The Three Dark Angels

"Okay Don, slow down a little. I'm sorry, he's like this when he's excited. I admit that I'm a little excited too. I'm Heather, and this is Don." The girl introduced herself to Angelus, offering her hand.

Angelus blinked a few times in surprise, finding the situation being one of the most random things ever, and he wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Don!" The girl chided. "See what you did, he thinks we're crazy now! I swear, you need to come with a gag so I can stop you."

"I'm sorry! It's just, you know how I am when I get excited."

"Yes, yes, we know, you start thinking and talking really fast, that's why I need a gag. Oh, by the Dragons, I'm so sorry, you must think we're crazy."

"Uh, actually, not really. I've met my own fair share of crazy people, so to me, you guys are normal. No actually, I'm just not used to this kind of situation. I'm used to people looking down on me, but not people...looking up to me like a big celebrity or something. It's...kind of weird. Anyway, yeah, I did beat Scorpia."

Don pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes! Now I just need Aegis and Beasley to win. I am soo close! Seven hundred money if I get all three! But, I'm worried about the Dark Horse, Graduate Azreal, do you know anything about him? Can he beat Graduate Beasley?"

Angelus cringed for the poor bastard. "Actually...I think he's probably going to beat her. Even though they didn't have him as high up as myself and Aegis, I know for a fact that he's just as capable as we are."

"Fuck!" Don shouted, then sighed. "Not your fault, just the luck of the draws I guess. Well, there's still some hope, you don't know for sure who won right?"

Angelus shook his head.

"There you are! Geez man, you were in such a hurry that Aegis and I lost you in the crowd, but at least we guessed correctly on where you were going."

"I'm fucking starving. I need to eat really fucking badly."

Azreal grinned as he and Aegis approached. "You're gonna need eat, you'll be seeing me and Aegis in the fields out there. Better get your shit together for when I knock your ass out."

Don's mouth dropped open on hearing this.

"You wish bitch. So you guys won huh? How did the fights go?"

Azreal continued to wear his grin. "She was too tense, and I played with her head and caused her to make a mistake. All in a day's work for a pro like me."

"So...you beat Graduate Beasley!?" Don, who was behind Angelus, asked. Both Aegis and Azreal turned to him. Although it went virtually unnoticed, perhaps for the best of all, Heather was openly gawking and undressing Aegis with her eyes. To her at that moment, Aegis was a Dragon in human form.

"Sup, mind if I ask who you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Don. You're Graduate Azreal, and Graduate Aegis right? Listen, I'm really sorry Graduate Azreal-"

"Woah, woah, woah, easy with the whole 'Graduate' thing. Just Azreal is fine. Anyway, what are you sorry for? You haven't done anything."

"Well, I was rooting against you in your fight with Beasley just now. I was betting on Beasley, Angelus, and Aegis to make it to the semifinals."

Azreal mulled over that for a moment. "Hmm, to be honest, that's actually not a bad bet. If I had to choose...hmm, why not Wartron over Angelus though, wouldn't that be a better idea?"

Angelus' eyes flickered.

"Umm, well, you see..." Don almost began, then felt a death stare coming from Angelus, and was thankful that it was currently aimed at Azreal rather than himself.

Azreal shrugged. "What? In all honesty, if you had to bet between Wartron and yourself...wait, you're too full of yourself for hypothetical questions like this. Anyway, don't mind him Don, I want to hear your reason for picking Angelus over Wartron. I mean, picking him over Zaeco may be understandable, but why over Wartron?"

Angelus snorted, and turned to see the line had moved slightly, which he caught up with.

"Well, to be honest, from what I read of Wartron's file, while skilled, he didn't seem to have as much...life in him from what I understand. Don't get me wrong, his scores are outstanding, but when I read his character profile, I just...it seems like he's missing the 'it' factor. Angelus, on the other hand, he has that kind of fire, and because of that, he is able to force victories with just his willpower alone."

"Well, hate to break it to you, but that's mostly because Angelus is stubborn to a fault. All of that made him sound way cooler than he really is."

"Fucking dick." Angelus replied without turning.

"Dude, you need to relax as well, otherwise I'll get into your head and fuck you all up even before we start fighting. Anyway, that was actually a pretty good case Don. You a pro or something?"

Don shook his head. "Not me, my father was a former Dragoon, and has gone to every single Graduate Tournament without fail until the day he died. To him, it was his duty to the next generation, and he always took the time to learn of each Graduate, even if he forgot about them the next day. It was his way of showing respect, and I'm just carrying on the tradition, though I make bets."

"I'm sorry about your father. Sounds like a cool guy."

Don nodded. "He was, he would have loved to meet you guys. Anyway, congrats on your victory, regardless of my bet." Don offered his hand, which Azreal took.

The line finally ended and Angelus began placing his order, followed by the others, and they all sat down together.

'Thank the Dragons we ripped off the whole fast food gig from the Techs. What would we do without them?' Angelus thought to himself as he eyed his triple burger with drool threatening to come out of his mouth, ignoring the conversation going on the outside. Food was more important, and Angelus began attacking his food with a vengeance.

"Wow...you keep eating at this rate and you'll be too fat to move." Azreal pointed out.

"Imphukinhugy!" Angelus replied with a mass of food in his mouth.

"Oh for, Angelus, decency! Come on man, you're lucky none of that shit spat out and landed on me."

Angelus took one big swallow. "I said that I'm fucking hungry! For some reason I feel like I haven't eaten for days."

Aegis rolled his eyes. "I told you that you should have eaten more, remember? But no, you said you could handle it, and you didn't want to be puking during the fights."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Well, I'll say it for you Aegis, we told you so." Azreal announced triumphantly to Angelus, who gave Azreal a dirty and spiteful look before returning to his food.

"So, Don. Hate to put you on the spot, but can't help it. Who do you think will win between the three of us tonight?"

"Hey guys, mind if I join you?" The voice of Fortuna suddenly chimed in, causing all eyes to turn towards her. Sure enough, there she was, with a plate of food in her hands.

BINGO! Azreal's mind shouted. "Sure, here, I'll get a chair." Azreal said as he rose.

'Great, guess we can expect company tonight.' Angelus thought to himself. 'It's begun.'

"So, what were you guys talking about? Were you asking about who between the three of you is going to win?" Fortuna asked as Azreal pulled a chair for her and she sat down with the crew.

Azreal nodded. "Yeah, I was putting Don here on the spot and asking him who he thought was going to win." He said, gesturing to Don, who waved.

"You're Graduate Fortuna right? I'm sorry about your loss, you were pretty good out there." Don offered.

"Thanks, but I don't mind. I knew how good Aegis was when I entered the ring, and though I tried, I couldn't beat him. Maybe next time though."

"You were definitely Aegis's best fight. No offense to Graduate Haschel and Graduate Wartron, but I thought they were somewhat disappointing in their performances. You, however, did well against him."

Fortuna smiled. "Thanks."

"Ow! Sorry, now I'm in really big trouble. This is Heather." Don said, gesturing to Heather, who had just elbowed him in the gut.

"Hi, love the bangs."

"Thank you."

"So, Fortuna, what do you think?" Azreal asked Fortuna.

"What?"

"About who's going to win?"

"Easy. Aegis."

"Are you saying that because he beat you?" Angelus asked.

Fortuna raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm saying that because he is the least likely to make a mistake between the three of you. True, all three of you are at a comparable level, but, Aegis won't make a mistake and that will be the difference maker."

"We'll see about that. Tonight, I knock your fat ass off of the pedestal for good." Angelus declared to Aegis as he returned to his food.

"Yes, we will see...Hothead." Aegis responded with a small grin.

Angelus' eyes shot to Aegis, twitching as they did so.

"Anyway, what about me? Do you think I have a good chance?" Azreal asked.

"Hmm, I'd say your chances are pretty good. You have a strange knack for doing the right things at the right moment, so you might be able to catch Aegis with his pants down." Fortuna replied, and the bells in his head began chiming once he caught that small moment indicating her more subtle intent.

Another score for Azreal. He had pegged Fortuna as a decent girl who liked to have fun in the bedroom like himself, but hadn't really seen it during their time as Graduates due to a virtual lack of such an opportunity. Azreal thanked the Dragons that he seemed to be right so far. But, she probably wasn't going to make it that easy, since now she found her food more interesting than him, though she was grinning as she bit into her food.

Even better for Azreal. She wants to play. This had the potential to be a very fun night. Wait...

'FUCK!!!!' His mind shouted in frustration. Right here, right fucking here could be the source of a great night, but the mood has to be put on hold until the fights were over.

'FUUUCCKKKK!!!!' This was one of those rare moments where he was so glad he learned how to make a good poker face. Azreal wanted to throw a chair. If only he had thrown the fight against Beasley!

"And besides, you did upset Beasley after all, so you've got that going for you. So, who are you fighting next?" Fortuna asked, and all eyes turned to Azreal.

"Huh? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Aegis raised an eyebrow, while Angelus sighed.

"Umm, did you forget? You won the Element of Chaos, you get to choose who you fight next as the semifinals." Fortuna reminded Azreal.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah, that's right, I forgot. Hmm...who should it be..." Azreal went into thought.

"It's not like you have many choices, me or Aegis. Probably me, since you probably figure that I'm weaker than Aegis."

"Hmm...you know what? I'm not telling."

Once again, everyone blinked at Azreal.

"Seriously? You're going to keep us in suspense over a choice like this? Whatever, it doesn't matter, pick who the fuck you want. So stupid, dragging it out like it's a critical point in some sort of fantasy story. 'The choice will decide our future.'" Angelus mocked, returning to his food only to realize it was all gone. Shit.

"Angelus, you do realize that when you ramble like that, you make absolutely no sense, right? Aegis just needs a translator when he does it, but you need to have your brain fixed when you do it."

"Whatever."

"So Azreal, why keep us in suspense like this?" Fortuna asked with a smile.

Azreal shrugged. "Because I can. What would life be without some fun from time to time?"

"True story." Fortuna replied.

Angelus sighed and stood. He had seen enough. "I'm outta here. Catch you guys later, and nice meeting you Don, Heather." He said as he walked away without another word with everyone too surprised to stop him.

"Huh? What's up with him? Wait, he just went into one of his depressed moods didn't he?" Azreal asked.

"What!? Hothead...depressed?" Fortuna asked, astonishment in her voice. Angelus was a lot of things, but he never showed anything anywhere near depression.

"It's fucking weird, and it started ever since we came back from Candidate School. He randomly fell into these moods where he just had no motivation at all, and would only answer with grunts or a few words. It was...well, it was fucking weird." Azreal explained. "We tried getting him laid to try and cheer his mood up and well...you probably heard about what happened to us right?"

Fortuna smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you guys got owned is what I heard." Fortuna said with a laugh.

"Gee thanks." Azreal answered, the sarcasm in his voice obvious.

"So, why is Angelus depressed?" Fortuna asked.

Azreal shrugged his shoulders. "No idea, my guess is that he finally just needs a good lay. He is twenty three, he's been holding out long enough."

"Actually, I don't think you're too far off in that assessment." Aegis added. "In Angelus' case however, it's not the physical contact that he needs, but emotional. In a crude understatement, you could say that he is simply lonely."

"...lonely? Angelus, lonely?" Azreal asked, uncertainty in his voice.

Aegis nodded. "I think what it was is that when we returned from Candidate School, from Angelus' perspective, he had nothing to come home to. To him, being home wasn't much different than being in Candidate School. To this day, he has stubbornly spent most of his life alone, but now, this feeling of wanting to be with someone has begun settling in and he doesn't know how to deal with it. I've noticed that he starts falling into one of his moods when a couple or potential couple get intimate or share a personal moment."

"I was like that when I was younger trying to raise all three of us. Neither you nor Angelus were responsible enough to try and burden the tasks that I performed during that time, and whether you believe or not, I spent many nights laying in bed, awake, afraid of a disaster the next day might bring, in a cold and lonely bedroom with no one to confine to. That feeling persisted until I had met Sabrina, but I was much better at masking it than Angelus is." Aegis explained. "However, I could be wrong. But, if I were to guess, that would be it."

Azreal sighed. "And that stubborn bastard will never admit it. But, I see where you're coming from, and it does make sense. But...that's all on him. I can get him laid, but if he's looking for love...he's on his own. Only a Dragon could put up with him."

Aegis rose. "I'm going out to the fields to wait, I think about half of our time is up as of right now, so you'd better come along soon." He said to Azreal as he walked off.



Angelus had no idea how lucky he was that he had missed that conversation about him. Aegis had pretty much nailed it, and hearing that from Aegis in front of everyone would have virtually ruined Angelus for the night.

He had seen how quickly and cozy Azreal and Fortuna were getting, and just to even think of seeing it both annoyed and bothered him. So instead, he beat them to the punch and escaped before he was forced to witness more.

Angelus had no idea why this was bothering him, and especially now at all times. He was in the Graduate Tournament! He was on a winning streak, kicking ass and taking names! Hell, he even got a chance to kick the shit out of Zaeco tonight! So why!? How and why did this subject drain his spirit so fucking quickly!?

No one was to be trusted, period. Fact of life number one, not a single soul could be trusted. To trust and be emotionally attached to someone in that regard was a weakness, a weakness many exploited on a regular basis, a weakness that no one will even get an opportunity to use against him. That was Angelus' rule. If no one got close to him, than no one can hurt him. Yet now, it seemed like he was doing himself more harm than anyone else in the world could do. It was just one giant fucking circle that was continuously jamming itself right into his ass, and he couldn't get rid of it.

A fight, that's what he needed. Once the fights start again, he'll forget about this and everything will be back to normal.

But, that wasn't for some time, and as Angelus spotted the many couples mashed in here within this giant mass of human, he wondered to himself just who was happy? Who were living lies? Who were the ones who were genuine about their relationship? Who had secretly broken the trust of their partner without the partner knowing it?

Yet, even with all of those questions hanging over his head, Angelus longed to be happy like they all seemed to be. A part of him wished that he could be like the rest, or like Azreal, who could jump from relationship to relationship without the same fears and needs that Angelus seemed to have.

Angelus may not know what kind of woman he wants, but he did know that he wanted her to be a part of his life, one who would listen to his secret admissions that he would only dare speak of in the dead of night, or, even in the case of tonight, a person that he could actually share his accomplishments with, even if he lost in the next round.

That was what he needed. He didn't need sex, because he wasn't like Azreal in that regard. Sex by itself was meaningless, a meaningless instinct which could be suppressed, ignored, and by doing so, save so much time, trouble, money, and anything else he would have to give up for about fifteen minutes of fun on random nights. But this other part of him, this emotional aspect, that would not be controlled so easily.

In a way, it felt like Angelus' own stubbornness was back lashing and throwing itself right back at him.

Angelus sighed, keeping his head down as he navigated the crowds. Hopefully, he wouldn't bump into anyone who might notice him and see his current mood. The thought of that pissed him off. Angelus got lucky in this aspect for the rest of the night, and didn't see anyone until the semifinalists were summoned to the VIP boxes where the Grand Dragoon of all people waited to greet them.

Aegis, Angelus, and Azreal were lined up before the Grand Dragoon, who was standing in front of the boxes facing the fields, and after a few moments of them being assembled and lined up with Aegis to Angelus' right while Azreal was on Angelus' left side, facing the boxes, the Grand Dragoon began.

"First, I would like to take a moment for all of the Graduates and their hard work that they have shown tonight in the rings. Although only three stand before me now, none should forget of the efforts of the Graduates who had put their heart and soul in the previous fights tonight, for they were all spectacular by their own right."

'Bullshit.' A number of Graduates thought in response to that statement. Especially Azreal, who could have beaten Barka in his sleep. The only reason it was even half of a fight was because Azreal didn't attack for the first ten to fifteen minutes or so.

"And now, allow me to introduce the semifinalists, starting from my left, Graduate Aegis!" Applause broke out among the crowds, especially considering many of them would make a couple extra dollars if Aegis won. Though the lowest payout, it was the most popular bet.

"Graduate Angelus!" The Grand Dragoon announced next after the applause for Aegis died out. Angelus became irritated at the fact that the applause he received was not as loud as Aegis'. It didn't matter, he'll have just as much fun pissing them all off once he won. That brought a small smile in Angelus' expression, though it was well hidden from the Grand Dragoon.

"And Graduate Azreal!" Azreal received a powerful mix of both cheers and boos, since Azreal's victory over Beasley had spoiled multiple betting plans. And now, there was another good chance that the Dark Horse could ruin the entire night for many if he emerged as the victor.

"Now, Graduate Azreal, as you know, you hold the Element of Chaos in your hands, and you will decided how the night will proceed. Who will fight you in the semifinals?" The Grand Dragoon asked, and nearly all present held their breath, anxiously waiting for Azreal to make his decision.