Enslaving An Angel

  “Do you have ANY idea just what a huge pain in the ass you’ve been for me lately? The people are rioting in the streets on a daily basis asking for you to undo the New York catastrophe - and I am beginning to agree with them. It’s been a month! Where’s this ‘million people’ that are going to be saved?” Empress asked me with an exasperated sigh, a hand rubbing her temple while the other threatened to split a pen in half. Laying across her desk were dozens of papers all waiting to be revised and checked off by her, with more than a couple being crumpled up. I raised an eyebrow, placing one of my legs over the other while pursing my lips, my eyes narrowing as I looked away. Oh, I know I’ve been a pain. I secretly thought in amusement. If only you knew just how much, you might have an aneurism. I sighed and tapped my index finger on the table, finally answering her with a frustrated grunt, “Yeah, I know. I’m not blind, I have seen the news. But. I’ve also made things very clear to the World State, I believe. Have you forgotten about our deal, Empre~ss? You’re my boss in name only, de jure alone,” I hissed, my eyes staring up into hers unwaveringly. Her own remained as unchanging as before, although her fist clenched slightly and she dropped her arm down on the table lightly. “You misunderstood me, Zero. I am not ordering you to go back and erase the New York incident from ever happening; I am asking politely that you do something to make the public shut up!” she groaned, her eyes breaking off mine as they inspected the large pile of work she had to do, “You’re going to give a speech this month or so help me. We’ll also take the opportunity to fully unveil Angellica as a hero and Number One of the Celestials.”

  I pursed my lips, my eyes narrowing in frustration as I finally stood up, knocking the chair down to the floor behind me and causing Eight’s eyes to dart over to me, her body instinctively tightening up, her shoulders and limbs tensing as if ready to spring to action at a moment’s notice. She noticed this and sighed, forcefully relaxing herself after a moment, her eyes semi-closing as she took a deep breath and gave me a brisk wave to get out. Damn enhanced instincts. She thought in annoyance. “I may not be able to order you around as much as I would like, but you can’t forget I’m still your boss on certain things. If you still refuse to do even this much then I’ll be forced to come up with some stupid excuse for the public that you might not like,” she muttered half-threateningly, looking away from me and back to her computer as she shooed me away with her hand, “Get out, Kronos.” I stood up and walked away without a word, closing the door behind myself with a bit of extra force to really sell my anger and frustration before finally letting the bitter facade drop in exchange for a troubled and confused frown. That conversation was exactly the same as the script. I wondered, walking the halls of the Delhi complex while making my way towards where Angellica was currently residing, my body running on autopilot. Was that strange outburst during the day of the New York incident just a fluke? Whatever, let’s not get greedy. The deviations in this timeline are already far more than I have had in a very long time, after all. I sighed as I finally reached the door I was looking for and gave it a tap.

  A gasp followed by some desperate scrambling noises emanated from the room behind the door, lasting a couple of seconds before the lock finally made a clicking sound and half of Angellica's face peered out through the doorway. I smirked and gave her a brisk nod, placing my hand on the door to open it further. Angellica took a deep and shaky breath before letting go of the door and allowing me to enter meekly. “Oh, it’s you…” she muttered softly, turning around and sitting down on her chair, swivelling around in it aimlessly as I closed the door behind me and sat down on her bed. I turned my eyes towards her slyly, initiating the conversation, “So? How’s the past couple of weeks been?” I asked while rubbing my chin, looking around her disorganized room. Angellica gave an exaggeratedly miserable sigh and crossed her arms on top of her bunched up legs, her elbows pressed against her knees, “Losing your entire family in one night is pretty fucked up, Zero…” she answered frustratedly, looking away dejectedly. I nodded along, smirking silently as I picked up one of the notebooks strewn about and opened it, looking at her drawings. She’s a pretty good artist. She makes expressions quite vividly… although you can tell something’s off. The way her drawings expressed emotion looked almost medical in nature, more like an anatomical drawing you’d find in a textbook than an emotive illustration in a painting.

  I answered her, “Yeah, losing your whole family does suck. I gander that means you don’t feel quite ready to start your training then? Much less go out on the field…” I pressed on, turning my gaze up to look at her coldly, catching her off guard. She blinked a few times, as if debating what sort of response she should give, before planting her face between her arms and hiding her expression from me. Kevin is so strange! I… I can’t tell what he’s feeling at all! He says the correct, normal things, but the way he says them is totally off. Whatever, not a big deal. Maybe he’s just a little weird, as expected of a time traveler and number Zero. “Y-Yeah. I don’t think I feel ready… It’s all just too much, yeah? It hasn’t been that long and… well…” she answered softly, sniffling dramatically before lifting her head to look up at me, her eyes red and puffy, a tear rolling down her left cheek. I paused, watching that single tear streak down her face slowly, my pupils dilating as I felt something deep inside me snap seemingly out of nowhere. That tear. That insignificant drop of salty liquid. I HATE it. I thought viscerally; for the first time in a very long time feeling genuine raw emotion boiling me from the inside. That damned, pathetic, forced, fake, gratuitous gesture of mourning, an emotion she couldn’t even feel. How dare she? HOW DARE SHE?! My mind felt like it was clouded in shadow as my left eyelid twitched, rational thought slipping away from between my fingertips. I stood up and began to approach her threateningly, my eyes so darkened and devoid of light that Angellica felt as if her soul was going to vanish within them if she stared for too long, recoiling in her seat while her eyes widened. “K-Kronos?!” she asked, alarmed, looking around the room in a short burst of panic before I suddenly grabbed her by the chin roughly, forcing her to turn her head and look at me, making her squeak in fear as her facade of a miserable expression melted away in an instant, replaced by confusion and fear. I opened my mouth to speak right as her irises began to get tinted with golden light due to her fight of flight instinct, “Cease with the BULLSHIT, SERAPH!!” I spat venomously at the trembling weapon in my grasp. Angellica gasped in shock, her shivering eyes becoming even more panickedly erratic as they became fully lit in golden light. “W-What?? S-Seraph???” she gasped in confusion, her eyes darting back and forth while she struggled against my surprisingly strong grasp, the chair falling over as more and more golden energy began to surround her, the very air in the room beginning to fizzle and pop with pure power, multiple objects beginning to float or vibrate in place.

  I shook my head, my expression contorting into a hateful frown, the veins all over my face popping as I continued to hold unto her face despite the fact that it was literally burning my palm to do so. I stared directly into her blazing golden eyes with my own emptily dark ones, the tiniest of sparks beginning to ignite within. I suddenly pushed her head against the brick wall behind us, a guttural growl echoing within the recesses of my throat as I began to scream at her. “SHUT UP!!! You don’t understand, do you?! YOU NEVER HAVE!! You CAN’T understand, you never even had them to begin with!! You never got to- you never will GET to feel as your soul crumbles and DIES!! You never even had one to start with, SERAPH!!!” I yowled, hurling her against the back wall of her room while still holding onto her, smashing her head into the concrete as hard as I could, the skin on my hand actively peeling away from the burns. Number One yelped in fear and pain, gasping as her head hit the wall while her eyes widened further, a single streak of blood beginning to run down from the back of her head down her neck, the wall behind her cracking. She grabbed my arm with her right hand, desperately tugging at it to try and free herself while kicking around panickedly. Wings of flame began to sprout from her back, her eyes being set on fire as her teeth grit. I growled once more, my eyes bloodshot from the unbearable pain of merely holding onto her, blood running down my nose from the effort of straining myself. I pulled my arm back, lifting her up, only to slam her back into the wall as hard as I could, intent on killing her. “How dare you?! HOW DARE YOU?!” I yowled at her, only to suddenly stop as I felt my insides being pierced and subsequently burnt to ash.

  I looked down slowly, blood beginning to pool out of my mouth as I stared at the spear of golden light that had formed in Angellicas’ left arm, now impaling me straight through the stomach. I blinked a couple of times as the hero in my arms coughed erratically, her eyes watery and tears flowing down her face - genuine tears this time. Not due to mourning, but at least they were real this time. Oh. I thought. I blinked a few times, the tiniest of sparks in my eyes finally dying off as I stared blankly at her. I let go of One, looking away while my vision started to become blurry and unfocused, falling over as blood gushed out of my mouth like a flood. Why did I do that? I wondered placidly, albeit annoyed. I’m just wasting time. Just wasting time like always. I looked up at the blurry visage of Angellica as she stumbled around the room in a daze, her flaming wings inadvertently burning everything around her to cinders. Was that entertaining, at least? Yeah. Maybe a little. I was drowning in my own blood and ashen guts. Whatever, Kronos. Let’s actually get back to doing what we came here to do, shall we? And then, I wound the clock before my body could automatically do it for me. What a waste of time.

  I was once more sitting down in front of Angellica, setting down the sketchbook on the table right after she told me about how she would probably be unable to go on the field for some time due to her “grieving.” I dropped the notebook, raising an eyebrow as I stared over at her sniffling and saddened expression. I approached her once more, although this time without the threatening murderous rage behind it. Remember the script, Kevin. Remember the script. I thought to myself in exasperation, still in disbelief that I had done such a stupid thing earlier for no reason. I squatted down a little once I reached her, so we could be eye-level with one another. My blank, cold, unemotive eyes and expression really took Angellica aback, her eyes darting around in confusion. This was completely unlike the “normal human reactions” she had studied so religiously, and that she was so fond of. I was acting weirdly and unpredictably, and she was afraid of that. “Angellica, let me be clear with you,” I started simply, tilting my head to the side slightly as I eyed her face the same way a child would stare at the ants devouring a centipede. Angellica blinked a couple of times before sniffling and turning her gaze up to stare into mine, her frown deepening as she once more failed to understand what lay under my emptily dark demeanor. “Y-Yeah?” she asked muffledly, holding her knees closer to herself as she looked up at me with the innocence of a poor girl who had just lost her family. Liar. I thought. Filthy liar.

  “I know what you are,” I muttered to her, our faces mere centimeters apart as I stared into her eyes without even an ounce of fear, my voice coming out as deep and threatening. The girl in the chair’s eyes quickly widened, her saddened and grieving expression dissolving and being replaced strictly by fear and disbelief. She shook her head, eyeing me up and down with uncertainty while her lower lip began to tremble - this time with genuinity. She opened her mouth to respond, but I quickly silenced her by placing my index finger on her lips. There’s no need for that, One. You can’t deflect, question, deny, or use any of those petty strategies you’ve been rehearsing since childhood with me. I thought, bored and exasperated with her attitude in past timelines. “Shush,” I told her, my other hand grabbing the armrest of her chair tightly to give her the clear message that she shouldn’t interrupt me. I continued, “I know you’re a freak, Angellica. I know all too well about your true nature as an unfeeling monster,” I hissed at her, her pupils dilating as far as they could go as energy began to bubble around her, her irises starting to get tinted with gold. I chuckled and released my finger from her lips, instead wagging it in front of her face, “But. But but but. I’m not going to tell anyone. I have no reason to tell anyone, you know?” I added, booping her nose with my index finger as my face contorted into a malicious smile, capturing her attention, “I’m the only one who knows of this little secret of yours, and to be honest I’d like to keep it that way! You wanna keep it that way too, don’t you? Come on, Angellica! You’re a grown woman, you should be mature enough to understand what’s happening here, right?” I finished my threat with a hearty chuckle, my coldness being replaced by a warm and jovial smirk as I stood up and backed away from her, sitting back down on her bed, her eyes glued to me the whole time.

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  Angellica pursed her lips, the gears inside her head turning as she finally understood why I had actually come into her room. She took a deep and shaky breath, her eyes returning to normal once she was certain that she wasn’t actually in any danger. Yet. “You’re blackmailing me,” Angellica pointed out matter-of-factly, straightening out her clothes and finally sitting in a normal position, completely discarding her grieving facade. I shrugged and nodded, not really shying away from the facts, “Yeah, I am. Anyway, now that that’s all cleared up, we can start actually talking, right?” I looked away from her in disinterest, once more flipping through some pages of her sketchbook. Angellica looked up at her ceiling for a couple of seconds before looking back down at me, her expression one of genuine relief and gratitude, surprisingly enough. And then she opened her mouth before I could start with my demands, catching my attention as she began to speak, “I’d like to thank you, Kevin,” she began, her voice coming out as somewhat robotic, yet genuine.

  My eyes narrowed and my eyebrows furrowed, my gaze snapping away from her sketchbook and straight towards her in shock. Huh?! I thought, a smile beginning to creep onto my lips as Angellica continued, “The fear of being caught has been an omnipresent weight that I’ve carried since childhood, so I do feel some relief at having such a thing lifted off my shoulders for once. I feel… freer, ironically,” she continued, staring away from me and towards the ceiling, a genuine smile etched into her lips. She took a deep breath and finished her short speech, “I guess it also feels good to be able to converse about this topic openly like this for once. But still, that’s as far as my thanks go, Kronos. You’re still replacing an old weight with a new one, after all,” she finished, shrugging, seemingly unbothered by being blackmailed. She turned to look at me after that, her eyes widening slightly in surprise as her smile was met by an utterly psychotic grin. I could barely contain myself from laughing hysterically, in fact. But still, I was able to hold myself back just enough to continue the conversation, “Oh? And why do you say that? I never said anything about protecting you, I merely said I wasn’t going to let your secret slip from my own lips~!” I taunted her with a cocky smirk, raising an eyebrow. Angellica shook her head, her smile disappearing as she re-assumed her neutral expression, her hands resting on her knees, “No. I’m not naive, Kevin. If you were anyone else blackmailing me in this way, I would be afraid out of my mind. But you? I know what your power is, Kronos. You want me like a dog on a leash, that much is obvious. You can’t afford to have anyone else know, because if my identity gets out you’ll lose all power over me; you’ll lose that leash, and that’s not something you can afford, isn’t it? There’s no other reason for you to be doing this, is there?” she rambled, her eyes drifting away from me and towards some unfocused point in the ceiling once more, her voice trailing off as she mumbled something else I didn’t quite catch.

  I stood up then, taking a deep breath and steadying myself, forcing my giddyness to subside before I approached the hero and placed my hand on the top of her head, snapping her back to reality with a confused raised eyebrow. “Yes, you’re precisely right Angellica,” I praised her, using my hand to ruffle her hair playfully, “I’m going to keep you on a VERY tight leash, so don’t be surprised if you end up eating your words of gratitude later.” I finished my threat by letting go of her head and clasping my hands together, my eyes closing as I replaced my psychotic grin with a pleasant smile, “Since that’s all clear, I assume I can expect you to do well on YOUR part of the bargain, yes? Starting with getting over your little case of… ‘grief.’ Yes, it’ll be a bit weird that you got over the deaths of everyone you ‘love’ so fast, but you can just frame it as it being turned into desire for revenge or whatever. As long as you’re out on the field and killing monsters or criminals, anything’s good. Oh and for your information we’ll be finally officially revealing you to the public sometimes soon, so you better have an outfit and hero nickname ready,” I finished by shrugging, turning around to face away from her and towards the door when I felt my psychotic grin start to take over my face again, hiding it. Angellica gave up on trying to decipher my strange mannerisms, her eyes darting away with renewed worry thanks to my threat. Despite this, she only gave a short and brisk answer; “So be it. Will do.” With that, I opened the door and left, not bothering to say goodbye before eagerly making my way down the hall, a big and stupid shit-eating grin spread all over my face. YES!!!! I thought in child-like excitement, pumping my fists as I made my way to the portal room while whistling, catching the attention of a couple of wary employees. To them, I was still the most powerful guy in the world who very well may have just allowed New York to get destroyed for no good reason, slaughtering thousands. To me, though, they were nobodies I could just ignore. YEEEEESSSSS!!! Things ARE changing!! It IS different!! Oh, only ever so slightly but… Ah, the butterfly effect is sure to do its thing. I did find it a bit amusing that Angellica had been so damn confident that I wouldn’t allow anyone else to find out about her, though, considering the fact that someone else already knew anyway. Michaela always keeps her mouth shut anyway, so it’s not a big deal.

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  “First I’m told that monsters can cooperate and now all I hear about is monsters suddenly being able to speak!!! What else have you kept hidden from us, Eight?!” demanded to know a shadowy figure atop one of the five pillars, his fist clenching tightly as he slammed the armrest to his right, his voice full of venom. Empress’ eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at the floor while on one knee, her teeth gritting as hard as they could while she struggled to keep her eyes from glowing. A second shadowy figure nodded in approval, swishing her hair to the side in frustration like a diva before giving her own opinion, “My approval rating has taken its biggest hit yet, and I have received more complaints in a week than in three years combined!! It is a disgrace!! An insult to us who have been so benevolent!!” she exclaimed in raw entitled disbelief. A third figure spoke calmly, his fingers interlaced in meditation as he stared down at the kneeling Celestial, “Where is the Hero Association, Eight? The World State’s police have been doing an utterly terrible job of policing, it seems. We’re not blind, Empress, we can tell that things are getting out of hand. We’ll have no choice, the public will figure it out eventually,” he added, his voice soft yet commanding. A fourth figure spoke, her voice coming out as trailing and obnoxiously slow, plumes of tobacco smoke coming from her place atop a pillar in the darkness, “It is… a tragedy, indeed. The situation feels… untenable… merely waiting to ignite, indeed. Perhaps… this was unavoidable… it would happen eventually, no matter what, indeed. All that is missing to complete the chaos… is this newly anointed Number One,” she finished by taking a deep huff of the cigarette, sounding excited and eager in contrast to the anxious and fearful voices of her partners. The final figure spoke then, his voice reverberating across the room with an intense prescience of power, not even attempting to hide the malicious tone within it, “The most disgusting part of all of this isn’t even YOUR incompetence, Empress. It’s not even the fact that we don’t even know why this is happening. No, it is the fact that even in this unprecedented time of emergency, we’re having to bend over backwards and happily accept the existence of the festering, rotting wound that is the New York catastrophe simply because Kronos doesn’t feel like fixing it. I would bank the entire treasury of my country on him knowing every detail of what is happening by heart. There is no higher insult. It is a spit on all of our collective faces!!” he slammed his fists against the marble seat, the resulting cracking sound echoing through the room, “And WE are supposed to be the leaders of the world?! What a farce!!”

  Empress remained still, her eyes lingering on the cold stone floor, her face hidden from the five councilors as it twisted into a scowl of boredom and annoyance. What an insufferable group of complete oxygen wastes. At least they seem to be on-board with the Extermination Initiative, which I wasn’t expecting. I guess they aren't complete and utter morons… And yet their only smart decision is going to be their downfall anyway. She smirked to herself then, calming down after reassuring herself that she wouldn’t have to deal with this bullshit for much longer. “I apologise,” she spoke tidily and with an even voice, not allowing her voice to cave into any strong emotions, “I tried to talk with Kevin, but he was adamant in his decision. And I believe I need not remind the council of the deal you personally made with him, yes? I have managed to set him up to make a grand speech along with the reveal of the new Number One in the coming weeks to rouse morale and hopefully borrow time before panic sets in. As for the upcoming Extermination, I will continue to do my best to prepare the Association for large scale conflict. But I will warn you now, it is very possible that many will die if or when war truly breaks out. Our scientists keep reporting the growth in monster sightings as exponential, and I’m inclined to believe them,” she finished, her eyes beginning to glow slightly in nervous anxiety, realization dawning on the president of the Association that her long standing plan was actually finally coming to fruition. She closed her eyes as the figures atop the pillars bickered among themselves after hearing her words, their voices feeling more and more like white noise as time passed. Kevin… Just how much of this have you planned? You must know. You have to. Do you want me to win? What do you want out of me? Her attention was snapped back to reality when the president of Ethiopia finally spoke loud enough to drown out the other four voices, directing his words to Eight, “Then the next course of action is clear. We will prepare our militaries to defend the big cities, and YOU will ensure that the Celestials and the Hero Association clean up this mess when the light hits the fuse. Is that clear?!” Empress nodded and swiftly stood up, turning her gaze up to look at the five figures as they sat in their ivory pillars, the aggrandized bastards. Images flashed through her mind, picturing for a split second how good it would feel to have their blood run down her hands. She turned around and left the dark room, the only sound being the echoing of her footsteps.

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  “This has to be a lie!! I refuse to believe such nonsense!!” Falco grumbled as he leaned back on his chair. The Rebellion’s top brass were all gathered around their HQ in Rio de Janeiro in the medical wing of the underground bunker-complex, all gathered around the two stretchers carrying an extremely wounded Cassandra and a completely comatose Oliver respectively. Cassandra groaned in frustration, turning her head despite the deep wounds all across her body and especially her jaw, her aquamarine eyes staring intensely at Falco’s orange ember-like eyes, “NO!! Maquineer is many things, but after meeting her I’m convinced that a liar is not one of them!! You know this as well, right, Miguel?! I don’t think she’s even capable of lying!! Every word that came out of her mouth had so much honesty in it that I’m beginning to think that whatever sick bastard made her forgot to add the line of code that would even let her deceive in the first place- HRGK!!!” the hydromancer mumbled and then gasped in pain as the wound on her cheeks began to bleed anew, her eyes struggling to look at each of the gathered members one at a time. Cassandra had taken off the bandages that had been wrapped all around her face in order to talk to the rest of them, her severe wounds re-opening thanks to this.

  Falco grimaced and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Miguel as he lifted a hand at the young man to indirectly tell him to stop, “It’s not that we don’t believe you, Cass. It's just that you have to admit that it does sound kind of ridiculous to claim that Empress would order for the creation of a nuclear bomb because of monsters of all things. And not just that, but this story about supposed monster cooperation and plotting is even more unbelievable. You see that, right?” Cassandra grit her teeth, causing her to immediately gasp in pain thanks to the pressure being applied to her cheeks, her eyes watering slightly. Alexander stared down at her reflexively, already only retaining the bandages around his torso as proof of his battle with the Celestial, his lips pursing as he stared into her eyes, “I believe her. I believe Maquineer, I mean,” he muttered just loud enough for the rest of them to turn to look at him in surprise. Alexander blushed slightly and turned his head away in indignation, justifying himself, “It’s just that… I met John personally, and I think I understand what Cass is trying to tell us. They don’t need to lie to us, especially because they are so sure that they are invincible. Why would Alice lie? In her eyes she was speaking to a dead woman.”

  “Does it even matter if it's fake or true?!” suddenly exclaimed a maddened voice coming from the doorway, everyone turning around to look at the newcomer. The bartender - or rather the final member of their top brass, Tendai - had just slammed the door to the room open, his hazel eyes narrowed intensely. “What matters is that they ordered the creation of a nuke!! Am I the only one that can see that?! This just proved their complete disregard for human life and everything held sacred by humanity!! I knew it from the very goddamn start, too!!” he hissed in anger, his fists clenching so hard that his knuckles turned white, the oldest member of their group staring down at the rest of them with an anger honed through the years that the rest of them couldn’t comprehend. Rachel lifted a hand slowly, bringing the room’s attention to her, her eyes glowing in a soft dark brown light as she stared intensely at her wounded comrades, “ENOUGH.” She slowly lifted her head, taking a deep breath as she got up from where she was sitting and began to head towards the door, Tendai stepping out of the way in respect as she walked past him. She stopped right as she placed a foot on the doorway, turning her head sideways to stare at the rest of the people inside, “We will treat Maquineer’s words as truth for now, but with skepticism. We will prepare for the worst and assume that a monster uprising really is imminent, which means that we have to be ready for it. We might actually be able to use the imminent global panic to our advantage, if we’re smart about it. As for the bomb… I will keep it to myself, and we’ll discuss what to do with it later,” and then she left. Those gathered sighed and Cassandra mumbled unintelligibly to herself as she re-wrapped the bandages around her head.