Trent jumped, realizing he wasn't the only non-mortal in the alley. He squinted up at the Angel, trying his best to remember him, but there was no use. Either the man hadn't been directly involved in his getting forcibly ousted from the depths of the sky, or he just wasn't memorable.<br/><br/>Trent, noticing the color of his skin, jerked his head towards the dead vagrant. "That your brother? Is yours crooked too, or?"<br/><br/>The cops were still moving around the body, now taking pictures - it was fairly disgusting, honestly, but then again Trent didn't have much room to talk. "Not guilty, no. A little pissed off, but we all have to eat shit sometimes, don't we? Hey, where are you going?"<br/><br/>The tall, bald Angel was moving away, after offering a pointless gesture to the scene as a whole, but Trent wasn't letting him go so easily. He'd just suffered yet another disappointing setback, and he wasn't finished bitching yet.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">-----</div><br/><br/>The tame insult stopped Asher in his tracks. He cast a dull glance back towards the other angel, not bothering to answer. He might have fallen far, but he wasn't stooping to<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>level just yet.<br/><br/>"You should feel guilty," he said. "A pointless death could have been avoided." The fellow annoyed him, but he couldn't say if he'd seen him before - though, that made every kind of sense, as he hadn't exactly been hanging around on the clouds for while. He was mildly surprised by how<span style="font-style: italic">nice</span>it was to actually talk to someone of his own kind again. Well, other than...<br/><br/>His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Asher wasn't a terribly social person. It could be only one. Turning all the way around to face the other, he raised his eyebrows in a telling gesture.<br/><br/>"Hello? ... Look, you don't... Yes, I can hear you just fine."<span style="font-style: italic">Really wish I couldn't, Columba. Reeeaaally wish I couldn't.</span>How did she manage to get even her whispers so shrill?<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">-----</div><br/><br/>"Hey fuck you man, I didn't kill him. I didn't tell him to go window-wanking, did I? I'm basically a fucking wisp of cloud anyway, couldn't stop a butterfly let alone a bulle-"<br/><br/>He broke off, hearing a vibrating sound that indicated the man was getting a call. As soon as he got a good look at Asher's face, he realized who it was and felt a combination of horror and relief.<br/><br/>"Yeah… I do<span style="font-style: italic">not</span>miss<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>." He'd rather fade into nothing than spend another second in that old cunt's company.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">-----</div><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">You lucky bastard</span>Asher mouthed as his boss continued her tirade. He was only paying half attention, as he could pretty much guess what she was bitching about anyway. Hadn't gotten enough souls in a few centuries, blah-blah-blah - they went over this every now and then. So far, he hadn't died from it.<br/><br/>He hung up and stuffed his phone back in his pocket, stuffing his hands back down in them too while he was at it. He looked the angel up and down, curious, but not letting it show. "How'd you fall? Refused to kiss Columba's feet one time too many?" Asher took a few steps toward him, decreasing the distance between them. "I'm Asher. Welcome to Hell on Earth."<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">-----</div><br/><br/>"The name's Trent," he replied with a nod. The fellow didn't seem all too bad, but then again most of the company Trent had lately was either dead or urine-soaked. Or both.<br/><br/>"I Fell because I tried to play a game I couldn't win, up there. I had big dreams, too big for certain people with certain things wedged up in certain orifices to allow. Ambition got me, and d'you see the irony? Look at those fucks on top, and tell me you can't see it. Whole place is going to shit anyway, and the fucking superiority complexes left and right up there doesn't help it either. As for Columba…"<br/><br/>He shuddered. "Any Hell is better than the one you find when you're stuck in a room with her. I remember that one guy, Elliot? Please tell me he escaped, or offed himself or something by now. He was kind of a prick, from what I remember, but no one deserves that life."<br/><br/>Reminiscing about the people he hated among the Angels and Seraphim was a nice distraction, but his thoughts eventually drifted back to the horror he was now to be reporting to. Hatred dimmed alongside the fear, when it came to that one.<br/><br/><br/><div><hr style="height:2px; width:100%; border:0; color: white;background:white;"/></div><br/><br/><br/>"Vapors of my<span style="font-style: italic">face</span>? My boy, if you wish for some direction on how to properly respond to an insult, I may find it in my heart to assist you. I am always happy to aid those in need," Mathias added with a smile as he took the parchment, deftly snapping the ribbon around it with a flick of a finger. He didn't acknowledge the remark about his being special; anyone with a brain knew his benevolence put him on a level that transcended anything that could be attained by a normal being.<br/><br/>His pale blue eyes scanned the words on the page, growing more narrow as they went. By the time he finished reading a muscle in his cheek twitched, as he stared up at L. "Is this some kind of joke?" A deep rumbling came from him, or at least in his general vicinity, although it also sounded like it was coming from high above and far beneath all at once as his fury grew.<br/><br/>He suddenly winced, as the chaos swirling in his head came to a halt. The sudden silence in the wake of the roars was deafening as a blindingly bright picture flashed before his eyes. He saw a vaguely familiar figure, surrounded by columns of light. He saw fire, but it was reversed, a mirrored image of itself, confused and of a source unheard of. And then a voice blared out, louder than anything he'd ever experienced within the confines of his own mind.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold">"YOU."</span></span><br/><br/>The image disappeared before he could make any sense of it, and he found himself staring dazedly at L, who he forgot had been standing there.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">What… was that?</span>