Chapter 6: Lovesick
Back in Heaven, Blue Zircon rushed a sleeping Lapis to the Cleansing House. The demon dirt on the young arrival's shoulders had now spread down to her elbows. That was when Blue Zircon saw Rose Quartz.
"Lapis, my darling!" she cried, rushing to the arriving angel. "How did this happen?"
"A gang of demons ambushed her after she got separated from her group." explained Blue Zircon. "I was just on my way to take her to the Cleansing House. She needs a Holy Water bath and fast."
"I agree." the arrival's guardian nodded. "I'll join you."
The two active arrived at the designated area not a moment too soon and burst through the doors.
The Cleansing House was a special convent where angels came to lustrate themselves from demonic infections or negative tension. Every single tub was filled with pure Holy Water. There were also bubble bath solutions, body wash, bar soap, shampoo, and conditioners in all different kinds of scents. Plus, a rack of scrub brushes for wing hygiene. In angel culture, it was complementary to wash another angel's wings since she couldn't wash her own wings.
Rose Quartz and Blue Zircon wasted no time prepping the young angel for her bath. Lapis was disrobed and gently placed in a nearby large tub of Holy Water. The bathwater also had vanilla, lavender, and jasmine scented bubbles.
The moment the warm Holy Water touched her skin, the new arrival woke up. She looked down and saw that she was stripped of any form of clothing.
"What's going on?" she questioned as she self-consciously hugged her knees to cover her naked body. "What happened?"
Lapis turned and saw her guardian gazing at her with concern.
"Rose?" the young angel said. "How did I get here?"
"Blue Zircon brought you here." Rose answered. "Some demons attacked you and left some demon dirt on you. We need to get it cleaned off right away."
She took a soapy loofah and started to scrub the demon dirt off Lapis. The strokes of the loofah actually felt relaxing to the blue-haired angel.
Her guardian later suggested that the rest of Lapis' body should be washed too as a precaution.
The young angel said she could bathe herself, but Rose insisted, "You must be weak from the ordeal you had with the demons. Let me take care of the cleansing for you."
And she did just that. the motherly angel lathered the soap from the loofah on every part of Lapis' body, from her underarms and tummy; to her legs and feet. The blue-haired angel only felt comfortable with Rose doing this because she trusted her with everything.
Now it was time to wash Lapis' wings. Of course, it was a tricky task to scrub the younger angel's wings since Lapis was laughing and shaking from the soft brush because of how much it tickled.
Rose had also taken the liberty of angel's blue hair. There seemed to be some sort of magic in the older angel's fingers as they massaged her charge's scalp. Lapis was constantly the urge to drift off to lala land for the process felt so soothing.
But soon, her bath was over and it was time to get out of the tub. After having a warm wind to evaporate the wetness in Lapis' wings, Rose got two of the fluffiest towels she could find to dry off her little one. The young angel felt like she was being treated like a human baby, but it wasn't necessarily all bad. The towels she was practically swaddled in did feel cozy. She gave a yawn as she rested her head against Rose's chest.
"It looks like somebody needs an early bedtime." the angel guardian cooed as she carried the cuddly little one back home.
Once Lapis had her nightgown on and was in bed, Rose tucked the sleepy angel in and kissed her cheek whispering, "Good night, my child. Sweet dreams."
The next morning, Lapis woke up feeling peculiar, but not miserable. She felt even more tired than from when she fell asleep the night prior. Her head felt like it was full of cotton and there was a tickling sensation in her nose that she just couldn't stop. And had she been more wide awake, Lapis would've also noticed that her body was covered in tiny, glowing pink hearts. Yet despite her condition, the young angel was wearing a dopey grin on her face like she was overflowing with pleasure.
She made a small sneeze, which prompted Rose Quartz to call from down the hall, "I heard you sneezing, Lapis. Time to get up, sleepyhead."
The arrival's guardian entered the room and placed a gentle hand on Lapis' arm. Immediately, the young angel started to laugh as if something was tickling her.
"My goodness, Lapis!" she exclaimed. "What has happened to you? Are you feeling under the weather?"
"I'm fine." the little angel mumbled, feeling like she was on cloud 9. "You look wonderful today."
"Lapis, you're definitely not fine." Rose insisted. "It's look like you've caught the Love Bug. I'd better get Fluorite to come take a look at you."
Fifteen minutes passed and Fluorite arrived to check on the bedridden angel. Fluorite was the angel physician. She had fair skin under her elderly wrinkles, pale turquoise hair, dark teal eyes, and teal tinted wings. She wore a simple, glittery white dress with blue green stripes that was held up by a golden yellow rope belt and gold sandals. She was followed by Amethyst, Stevonnie, Pearl, and Garnet who heard that Lapis was sick.
"Oh my." Fluorite commented, inspecting her patient. "This is the most severe case of the Love Bug I've ever seen."
"Love Bug?" said Amethyst. "How did she get it?"
"You only catch the Love Bug after falling deeply in love with somebody." the healer angel told her. "And the symptoms are the result of the separation from the one you've fallen in love with."
"Can you cure her?" asked Pearl.
"I can do something about the symptoms." Fluorite answered. "But if you don't want her to catch the Love Bug again; you should let visit the one she's fallen in love with often."
She reached into the medical bag she brought and pulled out a bottle of syrup. The healer angel opened up the bottle and poured out a spoonful of the thick stuff.
"This medicine should help the symptoms go down for now." she stated. "Okay, Lapis. Open wide."
But, the young angel was hiding her mouth underneath her blanket with a timid look in her face.
"I know it doesn't look tasty, but you need this so you won't be sick anymore." the healer said.
"I don't think it's the medicine." Rose explained. "It might be that doesn't know you very well yet. Let me try."
The angel guardian took the spoonful of syrup and got down to her charge's level.
"Lapis, time to take your medicine." she coaxed the little one.
Lapis emerged from her blanket and allowed her guardian to feed her the syrup. The arrival swallowed her medicine and made a disgusted face from the syrup's bitterness. Just then, she felt dizzy from her sickness induced headache and fell back into the pillows, her eyes closed.
"Is she okay?" inquired Stevonnie with some concern.
"She'll be fine." Fluorite assured her. "She just needs to sleep her it off."
"Come on everyone." Rose said to Lapis' friends. "Let's let her rest."
All the angels filed out of the arrival's room to let her sleep in peace. All the while, she dreamed of being with the demon she had met and fallen in love with. She envisioned herself being held in his arms and having his fingers run through her hair. It didn't matter if falling in love with a demon was wrong in her culture. If having romantic feelings for a being completely different from her was wrong, she didn't want to be right.
"I'll be with you soon, Peridot." she thought, leaving her romantic desires to her dreams for the time being.