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DEMONICA
 was once a heavenly warrior, Captain of the guard, to be exact. My father was the Archangel Michael, and my mother a respected Seraph. The future was laid out before me on the straight and narrow path, and I followed it unquestioningly. Until I made the unfortunate mistake of catching the guardian angel Uriel's eye. When I refused his
attentions, he seemed to take it well. On the day I was named Heavenly Justicar, he even made a "gift" of a curved dagger with a ruby in its pommel...
 The dagger holds souls. It was intended to hold mine within it as well; for Uriel's own sick pleasure, I imagine.By the time my friend Gabriel found out the truth and told me, it was halfway done. The Dagger now held a piece of my soul along with myriads of others. Gabriel and Celestia, my sister, risked their own souls to help me escape from heaven. When my father discovered I was missing, he unwittingly sent Uriel to fetch me.  My blood ran cold when I saw Uriel charging towards me. I summoned my blade, called the Phoenixsword, and prepared to defend myself. We battled, but I had been severely weakened by the Dagger. Slowly I began to fall back. Fueled by his anger, he came at me with a vengance and with one fell blow, knocked me to my knees. Grabbing me by the hair, he jerked my head up to meet his mad gaze. "So~ Firebyrd..." he said, "Will you stay with me, or will you die?" I looked at him unwaveringly and gave a small smile. "Is there a difference?", I asked. "Either way, I lose." With a roar of pure rage, he pitched me down to Hell. 
My parents were beside themselves with grief when Celestia told him all that had transpired. Father blamed himself for not seeing my burgeoning troubles. He had to be held back from annihilating Uriel on the spot, and instead condemned him to walk the earth as a mortal man. Uriel laughed insanely as
his wings were stripped of him, vowing to destroy them all. He took a new name, Yaju~meaning "beast". The Fallen left with a cryptic remark, "Sometimes friends in high places are from the lowest places..."
My powers were gone, my name lost; even my Phoenixsword denied me when I tried to summon it. I knew if I spent too long in Hell, I would become full demon. So I began to fight barehanded; desperately trying to extricate myself from the evil I felt growing within me. As it was, one of my wings had changed into a hideous dragonlike thing. When I saw that happen, I nearly gave up then and there. Only sheer will, and a demon named Kroza kept me pressing onward. He taught me how to fight in the way of the shadow. He made me understand that sometimes in order to defeat something you must embrace it first. For years he trained me there, and my demonhalf was supressed. I learned not to hate the part of me that was succubus, nay, I welcomed her like an old friend. I became a master swordsman in time, and surpassed even Kroza at hand~to~hand combat. I took on a new weapon, The Drakken. This bladed bludgeon soon became my favorite. Quick to draw, and thrown with precision it can easily decapitate the enemy. The necessity to do such came often. As a form of entertainment, the denizens of Hell would organize various competitions of skill.  I began to participate in these battles, and passed through the ranks quickly. It was at one of these battles that I found the opportunity to escape. I had just won the prize, a great war axe. Then I heard some kind of commotion closeby. It sounded like a battle was going on, right
there in Hell! With the guards summoned away to assist, I snatched up the axe and slipped away unnoticed.
At the abandoned gateway I met with Kroza for the last time. We embraced like the close friends we were and he handed me something with a smile. I looked at it in amazement.  It was my pin of rank from heaven! I'd thought that I had lost it along with everything else; But the surprises were not done yet. He then revealed to me that he had been one of the souls that I had judged. What's more, he had been a former Captain of the heavenly guard himself! I was aghast. I did not want to believe him, but when he showed me the insignia that he still carried, I was forced to accept it. An Angel. I never even knew; never suspected anything, and why should I? When I was Justicar, one soul was no different from the next.
I was responsible for his suffering~I had sent him to Hell! But he'd known all along, and never said a word. He wiped away the tears that had suddenly appeared on my cheeks and kissed me on the brow. "No matter", he said, "At least I was able to open your eyes in the end. Always remember, in all events and respects, love is the eternal truth."
I had learned the difference between being a killer and being a warrior. No longer would I slay in the name of someone else's notion of "justice". Yet I still had a long way to go. I had escaped Hell, but not without retaining the mark of the demon both within and without me. I looked about what was to become my new home...Earth.
Then I found the Red Dragon Inn... So many people, from seemingly endless realms & dimensions. There I became acclimated to the intricacies of what humans call "society". A man befriended me, showing me kindness for the first time in what seemed an eternity. His silver hair and glowing blue eyes captured more than my friendship in time, and we shared a sweet romance which ended in tragedy when Sephiroth died before my eyes.In order to help me forget the pain of his passing, I began to make a few aquaintances. Durak Brujah and I made fast friends and before I knew it, we were a couple. Despite the fact that he is a vampire I found him to be quite the loving and attentive mate. He was the person I was with when the curse that I had all but forgotten about reared up and struck at me with a vengance. Durak once again surprised my by attempting to fight off the evil spirit that had taken me this time. In desperation, in order to save him from the foul creature that possesed me I stabbed myself in the heart. To my surprise I did not perish. Control of my body was returned to me, and my wound healed instantaneously. Finally a way to ease the curse had been discovered. Still, I did not feel right in dragging another person into my conflict, and began to drift away from Durak. In fact, I was harboring the thought of drifting away from mankind altogether. I did not wish to be a threat to everyone around me. 
I had just come to the Red Dragon to bid what was to be my final farewell to Durak and several other friends when a man I only vaguely knew came into the common room. His name was Iron Angel. He had my interest almost immediately. I sensed something~different about this man. At first he was rather standoffish, but once I convinced him that I was truly sincere about my interest in his quest he shared some of his history with me. For the first time ever, I shared some of my past with someone...and a tentative understanding was born.  I gave him a red rose, making him swear in jest that he would bring it back to me undamaged.
When he came back the next time, I was waiting for him. To my surprise he had kept the rose I'd given him, albeit slightly mashed. He allowed me to assist him in the healing of his wounds, exchanged a few words with his friends and made to leave. I felt so lost, so tired of trying to live an impossible life.  All I could think of were my dear friends in heaven and my sister that I had not seen in centuries. What was here for me? Nothing but pain and tragedy for all who knew me. I wanted to die. Just then Iron Angel took me by the hand and drew me outside, where he had summoned gentle rain to fall. "Rain is the healer", he claimed, "It washes away the dirt and the grime that life covers us with...it will wash away the hurt you have felt." It was all I could hope for, I thought, and spread my mismatched wings and took to the sky. He followed and began to play on a silver flute; a melody that I'd heard somewhere...sometime...
Dancing in the rainstorm, feeling ancient memories flow back into my heart, I remembered a self that had danced in the rain long ago with the angels... Later that evening, Iron Angel returned, worse off then he'd ever been before. Our good friend Wiz Dragon was able to heal him of the various injuries. I comforted him as best I could, struggling to keep my tears of sympathy from his sight. I gave him one of my most prized possessions~a ring forged in heaven, shaped to look like a pair of wings. A piece of the home he'd never seen, and that I'd never return to. I offered to go with him to battle the next time and fight for his cause. To my chagrin he would have none of it, not wanting to put me in danger. I had to laugh at that. With all that I had been, all that I was? Yet he said he saw me as a blossom, an angel ~and I loved him for it. Amid the chaos of our lives one thing was certain...worthy or not, we belonged together. Standing in the doorway watching him depart for yet another battle, I had never wanted anyone to return more.
On to Chapter 2
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