~~Young~~

Chapter Twenty Two

   It wasn’t because he was struggling to hold on or anything, or that the current was pulling him to somewhere he didn’t want to be. Gage was in pain. It was that all too familiar, stomach churning, ache that came with the loss of a feather. It wasn’t Lucifer’s doing, no, it was at the tip of Gage’s right wing that he had already wrapped around Greed before transport. It was one of Gage’s last two brown feathers, he was losing one.

   “I’ll go wherever you’re going,” Greed said absently.

   “No, absolutely not.” He didn’t need to be worrying about Greed’s wounded self if he had to deal with Bane.

   “Fine,” he murmured as he looked around, “I think I got a safe place to go anyway. Assuming it’s still there of course.”

   Gage frowned at Greed’s awed tone, “You’ve seen this before right?”

   “Nope,” he shook his head and looked back to Gage, “guess your type travels in a different style then mine.”

   Type?

   “Thanks for saving me,” Greed smiled before Gage could ask, “I think that makes us even,” then he disappeared in a flash of blue light.

   He didn’t have time to think about what Greed had meant right now though. Not with Bane on the loose. Gage had no way to know how long he had been on earth. Minutes, hours, days? Even seconds was too long and Gage prayed- yes prayed- he wasn’t too late.

   Trying to ignore the pain in his wing and the implications of what he had done Gage focused on Sera, taking a deep breath and preparing for the battle. He came out of the currents with his blade at the ready…and in the air. He spread his wings quickly before gravity could do its thing, cringing as his wing continued to throb, and hovered directly in front of a building.

   First thing he noticed, Sera hadn’t left the campus yet. If he was here then she was too. He wasn’t too happy about that, he would have rather Jerry had dragged her-kicking in screaming if need be- away from here.

   The second thing that caught his attention, the fire in front of him, Sera’s dorm was ablaze. There were dozens of people banging against the doors and windows to no avail. Some were trying to throw water, or spray garden hoses to douse the flames-there were people trapped inside! Sera!

   Gage dropped to the ground and stuffed his blade through his belt-hell not being a safe place to keep his blade anymore- as he ran for the doors. He pushed the mortals out of the way, ignoring the gasps that followed when they took in his rather abnormal appearance, and fought to wrench open the doors. But even with all his strength he couldn’t move them. This was Bane’s doing, he had sealed the building so he could feed on the human’s suffering. But if Gage couldn’t get in then he couldn’t stop him either.

   “Look,” someone cried.

   Gage spun around to see the stares turned from him to the rooftop. He couldn’t see what they could from here and he jumped off the porch as Bane’s angry snarl filled the night air. He was on the roof, he-

   “Sera!”

   Gage was off the ground in a heartbeat as Bane released his hold on Sera, catching her before she could plummet the three stories to the ground. To his horror she was far from in one piece. Bleeding in places, burned all over, she cried out in pain when he caught her. His furious Gage went back to the roof where Bane met the challenge, laughing and gesturing for him to just try and fight.

   He had to take care of Sera first, and carefully he set them both on the ground as she choked for air.

   “Oh beauty,” he pushed the hair from her face, causing her to wince as he pulled on the abrasion he could now see on her forehead, “are… are you okay?”