The Dimension Break

SIX

There were a couple minutes before I opened my eyes that I was pressed in between Oliver and Dillan, not yet fully awake. Were were soft, indeterminable murmers from Caleb and giggles from Mary. Mun grunted, Ace sighed. the scent of Mary was stale, so it was obvious she was the last one on guarding duty. Oliver's arm softened the space between my shoulder and my ear, and his breath was steady.

Dillan whispered, "Aw, look at our dame's little sleep smile. I feel so proud. I'm sure that before, she'd be punching people in her sleep."

Oliver said nothing, but I felt his disagreeing huff of breath tussle my bangs. I was awake at the time, but I didn't want to move. My body was pressed in between two of the people I loved most in the world, and there was nothing more comfortable. Not only that, but lying on my side, my forehead was pressed against Oliver's chest. His smell was strong and pungeant - as always, oranges and smoke, but now his scent had a trace of mine mingled in it. His jacket was fathery soft, like a second blanket. If I opened my eyes, I'd find just as much comfort.

"You think we should wake her up?" the tacosexual asked.

"She normally wakes up very early," Oliver said. I did wake up early. "Maybe we should give her another minute. . ."

I let out a loud, exaggerated yawn, put an arm around Oliver's shoulder, and opened my eyes against his chest. Through another, calmer yawn, I said, "I'm good, I'm up!" My chin flicked upwards towards Oliver. My legs cramped from curling them up - damn being tall, but it's so satisfying when the shorter ones complain, hehe - but I felt like I could stay in the position forever. "Did Mary get enough sleep? I know she's guarding, I can smell it."

Dillan answered me. "Yeah, she started an hour or so ago. You demons and your sense of smell, I'll never get over it."

Oh, so it's a demon thing? Of course it is... That explains why other people couldn't smell things I could. . . "Well, angels have heightened senses, too, right?"

"Yeah, hearing." I shifted over to face Dillan, who had propped himself up one elbow. His head was titled so the dark hair fell over the purple glow of his eyes, just as sharply colored as the crimson silk he wore. His headband was missing. "We angels had to listen to prayers or something. I can't hear that good anymore, you know, because of evolution. You demons had to smell prey and smell when people were summoning you from Hell. God forbid someone farts in the room! Evolution and inbreeding with humans dulled our senses. Faeries are good at not only both, but have superb eyesight. Cool, right?"

"Uh, sure." I wonder if we'll ever go on a mission to Heaven or Hell. . . I thought God, reincarnated from Croma, didn't know about the land he left behind? Did we serve undercover as haven angels or hell demons? I don't understand the link between our species and theirs. I'll ask Oliver later. "So, when are we going? I know we're going to sleep the day away, but we should at least get armor on."

Mary peered into the cave. Caleb was perched beside her. "Oh, you're up now, Sis? I think we can move now!" She giggled and glanced over at Delta's Apotropaic. "Has it really been an hour? It feels like five minutes!"

"Time flies when you're with someone so faerie pretty," he chuckled, sweeping the brown bangs out of his eyes. He was already wearing armor, and the cyan fabric underneath was poking through in diverse places. One of his slender fingers touched the tip of her nose. "It also flies when you throw clocks."

She laughed, and I grimaced.

When the two guards moved out of the way, the rest of us climbed into the white-hot, blinding light. I squinted, crawled out behind Dillan, and stood up. A breif moment of armor-strapping occured, and we were ready to crawl back into the cramped hole for sleep.