, looking up at the man as he did so. "Yes, yes you do." he replied with a grin. "Only those who were created first do, as my job was not exactly well known to the others." he said with a dark look upon his face. "Memnoch, the Peace Keeper. A being made purely to protect his precious humans from the fallen angels, from demons." he spoke as his eyes started to glow brighter. Intense emotion often reflected in his demonic eyes, the anger that dripped from his tone was apparent. "I want to know what happened, exactly. Your answer could very well determine what I do next, perhaps even save lives." he said with a laugh, obviously refering to the victims he would eventually torture this night. His favorite past time consisted upon driving people mad, namely teenagers, to the point of suicide.

"This city has gone mad, yet nothing is being done about this." he spoke slowly knowing full well that they would not agree. "Why is it that our father has not stepped himself? Why is it that I am allowed to destroy life after life with no consequence?" he asked them, his tone sounding oddly like he sought some sort of divine retribution. Out of instinct he'd raise a hand, forming his fingers into a small C shape which caused a nearby person to slowly begin to choke. "Relive this tale for me, tell me what happened during your encounter and I shall be on my way." he reiterated once more. "I'd hurry, from previous experiance they don't last long under these conditions."