dark places - jb & ag {completed}

{twenty}

Gut-wrenching. Not being able to touch him, it was gut-wrenching.

It felt so awful to have him right in front of me, knowing I couldn't touch him ever again. It broke me. How could I live this way? How would I survive without his closeness and warmth? How could I accept the fact that my touch would hurt him? How could I accept the fact that my touch would hurt him, though I was the one who loved him the most? How could I accept that I'd never be able to hug him, kiss him ... make love with him?

It was too much, the worst torture anyone could go through – not to be able to touch your soulmate, not even a small, tiny touch. It was even more painful than when they'd cut my wings off, and that was pure agony.

Justin tried to hide his pain – not the pain I'd caused with my touch, but the pain I'd caused by just being me. An angel. An angel in love with a demon.

I could see it in his eyes very clearly. I could see it in his eyes brighter than anything – he was sad. So sad. He was just as broken as me. But he kept trying to show me that he was only upset, not extremely depressed. I knew better, though.

Heartwarming. For him to keep smiling at me while he was burning from the inside, it was heartwarming.

He kept that smile on his face as he helped me learn how to fly. My wings by then were huge. My white feathers seemed like they could light the entire space around us, giving the flowers a lighter color and making the grass seem fresher. I couldn't help but smile when finally my feet left the ground, this time without falling, and then I grinned when I was actually flying. Justin had told me that it would come naturally, and it did. At last.

I could never describe the amazing feeling of freedom I felt as I flew in the blank, dark space. It was magical. And while I flew, I made sure that I didn't get close enough to feel the horrible heat where the center of the earth was.

There was a glow surrounding my form that I could easily see from the way every spot around me brightened. Justin smiled every time I did, and chuckled lightly when I squealed, enjoying the new sensation of being able to fly.

Time passed, and we talked a lot. I asked him questions that I already knew the answers for, and he always answered me with honest replies, never lying to me once even though I knew he could. Could very well, even.

Soon, he had to sleep. I was surprised for a moment when he said he needed to get some sleep, because earlier, he'd told me that they sleep every few months by humans' calculation. But then the answer came to my mind, and I realized that I'd been away from my first life as a human for about ten months already. It was shocking.

Spirit-freeing. Knowing that I wouldn't be alone with my plan and knowing that my warnings and my attempts to get the converters to help hadn't gone to waste was spirit-freeing.

It wasn't long after Justin left me to get some sleep that I saw another demon approaching. There was something strange about that demon that had me confused for a moment, only for my confused frown to disappear right away when I realized what was happening.

"William!" I cried. "What's brought you here?" I asked, realizing that my knowledge of things only was about the past memories of others and the details of things related to humans and demons.

"We are ready to fight, Ariana," William told me.

"We?" I asked, completely stunned at what he was saying.

"The baby they killed wasn't Sophia's alone. My mother killed my son and my sister knew about it; I'm seeking revenge," he said with venom lacing his voice.