the devil cries

the devil cries ■ chapter twenty three

"Kass, can you hear me? Kass?"

I could hear Gabriel speaking, right below me as I flew. We were in the middle of nowhere, a place I knew feels familiar yet not at the same time.

He was walking, looking around, while I covered the upside. I felt the wind harshly hitting my wings, but I stayed still.

There was a burning in my heart that I felt when I remembered something from a thousand years back.

"You have to promise me that whatever happens, you won't ever let us get in the way of your duty," said Lucifer, as he carressed my left cheek.

Tears were streaming down my face, but I ignored it. Something was wrong. It was the time when he was having such selfish thoughts, and I couldn't do anything about it. Anything.

"But Lu, I-" I said, but he gripped my wrists tight.

"Kassandra. You are a tough nephilim. You and I both know it. But you know what your fatal flaw is?" He said, making me look up at him in surprise with furrowed brows.

"My fatal flaw?" I muttered, and he nodded.

"Emotions. Empathy. You have to rid yourself of that in times of need, okay? Take control over them," he said, making me bite my lip.

"I'm not so sure I can. I don't think I can, Lu, what if-"

I suddenly felt something creeping through my veins, like water flowing harshly down waterfalls. It felt soothing and painful, as well as chilling.

I watched Lucifer as he connected our fingers, his eyes closed and his brows slightly furrowed. His dark hair fell down his face perfectly, and his pale skin glistened like the moon in the night. His pinkish lips that were slightly chapped trembled ever so slightly, as if he was exerting energy.

When he harshly reopened his eyes, I stared back at him with such confused eyes. I widened my eyes when I felt an emotion that wasn't mine; he was nervous and scared, but he was comfortable in a strange way too.

I furrowed my brows, while he just sent me a devilish smirk.

"Is this an...?" I asked, and he nodded proudly.

"Yeah, I put an empathy link between us. So I can warn you too if I feel like you are being engulfed with emotions," he said, and I grinned at him as I kissed him.

He pulled away, and then ruffled my hair. When we both heard someone chewing on something crunchy, both of us looked sideways seeing Azrael and Lilith, furrowing their brows and scrunching their nose in disgust as they shared a plate of potato crisps.

"Kassandra,"

"KASSANDRA!"

That was when I woke up to the reality, realizing that I was falling from a hundred feet in the air. I widened my eyes in panic, and then tried to flap my wings in hopes of balancing myself but I harshly fell on the ground causing air to get knocked out of my lungs.

"O-Ow...?" I said, but I felt my wrist getting dragged by someone upwards so I stood up even though my head kinda hurts.

I just realized that Azrael joined Gabriel and I in our location, and he had his brows furrowed as he examined my arms and my face.

"What?" I asked, and they looked at each other as if silently conversing.

"You... had black veins popping out up there. What did you think of?" Azrael asked, and suddenly, I felt my head hurt as a sudden feeling of a mixture of euphoria and fear coveted to surface my thoughts. But it wasn't mine.

I widened my eyes, grasping my heart and harshly closing my eyes. No. No. No.

Closing my eyes, I could see burning forests, and burning homes. It made my heart and my whole body tremble in both fear and anger, realizing that the vision wasn't mine.

But why was he sending these visions to me?

"KASSANDRA! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Gabriel asked, and I reopened my eyes.

I was scared. I was scared for my life, for the Seven's life, for Lu's, of Lucifer, and for the whole Realm.

Azrael looked at me with furrowed brows, but I could see determination in his eyes.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice low and seething with authority. This was not the playful and mischief causing Azrael. This was the Archangel of Death.

"He... He is filled with euphoria... and fear. Azrael, you know what happened thousand years ago, right? When he said he'd look out for me, for my fatal flaw," I said, and his eyes slowly widened upon realization of the situation.

"Wait, what? What are you two talking about?" Asked Gabriel, and I bit my lip in fear.

"What else? You won't be trembling in fear just because of that," Azrael said, and I knew deep down that he was right. I had to tell them. I had to make them see.

"Kassandra. You don't want to destroy the realm, right? You know who you need to destroy," Gabriel spoke, and I slowly nodded my head. He was right. But I didn't know what to do.

And so, I reached both my index fingers and touched their foreheads, transferring the vision to their minds.

I watched them as tears streamed down my face. Their brows were furrowing, their veins popping.

I removed my fingers, and then looked at them. They had tough expressions on, but once I looked in their eyes, they were nothing but anxious for what was to come.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think of. The vision kept resurfacing in my mind, with fear lingering through my veins and every nerve of my body.

Will history repeat itself?

I was certain it will. But it shouldn't end the same way.