Not Fallen... Yet

Chapter 14 - A Little Snark to Relieve the Stress

Well, that was quite enough fucking stress for one day.

Aryan pulled himself up off the ground without bothering to even so much as glance behind him or muster up some socially expected word of parting, the demon too absolutely drained from that hellish roller coaster of emotions to do much save for focus on the concrete feeling of cold, craggy stone pricking gently into the palms of his hands as he dug them into the ground to push himself upwards.

Kiran at least bothered to make some grunt of acknowledgment at the demon's abrupt departure, though the boy looked slightly paler than usual and most certainly more subdued, his usually blazing emerald eyes dull and his pink lips turned downwards in the slightest as he shuffled to the nearest wall and flopped down against it, pulling his slender legs to squeeze them tightly against his chest.

Aryan hadn't seen the angel take that position since the day he force fed the boy crackers - Wow. The Guide could have gone his whole life without thinking that sentence - And it made that part the of demon that only seemed to be getting louder and more forceful as time went on despite the guy's every attempt to smother it out want to do something. However, Aryan was most certainly not going to do anything, thank you very much. Kiran was lucky to be alive and the demon had no cares about whether or not the angel was actually happy, just that he wasn't choking on his own blood. (And Aryan was still diligently not thinking about why he even cared about so much as that.)

So, please then, Conscious, you insubordinate asshole, tell Aryan why exactly he was just standing there, not moving as he'd very much like to be sometime soon? Go on, we'd all love to hear.

"Care to tell me why you didn't throw a rock back?" Aryan questioned suddenly, the words springing from his lips before the demon had even been asked if he wanted to do such a thing like initiate conversation. Which, guess what? He didn't.

A beat of silence passed and Aryan had all but become convinced he wasn't actually going to get a response anytime soon when Kiran finally answered. "My apologies," The angel began slowly, his airy voice not carrying quite its usual ease but, hey, at least the kid was actually speaking. What the fuck, Brain, we are supposed to be not caring, remember? I know I gave you the memo so get with the fucking program.

"I failed to locate a rock." Kiran informed bashfully in explanation for his silence, the sound of his feet shuffling awkwardly about meeting Aryan's ears before the demon actually turned back around to give the boy the most incredulous stare he'd ever felt grace his own features. The demon knew the boy was clueless but he couldn't really be serious about this, could he?

"We're literally in a cave, Kiran. How the hell could you not find a rock?" Aryan snorted disbelievingly, feeling a bit of the winding tension he'd felt building in his chest for some time begin to uncoil as he was able to somewhat ignore all that had just transpired in favor of focusing on other, less terrifying things. Like the fact that Kiran was apparently fucking blind.

"It is dark!" Kiran protested defiantly, crossing his slender arms stubbornly over his lean chest as if he were offended Aryan would even think to dare question him on his stellar rock finding abilities. The angel then paused for a long moment, turning his eyes to the ground for a second as his gaze became thoughtful and his lower lip found its way between his teeth. The kid gnawed lightly at the bright pink flesh, making an uncertain sounding hum as if deeply considering some important matter before he finally brought his eyes back up for the floor to lock them on the demon once more.

"And there are no more rocks." Kiran added uncertainly, a brief glint of humor shining in his forest green orbs as one corner of his lip quivered up from its earlier frown in the slightest in the beginnings of a hesitant smile.