Selene and Cass sat in Selene's villa. Lucas was on her own plot of land right now, the one aimed towards Earth. She wanted to be alone for a while.
"Selene..." - Said Cass - "You said it yourself. People die everyday. Lucas herself knows that, even younger ones... In even worse ways. So... Why her?"
Selene sighed. For a moment, she looked really old once again.
"Cass... Aeons have passed since the last death like that girl's... The death itself is not special, I agree with you. But the cause..."
"What is it?" - Said Cass.
"Magic."
Selene was mildly surprised to notice that Cass didn't react with disbelief. Instead, she looked thoughtful and concerned.
Lucas sat, staring at her sword. She recalled what little she knew about her new "species", about angels of vengeance.
As angels of vengeance went, Lucas was actually quite weak. All of them had flaming swords, and a ton of other nifty powers and variations thereof. In fact, she had heard of no angel of vengeance with a "normal" sword, without powers aside from the shapeshifting, like she believed hers to be until a moment ago. It didn't bother her at all: the mobility she had gained and the new sexy female body were both more than enough, and she had no intention of ever joining a tournament between angels or whatever. And yet...
And yet, now her sword had proved more powerful than anything she could even conceive of. Assuming there was such a thing as fate, she could change it. Her sword gave her the ability to fight fate itself. In any other circumstance, this would elicit a "That's SO cool!" remark by her. However, the seriousness of the situation actually caused her to wonder something else that might prove more urgent.
Assuming I'm not an angel of vengeance... What am I?
She looked at her sword.
What are you? What gave me such power? What gave me the right to use it...?
Lucas was expecting no answer from her sword. That's what she got.
Chaos and freedom - She thought - Chaos is the absence of order. Freedom is the absence of imposition... Fate is order and imposition. The ultimate ones... Yet... No one ever heard about an angel of order or of chaos... Or of freedom or such concepts... Besides, for freedom, I imposed an order on nations...
She then realized she was beginning to think as if her transformation gave her a role.
"I'm an idiot..." - She muttered to herself, in Portuguese.
"No, you're not." - Replied a voice in English.
Lucas looked. Neruite was carrying a tray with chocolate buns and what looked like some soda. The tone of the voice indicated Selene/Neruite rather than Celine.
Likely the reason she 'knows' Portuguese right now... - Thought Lucas.
Lucas blushed and willed a table into existence.
"Comfort food? Thanks... Uhm, by the way, I apologize for the earlier jokes..."
"You didn't know of the gravity of the matter. It is fine. And no. You're not an idiot. Your change gave you the power to do something. Using or not that power is your choice. Not your role, but you can easily be forgiven for thinking that. But a matter was brought to my attention by Cass..."
As if on cue, Cass entered, carrying her own tray with tea and some Japanese pastries. She was also entitled to some comfort of her own, and the new anime body kinda enjoyed these treats.
"Lucas... There's another reason we should save her." - Said Cass.
"But no pressure, right?" - Lucas joked weakly.
Cass smiled sadly for a moment. Then she went on.
"Lucas... The 'prophecy' isn't clear on there being witnesses and so on. Or on this becoming a media thing and so on. However... Suppose it is seen and known as a magic-induced murder, the first ever on a long time. Selene told me Lilly's father is a lead researcher on the Sun thing. And if she, an eight-year-old squirrel girl, is killed by magic, which is a force no one understands and that can easily be associated with the changed... She, the daughter of a man that is trying to 'solve' things..."
"Literal witch-hunts, aimed at the changed, under the belief that they are intent on threatening the man and with the mob mentality and bloodlust one can only produce by horribly killing a child..." - Lucas pressed the bridge of her nose, tensely - "Not to mention the entire concept of magic will be seen as something evil that killed a little girl, making it that much harder for it to even be studied... To quote Jon Stewart, a catastrofuck."
Cass nodded.
"That is pretty much my point, yes."
Lucas sighed.
"Splendid. Side note. Neruite, if I do not go into details about Lilly and swear them to secrecy, and I trust them, can I talk to someone about my sword?"
Neruite nodded. "It should not interfere in anyone's fate if you do so. But what do you hope to achieve?"
Lucas sighed again.
"I don't know what kind of angel I am anymore."
