AZA

How to Survive Unavoidable Death, By Azara Kendall. Step one: Be Azara Kendall. That would be the first line in the book that Aza planned to write someday. She came up with it as she fell toward the lit streets of the city that she'd lived half her life in.

Time had conveniently slowed, which she was sure was for the whole life to start flashing before her eyes thing, but she instead decided to internally write this book. However to write such in a book in one's mind, it required looking back to see how she had truly survived the many death experiences she had had. Therefore scenes of her life did seem to fly through her mind at record speed as she desperately searched for a way to not die, so that she could write her book about...not dying.

It was perhaps then that she was forced to face the inevitable truth. Maybe it took a little more than being Azara Kendall. If the Anahalian brothers hadn't shown up when she was fending off Annihilators from getting to Evabelle, Aza would have had a bit more than a few scrapes and bruises. If Lucis hadn't caught her after leaping off the platform back in the bell-tower where they, once again, faced the eyeless bat monsters, her body would have had to have been peeled up off the stone with a spatula. Fighting Vagi in the Sanctuary, werewolf attack, being kidnapped not once, but twice by the psycho witch. Aza wouldn't have gotten away alive without help in any of those situations.

Step two: Scratch step one.

Step three had yet to form in Aza's brain as the tops of buildings came into view from the corners of her vision, and time decided to the exact opposite, and speed up into a pure disorienting rate. Aza closed her eyes, waiting to see if fate would send her another angel or if she would hit the ground and pass straight through the earth until she reached the fiery pit.

Pain flashed on the side of her leg and her back as it landed in a little pocket of thick wet wool. Her eyes shot open, but the fall didn't end as she still dropped like a stone, her body now encased in something dark and fluffy. She didn't have time to figure it out since a resonating clang rang in her ears as her body and her cocoon whammed into a combination of something hard and squishy. She rolled on the sudden impact and hit her head on something metallic and the confusion vanished as the world was sucked away from her senses.

EVABELLE

Evabelle held out the gun like a peace offering. Which sounded a little strange when she thought about it.

The big guy, Raoul, didn't even look at the weapon, just gave Evabelle a bland stare. "You honestly believe I'll help you if you ask nice enough?"

"You understand guns. I know we're going to need to train," Evabelle began, but Raoul cut in before she could continue.

"Yeah, I know guns that are made by professionals, not whacky inventors." He shook his head. "Even if this was made by someone who knew what they were doing, I wouldn't help because I'm fairly certain I made myself clear when I came here, that I'm not getting involved the Anahalian's war." he glanced over Evabelle's head to Calandra, who stood behind the brunette.

Calandra shrugged. "You wanted to come here. I can't stop my guests from talking to you."

The corner of Raoul's mouth twitched.

"Look," Evabelle started again. "You don't have to fight. You don't ever have to leave the safety of the Sanctuary. I'm not going to ask that of you. All that I do ask is that you help those who are going to be fighting, who are going to be leaving and risking their lives."

Raoul gave a huff. "You make me sound like a coward, hiding away from the danger."

"I never said that." Evabelle shook her head.

"I heard the implication."

Evabelle lowered her hand. "For a long time, I hid from this responsibility. My responsibility. I've always cared about people, and hate seeing them hurt, but I never did more than I had to. I'd reach out to lonely people sometimes, but hurting another to save someone wasn't in me. Or at least that's what I told myself. There's more to me that scares me, but if I ever want to grow I have to look, to find, and to do whatever it takes."

Raoul gave a course growl and shook his head, reminding Evabelle of a dog. "Get on with it."

"I'm saying I'm not going to take no for an answer," Evabelle replied. "You did something for Calandra, and she owed you, so you asked for a place to stay. If you do this for me, I'll owe you."

Raoul threw back his head and laughed, making Evabelle swallow. "You think it's that simple?" He careened forward until his face was right up next to Evabelle's. His eyes flickered yellow. "But I'm intrigued by your forwardness." His breath was hot, but Evabelle stood her ground.

"You said you would do anything, right?" Raoul, grinned, showing off his slightly pointed teeth, right as Evabelle felt a hand brush against her thigh, making her freeze.

Suddenly, Raoul was yanked back and went flying through the air as Calandra judo-flipped him, but he landed on his feet and whirled, snatching the mage's wrists and easily shoved her to the ground where the air was knocked out of her. Then he knelt down, straddling Calandra and pinned her arms.

The man glanced up at Evabelle with that smile that had never left his face. "Answer the question, sweetheart."

Evabelle stepped back in horror, her mouth dropping, and her hand on the gun shaking. "All I'm asking is for a bit of training," She stammered.

"My prices are high," Raoul replied.

Calandra had just gotten her breath back when she started to chant, but Raoul just leaned forward so that his bare shoulder smothered her mouth, stopping the spell. He looked like an animal crouched down, stalking its prey. Calandra shrieked and bit down hard, drawing blood, but Raoul's smile widened. "Biting a werewolf, now things are getting kinky,"

Evabelle's hand came down fast and hard, smacking the man in the face. "No, I will not do whatever it is you want. I was wrong. If that's what you wanted to hear, you heard it. I was wrong, I'm not that desperate. I don't need you." She spat, her body still trembling.

Raoul grinned up at her, and pushed off of Calandra, who was white and livid. She leapt up and raised a hand that burned green. But he raised his arms. "I'll help you," he said.

Calandra didn't lower her hand.

"On a condition," he continued.

"Like Hell!" Calandra screamed.

"I already told you I'll figure it out on my own." Evabelle crossed her arms.

The mage's aura shot forward at the werewolf, who ducked and rolled forward, easily plucking the gun from Evabelle's grasp and pointing the barrel against the back of her head. "This thing is far too light to be affective," He muttered.

Evabelle stood stiff. "It's firing munera, which are feathers, of course it's light."

"That doesn't matter. It's causing an explosion to fire off whatever kind of ammunition, so it's going to have a kick-back. This thing is so light it's going to fly out of your hands whenever you fire, which seems pretty counter-productive to me." Raoul snickered.

Calandra again had her hand raised toward him. "So, we'll weight it." She snapped.

"Do you know the right places, princess?"

Evabelle closed her eyes. "What is your condition?"

She heard the satisfied chuckle from behind her and her insides curled. "You have to prove yourself to me."

"What do you mean?" Evabelle asked.

"When I met you at Kalas Hem, you were a nobody who was afraid of her own shadow. You did talk a big game which was almost impressive. And just now you did the same thing, but you haven't proven yourself. You haven't impressed me."

Evabelle grit her teeth. "Just because I won't degrade myself to you," She turned to face him, the gun now touching her forehead. "Doesn't mean I'm unworthy filthy scum like you."

Raoul shook his head. "I'm not talking about that you moron," He let out a breath through his nose. "Fine, I'll make it plain and simple for you. I want you to beat me."

Evabelle blinked. "What?"

"Beat me," He repeated.

After just witnessing how easily he took down Calandra, Evabelle could not believe what she was hearing. "How?"

"In whatever way you want." There was a click of the gun, making Evabelle flinch, right as he tossed the weapon up in the air and caught the barrel, holding the butt out to her. "You may want to start doing some of your own training."

AZA

The first sense to return was smell, and she really wished it hadn't. The stench nearly made her gag. It wasn't all bad. There was a mixture of something starchy and cheesy intertwining with the smell of rotting oil and moldy vegetables.

Hearing came next. At first everything sounded very far way, and her ears felt like she had been submerged deep underwater. She opened her mouth in a yawn to pop them, but regretted it as the repugnant odors from her surroundings rushed in through her orifice and made her stomach churn.

Aza coughed and groaned. The bleeping cars and street music naturally coming into better clarity. Her entire body felt like she had fallen from at least thirty feet in air. Then she remembered that that's exactly what happened.

The banged up girl's eyes slit open and finally took in her landing spot. Lucis had dropped her facing upward toward the sky. She hadn't seen where her body had settled. Wherever it was, it was dark, warm, and...fuzzy?

Aza opened her eyes wider and turned her stiff aching neck, wincing a little and looking down at a thick fluffy blanket quilt thing. She blinked several times, her brain still having a little trouble processing. Slowly rotating her head again she found herself against a dark blue metal wall with disgusting stains streaking down it.

Looking up, Aza saw a rectangle patch of sky and finally put together that she was in a dumpster. A restaurant dumpster, primarily serving pasta would be her guess from the smells. Though the blanket thing she'd hit first was confusing. Slowly, she pushed her dinged-up body up into a standing position, doing her best to avoid touching the walls or the rim of the large trash can, continuing to stare upward. The sky was as dark as ever. Only the faintest traces of stars, and no lone angel man being chased by monsters. But as Aza squinted a long wire came into focus. It connected the two buildings between her and she noticed a few garments hanging out, realizing it was a clothes line. She glanced back down at the big thick quilt at her feet. It was still slightly damp. Then she glanced back up at the side of what she believed to be the pasta restaurant, and saw a window that was probably an apartment above the place.

Lucis must have seen the big blanket and the dumpster with relatively soft squishy trash inside and calculated the drop. Dang. Aza shook her head, instantly regretting it as another sharp twinge raced down her neck . The Anahalian's brain speeding up in a crisis thing was amazing. Granted the landing had not been perfect, but considering the situation, Aza was impressed.

Again the girl turned her attention to the sky, spinning all the way around, looking for any trace of her friend. Her heart started to speed up again, as she began to run through it all in her brain. How long had she been out? Did Lucis get away? He had to have gotten away...but then he would have come back for her right? Or left some sort of sign that he'd be back?

Aza grit her teeth and put her hands on the rim of the dumpster, cringing inwardly at the old rough bits of food that had crusted around the edges. Then she heaved herself up and over the side landing unceremoniously on the her butt against the asphalt. She groaned as her whole body screamed at her, and in her head she could see Del's stupid fatal smirk again.

Taking a moment for the pain to pass, she finally got to her feet at stepped out of the alleyway into the relatively noisy street. Aza didn't pay too much attention to her earthly surroundings. She registered that there was a lot of people walking up and down the sidewalk, with only a few cars on the road itself. The whole area seemed to be populated with smalltime restaurants. It kind of reminded Aza of Chinatown a little bit, but she didn't delve into that too much as most of her concentration was still diverted toward the heavens.

There wasn't a trace of Lucis or the Annihilators as Aza meandered around, getting shouted at by people she ran into and cars honking as she found herself in the street. She was supposed to have this magical Sight thing right? Then why the heck couldn't see anything?! It made her wonder how she had never noticed the magical stuff before. Apparently there wasn't a lot of magical activity here in New York, but still.

Her eyes glazed over as her thoughts took a dangerous turn into the 'what could have happened' realm. Aza thought of Lucis already injured, horrendously outnumbered. Her stomach clenched as her mind traveled further to Del who had flown ahead of them. What if they had gotten him first? Her own words beat down in her brain. "...everyone just ignores the fact that you're the dark, cool, mysterious guy, who supposedly looks just like Averno. You act so coldhearted, but maybe it's not an act. Maybe your heart is just as frostbitten as his. Perhaps, it's you who's just like him." Why had she said that? Why did she insist on pushing the boundaries? Why did she push so freaking hard? Why him? The fact that that was the last thing she had said to him made her stomach churn. But it did beg the question: if there was something she'd want her last words to be to him...what would they be?

Aza shoved her heart down from her throat right as she staggered on the uneven walk and hit her head on a lamppost. She cursed aloud as her already tender head rang. She touched her forehead where it had crashed against the side of the dumpster and felt an enormous goose-egg. Then she reached around to the side of her head where a new lump was forming to give the other some company.

The small blonde must have been a sight. Aza finally looked down at the nearby people to see many of them giving her odd looks, some more concerned than others. She gave a smile the people and little wave to reassure some of the motherly looks and push away the other more annoyed expressioned ones. But it was then that she heard someone say the magic words that she didn't know she'd been waiting for.

"You saw a giant bird fall out of the sky?"

Aza whipped her head around making her aching muscles in her neck screech, but she ignored them as she saw the two Asian ladies talking to the policeman.

The younger of the two girls was speaking excitedly in Mandarin. The older one, probably her sister was shaking her head apologetically at the officer, pulling at the younger girl's sleeve. "Prease sir, Jian has very active imagination. She just rush over and had to tell you."

Jian looked over to the woman and spoke quickly again, urging her to translate what she was saying for the man. The older Chinese girl bit her lip and sighed. "She says the bird was bigger than people. But she thinks it was hurt, and she wants you to go check on it."

The officer's eyebrows went up. "Well, if it fell from the sky, I'd definitely say it was hurt." He chuckled.

Jian's companion gave a strained smile.

The man glanced at the young woman who did not understand the conversation, staring between the two of them. The policeman looked back to the interpreter. "Did you see this bird?"

The taller woman shook her head. "No Sir. We are just tourists who don't want trouble. I make sure my sister doesn't get into it anymore."

The officer shrugged as Jian's sister dragged her off.

Jian shook her head as she realized what was going on. She cried out and flailed her arms as Aza made a beeline towards them.

"Wait!" Aza yelled out to them. The two women turned as Aza stumbled to a halt in front of them. "You saw a giant bird?"

The older Asian shook her head. "No bird. Just silly dreamings."

"Look, I believe you." Aza spoke directly to the Jian, hoping the girl would understand. "But I just need to know where you saw him fall."

Jian, who looked maybe twelve or thirteen, stared curiously at her, but her sister finally sighed and translated what Aza said to her. The young girl's eyes widened and she quickly gushed out indistinguishable words as she jumped up and down.

"She saw the big bird fall about ten minutes or so ago." The girl who spoke English said. "She says it was somewhere in that direction, maybe a block or two over." She pointed overtop the buildings west of where Aza had fallen into the trash can.

Aza took Jian's hand and nodded toward the other girl. "Thank you so much." Without another word, she dashed away, leaving the tourist girls staring after her.

There was no time to explain. Lucis had fallen out of the sky. Like the policeman had said, he had to be hurt pretty bad if that had happened.

Aza cut through another alley, reaching the next street over and blinked in surprise as she recognized it. She hadn't been down here often but this road was near to her old middle school which meant she was only a few blocks away from the old McCarthy apartment. It was a quiet place where a few other older public housing buildings stood. She shook her head as she kept running down the way turning this way and that, trying to catch sight of some indicator of a giant bird crash-landing.

Gratefully, there were very few people at all on this street. However none of them seemed worried or surprised as if a large winged man and plummeted from above. She ran down the sidewalk passing alleyway's for which she glanced down quickly before moving on. Up ahead, she spotted three boys racing out of one of them. They had wide eyes with pallid faces, and Aza, without a word to them bolted past, whipped around the corner from whence they came, and screeched to a stop.

Once stacked up milk crates were in splinters, glass and wood littered the floor creating a dangerous path. But it was the long dark ruby streaks on the ground and walls making it look like a battle had gone on between the two buildings that made Aza's heart still.