The Rise and Fall

8 - Sweet Serenities

It was easier to tell that Emiliana was back on The Cloud. The air filling her lungs was thin and cold compared to the relatively warm and utterly thick air she'd poured into her lungs on the ground, but also, few clouds floated through the sky, they were the whimisical wisps that drifted across the midnight sky without true purpose. 

She'd somehow changed into a floating lace nightdress that drifted to her knees and flowing with the direction of the cool breeze that caressed across her face and brushed through her hair, displacing little ringlets behind her. She was walking outside, barefoot, though she didn't notice at first because of the softness of The Cloud's original floor. The forest was upcoming in front of her fast, the pure serenity mixed with a dark untold secret that seemed to invite her in as the long fingers of branches moved with the ebb and flo of the wind. 

Emiliana wasted no time wondering into the forest, feeling the mud and tree roots as the ground transition from one sensation to another but Emiliana didn't hesitate to acknowledge this. She wondered to a shallow spot where the trees parted and made a little circle clearing but it wasn't too far in that the crystal palace was still in sight, glistening darkly in the half-light. 

"You're one of us, Emiliana," a breathy voice whispered, enticing Emiliana's head in the direction that it originated from. She shot up and stared at the scene in front of her. Twelve people stood in a diamond formation, all Fallen Angels that Emiliana had disposed of that day, including the two on patrol in the morning. The girl who'd taken her own life after her sister had died beneath the corpse of Michael the Leader, stood at the front, looking completely unharmed, but even in this light, Emiliana could see the deathly pale colour of their skin and their sunken eyes that hung in their skulls. 

"That makes you a traitor," the girl whispered with the same voice. None of the dead angels moved, they just stared at Emiliana, their heads cocked to one side. 

Emiliana's chest grew tight as though she'd been disallowed a supply of air and she staggered back into another body. She whipped around and herself standing in front of her, a smirk ripped across her face, the indent of the scar on her left brow apparent in the shadows. She left her wings expand from her back, but they weren't the white feathers Emiliana was used to. These were leathery and bat-like and a very, very dark colour. Emiliana staggered back and turned around to see the group of dead angels standing no less than a metre away from her. 

"Fallen Angels don't tolerate traitors." The girl whispered and instantly the wings of twelves angels spread, creating a flapping sound that echoed through the forest. 

The angels started closing in around her, Emiliana's double also within the crowd, drawing a dagger from her sleeve, raising it in the night air, letting it glint in the moon's light. 

Emiliana woke up screaming in her bed. The sheets had been thrown off of the bed and the countless number of pillows encircled Emiliana like a defense system. She swung her legs over the edge and rubbed her eyes before flicking on a lamp that sat silently on the bedside table. 

Mica had found her some night-shorts and a top to wear to bed, but Emiliana had stuck to her tank top and just taken the shorts to supply a certain degree of comfort for the night she knew she probably wouldn't acquire much sleep.

Killing your entire life came with a steep price. Instead of feeling the guilt that she was always weighed down with, Emiliana paid with the price of sleep; she had "murdered sleep" as a famous playwright had once written and ever since she'd become a hunter, nightmares burdened her sleep every night to remind of the immoral sins she'd committed. 

Emiliana left her room and wandered among the low lit corridors, stretching her arms and yawning slowly every so often. She'd often been tied down with sleeping pills that had been prescribed to her from the palace apothercary but they rarely worked or just made it even harder for Emiliana to pull herself out of her unconscious hell. 

"What are you doing?" Emiliana's entire body shuddered in front at the sudden outburst of a voice behind her. This made the voice chuckle a little and Emiliana turned around to him with her eyes narrow and waiting. Leo.

"I could ask you the same thing." She muttered, continuing to walk in a bid to lose him. He caught up with her pretty quickly and this made her even more irritated. 

"I asked you first."

"How childish of you," Emiliana gave him a wan smile before letting her pace speed up a little though this kid was not letting up. 

"I get nightmares," Leo whispered quietly but this made Emiliana slow down a little, wanting to listen to him more. "Walking through the palace helps." 

"Oh, well, same here," Emiliana mumbled as she turned a corner. There was no going back now; she was completely lost. 

"I heard you. You cry in your sleep." Leo murmured, keeping a weather eye on her as she stopped and faced him. 

"I cry?" 

"Yes. A lot." Leo turned to face her, looking down at the suddenly vulnerable looking angel. "Do you want to see the greenhouse that Mica keeps?" 

"Sure." 

The greenhouse was not even outside. One corner of the back of the castle, on the top floor, had been covered in pannelled glass, letting Emiliana compare it to her home in the crystal palace back on The Cloud, and plants that Emiliana never knew existed sprouted from the rich soil that inhabited clay plant pots. Fairy lights hung all over the room, sprinkling light in all directions, sometimes the colour of the lights alternated, but most were a pure white light. 

"Wow." Emiliana breathed as she let her fingers run along ginormous green leaves that seemed to be weighing down the rest of the plant. Every colour in the spectrum filled Emiliana's eyes and she thought that she was having hallucinations again as her eyes danced over the heavenly sight before her. 

"Mica tends to this place everyday without fail," Leo whispered, sitting down on a wooden bench, the backrest of it a cushion of different coloured pansies, blue, pink, yellow, lilac. Emiliana breathed in and out, inhaling the sweet serenity of the scents that swirled around the room and smiled a little. 

"Did I," she hesitated as she whispered the question, making sure she was out of sight behind a large rose plant, "kill anyone you know today?" 

Leo took a moment to answer. He'd squeezed his eyes shut tight, blotting out the hurt and the loss that this girl had caused him. Emiliana peered from behind the rose plant and saw the sight in front of her, guilt staring her straight in the face. 

"Yes," he whispered, his chocolate tousles of wavy hair moving a little as he shook the hurt away and opened his eyes, landing them straight on the girl who was just visible behind a tall rose plant. Even as he looked at her, his anger vanished and another emotion took its place, sloshing around in his stomach. For a girl of his age, she had the eyes of a tiny girl, deprived of love. A girl who only knew how to kill. "A few friends."

"I'm sorry." Emiliana's voice cracked but she tried to hide it by clearing her throat though it didn't sound to her as if it had worked. 

Leo stood up, keeping his eyes on her as he edged forward. Emiliana stood her ground, letting her fingers wander over the sores of her wrists though she could ignore the pain as she tried to imagine the eternal pain the boy in front of her was going to face. Leo kept walking until he could see Emiliana's face in its complete form, the high cheekbones, the big, dark eyes and the full lips. The full lips that enticed him in every time he looked at her. 

Emiliana stared up at the boy, her eyebrows raised as he returned the continuous stare. She felt slightly helpless after asking the unaskable question and now she was utterly defenseless if he decided to attack her, but she certainly wasn't prepared for what came next. 

Leo bent his head and softly, very softly, let his lips mould into Emiliana's.