And that, readers, is a portrait of Abbygail (who'll you'll meet in this chapter). It's not as good as the one I did of Death, which I posted in the last chapter, but I am still pleased with the results. Abbygail was a little hard to capture in a way that I wanted to represent her.

Break the world I know,
I fear I'll never see the light of day,
I need you here and now!
Take the pain I hold,
It's crying out to be the end of me,
But I can't hear the sound!

- Nine Lashes, Break the World

5

The tiger laid where it had been thrown, head resting on its large paws and purple eyes narrowed at the two Horsemen. Its purple striped tail flicked back and forth in an frustrated fashion. The ears were flat against its wide skull and every movement that the Horsemen made, the tiger was sure to follow.

And War was beginning to get tired of it.

When the tiger was still unconscious, War had taken it upon himself to hunt food for both himself and Death. The eldest had volunteered for the hunting, only to be turned down and forced to remain by the unconscious tiger's side; Death's condition continued to fall, his coughing fits becoming more common and his already weakened strength diminishing rapidly. What color that had been in his cheeks (which hadn't been much to begin with) had all but vanished, leaving an unhealthy pale complexion behind. The weight in his face was slowly disappearing, making his cheekbones more prominent and his orange eyes sunken. Dark bags grew under his eyes and he never ate. He was always shivering even despite the blanket he would wrap about himself, claiming to be cold even though his forehead burned like a fire and beads of sweat had begun to precipitate, before he would eventually toss the fabric off, returning to shivering state only minutes later. Death had become so weak that he couldn't even stayed focused on anything and spent most of his time in a restless daze.

This worried War. Even as a mortal, Nephilim had hardly ever gotten sick -and, when it was, it was often something that was incurable- and what techniques he had learned to help a sick mortal was slipping his mind. He hadn't needed to remember them when he was immortal. If Fury was here, she would at least have something in mind to help their eldest sibling. She had spent numerous of years reading and researching in the forbidden and once lost libraries, memorizing page after page of century old books in her free time. Surely, she would know what to do.

But War was not Fury and there was no way for him to call upon his sister. For one of the few times of his life, the Red Horseman felt helpless and hopeless.

A small growl came from the tiger when War lifted up the pick he was using to roast part of a bird that he had killed. He glanced over at the creature; it still had yet to move. It was confusing. There was nothing that was stopping the beast from running away and yet it just remained where it was, growling and bristling whenever War got close to it. Assuming that the beast was recovering from their fight seemed likely, though he knew that he had Death had suffered much more serious injuries than the tiger had.

Death's wound on his shoulder had bleed for another hour before it finally had stopped. War's wounds had been more serious. The bite across his shoulder had swelled and the skin around area was turning purple and blue. Puncture marks from the tiger's teeth were visible and Death had commented that the holes looked wide enough to shove his fingers through. War had yet to pull most of his armor back on, the pain from the shoulder wound affecting him too much. Even though War's chest was already decorated with scars from past battles and the new additions from the tiger's claws were rare red and tender. His right hand, which had also suffered from the tiger's jaws, was also swollen and looked similar to a blood red mess. It was almost unusable and the only thing that saved him from all the pain were the bandages that he had wrapped around it. His gauntlet looked like he had shoved it into a smasher; dents randomly dotted the thick armor and the fingers were almost unworkable. Clearly War and Death had taken the brunt of the hit, so why the tiger was still there, War didn't know.

War answered the tiger with his own growl, scrunching his nose up and challenging the beast as he began to stand. The tiger simply bristled some more, its ears flattening and baring its large fangs.

"Stop bothering the animal," Death spoke up from the other side of the fire. "Maybe it'll leave us alone if you stopped threatening it."

Just avoiding growling at his brother, War forced his anger through shooting a glare at the fire before him. The tiger seemed to huff in agreement with Death. "The beast can leave whenever that it wants. There is nothing stopping it."

"And yet the creature remains." Death then broke into another coughing fit, causing the tiger to pause in its growling and bristling. War didn't miss the shift in the tiger's less ferocious change and growled at it in warning. Once Death had recovered, the eldest pulled his makeshift blanket tighter about him and shivered for a moment before saying, "Perhaps it can sense something that we cannot as humans."

"You mean the ash," War half stated, half questioned.

Nodding, Death tilted his head to the side. The glow that had once rested in his orange eyes had been replaced by a sheen that almost made them look lifeless. "It could be possible that the beast senses the ash inside us and wishes to watch us to make sure that we will not do anything."

"Or it could be looking for its next meal." Death snorted at War's comment. "Clearly it not any mindless creature. As a Nephilim I might have been able to communicate with it, but, as a Man, my ability has seems to have disappeared."

"She," Death emphasized. "The tiger is a female."

"I don't care what it is; it's damn annoying."

Death rolled his eyes, deciding to reply War's earlier comment. "Yes, indeed. These humans are weaker than what I can tolerate." The Pale Horseman sneezed then as if to prove his point. "Whatever has claimed me, I do not like," he sniffled.

War rolled his eyes, holding out the bird that he had just roasted. Death's eyes looked at it for a moment before he pushed it away with a small grunt, shaking his head and pulling his blanket about him once more. The Red Horseman growled in frustration; this was the third time that Death had refused War's offer of food. In the background, the tiger made a huffing noise that sounded similar to laughter. "I do not know what you are laughing at, tiger," he spat, turning to face the creature. "You were just defeated by a sickly, unhealthy Man. I am sure that you must feel so much pride at this moment."

The tiger snarled at him, pink nose scrunching up as its fangs were bore at him once more. Its shoulders moved and its paws pulled into its large body like it was about to stand. Something, however, changed its mind, and the beast sank back down to the ground, the fur along its spine bristling and still baring its fangs at War. For a moment, it looked like a relieved peace had came across the beast. As War was standing to investigate, a voice called out from behind him.

"I think that you would be surprised by what the animal knows and understands."

Whipping around and scooping up Chaoseater in one fluid motion, War almost felt himself stumbled forward in surprise, almost avoiding stabbing Chaoseater into the ground and then jabbing himself with its handle. Death was able to handle the situation with ease; Harvester jerked into his hands and he held it up at the newcomer. The tiger made a purring noise, causing War to glance back at it in confusion. He was shocked when the beast trotted by him. Too stunned to move, he watched as the tiger -or the tigress, he supposed- approached the newcomer.

There, standing almost arrogantly with her arms crossed, was a woman. At first, War thought that she was from the Kingdom of Man. He quickly saw that he was wrong. Immortality practically leaked from every pore of the woman; a glow came off her tanned skin and a light seemed to seep from her deep, deep brown eyes. She did appear to be human the more that he stared at her though. Her hair, almost pitch black but with natural highlights of brown, flowed from her head in curls and reached her midback in length. Her clothes looked like human clothes; she wore a black leather jacket with a gray long sleeve underneath, dark blue jeans, and then a pair of black, knee-high boots with a small heel. After all of this time of seeing flawless angels and demons, somehow War was still blown away by the simple beauty of this woman. Perhaps it was the innocence and naïve look that was on her face. It was round, hinting a youthfulness that immortality had frozen time at, and wrinkles had yet to make an appearance. It was her eyes, however, that betrayed her age. The dark brown eyes that betrayed the lightheartedness that she portrayed with every move, showed that she was wiser than she looked. There was a pain in them, so small that War could hardly see it, but the speck that seemed to be the only flaw in her that he could see, was there.
A pain that had affected her for her whole life.

"Who are you?" Death managed to growl before he broke down into another fit of coughing, Harvester slipping through his grasp.

The weapon hitting the ground was what broke War of his daze. He instantly moved in front of Death, standing as to intimidate the woman and the tiger, and growled in warning. To his surprise, the woman laughed. The tigress, who had sat down by the woman's side, seemed to flash a cold smile at him before twitching her whiskers. The woman lifted her arms up in the air before saying, "Look, big guy, I'm harmless. I don't have a single weapon on me."

War's eyes flickered over her, making sure that she was staying true to her word. Wheezing from Death struggling to breath was the only sound for a few moments -though War could hear the pounding of his heart in his ears. "Who are you?"

"Seeing that you're the one in an unfamiliar place that my friend and I protect, I do so believe that I'm the one who's supposed to be asking those types of questions." The woman placed a hand over her heart, a light, almost welcoming smile spreading across her face. "Now. May I ask who you two are? See, so much more polite than your question earlier."

"I am Bobby and he is Joe," Death panted.

"Seriously?" The softer, friendlier look on the woman's face melted away as the tigress growled beside her, being replaced by an amused one that caused the sides of her lips to curl into a smile. "Bobby and Joe?"

The tigress's growl rose in pitch. She leaned forward, placing a paw in front of her so she could transfer her weight, and snarled as her ears flatten once more against her skull. War exchanged a quick glance with Death before he started backing toward his brother. If the tigress did pounce, War was determined to protect his brother; the last fit of coughing that the Pale Horseman had forced him to the ground with its intensity.

He's lying.

Staring at the purple and white beast in surprise, War's mind spun in confusion. Humans didn't understand animals. And the tigress's mouth hadn't moved. She had spoke in his mind. Her voice, loud and threatening from her snarl, seemed to bounce off every little piece in his head and he cringed at the sound. Death grunted beside him; he had felt it too. Now War's gaze shifted to the woman that was staring, one hand on her hip and the other holding her chin thoughtfully, at them as if seeing them for the first time. Perhaps the woman was a witch. It would explain her immortality but her similarity to Man. Maybe she had cast a spell on the tigress. Yes, that had to be it.

"I think so too, my friend," the woman said, biting her lower lip. "No one names themselves Bobby and Joe when one of you could simply be Bobby Joe. Now, I'll ask you one more time before I let my friend take care of you both. Who are you, for real?"

Another lie was working its way across War's tongue, but the tigress beat him to saying anything. They are the Horsemen War and Death, she growled, left ear twitching. They shared a fight with the ash beast that we encountered earlier this week. It must be getting stronger, now that it has turned them mortal and one of Man.

The woman's brown eyes widened in surprise. "What?" Disbelief and possibly panic were in her voice and she looked at the Horseman with a newfound respect in her eyes. "You two are of the Horsemen? Like the Apocalyptic ones that are supposed to destroy this planet?"

"I only know of Four," War answered sarcastically, lowering Chaoseater.

The tigress hissed at his comment but the woman ignored it as she ran a hand through her thick hair. "This is not good. And you said that the ash was what took your powers? The ones that Council gave you and then your Nephilim birthright? Is that even freakin' possible? Shit."

"Rather if it is or not," Death rasped from his seat on the ground, "it did and now we suffer the consequences of attacking without researching."

Pursing her lips in thought, the woman stared at them both for a little longer, making War extremely uncomfortable. He could only imagine how much of a threat that he posed when he bore his wounds that the tigress's had created in front of her without anything to hide them. "You will not be the first or the last to approach like that," the woman said after another minute. "We have seen this beast made of ash swallow everything, from the animals that live in this forest to angels and demons. We have not seen anything actually escape the beast's wrath. Therefore, I shall respect you Horsemen with the respect that you deserve."

She bowed now, neatly and quickly, but the tigress beside her did nothing except for baring its fangs and hissing. War shared another confused glance with Death. "Um, thank you?" War spoke up, gazing at her in confusion.

"Where are my manners?" the woman exclaimed once she had straightened, opening her arms in a friendly gesture and a wide smile. "I am Abbygail and this is Sera." She gestured as she introduced the tigress, who growled once more and bristled. "We are the swore Guardians of Earth, protector of Man and the creatures that call this place home. We kill everything that pose a threat to Earth, so, uh, try get not to get yourselves killed by us, yeah?" Abbygail gave them a blinding smile.

It took every bit of control that the Red Horseman had not to attack the dark haired woman as she casually strolled into their small camp, plopping down on the log across from Death like she had always been here. War bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from saying anything crude and almost failed when the tigress, Sera, strutted by him. And it was tempting to crush her tail as well when she laid behind Abbygail's log, stretching out lazily and placing her head on her paws. Death, having pulled himself up into his seat again, narrowed his eyes. His foot pulled Harvester closer to him and Abbygail's eyes flickered to the weapon when it moved. War found himself sinking down on the other side of the log that Death was sitting on, back straight and propping Chaoseater beside him in case he would need it. His curiosity had gotten the better of him.

"Guardians of Earth?" Death questioned, orange eyes narrowed still.

Abbygail nonchalantly waved a hand in the air. "Yeah. We didn't name ourselves; the humans did." The tigress's tail smacked the woman's thigh and she uttered a quick curse, reaching behind her to slap the side of Sera. A playful grunt was all that she received and the two brother's shared another confused look. "So," Abbygail started, leaning forward on her propped elbows. "I would say that you two are in a lot of trouble at this moment."

"More than we care to admit," War answered drily, tilting his head up proudly. "It is none of your concern what we do here."

"I'm sorry. Did Man's name for us go over your head?" War blinked at Abbygail in shock. "We do exactly what the name suggests; We. Guard. Earth. Anything that goes wrong on this planet, we try to fix. What? Did you really think that Hitler killed himself, or the diseases around here were randomly cured by some scientist? No. We did that or helped at the least."

Death sighed, running his hands through his black hair before yanking his blanket further up onto his shoulders. "So, you two created most of Earth's history without the Council's knowledge?" War grunted; Death was thinking the same thoughts he was.

Abbygail's eyes darkened, if that was possible, and a growl came from Sera as she sat up, becoming a white shadow behind the woman sitting on the log. "Oh, they knew."

"And yet they did nothing?"

"Let's talk about a different subject," Abbygail quickly suggested, a harshness reflecting in her eyes from the now risen sun above them. War lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Death. His brother seemed to be taking the information much better than he was; the Council had been hiding things from them. Abbygail clicked her tongue, seizing War's attention once again. "For example, where are your brother and sister, Strife and Fury?"

A growl arose from War and, before he could answer, Death replied, "They are with the Stag of this forest, Orion, searching for a place for us to stay in."

"Where?"

War snorted. "Orion mentioned a farm owned by someone named Jessie."

A smile grew on Abbygail's face and she gave a pleased nod. "You will be safe there. Jessie is a good woman, not like many of Man in general, male or female." She stood then, Sera taking that as a sign to bound through the woods and disappear quickly despite her white fur. Abbygail gave them another nod. "I guess we'll be seeing the two of you later; I'm sure y'all be doin' something that brings us back out from hiding." She paused, suddenly appearing to be nervous. With a deep breath, she took a step closer to War and produced a round, black pebble from her pocket. "If you need our help, just smash this. It'll call me from wherever I am and I'll come as quickly as I can."

"Uh..." War found himself lost. Abbygail gave a small, reassuring smile, and placed the pebble into his much larger bandaged hand, her tiny fingers brushing against his palm just a tad. He ignored the sparks that ran up his arm and pretended to be fascinated by the light mineral in his hand. "Thank you."

She gave another small nod before turning and disappearing into the woods.

Death nudged him in the ribcage once she was out of sight, breaking War's stare at the stone in his hand. His fingers closed protectively about it and he almost dropped it in fright. He didn't want to break it in the few seconds that he had it. "What the hell are you doing?" Death hissed, his voice breaking. "We are not here to woo mysterious women!"

"I did nothing to woo her. She gave me this pebble as an act of..."

"Love? Passion? Lust? War, throw the stone in the woods now. Get rid of it. Who knows what it could possibly truly be."

War didn't move at first and Death huffed in annoyance, turning away and pulling his blanket more around his shoulders. A frown grew on War's face as he stood. Why had the woman given him the stone? Who was she truly besides from Abbygail, if that was her real name? He began pacing and held the stone out in his hand to stare at it. It was hardly big -it fit neatly into the palm of his hand and was perhaps two inches across- but he could remember feeling how surprised that he had been to find how small Abbygail's hands actually were. Bouncing the stone a few times to test its weight, War debated about keeping it and the consequences that it could possibly bring.

"Just throw it in the woods, War," Death called back from camp and the Red Horseman shot him a look of annoyance. "Keeping it will only bring more trouble than what it is worth and we do not have the time to deal with these Guardians of Earth."

There was a small crack in the woods and, a few seconds later, War sat down on the other log, clasping his hands together and staring at the forgotten bird that was laying by the fire that he had been planning to eat earlier. He had lost his hunger anyways. Death frowned at War, waiting to confirm that he had thrown the pebble somewhere. War met Death's orange eyes and nodded. "You are right. It is better if I do not concern myself with that stone and the so called Guardians."

"Good." Death shivered again. "Strife and Fury should be here by noon, by what you've told me."

Nodding again, War frowned. He stood to move Chaoseater from its place near Death and glanced up to make sure that his eldest brother wasn't looking before he reached into his red belt. A small, black pebble appeared in his bandaged right hand and he glanced at it, as if it make sure that it was truly real, before returning it into the original place that it had been. And, when he sat down, staring into the dying flames of their fire, he wondered if keeping the stone was going to harm him in the end.

But, maybe, it wouldn't.