Colin's posts

Gabriel was silent, before shaking his head.

He said no more, and he and Uriel disappeared in a pillar of light, leaving Zeke and his mother alone.

"...Mom?" he said.

"Are... you all right?" he asked.

He didn't specify. He didn't need to.

He didn't want to.

He just wanted to know if she was all right. Or if she WOULD be all right.

Zeke paused for a moment.

".....Erica?" he asked.

"But... but she wouldn't do such a thing..." he said.

"At least, not on purpose..." he went on.

"And this doesn't seem to fit what she does." he then said further. "She normally amplifies emotions. This seems to be... well, taking what one is deep down at the core, amplifying it, and making it negative." he went on.

"....but... she DOES have her new demonic mana..." he then realised.

"I'll leave you to figure this out." Gabriel interjected.

"It won't be long before my brother wakes up." he reasoned.

Ryker just smiled and sighed.

"Fair." he replied.

He then proceeded to serve Eke a heaping plate of food, handing it to him.

"Here you go." he said.

"Dig in."

"Ah... I see..." Zeke responded.

"Well, that... makes sense..." he admitted.

"See mana. That is odd. But very handy." Gabriel commented, before picking up Uriel and slinging him over his shoulder.

"But who could have touched him?" Zeke wondered.

"A feminine handprint on his wrist?" he continued.

"Who would have touched him there recently, and when?"

Zeke blinked a couple of times.

"...marked?" he asked.

"On his wrist?" he asked further.

"Wait, what do you mean 'marked'?" he then inquired.

"I can't see anything on him." he told her.

"Neither can I." Gabriel commented.

"However... I get the distinct feeling you can see a lot of what others cannot." he then muttered.

"On that note." Zeke interjected.

"Why DO you have your eyes uncovered?" he asked her. "Shouldn't you be getting a monster of a migraine?"

There was silence for a moment, before Zeke coughed lightly.

"Ah... Hazel?" he said.

"Which one?" he asked.

"There's... there's two of them there." he told her.

Gabriel, meanwhile, just narrowed his eyes as he regarded Hazel.

"You..." he said.

"You are... hm." he mumbled.

"You're pretty much a messed-up guinea pig, aren't you?" he asked bluntly.

Gabriel just turned and made his way back to Uriel.

"I cannot." he said.

"I don't even know why." he told her.

"However, I WILL agree that his behaviour is very unlike him." he then admitted.

"Such a strict policy is more Raphael's style. And Uriel and Raphael generally don't get along because of that." he went on.

"However, if we DO find anything... you will be notified." he then assured her.

"For now, I'll take him home so we can at least keep him from taking actions that would cause the boss to unmake and remake him." he finished.

"............." Gabriel was silent for a moment, before he stepped over his brother, approaching her.

Zeke looked like he wanted to intercept, but a sharp glance from the archangel stopped him in his tracks.

Gabriel then looked down at Aimee, before swiftly grabbing her arm... right where her injury was.

Instantly she felt an immense surge of sharp stinging pain run through her body... but as soon as it happened... it disappeared. As well as the burning that she had been feeling before.

After about 15 seconds, he let go, and she found that she had a nasty looking scar on her arm, but she felt no more pain at all.

"Only my brother can remove that scar." he informed her.

"But I can at least relieve you of the pain it causes."

Before anyone could say anything, there was a pillar of mana in the middle of the room, and when it dissipated, there was an archangel there.

Gabriel.

He looked around, before his eyes rested on Azazel.

"I'd suggest scramming." he told him. "You know I tolerate demons, but in no way get along with them." he said.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Azazel responded, quickly leaving and shutting the door behind him.

"...." Gabe was then silent, before looking at Aimee.

Specifically, her wound.

"....Uriel did that to you, didn't he?" he asked.

Azazel shook his head.

"No, I don't." he said.

"There's no way to properly hold him in this realm." he told her.

"We'd need someone to come down here and grab him." he went on.

It was at that point, Zeke started to have a massive headache.

"Agh!" he exclaimed.

"What is it!?" Azazel asked him.

"Oh... one of... my uncles just... invaded my mind with telepathy, essentially." Zeke responded in a strained tone.

"Says someone will be down to pick Dad up..."

Zeke and Azazel instinctively took a bit of a step back from her, before Azazel spoke.

"I don't know." he said.

"Something weird's been happening here." he told her.

"Ilias attacked Mira, Roxie seduced a crap-ton of people, Ash was here earlier and his rune went nuts, Sierra's been crying and lightly wailing more and more as of late..." he listed off.

"And now THIS." he said further.

"I'm starting to think something HERE is causing people to go nuts."

"What am I going to do?" Uriel asked.

"Simple." he said.

"My holy DUTY!" he declared, as he started to charge up mana in both his hands.

As he did this, his eyes started to flare up with angelic mana and archangel rage... but it was suddenly dulled... almost immediately... as black 'steam' started to rise from his back, and he collapsed to his knees, revealing Azazel, who had just barged into the room.

And Azazel seemed to exude an aura of power and strength that Aimee and Zeke had never seen before.

"An action that would have had you unmade." Azazel commented to the unconscious Uriel.

Uriel now looked extremely angry.

"Reverse it?" he asked.

"WHY would I do such a thing?" he asked her.

"YOU are spending valuable time and resources to locate a damned DEMON, and the BOY here was colluding with one, earlier!" he said. "Bedding down with a succubus!" he continued.

"It's a disgrace!" he spat.

"The both of you may as well swear allegiance to Elizabeth, herself!" he declared, his mana flaring up around him.

Zeke could see that Aimee was in pain. Uriel was hurting her.

His father was hurting his mother... and that was stirring up a LOT of emotions within him.

"And you dare to insinuate that that... THING... is anywhere CLOSE to family for me." Uriel growled at her.

"THAT is unforgivable." he declared, as he started to form an orb of mana in his other hand.

That was when a small speak of white mana flew into Uriel's wrist, It embedded itself in it, causing Uriel to cry out a bit, and also causing his grip to loosen just enough for Aimee to yank her arm out of his grasp.

"Stop it!" Zeke yelled, tears welling up in his eyes.