Angelic Omen

Fear

"What are we going to do?!"

Montelor had told Kyrlas and only Kyrlas of what had befallen Lynilis. Montelor himself was still shaken from the sight.

"We will hold her burial as soon as we can," Montelor replied, "But we can't tell the kingdom about this. Knowing them, they'd start panicking. Especially if they knew it was murder."

He spat the word "murder" like it was venom on his tongue.

"Sir, do we know for a fact that this was murder?" Kyrlas asked.

Montelor gave him a cold glare. "Are you suggesting suicide?" He shook his head. "No. The note, that wasn't her. It wasn't her handwriting, and it wasn't a suicide note. This was murder, and I swear to God above, I will find the one responsible."

Kyrlas nodded. "Of course, your Majesty."

———

No.

I still remembered it. The look in Larux's eyes, the feeling of his blood on my hands.

I curled one of my tails around myself, silently staring at the wall. Contemplating... well, everything, really.

Larux wasn't the best. Always seemed to care about the mission, this mission, the one I've been training for basically my whole life, more than me. But I don't care. He was a friend to me. And I had killed him in cold blood, just to keep my identity secret. Or I had been forced to somehow.

Now Lynilis is dead as well. I wasn't as bothered by that compared to Larux, but it still weighed on my conscious. I'd killed her, I'd decided to go and murder her while Krel still thought I wasn't well.

Maybe it'd be better if I shook Sxorce's hand. Took the deal. Maybe I wouldn't have to deal with all of this.

The door opened. Krel came in again. She does that a lot now. Randomly walks in to check in on me. I was fine with her staying here.

I just sometimes wish she didn't care as much.

It makes it hard to not care for her.

I was sent here to do one thing, and this Angel I met in the alley is holding me back. Yet she didn't even know it.

Krel flicked her tail. "Any better?"

I shook my head slightly, just enough for her to see the gesture.

I heard her sigh deeply, then silent footsteps as she walked closer to me. I felt the weight of the bed beneath me shift as she sat on the edge. Subconsciously, one of my tails wrapped around her, pulling her closer. She intertwined her tail with another of mine.

I felt her hand on my shoulder. I jumped, looking back in fearful surprise. Krel moved her hand back a little bit, and kept it there for another moment before slowly putting it back. I relaxed a little bit, allowing my legs to hang off the bed instead of clutching them to my chest.

"Hey."

At Krel's voice, I turned. She was next to me, and our shoulders touched. I realized I was grabbing her hand. I let go awkwardly. She just smiled sweetly.

"It's okay," Krel said.

I smiled slightly.

I took a deep breath, savoring the silence. I barely got that anymore, with Sxorces and just my mind in general. I didn't know where the angel was, and I didn't care. I'd send him to Hell myself, but then I'd be living in the same place as him. And something about him told me that even Hell wasn't enough to hold him.

I was holding Krel's hand again. I didn't let go this time. It felt nice.

I turned to look at Krel again. She was looking back, her gaze sympathetic. She realized I was looking back, and she blushed slightly, looking away. I chuckled.

"You're fine," I said.

We locked our gazes for a moment more. My mind was now yelling at me, saying: What are you doing? You can't get attached like this, we have a mission at stake here!

But another part of me, the one not trying to knock some sense into me, argued: You know how you feel about her. And she told you how she feels about you. No mission can get in the way of that.

The second part of me won.

Krel pushed her lips to mine, surprising me at first, but soon I allowed myself to give in. My hands held her in an embrace, one hand buried in her hair and the other below her neck. My wings folded around her, wrapping her in a cold but comforting hold. My tails intertwined with hers, the fluff at the ends sharpening and fluffing back up in excitement. I closed my eyes, feeling her warmth against me, the softness of her wing feathers, the feeling of security with her right there with me.

A vision flashed across my line of sight. Krel, bleeding out on the floor from a wound across her chest, a deep claw scar.

And I stood over her, hands covered in her blood, my face unreadable through a screen of ashy smoke.

I pushed Krel away, standing up quickly and shakily. I looked at my hands, which were now shaking. I looked back at Krel, her gaze now stricken with worry at my fearful expression.

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"No," I said, almost a whisper. "I'm sorry."

Tears in my eyes, I fled out the door, leaving Krel alone in the room.

————

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