- Lucifer and Mira -
Lucifer was highly suspicious of Mira. He never allowed his hands to stay closed while flying near her. He made sure his back was never towards her. All of these little safeties were slowly increasing his anger.
'I shouldn't have to watch my back like this. I hope I'm wrong. That I've misread all of this, but I know too well what angels like you think of me.'
Mira was cautious to not get too close to Cytus's location. If she hadn't been trying so hard to be mindful of flying near it, she would have noticed Lucifer's hands.
Maybe it was his new anger caused by his suspicion, or maybe it was old wounds being reopened, but Lucifer decided to try and get a rise out of Mira.
"I know you're not very familiar with this area, so I'm sure you missed something."
This comment snapped Mira out of her careful mindset.
"Excuse me?" She was immediately angry. "I don't need to know this land to understand where someone might hide in it."
Mira kept flying, but her mind was now partially thinking about Lucifer.
'So I don't know dog territory. You think your knowledge will make a difference?'
"You say that, but it's often angel arrogance that gets them killed in these parts." Lucifer switched to a mocking tone.
Lucifer's words were chosen entirely out of malice. He wanted an argument.
Normally Mira would have just tried to ignore him, but after her talk with Michael, she felt more emotional than usual. She stopped in midair and faced Lucifer.
"Listen to me fallen. If you think I'll just ignore your comments about MY kind, you're pushing your luck."
Lucifer stopped, facing Mira, and clicked his tongue.
"I will always be an angel. Whether you like that or not changes fuck all. I wish I could stop being one, because believe it or not OUR kind don't seem so great to others."
Lucifer's hands were closed, but he trusted his ability to strike Mira down before she or anyone else could stop him.
"So what if some lessers and arrogant gods dislike us. Angels have persevered throughout the millennia. We're stronger than ever, and you would know that if you were still allowed in Heaven."
Lucifer felt almost bored by Mira's insults.
'I'm a fallen. I'm banished. Those things lost meaning centuries ago.'
"I know Heaven better than you ever will. You might be stronger, but hatred towards our kind has only grown since Michael took over. Our father, for all his faults, could at least play the diplomacy game."
Mira's eyes turned to a sharp glare.
"You dare mention our Father or Michael again and I'll-"
"You'll nothing." Lucifer's glare was sharp. "I thought you were smart enough not to trick yourself into believing you're some kind of match for me."
Lucifer stopped for a moment, knowing what he said next greatly determined whether he and Mira would actually fight.
"If you want to become another angel corpse then throw yourself at Cytus, not me." He tilted his head.
Mira's expression sunk. Her arms went limp to her side and she stared at the ground below.
"Why do you get to live?" She mumbled out.
"Luck." Lucifer sighed.
Lucifer flew off, deciding he should just search on his own, and that his worries of Mira striking him in the back were gone. He felt a little lighter after the argument. He thought Mira would fight harder, but was disappointed by her typical insults.
Mira mumbled "Luck?" to herself, before quickly realizing she still needed to keep Lucifer from discovering Cytus. She flew to catch up with Lucifer, hoping she wouldn't be too slow to stop him.
Lucifer flew far ahead of Mira, making it difficult for him to be caught up to. He noticed something was off about the ground below him.
'Illusion magic? Mira couldn't have set this up, not to this scale. I don't think most would notice this unless they were knowledgeable of illusion magic and Vázoluna.'
Lucifer gathered a handful of leaves and tossed them at the ground. The leaves disappeared after hitting the ground.
'Only a fool dives into an illusion. I can't just burn the surrounding area down either. I need to consult with Fensyr first. Cytus doesn't have illusion magic, which means he's being helped by multiple beings.'
Mira caught up to Lucifer. She noticed that he found the illusion and did her best to hide surprise.
"What now fallen?" Her voice shook slightly. "What do you see?"
Lucifer slowly turned his head to face Mira. His eyes seemed to glow brighter as he spoke.
"I guess you can't see it." Lucifer's words were emotionless.
'I don't believe for a moment that you can't tell what this is.'
"I need to report this to Death and Fensyr. Whatever is waiting in this illusion needs to be handled carefully."
Mira was panicking in her mind. She didn't know how to stop Lucifer's interference, beyond just attacking him. Unfortunately, her prior conversation had taken the will to do that out of her.
'What do I do, What do I do?'
Mira understood how suspicious it was for her to have "not noticed" this illusion. She had an illusion affinity, and looking for this kind of thing would have only been natural. She had one chance, and against her better judgment, she took it.
"Don't you want revenge for your lessers? Cytus tore through them, and now you have a chance to get back at him. I want him dead so Uriel can rest properly, and I suggest we go in now."
Lucifer's eyes were unsettling Mira as she spoke. She had never been afraid of them, but something about having Lucifer as an enemy before she was ready added a new fear for her.
Lucifer's face maintained a calm look. Whether Mira realized it or not, she had made things worse for herself.
'You want me and you to run into this illusion? Why? So I can be weak enough for you to finish me off? If both of us fought whatever is in there it would be dangerous, but we would both be in danger...Unless...whoever is in there isn't your enemy.'
"You want to die, feel free. I'm reporting this."
Lucifer went to leave, but suddenly multiple blades of wind shot up at him, slicing through his wings before he could fly off.
Lucifer quickly recreated new wings. He flew as high up as he could until he was on top of the trees. The blades of wind chased him up as he climbed, none connecting with him as he flew up the tree in a spiral pattern. He was quickly joined on the treetop by Azriel, who was wearing his black veil and cloak.
Lucifer didn't hesitate shooting fireballs at Azriel, but they were quickly dispersed by a strong gust of wind. The build of the assailant, combined with the magic used told him who his opponent is.
'No out flying the archangel of the wind.'
"I know that's you Azriel."
Azriel didn't respond, and simply shot multiple blades of wind at Lucifer. They ripped up the trees as they circled around him.
'Forgive me for this Fensyr.'
Lucifer shot multiple jets of flame around him, lighting a large circle of the trees around him, and absorbing the wind blades. He created a sphere of orange mana surrounded by mini orbs that rotated around them.
'You should really let me run.'
Lucifer flew up and through the flames around him. As he was about to leave he noticed Mira had locked swords with Azriel.
'What are you doing?'
Lucifer, not caring if he hit both of them, decided to shoot an explosive at the two.
Azriel held Mira back with one hand on his sword and shot a burst of wind towards Lucifer's attack, catching it, and forcing it to explode. Mira broke off from Azriel and cut him across his veil, revealing his face and drawing blood.
"Help me fallen!" Mira shouted.
Lucifer stopped for a moment. He was trying to decide whether or not this was a ruse, until Azriel stepped in, and severed Mira's hand.
'If you betray this kindness you will pay.'
Lucifer shot flames from one hand, and shortly followed the plumes with explosive orbs, creating a large smokescreen of explosions.
"C'mon Mira!" Lucifer yelled into the smoke.
Mira flew through the smoke and received a large gash against her back from a blade of wind that followed her. She kept flying until she was past Lucifer.
"Go! I'll cover our backs!"
As Lucifer shouted, a flurry of wind blades came through the smoke. He caught every blade he could with his magic, and the ones he couldn't he dodged to reduce their damage.
Lucifer looked over at Mira and started flying to catch up with her. He shot out two powerful, continuous blasts of flame to give himself a little extra speed. He soon caught up to Mira and looked behind him.
"Azriel's not following. We need to go faster."
Mira just nodded and started flying faster.
The two made it to the border and eventually back to camp. As soon as they landed Peter shot off his warning. Death rushed over to the group.
"What happened." Death asked.
"Azriel. There's illusion magic in the forest. Some lycans must be working with him."
Yvere and Lao were looking at Mira's stump, along with the multitude of deep cuts she had received from Azriel.
"No healing, not yet," Lucifer ordered Lao and Yvere.
Lao and Yvere immediately stopped.
"Alright, explain yourself." Lucifer leaned in toward Mira. "Why did you volunteer to go on this mission with Death? No lying or I'm killing you on the spot."
Lucifer's words had never felt so threatening to Mira. She felt as though there was a knife to her throat, pressing into her skin, and a simple slip of the tongue would plunge it into her.
"I-I, um, I wanted to kill you."
Lucifer's hand ignited and Mira put her hand up and continued. "At first, at first!"
Half the group was staring at Mira, the other half were glaring.
Lucifer removed the fire from his hand.
"Continue."
The one word had felt like more of a lifeline to Mira then the two healers.
"I wanted you dead and thought I could find a way to kill you on this mission. I was a fool, clearly. I blame you for...their deaths. I'm sorry."
The apology sounded genuine to everyone except for Lucifer, Peter, Death, and Sabu.
"One does not let go of anger like that so easily." Sabu scoffed.
"I'd keep explainin' while ya have the chance," Peter warned.
Death didn't say anything, but his quiet glare only served to frighten Mira more.
"Right. You expect me to believe you don't still want me dead?"
Mira was shaking. Her arms and back were covered in blood, and she felt like her whole body was freezing from the inside out.
"I-I-I...I still do...but please believe that's just a foolish part of me that will take time to change."
Mira got on her knees.
"Please. Please." She started to cry and shake.
Lucifer grabbed a sheathed dagger from the supply cart and pulled the blade out. He placed the point against Mira's bowing head.
"Why didn't you tell me about the illusion?" His cold expression was matched by his tone.
Mira mustered all her strength to speak coherently through her sobbing.
"I noticed Azriel walk into the illusion. I wanted to believe he was helping Ezekiel, but I'm convinced he's working with Cytus and the lycans now. I wanted to join him, but I thought he could handle it on his own. I left, and when you joined me and found it, I said we should attack it together because I thought it was strange that Azriel hadn't finished the job."
Mira kept sobbing, and Lucifer lifted the dagger's point from her head. She continued.
"I didn't want to mention Azriel, because I didn't want to admit that he might be dead, or worse in this case."
Mira's white clothes were almost completely red now. She watched as her blood and tears pooled under her before hearing "Heal her."
She looked up at Lucifer who was placing the dagger back into the cart.
Yvere offered Mira a hand and lifted her up. Yvere and Lao started healing her wounds.
"Can't do anything about your hand, at least not for a while," Lao said coldly.
Yvere healed Mira's back, while Lao focused on her arms.
Peter walked up to Mira who was still partially crying and leaned in.
"I don't care what Luce says. Ya make one more wrong move and I'll make these injuries look like a mercy."
Mira's eyes widened as she stared at the ground.
'To think a lesser could make me feel this way.'
- Azriel -
(Back at the treetop when Lucifer had covered the area in flames)
Mira flew up to meet Azriel and potentially help him. Azriel loudly whispered for her to draw her sword. Mira created her sword, and Azriel pulled his sword out and placed it against Mira's.
"Follow my lead. Cut me when I give you the chance."
Mira didn't fully understand what was happening but went along with it. As Lucifer flew out of the flames and shot the attack at the two, Mira cut Azriel's face.
Azriel smiled, his face hidden from Lucifer.
"Forgive me for this sister." He whispered.
He cut through her hand while continuing to whisper to her
"The plan stays the same. I'll fix this, just go back with Lucifer for now."
Mira was confused, but before she could ask a question Lucifer made his smokescreen.
Azriel gave Mira one final order.
"Call me before you leave Sol. Delay them, whatever you do."
After Azriel spoke he ripped into Mira's arms with multiple blades of wind.
Lucifer's "C'mon" was just barely heard by Mira. She flew out of the smokescreen. As she felt the final blade gash her back her mind went blank. Whether it was for Azriel's plan or not, she wanted to get as far away as possible.