Ablackwing

My Black stood up and his black coat started to fabricate around his body with a speed visible to naked eye. The collar of his long coat appeared first and then the cloth extended itself forming the rest of the parts. He fastened the two b.u.t.tons and at that moment, the sweater he was wearing disappeared.

His black wing started to come out of his back, slowly. I couldn"t see it coming out but his wing progressively became larger. He moved his hand to the right side and his one wing moved along with his hand towards his right. His l.u.s.trous black wing was large enough to cover the whole breadth of the room. This moment of his wing made a few of his feathers fall around. I felt the atmosphere in the room turn somewhat gloomy and scary.

He then moved his right hand again and grasped the air in front of him. I had no idea why he would do so. But then I saw a sword handle in his hand and as he drew back his hand, he drew back the sword blade out of thin air. It was a long, slightly curved sword. I remembered that he used the same sword when he fought against a demon after our first date.

He jerked that sword and slashed in the air. He moved his eyebrows and smiled at me as if he was asking me how was his performance. I rolled my eyes and sighed in reply. He was such a showoff.

But when I looked at the two kids, I was surprised. They both were trembling. Their bodies were shaking and their knees had become jellies, unable to support their weight. It appeared that they will fall the next second. Just changing clothes could make Black more frightening?

"You might be more familiar with my other names. one winged devil, angel of death, monster, inheritor of Eden"s scream and others." Black continued speaking.

And next moment, his wing, his sword, his long coat, all disappeared and Black was back in his normal appearance. He sat down on the bed again.

"I stabbed him in the back the previous night?" Jean stepped back twice before speaking. "And I"m alive?" He was too surprised knowing he was alive. My Black cured him and he still said those words. Both of these kids lack manners. Perhaps there is nothing like manners in Eden?

"Is my reputation really that bad?" Black laughed awkwardly again.

"Can you really... cure our stigma?" Jeanne asked but her shaking didn"t stop. My Black"s fame was a little too worse.

"I might be able to. But no guarantee. I can only try. It"s your choice if you let me try." He indifferently said.

"Please help..." Jeanne replied quickly, without thinking about anything else. This stigma must be a pretty serious disease.

"Hear me out first. You can go to an old friend of mine. He will surely take care of you both until you choose to go. He will not interfere if there"s a fight of one wings though. I guarantee your safety with him. Or you can stay with me for a while."

"We will stay with you." Both of them replied without fear in their heart this time. Their shaking had stopped.

"So quick? I was expecting you both to take some time. How come not afraid anymore?"

"Lord Michael told us that only one angel might be able to save us and that"s you. You"re our only hope." Jeanne replied and this time, her pattern of speech was clear. She didn"t hesitate at all while speaking with Black. Perhaps Jeanne herself didn"t realize that thing. I remember Lilith told me that Michael was the strongest angel before Black defeated him.

"You know that nerd?" Black was truly surprised. Jeanne"s expression changed to slight anger but she quickly hid them hoping Black wouldn"t notice.

"Lord Michael is a very kind angel. I hope... you don"t call him like that." Jeanne tried to defend Michael.

"Am I not?" Black raised his eyebrows and teased the little girl. Jeanne was stupefied by this question. I was sure she was debating inside weather to say the truth or try to please my Black.

"Anyway. How did you meet that nerd?"

There were grievances in her eyes as if my Black had stolen her Teddy but she still replied, "Lord Michael is a friend of my father. Before we were sent to Gaia, Lord Michael advised us to search for you. Because only one angel was able to survive despite the degradation of his wing."

"I shall let you know that my case was different. It will not work on you guys."

"Yeah. We know. You weren"t born with one wing. Some devil cut off your wing." Jeanne said. Black hadn"t yet found that disgusting demon. I don"t hate others easily but that demon was someone I hated with all my soul. I"d really murder that demon if some day I find him or her.

"I have to experiment on you for the cure, okay? Unlike me, you won"t be able to fly. Perhaps you won"t even be able to use your abilities. But I"ll help you retain your memories. And your physical strength should survive too. Really, no guarantee."

This time, both Jeanne and Jean thought about it really carefully. I just stood at the side, silently.

"Can you tell us how you"re still sane even with so much bloodl.u.s.t? Is that related to you staying alive even with one wing? I"ve never heard of Seraphs being bloodthirsty. We... wouldn"t become like that, right?"

"No. It is not related. You won"t become like that. And because of her ability, I stay sane."

Oh, my Black... What frigging ability are you talking about?

"But... She"s a human..." Jeanne retorted.

"So what? You should know that my wifey is more angelic than you or I could ever be." When I heard "wife" from his mouth, I only felt awe. He changed the way he called me, from Angie to wifey, way too easily. Wifey came out of his mouth so naturally as if he had practiced that a thousand times.

"Come now. Let me see your wings." Black told them.

"Sure."

The kids stepped forward and looked at Black. They didn"t make any strange gesture with their hand as Black does. I saw their wings coming out from the center of their back and their expressions were painful. Their wings unfolded on either side of them.

"Does it hurt when you bring it out?" I asked.

"Of course it does. One wing is unstable you know. So bringing it out really hurts," Jean replied.

I immediately looked at Black with anger in my eyes asking why he didn"t tell it to me. He still hid this thing from me! It hurt him every time he unfolds his wings? And he brought it out to show off!

"It doesn"t hurt me. Stop staring at me like that," Black didn"t look at me in my eyes and I knew he was lying. He was getting worse at lying as time pa.s.sed. Or perhaps I was just knowing him better.

"Why are you lying Mister? It hurts a lot." Jean said.

"Stop speaking you brat," Black said in anger. I let go of this topic for a while. But he had to give me an explanation later.

I looked back at the kids again. Those wings were about half the size of my Black"s wing. Unlike the bright shining white wings of other angels, the colour of their wing was kind of light greyish.

"I guess you still got about one year. It should be enough," Black pondered. He got up, walked to me and held my waist in his arm before giving instructions to the kids.

"Now Jean, come down with me. Let"s have some breakfast. And you Jeanne. Go to sleep."

I was confused why he wouldn"t let Jeanne have breakfast too but then he whispered in my ears.

"The little girl was so scared of me before that she couldn"t sleep at all. She needs rest more than she needs food."

The three of us walked downstairs and Black cooked us some poached eggs. His food was as delicious as always. While eating, I remembered I once thought he would make a good wife one day. Well, he did make a good husband. And I had no regrets for getting married to such an awesome person.

"What is bloodthirsty and stigma.. and other things you were talking about?" I asked while we were sitting on a dining table.

"Now I think about it, I never told you about these things," Black said.

"The first devil was but a bloodthirsty. It"s like a special trait among angels. They call it whispers of the devil. I"m not called one winged devil for nothing."

"It"s hard to explain bloodl.u.s.t... It"s like a bloodthirsty angel finds it relatively easier to be consumed by his desires and emotions. The more the bloodl.u.s.t, the more such impulses. And every such angel covert to become demons."

Jean stopped eating and spoke. "During the great war with demons, a millennium ago, many bloodthirsty appeared and they led to the fall of a lot of seraphs. Since then, being a bloodthirsty is a taboo."

"Whoooa!" The more I found about Black, the more mysterious he becomes.

"Some angels are born with stigma of one wing." Black continued and started answering my other question. "And as you know, one wing is unstable. Angels born with one wing can"t live past twelve years because of its degradation. So when such kids are ten years old, they"re sent to Gaia to take part in the battle of one wings."

"The kids got three choices. Steal an unstable one wing from other angels and pray to Eden to cure their stigma. Though everyone is sent to a random place. It"s too rare to meet other one wings. It happens rarely like once in a decade that someone gets cured. The second choice is to give up being an angel and cut off their wing. Gaia would then arrange for them to live normally as mortals. The third choice is to die as an angel with pride when they turn twelve. Some stubborn kids try to the very end." Black"s tone was filled with agony. That was pretty cruel to the kids.

"What did you choose?" I asked Jean. All three choices were hard. One of the kids must be sacrificed at least so that the other can become an angel. I was curious about what these two siblings would have done.

"We had chosen to die as an angel."