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A great shadow grew and loomed over Charlie and the others. The bleeding-red skies of Hell darkened, blocked by a great black figure. The black smoke that seemed to swirl around the air clung onto the figure, transforming into what seemed to be feathers.
The feathers were not sleek and glossy but black and sharp like knives. Many of them looked like spindles or even bones and dead branches of a yew tree.
A long, sinister neck sprouted from its body supporting a coral-tinted beak. Where a beak was normally smooth, seemed to be jagged edges, like teeth. Above its beak opened a pair of malicious red eyes, looking like they were about to attack. The feathers along its head were taut, as if preparing to strike.
The form was a giant, misshapen, grotesque swan.
Everyone’s jaws hung open as the swan loomed over them. Even Vaggie lowered the hold on her spear in awe.
“I-Is that—?”
“The Black Swan,” Alastor announced from the archway of the hotel. Husk stood next to him with a grim look on his face. They’d both seen this before somehow.
“Is it supposed to be ironic that swans are graceful and elegant-looking because she—that—is fucking terrifying.” Cherri quipped.
“Holy smokes, I’m glad I didn’t get on her bad side.” Angel said, slowly walking backward into the hotel doorway..
Theo was standing only a few feet away from the swan, and further away from the hotel compared to everyone else. He looked up at the demon with an indiscernible look on his face. He was taking in the sight of the Black Swan, and his body seemed to be fuming. His eyes were narrowed, glaring at the creature—a mixture of surprise, awe and rage.
Charlie called out to Theo. “Theo, what’s happened? Why—”
But before Charlie could say more, Theo shot himself from the ground, his wings fully sprouted. He flew up to be eye level to the large demon.
“I’m flattered. Stopped running for me?” Theo called out.
“I’d just like to try to wipe that smug look off your face.” A warbled voice came from the open mouth of the swan.
“Celestina!” Came a voice from below. It was Taylor. She had run out of the hotel and toward them. “There’s no need for this! We can all just have a chat—”
“I’d say it’s needed. Don’t you?” Celestina’s warbled voice came.
Theo scoffed. “On that, we can agree.”
Then he looked down at Taylor. “Taylor, please.”
“Theo, it isn’t fair! There’s nothing she can do to harm—”
“Why don’t you let her find that out for herself, dear sister?” Theo said, eyes locked onto Celestina’s red ones.
“Don’t worry. I won’t touch the hotel,” Celestina said.
Taylor let out a frustrated sigh and walked back to the hotel. She ushered Charlie and Vaggie inside.
“At this point he’s determined. He won’t be changing his mind.”
“Or hers. They’re both annoyingly stubborn,” Vaggie said, irritated.
“This isn’t—I—” Charlie struggled, at a loss for words.
They walked back into the hotel and shut the doors, but everyone stood by the windows, peering out at the fight that was about to ensue.
“I know she’s rough and not a people-person but I sort of like her—it’s kind of nice to see her break through her mold sometimes. I’ve seen it.,” Charlie said, referring to Celestina. “I don’t want to see either of them get hurt.”
Vaggie turned to Alastor and Husk. “You both seem to have to be familiar with her. What are Celestina’s chances?”
There was a twitch at the corner of Alastor’s grin. He did not look at Vaggie when he responded. “Let’s just put it this way. She would make a very powerful ally for any demon, and a dangerous adversary as well.”
“But against an ex-archangel? I suppose we’re about to find out.” Husk added.
“Alright, alright. Let me humor my sister’s request,” Theo said, raising his arms in mock surrender. “I’ll give you this chance to just go. Fly away like you wanted to. After all, she’s right—against me—”
“Yes, yes—’not concerned’, ‘no reason to believe a demon could hurt you’, ‘slain countless evils far worse’—I’ve heard plenty.” Celestina said, mimicking his tone.
“Alright,” Theo said. He extended his hand and, with a flash of golden light, summoned his chain blades. It snaked around his long arm, with the other end of it in his other hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Celestina said. She raised her massive wings, stretching them out before flapping them once and shooting upward into the red sky.
Theo followed suit, bringing their fight upward and far away from the hotel.
Once they were in midair, Celestina glanced down. They were high above the city and the hotel. She looked at Theo.
He had a grin on his face, as if he were looking at prey that he knew had no means of escape.
They both flapped their wings, keeping themselves floating at the same spot, eye level to each other. Both seeing who would make the first move.
Celestina gave an audible sigh and swung her wings backward. And then, in a quick movement, clapped them together. Hard.
The pressure and force of her wings’ movements sent a sharp, heavy slice of wind toward Theo, forcing him to blink.
When he opened his eyes, the airspace before him was empty. He turned quickly at the ready in case Celestina had rushed behind him. Nothing.
He scoffed. Clenching his fist, he summoned force that wrapped his entire body in a red glow. He twirled his chain blade, waiting.
“Do you plan to properly face me or—“
A loud wooosh in the form of a black mass erupted from below him, rushing past him and sending Theo into a short tail spin. He caught his balance almost instantly and rushed to follow Celestina.
Her size made it so that Theo could follow her quickly. When she stopped her ascent and spread her wings, Theo spun his chain and cast it toward her.
It wrapped around her long neck. Once. Twice.
A smirk formed on Theo’s lips. He pulled on the chain.
Celestina resisted, flapping her wings. When he pulled again, she flapped them hard, ascending even further. It pulled Theo along.
“Ugh,” Theo muttered. He grasped on the chain harder, the glow becoming more vibrant. When he pulled again, Celestina screeched.
She stopped flying further upward. The blade on the end of the chain that was wrapped around her neck had dug into her feathers, into her flesh. Theo could see some blood.
For a moment, she simply hovered. Theo did not loosen his grip for a moment.
And then suddenly, Celestina dove. Her mass brushed past Theo and whipped him into the other direction, right behind Celestina.
She tucked her wings close to her body so that they both accelerated toward the ground even faster.
Theo pulled on the chain. And when he did, she started to spin. The hurtled toward the ground even faster.
The rest of Theo’s chain started to wrap around Celestina, pulling him closer to her until he could feel her black feathers tickled his skin.
He grimaced at the contact. When he looked over her form, they were only a few dozen feet above the ground.
Theo clicked his tongue, preparing for the impact. He wondered why she thought this would be a good move until suddenly—in a snap—the black feathers that was on his skin evaporated into mist.
Before he even registered that Celestina had disappeared, Theo’s body smashed into the ground, the force of which created a crater in front of the hotel.
His chain lay limp beside him and the red glow dimmed ever so slightly. Theo sat up, unscathed, but lifted his hand to run a hand through his hair that had gotten ruffled in the air.
“I see.”
He stretched his wings and launched himself into the air. Celestina had materialized again, waiting for him to make a move.
Theo spun his chain blade in his hands faster and faster, licking his teeth as he took aim.
He launched his blade toward Celestina. And just before the tip of his blade hit, she dodged to the left. But Theo very quickly, pulled his chain back, just in time to pull it through and slice through a sliver of her wing.
She pulled her wing back and let out a small screech. Theo took the opportunity to swirl his chain around him. He spun in midair, giving his swing more power. The end of the chain spun around Theo and then aimed back at Celestina.
The blade pierced through her shoulder and back, the blade retracting into Theo’s possession.
Celestina stumbled, only half flapping her wings before she dissipated again into a puff of smoke.
Theo spun his chain once more, eyes focused and focusing his senses to see where Celestina would reemerge. The moment he saw a dark shadow emerge at the corner of his eye, he launched his chain in that direction. But it only pierced through a puff of smoke. Theo sneered.
When he caught his blade, a curtain of black feathers suddenly covered the air before him. He realized that Celestina was wrapping him in her wings. And then he only saw darkness.
For a moment he could only hear the flapping of his own wings. Then a pair of red eyes, then two, then three…until there were hundreds of eyes around him. When the darkness disappeared, only the eyes remained accompanied by dozens upon dozens of black swans.
“I’ll find you…” he muttered under her breath. He swung one of his blades towards a swan directly in front of him. It shrieked, a large gash right across its chest bled red before it burst into smoke.
Theo spun and aimed his blade at another swan, then another, and another. Each time slicing the swan square in the chest before it burst into a black puff. When he had eliminated about twenty swans, the remainder of those still flapping about suddenly dove and darted toward him.
Theo wrapped his wings around himself, protecting him against their attacks. They swarmed around him and pecked at him back and forth. That was when he used his wings along with the red aura around him to summon a force strong enough to push them away from him. It allowed him to spin with his chain and with a single swing, land slashes onto each of the remaining swans.
Each of them screeched and disappeared—except for one. Celestina had a gash in the middle of her body that Theo glimpsed briefly before she enlarged once again into her full form.
And so it went.
Celestina pulled illusion after illusion on Theo. And Theo in response swung, stabbed and slashed his way through them all, slowly chipping away at Celestina’s physical condition and composure.
It was hard to tell clearly from the window of the hotel who exactly had the upper hand, or wing. All the hotel occupants still stood by the windows, only now Charlie had opened them trying to be ready to help in case one of them needed it
Taylor looked up at the fight, her expression laced with concern.
“You’re not actually worried about Theo getting hurt are you?” Vaggie asked.
“Unfortunately for Celestina, no, I’m not worried about Theo getting hurt physically,” Taylor admitted, but her eyes still narrowed at the fight that continued above them. “I just worry that he’s going to do something out of rage, something he’ll regret.”
“Yeah, Swan Princess isn’t looking too great up there,” Angel squinted. “He’s really getting his proverbial punches in.”
“That’s it, they’ve been at it for a while. I'm going out there and putting an end to this somehow—” Charlie pushed herself off the window sill and started to march toward the door.
Her hand reached over to the doorknob when a hand came over hers.
“Dad?”
Lucifer gave Charlie a soft smile. “I think this is something you’re going to have to let them see through. It’s not exactly like your usual team exercises. But this is what they need.”
Charlie’s jaw hung, unable to retort. She slumped her shoulders in silent resignation.
“Well I hope what they need ends soon. This is really tough to sit through.”
“Eh, think of it as them giving each other tough love,” Angel said dismissively.
“I highly doubt this is love,” Vaggie remarked, still watching.
Back in the air, Theo flapped his wings frustratedly. He clutched his chain in one hand, his red aura flickering. His expression was stern as he remained aflight.
He breathed heavily, trying to hide the fact that he was starting to pant. There was a scratch or two on his body, though without much injury. But on his face was frustration, his lips formed a snarl.
Celestina, while still standing, was evidently no longer at her peak performance. Her black feathers sported blood stains and she had trouble keeping her flight steady.
“Tired?” Celestina asked.
Theo’s upper lip twitched. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“As it happens, I would,” Celestina admitted. There was a strain in her voice. “You needn’t hide it from me. I can see it from here.”
He ignored her words. “You can give up now,” Theo called.
Celestina scoffed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Your stubbornness is grating. It’ll get you killed.”
“I didn’t know you cared.”
“Celestina.”
“Are you really going to try and convince me to stand down after you’ve just mocked me for my self-preservation? For running? This is me not running, Theo. Make up your mind. If you want this to end, you’re going to have to do it yourself.”
Her tone made Theo scowl. He breathed out through nice nose and gripped his blade. “Fine.”
There was a chaotic scuffle in the sky that followed. Black and red and gold darted around in the sky above the hotel. Theo’s grunts of frustration. Celestina’s whimpers through gritted teeth each time Theo landed a blow.
Celestina flapped her wings to slap sharp gusts of wind toward Theo like blades. They were now weaker than when she had first done them. Her wings now had sustained more damage.
Theo dodged. He lifted his head to look at her, the darkness in his eyes now exhausted. “I’m ending this now.”
He held out his hand and it glowed a deep red, brighter and stronger than the rest of his body. It seemed to affect his chain, also bestowing its wrath-like glow onto it. He whirled his chain around him, and with a graceful coordination of his wings and a twist of his body, he swung the chain toward Celestina.
It caught on her wing, where her shoulder blade would have been. When Theo pulled on it, Celestina’s form rolled toward him, the chain wrapping around her. And then, with all his strength, he flung her onto the ground.
The black swan slammed onto the ground with a mighty crash.
When the smoke cleared, gone was the large grotesque swan and instead the chain was wrapped around a battered and beaten Celestina as Theo had always seen her. Her skin and dress were stained all over with her own blood and her braid was completely gone, her white hair hung loosely and caught on the chain, dusted with debris and dirt.
Theo landed by her head, quickly got down on his knees and held a blade over her, just above her throat which had been bleeding since the start of their encounter.
Then he paused.
The dust cleared and he could only see her disheveled appearance. He happened to glance at his own reflection in his blade. He, too, was a mess—almost unrecognizable. And then he did realize that he had not been this thrown or tired by a fight in however long, if ever.
Both of them were panting hard.
He looked down at Celestina again and realized just how badly he had torn her up. Her skirts were ripped and completely ruined, and she had gashes and wounds all over. She was probably losing blood. He might actually have done enough damage to fatally wound her.
“Do it.” he heard her whisper softly.
He looked into her eyes. They weren’t red anymore. They were back to their dark color and purple color.
“You’ve never liked me.” She said simply. “One less demon in hell.”
Theo’s expression softened, he could feel his rage start to leave him. He tried to remember how angry Celestina had made him feel, how much she mocked him and judged him since the beginning.
And yet, looking at her now, he could not bring himself to make one more swing.
“You’re beautiful.”
She said it in such a hushed voice.
The comment caught him completely off guard. His confusion must have clearly shown, because she began…to laugh. It was soft, but it was a laugh. And along with it, a smile.
“When you’re not angry and brooding and you’ve wiped that smug look off your face,” she clarified quietly. “You’re actually beautiful.”
He could feel his eyes strain. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling.
His blade dropped to the ground, along with his hands. Theo collapsed on the ground, his hands starting to shake.
“Oh fuck, Celestina!” Charlie cried. Everyone had run out of the hotel and into the crater that they were now in. Vaggie slid down and was at Celestina’s side at once, pulling at the chains that were wrapped around her.
“Inside the hotel—”
“No.” Celestina declined. “Please just. Take me home.”
Charlie shook her head. “The hotel is closer, please—”
“—I’ll manage. Just take me home. I have what I need there.”
Charlie opened her mouth to protest, but Lucifer appeared beside her.
“I’ll take Celestina home.” His wings had already fanned out and ready. In one swift motion, he picked her up and launched them into the air toward Cannibal Town.
Taylor was already at Theo’s side, checking her brother for any damage.
He didn’t say a word.