Authoress Notes: Language lesson – Appa: (Korean) Dad.
Adul: (Korean) Son.
Umma: (Korean) Mom.
Bulgogi: Literal "Fire Meat," a Korean dish comprised of thin slices of marinated beef.
Bul: (Korean) Fire.
Lots of words to learn, today...!
Layers
Chapter Twelve
By: Brenli and Jael
White wine was a welcome alternative to Jack Daniels. Uriel idly swirled the sweet Riesling in his glass as he climbed the stairs to the third floor of the mansion. He had gone a few days without whiskey and the lack of alcohol had been wreaking havoc on his body. He hoped that a glass of wine before bed would help take the edge off. Sipping the sweet drink, he found himself thinking of Serissa... again.
Oh, he couldn't seem to get her out of his head. Ever. He hadn't seen her since their short conversation on her porch. But that was to be expected... He would often go days without seeing her. He wanted to see her, though. That was all he could think about...
He sighed and reached for the doorknob of his bedroom... and something caught his eye.
From around the corner of the hall, the hall that lead to the double doors of Serissa's room, were a pair of boots. Slouchy black boots with a wedge heel and silver buckles... Serissa's boots. The position of the shoes indicated that she was laying face down in the hallway, around the corner.
"Serissa?" Alarmed, Uriel rushed to her. His wine glass slipped out of his hand and shattered at his feet.
She was on the floor, her face hidden by her brown hair. He could hear her breathing, a rattled, rasping thing that turned his stomach and made his blood cold. Her body was twitching in such a grotesque way...
"Serissa...!" Uriel fell to his knees beside her and rolled her over, quickly brushing her hair away from her face. The strands stuck to a layer of sweat on her skin. She was pale, way too pale. Her hazel eyes were blank and staring into nothing, her lips parted as her jaw opened and closed, her teeth clasping at nothing, the tips of her fangs long enough to reach past her lip.
Blood deprivation. Uriel recognized it immediately. He had spent two days researching Revenants, in his idle time between leads on Celestiel. He knew that going too long without blood could be deadly. It started with a severe form of shock...
He only hoped it wasn't too late for Serissa.
Without a second thought, he reached out to grab a piece of his shattered wine glass. He raked the sharp edge across the side of his neck, just hard enough to pierce his skin and leave a thin red line of blood bubbling to the surface of his tan skin.
"Serissa? Can you hear me?" Pulling her into his arms, Uriel pushed the rest of her hair off her neck and cradled her forehead against his shoulder.
She reacted so quickly, Uriel's entire body jerked. Her hand fisted in his hair and her jaw clamped around the wound on his neck. Fangs pierced his neck and he hissed with the pain. She was so strong...! He had no idea such strength rested in her lithe body. Her grip on him was so tight it hurt. The sounds she made as she took greedy pulls from his vein scared him, strange growling, mewling sounds that didn't sound remotely normal. The effects of her venom hit him as hard and as fast as they did the first time she had tasted his blood, but this time was different. Fear thrummed in his chest and knots coiled in his stomach.
"Serissa...?" He wondered if she could even hear him. If there was any part of the woman he knew still inside her, or if she was just some blood-starved beast. He didn't push her away, though, knowing just how much she needed him, right then. It hurt in more ways than he could understand.
Uriel endured it all, taking deep, steady breaths to keep himself from panicking. This was too strange, too macabre. So unlike their previous time, like this. He held on, thinking only of her and what she really needed...
Serissa suddenly launched herself away from him, scrambling backwards until her back slammed into the wall of the hallway. Her eyes were wide and wild, full of shock and horror.
"Uriel..!" She covered her blood stained lips with her mouth. "Jesus, I'm so sorry!"
"For what?" He reached for her, ignoring the blood from his chewed neck dribbling down and soaking into the collar of his shirt. The sudden change in her demeanor was startling, like she suddenly had her mind back. Surely she needed more?
"Stay back." She warned him, holding out a shaking hand. "Please don't come any closer."
He froze, feeling the rift in his chest opening more. "What's wrong?"
"I just...!"
"I wanted you to!" Uriel said. He didn't need her to explain what she had just done, how she had frightened him with her ferocity and need. "Serissa, you were-"
"I know, I know, I'm sorry...!" She fisted her hands in her brown hair. "I just... I've been so busy I haven't even thought to drink. I..."
"Hey. It's okay." Uriel reached out to take her hands, to encourage her to release the painful grip on her roots. "Really."
"I'm a fucking monster. You should stay away from me."
"That's the last thing I want to do... Look at me." Uriel tilted up her chin when she refused to look at him. "Why would you let yourself go this far? You could have died."
"I know, I just... I hate that I have to..." She groaned and looked away from him again. "I put it off as long as I can. I hate the sight and the smell of the fucking thing I need to live." She wiped off her lips and her trembling returned full force, racking her pale and sweaty body.
"Serissa..." Uriel sighed and pulled the sleeve of his shirt over his fingers. He hated seeing her like this... he hated not knowing the full weight of what she clearly carried on her shoulders. "Is it easier to take blood when you're taking it directly from someone?" He used his sleeve to gently wipe away the little red streaks on her chin.
"Yes."
A horribly wicked idea crossed Uriel's mind. He found that he wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in his arms, carry her to his room and let her take as much as she needed and maybe more. He would let her venom take him over and maybe he would be lucky enough to sleep with her, again. He wanted that. He wanted to know that she had everything she needed... But he knew that at the root of that desire was something very dark and very selfish.
He suddenly decided he wanted something different. And his lips curled into a soft smile, feeling a little bit of pride in himself for resisting what the darkness in him wanted more than anything. "Have dinner with me, tomorrow."
Serissa's eyes widened. "What?"
"I want us to talk more. I want to know what I can do to help you."
"Help me? With what?"
"With whatever it is that's making you work yourself into exhaustion, like this." The confused look she gave him made an uncomfortable knot twist in his stomach. "Just say yes."
"We shouldn't."
"Maybe not. But I want to." Uriel found himself smiling again, softly, in some attempt to show her that he was sincere. "Please?"
"... I'll see if I can make time."
Noncommittal as her answer may have been, Uriel still found himself pleased by it. It wasn't a no. He reached out to take her hands, to help her to her feet.
"Will you be okay, now?"
"Yeah, I think so." Serissa swept her hair out of her face and gently mopped her forehead with the back of her sleeve. "I'm surprised at you, Uriel."
"Why?"
"The way you've resisted my venom. Any other man would have hauled me into his room and taken advantage of my bloodlust."
Uriel just let out a soft, awkward laugh. "It wasn't exactly easy, but I'm done taking advantage of you." He reached out on an instinct to touch her arm. "... You're still shaking."
"I'll be okay. I have a private stash in my room."
"Please use it. I don't want to worry about you, tonight." He dared to brush his thumb over her quivering chin. "... Goodnight, Serissa."
"Goodnight, Uriel."
xXxXxXx
"Take a break."
… What? "I don't need a break."
Michael rolled blue-green eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Lilith, I've bashed you over the head twice, already."
A golden hand gingerly touched the sore bump she could feel forming on the back of her head, and still she protested, "Nothing I can't shake off." She tried to convince him with a warm smile, but Michael didn't take the bait.
"That's not the point! At all!" He sighed, "Where's your head at?"
Like Lilith was going to tell anyone about the things plaguing her damn brain. A conversation that only reminded her of the way the Elder Council of Gehenna treated her. A hand at her throat. Violent threats from his wife... Maybe she should tell Michael about how fucking nuts Nema had acted. How would that play out, if she did...?
"We're taking a break. Go."
"Michael, I don't need a-"
"Lilith, if you can't fucking focus, I'm going to end up making a crater in the ground using your body." Annoyance wrinkled his red brow, but his words were sincere. That used to really bug Lilith, but she found herself latching onto that more and more. Sincerity was a rare thing, indeed. "And that's a waste of time, for me. So if you can't clear your head with whatever the Hell it is that's distracting you, take a break so that you can!"
The Evil pouted, and her leg tensed up, grinding her heel into the dirt and fighting the habitual stomping. "When we first started doing this you'd just kick me around the yard until I could fucking focus!"
"You really want me to fucking kick you around the yard, Lilith?"
No, no she didn't, and she glared at her scuffed boots.
"Go. Take a break."
"Are you gonna be here when I get back...?" The question was a moody grumble, but her lips curled into a secret smile when Michael snorted a bit of laughter.
"Of course I'm still gonna fucking be here! Go on, get out of here and clear your damn head!"
But striding back inside didn't help Lilith clear her head. The door reminded her of threats to maim her. Checking herself over in a mirror set up near the entryway of the mansion made her stare at her neck, and she held a hand over it...
The former Dragonmaster hissed at herself for jumping when a knock issued forth from the front door. Such a stupid thing to be jumpy over... though to be fair, no one ever knocked on that door. The only people to come here were people who could enter freely...
Another knock, and Lilith finally sighed and crossed over to the door, pulling it open with a sour frown. "Ye-" Wait...
The man was dressed simply enough, black shoes, charcoal pants, a long, dark coat. A manila envelope tucked under his arm. An opaque tupperware box held in his hand. He'd already half-turned away, but as the door opened, he looked over his shoulder. His hair was short and he had a neat, soft goatee on his face...
Lilith's maroon eyes narrowed into slits. "What the fuck did you do to your head, lecher?"
Incredibly dark eyes blinked... he laughed. Some bold, sunny sound... "I've never been called that, before!"
She gave him a small, incredulous shake of her head.
"May I come in?"
"Who are you?"
Again the man gave her a sunny laugh. "You're right, I'm sorry. I'm-"
"Appa...!"
Lilith's head whipped around to the more familiar voice, and found herself struck silent as the men conversed, the visitor asking Jinho a question with a slight tilt of his head, Jinho replying, swift and... bashful? All in rapid Korean that slipped out of their mouths easily, but that wasn't what had frozen Lilith's tongue in her mouth.
She had a short haired Jinho with facial hair in the doorway... and another Jinho who stood upon the stairs leading to their rooms... dressed in loose blue jeans, a similarly loose shirt, some white and navy blue jacket that he immediately used to cover up that shirt. Only the upper half of his hair was tied back, the rest left loose and flowing around his shoulders...
What the Hell was going on...?
It wasn't until Jacket Jinho had finished moving down the steps, waving his hand in the direction of the nearby dining room, that the conversation switched back to a language she could understand – though it was the language of Evils, as though Short Haired Jinho was trying to keep secrets. "Will the Princess be joining us?"
"No." Well. That was really blunt and purposeful. Jacket Jinho's tone changed into one Lilith was finally accustomed to, the water over cool stones kind of tone, the usual tone. "Lilith, this is my father, Jinsang."
She was so overwhelmed, only a quip could keep her grounded. "And who the Hell are you? Jinsung?"
Lilith watched as the jacket-covered shoulders gently slumped, heard the low, soft sigh escape him. Oh good. Then it really was just an oddly dressed Jinho, and not a second clone.
"He almost was. His mother preferred Jinho more." Jinsang finally stepped inside, though he gave Lilith a deep, open-armed bow, tupperware in one hand and a manila envelope in the other. The kind of bow Lilith received by every man back in Gehenna... "It is an honor to finally meet you, Princess Lilith." Father and son were several paces away from her before she managed to shake away the strangeness of the situation and follow after them... and then Jinho had shut the double doors leading into the dining room before Lilith could even reach them. A frustrated frown puckered her lips, and yet she found herself hovering near...
xXxXxXx
"Is this how you normally act with other people, these days? One on one, behind shut doors?" Jinsang was already teasing his son.
"Shh!" Jinho held the doors shut, waiting for a moment. He didn't need to see his father to know he was rolling his eyes. "... She's not leaving." He said in hushed, slightly annoyed Korean.
"I'm not sure why you're keeping this from her-"
"Appa." Jinho turned to face him, his face solemn.
Jinsang couldn't keep the smile from his face, shaking his head. "... Are we Korean spies, adul?" But he switched away from the language of Evils, as his son silently pleaded for.
"I don't want her to know."
"Just like a spy." His smile broadened. "Let's sit. Clearly my son keeps very busy, but I have the right to catch up with him."
As they took seats next to each other at the long table, Jinho quietly reasoned in a way meant to comfort Jinsang, "There is little to catch up on. I'd already told you I would be centered in London for a while..."
"And in that time, you've gotten caught in a mess of Angels attacking your group, and are now sending your father to do work you're too frightened to do, yourself. Your mother is worried sick for you."
Jinho sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, which only made Jinsang laugh. "Umma has been worried about me since Lucifer summoned me to his Court..."
"You don't think it's telling? That your parents aren't even worried about Lucifer, anymore?"
Black eyes met equally black ones. "... If this is about the Prophecy, we are doing everything we can given the situation. All we can do is hope... and that's the same, whether I'm here or in Hell..."
"In Sheol." Jinsang specified, and while he'd momentarily grown serious, the smile reappeared. "Seeing as Gehenna is off limits to you."
Oh, the teasing... Jinho both missed and hated it. The only thing Jinho could do was grant his father a small, tentative smile. "Did you find anything...?"
Jinsang laid the manila envelope out on the table, but slid the tupperware toward him. "Eat a bit, first."
Jinho's dark brows furrowed together, somehow still coming across as charming. "You brought me food?"
"Your mother has taken to cooking... in the way that you prefer. She hopes to lure you home with her dishes." He smiled and nodded at the box. "Open it."
The moment he did, a laugh finally escaped him. "Bulgogi... with no bul!"
"Enjoy... though I still don't understand how it's possible."
"Says he who lives among humans." Jinho's hand waved across the table, and a little utensil rest appeared, spoon and chopsticks ready.
"No human would even accept this dish...!" Jinsang watched his son feed himself, eating a far too bloody strip of beef. "I'd rather just suck the blood right out of that meat..."
Jinho let his father whine, swallowing before murmuring, "It's wonderful. Send umma my gratitude and my love, appa."
"Of course." He finally slipped several papers and photos out of the manila envelope as Jinho continued to eat, laying them out for his son to see. "There doesn't seem to be any... light way of putting this. When I asked the Elder Council if there was anything they may not have told you about the Princess, they... collectively, mentally scrambled. It was hard not to laugh-"
"This." Jinho briefly set down his chopsticks and pointed at the photo of a painting. "This is in the throne room."
"It is."
"This is wider."
"It is," Jinsang agreed again, "I had to dig through archives to find a print of this, because it is the only remaining portrait of this man." He pointed to a man to right of the late Queen Kurai, and as Jinho paused, he added, "Seeing Lilith now that I've looked at him, I can't say that I'm surprised at all. It's no wonder they're trying to keep it a secret."
Jinho stared and stared at the man, brushed the picture of the portrait aside to pull forward a blown up segment of just that one man, one of the Queen's Guard, judging by his position. Golden skin, champagne blonde hair, maroon eyes... He leaned back toward the full portrait, looking at the royal couple on their thrones. Kurai with her silver hair, her blue eyes... her King with hair nearly as white as Nema's. Green eyes...
"I'm sure that if anyone has ever asked, the Elder Council has gone to great lengths to cite relatives with features like the Princess'. Prince Arachne had blonde hair, didn't he?"
Jinho shook his head with a frown, "A very deep blonde. Like caramel. Not like this..." He sat back in his seat. "... Then that's the secret. Lilith is..." His father was right. There was no light way of putting this, but he tried. "... born out of wedlock."
Jinsang was much more plain. "A bastard Princess, and not by King Amin."
"Then she isn't truly the Princess...?"
His father shrugged his shoulders. "There isn't much room to protest, is there? There are no other children to claim a royal title. And for better or worse, Lilith has royal blood. Amin was King Consort, after all. Not Regent."
Jinho pulled his coat tighter around himself, his voice in quiet murmurs, even though they kept their words secret in Korean. "... I don't understand why this would be kept from me."
"Don't you?" Jinsang scoffed. "The scandal of it all... After everything that has befallen the Kingdom of Gehenna, the last thing we need is an infidelity drama. Look at our land. Still reeling from wartime events of old. Everything is dying. And our royal family is struggling to simply exist..."
Jinho didn't need his father to fill in the blanks. Of course they were pushing for marriage, and children. Legitimate children. The Elder Council of Gehenna wanted the royal family rebuilt and strong, again... "... And these?" He pulled the written documents toward him, scanning over them. Lilith's announcement of birth, Kurai's announcement of death... "Kurai died in childbirth, didn't she?"
"That's what I think we've been led to believe. The documentation says otherwise..."
"This is the same date the late King Amin died..." Jinho's brow furrowed again, before he whispered, "Double suicide?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. How are we to know? The statements I obtained were brief. If there are more detailed ones, I have no idea where to look. My spy of a son would probably have better luck." The corners of Jinsang's eyes crinkled when Jinho gave him a cold look. "I know, I know. I would advise against you traveling to Gehenna any time soon. Especially as it seems Princess Lilith is suddenly... ripe for marriage." He stood, tapping the last paper. "The guard, Umar. It seems they had him executed for treason two days after Lilith's birth. Conspiring to murder the King, apparently... I'm not sure how true that really is." He watched as his son picked up another bloody slice of meat, but didn't eat it. He knew that look well. The quiet, solemn face... "I should be getting back..."
Jinho welcomed the distraction, setting down the food, standing. "Yes, you should; it isn't very safe, here..."
"It seems safer than Sheol... at least, for now." A snap of Jinho's fingers set a swirling, smokey void just behind him. "It's good to see you again, adul. Visit soon..."
"I've been meaning to..." Jinho replied softly. "I need to see them, too."
Jinsang's smile grew sad as he reached out, gently clapping a hand on his son's shoulder. "... In the meantime, you should tell Lilith about what you've sent your father to find out."
Ink-black eyes were briefly wide, his head shaking. The dark hair he'd left loose swayed against across his collarbones. "She'd eat me alive."
A bold, sunny laugh rumbled in Jinsang's chest, "It sounds to me that you deserve it, poking around in all her secrets!" His smile was warm, countering Jinho's charming little frown. "She deserves to know. I can only imagine how you would react if she started prying into yours... Though I've told you over and over that she needs to know about them."
"It won't matter if I do."
"Does it need to matter?" Jinsang gave him another firm, warm pat on his jacket-covered shoulder. "See you later, adul."
Jinho called after his father, giving him a farewell in reply as Jinsang stepped into the swirling, smokey void and disappeared, leaving a few plumes of cloudy smoke. No sooner than his father left, an incessant, obnoxious beeping came from the other side of the doors. There was clattering and cracking, and the beeping ended when Lilith's swearing began.
She'd already started pounding on the double doors before Jinho pulled them open, stepping out into the hall and noticing smoke gently fading along the floor, having slipped out from beneath the doors. "What the fuck are you doing in there?"
"It's fine...!" The former Dragonmaster was all balled up fists in a dark, unbuttoned sweater, her arms moving wildly in the air. "I made a mistake; it's fine!" He stepped forward and found the demolished fire alarm with the toe of his shoe, hearing it skitter across the floor.
"What the Hell kind of mistakes are you making to set off that annoying fucking piece of plastic?"
Did she think he had set the room on fire? "It's just a bit of magic. Everything is okay...!" Her arms still a waving, overwhelmed mess, and he caught her wrists before she could... he wasn't even sure. Punch him in the nose.
But as soon as he touched her, she threw his hold off of her. "Let go! You don't touch me!"
"I'm sorry...!" Remembering his hand at her throat made him back off, hands held up, passive.
Lilith briefly shook herself, her breath shuddering, "... And what the Hell are you wearing?"
His father had already asked him the same, as soon as he'd seen him on the steps. A sigh slipped from his tan lips, "I just returned from a quick errand of sorts. For Lord Lucifer. I haven't had the time to change."
"You have to dress differently for an errand?"
"It was local. He needed me to look like an average, young man. It inspires trust." The last sentence he said quietly, knowing Lilith would find the irony in it.
She did, and made it known with a scoff. "What the fuck does Lucifer do in England?"
Jinho's lips thinned. "He has his hands in all sorts of places." He left it at that, hearing her scoff, again. "Princess-"
"Fucking save it." Lilith's dark red eyes were moody, her champagne blonde strands a bit mussed from earlier sparring. "If this is about you threatening to strangle me, I don't wanna hear it."
"I wasn't-" Jinho didn't like this, he didn't like the way she made him stumble and stammer. "I wouldn't have; I-"
"Why can't you accept that you weren't perfect for once?" The Evil snapped and sneered. "I pissed you off. It made you want to hurt me. I would have probably let you!" Golden hands pushed against his chest, his jacket falling open. "... 'Fuck you, I'm from Seoul'?" She read the bold black letters, momentarily pulled from what she'd been hissing at him.
There was no excuse for the way Jinho couldn't keep up with what she said and all the different directions it took. His mouth opened uselessly, dark eyes apologetic, face feeling a bit hot. "It was a gift..."
But she'd already pushed past him, stepping into the dining room. His brain screamed and scrambled; this wasn't like him... He reached out, fingers curling into her dark sweater. The unbuttoned fabric fell from her shoulders, but caught around her elbows as she fought him off, suddenly very intent on closing the distance to the table.
Jinho watched her staring at all the papers left carelessly strewn across the table. This was a nightmare. Give him a list of 'errands' and 'missions' and he could perform them flawlessly. But he couldn't do something as simple as put some accursed documents in a manila envelope before opening the doors?
Lilith held up the blown up picture of the treasonous Umar of the Queen's Guard. "Really?"
"Lil-"
"Uncanny fucking resemblane, huh?" She hissed and ground the paper into his chest. "You're unbelievable, lecher! Did Lord Lucifer need to know about Gehenna's royal bastard?"
"Princess-"
"Princess!" She hissed and tore back into the hall. "I shouldn't be surprised! If these tendencies didn't exist before Lucifer, I'm sure he drilled them right into you! Why ask me about my life when you can just sneak around and figure it out behind my back?"
"Would you have told me anything if I'd asked?"
"No, and I'm pretty sure that's my right, Princess or not! Clearly the Elders didn't want you to know! You might be displeased, and they'd lose yet another valuable, powerful suitor!"
A headache was beginning to pound heavily in the Gehenna Vampire's head. "Lilith, I really do not care what the Elder Council is trying to do, here. I'm sorry that I-"
"Oh! Well that's a bad quality in a potential King! They won't like that!" Her pupils had thinned into cat-eyed slits. "Let me make something very clear to you. The Elder Council does not care that you don't care. They don't care if you do care! They care about putting my bastard self with someone they can be proud of, who will fill me full of fucking kids they can be proud of! And believe me, a Gehenna Vampire with intricate ties to Sheol and to Lord Lucifer would be a fine catch, to them! They're just hoping you'll take their shitty, bastard bait!"
"Stop! Stop." Jinho's voice raised over hers, briefly sharp like the even cut of a cold knife, before settling back into something calm and even. "Listen to me. You cannot help what you were born into. None of us can." He paused, saw her mouth pucker into a sour pout. "This is not something that anyone can blame you for. If they have... then I'm sorry. That is a reflection on their character. Not your own."
Lilith's vision briefly blurred... she blinked it aside, gently inhaling to seal away every last tear. "Tell that to them. They won't listen; it doesn't matter to them. But you know what does matter? I'm the Dragonmaster and the last Princess of Gehenna, and you're a man of power and prestige." She shrugged the sweater back over her shoulders. "Have fun with your fucking findings, Jinho."
He deserved that... "You are more than what they make you feel you are, Lilith."
She held her arms out, and her smile was bitter. "And all the same, it's all I have." She smiled at his frown. She smiled at his sad black eyes. "Thank you, anyway..." She turned when his dark eyes widened just slightly in surprise, and began striding to the parlor that would lead her outside. "The shirt is dumb, but I like the hair." She mentally shook herself and called out over her shoulder, "Back to Michael...!"
Michael, again... Even as the Vampire told himself that he'd already done all he could to end that, for Nema's sake at least, he called after the Evil. His voice was drowned out in two others, worried, anxious, feet pounding down stairs...
"Did she say she was safe?"
"I don't know; the line went dead and she's not answering her cell phone!"
"Try again!" Golden hair bounced around Raphael's head as he hurried down two steps at a time, racing for the front door, his phone held to his ear. "Barbiel? Did you find Abel?"
"God, she has an infant, Raphael...!"
"Keep calling her! What about Rujiel, try him!"
"Nema?" Jinho, alarmed at their panic, yelled at as the Wind Angel and the Rabbit sped past him. "Nema, what's going on?"
Her snowy hair swirled around her head and she looked back at him and did a brief double-take. "You're wearing the shirt!"
Jinho had hoped that if Nema caught him wearing this shirt, it would have been under... less anxious circumstances. "Nema, what's happened? Nema...!"
She hadn't heard him, rushing after Raphael. Whatever had them panicked, it was so dire that the pair took flight in broad daylight, wings spread and carrying them away...
xXxXxXx
How had this become so horrible, so fast...?
The Wind Angel had received the dreaded phone call from his wife mere minutes before he'd left for Heaven, surprised that Nema ran at his heels, but too worried to care. In the end, he was grateful. His son was missing, and his call with Barbiel ended when someone had hit the phone right out of her hand. He heard scuffles and gun shots. Barbiel never got back on the line...
In the heat of all that madness, he hadn't thought to call any authorities, but Nema had, even calling Raziel directly. At the time, he'd hoped that was overkill on Nema's part.
Now they were in their own neighborhood. Residential... it should have been safe, or else only one or two homes looted and lit on fire...
The entire block was burning, and the fire only spread.
There was no guessing who did this. Black-clad Rabbits yelling Uprising slogans, yelling curses on every pale-feathered Angel, and every traitor to their cause... Far down the block, a group of five set to work holding up a long, giant scroll with the Rabbit Queen's visage printed upon it, setting it ablaze.
They cried for the Queen's long life, mocking and mean, and Raphael immediately stepped in front of Nema. "You can't be here." She didn't reply. He looked behind him to see that her eyes were wide in horror, a pale hand over her mouth. "Nema, you have to go."
"... Hey!" She cried out, screaming through the sound of fire and crackling wood and rioting. She briefly struggled past Raphael's arms, his protests falling on deaf, bewildered ears. She wrestled free of him and met five pairs of eyes red as her own, though hers were brimming and leaking tears. Horrified tears. Guilty tears. Angry tears. She slipped her earring from her ear, tossed it and caught it by the hilt once it had turned into her katana. The clear blade sliced through the air, a mock-cut through all of them and her own burning image as she held her arms open for them. "Do you want to try that with the real thing?"
"Nema...!" Raphael's breath caught short in his throat. He never missed her recklessness...
"Find your family... I'll try to find Nyssa's." Her dark wings unfurled from her back, and she took to the air.
Only three followed her, the other two running straight for the Holy Healer. He saw them reach through heavy coats, and didn't wait to see what they would pull on him. Raphael swiftly pulled the pistol from the holster at his hip and made quick work of them, only one bullet for each. As soon as both crumpled to the ground, he turned and gunned down the other three. They fell from the sky, reaching in vain for Nema, black wings limply catching in the wind.
He was bewildered, dismayed as Nema left and he went through the weapons the two men were carrying. He slipped a second gun into his holster and grabbed a butterfly knife, standing to view the chaos all over again. Everything was broken and lit up in fire... Raphael's heart sank. Wind would not help, now. All he could do was run, and search, and hope he would find his family...
Time slowed when he passed his house... Fire and rubble. God, what had they done to his home? His feet skidded across pavement. His heart reached the bottom of his torso. It wasn't his home, anymore. It couldn't be. No one could live there.
A dull, broken moaning shook the Wind Angel from his nightmare, and he turned and hurried to the sound. He slipped into the thin alley and dropped to his knees beside the body he found... He recognized the man, but only distantly. Someone from around the neighborhood. A Rabbit man who he remembered seeing often with a White Wing woman... He lay on the dirty street with his head beaten so badly it was swollen. The word 'traitor' had been deeply carved into his chest... so deeply, too deeply.
Raphael rested his hands just below the bleeding word, and the man began to twitch. Move. Protest. "Let me..."
"I can help you." He countered, feeling the man's chest shudder under his touch.
The man was shaking his head. "They took her... Let me..."
Something about his words sent a tremor of anger through the Healer. "You can get her back! But you need to get on your feet, first!"
The swollen head knocked itself against the pavement. "It's over... Let me..."
The man kept begging as the life slipped from him, and Raphael's golden brows furrowed in frustration. He opened his mouth to try and reason with him once more, and caught the shadow beginning to loom over him just in time to quickly grab the pistol he'd laid on the ground. He spun toward a group of sneering Rabbit men... "Stay back."
"Fucking Holy Healer...!" The man in front snarled, reached back, and Raphael took no chances, shooting him twice in the chest.
"I said stay back. I won't tell you again." His voice was even, icy-cold and serious.
His words were an invitation in their minds, and the group closed in on him. Raphael fired several more shots while reaching for the second gun he'd stolen earlier, only to find that a hand had already reached it. But the man's grip was weak, and the Wind Angel turned and mercilessly shot him, sending a bullet straight through the center of his skull.
That moment left Raphael's back exposed, and the remnants of the group descended, all fists and swearing and raw rage... What else could he do but try to wrestle free, to shoot wildly? His first gun clicked empty, and he beat a man across the face with the butt of it before he was forced to his knees, both guns wrestled from his hands.
"Traitor's still fucking breathing!" One spoke.
"So shoot him, then!" Another, restraining Raphael, hissed back.
The Wind Angel began to struggle desperately, hearing the seams on the sleeves of his shirt tear. "No! Leave him alone! Leave him alone!" A cry tore from his throat as the gun went off, giving the wounded Rabbit his wish. "He's one of you...!"
"That piece of shit isn't one of us! Everyone in league with White Wing scum like you is a tainted Rabbit!" His restrainer snapped, sending a rowdy cheer through the remaining few sneering men.
Raphael fell into a despairing whirlwind of frenzy. Finally his arms broke free, and he smashed his elbow hard into the gut of his restrainer, knocking the breath from him. The man he'd pistol whipped came at him with the empty gun, ready to deliver karma. The Healer rose from his knees and crashed against him, immediately fighting for the weapon, and when he saw the second gun aim for him, he swung the black-clad, bone-pale body in front of himself. It bought him just enough time to pull out the butterfly knife, flip it open, and firmly dig it into his shield's soft belly, dragging an ugly, jagged line through it. He watched the life drain from him with ice-blue eyes and a hard, chilly face.
"Sh... Shit!" The man who'd been restraining Raphael was still gasping for breath, but he lunged at the Wind Angel, regardless. Raphael pulled the knife from the dead shield he still held and slashed at the man, catching on black fabric. The body was wrenched from his grasp, and every remaining man descended on him, hoping to overwhelm him.
It worked. Raphael stabbed through two men, but ultimately was knocked onto his face, his cheek scraping against the ground. He felt the barrel of the loaded gun at the back of his head. "Try that again, you fucking White Wing bitch!"
"Go ahead." Raphael's grip on the blood-smeared butterfly knife was firm and ready, even as a foot pressed down against his wrist, even with a bullet so near his brain. "Kill an Elemental. Let's see what happens."
If these men of the Uprising were that reckless, he wouldn't find out. Gunshots rang out, and something swooped down. Some black-winged blur... The bodies of his attackers began dropping around him, and Raphael wrestled his knife-wielding arm free. He slashed at an ankle, scrambled to a stand, and found himself staring down the barrel of that gun...
A single gunshot.
The armed man fell, coughing up blood, and Raphael's savior stomped forward. A wild, hurt yell clawing out of his pale throat as he shot and shot and shot, until the gun clicked, useless. With the back of his hand, he wiped off the thin trail of blood leaking from his white bottom lip, and then he tossed a stray group of unusual black strands out of his garnet eyes.
Rujiel nodded to the man with 'traitor' carved into his chest. "Is he?"
Raphael shook his head, messy golden locks swaying. "He's gone..." He shut his eyes, hands shaking. "He's fucking dead!" He kicked a dead body, stooping down to retrieve his gun before death could trap it in the man's pale hand. He wasn't sure how much ammunition was left...
He looked up to see Rujiel shaking his head, passing an ivory hand across the sweat on his brow. "Why the fuck is this happening?"
"I don't know; I have no idea what the Uprising is trying to accomplish, anymore." The Wind Angel replied, slipping his gun back into the holster. "Have you seen Barbiel? Abel?"
The question shook Rujiel, and it showed in his quivering frown, but he answered plainly, "She'd called to ask us to keep an eye out for Abel. They left the house, but Abel got separated in a skirmish... She thinks he might be trying to hide until this blows over..."
"... Your family?" The question came out quiet and cautious from the Healer's lips.
Tears sprung up fresh in his garnet eyes. "I don't know. They... They lit the whole place on fire; Nyssa took Lilliel and left and I barely got out. They were already gone. I have no idea." He took a violently shaky breath, and couldn't help yelling out all over again, "Why the fuck is this happening?"
The question didn't have an answer, and all Raphael could to was look up at the sky and hope...
xXxXxXx
Nema wished she knew where to look... Raphael's home was ruined, and in passing she'd seen Rujiel's up in flames. Her heart broke into pieces, and she expected her own house to be the same... but it was fine. Maybe they just hadn't gotten to it yet. She wasn't sure.
Her high-heeled boots touched the pavement as she landed, her large, dark wings shaking out the anxiety and the adrenaline. She hurried... somewhere. She wasn't even sure where. Where could she begin looking for someone, anyone...?
She had reentered the riot-torn area, wanting to scream out and sob at the wreckage, when she finally heard the sounds of people. They were not good sounds. They were malicious, cruel laughs, things about 'traitor's babies.' Nema took to the air, again, and when she found the source, the mother in her let out a horrified cry. An infant, dangling by one tiny, chubby ankle.
Instinct took over. Wings beat against the wind. The baby fell. An anguished scream rumbled her throat until it was raw...
She managed to catch the child, her pale arm hooking around it, pulling it against her thudding heartbeat. She looked down at the sobbing baby, eyes shut and face red in all its wails, but the hair... white with the bit of black on top, looking more like a stripe because of its shortness.
Lilliel. She'd hoped to see Lilliel for the first time under very different circumstances...
No sooner than she'd saved the child, Nema and Lilliel were under pursuit, a group of angry Uprising members chasing her through the air. Nema kept going, her ruby eyes scanning for somewhere safe, anywhere safe. A sour part of her asked herself if safe places even existed, anymore...
Anger burst anew inside of her, and she tucked her dark wings against her body, dropping from the sky just enough to find herself below the group. She could no longer keep herself held in check... Her wings spread wide again, pushing herself up into the heart of the group with Lilliel tightly tucked against her body, her Angel Crystal katana poised and ready.
She speared one. Ran one right through the middle with her indestructible katana, causing the group to scatter. Ruby eyes glared at the wounded rebel as the life slowly left him. She didn't need to tell him anything. Her eyes said it all.
There would be a holy terror for this.
She heard the flap of wings from behind her and turned in mid-air, catching the Uprising woman through her stomach, just like the man who still hung from her blade. Nema planted her high-heeled boot on them and pushed them off her sword, watching the bodies plummet to the ground as she landed on the roof of a looted market.
"That was a warning...!" Nema called out, gently bouncing the sobbing infant in her arm. She knew she couldn't hope for the child to be calm in the arm of a stranger, soaring through the sky, surrounded by violence. "Come anywhere near this child again and I will spear you just like I speared them!"
"Look!" One of them sneered. "She thinks that she can fight with a baby tucked in her arm!"
Nema's eyes were red fire, but her mouth was a cold, taut white line. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just did."
"You're not all-powerful, anymore, Your Majesty...!" Others jeered while this member of the Uprising, a woman, continued mocking her. "Azrael made sure that every last one of us knew! You're just a woman with a sword, now!"
"Yes, where is your piece of shit leader?" A flick of her wrist sent drops of blood spattering on across the roof, falling from her blade. "I'd like to drag my sword across his throat. With a baby in my arm."
The threat sent a tremor and a hiss through the group. "It doesn't matter where he is... He doesn't need to be the one to take you out." Nema saw dark-winged forms in the distance, closing in fast. "We can do it, now. You can cut some of us down – with that traitor's baby in your arm – but we can keep coming." They saw one foot slide back one step. "And you will get tired, protecting that little maggot who will grow up a spoiled wretch, and we'll still keep coming." The woman's voice dropped. "And we will tear you apart...!"
Nema heard the fluttering of even more wings from behind her. "I won't let them get you..." She gently murmured to Lilliel as she continued to cry, and she turned, her katana making a wide arc in the air.
The threat bought Nema enough time to take to the air again, keeping Lilliel tight against her, but the chase was overwhelming. Briefly, the longing to blow them apart ran through her... It was hard to extend sympathy to people who would riot through the homes of innocents, who would toss a child off of a building.
But that power had been stripped from her, and all she could do was dive into a labyrinth of burning houses and small alleys, running. Her wings were tired, aching. Her feet were sore in her boots, but she kept pushing forward, slashing a man wide open with her katana when she found herself blocked off.
Two more, and then three more showed up in that man's place. More were still closing in behind her. Lilliel still screamed and sobbed...
Nema's dark wings screamed at her as they spread, lifting her into the air again. She cried out when they tore fistfuls of black feathers out, and she grit her teeth, pushed through the pain.
"You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay..." became a mantra. Mostly for Lilliel, but over time, for herself, too. They had to be okay. She had to get Lilliel to safety. She needed to find her parents.
God, Nema hoped they were okay... that they were alive. She couldn't for the life of her imagine Nyssa or Rujiel losing their daughter easily. What had happened to them? The fear gripped her tight as Uprising members rose above, casting a thick and unwelcome shadow over her.
She dropped the mantra and replaced it with a wild, angry cry, slashing every which way with her bloodied, Angel Crystal sword. She cut out her path and flew through blood and flesh, and though it was futile, she tried to pop them all open. She tried like she'd been trying with shards of glass, but the will to live made her more desperate than ever before. The tension of the usual headache began already. Hands pulled on her feathers, her dress, her hair, tearing at her. She didn't care. The only part of her that mattered was the arm tucked firm against her bosom, and the poor infant held there...
Her right wing had begun to cramp up, and made her flight path crooked. Desperation led her to the first building she saw that wasn't burning. A nondescript, local office building she remembered passing by a few times in the past... "Hang on, sweetie..." She cooed to the child, her voice cracking on desperation and tears, dropping her head down over her, her sword-wielding arm held out like a second shield as she crashed through a window.
It was not a graceful landing. Pain and dizziness made her stumble and slide on her knees, right into a cubicle of sorts, smashing against a chair. Her aching wings had wrapped around her like a shell, but that didn't keep the bits of glass from embedding themselves into her knees, into her arm. Her vision was dark, blurred, and irritated, but Nema blinked through it to look down at the sobbing baby. Lilliel's face was bright red in all her fear and crying, but otherwise, she was fine... and despite everything, despite the way Nema's body felt like it had been worn ragged, she went back to gently bouncing her, coddling her. "You're gonna be okay..." Her face grew sober when the unmistakable red dots of blood dripped onto the soft, animal-print clothes that Lilliel wore, falling from Nema's face. "... You're gonna be okay." She repeated as she began to scramble deeper into the building. She passed a mirror that had dropped from the side of the cubicle when she'd hit it and quickly peered at herself to see where the blood was coming from, blinking aside dark blurriness again. Her eyes. She was bleeding from her eyes... But she hadn't gotten any glass in them, had she?
A thin dribble of blood began to drip out of her left nostril, and she hurried along. Something else was going on with her... "You're gonna be okay..."
"Just like I said, Queen." That same woman had slipped in through the broken window. Nema heard several more people break in through the others. "You will get tired, and we will tear you apart...!"
Nema may have been a crumpled mess on the floor, but she raised her sword, dropped her aching, dark wings over herself to form just one more shield around the poor, sobbing child.
When the sound of gunshots came, Nema was momentarily hopeless, her wings wrapping into a tighter cocoon, just hoping her own body would be enough of a shield to save Lilliel... But the gunshots kept coming, and Nema was safe.
She peeked from between the slowly parting wings to see the familiar, long-legged body of Barbiel, a pistol in each hand. Her cerulean eyes were sharp and her glossy lips had turned up into a ghost of a smile, her strawberry blonde hair mussed from fighting. When the nurse caught Nema beginning to rise, she called out, "Stay down, Nema!" Her voice was kind, even as she stomped on a man... the thin, white stiletto heel sinking through his eye socket.
Nema watched through wide, bleeding eyes as Barbiel prepared to shoot that last two people, but one gun clicked empty. Barbiel smiled along with that mouthy woman and dropped her useless gun... only to give a flip of her wrist before punching the base of the woman's neck. A thin, sharp, needle-like blade extended from Barbiel's treasured military ring and through the woman's throat.
With a small grunt, Barbiel dislodged her blood-smeared shoe from the dead man's skull and kicked the woman off of the blade of her ring, leaving her there to gasp and choke on blood. "... Oh God, that's Lilliel!" She grabbed both guns and slipped them into holsters on her thighs.
Nema nodded through a groan as she finally stood, her whole body protesting.
"The poor thing..." Barbiel's voice was a sad coo as she reached out, "Here, give her to me." As soon as the child was in her arms, she carefully rocked her, gently murmuring, "Hey, Lil... Hey, Lil... You're all right, now..." She noticed the blood dripping off the extended blade of her ring, beginning to run down onto her hand, and she retracted the blade with a quick flip of her wrist.
Being near someone familiar helped Lilliel just that much more, dropping her wails into a quieter moaning kind of cry. Nema sighed deeply, her body crumpling against the cubicle wall. "We need to get out of here."
"We need to get you looked at." Barbiel's tone changed, becoming clinical and just a bit forceful. She saw Nema open her mouth to protest. "No. There's bound to be a nurse's office in here, somewhere."
"There isn't time..."
"There is if I say so." Barbiel replied, both firm and calm, watching Nema pinch at her nose. "Tilt your head back." Barbiel shifted Lilliel onto one arm, wrapping the other around Nema, under her pale arms. "How badly have your eyes been damaged? Can you still see out of them?"
"Yeah," Nema blinked and felt the dried blood near her tear ducts crack. At least her eyes had stopped bleeding... "My eyes feel fine. I don't know what's going on..."
"We'll figure it out." Barbiel reassured her, guiding her down one floor. "Where is Nyssa? Rujiel?"
"I have no clue. All I know is that they tossed Lilliel off the roof of a building."
The nurse's mouth pressed into a firm line as she hurried toward a door with 'NURSE' plainly painted onto it. "There might be others, then..."
Nema couldn't even begin to stomach that idea, her aching body stepping into the room and sitting on one of a pair of padded chairs. With nowhere good to put Lilliel, Barbiel handed the child back to Nema and turned to a cabinet. "If someone comes in-" Barbiel rested the still-loaded gun beside Nema's torn up skirt.
"Shoot." She said simply.
Barbiel was nothing if not quick and efficient in her work... Raphael had always favored her for a good reason. As she wiped the blood from Nema's face and began delicately plucking every shard of glass out of her ivory skin, she murmured quietly, "So you have finally met Lilliel."
"That's... one way of putting it." She sighed, finally seeing Lilliel's bright green eyes now that the child had grown calm. "I hope her parents are okay... It's just... I can't imagine many things pulling parents away from their infant..."
"A riot would do it..." Barbiel commented softly... sadly, reaching for little pads of rubbing alcohol. "Last I'd heard, Raphael was heading here, too. Did he get here?"
Nema nodded, her eyes trained to the little pile of tiny, bloody shards of glass. "He did. He's looking for you... and for Abel."
Not many things shook an Angel like Barbiel... but this thing. The very mention of the name made her pause for half a second. "... God, I hope he finds him." She began placing bandages over every scrape and puncture wound Nema had received, her fingers steady, but her voice quaking. "That reckless boy...!" She stopped for the moment, cerulean eyes lining with a mother's tears. "I know he was... so scared, but-"
The door swung open with a loud crack against the wall, and pistols were raised, Barbiel grabbing for hers and aiming without missing a beat.
No sooner than he'd aimed his gun, Rujiel raised it, the other hand open and passive. "Fuck, it's good to see you tw-" He voice cracked when he saw the bundle in Nema's arm, who'd begun to cry all over again from the commotion. There was no need to say anything. Nema offered Rujiel's daughter to him, and he immediately slipped his gun back into the waistband of his pants to take Lilliel into his arms and cradle her. "I thought you were dead...!" He pressed kisses to Lilliel's brow and gently shushed her, not bothering to hold back his tears.
The fact that he couldn't hold his tears did nothing for Barbiel's, and Nema tried to push the group along. "Is Raphael with you?"
"He's out front, making sure no one enters." Rujiel sniffed back his tears and motioned with a jerk of his head.
"Hang on," Barbiel's voice was uncharacteristically tight, "I need to finish dressing these wounds..." She grabbed another bandage.
"The wounds are fine..." Nema insisted. "Raphael's right outside; he can take care of them." She grabbed the Barbiel's hand and pulled the bandage out of it. "And then we can all look for Abel together. Okay?"
Barbiel took a quiet breath before being able to nod, and she looked up at Rujiel to ask, "Nyssa...?"
Rujiel frowned and gently bounced Lilliel in his arms, shaking his head. "She had Lilliel when all this started... I'd hoped she would be with her."
Yelling managed to slip its way to their ears, though they couldn't make sense of it... "Raphael." Barbiel was back on her white stilettos, one with a bloodstained heel, hurrying back out of the building.
"We should follow." Nema stood and grabbed her sword, walking in front of Rujiel with poised and ready to strike.
"... Did you get a chance to check your house, yet?" Rujiel asked as they rushed after the nurse.
"It seemed fine, but that was a while ago... I saw yours." Nema wasn't sure how to voice her apologies for the way house has been reduced to fire and rubble...
She heard him sigh from behind her. "That's how it looked about 15 minutes ago..."
The Rabbit Queen glanced over her shoulder at him. "What...?" She would have figured that by now it would be utterly demolished.
"It's still up. It looks... fine. Like they meant to ruin everything around it, but not the house itself." The message settled uneasily in the air, and Nema couldn't think of a single reply. Rujiel mumbled uncomfortably, "Though we haven't checked the inside."
Nema laughed bitterly. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to make me feel better or not, Ruji..."
She could hear the caution in his voice when he tried a dark joke. "It might be rigged. Full of bombs."
"Oh, the Uprising would like that too much. Blow up the woman who used to blow things up." Nema tried to laugh again, but just... couldn't. "No, that's too clever for them. Let's not give them that kind of credit."
The tense conversation ended as they saw Barbiel run out of the glass doors, toward an elaborate water fountain.
There was Nyssa... bent over the flowing, rippling water... holding two men underwater, screaming and crying.
The telltale, warning flash of light around Nyssa's hands set off alarms in all their heads. "Raphael!" Nema yelled at the Wind Angel, who immediately reached out and grabbed his wife, pulling her away from the wet concrete.
The distressed Aion let out a scream, a wild, raging cry from the core of her chest as the lightning spread from her wrists and through the chilly water. The fountain glowed too brightly to see, though for a second the bodies had gone rigid as Nyssa fried them to death, smoke rising, carrying the horrible stench of charred flesh.
It took Rujiel to pull Nyssa back from the anguish of a despairing mother, yelling out her name, calling out, "We found her! We found Lilliel!"
As soon as the name sunk into her, the lightning stopped, the water settled, and Nyssa backed away from the blackened bodies in the fountain. Her body still shook from adrenaline, but she ran forward on dark gray, strappy boots, pale hands held out to take her crying daughter. The three seemed to crumple together in a pile of relief and tears, a family torn apart and clawing their way back to each other.
Nema watched them. She watched them collectively cry and comfort each other. She watched Raphael wrap his arms around Barbiel, hiding frowns, incomplete.
The loud and steady whirring of law enforcement airships and medical teams finally reached them, wind rifling through their hair. Nema was the only one who looked up at them, tired, frowning.
xXxXxXx
"The bomb squad just sent me the word. Your house is fine." Raziel had assumed that the news would have pleased Nema to some extent...
The woman only shrugged. "Then they left it untouched on purpose."
The Prime Minister bit at the inside of his cheeks. "... I think they were trying to send a message, yes."
"So a whole neighborhood of people are homeless, or out of work, or dead. To send a message about me, to me."
"Nema, this is not your fault." Raziel couldn't help the roughness that had entered his voice. He needed her to believe him... "Okay? Are you listening to me?"
"Well then who's fault isit, Raziel?" Nema snapped, an angry shiver running through her.
"Theirs!" Raziel frowned, his golden brows furrowed in frustration. But she only left him, pale hands running through pale hair. He bit back a hundred not-so-politically-correct words, and instead called out, "You have in no way prompted this, Nema!"
The words reached Nema, but didn't sink in. A million other sentiments chased themselves around in her head, as she silently strode over to Rujiel, Nyssa, Lilliel. They stood at the edge of the yard leading to the sad, blackened remains of their house...
Nema couldn't push any messages out of her mouth until Nyssa finally spoke, cradling her daughter as she finally slept. "We had just finished renovations..."
"I'm sorry." The apology burst from the Queen of Rabbits. "I am so sorry, Nyssa..."
"... It isn't your fault." It was Rujiel who spoke, Nyssa momentarily fighting back tears.
Nema had heard that enough times, already... It didn't help. "Raziel just got word that my house is clear. I... I know that it isn't exactly... in a safe location, given circumstances. But... as soon as it is. However long that takes... If you don't mind it, you're welcome to stay there." She looked up to find a pair of emerald eyes and a pair of garnet eyes fixed on her. "Barbiel has the same offer. Raphael is still stuck in England with me, so he might try to-"
"Thank you." Nyssa cut her off.
Nema's smile was weak and painful. "It's the least I can-"
"For saving Lilliel." Nyssa voice quivered around the name. "And for the offer. We'll consider it..." They were both teary eyes and unhappy frowns, and Nyssa tried to break it with a crooked, wry smirk. "I know fighting with a baby tucked in your arm is pretty much a fucking nightmare."
Nema's laugh felt dry and scratchy in her throat. "Yeah... But it was worth it."
"Holy sh..." Rujiel's voice trailed off as the voices of men began calling out, exiting the ruined home. "Raphael! Raphael, get over here!"
The Holy Healer didn't need to be told again, his attention pulled away from Raziel and toward the house. "... Abel!" They cry was shared between Abel's parents as they saw the boy being escorted across the yard by the group of men. The men backed away as Raphael and Barbiel both dropped to their knees at the edge of the ruined yard, hands reached for the disheveled boy. He was filthy, covered in soot. His clothes burned into crisp, stinking, warped fibers...
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you burnt?" The father in Raphael made the questions come out mile a minute. Abel's clothes were a wreck, utterly roasted. He should have been very badly burnt...
But the boy's skin, though gray with soot, was without a single flaw. His bi-colored eyes were wide and unblinking, his voice shaky and scared. "I think I'm okay..."
"You're okay?" Barbiel gently smoothed back her son's chin-length hair.
"I'm okay..."
"Abel, look at me." Raphael's hands cupped his face, fear making each word tight with worry. "When your mother tells you to follow, you follow. Understand?"
"They were all over..." Abel's voice hitched, and Raphael's thumb brushed at a tear that had leaked from his left, ice-blue eye. "I got scared...!"
"I know, I know you did." The momentary scolding ended, and Raphael pulled Abel into a tight embrace. "You're sure you're okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"
"I'm okay. I don't know why..."
Raphael pulled away to share a thoughtful, questioning, suspicious glance with his wife... but he ultimately dismissed it, for now, hugging Abel again. It was a miracle in itself that his son was alive...
Nema tried to be happy. It wouldn't have been right to say that she wasn't grateful that Abel was alive, though clearly shaken. Raphael and Barbiel had found their son, still had their son. Nathan still had his closest friend...
But none of the people she stood next to had homes, and had all very nearly died. Try as she might to believe what others said... that it wasn't her fault, that she didn't prompt this...
Nema knew that everything that transpired today still circled back to her.