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Sensing her charge finally wake up (the lazy boy!), she decided to head closer to the apartment, mainly to keep in eye on him. After all, she was in charge of his safety whether he liked it or not, whether he acknowledged her existance or not....

Bending foward as if to spring and jump off, Melody gracefully flew off of the tower and took her time while soaring over the city. So many little moving dots; it was enough to make one so dizzy, and impossible to follow one certain dot in the city without it getting lost in a sea of more of them. It was a clear day, with barely any clouds in the sky as the blue of it was so bright. She wondered why angels avoided going down into the city and being present; what could be so bad about God's creatures? Some of them seemed nice enough.

As she got to the apartment, she decided to check in first via window. Holding onto the window to hold it open, she stuck only her head in for a peek into the room while he was in the shower, thankfully that room not in her view. Well, he was up and about; that was good. Aw, and he was singing too; gotta practice for his big break (hopefully), after all! She had been sending in many prayers herself for his group to do well enough to win.

As she heard the water turn off, she quickly got away from the window and landed ontop of the room, still blanked in the angel's invisible cloak that no human can see her. She walked about on the roof, observing the city with wide innocent eyes. What a wonderful place; she couldn't wait to learn about it from teh Big Guy!

What she didn't know, was that among a secret group, that was going to change very soon.....


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The priest made his way slowly about the city, waving to many of the people he knew and stopping for a few chats with old friends. He stopped into one of the stores and did what he did every year at this time: he purchased a guardian angel folded oragami, for good luck for his granddaughter. It's helped so far, and every prayer goes a long way.

Upon going through the town, he also learned of a big band contest that was taking place in the afternoon. He could sense that it was a sign of something important, and he knew of what. Thanking this one man for hte location of the show, he continued to travel about the city, feeling the presense of many angels...and a few demons.

"Oh hohohohoho! Today's going to be an exciting day; I can feel it in my ol' bones!"

Zack sipped at his coffee and sighed. The choice of music for the biggest event of his life was a tough decision. He needed something that applied to everyone. Something with soft rock, hard rock, the choice of words, maybe something with a little fun, or even romance...Did he have a song that could excite everyone with different tastes in music? Probably not, but looking wasn't going to hurt anyone.

He finished he cup of coffee, and decided now would a good time to get dressed, considering he wouldn't want to be in just a towel when his bandmates arrived. They never knocked, by fault of him for saying they didn't need to. Normally he wouldn't care, but one of the members was a girl, and he wouldn't want to scar her eyes with his nakedness. He closed the window and walked to his dresser, setting his cup on the top.

He ended up pulling out just a simple white t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. He usually wore black to his performances, but due to the present event...black would be inappropriate.

He just managed to finish putting his clothes on when Sarah, the female band memeber, walked through the door. Perfect timing! he thought. He had an itchy suspicion she would be first to arrive. She always was.

He had to ruffle up his hair a bit, to get into costume. He smiled at the other in the room. She had her natural blue hair in braided pigtails. She didn't have to alter her performance clothes, seeing as how she's always wearing a very conservative black shirt, and khaki white pants. One wouldn't be able to ball park her personality just by looking at her. She looked like a strict, fun-hating business woman. Inside, she was just as much a child as he was, and that's what he thinks makes him slightly attracted to her.

Sarah was carrying her guitar case and a bagged breakfast. "I knew you wouldn't get a hearty breakfast in before we leave," she said, tossing him the bag. "I got here as early as I could so you'd have a chance to eat." She sat down on his bed, the only place to sit, setting her case on the floor in front of her feet.

Zack opened the bag and his face lit up to the site of blueberry muffins and a carton of orange juice. He took a muffin out of the bag and sniffed it, taking in the aroma of fresh food, which is hard for him to come by. "Thanks," he managed to get out as he took the first bite. So far, the day has been perfect! What can possibly ruin this perfect day?

Bored beyond belief, Melody spent some time dancing about the rooftop, singing quietly to herself. No one could hear her, so what's the problem there? She twirled, purposely trying and succeeding to get her long white poofy dress to twirl with her, only adding the goregous effect as her long brown hair followed suit. She wore no shoes, for she couldn't feel the ground if she tried, being in her postion as junior guardian angel. She was told that she did live up to her name with her beautiful name, and that it in this category she was "actually proving some worth". However, she did it not for fame or currency; she just liked singing. She mainly got it from Zack, and often caught herself singing his songs. They were very pretty, after all, and were more inspritional than the boy realized.

She deeply wondered what the world was like; not just seeing it like watching what humans called a "television" with just pictures and words, but to actually be walking through the city, being acknowledged as a human being, living, eating, breathing as they did. If she was human once, she recalled none of it. She'd been trying for years to do so.

Upon hearing another voice throught the open window below, her senses kicked in that she should check on him. She flew back down and peeked through the window carefully (although there was really no need; Zack would be the only one here that could sense her and see her even if she was spotted) as she watched another band member arrive, the blue-haired female known as Sarah. She had flown back down about the same time this Sarah had walked through the door; she was glad that her charge was fast when robing himself for the day, or there would have been a very, VERY akward moment.....and most likely lots of screaming from a scarred for life woman. But Melody was used to that, because she seemed to be the cause of everyone-turn-and-stare-at-the-moron back up above.....but not for the same scenario reason!

As the young woman pulled out food, Melody was curious; alot of times she'd been here, she'd act as his human version of hte guardian. Melody tried hard not to be jealous, but this irked her in an odd way. Why would he respond to this one, but ignore her? She knew the answer though; she was an angel, and Sarah was human. She had eventually let the anger pass, but still found it curious. She watched quietly out of sight, but by the window still. She wanted a muffin...it smelled good, and she never had human food or drink before. Mmm, just the word muffin now made her hungry.

((ROFL! blaugh ))

Zack didn't know what to think at the moment. He wasn't sure, but he could have swore he just saw someone at his window. At first, he thought it was her...But, no. She was just a figment of his imagination, and whom he had grown to completely forget about. After all, it was because of her his family started to look at him differently. Sure, he was only five when the accident occured, but he remembered it like it was yesterday.

His second thought turned to a bird. There were tons of brown birds hanging out around windows. Right?

Sarah sighed and walked over to where Zack was letting muffin crumbs fall to the floor. She didn't realize Zack was staring at the window in confusion towards the angel. She thought it was for the same reason he'd been in a concentrated state for the past month now: the song they were going to sing. To ease his tension, and perhaps get him to notice the mess he was making, she tried to start a conversation.

"Jay wants to perform 'Evil Angel'," she told him, kneeling down by his feet to pick up the tiny morsels of uneaten muffins. "I told it was too inappropriate, given the event we'll be playing for, you know?"

Zack blinked, thankful that Sarah was there to keep him in his sanity. "Yeah, great." He hadn't actually heard a word she had said. But when she looked up and smiled at him, he figured he had said the right thing.

"Good." She stood up and walked to the window, intending on throwing the muffin morsels outside. Zack didn't own a trashcan. Once the window was open, however, Zack nearly pounced on Sarah.

"What are you doing?" he barked, dropping his muffin out the window, having it land on the window below his. It was because of Sarah's frightened look that put Zack back to the present. He looked at the window, and cleared his throat. "Uhm, birds...yeah...birds might fly in." He slowly closed the window again. "You know how birds are." He smiled and scoffed, trying to act normal.

"O...kay." Sarah turned away and rolled her eyes. Boys can be so weird. At that moment, the guy upstairs shouted, causing the two of them to nearly jump out of their skins.

Zack had never been so thankful for his upstairs neighbor.

Sarah turned around quickly, and dropped the muffin crumbs to the floor. "That's right! I nearly totally forgot! Jay said that guy upstairs might be in the contest, too, and that he's really good."

"Great," Zack sarcastically threw out. He looked out the window again, and sighed. If it was her, he wanted to actually have a grown-up conversation with her. He wasn't sure if he was ready for an intelligent one, he just wanted to know why she decided it a good idea to make him look mentally ill.

((I think I'll make profiles for the bandmembers as well. Or at least Sarah's. They might be a little more important than I thought. But I'll have to do that when I have lots of time...maybe later tonight.))

"Wake up you lazy bum, it's the day of the festival you know, I even marked the calender for you. Oh and I brought you some subway. It's your favorite kind. I decided you need something healthy for once." Josh said bursting through the door. Following him was there bassist Katie.

"Hmm you're awake, I was hoping you were still sleeping. I would've shoved the sub down your throat. Isn't that how you'd love to wake up? Some good food being shoved down your mouth by a beautiful women, the idea just drives you crazy huh?" Katie said walking into the room behind Josh. She stood in front of him and saw him just lying there. "Oh you were sleeping, a nap I take it. I'm just glad you're ready already." Katie giggled looking at him.

"I was sleeping until you morning people came in and woke me up. Hand over that sub." Strake demanded, holding his hand out expecting the sub. "And that's been my lifes dream, but you're not beautiful, you're drop dead gorgeous." Strake smiled as he flirted with Katie. He found it odd that he was attracted to a human.

"Just eat your sub before it gets cold you goofy flirt." Katie smiled looking at the sandwhich that Strake had just gotten from Josh.

Strake obeyed Katie immediately. He shoved the fresh sandwhich into his mouth and enjoyed it immensely. "Thanks for the sandwhich, it's really good." Strake said with his mouth full of his sandwhich. He glanced over at the clock and saw that it was already 9:00am. "Dude, we got to get there for the sound check and to tune." Strake said getting up. He grabbed the guitar case and slung it around his back. He picked up his violin by the handle with his left hand and held the sandwhich with his right. "Come let's go." He said impatiently as he walked quickly out the door over to the stairs.

Josh and Katie followed him quickly. Katie was wearing blue jeans that were tight against he skin that opened up towards the bottom, as well as a white t-shirt and a blue jacket. She had blonde hair which she was wearing down, and she was wearing some boring white sneakers. She had her bass slung around her back. Josh was wearing a black suit with a red under shirt and a black tie. His brown hair was neat and parted in the middle. Josh wasn't really a part of the band, he was the manager. He always felt a need to look presentable. Strakes black raven Sparky flew out to Strake as well.

Melody took some time to smack her lips in satasifactory; that was the bestest best human food ever! Ok, so it's the only bite she had so far, but who cares?! This was a monumental moment for the angel, and she'd treat it as such. Putting her hands together and kneeling, she looked up to the sky.

"Dear God; thank you for that awesomely awsome food! May it rest in my belly well and not lead me to sickness; oh, and same for Zack, since that'd be very bad......

Let's see, what else? OH, I pray that I can keep Zack safe and sound, no matter what it does to me. I pray that I dont' screw up in my job as far as using my job correctly. May his band do well in the contest and help him out financially as well as let them have fun with it. AMEN!"

Standing up and brushing off the dust on her dress, the young-hearted angel heard the commontion that was once there die down and a door shutting sound from the inside, and she took off and scaled down the building. Melody knew once that Zack's best friend Jay arrived, that the band group would head off towards the city. But tehy were on the stairs only by the time she flew down to the right level, trying to keep out of sight yet at the same time keeping watch on her precious little charge. Jay was a strong angel believer and, although not perfect, was a pretty decent guy; Zack would be just fine. She could tell something was on his mind, though; perhaps he HAD seen her. oh well, it'd happen eventually. She kept an innocent curious look on her face as she examined the group inside via window, fluttering about.

She knew that Jay liked to joke about Zack and Sarah being in love, but Melody hoped that wasn't a true case. He seemed a bit young for it, or something about this Sarah made Mel uneasy, but she couldn't figure out what. Either way, it was Zack's decision and his alone, and her job was to merely protect from above and nothing more.

From high above, unseen by the humans below, a lone angel floated down upon Alphaline. His descent was slow, almost lazy. Spiraling down, little by little, he made his way towards the main plaza where the vast majority of Alphaline’s population was starting to congregate. It wasn’t a coincidence that this angel had arrived at the start of the Angel Festival. It was fairly certain among the higher-ups in Heaven that this time of revelry would be a prime chance for servants of Chaos and Terror to strike. As such, God and his Archangels agreed to send down a few extra Guardians to not only oversee the event, but assign them to Unprotected humans God had deemed in need.

One such angel was Amadeus, he who was presently landing on a rooftop near the town centre. He had not been assigned his charge yet, so Amadeus took the opportunity to survey the area and spot potential targets for the minions of Hell. Almost immediately, he found one: a very old man, wandering about through the centre. It was clear from the way he held himself and from the way that others greeted him that he was a well-respected leader of the community. Judging by his attire, Amadeus concluded that he was most likely a religious leader of Alphaline, if not the head religious leader of Alphaline. The angel considered the value of Protecting such a figure.

His time spent on consideration was short, and Amadeus swiftly leapt from his observation post and fluttered down gently and gracefully onto the street several paces behind the old man. For now, he would keep his distance. He wasn’t sure if the man had the power of Sight, and was concerned with the possibility that Seeing an angel might startle him. Then again, most who had the Sight were deeply faithful, and would welcome such a visage instead of being frightened by it. Considering this possibility, Amadeus decided to hedge his bets: he simply walked up beside the man and kept pace with him. It would be up to the human to control his own reaction.

((that's fine; I'm not a songwriter either. xd ))

Melody watched from above as the commotion and tripup went about (and it made a very loud crashing sound). Worrying about Zack a bit, she went closer to the window so she could see and hear all the people, wincing slightly as many of them toppled over. It was like a comedy scene in the long 'televison' shows called 'muvies'. Or was it 'movies'? 'Mavies'? Ah, whatever; she'd learn eventually.

However, something about one of the ones in the other band made her feel......uneasy, as if he wasn't human or something. But what could it be? But she had to concentrate right now; she'd worry about it later.

It turns out they were going to the festival along with Zack's band, and they'd be competiting against each other. After a moment of Jay's flirtation with another member, the trio set off again. As before, Melody flew down to each window on a lower level to keep them in sight. This time, they reached the bottom of teh stairs in one piece (and Zack looked to be in pain; perhaps he fell on his bottom too hard in that crash? Such fragile humans!), and Mel decided to land; one look in the air would be a dead giveaway, but the crowds easier to hide in. Time to go UNDERCOVER! Oh yeah, just like James Band! Or was it Bend?

As she did so, she switched her outfit abit; the wings went back into her body, her floor length dress shortened to up to a bit abover her knees, her shoeless feet with petite red shoes, and the long sleeves of the dress going tanktop style. A flower in the hair, and volia! All that remained hte same was her body, her hair, her eyes and facial features, and the necklace which was on her neck; a simple cross.

She began to follow them through the crowds, which wasn't too difficult, considering the fact she couldn't be seen by the other humans just yet.


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As the aged figure continued his way through the towns, he paused for a moment. He paused with a smile, for he just now was feeling a presence that he hadn't felt in ages........an angel.

"Ohohohohoho!" he suddenly chuckled to himself as he turned to the direction where his senses were leading him. Sure enough, a young boy with wings and dressed in such a fashion as he had seen before was following him; perhaps since the old man himself was a priest, the boy felt a need of protection.

And now, his first power was coming into life for the first time in this story; keeping complete eye contact, a voice went off in the angel boy's mind, that of the priest.

"Well, good morning to you, dear angel! I trust everything is alright with you?" the voice said. "I would very much appreciate your company, for God has great plans for this day, and I'll need all the help I can get."