The most unlikely romance in Heaven began with a bang.
Literally.
-------------
--It's amazing, the things that cross your mind at a time like this--
thought Aranel to himself, as the young Mercurian of Flowers frantically
dove for cover beneath his desk --I've got Belial rampaging through my
Tether and I actually thought about *insurance premiums*?--
***FWOOSH***
The smoking ashes of what *had* been the cheap Art Deco painting on the wall
behind him landed in his hair... along with large chunks of the wall.
--I don't suppose asking if we could talk about this would make any...--
***FWASSSSSSHHHHH***
Belial suddenly paused for a second in his rampage to admire the more
interesting side effects of setting plastic curtains on fire... mmmmm, the
acrid throat-searing smell of burning polymers, the leaping and coiling of
the thick black smoke...
--... sense? Guess not! Let me see -- exactly *how* did Superior
Invocations go again?--
Novalis arrived to a scene straight out of Sheol, as half the lobby was on
fire, several of her Soldiers lay unmoving on the ground (--Dead or
injured?--, she wondered. (--Check them as soon as you can... but first
find out what's going on--), her Seneschal frantically trying to douse his
flaming clothes with what was left of the water cooler, and the Demon Prince
of Fire laughing maniacally as he finished spot-welding the fire escape door
shut with a glance.
"Are you *that* upset about what I did with the Burning Man celebration,
Belial?" she asked sadly, as she tried to extinguish the flames with a Song.
"If you wish to contest with me, then come speak to *me*, not these people.
They had nothing to do with you!"
"But I"d rather that *you* came to *me*, flower girl," Belial said, pumping
his own Essence into keeping the fires lit "... and I knew this wimp of
yours would Invoke you as soon as I started making it even a little too hot
to handle! Baal calls it 'My time, my place, MY RULES!' I'm gonna have
a Tether roast today and I'm gonna use your Vessel for the kindling! So
let's get to BURNIN' DOWN THE HOUSE!" And Belial, burning with white-rot
rage and glee, lashed out with an incendiary wave that would have reduced
the average granite tor to free-floating plasma...
... and ran head-on into Novalis's Shield, as she concentrated and dug in
with all of her Essence against one of the most brutishly strong Demon
Princes in Hell.
"Over my dead body."
Belial grinned even more widely.
"That's the whole idea."
-------
"What the fucking Hell is all that racket?" Michael snapped out, as the
Archangel of War listened to the faint sounds of Symphonic disturbance
drifting in halfway across the city. "If it's that far away and we can
*both* still hear it, they've got to be wrecking a building!"
"No idea, Sir" said his Seneschal. "I haven't heard that much noise since
that one crazy Ofanite of Gabriel's lit a bonfire in an oil refin...*
***CRACKA-THOOOOOOOOM***.
Both angels winced and held their ears as the already ear-splitting noise of
Belial's arsonous rampage was drowned by the atomic shockwave of a Superior
manifesting on the corporeal plane in a *really* big hurry. While his
Servitor still reeled from the noise, Michael's reflexes were already
evaluating the new data....
--Superior manifesting! Concentrate... Novalis... facing *Belial*? Get
range... bearing... *acquisition*! OK, pyro, you picked the *wrong* town to
go gate-crashing in!--
Snapping out a curt order to his Seneschal to get back up the Tether and
call it in, with a flicker of a Song (--No point in keeping things quiet
now, you couldn't hear *Legion's* rampage over all this noise--), Michael
teleported straight to where the action was.
------
"If you can't stand the heat, hippie chick, get back in the kitchen!" Belial
crowed, as the force of his onslaught forced Novalis to one knee.
"I don't... have to win... just have to hold you long enough..."
"For what? For these pitiful worms to get away? Who cares? It's not
*them* I want, it's *you*! And you're *mine*, all mi..."
***** WHAM *****
Laurence would undoubtedly have issued a formal challenge first, but Michael
never was one to pass up a free shot. Belial's grip on Novalis's arm was
broken as Michael's free hand chopped down hard across his wrist, while the
axe stroke to the side of the Demon Prince's head sent him staggering
facefirst into the nearest wall.
"Your skull's even thicker than I thought, lava-brain. Or I need a better
sharpening stone."
"AAAARRRRRRGGGGH!"
"Guess the sharpening stone's OK, then."
-----------
Novalis lay on the floor, exhausted from the effort of having contained
Belial's full berserker onslaught to her and her alone while simultaneously
Attuning to the injured Soldiers of Flowers lying on the floor and drawing
their wounds into her via her resonance while blocking further damage to her
attuned with Self-Sacrifice. Having to turn her back on the Demon Prince
even momentarily, so as to lay her hands on her wounded servitors, had
granted him a significant advantage which he'd used to the fullest. But
there hadn't been any *time*....
--He *stopped*? What in Heaven's name could have diverted Belial's atten...
Oh. *Him* *sigh* I must remember to thank him for stepping in,
but... there he goes *again*...--
----------
Smiling from ear to ear despite his singed clothing and blistered hand,
Michael feinted with his axe and then rammed his off hand straight into
Belial's solar plexus and then swiftly threw a knee into Belial's face as he
doubled over. Belial howled indistinctly through his smashed teeth and
lunged forward from his crouched position, coming up and over and trying to
overbear the Archangel of War via sheer brute strength and aggression...
... with predictable results, as Michael deftly stepped aside and redirected
Belial's rush straight into one of the support pillars with a simple
hip-throw. The pillar cracked along its length.
--Now I know why Baal keeps telling me that only he gets to fight Michael.
Nobody else *wants* to.--
----------
--Has no one ever told Michael that only a fool fights in a burning house?--
Novalis thought wearily. --Or is he just trying to save the building by
destroying it?--
Between the thick gouts of smoke from the burning couches, curtains, and
ceiling and the flying pieces of wrecked furniture from the wrestling match,
visibility was at an all-time low. Novalis and two of her freshy-healed
Soldiers peered dimly through the gloom, trying to locate and move to safety
the limp and unmoving bodies of the few customers that had still been in the
day-care center at this late in the afternoon. --At least he's keeping
Belial too busy to think about lighting new fires *this* time--
Belial desperately threw almost all of his remaining Essence into fueling
his strength, as he tried frantically to break Michael's grip so he could
get the Hell out of there! Managing to momentarily break free of the
avenging Archangel's clutches, Belial reached under his jacket, tossed his
last-ditch surprise on the floor, and skedaddled.
--Hmph! So much for *him*... what's that?--
------------
--Thank Heaven, he's gone... what's that?--
------------
Seeing the bomb dimly through the smoke and haze, Michael instantly went
into action. That much C-13 would drop the entire building if nobody did
anything, and knowing Belial the fuse was shorter than Magog's temper. No
problem. Just dive on the bomb and activate a Song of Shields, and the new
Vessel'll be ready before lunchtime...
--Somebody else jumping in! Catch them and toss them back before it's
too...--
-----------
Seeing the bomb dimly through the smoke and haze, Novalis instantly leapt
into action. She couldn't possibly let Belial's bomb -- it had to be a
bomb -- detonate *here*, and neither of her Soldiers knew the right Songs.
A simple Song of Motion to teleport the bomb away to somewhere harmless...
--Oh, *no*! *Not* someone jumping in and trying to be a hero *now*!
Blocked my line of sight! Got to get there and Attune to them before it's
too...--
----------
Turning to catch and toss back what Michael thought was an overly bold
Soldier of Flowers (--Now *there's* two terms I never thought I'd use in the
same sentence.--) at the last second as Novalis came diving in with arms
outstretched to try and absorb the damage from the 'Soldier' as well as get
a look at the bomb again, Novalis and Michael ended up nose-to-nose and at
arm's length. As the Attunement link formed between them and the Shield
snapped up around them both.
---------
-- *Novalis*? What is she *doing*? I *had* it, everything was under
control, does she really think I'm going to let a bomb explode in a day-care
center just because there's a Demon Prince I could be following? I've half
a mind to resonate her body language just to see what she Truly thought was
going on here--
-- *Michael*? I thought he'd be charging off after Belial! And it isn't
it typical of him to *jump* on the grenade instead of thinking to just toss
it away? I've half a mind to use this Attunement just to see what on Earth
he thought he was *doing* here...--
-----------
"Oh!"
"Oh."
Time stopped as they stared into each other's eyes...
-----------
--She Truly cares--, thought Michael. --Belial put her through enough pain
for any two of my average weeks, and she's nowhere near got my damage
resistance, and she *still* didn't slow down a second when she thought
somebody was about to be hurt, leaping straight into the fire again...--
--He *cares*--, thought Novalis. --I thought he'd be just focusing on his
little War with Belial, but when the choice came to follow Belial up and try
to finish him off or save these few mortals, he didn't stop for an instant.
He cared more about protecting the innocent than he did about hounding his
foe...--
--She *is* brave and strong...--
--He *does* have compassion....--
--I'd always thought...--
--I'd never realized...--
----------
When the bomb went off inside their Shield a second later, the explosion was
distinctly anti-climactic.
[To Be Continued]
-----------
So, whaddya think?
(PS -- if anybody has a better idea to continue this than I do, go right
ahead! My inspiration well just tapped out here -- I *do* know that
they're both going to have a loooooooooong period coming up of wondering how
to deal with these feelings of theirs, instead of just up and moving in with
each other right off the bat.
Incidentally, I was thinking that Michael would actually -- role-reversal
time -- be quicker to come to terms with this than Novalis would. Not only
is he the oldest of Seraphs, and as such not really acquainted with lying to
himself, but Michael never was one not to face up to something. Plus,
there's nothing in his word that says he can't cherish and protect a
'civilian'... indeed, that's one of his usual jobs. If not always quite
this personally. :-)
Poor Novalis, OTOH -- she's even stronger than him in many ways, but this is
the *last* thing in all of the three planes she could ever have suspected --
and Novalis takes dissonance just from *voting* for War in the Seraphim
Council (Revelations V: Final Trumpet), how will she reconcile *loving* War?
Oh, the star-crossed saga has barely *begun*...
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator