Second Attack

Miracle walked by Harper, wondering what to say. She wanted to ask her about how Hell worked, but Miracle was a little too worried Harper would be upset at her questions. Harper sighed, having seen Miracle's distraught expression. "Are you wondering something?"

Miracle flinched, being ripped from her thoughts. "S-Sorry?"

Harper grinned. "It's okay, no need to be scared. I won't get mad at you."

Miracle nodded, smiling softly. "O-Okay. I… wanted to know how Heaven and Hell worked."

Harper hummed, thinking it over. "Let's see… well, Heaven is slightly different than what most people expect. No one really goes there, it's just a place for God and Angels. Hell is for people who die."

Miracle blinked in surprise. "Really? Most stories say that bad people go to Hell, while good people go to Heaven."

Harper shook her head. "No, it's not like that. Heaven works in a weird way. It's more just a base of operations, and a place for angels to regain their own power. Well, similar to that for God, I guess."

Miracle furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would they need to do that?"

"Well, an angel's job is to help people around the world, trying to solve as many problems as they can." Harper explained. "It's pretty tiring, I've been told. So they had to have a place where they could take a break."

"Hm, I guess that makes sense!" Miracle nodded her head. "But, how come no one knows a single angel? What's the reason behind that?"

"Angels stay hidden." Harper continued. "They don't want to flaunt out that fact, since there will always be people who'll go after them." She sighed, her pace slowing. "They'd go after their wings and all. Unlike deities, angels aren't immune to weapons. One wrong move, and they could be killed."

Miracle sighed. "Sounds stressful… I could never take a job like that…."

Harper smiled, laughing a little. "I once thought the same thing of some other angel. But they've certainly grown to be very capable."

"Oh! Who?" Miracle asked, beaming.

Harper chuckled. "I can't tell you that. I've explained already that they need to be secretive!"

Miracle huffed, crossing her arms. "Bummer… I wanted to know…." She closed her eyes, thinking for a moment before she had another question. "Oh! What exactly are angels?"

"Oh? They're just normal people." Harper told her. "Anyone is eligible to become an angel. The only thing that's really needed to become an angel is for someone from Heaven to make you one."

"Really…?" Miracle mumbled. So that means an angel could be someone you know. A family member, a lover, a best friend…. "That's… interesting. What about demons? Who exactly are they?"

"They're dead." Harper replied hastily. "Sinners, to be more precise. They were people who made lots of mistakes in life. If I find someone that I think could become better, or have an interest to, I can 'save' them from death." She glanced back at Victoria and Bartholomew, who were arguing with one another. "There are a lot more, but these two are the most capable." She turned back to look at Miracle. "Plus, before their lives were ruined, they were quite good people, with bright personalities."

Miracle hesitated, not liking the sound of that. "What… happened?"

Harper paused, turning back to Victoria and Bartholomew. "Hey! You two! Are you okay with me telling them about you?"

Bartholomew blinked. "Ah, well, I don't quite remember, so I don't think I would care." He sighed. "I really wish you would tell me one of these days…."

Victoria tapped her lip, in deep thought. "Are you sure it won't be scaring the Godslayer away?"

Harper nodded. "She's the one who asked."

Victoria had a very serious expression on her face, staring at Miracle intently. She let out an irritated groan, finally folding. "Fine! Just tell her! If she tries to kill me, could you promise to not let me die again?"

Harper nodded. "Yes, I promise, Vicky." Miracle looked at Harper uneasily.

"Is it bad?" She asked.

Harper sighed, nodding her head. "Yes. Very bad." She ran her hand through her hair, seeming to prepare herself. "Victoria, she was an inventor, much like now. The issue is, is that she was getting taken advantage of. Her ideas were being stolen, she was being blackmailed into creating things for people at the threat of her friends' lives." Harper paused, frowning a little. "At some point, she broke. She couldn't handle it anymore. Victoria went after those who had hurt her, and started using them as inventions. Well, biological engineering, practically."

Miracle blinked in horror, not having expected this from Victoria at all. Victoria is such a happy person! This is… unreal…. "O-Oh… that's…."

Harper winced, looking away. "At some point, her antics got out to the public, and she was killed. When she came down to Hell, she was sobbing. She'd finally realized what exactly she'd done, and she wanted to go back and fix it. Seeing that, and knowing what happened, I decided to give her something of a second chance. And, well, she's been making up for it. Helped make new devices, even figured out how to make electricity without any magic." Harper smiled. "It's inspiring, really. How she's been able to come back so well."

Miracle was in awe at this story. She glanced at Victoria, who was staring at her with a nervous expression. Miracle tilted her head, smiling at her. Victoria blushed a little, turning away and muttering something under her breath. Miracle laughed, turning back to Harper. "I know! This just makes me feel like I know Vicky better! Thanks for telling me!"

Harper glanced at her, an odd expression on her face. She seemed to figure something out, but she shook her head, looking back to the path. "Anyways, then there's Bartholomew. He, well, had a rough time in life. It was quite happy, but he was always mixed up in some rather dirty work. But, he was doing it for his own family."

"That's sweet…." Miracle commented. She had the smallest feeling of dread, wondering what went wrong to cause Bartholomew to become a 'sinner'.

Harper grimaced, clearly not liking the memories she was bringing up. "Something happened, and he got involved with a rather large group of people. Some type of gang or clan of sorts. His family was killed. And he swore revenge." There was silence between the two, Miracle taking the information in. "After he killed all the people in that clan, he didn't stop there. He went around, asking people about that clan. If they knew the name, or anything at all, he'd kill them. He completely erased that name from history, as revenge."

Miracle's eyes widened, glancing back towards Bartholomew. She definitely didn't expect that from him, but she really needed to stop being so surprised. Demons were sinners, in their previous life. Of course they were messed up. Harper glanced back at him as well. "When he died, I had to erase his memory. If he still knew, he may go back to being dead set on revenge again."

Miracle nodded her head slowly. "That… makes a lot of sense." She sighed, smiling softly. "Thanks for telling me this. I really appreciate this…."

"It's no problem." She replied. The group continued walking, Miracle staying mostly in her own thoughts. She sent occasional glances back to Victoria and Bartholomew, who no longer seemed to be arguing. They really went through things like that….? She thought to herself. I thought I had it bad… turns out they have it much worse…..

"We're here." Harper announced. Miracle's head shot up, noticing how they'd reached a rather large town.

"O-Oh! I hardly realized…." She admitted, scratching her cheek. Harper looked up at the sky, seeing the sun positions farther west.

"Ah, it'll be getting dark soon." Harper smiled. "I guess it was right of me, to decide to take a stop in this town." Harper stretched, turning away from Miracle. "Right, I'm going to go talk to Naomi and Bubble. I need to go catch up with them." She waved at Miracle with a smile. "I'll talk to you later." Harper walked away, Miracle nodding her head.

She turned towards Pedro and Scarlet, who had been walking behind her. "So…" Pedro started. "What's the plan?"

Miracle shrugged, a grin on her face. "I don't know! We could go look for a small job, or just go get something to eat!"

"I'd rather go eat." Scarlet said bluntly. "We've been walking all day, I want to rest."

Miracle nodded. "Okay then." She would admit that she had wanted to eat as well, but had put up the other offer in case someone wanted to do that. "Let's go look around! I'm hungry!"

Pedro grinned. "Well I guess we're all in agreement here." Miracle nodded.

"Yup!" She laughed brightly. "Well then, where to first?"

~~~~~~~~~

"Where the fuck do I go." Fabian let out a long groan, sitting at the top of a very large cliff. "C'mon, why does this have to be so hard?!" Fabian puffed out his cheek, resting his other in his hand. Where do I go? There's this one town in front of me, but is that really the best option? He wondered.

His free hand tapped the stone impatiently, his mind shouting at him to make a decision. Hurry up, slowpoke! Just decide before I make you jump off this cliff! Fabian groaned again, facepalming. God, why am I having a conversation with my brain? If I jumped off a cliff, I could literally fly. He shook his head, throwing those thoughts away. He stood up, stretching out his back and falling forwards off the cliff.

He swooped down, nearly crash landing into the trees but pulled up right before. He casually flew over to the nearby town, looking over it. He tapped his lip in thought, watching the streets. Hope that no one sees me up here… There wouldn't be any reason, but there could be a couple angsty teens down there that would want to look up at the sky and cry. You never know. He spotted quite a few people walking about, most seeming to be adventures. He could have sworn he recognized a couple, but he shook those thoughts away.

He waited there, thinking over what exactly he should do. He carefully lowered himself down onto one of the flatter roofed buildings, sitting down cross-legged in the middle. He crawled over to the edge of the building, looking down. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… he counted at least eighteen different people on that one block alone. So, this is pretty heavily populated…. He thought to himself. He sighed, sitting back and crossing his arms, closing his eyes. This would probably be a good place. Should I wait for someone to find me, or just start attacking? He wondered, tapping his lip.

"Hey!" Fabian's eyes shot open, as he glanced back down at the street. "What are you doing up there? It's dangerous!"

Fabian blinked, looking at the person with bewilderment, before a sinister grin appeared on his face. "Oh~, it's you!" He snickered, standing up. "I remember you!" He pointed to himself, giving her a cheeky smile. "Do you remember me~?"

~~~~~~~~~

Miracle stared up at God in shock. "You- it's you!" She shouted.

God chuckled, stepping towards the edge of the roof. "'You'? I'm sorry, but that's wrong."

"You know what she means, asshole." Scarlet hissed, her hand on the handle of her knife.

"Oh, well I'm sorry! No one here can take a joke, I presume." He huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, since I'm here, you can take one guess as to what's going to happen, right?"

Miracle glared at him, drawing her sword. "I'm not letting you do that."

He stared at her with wide eyes, before he burst out into laughter. Miracle twitched slightly. She would admit, that laughter definitely made her feel a little bit worse about her abilities. "You? With what? I'll tell you now, you can't kill me with just a sword."

Miracle grit her teeth, before Victoria suddenly stepped in. "It's not just any sword, you fucker! I made that thing! I'll kill you in a heartbeat!"

God blinked. "Vicky?" Victoria seemed a bit shocked at her nickname. God smiled, before he shook his head and turned to the rest. "Oh, really? You're telling me Miss Blondey here is the godslayer~?"

"Exactly." Pedro interjected. "She'll beat your tiny ass into the ground."

"Just because you have the almighty God Slaying Sword, doesn't mean it'll be easy, cucker." God said, seeming a little pissed off. Pedro frowned at the insult, but he didn't say anything. "Anyways~ I'm going back to my good 'ol scheduled destruction! Hope you guys don't mind!" he said cheerily, before leaping off the building and sending a wave of fire down below. Bartholomew leapt out, countering it with a large amount of water. "Oh wow! Demons! Do you happen to know where-"

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" Victoria shouted, pulling out a weapon as a small blast of magic whizzed past the figure in the sky. He seemed a bit shocked, blinking in surprise. It appeared to be a small metal object, looking like the hilt of a sword, with a small lever which produced a loud bang when pressed. "Like it? Call it a gun."

God cracked a grin. "Sure! I'd like to play around with it, if I'm free to use it!"

Victoria glowered. "I ain't giving you shit." She declared.

He sighed, crossing his arms. "Bummer… I would have really enjoyed shooting someone with that…." he shrugged, the smile appearing back on his face. "Anyways! Back to explosions!" As he said that, and explosion went off to the left of the ground, some rubble falling towards them.

Bubble leapt up, sending a hard kick into the largest one. It cracked throughout the middle, crumbling into pieces. She landed on the floor, as Naomi and Harper came running towards them. "Good job, Bubble!" Naomi shouted.

Bubble smiled, walking over to Naomi and giving her a hug. "No problem!"

Harper looked over to Miracle. "What's happening?"

"God. He attacked." Miracle stated.

Harper hesitated, thinking about something. She glanced up at the figure in the sky. Her eyes suddenly widened in shock, recognizing the person immediately.

"Fabian…?!"

Fabian flinched at his name. He quickly whipped around, glancing nervously at the group below. His eyes landed on Harper, his expression changing to something unreadable. "Mo-" He quickly covered his mouth, staying silent for a couple seconds. He let his hand drop, a wide smile on his face. "Oh, why hello there, Hydema!" He laughed, throwing his hands out. "Now isn't this a great turn of events! I thought I'd never see you again! Finally came out of Hell, now did you?"

Harper grimaced, looking away. "I did."

Fabian stopped smiling, staring at the sky for a moment before tilting his head to the side. He gave Harper a confused glance, raising an eyebrow. "That's it? Is that all you have to say to me? I thought you'd have more to say to me, Hydema!" He whimpered, seeming two seconds away from crying. "Do you hate me? Please say no, I don't want that." Miracle stared at Fabian, hearing something genuine in his voice. She glanced at Harper, confusion filling her. These two know each other?

Harper looked at him. "Fabian… why are you doing this?"

Fabian's expression turned to one that was unamused, seeming to not like the answer he got. "Oh. How boring." He sighed, crossing his arms. "Why not? It's fun, you realize. Destroying things. I bet you'd know that feeling too, huh, Hydema?"

Harper didn't respond, instead going silent. Miracle turned to her. "Harper… what is he talking about?"

"I'll… I'll tell you all later…."

"Later?!" Fabian shouted, before he erupted into laughter. "Oh, isn't that just absolutely FUCKING amazing!" He pointed at her, tears of laughter at the corners of his eyes. "M-My bad, about laughing so much, but I can't help but find this so fucking hilarious! You seriously never told anyone about me? About the reason you disappeared for like, five years? About why you cooped yourself up in Hell?" Fabian smiled, letting his hand drop. "Oh, that's rich!" He exclaimed, before he flew up a little higher. "Well, as it turns out, this had played out exactly how I wanted it to!" He waved at the group, waving them goodbye. "Catch ya on the flip side! Don't die!"

"Don't die…?" Miracle repeated. Without answering, Fabian flew upwards. Flames suddenly started cascading from the sky, Miracle's eyes widening in shock. She searched the sky, realizing Fabian was now gone. Bartholomew grit his teeth, sending waves of water upwards, but it wasn't able to reach all of them.

"Shit!" Victoria swore, quickly turning to Bartholomew. "Hey! Mewmew! I need you to use some of your magic on this thing!" She handed him the gun, in which Bartholomew gave her a confused expression. "Just do it!" He nodded, before he handed it back to her. She quickly started attaching separate parts to the gun, making it much longer than it was beforehand. "Here's what I call a sniper!" She grinned, pointing it up at the sky. Some of the fireballs had started hitting the buildings around them, but there were still plenty located in the sky.

She raised it up, closing one of her eyes as she aimed. Victoria tapped a button on the side of the sniper, a small 'ding' occurring every single time she pressed it. A wide smile appeared on her face suddenly, as she brought her googles down over her eyes. "Eat shit, motherfucker!" She clicked the trigger, as multiple streams of water suddenly blasted out of the sniper, hitting every remaining fireball. It erased the sky of threat, as a short rain fell upon them.

Victoria grinned, resting the sniper on her shoulder. "That's what happens when you're going up against a genius! Get, fucked." She laughed, as Naomi stared at her in shock.

"What kind of magic was that….?" She asked.

Victoria walked over to her, placing her elbow on her head. "Wouldn't you like to know, shortie?"

Naomi gave her a disappointed look, before quickly stepping to the side. Victoria stumbled, falling over and landing on the ground. Naomi smiled softly. "Maybe you should pay attention before you're all high and mighty."

Victoria frowned, quickly pushing herself off the ground. "Oh shut up. I didn't ask for your opinion anyways." She started disassembling the parts of the sniper, placing it back in her bag. She huffed, turning back to Harper. "Anyways, Harper. You've got a lot of explaining to do…."

Harper seemed a bit uneasy, but she nodded her head anyways. "I understand that… but I'm afraid that I can't tell you everything. I can tell you a couple things, though."

"That's fine!" Miracle gave her a reassuring smile. "You don't have to say anything you really don't want to, it's fine."

Harper slowly nodded her head, as she nodded her head. "What do I start with…."