Savings Brothers

Melody was chewing on her bottom lip. At first, she had thought that explaining to War and Ruin about her other side would have been easy. Instead she found herself face to face with a wall that she couldn't seem to pass. While Ruin wanted to know all about her wild side, War just wanted to know why she did that in the first place.

"Is it because you can't protect yourself as a human?" War had asked when Ruin was babbling about something.

"I can protect myself perfectly fine." Melody straightened her back and furrowed her eyebrows at him. She knew how to protect herself when it came to her fists. She suddenly became really bold. "I bet that I can beat YOU in a fist fight I'm so sure."

Ruin stopped rambling for his bottom jaw to drop almost to the ground, his ears pricked and eyes wide. War had been busy crushing pebbles in between his fingers and he couldn't help but to look up, confused. "What?" He was War. She was Melody, a weak human being whom he'd probably accidentally break if he hit her wrong. Back when the other Nephilim had been alive, he'd been pretty famous for whipping ass and then running over people in their version of football. He still remembered when the quarterback had squeaked and dropped the ball when he was about to tackle him. For him to fight a girl-and one that was a species of a race so weak that a bear could kill them-would be like him picking a fight against a fly. "You don't want me to fight you."

"I don't. But, if I don't, you and Ruin are going to think that I'm all weak and everything like that," Melody pointed out.

Maybe that's not a bad thing, Ruin nickered.

She cast him such a hard glare that Ruin actually tilted his head so he wouldn't be meeting her eyes. War fought down the surprised expression that was threatening to show itself to shake his head at her slowly. "My answer is still no. I will not fight you, Melody."

"Oh come on!" Melody almost begged and threw up her arms angrily. "Do you want me to transform into my cat and then try to beat the shit out of you?"

"I think it would be the other way around." Instead of feeling anger or even annoyance at Melody, War only felt amusement spread through him. When she was mad, her eyes would narrow and normally her face would turn all red. He thought that she was adorable. Slowly, he stood up and tried to appear normal. Inside though he was screaming. Close contact with possibly the most beautiful creature in the entire world, what could he ask for that was better? It wasn't like he had this sort of attraction to any of the other Nephilim. He had been too young before they had destroyed the last of their race. Fury had had a boyfriend and Death had been married but that was it. Strife was the type of person who hit on you one day and then dumped you in the gutter when he found someone that was nicer looking when it came to dating game. War hadn't entered the phase yet. Now he was regretting it. He had absolutely no idea of what too say to Melody when it came to... his feelings.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

Next thing War knew, a rock came flying from the human female's direction and hit him right across his forehead. He was just turning to face her when Melody let out a whoop and leapt forward, tackling the Horseman and completely unsuspecting her to simply do that. Out of everything that he had ever known that was out of question. They landed heavily, Melody on top and War being the one to actually land on the stone hard ground, his breath whooshing out of him. War was about to ask what the hell she was doing when she leaned back and then slammed her fist into his mouth.

Maybe if War was another human being, his jaw would have been broken. All he actually felt from the hit was a split second pain and a little bit of salty blood appeared on his tongue. He turned back his head and just spotted her swinging another fist. War caught it easily and then immediately gripped her other hand so she wouldn't hit him, pushing her a little off his chest. The rest of her was straddling him, sending him a strange message. She looked at him with a slight, confused expression. He found it so innocent and that stirred another foreign feeling in him.

"What are you doing?" he growled, trying to be the maddest that he possibly could act.

Melody grunted as she pulled her fists back, somehow opening her fingers up and lacing them through his to shove his palms open. She paused long enough on top of him to pant a little. "What can I do? You don't believe me!"

No, we believe you! Ruin called out from the corner, bouncing and slamming his massive hooves into the ground. He was nervous. It wasn't everything day that War was tackled and beaten down to the ground by a HUMAN. Already he was throwing his head around and he seemed to be everywhere, his hooves creating craters and his flames scorching the ground. That was not nice! Not nice at all! He bounded up to hit his muzzle against both War and Melody's bodies, hitting shoulders and nudging arms. Ruin couldn't help but feel pressured through this. On one side of the fight, War was there as his rider and his bonded man, meaning that without him Ruin would die like that. On the other, there was the delicate Melody that seemed to be harder than she looked and he had started to like the girl. He didn't know what to do.

War was actually pretty surprised when she somehow broke through his hold and once again hit him with another one to his jaw. He found himself rolling over to the side. Melody let out a squeak as he crushed her underneath him, already grabbing her again by her hands and gently immobilizing her with himself. Again, feelings started turning on. He struggled not to think about how he was basically straddling her and instead he growled at her. She snorted and before he knew what was happening again, she was kneeing him in his valuable spot. While War slide off, his cheeks puffing up, Melody slid herself out from under him, smiling at herself mostly.

"Hey, my dad was a wrestling champ and he taught me most of everything that I knew. Sorry I sort had to cheat a little though." Melody stood and ran her hands through her hair, placing a hand on her hip and giving War her most dazzling smile.

"It's okay," War said hoarsely. He finally let go of himself to stand after a few minutes, silently cringing away from himself. This time he stood, turning himself away slightly from her. "Don't worry about it, we all have our weaknesses and I have one and so do you. All of-."

Melody had been paying attention to him-who wouldn't?-but she broke her train of focus on him to toss her hoodie away. She was looking up again to the pause of his voice to see that huge gauntlet coming toward her face. Right away Melody ducked down to her right and jumped back when War stopped his forward attack to swing back his arm, attempting an elbow to her face. He missed and she took the opening to kick him in the gut, shoving him back. "Ha!" she called out. She was forced through to shut up when he came at again, a smile on his face. Again Melody ducked, though this time War brought up his leg and hit her face with his knee armor. Her vision blurred with the connection and she realized when she was scrambling back to her feet that War could seriously hurt her. There was just no way that was his strongest attack.

The second that his knee had hit Melody, his head had started screaming and he knew that he had hurt her. There was just no way that he hadn't. Her head had snapped back when he'd hit her and she had fallen onto the ground, her dark hair cascading about her face. He was about to ask if she was okay when she came at him this time.

But then he tripped.

He hadn't meant too. His foot had landed wrong on a rock and when he put all of his weight on that one leg, he fell right down. Melody, who'd been ready to hit him again, fell as well. She landed right on top of him again, her grunt when she landed telling War that her landing probably hurt her more than his had and he had landed on his left arm. War then heard a click and Ruin neighed, screaming out a warning. He basically laid his head down onto the dirt and his blue eyes widened when he saw a huge boulder bouncing down a mountain, pieces of itself flying every which way. War automatically grabbed Melody and twisted them to where he was the one on top again. She was just starting to ask what was wrong with him when the boulder bounced right to them. She screamed. War knew by the path that it was taking that the rock would just run them clean over. There was nothing for it to advert its path on. He growled and slammed his gauntlet hand right into the ground when the boulder was just close enough to touch. The impact caused it to bounce, this time right over them. Both of them followed the rock as it sailed over them, landing with a mighty 'thump' into the ground not but three feet away from them.

Melody panted a little before she turned to look at War, who was doing the same thing pretty much. Their eyes meet and Melody felt heat rise up in her cheeks. As much as she wanted to look away, she found that she couldn't. "Thank you," she whispered silently.

"You're welcome," War replied just as breathlessly, unsure if it was because the boulder had knocked it out of him or if she had. He found himself reaching forward to tangle his hand into her hair and to gently grip her head. He found that he was leaning forward and so was she. Again those feelings inside of him stirred.

Right before anything could happen though, another rock came flying and hit War first to bounce right off Melody as well. They both paused to look.

"What the hell War? Who is that?" Fury asked loudly, her voice tight from surprised. War untangled his hand from Melody's head to stand, trying not to feel embarrassed that he was about to kiss someone right before his older and only sister. He noticed a few things quickly. First off Fury's normally black outfit was now covered in a firm layer of brown dust and Turbulence's fine black coat looked brown as well. He guesses that the Horsewoman and her mare had ran more than 400 miles to get where they were now... And neither one appeared to be out of breath. Second, Fury was harder than normal, considering how she would normally greet him with a big hug and one of her smiles. Turbulence kept glancing sideways at Ruin as he huffed nearby, slowing chewing on a rock. And third, Fury and Turbulence were worried. He could sense it coming off of them both like waves.

"Her name is Melody," War stated calmly. "Sister, what is wrong? Did something happen to you?"

Melody watched as the woman slid off her mare, her face looking like it was trying to settle on an emotion. She had already assumed that this was a bitch riding a horse. Hearing War call her his sister sort of surprised her. But then again, they did seem to share some characteristics. They kind of shared the same face, a round oval looking face with the same shaped eyes, and then the long white hair. Melody could see them as brother and sister, but at the same time, she just couldn't. The human female stayed on the ground where she and War had fallen, her eyes wide and questioning. Ruin crossed over from where he was to stand over her protectively, his head up high and threateningly as he almost glared at the black mare.

"Well, you could call it happen." Fury glanced at Melody curiously before she continued. "Strife and I were traveling together near the Stygian when we were kind of ambushed. They were Nephilim, War." Here War interrupted, surprised.

"Are you positive? Death did sacrifice their souls to recreate the human race but it hasn't exactly taken hold yet on them."

Fury brushed back some of her white hair, pausing. "No. I would know if they were a human or not. They were Nephilim. Jonathan and Rebecca actually. You remember them. Talented people." She paused again. "They took Strife."

While the silence between the two siblings continued, Melody stood and couldn't help but wonder what Fury was saying. Who was Strife? Who was Jonathan? Who was Rebecca? She grabbed a hold of Ruin's saddle and the horse flicked his ears at her to acknowledge her, his jaws still moving to eat at the rock. What did this have anything to do with anything? she wondered, biting her lip. Internally, her body was asking much more questions. Why had War just stopped just like that? She had a guess that he had wanted to continue it too. Maybe he didn't. It was just a guess. Maybe her being a human was too strange for something to love her when he was three times her size.

"If he got kidnapped, then why the hell are we standing here for?" War pretty much growled, signaling to Ruin with his hand. Ruin trotted forward, dragging Melody because she simply refused to let go and because she was frightened over the black mare who pinned back her ears at her, and stopped besides the Horseman. "Let me just get Marco-Polo and we'll leave."

"I always did wonder how Strife called that dog of his," Fury inquired, both of the Horsemen getting on their horses at the same time.

"Like this." War picked up Melody and was placing her firmly between him and the saddle horn before he placed a hand beside his mouth, roaring "MARCO-POLO!"

At first nothing happened. The only thing that really happened was that War's echoed bounced back to him, being all distorted. He smiled at Fury to give her a little hope when she glanced at him questioningly. Marco-Polo had been the one that told him to call him this way; said that saying each part of his name would cause him to split in two. So War waited. After a few more tiring seconds, the ground began to shake and Turbulence grew antsy. She stopped though when Fury dug her spurs into her, her head up as she looked in the general direction of the growing thunder. Melody whimpered a little in fright and War comfortingly placed a hand upon hers on her thigh, lacing his fingers through it as he lifted Ruin's reins with the other. Then Marco-Polo came.

Marco-Polo was the last of his race and yet, War found himself being reminded when Strife's pet dog rounded the corner so hard that his back half went sliding out from under him, he was still a puppy. With his size you couldn't tell at all (he was already five feet and seven inches tall, taller than Melody by an inch, and weighed over two hundred pounds) but when you gazed into either one of his four eyes you could. Not only were his deep brown eyes the biggest things on his face, they danced with excitement all the time. Marco-Polo looked like an oversized German Shepherd... just one with a pair of heads and tails that could split himself in two at the slightest command. He would regrow two other legs on each side and he was internally all correct. He was just a bouncy, rambunctious puppy dog that could crush your head in his jaws just by playing with you.

'Hiya, War!' Marco-Polo yelped, dropping into a playful stance as he wagged his backend. War knew that he was the only one who could understand the pup; his sixth sense as a Nephilim was being able to talk and hear animal speech. 'I think that ya called me? Did ya? Who's the lady and mare?'

"Marco-Polo," War said, gracefully moving Ruin out of Fury's way so she could lead, his hand still wrapped about Melody's. "Strife's hurt."

The bouncy, joyous attitude that the pup had had a minute ago snapped right off, leaving an oversized dog in front of them with his heads cocked to the side, those eyes the widest that they could get. Even Melody sensed the panic that came from Marco-Polo as both of his tongues slide out and he started to shake. 'What happened War? Where is he?'

War glanced at Fury, who guessed at what she was being asked to do. "Marco-Polo, I am Strife and War's older sister, Fury. A pair of bounty hunters have taken him to Samael somewhere down in Hell on this planet. If I could contact Rasha, I would ask him but he seems to be a little busy... Can you help me instead?"

Marco-Polo growled, creating a two way rumble that shook Melody and made Turbulence snap at him warningly. 'Help? I'm going to rip hearts out!'

********************************************

War and Melody had taken turns telling Fury everything that she had needed to know. Both of them though had neglected to tell about them nearly kissing each other. Melody was surprised that Fury hadn't asked about it too. To her, Fury seemed to be the type of person who wanted to know more and if you didn't tell her, she either bit your head off or put you through a living hell. Marco-Polo remained silent the entire time that they galloped across the desserts, his tongues hanging out and his entire focus upon matching Turbulence's pace by her side. Ruin, War and Melody were in the very back, War secretly still holding Melody's hand and leading Ruin one handedly. He almost didn't want to let go.

War could tell that Fury was mad about the small human female that had fallen asleep on his massive chest. Her hunched back and the Stygian that she left in ruins with her whip would have been enough to tell anyone so. But War was also her younger brother and he just knew. Something important was bothering Fury every time that Turbulence's hooves made a connection to the smooth light brown sand underneath them. She never put up her whip either, another clear sign. It snaked about it the air on their left, never touching them but always snapping so close with its pulsating danger and then flicking about away almost teasingly. The whip reflected upon what she felt and if that couldn't have been enough, then Turbulence would have cleared up his uncertainty.

The black mare was always nervous. Normally her ears would stay pinned back, sending a warning to any who got too close but now they were up and down and side to side, always uneasy. She foamed about her bit too, the little white flecks flying in the wind. Turbulence never foamed. Plus, once or twice she tripped, her hooves having hit something wrong and she and Fury would scramble to correct themselves. They were upset about what had happened to Strife and the two twins.

Ruin was always running, never once slowing that huge gait that the pup and mare in front of him were keeping. He was bigger than the others, meaning he had longer strides to him, but they were faster, leaving him in the dessert dust. He had heavier cargo too. He was used to hauling War around, and Melody didn't weigh that much, but with her being asleep, he was just plain nervous that she might fall right off him.

It wasn't that long before they were upon the very lands of the distant Hell, looking over a ruined castle. Fury and Turbulence had gone first again and Marco-Polo was constantly panting, even though his breathing was still even.

"That's Hell?" Melody asked curiously.

War shrugged in behind her. "Yes and no. This isn't the official spot for Hell because Rasha's castle is like the capitol. I'm surprised that the big-."

Almost the second that he said that, there was a huge, deep baritone roar on their left. Melody looked over with wide eyes to see a huge, Minotaur like demon roaring, racing out in front of at least a thousand other demons. She saw another demon, smaller in size and with wings that were bent the wrong way, running out along the front of another set of demons, screaming as well. Both sides looked about evenly matched but the second that the two of the bigger demons slammed head on, it was clear to see who the strongest leader was.

The Horsemen knew both of the demons, the Minotaur one being the Demon Lord Rasha and the other being Samael. Rasha was more older than Samael and when the two met head on, War wasn't surprised to find Samael being lifted clean up in the air, Rasha having grabbed a hold of his shoulders and was bringing him down with his weight. Rasha was much more experienced when it came to fighting and he watched as the large demon flicked out two thick blades and slashed them in Samael's face. Both sides of the smaller demons smashed together. When I say smash, I mean that on collusion, some of the demons were flung up into the air, blood already spraying little trails. This was a rebellion act here, Rasha being the one to raise up his blade to righteousness and Samael to oppose. Already he knew which one he wanted to win.

"Come on, we have more to do than watch Rasha whip Samael's ass," Fury exclaimed angrily, glaring over at War and Ruin. "Strife's in-."

There was a bang as something collided into all three of the animals, including Marco-Polo, who yelped in surprise. Melody and War were thrown from Ruin as the big horse went down, his ears already pinned back and an explosion of red flames bursting from his very core. She landed hard on her side, making her loose her breath. She just spotted a robotic horse as the fiery sun reflected off his metallic hide before a gun was pressed up against her forehead and she screamed.

"Who the hell are you?" a masked man growled, tilting the barrel of the gun to where it was pressing up into Melody's head even more. "Why are you traveling with my brother?"

"I'm Melody," she just managed to splutter.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!!" War roared as he came at Strife, swinging his left hand right at him. Strife just spotted the attack and he bent outward, arcing himself and completely surprising his own self when War lifted his knee to slam it into his older brother's gut. While Strife tried to catch his breath, War placed himself firmly between her and the rest of the Nephilim that were starting to walk up. "All of you! If you dare hurt her, I'll hurt you!"

Melody's eyes widened when the cyborg stepped forward, holding out a metal hand as a peace offering. "Of course War, none of us are going to hurt the human. Wow, you've certainly became quiet the warrior over the past hundreds of years."

"Stop the small talk, Jonathan," War growled.

Another woman stepped up, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "No small talk would saying that the damn demons are having another revolution amongst themselves."

"Oh shut up, Rebecca. We all know that from looking over there but you seem to be not see that."

"Me? Strife, you couldn't see a fly if it landed on your big fat-!"

"Okay!" Fury announced, sensing a fight that was about to break in between the two of them. They were literally almost touching noses now. "Enough of that! I say that we leave this damned place already! Strife!" She took out her whip and then slammed it across the back of Strife's head, knocking him into a quick daze. "Be quiet already!"

"Thank you," Rebecca smirked.

War stood straightener, relaxing. He turned to glance at Melody before he frowned at her. "Well, I'm not staying here."

Fury looked at her younger brother, worry lining her features. "Where will you go?"

He paused to think for a minute, helping Melody stand in behind him. "We'll go to the White City for sure. I'm sure that Arazel will know something that can change her into something that is much stronger than a human."

"Are you sure that's the only reason why you want him to change her?" Strife smirked, only becoming more happier with what he had said when War glared at him.

"Just be careful, baby brother," Fury said softly.