The Angel and The Devil

Alternative Epilogue: Remembrance

Author's Note: This is an alternate ending for the story. Please, enjoy.

I woke up lying face up on the cold, damp ground. Fat drops of rain consume my being. My clothes become heavy and I reach my hand out towards the rain.

"Where…am I?" I sit up slowly, only to find myself in an alley. As I look left and right, two brick walls on both of my sides. I push off my hand and I stand up. My chest is bare, but my bottom is decorated with jeans. I feel my arms and discover a red bandana wrapped around my arm. I tug it, but it seems to be embedded into my skin and is impossible to take off. I step out of the alley, my drenched form causes people to look my way. I look left and right and I hear screams coming from my right. People push past me and almost knock me down. As I am squinting my eyes, I try to see what is causing the commotion; for a second, I thought my eyes had deceived me. An intangible mass walks on the very strip of street that I have my feet on. With the city streets bare, I see a police officer trying to shoot at the thing. Her gun runs out of bullets and the bullets seem to do nothing to the monster. A huge mass of black throws her across the street, her back hitting the brick wall near me.

"Miss! Miss!" I try to shake her awake, but she's in great pain. She opens her eyes and the monster has now noticed me.

"You…It's spotted you! Get out of here!" I turn around and see it rushing towards me. It grabs me and its black matter coils around my body. I find it becoming difficult to breathe and my body feels as though being crushed. "No!" She grabs a spare brick from the ground and hits its arm coiled around me. It releases me and turns back towards the police officer. "Ah…" She gets up and starts running. After I recover my breathing to normal, I get between her and the monster as it tries to grab her again.

"Leave her alone!" My voice rings out and a shield emits from my body and repels the being. It screams in pain and recoils for a while. In shock, I cannot feel the officer trying to pull me away.

"You…Let's run while it's hurt!" She grabs my hand, but I don't move.

"I'll take care of it."

"You? You cannot beat it! No one can!"

"I won't run while people get injured!" I yell at her and my bandana-engraved hand shines. Instinctively, I move it up to my shoulder height. The bandana unravels itself and intertwines with my body. It creates a maroon trench coat with no buttons on either side. My head is adorned with dark red motorcycle goggles and a harp strapped to my back. Two white wings emerge from my back and also hit the frightened officer. I take the harp from my back and hold it in front of me. "What….what is this?" I am confused and wonder what I am wearing.

"W…Wings? And what is up with that outfit…?" She's laughing at how ridiculous it looks. It's distracting, but I cannot take my eyes off the dark form in front of me. Having recovered from the pain, it rushes towards me. My fingers hover over the harp's strings, twitching in anticipation. Once it attempts to grab us, I run my fingers through the strings.

"Pastoral!" I yell and a melody erupts from the harp. The song envelops the being and we watch as the shadow disappears from this world. It only leaves behind a blue feather that gives off a green glow. I pick up the feather and it melts into my skin. Momentarily, I black out.

I am standing up, with my clothes from earlier still on. Everything is white and I feel as though I am having an out-of-body experience. A small boy, no older than five, stares at the pencil on his desk. He looks like me, but only younger. After a while, he finally picks up the pencil and writes something on the piece of paper. When he gets up, he vanishes into the background while the brown desk still remains. I pick up the paper and see what is written. Only one word is printed on the paper:

Will.

I return from my memory and I feel pain. My bandana resumes its position on my hand; my jacket, wings and harp are no longer present. My consciousness is beginning to fade and I get on my knees.

"Hey, are you alright?" The officer from earlier is still here. I give her a quick glance and smile to see she is not injured. My body cannot hold up, however, and the rest of my body embraced the ground. "Hey, hang in there! The ambulance is on their way!" I can barely hear anything now, but the faint wail of the sirens reaches my ears.

After awaking from the hospital, it turns out that the "shadow" I had defeated was causing havoc to the city. Officers around the area cannot seem to get them under control or defeat them, so they really looked up to me helping out. I said I would do it, as long as they provided me with a place to live and food. They placed a woman named Chelsea in charge for taking care of me, since I did rescue her from the "shadow". I spend time with her because when I'm with her I feel…nostalgic. It seems that every time I defeat a shadow, I regain a bit of my memory. Those blue feathers contain bits and pieces of my memories of my past life.

After the 25th shadow, I gained the knowledge of finding out there were 100 shadows that had to be exterminated. By that time, I had also learned that I had a lover. I did not know her name yet, but it seems I spent time with her. My history was also revealed: I am an ex-angel who incurred in God's wrath to protect my loved one. This explains the weird powers I have, but not the reason why it is a bandana. 3 months have passed since I came to this city and things have become quieter. I enjoy Chelsea's company and we have become very close.

The 50th shadow appears in the city and I save Chelsea from the shadow yet again. With the blue feather, I finally piece together my past life. I killed someone in my insanity, creating my own shadow. I named him Lionel, and I somehow managed to defeat him: or, at least, send him somewhere peaceful. It has been half a year since I began extermination and to celebrate today's victory, Chelsea invited me to go drinking. I remember those soft moments we experienced.

"Will, congratz on your victory today!" Chelsea wraps her arm around mine. My bandana has returned to normal.

"Thanks, Chelsea." I blush a bit and she hugs me tightly.

"I'm glad you saved me again…I was a bit worried, but I'm really glad. So, I'd like to treat you to a drink."

"Really? At your place, as usual?" She nodded and we walked through the front door together. She opened the fridge and pulled out a six-pack of canned beer. I take one of the cold ones from her hand and we begin to drink. "So, Chelsea…"

"Yes?" Chelsea's face looks a bit flushed to me.

"Well…There's something I'd like to confess to you." Nervously, she takes another sip of beer and moves closer to me.

"What is it?" She giggles. "It's not something like 'I want to date you', is it?"

"How…How did you know?" I hide my face in my knees and loosely hold the beer can with my right hand. Her jaw drops, which was not the reaction I was hoping for.

"Wait…don't tell me I got it right!" She yells a bit and I take another swig of the beer. "You…you really want to date me?"

"Y…Yes." My face turns red, which might be enhanced from the beer. "It's…It's stupid, I know…" She suddenly gets closer and I set my beer down. "What are you—"

"Shut up and let me kiss you." I did as I was told and I felt her lips nudge against mine. The exchanged heat only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it felt forever with me. Anxiously, I kissed back and wrestled my hand into her hair. She moved closer and my arms embraced her into a hug. I pulled back to give us both a breather, and our irregular breaths share a warm essence. She tries to kiss me again, but my finger stops her lips.

"Chelsea…You're not drunk, are you?" She smiles slightly.

"I've only taken two sip of beer. You've had four now. I should be asking you that question." She nuzzles more into my body and kisses my cheek.

"Chelsea…" My arms pull her closer and she gasps at the sudden action. She looks at me hazily and she's going for another kiss on the lips. "You…You want to date me?"

"Are you really that dense?" She pushes me down to the ground and her forehead is touching mine. "Yes…Yes, I want to date you. I want to hold you, hug you, embrace you…do you understand? I want to spend every possible moment with you." Her lips are hovering over me. "I just don't want you to forget this once we sober up."

"I won't…We'll pinky-swear on it." I give her my pinky and she intertwines her pinky with mine.

"Pinky-swear." I let her kiss me and we hold each other the whole night. The swear makes me remember my lover's voice from the past life. I feel like I am cheating on her, but…something deep inside is telling me to hold onto Chelsea…and I plan to.

It's been the 75th shadow and each other gets harder and harder to kill. It's just past the 10th month and I feel that my time is growing short. I obtain more memories about my lover, only to realize that she is dead. Even though it shouldn't, this comforts me. I love Chelsea's company, but I wouldn't want to let another lover get in the way of what we have. Yet…Chelsea has been tense lately. Her ex, who is also a cop, came to visit her at her home. He said some things to Chelsea, and despite the protests I can tell something is wrong. I try to confront her about the problems, but she kicks me out as a result.

"It's cold…" I murmur to myself. December snow has set in around the city and it covers a thin layer of the city. My jeans, coat and scarf are all I make out with when I get kicked out. My feet are freezing and numbing, but I continue to walk. I somehow walk to an ice-skating rink. I sit down on some steps nearby and watch the kids laugh, slip and skate on the ice. I cannot remember any of my childhood, except for writing my name for the first time. A bit of wind picks up and the chill all goes to my feet. I ignore it as best as I can, but it has now become painful. I get up and walk along the sidewalk. When I cross the crosswalk, I notice a girl running across quickly to catch her cat. The car cannot see her because their speed does not decelerate.

It's too late.

The girl looks up and sees the car.

The car swerves to avoid the girl, but she is still going to get hit.

I have to help her!

I grab the girl and protect her with my body.

The sharp pain launches both me and the girl to the road further.

A wave of pain hits me to realize the terrible situation I'm in.

The girl and her cat are safe. Not a scratch marks their bodies.

"Mister! You're bleeding!" She starts crying and gets out of my embrace. My arms and my head contain burn marks and my left hand is bleeding. The bandana, somehow broken by the crash, as suited me with my battle armor. But no matter how many times I try to will it, it will not return to its bandana form. I began to see a problem when more people try to find out what happened. Holding my arms and seeing the girl safe, I run. Even my balance is off when I run, but I don't want to be swarmed by people. A small trial follows me and I take flight. Losing them as I fly, I land on the front patio to me and Chelsea's apartment. I gently knock on the door, praying that she would let me in. She opened the door, letting me in but not letting me see her face. She closes the door behind me and hugs me.

"You…You were on the news. And you're…You're bleeding everywhere…" She's sobbing into the back of my cloak. "I got so scared…Please be more careful…" I can feel the tears soak into my cloak. I turn around to face her and I embrace her into my chest.

"I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to worry you…" My hand caresses her head, brushing her hair gently with my fingers.

"Will…I love you. I'm sorry it took me so long to say, but…" She looks at me eye to eye. "Please…you mean everything to me."

"Chelsea…" I smile and kiss her deeply. "I…I love you, too."

I defeated the 99th shadow. The clouds turn dark and I feel a surge of energy take form of a hurricane. I turn to look at Chelsea as worry has surfaced into her face.

"Chelsea…please get out of here." I look her sternly.

"Will, what's happening?"

"The final shadow is being born…if you do not leave, you will die the second it arrives. Please, get out of here while you can!"

"But…But I cannot leave you to beat it by yourself!"

"I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN!" I scream at her. "I love you, but IF I let you die, then…" I notice a wave of death emit from the hurricane and it's aimed towards Chelsea and the other people running from the grounds. Using my power, I barricade myself from Chelsea and the other people. The wave only hits me and I take the full brunt of it. I stagger and Chelsea's voice tries to reach me, but I've already decided. Taking on my harp once more, I face the final shadow once and for all: myself.

The final shadow…dropped the last blue feather, but I couldn't pick it up. I had fallen to the floor, a spear sticking out my back. It pierced just below my heart, but all of my powers were gone. My harp was snapped in half and the bandana was shredded. I was face down on the ground and dying. Chelsea…I hear her footsteps. She gently turns me over, just enough to see the full view of my face. She's crying, trembling. I want to put her mind at ease, but me being injured is what is causing the uneasiness. I smile, but she seems to cry more. She rests my head on her shoulder and she whispers into my ears.

"Will…I remember everything. I…I was your ex-lover in your last life." She grips onto me tighter. "You…You forgot about me and I…I tried so hard to make you remember me. I…I let you stay at my house, I initiated the relationship, I…" She's sobbing and I listen intently. "I wanted to do anything to make you remember me! But when the shadows appeared…I thought the worst. I thought you would die! You cannot die, please…not while I remember everything!" She holds me tighter. I raise my hand to cup her cheek and my vision's getting blurry.

"Chelsea…" I cough up blood and it stains her shirt. "I…I'm sorry…" I am trying to stay awake but my eyes are fluttering.

"Will! Please, don't go! I know you had to watch me die! I…I don't want you to die!" There's panic in her voice. I try to say anything, but the blood clogs my throat and my blood spills out from my mouth. She's furiously wiping away the blood, her demeanor crumbling. I cannot even control my arm as it flops to my side. Her eyes grow wide and I try to rebel against the forces of sleep that tug at me. But it's too late. My breathing becomes shallow and my heart stops. I no longer breathe air. My body slumps and my heat left my body. The last thing I remember is seeing Chelsea in front of my eyes.

I have regrets.

I wish I could have told her more…

More… "I love you," 's…

More kisses…

More promises…

But life is not so kind to us…

And we have to make every moment count.