Zone Of The Enders Fan Fiction ❯ Zone of the Enders: Triad 2177 ❯ 3 Libras ( Chapter 27 )

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

The eyes of a tradgedy, always looking back on his mistake, never once looking forward, until now...and finding only a bleak future.

The eyes of a fallen angel, finally being revealed his place in Heaven's game...

Non Anime: Zone Of The Enders Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Romance / Mecha / Comedy / Adventure / Action / Angst | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.28.2004 | Pages: 13 | Words: 21.1K | Visits: 200 | Status: Completed

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<CENTER>"eyes of a fallen angel,
 eyes of a tragedy."
 - A Perfect Circle, from "3 Libras"</CENTER>

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

He had another dream that night; another just like the last one. Appearing as his angelic manifestation, Miryhn stood in the constantly rippling pool with the small child manifestation of his Frame ahead of him. This time, it was a little different; Masamune was squatted down, poking what looked like a small package.

"What the? Oh, I'm here again," Miryhn said, standing up and looking around after realizing he was back in the mysterious dream world.

Masamune looked at him and smiled, then continued to poke at the package with his index finger.

"What 'cha got there?" Miryhn asked as he approached.

Masamune shrugged and tilted his head to one side.

"You woke up and it was just there, eh? Any ideas where it came from or what it is?" Miryhn said, just as puzzled as the child was.

Masamune scratched his head under his helmet and bit his lip; then continued to examine the package some more.

"A program bundle? And you think some creepy old man put it there?" Miryhn replied, squatting down on the other side of the mysterious present.

Masamune nodded.

"Lloyd, I bet. He must have done something to the Frames while we were gone," Miryhn said, sighing.

Masamune reached forward for the string that kept the package tied up. He began to pull on it, but suddenly the seeminly simple knot refused to budge and he lost his grip, falling onto his backside.

"Having trouble?" Miryhn asked, curious.

Masamune sat up and rubbed his head with a very annoyed look on his face. He then grabbed the loose string again and began tugging at it insistantly.

"That it may take a while for you to get it open, eh? Can I help?" Miryhn continued to ask.

Masamune shook his head and kept tugging away.

"I couldn't possibly begin to comprehend program decoding and application, eh? I guess you got me there," Miryhn said, chuckling.

Masamune smiled and nodded a few times, managing to pull the string loose a little bit more.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk- I mean, discuss with me?" Miryhn said, standing up.

Masamune shook his head, then looked up and smiled brightly.

"You just wanted to show me this and you just wanted to see me again, eh?" Miryhn said, smirking.

Masamune nodded several times.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't stay forever. I have to wake up eventually," Miryhn said, shrugging.

Masamune looked sad for a moment, but nodded as he continued to wrestle with opening the package.

"But I'll be back, you can count on that. I still need a good Orbital Frame like yourself," Miryhn said, giving a thumbs-up.

Masamune stared at his hand, completely confused.

"It's a 'thumbs-up'. Humans use it to indicate that things are going to be alright, you know?" Miryhn explained, rolling his eyes.

Masamune giggled and returned a thumbs-up.

"What a weirdo," Miryhn mumbled to himself.

Masamune then looked up at Miryhn, glancing to each side as if he was explaining something.

"Freya got a package too, she just isn't awake enough to open it yet?" Miryhn asked in reply. "You'll help, but in the end she'll have to open it up herself, eh? Why's that?"

Masamune nodded, then smiled brightly.

"You 'like' her?" Miryhn asked, dumbstruck. "I thought kids your age were afraid cooties or whatever."

Now Masamune looked dumbstruck.

"Nevermind, don't ask," Miryhn said, sighing. "But what do you mean? Are you trying to tell me Orbital Frames have a sense of attraction for one another too?"

Masamune nodded.

"Well, that's certainly new," Miryhn said, rubbing his chin.

Masamune sent another wordless, innocent question.

"Her Runner? What about her?" Miryhn asked, curious to the question.

Masamune shrugged.

"Do I like her?" Miryhn asked in shock. "Well, actually, I've been down that path before. I think we've come to terms on that and we're just leaving it as-"

Masamune interrupted with a reply.

"What's that suppose to mean? That I'm not nearly as complicated as I once thought I was, so what's the point in acting like she could never understand me?"

Masamune sighed and stopped pulling the string, proceeding to glare at Miryhn with hands at his hip armor.

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that I've been fooling myself all along? That now that I'm no longer a raving lunatic with Manna that I should move on and go after her?" Miryhn said, folding his arms.

Masamune slowly nodded.

"Damn it, I really wish you weren't hooked directly into my brain," Miryhn said, sighing. "So are you proposing I apologize for being an angsty jerk and start showing her how I really am? Is that it? Because there's more to it than that, you know?"

Masamune slowly raised an eyebrow.

"Because the feeling has to be mutual! I mean, sure, she's sweet, caring, sympathetic, understanding, empathetic...not to mention incredibly hot, but attraction and love are two seperate things and-" Miryhn began to ramble on.

Masamune frumped, glaring at Miryhn again.

"Forget about Ester, eh? I can't save my heart for a woman who's dead, can I?" Miryhn said sadly, summing up Masamune's last action.

Masamune nodded several times.

"Masa', it's really hard to forget someone like her. You get to know someone and then get to love them and they then go away so suddenly...I don't know if I can get over it," Miryhn said, sighing.

Masamune drew a stern look.

"I got over all my other problems, why not this one? That, I can't really explain," Miryhn said, rubbing his head with one hand.

Masamune sighed and walked closer, then hugged him at the waist.

"You know everything about me and that's why you say that I'm denying what I really want, huh? You've proven that much, so I really have no reason to doubt that," Miryhn said, patting Masamune's helmet. "But, this is.....well, I have to think about it, alright? Just give me some time."

Masamune let off and walked back to the package; he then proceeded to go back to tugging at the string.

"Well, I'm going to head back. I can't do much thinking here, I have to be awake," Miryhn said, preparing to wake himself up.

Masamune looked at him with a sincere look, then nodded.

"You've talked with Freya a few times, eh? And that's why you think the feeling really is mutual?" Miryhn asked, curious.

Masamune nodded slowly, a happy look on his face.

Miryhn sighed again and waved farewell to Masamune. Masamune's expression turned sad as he waved back; then, in a flash, Miryhn was awake back in his bed. He stared at the ceiling while still awash with the things he was feeling at the end of the discussion. With a sigh, he asked himself,"Now what am I suppose to do?"

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Jim was playing the piano again that morning; however, he was playing far too softly for anyone to notice. He also seemed to be having a fixation on sad or reminiscient tunes, but when the others came to see him, his expression was fairly serious-looking; more like he was playing to think or concentrate than to be sad. Meanwhile, Vera remained in bed that morning while Miryhn, Nash, and Judas went about their affairs in dead silence. Jim never moved from his spot all morning; somewhat like he was entranced by something.

"Katherine," he finally whispered to himself after several hours fo silence. Having played the piano for so long, it's all he could think about. Whenever he played, he could think back to the old times, when he and her were once happy together. He also could begin to remember all the hard times he had and it brought up old questions he thought he didn't want answered; like why did Katherine turn the way she did? Did she have some kind of broken dream or disillusion? Is that was caused her to depress? Was it his fault? Her's? Someone else's....?

In the back of his mind, Jim knew he was reaching the end of his rope. His encounter with his two old "friends", Joel and Billy, was really jarring to every aspect of himself, even his sanity. Ever since he went back to the old apartment, he had been only further condemning himself; he wasn't remembering, he was tormenting himself for his crime. The best he could figure was that he had developed some kind of complex for dealing with his crime in doses; the occassional piano playing to almost call back the soul of Katherine in order to play at his nerves, or every single time he tried to make sense of what happened was like Chinese water torture on his mind and heart.

Jim knew he could only take so much; as a man, even he had his limits physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Living with a tainted soul and a burden of conscience was more than anyone should ever have to deal with, after all. He had managed to mostly forget about it after all these years, but he could never seem to totally forget lest he completely damn himself for never repenting. So the time had come and the decision was made - Jim had to do something. He had to some how make it up to everyone and he had to somehow find peace with himself again. He just had to be able to look himself in the mirror again and not see a coward; just good ol' Jimmy Hauser, the muscleheaded goof-off who can't seem to break out of his dead-end freelance job.

There was no reason to regret anything in his life except Katherine, and he was finally beginning to boil down what was really important. Making himself suffer in hopes of pleasing others was useless; what would really make them happy was if he could be happy along with them, he figured. He had finally come up with a few ways of making amends; not so much objective things, but subjects and ideas he hadn't considered before. After all, with the guilt of Katherine hanging over his head, Jim thought that he could never love another woman so long as he held her so tightly in pain; he was too weak to give it up, it was his crutch and he needed to get rid of it. There was no sense in saving his heart for a woman who was dead, after all...

Jim closed the keyboard and stood up, looking at the workbench where Nash had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Hey, when'd you get here?"

"Oh, I've been here for about half an hour. I didn't want to disturb you, I really liked that song," Nash said, smiling. "You kick ass at the piano, boss."

"Ah, why thank you. It's one of my favorites too," Jim said, smiling for once and nodding.

Nash suddenly looked very confused by Jim's look. "You alright, boss?"

"I'm fine, Nash, why would you say that?" Jim said, shrugging.

"I don't know, I'm just getting this weird vibe right now. Normally you aren't so...serene," Nash said after pondering what word to say.

"I can be happy once in a while too, right?" Jim said, starting for the door.

"Well, sure, but it's kind of unlike you, that's all. Normally you're always irrate or something," Nash said, tapping his screwdriver on the workbench.

"Then let's just say I've changed, alright? I don't feel like being that way anymore," Jim said, then opened the door and poked his head in. "Hey! Vera still in bed?" he shouted down the hallway.

"Yes, she is!" Vera's extremely annoyed voice shouted back.

"Alright, just checking. Miryhn!"

"What?" Miryhn shouted back.

"Go to the store and pick up groceries. We're low on stuff again!"

An annoyed groan was all Miryhn replied with before Jim shut the door.

"I'm going out for the day. I'll be back later," Jim said to Nash as he headed for the rear hangar door.

"Alright then, see 'ya," Nash bid before going back to work on a small piece of machinery.

"See 'ya," Jim said, opening the door of the hangar, opening up the door on a new way of life.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

While the rest of the crew decided to bum around the ship for the day, Miryhn had been itching to get out and spend a little more of his hard-earned extortion money from Dingo. He took a short stroll down to the local mall to check into grabbing a few new games and perhaps some quality anime or movies on the side. His first stop was into a small video game store where he planned to pick out a few new games for his PS3K.

After a nice, long browse, he had picked out the "Final Fantasy XX-2" re-release and a true classic: "True Crime: Streets of Vacilia". He yawned as he stood in line, right behind a trio of blabbermouthed patrons.

"Dude, Episode 2 was so gay, I couldn't bear to play it at all. I just couldn't stand the new look of MOMO at all," one of the patron's said; he was a short, stout little butterball with under-sized shorts on, a white shirt on bearing the image of a rather scantly clad Elly from "Xenogears", and a mop of greasy brown hair.

"Man, that was nothing. I heard Ziggy was going to fade out of the story. That's horrible characterization on their part, seeing as he was never that important to begin with. Someone should really have told Monolith not to throw in characters and then have them 'fade out' because characterization is-" the taller, pizza-faced fellow beside him said, rubbing his short, curly red hair and adjusting his black box-frame glasses. Miryhn would have kept listening, but obviously the fellow was sputtering absolute nonsense on characterization; he obviously didn't know anything at all. And Miryhn could tell because he, at one time, struck out after high school and attempted writing fanfiction for fun on the internet; he seemed to be an okay writer, by feedback from his posts, but sadly he had to stop a lot in order to concentrate on school. Having such a well-learned background in writing made him confident that if the little bastard ever started up on him about it, he'd go right in for the kill on this chump.

"Why didn't they just go off Xenogears? The Perfect Works was just fine as it was," the third, lankier fellow said, his entire head encompassed with his long, blonde hair.

"They sort of did, but not really," the pudgy one commented.

"But dude, Xenogears was a brilliant epic! That game changed my life in ways I could never explain!" pizza-face exclaimed.

Miryhn began to mumble to himself. He absolutely hated it when people put video games on such a high pedestal. It was true, Miryhn did absolutely love video games, but never in his life would he glorify them the way some people, and these fellows, would.

"Hey, you got a problem? What are you, a Zechs Merquise cosplayer?" the pudgy one said, turning around. His comrades looked up at Miryhn as well.

Hearing that phrase, "Zechs Merquise cosplayer", Miryhn immediately knew it was him that was being addressed. He lowered his sunglasses to the end of his nose and acknowledged the fellow.

"Wrong hair color, dude," the mop-head said, laughing.

"Not my fault," Miryhn said plainly. "And, no, I really don't have a problem. Go about your trite little conversation."

"Trite?" the pudgy one exclaimed. "You don't know just how important of a subject we're discussing."

"No, I don't, because it isn't important. It's a video game for that ancient Playstation and PS2 system," Miryhn said, shrugging.

"It is important! Important to us, you know. Why don't you go fuck yourself seeing as you could never comprehend how incredible it is and just stay out of our conversations," the pudgy one shouted.

"I only made a comment to myself, you're the one taking far too much offense. Besides, judging from your reaction, I had ever right to criticize your rather immature behavior," Miryhn replied, raising an eyebrow at the fellow's unprovoked angry response. "Come on, try me, I played Xenogears and beat it. I played the entire Xenosaga and beat all of it too, so don't try and humble me with your superior knowledge of a damn video game. I thought they were fine games as well, but still, they're not worthy of miracles. Be realistic."

The pudgy one growled and looked at Miryhn's selections in hand. "FFXX-2, eh? What the hell is wrong with you? That game is terrible!" he said with a smirk.

"Three scantly clad women and their epic adventure to save an entire planet? Yeah, that's terrible alright," Miryhn said, rolling his eyes. "You have a problem with women? You'd rather scantly clad men be the stars?"

The pudgy one growled and raised an angered fist. "Look who's talking, bishounen! Why don't you go crossplay or something!"

"Nice comeback," Miryhn said, rolling his eyes.

"Look, you can't tell someone off like that, man, you have to use logic," the pizza-faced fellow interjected.

"Last time I checked, 'common sense' was a prerequisite to 'logic' and one of you have yet to show some," Miryhn said, putting a hand at his hip.

"Look, the game is obviously entirely fanservice. The plot stinks, they kicked Nobuo off the music composition, and they only recycled old sprites from the first game. They obviously didn't have anything else in mind but appeasing horny teenagers and teeny-bopper girls," the pizza-face explained. "So which are you? A hormone-deprived teen or a teeny-bopper girl? The hair kind of makes it hard to tell," he teased, his two fellows chuckling with him.

Miryhn blinked a few times, thinking back. "So tell me, what part about the female cast of Final Fantasy 4 wasn't fanservice? Rosa was in a leotard the entire time and Rydia eventually switched to her own leotard and knee-high boots. Then there's all the various revealing Job classes Reina had in Final Fantasy 5. Then there's Celes, whom also fell into the leotard trap as well, but like he predecessors, she wasn't an object, she was still a character. Oh, and don't make me bring up Terra, whom turned completely bare-assed naked in her Esper form. Don't tell me that wasn't fanservice. And let's not forget Tifa, whom has the biggest melons in all of Final Fantasy, but, like Celes, was still a character and never once was her physical endowments made a point of. And then there was Ultimecia, whom was the queen of cleavage, Dagger, whom had the most revealing outfit ever in her Trance state, and not to mention Beatrix with her coat and leotard. Oh, and Lulu whom also rules the cleavage, Rikku and her short-shorts, Yuna's top that looks like it could have fallen off at any point-" he went off on a tangent with.

"Hey! Come on, quit it, what's the point?" the pizza-face asked.

"That you obviously have no clue what you're talking about, so take that 'it was only made for fanservice' shit and shove it up your ass, dude. Scantly clad women are nothing new to Final Fantasy, you dipshit," Miryhn said with a note of frustration. "And Nobou didn't get kicked off, he quit to work on his own music, and they recycled sprites because it takes place on the same fucking planet as the first game. Duh!" he added, exclaiming the last word as if his adversaries were the stupidest forms of life ever conceived.

"Hey, I know plenty, you're just upset that I'm right!" the pizza-face shouted.

"Then tell me, what was the name of Cid's treasured airship in Final Fantasy 4? Or how about Shadow's secret identity in Final Fantasy 6? Or maybe you can tell me who Garland is a reference to in Final Fantasy 9?" Miryhn listed off, folding his arms.

The three looked at one another and then whispered amongst themselves. "The airship was the 'Interceptor'...Shadow was really Gau's family...and Garland was the king who was the boss of Final Fantasy 2," the pudgy one answered.

"Wrong, wrong, and wrong. 'Enterprise', Clyde, Relm's father, and Garland was the main boss of Final Fantasy 1," Miryhn corrected, rolling his eyes as if it were common knowledge.

"Owned," the hair-boy chuckled under his breath.

"Hey! Don't support him!" the pizza-face shouted. "So you're a demented otaku for Final Fantasy, so what? That only means you're no better than us."

"I'm not the one bitching about the games like my opinion matters to Square Enix," Miryhn pointed out. "Plus, I keep my stock of useless knowledge tucked away until situations like this where it's needed instead of flaunting it around. So since I'm exonerated, does that mean you three are admitting to having no life whatsoever?" he asked with sarcasm.

"Well, then you're just a cynic! If you're a real fan, you wouldn't be afraid to state your opinions about games!" the pudgy one accused.

"If being a fan means wasting all that time and energy bitching about how a game wasn't up to your standards, then I guess I'm not a fan. I thought liking the game for what it was was being a fan," Miryhn said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't you just not listen? We'd all be happier that way," the pizza-face asked like it was so obvious.

"Because I'm not the one flaming people in line behind me simply because they said something you didn't want to hear," Miryhn said, smirking. "In fact, ten people cut you while you were complaining at me. Looks like the world is passing you by while you stand there and try to defend a completely pointless thing like video game prestige. Go back to your MOMO-bashing forum threads, shallow plot analysis, and asinine little inside jokes and 'STFU' jpeg's," Miryhn said, breezing by them to the counter. "Close-minded pricks," he added, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose.

"If I were a mod and he were a member, I would have banned him for that. He took our discussion and completely ruined it," the pudgy one said to his two comrades.

"Totally. What a flamer," the pizza-faced one said.

"I think he had a point. Why don't we try looking for the good in game instead of just bitching about the bad so that we can sound like we actually know shit? A realistic approach to gaming doesn't sound half bad," the hair-dude said, smiling.

His two friends stared at him.

"Dude, that's so gay," the pudgy one said, heading for the exit. "I don't even want to get that special discount card anymore I'm so pissed. I'm going to make sure and post this on the 'Off-Topic' forum later so I can blow off steam."

"Totally, man," the pizza-faced fellow said, following after.

The hair-dude stared at Miryhn's back and then jogged out the door. "Hey, I was just kidding! Come on, guys!" he shouted.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Jim looked up at the tall church and let out a long sigh. It had been a while since he had even considered religion, but he had finally decided that telling someone completely anonymous about his troubles might do some good. As he stepped inside the tall, wooden door, he had a look inside at the white ivory and red carpet church buildling. Rows of wooden pews lined each side of the aisle and in the distance he saw someone playing the pipe organ to a solemn old hymn or something of the sort. Jim felt a little guilty, there in his ratty jeans, dirty boots, and sweat-drenched T-shirt, but since this wasn't a service, he knew the Almighty could probably make an exception.

Heading down the aisle, he saw the sunlight passing through the brilliant stained glass windows, illuminating the classic scenes from Bibilical verses like shining tapestries upon the walls. Each was easily over two stories tall and Jim somehow found it breath-taking. He reached the altar and turned left, seeing the small box-like structure with the two curtains; the confessional, of course. He stepped into the left section and closed the curtain, taking in and out a long sigh while sitting on the small bench inside. A few moments later, footsteps sounded and the minister stepped into the opposite section, closing his own curtain. The small wooden door opened and Jim could see the black sleeve of his robe leaning against the dividing wall.

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Not only that, but I haven't exactly been the most devout of Christian. I haven't really been to church in years," Jim said, almost apologizing.

"That's alright, my son, the Lord never turns his back to one in need even if he has strayed affar. But you have obviously come back, so tell me what's troubling you," the minister said, completely understanding.

"Father, I have committed a heinous act and have fled from it for a long time. I committed the sin of murder, against my own wife, even," Jim said, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Good heavens," the minister said, half shoked, but still half understandingly.

"I can't stand to even think about it, Father. I want justice against myself, but I know that no matter how badly I am punished, my wife will never have her soul be settled. She taunts me, tormenting me from beyond the grave. Her memory is like a wooden stake in my mind, always causing pain whenever I think about it. I torment myself as punishment for my deed, but only mind and spirit. I'd never go so far as to do anything to my own self," Jim explained, half to tears.

"You still have a good and noble soul if you can feel this way for your loved one, take solace in that much, at least," the minister said in a soft tone. "But eventually you must stand up and take your rightful punishment, my son. Even though you hurt for your loved one, think of all those that cry out for justice in their own lives and you whom get away with it."

"I know, Father, I know, but I'm a weak man. I can't face up to my sin, because when I do, I fall appart completely and only run away again and again. It's like a hopeless uphill climb, I only end up slipping and falling down further," Jim said, clenching a fist and slamming it against the wall.

"Calm yourself, my son, the Lord knows that you are in this pain and I'm sure that he will soon come to your aid. After all, there's no way that one human being can change another, it only happens through conscious acts of one's self," the minister explained.

Hearing this, Jim began to tear up a little. If what he was saying was true, then Jim probably wasn't at fault for Katherine's change. This made him a bit relieved, but at the same time, thinking back to her was still a memory worthy of this emotion. "Do you mean that, Father?"

"Indeed, I do, my son," the minister replied. "I cannot do this for you, you know. All I can do is offer guidance and support from the ministry of our Lord. If you pray enough, you may find the strength to carry out what you know must be done and the Lord will aid you with his love and compassion. There is no such thing as a vengeful God, only vengeful human beings."

"So, I should put more faith in God, and perhaps I'll find the way?" Jim asked, helplessly.

"That is one thing you may do. Until the time comes that you find the way back to righteousness, you can fortify your soul by doing good things unto others. Look back on those you've hurt and make amends, look at those that need your aid and give it to them. Bolster your own righteousness and your spirit will grow with delight, allowing you to confront anything," the minister explained, optimistically.

Jim began to smile. "Oh, I will, Father, rest assured. I feel so much better now, I'll go out and find something to accomplish as soon as I can!" he said, beginning to stand.

"I'm happy to have provided you with the guidance you need, my son. Go, with God," the minister replied.

"Thank you, Father. Farewell," Jim said, then hurried out.

The minister smirked and stood up, peeking out the curtain as Jim stopped at the altar and looked up at it happily; just long enough for the minister to get a look at his face. "Well, I'll be," the minister said to himself, pulling one of his white gloves across his hand tighter,"James Hauser, captain of King's ship. Never thought he'd be one to bear such a burden. Good thing me, Father Anderson, could do something about it."

The minister, in truth McArthur Anderson, Joker himself, stepped out of the confessional as Jim sprinted out the door. "God will grant you mercy for your sin, you can rest assured," he said to himself.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Vera layed on the couch, watching one of her Inuyasha DVDs. She loved the show oh-so much ever since she saw it that night and in between the things happening to them she picked up a box set so that she could watch it on her own time. Considering how wiped out she was from the other day, relaxing and watching her new favorite anime would do some good for her.

Peniel walked in and hopped into her lap. He quietly curled up and began to snooze, Vera smiling down at the creature. She laid her hand on Peniel's back and stroked softly and slowly.

"Yeah, it's good to be back, Penny. Sorry I wasn't around much, I had to sleep some," she explained to the feline.

Peniel didn't respond other than a soft purr.

"I had a really intense adventure with Miryhn and Jude. We got to see Miryhn's friend Doctor Ricdeau and his creepy old man friend, then I had to go and fight a lot of guys. But it was okay because I had the two boys with me, we got through fine. But," she explained, then sighed long and deeply,"we began to lose. I panicked then, I didn't want to die then and I didn't want Miryhn or Jude to either, so I kind of freaked out and ended up getting hurt bad. Then Miryhn fought back and nearly got killed, but you know what? He must have finally realized something important because he got up and fought back and won, 'ya know? He's finally happy again and he finally has the little gift that he thought was a curse. I can't help but feel as though I helped him in that sense."

Peniel stirred, rotating his head twice, then settling back down.

Vera sighed again and rest her hand on Peniel's head. "But I'm a little afraid he'll stop talking to me now that he's finally happy. I mean, of course I'm overjoyed to see that he's alright now thanks to my help, but I don't want him to go away. I'd hate to admit it, but I kind of want him around to help me too. We just seem to do that for one another, you know?"

Peniel yawned.

"But Miryhn probably thinks of it as me coming on to him or something. Of course, he's still hung up over Ester to ever put too much trust in another woman. I just don't want him to distance himself or start ignoring me. He doesn't seem the type, but still..." Vera continued, starting to depress herself.

Peniel remained still, breathing slowly and softly as he snoozed.

Vera bit her lip and leaned her head back. "Darn it, what's happening to me anyway? Why am I so concerned? I did what I set out to do and I'll stick to it," she said, scowling. "Not like I didn't throw him the obvious a few times, trying to tell him to have more confidence in himself and to get over that boob-icious bitch," she said with a note of frustration. "Damn it, Miryhn, through me you're so obvious. You're not so complicated or angsty, you're just lost and confused and all you needed was a little concern to get you back up on your feet," she said, staring at the ceiling. "Those eyes of the 'fallen angel', those eyes of 'tradgedy', feh, you were always nothing more than sympathy whore. Why couldn't you just speak up and say you wanted someone to care?" she then added, a little more frustrated.

Peniel looked up at her, cocking his head to one side.

Vera looked back down at the cat and smiled. "But it's okay, you can see clearly now, Miryhn," she said, patting Peniel's head,"even if you can't see me at all anymore..."

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Cyril sighed as he looked down at the sticky, oozing humanoid figure that was laying in the belly of Merkava. It looked like a small child, just learning of its own existence of limbs, wallowing around in a fruitless attempt to propel itself in any direction. In a sense, it was more like an amoebia than it was an Orbital Frame. Cyril read over a chart as he gazed down at it, then sucked his teeth while thinking hard about it.

"It's making progress, I see," Trent said, stepping in from the door.

"Not by much. It's taking entirely too long," Cyril replied, not looking back as Trent approached and leaned on the railing with him.

"What do you think the hold-up is?" Trent asked, still in monotone as always.

"Well, it seems someone might have stuck a rather peculiar little command line within the core processing unit. Either that, or our friend here is having stomach upset after having consumed so many human beings," Cyril replied, smirking.

"Mind me asking what you're talking about?" Trent said, raising an eyebrow at Cyril.

Cyril took in and let out a long sigh. "Deus is very peculiar Orbital Frame, and I mean this thing is so off-the-wall that not even I can figure out why it was designed like this. The body is basically comprised of liquified Metatron, which apparently is just a different state of matter for the substance just as ice melts into water. However, power flows much more fluidly through it in this state and I swear I've been seeing things every time I come down here to observe it," he explained. "But the real mystery is the biological computer that lies within and throughout the interior. It's like the peanut butter center to a candy bar or something."

"Biological computer?" Trent asked, curious.

"Yet again, something I don't entirely know enough about, but it's apparently a central processing unit that uses organic matter as a supplement for circuitry and the like. It also can use the natural electronic impulses of a human being's nervous system to more easily transmit information across the Frame and act as a sort of superconductor for whatever it really is that powers Metatron. It's really a stroke of genius when you think about it, it's like the Runner would be hooked into a massive brain-network that commands every aspect of one of the most powerful Frames made while the Frame itself is capable of being deftly efficient all the time," Cyril continued to explain. "And there in lies the next mystery. Just who could ever be the Runner of such a Frame?"

"Let me take a wild guess. Thanatos?" Trent asked plainly.

"Au contraire, mon ami," Cyril said, then took a small medicine dropper off a nearby tray. Inside was red fluid, which Cyril proceeded to drop a drop on to the writhing Orbital Frame below. When it hit, Deus began to emit a shrill scream, tossing about wildly and even more radically than before. It eventually calmed down and then settled into a slump, not moving anymore.

"What was that?" Trent said, arching his brow.

"A little bit of our good friend The Angel of Death's blood that I took while he was spending time with us. It seems Deus really doesn't like it at all," Cyril explained.

"So it's not Miryhn, alright," Trent said, slightly whispering.

"Who?"

"His name, it's Miryhn. His 'human' name that is," Trent said, clearing his throat.

"It's just all the more reason to kill him. We could have stuck him in there and simply used Self-Binder on him, but obviously Deus isn't even formed yet and it doesn't even like him that much," Cyril said, smiling down at the blob.

"It's like we were screwed to begin with. Nothing is going as planned by Lazarus," Trent said, tapping his fingers on the railing.

"On the contrary, I tested all of our blood samples and Deus didn't even seem to react. At least if one of us boards it, it'll remain passive," Cyril said, sighing.

"I just have one question, though, and it may sound pretty stupid to ask it now," Trent began to say.

"Go ahead, although, I doubt I'd be much help," Cyril replied, shrugging.

"Why is it moving on its own?" Trent asked bluntly.

Cyril laughed and pointed straight at Trent. "See? Told you I wouldn't be much help," he said, winking. "Although, my only guess is that it's the bio-computer's natural impulses doing that to manipulate the Frame. Else, one can only guess what's inside there that would be making it have sort of a mind of its own."

"So it's more like we have a living thing here than a giant weapon robot, right?" Trent said, clarifying.

"Don't be silly, who ever heard of living things being used as weapons? Who ever heard of giant robots that were actually living things for that matter? It's completely absurd," Cyril said, smirking.

"We're weapons," Trent said plainly, then turned for the door.

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" Cyril asked, acting saddened to hear such a thing.

Trent whipped around and grabbed Cyril by the shoulder, pinning him to the railing. He stared straight at him with the gold irises of his Manna. "Our abilities, our endowments, and the gifts we were given were all in the name of someone else's cause, in case you have forgotten. Lazarus refuses to answer to that man anymore, but I can tell you now that he won't be happy to hear what's going on here. When weapons don't work, what do you do with them? You get rid of them," he said coldly.

"Are you talking about Balthasar Rosewater? He wouldn't dare touch us, we're his elite! He trusted us enough to make us our own group, so what's the problem?" Cyril replied, sneering.

"Balthasar has nothing to do with this. I was talking about the one Lazarus answers to every second of the day," Trent said, adding a small note of spite.

Cyril's eyes widened. "Are you going so far as to claim that we're tools to a false God? Just what are you saying, Trent?" he demanded to know.

"I'm saying that long before that fossil ever came around that we were much better off with just me in charge."

"You're questioning Lazarus's actions? Are you turning traitor?"

Trent, for the first time in what seemed like forwever, smirked and chuckled. "No, I'm just worried that the plan won't work out. We obviously must be ignorant to what God is really trying to tell us, and thus, his vessel is floundering. We have to find the right way of doing this and soon." He then yanked Cyril off the railing and stood him up, then turned to leave.

"Quit acting like a nuisance, you scared me there for a second," Cyril shouted, brushing off the spot where Trent grabbed him.

Trent didn't reply and simply strolled out the door.

"I'll have to keep an eye on him," Cyril said to himself, then went back to staring at the oozing mechanical deity.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Miryhn smiled as he finally dug out the sixth volume of "Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040" from the back of the DVD rack. His second stop for the day was one of those big CD and DVD stores and the instant he got there he just had to pick up some new anime as well as finish up his collection of "BGC".

Heading to the front, he got in line and waited patiently, reading the back of his box set of Gundam SEED and the sixth DVD of Bubblegum Crisis. Just then, a familiar set of voices sounded behind him.

"Dude, you wouldn't believe me if I told you just how much the dub of SEED sucks. They replace gun shots with weirder sounds, like space ship hatches opening up."

"Yeah, and those voices absolutely suck. They have like no emotion and it completely ruins the show. They make my ears want to bleed."

It was them again; the same three from the game store. Miryhn pinched his eyes shut and kept telling himself to ignore them, lest another useless debate break out.

"Well, look guys, it's Milliardo again. It's like that shitty sequel to Wing or something. Going to preach a totally different philosophy than you did at the end of our previous bout like Zechs did?" the pudgy one teased.

"I bet he's only here to appease the fans," the pizza-face said, joining in the joke.

"Do you ever give up?" Miryhn said over his shoulder. "Or are you just stalking me?"

The pudgy one snorted. "Nah, we only came here to pick up the box of Dragonball GT."

"And Blue Sub, can't forget Blue Sub," the pizza-face chimed in, waving around his DVD of "Blue Sub No.6".

"Don't forget, I have Full Metal Alchemist going on my preferred peer-to-peer program back home, dudes. We'll check out GT if it's still downloading," the hair dude added.

"Dragonball? Blue Sub? My condolences. You must be real freaks to like that stuff," Miryhn said, turning sideways to keep an eye on his place in line and to observe the fanboys.

"You just have no taste, man. What the hell is wrong with Dragonball and Blue Sub?" the pudgy fellow asked.

"Dragonball has the most contrived, overrated plot I've ever seen, boring and repetitive fighting sequences, absolutely bare minimal characterization that, if I may add, only happens in between each series, and people screaming as they power up is the most annoying fighting cliche I've ever seen. If I were powering up, I'd keep my damn mouth shut, else I'll be hoarse later, you know," Miryhn explained. "And Blue Sub was just the best nap I've ever had. I'm sure it would have been nice if I could keep up with the rather droll plot."

"You don't have room to talk. I mean, look at you, you're getting SEED? What the fuck is wrong with you? Fukuda totally fucked up that show and any self-respecting Gundam fan should hate that show and burn it on sight," the pudgy one said, pointing to Miryhn's selections in hand.

"Funny, I thought that since I was buying the show that I was a fan. I mean, it's only common sense. What kind of backwards logic are you going on?" Miryhn said, raising an eyebrow.

"You are a true eyesore if you're honest about buying that shit. It's the worst show I've ever seen," the pizza-faced fellow said. "Those dubs they show every Saturday make me want to gouge my eyes out with a screwdriver and then shove said screwdriver in my ears. That dub and edit is a disgrace."

"So why do you keep watching it?" Miryhn said, arching his brow.

"I dunno, I guess I'm just a masochist, or a hardcore Gundam fan," pizza-face replied.

Miryhn snickered. "Damn hypocrite," he said, shaking his head.

"You can't talk, you probably haven't even seen the UC serieses. They're a lot better than any of that alternate universe shit," the pudgy one pointed out.

"Actually, UC bores me to death. And, ironically, I love the alternate universes," Miryhn said, shrugging. "So what?"

"That's only further proof that you're not a true fan. You're just a newb and you always will be until you see UC and like it," the pudgy one accused.

"No, it means I'm an individual and you're an obsessed otaku that needs to get a life and stop whining about anime. The same goes for you and your little obsession with sounding like you know everything about video games and then bashing them left and right when all you're really doing is being elitist. With all due respect, I'm sick of hearing my favorite forms of media being treated like this. They really don't deserve it, you know, so drop the act, I can see right through it and everyone else who ever proclaimed anime to be some kind of highly refined art. It's not, it's cartoons from Japan, so get over it," Miryhn replied with a tone of heated anger. "And just to spite your obvious 'UC-ism'..." he added, then held up his middle and index finger in one hand and crossed it with the index of the other,"I believe in the sign of Turn A, deal with it." He then turned around and sighed, grumbling to himself.

The three fanboys looked at one another and then at Miryhn's backside. "Hey! You're the one with no life if you go around screaming at people who are just trying to have fun."

"Have fun? You're pissing people off, that's what you're doing! Go blabber your pointless insults amongst yourselves, not getting random strangers involved in your petty self-glorification bashing," Miryhn said, highly irritated as he turned around one more time to tell them this. "Does anyone else's opinion matter to you at all? Are you people so goddamned close-minded that if someone happens to disagree with you and like something that they can't think that? Have you ever heard of subjectivity? How about 'to each his own'? Just shut your fucking mouths and stop trying to get everyone to agree with you. I don't care what you think if all you're going to do is pitch a fit. Now leave me alone."

"You're the one who started it when you had to go and defend FFXX-2. I mean, you're obviously just in love with the game as we are in hate with it," the pizza-face fellow said, only further grating at Miryhn's temper.

"I was standing in line, minding my own business, you three are the ones throwing your weight around," Miryhn said, suddenly quieter in volume. "And for your information, I wasn't defending anything, I was attempting to point out that you're just wasting your own time with this idle bullshiting. Next thing you know, you'll start making me a four thousand word essay on why Lunar is overrated and 'childish' or why Char rip-offs like Zechs and Rau La Creuset need to die-"

"Hey, you know what? You're just replying with your own pointless whining. You're contributing far less to the conversation than we are, so you're just a hypocrite as well. Besides, what we have to say is obviously being wasted on this guy, so why are we even bothering?" the pudgy one spoke up. "You know what? Don't talk to us anymore, don't respond to what we have to say, and just go 'STFU', man. Obviously our carefully thought-out and worthy opinions are like casting pearls before swine here. You're just an asshole who likes ruining people's fun."

"I never wanted to have anything to do with you people to begin with! You're the ones going around bitching about mere video games and Japanese animation!" Miryhn pointed out.

"I thought I told you to stop talking to us. We have no time to waste on your trite little whines and rants, so calmly go back to whatever pathetic anime or Pokemon game you were playing," the pudgy one said in an extremely condescending tone. "I'm sure a nice episode of Yu Yu Hakusho is right up your alley, you whiney baby."

Now, normally Miryhn would have just let this be, but the fact was that they were making some rather personal remarks about him. He could tolerate endless complaints and whatever pointless jabs at his favorites they could make, but they were comparing him to a pig and an infant simply because he disagreed with them. This was just plain disrespectful and was the one line someone should never cross when trying to debate something; after all, when it breaks down to name-calling, it's no longer civilized nor mature. Miryhn was quite honestly fed up with the obsessive fan community for one day, but he just had to do something, else he'd feel like shit later.

"You know," Miryhn said, moving ahead in line and putting his DVDs on the counter. "You seem to be forgetting that we live in a somewhat anime-like world nowadays. It's almost like we're all part of some wacky and imaginative plotline, just like in anime!"

"I won't tell you again to stop coming to us with your moronic opinions. You're just a vortex of....dumbassery that stands to suck everyone else-...what the fuck?" the pudgy one began to prattle on in his holier-than-thou tone before pausing as he caught another glimpse of Miryhn.

Miryhn had a sinister smile on his face, cracking his knuckles with his gold-irises of Manna fixed on the fanboys. "Funny, 'cuz just like in anime, I have a few 'leet' powers that normal people don't have. And you know what's also funny? Just like your opinions, you're nothing special. The shit you spout is just like everyone else's, so what gives you the right to talk down to me when you sound, act, and talk just like every other random annoying fanboy? Damn conformists," he said, smirking.

The three fanboys dropped their jaws. "Wasn't his eyes brown a second ago?" the hair-dude asked in a whisper.

Miryhn yanked his sword out of his sheath and let it go up into the air. It twirled around a few times before falling and Miryhn catching it, using the downward momentum to swing around once and plant the blade in the nearby counter, splitting it clean down the middle and a second later, both halves fell to the floor. The pudgy one wet himself.

"That's just how much I hate obsessive fan communities like yourselves. That's how much people with common sense and a modest admiration of an anime hate you and your taking anime in general way too far with your shallow obsessions. And how can you talk like you're higher than someone when all you really do is complain and act like it's fact despite the fact that it's obviously not due to the subjectivity of it? Please, tell me, explain to me how having your head up your ass makes you better than someone else?" he asked, standing straight up and resting the blade on his shoulder. He then shrugged at the fanboys frozen looks of shock. "I'm dying to know," he added on a more sinister note, twisting the handle slightly to give off a threatening "click" noise.

"Dude, let's get the hell out of here!" the pizza-face shouted, then dropped his DVDs and bolted for the door.

The butterball and hair-dude followed suit, dashing by Miryhn and out the door.

"Yeah, that's right! Go back your Pocky and fansubs, otakus! Turn A turn, bitch!" Miryhn yelled at them as they left. "Damn, I really hate fanboy otakus," he said under his breath with a degree of spite. *

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

A few hours passed in the day and nothing much had happened. Vera continued to watch her show, thinking to herself; Judas eventually found out that sticking the roll of toilet paper in the toilet and flushing pulled the roll down the drain; Nash somehow managed to fix the dishwasher, but ended up breaking the microwave in the process; and Jim simply walked around town, working up the courage to do the next thing on his agenda.

Miryhn finally visited the store and was on his way back to the ship with a bag of groceries. He walked down the street, yawning and completely glazed over from all the walking and otaku-scaring he had to go through.

"You there, my son, sloth is a vice, you know," yet another familiar voice said.

Miryhn stopped and looked to his left. There, sitting at a long brown table in front of the same church Jim visited earlier was Joker. He smirked and adjusted his small spectacles up at Miryhn.

"You," Miryhn said, about to go for his sword.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, King. I'm certain that every single person on this street wouldn't be very happy to see you attack an innocent minister of the cloth, you know," Joker said, raising an index finger.

Miryhn thinned his eyes behind his sunglasses and resumed his normal posture. "Fine, what do you want?"

"It's just that it's a small world, King, I never though it'd get to talk to you again in private after our little tiff on the train. I was merely saying 'hello'," Joker replied, folding his arms. "By the way, would you mind giving to the church? Offerings are always welcome to those in need of penance," he added, grabbing a small model of a church off the table beside him. "Just swipe your cash card through the steeple here and I'll deduct a small sum in order to support the house of our Lord-"

"Stop it," Miryhn interrupted. "Stop mocking me."

"But you obviously still carry that grudge against me, don't you?" Joker asked, shrugging.

"Of course I do, you killed the woman I was planning on getting together with. I see no reason to not be pissed as hell at you," Miryhn replied, sneering.

"Nursing grudges only eats at your soul, King. But somehow I'm getting a different vibe from you than I did last time," Joker said, then put down his offering-church and rubbed his chin. "You got a haircut, didn't you?"

"Not exactly," Miryhn said, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh, wait, how silly of me. You finally transcended, didn't you? You're all fired up with your power right now, aren't you?" Joker said, smirking.

"How'd you know that?" Miryhn asked, impressed he could tell that he "blinked into" his Manna'ed-up state mere seconds ago.

"You can't hide anything from me, King, I know everything about you. I know everything about Ester too and I know everything about what's going on up there in the heavens themselves," Joker said, maintaining his smirk.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Miryhn said, sloping his brow.

"Why don't you ask me? I have no reason to hide anything from you. I would have told you more earlier, if not for you trying to kill me. By the way, did you learn to fly yet? I'm sure it's well within your abilities, being a 'real angel' and all," Joker said, doing air quotes at one point.

Miryhn stared at him, completely dumbstruck.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you haven't even begun to explore what you're capable of. Again, I would have been glad to tell you, but you were kind of trying to kill me way back when, so I wanted to see if when pressed against the odds, you could come through. Seeing as you lived through that fall, I'm certain you must have figured it out, but can't remember," Joker said, looking quite depressed to see Miryhn acting this way.

"I don't know anything about that. I just recently got a grip over it all. Well, not really a grip, just kind of re-awakened from it, in a sense," Miryhn explained, shrugging.

"Fantastic, truly fantastic. It looks like Ricdeau was right about you all along," Joker said, smiling fully.

"Just start from the beginning, alright?" Miryhn demanded softly.

"Alright, fine, fine. Look, I'll keep it simple," Joker said, sighing. "Have you ever questioned the old man on why he did this to you?"

"Yeah, he said he trusted me with his 'true blessing'," Miryhn replied.

"Oh, come on, you honestly didn't think there was no more to it than that, did you?" Joker said, rolling his eyes. "Miryhn, you were made to be just the same as me and the other Seraphs. You're a pawn, a playable character, something in someone else's game. The more you grow as an angel, the more you benefit the one who manipulates you. It's like a twisted little role-playing game where you're just put there to serve someone else's enjoyment of the game."

"You've lost me."

"You were made to oppose those who threaten Doctor Ricdeau, you and Queen both. You were nothing more than his pawns all along. He keeps you in the dark because if you caught on, you might not benefit him," Joker put bluntly.

"What?" Miryhn asked, awestruck. Of course, this really shouldn't be a surprise, but to have it confirmed was something entirely different.

"The difference between mine and your abilities is simple, King. I lack the full extent that you have. You have unlimited potential, so long as you have the drive and the willpower to do so. The secret to your strength is simple, King, it's all about what you really want to do and how strongly you can make it manifest. Just like back on the train, a part of you probably wanted to live, so your body was saved as you crashed to the surface by whatever caused you to want to cling to life," Joker explained. "It's amazing what Metatron is capable of, isn't it?"

"What's Metatron have to do with anything?" Miryhn asked.

"Simple, just like an old spaghetti company's catch phrase went, 'it's in you'," Joker said, shrugging as if it were common knowledge.

Miryhn's eyes widened. "Wait, say that again."

"Purified liquid Metatron infused into the walls of your bloodstream, interfaced through your flesh by means of a nanomachine colony implanted through transfusion of the substance to the test subject. 'Alpha Manna' in it's simplest sense," Joker said bluntly.

Miryhn almost dropped his bag. He set it down on the table and leaned against it, taking a few long breaths.

"Calm down, King, at least you didn't end up like me with the cheap knock-off 'Omega'. That's just a simple chemical in the blood that reacts to emotional charge. You, on the other hand, are pretty much stuck with it for life," Joker said, shrugging. "Plus you reep the benefits while we were merely a quick fix. Sustained useage of the product, enlengthened and greater effects, 'der wille zur macht' potential of varying individual capabilities, prototype 'Mindflow'-based capabil-" Joker continued to ramble.

"You're telling me I'm some kind of...of...." Miryhn demanded to know, unable to bring up a word appropriate enough. Hearing this was like seeing a piece of himself fall off and out of his reach; he was suddenly frightened out of his mind, haunted by the very idea of being less and less human. Metatron does things to people, crazy things; it drives most insane and others it merely slowly destroys, not only in body, but in mind and spirit.

"An 'Element' is one term I've heard. Ricdeau said it's a word used for human beings who seem to have a special affinity for Metatron and its properties. You, then, King, are like an 'artificial Element', in a sense, seeing as you back-door the whole concept by being a fraction Metatron yourself in body," Joker explained. "Normally, Elements are birthed through unknown means, but obviously you were just a normal old human being until fate stepped in."

Miryhn growled lowly. "And this was all in the name of being a living weapon? Just for someone to fight with and then toss away when they had come to terms?"

"That's about the gist of it. I envy and pity you at the same time, King. All this time, you were just being used by everyone around you," Joker continued, sighing at this statement.

"Explain that," Miryhn demanded.

"As I told you, Ricdeau just wanted living weapons, a pair of 'angels' to do his bidding and eliminate all who stood in his way. So he took you, whom obviously have a very humble approach to your abilities, and Queen, whom was his granddaughter and trusted him. The good doctor tore Queen away from the man she loved, stuck her in the Shuffle Squad, and even went to far as to put her in a position where she would have had to love someone of his choice, lest she would never return to her old life," Joker explained.

Miryhn sneered again. "What do you mean that Ester was already with someone?"

"Queen was engaged to Avanel Gaspar's first son, Ronan. Ricdeau took his granddaughter and threatened to kill the young man unless she cooperate. She was made to fall for you, despite her wishes. Up until her death, she was merely following the threat put upon her by her own grandfather. However, Ronan was dead long before I ever took her life, after TEMPEST collapsed, Ricdeau went back and killed Ronan himself just to cement the relationship she had with you. Then the bastard pinned the death on me in order to maintain trust between her and Ricdeau. Queen must have done a good job of hiding all this from even you, her most trusted friend, right? You should thank me, I only freed her from her pain," Joker explained.

"So that's why she took up bounty hunting....to find you because she thought you had...." Miryhn replied, gasping.

Joker slowly nodded.

"Why couldn't you just tell her the truth?" Miryhn shouted.

"Because if she ever knew, Ricdeau would have had to kill her too because using his fatherly trust, that was the best way to use you two. He can do that, you know. He's must more powerful than you or I could ever be," Joker said, folding his arms again. "He's a fearsome man and it's a dark day if you cross him."

Miryhn pinched his eyes shut and dropped to his knees, slamming a fist on the table. "There was someone else all along. It was all fake...a fake...plastic love," he whispered out to himself.

"Don't take it so hard, King, I'm sure she was warming up to you," Joker said, shrugging.

"That's none of your business!" Miryhn snarled at Joker. "But wait, if he wanted us to go after you, then that means-"

"Ricdeau doesn't like me, that much is obvious. The reason is simple, I know as much as he does and I'm using it to my advantage just as he is," Joker replied.

"Are you trying to manipulate me too?" Miryhn asked, a furious look on his face.

"What's the point? I've already won, after all. Ricdeau keeps thinking he's 'ten moves ahead' of his opponent, but I've already won the game," Joker said, smirking. "Not even you, one of his precious 'antitypes' could do anything to stop what has been set in motion now."

"'Antitype'?" Miryhn asked, curious.

"While us, the Seraphic Order, are 'newtypes' of humans, you're an 'antitype' made to oppose us. Sadly, so long as you never expand upon your abilities, then you can never truly defeat any of us," Joker explained, shaking his head. "Of course, I use the term loosely seeing as 'newtype' comes from some....anime where they were made to be weapons, just as you and I are."

"I've heard enough," Miryhn said, a firm look of anger on his face as he stood up.

"Are you sure you don't want to know more? I'm not afraid to divulge," Joker said, smirking.

"Why do you keep telling me these things anyway? First about Deus, then the Sages, now about Manna and the secrets of it and about Ester..."

"Because the more a piece in the game knows, the more interesting the game gets," Joker said, chuckling. "I'd invest closely in your true power, King, it'll be your only hope soon enough."

"Yeah, whatever. Look, so long as I'm still able to think for myself, I'm just fine. I'm not a pawn, I'm not an angel-weapon-antitype or whatever, I'm still myself, damn it! I'm still human!" Miryhn declared.

"Keep thinking like that and you won't get anywhere. Just give up and let a little of the light you hold in your veins out and you'll be just fine," Joker said, leaning forward on the table.

"Learn to fly?" Miryhn asked, sarcastic.

"Yeah, you could call it that," Joker said, smirking.

"Then I'll show you want I can do. Pick a place and time," Miryhn commanded.

"Lumber yard down the street, three blocks north at nine tonight. Bring the white gun," Joker said, now fully smiling.

"You got it," Miryhn said, nodding. "Farewell until then," he bidded, then picked up his bag and continued down the street.

"Go, with God," Joker replied, watching Miryhn leave. "And here's to hoping you'll really spread your wings soon."

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

It was later that evening and Vera had been watching anime all day. Sadly, she was only about a quarter of the way through her series and was slowly getting sleepy even though it was only the early evening. However, she was growing to love the show much more than ever and just couldn't seem to stop.

Judas stepped into the room and plopped down in a chair.

"Ah, hey there," Vera said, waving at Judas.

"Hey. Watching some of that 'anne-may'?" Judas asked, smirking as he looked at the TV.

"Yep. And you have to say it like 'anime', not 'anne-may'," Vera corrected as she reached for her bowl of popcorn.

"Oh, alright," Judas said, nodding.

Both sat there for a few moments, not saying anything.

"Vera, I just wanted to apologize for the other day. I really should have done something and both you and Miryhn almost died. I'm a failure as a guardian," Judas suddenly blurted out.

Vera looked over at Judas and arched her brow. "Say what? You're sorry for that?"

Judas slowly nodded, looking down sadly.

"Don't worry about it, Jude, I was the one who nearly got myself and you two killed," Vera said, tossing some popcorn in her mouth.

"No, I really should have tried harder, but I hesitated and-"

"Jude, just stop it, okay? We're fine, alright? That's all that matters," Vera said with voice raised.

Judas was silent for a moment. "Okay, I just wanted to get that off my chest, you know?"

"It's okay, just don't fret over it. I want to forget it ever happened," Vera said, sighing.

"Okay, sorry I brought it up. Bye," Judas said, then hurried out of the lounge.

Vera shoved more popcorn in her mouth and then yawned. Something slipped in the room just after Judas left and nearly scared her senseless.

"Hey."

Vera jolted and looked left to see Miryhn standing there in a white outfit; what Judas once commented on as the "Seraphic uniform".

"Miryhn, you almost made me wet myself! What are you doing parading around in cosplay?" Vera squawked, quite irritated by being shocked.

"Keep your voice down, damn it!" Miryhn said in a loud whisper. "I don't want Judas to know I'm going out."

"Going out where? To do what? Are you going to a con or something? You sure remind me of the villian from some ancient anime I heard about," Vera said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't start, okay? It just so happens this is some of the best protection available in combat despite the rather rediculous design," Miryhn said, looking angry as he pushed the circlet back up on one side of his head under his hair.

"Right, whatever, what do you want?"

Miryhn sighed and sat down beside her. "Well, I'm about to go do something that I think might be pointless. I found Joker and I wanted to fight him again for killing Ester. But I found out something recently that just might be true and I just don't know what to think."

"So you need me again to help you with something, huh? Figures," Vera said with a small note of sarcasm. "So what's bugging you now?"

Miryhn stared at her and couldn't help but wonder about her, frankly, bitchiness. "Well, I'm wondering if it's useless to avenge the death of someone you once loved, but they didn't love you back. Would it mean anything to anyone at all, or would it just be-"

"Miryhn, you know what your problem is?" Vera interrupted. "The bitch is dead, okay? I can't stand it when people can't get over this sort of thing and keep using it as an excuse. I can read you like an open book, you know, you obviously want love but you're afraid of them dying on you or something again, right? So you use your dead flame as an excuse to hide what you really want. It's typical soap opera drama, so get over yourself."

Miryhn was rather shocked; Vera was usually quite understanding, but this was just too blunt to be the Vera he knew. "Just what are you saying?"

Vera groaned. "Do you want me to spell it out for you? Leave her in the past and find someone else! It's so obvious that....grr!" she shouted, then clenched her fists and growled. "There, I helped, alright? I told the most blatantly obvious answer to your troubles possible. Now go out and do it."

Miryhn bit his lip and stared at the coffee table. "Perhaps you're right, but I won't ever forget her, you know. She may have had someone else in mind all the time, but I still admired her for some amount," he said, then sighed and stood up. "But what's with this attitude change? Usually you're rather compassionate."

"Because I just don't feel like it, Miryhn. I'm in a rather crabby mood about what's happened lately and I'm worried sick that something is going to pass me by, but I don't know what," Vera said loudly at him, still irritated.

"So maybe you changed too, huh? But for the worst?" Miryhn said, looking at her sadly. "Well, that's alright. I can only hope it's just your time of the month or something."

"How the hell would you know? You keep track of that?" Vera grumbled.

"No! Of course not! Stop being so weird, what's going on with you?" Miryhn demanded to know.

"It's nothing, so just go away and let me be for now. You'll probably only end up making me worst off if you keep harping about that bitch and all your damn angst issues," Vera said angrily, folding her arms.

"I don't have anymore angst issues, for your information. In fact, that's what I was going to tell you next before you blew up at me. I wanted to thank you for seeing me through it and that I'm cured now. I'm perfectly content with myself now and it was partially in thanks to you," Miryhn replied with the same volume, brow sloped in partial anger. "When I was laying there with a gun to my fucking head, you were one of the few that made me want to get back up, you should know. I'm this way now thanks in the most part to you and all the help you gave me, so why don't you just go and rub it in my face now?"

Vera's expression instantly softened. "I did?"

Miryhn sighed and dropped his hands and head. "Damn it, look at me now, Vera, I'm actually happy again for once. I cleared out whatever doubt I use to have and now...I'm myself, the person I want to be. I'm that guardian angel I once blabbered to you about and it's partially, mostly, in thanks to you and what little simple understanding you gave out. I never wanted sympathy or pandering, just someone to shut up and listen and I feel like a complete dipshit for taking so long to realize that," he explained. "I wanted to see if you were happy too about it seeing as I thought you actually gave a damn, but if someone having a little difficulty deciding where his heart lies is such a big deal, then just forget about it. I'll be back late, so tell Jim," he said, then began to leave.

Vera was momentarily stunned, taking in and out a long sigh. She then brought her closed fists to her mouth and felt herself starting to cry. "Oh, no, what have I done?" she said into her hands. She shot up and to the doorway. "Miryhn! Wait, I didn't me-" she began to shout, but saw that the hallway was empty. She bit her lip and wiped her cheeks, cursing under her breath.

She grabbed the DVD player remote and cut off the TV, accidently stepping on Peniel's tail as she hurried past the coffee table. Peniel shot up and across the room, behind a potted plant.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Penny, I didn't mean to. Are you okay?" she said with the utmost apology in her tone. "You'll be okay, right? I just didn't see you there."

Peniel slowly came out from the plant and trotted up to her, walking around her leg and brushing against her, purring softly. Vera looked down and smiled. "I just hope he's as understanding," she said, then began to sprint for the doorway. "Watch my popcorn while I'm gone," she said, then hurried down the hallway.

Peniel hopped up on to the table and spotted the bowl. He looked up inside it and then hopped in with his hind legs. After all, the popcorn was a lot warmer than most of the ship was, so he settled down and napped.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Tonight was the night; it was the night Jim would finally head back to Bill and Joel's place and try to set things right. After all, they were really his only friends left that he could find; his day of searching for old grievances was for nought. He kept this one until last so that he could avoid having to face Bill's shotgun again, but now was the time to test fate, as well as Bill's ability to restrain himself from killing someone.

Jim climbed the stairs and threw open the door. The first thing he saw was the piano, there in the back beaten and nearly destroyed. There were pock-marks and large chunks missing of the outer soundboard, revealing broken strings within and pieces of the piano keys on the floor all over. In front of it was a small sign, asking no one to touch it; like Bill was trying to say that the piano was a lost cause, that it was useless now to anyone and didn't deserve to even be there.

He looked around some more, seeing all the same faces as before. Paul, the real estate novelist, Davey, who apparently was still in the navy, as well as the same patrons in the booths on the other side of the bar. The old man wasn't there, but someone in a trench coat and hat was at the counter, apparently a newcomer. Joel was behind the counter, wiping a glass with a rag.

"Hello, Jim," Joel said plainly. It was the only sound in the entire room, just as Jim noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"Hey, Joel," Jim replied.

"Come on and have a seat," Joel said, sounding quite depressed and retentive.

Jim quietly sat down on a stool. "Can I get a beer?"

"Sure, it's on the house," Joel replied, putting down his glass and grabbing a fresh one to fill up.

"Thanks," Jim said, an eyebrow raised at the offer of free beer.

The fellow at the bar raised his hat to the top of his head, revealing the face of a man in his early senior years with a thin beard. He stared at Jim and Jim stared back.

"What are you looking at?" Jim asked.

"Nothing," the fellow replied, looking down at his mug and taking a gulp.

"You shouldn't have come back, James Hauser. But somehow, I knew you would," Bill's voice said from the door to the back.

Jim turned his gaze the other way and saw Bill standing there, hands behind his back. "Why did you call me 'James'?"

"Because that's what 'she' called you," Bill answered, his face dead serious.

"And 'she' is the only one who's allowed to, I'll have you know," Jim said, growing angry.

Bill smirked and began to come closer. "Look at you all high-and-mighty and still in love with your corpse of a wife. You won't be so mushy in a moment here..."

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Miryhn stood in the lumber yard as instructed, waiting patiently. The wind was brushing the six silk "wings" on the back against the backs of his legs as he stood in wait. As he stood there staring into space, he kept thinking back over what had happened with Vera. Perhaps Masamune was right all along; maybe things were changing now that he had reached a resolution and maybe it was time to move on. And right after Masa', Vera was probably right too. What was the point of hanging on to Ester? She obviously never had it in for the guy entirely; after all, she was always engaged to Ronan, not him. Miryhn then thought over it again and realized that sooner or later she would have told him anyway and that would have ended up in him being even more saddened, as well as without a female to call his own once again. Either way he looked at it, Ester was a dead end; he would have never allowed himself to try and get between two lovers, nor would he allow Ester to dump Ronan for him. Miryhn had been through that himself, once upon a time, and ended up the victim and knew just how much it sucks to be the guy getting dumped.

With a long sigh, he gazed up at the domed sky. "Ester, it's about time we stopped clinging on to each other, or at least for me to stop clinging on to you. I'll be adrift a while, but I won't forget you. I'll just have to find someone else who was just as good as you could have been," he said, then smiled. He gazed down at the ground and sighed again, feeling relieved he could reach a point of resolution and shake off what could have been. Yet another thing he could throw off that was just keeping him down, after all.

"Been waiting long?" Joker's familiar voice said from across the yard.

Miryhn turned to his right and saw Joker walking in the gateway in his black uniform. He had something on his back, the handle of which was sticking up over his right shoulder; most than likely a melee weapon of some sort.

"I see you've grown fond enough of our garments to wear them out," Joker said, smirking.

"I did it just to piss you off, actually. You told me I don't deserve such 'divine' garb, after all," Miryhn said, smiling back.

Joker chuckled slowly and withdrew Damnation from his coat. "I can tell you brought the brother to this weapon, it stirs with excitement at seeing it's companion again."

Miryhn took Divinity out of his own coat and looked at it. Blue lines were coarsing across the body of the gun, obviously indicating that it was Metatron-based. "So just what are these things anyway?"

"Oh, you had more questions?" Joker said, twirling the revolver on his index finger.

"Yeah, I had a few more," Miryhn replied, smirking.

"These are simply 'angel arms', so to speak. Were made specifically with us in mind," Joker explained. "They're also keys, so to speak. Keys to a gate that needs to be unlocked."

"What gate?" Miryhn asked, cracking his neck.

"The gate to Heaven, of course," Joker replied, then instantly drew and fired twice at Miryhn.

Undergoing the brief "unfurling" act of changing eye color, Miryhn easily stepped aside both shots and returned fire before rolling behind a stack of two-by-fours. All three of Miryhn's shots were easily dodged by Joker.

"Good, good, you already have a good grasp of your abilities in speed. Let's try strength," Joker replied. He then aimed up at the rack of lumber above Miryhn's hiding spot and held the trigger down. Suddenly, Damnation began to make a whirring noise and the lines across the barrel began to move faster and faster. A second or two later, he let off the trigger and fired a powerful beam of red light from the gun, it striking the rack and causing it to sway and break over top of Miryhn.

Miryhn stood up to get out from under it, but he could easily tell he wouldn't make it in time. He stopped short and reached up, moving aside the boards that were about to fall on him, giving him enough room to make it out from under the mess. He dove aside and the entire rack collapsed, making a messy pile of boards where he once stood. Miryhn took the oppurtunity to breath a sigh of relief before hopping to his feet.

Joker laughed loudly in reply. "Impressive. This is truly what I thought the power of Angel Thanatos was, but we've only just begun!"

Miryhn hopped on top of a stack of boards and aimed down at Joker. "Next question: what's my 'Role'? That's been eating at me for a while."

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

"And why is that, Bill?" Jim asked, highly suspicious.

Bill took in and let out a long sigh. "James, it's occurred to me that you haven't properly served your time for the murder of Katherine. You're still a criminal, James, and you need to be punished. You need to experience the worst for what you did," he said coldly.

"You have no idea what was going on at the time. You don't know what kind of monster she had become!" Jim shouted angrily.

"That's no excuse, James. You're a criminal and a coward and you need to be dealt with properly, else you might end up hurting someone else," Bill said firmly. "So I hired Mister Douglas Cartland here to carry out an investigation on you and Katherine. He's one of the best private investigators around and he's managed to compile enough evidence to re-open the case with the police and see to it that you get what's coming to you."

"That would be me, Mister Hauser, I'm Douglas Cartland," the fellow in the hat and coat beside Jim said, standing up from his stool.

"We're doing this because we care, James. I still want to be your friend, but I can't let a sin like yours get away unpunished," Bill said, keeping a straight face.

Jim looked from Douglas to Bill, then to Joel. "You let him do this?"

"I had no choice. I tried to find another way, Jim, I really did, but he insisted," Joel replied.

"Isn't the fact that I still grieve and pain over what I did enough? Isn't my own bleeding heart my own punishment?" Jim cried out.

"No, James, you need proper handling. Refusing is nearly as bad as anarchy itself, you're living proof that anyone can get away with murder and it needs to be handled," Bill shouted angrily.

"You call me 'James' one more time and I'll ram this mug right down your throat," Jim said like a coldblooded threat.

"That's your name, isn't it, James? Come on, you're just fooling yourself. There's nobody who loves you anymore, is there, James? You're a killer, a murderer, a filthy, rotten, coward and that's exactly why!" Bill said with a furious crescendo.

Jim roared and smashed his mug against the bar. With the jagged edges of the handle in hand, he rushed towards Bill like a raging bull. From behind, Douglas quickly took out his pistol, took aim, and fired.

Jim landed on his face just short....just too short of his goal...

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

"Your 'Role' is something I was never specifically told. All I know is that you have one and you have yet to fulfill it," Joker replied.

"So it's just more cryptic bullshit, huh? Or is that someone you really don't want to tell me?" Miryhn asked.

"Nope, not even I know it," Joker said, then raised Damnation and began firing again.

Miryhn leapt off the stack and began running perpendicular to Joker, returning fire at one another until he was safely behind the cover of a building.

"So these guns fire off Metatron-powered beams, huh? No wonder there were no shell casings around the body of Rupert Longbottom," Miryhn shouted around the corner.

"Rupert was merely a false hope just like all the others were and got the same fate as all those that are of no use to us anymore," Joker shouted in reply.

"Just what are you people after anyways?" Miryhn demanded to know.

"The group has two goals in mind, King. One is eliminate you because you're a threat, the other is to establish themselves as the guardians and guides of all humanity. However, I'm not into such bombastic goals, I have my own agenda," Joker answered.

"Then what are you after?" Miryhn asked, a little quieter.

"Now that, is a secret," Joker answered as he suddenly whipped around the corner and punched Miryhn across the face. Miryhn was sent tumbling away and dropped Divinity in mid-roll. He quickly got back to his feet and staggered around before hearing and seeing the next shot from Damnation. He dove aside and drew his sword, figuring he'd have to get close enough for melee action.

"So you do have something to hide from me, huh?" Miryhn asked in mid-sprint as he gradually closed the angle of his circling on Joker.

"Of course! I'm not going to give away my plan so early in the game," Joker shouted in reply as Miryhn got in close enough and swung overhead at Joker. Joker blocked with the barrel of Damnation, but Miryhn turned the blade a quarter turn and slammed it into the hand guard, cutting into Joker's fingers. He dropped the gun and staggered back, growling with blood flowing down his hand.

"It looks like a winner is me," Miryhn said, smirking.

"Not quite!" Joker shouted, then drew a massive buster sword-like weapon from his back.

"What the hell?" Miryhn muttered, but instantly forgot his question as Joker swung horizontally at him. The two blades met and sparked a little as both held the block against one another.

"Come on, King, show me the might you're holding back. You're Thanatos, remember? You're the Angel of Death, so prove it or I'll kill you right here and now!" Joker roared, overpowering Miryhn and sending his blade aside. He then lunged forward for a stab at Miryhn's chest; Miryhn once again could focus his senses enough to see it coming and swayed to one side. Joker went staggering past and Miryhn spun around once and planted his katana in Joker's back. Joker staggered forward, the wound instantly opening and bleeding through.

"What? You're not falling over in excrutiating pain? I thought I stabbed you in the spine!" Miryhn exclaimed.

"Guess you missed a little. Oh, too bad," Joker replied. "But come on, this is mere child's play, you're capable of more than that. After all, it's the reason why yours is called the 'Alpha Manna', you know, and why mine and the others are 'Omega'."

"And what would that be?" Miryhn asked, holding his sword up again.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

"Trying to assault someone like that is a bad sign, James. You should know better than to let your temper get away like that," Bill teased.

Jim snarled and got back to his feet. He was only grazed by the bullet on the left arm and one arm was more than enough of what he needed. "Who are you to dictate what's right and wrong, huh?" he roared, grabbing Bill by the collar and slamming him against the wall, pinning him to it.

"I'm not doing it, society is," Bill shouted back.

"You have no idea the pain and suffering I've been through, so how can you properly balance guilt and redemption?" Jim said, still hot with anger.

"That's none of my concern, James, but you have to know that you're an eyesore to an upstanding human being. You're the monster, James, you're the one who's lost their humanity!"

"You self-righteous son of a-"

"I tell you what, James, why don't you just die?" Bill shouted at the top of his lungs.

Jim froze, a shocked look on his face.

"Just go and die, James, it's the only way you'll ever see Katherine again. Just give up, stop preaching your sentimental garbage, lay down and die. You're a waste of space, a pathetic excuse for a human being, and a burden on everyone you meet. You can't hold a proper job, you live on the edge of society, you smoke and drink and run away from everything you can't deal with. Just die, James, die and do the entire human race a favor you sick, disgusting excuse of a man!" Bill said with as much anger and conviction as he could muster.

Something in Jim had finally shattered, the pieces disappearing in the void that was his endless guilt. Perhaps it was his bravery in facing his punishment, but he knew it was something else: hope. The sad look on Joel's face, the anger Bill was absolutely glowing hot with, the shamed look on Douglas's face, and worst of all, all the things he remembered his crew saying about him when they had left due to his own doing. Jim then began to feel the weight on his heart grow heavier, knowing that he was such a burden on everyone he ever came in contact with.

But to allow everyone to go on with life, to relieve the weight he put on all their consciences, to free himself from pain and suffering, to see Katherine again....to just....die....

He tossed Bill aside and sprinted for the door. Intense fear was pulsing throug his body, afraid of himself for even considering taking his own life if it meant the benefit of others. He made it outside and began running as fast as he could for the ship. He decided then that he had to get off Mars, he had to keep running until he could figure out another way.

It seemed like every single time he went back to face his past, he ended up running from it again; in both the metaphorical and literal sense. The irony got to him, and he managed a tear as he went around the corner.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

"Omega is the end, the end has limitations, the end is simply the end of everything and the furthest one can go. Alpha is the beginning, a fresh start, and has any degree of extent or direction that they can go. That is our difference, King. You can summon as much strength as you will yourself to, I cannot, so hurry up and do it. Show me the extent of what you can do," Joker demanded. "I can't wait forever, I must see just what you're capable of!"

Miryhn thought back over in his mind what all he had done up until this point. What he was saying was true; will seemed to be the key to what he was capable of, so it seemed simple: will himself to beat the living shit out of Joker and it should happen. There was no real other way to think about it, so he took a deep breath and raised his sword. He knew that from Joker's rantings that there really was no need to worry too much about his limitations as a human, which was probably what was holding him back so far. He'd just have to trust himself and go all-out.

"Good, good, are you finally going to try something?" Joker asked.

Miryhn drew a firm look and suddenly bolted straight at Joker at a speed that not even Joker could pick up on until he felt Miryhn's sword slice through his coat and contact his skin, sending him staggering backwards. It was like watching a silver streak that suddenly moved to Joker's right and then hacked at him again, then leapt from the left and sliced straight down Joker's backside. However, Joker quickly mustered up his own focus on his senses and caught Miryhn heading at him for another attack and blocked, handguard of each sword meeting as they each held the block.

"Fantastic! You really are whom you claim to be. It's simply astonishing, King, you really are Archangel Thanatos!" Joker cried out happily.

"Yeah, I am," Miryhn said, smirking. "That's exactly what I am!" he shouted with conviction, this time overpowering Joker enough to send him staggering backwards. Miryhn then wound up and swung hard enough to smack Joker in the gut and send him flying backwards off his feet into the side of a building. He hit it with the force of a small, speeding car, creating a dent in the concrete wall.

"This is incredible. Who would have thought that Metatron grants such awesome gifts?" Joker asked himself, weakened enough by the blow that he had to sit still and catch his breath.

"He's right, I'm really feeling it now," Miryhn said, smiling as he walked by Divinity and Damnation and scooped both up. He then stopped yard or two in front of Joker, lowering Divinity at Joker's head as he sheathed the katana and put Damnation at his belt. "Can't leave all your toys out to play with, now can I?"

"So are you going to kill me before I even give away any more vital information? I told you, I know a lot about what's really going on around here. Killing me cuts off a great deal of information available to you," Joker said, smirking.

"Who cares? You just told me the key to my abilities, right? I'll deal with the Seraphs myself if they ever come after me and I'll give them the same ass-beating I just gave you," Miryhn said, thinning his eyes. "Just like always, I'm not going down without a fight if my life is on the line."

"It seems you're getting closer all the time," Joker said, then chuckled and pulled his mouth back far enough to show off all of his teeth.

"What's so funny?" Miryhn asked, cocking his head to the side a little.

"I can see them, your wings. They're forming, softly, but surely. Der Wille Zur Macht, King, Der Wille Zur Macht," Joker explained, almost unable to contain his excitement.

Miryhn wasn't about to do anything stupid like look; of course he didn't have any wings or anything, that would require new appendages coming out of him or something. "What are you talking about?"

Joker's eyes widened. "Fantastic, wings of light from one's power of will," he said, awe-struck.

Miryhn was just too curious not to look, so he did a quick peek over his shoulder and spotted a line of white feathers, formed of soft-glowing white light-

Just then, Joker grabbed his sword and leapt to his feet. Miryhn turned back forward and began firing, Joker deflecting each shot with the blade of his sword. Joker rushed forward and suddenly the blade opened up and several bayonettes spilled out into midair. Joker dropped the empty sword and swiped several times, collecting the bayonettes in between each of his fingers and the opposite sides of his hands, holding six in each hand. He smirked again while Miryhn slowly backed up, whom was quite confused at what just happened.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to see how keen you are against one of my best attacks. I like to call this one the 'Sword Dancer'," Joker said, taking the bayonette held within the thumb and index of both hands and doing a cross-wise stance; the right holding a bayonette horizontal with the palm facing his face and the one in the left hand crossed near the handle on top holding the bayonette vertical. He stared through the fan of blades at Miryhn pulling back his cheeks into his sadistic smile again. **

All Miryhn saw was Joker vanish from normal view, so he began to focus around him and saw Joker moving just faster than he could track, moving every which way in a seemingly random fashion, tossing the bayonettes straight at Miryhn like projectiles. Fortuneately, the blades were noticeable enough for him to tuck Divinity back in his coat and draw the katana. He swatted four away, blocked three more, stepped around one, but the other four nicked his cheek, right leg, right hand, and left shoulder. Nothing too deep, but enough to have him stagger back a bit from the attack. To the normal eye, it was nothing more than multiple silver streaks around Miryhn, all resulting in blades dropping to the ground seemingly out of nowhere.

Joker landed a few feet back and charged forward, grabbing Miryhn by the face. He roared and tossed Miryhn straight up and back, Miryhn slamming into a rack of lumber. He began to fall, but was slowed before hitting the ground, giving him a moment to ponder just what happened. He chalked it up to focusing into slow-mo during the fall and rushed forward to Joker once again, katana ready to strike the now weapon-less Joker.

Joker leaned down and scooped up two bayonettes, one in each hand and ran towards Miryhn at the same time. Both were about to clash once again when-

"Halt, both of you!" a female voice commanded.

Both combatants froze, looking up in the direction of the female voice. There, atop one of the stacks of boards was Vera, staff in hand and the night breeze gently blowing her hair and skirt.

"Vera? What the hell are you doing out here?" Miryhn said, completely dumbstruck.

"Wait, you know her?" Joker asked.

"Yeah, I do," Miryhn said, sighing.

"You take one more step towards Miryhn and I'll beat your ass to a bloody pulp just like I did your blue-haired buddy," Vera said, taking stance with her staff.

"Hmm?" Joker sounded to himself. Another wide, teethy grin showed up on his face. "She's got...oh, I see now. Heh, this is interesting, real interesting."

"Joker!" yet another female shouted, this time from the gate.

Joker turned around to see Annallee standing there, hands at her hips and a furious look on her face.

"Annallee! Come here and give me back-up, I almost have him defeated," Joker shouted to her.

"Joker, you were ordered not to engage him seeing as you couldn't even kill him the last time you fought. And from what I see here, you even used the 'Sword Dancer' on him and it failed. Your track record isn't doing too good, so I'd recommend you retreat with me now while I'm still in a halfway decent mood," Annallee commanded.

"But, Annallee, he's right here and he's on the ropes. I can kill him, I know it!" Joker shouted angrily.

"Retreat, now, McArthur!" Annallee said, more firmly.

"Don't you ever use that name in public, Annallee! You are to address me by my preferred name when-"

"Shut up and come, now!" Annallee interrupted, more stricter than before.

Joker grumbled and turned back to Miryhn. "It'll be a draw for today, King," he said, then picked up his buster sword and moved a switch on the side. The bayonettes magnetically collected back inside the sword and the blade closed. He placed it on his back and started walking off. "Keep the guns, you won them fair and square and I can't fight to get them back anyway now. But rest assured this isn't over, I'll be back." With that, the two Seraphs left the yard and were out of eyeshot.

Miryhn thinned his eyes and Vera hopped off her perch and joined beside Miryhn. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just got a few scratches, that's all," Miryhn said, sighing as he sheathed the katana again. He then dug out Divinity and Damnation, examining them. "Two keys to Heaven..." he said to himself.

"What?" Vera asked, curious.

"Nothing, nevermind," Miryhn said, sticking Divinity back in his coat and Damnation at his belt. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Miryhn, look," Vera said, standing in front of him and putting her hands on his forearms. "I'm sorry about what I said, I really didn't mean it. I just....I'm happy for you, really, I am," she said, then pulled forward and hugged him.

"I thought you would be. That's good to hear," Miryhn said, smiling and hugging her back. "But why'd you come all the way out here?"

"For one, I needed to tell you that or I'd feel like a real bitch," Vera said, groaning. "And because I figured you were going to risk your life again for some reason and I didn't want you to get hurt. However, from what I see here, you did alright on your own. But I'm curious, what were those white shapes that I could have sworn I saw behind you all the time?"

Miryhn looked completely dumbfounded. "My wings?" he said with a shrug. He had seen them too, kind of, but really had no idea what he was seeing anyway.

Vera giggled and straightened herself up. "Well, let's get going. No need to stay around here much anymore, right?"

"Yeah, let's get some food. I'm starving after all that leet angelic power stuff," Miryhn said, rubbing his now roaring stomach. "I guess the fact is true that using my abilities drains at my metabolism after all."

"Then let's get going, right now. You're not standing here starving to death while I'm on watch for you," Vera said, then grabbed Miryhn's hand and lead him toward the gate.

Miryhn laughed nervously. "Good ol' Vera, always looking out for me," he said to himself.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Jim sat on the bridge, tapping his fingers as he waited for the others to get back. He had called Vera wondering where she was and said that Miryhn was ordering a smorgasboard of food to go so they'd be a little while longer. Meanwhile, Judas was leaned against the back of the bridge and Nash was at his usual spot at one of the consoles.

"So why are we leaving again?" Nash asked.

Jim didn't answer.

"Captain?"

Jim kept silent.

"Jim? Why are we leaving? Hello?"

Jim simply stared off into space.

"Weirdo," Nash said to himself.

"Just got to figure something out. Just have to find a way. Just have to do something soon, before it tears me appart," Jim mumbled to himself.

Minutes later, Vera and Miryhn got back and despite odd talk of his attire, Miryhn took off Entropy. The little row boat was on it's way back down the river again, and despite his best wishes and his tireless efforts, something was coming from upriver that was entirely of the sinful man's own doing...the final result of all his pain and remorse, the final result of all his attempts at redemption...

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

* It's true, Miryhn REALLY hates obsessive otakus of games and anime. I don't blame him at all. -_o

** Is it just me, or is anyone else getting that "Alexander Anderson from 'Hellsing'" vibe from Joker? ^_^()

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