An Angel's Wings.

Ch. 37 Do You Understand Now?

Walking confidently, I stepped into the central hub that you had to check into before you could enter the Archives library. Heads turned as I strode to one of the small offices. People moved out of my way, my wings retracted themselves. The siren behind the thin wall of glass stared at me. Turning to her, she looked into my glowing eyes. "Go ahead." She said. "Good choice." I stated, walking into the Archives. 

Part of me couldn't quite remember why I was here. Something was pulling me here, despite the fact I'd much rather ascend and take care of the demons. Walking down the long aisles of old texts, the latin titles didn't phase me, I could read them as easily as I could a children's book. Of course my abilities made me fluent in all languages so I could conduct business. Walking deeper and deeper into the Archives soon the sunlight was replaced by torchlight as I got deeper. I'd have to leave soon. Stepping down another aisle, I heard someone say something. 

"Twelve." 

Turning, I saw the dark haired boy, he stared at me, his neon yellow eyes squinted with sadness. For some reason seeing him sad displeased me. Stepping forward slowly, I glanced at my glowing mark. "You," I stated, he looked at me, standing still as I approached him. "Something is hurting you." Pressing my hand against his chest, I tried to sense any wounds. No physical wounds. "What's hurting you?" I asked, inspecting him curiously. He wrapped his hand delicately around mine, surprising me. Looking up, I stared into those familiar eyes. 

Who was he? 

Staring up, I leaned forward, and inspected him closer. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. 

"Angel." I whispered. All my power vanished instantaneously, and I sagged forward. He caught me, and I sucked in a pain breath. "Are you okay?" He asked in concern. "My head," I pressed my knuckles against my temples. "Come on." Angel let me lean on him as we walked to the place where everyone was set up. E looked up at me. 

The headache was going away, but the memories stayed with me. "We need to do more research before we go anywhere." Jessica stated, everyone nodded. My eyes wandered to Raven. She had a blood soaked bandage next to her, and a fresh one on her bicep. "Don't worry, I've had worse." She stated, her expression stoic and unreadable. I noticed Jessica staring at her in concern. "Meanwhile, I need to talk to you." Raven said, standing up. I stared at her in surprise. "We'll be back." She said to the others, grabbing my wrist and dragging me off. 

"What do you need?" I asked slowly, we were a good distance from the others. "I feel like we need to address the problems we have with each other." Raven said, I looked at her in surprise. "I know everything I did to you was horrible, but you know Angel became a loner so he'd look human, I became a cheerleader. I guess part of me liked the control." I recalled the story of her past. "You know Halflings, we're constantly fighting ourselves internally. We could morph into Demons or Angels." She stared at the rack of yellowed old parchments. "My eyes used to be brighter than Angel's when I was born, they were a shade of grey so light it could almost be considered white. But I was polluted by my mother, and they changed to a dark crimson." She looked at me, "Because of her, I nearly became a demon. You don't just forget abuse like that. When my dad rescued me, he barely saved me. But he told me about something. A prophecy, someone who could save the world. I've done horrible things and I still do but I dedicated my life to the person of that prophecy, because I know what Demons do." Raven's voice was soft. As a tear slipped from her eye, she looked away. "I still lash out and when I met you, I wasn't right in the head, I tortured you because abuse tends to repeat itself. It was wrong and I am sorry." 

"Raven. You don't need -" She cut me off, "When I was younger, my mom made me kill animals for ritual sacrifice. Put their organs on display, chant latin rituals." Raven stated, horror raced through me. "If I wasn't a Halfling I probably would've broken more than I am. You know how many demonic rituals and black magic spells I know? And that I'm still tempted to use them?" She whispered, as if horrified with herself. Her breaths were shaky. "Do you think I'm going to hell Twelve?" Raven asked suddenly, turning to me once more. I didn't know how to respond. "No, any sin can be forgiven Raven." I fumbled, she looked at me sorrowfully. "I shouldn't ask you that. We don't know what the man in the sky has planned for us. Or the man downstairs either." She stated. I stared at her, "So you believe in God?" I asked, she chuckled. "It's kind of hard to be an atheist when you know Angels and Demons exist. I figured what's wrong with me being christian, I've killed enough animals, said enough rituals to get myself banished to hell forever. It's why I'm pledged to this cause. If I die, I want to die knowing that I at least did something good." Raven explained. She inspected me and let out a small sigh. 

"You understand now right? You understand why I don't talk much and why I was such a jerk?" She asked, her tone sounded slightly desperate. "Yes, I understand." I answered, Raven smiled a little. 

"Good."