Chapter 6:
"Arella is gone." I hiss back to Laurel. She starts to walk in circles around me. "Not here." Laurel comes up to my ear again. "Take a look." Once again, the crowd parts and there she stands.
I suck in a breath and stare. A young woman stands there, clothed in a deep red dress, with a red mask that have hazel eyes peeking out, and long, white hair tumbles down her back in curls. She begins to walk towards me and suddenly it's like we're the only ones here.
She opens her perfectly sculpted, pink lips and speaks with a voice like a violin. "Hello Gabriel."
"Arella. But...how?" I ask her, very confused. "Don't ask. Just enjoy this." She takes my hand in hers and lays my free hand on her waist. Arella looks up into my eyes and smiles. We begin to dance, and the memories that I had fought so hard to push down resurface.
...
Arella and I smile and laugh as we run through the meadow. I finally catch her and we embrace. She smiles again and extends her wings and fly away. Chuckling, I extend my own and fly after her.
"Come on Gabriel! You'll have to fly faster than that if you want your prize!" Arella taunts me. Her wings are different then every one else's. Instead of the normal white angel wings that looked like swan wings, she had oblong, purple wings that almost looked like that of a hummingbird. Because of this, she was an outcast. But I still loved her.
I catch up to her and we use our wings to suspend us in the air. Her lips feel soft and cool against mine. They tasted like mint and cherries.
...
"Father, please, you can't!" I begged my father. "No, Gabriel. She is a danger to our kingdom."
"How is she a danger?!" I shout at him. "Gabriel-"
"What?!" Father stares at me for a moment and sighs. "Gabriel...we found her committing the Seven Deadly Sins." My breath hitches and I choke on a sob. "No...no. You're lying!"
"Gabriel." My father says in a stern but calm voice. The voice that means the conversation is over. I just lost the fight.
...
"Please! No! Please don't do this!" Arella screams out at the top of her lungs. "Arella Nis, you have been found guilty of committing the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lust." Father announces to the kingdom in a booming voice.
Father nods to me, signaling that I must finish this. "Please Father." But he does not yield. I must read the punishment. I take a deep breath and speak the worst words of my life. "Arella Nis, as punishment for your crimes, you shall be stripped of your wings-"
"No!" Her mother cries out, but I must continue. "And burned at the stake."
"Gabriel, please. Don't do this." Arella pleads with me, tears slipping out of her eyes. I blink back my own. "On my count." Two executioners move to extend Arella's wings and raise their swords above the joints.
"Please Gabriel."
"One."
"Don't!"
"Two."
"I love you!" The tears stung my eyes. "Three." The executioners bring down their swords, severing Arella's wings. Her cries of pain assault my ears as they tie her to the stake.
The smoke from the fire that burns her pricks my eyes and the tears finally slip out. Father lays a hand on my shoulder. "It had to be done son. Always remember, your duty is to your kingdom. Always."
...
I come out of my daze and stare at Arella. Or who I thought was Arella. "You aren't real." I say to her. "What?" She looks up at me quizzically. "You're not real. The real Arella died after I..." I struggle to say the words. "After I ordered her execution."
She smiles at me. "No I didn't. I'm here and that's all that matters." I shake my head and start to back away from her. "No. You're not real. This isn't real." The room begins to shake and Arella's smile disappears and turns into a sneer. "You shouldn't have said that."
The room begins to break apart and shatter like glass. Everyone returns and begins to scream. Arella disappears and turns into Laurel. "You just wasted your chance, Prince Gabriel." And the world goes dark.
