I quietly strode through the massive and seemingly never ending forest; it was damp, dark, and too quiet for my likes. My black, worn combat boots quietly hit the dark, dirt ground making soft footsteps echo throughout the massive forest. A large full moon hung in the black, star scattered sky, and it illuminated everything in my path; but, as I could see everything much better, I could be seen in the dark forest. I f I fail to maneuver my way through the forest I will certainly die, because I am a fallen angel.

I and five other people are making the first attempt to escape this hell called Heaven; all of us look almost exactly alike: black hair, odd colored eyes, strange marks on our faces and arms, and our most distinct feature is our formerly white wings that have turned black. We're different, so why would it matter in Heaven? It plays a major role in Heaven. If you have any imperfection that is a characteristic of a fallen angel you will immediately be de-winged and thrown over the wall that separates Heaven from the world below.

While most of them die from the impact on the ground or from losing too much blood, they populate Dementa; better known as "The City of Fallen Angels" I have to escape from Heaven, or I would have joined the thousands of wingless fallen angels in the world below Heaven. The entire city is literally filled with nothing but fallen angels; people like me.

A line of skyscraper like pine trees stood in a thick line, their needles and branches formed a blanket of green and brown; this is probably the safest place in the forest for me to hide in. I strode toward the massive tree line, and-just to be on the safe side- I spread my massive, black as the night sky, angel wings. Slowly, the pine trees started to engulf me, and the tips of my wings brushed against the rough bark of the pine trees. Silence rung throughout the never ending forest; not a single sound to be heard for miles, and the only sound I could hear was my own heart beating rapidly.

Crack! A large tree branch came whizzing down from a tree, and it slammed into the dirt ground at my feet; it seemed that I was not alone. I looked up, and through the thick needles and branches, I could make out the outline of a shining star. It looked to be strung on a metal chain, and there is only one person I know that has something like that; Ashley. "Alexandria?" A man's voice whispered, "Is that you?" Barely, I could see a dark figure standing on one of the branches in the tree.

Assuming that is was Ashley, I whispered back at the figure "Ashley, is that you?"

"Yes," Ashley whispered, "come up here; I want to show you something." Cautiously, I walked towards the massive pine tree. I scanned the tree's base to see if there were any ridges to climb, and then-in the distance- I heard a man's, deep and raspy voice yelling "Come on, I bet that they already have gotten to the wall!" My chrome colored eyes widened in fear. This voice belonged to Bryce Goodman, one of the members of the wretched Angel Council that is trying to rid Heaven of fallen angels.

"Ashley," I said through clenched teeth, "they're coming." A face emerged out of the darkness; it had stunning, dark brown eyes and black scratch marks on its stunning face; Ashley. His long, black bangs fell into his dark brown eyes, and he starred at me through the thick pine tree. I waved my hand in an effort to make him come down, but with the minor noise I was making Ashley just pressed his finger to his lips and starred at me.

Then, Ashley's face slowly disappeared from the green tree leaves. Rustling emerged from the dead silent forest, and my patience grew thin; if we didn't get to the wall fast, Ashley and I would be killed. I impatiently tapped my booted foot against the dirt ground causing a cloud of dust to spew up from the ground, and Ashley had not come down from the tree yet.

Rustling emerged from the tree Ashley was in, but then a loud snap echoed through the air, and there was a flash of black then a loud thud. Lying on the ground was Ashley, his black wings were half way extended, and his long black hair was sticking up everywhere, it was a bit poufy at the top, and it was spiked in a fan shape in the back. Slowly, I walked towards him,-but as I got remotely close- Ashley flipped his head up from the ground and exclaimed "I'm ok!"

I couldn't help myself from laughing a little at him, and since he did react like that it made it even funnier. Ashley looked at me; his dark, brown eyes were magnificent in the moonlight. His long, black bangs were hiding his left eye; with cat-like reflexes, Ashley hopped up from the dirt ground causing a cloud of dirt to spew up from the ground. "Are you ok?" I asked Ashley while rushing over to him.

Ashley brushed the dirt off of his black, torn skinny jeans and looked up at me; he smiled sweetly, and then said kindly "Yeah, don't worry about me; I'm totally fine." He yanked is black, studded, leather vest and smiled. He strode towards me and lent out his black, fingerless, gloved hand. "Come on," Ashley said sweetly, "let's get out of here before the Angel Council finds us." I placed my black, fingerless, gloved hand in Ashley's. And then I saw it; between two trees was a glowing torch, and in the glow of the fire was a sickening face. Curly, blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and it had perfect everything. The head of the Angel Council, Sydney Toms, was staring directly at us. Her icy blue eyes locked on to my chrome eyes, and a sickening sneer spread across her perfect face.

"I found them!" Sydney screamed, and then she broke out in full sprint towards Ashley and me. Her white dress flowed behind her, and she chucked the burning torch at us. I grasped Ashley's hand, yanked him down towards the ground as the torch sped towards my face. The red and white, burning embers zoomed past my face, nearly swiping my right ear, and the torch flew into the forest behind me. Sydney gaped at me, but then her face was full of hatred and rage; emerging from the forest surrounding us were solders dressed in black long sleeve shirts and black pants, they were armed with bows and arrows, swords, and spears all aimed directly at us.

One of the soldiers stepped out from behind Sydney; he had black hair and icy blue eyes. He was very tall-like Andy and C.C. - and muscular; unlike any of my friends. This was the second in command of Heaven and the Angel Council; Bryce Wailey. He is pure evil and spewing over with hatred for the fallen angels, and the fallen angel Bryce hated the most was Ashley; he had no reason to, but Bryce just hated Ashley for no reason. Perhaps it was because Ashley was extremely good looking and was nice, unlike him.

Bryce sneered like Sydney had, and then his deep and raspy voice boomed through the quiet forest "We've finally caught you two," he glared a glare of hatred at Ashley, and then looked back at the both of us, "you're hard creatures to catch, but you're not the smartest either." Ashley leaped up from the ground and released his grip from my hand, and he stood slightly stood in front of me and he was in full defense mode. Slowly and carefully, I began to extend my black wings.

"Your little freaks of nature; you know that?" Bryce lashed. Ashley clenched his fists, and he started to tense up. I surveyed the area surrounding us; full of soldiers, and not a single open space to escape to. We were doomed, there was no way out and I was trapped in an unbreakable ring of angels without an escape route or backup plan.

I stepped forward to where Ashley was, but he shot out his right arm to keep me from going any further. Above us in the sky, something large blocked out the moon's beams; I glanced up at the black sky, and in front of the gleaming moon was a figure. It had large, white wings, long, dirty brown hair, and -even from a great distance- I could see its blue-grey eyes. The angel had hundreds of tiny, glowing balls in her arms. The angel stared down at Ashley and me, and then nodded. I had no clue what the nod meant, but within a split second, she released the blinking balls.

The glowing balls fell quickly from the sky, and then ear shattering booms exploded throughout the forest. Thick, black gas exploded from the balls; then it hit me. They were bombs.

"What the hell!" Sydney yelled. The explosions seemed to be getting closer and closer to Ashley and I, and the thick black smoke was thicker than molasses. Screaming erupted from the smoke. I reached to my right for Ashley, but he wasn't there. Ashley was missing.

I began to panic, and my heart was racing as fast as a humming bird's wings. What if Ashley had been blown to pieces, or even captures during the chaos. Maybe he was stabbed when he lost me, and he's dead. More explosions came from the smoke, and I was franticly searching for Ashley. "Ashley!" I screamed, "Ashley, where are?" I was terrified, because I loved Ashley and if he was dead my life would be so empty without him.

"Watch out!" A man yelled, and then I was slammed to the left and on to the ground. Then, only inches away from where I was standing, a massive explosion went off. My eyes had been squeezed tight, and I was clinging to my savior.

"Retreat all that are living!" The deep and raspy voice of Bryce echoed through the chaotic forest. Moaning and groaning rung through the thick, black smoke. I still hadn't seen the man who saved me and all I could have known it could have been angel. My eyes slowly opened, and staring down at me was the heroic face of Ashley; he had his lean and tanned arms wrapped around me, and he was breathing heavily. Ashley's dark, brown eyes were wide as dinner plates and they were filled with nothing but pure terror.

Ashley sighed, and then yanked me up from the ground and hugged me tightly. Grateful that he was alive, I wrapped my arms around Ashley and rested my head on his bloody shoulder. "I thought you got blown up," I said almost at tears. I was so grateful that Ashley had only escaped with a bloody shoulder and nothing too serious, and I hadn't even checked for any injuries on myself.

Then, the once chaotic forest went completely silent. Not a single breath or heart beat could be heard for miles, with the exception of Ashley and I's. "You two sure took a beating, are you ok?" a kind female voice asked. I opened my eyes expecting to anyone else but her. The angel that had dropped the bombs -that nearly killed me- stood at the base of a massive pine tree. She was leaning up against the tree like a bad ass, and she appeared to be angel at a distance; but I could faintly see a grey circle around each of her blue-grey eyes, and the circle appeared to be darkening as the seconds ticked by. Her wings were a murky grey color, and the tank-top she was wearing matched the color of here wings perfectly.

"The name's Emily and making stuff explode is my game," Emily stepped out of the shadows, and she was also wearing skin, tight black jeans. She strode towards Ashley and I, and Ashley released his hug on me and turned to Emily. He looked as if he didn't trust her.

"So, you're the one who made those bombs that almost killed us?" Ashley asked suspiciously.

Emily's eyes darted around, "I didn't mean to almost kill you," she smiled nervously, "I meant to kill the angels. But, you're not dead so that's good!" I got up off of the dirt ground and looked around at the blood stained ground, bodies of the angel soldiers who were blown to chunks lay everywhere around the battleground; some of their heads were missing, or even half of their bodies were completely gone.

I ran my fingers through my long, oddly layered, black hair and I flipped my spikey bangs out of my chrome eyes. Ashley kneeled on the ground next to me; he lifted himself off of the ground, and placed his warm hand on my aching shoulder. My black, leather jacket with ¾ sleeves was the only thing that was keeping me warm; I also had on a pair of skintight, black, skinny jeans and a black tank-top. It was smart to dress like this at night, because we would be barely seen in the dark forest at night.

"From what I see they work pretty well," I said surveying the dead soldiers around me. Their body parts were thrown all over the forest; some guy's arm was in a tree, and a guy's leg was in a stump. I looked back at Emily, and the once grey circles under her eyes were now completely black. "You're a fallen angel, aren't you?"

Emily smiled at me, and then said bleakly "Not really, I've been stuck like this for a few weeks and my wings have stayed this nasty grey color unlike yours; which is the color that they are meant to be by now.

Ashley interrupted our conversation, "Well, if you stay here in Heaven, you will get killed but if you tag along with us you may make it out alive," Ashley said kindly.

Emily looked surprised to hear Ashley's generous offer, and she happily exclaimed "I'd love to get out of this hell! I'll go." Ashley leapt up off of the dirt and blood stained ground, and his shoulder was still bleeding heavily. Emily starred at Ashley's bloody shoulder, and quietly asked "Um, do you need some help with that shoulder?"

Ashley looked down at his bloody shoulder casually and back at Emily. "Why not," Ashley said casually. Emily reached in the back pocket of her black jeans and pulled out a needle and thread and a small cloth, she strode across the body clad forest to Ashley and I. She smiled sweetly at Ashley as she examined his bloody shoulder.

After minutes of dead silence, Emily said blankly "It's just a small cut to a vein, but there's a lot of debris in it," Emily looked up from Ashley's wounded shoulder, and starred at me, "I'll fix it up in no time though." She threaded the needle and began to wipe the blood off of Ashley's shoulder, but the blood kept pouring out of his wounded shoulder. I was staring at the random body parts in the trees around us; blood stained the green leaves, and dripped onto the blood soaked ground.

I looked back at Emily and Ashley to see if she was done stitching Ashley up yet, but the needle lay imbedded in the cork spool and Emily's white cloth was soaked in dark, read blood. "Um," I asked across the open area, "is everything ok?"

Emily looked back at me, and yelled "Yeah, it just is bleeding a little now. I'll be done soon, I swear." I was suspicious about why it was taking so long to have Ashley fixed, and-by what I saw- his injury wasn't that bad. It was just a small cut that had gotten to his vein, and small bits of debris; that was it. I looked back at the dismembered leg that was caught in the tree's limbs; blood dripped out of where the knee should have been and it made a small puddle on the ground.

I was bored out of my mind, and this "small injury" was taking forever to repair. A long stick sat propped up against the tree with the leg in it, and I wondered how the stick survived the bombing because all of the angels hadn't.

I walked to the base of the small, oak tree where the stick was propped up against; it was doused with blood and the top end was broken off and it looked almost like a spear. Blood ran down it like rain drops, and I grabbed the blood smeared bottom of the stick. Above me hung a disembodied leg, it was mangled, and had blood dripping down from where its knee cap should have been. With the stick grasped tightly in my hand, I raised it over my head and poked the calf of the blood splattered leg.

The leg rolled out from its place in the mangled tree branches, it knocked out some of the small twigs, and rocketed towards my face. My shoulders were pressed back and the back of my black, leather jacket there was a gap between my pale back and my jacket. As the leg hurdled towards me I took a small step forwards thinking that I could dodge the falling leg; I was horribly wrong. Within the blink of an eye, I felt something running down my spine and was making the black tank-top I had been wearing wet, and it clang to my body. I was horrified, because I knew what was in between my jacket and back.

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head to the right to see if I was right; and I was. A foot was sticking out of my jacket, and I was facing its hairy leg companion. The look of pure disgust spread upon my face, and I turned around to be facing Ashley and Emily starring directly at me. Ashley's shoulder was stitched up with black thread, and Emily held a dark red rag in her red stained hand.

"Get it off me!" I screamed. I bounced around throwing my arms up in the air, and I was shouting the exact same thing over and over; "Get it off me!" Emily stood in the same spot she had been since I turned around, but then she looked to be holding back hysterical laughter; but Ashley-who was right next to her- was in laughing hysteria. He was doubled over laughing his heart out, and neither of them looked like they were going to help me anytime soon.

I stopped having a spasm, took a deep breath, and took one of my jacket sleeves off and cringed. The leg plopped on the dirt ground with a disgusting thud. Emily burst out laughing alongside Ashley; she crippled over and thudded on the ground causing a dirt pile to spew up.

Then she looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go," Emily stood up from the ground, and began to walk backwards, "I know that I said that I would go with you. But, I really have to stay," Emily stepped over a body, and was nearly submerged in the tall pine trees, "I'll come down as soon as I can! I swear!" Then she was gone.

Ashley looked at me, and he had a confused look on his face. Ashley asked vaguely "I wonder what that was all about?" He looked at me, and then grinned "You have blood in your hair, you know that?" Ashley raised a black gloved finger at my hair, and my hand darted up trying to feel where it was. A small droplet of dark red rolled down my pointed down nose, and plopped off of its tip. My eyes darted up to see my black, choppy layered, angled bangs were doused in blood. As the blood droplets rolled down my face, I frowned at them and whipped them off with my leather jacket sleeve.

Ashley strode across the forest, and his arms were wide open. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to his body, my head lay on his shoulder and I starred up at his face with a smile on mine. "Your body makes you sexy, your smile makes you pretty, but your personality is what makes you beautiful," Ashley whispered, "Don't ever change anything about yourself; ever."