FicWad

Author's Note: Huge thanks to insanepurin/Purin, whose Masequerade fic must have been an inspiration to me, and to my friends Colin, Art, and Puri, for being awesome betas.



He was imposing in black; a black tuxedo. Black jacket, black shirt, black tie... Black pants, black shoes, black socks. Black eyes, black hair, black heart.

He was stunning in white; a white cloak cast over pale, bare shoulders, a sea of white covering red weeping wounds. White metal restraints strapped over a waist and legs and arms; arms white laced with pink-red. The bed was white, the pedestal was white, the light was white, not quite shining in his face.

Two black and red demons, fanged and horned, stood guard.

"Is this a formal ball? Am I your date?" spat the white demon on the bed.

"Of course not! I would never stoop so low as to partner with some thing like you," replied the black angel. The white demon jerked at its restraints, but another demon, black and red, howled and approached. The white demon stopped.

"Besides," added the angel in black, "I already have a date." He snapped his fingers, a door slid open and a creature entered. A short black dress, silk, clung to her tiny form; sheer black stockings ran up her legs until just below the dress's hem. Black gloves, silky, up to the elbow, graced her softly swinging arms. The neckline of her dress dipped low, revealing the tops of firm, young breasts, but no neck could be seen; the black hood of an executioner covered her head.

"Even in the empowering role of an executioner, you reduce all those around you to mere objects in your presence." The white demon sneered.

"Ah, but my executioner is more than my executioner. She is a human being. Should I ever decide to end her life, she will be killed with dignity and respect... Something that I cannot afford a thing like yourself."

"Ah, but she is still an object to you. Something that I am not."

"That's all you are."

"I am more than an object to you. I am a rival, something you must defeat. By putting so much effort into my destruction, you acknowledge me as an enemy."

"Incorrect. You are a special kind of object-a puzzle. I enjoy solving puzzles."

"So much so that you would sacrifice three hundred men to get to me?"

"This from one who swore off violence?"

"I never swore off violence. I simply abstained from unprovoked violence. Your troops provoked me."

"You are an animal. You behave as you please, but cry that it is unfair when something is turned on you."

"Which makes me no different from you."

The black angel walked up to the bed, his dress shoes making an odd sound against the tile floor. He raised a hand, gloved in black, and struck the white demon's face. From its mouth issued red and white.

"You are an animal, living off human refuse, so malnourished from an inability to take care of yourself that my human hand could knock the teeth from your mouth."

"You are an animal, who has urinated on the world to mark it as his territory, and now dares to attack any higher being that might invade by being born."

The angel struck the demon again, sending a splatter of red flying. "The world was mine to begin with; you came into it under my terms, and you will leave under them."

"You are an arrogant fool who believes that he is god."

"Oh?" The angel laughed, roaring laughter. A small titter came from beneath the executioner's hood. "You say that I am 'an arrogant fool who believes he is god?' Were you not the one who tried to flood the earth, to recreate God's work in his own image? Did you not use human beings as your objects, your toys?"

"I was created in your image, but I have surpassed it."

"Not quite. You may fancy yourself a God... but I am greater than men, and I am greater than God. The whole world will be mine! And to show you just how powerful I am, not only am I going to end your miserable life, you pathetic, mewling alley cat... I am going to end it here, in the finest ballroom in all the land, built on the very island from which you tried to start your barbarian empire."

"You choose to dignify me."

"I choose to make a mockery of you. If I were to dignify you, I would have put you in real clothing, instead of a white version of that sheet you wore."

The white demon laughed.

"And what is so funny, you wretched creature?"

"Humanity insults itself with clothing. The human form is beautiful, a feat of nature's engineering, and yet you choose to cover it with scraps of cloth, even when the weather makes no need of them. I wore my cloak as protection from the wind, and from the staring eyes of those who would surely try to possess me as an object rather than befriend me as a person. I wore my cloak to protect myself from the eyes you have placed all over these lands."

"You're not a person."

"Neither are you."

"I'm a God," said the angel.

"You're a demon," said the same.

"At the moment, you wretched creature, I am your angel of death. And at the moment I decide, my executioner will slip a needle into your arm and fill you enough chemicals to kill something several times your size. Your muscles will seize, every fibre of you will burn, and if you even try to stop her, your fellow objects here will jump on you and tear out your throat."

"I can kill her before they get to me."

"Then I can order one to lay on your chest and smother you while she delivers your death."

"I can kill you before they get to me."

"So why don't you?"

"If I cared about my life, do you think I would have allowed you to capture me?"

"I overpowered you. You gave up, yet again, but this time there's no snot-nosed brat or magical spring to save you, and as soon as we're done here, I'm going to find that spring and destroy it with my own two hands."

The white demon roared with laughter. The black angel pressed a hand into the side of its head, causing it to roar with pain.

"You stupid creature. I am the one who makes the rules now!" roared the angel of death, pressing hard.

"Do you realize," taunted the white creature breathlessly, "that that which you use to inflict pain on me is also a part of you?"

The black angel twitched briefly, bringing a hand up to his own head. "Oh, you think it's funny, do you? To use a pressure point that humans share with your kind to demonstrate your point? Did you ever consider, you stupid alley cat, that I enjoy my own pain almost as much as yours?"

"You have not yet begun to feel pain."

"Nor have you." The black angel of death snapped his fingers. "My dear, it's time."

The executioner walked over to a table, hips swinging as she walked, and grabbing a syringe. She walked over to the bed and traced a hand over the white demon's head, gently.

"It'll all be over soon. You just hold still like a good kitty."

"I am a good person," the white demon insisted.

She tapped his arm. "You're a good kitty." She inserted the needle and injected its contents. The demon began to writhe.

But then a storm of silver rained down upon the room... flashes of light and shiny objects. The executioner fell to the ground, black hood falling away to reveal two spirals of golden curls and a single red hole between her eyes. The black angel fell to his knees, bringing a hand to his heart as his wings were clipped. He looked at the red warmth on his soft, tan hands briefly before collapsing on the ground. Two brown demons, one with long legs and the other with boxing gloves, descended upon the horned demons and beat them into submission.

Another black angel descended the stairs, running into the room as a yellow demon followed. His black tuxedo shined somehow in the strange lighting, but the shirt beneath it was bright yellow, and the tie, bright red. In his arms he clutched an earthenware jug. He ran down to the ballroom as the firefight ended and hoards of armored figures emerged onto the dance floor, guns trained on the angel of death and his executioner.

The black and yellow angel of life ran to the bed and forced open the white demon's mouth. He poured the jug's contents in, and soon the writing stopped. He sat the jug down on the floor next to his yellow companion and removed his tuxedo jacket, revealing a black Kevlar vest.

"Was that water," asked the white demon breathlessly, "or wine?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who came back from the dead," said the angel of life with a chuckle.

"But you have stripped away the last of my sins, and given me eternal life."

The yellow demon chuckled.

"Your timing was impeccable. Tell me, why did we choose today?"

"I guess I didn't get here on time. It's Good Friday, remember? Your idea."

"I do have a flare for the dramatic." The white demon sighed with relief. "Do you think you could free me?"

"Sure," the black angel of life offered, "And I'll make ya speak in tongues too."

The pair laughed as the black gloves of the angel of life ran over the white restraints, finding their locks and disabling them. The white demon rubbed his wrists.

"And so... today is the first day of my life."

"It's a new beginning for everyone."

"I can finally live in the light instead of the darkness."

"You know, you still owe me a rematch."

"Could I just have dinner? Being executed can create quite an appetite."

"What about the teeth?"

"They will grow back."

"And I guess you'll want to go out to a nice restaurant or somethin'?"

"Of course not. I am not above your breeder friend's cooking. One's status as a person lies not in one's body, or one's choice of food, or one's origins. It is part of a conscious choice to be."

"And what about them?" The angel of life cast a look at his counterpart of death.

"They choose to 'live by the sword,' and so they have died by it," said the person in the white cloak.

"I'm sorry that it had to happen this way."

"I do not fear my own death. I do not fear my own suffering any longer. It is part of life, and I am lucky to live, especially in a world that has people like you."

"Maybe..."

"So let us find your companions. Are they dressed up, like you?" The person in white sat, then stood.

"Yeah, no Kevlar vests though."

"Pika!" exclaimed the yellow demon.

"I imagine the waterflower looks lovely in blue."

"Oh, you have no idea."

"So, will you be turning water into wine at our gathering?"

"Come on," muttered the angel, blushing, "it's not funny anymore."

The person in white laughed, and the yellow demon joined him.

"Stop laughing!"

"I laugh just to hear your voice one more time, my friend. For the third time you have given me life where I had none... and this time, I think that I shall keep it."