Chapter 7
The smell of young rain penetrated Arthur's soul like a knife to his heart – both fresh and throbbing with energy.
The blue reminded him too much of those fresh eyes. Forever lost.
Despite his best efforts to ignore the pain of Alfred, Arthur couldn't keep the demon out of his mind.
He's going to be destroyed. And it's my fault.
The falling rain seemed appropriate to Arthur's feelings.
Why did he have to attack me? Arthur cursed Alfred. If he just hadn't touched me, then maybe we could have found a cure and removed his bad memories…
Arthur sighed. I don't know what to do.
A month passed, and the rain never stopped, inhibiting all communications between heaven and hell. At least Alfred hadn't been punished yet, that much Arthur knew.
The day the rain stopped, Arthur flew with a heavy heart to his thinking cloud. Much to his surprise, when he arrived, he wasn't alone.
"Hi Arthur." Alfred gave a little wave of his hand, blue eyes twinkling.
Arthur almost forgot to flap his wings; he was so shocked.
"What are you doing here?" Arthur demanded, pushing the demon back. "You'll be killed if you're seen here!"
A small pout formed on the demon's face. "I wanted to apologize before I'm…" destroyed. The word hung in the air, unsaid.
What happened to you? "Your eyes…" Arthur started. They look different again. What's going on?
"You can land, you know, Arthur." Alfred patted the cloud beside him. "I won't attack you."
"How do I know that?"
Alfred looked hurt, but he tried to hide it. "My eyes. They're back to normal now. I've had a lot of time to think this past month. But, if they change to red again, fly away as fast as you can."
"Okay," Arthur cautiously landed next to the demon. "Are you able to control…the other guy?"
Shrugging, Alfred smirked lightly at his friend. "It's hard to say. They're still going to destroy me for attacking you."
Arthur gave him a pained look. I forced you to attack me.
"Don't feel bad about this, Arthur," Alfred gave him a comforting pat on the back, which almost sent the angel off the cloud. "Our friendship was never going to work out anyway."
Arthur sent a sidelong glance at Alfred, debating his next statement. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I never met you."
Alfred snorted. "You'd live a completely normal and boring life stuck in the clouds, collecting souls occasionally, never eating ice cream-"
"-okay, okay, I get it!" Arthur chuckled.
"But you'd have one less Sin."
Arthur turned to his friend. "Meeting you was not a Sin, Alfred. I'm afraid to say that meeting you was one of the best things to have ever happened to me."
"And you used to call me a bad influence!" Alfred laughed.
"Shut up! You still are a bad influence, git!"
Their chuckles subsided.
"On a completely random topic, I never had the chance to ask you: Do you worship the Devil?" Arthur asked, looking straight ahead.
"Do you clean God's toenails?" Alfred countered, one brow raised.
"What? …no…"
"Good. And I don't worship my boss. He's an ass. Moving on…"
They lapsed into silence.
"Any other questions before they destroy me?" Alfred asked politely, still smiling.
You are taking this way to well...Arthur thought furiously.
"Why is it that love is so fragile?" Arthur accused, glaring at the clouds. "And yet so resilient?"
Alfred blinked a few times, shrugging. "Hell if I know. I am the epitome of your description, Arthur."
"It's just like life." Arthur whispered. "So resilient, yet fragile."
"That's life to you, Arthur." Alfred pretended to shoot Arthur, who fell back melodramatically in a puff of white.
"How much longer do you have?" Arthur suddenly asked, sitting back up.
"Eh…." Alfred paused, scrunching up his nose. "I'd say 30 more seconds."
Arthur stared at his friendly blankly, frozen in place.
"What? I didn't want to ruin the moment!" Alfred threw his hands up in exasperation.
Arthur launched himself at his friend, crushing him into a hug. "I am so sorry Alfred! This is all my fault! I should never have tried to find your memories!"
"Whoa, dude, it's okay." Alfred gently patted the angel's wings, though tears of his own were beginning to form in his eyes. "This is totally my fault."
"No it's not, if I hadn't suggested finding them-"
"Arthur, dude." Alfred held his friend at arms length, staring him in the eye. "It's an occupational hazard of being slightly human: we're curious. I was bound to get my memories back sooner or later."
Arthur sniffed, wiping his eyes. "You think so?"
Alfred nodded, beginning to glow gold.
"You're g-glowing." Arthur stuttered, pulling back slightly.
"Hmmmm. I thought I would be struck down by lightning or something way more awesome than this…" Alfred muttered, hands on hips. "Oh well. I guess I can't question God's methods…I of all people should know…"
"You're leaving?" Arthur shot up. "Already?"
You'll see him again. A voice whispered in the back of Arthur's mind. Sooner than you think.
Arthur paused, closing his eyes. Was that God?
When he opened his eyes again, Alfred was gone.
In his place, a small blue vial glowed ominously.
Author's Note: This FanFic was a lot shorter than I thought it would be! There will only be one more chapter (the Epilogue) and I think I'll post it right after this just because I already wrote it~ Thanks again for sticking around/reviewing/following/favoriting this story [like I've said to many times - it makes me really happy!]