Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. That was the only correct way to describe Adam's rash idea of a 'plan'. I had tried telling him that, too; at least five times. Two hours ago, which is when he informed me of this last minute idea. But he wouldn't take no for an answer, classic Adam, always assuming that he was the smartest person in the room. Maybe he was sometimes, but definitely not now. We were in no shape to go back and keep fighting, how could he not realize that? Although I felt a little better, I was still not in any ideal condition to take on an army of demons. And I could tell by a simple scan around the room that the other exorcists felt the same. Droopy winged and heavy eyed, the lot looked absolutely awful compared to the usual upbeat air that filled a room whenever Adam's army walked in. I shook my head in frustration. Why couldn't he just listen? "Ladies!" I heard Adam's voice echo through the cave. I gritted my teeth and turned to face him. This should be fun.
I listened as Adam explained his master idea of a sneak attack to the others. Skeptical looks began to sweep through the crowd. The others were afraid of Adam, this I knew... nobody would dare speak their mind, especially when it was disagreeing with him. I was different, on another hand. I was not afraid of him; I was close with him for that reason. However, I was fiercely loyal to him and was an obedient soldier. Yes, I had offered him my opinion. He had decided to discard it. So here I was, stuck following him into what was likely a massive suicide mission. My mind snapped back to the present as Adam was finishing up his speech. "And we ride... NOW!" He yelled, attempting to sound heroic (he, in fact, did not). The exorcists got to their feet in unison, just as ready to follow Adam to certain death as I was. We were simply his obedient servants, and he liked it that way.
"Lute," Adam tweeted, causing me to shift my eyes to him. He beckoned for me to come next to him, he was at the mouth of the cave, his army behind him. He wanted me by his side, as usual. I was mildly bitter at him for entirely blowing off my opinion earlier, but I complied, heading to the front and standing beside him. Adam spread his glowing golden wings. The same golden wings that had held me early this morning. I blinked hard to shake the thought. "Let's go bitchesssss," Adam hollered, taking off in a massive whoosh of air created by his wings. The rest of the army took flight as well, following behind him. I spread my own wings, which were far smaller than Adam's and flew beside him. "Why the frown babe? We're gonna kick some demon ASS today," Adam grinned at me, excitement seeming to radiate off of him in waves. Of course he was excited; the man was practically invisible. He feared not death or even pain. Us on the other hand, were not as powerful as him. I mean, just look at me. Battered and broken, still following my leader to battle as if I wasn't about to get brutally murdered by a bunch of beings straight from hell. I said nothing, continuing to fly beside him. He opened his mouth to say something but apparently thought better of it, snapping his mouth shut and pulling on his mask. I followed suit, shoving my mask on as well. I was aware I was in an immensely bad mood, for the sole fact that I had been so badly injured... I had never been wounded like that before, and it pissed me off. I decided to stop thinking about it and focus on the long flight ahead of us.
*Time skip 6 hours*
As the first of the golden buildings making up Heaven's Main Street came into view, I began to mentally prepare for what was about to happen. We were going to get our asses kicked, no doubt about it. I remembered earlier Adam insisting that this was going to work, that we were going to take back control of this battle. I didn't believe him. I usually blindly followed him, he was right 99% of the time anyways. But I fear I'd never felt before boiled in my gut, the urge to turn around was strong. I saw black smoke rise from buildings in the distance. My heart sank. It was worse than we thought.
As we neared closer and closer to the main swatch of Heaven, we passed over buildings burnt to the ground. I could see splotches of golden and red blood streaking the streets in places. A few dead angels here and there, plenty of dead hell spawns. 'Good,' I thought as I flew. The people were fighting back. I glanced at Adam, whom was blankly staring ahead, avoiding looking at the wreckage below us. After a few more moments of flying he gestured towards the ground. I followed as he flew down and landed on a building. The exorcists landed on the ground below us, looking up at their leader for further instruction. "Alright ladies, you know the drill, but let's run it over one last time. You, sweetheart, will lead group A," he pointed at a more burly angel with curled horns. She nodded. "Yes sir," she said. I narrowed my eyes a bit. Hearing him call others names like sweetheart ticked me off lately. I couldn't put a finger on why; he had done it ever since I could remember. He was a chick magnet, a lady's man. He knew how to make everyone fall head over heels for him. Well, not me, I decided stubbornly. "Tits, you're leading group B, ah, the pretty lady over there has group C, group D belongs to you, and Lute and I will lead group.. group F." Adam continued. Group F? Sometimes he made me want to pull my own hair out purely thanks to his stupidity. I also took notice of the fact that I was not being given my own group this time. I wondered if he was spooked by me getting injured when he left me alone the last time, or if he simply didn't even think about it this time. Likely the latter knowing him. "Let's rock." Adam announced to the group, then turned to me and gave me a firm, determined nod. I nodded back. My mind was in soldier mode now, and he was my leader. I watched as the other four groups split up on foot, silently creeping through abandoned buildings, weapons poised.
Adam made a silent gesture ahead of him and group... F, I guess, moved out. I stayed close to him, clutching a spear in my right hand. Adam was surprisingly sneaky for his size, his wings tucked neatly against his sides to avoid knocking something and making a sound. We crept through house after house, not running into a single soul along the way. It worried me, really, the fact that there was no signs of living angels anywhere. There was also not a whim of and demon in the vicinity, which was good. We finally reached the final building, an instrument shop overlooking Main Street. I saw Adam shudder and flip off a random guitar hanging on the wall. 'Weird,' I thought was an inched up to the window on my knees, peering out. Adam siddled up beside me while the rest of the group crouched behind us.
It was eerily silent, the only movement on the entire street was the soft flapping of a little golden and white flag in the breeze. "Adam, what's going on?" I whispered, unable to hide the uneasiness in my voice. Adam looked more concerned than I had ever seen him. His chest rose and fell quickly; his heavy breathing another indicator of his fear. "I.. I don't know..." he trailed off as he scanned the silent town. "What do we do sir?" A hushed voice asked from behind us. Adam turned his head to the girl. "I.. we wait. Yeah, we'll wait and see what happens." He sounded unsure as he answered her before directing his attention back to the window.
And wait is what we did. For several hours. The patience Adam and the rest of us had has impressive. Mostly Adam's ability to wait. His ADHD ass couldn't sit still for more than five minutes on a good day. I watched him chew his lip, bounce his leg, and screw with his helmet for several hours. Until I heard it. Voices, so faint I could have missed it if I wasn't paying attention. Adam froze, perking up, his attention directed in the direction of the talking. It sounded like two male demons, having a conversation in low voices. I strained to hear.
"Chanze, we've sent several search parties out to find those exorcists and Adam. And zero luck every time. I think it's time to accept that they've fled like the cowards they are and won't be coming back. We can initiate phase two now."
"It's not safe to do that and you know it Remie. Not with angels still resonating in Heaven."
"Angels that'll likely never come back here again. The rest are taken care of. I'd say it's safe to simply move on."
"Listen to yourself Remie. You realize there's an entire fucking army out there right? How could you possibly call that safe? There's no way we can just ignore a whole ass army that could take us out at any second. You say they won't come back, but I can assure you they will."
The two demons finally came into view. The one that I assumed was called Chanze was shorter and stockier than his friend; he wore a black and white pinstriped suit and had salt and pepper colored hair. One horn curled in like a ram and the over hooked back like a classic imp horn. He allowed his thin tail to drag on the ground behind him. Remie more closely resembled a Jacob's Sheep. He was slightly taller than Chanze and was white and red in his coloring. He had four horns, two taller ones atop his head and two smaller ones on either side curling downward. His short tail bobbed up and down as he walked and he flicked his ears in annoyance from time to time. I wanted to leap out and ask them what the hell was going on, where was everyone, what was 'phase two,' but I refrained, recognizing that giving up our position would doom us all. I continued to listen as the two argued about whether or not Adam was a threat. And suddenly, as if Lucifer himself had decided to pour out all of his misfortune on us, we were royally fucked. Because some stupid BITCH from group B, the group across the street from us, sneezed. And I mean loudly. Criminally loudly. Remie's head whipped to face the building the sound came from. "I TOLD YOU CHANZE," he hollered. Chanze's eyes widened and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver thing and putting it to his lips. A shrill whistle emitted from it. Great, an alarm. Adam sprung to his feet and began yelling like a dumbass, trying to tell the other groups to start attacking and just kill the only two demons in range.
And then I saw it, demons pouring out of the castle, buildings around us, everywhere. So many of them, almost as if the entire population of hell had been summoned to exterminate us, like some cruel fucking Uno reverse bullshit. I knew we had no chance, as demons closed in on us faster than we could draw our weapons. Before I knew it our entire group was pinned to the ground, including Adam. As I watched him, I felt my breath catch in my throat, trying hard not to shed a tear. He didn't even attempt to fight back. He knew we were done for. I had never seen Adam accept defeat until now.
I heard a pattering of hooves nearing us as Remie came into view. "Take them to the pit," he snarled, spitting on a nearby exorcist. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She roared, furiously trying to escape her captor, to no avail. I felt myself be lifted to my feet by the two demons holding me at bay. One kept my hands firmly pushed against my back while the other pointed a gun to my head. And we began to walk. And walk. And walk. I thought we would never rest. I could see Adam out of the corner of my eye, dragging his wings along the ground, dropping his head. I wanted so badly to comfort him, to tell him everything was okay.
Finally we were pulled to a halt, in front of a yawning pit. It was pitch black, which was really trippy. I couldn't see into it, and could hear no sounds coming out of it. Chanze appeared, giggling ominously. "Oh, and I really thought you were smart enough not to return." His focus was fixed on Adam. "Adam, first man, held captive by the very beings he hates the most! Fuck, what a perfect turn of events, don't you think big boy," Chanze smirked, tapping Adam's nose tauntingly. "Well, as much as I'd love to watch you die by my hand, Adam, I'm afraid Remie has given me specific orders to send you with the rest of Heaven. Honestly, this might be more entertaining than killing you myself. Adam, I hope a taste of your own medicine is oh-so-refreshing," Chanze said the last bit slowly, and in a violent flash pulled a dagger out of his pocket and stabbed Adam in the stomach. I audibly gasped, which was the exact same reaction as the rest of the exorcists. Adam let out a pained wheeze before falling forward... into the pit. "ADAM." I screamed, watching him disappear into the darkness. The silence that followed was painfully loud, my heart beat out of my chest in rage and grief. Horrified looks painted the faces of Adam's army. "Oh, what are you bitches looking at me like that for? He's not dead, that'd be no fun. Just temporarily disabled is all," Chanze broke the silence finally. "And in you go!" He said all too cheerily. And just like that, the demon holding me pushed me into the pit. Down, down, down, I fell, into the yawning darkness.
(There will be plenty more Adam X Lute action in the next chapter, I was just building the plot in this one haha. More to come soon, stay tuned fellas)