The Great War

XVII

I stepped back through the quite frankly intimidating portal; the color immediately disappeared and was replaced by the dark monochromatic colors of the in-between. My eyes immediately find Azrael just sitting where I last saw him, his head down and eerily still and quiet.

I look up at Beelzebub, an emotion wafting off him, he felt so sad yet looked so angry. What'd Azrael do to make him so mad? I look away and towards Ophelia when she softly grabbed my hand placing her other hand on my arm, she looked down at me with a sweet smile.

"Don't worry, I promise everything will be okay." Her voice had a reassuring factor to it, I could be dying, and she'd make me think I was perfectly okay. Everything about her, despite what's happened to her, is just so... gentle. Harmless, sweet. It took me by surprise the first time. Now it's almost motherly. 

She walks with me towards her brother, releasing my hand. She falls to her knees in front of Azrael and places her hands on his shoulders, he slowly looks up and at Ophelia.

His face contorts into a gut-wrenching grief. Like he's just been told something utterly horrible, tears sheening his eyes in a glass-like look. His arms wrap around Ophelia in a tight hug that pulls her into him. She buries his head into her shoulder and, what sounds like, cries.

I look up at Beelzebub again and his face looks just as pained as Azrael's was, seeing the giant devil look so... saddened was an odd sight. Something one wouldn't ever think they'd witness. It made him look almost harmless.

I look back at the two siblings as they speak to one another quietly. After a moment Azrael gathers his emotions and stands up with Ophelia, his arms dropping to his sides as he gives her a soft smile, I've never seen that on him before.

"You should talk to him," I say after a moment, I hear Beelzebub sigh and he leaves my side walking over to the two siblings.

Ophelia looks up at him with a knowing look before breaking away from them and walking up to me. She places her hands on my forearms and gives me another smile.

She seemed to smile a lot, especially for someone in this situation. "Shall we? I believe I have far more people to see."

I suck in a breath and nod; I wonder how Mani will respond? He's been thinking she was dead for the past few decades. Same as her, did she know he was alive? Did she know any of her friends were still alive?

𖤐

I stumble slightly when we appear in the living room of my apartment. I will never get used to that, it's very nauseating. It's terrible, I hate doing it. I let out a grunt when someone rushes up to me and hugs me tightly, their arms around my waist and their head buried in my hair.

I let out a small soft laugh and relished the affection, laying my head on his shoulder once I figure out it was Theo. He pulls back after a moment and gives me a quick but soft kiss.

Once he's gotten his fill he pulls back and cups my face looking over me with concern. "Are you alright? You were gone for a while, Azrael didn't return, and I thought something happened to you, I was scared." He rushed out in one breath, his panic obvious in the way he's holding himself in the moment. I brush his growing hair out of his face and smile.

"I'm okay, I promise, it just took longer than we expected. I have someone with me I want you all to meet." I quietly told him; he furrows his brows and looks behind me.

After a few minutes his eyes widen, and he immediately looks back at me with a look of pure confusion and surprise. "Isn't she dead? Is she dead? Am I seeing a dead person right now?"

I laugh a little at his questions as I break away from him and walk back over to Ophelia, she looks a little nervous, granted she is meeting people she thought died. "Azrael got it wrong, or thought wrong, she's been hiding down in the shadow realm planning and waiting, I guess. Beelzebub as well,"

He nods and rubs his face taking in everything I'm saying, "Okay, so... what you're saying is; we've been doing this torturous shit alone for god knows how long when she's been alive the whole fucking time?" I sucked in a breath and shrugged; in a way he was right.

"No, I've been helping from the shadow realm." Ophelia spoke up before I could, he looked at her with a blank look, it was kind of scary.

"What?" He forces out,

"I couldn't come up to your realm until now, I didn't have enough... life you could say. With what power and rule I had left, I helped guide you all in the proper direction. And no, I couldn't protect you, or help you in the way you desperately needed. For that, I am sorry. But I'm here now, I can help you. Will you allow me to help you?"

He looks at her for a few silent moments, his eyes cold and piercing. He thins his lips in a tight line and begrudgingly nods, clearly not yet trusting her. In all fairness we haven't had that great of people so far, aside from Cora and Mani.

His eyes drift to me and there's a softer look to his hard gaze, he sighs after a moment of looking at me and he reaches out a hand taking mine and lacing our fingers together. I smile at him and move to stand beside him.

"As long as she's okay... I'm okay with it." His eyes remain on me as he speaks this time. It wasn't as harsh as before either. I look away from him and towards Ophelia as she smiles and nods, seemingly relaxing.

"Is she back?" A voice breaks the small silence from the next room over, a body walking out of the room before they stop dead in their tracks and stare at Ophelia. Mani stands there just staring at a loss for a moment. His body was tense and eerily still. 

Ophelia's head turns towards him, and she smiles, a sigh involuntarily escaping her as she walks towards him when she notices he wasn't going to move anytime soon.

"My love..." She breathes out and once she was close enough, she cups his face to which he leans into her touch.

A moment of silent understanding and conversation happens between them. No actual words shared, they just looked at each other with a sense of love I've never seen in another person. At least not that I noticed, the feelings they seemed to harbor for each other was so pure to look at.

It was the kind that made you yourself feel all warm and bubbly. Mani sighs after a moment and brings her into a hug, his eyes closed tightly, and he places his head on hers as she hugs him back. Deciding to give them a moment alone I tug Theo's hand and pull him out of the living room.