If Only In Our Dreams

Chapter 10 - Tough Times Above

The months passed by with no effort, time continuing as each second became part of the past. It took Heaven a few of those months to let what happened with their once so precious Elder go. The adjustment was difficult, and certainly clearly seen with the soldiers and warriors he had once been the most involved with. After all, even though Eekainine had known for quite some time that he had demonic genes within him, his role as an angel had always come first.

It took quite some time for the rest of the Council, even, to cope with the idea of his presence no longer lifting the spirits of a troubled room. Eekainine was always such a peculiar being, having a rather stern but positive demeanor, and having to adjust to picking up the slack of him not being around was its own challenge for the remaining Elders. The extra workload was difficult enough to keep up with, but having to maintain such high spirits and a general positive moral towards the situation was what they were truly struggling with. The general public attitude with Eekainine and what had happened was similar to how it would be if he had died.

And honestly, Eekainine dying would have been easier to deal with compared to what the reality was.

Knowing that the hybrid had simply disappeared after the January following his heinous crimes was, by far, worse than anything. The angelic community still deeply cared about him. It was natural to them, part of their basic mortal DNA to long for and miss that connection they had with him. Even though he had truly disappeared, it was a general consensus of a thought that he had retreated down to Hell and was living some sort of underground life with the part of his soul nobody in Heaven truly knew.

After Eekainine had visited his father for guidance, he was forced to flee and live in hiding while he attempted to figure out what the meaning of that visit truly meant. His father's words resonated in his head constantly, begging to be understood. As promised, however, Hynorael had sent out mission groups of soldiers to track him down and forbid his presence on Earth. The moment a call came in of the whereabouts of Eekainine, a team was sent to clear the area of any demonic entities. For the first couple months of being hunted, the calls came through quite often as he traveled around, making sure to stay on the move so that he wouldn't get caught.

Eekainine learned how to hide quite well after a while. By February of the following year, there would only be a call every week. By May, every other week. By September, once a month. And by the time Halloween came around, his one year anniversary to those horrific crimes, the hybrid had simply disappeared. Neither angel nor demon had seen or heard from or about him.

There came a point where Eekainine's name wouldn't come up in the gossip that spread throughout the communities.

There was a point where Hynorael considered filling that empty spot in the Council to encourage the idea that he wasn't coming back and it was time to move on for the sake of what was good and right.

There was a point when Eekainine was simply forgotten. He was just a name in the books and records of the great library and archives.

To a certain person, however, that hybrid would never be thrown to the side and forgotten in such a way.

That entire year without her fiance was one of the worst of many to come. Inari soon began to lose herself after Eekainine wasn't allowed back up into the Heavens in the first place. She delved more heavily into her work, looking for any sort of distraction from the life falling apart around her. Although, due to her suffering mental and physical health, her psychiatric patients suffered as well since she wasn't able to perform the daily duties as well as she used to. Her assistant, Nuiko Kie, would even have to take a majority of cases since she couldn't handle the one on one personal time with them, only wanting to bury herself in a mound of paperwork and behind the scenes work to occupy her mind.