#introducing!

"God is dead and the Devil, too. Demons spill out onto the earth, some wreaking havoc, others seeking freedom. Human civilization falls and those who remain do what they must to survive. Meanwhile, the angels lock themselves away in heaven, indifferent to the suffering below.”

----

Seraphina has hardly ever peered down on the world, let alone hovered this low above its surface. In her lifetime - a handful of centuries compared to other angels’ millenia - she never had reason to, her duties keeping her relegated to the safe, incorporeal existence that is the celestial realm.

It is the first time Seraphina has seen her own physical form. Or, at least, a glimpse of it - bare feet beneath her and hands held up before her face.

So...human.

Seraphina feels over the shape of her body, its hills and valleys, the softness of unmarred skin. She lifts a strand of hair to feel its silkiness and take in its color; she reaches out her arms and runs her fingers across the immaculate feathers of her wings. Loosely draped fabric billows around her in the wind.

She smiles.

She could change this form if she wanted to, but she decides she likes it. Besides, there’s no need. Seraphina is only taking a look, and will be back to her truest form soon enough.

Or so she believes. If she knew what would come next, perhaps she never would have left.

—-

Though the chains are wrapped tight around her arms, legs, and wings, they don’t hurt. Try as the humans might, nothing hurts, and Seraphina isn’t afraid.

Still, she occasionally shifts and twists in the bonds, seeking freedom. She should be able to break them with a mere thought. Effortlessly. But it seems that the humans have not only found a way to trap an angel, but to bind one.

So bound she is, her back to the concrete wall of a building that toppled decades ago. It’s one of many like it, while around the remains of the past a makeshift settlement of small wooden buildings and tents has cropped up.

She isn’t used to hearing sound, only communicating through thought and will. And still she hasn’t heard her own voice, only spat insults and curses and the arguing of human voices.

“This isn’t working.”

“Then we keep trying. Look at it, it has a body. Something will work.”

“Yeah, except we’ve been at it for hours and nothing has worked. Even the chains aren’t leaving a mark.”

“Then we. Keep. Trying. Look how close we are. If it can be caught, it can be hurt. And if it can be hurt, it can be killed!”

Seraphina is more curious than afraid as she takes in the small group of humans with a calm, unblinking stare. If these are an average example of humankind, she isn’t impressed. They’re crude, dirty, and uninteresting.

Also, they keep trying to hit her with things.

Blunt wood beams and metal bars, knives and swords, a chain flicked like a whip. Rocks flung and arrows fired. All with brute force intended to cause harm, and all deflected off of the shimmering boundary of grace around her form. Nothing can pierce it. Soon enough they’ll grow bored of trying and set her free, she’s sure of it.

After a few more tries they do frustratedly give up, but only for the time being. The chains remain firmly in place.

Time passes quickly for Seraphina. She takes in the bustle of the humans as they go about their day. Most won’t come close. They cast her glances that range from fearful to disgusted. Some hurl hateful words but these bounce off her as easily as the rocks they throw.

Day passes into night. Seraphina takes in the shifting of clouds, a sunset that glows an eerie pink, and then the sprinkling of scars across a blue-black sky. The moon is no more than a sliver.

Seraphina doesn’t tire or hunger. She doesn’t grow cold from the night air or sore from long hours spent like this. Her desire to return home is more an instinctive pull to where she belongs than any sort of discomfort or yearning.

But in the morning there is the subtlest change. Seraphina only even notices it in contrast with the serene nothingness she has felt until now.

It’s the chains. She can feel their press around her just the slightest bit. For once she doesn’t feel completely weightless. But she doesn’t know what the feeling means and it allows her the peace of not worrying - even though a day has passed and she hasn’t been freed. Even though no one has come for her. And even though, again, the small group of humans who brought her here approach with their weapons.

Another onslaught. Several more hours pass. One by one the humans give up again, until only one remains. He’s a young human who seems more interested in shirking his other chores than in whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish, so he nobly volunteers to stick around. He pulls out a quiver of arrows and goes about sharpening the arrowheads one by one.

The subtle heaviness Seraphina is experiencing continues to grow as the time passes. Worry begins to creep in, an unsettling flutter deep inside Seraphina that she has never felt before and cannot name. And when her grace begins to flicker uncertainly around her the unpleasant feeling only grows.

“I need to practice my aim,” the young man says aloud to himself. He stands, slings the quiver over his shoulder, picks a bow, then turns to face her. “Might as well make you useful.”

He nocks an arrow and aims it at the bound angel.

The first shot hits the stone just inches from Seraphina’s face with a sharp crack that startles her - another all new sensation.

She locks her eyes on the man, willing him to continue missing though it makes no sense. Human weapons can’t harm her, why should it matter?

His next few shots glance off her like a breeze, like every other attempt the humans have made. This time, though, the barrier flickers with every hit. Seraphina notices her own breaths for the first time. She didn’t even know angels could breathe.

An arrow deflects off of her ankle and although it still doesn’t pierce the barrier, Seraphina feels it. The slightest tap, yet startling and new enough to make her leg twitch in response. From afar the human notices the reaction and suddenly there is renewed interest in his eyes.

He gathers his arrows and starts again, firing one after the other in rapid succession. Seraphina trembles, at a loss for what to do. She cannot move, she has no power, each hit she can feel a little more than the last, each seems to come faster and faster and - - -

Blinding agony erupts all at once from a point low on her stomach, just above her right hip. It engulfs her, consumes her like a fire that must be from hell itself because never, not once has she ever felt anything like this oh heaven make it stop make it stop make it - 

Seraphina throws her head sharply back against the wall. She lifts her pain-stricken face to the sky.

“So, I know I'm late for our date, but that's only because I found something!”

Allen grew apprehensive, “What exactly...did you find?”

Lavi's smile widened even more and Allen saw his arms begin to move, right before his entire vision was taken up by something black and fluffy. Whatever it was, its fur was tickling Allen's nose. He quickly backed up, rubbing his nose at the same time to relieve the itchy feeling, before taking in the furry object that was previously shoved in his face. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw it.

“It's....a cat?”

Allen took in the fluffy black mass before him. It had long sleek black fur, devoid of any matts or tangles, and was huge, easily the size of a toddler. Allen didn't know how Lavi was holding it up so easily. Allen made eye contact with the creature and winced. It looked absolutely murderous.

He looked up at Lavi, “Uhm, where did you find it?”

“He was hiding under a bush! He doesn't have a collar at all, and I was going to phone around to some vet clinic's to see if they had him on file.”

Allen nodded, backing away from the creature when Lavi pulled it close to his chest. The thing looked like it was about to claw somebody's face off.

“Okay, but what are you going to do with it in the meantime?”

“He's gonna stay with us!” The red head exclaimed.

“Uh uh, Lavi, no. It looks like it'll murder us the first chance it gets.”

“Pfft, c'mon Al, no he won't he's harmless!” As he said these words he squeezed the creature closer to him and buried his face in its fur. Allen grew slightly worried at the way the cat's eyes narrowed.

“Lavi, I don't think tha-”

He was cut off by Lavi's yelp of pain. The cat had lashed out, biting the other mans hand and growling menacingly.

“Fuck! That hurt!”He shuffled the cat so it was wrapped under one arm – which the cat did not look pleased by – and shoved the other, bleeding, hand into his mouth. Allen sighed deeply.

“C'mon Lavi, let's get you to the hospital.”

----------

After a brief stint to the hospital and a confirmation that, no Lavi did not have rabies, and yes he would need stitches, the pair headed back to their apartment, the cat shoved inside of a box they borrowed from the cafe they where at, and sitting on the back seat. Allen could hear its low growling from the front seat and glanced nervously over his shoulder at it.

“Lavi, I really don't think it's a good idea to bring this thing home. Its already hurt you once, I'm sure it'll do it again.”

“Nah, it's okay Al! It's just cause it doesn't know us! Once it does I'm sure everything will be alright.”

Allen nodded, still unconvinced. For the rest of the ride he kept glancing over his shoulder at the cat, still wary of it.

Upon arriving at their apartment, Allen grabbed the box that contained the cat and lugged it up the stairs to their room. Depositing the box on the couch, he slowly took the lid off, not wanting to startle the already angry creature. He peeked over the side of the box to see a black puddle with two dark blue eyes staring back at him, unblinking. He gulped and backed away from the box and set the lid down on the coffee table. He watched as the cat jumped out of the box, sniffed the ground once, then promptly turned around and hid underneath the couch. He heard Lavi whine, then saw the other man get down on all fours, leaning down until he could see under the couch.

“Hey there little buddy. C'mon out, we won't hurt you.”

In reply to the red head's words he saw a black paw come out from under the couch and narrowly miss the man's face. Lavi jerked his head back, shuffling away from the couch to avoid getting swiped again.

“Maybe you should start phoning those vet clinic's.”

Lavi nodded, “Yeah, maybe.”

-------------

After an hour or two of phoning around to the different clinic's in town, the red head came up empty handed. He walked back to the couch to sit beside the other man, doing a little dance when he reached the edge of it, so as to avoid the claws that were trying to swipe at his ankles.

He flopped down with a sigh, putting his feet up, and out of the way of any future swipes.

“Well what should we do with it now?” Allen said, mindlessly flipping through the TV channels. Lavi was quiet a moment, before he spoke.

“We could keep it.”

Allen looked over at Lavi incredulously, “Are you serious? Lavi that thing's already hurt you and tried to hurt you several times since its been here.”

“I know but I really want him Al! He's so cute, and you know I've always wanted a cat. Besides I've already picked out a name for him!”

Allen sighed knowing he was defeated. If he said no again, then the red head would just keep pestering him until he eventually caved.

“Alright let's hear it. What's the name?”

Lavi's face lit up, knowing that that was Allen's way of saying yes.

“It's Yu! Ya know, like Y-U. But I'm going to call him Yu-chan.”

Allen looked over at his boyfriend like he had lost his mind. He was about to say something when he heard this howl come from under the couch. They both looked down in the general direction of the noise before Allen burst out laughing.

“I don't think he likes that name very much.” Allen said between laughs. Lavi pouted, mock glaring at the laughing man.

“He likes it perfectly fine. Right, Yu-chan?” Lavi said, looking down to where he assumed the cat was. He got an angry hiss in reply. Allen laughed even harder, clutching his sides. Lavi whined at the man, turning away and pouting. After Allen calmed down from his laughing fit, he stood and walked to the front door, making sure to avoid the black paw that swiped at his feet.

“Lets go Lavi. If we're keeping him we better go get some stuff for him.”

The red head cheered, leaping up from the couch, only to yelp in pain as one of the cat's paws finally made contact. Allen shook his head at the mans whining before finally managing to usher him out the door.

---------

When they got back to their place, laden with treats and toys for the cat, Lavi immediately set out to find said cat, his precious 'Yu-chan's' new collar in his hands. As Lavi went searching for the cat, Allen decided to set up the cat bed and litter box. The litter box was deposited in the bathroom, a little matt placed under the front so no cat litter would get tracked throughout the house, and the bed was decided to be put in their bedroom. As he stepped into the room he stopped abruptly, staring down at their bed. Smack in the middle lay the cat that Lavi was currently trying to track down. When he heard Allen enter the room, the cat's eye shot open and stared the man down. Allen gulped and shuffled nervously. The two stood there for a few moments, both just staring at each other before Allen felt a presence at his shoulder, Lavi's loud voice following soon after.

“Yu-chan! There you are!”

The creature hissed, its white fangs and narrowed blue eyes all that was visible from the black void that was called a cat. Paying no attention to the warning, Lavi barrelled forward, arms thrown out in front if him. The cat growled and hissed, jumping up and racing to the edge of the bed. Lavi however, was quicker and managed to scoop the cat up in his arms. The cat howled, thrashing around trying to get free. Lavi sat on the edge of the bed with it clutched tightly in his arms.

“Close the door, quick, in case he tries to escape.”

Allen sighed and closed the door. He walked over to Lavi and grabbed the collar out of his hands, positioning it above the cat's head. When Lavi had finally managed to make the cat stop wiggling Allen attempted to put the collar on. It took several tries to finally get the collar on, the cat trying to wiggle free or hissing and biting at Allen's hands. Once it was on though, Allen had to admit that Lavi did pick out a nice collar for him. It was a nice, plain, deep navy blue collar that was currently struggling to be seen through the cat's massive amount of fur. Lavi finally let the poor creature go, where he immediately ran to the other side of the room and hid underneath their dresser.

“Aww, come on out Yu-chan, I wanna see how handsome you look with your new collar!” A low growl was heard in reply.

“Let's leave him alone Lavi. He's in a new place, a new environment and we're just making him more anxious.”

Lavi huffed and pouted but finally relented and left the room. However, as soon as they crossed the threshold into the living room they heard a loud crash from the bed room. Both men turned back around to the room and looked inside, only to see the cat out of his hiding spot and on top of one of the nightstand's.

And the lamp on the floor.

When the cat realized that he had gained their attention, he proceeded to knock off the alarm clock as well. Allen spluttered.

“Oi! What do you think you're doing you asshole!”

The cat paid him no mind and knocked off the coins that lay on the table as well.

“Hey! Stop that!”

The cat sat there and stared at the man, long tail swishing.