Under A Wingbeat Pt. 01

Moonbay, an anthro panda, kept a close eye on her phone, looking for a text or call. She brushed her raven hair back behind her ears, watching Mei, her younger sister, in the gas station. The girl was roaming around the snacks, grabbing up anything that caught her attention or she felt the impulse to grab. Moonbay rolled her eyes, sinking into the seat, and rested her head on her hand. On the dashboard was a photo of their mother.

Both of them were anthros or furries, as some people called them--pandas one of the most sought-after species in the world. Moonbay, twenty-six, is the older of the two. Beautiful, curvy, and has an ample bust to catch anyone's eye. Her most notable feature was a white patch on top of her hair. No one knew how that came about, and some had confused her age for someone much older. She made a name for herself as a talented reporter. Mei, twenty-three, her younger sister, is slim but still turns a few heads. Athletic and a genius with computers.

Charlotte was a kind soul who devoted everything to the girls. Moonbay smiled, thinking and reminiscing about their best times together. She wouldn't give them up for the world. But unfortunately, her train of thought was wrecked when the backdoor suddenly opened, and Mei threw bags after bags of junk food into the backseat.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Mei!" The excess sugar and salt in the bags made the girl's stomach turn in knots. "Seriously, We're almost there; you couldn't wait for a few more hours?"

Mei scoffed, getting into the passenger seat. "I'm not the reason we're out here in the first place. Some random stranger offered us a place to stay, and you accepted it without even telling me about it!" She slammed the door with a huff.

Moonbay. "Would you prefer moving in with Dad?" She asked, starting up their car and driving away.

Mei. "And have Sandra up my ass? Fuck. That." She said with great disdain for the woman. She leaned the car seat back to lay down. "Why didn't you tell me we were getting kicked out?"

Moonbay didn't say anything. It wasn't an easy answer. She gripped the wheel tightly, nervously trying to think of the words. Mei looked at her, wearing a stoic expression on her face. "Come on,"

"We're not doing this now." She focused on driving. Keeping her eyes pointed ahead.

"You slept with him..." She said before Moonbay slammed on the breaks, sending them both hurtling into the dashboard. Mei let out a loud grunt before her lips for any blood after biting them from the impact. "WHAT THE FUCK, SUSAN!?" Moonbay's actual name. She never used it much since everyone called her Moonbay. A nickname from grade school. Mei groaned, running her fingers along the inside of her mouth while Moonbay was seething in her seat.

"You wanna know why I didn't say anything?" She gave Mei a look that made the girl briefly freeze up. "Because of this shit right here," she pointed at the console to indicate the present situation. "You're talking like we have other options. That we're not thoroughly and royally fucked because of you."

"Me!? Where the hell do you get off talking to me like this is my fault?"

. "Because it is! You can't hold onto a job for more than a few months and I had to use up my savings to bail us out on multiple occasions." She shook her head, chuckling and leaning on the steering wheel, holding her head. "We're broke, Mei. We're fucking broke."

"Moon, if we held out for a bit longer..."

"YOUR STREAMS WOULDN'T HAVE SAVED US!" Moonbay screamed, slamming her fists on the wheel before she struggled with her seatbelt to get it off and got out and slammed the door shut, rattling the keys. She began pacing in front of the car, trying to calm down. Mei watched her, it was uncommon to see Moonbay lose her temper like this. It was a rare thing to truly make her older sister lose her shit.

Almost twenty minutes passed before Moonbay got back in the car, heavily sighing while she melted into the seat. "Before I got laid off, I interviewed some successful streamers for a piece we were doing, and over two-thirds of them told me about how they had to hold down a job before they made any amount of money from it and that was just to support one person let alone someone who had kids. So you're not seeing the immeasurable amount of static you need to cut through to get people to notice you."

She put the car back into drive and pulled away. Mei just stared at her and hugged her middle.

"I know that..."

"You don't. Nothing is as easy as you think it'll be. I busted my ass at that newspaper for three years before they took me seriously. Even streaming takes time to build up a following." She sighed, glancing at her younger sister, seeing how timid she became after her outburst. Moonbay placed her hand on the center console, open to hold Mei's. "I'm sorry for yelling at you but we don't have a choice right now. It was either accept Rei's invitation or we go live with Dad and the bitch." Mei grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Was it though?"

"That's all we have, Mei. I can't stand her any more than you can, and Dad's just as bad. I didn't accept this for myself. I did it for us both."

"But what if they try dragging me into it?"

"They won't. I made it clear to leave you alone. If they make one move towards you and the deal's off. Even if Sandra's a bitch I'd rather put up with her bullshit than see my baby sis forced into something like this. Besides, you wouldn't know what to do with it." She teased earning a playful punch to the arm from Mei.

"Screw you!" The sisters had a good laugh, easing the tension from everything until Mei looked out of the window. "So Mom knew Rei?"

"That's what she said though I can't imagine how close they could have been for Rei to pay for everything when Mom passed."

"Yeah, she always said Rei was just a special friend when she and dad broke up." She spotted something on the side of the road and grabbed Moonbay's arm to make her stop the car. "PULL OVER!" Moonbay slammed on the brakes and looked at Mei, wondering what the hell had her all worked up until she saw it herself: the massive, crumbling remains of an angel.

The towering hollow corpse stood as a reminder of a darker time in the world. It was buried in the ground, its rusted exterior wrapped in vines and overgrowth. Many of them littered the landscape, often drawing the attention of tourists and the occasional scholar for study. Mei looked at the ominous figure and turned to Moonbay. "Remember when Mom showed us one of these before?"

"Ha, how could I forget? We had nightmares for weeks."

Mei giggled, looking at the angel as they started to pull away again. "Do you think we can stop and snap a pic?"

Moonbay. "We don't have time. We're already running late."

Mei. "Come on, Rei didn't give us a time limit right?"

"No, she didn't..."

"Then we have time! Come on, we go up to the angel, grab a pic and keep heading to Rei's." Moonbay groaned, tapping her finger on the wheel, considering the idea. The angel's history was a big interest for her and any chance to learn about them was welcome. She huffed, glancing at Mei.

"See if you can find a way down there." Mei squealed, grabbed her phone, and searched for a path on the GPS.

A short drive off the highway and the sisters drove up behind a crowd of people clamoring around the angel. Stalls, food vendors, and informative tours surrounded it. The sight made Moonbay feel uneasy and she never understood why. She turned to Mei, cocking her brow. "How bad do you want that photo?" Mei looked at her with a smile and got out of the car. She giggled, running up to the ticket booth. Moonbay rolled her eyes and got out to follow. The sisters weaved through the crowd, watching kids running around and waving toys in the air, tour guides answering questions and Mei smelling the vendor food for sale. She took in a deep breath and smiled.

"Man, We haven't been to anything like this since we were kids."

"Yeah, I honestly thought this thing would look so much smaller by now but it looks even bigger than before."

"Yeah, no kidding." They looked up at the giant and the broken halo hanging on its neck. "Do you think its true? They came to earth to end the world?"

"Hmmm, I doubt it. There's so little information about them that I can't say for sure. The Upheaval was over three hundred years ago." Moonbay turned her attention to the angel's face. The rust stains under its eyes made it seem like it was crying. She felt a bit sad that people turned this place into a tourist trap. "There are so many stories about the cause that even the angels left don't know the truth."

Mei. "Didn't you research them back in high school?"

Moonbay. "Yeah, and I wound up chasing a bunch of dead ends. My classmates clowned me for weeks after they found out what I chose for my report."

Mei. "Well, yeah. Not everyone's a fan." She dodged a gang of giggling kids and smiled as they vanished into the crowd again. "Come on, let's grab that pic and get going." She tapped Moonbay on the arm and ran over to an area that was devoid of people, looking up at the angel and getting into a good spot. "Okay, what kind of pose do you think we should go with?" Moonbay was a photography buff. She loved capturing incredible scenery and amazing people earned her some big jobs as a reporter. She opened the camera on her phone and took a second to get the settings right.

"Just pick a pose. It doesn't need to be anything fancy." Mei pouted and rested her hands on her hips.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What? Nothing's wrong. Let's just take the pic and get going." Mei huffed and crossed her arms.

"Just forget it." She started marching back to the car. Moonbay leered at Mei and grabbed the girl's arm.

"What the hell is with you?" Mei slapped her hand away.

"I brought you down here to try and cheer you up but you're acting like I'm boring you to death! You know what? Fuck it. Let's just go to this prick's mansion so you can get your damn rocks off!" She tried to pull her arm away before Moonbay tightened her grip.

"I'm scared, okay!" Mei stopped and looked Moonbay in the eye. She saw a small quiver on her lip. "When I called Rei, they gave me the names of several women to talk to so I could get their opinions about them. What they told me. Fuck..." She let her go and shambled over to the nearest bench. Sitting down, Moonbay started to let her emotions show a bit more, her body visibly shaking. "And despite that, I offered myself up. The money they're offering could get us a house in a couple of months."

Mei sat down next to her, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Is it better than dealing with Sandra? Sure, she's a handful but being someone's whore for their pleasure isn't anyone's first choice. Rei said we can still walk away, right?"

Moonbay nodded. "They did. Listen, whatever happens, I want you to know..." The girls jumped when Moonbay's phone rang in her hand. She looked at it and saw Rei's number across the screen. "It's them!" She blurted out and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Moonbay? I've been trying to reach you but the cell coverage on the highway was abhorrent. I just wanted to see if you were still on the way?" Moonbay remembered a man's voice from the last call. Not a woman. Rei sounded like her voice was made of fine silk. She pushed the image from her mind, knowing how distracted she could be.

Moonbay looked at Mei and pointed at the phone, telling her that Rei was asking about them. "Uh, yes! We made a quick pit stop to grab a photo. You know that huge angel near the highway?"

"I do actually, I'm going to be making a stop there myself in a few. How about we meet up there before we go to the mansion?"

"Oh, that's a great idea! We'll be waiting there."

"Excellent, look for a woman wearing a black suit with gold trim."

Moonbay. "Okay, sure, but I have to ask. The last time we spoke you had a man's voice. It sounded kind of hot, to be honest." Mei smiled, seeing her sister getting into detective mode. Moonbay put the call on speaker as Rei giggled on the other end.

"You think so? Then maybe you'd prefer someone with a deeper tone." The sisters stared at the phone when a voice like Christopher Judge came booming through the speaker. "There is more to me than you'll understand, girl. It's better to show you." Their voice changed back to the feminine tone, soft and gentle like a mother speaking to her child. "See you soon." She giggled and hung up, leaving the girls slack-jawed. Mei jumped up, stammering and freaking out. "Our mom... Knew an angel!" Moonbay jumped up and slapped her hand over Mei's mouth to keep the girl from getting louder.

"Be quiet!" She hissed at Mei and looked around to see if anyone noticed them. "Someone's gonna hear us." Mei slapped her sister's hand away, grabbed her shirt, and pulled her closer.

"How can you be so damn calm when we heard someone change their voices like that!"

Moonbay. "Because it could be some asshole playing games with us. We need to see up close before we can take it as the truth. Trust me, I already got all kinds of rumors of Rei being an angel and I'm not gullible enough to take them as fact yet." Mei nodded, feeling calmer now. Moonbay never accepted anything she didn't see firsthand. Angels lived in this world but seeing is believing.

Mei. "Okay, so we get proof. But what if they are an angel? You'd think they wouldn't be into shit like this." She motioned to the tourists around them. "And the fact you agreed to bring their pet or whatever. I mean look at you. The right amount of thickness in the right place. Especially with the twins." She gave Moonbay a smirk and a wink which made her groan, rolling her eyes.

"I am not having that kind of a conversation with my sister, okay?"

Mei. "Hey, I'm just saying it's weird an angel would be into this kind of thing."

"Well, sadly, angels are just as twisted as we can be. I've heard about some twisted fetishes."

"Let's just wait to see what they say." She wrapped her arm around Mei's neck and smiled, getting them in the frame. "Let's get that picture and enjoy some grub!" Mei was a bit shocked seeing Moonbay switching moods like this but decided to go along and say fuck it. She flashed two middle fingers while Moonbay stuck out her tongue. Their eyes pointed in odd directions to make the photo more immature. The sisters couldn't get over the sisters as they laughed and ventured over to the first food vendor. A hot meal sounded like the right idea.

Two hours have passed since Rei called Moonbay. She was lost in thought while Mei sorted through tacky T-shirts and hats. Was Rei an angel? It was said the more powerful ones could alter their physical forms. They came from a purely primal source of energy. What kind was a secret the highest ranks chose to keep hidden knowing mortals would exploit it for their gain?

Moonbay was researching Rei's social standing and found various pictures of different people. The one common theme was the black and gold. Rei's form always had the same colors every time they made an appearance. The second most notable was their wings. Some of the photos had some tattoos or, Dye Marks as most anthros with fur called them, in the shape of feathery angelic wings going down their backs and hips. Moonbay was worried about her stance on the situation. If Rei was an angel, could she resist the temptation of getting closer to them if they were?

"Hey, Moon!" She turned to Mei and fought back a laugh seeing her sister wearing a fake halo and angel wings. "Don't I look precious?" She put her hands together to pretend she was praying before Moonbay came over and took the halo off.

"Seriously, Mei. If Rei is an angel, don't you think this would probably make them mad?"

Mei pouted, seeing her put the halo back. "Maybe so or they could be someone who doesn't really care. I've heard some of them just walk around people and couldn't give any less of a shit what people like us think."

Moonbay. "Maybe so but I don't wanna make them angry. God knows what they can do even if they're a regular person like us." A commotion started to rise from the patrons. The sisters looked at each other before they jogged over to catch a peek. Moonbay squeezed through the crowd first and gasped, her eyes widening as they caught the face of a woman. An anubian jackal, bedazzled in gold. Her siren-like charm drew in the onlookers like a swarm of ants racing to the first lick of honey. Guards ensured no one got close to her. Moonbay's heart jumped into her throat, drowning out all sound with a drumming beat. She couldn't hear Mei trying to get her attention before she felt the girl pull on her ear. "Ow!" She yanked her ear away. "What the hell!"

Mei. "I've been saying your name for a solid minute!" She looked at the woman who just continued to walk away. "Is that them?"

Moonbay rubbed her ear, watching the woman vanish into the mass of people, and nodded. "It's her. She charmed me for a minute."

Mei looked at her. "Charmed?" She noticed a few others were frozen in place. "Isn't that a defensive measure?" She walked over to a man and waved her hand in front of his face before snapping her fingers and getting no response.

Moonbay. "It is. It catches anyone vulnerable to it in a trance and leaves them mesmerized allowing the angel to escape. I didn't notice until you pulled me out of it."

Her curiosity was starting to take over every train of thought that zoomed through her mind. All of her questions about angels and where they came from could finally be answered. Mei saw in her eyes and pulled her again to snap Moonbay back to reality.

Mei. "Susan, we can still walk away from this."

Moonbay grumbled, rubbing her ear. "And go where Mei? We were evicted, remember?"

Mei. "Still, I don't wanna see my sister be the toy of heavenly reject!"

"Reject?" they turned to see Rei standing next to them, smiling with her arms crossed under her bust. Mei started sweating bullets, tugging on Moonbay's sleeve desperately wanting to leave. The older sister pulled Mei behind her.

Moonbay. "Hello, Miss Rei. I apologize for my sister's words. She doesn't approve of our arrangement."

Rei took a step closer. "How do you know I'm Rei?" The crowd started to watch them, growing more curious about the sisters. Mei was starting to panic as she pulled Moonbay closer. She grabbed Mei's hand and held it close.

"I know what a charm feels like. You lose yourself in a fantasy. It's close to a vivid dream. Please, ma'am. Can we speak of this somewhere private?" Rei smiled and motioned for them to follow her to the angel's corpse. On its side was a doorway inside.

Mei. "Wait, we can go inside it?"

Rei. "Of course. It wouldn't be much of an attraction if they didn't let anyone see the inside of it.

The guard at the door recognized the uniforms Rei made her guards. He thought it was tacky as hell. "Miss Merderna, The doctor is waiting for you inside." He unlocked the door with a keycard and allowed them inside. He tried to stop the sisters from going in. "Hold on, you two..."

Rei. "They're with us, Frank. Rei is expecting them at their mansion." Frank froze, looking at the sisters up and down before he placed his hand over his heart.

Frank. "I feel so sorry for you two." The sisters were pulled in before they could ask any questions.

Mei yanked herself away from the guards, growling and pointing her tinger at Rei. "OKAY! EITHER SOMEONE Gives us... an explanation..." Her eyes drifted along the walls, seeing some pulsing energy moving through them. They could hear a faint heartbeat, echoing from above.

Moonbay. "Oh, my god, it's alive!" She said with increasing excitement. For years, she wondered about their biology and now they were getting a full tour. She was almost lost in the daydream before the people outside popped into her head. "Hold on, doesn't that mean it could wake up at any moment?"