The rain fell hard against the small cab, each swipe from the windshield wipers was pointless as another sheet of water would instantly drown out the road again. It was almost as if the sky was persistent on wanting the girl to mimic its actions.
This would be the last time she visited this place, as there was no reason for coming back. There was no one there anymore to welcome her when she landed from the plane, no one there to distract her from the trauma of being in the air. Her aunt and uncle were gone now, she didn't come here to visit like she used to every summer, she only came to gather her things and leave.
Her hands trembled while she waited for the cab driver to get back into the car. She shivered and then her breath hitched. The panic at the prospect of being in the air again hit her hard. She was so distracted she did not even notice the opening and closing of doors indicating the driver was in.
"Where to, Miss?" The driver looked back at her blank expression, the way her brows furrowed he knew she had heard him. "Where would you-"
"To the airport please." She interrupted him and that made her insides clench, so she finished with a smile. The look the driver gave her made her gut twist even more.
The girl sat back in her chair and looked out the window, the pounding rain blurred the lights from the buildings and the oncoming cars. Leaving the curb, her mind was trained on getting home as fast as possible. A safe arrival was all she cared about at the moment. The thought of her aunt and uncle had flown to the back of her mind, not to be uncovered soon.
The ride was silent other than the few times the driver tried to start a conversation. All of his questions were met with short to the point answers. After the driver asked what she was doing here he gave up and instead focused on listening to the rain pour.
Her flight was delayed due to the heavy downpour. She could not help but interpret it as a bad omen. Finally the restless passengers were allowed to board the plane after waiting two hours past their departure time. The girl would have to break her promise. Sorry dad, I won't be home in time for dinner. The thought of her dad allowed for a smile to form on her face. Her family would have come with her if it weren't for their jobs prohibiting them from leaving for a week.
Once the girl stepped down from the plane she let out a sigh of relief. Oh how great it was to be back on solid ground!
Having been here so many times before the girl knew exactly where to go and how to get there. Still, she felt a certain nostalgia and could not help but wander as she slowly made her way to baggage claim. After all, she would not be there again, at least, not like this.
"Natasha! Over here darling!", the girl was immediately brought out of her thoughts as she whipped her head around and practically sprinted towards the voice. She jumped into the open arms, drowning in the embrace. She was home.
"How are you dear?" Her mother cupped her hands around Natasha's face. "Was your flight okay?" Natasha looked into her mother's caring expression and enjoyed the comfort of familiarity.
"I'm fine now that you're here with me! Who cares about the plane ride? That's in the past now! We gotta live in the present and make the most of each moment!"
"That's my optimistic girl!"
Natasha got hugs from both her parents before they decided to make a move towards their home.
Her father opened the door and Natasha was more than relieved to see the comforts of her home. Indeed, she wouldn't leave here unless someone dragged her out, kicking and screaming.
Sleep was tugging at her mind, just the thought of being in her own bed made her tired.
"How does a midnight snack sound huh Nat?" She missed dinner, but it was too late for anymore events. Jetlag had a tight hold on her whereas she was barely keeping a grip on reality.
"I'm actually gonna head to bed. It's late anyways." She began to make her way up the stairs to her room, but stopped midway.
"Alright honey, do you want me to put your ticket stub in your scrapbook? You know, before you forget. You've always been bad at keeping track of your things."
Nat stopped, and thought. But she couldn't remember anything about a plane.
"What plane ticket?"
She saw her parents look at each other. A look of worry flashing across their faces for a brief moment.
"Nothing darling! I'm sure it's in your bag somewhere. I'll find it!"
With that she shrugged, said goodnight and made her way to her bedroom.
The night seemed to drag on. Minutes turned into hours as she couldn't fall asleep. Fatigue pulled at her mind, telling her to succumb to unconsciousness. But she never could, and when she did it wasn't long. Waking up multiple times at night hurt her brain. The clock didn't seem to ever change numbers every time she opened her eyes. Even after what seemed to be hours of sleep, it turned out to be only minutes.
It was five in the morning. It had been five for forever. It didn't matter how long she kept her eyes shut. The numbers never seemed to change. When they finally did change, she couldn't care less.
Multiple attempts at actually getting some rest had proven futile. Screw sleep, who needed it? Apparently no one in her house did. It was five in the morning and pots and pans were clanging against each other. Heavy footsteps all around, people were screaming at someone that wasn't there. Who's calling people this early in the morning? Who even has the strength to get out of bed to grab a phone to yell at someone?
Natasha laid in bed longer, using her blankets and pillows as an attempt to block all sounds out. She was no longer trying to sleep, she just didn't feel like getting out of bed to deal with whatever that was a down there.
Finally, the passage of time resumed. It wasn't much, but it was enough to drive her out of her cocoon and send her hobbling down the stairs.
But what she saw was enough to send her foggy brain into a spiraling delirium.
A boy stood in front of her parents. But was he a boy? Slate teal angel wings seemed to be growing from his back and his attire didn't fit this era. In his hand, he held what seemed to be two double edge swords that curved slightly at the top. His wore an expression of anger, or perhaps it was determination. He was standing in a way that could only be described as a battle stance. What did he want? Who was he?
Nat pressed her back against the stairwell wall, but she was sure that she had already been caught. After all, she had certainly taken no pains to be silent as fumbled down the stairs. She slowed her breathing down as much as she could. Even though her pulse pounded, she tried hard to ignore it and concentrate on the conversation.
"You either bring her out or I'll go and find her!" Nat couldn't recognize the voice, it had to be the boy's. Was he looking for me? Was he here to abduct me for ransom? What did he want from my family? Natasha racked her brain but could not come up with anything her family would be able to give them, beyond a couple hundred dollars at most. She had never seen him in her life, or perhaps she had accidentally bumped into him in the streets. He did have wings so he could be psychotic for all she knew. She couldn't figure out what his motive was. She couldn't figure out anything in this situation.
"You will never get what you want you rotten angel!", someone hissed. The voice that spoke was drenched in venom and nothing like she had ever heard before. Did it come from her mom? It didn't sound feminine in the slightest. Was there someone else in the room? She didn't see anyone else. No one that caught her attention. She cautiously continued down the stairs, determined to get to the bottom of things.
"Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing up? Who's the boy with the wings? Whose voice was that just now?" her head spun with questions. She forced herself to absorb as much as possible from the situation. The boy stared at her, but she could not be bothered to look at him. Her parents, or what was once her parents had her full attention. Claws came out of their hands. A blue scaly skin had formed on their arms. Their bodies portrayed a feral aura and Natasha could no longer see the care and familiarity in their eyes.
Natasha back away slowly. Only stopping when she hit the side of the couch.
"M-mom?" she said her voice shaking in fear. There was no reaction when she said that. Then simultaneously they both erupted in anger and turned to face her.
"You stupid creature! You've ruined everything!" Their hoarse voices resonated in her mind. She… ruined everything? She stopped in her tracks, her veins froze. Her mind and body went numb. Not once in her life had someone told her that she had ruined something, and definitely not everything.
What used to be someone that cared for and loved her was now a terrifyingly unfamiliar stranger. She searched but not even a shadow of their past could be found in their monstrous faces.
They jumped at her. Claws lengthens, with no recognition reflected in their eyes. Nat would have screamed. But her mind was overwhelmed with the sudden intake of information and she couldn't bring herself to even flinch. Then, out of nowhere she saw a blade impale both of their abdomens. The monsters stopped, and when the blade was pulled out, they both disintegrated and finally vanished. Their existence faded from this world just like the memories of them faded from her mind.
The room went silent. The boy stood there just looking at her, waiting for a reaction. She stood there, waiting for someone to say something. Her brain was slowly processing. A boy with wings had stabbed two monsters, that were her parents. They were her parents. A stranger had just murdered her mother and father in front of her. Cognizance struck her, and she threw a pillow at him.
She did try to find something that would be more effective. The flower vase was within reach, but it was small, the chances of missing were higher. But it would be a good diversion. Just enough of a distraction for her to mad dash to the kitchen, and grab a knife or a pan. Or she could sprint to the door and make a run for it. But by the looks of this guy he would probably be able to catch up to her in seconds. If he could fly she had no chance. Running was not an option. Combat definitely didn't seem to be a good option, but If she was going to get abducted she was not going to go down without a fight.
She picked up the vase and threw it as hard as she could towards the boy. He saw this move coming, what seemed like, years before Nat had even thought to do it. He dodged the vase, causing it to crash against the wall, water and glass littered the entrance. The flowers stayed bunched up on the ground. As she ran she looked past the boy, towards the flowers on the ground. Tears formed in her eyes as she remembered, it wasn't the fact that those were her mother's favourite type of flowers, but it was the reality that her mother never really cared about the flowers. She probably only said that to pacify her and make her shut up about some mundane subject. Favourite flowers, what a pathetic question to ask. But sometimes it was the pointless, pathetic questions that connected people. For all her life she found solace in the arms of her parents, but for all her life she had been embraced by beasts that only fed her lies. She wouldn't let that one occurrence change years of memories. Maybe, just maybe, they really did love her. She had no proof that they didn't, so right there and then she made up her mind to believe, for as long as she could, that they were her parents.
She didn't notice that in her sprint towards the kitchen she had stopped to stare at the dying flowers. Only seconds had past when the vase had broke yet the petals had already began to corrode. She finally broke out of her daze and noticed that tears were running down her face. Her breath hitched and she tried to choke down a sob. She bit her bottom lip and forced herself to breath and remain calm. But she was telling herself lies, she couldn't stay calm, not when she couldn't comprehend a single thing that had happened in the past ten minutes.
"Hey! I need you to snap out of this. You're not safe here, I'm here to get you away from this."
She looked up from the ground, and noticed the boy was standing right in front of her. Nat immediately snapped out of her thoughts and looked for an escape route. She was mercifully only a few steps away from the kitchen counter. The ground had been littered with cookware, which would explain the sounds she heard earlier. She grabbed the closest thing on the counter and spun around, holding it as if her life depended on it.
She put a mask of anger on, faking her strength. Anyone would be able to see through it, the tears continued to stream but she now had control over voice.
"Get out of here, or I will use this." She spoke firmly and without any emotion to get her point across. It didn't seem like it did. The boy looked between her and her weapon with an amused expression and scoffed. She was too confused to react. Sure, she probably didn't have the fighting skills that he had, but who acts like that when someone's holding a knife towards you?
She looked at his weapon and was not impressed. That's it? A two-sided knife? Natasha had been expecting more, seeing as how he was perceivably an ethereal being without any limits to his morals or powers. Yeah, I can handle this.
When he did not make a move, Natasha finally glanced at what she was holding, and noticed that it would never be intimidating. The knife she grabbed from the counter was a butter knife. But she held her ground. She would not let that mask falter.
"I can stab your eyes out with this." Nat said, with the confidence of someone not holding a butter knife in hopes of using it to guard her life. But on the inside, she could feel her soul cringe at her awkwardly trying to defend herself with a butter knife.
"Go ahead." His cool composure was starting to get on her nerves.
"What do you want from me?" Her voice began to shake once again.
"I'm your escort out of here. So, if you would just cooperate then, I can do my job and you can move on with your life."
Her life. How much of it was fabricated? If her parents were fictitious, was it the same with her aunt and uncle? The thought of people faking their loving nature crushed her soul, and she couldn't understand how she felt anymore. So she lashed out at the nearest person possible.
"Get out of here! You're not welcomed here! You never were! You killed my parents!" Her words had no effect on him.
"Your parents were never real. They never loved you. They never cared about you. They weren't your family. They were monsters in disguise." That hit her hard. They never loved me. They never cared about me. I never had a family.
"You're the monster, you murderer! Leave. Me. Alone!" Natasha turned around and pulled out a knife from the holder, one that could actually do damage. "So get out of here! Because no one wants you around!" Tears were flowing down her face uncontrollably and her vision was blurred. Eventually she saw what looked liked the boy leaving and with his exit her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor. Her grip on the knives went slack and she began to let all her emotions go right then and there.
A part of her wanted the boy to return since the anger she felt made her at least feel in control. Instead, she just sat there by the kitchen cabinets crying her heart out until she was just an empty shell.
Natasha had sobbed for so long she couldn't continue, the thought of her parents being fake soon told her that they weren't worth crying over. At this rate, she was just sniffling and wallowing in self pity.
"Umm, hi!" The voice was sudden but Natasha couldn't bring herself to be scared of it. She looked up and through her blurry vision she saw brown hair. Without thinking She threw her arms around the person. Brown hair, dad! Natasha had a wave of happiest thrown over her, but she didn't notice the person tense within her embrace. But that soon disappeared when they returned the action.
"I can't believe you're still here! I thought what they said was true! I thought you were gone!" Natasha gripped them harder and she could hear someone snickering in the background.
"You might wanna take a closer look at who that is." Natasha recognized the voice, and looked up. It was the same boy from before, his arms were crossed and he had the same smirk from before.
Natasha pushed the person away and pressed her back against the cabinet. She picked up the same butter knife and went into her defensive stance while she was in the ground. She looked at who she was hugging and it was another boy. He was almost identical to the one that killed her parents. Not including his hair colour and his overall colour palette. His expression seemed much softer and the way he spoke didn't seem to be as aggressive. She still didn't like him anymore than his darker twin.
"Hi! I'm Pit," he gestured to the boy in the back. "That's Pittoo! Look, I'm really sorry about before and what's happened to you, I promise that we can make it all up to you but you have to come with us right now. Your life is in danger if you stay here. I know it's a lot to take in and you probably don't understand but you just need to know that you have to come with us."
Natasha didn't say anything to that. Instead she threw the butter knife at this Pit guy and the chef's knife at the guy called Pittoo. Pit moved out of the way fast enough to miss the butter knife. But Pittoo barely moved out of the trajectory of the other knife, which ended up piercing the skin on his arm. He didn't react at first. But Pit looked shocked. Natasha wasn't expecting the dark angels next move.
"That's it Pit. You're awful at this." He walked up to Natasha and at this rate she was defenseless. He put an arm underneath her legs and one by her back. Natasha couldn't squirm away from him since she was already backed up against a corner. He picked her up and Natasha started to push herself away from him. She was squirming around in his arms which only resulted in him tightening his grip around her.
"Come on Pit Stain." The lighter angel complied with the order. An apologetic look on his face. Natasha tried to move, pressing her hands on his chest in an attempt to push away. He only held onto her tighter and closer. She gave up on pushing away so she started to scream, but that slowly faded into muffled sobs as she buried her face into the stranger's chest. She could feel the dark angel tense when she fell apart, but his grip on her never relaxed.
She could feel them leaving her house when sun shone down. The feeling was sad, the sun no longer brought warmed. It couldn't warm her heart, and it certainly didn't bring any actual warmth. She looked up through misty eyes, the sky was whiter than it should have been, an unnatural desaturated look.
They took off towards the sky, and Natasha instinctively wrapped her arms around the boy. She began to hyperventilate knowing that she was in the air and this time not even on a solid surface. The only thing keeping her from falling to her inevitable doom was a person's support. Who knows how sturdy that was. Panicked thoughts soon changed into ones of terror.
The world was changing, her world was changing. She was attached to her home, and she couldn't just abandon it. Even if her life was in danger. She didn't know anything else but her home.
"Just let me go." Natasha was speaking half-heartedly.
"If you say so." Pittoo smirked and released his grip on her.
She could hear the other boy scream for her in the background of the whipping winds. The drop took her by surprise since she wasn't really expecting him to take it so literally. But she couldn't scream. As she fell she saw the daybreak away in little bits, the buildings blew away as if they were made of sand. Every little bit of her home disintegrated right in front of her. More tears fell from her eyes as she waited for her skull to make contact with the hard concrete from down below. But that never happened as a pillar of light shone from above and she was soon whisked away.