Collateral Damage (FINISHED)

[Upright Angel NPC]

It was a daunting facility, even for a Human construct. Large and concrete, a substance that was emulated in Heaven. It looked like something that she wasn't welcome to enter, but considering that she wasn't in an orange jumpsuit like those who were in the yard behind the fence on the right, the guards were very friends and nice. They greeted her with warm smiles.

Unfortunately, once she got into the visiting room, things were dead quiet. She'd been checked for weapons and the like, which seemed rather pointless to her, since she could wield her own fire magic. Not that they would know about any of that. The row of seats stood in the middle of the room, hard and skinny chairs, bare. The divider was a wall that halved the room. She quickly made her way to the first empty one that she saw. There was a phone on the glass wall, and she picked it up, waiting. She had already specified who she was visiting while they'd been frisking her.



He came out soon enough. Blond hair and brown eyes--and he hadn't been cutting his hair. He looked sullen as he approached the partition from the other side, picking up the phone that had hung, like a reflection, opposite of her own. "Hello," she said, but seeing him imprisoned in this fashion made her voice become choked up. "...why don't you just escape from this? It doesn't have to be your home. Why are you here?"

[Fallen Angel NPC]

Solange had come to visit him, he heard. He had been meditating when she arrived, and she was very insistent about seeing him. When the guard came to retrieve him, his thoughts had been resting specifically on his family. No doubt they had forgotten about him--they hadn't spoken to him in years--but it was nice for him to think of them from time to time. You always loved family, and that was something that had stuck with him through thick and thin. It gave him peace. Usually, he spent his days contemplating more violent things.

"Kier," the guard said to get his attention, calling him by last name. Nothing more needed to be said. He rose and headed out to the visiting area, adding a thank you to the man who held the door.



Solange was as beautiful as ever--dark ringlets cascading down the sides of her face, eyes moist with worry--he knew that no one else in the vicinity could see her wings, but he could and they were beautiful, white, pure. Just like her. Why doesn't he escape from here, she asked. Why was he still here. "there was a mugging...and a breaking and entereing, and a murder. And I've taken care of them all. And much more. But this time, I was caught and I didn't struggle; I just went along. Texan law is not very lenient towards vigilantes, apparently. But I won't harm them. These Humans are doing nothing but following the rules that they set. This sentence is nothing for me. I'll be out of here in no time. Perhaps, if I grow bored and it's possible to escape without having to harm any of these good people, I will. Don't worry about me. Why are you here, might I ask? Visiting a Fallen in the Nigenkai could get you in trouble."

[Upright Angel NPC]

"Neilim..." the upright said warily through the phone. "I'm here because the family is worried about you. Before you say anything--yes. Mom and Pop are worried. They say that I never should have married you, that you were nothing but trouble. But even they know that you couldn't have done anything deserving of being here." She was trying to ease his troubles. It had been hard, very hard not seeing him for such a long time. But when he Fell--the product of Neilim's lack of belief in Tohru's regime...there had not been rules possibly prohibiting their being together than. The argument they'd had about Tohru being the Ha-ou was still fresh in her mind. She had asked him to wait, to see if change would come. But Neilim would not. He had been younger, restless, concerned about the affairs of the Kingdom and what Heaven was doing to serve Humans. His Cherub heart would not allow him to forget them.

...and now he was a Djinni. Their marriage had been immediately terminated in Heaven, despite her insistence that there may have been some sort of mistake. Of course, there hadn't been. They made very thorough checks--very rarely was there a mistake in that regard.

"Just..." her voice crackled through the phone's connection, "just be careful, alright? I want to see you again. I love you."

[Fallen Angel NPC]

She was worried about nothing. There was a bit less for him to be endangered by in the Mortal Realm, he felt. "I love you, too," he said reluctantly, knowing that he meant it but that it would make things more difficult between them. "I'm glad that you and Mom and Dad are doing alright." His own parents were no longer living. Please make sure you all keep yourself safe. I will see to my own affairs," he added, smiling. Despite his caution, he really was glad to see her and it was hard to hide that. "Solange, these people are very noble," he said, changing the subject. "They just need a little help sometimes. Remember all those missions we use dto do. Recon for Shoko's whereabouts? Not as long ago as you think. It's just the same. These people...some of them are struggling trying to make an honest living in their own system--and other, more greedy people--bastards trying to take away what little they have. I can't sit by and let it happen, Solange. These people need me. They do." He was indeed proud of the things he had done, even if he had ended up in this place because of the deaths of those terrible, terrible people. "In Heaven, they have a Seraph assess an incident through known survivors. They don't have truth-sayers here. They just have themselves and a murky outline of what's considered right and wrong. They need me, Solange."

[Upright Angel NPC]

Tears welled up in her eyes as she listened to him speak. he was exactly the same. She hadn't seen him in such a long time--she hadn't known what to expect. Fallen were evil and decrepit, right? They would rather kill you and speak and they were abominations. But Neilim had never been any of those things. And here he was, still his same old self. Still trying to help other, lesser creatures the best that he could--even when contained.

She loved him and her heart ached in a way that she was sure that she would never recover from. But duty came first. "...Neilim...they annulled our marriage. I--we--we're not married anymore..."

[Fallen Angel NPC]

He hadn't been expecting to hear something quite like that. It made sense; he was one of the enemy now--a Fallen--and no ties to Heaven were allowed now. Rules had changed and he wondered who had certainly changed the policy in the first place? Tsubasa, no doubt. It could not have been Tohru--a while back she had actually allowed the Yami-ou Tomo to marry one of their own. Thoughts in his head were working like gears. Things were becoming much different in Heaven. That could only mean one thing. "They've finally another King?"

He felt horrible about it all. He'd argued with her about the fact that change would never come--and he was wrong. She had been right, as usual, and now their marriage had been annulled...

"I guess that's it, then." He tried not to get too emotional about it; other people'd had worse Falls, he knew. Complicated things that involved children or family titles or businesses and the sort. Him? No. He had only been soldier for intelligence missions. Eyes and Ears, with a wife who did a good job at the same thing. he felt his own Air magic blow over him, a calming breeze, and indeed that effect was his goal. "There's nothing that can be done about that. Your duty is too the new King. Mine is not--and even if it was, it doesn't sound as though this person would want the allegiance of a Fallen, anyway; annulling marriages..."

[Upright Angel NPC]

"It's not like that..." Solange began to say, but indeed it was, and there was not much that could be done about it. She loved this Celestial, yes, but Heaven came first. That was what she had been taught growing up and she believed it to be true. But she wished that she could just hug him or kiss him one last time. To give her closure. She could have melted the glass if she wanted, but Neilim wouldn't have wanted her to do it. "...I can bring you your old possessions, if you'd like," she said, trying to ease the blow of the news she'd just delivered. It took her a moment, after she's spoken, to backtrack to the question he had asked earlier. "And yes, we have a new King. Kouzetsu Gin."

[Fallen Angel NPC]

"Kouzetsu," Neilim rolled the name over his tongue. "That sounds familiar, but I can't think of where I've heard it before." But it didn't matter who the person was that was stripping him of his soulmate. It was still being done. He looked down. "Please," he added, "I would appreciate it if you dropped off my things here. Tell them that you're divorcing me and that you won't keep them. Make sure they're packaged well so that the Humans will not be able to see what they are." He took a deep breath, and after a moment of silence said, "Now what's done is done." There was nothing more to say here, no reason why he should sit there while looking at Solange's sweet face was breaking his heart into pieces. "Thank you for coming." He rose from his chair to approach the door that would lead him back into the compound, waiting for a guard to let him in.

[Upright Angel NPC]

"Neilim, wait!" Solange said, knowing that he could hear her through the glass even if he was pretending to ignore her. "This isn't black and white! I'm not siding with Heaven because I hate you; you made a decision about your alignment and I can't do anything about it or the consequences! What do you want me to do? Fall with you? Well, I won't!"

Her emotions were quickly being spurned to anger--it was something that she was used to, something that she felt was fair in this situation. Neilim said nothing, waiting patiently by the door that he he come out of, the guard approaching from the other side.

"Why...WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST WAIT LIKE I TOLD YOU?" she screamed, beginning to sob, and guards on her side made their way to her, asking about if she was alright and telling her to calm down. She took a deep breath to try and regain her composure before turning and walking out, not looking back as Neilim was taken back inside of the compound.