Our plan was set, Arum had agreed to help, loving the idea to crash Heaven’s party. He was certainly going to Hell, but he really had a problem if he did apparently. We used him after Ren let us inside of Heaven, me and Arum blocked Cassie’s presence as she hid hers. We knocked out the guards at the gate and we were able to regroup. Ren guided us to Joshua’s office. There we split off; Arum stayed behind with Ren and caused a commotion by fighting, alerting more guards and the building alarm to go off.

“They usually practice in there!” Cassie pointed to a room that was currently on lock down. Me and Cassie ran over to the room, inside there were a bunch of toddlers and adolescence Angels who were all huddled in the corner. In front of them I could see a man.

“That him?” Cassie nodded.

“Yes…” I gritted my teeth a bit knowing that man was all over Cassie while I wasn’t around it made me want to kill him right there. Cassie pulled me from that. “Akuma?” I nodded and took her hand.

“I'm sure it's just a midlife crisis." She smiled and I went back to look seriously, "Where’s his office?” She pointed to a linking corridor.

“Through there, it’s the last door on the left.” I ran as quickly as possible and we made it to his office. Inside it looked strange to me seeing as how everything was white, but, Cassie went over to his desk to the first drawer looking for the revolver, she pulled it out and I took it.

“Woah there, have you ever handled a gun?”

“Of course not!” She said.

“Right, then leave this one to me, don’t want any trigger happy fingers.” She nodded. “Maybe I should just get rid of the gun over all…?” Then I got an idea. “Cassie cover your ears.”

“Huh?” She did as I said and I shot off the gun into the back window letting out three shots, it broke the glass and Cassie fell to the floor covering her ears. I then tossed the remainder bullets into the courtyard, hopefully no one would find it while we were still here. I fixed the chamber back, Cassie came up. “W-what’d you do that for?” She stuttered out, I chuckle.

“Sorry about that. I just thought if he heard the gun he’d assume maybe you fired it off by mistake and that there were still bullets left. So if he ever got the gun no one would be hurt.” Cassie’s expression softened.

“Oh… That was a smart idea.” I nod.

“Yeah, kind of used to things like this.” I helped her up.

"Okay, we should go and find Ren and Arum." She said.

"You know, maybe you should just go back to them. Leaving getting rid of G.I Joe over there."

"What? I know you're really strong, but Joshua isn't a pushover."

"I'm not either." Cassie shook her head.

"No, we're fighting him together, and no one needs to die either!" I frowned to her. It was always like her to try and mediate things instead of doing it the easy way. I really wanted her to have a change of heart this time.

"Look you were the one complaining about feeling weak, all the work you did must have tired you out. Just go back and rest." Cassie stared at me, then she spoke.

"After all this time we've spent together you're now treating me like everyone else... I can handle myself. Being away from you has taught me that much!"

"I know, but not this time!" I was getting a bit angry now.

"Well I'm not leaving." Cassie was more stubborn than when I left her, I was about to grab her and force her out, but our conversation was cut short when the man himself entered the room. Cassie stood alert hearing him enter. He stood in front of us with a more than winning smirk on his face. I kept up my guard. “I’ve heard so much about you, and now I finally get to meet the top Angel around here. Kind of boring with everyone else.” He looked past me at Cassie.

“Cassie? Ren didn’t capture you? I was sure your family would reject you for being with this filth.” She stepped up, I tried to stay close beside her.

“Your wrong about my family! They would never put me in jail or hurt me over something so trivial!” He chuckled.

“Trivial? This is your very species we’re talking about here! Angels breed with other Angels not Demons.” I nodded.

“Yeah, but she’s obviously not your typical Angel.” I interjected. He looked to me.

“I have been wanting to ask… Why do you love Cassie so much? Is it her looks, or that her loyalty to love she has?" I said nothing. "That she’d do virtually anything you asked of her even if it meant risking her life as an Angel? Or was it perhaps the want to destroy her innocence with sinning?” I smiled and spoke the honest truth.

“Really, it was kind of both when I first met her. She was really gullible and just listened to anything I said, plus I wanted to see if I could break her like you said… But after some time with her I realized that she’s just like me, just a bit more privileged. She has the same feelings I do and she knows when to give a shit and when not to. I guess you could say it was a bit of a turn on when I first saw that side of her.” Joshua seemed agitated from what I said, I smirked to him thinking to press him a bit more. “Why not leave Cassie out of this and just kill me? I’d be willing to die if it meant she got to keep living her life like normal with or without me.” Joshua seemed to like that but as well took it to insult.

“Akuma don’t-” Cassie was cut off.

“You think I can’t kill you?” He interrupted.

“More like I know you can’t kill me.” I started. “I’m on your level Joshy, it’s not a question anymore.” His mouth moved into a smirk, his teeth started to show and he started to laugh, I let him be and waited until he calmed down.

“Fool. You don’t even realize it, do you?” I was a bit lost now. “It doesn’t matter if you kill me, turn me in, overpower me, or whatever. What I needed done is and now nothing you do will matter.” I grunted upset that he wasn’t being direct.

“What are you talking about?” He took a small breath.

“Cassie, the one you care so much for; the one who you all are trying to protect from me, has never been closer to death at my hands.” I was confused. “Allowing her to take the Purified Soul was something I hadn't thought of before, but with a little persuasion the perfect scenario fell right into my hands."

“W-what are you talking about?” Cassie said.

"Since captains are the only ones who are given access, we are the only ones who know about its side effects on Angels.” He explained. “You know it cures an Impure touch to prevent Lucifer from claiming a soul, but don’t you think that explains it right there?” I didn’t want him to leave my eyesight, so I spoke instead.

“You’re just stalling now, get to the point or get ready to die!” He chuckled, that’s when Cassie spoke to me.

“I-I think he’s right Akuma?”

“Huh?”

“She understands now… Even Angels can be affected by a Demon's Impurity. Cassie just so happened to get lucky when you burst into flames.” What? How'd he know about that. "My only goal at that point was to rid of you both." Cassie stepped up nearing him, I grabbed her and she yelled.

"Why?" Joshua chuckled.

"Because there is no fixing you Cassie. You are willing to give yourself to a Demon, and I figured if I just put in you jail I'd be able to rid of you with no problem." He paused. "But you were a bit smarter than I thought, so I just hoped the Purified Soul would try and attack anything he may have put on you." I couldn't think straight, Cassie was still trying to attack Joshua, but I held her back feeling a bit numb now.

“T-that’s not possible!” I yelled. Cassie calmed down now. "Even if you knew about my mark somehow, it's gone now!" Cassie then spoke up.

"...I-It's actually not Akuma." I looked to her, this time I faced her fully.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I don't know, it's just still here. I could feel it and that's what think about helping you!" I couldn't believe it, I turned back to Joshua who mad no effort in moving towards us.

"I still don't believe you, you could be lying to catch us off guard!"

“You knew less than I thought. Angel's can't lie and if you don’t believe me, have her sprout those wings of hers and let’s see then!” I turned to Cassie.

“Show him you’re okay Cassie!” Cassie’s eyes wavered before she did as I said and pulled her wings out. Her wings were shedding and looked smaller than usual. They were frail looking almost as if one tug could pull them off. This wasn’t good.

“Is this really happening Akuma?” She said with a shaky voice. I stepped back thinking maybe it would help at this point.

“No, Cassie it’s… okay. I-it has to be something else!” Joshua laughed behind me.

“Deny it all you want. What’s done is done and I no longer have any excuse to have you around and living!” I heard him walking towards us, I gripped the handle of his gun.

“... Shut it.” I spoke softly at first before turning my whole body to Cassie once more. “Cassie, can you protect yourself?”

“N-no, I’m sorry I-” I stepped forward before speaking as calmly as I could.

“Don’t worry… I won’t let you get hurt.” She stared at me before nodding. She stepped further behind me and Joshua was suddenly right in front of me.

“You think you can kill me with that handicap? This might be a lot easier than I thought. Maybe once I’m done I can have my way with Cassie before she dies!” I didn’t want to hear him anymore. I blocked his punch and hit his gun with the butt of his gun. He stumbled back a bit but I grabbed him and punched his stomach. He then tried backing away. I brought my knee to his foot before shoving my knee into his lowered face. He braced that and got up grabbing me and knocking us over as he punched anywhere he could. I really couldn't feel the pain, so I manged to bring my fingers together and formed a void trapping us inside.

"Where is this?" In his moment of confusion, I kicked him off and threw the gun to my side. He took this chance to avoid my hit. He ran past me and grabbed the gun. I heard it click three times.

“You shouldn’t fight fire with fire.” He didn’t speak to me. “Cassie told me that you had asked her to marry you before? You must have not really loved her to have thoughts like this in your head.” He stood normally and started to chuckle spitting the blood from his mouth.

“You wanna know something? I really did love Cassie, I was going to propose once she started in my unit, but after I found out that she was with you, it angered me on levels I didn’t know I could reach! I was so conflicted at that anything could swayed me into a rampage." He calmed down. "So when the option came up to rid of Cassie and you, I just knew I had to take it.” I narrowed my eyes.

“Offer?” He nods.

“Yes, your father had sent me a letter requesting that I kill you. I didn’t want to accept an offer from any Demon regardless of their power of past operation, but it bothered me more to know that the one I had come to fall in love with was with a Demon. I had to get rid of her this was the best and easiest way.” He chuckled once more. “So I guess you could say we were working together even before I thought to kill her!” His laugh was starting to get annoying, I ran up to him growling, he tried to defend against me as I reached for his neck. He hit me in my chest, but I ignored it and kept reaching until my fingers were around his neck. He started to choke and swung his hands hitting my face and chest.

“I’ll make sure you never say her name again!” I kept pushing feeling as if I could puncture my thumbs through his throat. Seeing his face turn red and and feelings his fingers clawing at my body, I didn’t let go. That’s when Cassie popped in my head. The thought of her dying was pulling at my heart, even though I didn’t want her to die, if she did I didn’t want her last memories of me being a killer. She’s never wanted that and always led me to do things differently. I loosened my grip and I brought one hand up to form a weapon. It was the knife that I took all those months ago… when I first met Cassie. I trust it into his chest, ever so near his heart. He groaned nearly falling forward with the pain. I then formed many more and stabbed them various places on his body until he was affixed to the wall. His mouth drooled blood, his eyes gazed up to mine. They were fading.

“You won’t die unless I stab your heart… I won’t ever do that, or come back here. Welcome to your new home. Enjoy eternal suffering where not even death can save you.” He began to yell.

“No! You can’t do this! I’ll kill you!” His threats were weak. I opened my void and left leaving his screams behind me.

…

Cassie had now been on the floor, I went over to her and supported her back and looked to her withering wings. Her breathing started to go soft, her face was cold and her eyes were slowly losing their brown glow.

“D-did you win?” I nodded to her.

“Yeah, I did.” A weak smile came to her face.

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt.” She paused. “He’s not dead is-”

“No.” I cut her off and gave her a small smile. “I knew you wouldn’t like that.” She nodded to me and I felt her relax even more against my body. “I’m sorry Cassie.”

“What? N-none of this is your fault…” I gritted my teeth. “It’s not!” She stared at me and nodded, her hand came up to my cheek. “It’s not Akuma.” She stated again. Her hand moved down to grab mine. “It’s no ones fault and no one could have seen this coming… I didn’t think my life up here was going to be so short, but I can’t complain.” I stared at her she went on. “I love my family, I… love you. I discovered so many things, I helped as many people as I could, I did everything I could. I know I’ll miss you, but I think you can move-” I stopped her.

“Don’t!” I paused my breathing turned ragged. “Don’t say that. I can’t find anyone else like you. No one is like you! You understand everyone and love everything. It’s interesting and at the same time really annoying," She laughed a bit. "Besides, something about how we felt the same made me feel like I needed to change to be with you. I didn’t, but I tried to anyways… I guess you could’ve really liked this ‘new me’ I was trying to be.” She smiled and reached for the back of my head. She brought my head to rest on hers.

“I know. I kind of felt that same way when we met too, but I can’t think of any way to change this.” I bit my lip and brought her head to rest on my shoulder.

“Stop saying that…” She rubbed my back going up to my neck.

“I know… I’m sorry.” Her brushes got softer and lighter, I pulled closer and placed her hands in her lap. “A-akuma?” I nodded wanting to be as attentive as I could for her.

“Yeah?” She smiled.

“I just wanted to hear your voice one last time… I… really love it.” My eyes went wide, she got colder. “... I… love… you.” I shook my head and tried to keep her eyes open.

“Cassie no… stay awake okay?” I couldn’t think of anything else and brought my lips to hers. She kissed back and we separated I gazed into her eyes again. “I-I love you… more than anything and I always will!” Her mouth moved into a smile as she gripped the bottom of my shirt and forced out a light giggle. Her grip on the bottom end of my shirt loosened until it was completely gone. I felt my heart sink. I moved her hand and it fell back down like a lifeless doll. I felt tears in my eyes for the first time in my life, it felt horrible and tasted similar.

“Cassie?” I whispered her name as if she could still hear me now. I just stayed there, unable to move. Thinking that maybe if I didn’t for long enough she’d just wake back up and tell me she loved me one more time…