Encounter

The wind howled past Ylfa’s head as she stayed pressed firmly against Jere’s back, their course set for home. It was a long journey - especially with Jere deliberately avoiding full speed - but neither of them minded. Their closeness made the extra time feel like a gift. The slower pace also made conversation possible, though he had to raise his voice for her to hear. She’d pulled herself up so her chin rested on his shoulder, her cheek against his, putting him slightly off balance - but nothing his processors couldn’t compensate for.

She spoke into the rushing wind, relying on his enhanced hearing and wishing she could use her hands or ears or tail instead of shouting.

“You know, I think that was pretty good for a honeymoon.”

The word meant nothing to him.

“Honeymoon?”

She smiled.

“It’s a vacation that newly married couples take right after the wedding.”

He frowned.

“But we didn’t do very much.”

She hugged him tighter, still smiling.

“You want to do more?”

He nodded.

“One day isn’t much of a vacation.”

“I’d like to do more too,” she said warmly, “but we have a daughter to look after.”

“I know.”

He let his processors try - and fail - to solve that particular obstacle, then shifted the topic.

“What happens if we have more kids?”

She grinned.

“So you do think you’re fertile then.”

He frowned.

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t be.”

She sighed.

“Yeah, perfectly engineered and all that. I get it. It was just a prod, don’t worry about it.”

His face fell.

“Sorry.”

She squeezed him and laughed.

“Don’t be. The answer to your question is that we have more kids.”

He tried to glance at her - hard to do with their cheeks pressed together.

“Do you mean… we have more kids, or we have more kids…”

She laughed outright.

“Both, if you like.”

His heart fluttered, and she felt it through her chest. She giggled.

“I would like a big family. But not so big they can’t all fit in whatever house we have.”

A spark lit in her eyes.

“Hey, do you think it’d be funny if we gave our grandchildren great uncles or aunties who are younger than they are?”

He thought about it, and then realized he couldn’t tell if she was joking.

“Are you serious?”

She didn’t answer. She only laughed, then fell quiet all at once.

“Hey… do you think our kids will be immortal too? Or do you think they won’t pick up those traits…”

He couldn’t answer. He couldn’t control genetics. And the thought bit into him just as sharply - watching a child grow up knowing he’d have to bury them one day was a horrid concept.

Ylfa chuckled weakly.

“Sorry. I ruined the atmosphere.”

He shrugged, staring ahead.

She tried again, nudging the mood upward.

“Okay, but what do you think they’ll look like? Will they be Formys? Or will they be whatever you are. Probably just human, since your wings and stuff aren’t naturally grown.”

He shrugged again, shifting her chin with the motion.

“So maybe they’ll be full hybrids,” she continued, filling the silence, “and we’ll have to invent a new name for them.”

She chuckled softly.

“You know, it’s been millennia since the last Formy had a child with someone outside our species. I wonder if mine will even be acknowledged, seeing as I’m a traitor in their eyes.”

He nodded.

“Mhm.”

She frowned.

“You know, it would be nice if you-”

Suddenly he banked sharply. She yelped, gripping him tighter as he began a wide circle.

“Hey! What’s going-”

Then she saw it. Circling at a distance was a massive pair of silver wings that flashed brilliantly in the sunlight, a stark counterpart to Jere’s jet-black feathers.

Her breath caught.

“Jere… it’s you, but with silver wings.”

He nodded once.

“Ylfa. Meet Jaka, also known as J-2 or the Angel of Slaughter.”

She swallowed.

“Slaughter?”

He didn’t answer. His eyes stayed locked on the other Angel, their circles perfectly mirrored. The angle of Jere’s bank made Ylfa feel horribly exposed.

“Jere… if you’re going to fight it, please remember that I’m here and I can’t fly.”

He didn’t react.

“I’m not going to,” he said at last. “If we were, we’d have started already.”

She nodded and pressed closer against him, as if his body alone could shield her.

“What is it, anyway?”

“Another Angel from my old world.” His voice dimmed. “I didn’t think he’d been completed.”

A sigh.

“But apparently he was, and he was summoned here too. Probably the same way I was.”

She stared at it, the similarities too sharp to ignore. At least he didn’t have Jere’s face, she thought. That would’ve been a whole different problem.

“What’s it doing?”

“Waiting to see what we do.”

“Can we… just leave?”

His processors had already answered.

“Yes.”

She exhaled shakily.

“Then let’s do that. Please.”

Jaka watched as J-1 orbited, their paths so precise it was impossible to tell who was leading whom. His processors had already run through every option, and he was certain there wouldn’t be a fight - if they were going to engage, they would have done so already.

Instead, the calculation was simple: wait for J-1 to make the first move. Technically, J-1 was his superior.

If J-1 left, he would leave.

If J-1 kept circling, he would keep circling.

But what puzzled him most was the woman clinging to J-1’s neck, riding on his back. A demon - the same one he’d seen him dancing with. There was something strange about the pair, something he couldn’t quantify. Their relationship. Why did it exist? Why had J-1 abandoned protocol and disobeyed orders? And why did their relationship involve sex?

He couldn’t see the purpose. Unless J-1 wanted offspring. But children would only hinder his operational capacity. One already did, although the blonde girl wasn’t demon-spawn - she was something else entirely, something he had no classification for.

In conclusion, nothing made sense, everything was wrong, and he was confused.

His processors muttered something about inefficiency, but then J-1 levelled out, angled himself toward the hidden village they were apparently staying in, and accelerated, ion engines wailing as he slipped away.

Jaka watched for a moment before turning and setting course for the church.

He had even more questions now - and no one to answer them but himself.