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The Guardian of Forever watched as Federation scientists poked through the ruins of the city that surrounded him. Their curiosity had ever been raised regarding the City of Forever - justly so, for represented therein were buildings from every single race and species: from all Time as well as from all Universes, Dimensions and Timelines. What made it even more curious was that the buildings would shift and change with but a mere thought from the Guardian.
This was mainly due to the fact that the entire planet itself was the Guardian of Forever. If he could have smiled at these Young-Race people, he would have. Their honest joy and wonder at the unknown had drawn them here, and it kept them here - asking, seeking, probing for the secrets held in the Universe.
Such wonder he was determined to protect.
He cast his thoughts out briefly, then rested. For now, everything was still and quiet. Though the High and Middle Races could not See ahead at this time, nor even See much of what was happening around them, he could. The presence of the Shaper, and the coming of the Darkness of his brother did not cloud his eyes. Although the Shaper made so many possible futures, so much so that not even he could be certain of what Will Be, the Guardian could still determine with fair accuracy what major things would come next for the Nexus.
Soon, War would be unleashed. Then, the Choice. His Brother's return. Not much of a Choice, but one that must be made.
But for now? Right now, there was peace.
Suddenly, the Guardian saw Time twist, and his eyes were blinded for less than a nanosecond - to him it seemed as if an eternity.
Then he spoke automatically, not knowing from where he plucked the words:
//The Dragon will gain its Colour;
The Ageless will Ascend in Might;
The Crown shall Arise in Power;
And young Sa'ren shall End the Fight...//
His voice resonated down Time and Space. It impacted all, and none ignored it - yet also, none heard it.
He trembled, and for the first time in his existence, fear started to grow. This was not how it should be. Something had changed. Something that could spell doom on all.
This was too soon.
With a thought, the Federation scientists found themselves back on their original homeworlds, and Planet 'Gateway' vanished to be replaced with a spark of pure energy and light - the Guardian's core form.
//We have a problem//
Destiny Moves
//This is not how it should be//
The Host move. You must be their Vanguard
//As ever, I will. How stands the Book of Life?//
In flux. Time is now on the edge of the Sword, and the Blade is about to break
//Is there a way to change What Is?//
The Shaper
//Can you not do so?//
The Shaper
//... then this is the end, for how can he gather himself in this? Will you be with him?//
At first, silence. Then...
As ever, I Am
The crack had been found, and Vae'Za slammed himself into it over and over. The Great Barrier shook and trembled as the Fallen God exerted untold stresses upon its weakest point. The concussions were 'felt' outside of the Barrier, and stars in closest proximity shifted slightly in their age-long orbit around the core of the galaxy.
There were less 'material objects' affected by the forces beginning to ripple out from the enraged Vae'Za - beings of power that longed for their own vengeance for the damage done to their leader. As a burst of energy poured out suddenly from the crack in the shell of the Fallen Guardian's prison, these beings took hold of it and directed it. Far off from the Barrier...
... towards the centre of the United Federation of Planets, and to a small blue-green planet called Earth. To a Nation called the United States of America. To an eastern State, Florida. To a city called Orlando. To the exact location of a sleeping Vulcan/Human hybrid...
The combined might of the Fallen swooped down, borne on the wings of a Guardian's usurped power, upon Destiny's Child...
Mikey wiggled his toes contentedly in the grass as he dropped his playing cards down, "Full house! Okay, pay up!"
Pablito and Davey cracked up laughing as a sour look came over Jacob's face.
"I do not know why I try playing these new style games," the ancient patriarch grunted as he passed over some cakes to the grinning sixteen-year-old saint.
"But you're so good at bets and chance... at least your twin never won against you," Davey sniggered.
"Ha ha," Jacob snorted. "Michael, I am going to have my grandfather play you...."
"Oh, no way! He's a living terror with any games!" Mikey protested laughingly. "I can't play against someone who is a grandpa to everyone up here!"
Pablito was laughing so hard he almost choked... least ways, he would have done if he had still been mortal.
Mikey grinned at him, but then something felt wrong. He stood to his feet, the colour from his face draining instantly, and his wings snapped into existence on his back.
"What's wrong?" Davey asked as he stood to his feet quickly.
Mikey was already racing for the Great Gates, but he found that he wasn't the only angel heading that way. The Gateway and courtyard before it was filling rapidly with all the Winged Immortals in the Realm... and with even greater Spirits... the High Angels - and the Two Great Princes.
As Mikey skidded to Michael's side he started to ask what the matter was when a silvery trumpet sounded loud.
"Host! Harken to my voice! The Shaper's life lies in the balance, for the Fallen have moved," Gabriel said in a voice that filled the Realm. "Mandate has been given, and War is declared. This is not the Time for the Sa'ren to fulfil his Destiny."
Michael drew his sword, "To Battle - For the Children of the One, and the Hope of the Universe!"
"To Battle!" the assembled Host echoed...
...except for Mikey, who now knew what the 'off' feeling was.
His brother, Joel, was in mortal danger... and in pain.
"Michael!" Mikey said urgently, tugging on the Archangel's arm. "I am going to Joel's side. I won't fight the Fallen when no-one is with my brother!"
"Saint Mikey, you cannot..." Michael began, but he was silenced.
"I don't give a shit! He's my brother! I am going to his side!" Mikey screamed angrilly.
Michael sighed. "You misunderstand me, Child of Earth. None of us can get to him. He is surrounded."
"By whom?" Mikey spat out.
"The Fallen."
"How many??"
"All of them..."
Mikey gulped, and fear grew in him. He looked around and found he was surrounded by a select group.
"These are under your command, Captain," Michael said. "The Montana Martyrs. Your second shall be Kuan Ti."
Mikey nodded at the huge, now bewinged, Tiger at his side.
"Therefore with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven... We go forth to kick ass and take names! Wait... never mind... I don't care who they are," Kuan Ti growled.
Another trumpet blast, and the entire Host started to move.
"I have never seen this before," Mikey whispered to Kuan. "Never in such numbers."
"It is not often that we Move thus," Gabriel said as they 'flew' through the ripples of Time and Space towards Earth. "The last was when you were but a child."
"What happened then?" Kuan Ti asked as he kept pace easily with the rest of the Eternals.
Gabriel pulled a face. "Sa'ren had vanished from Alpha Prime, and our brother with him. The Fallen went into a rage and started attacking the Pivot upon which Hope would rest. Much in the last 13 years has happened that should not have. Mikey's father should not have died. Nor should Mikey. We fought then."
"Before that," Michael said as they drew close to the Milky Way Galaxy, "was when we contained the Fallen Guardian. This is the Third Time in this Universal Cycle that the Host has moved as one - and never with this much urgency."
Mikey was about to ask yet more questions, mainly to take his mind from the gripping fear that threatened to unman him, when his mouth went dry as the Earth came into view. He could not see it for the darkness that surrounded it.
Mostly darkness... there was one spark of blinding light.
"Is that...?" Kuan Ti asked, trailing off as the Host picked up speed.
"Yes," Gabriel answered.
Mikey completed, "... The Guardian... and he looks PISSED!"
The enraged forces of the Host fell down upon the rising mass of the Fallen like lava from a volcano. Shadow met burning Fire, and from Saint Mikey's perspective, the space above the Earth seemed to split and roll. His blade flashed and cut, banishing those Fallen it connected with, yet he was battling to retain his place in the Realm from their blades. Kuan Ti was roaring and using a now senseless Fallen like a club - he had bashed both his paws against the Fallen's head, then picked him up by the ankles and started swinging. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would have been funny.
"How is it we can fight them? When we were in Joel's mind, we got our asses handed to us," Davey yelled over the sounds of battle.
Mikey grated out one word. "Mandate."
The Fallen knew that they could not hold long against the might of the Host arrayed against them, so they went for distraction... they started to project what was happening to the Host's precious 'Shaper' in between the clashing forces... and all the Host could hear Joel's cries...
Kuan Ti was still in a blood rage, for the images of Joel were still being projected, and his weakening, agonized cries were still resounding through the minds of the Host. The large tiger was leading the Montana Martyrs with spellbinding grace through the ranks of the Fallen like a hot knife through butter. His forces had increased somewhat with an extremely large ammount of children - most, if not all, of those who had died being experimented on by General Adams and the Genesis Project. The most vicious of these were the youngest - you just did not want a group of enhanced three-year-olds with a fire-blade going for your kneecaps screaming, "BAD ANGEL! BAD ANGEL! GO BYE-BYES!"
Mikey was no longer with the Martyrs and Kuan Ti... he was now by the Guardian and the two Princes, and fighting in a lethal dance with his blade. His mind was fixed on his little brother, and his heart was steeled and enraged.
He had become something unseen in a once human Winged-Angel...
His wings were now blood red, and his eyes flashed with fire.
His lips parted with a snarl of holy hatred for those he was fighting, and in he plowed:
The First Avenging Angel...
"He must speak!" Gabriel was saying over and over. His arm was a blur as he fought his brother's servants back again and again. "The Shaper alone can turn this to good! He must speak! But his fear is too great!"
They were close, now. So very close. Yet the concentration of the Fallen was the highest here, and only a small group had made the lightning thrust through the Fallen's ranks to get here. They were in spitting distance of Joel, yet they could neither see him directly nor speak to him. However, they could hear his ragged breathing; his pain filled gasps weakly calling out for an end, any end, to his pain.
Mikey heard something none of the others did, not even the Guardian. His own name.
His sword sang in fury, his wings beat the air in rage, and fire came from the Heavens - flowed through him - and batted all opposition away briefly. Oh, so briefly.
It gave Mikey just enough time to do what was needed...
Joel had never felt so alone. So in pain. So hated. So dead. His blood flowed out slowly, but out it flowed. His body was a mass of agony and pain, and his soul had taken the worst battering. All he could now do was murmur weakly his brothers' names. All of them, in turn. Ending with Kevin's.
Corey smiled down at the pitiable form that Joel had become, and smiled more as he kept his hips moving. In his hand he held a knife, and he thought that the best time to end this Vulcan's life would be just as he had his 'fun' feeling. He raised it high, for he felt the sensations building in him.
"SPEAK AGAINST THIS, MY BROTHER!" Mikey cried for all he was worth. "TAKE AUTHORITY, SHAPER!"
Joel heard him. Faint, but it was his brother... it was Mikey...
He opened his eye and fixed it on the teen above him.
He spoke one word:
"No."
Mikey watched in horror as the blade came down, but the Fallen swooped back around him and cut off Joel from view.
He did, however, feel a chill run up his spine at Joel's single word.
The sickening sound of a bladed weapon thudding into a child's chest was the only other thing Mikey heard.
...And he lost all control.
So too did the Guardian and the two Archangels...
The Fallen were cut to pieces - banished for a time from this plane of existence.