Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ History and the Truth ( Chapter 81 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 81: History and the Truth

By: Melissa Norvell

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Keiji stared at the dying form in front of him and thought to himself about what had just happened. Ten Sao Tami had just died by his hand, along with the Demon Sword that Fife had lent to him. 'That was just pure luck. I was lucky to have won the fight.' He thought as the blood was sucked back into the blade of the weapon. It glowed a red color before it turned back into looking like a normal blade. Green eyes stared into the blade as the boy wore a perplexed look on his face. "This sword definitely has a mind of its own to know how to defeat him like that." Keiji spoke softly to himself as he closed his eyes. 'Thank you for your help, Demon Sword.'

Suddenly, there was an explosion of white light, so blinding that all the male could see was white. "Huh? What the-?" The boy's questioning was cut short as an angel appeared before him. The angel had four, long and slender white wings and was dressed in robes of mint green, white and gold. It was a rather effeminate angel with long, straight green hair that was all the same length and parted down the middle. The divine being floated above the ground and looked at him with saddened purple eyes.

"Who are you?" Keiji asked.

"My name is Zagzag…and I'm Ten Sao Tami's guardian angel," the winged being introduced itself in a voice that was neither masculine or feminine.

"What?" His green eyes widened upon hearing the angel's words. Ten Sao Tami's…What? He didn't even know that Ten Sao Tami had a guardian angel, and now that the old man was dead, he was face-to-face with one. What would happen now? Did this angel want to fight him, just as Nataniel, Zadkiel and Ra'shiel fought against his team mates?

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"Raging!" Nataniel shouted as a large ball of fire appeared in his hands and grew in size until it nearly engulfed his arms, but it faded as the angel wore a confused expression and simply floated there in mid-air. "Huh?" The angel murmured as he had realized that the possession wore off.

"We're free," Zadkiel too, realized that there was no longer a hold on him.

"I don't feel the heaviness of possession or restraint on my will anymore," Ra'shiel blinked. He was no longer possessed.

Vespa smiled quaintly at the angels. 'He did it.' Keiji had managed to help Shaffon by ridding them of Ten Sao Tami, and now the horrible truth would come out as to what had been happening to make the town so prejudice against the angels in the first place.

Zadkiel floated over to where Chichiri lay and extended his hand towards the fallen blond. Chichiri glanced over his shoulder to see the now smiling angel's hand and flinched.

"Hey, no thanks! I don't want to get beaten up again."

"You've been misinformed. We really don't want to hurt you. We are peaceful angels normally," the black-haired angel tried to set him straight on the matter. "We were possessed."

"We're sorry for all of the trouble that we've caused," Ra'shiel glanced down as his long, wavy gray hair fell around his face.

"Ten Sao Tami possessed us," Nataniel replied.

"What's going on with him anyway?" Ko walked up to the three divine beings. "Who is he and why does he hate angels?" These were the question that Ko had wanted to be answered ever since they had initially ran into Ten Sao Tami. Something was incredibly wrong with the village and she wanted to know what and why it had happened.

"We'll explain it to you the best we know how," Ra'shiel told her as he began a long explanation of the recent course of events, that changed Shaffon for the worse. "You see, it's like this…"

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Keiji stood a good five feet from Zagzag as the two stared at each other for a while before the green-haired drummer took a few unsteady steps towards him.

"Guardian?" His voice a little unsure of what to make of the situation and he wondered what would happen next, now that another angel had been brought into the mixture, but this angel wasn't like the others. Keiji could tell just by feeling him.

Zagzag was different than any of the angels he had met. He was calm, peaceful and passive in nature, versus and sad yet kind aura of Tsurugi and the cold, leery and creepy presence that Hiroshima had given off.

"But that was long ago," the green-haired angel sadly glanced to the side with a saddened expression on its face.

"What? He hates angels," Keiji was confused over the whole happening. If Ten Sao Tami hated angels, then why did he had a guardian angel? It made no sense to him.

Zagzag tried to explain, and hoped that it would clear up any questions that he had free-floating in his mind. "He didn't used to be like this…He used to really like the angels, until he came to this village. He used to be a very kind man. Ten Sao Tami came to Shaffon because they loved angels very much. Ever since he was little, I had been watching over him. Angels are usually assigned to people and most people have two guardian angels, one light and one dark. Over time, they may have one that they ultimately chose. Angels are either assigned or chose one person to be with and do not leave their side, no matter what happens to them. The only way that an angel can leave is if their master tells them that they don't want them anymore, or if they stop believing in us."

"Hey Zagzag, I've noticed that it's been said that angels are impervious to magic. Why do some attacks effect you and others don't?" The boy's feeling of unease began to quell. This angel was purely here to help him and he could see that now. He did wonder about that particular subject, however, since Hiroshima had once told him that but even Hiroshima was hit by attacks of a certain caliber.

"Well, the more you recognize our presence the more solid we become. We can have real bodies with special properties. We can be human-like or soul-like, but it takes magic and we usually can't stay like that for long without abandoning our physical form completely. When we are in physical form, we can be hit by magic and even when we aren't, we can still be hit by soul and paranormal attacks. That's what happened to me. When you defeated Ten Sao Tami, you freed my soul from his imprisonment," the long-haired angel thought it would hopefully answer the boy's question. "You see…"

Zagzag began to tell him the entire story of everything that had happened with his master. As the words ran from his lips, the thoughts both happy and painful resurfaced in the angel's mind, as if they had just happened yesterday.

"Ten Sao Tami used to be a very good man and he had always been fascinated with angels. That's how he met me. He discovered that he had a guardian angel. We met each other after he came into a medical unit after being hit in a blast. I stood by his bed side and prayed many nights for him when he slept."

The room was only lit by the light of the full moon that shown through the open window. Everything was bathed in a dim blue light as the aged Chinese man slept soundly in his hospital bed.

At his bedside, sat an angel with long forest green hair, dressed in familiar robes of mint green, gold and white with many gold and white sashes around his arms. The lone angel wore a worried expression as he finished a praying session for the injured man.

Purple eyes stared at Ten Sao Tami as the divine being held his hands to the bridge of his nose and furrowed his thin brows. After a few moments of silence, Ten Sao Tami slowly cracked open his eyes, which startled Zagzag and caused him to gasp and slightly draw back.

"Don't be afraid…" The kind-hearted man spoke softly. "I knew you were there. Sometimes I see you. You always watch me and for that, I am grateful. I'm very blessed to have such a watchful spirit. You're an unusual one…" The half-asleep man then looked to the angel's wings as his vision came more into focus. "You're…You must be an angel…"

"Yes, I'm your guardian angel," the divine one explained. "My name is Zagzag, I've been watching you since you were seven."

"Seven, huh?" The man smiled faintly. "That's a long time."

"I was the unexplained white blur in your birthday picture," the long-haired angel had shown up as an unexplained blur in his birthday photograph that everyone passed off as film exposure. Ten Sao Tami knew that it was something else, but he didn't know what and now it had seemed as if the answer to all of his childhood questions regarding the subject was sitting before him at his bedside.

"You…You're the one who got me interested in angels," Ten Sao Tami seemed a little surprised by it all. "When I was a little boy, I felt as if I had an imaginary friend in the form of a white light. The funny thing about it is, even my parents believed me. At about that time, you must have started showing up in my pictures. Ever since then, I've been fascinated with things on the other side. I've always wondered what angels were like. If there were different types of angels and what made them all work the way that they do."

"I can tell you some things, but I'm afraid that I cannot tell you everything," Zagzag placed his hands in his lap, closed his eyes and looked a little regretful. "We aren't allowed to tell humans about us and-"

He was cut off by his human companion. "You don't have to say anymore. I know that we're simply not meant to understand."

"What are you going to do after you get out of the hospital?" The long-haired angel asked.

"Well, I was thinking of taking a little vacation to a place called Shaffon," Ten Sao Tami replied peacefully.

"Shaffon?"

"Oh yes, it's a beautiful village that really loves angels. It's said that many angels live there alongside of the humans because they feel safe," the old man then looked to his companion. "Doesn't that sound wonderful, Zagzag?"

"Yes, I'd like to go there," the angel smiled.

"Since I'm being discharged for getting hurt, I was thinking about taking a trip there. I want you to come with me."

"Really?" Zagzag's face lit up with excitement. He was happy to know that he was invited to accompany him on his voyage to Shaffon.

"It's the least I can do for someone who has watched over and protected me for so long. Even now, you sacrifice for me and I can see that clearly. You're the best friend that anyone could have, Zagzag." Throughout it all, even when he mortal friends left, betrayed him and even died, the angel was still there and provided safety for him, even as he grew old. Nothing could replace the angel in his heart.

Zagzag bowed slightly. "You should be recovering quickly, master. I've been slowly healing you, praying for your recovery every night. The divine powers have been gracious to answer my calls."

Ten Sao Tami glanced down at the angel who sat daintily in the chair before him and he noticed that the divine being's feet never seemed to touch the ground. "Your feet. They never touch the ground, do they?"

"No angels with white wing's feel will ever touch the ground, for fear of killing the tiniest of God's creations," Zagzag explained.

"It will be nice to find others like us, in the land of Shaffon," the thought entertained the Chinese man and he found himself not being able to wait until they could venture to the place that was filled with so many angels.

"Yes, I think so too. I would love to meet others who live happily with their angels," Zagzag smiled. In his own ways, he too, was happy to go to Shaffon, even though he knew what was to come.

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Soon after, the two had headed towards Shaffon and after a couple of days of traveling; they found themselves standing on the edge of the city. The duo walked into the sacred city that was filled with angels and humans alike and glanced around as they saw the many, white, Roman and Greek inspired buildings and beautiful fountain that depicted an angel at the center of town.

Everywhere they looked, there were numerous angel statues and the aura of the village was so peaceful that it made them smile. They walked up to the large fountain in the center of town and Zagzag looked to it with happy eyes, full of peace.

"It's so beautiful."

"It really is," Ten Sao Tami agreed with a smile.

The long-haired angel glanced around as he saw the many citizens and their angelic companions flying around, going about their daily lives as they bustled about and laughed with joy. It truly was a utopic place, where angel and human could live together peacefully.

"I've never seen a place like this before," Zagzag educated the man as he marveled at the sights before him.

"It's the only place on earth where angels and humans live together in peace. Isn't it wonderful?"

"I wish that one day; the whole world could be this peaceful," Zagzag commented to his master's question.

Ten Sao Tami smiled. "That would be nice. Come on, let's find a place to stay so we can enjoy our vacation."

"Mm!" His angelic companion nodded with a smile as the two of them headed into the town, in search of a hotel or inn to reside in.

"We went to a nearby inn and everything was wonderful," the angel continued his story as the happy memories faded from his mind. "There were so many angels and the humans loved them. I could tell that they loved the humans too…"

"So, what changed?" Keiji asked. "Why do they hate them now?"

Zagzag's gaze hit the ground as tears nearly surfaced on the angel's face. "Well, you see…" The angel recalled the events of that fateful day- the day that changed Shaffon forever. "Ten Sao Tami and I liked it so much in Shaffon, we decided to stay and live there. Our days were happy and we laughed a lot and simply enjoyed life, but one day they came…It was night and the skies were a purple and black color, to sign the coming rainstorm. It was late and everyone was in their respective places when they attacked." The angel continued to speak with dread in his voice when it pertained to that subject in particular. Zagzag looked scared to death of whatever it was that had attacked Shaffon back then.

Angel-like beings flew through the darkened skies of Shaffon and pointed their staffs and magic arrows at a building as they sent multiple magic blasts at it, destroying the side of it. They sent powerful waves of energy out that sent the angels and their human companions scattering about in chaos.

"What's going on?" A terrified woman asked.

"Someone is destroying Shaffon!" One of the angels answered her question.

"What do we do?"

"As Holy Angels, we are not allowed to harm anything. Our main defense is to run," another angel informed. Going into battle and taking another's life was something that would turn them into dark angels in a heartbeat and they could not do that if they wanted to remain in Shaffon and be faithful protectors of their human allies and friends.

"What about Shaffon?" One of the village men asked. "We can't just leave it! We worked so hard to preserve it."

"What choice do we have?" Another of the angel's questioned in a sad tone. They didn't want to let it be destroyed either but there was no way to help it, the sacrifice was too large on their part.

"We have plenty of a choice!" The woman piped up in a voice full of bravery. "We'll defend what is ours!"

"But-" One of the angels tried to interfere but was cut short.

"We know you're not allowed to fight but we'll protect you as long as we can," a man grabbed a gun and looked to the other humans. "Come on everyone! Grab anything you can and attack!"

That lone man led the small army of villagers, who armed themselves with makeshift weapons as they charged at the angle-like beings. There were three of them, two scantily clad women with white angel wings that they had used as a form of clothing and decoration so that they would look like angels and a man who's clothing was a little more, but still consisted of the same angel wing motif.

"Fools!" One of the women with long, wavy black hair called out as she drew back her hands and formed an arrow composed of golden energy. "Heavenly Arrow's Wrath!" She called out as she released the deadly arrow into the city. The energy was released into the crowd and it sent many angels and humans flying backwards from the blast.

One of the angels tried to help an injured woman up. "Come on! We must leave at once!" The winged creature called out. This didn't solve anything and people were only getting hurt.

"I can't!" The woman replied. "All of this time…All of this time you've protected us…You placed a holy barrier of protection around our city and now it's our turn to help you out."

The three angelic looking beings continued to fire a mass amount of arrows and blasts into the village as Zagzag grabbed Ten Sao Tami's hand and attempted to lead him out of the building. The ground occasionally shook from the explosions so he had to help the old man try and keep his balance.

"Come on, we've got to leave. Someone has broken through our Holy Barrier and is attacking the village," Zagzag informed his master as the two hurried out of the building.

"What? Who would do such a horrible thing?" The man was in utter shock that someone would attack such a beautiful and peaceful place.

"I don't know," Zagzag lied as a look of regret crossed his face. He wanted to say more but he didn't get another word in before the ground was blasted up around them. The force of the blast threw him one way and Ten Sao Tami the other. A large piece of a rock wall fell between them and cut them off from each other.

"Ten Sao Tami!" The angel tried to fly over to his master, but one of the falling rocks struck him in the back and sent him sailing to the ground, unconscious.

On the other side of the wall, Ten Sao Tami slowly awoke after the devastation had passed and the once beautiful land of Shaffon had been marred by the many merciless magic attacks that had showered the town.

The old man slowly looked up to see that he was in the presence of what appeared to be rugged-looking angels. The angelic looking woman with long, black hair stepped in front of her two sidekicks and looked down on the man with a sly smile.

"Who are you?" Ten Sao Tami asked the strange woman who stood before him.

"I don't know what happened after that but Ten Sao Tami changed. When I came to, he acted like he didn't recognize me. It was like he had to try and recognize me. It was like I had to try and reteach him everything and even them, he was cold and distant. He began to resent and hate angels, and soon believed that they betrayed the humans and destroyed Shaffon. When it really wasn't them at all. Shaffon was the only place that angels felt welcomed. A few days after that, an angel with bi-colored wings destroyed the town of Saesugawa. People liked the link the two events, but nothing was similar at all. What I saw was not the Hell Child Legend." Zagzag explained.

"Then, do you have any idea who they were?" Keiji asked. Perhaps they could track down whoever it was and make them pay for what they had done.

"They call themselves Angel Hunters. They are a group of rouge hunters and kill angels for their blood, which contains magical properties and their wings, which are a source of their magical powers. I know that they did something to Ten Sao Tami while I was knocked out. They completely changed him," Zagzag replied.

"Do you know if they're still alive?" If they were, then they could be a possible future threat of their group.

"Yes they are. Please…Please watch out for them, since you travel with angels. They may be their next victims," the angel's voice sounded pleading of the boy to heed his warning.

Images of the two angels flashed through Keiji's head as he thought to himself. 'Tsurugi…Hiroshima…I wonder if they know anything about Angel Hunters…'

"Ten Sao Tami, a month later, learned entrapment magic and he asked me if I would teach him that magic in specifically. I knew what was going to happen, but I could not disobey him or I would be punished for going against fate, so I decided to teach him the spells that he wanted to know. Soon, he used the very spell I taught him to encase my soul into one of my feathers, giving him the use of all of my powers at his disposal. He used them to wreak havoc on Shaffon. As his hatred for angels grew, he had several of the angels execute and he continued to cause more and more of Shaffon to believe that it was the angels that had betrayed them. Eventually, three angels were sent down to see why all of this was happening," Zagzag continued his story.

"Those angels must have been Nataniel, Zadkiel and Ra'shiel," Keiji presumed.

"Right, but they were captured by Ten Sao Tami as well. He used his powerful magic and managed to possess them one by one," a saddened expression crossed his face. "I'm very sorry that the angel in your group was tortured so badly." Tears began to form in the corners of the depressed angel's eyes. To be in such pain, because of someone like him was more then he could bear. "It's all my fault that he had to endure that pain." His voice cracked as he could no longer hold in his emotions, and crystalline tears ran down Zagzag's face as he began to weep. "I know that I can't change Shaffon back and I know that I've caused a lot of death, both in angels and humans because I couldn't stop Ten Sao Tami. I caused Ra'shiel and the others to get possessed…I knew everything…I knew what would happen but I was powerless to stop it. I nearly got all of you killed and I feel as if I never should have come here. If I never came here, none of this would have happened. How can I live with this pain?"

"Look," Keiji spoke up as he leveled the crying angel with a stern expression. "I know it's hard and it may not be the right ending, but it's the best one for the situation. You did what was in your power to do, Zagzag, and no one can blame you for that."

The green-haired angel nodded slightly.

"You know, that angel who got tortured, Hiroshima, he's a lot different then you are," Keiji stated.

"He is the Winged Hell Child, or so it seems," the long-haired angel replied. "He has a power that even he is unaware of…Those wings are his destiny."

"What?"

"Those bi-colored winds are his opportunity," Zagzag looked to the clear skies above him.

"His opportunity?" The green-haired boy didn't understand any of what the angel was talking about, but Zagzag seemed to know something about Hiroshima…In fact, Zagzag seemed to know a lot of things about Hiroshima.

"You didn't know? As of now, he can choose to be good or bad."

"That's why he doesn't know who he is…" The boy had always gotten hints that Hiroshima really didn't know who he was but he had never known it as a fact until now.

"He won't until he makes that decision or sacrifices one of those colors. When he does, that choice will affect not only this mortal world but the spiritual world as well. S o please, take care of him and help him make the right decision," the angel flew to Keiji and lightly hugged the boy, who blushed slightly at the warm contact. "Thank you for saving Shaffon." Zagzag replied as his form began to glow a white color.

"What's going on?" The blushing boy asked.

"Since I have no master now, I must return to heaven. Say good-bye to your friends for me," Zagzag's form floated up towards the heavens as the angel flew back to his home in the clouds. 'Suffering…Knowing human suffering makes me feel strange.' The angel thought as he placed his hands to his chest and closed his eyes. 'It's a strange feeling. I only hope that God's grace can help heal this wound over time and that I may find a way to keep this from happening to anyone else- human or otherwise.' Zagzag reopened his purple eyes and spoke softly to himself. "I shall be praying for Shaffon, in hopes that maybe one day, they can bring back the happy days I once spent in that utopic place, so similar to heaven."

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"That's basically how it all happened," Ra'shiel finished his explanation to the group before him.

"So, Ten Sao Tami is an Angel Hunter?" Ko asked.

"That old fart tried to blame all of this on me?" Hiroshima's question followed Ko's.

"You are an easy scapegoat, you know," the white-haired girl replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The offended, but tired angel asked.

"That we could blame anything on you and it would make sense. The reason Shaffon hates angels, the reason Saesugawa is a ghost town, the war in Sumeria, the reason I stubbed my toe the other day, the reason I have a head ache because I didn't get enough sleep-" Fife began to name off random and ridiculous things that were obviously not the legend's fault, going from the war in Sumeria onward but he was soon cut off by the angel's further irritation.

"How the hell is that my fault?" Hiroshima asked.

"Because you scream at me. You're a bad person, Hiroshima," Fife teased.

"You're the last one I should be hearing that from. Who are you to talk?" The spiky-haired angel's eye twitched in irritation.

"I'm King Fife, dummy. You mean you traveled with me all of this time and you still don't know?" The vampire insisted on keeping up the playful charade.

"Thank you for freeing us from our possession," Zadkiel told everyone in a grateful tone.

"We're sorry that we couldn't help you at all," Ra'shiel added.

"You put up a good fight for two angels and a bunch of mortals," Nataniel folded his arms across his chest.

Hiroshima smirked weakly. "You weren't so bad yourselves."

"Good bye, and farewell," Nataniel said his goodbyes as the three angels turned into orbs and floated into the skies above them.

"We'll be watching your progress," Zadkiel's voice could be heard from one of the three orbs.

"We shall pray for you," Ra'shiel added before all of the orbs split up and zoomed off quickly into different regions of the sky and disappeared at the speed of light. Everyone watched them for a moment, and then simply stared at the partially clouded sky for a moment of silence as the gentle wind blew through and toyed with their clothes and hair for a moment before it died down.

"What was that all about-" Ko began to ask as she turned towards Hiroshima, who fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Hiroshima!" Everyone called out the angel's name as the quickly turned to his fallen form.

"He fainted again," Fife was then hit in the shoulder by Ko.

"You're so rude."

"It wasn't being rude, it was an observation," the happy vampire gestured a hand to the fallen angel.

"Hiroshima!" Keiji ran up to everyone as he stopped in front of the spiky-haired man's body. "What happened?"

"He's hurt seriously," Tsurugi turned Hiroshima over and held his torso in his arms. "He was tortured and then he used magic to hold himself together when he fought Nataniel. He's completely ran himself out of magic."

A shadow befell them as a beginning of a large storm rolled in quickly as it replaced their blue skies with one of ash and suit as a heavy shower poured down and the ice cold rain beat down on everyone's form.

"What do we do?" Chichiri asked as the rain poured down and drenched his long, blond locks. It was ice cold and night would soon fall. If they couldn't find shelter soon, then they would get ill or even freeze to death.

"We need to find somewhere to stay before he gets sick as well," Tsurugi advised. The longer they stayed out in the rain, the larger chance they had for becoming sick and since Hiroshima was already so weak, he had a much larger chance than anyone else.

"What about Undine?" Ko been worried about what happened to her ever since she was zapped away. Even though she didn't really like her, she didn't want her to die of pneumonia.

"She isn't here," Tsurugi replied. "We'll have to keep looking for her in the next place we go. Remember, we're still following Vespa's commands with or without her."

"You all have done well. I shall be standing by in case you need further assistance. Farewell…" The witch waved her fan in front of her and disappeared in a swirl of flames and fire that soon flickered out with the down pouring rain.

…To Be Continued…