Hello, awesome FF readers. This is my first time working with anything other than Bleach. So I got this game for Christmas last year; needless to say, I was hooked, and I had been tossing this story around for a while now. I think I've got it to where I really like it, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it. I apologize in any chance of OOC-ness. I really did try to stick to the same tone as the game. Yes, this will (very, very eventually) be a War/OC story. As for those of you who read my Bleach stories, I greatly apologize, if that can even begin to tell you how sorry I am. My computer cord was chewed up by the dog and I have yet to get it replaced. Honestly, I would much rather do that than rewrite a whole chapter, especially after all the hard work I've put into it. In any case, here is my first Darksiders fic. I pray I do not disappoint.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Darksiders. The game belongs to the people who made it (i.e.- NOT me) Sariele, however is mine.

'The fight begins now,' she thought as she watched the meteors fall from the sky, their tails of dark grey smoke billowing into the atmosphere. She watched grimly as one by one her brethren fell to the earth to join the battle, armor gleaming in gold or already smeared in blood of the demons. Glaives slashed and cannons blasted, their deafening roars echoing over the terrified screams of the humans below.

She grit her teeth against the sounds of tormented agony below- whether they came from the humans or her own comrades. They- the Hellguard- had been ordered to disregard the humans- an order that Sariele heavily disagreed with. Her heart told her that the loss of so many innocent lives- lives so integral to the Balance- was not worth the tip of the scale even in Heaven's favor. She was probably the only one who favored that over being brainwashed by Abbadon's archaic ways. It was his belief that the humans' condition was brought on by themselves, that they were incredibly ignorant to the ways of the universe and destroyed everything they laid hands on. Sariele believed that they were still young, still learning about themselves, like most children. Abbadon, as usual, dismissed her under the premise that she herself was still just a child and thus knew nothing.

Yet, here she was, assisting the Hellguard. She felt useless and helpless, however, standing from the top of a skyscraper to take down aerial enemies. While she was picking off enemies above, her comrades were having their blood spilled on the streets below. Her ethereal bow surged with Heavenly energy once more as she pulled an arrow of blue energy back on an invisible string. With a slow breath, she let go, right into the heart of a flying demon. She turned just in time to catch its partner with an arrow right through its heart. At this time, she had caught the attention of a small swarm of flying demons. At the moment between fight and flight, she determined that the best thing to do would be to flee. Her brilliant wings unfolded and she took off, barreling past her foes. She allowed herself mere seconds to turn and shoot at the demons, taking pains to mind her course as well.

As one demon was gaining on her, she was relieved as it found itself at the receiving of an ethereal blast from one of her comrades. She regrouped with them, arrow at the ready.

"You should not be here, Sariele." commented the angel who had saved her. "Abbadon gave you orders to watch the skies." She ignored him in order to fire directly into the skull of a demon chasing after a human woman. "You cannot stop their deaths, that is why we were ordered to disregard them, Sariele." Sariele didn't care; as long as she could prolong their lives, even if only for a few moments, it was enough for her. "Your heart bleeds far too much for them." She turned to face him, her face a mask of set determination.

"I would rather have a heart that bleeds with compassion for the loss of innocent lives than one cold with apathy for their suffering!" With that she spread her wings to take off when a great rumbling occurred and the gathered angels were nearly knocked off their feet.

"A demon?" she asked.

"No. The collisions caused by the demons were much lighter than that one." another one of her comrades answered.

"It matters not! The Hellguard will stand at the ready!" another declared. Sariele was not so sure, but had little room to say anything. At that moment, a giant stone Warden had slowly trodden into the area. The rumbling from the battle must have woken them from their slumber beneath the earth. Nevertheless, they were not permitted to just walk about as they pleased, and the group of angels took charge of getting them under control.

It was after they had finally managed to wrestle this one to the ground that another angel flew by. "War is here!" he shouted. Sariele felt every inch of her freeze over in fear. They were here; that meant that the third kingdom truly was doomed. Indeed everything she had been trying to do had been for naught. Worse was that the humans would not be the only ones judged. 'When the seals were broken, the Four Horsemen would ride forth to punish the wicked, be they the Sons of Man, Lords of Heaven, or the Dregs of Hell.' She knew that story well, and if War truly was here, the others would soon follow.

A great sound filled the air like a loud harbinger and sent her heart thumping against her chest. What she saw next robbed her of breath entirely. He came sauntering down the boulevard and nothing dared to stand in his way. He was enormous in her eyes, then again if she stood completely straight, her meager height would have only barely touched his chest. The daylight barely glinted off of the dingy armor that lined his shoulders and continued down his chest, around a trim waist and legs, down to his armored feet. His left hand- a giant clawed gauntlet of metal- seemed to be the most recent addition to his battle-worn attire. What the armor didn't cover was adorned in the hood of crimson cloth. Those eyes- angry orbs of glowing blue that peeked out from the shadow of the hood with a sternness that could outdo Abbadon- shook her very being and turned her blood to ice in a matter of seconds.

"We will not yield!" a comrade's voice echoed in her mind, dragging her back from her terrified thoughts. As she glanced around, her fellow angels had swooped in and tried to attack him. Sariele wanted to scream out and call for them to retreat, especially when she saw what he withdrew from his back. The sword, which was nearly taller than him and especially wide, covered in carvings of grotesque faces and stained red from bloodshed in battle. She knew that blade- it was nearly as infamous as the Horsemen themselves: Chaoseater. As War swung the blade and it whistled through the air, she could very nearly hear it screaming, demanding the blood-drenched spoils of the battlefield. Those she had fought along with and called her comrades in arms fell in a matter of moments, although her mind's eye seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her face was drenched in hot tears, not that she focused on that. Shaking hands came to cover a mouth that threatened a scream, if she had enough of a voice to do so.

She didn't need to, though. No sooner was he finished, those eyes turned on her. She did the first thing that came to her mind. Attempting to ignore the eyes that burned through her soul and froze her blood at the same time, she turned and fled as fast her wings could carry her. Hellish spires and blood and smoke blurred in her vision as she cried. She wished she had never agreed to help Uriel with this. Looking into the eyes of one of the Four made her wish she had never been born, but what happened next made her wish that she hadn't flown away. She felt the pain before the sensation of being knocked to the side flooded her senses. Pain bloomed in her skull as she hit it hard against the side of a building and for a moment she thought she had heard a sickening crack right in her right ear. She barely had any time to roll away as the Trauma that had hit her raised its giant claw. She wanted to fight back, but with widened eyes, she realized that in her terror at the carnage shown with the Horseman she had dropped her bow. She chastised herself for her foolishness and scrambled back from the towering demon until a new, raw pain erupted from her shoulder when it hit the wall. She let out a cry and huddled to herself as the great beast again raised its claws, clenching her eyes shut in anticipation for the painful and gruesome death.

It never came, however. A low whistle and then a loud squelching sound cut off the demon's triumphant roar, followed by a loud thud. Eyes of a pretty sky blue opened slowly, only to widen exponentially when they found the head of the very demon that attacked her at her side. That sight was followed by the sight of large armored boots and the angel felt her blood freeze all over again. She didn't dare look him in the eye as he towered over her. He watched silently as she lowered her head in acceptance of her fate.

War regarded this child for but a moment, from the short, boyish cut of hair that held the same brightness as the sun- on any day save for today. She still had the roundness of childhood, but her thin body surely showed signs of beginning stages of adolescence. She lacked the armor worn by the rest of the Hellguard, meaning she most likely wasn't meant to see as much battle as some of the elder members. Instead, she wore flexible padding on her forearms and calves. This little one was a ranged fighter, there was no doubt of that, and it was no small fact that she was indeed very brave, but all the same...

Said head snapped up in surprise when she heard a clatter against the cracked pavement beneath her knees. Her eyes glanced upon her bow, laid on the pavement before her.

"Have the Armies of Heaven debased themselves so far as to enlist the aid of children in battle?" he asked. His voice was a harsh rasp that forced a fearful chill up her spine as she bowed forward at his feet. Sariele didn't dare answer, but kept her eyes trained on the ground; if she was going to die, she wouldn't further allow him to see her shed tears. Her surprise came in the form of a small utterance when she watched his feet turn away from her. She had been spared... but how and why? She knew that she was far from being pure and beyond their judgment. Her head raised and she watched quietly as the mysterious armor-clad man disappeared down the carnage-ridden boulevard.

She knelt there for but a few moments before something settled within her- whether it was courage or determination, she wasn't quite sure- but she pushed herself up to her feet and made to fly off when again a raw pain bloomed into her shoulder. She was horrified to discover that the wing on her left shoulder was limp and had lost its glow. Pearly white teeth bit at her bottom lip; she had considered herself useless before when she had not joined in immediately in battle. Now she knew the true meaning of the word useless. If she could not fly, she would never get away. With a deep, calming breath, she straightened her legs and made to step after the Horseman. Her steps were wobbly, unsure, but her resolve was strong; gently, she tucked the injured wing back, letting out a little sound of pain that would naturally come from putting it back. Steadily, she picked up her pace, tracing the footsteps of the Horseman. Her arrows still flew into the flesh of her enemies, another thing she could be grateful for- but she would dwell on that later.

As she took in the environment, she felt a familiar sense of dread fall over her; the Hellguard were in way over their heads. The Third Kingdom was doomed- they may have had impressive technology, but none of it could have prepared them from something as cataclysmic as the Endwar. The question that plagued her mind the most, however, caused her to worry. Where were the other three Horsemen?

A loud slam that accompanied a mighty rumble alerted her to the presence of something else- something huge and definitely not another of the Four. She rounded the corner and found War approaching a great lake of lava. All around it, she witnessed the demons overtaking the demons- one angel was ambushed and dragged into the depths of the lava lake. Another was overcome by a prowler and had his neck bitten out viciously. There was a presence here, something far more sinister than any demon- something old and evil. Sariele knew that she could be of use here, but not on the ground. Following a rather steep incline to the top of a building adjacent to the newly formed sulfurous hole. Looking down, she found she had a perfect angle with which to aim in case the presence made itself known. She allowed her eyes but a moment to track down Abbadon- who struck down a demon with his mighty sword before soaring into the sky.

The Hellguard's beloved leader's eye fell on the approaching Horseman and a look halfway between fear and disdain overtook his face. "Impossible..." he snarled. War reached for his sword.

"Abbadon," he demanded, "what is this? Where are my brothers?" Sariele nearly looked to her leader, expecting an answer from him, although it was highly unlikely that Abbadon knew anything.

"This cannot be... the Final Seal..." Abbadon murmured before an airborne enemy attacked, digging razor-sharp teeth into his arm. Abbadon cried out, and when he went to attack, the demon grabbed his wrist and managed to wrestle the sword from his hand. 'What happened?' Sariele wondered; Abbadon never lost concentration like this. If he was distracted, it meant trouble and danger for the rest of the Hellguard. Sariele pulled back an arrow, ready to fire into an enemy's skull, before she heard a cry of 'My Lord,' when Uriel decided to intervene. Sariele watched with admiration as with a powerful swipe, she sliced the enemy's skull down the middle. The demon disappeared into the molten depths below. "How... did this happen?" he growled out angrily. Again he found himself distracted as an unnoticed foe approached, only to be subdued by Uriel. Sariele had to admit that she admired their teamwork, however it made her sick when she saw Uriel's gaze of adoration towards him, as if she were merely waiting for praise.

Her gaze came upon War, who fell to his knees in the middle of the street. Sariele watched him as he seemed to struggle with some sort of immense pain. The nagging thought in her head kept worrying her. Any moment now, she believed, any moment now the other three Horsemen could- and at this point, should- come in to assist their brother. She actually found herself praying that they would. With the way Abbadon was acting right now, the Hellguard needed all of the help they could get, even if that meant they would be judged afterward, as well.

'Don't be daft.' her rational side told her. 'The Horsemen claim no side. They serve the council's bidding- only the balance between Heaven and Hell. The wicked will be punished, one way or another.' Then why did he save me? she asked herself. She was nothing special, especially now with a broken wing. Why did he spare my life?

A moving shape brought her back to attention. A large, ghastly hand reached upward from the magma, just after Abbadon had said something else in frustration. Sariele's breath once again left her as the hand grabbed at Abbadon. Uriel's cry of her love's name was lost on deaf ears and the angels watched in terror as the giant stone monolith of a hand dragged him into the depths of the magma lake. Uriel's expression of shock and pain turned to one of rage and hate as her golden eyes fell upon the Horseman.

"What in Heaven's name have you done?" she demanded angrily. War remained silent for a moment as he used his great blade as a brace, weakly pulling himself to his feet.

"I answer the call." he rasped out.

From the depths which Abbadon had just been dragged into, Sariele felt the sinister presence closer than ever before. The owner of the stone hand pulled himself out of the pit. Sariele shuddered with recognition- Straga, an ugly demon from the very pits of the Abyss itself. His temper was nearly as bad as his visage and a thick hide in addition to the armor he wore made it nearly impossible to fight him. She knew that the only person with enough strength to- although at the moment she was seriously beginning to question that- was the weakened Horseman. Straga seemed to, by some miracle, know this, too, and swatted the angels attacking him away like flies before turning his attention to War. The Horseman, despite his condition, stood at the ready for battle- a trait that Sariele found she liked quite a bit.

The rumors about Straga's supposed stupidity proved to be true, as in a fit of rage, he threw beaten cars toward his foe, giving War a weapon to throw back in his face. The sudden explosion gave her an idea. She strung her bow and sat in waiting, watching as the giant demon tore up the very streets beneath War's feet and attempting to uproot them. Patiently she waited for Straga to repeat his rage-propelled fit; her patience proved fruitful, as War picked up a small car. In a matter of seconds, Sariele calculated her next move and gazed down the shaft of her holy arrow. This was what she had been training for- what she had endured jeers from the other Hellguard members due to her archaic choice in weaponry for. War threw the car, she exhaled and then let go. Like many of the targets her impressive aim had been fired upon, the arrow hit its intended target dead-on, its holy energy seeping into the car's fuel tank. The force of the explosion so close to his face winded Straga and the light from such an explosion temporary blinded him.

War afforded the tiny angel a small glance of gratitude towards the angel before going into finish the demon. He had managed to jab Chaoseater directly into Straga's eye and had made a mighty leap for the finishing blow when a great sound filled his ears. An aura of black surrounded him and War was in immense pain before he hit the pavement below. Sariele- who had just finished off a horde of flying demons who had spotted her- breathed in sharply as she saw him limping before the injured demon. Straga recovered and sent War back with a mighty backhand swipe.

"The Law... has been broken." At that moment, she knew not what affected him or why, but despair fell over her as the Horseman was grabbed by the giant. One that she had been so scared of because of the power he wielded was now seemingly on his very last limb. Straga cruelly chuckled at the War's futile attempts to break free. The more the fallen warrior tried, the harder his foe squeezed, until War struggled to even breathe. Sariele again felt hot tears roll down her cheeks, this time for him.

"And so have you, Horseman." Straga answered before tossing War only to squeeze him within his fist. He could only hold such strength at bay for a moment before it proved to be too much for him. Sariele turned her tear-stained face away, but the cry still pierced her ears more than the sound of the demon-won Endwar in the distance...

Well, that's it for the prologue, I guess you could say. I'll most likely have some more up come after the holidays. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed.