Summary: After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.

Angel/demon au written for nano!

If you read First Contact (the angel/demon snippet I posted last month), uh. I basically took that base idea and rewrote everything. XD; So if you read that, it's no longer relevant to what happens in this fic, haha.

Still doubting if these characters are recognisable from canon, but yeah. There are quite a few changes to certain things to account for the differences.

I'm not happy with my outline of the middle and climax, but we'll see what happens when I get there. Also, I need to improve the summary, hah.

ze/hir/hir for Tao's pronouns.

Adapt to Live

By Dark Ice Dragon

Tao narrowed hir eyes, hir breath wisping as ze followed the trail of power ze had sensed an hour ago. It was stronger than what Tao had sensed in years and it was like a call. Someone was calling out to hir, telling hir they were there.

They were elusive though, playing a game of hide and seek as their power dipped in and out of sensing range. It had to be someone young, someone who didn't even realise they were announcing their presence to anyone who were sensitive to those energies. The ones who ripped the power out of the human bodies to take as their own.

The tracks in the snow didn't help give Tao a better direction and ze tightened the scarf around hir neck to protect it from the cold, hir wings rustling to a breeze only they could feel.

Something clattered up ahead and Tao snapped hir head towards it, running in that direction. Where? Where were they?

Movement down an alley caught Tao's attention and ze skidded as ze summoned hir whip and lashed it around the demon's chest just as they leaped at the other person in the alley.

Tao sent the demon crashing to the ground with a yank, their trapped wings thrashing against hir whip.

Demon subdued for the second, Tao lifted hir head to the human –kid, but the looks of it- and opened hir mouth to tell them-

Something was wrong.

The kid had backed up against the wall, but they weren't frozen. Their breathing was deep and easy, their eyes narrowed. Tao knew what someone who was afraid for their life looked like, and this wasn't it.

A demon too taken in by the prey that was in front of them wouldn't have noticed.

Tao jerk hir head at a crunch behind hir. This part of town was deserted, away from the main street and shops and one bad signal was enough to make Tao wary-

A taller kid with pale long hair and then there was a burst of power far stronger than what had come from the smaller kid and shit. Tao's eyes widened at the image of a scythe in the kid's hands, and the kid didn't pause as they raised it above their head and charged at hir.

The aura of the kid being chased –they were bait- lashed out as well, and Tao heard the other demon howl, followed by a wet splat. Hir whip flopped against a body that no longer had wings taking up extra space.

Tao didn't have to turn around to know the smaller kid was wielding a lance. Ze didn't have the time to turn! Not when ze were caught in a pincer attack!

Tao jumped up, flapping hir wings for extra lift. At least humans hadn't been able to figure out how to do that, not without noisy machines. Yet. And from what ze knew of the Loyard and Landegre fighting styles, they wouldn't be able to reach hir in the ai-

"Demon!" someone roared above Tao's head and it was only by sheer instinct that Tao rolled out of the way of the...

That wasn't possible.

Tao stared at the angel in front of hir. Silver hair, white robe, a golden sword in their hand that would have cleaved Tao in two if it had hit. Their wings were grey though, not an angel's white, nor a demon's black.

They weren't changing though, not like how Tao had when ze had first left Heaven and arrived in the physical realm. The angel shouldn't have been able to yell stuff out like that if they were mid-transformation.

"You won't harm these humans anymore!" The angel charged at hir again.

The situation had been bad enough with the Loyard and Landegre ganging up hir (though from what Tao remembered of their families, they tended to do that, and for good reason). An angel added to the mix? They needed to get away from everyone as fast as they could.

Tao summoned hir whip and the angel almost didn't dodge out the way as Tao cracked it in their face, far too intent on cutting them down.

A beat of wings after the angel swerved out the way and the angel was diving at hir again.

Dammit! That one-track would get them killed if they attacked other demons like that!

At the next charge, Tao grabbed the angel's sword with hir whip, yanking out of their hand. The sword disappeared as soon it left the angel's hand and Tao snatched a handful of the angel's robe, putting enough power there for a physical body to touch and hold an incorporeal one.

The angel's eyes widened just before Tao slammed them into the wall, the windows around them rattling. The humans inside would just think it was the wind blowing, but when the angel didn't have a body to feel, it wouldn't hurt them, only stun them.

"If you keep attacking a demon like that," Tao hissed, leaning in to make sure the angel heard every word, "you are going to die." And there was no way to drill that into the angel's head, not when they didn't even know what dying was and only had the vague notion that it was something mortals did for some reason.

Tao froze at the crackle of power below them and threw the angel to the side as ze shoved themselves across the alley. Ze sucked in a breath at the wave of power that tore through where ze'd just been hovering. The Loyard kid was gazing up at hir as they span the scythe in their hands, their power building again.

Dammit, ze had to leave before one of their limbs was torn off by one of those, or worse.

Tao beat hir wings, flying higher as they stared at the angel.

They couldn't - but it wasn't as if the angel would listen to hir. That much was obvious.

Maybe they would listen to a Loyard and a Landegre.

Gritting hir teeth, Tao turned and fled, sweeping hir senses out to make sure there were no more attacks while hir back was turned.

Ze didn't want to leave the angel alone, but it was better this way. Ze would need to keep an eye on what happened though, just in case.

xOx

M-21 fisted their hands, wanting to chase the demon, but the demon had disappeared - they hadn't been able to track where the demon had went, not with their concentration frazzled at how the demon had been able to trap them with ease and with how the humans below had attacked the demon.

The humans...

M-21's gaze drifted down to the pair of humans and they drifted down, folding their wings once they reached the same level as them, their toes hovering above the ground. It was their job to protect humans, so they should make sure they were all right after being attacked.

They were unhurt, the smaller one kneeling by the body of the other demon's host (the lance they had summoned was gone) while the taller one looked...at them? M-21 shook their head. Mortals couldn't see angels.

"How are you?" the taller one asked, their eyes looking them over, their grip loose on their scythe.

They could see them?

The taller one smiled, their gaze flicking up to the sky before settling on them again. "We're from the Loyard and Landgere families," they said, holding a hand to themself and then indicating the other with a sweep of their hand. Then they dipped their head. "Our lineage has been born with power to see demons that walk amongst us. You're the first angel we've heard come to our world."

That wasn't surprising, not when if an angel left Heaven, they changed into a demon. M-21 straightened their wings at the thought. They had a job to do and they had to make sure they did it.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" the Loyard asked, and M-21 paused.

"Stay?" They stayed in Heaven, but they couldn't do that until they returned home.

"While you're here," Loyard said as Landegre stood up and brushed their knees, walking to them afterwards.

"I don't have anywhere to stay," M-21 said, watching them both. Why would they ask?

Loyard smiled. "Then would you like to stay with us in the meantime?"

M-21 had to hunt down demons, but if demons were attacking this pair... They would need protection.

...Not that the pair had needed it, that much was clear. But it was better if they stayed close with the humans. "I thank you for your hospitality," M-21 said, bowing as they flared their wings out.

Loyard was still smiling when M-21 lifted their head again, while Landage's eyes were wide, their lips parted.

...? Was bowing surprising here?

"We should leave before the police arrive," Loyard said, their scythe flickering from view, and Landegre nodded. They looked at them and M-21 moved to follow. Once they saw that, the other two hurried away.

"I'm Seira," Loyard said and hm, humans had two names? Oh, if they were part of smaller families... They had to remember that. The three of them turned a corner, and the city looked different at ground level than in the air. It was brighter and more colourful. It was also louder, a constantly buzzing in the air. How did the humans seem to not hear it? Or did they not notice and only angels could sense it?

"Regis," Landegre said.

M-21 didn't say anything, making sure to remember the names and that they could say them the same way the pair had, taking everything they could of the city at the same time.

"...What do we call you?" Regis asked and M-21's thoughts stilled at the question.

"Whatever you want," they said, staring away from the pair. They needed to do well in their mission. Their Lord had created them just for this job and they warmed them at that fact. Once they had completed their mission, they would have earned the right to be given a name.

"Ah, all right." The pair glanced at each other, not saying anything and M-21 watched the city around them instead while they came to a decision.

"Would 'Angel' be okay?" Seira asked. "We're not sure what else to call you."

"It's what I am," M-21 said, their wings rustling as they shrugged. It was no different from their M-21 designation. "That's fine."

"Then we'll take you to where we live," Seira said.

xOx

Tao huffed as they paced the rooftop, throwing the sunset glances every so often. Ze had pulled hir hood up to protect hirself from the rain (hir wings could keep them in the air, but they weren't as efficient at protecting hir from the elements), but the drizzle had ended as soon as it started, snow starting to drift down instead.

With their senses extended, the Loyard and Landegre were gone, and so was the angel. So it had been a perfect trap - what demon could resist a meal that called out to them?

Ze had sensed Boss approaching from a while away and ze paced some more when Boss touched down on the rooftop with a soft splash.

"The weather is weird here," Tao grumbled, hands jammed into hir pockets. Hir clothes were enough to keep hir warm, but the weather didn't seem like it could make up its mind what it wanted to be, switching to something else after a few minutes.

Boss chuckled, walking over. Everything about Boss was just bigger than Tao - they was taller than hir, their shoulder-length hair left unbound. Their wings were the same, the feathers ending in a thin point like they could be used as a weapon themselves. The dying sunlight made the purple streaks more obvious, almost hidden in Boss' black feathers. Boss' horns were ridged and curved like a ram's horns, curling around their ears and then winding outwards, while Tao's owns were smaller goat horns swept back over hir head, one black and one white .

"You'll get used it," Boss said, patting hir shoulder.

"Just in time for us to leave again," Tao said with a shake of hir head. Not that ze minded - the constant travel as Boss did lectures around the world kept them on the move and there always seemed to be a batch of demons wherever they went. Finding the source wasn't hard to track, but it was getting too diluted for Tao's liking, demons starting to change demons and passing on their power that way.

"Did you find anything yet?" Tao asked, rocking back and forth on their heels for something to do, still having too much energy from the previous fight.

Boss raised an eyebrow. "No, but I don't think that's important right now. You don't tend to be this restless. What happened?"

Tao sighed, hir shoulders slumping. "Yeah... I got caught in a Loyard and Landegre trap."

Boss' other eyebrow show up, and Boss looked him over, concern over their features. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am. It was a little obvious but, well, I guess it's been a decade since we met a Loyard and Landegre pair, huh?" Tao quirked a grin at Boss but Boss' gaze was steady, still studying him.

"And what else happened?"