Like I was going to let you guys wait forever for the next chapter. I think this is probably my favourite so far, along with the one I'm currently writing which is Chapter 37.
Anyways this chapter is a little shorter but it has a lot in it too.
"Kl shay' ealaa ma yuram eizrayiylan? (Everything okay Azrael?)" Raphael asks as Azrael enters the room with Michael, Gabriel and Uriel, the general with his four lieutenants.
"Nem raf, 'ana bakhir. (Yes Raph, I'm Fine.)" Azrael replies as Michael starts the council.
"Okay, I'm going to speak in English. So now that Azrael was successful in her part of the mission, we can continue on with the next phase. Zaapiel and Puriel have come off of assignment as part of the mission so we welcome them back. We also have to discuss the prisoners and how we will dispose of them. Azrael, they were from your mission so how do you propose we do it?" Michael explains and Azrael puts her hands down on the table in front of her.
"Rid of the others but I want Miss Beale, she has a spirit and I wish to break it before she is killed by the person she loves." She replies, feeling a small pit in her stomach grow larger but she hides it.
"Very well, I leave them to you. Raziel and Haniel will be at your disposal, use them as you please." Michael offers and Azrael nods before bowing to her leader and leaving the room. Raziel and Haniel moves from their positions at the door to follow Azrael back to the Bellas.
"What would you like from us Azrael?" Raziel ask, his jade green eyes burn like Aubrey's. It made the assassin think about all the times the Bellas captain treated her like crap.
"I want the blonde." Azrael says with a tinge of anger in her voice, undetected by the two younger assassins. Raziel and Haniel walk into the room holding the Bellas and directly up to Aubrey's cage. Azrael walks in behind them which Stacie arcs up about, still furious with the assassin and her actions.
"So what, you want to kill another one of us? Another one of your friends. Come on then, do it. What's another death on your conscience huh?" Stacie yells out and Azrael turns to her, slightly stung by her words.
"I'll do what needs to be done for my family." Azrael bites back and Stacie accepts the challenge, stepping right up to the door of the cage, a mere two inches from her old friend.
"What about our family?" Stacie challenges and watches as Azrael's anger rises, she holds her hand out to Haniel and Raziel and they stop taking Aubrey out of the cage. She moves her hand and points to Stacie. Haniel and Raziel move to Stacie's cage and unlock it, grabbing Stacie before she pounces on Azrael. The assassin steps up close to Stacie.
"Sawf tataeallam aihtiram. (You will learn respect.)" Azrael says as she steps back and unclips her knife belt and takes off her swords straps over her shoulders. She also removes her jacket to reveal her in a sports bra, her scars on her abdomen on show. She nods to Haniel and Raziel to let Stacie go and as soon as they do Stacie runs at the shorter brunette. Azrael just smirks as she turns her body to the side and as Stacie attempts to attack, she grabs her wrist, wraps her arm around her abdomen and throws the taller brunette clean and precisely over her shoulder. Stacie's back hits the cement below her with a thud and all the Bellas cringe. Stacie gets back up and stares into Azrael's eyes and she notices her eyes have changed from their usual storm blue to a silver grey.
"Come on Beca. If you're going to kill me then get it over with!" Stacie calls out as she throws wild punches which Azrael dodges before throwing Stacie to the ground again, this time grabbing her arm, throwing her legs over Stacie's head and putting her arm in an armbar.
"Submit." Azrael says and Stacie tries to fight off the armbar.
"No." Stacie grits out and Azrael shakes her head before snapping Stacie's wrist causing her to scream out loud. All the Bellas cry out in fear as they watch Azrael fight her supposed best friend. Azrael lets go of Stacie's arm and the taller girl immediately grabs it in pain. Azrael moves over to Haniel who holds her swords in his arms. She rips one of her swords out of its sheath and turns back to Stacie.
"Beca no, stop what are you doing?" Aubrey cries out. Azrael holds the sword to Stacie's throat.
"Submit or die." The assassin says and Stacie glares at her.
"I'd rather die." Stacie replies before spitting in Azrael's face. As this happens, Chloe wakes up and looks upon what is breaking out in the room. Azrael looks to Haniel and Raziel.
"Take her." Azrael points to Stacie before getting dressed again and grabbing her weapons. Raziel and Haniel drag Stacie out of the room.
"Beca, wait." Azrael stops at the sound of Chloe's voice. She turns back to the redhead who is holding onto the cage for support. Azrael walks over to the cage.
"This isn't you. You're my Hael. Please come back to me. Come back to us, to your friends, to your family. Please Hael." Chloe says and she reaches her arm out of the cage and gently places it on Azrael's cheek and out of instinct Azrael melts into the touch, snapping into another set of flashbacks.
"I would never leave you. Especially not after last night. Thank you for finally opening up to me."
"I'm not going to go anywhere. You will never lose me."
"Beca please."
"You scare me. Because you have this ability to make me feel again and I don't want to. I don't know what love is Chloe."
"Remember in class, the Angel of Death, Azrael I think it was, is still an angel. So if you refer to yourself as death then that means that there is light and an angel somewhere in you too."
"Then show me."
"What does Hael mean?" "It's the Angel of Kindness whom inspires art, beauty and kindness in mankind. You're my Hael."
"I'm in love with you too Chloe. I have been since the first time I laid eyes on you Hael."
"You're Beca Mitchell and that's the girl I fell in love with. Beca, I forgive you for what you did. You're my Hael too."
Azrael snaps out of the flashbacks and stares into Chloe's bright blue eyes, the redhead's hand still on her cheek. Aubrey in the cage next to her.
"You made a promise Beca, to protect all of us!" Aubrey cries out. Azrael remembers the promise.
"I was supposed to look out for her. I am supposed to look out for all of you and I'm letting you all down." Aubrey takes a deep shaky breath and Beca sympathizes which is weird for her as she is still getting used to her emotions being back.
"Aubrey, you aren't letting us down. You're doing your best. Just keep doing what you are doing. I'll help looking out for the others. No more Bellas are going to get hurt. I promise." Beca says. Aubrey just nods before thanking her and leaving.
Azrael feels as if she was breathing air for the first time, collapsing to the ground and gripping at her head. Chloe drops down to the smaller girl's level.
"Beca?" She questions as Beca looks back to her, the silver eyes turning back to the usual storm blue, tears brimming the edges of her eyelids.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh my God. What have I done? I'm-I'm so sorry." Beca starts to cry, overwhelmed by what she had done over the past few days and all the girls realize how traumatized Beca was from everything that's happened since she joined the League. They didn't know how hard it was to fight off brainwashing but they assumed it would be like two sides of them fighting against each other in their head, the real them, and the fake them that was fed false things. They realize how hard it would have been to fight off the brainwashing. Aubrey sinks down to Beca's level.
"It wasn't you. Okay Beca, it wasn't you." Aubrey reassures and Beca's face turns dark.
"I need to go but I'll be back for you guys. I promise." She says, looking to Aubrey. Aubrey knowing that Beca kept her promises. Beca gazes at Chloe, reaching into the cage to touch Chloe's cheek, the redhead tensing at the touch which Beca notices and saddens.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you Hael." She says in a whisper. Chloe shakes her head, she was unsure of what to do, standing in front of her was both the girl she loved but also the girl that killed her family. She couldn't forgive Beca for that but she also couldn't stop falling when she gazed into Beca's eyes. She was happy to see that her method of getting the real Beca back worked and that Beca wasn't a raging psychopath anymore but she was also scared of her, scared of what the assassin was capable of and scared that Beca wasn't quite all the way back, that she would fall back into this assassin mode when it was all over. Chloe knew though that they needed Beca if they were going to get out of this place so she says the first thing that she thinks of.
"It wasn't you. Just go and be careful." Chloe replies and Beca does exactly that, standing up and moving out of the room to find Stacie.
Beca knows as she walks down the hallways that she has to pretend to be Azrael again. She walks into the room where Raziel and Haniel have Stacie chained to the post. Stacie's demeanor changes as Beca walks into the room. Raziel and Haniel turn to her, awaiting her orders. She turns her face dark and turns to both the assassins.
"Leave us." She says sternly and the two assassins nod before leaving the room, shutting the door behind them. Beca then turns to Stacie and the leggy brunette spits in Beca's direction.
"I hope you burn in hell." Stacie grits out through her teeth and Beca feels guilty for putting her best friend through everything to make her say this to her.
"Nothing you say will make me leave. You'll always be my friend Stacie." Beca says and Stacie lets her head shake, a confused look on her face.
"Remember when you said that to me. Right before I told you about everything." Beca adds with a small smile on her face. She careful steps forward and undoes Stacie's chains.
"Please try very hard not to kill me." Beca says as she undoes the other chain. She cringes waiting for Stacie to punch her but instead she feels Stacie's arms wrap around her. She returns the hug as tears start to form in her eyes, burying her head into Stacie's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry." Beca cries and Stacie quietly shushes her, rubbing her hand on Beca's head.
"It's okay." Stacie says quietly, giving Beca a gentle kiss on the top of her head, Beca pulls away and looks into Stacie's grass green eyes.
"Did they really do all of that to you?" Stacie asks, pointing around Beca's body. Beca nods before her eyes go dark again.
"They tortured you, brainwashed you into being like that. That wasn't your fault." Stacie reassures and Beca turns to the door.
"No but they are going to pay for it. I'm going to get you guys out of here then, I'm going to burn the League of Angels to the fucking ground." Beca replies with rage clearly evident in her words and Stacie nods along. The League had been lying to Beca about everything. Amitiel was telling the truth about the League the entire time and they convinced Beca that Amitiel was saying anything to stay alive before asking her to kill her friend and she did. She did to cover up their lie.
"The League lied to me. They made me kill my friend to cover up their secret." Beca speaks sadly and Stacie comforts her best friend.
"What do you need from us?" Stacie asks and Beca turns to Stacie.
"Trust." Beca replies before stabbing Stacie in the chest.
"Michael wants you all dead." She adds.
So as Beca said, PLEASE TRY VERY HARD NOT TO KILL ME!
I'm a little scared about reactions to this chapter but also excited so please let a rip!