Michael has known things weren't completely under control since the day he found out the boy was very much alive. He had done his best to comfort his Queen during all those years Noah was presumably dead. All in hope that she might forget him.
He was so close, so close to fulfilling his dream. Until Noah showed up, his essence was sensed by all angels in Heavens.
And now, he had to deal with his girlfriend, this Hitori the Oracles seemed to like so much.
"What is the meaning of this, Cassiel-obaa-chan?", the girl asked her protector, struggling to keep her voice from breaking, lest her words become another gibberish, just like her own existence.
Cassiel only shrugged. Her eyes had a sort of energy in them, the kind that constantly moved the waters of a river, turning it into waterfalls hitting the bottom of a hill, disrupting the peace that had always existed within the world.
"Fifteen years ago, I was given this letter by a man who knocked on my door, carrying an infant in his arms, begging for me to protect her. He ordered me to only give you this letter when you came back, looking for answers."
"What does the letter say?" Michael looked back at the girl, hoping that she would give him the piece of paper immediately.
Hitori only ignored him. She covered her face with both palms as she sank further inside the soft cushions of the sofa. The letter remained crumbled in her right hand.
"What...what in the world are we dealing with? What am I supposed to do now?" , she muttered to herself. Her voice has already broken, sobs escaped from her painful throat in turns as she gasped, struggling to keep her tears from showing.
This only amplified the curiosity of the angel, and worsened his patience.
"Hitori-chan" , he hissed. "Give me the letter. I can't help you if I don't know what's in it." Michael forced a smile as he stood up. He stretched out his left hand in front of the sobbing girl, waiting for her response.
He thought he heard her mutter the boy's name, but it must have been his imagination, because what she did next was so stupid that Michael had no doubt the idea came from her own excuse of a brain.
She tore the letter to bits, angrily. She kept cutting those paper pieces, over and over again, over and over, until no more. She then stood up, disappeared into the adjacent room. He heard a loud noise next, that of a box being shut violently.
She was empty-handed when she came back. She didn't sit, she didn't move another finger. She only looked at Michael defiantly, as if challenging him to a duel she knew she would never win. Her eyes gleamed with honey turning into hard gold. Her tears were only starting to dry up, and her face erased every trace of despair in it. She only grimaced and said, looking at Michael straight in his blackened eyes:
"Don't think coming here with me to protect me made me trust you more, because it didn't. My loyalty lies with Noah, and Noah alone."
Michael didn't know how utterly funny this girl could be. He chuckled so hard he had to double over, sitting back on the sofa. He even teared up a bit.
"What's so funny?" , Hitori said.
As the captain of the Royal Guard just barely managed to calm himself down, he lifted a hand before his face. A white sword with a scarlet hilt, glimmering with rubies and shining with small emeralds stuck to its blade materialized inside his palm. He closed his eyes, focusing a part of his essence in his weapon, the remaining part going to his core and to his now stretched white wings. He grew in size, reverting back to his angel body, and he felt the weakness of the human leave him, making way to the good old strength of an angel warrior.
"I'm done playing with you, silly girl"
As expected of his victims, Hitori's eyes widened with shock, her pupils dilated, while her beating heart could be heard over a mile. She took a step back. Her irises shifted a little, looking behind the angel, then quickly turned back to him. Michael paid that no mind. Cassiel could not defy him due to the difference in positions. After all, he was the second highest rank after the Queen herself.
"What are you doing? Don't kill Cassiel-obaa-san! She didn't--"
"I'm not killing anyone in this room" , he interrupted. Hitori's features seemed to relax a bit, when he pointed at her throat.
"But you"
Michael was sick of games. He was sick of waiting for demons to do his bidding for him. He didn't really want to kill the human girl, but she left him no choice. All he ever wished in his immortal life was to be Lailah's one and only love. Yet, why did everyone keep getting in his way? His Queen went ahead and gave birth to a weakling boy. She loved him unconditionally.
When he got kidnapped by the demons, the angel hoped they would eventually kill him. They still didn't. He hoped at least that they would make him into a demon, and Lailah would have no choice but to kill her own boy and forget him. She had always prioritized her kingdom over herself.
However, the girl showed up, and the boy's change was more and more apparent. If Michael didn't act now, Noah will turn against the demons, fully falling in the angels' side.
To get rid of Noah without dirtying his hands, he had to make him look like the enemy, and to make Noah look like the enemy, he had to erase the only existence that could get in the way of his plan.
In other words, Hitori Yuuki.
Hitori Yuuki's death will change everything.
"A fallen angel from the times of the Great War, remembering her origins, had regained her powers. Upon releasing them, she lost control. Casualties were only one human girl, who refused to leave the angel behind. Michael, the captain of the Royal Guard was no match for her. He himself barely escaped, failing to convince the human of fleeing the scene with him. What remains of the Glass house is only ash. How about this story? Do you like it? I just came up with it!"
Michael giggled at his own sense of humor. His Queen finally left the two teenagers' side, so this was his only chance of making it look like an accidental death. He could afford a little humiliation. Afterwards, nothing will be able to get in the way of his dream.
Lailah will be mine, all mine.
In his euphoria, he took a step forward, getting closer and closer to the girl. He wondered why she wasn't already running.
With his free hand, he pushed the human's shoulder, and she went crashing to the floor. On her knees. Where she belonged.
He leaned over her, pointed his sword on her throat. A trickle of blood came running down her chocolate-colored skin, as fast as the overflowing tears in her eyes. Michael was enjoying this more and more.
"I suppose you can only kiss me to save yourself, but I really would rather you don't. I don't want my lips touching anyone's but Lailah's. You understand, don't you? You also want your own lips to taste Noah's. I can feel the longing inside you. What a shame that you can't!"
Hitori couldn't utter a single word. She only looked at him, eyes as wide as ever, fear paralyzing every nerve in her body.
In the frenzy of the moment, Michael had completely forgotten the female angel's existence, who was silently watching him from behind, waiting for the opportune moment.
"I'm sorry for your death, I really am" , he added, a hint of sincerity clear in his voice. "But let's face it. You're more useful dead than alive. What have you ever done? You've only been tagging along, occasionally playing the part of a damsel in distress"
The point of his blade moved up to Hitori's left cheek. It traced a thin vertical line of blood. The girl winced, more tears rushed out of her eyes, but her mouth remained shut, faithful to the silence swallowing her throat.
"You think you can go ahead and plant flowers inside Noah's head, but I'm done letting you do that. I'm done. You hear me?" Michael shouted. He lifted his sword in the air, its tip pointing at the girl's heart.
He was ready to strike, until his shouting turned into screams of pain.
Before he could feel anything, Cassiel was behind him, the tip of her own sword piercing his core. He dropped his weapon, which did not even reach the floor before melting into golden dust. He looked down at his body. A cold chill ran down his spine as he realized his fatal mistake. A huge hole was formed in his core, around the angel's blade. Scarlet dust scattered on the ground like sand being drifted away by the desert wind.
The last thing Michael saw before he became no more was the face of the human girl, a look of triumph devouring it, a relieved smile on her rose-colored poisonous lips.
And darkness followed suit.