ANGEL'S LANDING | BL ✔

CHAPTER 39 | DON'T CRY

"Colonel!" Axel's vision blurred as he cried over Rae's limp body. "Open your eyes, Colonel, open your eyes. Please!"

Axel could not believe what was happening. Everything had occurred so fast. He wanted to rewind time and not leave the unit. Maybe he could have saved Rae if he had stayed. Axel then ripped apart his memories of launching the weapons into the sky. Did...did I...did I cause this? Had he somehow hit Rae?

Axel was on the verge of a mental breakdown thinking he was the reason for Rae's death when he felt a small twitch. Axel was unaware that he had been clutching onto the colonel's large, brown wings until they began to twitch in his grasp.

"Colonel...!" Axel released his hold on Rae's wings to watch them fold against Rae's back and disappear. A moan escaped Rae's lips as his brow twitched. "You're alive!" Axel gasped in relief when Rae's crisp, blue eyes fluttered open.

Rae groaned in pain as he slowly raised himself into a sitting position. A pained smile came to Rae's lips when he saw a crying Axel kneeling in front of him. "Thank God you're alive."

Rae's eyes drooped as he felt himself slowly losing consciousness again, so he leaned over and rested his forehead on Axel's shoulder. "Mhm...Axel..." Rae's voice was deep and quiet as he tried to comfort the distraught half-angel. "Don't...cry..." 

The colonel was only able to say that much before slipping back into the realm of unconsciousness. Feeling the colonel grow limp, Axel caught Rae and held him in his arms as he cried in relief. Axel had lost so many, but he did not know that the thought of losing the colonel would have felt so detrimental.

Wet warmth seeped onto Axel's hand as he continued to support Rae. Looking down, Axel took his hand off Rae's back to see it covered with blood. Axel then immediately checked the colonel's back to see claw marks torn into his flesh.

Realizing that the sun was close to setting, Axel knew he needed to get himself and the colonel to shelter before night came and tend to Rae's wounds. While most of the demons in the area had followed the units to the Transport Tower, more were bound to pass through at some point as they answered Hades' call to war.

It's a good thing I've grown some. Axel had never been more thankful for the months he spent training than in that moment when he could support Rae just enough to get him to lay over his back. While the colonel was several inches taller than him, Axel did his best to carry Rae into a nearby building. 

The sun had set by the time Axel had climbed enough flights to be safe for the night. When demons did pass through, the two should be high enough to be out of range of the demons' senses, and Axel hoped the bodies of the fallen angel and EDF soldiers would help throw off their scents should the demons detect them.

Luckily, the building Axel had chosen to take refuge in was a family physician's office and clinic, so after gathering enough blankets to make a makeshift nest on the floor on which to set Rae, Axel began scavenging for medical supplies with which to treat Rae's wound. Thankfully, it was winter, so the lowering temperatures helped slow the rate at which Rae was bleeding, giving Axel enough time to rudimentarily stitch and bandage the slashes. 

When Rae's back had been cleaned and bandaged, Axel sat down to rest for the night. Ten stories should be high enough. While the worry of being discovered in the night terrified Axel, he knew he would not be able to last very long. His mind and body's exhaustion had caught up to him now that the adrenaline from finding Rae had worn off, and he was the tiredest he had ever been.

As he lay down, Axel noticed shivers slowly creeping into Rae's body. The moonlight that seeped into the clinic lit the room just enough to see how cold the colonel was. Realizing there was more than just demons to worry about, Axel quickly gathered all the blankets he could find and set them over the shivering colonel.