Annabeth
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
I felt like Humpty Dumpty at that moment. I was having the greatest fall of my life. I wondered how Humpty Dumpty must have felt when he fell from the wall. Shocked? Maybe. Hurt? Most likely. Terrified? Certainly.
My hands were wrapped tightly around Percy. My nails were digging into his back. I could feel him bleeding from those punctures but I was too afraid to loosen my grip. My mind had gone completely blank. The only thing it seemed to process was-
I am going to fall!
Which was painfully obvious. Should I die like this here? Was Rachel right when she hinted that Percy was a heartless demon? And suddenly just like that a half of my mind waged a war with the other. The first was calling him a sick cold-blooded murder who needed therapy himself while the other part of it accepted that he was a demon and meant me no harm. The first part was rational while the other part was love-sick. It liked the way I was practically glued to Percy with my ear pressed against his heart which was beating as wildly as mine but I doubted that it was affected that way by the twenty feet fall. Where as my heart was hammering in my chest from our super close proximity and from the way we were dropping down like stones.
The other thing that made me think that he was not afraid to fall into the well was the was his arms were around me. Their grip wasn't nearly as tight as mine. They were light, as if he was making sure that I wasn't hurting. His fingers were curled in a fist as he was stroking my gently with his knuckles. My hair was flying upwards and hindering my vision so I was not able to see his face.
Finally my ears popped indicating that my time on earth was up and I was going to hit the water really hard. I squeezed my eyes shut and tightened my grip around Percy to the point where his blood circulation must have stopped. I realized that I had bitten my lower lip when I tasted the salty-rusty blood coming out from it. I tried my best to brace myself for the end.
I felt nothing.
Maybe this is how death is supposed to be. Painless and sudden. We cannot feel it happening it just happens. There is no way that I had survived that fall. This must be it. This must be death. My sole must be detaching itself from my body and-
"Open your eyes Annabeth."
an eerily familiar soft voice instructed me to un-lid my eyes. Was it god? Was he asking me to face him so that he could judge me? I wondered if my good deeds weighed over my bad ones or whether it was the other way around. I had always found a way to hate everything around me maybe that negativity wasn't going to help me now. I was going to be punished for my sins, I couldn't stop my mother from committing suicide, and I was going to be looked down upon because of my mistakes.
My breathing grew heavier as I slowly opened my eyes. I wasn't standing in front of god in his judgement hall. In fact I was floating underwater with slimy weeds covering the bricked walls of the old well and a few small fishes. I was breathing. But my breathing hitched when I saw him.
He was wearing a loose white pant which was rolled up to his knees and a double XL sized white shirt which was clearly too big for his frame and was floating in the water letting me peek at his well toned pale stomach when it floated up. I could see that his hair was a bit longer than I had thought it to be as it floated around his forehead and neck. Water shimmered and took wing like shape behind his back. They were huge water wings with intricate designs of feathers on them and their distinct outlines shined with a blue light while the inner parts just shimmered. Those wings were the most beautiful wings I had ever seen and to be honest they were beyond my imagination. I wanted to touch them but my hands had slid off Percy's back and were pressed against my chest in fists.
His skin was glowing faintly and his eyes... They were a brilliant sea-green. They were literally glowing with light. They had become luminous somehow and were really... beautiful. So were his perfectly angled jaws and his lips which were curled to form a sad smile. He had become so beautiful in a matter of seconds that it was impossible for me to process anything else or take my eyes of him. The vibes he was emitting were so other worldly. They promised to destroy but also to protect. I felt like smiling a little as that was always what being near him had felt like. I have always been unsure about weather he was harmless or dangerous. I guess he is both.
I opened my mouth to speak but no voice came out. I looked at Percy questioningly. How had communicated to me earlier?
"Just direct your thoughts at me. I'll hear them."
Direct them at him? Okay.
"You are beautiful."
My voice was broken and irregular like bad radio signal but Percy got it alright as he threw his head back and his laugh echoed in my head. It was good to hear. When was the last time he had laughed so openly? I surely wouldn't know that.
"If you had been... that friend of yours what's she called? Dew! If you had been Dew I can swear that you would have thrashed and kicked to get free of me."
I rolled my eyes at his memory and scoffed,
"It's not Dew, it's Drew! And she can never be me so if you are disappointed that I am not terrified of you appearance then I am sorry to say that-"
"You should see yourself right now. You look so determined and brave and beautiful with your grey eyes shining. You are the one who is beautiful Annabeth."
But he cut my rambling. I had never thought it was possible to cut someone's thoughts but then again I had never believed in demons and angels either.
Demons and angels!
My eyes grew wider and the next question came out in a rush.
"Youareanangelorademon?"
His eyes scrunched together as he gave a carefree smile and said,
"Slow down Annabeth!"
I took a deep breath of water and decided to wonder about how it was possible later.
"What are you?"
Percy's eyes strained a bit as he looked at me. His hands slid across me to pull me closer as he held me in an embrace. He smelled like water lilies I decided.
"Let's go up to the surface." His voice was like a whisper in my mind. Were we going already? But before that I wanted to-
"WAIT! Can I- can I touch your wings?" My voice was still not crystal clear like his though it would work.
His cheeks reddened in a lovely blush as he tilted his neck to his side and said in a timid voice.
"Go ahead."
I slowly stretched my fingers and moved my hand towards one of his wings. I could feel his body stiffen against mine as my hands lightly. My fingers passed through them as they would have passed through normal water. I pulled my hand back immediately.
He gave a low chuckle and rested his chin on the crook of my neck and sighed. I wonder if he could sense the electricity from his skin travelling down mine.
"They are just a projection of the real wings I used to have earlier... They help me to swim better than any aquatic animal... My real wings were slashed and burned when I was banished from heaven."
My hands dropped to my side. So Rachel was telling the truth. He was a demon after all.
"I was banished because I was one of Lucifer's strongest commander, one of the seven princes of hell- Leviathan. If you have read the christen religious books then you would know that I am a demon of deep seas. A demon. Who has destroyed many and had even tried to destroy the archangels."
I was frozen in my spot... drinking in whatever he was telling me. Something in me, probably my heart, urged me think that he is not the same Leviathan anymore.
"So god was basically offended and as a punishment he had banished all those who had helped Lucifer or Satan I had used to call me long ago. Of course the seven princes were the first one whose wings were plucked and who were thrown to the earth. We still resented god and schemed with Satan to overthrow him deep down in the circles of hell."
He stopped for a moment and then continued.
"We found a way to the surface of earth. The banished angels who sought redemption became fallen angels and as a mercy from god regained their wings in some natural form. But the demons didn't budge. They eloped with the human women and gave birth to nephilims to make an army for overthrowing heaven. I was one of the demons..."
"You have kids?" I asked incredulously.
"No! I wouldn't say that I hadn't touched any women back then but I didn't father any nephilim born."
I relaxed a bit to which he laughed.
"What?" I could feel my face burning.
"Nothing. So anyway the arch angels were asked to wipe out nephilims but they are still there... like Orphy, they have some distinct power."
"Jason is also a demon?" Somehow I had seen this coming so I wasn't all that surprised.
"No he is Lix Tetrax - fallen angel of the wind. And his sister Thalia is Barachiel- Lightning of God. She is an angel of heaven and was even an archangel at the time of Eastern Orthodox."
He went quiet after that. But I needed to know more.
"So you are an evil demon?"
"I am a demon alright but after the nephilims were killed I... can't say I changed but there was this kid Amor, He was a good kid... he just wanted to live. When he died... I was furious at god for his cruelty but then Amor said that he would not have suffered this fate if his father, Satan, hadn't used him as a tool against god. Before that I had never thought of myself as a tool used by Satan. But the more and mire I thought about it the more I realized that Amor was right. I was nothing more than a tool, a powerful tool alright but still a tool. I distanced myself from Satan and made a horde of enemy."
His hands tightened around me by a fraction as he kicked at the water. His wings surged downwards and we soared up. We broke the surface and I took a shaky breath to test if my lungs were still working.
"I didn't join the fallen angels because I had no interest in redemption so I remained a demon but I got my wings back as a week projection underwater."
His chin was still on the crook of my neck and voice outside water was a barely audible whisper directed to my ear. We were dry and too close. The heat from his closeness was seeping into my skin, burning my insides. He was back in his earlier attire.
"That's all okay but," I pulled away slightly from his embrace with my hands on his shoulder and and looked up, "How are we going to get out of here? I mean falling twenty feet down was easy due to gravity but rising up from here with an angel without wings is going to be a bit difficult."
His eyes shined mischievously and put two of his fingers between his teeth and gave out an ear shattering whistle. I was tempted to cover my ears but resisted as I was sure I would be dripping wet in a second if I lost contact with his body.
The sky darkened over head as I looked up. My eyes widened in wonder as I saw a midnight black unicorn with a dazzling horn and black feathery wings, circling the sky just above the entrance of the well. Were unicorns supposed to exist? I wasn't sure about anything anymore.
"AMOR!" Percy yelled and the winged unicorn or Amor came down towards him with blinding speed.
"Hold tight!" Percy instructed as he wrapped one of his hands around my waist and with the other he caught Amor's neck and leaped. I couldn't believe that I was soaring outside a well on a flying unicorns back.
"Are unicorns supposed to exist?" I screamed as the the air rushed past me.
"What?" Percy mouthed, or it seemed that way as I couldn't hear him above the roaring air.
"ARE UNICORNS SUPPOSED TO EXIST?"
We had come out of the dark dingy well and now Amor was flying over the fields of Max Town with his wings spread wide on either side of him. Percy was stroking his head lightly with one hand and his other one was resting on Amor's back casually. His body was tilted back and he was dangling his legs on either side of the unicorn with a carefree air which screamed that he did this everyday. While I was clinging on to Percy for dear life afraid that if I moved I would slip and fall or twist a wrong feather on Amor's body and make him angry.
"No. But Amor had the gift of creation. A very rare gift, come to think of it no nephilim other than him had ever had that gift. He fairy tales about unicorns and was fascinated with them. So after he died I named this baby after him." Percy patted the unicorns head and it surprisingly neighed happily.
Percy dropped me off in my room through my window. I saw him petting Amor before finally looking at me.
"Are you going to be okay? Is anyone home?"
"No." I said remembering that Dahlia had gone for some tea party.
Percy's eyes widened. He jumped down Amor's back and landed gracefully on the tilled floor of my room.
"I'll see you later boy." He said and waved at Amor who turned and flew away to where ever he lived maybe.
"Is this how you have earlier managed to get inside through my window?" I asked as I played with my hair aimlessly.
"No. I had climbed up to your room." He turned back with his hands behind his head and yawned before saying, "Can't leave you alone. Something is after you. I think it is because of me."
But I wasn't listening. His back was bloody from where I held him too tightly, my nails must have dug in deep. I took a step towards him with a handkerchief in my hand.
"You are hurt! Let me-" He turned around abruptly and swatted my hand away. I looked up at him with hurt eyes.
His eyes were wild and his hands were shaking.
"What's wrong Percy?" I slowly raised my fingers to touch his face and when he didn't freak out I lightly placed it on his cheek.
"This is impossible!" He breathed. He shed his shirt off and stood sideways in front of the mirror.
That's when I was it. Long angry scars running down his back. They seemed fresh. He lightly stroke them with his fingers them winced.
"Percy!" I ran up to him and took his face in my hands. He was looking paler than usual and his eyes contained that sad look.
"What's wrong? How did you get those scars?" He didn't speak. But I could feel him loosing his temperature as his eyes started clouding. Something wasn't right. He didn't have those scars before. What could have happened? Whatever it was I could tell that it hurt him. So it was obvious that it also hurt me. How could I possibly help?
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his with my hands still cupping his face. At first he didn't move but then he placed his hands on my waist and kissed me back. His lips were salty like the sea as usual. Kissing him felt like floating on a cloud over a golden hill. It melted my mind and made me want to kiss him more passionately.
He broke the kiss and pulled me closer. I carefully wrapped my hands around his neck avoiding his scars.
"They have realized that an archangel has been killed... They think that I have committed the murder so they have marked me." He whispered into my ears.
I stood there terrified. What were they going to do to him.
"Which archangel?"
"Probably Lady Uriel. She hasn't been seen since last two years."
Last two years... that's when my mother had-
"What are they going to do to you?"
He laughed sarcastically before saying,
"Destroy me of course."
I felt like screaming and jumping inside that well all over again. This time I didn't want to survive the fall.
Hey guys how did you like this chapter? Tell me what you think about it! Who do you think has killed Uriel?
