The first sun rays wake me up as they hit my eyelids; Ever so slowly, I untangle myself from Penryn and go back to my sofa, what in hell made me fall asleep holding a human? …hold a human and enjoy it? My conscious mind wants to blame it on loneliness that's been eating me up, I observe her deeply, looking for any outstanding features that could make her different from the rest, but before my inspection comes to an end she yawns and stretches her arms.
As she opens her eyes and sees me there looking at her a handful of expressions show in her face, each of them going away in a blink, but mainly it was self-consciousness and anger what I got, but neither of them I understand.
She wakes up abruptly and takes her toiletries with almost violence, she turns and starts towards a bathroom, I decide to share with her my decision before I change my mind, "Yes" I say.
She spins around, making her messy hair cover her face , I only can see one dark eye and her mouth set on a thin line, the image of a feline pops up again in my mind.
"Yes? "She replies.
"Yes, you can come with me," The cons of the plan start popping up in my mind like popcorn, and I start regretting taking her to the aerie while saying I will do it.
After that she heads to the bathroom without a word.
Well, I expected some gratitude for my good deed, but what's done it's done, so I decide to take a shower in the other bathroom.
The bathroom is equipped with a modern shower plate, stripping, I get in and let the combination of cold water and the sun rays filtering through the window relax me. The relax only lasts about a minute though, sighing I get out the shower and find a soft towel in a cupboard, I dry myself desapasionatly .
Back in the living room, seeing Penryn is going to take longer than me to be ready I decide to have some preening done, my wings, as I'm seeing are in a lamentable state.
Sitting in the floor with my wings in my lap, I slowly start taking away the unfixable ones and fixing the ones that can be fixed, the state of my wings fills me with the same fury and sorrow that I felt when Beliel cut them off, supposedly time makes feelings fade slowly, but I think that only applies to humans as they're ephemeral creatures. In that moment becomes clear that even if I get my wings back, I won't be able to forget this, let alone forgive.
I'm so focused on my task that I don't hear Penryn when she comes in, but then I see her out the corner of my eye, stopping behind me. She stays silent for a moment, finally speaking she says:
"Should I, like, try to sew your wounds shut?" She asks sounding disturbingly hopeful, maybe she has a frustrated doctor vocation, umph, I really hope that's not the case human knowledge of medicine is very limited to say the least. "No," I say without looking up from my work. "It'll eventually heal on its own."
"Why hasn't it healed already? I mean, the rest of you healed in no time."
"Angel sword wounds take a long time to heal. If you're ever going to kill an angel, slice him up with an angel sword."
"You're lying. Why would you tell me that?"
"Maybe I'm not afraid of you."
"Maybe you should be."
I roll my eyes, this girl is utterly absurd.
"My sword would never hurt me. And my sword is the only one you can wield."
"How's that?"
"You need permission to use an angel sword. It'll weigh a ton if you try to lift it without permission."
"But you never gave me permission."
Ah yeah, the question I have purposely ignored, why on earth would my sword let her lift her was a mistery for me, I mean at first to help me, sure, but then? could she sense my presence and still let the girl wield her? does she think the girl is worthy? ... nah that can't be, but she'll tell me, I know she will, last night we didn't have the time to bond while killing off some hellion but I did sense joy for our reunion for what it's worth.
"You don't get permission from the angel. You get it from the sword" I say. " And some swords get grouchy just for asking."
"Yeah, right."
"I never asked permission and I managed to lift the sword no problem."
"That's because you wanted to throw it to me so I could defend myself. Apparently, she took that as permission asked and given."
"What, it read my mind?"
"Your intentions, at least. She does that sometimes."
"O-kay. Right."
She obviously doesn't believe me, that proves that my sword hasn't tried to communicate with her, that soothes me, she knows that the human is useful to me and she lets her lift her as a baby would let a stranger take it to its mother.
"So...you want me to bandage your back?"
"Why?"
"To try to keep infection out," she says and for the sound of it she's already looking for bandages.
"Infection shouldn't be a problem."
"You can't be infected?"
"I should be resistant to your germs."
Then there's silence for a minute while she thinks about that last revelation, I guess she would try to fish for information again, what germs could kill an angel, and that kind of stuff I figure.
"So…are you immunized or something?" She says, trying to sound nonchalant, ha! I was right, this girl is getting easier to read, I don't want her to go out there trying to make biological weapons to exterminate angels even if it would be a futile attempt, I decide to make clear that there's a limit to the information she'll get from me.
"It's probably a good idea to bandage me up anyway," I say, "I can probably pass for human so long as my wounds are covered."
Wordlessly she starts to wrap my torso with bandages in a harsh manner I try to spin my head and look at her while she does it, try to read in her face why she's being so rough. Before I can do so, she speaks:
"Try not to move around too much so you don't bleed again. The bandages aren't that thick and blood will soak through pretty quickly."
"No problem," I say, "Shouldn't be too hard not to move around as we run for our lives."
"I'm serious. That's the last of our bandages. You'll have to make them last."
"Any chance we can find more?"
"Maybe."
Well, someone's not feeling very talkative today, so be it. We get ready to start moving quietly, filling up her water bottle and having some more of the last night's crunchy crap as a very scarce breakfast. By the time we leave the cottage, it is mid-morning. The first place we hit is the main house.
We separate, as I hear her rummage through the kitchen I look in the courtyard and find a bag of some kind of cookies, I decide to show Penryn as she is supposed to be useful in this aspect, at least that's why she's coming with me; Well, at least that's why I tell myself she's coming with me.
I find her standing in the middle of the kitchen with a disappointed look on her face, and as she turns to face me something else surfaces in her expression, something like a mix of surprise and disappointment, I don't know what on earth she's thinking right now to look like that, but we have more urgent issues to discuss.
"Is this edible?" I say
She dips her hand into the bag and bring out a few pieces of red and yellow kibbles. She crunches them making a really disgusting noise and a face that echoes it, but then she estates "Not exactly gourmet, but it probably won't kill us."
After that, we hit the garage, where we find supplies that Penryn seems to find useful, including a knife that she eyes with an expression lust-like ... a girl who likes her weapons and knows how to use them, I hide my smile as she gives me her old knife which shies in comparison to the one she just kept to herself and I undoubtedly would use best, but I say nothing, let her keep her toy.
After that in the bedrooms we get some clothes, she chooses jeans , white tee and a sweatshirt that looks like it could eat her up, then she finds me a human outfit, in which I hope to not find myself in front of any reflective surface that would show me just how human I look, with that thought my nonexistent wings begin to itch, but I distract myself , watching Penryn go around like a busy bee trying to find me other shoes, I try to tell her that my boots are fine, but apparently they don't fit the regular human image she must be picturing, I guess what that is, I've seen human boys some of them with that awful baggy jeans and those sneakers big as boats, Oh lord.
Just when I got to distract myself thinking about something as ordinary as human clothes she has to speak her mind.
"You look almost human dressed like that," She says
And with her words that phantom itch in my wings spreads again, it's so intense I almost feel like I have them back and in any moment I could scrape that place where the itch is located.
"So long as you don't bleed in the shape of wing joints, you should pass for human. Oh, and don't let anyone pick you up. They'll know you're not right as soon as they feel how light you are."
"I'll be sure not to let anyone but you carry me in her arms." With no other word, I leave the room, I'm sure she wasn't trying to be insensitive but her words reminded me what I was trying so hard to forget.
We leave the house in silence and then we start walking, it's around noon and the sky is overcast but it doesn't seem like it's going to rain again soon.
As we keep on walking, the sound of our steps synchronize mixing with the sounds of nature, creating an harmonious tune, but the peace of the moment is broken as we hit the freeway and a family liying on a pool of blood appears on sight.
A man, a woman, a girl about ten years old. The child is at the edge of the woods while the adults are in the middle of the road. Either the kid ran for it when the parents were attacked, or she hid during the attack and was caught when she came out.
They haven't been dead for long, no signs of rotting yet. They are chewed, chunks of their bodies and limbs are missing. It's a brutal attack, I don't think anything human or animal has caused this, I get closer in order to examine the bodies, see if I can get anything out of the chewing marks.
"Teeth marks," It was obvious , the shocking thing is that I've never seen anything like this before, sharper than human's but with the same shape … this is strange, to say the least.
"What kind of animal are we talking about?"
"The kind with two legs and flat teeth."
"What are you saying? That they're human?"
"Maybe. Unusually sharp, but human-shaped."
"Can't be."
She seems to be fighting the harsh truth, her people might be desperate enough to kill their own, and I can't say anything to soothe her.
"This is too wasteful. If you're desperate enough to cannibalize, you wouldn't just take a few bites and leave."
She's right, but maybe they had to flee, I keep on examining the corpses "The limbs have been ripped right out of their sockets." I observe.
"Enough," She says stepping back from the carnage, she looks around nervously, probably because she fears facing whoever did this. I can say something soothing this time though.
"Well," I say scanning the trees . "Let's hope whoever did this is still in control of this area."
"Why?"
"Because they won't be hungry."
She stares, looking shaken "You're pretty sick, you know that?"
"Me? It isn't my people who did this."
"How do you know? You have the same teeth we do."
"But my people aren't desperate .Nor are they insane."
I expect some comeback, a revolutionary speech about how we are responsible for their desperation and so on, but no reply comes out of her mouth, in her unusual silence, an uninvited thought pops up in my mind, Nephilim.
But this can't be them, that's why I haven't make the connection earlier, I have hunted them for ages, I would have noticed... I would have noticed, I would have noticed.
Maybe Penryn knows something, has heard stories about a gang of feral kids in their own, desperate orphans who could have done it.
"the bite marks, seem to be small for adults, I'm wondering… maybe kids did it, do you think it's possible? "
She doesn't answer so I keep on, "desperate kids may not have the morality of adults and if they found a family hurt or dead…" Still no answer, I look at her but she seems to be far away looking at a rotten egg near the dead kid, what does it have to capture her attention I don't know.
"Penryn?"
She snaps out of whatever reverie she was in and finally answers
"What?"
"Could they be kids?"
"Could what be kids?"
"The attackers,", I say. "As I've said, the bite marks seem too small to be adults."
"They must be animals."
"Animals with flat teeth?"
"Yes, that makes more sense than a kid taking down an entire family."
"But not more sense than a gang of feral children attacking them."
She remains silent looking very young and very scared, I decide to leave it for now, I don't think she would but if she panics she'll be a burden. So I decide against following the road in case there's some other scenario like this one. I tell her and she nods absentmindedly and follows me as I start heading to the forest.
Our path continues in silence, only the sound of our steps in the fallen leaves accompanies us, I walk thinking of the massacre on the road, I keep repeating in my head "human kids did it" like a chant, trying to convinve myself that nephilim have nothing to do with this.
I keep puzzling over it; regular kids could have perpetrated the attack but the teeth… why the teeth appear to be sharper is the piece missing in the puzzle…
A grunting noise breaks through my concentration, it comes from Penryn who is struggling to move her sister's wheelchair with all the wet dead leaves stuck in its wheels, I know we would move faster if she abandons it, but I can't seem to bring myself to tell her, I'm not offering to help though, even as I see she's starting to despair and we slow down even more now walking at a speed so low that's killing me. Still I hold back the comments.
If I had the chance to even attempt to save any of my watchers, wouldn't have I done it? Of course I would, even if that implied carrying some piece of metal hobbling me down on my way of doing so, Oh the irony. But that doesn't mean I don't get it, and respect it. Her loyalty is a remarkable trait of hers, I don't know if any other human would get in the aerie to attempt a rescue no matter who was took away from them, much less a daughter of men.
When we shift to a path covered in mud due to last night's rain she folds the chair with a sigh and carries it for a while, every step we take makes more obvious that she can't hike while carrying the piece of junk and finally she puts it down.
She starts to poke it with a stick till it's inevitably stuck. She stands, head bowed down, sloping shoulders, a perfect defeated position. Seeing her like that tickles me.
"You still have her chocolate, the rest is just logistics" I say, in a feeble attempt to make her feel better.
It doesn't work though, she keeps walking in silence, looking down like a sheep dumb before its shearers, and that image bothers me somehow. I think I know just how to fix it, I know it'll work if it was me, and something tells me that she'll react just like I would.
" Does moping actually help humans feel better?" I say
"I'm not moping," she shots back immediatly, I have to supress a smile as I say the line that I know will get her so riled up she'll have to forget about the wheelchair. "Of course you're not. A girl like you, spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What's to mope about? Leaving a wheelchair behind couldn't possibly show up on the radar compared to that."
She almost trips. "You have got to be kidding me."
"I never kid about my warrior demigod status."
"Oh. My. God." she says, there it goes. "You are nothing but a bird with an attitude. Okay, so you have a few muscles, I'll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That's what you are."
I chuckle thinking how easy to manipuate she is, that big pride, her Achilles heel. "Evolution." leaning over to add a secretive effect I add: "I'll have you know that I've been this perfect since the beginning of time." At this point, I'm enjoying myself.
"Oh, please. Your giant head is getting too big for this forest. Pretty soon, you're going to get stuck trying to walk between two trees. And then, I'll have to rescue you." She looks at me with a weary look. "Again."
She turns her back on me, and starts stomping away in some kind of dramatic exit that for me, just adds some fun to the already funny situation. My plan worked as smoothly as expected, not surprising really, but still satisfying.
She looks back, and then suddenly eyes me with a somewhat knowing look, I know that she knows, and knowing makes it better.
A/N
Hey! I know I haven't posted in a looooooong time but I just didn't know what to write! in this part of angelfall I was like ...what is he thinking? I think I'm back on track though.
Lemme know what you think!