The Fallen and the Freak

“I don’t need you to supervise me, Tempesta.” The Fallen Angel spat as they stopped in front of the door. The Queen of the Heavens merely raised her brow, nodding at the two guards and watching as they took the cuffs off the woman’s wrists, stepping back. “Don’t you have more important things to do like reign over your land or whatever – more important than a criminal like me?” a cruel smile twisted itself onto Eri’s face at her own words.

“Who said I was going to watch over you, Eri?”

“You could have put me with Arashi and Sereno for all I care.” She sneered and rubbed her sore, previously bound wrists. “You aren’t stupid enough to lock me in cuffs that would drain my power.” To prove this, she glanced up at the sky, at the rumbling clouds, but no flash of lightning came to strike them down. “So, why did you bring me here, Storm Angel? Wanted to see my face before you sent me off to my own doom? At least you didn’t ask Cielo to bring me here, she might have ripped my heart out.”

“This isn’t a prison, Eri.”

The black-haired lady raised a brow.

“How surprising. Then what is it – a torture chamber?”

Celeste folded her arms over her chest. “No. You know too well that nothing more hurts than being fallen.” A slight smile came to her lips, making Eri glare icily. “The Seven Pillars – including myself – and your Fallen Duo were sent to individual rooms. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. Wait for the other Parallels and then you’ll know what to do.”

The Fallen Angel scoffed.

“What a lie, what makes you think I’ll believe something stupid like that?”

A frown came to the scarlet-eyed woman’s face.

“It has something to do with your human counterpart.”

She stared blankly at the other.

“Arzen?”

“Yes.”

“What does she need.” This time, she wasn’t asking that to Celeste. “We’ve both screwed up enough.” Eri faced the grand white door with engraved dark green marks, and turned her head to look back at Celeste. “I don’t like liars, Celeste. I’ll make sure to haunt you and rip out your wings if ever this was all a lie.” Without another word, she opened the door and went inside, leaving a forlorn Celeste Tempesta behind with a slightly saddened look on her face.

The Queen turned to her guards and nodded, soon leaving and heading to her own personal destination.

Inside, Eri Kaminari unfurled her black wings and looked around the room. It had white walls and seemingly had no ceiling, as the walls went up and up. Deciding to ease her bound wings, she shook them out and flew up, attempting to reach the very top of the room, to at least know how high it reached. But to her chagrin, it seemed endless. So Eri flew back down and landed neatly, exploring the place she was brought into.  White walls, stainless white floor – she felt like she were in a ward for the mental with  all the white around.

But wouldn't she be considered mental? A dark chuckle left her lips.

The first fallen angel since more than a decade.

“It was for a better cause anyway,” she muttered. “Heaven was starting to rot from the inside in, and Cissa could see that. Everything started to spoil – if only they had seen it.” A bitter tone accompanied her voice, and she sighed irritated. “What’s done has been done.” Eri then noticed a glass chair in the center of the room, and eleven more following it, creating some kind of circle.

On the chairs were names.

The Heavens. The Further. Technika. Mitarion. Haran. Ai. Chishiki. Nazo. Amkahelaia -

And she only recognized the fist.

“What is that damned Queen planning to do?”

Hesitantly, she approached the chair with The Heavens engraved on it, and sat down. Nothing happened. No trap was activated nor did something fall out of the sky and squish her. No fires came and burned her wings off. Nothing. Time just went on just like it always did, and there she was, seated and confused. Very confused.

At least, until Celeste’s words came to mind.

“Wait for the other Parallels and then you’ll know what to do.”

 “…Arzen Venura is my human counterpart.” She said slowly, running a hand through her hair. “I am considered as her Parallel. Wait – there are…there are other parallels?!”

Impossible.

Very slowly, Eri Kaminari pieced it together.

“Twelve chairs with twelve names. I’m seated on the one with The Heavens. The Heavens is where I come from – my world. If The Heavens is a world…then there are other worlds…” she looked at the other chairs. “…other worlds. Other Parallels. And that Angel said something about the others in the same room. Other parallels of themselves, other parallels of myself – different versions.”

She smirked slightly.

“Well, then. I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next one to arrive.”

* * * * *

She needed a change of bandages as soon as possible.

Too bad Alpha Pelpur didn’t want her inside the headquarters. Despite that, Lisa Lowyel had given her a medical kit in secret, Oddette Diogni by her side, peering at the scarred individual from behind the taller woman. She had given her thanks and was about to walk off into the vast unknown when stopped by Arturia Elub, saying that she – as well as the others – had to be somewhere else.

She ran a hand through her messy black hair, heaving a sigh.

“We can’t stay here. For now, at least.”

“…why?” it was awkward talking to her, but talking to the others (except for Lisa) was like talking to a brick wall. At least Arturia was polite. “What’s going on?”

“We’re needed elsewhere.” She glanced at Lisa, who was standing nearby. “Lisa will bring you there.”

“Arturia, can I go with them?” the blue-eyed lady gave the smaller ginger a sharp look.

“No, Oddette, you’re going with us. Besides, I think Eri needs to tell Lisa what’s been going on.” After that, she gave the former a nod of acknowledgement and sent them off after telling Lisa that they would be following soon after.

“Y-You’re alive,” Lisa managed as they walked. “How?”

“Got lucky, I suppose.” Eri shrugged. “T’was like being with a lot of hellhounds in there. Was separated from Cissa, couldn't find her after weeks of searching and fended for myself – even with the lightning hard to summon, see. I worry for her, but I doubt she’d be dead. A smart one such as herself wouldn’t die out so easily.”

“Even with the Silence?”

“Yes. Even with the Silence.”

“The others…” Lisa glanced away, “they moved on as if you never existed.”

“Not surprised.” The yellow-eyed girl cast Eri a horrified look.

“W-What? You’re their friend, Eri-”

“Was.” She corrected. “Was, Lisa. Things were getting tough, and I had a feeling that Cissa and I weren’t has warmly received by the others.” Eri’s green eyes darkened. “Especially by Pelpur. The others I was alright with – maybe Celstar, even – but…” at that, Mona Lisa saw a trace of the old Eri. The Eri who wasn’t so battle-scarred. “Perhaps I had been too much a burden to her.”

“Eri…”

“Let’s move on.” With that, Eri Ergen waved her hand. “And talk about lighter things.”

“The Silence were better companions  than they were,” Eri said to herself as she gazed at the tall white door. “Some welcome party. At least Lisa, Arturia, and the new girl Oddette had enough decency to talk. Not that I mind,” she added quickly as she reached out for the door and touched the dark green engravings in shape of lightning. Heaving a sigh, she turned her head and looked back, seeing only a stone pathway leading to other places, unseen because of the white that filled the place. The only other colors she saw were the green of the engravings and the hued gray of the stone pathway.

“Arturia only told me to bring you here.”

“…you’re not going in with me?”

Lisa shook her head. “No, unfortunately. I have my own place to be.” She offered Eri a sad smile. “I’m going back to the Distortion Zone. Going to look for Cissa.”

“You’re nuts – the Zone’s filled to the brim with Silence!” Eri argued.

“Not anymore. They were rid of a few days ago, before you were found.”

“…why didn’t we go there in the first place?” anger radiated from her voice. “Cissa would be furious.”

“It was an order.”

“An order – by who?! Don’t tell me Egoran and the others are using you this time.”

“They told me to go with Collette and Oddette.”

“And not me?”

“Eri, hold on!”

“Forget it. Thanks for bringing me here.”

At her touch, the door creaked open.

Eri Ergen went inside slowly, closing the door from behind. It was nothing like the rooms at The Further, nothing like the Distortion Zone, nothing like her past headquarters. It was quite fancy, even –

“Wasn’t expecting a normal being,” came a voice from above.

Looking up in shock, Eri saw something impossible.

An angel with black wings.

And it smirked back at her, flipping her black hair over her shoulder.

“Or are you normal? Don't bother asking me the same question, the wings are already the answer.” Flying down from the pillar she sat on, she easily landed on the ground and inspected the newcomer. “Let’s see, you’ve got scars from bites and scars from fatal injuries that should have rendered you dead for good, but somehow you managed to survive. And I thought I was the odd one. Huh.” She squinted at her. “Are you sure you’re me from another world, or did you enter the wrong door?”

“…who are you?”

“Oh. The name’s Eri Kaminari, resident Fallen Angel from the Heavens, as you can see from my unusual black wings that are supposed to be white. And you, scarred one?”

“Eri. Eri Ergen.” Came the reply of the rather bothered other. “Where exactly are the Heavens?”

Kaminari snickered.

“Above you. What, you been living in a cave hidden from the world?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” she glared. “What’s an angel-”

“Fallen angel.”

“–doing here in The Further?”

“Haven’t you heard, darling?” Kaminari flew up and lazed in the air. “We’re not in your Further or my Heavens. Not anymore.”

“So where the hell are we?”

The fallen angel shrugged. “Fate’s version of purgatory, I guess.”

“Doesn’t it have a name?”

“Do I look like a linguist to you?”

“Don’t be so testy.”

“Too late, being Fallen does that to you.” She paused to think. “Though if I could name this place, I’d name it La Sala Bianca della Follia – the White Hall of Madness. Gives it a good ring, yeah?”

“Nothing mad about this place.”

“That’s what you think. Come on, take a seat over there.” She pointed lazily to the ring of chairs. “You’ve got yours marked next to mine. It’s got your world’s name written on it.”

Eri Ergen did just that, and took a seat on the chair labelled “The Further” in indigo.

“Are we waiting for some others?” she gestured to the other chairs.

“Apparently.”

“So you’re Eri.”

“That’s my name – and you’re Eri, too. So I’ll give you a nickname. Your scars remind me of a lot of war. So I’ll call you war freak.”

Her eye twitched.

“I’ll call you Fallen Angel, then.”

“Fine by me. Anyway, freak, you know why you’re here?”

“Not exactly.”

“Hah, well…then I’ve got the story for you.” With that, Eri Kaminari flew down and sat next to Eri Ergen, on the seat labelled ‘the Heavens’. “Well, then, freak, it all started with that incident…”