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Veronica took the jacket and then remembered she had to hide her wings. Groaning she folded them in and under the jacket. They stepped outside and Veronica wondered how a nice day could turn to hellish weather conditions that fast. Didn't Cole have to follow the rules just like everyone else? She followed Leo to his apartment although he seemed deep in thought. She said nothing just occasionally kicking at some flowers but having her foot go through them. Her mind wandered and soon enough she was thinking about when she was pure. Veronica wished she still was.

Everything around Cole was engulfed in flames, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered, the only thing on his mind was killing Lyra. He didn't even need to sense her when he saw a flash of white light and her fleeing into the fiery sky. Cole stopped abruptly as he watched her form ascend higher and higher. He smiled to himself, showing his fangs. With one mighty push, he launched himself into the air; the fireballs raining down almost seemed to dodge out of his way, as opposed to the other way around. "INCATENARE!!" Cole shouted as he gave chase. Spiked, rusty chains burst from his palms, shooting towards Lyra. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL EVERYONE!!!"

Lyra barely dodged the chains as all the falling balls of fire were in her way. She gained a little speed and scanned the rooftops. She found a skyscraper and landed, walking close to one of the edges. He'll kill me... But I can't let anyone else get hurt..

"Cole." she said, waiting for him.

As soon as Veronica said that she was fine Leo ran out the door. He pushed his way through the main entrance to the building, and ran as fast as he could towards the suit shop. Cars were speeding down the road as the people tried to hurry to their families. Leo went to cross the street to cut through some buildings almost causing himself to get hit. The car screeched to a stop and Leo did a sprinting leap onto the hood. He was on the ground on the other side before the guy even reacted. He cut through alleyways and could see the suit shop in front of him. He kept running until he reached the door, and he opened up without stopping.

He stood there out of breath as he looked for Emily. His eyes were going so fast that it was just a blur. "Emily!" he shouted as he slowly looked around. She peaked out the crack of a dressing room door, seeing who called her. When she saw that it was Leo she came out, wiping tears from her eyes. Leo saw her and hurried over to her. "Please tell me you're alright Em." he said as he wrapped his arms around her. Her voice was muffled in his shirt as she spoke, "Yes I'm ok. What are you doing here Leo? Why aren't you seeking shelter?" He looked down at her face with compassion in his eyes, "I couldn't sit there without knowing that you were safe." They hugged and embraced each other for a few minutes.

"Listen. I don't care what you have to say about this, but you're coming with me." Leo said as he grabbed her stuff.
"Is it safe to go out there? Where are we going?" she gave Leo a worried look as she watched him.
"I made it here right? We can go to my apartment. It's really close. I just want to keep you safe." Leo stopped. He looked at Emily with the same caring and compassionate look that he had when he asked her to live with him.

Emily grabbed her coat from the back room, and told the other workers that she would be fine as they protested. She knew that he would let anything happen to her. Leo grabbed her arm and they started to run. Emily couldn't keep up with him, so he picked her up and told her to hang on. It was much easier for him this way since he knew the best route. He weaved between cars, buildings, and everything else. They reached his building and he set Emily down. They hurried through the door and up the steps. He unlocked the door to his apartment and they entered.

Emily heard someone in the other room, "Do you live with someone?".
Leo handed her a cup of coffee, "No. I found my friend in a building all by herself sleeping on the cold floor, hiding from the gates of hell outside. I couldn't leave her there, ya know."
Emily looked Leo in the eyes, and saw the same Leo that she's always known. "I understand. You're still the same person that I remember. The same caring, but angry person." She took a sip of the coffee, trying not to burn her mouth. "Or did that anger go away over our off time?" She knew how Leo was. She knew about how he was always causing trouble and was always angry. She also knew that this anger was never directed at her and he was a different person most of the time when he was around her.
"It's still there Em. It's still just as bad as when I met you. But I'm working on it." he put his arm around Emily before continuing. "But don't worry. I'm still the same person that you know and love. " They sat there and drank coffee, as they waited for the gates of hell to close again.

Leo was enjoying the coffee. He made it with two creams and two sugars as usual. As he sat there with Emily the power that was coming from the other room started to slowly get weaker. Why can't anything go right today! he shouted in his head as he stood up. "Em, I'm going to go check on Veronica. I'll be back." Leo made his way to the spare bedroom and saw that Veronica was missing. He closed and locked the door. He ran to the window to see if she might've left, and all he could see was a black object falling towards the ground. He opened the window and leaped out of it, spreading his wings as he caught up to her. "Veronica!" he yelled as he got closer. He knew she wouldn't like what he was about to do but he didn't care. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he had to fix it. He wrapped his arms around her, and flared his wings out as far as he could to slow them down. It seemed like it wasn't going to work, but it did. They barely hit the ground and Leo stood up as he asked, "What the hell was that about? If something is wrong please let me know right now. You're actually the only one that I see eye to eye with in this messed up little group, so I'll do anything that I can."

"But Veronica.....I didn't mean it like that! You know how I am with words!" he yelled as she walked away. All he wanted to do was help. All he wanted was to save his true friend, and he's being punished for it. Why do I even try to be nice? he thought as he punched the window of the car next to him. The glass shattered into small glistening pieces and crunched as Leo walked on them. Before flying back up to the window, he called back to Veronica, "You know your still welcome to stay there for as long as you want. Just come in when ever you need or want to......we both know you don't need a key." Leo spread his wings and flew back up to the window. He hid his wings as he quietly climbed through the window. He gently closed it and made his way to the door. When he opened it Emily was still sitting on the couch. She turned around, "Is everything ok?" she asked with compassion in her voice. "Everything's fine. She wanted to go back to her apartment around the block to get something, so she went down the fire escape route." he said as he sat down next to her. He put his arm on the back of the couch behind Emily, turned on the television and put on the guide. "Well that's good." she said as she took a sip of her coffee. "Hey we should watch the history of rock n' roll on Channel 38." Leo flipped to the channel and they tried to relax as much as possible, during this time of havoc. Leo shut the curtains so they could ignore what was going on outside. Not being able to see Cole's hellish doings made things a little more tolerable.

Cole saw Lyra land on a skyscraper not too far ahead. "YOU CAN"T RUN!!!" he bellowed, his voice echoing all around them. He hunched over and started to gather power; his tongue was crackling with energy. He felt it all surge within him as he shouted, "NAGare-" Cole was past the limit of his power, he couldn't even finish the summoning. Suddenly, it was like his body shut down: all of his demonesque figures disappeared, his wings folded back into his body, and the fire storm he summoned earlier dissipated, leaving the sky filled with ash. Before he realized what happened, Cole's eyes fluttered shut and he plummeted towards earth, unconscious.