End Of The Mission Squad

It an early autumn day, a week after Athuriel's sixteenth birthday. He'd had his power revealed, fire and the sun later on- an exact replica of his father Raziel. He was the last of the mission squad to have his power revealed, as he was technically the youngest of the group, followed by Cortana, who had turned sixteen earlier that year. All the members of the mission squad were now legally of age, and could start doing more important things for the City, such as heavier missions as a team of six.

The others had already started doing the harder ones before, seeing as they and their three or two man teams had already gone past sixteen. The teams were organised by their powers, what would be useful together on a mission, and of course their ages mattered as well.

Currently, the teams were as following;

Team Blue: Lucifer- Icefire, Azriel - Wind, and lastly, Trophonia- Lightning.

Team Elemental: Cortana- Water, Eliza- Earth manipulation, and Athuriel when he turned 16.

Sadly, Trophonia and Lucifer had missed Athuriel's birthday, as they were sent out on a mission on the day before.

"Athuriel, wake up!"

Athuriel opened his eyes, and stretched out his arms. Cortana sat on the edge of the bed, her arms crossed.

"Finally you woke up! I've been trying to wake you for twenty minutes!"

Athuriel gave his best confused look.

"Wha-why have you been trying to wake me up Cortana?" The question came off strange, and Cortana laughed at him.

"You weren't told? Trophonia and Lucifer are getting promoted to Commander rank today. They asked for the entire mission squad to be present! Now hurry before you miss the ceremony!"

Wait a second, that was today? Was today Friday?

The sudden realization hit Athuriel in the face like an arrow, and he nearly jumped out of bed. Nearly. He got tangled in the sheets and faceplanted on the floor.

Athuriel hurried to put his ceremonial armor on, and fastened his sword in his belt. He ran along the dormitory corridors, running straight out of the building, heading for the ceremonial/court hall. As the court bell sounded, he sped up, not wanting to be late for this one of a kind ceremony. It was the first time since his grandfather's generation, that not only one, but two eighteen year old angels were promoted to Commander rank.

He slammed the door to the hall open and quickly paced to the place where he was supposed to stand with Cortana, Eliza and Azriel. Cortana smiled at him, then turned back to Raziel and the two angels.

"Athuriel, glad you could make it." Raziel said. "Can we begin now?"

Athuriel nodded eagerly.

"So we shall begin. We are gathered here to celebrate the ascension of Lucifer Hector Dianthus and Trophonia Aria Tergeo. They have served well and shown that they are completely and utterly loyal to the City of Angels, and to honor that, the council has decided to promote these two soldiers from simple warrior rank up to commander. It's the first time since Zachariah's generation that an angel so young is so high up, so consider it an honor."

___________________________

The sound of the warning bell harshly woke the angels up on the cold winter morning.

They quickly gathered in the Raziel's office, waiting for him to give orders.

Raziel cleared his throat.

"We've been attacked. We believe that somewhere in the lower town there is a portal that the demons are coming through, and we need to close it." Raziel stood up from his desk.

"Lucifer, Cortana, Athuriel. You will go help everyone get to safety while we keep the demons from spreading from the lower town, and I will send others from the army as well. Azriel, Eliza and Trophonia, you guys go look for the portal and try to close it. If you can't, send someone with a message to me and we'll find a way. Everything clear?" Everyone nodded.

"Then let's go!"

____________

Azriel, Eliza and Trophonia immediately spotted an enormous increase in magical activity by the fountain in the lower town, so that was the first spot they decided to look at.

When they got there, they were faced with total destruction. There were demonic soldiers everywhere, lighting fires and blowing stuff up. On the other side of the square they saw Cortana fighting off a pair of demons as a family of three ran to safety. The three angels looked at each other, then charged into the square, fighting off demons and getting to the portal itself.

As soon as they arrived, Eliza and Trophonia put their weapons back and went to work on closing the portal in front of them, as Azriel fought off the demons surrounding them, trying to keep them from closing the gateway to Mizeareigh.

After a while they saw that the portal was too strong, maybe a powerful demon was holding it open on the other side or something.

"Azriel!" Eliza shouted. "Deliver the message for assistance, we need it!"

"Are you sure?" He replied.

"Yes, we're sure, just go!" Trophonia's voice was harsh, and Azriel immediately started to get away feom the scene, looking for their leader, Raziel. He wasn't about to disobey a direct order from both Raziel, his girlfriend and the newly promoted Commander. That's like having a death wish.

As Azriel left, he was chased by a team of Mizeareighean demons, who obviously wouldn't want him to get away from the scene.

Eliza and Trophonia tried their very best to close the portal, and as it was slowly reducing in size and power, they felt a sudden increase in power out of nowhere.

The explosion sounded throughout the square, and even Lucifer, who was on the other side of town was startled by the sudden noise.

When Trophonia regained sense of time and place, she glanced back to the portal. There was a demon standing in front of it, and he was a bit different from all the others.

As the young Commander scanned the area for Eliza, she noticed that no other demons were there. She also noticed where Eliza was, creeping up behind the remaining demon.

The sudden realization hit Trophonia like a meteor, and she tried to warn her friend.

"Eliza, don't do it, he's the-"

Too late. The demon, who Eliza now recognized as Argotaurius, the leader of Mizeareigh, had seen her coming. He drew his sword at an impossible speed, and like he was swatting a mosquito from the air, the young angel fell at is hand.

Trophonia screamed. She didn't even know what she screamed, but whatever it was, it caught Argo's attention. He turned around, blood dripping from his blade, and looked Trophonia straight in the eye.

Blinded with rage, Trophonia charged.

________________

At the East side of the lower town, Raziel felt a surge in power in the west, and saw the smoke rising from that part of town.

He paled up as he heard an echoing scream, and immediately charged into the direction of the fountain square, having finally figured out where the demons must have set up the portal.

________________

As Trophonia ran towards Argo, she threw two daggers at him, one from either hand. Argo easily dodged them both, but didn't think of the possibility of them having a return to sender ability, so one of them hit him in the side on the way back.

"You're a powerful one, I'll give you that." He said to her. "You could do so much more on the side of Mizeareigh."

"Oh you haven't seen anything yet, demon." Trophonia stopped for a second, considering her attack options. She then put her hand out, like a demon would before summoning a flame or fireball.

"Et vocavi vos Joyeuse, et fulgur virgam dei caeli!" Trophonia shouted, and in a few seconds, a silvery metal quarterstaff materialized in her outstretched hand.

Argotaurius chuckled.

"I'm impressed. But do you know how to use that weapon, young angel,?" His words sounded mocking, almost as if he didn't believe in her powers.

Trophonia stared him in the eye, a crazy grin on her face.

She spun the staff around in her hands, before slamming into the ground and shouting,

"Lightning Staff Joyeuse, first move: Single Strike!"

The ground cracked where the staff had struck the ground, and there was a heavy rumble of thunder. About ten seconds later, lightning struck down where Argo was standing, blowing a hole in the concrete.

Argotaurius barely escaped the strike, but the seconds he used to take his eyes off of the angelic soldier were exactly what Trophonia needed to get behind Argo and swinging the metal staff at him.

The demon leader was quicker than the young angel, but she still hit him.

__________________

Raziel arrived to fountain square at last. He'd had to fight off multiple demons on the way and help Cortana an Athuriel lift half a cement wall off of Lucifer.

The scene he was now facing was rather ugly, and when the smoke settled, he realized that if he would have arrived a few moments later, it would have ended badly for the younger angel on the scene.

"Argo! This is madness and I should've known it was your doing!" Raziel's voice immediately drew the demon's attention, causing him to turn away from Trophonia and somehow appear right in front of the Angelic lord.

Raziel stared him dead in the eyes until he noticed the black demonic blood trickling down his forehead.

"So, Lesauvage, what happened to your head?" Raziel said tauntingly. "Did you trip over your sword or something?"

Argo's eyes widened as he only felt it now. His hand flew up, checking the source. When he realized what happened, he muttered something that sounded like 'cursed child' to Raziel, then took a few steps back to emit a pillar of flame into the air, shouting a command.

"Sharenzin" was the word Raziel didn't recognize, and for the next few seconds, nothing happened. But then, the demon's soldiers started appearing and disappearing through the portal.

"You may have won this battle Raziel, but remember, iterum conveniant, hanada oniye." Mercy will not be shown.

With that, Argotaurius stepped through, disappearing back to Mizeareigh.

Raziel ran over to Trophonia, who hap Joyeuse strapped to her back, qnd holding something bloody in her hand, while the other was desperately checking for a pulse in her friend's wrist.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Trophonia nodded. "Is she alright?" Trophonia slowly shook her head, retracting her hand from Eliza's wrist.

Raziel fell silent. Then he realized who was missing.

"Where's Azriel?" He asked.

Trophonia's eyes snapped open, and she turned to face Raziel.

"He didn't deliver the message to you?"

"Azriel never came to me. You sent him?"

"Yes, we realized we couldn't close the portal on our-" Trophonia's words were cut short as she noticed a pair of demons dragging-

"AZRIEL, NO!"

Trophonia attempted to stand up and charge in, but Raziel held her back.

"Let me go." She said calmly.

"I can't do that. Trophonia, going after him now is a suicide mission. We just have to accept it as it is, he's gone now, and we're probably never seeing him again. " Raziel's voice sounded hurt, and something else, regret maybe? Trophonia shook it off.

____________________

The day after Eliza's funeral was rather dull. Nobody had the spirit to do much, and nobody really wanted to do anything either. Normally, the small angel mission squad would be out training, but since both Azriel and Eliza were gone, they didn't really feel like training just yet.

Instead, they spent the day at the astronomy tower, talking and reading, and just honoring their friends in silence. After about five hours, they heard a few sets of footsteps coming closer, and they were moving quickly.

The door was slammed open, and they all turned to the doorway. Two guards walked up to them, and what they said, was stuck in their minds for a long time.

"Lucifer Dianthus, you're under arrest for the aiding of Mizeareighean demons in their recent assault on the City."

The young angel himself seemed even more shocked than the rest of the squad. Why would they think that?

Eventually, he decided to come in silence, and he left with the guards, who requested that Trophonia came with him, as Raziel had asked them to do.

_______

Raziel pulled Trophonia into another office than the one her friend was currently being interrogated in.

"Do you know why you're here?" Raziel asked her.

"Not really, no."

"Do you know anything about this case?"

"No, but-"

"Do you know about anyone else in our ranks that could possibly be aiding demons?"

"No, but if you'd just-"

"Why are you defending him so much?"

"If you'd listen for five seconds, you'd know." Trophonia's words cut the silence.

"Please do explain."

"The demons can't have been aided by Lucifer, we've been on a mission the past week, and in that time he never left my side!"

"Never? Because you've been home for three days since, and in that time, anything could happen..."

"So what? You really think that Argotaurius just threw an army together and marched into fountain square in a day?" Trophonia had started to raise her voice a bit.

"Yes, that is precisely what I think he did! I know him, or at least, I used to know him, and that is exactly something he would do!"

Trophonia glared at him.

"What now?" he asked her, sounding a little offended, maybe from the lack of respect in the moment.

" I just can't believe you'd accuse one of your most trusted soldiers of being a traitor." The bitterness in the younger angel's voice was so intense, most people would've run the other way.

"I know how you feel, but my decision is final. He'll get a choice, and I can't control what he'll choose. This is the way of the law Trophonia and I truly wish it was diffferent." Raziel's voice was calming, almost too calm.

_____________

"Lucifer Hector Dianthus, you have been accused and arrested for aiding the demons in their recent attack. Do you accept these charges and their consequenses?"

The court hall fell silent.

"I do." He replied with confidence.

"Very well then. The jury decided to give you the option to choose your fate. Either you can leave the City, and spend your days as an outcast, or you can stay here, and face a death sentence. "

"I choose to leave."

"Very well. Lucifer Dianthus, I sentence you to exile, and should you ever be seen here again, you'll be killed on sight." Raziel gave the signal, and a guard opened the portal to Araycien.

They gave the angels a few minutes to say goodbye, because inside, Raziel felt sorry for them.

Soon, it was over, and Lucifer was gone. Trophonia turned around and immediately walked away. She'd lost both Eliza and Azriel, and now she lost her best friend too.