Chloe blinked, lifting her gaze from Samael's ruined body. The storm thrashed wildly overhead - the lightning punctuating the space with blinding flashes of light, the thunder setting the building trembling.
Why did she feel so calm?
Something strange had just happened, hadn't it?
Azrael had come again... she'd talked to the angel, and...
And...
She didn't remember.
Her gaze fell to Samael again, and tears welled. His eyes were closed, his breathing was a thin, horrible rasp. She wanted so much to comfort him, to squeeze his hand... but it was a charred, crumbling stump. The mottled flesh of his skull was wet against her arm. There was no comfort to be had.
There was absolutely nothing she could do for him.
But... she couldn't let him go.
She had to hold on, so he could hold on.
And she didn't even understand what that meant.
A horrible sound tore through the space, raw and high pitched.
Screaming?!
Not Trixie, but... other kids?
Oh my god
She half rose, her heart jumping in her chest, then stopped, looking down at Samael again.
How could she leave him?
But how could she ignore that?!
It faded.
She strained, listening.
She couldn't hear it at all now.
Had she imagined it?
The storm perhaps? It raged above her still, the wind howling through the shattered ceiling far above.
It felt as if the world were being torn apart.
And perhaps it was.
Samael's ruined face drew her gaze again.
Her heart grew so terribly heavy.
What hope was there now?
If she couldn't save him, how was she supposed to save an entire world?
Tears welled in her eyes.
She couldn't.
The screaming returned - so much worse. Adults and children.
It wasn't the storm!
People were dying!
"I'm sorry, oh god, Samael! I have to help!"
As quickly as she could, as gently as she could, she laid him down against the wet tile.
Tears spilling from her eyes, she lowered and kissed his damaged lips.
And she got to her feet and she ran.
The tile was cold against her hands as she pushed herself up out of the end of the pool. Clambering to her feet, she aimed for the hallway leading back to the classrooms.
What was she going to do?! What was the plan?! How could she-
The entire room was erased in an overwhelming burst of light.
Spinning, with no sense of what was up or down, unable to see anything but a brilliance that obliterated everything, Chloe began to fall.
And she felt as if she were falling up, endlessly - suspended in a radiance that bathed her and filled her with the most glorious sense of love she'd every experienced.
No, that wasn't quite right.
When Trixie had shown herself as God...
That. That had felt like this.
Chloe could hear wings. She could feel movement.
Someone was smiling at her, she could feel that.
She was being embraced by light.
In complete bliss, she laughed, and... someone laughed with her.
"Samael?"
I love you, Chloe
The floor met her feet.
She stood on her own.
And the light faded away.
Chloe wavered, staring blankly at a pool filled with broken metal beams and glass. Blood ran from the spot where she'd held Samael's broken body.
Empty now.
"Okay..." she mumbled, nodding dumbly. "Right..."
And eyes rolling up, she fainted to the floor.
Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the lovely comments. :) The last chapter is definitely one of my favorites. I'm going to post a few chapters tonight, as many of you voted for more now. I always worry about doing that though, because I watch the stats and it always seems as if folks miss the earlier ones I'd posted!
Oh well. :) Thanks for reading, and sharing your thoughts with me. They make this very rewarding for me.