DISCLAIMER: The main characters in this story do not belong to me. The boys belong to MGM and Trilogy Entertainment. I am not profiting off this story.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's not betaed, but I tend to read each part multiple times anyway.
New, open AU. Anyone who wants to write in it, go right ahead.
RATING: some cursing, none of it heaven-related <eg>
COMMENTS: This came to me, because I had this picture in my head of Chris in black, with black wings standing on that battlefield in the prologue. Don't ask me why, I haven't got a clue. But that got twisted up with Buffy, The Prophecy and general dream weirdness and this came out. Hope you like it.
The desolate field told the story of a battle fought. Dark stains and suspicious looking shapes lay strewn over the area. Deep groves, charred grass and craters were evidence of the weapons used.
That this was no ordinary battle could be gleaned from other signs. The place looked as if a colony of birds had been caught up in the struggle. The stains soiling the earth were not always red and the few remains that had gone unclaimed did not always carry a human face.
On a hilltop a man dressed all in black stood staring at the lingering signs of past carnage.
Behind him he heard the sound of massive quantities of air being moved, followed by the soft crunch of feet walking towards him in the dry grass.
"Christopher."
"Michael."
"It's been a long battle, but we have them on the run now." The visitor announced, also sweeping his eyes over the field.
Chris grunted. "They'll be back. It never ends. But at least it won't be here."
"That's what I came to tell you. We found the new portal to hell that came into being when this one closed. It's on earth this time, in a town called Four Corners."
Chris finally turned around to look at his companion, noticing that he hadn't bothered to make his wings disappear after he landed. It showed an amount of trust that meant whatever Mike had come to him about was a very serious issue indeed. "Normally you just put a guardian angel on an earth gate and forget it exists. Why come to me?"
"Because it's not your usual gate. The place is literally splattered with power sources. It draws sorcerers like heaven draws demons. And to make things even more interesting, there's an existing portal to heaven on the other side of town from the new portal to hell." Michael answered with a sardonic grin.
"That does make things more challenging. Still, I am an archangel, Mike, I don't play guardian."
"Then I guess you're not interested in the fact that Buck's already accepted the position?"
"Aw hell, Mike, what were you thinking? Buck's a great warrior, but he's never heard of keeping a low profile. That'll give away to the other side real quick that there's something interesting in that town. Not to mention you'll be swamped in nephilim in a few years if you let him run roughshod over all those earth women." Chris smiled in amusement at the last thought.
"So you'll take the job?" The other archangel's expression turned serious. "The last time I saw your wings they were still black with grief and rage. Frankly, you could use some downtime, my friend. And since I know you'd be utterly bored with an administrative job, why not keep an eye on that town? It's bound to be a nice change."
Chris sighed, but then he nodded. There was little he could say to that. Michael had it right after all. He was still teetering dangerously on the edge of a rather long fall he'd just as soon avoid. Maybe a bit of time on earth among the humans would remind him what it was he was fighting for.
For the first time Christopher really registered his surroundings.
One thing was certain, things would not get any better by standing around morbidly staring at a battlefield. No wonder Mike wanted him reassigned.
"Okay. I'll take a look at this town. Can't promise you anything, though."
"That's all I ask."
Vin ran across the red plains hoping to find some cover soon.
Somewhere up ahead he could see the flickering light of flames and he swerved right to avoid that area. Flames in hell usually meant that there was something less than pleasant going on there, and the angel really wanted to avoid demons at the moment.
He had the almost irrepressible urge to take flight and get out of here faster, but that would really be a bad idea. Wings were to an angel, even a fallen angel, what a soul was to a human. They reflected their nature. If Vin took flight, and someone or something in here saw him, he would be a sitting duck.
He was not supposed to be here. The messenger angel was much better at stealth than most others and because of that he often moved between heaven, earth and purgatory. Hell was a bit too dangerous for an angel. He wasn't even supposed to go into purgatory, but Vin had never let that stop him from tracking down people he needed to bring messages to.
Hell, he'd never deliver half of the damn things if he kept to that rule.
Most inhabitants of purgatory thought he was a lesser demon who came around now and then, and Vin encouraged that thought as much as he could. He'd often found useful information in the demon pubs and bordellos down there. It helped the warrior angels quite a bit in getting the upper hand on the demons. Sometimes they even managed to best them before they entered heaven again.
Today things had become quite a bit more dicey than usual. And it really wasn't his fault. An old acquaintance that Vin had not expected had visited purgatory. A fallen messenger angel called Elijah, who had worked with Vin a couple of times when he was still on the right side. Wings or no wings wouldn't matter a damn in his case, and Vin had only just managed to avoid being seen.
It also meant he was cut off from the little-used portal he normally took back to earth. And purgatory didn't have all that many portals. He didn't relish announcing his journey to earth to everyone in the place, which he would be doing if he took a well-known portal. Elijah would know soon enough that he was there, there was no point in shouting it out loud. And that had let him to take a chance on finding a portal in hell.
At the moment Vin was having second thoughts about that idea.
"Smart move, Vincent." He admonished himself as he climbed a rock formation that had appeared in this new direction. At least he hadn't seen any demons up close yet. He was not that certain about his ability to bluff his way out of trouble. He was an angel after all and he didn't like lying.
He stopped on a flat outcropping to survey the landscape.
The flames were still visible, but they were even further away now. Before him was a very flat plain with many crevasses, and Vin was suddenly glad he hadn't met up with one. The way he had been running he would have fallen in before he realised. And they were probably inhabited, which meant using his wings was not a good idea.
Behind him a mountain range rose up, and something told him to stay on this side of the range. Vin didn't fail to follow the instinct, because things often turned out better if he did. He moved sideways over the rocks as fast as he dared.
After a while he walked along easily, balancing himself on the stones automatically. Which eventually tripped him up when the stone he stepped on tilted toward him and he slid feet first into the crevasse that lay under the rock. Instinctively his wings appeared and spanned out.
Pain shot through him as his right wing smacked against the wall. He heard something snap and gritted his teeth as he glided clumsily down into a cave. It was dark where Vin landed, but through several openings in the wall he could see the red glow of fire.
Immediately he made his white with tan wings vanish and hoped none of the demons on the other side had caught the heavenly glow the things exuded. The angel moved to one of the openings and peeked out.
There were a lot of demons in this place and they were very clearly not the small-time former human troublemakers Vin had dealt with in purgatory. Great hulking behemoths were corralling lost souls together on one side. He could see them pick out one after another and transform them into something considerably less human and more demonic. In another part of the cave other demons were creating weapons in the eternal fires of hell.
And in the centre four winged creatures were talking to eachother. Two looked like angels, if it wasn't for the red, black and green tinged leathery wings on their backs. The other two did not look like angels at all, but Vin knew they had been once.
This was not good. Not good at all.
Well, there was one good thing about it.
Where there was an invasion force, there was a portal to heaven.
It was just a matter of finding it.
Christopher glided down slowly to get a bird's view of Four Corners. From up here he could easily see the two portals Michael had talked about, as well as several small pools of power. He laughed as he took in the places where they were situated. This was clearly another case of God's crazy sense of humour.
The portal to heaven was put in the dilapidated little church. The portal to hell lay in the jail. Oh yeah, God had fun with this one, alright.
But tactically speaking, it was great for Chris. Any demon trying to get directly from hell to heaven first had to break out of jail, and then he had to brave the church before getting to heaven. Of course, at the moment it didn't look like that church had seen any visitors in years and it had little of its holy aura left, but that could be changed with the right minister in place.
Which thankfully meant that Chris wouldn't have to deal with every minor demon trying to get through it. Only the major ones would be unafraid to enter a church. With the portal of hell being in jail, it would mean the demons would mostly come to earth in another place and travel to town, which would at least give him and Buck some warning.
In fact, the pools would probably give them more trouble. Humans were a lot more unpredictable in their pursuit of power than demons, especially sorcerers and witches.
But that was secondary. As a warrior angel Chris' main goal was defending heaven, not earth. Then again, he might as well protect the town as long as he was here.
Chris touched down in the middle of the street, unconcerned with the humans walking around. Except for certain individuals, demons and angels were invisible to them, unless they wanted to be seen. The archangel made his wings disappear and started for the local saloon. Ten to one he would find Buck in a compromising situation in one of the rooms above it.
The archangel entered the saloon and took in the clientele. One man at the poker table lifted his eyes to study him curiously. Even without the fact that the man could see him when he was still invisible, Chris knew he was not human, because he could feel him. That meant the man was an angel. Now the question was, fallen or not?
All angels and former angels could recognise eachother on sight. But without showing each other their wings, they could never be certain they were on the same side. Of course, some of the oldest fallen angels had easily identifiable appearances. It was pride that led them to their fall, and that same pride had made some of them change their looks to something meant to terrify their enemies.
Lucifer didn't though, and neither did many of the younger ones who committed their own sins and fell later. Nowadays it was a guess as to who belonged where. And this one certainly had the wrong look down pat. He was wearing stylish clothes, with a bright red gambler's jacket and the playing cards didn't help either. He tipped his hat at Chris with a sardonic little smile.
Still, Chris didn't think Buck would tolerate a fallen angel under the same roof where he bedded his ladies. Assuming Buck was under this roof with one of his ladies.
Chris put aside the question of the strange angel for the moment to continue the search for Buck. The third door he came to had the right noises coming from inside. He knocked hard on the door.
"Hey, William! When you're done in there, get your butt to the jailhouse!" He called out loud.
The noises quieted down a bit.
"Chris, is that you?" A delighted voice sounded. "Wait! Let me..." Then came the sound of a person stumbling around and apologising profusely to a Ms. Cindy or Mindy or Sandy, or maybe all at the same time. Who knew how many women Buck had in there? Chris was certainly not eager to find out.
Then he heard a high-pitched angry shriek, and something flew against the door. Buck's frantic voice could be heard over the clamor.
The archangel chuckled as he walked back down the stairs and headed for the jailhouse.
Yep, life in Four Corners was certainly going to be interesting.
Vin followed the wall of his cave, all the while keeping an eye on the four fallen angels. If he couldn't find the portal on his own, he knew that sooner or later one of them would visit it and he planned to be there when they did. He would have to find a way to the main cave first, without being seen by those fallen angels, if he could manage it.
He could hardly pass for a fallen angel, because those four weren't showing their wings for nothing. Trust was a lot harder between angels in hell, and the only reason to show another fallen their nature would be to prevent treachery. All of which meant Vin would be screwed if he was spotted.
Fifteen minutes later he found an opening in the wall large enough to squeeze himself through. And it was a lucky coincidence that it didn't exit into the large cave itself, but into an adjacent passage.
The angel squirmed through the hole, wincing as the broken end of his wing grated against the stone. Too bad the fact that his wing was invisible didn't make it hurt any less. Vin glanced around the corner cautiously.
From his new point of view he could see a strange shimmering coming from one of the passages and he sighed in relief. That had to be the portal. It would seriously improve his chances that he didn't have to tail one of those fallen after all. Now the problem was how to get there. At least it was on this side of the cave, so he only had to move along the wall. Still, except for the two younger fallen angels, nobody looked human. He was going to stick out like a sore thumb in there.
Vin moved out of his hiding place as casually as he could. To blend in he had to look like he belonged there. It almost always worked. The messenger angel stayed close to the wall, but kept up a steady pace, deliberately not looking at the fallen angels. It would not be good to attract their attention.
He was almost at the glowing passage when he heard words shouted his way.
"Hey, you! What are you doing there?" Vin looked back and saw one of the demonic looking fallen looking straight at him. He could practically see the realisation dawning that Vin was a bit more than a simple demon.
Damn, he couldn't seem to get a lucky break today. He made a run for it and slipped into the tunnel, moving as fast as he could towards the portal that was pulsating further into it. Behind him shouts erupted from the main cave. More terrifying than that was the familiar sound of wings beating at the air, trying to gain altitude and speed.
They'd catch up to him in no time.
It figured that the one time he really needed his wings, they were out of commission. He was running as fast as he could, but he felt the air behind him being moved in the small passage through the force of leathery wings.
Vin gritted his teeth. Broken wing or no broken wing, he needed the advantage of flight right now. Hell, the upper bone wasn't broken, and that was the part that took him into the air. Steering would be a problem with the broken end, but he only needed to move in one direction anyway.
His wings appeared, and he beat at the air, not minding the surprised shout from one of his pursuers, and ignoring the pain on each powerful down stroke. His feet left the floor and he shot forward faster than before. Still, the other angels were not handicapped, and slowly gaining ground.
Finally, Vin came close enough to the portal itself, that he could see the two demons guarding it. The messenger angel aimed for the upper part of the portal, so that he could avoid those demons.
Just as he was about to enter, something ripped into his leg, and he lost his course, but his momentum carried him into the gate anyway in a downward curve.
The angle slammed him into the ground on the other side. Pain washed through his left arm and ribcage that took the brunt of the awkward landing. His wing finally decided that it was none too happy either and refused to obey, which meant Vin skidded over the floor until he hit the wall.
The world turned black.
When Vin recovered from his rather hard smack, he looked around curiously. Stone walls surrounded him and there were iron bars in the window, not to mention very large standing bars preventing him from leaving the place. He blinked in confusion.
"Well, this sure ain't heaven."
And again with the Ezra-isms. Any I have wrong, just say so, 'cause I'm just not English enough to be certain of those. Dutch is hard enough. I still have no idea what this story is doing, since I read it as I write it, but it's fun getting there. ;)
Ezra spread his cards out on the table with a triumphant grin.
"I believe you gentlemen lose."
Two of Ezra's opponents grumbled a bit and left his table to drown their sorrows. It was the one man remaining who had caught his attention earlier and had him starting this game. Mr. Tremaine was sweating like a stuck pig.
As well he should, considering Ezra had just won all his money, and now the man couldn't buy those new cows tomorrow that his farm so desperately needed. He should be mortified. But apparently the man was not going to make the first move himself. Ezra sighed inwardly.
"Is there something wrong, Mr. Tremaine?" He asked, feigning non- interest.
"I... Those... I needed that money to buy stock tomorrow. My wife is going to kill me." The farmer stammered.
Ezra shuffled his deck with played nonchalance. "I don't believe your wife will be enraged as much by the loss of this bit of money, as she will be when she finds out you spend the other half of it on a rather costly necklace for the lovely Ms. Bettine. Wouldn't you think so?"
Mr. Tremaine turned an unhealthy colour green. "How do you know that?"
Ezra smiled at the stunned man. "Let's just say, I have my sources. Now I am perfectly willing to give you this money back so you can buy your livestock. But I would be most disappointed if you continued this dalliance with Ms. Bettine. Disappointed enough, say, to tell your darling wife? After all, Mrs. Tremaine is a most stunning beauty herself and not deserving of such treatment."
"What do you get out of this?" The man asked with narrowed eyes. It always amazed Ezra how someone could sneak around behind his wife's back, and yet still be jealous when another man showed an interest in said wife. But, he had counted on it in this case.
Anticipating his opponent's moves had made him an expert in his profession. Both as a gambler, and as an administrative angel of the human nations. He had quite a good count on souls won in his book, even if his methods were not ones most angels would agree with. Others converted people to believing in God, and expected them to give up all sins just because of faith. Ezra was rather cynical about the workability of that idea, so he did things a bit differently.
"I like Mrs. Tremaine. I don't wish to see her heartbroken over an adulterous scoundrel like you. And it's the gentlemanly thing to do. So, do we have a deal?" His voice gained a steely tone it hadn't carried previously.
Tremaine nodded warily. "Sure. I don't cheat on my wife, you don't tell her I cheated. And I get the money back."
A wide smile appeared on Ezra's face, as he waved a hand at the money that was still on the table. "But of course, take your pick." Ezra had, of course, already taken the amounts he had won from the other men tonight. He was not a fool.
The man grabbed the money, never taking his eyes off Ezra, and walked quickly out the door, hopefully determined to never gamble or cheat on his wife again.
Ezra leaned back in his chair, and started up a game of solitaire. "And another lost soul is dragged back reluctantly to the straight and narrow."
From behind him sounded an angry and disbelieving voice. "You wouldn't know what the straight and narrow is, Ezrael. Why, it's practically the same tactic Lucifer's guys use to claim them for the other side."
Ezra smiled self-depreciatingly. In the decades he had known Nathaniel the miracle worker angel had yet to let up on his scathing opinions of Ezra's tactics.
"And a good evening to you too, Mr. Jackson. And you know as well as I do that someone has to claim the ones who don't believe. Converting them is not my profession. It is merely required that I keep them virtuous long enough that others may guide them there. Such as yourself. May I inquire as to Ms. Cecilia's health?"
Nathan just shook his head in disbelief. He had tried to bring his point home more than once already, but Ezra just didn't want to get it. How the hell the man managed to stay on the angel side of things was something that Nathan just couldn't understand. But he comforted himself with the thought that there had to be something, because the other angel had straddled the fence for as long as they had known eachother and still wasn't any closer to falling than he had been a century ago. He really didn't want to lose his friend and friends they were despite all their differences.
"Ms. Potter is getting better. The worst of the pneumonia is over. Her mother prayed quite a bit, so I could keep up the healing longer than usual in such cases. Good thing too, because otherwise she wouldn't have lived through tonight. I'll go back to working on her tomorrow."
Ezra sighed in relief. "Good work, Nathaniel. When I sent you the message, I had feared your arrival would come too late. I am rather fond of the Potter children and they certainly deserve to live long lives."
Nathan smiled, suddenly wondering why he ever worried about Ezra falling. His love of children would always be his saving grace.
"Are you thinking about becoming a guardian angel, Ezra?" He teased.
Ezra looked affronted. "Certainly not. I don't feel much for advising people and never being listened to, so that they make the same old mistakes over and over again, all the while trying to make sure they don't die before they finally learn from them. No, I am quite content with my current lot in life. Besides, young John Daniel is doing a satisfactory job at protecting the other children, while he is minding Master Travis."
Nathan had to concede the point. JD was getting pretty good at his job. And it couldn't be easy, because Billy was not your usual human kid. But then neither was Mrs. Travis.
Suddenly the doors to the saloon were slammed open, and all eyes turned to the man they knew as Buck Wilmington. Buck in turn ignored everyone but the one he had come for.
"Nathan, we need you in the jailhouse!"
Josiah left heaven by stepping through a little-known portal. He was quite curious as to where he would end up, since he'd never used this one before. The voice angel had travelled around a lot in his job of delivering the word of God to those that needed it, but sometimes his destinations still surprised him.
This was one of those times.
A quick look around showed him that he was standing in an old, but sturdy little church. A layer of dust covered everything, showing that the place hadn't been used in quite a while. The wooden walls could use a fix, and sunlight came in through several holes in the roof.
"Well, this is a more humble church than most, Lord." Josiah commented, lifting his eyebrows in query.
Josiah had a longstanding habit of talking to God at the strangest times. He knew it was something most voice angels ended up doing at some point. He guessed it was the result of being one of the few God talked to directly on occasion. Of course, God didn't always answer, but that only made the times Josiah got a reply more special.
"Yes, I know it doesn't matter. A church is a church. It could use a helping hand, though."
The angel mentally catalogued the repairs this little church needed before it could be used again.
"I'm not seeing any ministers around here. Don't suppose it's up to me?"
Josiah didn't particularly like seeing a house of worship in such a state. Unfortunately he seldom had the time and opportunity to do something about it. His missions usually entailed talking to people to give them hope, faith or advice and the occasional Word of God. Sometimes he had to be a bit hard-handed to get people to listen, but that was rare. All in all, the voice angel rarely stayed long in one place.
"Ah. Now that's interesting." He blinked in amazement at the answer he got. Then he smiled widely. But apparently this time it was different. Maybe he'd get his chance to repair this place after all.
Deciding today was starting out as a good day already, Josiah moved to exit the church. It was time to see where he was exactly. The angel decided to stay invisible for a while, until he had scoped out the small frontier town he had landed in. He'd learnt that people generally didn't like strangers turning up without any obvious transportation. It certainly didn't lend to trust.
The town that would be his home for the unforeseeable future seemed nice enough, a bit rough, but that wasn't strange.
Still, the closer Josiah came to the centre of town the more he felt something was wrong. He was just contemplating that fact, when right in front of him the door to the town's newspaper office opened and a little boy stepped outside with his back to Josiah.
"Billy! Don't go too far now." A woman's voice called from inside.
The boy rolled his eyes in obvious exasperation. "I won't, mom. Besides, JD's gonna be there anyway, I asked!"
"That's alright then. Ask him if he likes to come to dinner tonight, would you?"
"Sure mom." The boy called back, closing the door and running straight into Josiah in his haste. "Oops, sorry, mister."
"That's alright, son." Josiah smiled at the little boy, all the while wondering why the boy could see him in the first place. The angel stared after the child a bit bemusedly. This town was just full of surprises.
The exact moment he thought that, two men exited the saloon and Josiah had to do a quick double take to realise both of them were angels. They were also in somewhat of a hurry, as they moved swiftly towards to town jail. And if Josiah wasn't mistaken that was the place where those bad vibes he'd felt earlier were coming from.
Now seemed as good a time as any to take a stroll in that direction.
Chris frowned at the sight of the wounded angel in the jail cell. He wished Buck would hurry up already. The angel had a broken wing, a badly slashed leg, a broken arm and probably several broken ribs too. Not to mention he was out cold. All in all, he was a sorry looking sight.
Still, if Chris was right in assuming the man came through the portal to hell, he hadn't done too badly. Then again, visiting hell was a damn stupid thing to do in the first place! What was he thinking? If the idiot hadn't collapsed with his pretty white and tan wings still visible Chris could have easily mistaken him for an enemy.
The archangel had always assumed no angel in his right mind would go into hell all by himself. Not this guy, apparently. Whoever he was, he was a damn fool.
Chris became alert when the wounded man started stirring. Blue eyes opened and took in the scenery with obvious disorientation.
"Well, this sure ain't heaven." A slow drawl sounded through the jailhouse.
Chris snorted. The sound startled the other angel into turning around too quickly. He learnt instantly that moving fast wasn't a good idea, judging by the bitten back moan that sounded.
"Nope, you're on earth. Four Corners to be exact. I'm Chris." The archangel wasn't sure why he shortened his name when he introduced himself. Only friends used that name, and this guy was a total stranger. Still, for some reason it felt right.
"Vin."
Something clicked, and the two angels stared at eachother, not quite sure what just happened. The strange mood was only broken when Buck stormed in, followed by the miracle angel he'd said was in town. From the corner of his eye Chris could see that Vin made his wings disappear at the sight of these new people.
"Chris! This is Nathaniel, he's purty good at fixing people up." Buck introduced the newcomer.
The dark-skinned angel moved towards Vin, who eyed him warily.
Nathaniel scowled at his patient. "I ain't gonna hurt ya. And you can bring those wings back too. Can't fix what I can't see."
Vin shook the healer off impatiently. "Not now. Chris!" He called out. "On the other side of that portal there's a whole bunch of demons getting ready to come through to here. And four fallen even."
That was not good. Not good at all.
Chris nodded sharply to show he had heard, before he led Buck outside. Vin didn't need to be more uncomfortable than he already was, while Nathaniel patched him up. And the archangel needed some time to think up a plan for this anyway.
He had partly taken on this job to make sure no denizens of hell learnt about this latest portal. He hadn't realistically thought about what he could do on his own until it was too late for that already.
And how the hell did those fallen find out about the portal anyway? There had to be a leak in town somewhere. Chris swore as an unpleasant thought hit him. With those pools of power in the vicinity, it was only a matter of time before some evil sorcerer noticed the portal and made a deal with a demon in exchange for the information. He should damn well have thought of that before now.
"Buck, how many angels are in Four Corners right now?"
Buck sighed. "Including us, six. But one of 'em ain't old enough to have seen any sort of battle. Kid's playing at guardian angel right now. I'd rather not include him, so that's five."
"Make that six." A voice said.
The two war angels looked up to see a large man smiling at them. For a brief moment dark grey with white wings flickered in and out of existence.
"Name's Josiah. And it looks like I got here right on time."
"Appreciate it." Chris acknowledged the newcomer's offer.
As Buck took care of the introductions, Chris went back to planning.
Six angels against an army. The odds weren't great, but they would have to do.
To be continued...
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