Amodeus

Amodeus
by Danielle Delaney
"Shit!"
Jude jerked her hand back from the depths of her NAVI and swore ferociously as she sucked on the deep cut that now ran along the back of her hand. She gave the offending computer a nasty glare that sent its wires curling back as if chagrined.
A small question mark appeared over Kai's head as she sat on the main floor of the warehouse trying to think of some way to be useful. Ever since she had gotten to CAPOW (well, okay, it really was only two days ago) she hadn't done anything. Kai looked up at the loft where Jude sat swearing her head off and flicked her wings once. She stood up and flipped her hair out her face before spreading her wings and raising herself up to the loft.
"Jude-san?"
Jude looked over at the angel who sat perched on her huge mahogany desk. She still wasn't use to having another person in the warehouse, much less an angel. Jude just shook her head, sending her wild auburn curls bouncing.
"Hora! You're hurt!"
Kai jumped off the desk to kneel next to Jude. Her soft gray-green eyes were worried as she took Jude's hand in hers to study the cut. Kai frowned as she looked at it. She made a small sign over the cut and focused on it a little. Nothing happened. Kai's brow furrowed. She tried again. Nothing happened.
Jude squirmed and tugged on her hand. Whatever Kai was up to it was making her nervous. "Eh, really Kai, it's okay."
Kai shook her head. Her midnight hair was actually down for once and pooled over her shoulders and drifted in the air between them.
"No it's not okay. I should have been able to heal this."
Jude looked up at Kai to see her eyes filling with tears of frustration. Even after only two days she had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. Her only thought was 'oh shit.'
"WAAAH! What's happened to me!" Kai wailed at the top of her lungs.
"You've been put on suspension. That includes some of your powers little girl." A new voice broke in.
Jude looked up and blinked. All of a sudden her life had gotten decidedly busy. Once upon a time her life had been normal.. She sighed and studied this new person. The stranger was a taller male version of Kai. He had deep blond hair instead of Kai's so-black-it-was-blue, the huge feathery wings, and the deep gray eyes. He was watching Kai with a mildly amused expression.
Kai sniffled and looked up at Gabriel. She was still unhappy about being sent to Earth, but to have her powers stripped from her as well was adding insult to injury.
"But that's just a simply healing prayer. I should have been able to do that in my sleep!"
Gabriel, the messenger of God, just shook his head and smiled at the distraught Seraphim. "Nope, you can't. Here."
He tossed a small book at Kai. Kai caught it in one hand and sat blinking at it. And it blinked back at her. Jude rubbed her eyes and wondered if she was having another flash back. Ever since moving to CAPOW she was never really sure when she was actually seeing something or just having a trip. Both angels continued to ignore Jude. Kai turned the book over in her hands.
"What's this?" Her voice reeked of doubt and suspicion.
"That's your manual. All of the powers that you are allowed to use, a guide, and your operating parameters are in that book."
Gabriel flicked his wings and then cocked his head as if he was listening to someone. He gave a sharp nod.
"Well, that said. I'm off. Oh, and don't lose that. If you do, you'll really have to beg Peter to make you another one." With that he flicked his wings again and disappeared.
Kai sat on the floor next to Jude sniffling. Jude looked at the book in curiosity. It looked back at her with two dark red/brown eyes that blinked. She suppressed the urge to scream and studied the odd looking thing. It was a small leather bound book-at least she really hoped that was leather-with two big eyes, a sort of mouth in the middle and big metal clasp with an intricate design holding it shut. Kai tapped the book gently on the 'lips' and a tongue rolled out with a key on it. Jude felt like she was going to faint.
"Um. Kai? What is that thing?"
Kai looked up at Jude and shrugged miserably. "I'm not sure, I think it's a modified book of knowledge."
She fitted the key in the clasp and flipped the book open; Jude covered her eyes as a searing burst of white light poured out of the book. As it faded away she could see a pair of tiny eyes on the up right-hand corner of the right page that were identical to the ones of the cover. The eyes looked confused. Jude watched in amazement as writing started to flow over the page in an ancient looking script. It read:
"I AM YOUR MANUAL KAI. ASK ANY QUESTION OF ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU AN ANSWER. KAMI-SAMA PERMITTING."
"Why can't I heal Jude?" Kai sniffled.
"YOUR HEALING POWERS, YOUR EXORCIST POWERS, AND YOUR MAGICAL HAVE BEEN PUT ON SUSPENTION UNTIL YOU ANSWER KAMI-SAMA'S QUESTION AND BECOME THE ANGEL OF DEATH."
"Futz. I don't want to _be_ the Angel of Death."
"I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. I JUST TELL THEM TO YOU." The eyes gave the pair a reproachful look.
Kai sighed. "Fine. Then how do I go about healing Jude?"
"YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE POTION AND APPLY IT. OR YOU CAN UTTER AN INCANTATION OF HEALING."
Kai wiped away her tears and crossed her legs folding her wings tightly against her back. "How do I do the incantation-thingy?"
A script of words that made Jude's head hurt to look at much less read flowed over the page. Every time she tried to read it her head would start to spin and the words would blur. Kai seemed to have no such problems. She gently took Jude's hand in her own and started to chant in a strange soothing voice. Jude felt a pleasant tingling warmth start at her fingertips and work its way down to the end of the cut. Kai opened her eyes and clapped her hands as she saw that the nasty cut Jude had received was gone.
Jude moved her hand about experimentally and then grinned. "Say that's handy! What else can you do?"
Kai looked at her, blinked, shrugged, and asked. "So, um, what can I heal exactly?"
"YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE INCANTATIONS TO HEAL ALL MINOR WOUNDS, SOME POISONS, AND MAJOR WOUNDS ONLY WITH KAMI-SAMA'S PERMISSION."
"Futz." Kai sighed. "I could do so much more than that before. Hey! Do I get to keep my sword?"
"ONLY IF THE OCCASION CALLS FOR IT."
"What's that mean?" Kai growled.
"IF KAMI-SAMA SAYS YOU CAN HAVE IT WHEN YOU CALL FOR IT, THEN YOU CAN HAVE IT. IF KAMI-SAMA SAYS YOU CANNOT HAVE IT, THEN YOU AREN'T GETTING IT, BUDDY." The eyes blinked and then winked.
"That doesn't help much!" Kai hissed at the book. It's eyes narrowed.
"THEM'S THE BREAKS KIDDO."
"Futz. Can I still change my sword's shape?" Kai asked, her voice trembling just a tich.
"NOPE. YOU GET THE BROADSWORD FORM ONLY." The eyes glared back at Kai as she snarled in fury. Then a beautifully drawn picture of the sword appeared on the page. It had an intricate handguard that would reach most of the way up Kai's arm. The blade was roughly four feet-as well as Jude could tell from the picture-and double edged with four deep blood channels, and flickering flames that seemed to originate at the hilt slipped down the length of the blade. All in all it was a thing of beauty.
Kia scowled at the book and it scowled back. As well as it could for a book. "Do I get to do the exorcism, holy water, all that stuff?"
"THERE ARE APPROPRIATE INCANTATIONS THAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO USE, KAMI-SAMA PERMITTING."
"Can I do that, you know, the expel demons form the mortal plan with a touch thingy. That's so cool."
"NOPE."
"Why not?!"
"KAMI-SAMA SAYS SO."
Kai reached down and shook the book, hard. "What type of reason is that!" She shrieked.
"A GOOD ONE. AND I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU ANY MORE. YOU'RE MEAN. BEDA." With that the book slammed itself closed and stuck out its tongue on the cover.
Kai hissed at it, her wings flaring up and out, vivid indications of her frustration. "Open up."
The book stuck out its tongue.
"Come on. Please?" Kai tried really hard to be endearing. The book wasn't having anything to do with it. Jude started to chuckle as she watched the antics of the angel and the book. Kai whipped her head around, sending her long flowing hair fluttering around her.
"What's so funny, human?! All of my power is wrapped up in that damned book. If it won't talk to me I can't do anything." Kai's voice had gotten low and dangerous. Her eyes were hot and angry. She crossed her arms over her chest and flapped her wings in anger.
The book flipped open with a message that read: "I'M NOT DAMNED. I'M HOLY. JUST LIKE YOU."
Kai slapped her hand down on the page to keep it from slamming itself back closed and asked in a sickly sweet tone. "And just would your name be?"
"I'M AMODEUS."
Jude blinked and asked, "That means 'beloved of God', right?"
The book, as near as she could tell, looked at her with an approving expression. "RIGHT. AND YOU WOULD BE JUDE. NAMED FOR THE PATRON SAINT OF LOST CAUSES. WHICH IS WHAT KAI IS."
"Watch it, you living piece of vellum." Kai hissed; her wings twitched.
"You know, you two are going to have to get along. All your power, for both of you, is bound in the other. If one of you decides to just sit there the other one isn't going to be able to do anything." Jude pointed out calmly.
"TRUCE?" The book asked.
"Truce." Kai agreed. "For now. Say, what are the extent of my powers?"
"DEPENDS ON WHAT KAMI-SAMA FEELS YOU DESERVE AT THE TIME."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"YOU'VE BEEN GOOD-WHICH IS ABOUT AS LIKELY AS A SNOWBALL IN HELL-" Kai rolled her eyes "YOU GET ENOUGH POWER TO DEAL WITH MAJOR DEMONS, ASSUMING THEY DON'T CLEAN YOUR CLOCK WHILE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE APPROPRIATE INCANTATION. IF YOU'E BEEN BAD-WHICH IS MORE THE CASE-" Kai stuck out her tongue; the book rolled its eyes. "YOU WON'T HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO EVEN DEAL WITH THE MOST MISERABLY PATHETIC GREMLIN."
"Ouch. You'd better play nice, Kai." Jude pointed out the obvious.
Kai sat with her wings twitching back and forth at the ends with a distinctly peeved expression. She didn't like the fact that she had lost most of her abilities in one fell swoop and was now reduced to depending on a living piece of scrap paper for her power. She huffed. Becoming the Angel of Death had better be worth this level of humiliation. Futz. She sighed and idly ruffled through the pages of the book. It seemed completely empty until she stopped on a page and the little tiny eyes popped out. They were kinda cute actually. She grinned. The eyes winked back at her.
"Say, do I have love potions in there I can make? Jude might.. Hey! Ow! Stop that!" Kai flung her wings back away from herself to protect them from the blows she was getting from Jude.
"I'M YOUR MANUAL. NOT YOUR SPELL BOOK." The book replied, mildly huffy.
Jude sighed. As amusing as this was she really need to get back to fixing her NAVI. "Alrighty children. Go play elsewhere. I've got to work."
Kai stood up and stretched her wings smacking up against the ceiling. She reached down with one smooth motion and scooped up the book, then walked to the edge of the loft. Jude watched as the angel let herself gently drift to the ground. About twenty minutes later as she was thoroughly engrossed in fixing her NAVI she heard Kai's scream of rage. Jude grinned, between Kai and Amodeus things were never going to be quiet again.