Kalawarna
Kalawarna's wings glided silently through the air, each beat a whisper against the dawn sky. Her hands trembled as they clutched the edges of her coat, trying to convince herself the chill was from the morning breeze. It wasn't.
She hadn't been able to sleep. Not after what happened. Not after *him*.
What the hell had come over her?
She hadn't intended to approach him. She had simply been scouting. Observing.
Watching the boy named Issei Hyoudou from a distance. Because she sensed smell of devil.
A perverted, mundane high schooler who happened to be under the watch of the Gremory heiress. But something was wrong—different.
When she passed by him in the crowd that evening, there was a scent—no, more than that.
A *pull*. Something rich and intoxicating. Sweet like forbidden nectar, tangled with an undertone of allure along with Devil smell.
Devil… and something else. Something broken, unrefined… but deep.
She remembered walking behind him. Not stalking, just… *trailing*. Watching how the fading sunlight touched his hair. She remembered how, for a moment, she hated him—for existing, for tempting her.
And then—
No, she hadn't planned it. She had never meant to make contact. But the second he noticed her and smiled—clueless, unaware, and yet *not*—her feet moved on their own.
They found themselves alone in a quiet alley. She cornered him like a predator.
He was nervous, she remembered. Embarrassed. But never afraid. He even joked about how lucky he was, a beautiful woman coming onto him out of nowhere.
Kalawarna had laughed. A real laugh. One she hadn't heard from her own lips in decades.
And then… she fucked him.
It should've been just a moment of indulgence. A whim. Fallen Angels indulged when they pleased—pleasure, desire, temptation—it was part of their existence. And after, she had intended to kill him. No hesitation. He was a threat. A pawn of the devils. A boy with a Sacred Gear.
But after it ended…
She couldn't.
She lay there beside him, her body flushed and weak, and stared at his sleeping face. There was something… gentle about it. Innocent.
Warm. Her fingers twitched when she thought of snapping his neck—and recoiled when the image passed through her mind.
She had tried to force the thought, to burn it into her instincts. *He's a liability. A target. A stepping stone.*
But the moment she imagined hurting him, her stomach twisted violently. Her wings curled inward as if shielding her from her own thoughts.
No.
Something had changed.
She felt *marked*.
Not by power. Not by magic.
But by *him*.
Kalawarna shook her head and landed near the abandoned church they used as their base. The cracked bell tower loomed over her like a cross flipped upside down.
She hesitated at the threshold, fingers brushing over the cold stone wall.
Would Raynare notice? Would she ask?
Kalawarna straightened her posture and pushed open the door.
The dim interior of the church greeted her with silence, broken only by the faint drip of water from a cracked pipe near the altar.
Raynare sat at one of the broken pews, legs crossed, reading something on a stolen smartphone. Her purple eyes snapped toward Kalawarna the moment she stepped in.
"You're back," Raynare said flatly.
Kalawarna nodded, saying nothing.
There was a pause. Then a tilt of Raynare's head.
"Where were you last night?"
Kalawarna felt a jolt in her chest. She didn't answer immediately. She looked away, pretending to be distracted by the moss creeping along the church's cracked walls.
Raynare rose slowly. Hjer heels clicked with a rhythm too calm to be casual.
"I sent Dohnaseek looking for you," she continued, her voice deceptively light. "No response to your communicator. You're not the type to go rogue. So…?"
Kalawarna tried to find her voice.
"I… lost track of time," she lied, her tone barely convincing even to herself. "Needed to clear my head."
Raynare raised an eyebrow. "That's unlike you."
Kalawarna's lips tightened.
"I didn't think I needed permission to take a walk."
Raynare didn't smile. She stepped closer, searching Kalawarna's face, her aura flaring with suspicion.
"You reek of guilt."
Kalawarna flinched.
Raynare's voice dropped to a whisper. "You were with someone."
The Fallen Angel looked away.
Raynare scoffed. "A human? Really? What did you do, Kalawarna?"
"I just needed some time to relieve my stress." She lied.
Raynare's sharp gaze lingered on Kalawarna for a moment longer before she turned away with a slight, knowing smirk.
"Well, as long as your little… *stress relief* doesn't interfere with the mission," she said, her voice laced with warning, though deceptively calm. "We don't have the luxury to get sentimental, Kalawarna. Not now."
Kalawarna said nothing, her expression unreadable.
Raynare walked toward the makeshift altar at the front of the ruined church, her fingers lightly tracing its weathered surface. She paused, then glanced back over her shoulder.
"Asia Argento will be arriving in two weeks."
That snapped Kalawarna's attention fully. "Already?"
Raynare nodded. "Yes. She's been moved from one church to another for too long. The Vatican thinks she's useless. That's perfect for us."
A cruel gleam lit her eyes.
"We'll keep up the illusion for now. Let her think we're her guardians, her new family. The moment she crosses the threshold, we make sure everything is in place."
Kalawarna folded her arms, her thoughts still a haze, but she forced herself to focus. "So the ritual is confirmed?"
Raynare nodded. "Absolutely. Her Twilight Healing will be extracted and reforged into something *better*. Something more… useful to us. That Sacred Gear is wasted on a girl like her."
She turned fully to face Kalawarna, voice low and commanding. "Get the circle ready. Recheck the incantations. Make sure Dohnaseek and Mittelt know their roles. No mistakes. This is our chance to regain favor with the higher orders."
Kalawarna gave a slow nod, masking the unease that coiled deeper in her chest.
Raynare smiled coldly. "And Kalawarna… do try not to get *distracted* again."
Kalawarna didn't respond.
But for the first time in years, she wasn't sure where her loyalty truly lay.
~~~
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