“Even more people are staring than usual...” Luna grumbled to herself while resisting the urge to scratch at her eye patch. Even if she could hide the cover itself with her hair, the strap was still visible along the back of her head. She maintained a poker face and kept a brisk pace as she moved down the hall, heading for her classroom.

She let her mind wander for a moment, thinking back to what Stella had explained to her that morning. “I think it would be best for you to stay home today, but that might warrant more suspicion than wearing the seal. Until we know for sure there's no lasting risk of you losing control again, you'll have to keep it on. Make sure you have your mask nearby as well since we don't know yet who took the beast bane.”

“What do I say should someone ask about why I'm wearing it?”

“Just tell them that you got gonorrhea in your eye or something.” Styx answered. When no one responded, he looked up to see the collective glares focused on him and he went, “What? Strange shit happens over the course of a thousand years. I've seen gonorrhea pop up in weirder places.”

“I wonder if it'll be alright, leaving the mask in my bag?” Luna muttered under her breath and poked at her backpack. “I guess if the last time is anything to consider, I should have enough time to grab it and put it on as long as it's just one flower.”

She stepped into the classroom which warranted a variety of sideways glances from those who had already arrived. She ignored them and placed her bag beside her desk, eyeing a brand new set of scribbles that read, “Flaming bitch” and “Albino cock-sucker”.

Classic. She thought to herself and noticed a boy in the corner who was snickering at her and holding a takeout cup filled with ice cream, a red spoon sticking out of the top.

She looked away at first, deeming him to be unworthy of her time but glanced again when she heard a familiar voice. “I thought I was the only one who had ice cream for breakfast.” Liz exclaimed cheerfully and got uncomfortably close to the giggling twat.

He shied away slightly, his face turning red from the beautiful girl being in his face all of a sudden. “No,” he stammered, “This is just a pick me up. I had breakfast before I went to practice and got this to cool down.”

“Eh?” Liz continued and stepped even closer. She brushed a tuft of hair behind one ear and leaned towards him. With a grin on her face and her eyes closed, she asked, “Can I try some?” already reaching for the cup.

“Um, sure.” He answered and handed it over.

She quickly took one bite and hummed loudly, “It's delicious! What flavour is it?”

“It's... just vanilla.” He explained and backed himself against the wall.

“Is it?” Liz cupped one hand and placed it on her cheek. She stuck her tongue out slightly and said, “It must taste so good because I sharing it with such a cute boy, wouldn't you agree?”

“C-cute?”

She nodded. “Yep, cute! Hey, I want to try something. Can I feed some to you?”

He blushed and looked around the room. All attention was toward him and many of the other males threatened him silently. He turned his attention back to Liz, his face red as a tomato. “Maybe not here...” he started to say.

Liz's expression and tone dropped, “You don't want to then?”

“That's not...” he scanned the room once more and carefully inspected Liz's pout. He sighed, “Just a bite.”

She clapped her hands together as best she could with the frozen treat still in one of them and flashed all her teeth in a wide smile. “Thank you! Now close your eyes and open wide!” She instructed. The boy complied, his face turning a shade darker with each passing second. “Here it comes!” She declared and shoved the entire cup into his face. He flinched and attempted to step back, only to hit the wall again and Liz stomped on his forward most foot. He began to hop on the other, still blinded by the ice cream splashed all over his face and Liz followed up by kicking him straight in between the legs. There was a low pop and he crashed to the floor, making a long, drawn-out noise halfway between a groan and a squeak. Liz looked to the rest of the class, that same, innocent smile still on her face and cheerfully shouted, “Anyone else want to pick on my best friend?”

When no one answered, Liz giggled triumphantly and marched towards Luna. She heard comments from the back of the room to the likes of, “Great, Luna has backup now” or “This isn't the case of 'Beauty and the Beast' I was expecting”.

“Sorry.” Liz apologized when she arrived. “I know you usually like to deal with those things yourself but I just couldn't help stepping in.”

Luna blinked twice but kept a mostly blank face. “Don't worry about it. Those pricks getting put in their place is nothing for me to complain about.”

“Still though,” Ryan called out and walked up onto Luna's right side. “You probably could have stopped at shoving the ice cream in his face. Killing his future children might have been taking it a bit far for merely writing insults on a desk. Don't even get me started on that horrendous acting either.”

Liz's lips maintained a slight curl and she squinted slightly. “You want me to kill your future children too?” She then pointed at Luna and barked, “What kind of boyfriend would let the people who pick on his girlfriend get off so easy anyway?”

“Boyfriend?” Luna echoed and looked at Ryan then over her shoulder and back at Liz. “Surely you don't mean him?”

Ryan flinched. “Geez, even after we held hands, you still act like that?”

Luna's cheeks became flushed and she tensed up, holding her tail in place to make sure it didn't twitch. “Quiet! Don't say such embarrassing things, especially here.” At that moment, she felt some kind of pulse in the room and began looking around. What was that just now? She thought.

“Is something wrong?” Liz asked her and she snapped back to the conversation.

“No, I just thought I heard- or felt something rather. Must've been my imagination.” Luna's eyebrows then raised and quickly lowered into a scowl. She elbowed Ryan in the ribs and snarled, “Speaking of 'boyfriends', if you're going to drop off flowers, then you might as well stay for a visit.”

He rubbed his side and after letting out a grunt of pain, he replied, “What flowers?”

Her eyebrows raised again and her stance relaxed. “The flowers that you left on my doorstep. The pink peonies?” She felt another pulse and began looking from student to student. No one was having any obvious reactions to their conversation. She looked back at Ryan when he answered.

“I don't even know where you live. How would I have left them on your front step?”

“Who else could have known I wasn't feeling well last night?”

“You weren't feeling well last night?”

Luna felt her ears perk up under her hood and she grabbed her chin in between her fingers. “I guess the only people that would have known would have been my immediate household. I hadn't considered that you would need to be told.”

Ryan closed both eyes and smiled nervously. “You forgot something like that?”

“Shut up!” Luna clenched a fist. “I'm still new to this whole socializing bullshit.”

Liz began to laugh beside them. “You two make the perfect couple. Ah, if you don't mind me asking, does that eye patch have something to do with your not feeling well last night?”

Ryan tensed up as he noticed the leather cover over Luna's left eye. An image of their battle within Wrath's world appeared in his mind but he tried his best to push it aside for the time being. Liz gave him a curious look but then returned her full attention to Luna. “More or less.” Luna declared. “I'm not exactly sure how to explain it but there's something funky going on with the way my pupil reacts to the light. I get a migraine whenever I'm under fluorescents, and it's too much of a pain to keep taking it off or putting it back on.”

“Hm. Could it be related to your heightened senses?”

“Heightened senses?” Ryan echoed. Luna's eyes widened slightly she exchanged glanced with Liz who then pulled her off to the side.

Liz whispered into Luna's ear, “Have you not told him yet?”

Luna looked away and attempted to furrow her brow in a natural manner. “Told him what?”

Ryan looked back and forth between them and shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know what you two are talking about but it should probably wait. Class is about to start so let's take our seats.”

* * *

“So, where did we leave off yesterday?” Idel inquired and plopped down onto the couch, Nao right beside him.

“We still need to figure out why Sandalphon was at that church and what's going on with the other sins.” Stella declared.

Styx scratched his head and stood in the centre of the room. “Well, let's see. Between what I saw the other night and what was discussed here, we know that at least five of the seven sins have picked wielders. Luna, who holds Lust and Wrath, and those three that popped back in with the fraud. Two of them I can say with certainty are Pride and Greed, but the third is still up in the air.”

“Do we have any idea what their goal is?” Nao asked.

“In the past, all of the sins were supposedly assassins or rather a specialized group of soldiers that answered to the Arch Bishop or Pope. Cain hinted that he knew their reason for existing but never gave it to me. I do know though that Wrath had already split from the group before Cain inherited it. Their original purpose aside, the other six seemed to dedicate themselves to wiping out Wrath above all else.” Idel explained.

“But now Luna has Wrath and Lust?”

“Oddly enough, yes. Lilly had taken possession of the latter some time into their journey way back when. Each sin has numerous candidates, all based largely on personality types, history and resolve. In some cases, you could say birthright is the lead factor, as was the case with Lilly. Cain forcefully removed the Dúil from its original wielder and gave it to his wife who was its natural bearer as the only succubus to exist. Wrath, however, remains the only one with any sort of trial.”

“A trial?”

Idel nodded. “It's rumoured that it would take all six of the other sins to go toe to toe with Wrath due to their vast difference in strength. A power like that can't just be handed out to anyone who happens to be a candidate. Luna was probably spared the brunt of the test early on since she inherited it by blood, but when it fully awakens she'll likely have to take its full force. She'll need to prove that she's capable of withstanding not just her own, but the entire world's pain and suffering all at once. I've heard tell of nearly one hundred people to undergo the trial, but Cain and Luna are the only two who have managed to survive more than a second of bearing the Ríastrad.”

“Survive?”

“Well, yeah. Think about it; enduring the world's pain means that they also have to be able to bounce back from effectively experiencing every traumatic moment any one person could think of. Most people either die the moment they take the trial or at the very least go brain dead. That being said, even someone as resilient as Cain lost himself to it eventually. It's effectively a ticking time bomb.”

Styx made a grunt and his eyebrow twitched, but he offered nothing to the conversation.

“So the other sins might come after Luna because someone in the past abandoned them?” Stella returned to the original topic.

“I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Considering that they were working alongside Sandalphon, it's more realistic to assume that they may have a plan set in motion, but fear that Luna will try to stop it as her father did.”

“So the counterfeit is a messenger?” Styx asked.

“Or a guide. He seems to be acting as their leader thus far. It's possible that he came to that church to acquire some Beast Bane for himself as a means of challenging the Wolf Guardian.”

“He did seem rather perplexed that demi-humans were already there when he arrived.” Stella thought aloud.

Idel nodded again. “It's no coincidence that demi-humans are, or rather were treated as a monstrosity by humankind. I suppose these days, most people believe demi-humans to be an aspect of fairy tales.”

“We'd probably be turned into science experiments if we were discovered now. Assuming that they could contain us.” Aileen noted as she scratched her chin.

“The Ríastrad is thought to be a birthright amidst demi-humans due to their natural distaste towards celestial beings. Having seen living demi-humans in the flesh, Sandalphon or his allies will likely try to keep close tabs on you two, in hopes of ascertaining the identity of Wrath.”

“Yeah, yeah. We need to exercise caution.” Stella sighed. “How long do we think we have until he comes back?”

“Sounds like you lot did quite a number to him, so I'd wager at least a few days until he recovers.”

Stella opened her mouth to ask another question but stopped when she heard footsteps out on the street. She leaned closer towards the door while everyone watched in silence. When she was positive that the stranger was getting closer, she got up from her seat and peered out the window on the front door. Recognizing the man dressed in black robes, she stepped outside and met him on the path in hers and Aileen's yard. The man flinched and kept his distance but didn't appear to make any notions to run. Stella tilted her head and exclaimed, “I didn't think we'd be seeing you again so soon, father.”

* * *

“Hm?” Luna hummed as someone nudged her shoulder.

“Class is over now, sleeping beauty.” Liz commented with a giggle. “Did you not sleep well last night?”

Luna rubbed one eye and stretched, letting out a soft squeak as she did. She let out a short breath and relaxed her posture. “I stayed up for a while watching stand up comedy.”

“Then slept through class?”

“Like I need to be awake for it. I can teach myself the material far better than a prick,” she pointed at the teacher, “who doesn't even bother hiding the fact that he doesn't like me.”

“You haven't changed a bit since I left, I see.” Liz giggled again and they both stepped out into the hallway. Ryan leaned against a rundown locker, staring intently at the phone in his hand.

Luna walked up beside him, edging her way into his view and started to say, “I'd still like to know why you tried to lie about-”, Ryan jumped back the moment he heard her voice. Liz and Luna both stared at him with their eyebrows furrowed, “Was it something I said?”

“Something you said?” Ryan finally found his voice again and after a moment, started laughing to himself. “No, no, you just startled me is all. I was just lost in thought, wondering about how I'd go about asking you on our next date.”

“A date?” Luna echoed.

“A date. Are you busy right now, by chance? And by right now, I mean in about fifteen minutes.”

Luna sneaked a glance at Liz who widened her eyes and vigorously snapped her head towards Ryan. “I guess I've got time.” Luna stammered and turned to face him again.

He smiled while swinging his arms out slightly and stuttered, “That's-that's great! I'll go take care of an errand real quick and meet you in the lobby? In about fifteen or twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good.”

“Great!”

“Great.”

“Great.” Ryan paused. “Great. I'll... uh... I'll be on my way in twenty-five minutes then.”

“Fifteen to twenty.”

“Right. With that then...” Ryan laughed nervously and turned on one heel, taking off down the hall.

Luna slowly turned to face Liz but kept her eyes towards the ground. “That was different.”

“Are you usually alone when he asks you on dates?”

Luna nodded.

“Maybe my being here just made him nervous as opposed to the confidence he can maintain when talking to you normally?”

“Maybe...”

Liz then smiled mischievously. “Maybe he thinks he's going to get some tonight and couldn't contain himself?”

Luna scowled, her original posture returning to her. “Like that's going to happen.”

“Well, of course. Judging from our conversation this morning, he doesn't seem to know about your ears and tail yet.”

“Well, duh, I never told or showed- wait a minute!” Luna backed up a step and held one arm horizontal across her chest. “What are you talking about, ears and a tail?”

“Geez. I saw them when we were kids remember?”

“You did?” Luna stood up straight and put her hands in her pockets. She tried looking for any sign that her friend was lying but couldn't find anything. She sighed, “Sorry. I must've forgotten.”

“Don't worry about it. You have some time before he's ready right? Why don't you play a game with me until then?”

“A game?”

“Yep.”

Luna blinked twice. “What kind of game?”

Liz placed one hand on her chin and looked up at the ceiling. “How about... rock, paper, scissors to start?”

“Rock...?”

“Paper, scissors.” Liz tilted her head slightly. “Have you never heard of it before?” Luna looked away silently and Liz laughed again. “I can teach you, it's pretty simple. Scissors is basically a peace sign, paper is just your hand out flat and rock is a fist.” She formed the signs with her hands as she spoke. “All you have to do is present the gesture that beats the one I use. The catch is that we both go at the same time so you can't just put out the right sign every round. Understand so far?”

Luna nodded.

“Good. To begin, we chant in unison, 'Rock, paper, scissors!' and on 'scissors', we present. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. Ready?”

“I guess so.” Luna stated and lifted her fist into the air. Instead of watching Liz's hand though, she focused on her forearm. They let loose with the first chant and made their plays. Luna with scissors and Liz with paper.

Luna noticed Liz's cheek twitch slightly but she maintained a smile and positive tone. “Best two out of three.” She said, which then became best three out of five, four out of seven, eventually reaching eleven out of twenty. When they were finished Liz sat on the floor beside the nearest cluster of lockers with her head buried in her knees. “You won every time...” She mumbled, her voice muffled.

Luna grinned nervously above her. “I probably had the advantage in all honesty.”

Liz lifted her head up. “How so?”

“I was able to predict the sign you were making by watching the way your muscles rippled in your forearm.”

Liz shot up and put both of her hands on Luna's shoulders. “Your eyes are that good?”

“I guess so... Maybe we should play a different game next time?”

“No, absolutely not! Or at least, we need to come back to this one eventually. I refuse to leave it at a loss for myself.”

“Ah, then you could wear a sweater next time so that I can't see-”

“No. If I can't beat you at your strongest than there would be no point at all.”

“Uh... right.”

Liz's eyes widened slightly and her lips parted, as though she just remembered something important. “That took longer than I thought it would. You should go meet up with your boyfriend.”

Luna winced. “He's not my boyfriend. He's just...” she went silent as she started to think.

“Your boyfriend.”

“He's not-”

“He's your boyfriend. You held hands.”

“That doesn't mean-”

Liz glared at her.

Luna sighed and closed both of her eyes, her shoulders dropped in defeat. “Fine, he's my boyfriend.” She turned away to leave and muttered as she went, “Don't tell him I said so.”

“No promises.” Liz teased her from behind.

Luna had only just gotten to the lobby when Ryan ran up to her, panting softly. “Sorry, that took me a little bit longer than expected. Did you wait long?”

She shook her head. “I only just got here myself.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I don't think I'd survive getting hit by you twice in the same day.” He laughed. Luna raised her eyebrows and looked away shyly. Ryan stopped laughing and leaned in closer to her. “Something the matter?”

She shook her head. “Where are we going today?”

He maintained silence briefly but then grinned ear to ear. “It's a secret for now.” Luna gave him a dissatisfied stared but went along and followed him out the door, stopping when they bumped into Ian. His eyes fell on Luna and his eye twitched. He then looked at Ryan and Luna felt another pulse. Ian left them without a word and Ryan watched him go. When he was out of earshot, Ryan nudged Luna and whispered, “I know you could probably handle it, but stay away from him for now, yeah? I've been getting a bad vibe from him as of late.”

“A bad vibe?”

Ryan nodded in response then pointed back out into the street. “In any sense, let's start our date then.”

“Sure.” Luna mumbled but cast a glance over her shoulder. That pulse... she thought to herself as they walked. Her thoughts were interrupted by a fluttering then something landed on her shoulder. “A raven?”

* * *

Crash!

Sandalphon was thrown onto his knees in front of a golden throne within a silver palace. Below him was a purple carpet, similar to velvet. The chamber itself was inlaid with several archways sporting brass trim. The walls were decorated with golden statues of the same two people, one a woman and one a man, in an alternating pattern. The throne itself sat atop of a short flight of marble stairs, a tall washing basin on either side of it and a brazier behind.

The brass chains on Sandalphon's armour tightened and forced him to keep his head up high as a man with long brown hair and a beard to match marched in front of him. His snow-white robe barely stopped short of the ground and the flop of his sandals echoed in the vast open space. A crown made of ferns rested neatly atop his head. Seemingly out of thin air, two long ranks of armour-clad angels with ivory blades appeared down the length of and on either side of the velvet carpet. They all stabbed the tip of their swords into the ground with a loud clang and bowed their heads as the man in robes sat in the golden throne.

He lifted his hand in the air for a short moment, then snapped it towards the ground. Sandalphon's face was smashed into the floor and his arms pulled back, causing his chest plate to churn in protest. He could only hear the flops as the man tapped one foot impatiently on the floor. “You failed rather miserably on your task.” He stated in a booming voice. “Not only in your original mission, but you also lost to those beasts of all things.”

“No, father,” Sandalphon tried to speak assertively but his voice was muffled against the floor. “I didn't lose to them, I lost to-” Before he could finish speaking, his torso was forced up straight again and his neck was pinched in between two ivory blades. He guarded his tongue and watched as the man slowly stomped down the steps.

“I gave you the freedom to think for yourself because I thought that would help you obtain your goal. If you are now going to use that to argue against me, maybe I should just replace you and send one of your brothers instead.”

Sandalphon hesitated and didn't speak again until the man tilted his head and squinted his eyes. “I won't fail this time. I was just caught off guard. I know their faces, and I know how I can find them. Just give me another chance, I beg of you. I've learned from my mistakes.”

The man rotated his head in a circle and looked down his nose at the angel knelt before him. “Very well. The mercy of a God is benevolent, so I shall forgive your blunder this one time. Should you fall again though, I'll send you to join Samael in the pits of Hell, where you'll have an eternity to reflect on your errors.” He quickly turned away and instead of returning to his seat, he moved towards the corner of the chamber. The same masked angel who had saved Sandalphon previously materialized with a flash of light, holding a wider brazier filled with a pink liquid.

The angels who had stepped forward to silence Sandalphon returned to their original positions, bowing their heads once more. Sandalphon himself felt the chains loosen up and he lifted himself back up onto his feet after letting out the breath he had been holding. The man rested his hands on the rim of the brazier and called out, “How many lives did I send you with before?”

“Two-hundred-fifty.”

There was a brief silence and then the man cleared his throat. “Very well, I shall send you with a thousand this time.” He waved his hand and the liquid rippled violently. Every time it crashed into the wall, Sandalphon flinched. When two separate waves collided in the middle, he was forced onto one knee. When it splashed and sent drops onto the floor, his back arched backward and threw his head forward. Sweat dripped from the tip of his nose and stained the carpet and he wiped drool off of his chin. Panting heavily he looked back up at the man who instructed, “Take some days to recover. I don't currently have the strength left to replace Uictor after all. Report back to me once your wings have healed and I'll give you a new weapon then before sending you back down to Earth.”

Sandalphon struggled to get back up on his feet but maintained a strong expression. “I won't fail you father. I will prove my worth to you.”

“But of course. You are my son after all and I expect great things from you. Now then, go make your preperations.”