Colin's posts

The man just sighed.

"I did not ask them to come and attack you." he said. "If anything, them doing this has just made things worse." he lamented, shrugging and shaking his head a little.

"Lord... Michael..." one of the Fallen whose halos Sydney had stolen started to say. "Please... for... forgive..." he started to say further, before Michael sharply glared at him.

"Do us both a favour." he said to Sydney.

"Crush that halo." he told her, pointing to the one on her left wrist.

The one that was standing there was... an impressive male specimen, she couldn't deny. He looked quite built, imposingly tall, and his long black hair looked pretty good as well. She also noticed he had a halo over his own head as well... but this one was glowing more brightly than the others, and it appeared to be chipped instead of cracked. And his gaze was piercing, as well.

"...so, you ARE ignorant." he said.

"You've been chosen to succeed her, and yet you know nothing about afterlife affairs." he continued.

"The underworld must be in a sorrier state than I imagined, if YOU'RE the one Elizabeth chose as her successor." he then spat at her.

"As for what I want... right now, I want you gone." he finished.

Once the halo had been removed, the Fallen seemed to just... crumple. He laid on the floor, weak as a slug.

"N-no..." he stammered.

As he said that, Sydney felt the halo in her hand... and it throbbed with strength and power. So much so, that when she grabbed onto the other one, she felt IMMENSE power starting to flow through her.

However, that was quickly dwarfed by a massively powerful presence that she immediately became aware of... seconds before she heard slow clapping.

"Bravo. Bravo." a male voice said, from seemingly all around.

"You've taken care of the trash."

The Fallen didn't seem to react to her using the portal, but just as she was about to grab it, yet another crashed through a nearby window, tackling her and wrenching her arm from within the portal.

The two of them tumbled across the floor, ending with Sydney on her back, and the Fallen on top of her, brandishing a dagger.

"Michael says you are a cockroach among worms." he told her.

"So we will rid him of the pests that ire him." he reasoned.

The person's wrist was clearly twisted, but they had enough wherewithal to notice she was trying to hook their halo.

They may have been a Fallen. They have have hated Heaven, Hell, and everything in between. But they knew that their halo was the key to their existence as a Fallen. And they did NOT want to become a demon. Not yet.

As such, they grabbed it with their good hand, and literally barreled into Sydney, skewering themselves with the sword, knocking her down to the floor, and rolling away from her in pain.

"Shut it." they hissed.

"You're nothing before what we are."

As she ran through the house, she head her assailant screaming out in pain, which brought a small smirk to her face. However, the satisfaction was, sadly, short-lived, as she suddenly sensed something ELSE.

She stopped JUST as a door in front of her swung open, and a small sword swung out from it, barely missing her.

If it hadn't been for her hunter and vampire instincts, her head might have been very well lopped off.

"Damn. the shadowed figure cursed, only their hair illuminated...

...by the faint light of a cracked halo.

No sooner had she stopped to listen, the footsteps stopped. And it was silent. Almost eerily silent.

So she went back to making her coffee... when he heard the footsteps again. Again she stopped, and again, all she heard was silence. So she started up AGAIN, and AGAIN she heard the footsteps. But she continued to work, stopping after 10 seconds, and the steps stopped as well.

She wasn't hearing things.

There were DEFINITELY footsteps. And they were close.

Just as she readied herself for anything... a figure leaped out from one of the doorways and charged straight at her. One that had a cracked halo above their head.

"For now." Ash said.

"We need to be ready to defend ourselves at a moment's notice." he reasoned.

"Indeed." Lindsay agreed.

"I'll tell you one thing, though, I don't envy Sydney right now." Ash then said.

"She's pulling double-duty as the main medic at Lux, AND has a major role in all this as one of the heads of the Triad."

"Not easily for sure." Ash chuckled.

"But... yeah, things are a bit hectic." he mumbled.

He then shook his head and sank into a nearby chair.

"...really wish I knew what to do here." he muttered.

"But I barely won against ONE Fallen." he lamented.

"...ONE Fallen, WITH a heavenly sword." Lindsay corrected him.

He nodded.

"She did." he said.

"She'll keep her ears to the ground, so to speak." he told her.

"And... well... her and Addison are stressed." he then mumbled.

"To understate it." he said further.

"But they're managing. They're just hoping that the Argento line isn't worth the attention of the Fallen."

Ash just sighed heavily.

"Wunnaful." he mumbled.

"Well, lemme know if there's anything I can do for you, culinary-wise." he said.

"The guild is... majorly scaling back operations, and I'm still technically recovering, so I find myself with a lot of spare time on my hands." he told her.

"So whatever you want. Lemme know, I'll make it for you." he insisted.

"Anything to help make whatever this is a little more bearable."

"Well, if you lay low here, it might buy you some time." Lindsay said.

"It depends on if the Fallen were specifically targeting you and seeing you out, or if it was more of an attack of opportunity." he told her. "Unfortunately, the only way to tell is to... well... wait." he sighed.

That's when he felt the familiar mana of his brother in the kitchen.

"I'm back!" he called, making his way to where his brother and wife were.

"Hey." he greeted Ashleigh.

"Still feeling like garbage?" he asked.

At that moment, she could see the spark of intellectual curiosity in Lindsay's eyes. She'd brought up a virtually unknown part of her past, and the possibilities... the conjecture... it was swirling in his mind.

He looked almost positively giddy... but then seemed to mentally ground himself.

"I see." he said.

"I suppose we could ask your mother." he told her. "...after all THIS nonsense is done, of course..." he mumbled.

"Or... should we not?" he then asked.

"Is that a... sore spot, I guess?"

"...really, now." Lindsay replied.

"Tapped into something you don't think you've EVER tapped into before?" he asked.

"And an avalanche of rocks..." he went on.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Fascinating." he continued.

"So... you're saying YOU caused that avalanche, potentially?"