Broken wings

Chapter 17

"We need to discuss-" My older brother speaks up. I stop him right away.
"Not now." I tell him when my eyes fall on Roman. He looks bloody and shaken up, but alive. Relief washes over me when our eyes cross from over the field. He's okay. I ignore everyone else and walk up to him. A slow step first. Then another. And before I know it I'm running up to him. I see the small smile on his face. His lips opening to say something, but I don't want to talk. I want to feel. I crash my lips on his. Keeping him close with my hands on his soft cheeks. I feel his lips move against mine as his arms travel up into my neck. His relief mixing with my own. His tears turning our kiss in a wet one. How did I never realize before what this was? How was I so blind for it?
"I thought you were dead." He whispers when he pulls back panting. My heart cracks when I hear the pain in his voice.
"So did I." I admit as I pull him in a protective hug. I don't know exactly what happened. One minute I was floating in a feeling of peace and rest. The next I woke up feeling like I was on fire. I screamed without noise when an agonizing pain manifested in my shoulders. It was like my wings were burning up all over again. By the time I could open my eyes I realized I wasn't dead. Not only that, I also changed. I got new wings. Deceit's story rings in my head. Does this mean I'll transform into him? Become something so hateful I can't think of anything other than revenge?
"I love you." Roman mutters against my chest. I look down on the man I'm holding. No. I'll never be like him. He got bitter because he blamed the humans. He blamed us. He pointed a finger at everyone but himself. I know love. I know my own mistakes. He was his own downfall. I won't allow myself to be the same.
"I never got to say it back." I whisper when I realize what I tried to tell him in the moment of my death. Roman looks up at me with watery green eyes.
"You don't have to." He reassures me. I shake my head. He has to know. I lean down and capture his lips with mine again. He instantly reacts to it and kisses me back. I retreat just enough to be able to look him in the eyes.
"I love you too." I whisper barely audible. Our breaths mixing. He looks into my eyes as if he's searching something. A big grin pulls up his lips when he seems to find what he's looking for.
"I realize this is all very touching, but-" Logan's voice sounds up annoyed. I lift my wings to use them as barriers. Hiding Roman and I in our own little world for just a moment longer.
"I think I like your new wings." The human giggles. I hum with a smirk before closing the tiny gap between us. I can't get enough of him. My emotions all over the place after what happened today. When I pull back I see the same longing in his green eyes. How am I supposed to let him go again now that I'm finally holding him? I wink at him before dropping my wings.
"Very mature." My brother looks unimpressed. Aimee snickering behind him. I shrug.
"We need to discuss what happened today." He repeats what he was going to say earlier.
"What's left to discuss?" I frown. It's over. He tilts his head as if I'm an idiot.
"Oh, I don't know." He shrugs sarcastically. "Maybe how you came back from the death with a set of new wings? Deceit's story? The hybrid Chasten created?" He starts to sum up in his lecturing voice. I square my jaws. I don't want to think about any of that. I just want to take a deep breath and enjoy the happy end for once.
"The hy-, uh, Remus is dead." Roman speaks up hesitantly. Pointing at the body of the man a few feet further. I feel the unease in Roman and figure out what happened.
"It was him or you." I whisper reassuringly. He looks up at me with guilt in his eyes. He shouldn't feel guilty for saving his own skin.
"He should never have been born in the first place." Logan chimes in with a curt nod. "Now that him and Deceit are gone, we might enter an endless era of peace." He adds.
"Careful, brother. You sound optimistic." I reply. He lifts his hand to his head to straighten his glasses out of force of habit. Only to drop it again when he realizes he no longer has them.
"Yeah, well, I suppose I'm just delighted to have my family back." He speaks up then. That makes two of us.
"How'd you do it?" A new voice sounds up. I look up. My eyes falling right on Zora's dark face. Her black curls all tangled with blood spats from the fight. Her gray eyes look at me questioningly. "How did you fool everyone into believing you died?" She asks as she comes closer. I shake my head.
"I don't know. I really thought I was." I admit to be clueless. "Only a minute seems to have passed before I woke up again." I add.
"It was more than a minute alright." She looks unimpressed. I feel her tangle of emotions. She stomps my arm hard. "How dare you make me believe I lost you." She mutters angry. But I can see the relieved twinkle in her eyes. "Twice!" She adds in disbelief. I snicker softly. Knowing her too well to know she's not actually mad at me.
"I've missed you too." I speak up with a crooked smile. She jumps into my arms.
"You fucking idiot!" She curses when we pull back. Hitting me again.
"Oh excuse me if me dying was an inconvenience for you." I tease.
"You just had to mix yourself in their business, huh? You couldn't let someone else be the hero?" She looks at me with a lopsided grin. I smirk.
"But what reason would you have to hit me then?" I quirk an eyebrow. She hits my shoulder.
"I'd find plenty. Don't worry." She jokes. I really did miss her. I turn around to Roman then.
"This is Zora. Best sword fighter I know." I tell him with a big grin. He nods a little nervous.
"About that. How did this happen?" Zora points between us.
"I'd like to know too?" Aimee looks confused.
"I don't." Logan speaks up uninterested. "I rather explore potential lose ends at home." He adds before disappearing. Leaving me with my sisters and Roman. The others already left. I let out a sigh. Will they understand? I barely do.
"It's a long story." I warn them. Hoping they'd let it go.
"We've got time." Zora crosses her arms.
"I thought you were dead for months. I'd listen to you talking about earth beetles for hours just to hear your voice." My little sister adds.
"I could talk about that instead if you prefer?" I tilt my head. It would be easier. Zora lifts her hand to hit me again.
"Okay, okay." I hold up my hands in defense. "After Chasten and Birrol discovered I saw them with Deceit I had to run. I fell to Earth in the proces-" I start from the beginning.
"We already know this part." Zora gestures me to move along. I roll my eyes.
"Where does he come in the picture?" Aimee agrees. Pointing at Roman who's standing awkwardly behind me.
"Really? It's going to be like that?" I quirk my eyebrow unimpressed. Both sisters nod. I look at Roman in the hopes he's on my side. He shrugs softly. Clearly done fighting my kind for one day. Or maybe a lifetime.
"Fine." I sigh dramatically. "He heard us fight and ran in to help." I tell them. I see one of Zora's dark thin eyebrows raise with respect.
"After Chasten and Birrol left, he took me home to his castle and patched me up." I continue.
"Castle?" Aimee tilts her head. She hasn't seen one yet.
"It's were these so called human 'royalty' live. Thinking they're better than other humans." Zora explains. Using quotation marks at the word 'royalty'. I smirk over my shoulder at Roman.
"See?" I grin amused. Now he hears first hand I'm not the only one who thinks their ranking is stupid.
"Yeah, whatever. Nothing I can change about it." He mutters annoyed. I smirk before turning to my sisters.
"Anyway I couldn't go anywhere without working wings so I stayed at the castle. Hoping to find some answers. I guess we just bonded over time." I shrug. What more do they want from me?
"So you just figured: 'Oh, I'm stuck, might as well get a partner along the way. to pass the time.'?" Zora frowns. I glare at her while Roman snickers softly behind me. He stops when all three of us stare at him. His cheeks turn bright red.
"What's so funny?" Aimee tilts her head questioning.
"N-Nothing." He casts his eyes down. No. He no longer has to feel scared of our kind. I grab his hand in mine and he blinks up at me before smiling appreciatively.
"I was a massive dick to him most of the time." I explain the irony of her statement.
"And that worked how exactly?" Zora looks unimpressed. I shrug. How am I supposed to know?
"He's also a massive softie for the remainder of the time." Roman speaks up softly. THe hint of a teasing smirk pulling up the corner of his pink lips.
"Am not!" I turn around offended.
"You totally are." Aimee chimes in with a chuckle. I look at Zora for help.
"Hate to break it you, bud. You do have a weak side." She shrugs. Great. Thanks a lot. How did I suddenly become the weak softie?
"I think I rather stayed dead." I mutter annoyed.
"Not funny." Roman replies with a frown. I look apologetic at him. I know it wasn't. I just- I don't know. Things feel weird now. I'm no longer the person I was before falling, but I'm also no longer stuck and lost. I don't know what I am. Or who I am.
"Can I come with you to the castle?" Aimee wonders curious. "Is it far?" Her dark blue eyes twinkle softly.
"A couple of hours. We came with horses." I tell her. Her eyes widen by the idea of discovering entirely new things. We can both fly. I can fly again. But we've got three horses who need to get back home and Roman won't be able to take all three of them on his own. Not that I'd leave him out of my sight right after I got him back. I still can't believe he managed to survive. He's strong. But I already knew that. I look from him back up at Zora. She's been my best friend for centuries.
"Roman, can you show Aimee where the horses are? I'll come in a minute." I promise him. I feel his heart beat faster by the thought of being alone with her, but he nods. It's a natural reaction, his brain trying to fight it with rational thinking. They start walking away. Roman limping.
"Wait." I turn back around to look at him first. He tilts his head. A question in his eyes.
"Let's see if I got it again." I smirk as I rest my hand on his head and close my eyes. Concentrating on his wounds. The slash in his leg. The ripped skin on his arm. The cuts and bruises. I can sense his pain evaporate. He takes in a deep breath as if for the first time and looks grateful up at me when I pull back. He lifts his sleeve and looks at the dried blood on his arm. The wound gone. A teasing smirk then appears on his face when he looks up at me again.
"See, I knew it was a good idea to keep you around." He jokes. I quirk an unimpressed eyebrow at him and he snickers softly.
"Just go." I sigh as I shake my head fondly. He smiles softly before nodding and turning around. Aimee following him. I can hear how she starts asking him all kinds of questions about the castle and Earth in general. She's been here before, but only a couple of times.
"Black suited you better." Zora speaks up and I turn back to her.
"Don't like gold?" I smirk as I look at my new wings.
"It's a bit tacky." She shrugs. I chuckle softly and we walk over the field where we sit down on a large boulder. I look around at all the blood patches. It must've been a brutal fight. I hate that I couldn't help my brothers and sisters. My eyes linger on Deceit's body before traveling to Remus's. Someone took Birrol's home. We'll have to figure out what we'll do with the other two. I look back at Zora and remember her last comment.
"They could be bright pink and green for all I care at this point." I admit more seriously.
"You really couldn't fly, huh?" She looks at me sympathetically. I shake my head as I hang my head.
"The longer I was here the less I was able to do." I sigh.
"What about sword fighting?" She wonders.
"You know it's not that fun without you." I look at her with a crooked grin. She smiles softly.
"What happens now?" She looks serious again. I shake my head as I shrug.
"I don't know." I sigh. "I feel like I'm on some kind of borderline." I admit.
"Like I don't know who I'm supposed to be now." I comb through my hair with my fingers. I so desperately want to go home again. But will it still feel like home after everything that's happened? I've changed so much.
"You're Virgil. You'll always be Virgil. Don't try to figure out who you're supposed to be. Just be you." She speaks up softly. I let out a sigh. I don't know if it's that easy.
"You want to stay with the human, don't you?" She asks. Looking into my eyes knowingly. I look over my shoulders. Neither Roman nor Aimee are visible from here. But I can feel him. He's still stressed, but relatively okay.
"Are you sure he won't turn against you like the people in Janus' story?" Zora's concerned voice brings me back.
"He won't." I reply resolute. I'm worried about a million things, but that's not one of them. I've given him enough reasons to doubt and fear me. I've pushed him back mentally and physically and he stayed right where he was. He's been through the worst. He's seen the real me. He's stubborn. I don't think he'd ever allow me to block him out completely. She hums.
"You know, there was a time I thought maybe we could be-" She shrugs. Leaving the rest of that sentence hang in the air. I catch her eyes.
"Me too." I admit in a whisper. "But-" I start to explain myself.
"You don't have to." She stops me. "I can see everything in your eyes." She admits. I look down in a sigh.
"It would've been easier if I never met him." I speak up softly.
"I don't think it's supposed to be easy." She replies. "How else would you know it's worth it?" She tilts her head. A lopsided smile pulls at my lips.
"Whatever you do. I'll be here for you." She promises. "Because either way this is going to end in heartbreak." She adds sympathetically. I rest my face in my hands. What am I even thinking? She's right. Roman may have survived the day, but humans don't live long. In less than a century I'll lose him anyway. It's inevitable. What will I do then?
"Don't fear it already, you pessimist." Zora nudges me with her shoulder. "You've got all the living to do first." She smirks softly. I let out a deep sigh.
"I really did miss you." I admit. She looks at me with a lopsided smile.
"I missed you too." She replies. "I may have even cried a little." She admits. A crooked grin tugs at my lips.
"I made the unbreakable Zora cry?" I tease her.
"I thought you were dead, you ass. Next time I'll make sure you really are." She threatens. I snicker softly. "Go with your sister and human. I'll help Logan wrap this up in the meantime." She speaks up after a while. I look at her with a grateful smile.
"I'll come home as soon as Roman is." I promise.
"Good." She smirks. I stand up and walk over to the horses until Zora calls something behind me. I turn around and she gestures at her wings amused. Right. I can fly again. I grin happy before spreading my wings and flying. Enjoying the wind between my new feathers and in my hair. For a moment I debate flying around the country just 'cause I can, but then I land next to Roman and Aimee. Roman jumps up startle when I suddenly appear. I smirk amused when he glares at me.
"Ready to go home?" I wonder.
"I just want to fall face forward in bed." He sighs with a dreamy look in his eyes. He must be exhausted. I hear his stomach rumble as well.
"I'm sure someone will have something for you to eat as well." I assure him as I climb onto Stormcloud after tying him loose. He hums not entirely convinced when he jumps on Karaliene's back. I look at him closely. Suddenly worried I might have missed something. His emotions are a bit all over the place, but I figured that's normal with everything that happened today.
"Oh, right, you primates- I mean humans- eat a lot right?" Aimee looks curious at Roman. Already waiting on Logan's horse. He nods softly.
"Usually about three times a day." He shrugs. Knowing her she probably already bombarded him with questions. She's the most curious of us all. 

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Happy end!

Jk Jk there are 5 more chapters and an epilogue to go still