The Rise and Fall

15 - Rumours

At first, the thought of death had terrified Emiliana. She didn't want to be greeted in hell by all of the Fallen Angels that she'd disposed of over the years after recently learning that they were all her own. She was not only a murderer, she was a treacherous murderer. 

Then came the second phase. Emiliana couldn't help but greet death warmly, a small smile stretched upon her face. She kept her eyes closed for the moment, letting the first impressions of death come from the less used senses; taste, touch, smell, sound. She let her fingers, that were placed softly on the ground she was lying on, waggle around a little. Her fingertips tingled, feeling softness but at the same time, a small degree of roughness scratched a little at her exposed skin. A cool breeze brushed over the contours of her face, changing direction when it flowed just beneath her chin, onto the middle of her neck. She twitched a little, loving the beautiful sensation, listening to the sound of what she thought was rushing water. 

"Emiliana!" Leo's voice drifted into her ears, calling her name like a serenade. 

Why is Leo here? Emiliana thought, creasing her eyebrows a little in confusion. Two soft, warm objects exerted slight pressure onto her shoulders and shook them a bit so that her head lolled around on her neck awkwardly. She let her eyes flutter open, her vision blurry as it a short amount of time for it adjust. 

Oh. So, she wasn't dead. Her shoulders relaxed a little as she looked up and around at her surroundings. There was no rushing water nearby, but the leaves in the tree canopy above her rustled faintly in the cool wind. She was back in the forest on The Cloud. Her eyes darted a little bit more and she saw Leo, his eyes swimming with worry and angst as he looked down at her, releasing his hands from her shoulders as she took deep breaths in. 

She tried to sit up, propping herself up on her elbows but a searing pain shot through her side like an arrow and she collapsed back on the muddy earth, her head brutally knocking against a tree root, making her flinch and squint her eyes. 

"Ow," she mumbled, lifting her arm to her head before realising that it stretched her wound and switching to the other one. Instead of feeling her hair sliding through her fingertips when she reached up, she felt a warm hand before noticing that Leo had reached his hand round and was holding up her head. 

"Be careful, you're still healing," he winced when her face screwed up as his fingers brushed over the sore spot that was bubbling up on the back of her head. 

"From what?" She didn't need an answer when Leo's eyes glanced down at her side. She tilted her head up a little to follow his gaze and stared down at the side of her stomach. Her lower stomach was wrapped up with a grey fabric that Emiliana recognised. It took her a few moments to realise that Leo had taken off his hoodie and had used it as some sort of bandage to cover up Emiliana's wound that she had a vivid memory of sustaining. 

"Oh," she whispered, looking at the grey fabric and the large dot of red that was seeping through about three or four layers of the material. "Is it bad?" 

"I don't think so, it wasn't deep, but it's going to be painful for a while," he sat back, biting the inside of his cheek, never leaving her eyes. "Gabriel got away though." 

"I'll deal with him later," Emiliana narrowed her eyes and tried to sit up again. "Help me up, Leo."

"No, Emiliana, you need to..."

"Help me up, Leo," she whispered, trying to look at him, innocently even though the ways came out with a little edge. "Please?"

He gave in and helped her up, slowly but surely, guilt tearing at his chest as she winced and seethed through the pain that erupted from her side. 

When she was finally stood up properly, she looked up at Leo and gave him a smile to boost his confidence and wipe away his guilt filled eyes, but the smile never reached her eyes and nothing got past Leo that easily. 

"What are we going to do?" Emiliana's face fell as she realised the futility of their situation. Leo had other ideas and helped her over to a nearby tree where she leant up against him. He stood away from her with slight hesitation. 

"You're not doing anything, Emiliana," Leo said quickly, looking straight at her as she clutched onto her side. "But I cannot say the same for myself." 

"What do you mean?" 

Leo's hand disappeared into the pocket of his black jeans and Emiliana raised her eyebrow. Before long, he'd pulled out a black object, sleek and small, thin in width. It reflected the little light that seeped through the thick, green canopy above them. Emiliana tried to step forward, never taking her left hand away from the rough bark of the tree behind her. She heard about these items that the Humans used and it would make sense for the Fallen to have acquired them sometime after living so many years on the Earth. 

"Is it...?"

"A mobile phone?" 

"Yes." 

Emiliana tilted her head, utterly amused. She'd only heard rumours about these gadget-y things; the Risen were never allowed any Human items - they were considered lowly and inferior to the Risen race and using such items was a clear miscode of conduct. Leo stepped forward towards her so that she could touch this weird little gadget thing. 

He allowed her to take it in her hands and fumble around with it, feeling the hard smoothness. There was a depression just at the bottom of the front face of the phone and Emiliana let the tip of her index finger slide down onto it, exerting just the right amount of pressure. She jolted back a little when the face lit up, showing the time and... Numbers. She ignored the pain that bled from her side and saw something that she heard along with all the stories of the "mobile phone." Didn't phones need "reception?"

"You have no reception," she whispered, prodding the phone where it showed that no signal. "You're too high up." 

"Well," Leo glanced at her guiltyily for a moment then dropped his head, not daring look at her. 

"You left me alone." 

"I had to call for reinforcements, Emiliana." 

Emiliana nodded, waving him off and extending her hand out to him so that he could retake the phone. Then, her face creased, eyebrows furrowed, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. Something he'd said had hit her like a train. What did he mean?

"What do you mean by 'reinforcements?'" She asked, her eyes trained on him, already knowing the answer. 

"Emiliana, without you the Risen are defenseless now. We going to War with them. And this time," he looked deadly serious, all light gone from his eyes. "We're going to win."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I wasn't going to write anything, but I'm going to be brief. 

So, I was going to write yesterday, but then my dad bought Netflix, so I've been watching EVERYTHING since yesterday and have not stopped. Seriously. I watched a season of TVD in one day. Even though I've already watched it. Just bc I can. 

I'll try and write tomorrow because I KNOW I'm not doing anything as my family is going off to Liverpool for the weekend. Without me. Cos they love me. Apparently. 

Whatever. 

Loving you all lots. Especially @Aldy235 because she's the one coming round tomorrow to console me when my parents ditch me to go watch Liverpool play against some German team, Idk. 

Byeeh

~ Claudss x x x