Prologue

Pandemonium was spreading. People were panicking and residents were fleeing in droves like rapid rivers on a downhill course. Only the strongest remained. The oldest of the old. As the shadows pressed into the heavens, as black as nothingness could be, every nook and cranny was filled. Everything was covered in dripping goo, mud thick and secreting poison. Those who were infected curled up into sobbing balls of tears and feathers, for there was nothing that could be done to save them. Not a single nook or cranny was left uncovered.

Winged persons used all of their power to stop the looming evil from overrunning their home, but it seemed as if the cloudy haven was to be destroyed for good this time. Nothing was working. None of the angels had seen a force as powerful as this in all their years. Even knowing the source of the shadows' power, not much could be done without vast interference and a major temperance of memory.

The evil itself came from the hearts of humans on earth. Those who knew no happiness. No joy. Only pain and hurt ruled their very souls, the ones who have been cast out by greed and sin. Sadly, there were far more of those were labeled as outcasts than those were who were good and kind, who gave a hand to those in higher need. Such people rarely existed anymore. Only prayers carried on for those with pain-filled hearts and minds, prayers from angels who lived on as mere myths to surface dwellers.

"There must be a better way," one angel gasped out as her wing was nearly clipped from the dripping secretion on the nearest teetering building.

An angel with hair as white as fresh powdered snow had managed to pull her out of the way in time. He was not used to such physical exertion, as proven by the sweat on his brow and a slight kink in his eggshell-colored wings. More prone was he to being piled over ancient tomes, studying the ways of old. From his favored texts and inscriptions he was able to deduce what the evil was upon sigh and saved those who lived on the outskirts of the clouds.

"I've looked through everything," he insisted. Calling on another book, he flipped insistently through the mottled, yellow pages. "I need more time."

A sandy-haired angel with eyeliner emboldening violet eyes and wings the color of light ash cussed loudly, causing several dirty looks to be sent his way by those who believed themselves to be holier and, thus, above the use of foul language. He ignored each of them, preferring to believe in the power of self expression. "Well, hurry the fuck up, Ryou! Ten more have been claimed while you dawdle."

The scene from the skies was horrific. Oozing black shadows flowed from every direction, steadily and surely closing in on the Mountain of Ages. The cloud covered landmark was all that remained as a safe haven and that would not be for much longer. Heaven would be torn apart once it was covered.

Sweat from the pressure was beginning to break out on Ryou's neck, sweltering down his ivory and gold robes as he tossed yet another book carelessly over his shoulder, all respect for his texts having left when things went from bad to worse. "I am trying, Malik, but there's never been a breach this bad."

"Try harder!"

Malik glared at the oncoming evil and wished wholeheartedly that he could just abandon his home as easily as he had abandoned his hope in the kindness lingering in human hearts. No one could ever claim his angel wings had be born on pure spirit. In fact, no one except those closest to the angel ever knew how he'd been selected to rise up from the surface to take on a new being. This attack and the sheer powerful level of it only solidified his belief that mortals were no worth looking after if this was the end result. He could tell Ryou, too, was quickly losing his closely guarded faith in humanity and that hit him a lot harder than he thought.

Perhaps this is why we are unable to do anything he figured, watching one of his closest friends struggle to find a passage in his beloved books that might help. We, who are allocated with guarding humanity against the darkness, have little to no trust in our charges.

"What's happening?" The sleep-filled voice roused more panic than the oncoming darkness threatening to overrun the heavens.

From the entrance to the main chamber of prayer on the mountain stood an angel no more than five feet tall. His cheeks were tinged pink and normally animated, spiky, tri-colored hair drooped tiredly, much like the gold-lined wings protruding from his shoulders. Robes of dusty cold covered his small form, leaving the tops his feet bare from the ankle down. An intricate choker of gold filigree centered with a rare cut purple diamond shone brightly against the darkness that filled the doorway.

Malik and Ryou gasped at the sight of him, abandoning their posts to help the angel as he began to sway. Despite all appearances, it was the third angel who was devastatingly more powerful than the other two put together and multiplied, had the situation been under better circumstances. As luck would have it, the circumstances were not for the better.

"You shouldn't be out of bed, Yugi," Malik scolded.

Ryou seconded his order, urging the older, shorter angel back into the prayer room. If anything should be utterly destroyed it would be the prayer room that recovered first. It was room painted in the love humans shared of joyous things, though it was a small room now and not as bright as it once was a hundred years ago and brighter still over a hundred years ago. Still, it was heavens best defense at survival and who better to lead that survival than Yugi?

Malik continued to plead. "It was only yesterday you were still hallucinating. Return to bed and think nothing of this noise." The order was a desperate plea in disguise for both knew it was futile to think Yugi would turn away. Truly, he was the last angel in existence that stubbornly refused to belief that there was even one human out there that did not have goodness somewhere in his heart.

Violet eyes strayed to the commotion outside, straying out to the corners of heaven and further where the evil secreted in. Tears filled his vision and he allowed them to fall, crying for those in hurt and pain that had created this threatening evil, those that were so lost in their own depression and misery and grief they could not even see the sun should they look up on a cloudless day. "The shadows," he whispered, not bothering to wipe his face.

Ryou let out a puff of air as he collapsed to his huge pile of books he hadn't the time to flip through. There was no sense in lying or pretending the situation wasn't as dire as it was. "They came out of nowhere in the middle of the night."

His companion dropped on the other side of the pile, a miniature book version of the mountain they hid on. Tanned fingers dragged along the worn, faded spines and aged pages, not finding the fascination or joy in thing that was literally nothing more than paper and words. He was more of an action taker. "We have tried to slow it down, but there's nothing in these," he gestured towards the much larger stack that Ryou started once he began tossing books. Malik's charcoal grey wings folded around him in an attempt to keep himself steady once he felt his hands begin to shake.

I hated humans Malik found himself thinking, even so far as to hating his previous existence as one.

Shutting his eyes, flashes of memories of a time long ago touched Yugi. He could feel his soul reach out towards the oncoming darkness and hear the heart's hidden scream from each of the humans that created it. Once upon a time ago doing such a thing would cause him to collapse to his knees in sobs, but now it just caused a gaping hole in his chest, wanting to be able to do more. "Why did anyone not wake me?"

The pair glanced at each other, holding their breaths. Yugi would know what to do. He was one of the oldest left among them and easily the most powerful. He'd fought dozens of the plague before, had heard him mention the battles but never wanting to go into detail. Now, he would have no choice. The way Yugi spoke of the shadow, someone got hurt; really hurt.

He never got the chance to explain. A female angel with flowing, sun-kissed honey hair clung to Yugi's side. "You can't," she cried. "You aren't well! Your strength is nowhere near what it should be. There must be someone else!"

It was true and they all knew it. Yugi made no move to deny it. For days a strange sickness had fallen over the angel. Now there was little mystery with his actions coming to light. Though time and experience should've taught him better, Yugi still did the unthinkable when it came to proving his belief in human's affinity to goodness. Unlike most of the heavenly realm's occupants who closed off their hearts after mere months or even weeks of being disappoint, Yugi kept his always open, letting in the feelings and thoughts of any mortal. The negativity of it all had taken its toll to the point where Yugi's fatigue had illness should have been a blazing beacon of warning that a shadow would soon permeate the boundaries.

With a gaze resembling glass, Yugi reached out a hand to touch the honey tresses. "Serenity, I must. There is no one else." No pointing fingers, no accusations; that was just like Yugi, even when he himself knew that he was the only one with his steadfast and uphill beliefs. Then, pulling from her iron grip, he stretched out his wings and flew with reckless speed down the side of the mountain.

Malik watching him go, his sand colored hair tossing about in the wind and blocking off his Egyptian features. Then, sensing a shift in the air, he turned to hound on the only one who seemed to have answers. "What the hell is going on," he demanded.

Used to profanity flowing like oxygen from Malik's mouth, Serenity just drooped on herself while clinging to her old friend. "A sacrifice," she whispered. "He with a pure heart must sacrifice in the name of true faith."

Shaking her, he futilely tried to make out the riddle, even when it was painstakingly obvious. Ryou knew this also and uncurled each of his fingers from her robes. Afterwards he clung to the first text he grabbed as if it was his lifeline. Tears gushed from his chocolate milk eyes and Malik fought hard not to let his own fall. Together they turned and stared out the mouth of the mountain.

There was nothing they could do but wait. In the distance, only a mile or so from the foot of the mountain, all of them could just barely make out where Yugi hovered above the clouds. His only discernible feature was the glint of gold from his feathers that shimmered off the sunlight raining down on them. He stood alone against the monster, his form the only thing the evil could not pass through, as if a barrier stretched out from Yugi and went as far as the eye could see, the think impassable to the otherwise all-powerful, indestructible evil that slaughtered the rest of their home.

Taking a deep breath, Serenity closed her eyes and recited as though she were reading from a passage only she could see. "One with absolute faith in the mortals can overcome the pain that destroys the heavenly cloud city. Pure faith, pure trust, pure heart of the angels is needed to soothe away the pure doubt, pure agony, and pure hatred of those who have lost their way." It was with those words that the truth was laid bare, raw and gaping like a fresh burn emblazoned on the flesh. Angels had been slack in their regard for the old ways much like the humans had become greedy and mistrustful as time passed. Yugi was the only one who knew the truth just like Yugi was the only one capable of stopping the onslaught of evil onto their home. Malik and Ryou had never such disappointment in themselves. It was as bad as failing Yugi directly.

A burst of anger exploded within Malik and he lashed out at the pile of books behind him. Texts and papers and crinkled bookmarks went flying much to Ryou's horror. "You're telling me that those idiotic, poor excuses for humankind down on the surface are responsible for this catastrophic mayhem and the only ones who can stop it are those who have unwavering love for them?" At the nod Serenity offered to him, he roared and punched a hole through the wall. The clouds creating the building quickly went forth and stitched up the crevice in seconds so moments later no one could tell Malik had lost his temper again. He did once more and then another and another and another until all his reserved strength slipped from his limbs.

Ryou's breath hitched and he turned back on Serenity. "You told Yugi that he wasn't strong enough. His body has been sick in anticipation of this thing coming. What will happen to him?" Sacrifice he remembered her saying.

Once more tears streamed down her face and this time she made no move to wipe them clean. "Maybe," she sobbed, "Maybe at full strength things would be different. There's never been an angel as strong as him before and there's definitely never been just the one. In past occurrences there's always been a group of angels and the weakest one was chosen to be sacrificed, to soothe the savage beast and pay for its sins in retribution."

Their talking silenced at an ethereal sound carried on the wind. It was beautiful and harmonious; truly a song befitting heaven itself. Magic filled the words and power laced through that. Though they couldn't see him from the great space the separated them, they knew it was coming from Yugi, that he was praying, cleansing the evil.

All three angels knew what a task cleansing something so big would mean. If only those with absolute faith towards humans could take such a beast out and Yugi was the only one remaining angel left that filled that description than it would take all this magic to finish the job. Even with all this power it might not be enough and that was truly the most terrifying truth of all.

A layer of gold fog seeped into the air and down below they watched as an aura of gold surrounded the small speck of all they could see of Yugi. An angry roar emitted from the darkness coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Anger and pain and sadness filled all of the remaining angels, crumbling them to their knees as their souls were ripped open to bear the weight. Just when they were certain they could bear it no longer, gold rain swept down from the skies and cleansed them, washing away the evil that filled them.

And rejoice filled the mountain as Yugi's prayer continued. He was still alive.

The gold rain continued to glitter throughout the skies. Whatever damage it touched was repaired and whoever it fell on was washed of the ooze that was infected. Whoever had been eaten entirely appeared in a haze of light, as if waking from a dream with their wings cocooning them as they looked around in confusion. The clouds went into overtime mending all the broken walls and busted buildings, sealing the imperfections in a matter of minutes.

Yugi's prayer continued still, urging on the rain to fall harder, heavier, until the last of the blackness and emptiness dissolved away. Only then did the rainfall stop, fading away in show of glitter and steam. Malik and Ryou floated off the edge of the stairway leading up to the mountain, staring down at their friend but unsure if it was safe to venture closer with so much raw energy filling the space around him.

And then, to their shock and horror, Yugi fell. Both of them dropped down like bullets. Closer and closer, with their hearts in their throats, they scurried to close the distance.

Fifty feet.

Forty feet.

Their earlier tears were blurring their vision, hindering better advancement. Cramps started in their shoulders as they clamped their wings tightly to their sides to speed down faster. The only thing on their side was the fact that Yugi's wings were opened as he fell, catching the wind and slowing him while he remained unconscious and unaware of approaching the barrier separating their realm from the human one.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet.

Ryou was the first to notice and he cried out as if in pain. He opened his wings to catch the wind and then pushed down to force himself to move faster still. "Malik," he shouted. The Egyptian had seen it too and was pushing to go faster somehow.

The edges of Yugi's wings had begun to shimmer in the light and magic lifted from them like sparkling dust, eating away at the feathers. Outstretching the hands, they begged to fly faster, to move further, before their only advantage skimmed out of reach.

Pale fingers caught the edge of Yugi's gold-rimmed ivory robes first. Ryou pulled him closer, slowing them down easily just as they reach the silver net barrier that separated the realms. When Malik reached them he gathered them both up in his arms and clung to them as he begged for Yugi, whose feathers just finished vanishing, to wake up. Neither of them wanted to think about what Yugi's wings disappearing meant.

Not one to give up, Malik very nearly slapped his shorter friend. "Damn it, Yugi," he cursed. "Wake up! This isn't a game anymore!"

If it weren't for Malik's arm around his waist Ryou would've fallen. It's not fair. He saved everybody!

It didn't take long for either of them to notice that the longer they held onto Yugi the lighter his body became, not only in weight but in color as well. They gasped, holding him at arm's length in shock, as his body slowly drifted into transparency. An invisible grasp held him above the silver separation net, hovering in the air while the rest of Yugi followed wherever his wings had gone to.

"Angels can't die a second time," Ryou muttered to himself, curling into a ball and sobbing. "Angels can't die a second time."

Malik's fists curled inward but this time there was nothing for him to strike out at. Instead he turned his voice skyward and roared. "He didn't do anything wrong," he bellowed. "He didn't do anything fucking wrong! Take me instead!" He repeated the phrase over and over until he felt his lungs begin to give out.

For several long moments, the exact time neither of them were sure of, Serenity drifted down next to them. A silkily scaled, snake-like white dragon with rounded, sinewy wings was draped around her neck like a boa and in its mouth was a golden envelope. It opened its tiny maw as if to yawn and dropped its parcel into waiting hands before popped out of existence. Though letters from the Higher Order were few and far between, none of the angels could mistake the silver-lining cloud emblem holding the seal of the envelope shut.

"They never get involved with angel matters," Ryou gasped.

Malik glared at the offending letter and ripped it open in a hurry, not in a mood for games or trickery. He read it over quickly once and then slower the second time around before eventually reading it allowed. With every word his clutching fingers loosened until, by the end, he was barely holding onto the parchment.

"We, the Higher Order, congratulate Seraphim Yugi on his greatest achievement. It is a sorry state when those with the simplest of tasks cannot even prevent a simple catastrophe as We, the Higher Order, are saddened and disappointed such angels much younger cannot produce the same results as one hundreds of years old.

"As those who witnessed the fading, Guardian Malik and Guardian Ryou are issued with the duty of recovering Seraphim Yugi after his fifteen years sentence."

Malik glared at the first few lines. "Fuck those arrogant bastards for writing it out as if Yugi were still here. And what hell is with the dig about other angels not doing their part. I didn't see them coming down and offering a hand when we were in trouble." Ryou dropped his head onto his shoulder and an instant calm filled him. Whatever he thought. Don't need them. Then he reread the last couple lines and his eyebrows bunched together, creating a creased V between his eyes. "What does that mean?"

Serenity took the proffered paper and read it slowly. Her eyebrows also creased together before allowing Ryou to have a look. After years of deciphering olden text, riddles were hardly a puzzle to him.

"I've read something about this. I didn't know it would account for Yugi as well since Serenity said the cleansing used a sacrifice."

"Translations aren't always perfect," she defended. "Now what does that letter mean?"

In what Malik had long since dubbed Ryou's research 'grit and spit' mode, the white-haired angel began a description that was lengthy at best and highly scientific at worse, using words that neither of his companion could deal with when they were on the verge of losing patience. After a look from both of them a warm flush covered his pale cheeks and he coughed.

"Sorry," he giggled. Malik rolled his eyes and made a gesture for him to start again. "In loosest terms, what this means is that Yugi is merely in recovering. When an angel loses all their magic their body disintegrates and fades, thus succumbing to a period of time on earth as a human with an angelic soul. Because Yugi died at the human age of fifteen it will take fifteen years for his power supply to build back up before the vessel is ready to be discarded."

Malik sputtered. "What the hell? I've never heard anything about that before?"

Ryou smirked and tapped his friend's mouth shut. "That's because you don't read, Malik. Every time I find something of interest and try to share it with you, you grow bored and fall asleep on the couch. Next time you'll listen to what I have to say, eh?"

"So, Yugi can come back," Serenity whispered. In her relief she collapsed back onto a nearby floating cloud and collapsed into a fit of giggled. "I can't believe it. He isn't gone at all."

Ryou and Malik stared down at the separating net and then past it to where the surface world was hidden below. Yugi was somewhere down there. How were they ever supposed to find him? And simultaneously, they both looked up at hearing the same sound, a sound that Serenity hadn't heard at all, for it came from within their heads.

The sound of a baby crying.

"What do we do until then," Ryou asked, staring back down at the surface.

Malik shrugged, following his gaze. "How should I know? Get on with life, I suppose. How will we know when to go?"

"I'll need to look into it. I just know that we can't be late."

"There's a time limit now."

Ryou nodded, narrowing his brown eyes as he remembered that specific passage he came across. He prayed it wouldn't come to that. "After the allotted time of the vessel has been passed and no retrieval is given his wings would grow past the human flesh and rip his very body to pieces. If the process is complete without proper guidance Yugi will regain no recollection what or who he was and would be driven mad. Every past event this has happened there was no recovery."

Malik shuddered and swore under his breath, running his hands through his shoulder length hair. "Let's just not be late then."

_Down_to_Earth_

Hey all! Don't get mad, I know it's been forever. Seriously, forever! I've been working on my novels and trying to get them published but I've been proverbially kicked out on my ass each and every time. Then, lo and behold, a yes! It's an e-book so I was kinda bummed, but, hey, gotta start somewhere.

And then about 2-ish in the morning I was lying awake and couldn't sleep and thought about my fanfiction I've left sitting unfinished and wanted to kick myself. I did look at it a few times, but each time I felt myself flinching at the mere thought of continuing it when I thought the whole writing of it sucked. Genius plan emerges! Rewrite the stupid thing! So, here I am, rewriting it and frankly I think it looks a hell a lot of better. Pure excitement follows. Don't know how fast I'll be, but I will try my hardest not to let this one go years without an update again.

Thanks to all my faithful readers for sticking to it and being patient.

Let me know what you think!