Seraziel: All right here's number four hope you like it. I'll be getting into the more relationship aspect of the story now and downplay some of that angst heh heh.
Between Angels And Knives
Chapter 4: Awaking A Fallen Angel
"You're awake. You're Awake............... You're Alive" These words repeated in a ceaseless reverb bouncing off the walls of Seraph's skull. They felt far and unreachable at first but slowly began to come in to a discernable focus. Dull blue ache diffused into his system like a lazy virus, though on the bright side the pain he felt was considerably less than before and could easily be pushed aside and forgotten. His wounds still screamed like dying martyrs, but the storm of agony was beginning to dispel as the thundering pain that crashed in his ears slowly began to subside. The roaring rains had finally ceased their torrents and left him to dry and recuperate in quiet peace.
Seraph's senses violently came into feeling as if someone was throwing electrical switches inside his head. He was overloaded with his own enhanced sensory perception and had to put some effort into retaining his consciousness. Slowly but surely he senses were once again slaves to his will as they were intended.
Seraph was tired, tired of nightmares, tired of the fear the plagued him unendingly. Seraphael was just tired, but despite this Seraph's exhaustion was a secondary concern at the moment. He had been tired before. His current exasperation was not a new feeling and an easy one to put aside. The first concerns that shocked through his available thoughts were that of three simple things. One: Were the hell was he? Two: Wear the hell was his weapons? Three: Were the hell was his blindfold? He felt an uncomfortable nakedness without his blades or blindfold. He felt that there was an intangible tie between his weapons and he. The feeling came to resemble something akin to the loss of a friend, yet he had never really had friends so the feeling was slightly confusing to him. Seraphael finally gave up the trying to figure out the enigma that was his emotions and settled on determining his immediate location.
The air was warm like a room temperature embrace, but having never felt an embrace the feeling again was an alien one. He quickly gave up trying to understand it and opted to just enjoy it if only for a little while. Seraph clutched moments such as this fore they were few and far between. He took what little moments he had and held on to them for as long as they lasted. These moments were part of the reason why he kept going. It was moments like these that kept the scarred heart beating in his chest.
"Are you awake?" A soft feminine voice stated and after a second he felt her hand rest on his forehead. Instinct effectively drop kicked reason in Seraph's mind as his dead left eye flew open and he bolted towards the voice. Seraph shot up faster then her eyes could even follow and before she new it his strong fingers were wrapped firmly around her slender neck.
'Fast! He's so fast!' Were the only things she could think of in that millisecond as terror shot through her like fright laced electricity. Adrenaline began to course through veins and arteries as her body's defense mechanisms triggered. He held her suspended a foot in a half above the floor.
'He's going to kill me and I don't even know his name.' Her mind gasped, but that was all she seriously thought. This might be the period at the end of the final sentence of her story.
All she wanted right now was one look at his eyes and then she could die. She managed to tilt her head to the side slightly to accomplish just that. She just wanted to see them once. All the hunter wanted to know was if she had saved the life of a murderer. The woman's gaze connected with those dead eyes. His one open eye was a dull rose red. Two clean, neat scars overlaid the useless windows, one of them was vertical crossing over his right eye, and the other was a horizontal wound that crossed over his left and over lapped the other eye forming a scarred cross over his right eye. From what she saw it looked as if only one of the marred eyes could open, but it meant little as she could tell that he was obviously physically blind, but the orb seemed to pierce right through her like anything that it beheld. The man's pupil had shrunken into a pinpoint inside the wide expanse of the blood colored iris.
In this moment she saw only one thing, and although his features and expression did not show it under the eye she sensed nothing but a deep heart wrenching sadness. It physically hurt to look at the eye. Melancholy seemed to pour out of it like an unending torrent of crimson tears, but she found that she could not rip her own set of brown windows from his emotionless mask. Tears began to flood her own eyes not from her own impending death but because of the overwhelming aria of sorrow that spilled from the gate of Seraph's retina. She felt the pain almost as if it was her own.
Suddenly reason came to its senses inside Seraph's head and effectively took its revenge when it battered instinct into submission and regained a hold on Seraph's mind. Seraph's snapped back to realty violently and a gasp escaped his lips as he quickly relented his grip on the woman's throat and slumped to his knees in a disheveled broken motion. The hunter stumbled back coughing and taking sharp intakes of sweet precious breath as she braced herself against a wall.
"I............I'm.............I'm sorry." His voice just managed to clear the hurdle of a whisper, but somehow the woman knew that even if he had mouthed the words she would have still heard them.
"It's.... (gasp).....alright .....(gasp)." She wheezed. "I shouldn't ...(gasp)......have startled you. When she finally regained her ability to breathe normally she looked at her attacker and found that his look to be nothing but apologetic. This relieved her to no end as it proved that she had saved angel albeit maybe a fallen one.
The hunter's gaze then turn to his frame, which was now bleeding profusely again after she had gone through painstaking efforts to stop it before. She rushed to his side without a second of hesitation.
"Oh no you're bleeding again." Seraph looked back at her apologetically and replied again.
"..............I'm sorry." She looked at him quizzically honestly baffled that he was apologizing for bleeding.
"There is no need to be sorry, but I need you to take off your shirt if I'm going to be able to stitch up those wounds of yours." Seraph's head dipped lower when she said this
"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" She asked. Seraph's downcast head turned to meet her perplexed gaze.
"............ I must warn you that it is not something you would want too see." The hunter's stare grew even more confused at his reply.
"Why, I have to stop the bleeding or you might die." She said as concern tainted her voice. Seraph did not give her a reply as his vision shifted downward.
'That's right.' He reminded himself. 'I can't die yet.' So he compiled with her request despite his reluctance. He took the lip of the bottom of his assassin uniform and began to peal it upwards. The material clung to his frame like a second skin as the blood and sweat had dried under the garment. With some effort Seraph finally completed the act and met the widening stare of the hunter who was his savior. Her eyes grew wide as bile simultaneously rose in her throat as she beheld the very vision of torture.
'Scars.' 'So many..........scars.' Her mind gasped as her body slumped to its knees. The only words that could describe the scene before her were skin graveyard. The amount and size that littered Seraph's frame was appalling. They ranged from jagged and sloppy to straight and clean. The furrows claimed almost every inch of his upper body. There were very few portions of his skin left unmarred by they the vast amount of permanent wounds. Metal mesh wires were pinned at random points on his body. It seemed that screws and needles held his flesh together and she feared that if one were removed he would fall into a disheveled heap on her floor.
His build was thin and lean. What little muscles she could discern from the viciously scarred form slumped before her were defined and shaped flawlessly. Being an assassin his build was not meant to have large bulging muscles and to have them would immensely hinder his mobility. That type of structure only belonged on a knight or crusader. His arms were slender, but again they seemed as if some sick sculptor had chiseled them.
'What's this sadness in my heart.' Her mind asked as the organ felt as if it was slowly sinking into her stomach. Some of the wounds were bleeding and that sight snapped her out of the trance that had captured her gaze. The burning red of those cuts shocked her into an appalled attention. She blinked as reality figuratively slapped her in the face and she realized she had been staring at him for over five minutes and a blush of shame washed over her delicate features.
The hunter wordlessly stood and proceeded to walk over to the fallen warrior. Slowly she knelt next to the downcast assassin. Seraph's vision was filled with nothing but the floor. Suddenly warmth washed over his broken body and he felt his savior's arms slowly encircle his bleeding frame.
'Why.' His mind asked as this astonishing event took place. No one had ever shown him any kindness during his life. Confusion and another enigmatic emotion tore through his blood like an oiled knife.
'What is this warm feeling, why do I feel so content like this.' Seraph realized that this was one of those fleeting moments of happiness that came by every once in a while. He decided to stop contemplating the unknown emotions he was feeling and just give in to the first embrace he had ever experienced.
"I'm so sorry." She said as she tightened her embrace around the sorrowful sin. His body was rigid and unsure of the gesture at first but finally her hug was accepted.
' No one deserves the kind of pain that this man had to endured..................... No one.' She thought as she began to hum the tune that she had before, the nameless song that had driven away his nightmares and personal demons. He at least deserved some form of comfort.
"...............Thank you......for your kindness" The sin said after an untold amount of time passed. He raised his head to meet her line of vision. She smiled brightly back at him. Her features then took on a slightly confused expression.
"Hasn't anyone ever treated you with compassion?" Seraph's silence was all the reply that she needed, this man had never been exposed to any form of caring. At that moment she resolved with herself that she would do her best to give him the happiness that she new he deserved.
The two warriors were locked into this position for what seemed like hours, neither quite ready to relinquish the comfort that the other offered. Truth be told neither of them cared how long they had been like this. It would last for as long as it lasted and that was that. Simple and undeniable.
Finally her arms relaxed and retracted from Seraph's body they returned stained with more than just blood they returned with something you couldn't put a name or label on. He looked at her arms and tainted hands.
"I'm sor....." "There is no need to be sorry." She interjected smiling warmly at him. His was reply was that of his own weak smile. At this her grin grew ten times over.
"What's you're your name if I may ask."
"Seraphael." He whispered almost inaudibly.
"My name is Yumi and I am glad I met you Seraphael."
A/N: Well that's chapter 4 more will come fairly soon. I just have to go back and fix the mountainous amount of errors I make heh heh. Please read and review.
A/N 2: I chose that name for the hunter because Yumi in kanji means bow and it also means beautiful. So just a little quirk I added.
A/N Responses:
Tom Valor: Thanks for your support and the constructive criticisms. What I meant with the Rem thing is that, that kind of sleep suggests dreams. Were as deep, deep sleep isn't really that poetic and doesn't suggest that Seraph sleep would contain dreams. I just wanted to get that across. I will take you up on your advice on the author's note thing though so thanks.
Skye Mihalak: Thank you for the review it was greatly appreciated.
The Ultima: It's always nice to have that kind of encouragement thanks.
Ana: There's your love team. Hope it pleases you in later chapters.
Tyrant Flame: I hope that your computer starts working. Thanks for the support.