Darkness Light

The Past

New Chapter

~~

Three months later found her tired and exhausted lying in the center of the training room. Luke stood above her. "Again." he watched her lay on the ground.

Ani looked at him. "Again?" She was so tired; they had been training nonstop all day. She highly doubted that she could even move. She was a lot better with her abilities now…but still had a ways to go.

Luke nodded. "Your almost there. You can fight me for a whole minuet now. Not many people can do that. Now get up." He had an excited edge to his voice.

Ani groaned but pulled herself to her feet. "A minuet? That felt like forever. I could have sworn it was." She took a deep breath. "How did you learn to fight like this?"

Luke gave a small smile; he hadn't smiled in a while. "Michael, your uncle, taught me. I'm sure you know all about him."

Ani nodded. "My parents talked about him a lot." She stood a few more deep breaths; she hadn't expected this to be so tiring. She knew it would be hard, but not so hard it made it hurt to breath. "Do you know him well?"

Luke shrugged; he didn't look tired at all. "He's friends with my dad and he trained me. That's about as much as I know him."

Ani fought the urge to collapse on the ground. "Do you miss home?" She asked, trying to buy some time so she could rest a little more. Luke never let her rest if she asked. He always pushed her that extra minute. Always had her go just a little farther.

A sad look crossed his face. "I miss my mom and a few others, but that's about it. Heaven never really felt like home. I always felt I belonged here."

Ani tilted her head. What did he mean? Did he mean Earth, or the Outcasts? "On Earth?" She threw out a guess.

Luke sighed and shifted his weight. "Earth is beautiful, but I'm not really fond of it. I meant with the Outcasts. I spent a few of your life times with them."

Ani jumped. Had he just said that? How old was he? "How old are you?" She asked, shocked. She never, not for a second, thought that he had been much older than she was.

Luke chuckled. "In human years I'm a few hundred years old. In Angel years I'm almost seventeen years old. Angels and Demons age differently. Time moves slower in Heaven and Hell."

Ani finally just sat down. "So you were an Outcast? How did you get back into Heaven?" Something inside her said she knew the answer, but she couldn't remember it.

Luke sat across from her, seeming to forget they were supposed to be training. Ani was really excited about that. "I was never a real Outcast, I never fell. I could come and go as I pleased. My father couldn't throw me out; the main reason was he couldn't find me. The second one being my mother would leave him."

Ani was still confused. If he liked the Outcasts, why did he leave? Why did he work for the Angels again? "Why didn't you just stay with the Outcasts?"

Luke looked at his bracelet. "I wanted to, but one day I got Qeres injected into me by a Demon while protecting you. Jake was able to save me, but he became scared after that. If I died on his watch my father would kill all of them." He sighed. "So he told my father where we were hiding." His hands clenched into fists. "He made me go back to them, back to that Hell." He stared shaking. "My father erased my memories of the Outcasts. So I couldn't go back to them. But after you shocked me I remembered the first time I met you, then I slowly remembered the Outcasts."

Ani felt a sharp pain behind her eyes. Jake ran into the room. "Ani." He knelt next to her. "Ani can you hear me?" He glared at Luke. "What did you do?" he snapped at him. Always assuming the worst, always assuming someone had hurt her.

Luke was about to answer when Ani shook her head. "He didn't do anything Jake." The pain grew. "We were just talking." It took everything in her to focus through the pain and talk to him.

Jake glanced at her then looked back at Luke. "About what?"

Luke looked down. "She asked some questions about me, like where I learned to fight and why I wasn't an Outcast."

Jake looked back at Ani as she groaned. "Ani just take a deep breath." He bit his lip. "You’re going to see a memory. Don't fight it." He sounded as if he was the one in pain.

Ani nodded as the pain grew; she whimpered and curled into a ball. Suddenly, in a blinding flash of pain, her world went dark.

~1704~

Ani blinked in shock and looked around. She sat in a large dinning room, candle lit chandelier hung above the large wood table. She sat in a corner chair by a door. She wore a salmon pink mantua and her hair was in a tight bun atop her head.

A door across the room opened and she quickly stood, thinking it was her father. A young man walked in. He wore black breeches with a white undershirt and a black overcoat. His white hair hung loose around his shoulders and his white eyes widened in surprise as he saw her. "My apologies." He bowed his head and turned to leave.

Ani stopped him. "Wait." She recognized that she was speaking old English. "You have a strange accent. Where are you from?"

The man, who Ani recognized as Luke, smiled. "I am from a very far away land that few know of. It is a secret haven from the world."

Ani smiled back. "Was it difficult to get here? Was the journey long?" Ani could feel the excitement from her past self at meeting someone strange and new.

Luke laughed. "The journey was not very long, though it was very difficult." He sounded so carefree. Like the Luke she had been friends with at the school.

Ani was about to speak when the door behind her opened and an older man walked into the room. He had greying brown hair with tired brown eyes. He wore blue breeches with a white undershirt and a blue overcoat. Her eyes widened as Jake walked in behind him; he wore the same as Luke. She wondered how many life times he had actually met her face to face.

Jake glared at Luke as he saw him. "What are you doing here Lucas?" he didn’t sound happy at all that he was there.

Luke looked down at his feet. "Samuel sent me to find you. He asked me to tell you that he has dealt with the problem and we do not have to worry at the moment."

The man seemed to relax slightly. "Then everything we spoke of is unneeded?" He looked at Jake, waiting for his answer. Ani wondered what they were talking about and so did her past self.

Jake glanced at Ani quickly, then looked back at the man and gave a sharp nod. "It would seem so." He headed for the door. "We are leaving Lucas."

Luke did not seem to hear him. He was staring at Ani, his eyes filled with a kind of awed curiosity.

The man noticed and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Elizabeth." Ani looked at him. "Should you be here now?"

Ani gave a small smile. "Mother said you had visitors. I merely wished to see who they were." Ani knew that sneaking into her father’s place of business was a normal thing for Elizabeth.

The man looked slightly nervous. "You should go back home to your mother. This is not a very good time for you to be wondering around alone."

Luke looked like he was about to speak, but Jake grabbed his arm. "Come along." He started dragging him from the room.

Ani grinned. "Goodbye Lucas." She called after them. She grinned as she heard him call back. "Farewell Elizabeth."

Ani turned to the man. "Will you walk me home father?" She smiled sweetly at him. Her past self had already forgotten the strangeness of the visit and the curiosity that she had felt about what they were speaking of.

Her father sighed and offered his arm, she squealed and took it. He father gave a small grin. "Let us hurry home; your mother may have some treats for us."

Ani grinned; she loved her mother’s treats. She was about to speak when the edges of the memory became fuzzy and a dull pain spread through her mind. Suddenly it just all went dark.