Judas

Marion

Key Five: Marion:

Marion opened her eyes in Paradise. She couldn't remember the last time that the jasmine perfume had made her woozy. The bruises remained on her body from last night. Jasdevi made sure that she would get the brunt of the punishment.

"They is what we do to all the bad toys," they said as they shoved her into a pitch black room. She refused to scream. Marion refused to give them the satisfaction. The angel stayed down as the heavy steel doors drew closed. She sat up once they were gone. Marion snorted as she pulled knees to her flat chest. The rest of the story was predictable.

"Come on out so we can get this over with!" she shouted. "You don't scare me you son of a bitch! None of you scare me!"

"Oh really?" a deep voice growled. "You should be fun to break!" Marion turned towards the darkness. Heavy footsteps came towards her direction. The angel glared towards the emptiness. She gulped, but refused to show her tormentor her fear.

I have to stay strong for Alma. She began to think of Allen again. The angel frowned in disgust. Why am I thinking about him at a time like this?

It was then she realized that something was standing over her, breathing heavily.

A pair of glowing eyes glared at her. Marion stared at them, silent.

"What?" she asked. A pale hand grabbed her by her dark brown hair. Marion wouldn't scream as she was dragged around the room. In fact, she smirked as she counted down to what was coming next.

The hand threw her down on a stone bed. She tried to look up, but the hand forced her back down. It ripped open the back of her dress. Marion tried to look up again, but the hand held her in place.

"Tell me something, bitch," the owner's voice shook through the darkness. "Do you know why they call me the angel crusher?"

"You crush angels?" Marion asked. Her tone suggested that she wanted to laugh in his face. Smack! Her face went down against the stone. She could feel the blood spilling out from her nose.

"Correct, but that's not all," the voice said.

"And what do you plan to do to me tonight?" Slam! More blood poured from her bruised nose.

"Not another word out of your mouth, bitch!"

Marion frowned and glared at her captor. She knew what was coming next. This monster was not different than any of the others. Her thoughts changed when she heard a ripping sound. The tip of a frozen blade caressed her spine.

"You know something?" he asked. "I really hate mouthy bitches like you! When I was human, all you did was laugh and look down on me." A soft laughter spilled out from her lips.

"Aw, what?" she asked. "You got mocked by some girl because you were just that ug-!" Whack! This time, her nose and jaw were bleeding. He began breathing heavily.

"You will never laugh at me again," he hissed. "You will never laugh at me again!" He let out a blood-curdling scream as he raised his metal bat.

Marion stared up at the ceiling of the golden cage. It hurt to breathe. She dreaded to look at herself in a mirror. It didn't help that she was in fact surrounded by mirrors. The angel eyed not to make eye contact with her own reflection. Instead, she focused her attention to the rest of her battered body.

Her ribs felt like they had been crushed into her lungs. Marion thought that both of the bones in her calves had been broken at least four times. Her internal organs took to the most damage in her abdomen. How the angel's face looked was the least of her worries. Sure the angel's body would heal by tomorrow night, but that wasn't the problem. In fact, her own injuries took a back seat when another thought came into her head. Something about that "client" didn't feel right. Marion wasn't too familiar with him. Many monsters came and went through the Tower. However, something about that "client" felt off. The swings in his bat channeled his rage with beautiful women.

She was lucky that she had never seen his face. Remembering that, Marion remembered another worry.

What if Alma ends up having to please that creep?

"Marion?" a small voice asked. The angel froze as her searched the dim dark red.

"Alma?" she asked. "Alma, is that you?"

"Marion? Marion, where did you go?"

The battered angel began to panic when she heard crawling coming towards her. "Don't come any closer!"

The crawling stopped. "What's wrong, Marion?"

Marion closed her eyes and chuckled to herself. "I don't want you see me like this." She put her hand over her eyes. "I am a mess right now." The angel could hear soft breathing inches away from her.

"Are you okay?" Alma asked.

"No," Marion said.

"What happened?"

"Really bad things."

"Are you sure you don't want me to lie beside you?" Alma started to crawl towards Marion again.

"Don't!" Tears welled up in Marion's eyes. "I really don't want you to see me like this."

"But..."

"Please. I hate being weak. If you see me like this, I will hate myself even more. So please, just stay away from me." The tears began running down her sore cheeks.

"Are you crying?" Alma asked.

"No!"

She sighed. "What do you want me to do?" Marion replied in sobs. The dark-skinned angel crawled over and took hold of the other angel's foot. Her dear friend lifted her head and saw the small hand clutching her ankle.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Could you let me stay like this?" Alma asked. "This is the least that I can do for you. It tears me up to hear you crying like this. I wish that I could hug you, but will this do for now?"

Marion sighed as she dropped her hand by her side. "Do as you want. I'm tired." She closed her eyes and dozed off as Alma held onto her foot.

During the same night, Road dragged Allen back to the chair for another round of training.