Quick side note for anyone that hasn't heard, I started a new story! It's called "2AM" and it's Ghorror (GhostXRicky) I'd really be grateful if you go and support it! Also, I was listening to BVB IV while writing this and the last chapter. Thanks for your support! Carry on~

X • Ryan's POV • X

When it comes to war-esc situations, I usually just shut my mouth and take orders. I'm not saying there's another war coming, but usually lockdowns lead to something of that nature. Chris could technically take control once again anytime he wanted, and it looks like that's what he's doing. However, just because he can, doesn't mean he should. I think we'd be fine having Devin lead us through this.

Chris needs his rest, and when he broke his back, he put Devin in charge for a while. Angelo is above Devin in ranking, but he isn't exactly in the right state of mind to be leading us. I was very worried about letting Chris take control when he isn't out of recovery yet. Devin and I both followed close behind him as he walked through the halls, without giving us much insight towards where we were going.

"Where's Angelo?" He barked at one of the maids.

"T-The dungeon, Sir." She timidly replied.

Chris scoffed at her hesitation. Well, someone is a little grumpy. Chris teleported off without warning. Devin rolled his eyes, grabbing my wrist, and teleporting us without even asking me first! Or warning me! I stumbled a bit as he let go of my wrist, hurrying ahead of me to catch up with Chris.

We were in the dungeon. God, I hate it here. It's walkways and prison cells built on top of chasms. If you look over the rails of the walkways, all you'll see is a bottomless pit of blackness. I guess it helps from prisoners escaping. I followed Devin, who was following Chris, to the combat rooms on the backside of the prison cells. They entered one of the rooms, and I just barely caught the falling door as I lagged behind.

"Ange!" Chris demanded his attention.

Angelo got one last punch in on the dummy in front of him, before he rested against it to catch his breath. He barely glanced over his shoulder to look at us. It caused his obvious anger at Chris' approach to thicken the tension in the room. Angelo wiped the sweat from his forehead as he turned towards us.

"What?" He snapped.

"Have the Guardians told you anything about the lockdown?" Chris asked impatiently.

Angelo grabbed a bottle off the mat, replying as he opened it, "Don't you think I would have told you if they did?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You don't tend to tell me a lot these days."

Ange had to take a moment to have a drink just to keep himself from coming undone on Chris. I mean I get it. He can't act all lovey-dovey with Ricky, then turn around and be an asshole to Angelo. It just isn't right. Chris shouldn't be an asshole to any of the coven! All we do is help him!

"I'll let you know if they tell me anything. I'm sure, if they're calling a lockdown, they're probably a little busy. Where's Josh an-" Angelo stopped mid-sentence as he lost himself in a daze. It took a few moments before he snapped out of it. He groaned, fighting to keep his balance. "That was the Guardians."

"We assumed." Devin replied. He walked towards Angelo and gave him a shoulder to lean on. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just been having some problems getting lightheaded whenever the Guardians speak with me. I don't know why." He mumbled.

"I'm afraid it might be the baby draining your energy. It didn't happen with Lydia because she became an oracle like you." Devin explained. "What did they have to say?"

"Beau went off the grid. The next in power to lead the Shadows, Axel, has taken over and he's waging war on all other species. Considering their last operation needed pure energy, I'm going to assume he'll go for fairies, nekos, and angels first."

"Ricky will be fine. His purity was corrupt the second he got pregnant by a vampire." He said.

"But he's currently where all the fairies and nekos live." I reminded him.

Chris sighed. "And that's my worry. We need to-"

"You need to rest." Devin interrupted. "You and Angelo both. The rest of us can handle this."

X • Ricky's POV • X

I hate the noise of the sirens, and it wouldn't stop. Even as I was lead to the basement of the Home Tree, I could still hear it in the distance. Why is it, I always seem to be away from home when battles and wars begin? It must be a weird curse or something like that.

Their basement was a lot different than ours. The mansion's caverns are where the coven lives, whereas here, the Kindle and Fae Ring live on the top floor. Their basement was made of smooth grey bricks. Chests lined the room, and weapons hung upon the walls. In the dead center of the room, a portal glowed. It's edged were made from dark branches, that had rooted themselves into the ground and walls. You could see the thing actually almost breathed... It was living, I think.

We don't have a portal, because we have three teleporters in the coven. I've only briefly seen the portal in Kuza's tavern, so seeing one up close like this intrigued me. I watched the cliche movie scene play out in front of me as the other fairies said goodbye to Bret. He hugged me, telling me to stay safe, and I returned the same well wishes. Then Tommy grabbed a bag of Bret's things and they disappeared into the portal's magic.

"Ricky, I could use your angel strength." Robby said. I turned my attention towards him so he could further explain. "Help Charlee and I move the blockade for the portal. If the intruders manage to get inside the Home Tree, the last thing I need is them going through this portal."

"What about Bret? If he needs to come back?" I asked.

"He won't." JC firmly stated.

Well then... I guess he won't? I don't fucking know anymore. I helped Charlee and Robby move a fucking heavy black box of sorts. It was as tall and as wide as the portal, and fit over it perfectly. Once we met it to the wall, it fused over the portal. No one is getting through there now! You would have never known there was anything there before either.

I hope Bret does okay. Kuza and the other gargoyles will protect him, but I still worry. And fuck, I hope Angelo isn't stubborn and tries to fight. What am I saying? I'm deciding to fight and I'm farther along with my pregnancy than he is! Don't be a hypocrite, Ricky.

"You don't have an angel aura anymore." Ray spoke softly.

"N-no, I don't." I admitted. "I've lost my aura and my angel telepathy because the vampires corrupt me. However, Devin's given me alternatives."

"I hope you have those alternatives with you." Charlee said.

"I learned to never leave without them. They're enchanted crystals, work like a charm." I smirked as I pulled the necklaces from underneath my shirt to show.

Ray stared at the many charms I had. They weren't all crystals, but all were magical. I was getting a sense he was the fairies' oracle, because he seemed a lot more mystic than the others.

"Those aren't all crystals." He muttered. "Who gave you a skeleton key?"

"Angelo." I spoke somewhat weary of his curiousness. No one has ever questioned it before...

"Something wrong?" JC asked him, concerned.

Ray shook his head. "It's nothing. I just didn't know there were any skeleton keys left. I thought they all were destroyed by now."

I shrugged. "Angelo is a bit of a hoarder."

I was trying to joke it off, because the real explanation wasn't one I wanted to give. How exactly do I tell another oracle that Angelo gets gifts from the Guardians because they favor him? As elemntry as it sounds, I don't want to hurt any feelings.

It was interesting to watch them prepare for battle. Vampires are pretty straight shooters, I suppose. They bite first, ask questions later. However, fairies and nekos take their time to put on armor and say their prayers. Maybe vamps would fair better if they did that, but I can't see Chris asked help of the Lord anytime soon.

London joined us once he had alerted the troops. Shortly after he was done getting his bearings, we all heard and felt a loud explosion from upstairs. As fast as we could, we rushed towards it. I was the last one out of the basement, and I caught Charlee seal the door behind me. When he did, I saw the mark of an oracle on him. It's a silver moon shape. Angelo's is on the back of his neck, and I saw Charlee's on his left shoulder. Usually oracles tend to be the most noble of their kind.

When we reached the main corridor, a group of lower level shadows were there to meet us. They had used brute force to knock the door down, explaining the explosive noise we heard. Each stood in a fighting position, waiting on us to make the first move.

"They're just scouts Axel sent ahead." Ray said. "But it's a warning sign."

I began to step forward to finally attach these fuckers, but Charlee stopped me by putting his hand on my chest. "London, take care of them." He hissed.

"Yeah, come on kid," One mocked. "Take care of us."

London initially looked scared. Then, his ears perked and his grin twisted into something sinister. He was plotting in his head, I think, I figured out a plan. Just in time, because the seven or so Shadows started running for us. And before I knew it, they ended up bodies on the ground. London pounced on top of one, then bounced from Shadow to Shadow, finding different ways to take time down. They reached for him, but couldn't manage to grab him. It was like watching a very violent version of monkey in the middle.

"To your right!" Robby yelled at him. London took care of a Shadow that almost caught his tail, and Robby had to scold, "That was really fucking sloppy!"

He threw down the last Shadow, and in their typical fashion, the bodies fell to dust. With a heavy chest, London stared back at us. "I just took down seven Shadows by myself. Cut me some slack!"

"What if I hadn't been watching you?" He sneered.

"I would have fallen on my ass and still learned my lesson the same way." London replied.

Robby rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll let you fall on your ass next time."

"Sorry." Chad muttered to me, referring to their bickering. I just shrugged it off, because it really didn't matter.

"We have to get going." Charlee interrupted them. "They're coming for us, fast."

I assumed the Guardians told him, just as I assume the Guardians told Ray that those were scouts. Maybe it was an educated guess. Either way, at least we knew. Chad called a woman downstairs. She was really short, with long black hair, and absolutely beautiful. He kissed her, handing her the box I saw Robby and London with earlier. Chad told her he loved her as he left her, and I saw the envy in the others.

It's got to hurt, to have no one to fight for. As far as I knew, the rest of them didn't have girlfriends or boyfriends. JC said goodbye to rather length blond girl, but that was it. What do you have to look forward to coming home to then? I suppose they fight for each other, and the lives of their kingdom. Still, love is the most important thing there is.

Considering this wasn't my villages or my kingdom, I walked behind the others as they began to walk through the valley. Mothers and children watched from their homes with fear in their eyes. I'm sure they believed in their leaders. It's just, hope was thin for us all.

"JC, Ray, you two go ahead of us with Ricky. Meet the general at the valley's peak. We're going to make sure all the trash is cleaned out here." Chad instructed us.

They nodded and took flight. I followed behind, finding the two of them falling on either side of me. Flying, we made it there in a few minutes. This area looked over the entire valley. From behind me, I could see houses that looked so small in the distance. They were lives though... Real people that we had to protect. Over the cliff, the soldiers were setting up.

I took a good look around while Ray and JC went to speak with the general. Seems like a really caught everyone's attention... I guess no one is used to seeing me without the Coven. It is weird to be without them for the first time since they rescued me, but I'm trying to expand my horizons. Speaking of horizons, the sky was still bleeding. I really am concerned about what angel was killed, even if they are back stabbing bastards.

The troops might have stared, but they didn't speak to me. It have me some time to think, at least. A time that was short, as the nekos had reached us. The general directed us on where to stand. He set scouts in front of us, and the leaders down a row, with soldiers behind all of us.

"Hold this line." He instructed us. "Angel, fly up and give me a good idea how close they are."

I nodded as I felt myself fall back into soldier mode. It's been a long, long time since I was the hero. I've always been the victim. Not today. I've got a goal to kill as many Shadows as I can. I flew high into the red sky and looked forward to see the army approaching. We've got quite the fight ahead of us.

Then I looked to see who was leading. Of course, Axel stood in front, but it was who stood next to them... My blood boiled to see these people dare stand along side such vile creatures.. Traitors to their own kind.

Logan Thayer, Ryan Howell, Alex Foxx, Tyler Burgess... and TJ.