Thank you to the awesome JoVersify for pre-reading this :)
Frozen, I
There was nothing else to be done. "I'll wait outside Eden," she said.
Edvardiel nodded. "I'll leave with you."
"No," she said at once. "Stay here and wait for your father."
"Issa—"
"We came to Eden to stop the Apocalypse," Issa said. "If your father's an angel, he'll be able to open Heaven's gates. You should wait for him." Her head was starting to pound. She knew she couldn't stay but she knew he wouldn't stay without her. "Edvardiel, I can't stay in Eden. Once your glory fades, I'm going to betray everything to Lilith. I won't be able to stop myself. Maybe that's why Lilith paired us together. Maybe that's why—"
"Stop." Edvardiel put a finger to her lips, his eyes deep with worry—and it killed her to know that his worry was for her, not for Eden. "Breathe."
She couldn't help but obey. As she did, she saw herself reflected in the golden glory of his eyes, her hair bedraggled, her eyes wild and the borrowed angel dress ripped from branches she hadn't noticed and plastered with mud from the grass.
Despite it all, she still looked breathtaking. Perhaps more so, because she looked like a vulnerable young girl in need of rescuing. It was all so fucking deceptive.
Leave no human alive.
Unbidden, Issa saw herself leaping from building to building, hunting until she found the familiar pink of Alice's dress. She saw her delicate fingers claw through the girl's fragile ribcage, closing around the small heart before ripping it out. The life left those wide eyes, blood bubbling from the rosebud lips. They morphed into Yassper's.
Issa, Yassper whispered in Lilith's voice. You killed me. Why did you kill me?
His face changed and she was looking into a mirror, watching her face turn into Michael's cruel one and her double blades morphing into his glory blade. Clawed wings sprouted from her back. It was raining feathers. Bloodstained feathers. Blood was everywhere, pooled around her feet and covering her hands.
Leave no human alive.
The mirror shattered, shards exploding, and Issa backed away.
"Issa?" Edvardiel stepped towards her cautiously and she realised she was shaking, her hands glowing gold. "Issa, are you all right?"
Where was the mirror? Where was Michael? Was Alice still alive?
She couldn't stop staring at her hands. "Seraph. I think your glory is fading. I think Lilith's control is too strong."
A pause.
"My glory is working perfectly fine."
"It's not strong enough."
"Issa. Issa."
She stepped away and opened a cut on her palm, staring at the blood as it fell. Red, not blue. A trick. She tore open another cut. Another, another. Red, red, red.
Edvardiel tried to stop her but she pulled free, stumbling as she searched for the poison. It was in her still, somewhere. She had to find it, she had to bleed that fucking thing out.
"Stop hurting yourself!"
The command rang through her, forcing her body to freeze, and she realised her arms were a mess of bloody flesh, wounds gaping to the bone. Edvardiel was kneeling before her, his expression appalled. "What in the name of the seven heavens are you doing?"
She'd lost her mind, that was what. "I heard her voice," she said, her heart hammering. "I heard her tell me to—"
"Your arms." He reached for them but she folded them behind her back.
"I'm going to heal," she said. "Don't waste your glory."
Her mind was clear once more and she rose to her feet, stepping back from her angel.
Edvardiel eyed her as though she might detonate.
"Don't look at me like that," she said, keeping her bloody hands clasped firmly behind her. "I'm…" She was far from fine but he didn't need her adding to his burden. "I survived Lilith, I earned the right to be insane," she tried to joke but Edvardiel's eyes only tightened.
"Won't you please let me heal you?" he said. She could tell that it was taking everything he had not to turn the sentence into a directive, and Issa was beyond grateful. "I have enough glory, I promise. I won't let her take you."
A burden. That was what she was to him. To everyone.
"I'll be fine," she said. "I'll look for Rose. She'll help me."
Edvardiel was quiet as he studied her expression. Fear flashed through their bond. "Let me heal you right now." When she had no choice but to do so, he took both her hands in his, his warmth seeping through her flesh. "Issa." His voice was harsh despite his gentle touch as her skin knitted together. "You're not to hurt yourself. You're not to take your own life. Do you hear me?"
She stared at him, anger bubbling up in her. He had no right. "I thought you were my friend."
"I am. I won't apologise for protecting you from yourself."
His concern flooded their bond, his tenderness a constant undercurrent, but something inside her felt too wounded to accept it. She pushed him away.
"You're as bad as the rest of them," she said. "It's not your choice to make."
Hurt shot through their bond, but Edvardiel didn't bend. "You should've thought about that before you made me your Keeper."
This time, when she stormed away, he didn't follow.
"We'll leave Eden tomorrow," he only said.
"Keep making stupid choices," she said, not looking back. "You stupid empath."