Hell's Angel

Chapter 38: Destinies Aren't Always Kind

"So how do we get to the Plane of Mirrors?" Salem asks.

"I'm not sure..." I trail off.

"Oh," Salem's eyes find mine and I end up finding hurt in them, as well as jealousy, "Then what?"

He quickly turns his gaze away from mine and I frown in confusion.

"Cute Demon Prince!" Hadrian appears out of thin air and giggles, throwing her arms around Salem's neck.

Salem's eyes widen in surprise and Hadrian pulls back and puts her index finger to her lips and looks around.

"Oh my," Hadrian frowns when she sees Blaze, "How unfortunate. Let's go!"

Hadrian giggles and swirls around and puts her hands up above her head. A glowing gold rune appears above her head on her hands and light shimmers around us. Suddenly we become teleported to a place with a bunch of mirrors lined up outside on the grass by a cobblestone pathway and a night sky full of dark blues and stars. Asher picks up Blaze in his arms and walks over to Bellatrix, who is floating in the middle of the cobblestone road, and her amber eyes fixate on us.

"Alder told us you were coming," Bellatrix says, "He didn't have to though. I knew you'd be coming."

"Didn't Alder say we'd have to beat Lotus first?" I frown.

"He did," Bellatrix says and points behind us, "But he should have been more specific. Only one of you will be fighting Lotus."

"Hehe," Lotus giggles madly, "Are you ready to face your nightmares?"

"Why only one?" Corliss raises a brow.

"That I cannot say," Bellatrix says with a knowing expression, almost of pity, "But the person who must fight Lotus is the person whom has the spirit of a leader and is as fierce as their personality can come across."

"Aella?" Amorette questions.

"No," Bellatrix shakes her head, "This person is as cold as they are fierce, but care deep down."

"Screw it," Corliss says and summons her Lacerate set, "I'll fight her."

"Corliss you don't have to--"

"Don't," She glances over her shoulder at me and smiles, "And Aella, trust yourself."

Corliss turns back to face Lotus and she runs towards her before leaping up in the air and jumping down with her spear drawn back. Lotus teleports out of the way and Corliss's spear breaks through the cobblestone when she lands. She whirls around to face Lotus and she holds her spear up to block Lotus's attack. Corliss pushes Lotus back and tries to hit her with Acera, her spear, but Lotus teleports again. Corliss's blue eyes scan the area with a steely gaze before she whirls around, her brown curls whirling with her, and thrusts her spear forwards to where Lotus appears. Lotus smiles wildly before her image shatters to pieces and the actual Lotus appears behind Corliss and kicks her forwards.

"Can't we at least try to help her?" I watch the battle unfold with a worried expression.

"No," Bellatrix shakes her head.

I frown and bite my lip, thinking about Corliss's words to me. She sounded as if she knew she wouldn't be coming back from this battle. Beside me, Salem looks as if he wants to comfort me, but then a frown forms on his face and he decides not to.

Corliss grabs her spear back, which landed a few feet from her, and she throws it past Lotus.

"Hah, you missed!" Lotus laughs.

Corliss immediately transforms into her Preventive set and swings Deviation, her great sword, at Lotus, who gets taken by surprise and slides backwards so far that she ends up standing at the edge of the floating island we're on. Suddenly the ground breaks beneath her and she starts to fall, but not before throwing a shadow dagger into Corliss's chest.

"Corliss!" I shout as Corliss drops over and Lotus falls over the edge.

I go to run to her, but Bellatrix stops me.

"No," Bellatrix says, "She is already dead, and those who die in the Plane of Mirrors cannot ever be brought back through the Plane of Mirrors. It was her fate to die here."

I glance to the side wearily before glancing back at Corliss, who Bellatrix encases in a bubble of golden energy. Corliss floats inside the bubble, her blue eyes closed and a thin line of blood trickling down the side of her mouth, her arms hanging down and her curls just as lively as they once were. Corliss's weapon glows and begins to fade away just as Blaze's did, disappearing into thin air. The dagger inside Corliss's chest disappears into thin air as well.

"Where do their weapons go once they die?" Asher asks quietly.

"They go to the Hall of the Angels," I say, "It's where all of the Angels that die's weapons go. A case appears with their name and all of their weapons and it hangs on the wall like a plaque."

"I will ensure that Corliss gets returned to her family," Bellatrix says.

"No," Amorette says, "Wait..."

"Yes?" Bellatrix raises a brow.

"We'll take her. Could you please send her to the Aeldra in that bubble? We'll be going back there soon and we can take her back to the Angel Kingdom once we leave the Dark Angel Kingdom," Amorette says.

"Very well," Bellatrix says and suddenly the bubble disappears with the wave of a hand.

"Now what, Twin?" Hadrian giggles, "Lotus is gone. Can't they enter the mirrors now?"

"Yes," Bellatrix's gaze goes back to us, "But in order to bring Blaze back from the dead I must use the Time Seal."

"No," Hadrian gasps and her eyes widen, "Don't! You'll disappear for a century!"

"I would rather not, but we both know that Blaze plays a vital role in the survival of some very important people," Bellatrix says.

"Yes," Hadrian sighs and frowns, "That is true."

Bellatrix walks over to Hadrian, who grudgingly holds up her hands and laces her fingers through Bellatrix's. The two Dark Angel Twins end up having a rune glowing beneath their feet and a rune glowing above their heads, several intricate spirals and designs running through both of the gold runes, and the necklaces that both the Time Twins wear glow and link together at the bottom where the gemstones are. A rune the same color as the ones they summoned appears on a nearby mirror and stays there, while the other two runes fade away and their necklaces drop. They let go of each other's hands and Bellatrix turns to face us while Hadrian watches her sister sadly.

"Do not think that I did this for you, I did it so that the future stays how it is supposed to be," Bellatrix says as she starts to glow and fade away just as Corliss's weapon did.

The gold particles end up floating around Hadrian's neck and the necklace that Bellatrix was wearing appears around her neck. Hadrian frowns and almost looks as if she's going to cry for a moment, but then she regains her composure. She turns to us and gives us a cheery smile.

"This will be a lonely century," Hadrian sighs before her smile turns into a pout, but then she quickly regains her smile, "Anyways! Each of you must enter a mirror and go through whatever happens once you get inside in order to come out. Asher, go through the mirror with the Time Seal on it with Blaze and complete the mirror in order to get her back."

Asher nods and wastes no time running into the mirror with Blaze in his arms.

"Did I forget to mention that the mirrors are specific to you? Oops," Hadrian giggles, "And to leave the Plane of Mirrors you must also complete a mirror, so all of you have to enter one anyways! I'm sure you'll find everything you were looking for."

I walk up to a mirror cautiously and put my hand on it, which makes the surface ripple. I look over to my right and see Salem doing the same thing.

"Hey, Salem," I call out to him and he looks over at me, "Good luck."

"Yeah," He says and nods after a moment, "You too."

And with that I take a deep breath for confidence and enter the mirror.