A/N: Previously on Claiming Lucian
"I Am XIII, I cAn bE of aNy nUmbEr of the HIghEr OrdEr."

"Everyone, get away from that thing!" Sevor yelled out with much urgency in his voice.

"My name is Caspian, the husband of Queen Titia, your mother's sister. I'm also very much dead."

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I think I had finally reached the ceiling—I probably blew up the roof already.

"Oh sweet nephew, you've already lost your senses a long time ago," he politely aided and lovingly ruffled my hair. "That is one of the many traits that people adore about you."

Was that a compliment or was that an insult? I cannot tell. He smiled as if the world had done nothing wrong to him.

I brushed away the strands of hair from my face and looked straight at this man claiming to be my relative. Caspian tilted his head at me and wore a facade of a smile.

"How you've grown. It is good to know that our sacrifices weren't in vain."

The word sacrifice instantly triggered my inquisitiveness.

"What do you mean by that?"

The brightness of our surroundings began to flicker and slowly, the ancients resting disappeared one by one.

Caspian sat with a dignified posture and kept his expression calm and welcoming. He was an overall congenial man but was shrouded in mystery.

What were dead ancients doing inside my head?

"You are a miracle to both life and death. Always remember that."

With another flicker of darkness, Caspian vanished and I rose and searched for him, as I searched for answers regarding the puzzles of my identity.

"What are you keeping from me?" I asked.

What was I?

Why did people keep dying for my sake?

The light had completely deserted me and voices echoed through my mind as the topic tore the sheet of my core; leaving me bare to the freezing temperatures, vulnerable to the opportunists, and flimsy to the abusers.

"He's the reason why this happened! Everything is his fault!" Slade growled. His voice held rage and vengeance and the ground shook from the might of his fury.

I didn't want them to die.

"His kind killed my whole pack. He needs to die. I'll end him myself and with his death, I shall follow," Caleb spoke sternly.

I wasn't like them. I was not a Catastrophe. I didn't want anyone to die because of me.

"Lucian is a catastrophe...I can't believe he manipulated us all.  Wye Fye died because of him. I won't forgive him...never!" Sevor yelled.

I tried to save them. I tried to keep them alive.

And I knew that no matter how much I apologize; I cannot return the life that was stolen from them.

I should have died in their stead.

"Lucian, can you hear me?"

I stiffened at the presence of another man inside my head, who reached out through the clouds of this stormy feeling inside of me.

The light that materialized into man shone in front of me and I reunited with the masked angel who we met before.

He was on his knees which were fanned out; his shoulders slumped, his back slouched, and his head bowed in submissiveness. He was shackled with his wings bound together by a massive clip that made his silver-blue wings drip with blood.

"What happened to you?" I asked him and slowly knelt. His head lifted in surprise and his fanned legs anchored straight.

The shackles clanged as he moved hastily.

"It worked. You can hear me," he murmured.

"Why are you inside my head and why are you held captive like so?" 

The angel looked at the shackles and rested his hands on his stomach.

"The other angels had noticed my interference with you without God's consent. I am being punished," he responded.

I blinked, bewildered by his attempt to reach out when he was already suffering from the consequences.

"Are you not afraid?"  I asked him. "You are already bleeding because of your defilement. I would advise you to refrain from bleeding for the likes of me."

The angel moved forward.

"I have felt your withering will to live. You are not thinking of taking your life, are you?" He frankly queried.

"What is it to take if I am already decaying from the inside? The reason why I was caged as a child was because they fear me for spreading the rot to the world. They are right; I should have never come out."

The angel's bound hands reached out to me as he swayed his head in inches of disapproval.

"Do not speak ill about yourself, especially in front of me," the angel spoke softly.

I kept my silence and stood up to grab the shackles keeping him.

"How do I free you?"

"Freeing me equivalents to killing me. It's impossible."

"We won't know unless we try," I told him.

"What if I died trying?"

I stared blankly at him. "At least you don't get to blame me for it."

...

...

...

I grabbed the edge of the mask covering the angel's face and he nodded at me to proceed. I pulled the mask with all my strength and the angel bellowed in excruciating pain. Light brimmed from the shape of the mask and my fingertips burned from the smoldering fire.

Sweat layered my skin and the angel's body slowly floated. His body rose from the ground as if he was being held. My arms followed until he hovered above me. Because of this angle, I bent my knees and continued to pull.

The view from above transformed into the blue sky and the clouds. Just as I plucked the mask from his face and fell on the ground, the angel supported his body up with his stretched arm as if he was on top of a transparent floor. His face was voided of features but its outline bled and drops of blood touched the invisible barrier.

A drop of blood seemingly caused a crack on the floor he was on, and the fissure elongated and spread before the sky shattered in shards and collapsed on top of me.

As the chilled shards pricked my skin, my breath was stolen from my lungs. I felt like I was yanked from an ice-filled tub just as the air was returned to me and was used to fill in a loud gasp. 

My eyes peeled open and I found frightened and confused eyes staring at me.

They were scared. They were scared of me.

The skies were tinted cherry with a mix of orange. The camp was in total devastation with its inhabitants in equal state.

My heart dropped to the ground when I saw Caleb standing far away from me with eyes lost in deep thinking. Slade was staring with a bitter expression as his arms were crossed in front of his chest. Sevor had an unreasonable face but was looking— boring holes into my shivering form.

The only one who dared to approach me was Crowley, yet I flinched from his gentlest touch.

"Lucian..." He murmured with a broken voice. His eyes puffy and red from weeping. "The little ones didn't make it. We buried them while you slept."

My legs folded and I pulled myself up. Crowley held me and I sensed the two wings still in place. My skin shivered, my body still cold, and I refused to look back to see what I truly was.

I looked around mindlessly, having the intent to find something to appease my aching heart. I saw the graves which staked even more pain and more heaviness to my burden.

At my first step, Crowley immediately walked to my front to catch me in my stumble.

"You have not recovered fully. You have lost so much blood and you are still bleeding a bit."

My eyes connected to Crowley and my dry lips only managed to whisper:

"Please."

Crowley immediately understood. He understood the pain, this grief, this regret, and this anger.

But most of all, he understood this sadness.

I took more steps until I felt my other arm be grabbed. I look to my left and found Caleb helping me.

His eyes held nothing but vengeance but I didn't know if it was for them or me.

I weakly pried the two men off of me and looked down.

"I can go...by myself. Let me be."

My steps were unstable and weak. My head was throbbing, my hands were shaking, and my eyes kept stinging along with my throat.

The walk to the graves was arduous and long, and I was grabbed once more but this time by Slade who had a rage nearing its spilling. His hold was tight as if he was grasping my heart.

"Where are you going? Why don't you accept help?" He asked firmly.

He was angry but I didn't know if he was angry at them or me.

I pried my arm off and he did not even argue. He was tired. We were all tired.

"I can do it myself."

My steps continued and this time I was stopped by Sevor.

"Let me escort you."

He had always been gentle yet his eyes were mourning. He was weak. He was distrustful but I didn't know if it was because of them or me.

"I can manage," I murmured.

I tried to getaway. I tried to slip from his grasp.

But unlike the others, he did not deter.

"You are weak. It is not the time to refuse. Allow us to help," he insisted.

"I am fine. Do not mind me."

He scowled a little. "Do not be stubborn."

"I am not. I am fine. Do not worry about me."

"I will still help—"

"I do not need it!" I shouted, my voice surprising everyone and even him. "Just..." My voice broke. "Leave me be."

Sevor's resolve prevailed. "This is not the time to rebel. You are extremely injured. Dethroning yourself has made you weak."

"Stop," I whispered. "Stop being kind to me."

"What are you saying?" Sevor asked.

Do not play dumb.

Do not act nice.

Do not lie to me.

"Am I not the cause of these graves? Am I not the cause of the disaster that took place? Why are you being kind? Do not pity me. Do not pity this mon—"

A resounding slap left a stinging red mark on my cheek and I looked back at Sevor who possessed eyes of sorrow.

"We care for you, that is all. Do not belittle yourself in front of the graves of the children who adored you, who loved you; those who were willing to follow you because you have given them hope," Sevor said in a trembling voice.

I watched him tear up, his nose turning a bright red and his eyes finally releasing tears of grief.

"You gave them light in this dark and cruel world. How dare you insult yourself in front of them—in front of all of us?"

The pain on my cheek somehow given me inner peace and my heart's throb became a little less.

It wasn't me who gave them hope. I did not put a light on anyone's path. In truth, in my eyes, they were the ones who became the stars to my night sky.

I was the one who was lost from the very start. 

Sevor helped me get to the graves and I collapsed on my knees and curled forward. My hands grasped the dirt of two of the many graves. My hands shimmered a soft blue light. Flowers grew above the earth they were resting under and I rubbed my cheek against the wet soil.

Sevor's hand rested on top of my back. Caleb sauntered to our place and rested his own hand as well. Slade followed suit and gently placed his hand on me. The children circled us and held hands while they sang a song in a rhythm of innocence that passed through the slope of this malicious era.

They cried and sobbed while singing— saying their farewells to their friends...their family.

"Oyasuminasai! Oyasuminasai!

I guess this is our goodbye.

Close your eyes and sleep well

No one will harm you now.

Goodbye, goodbye, my friend."

"Don't be scared, you'll get there

You are safe, you are free

May you reach the moon's light

One day we'll meet again."

"Oyasuminasai! Oyasuminasai!

Goodbye, goodbye, my friend."

Rest from this cruel world.

Rest from this vicious cycle.

Thank you for your smiles.

Thank you for your company.

Rest little ones...for the world just had too many blind giants.

"Uh...Boys, what is that?" Crowley called out.

Our heads turned to him then followed the direction to where he was looking at.

There was some kind of fireball falling from the sky.

As it got closer, the fireball was extinguished and was replaced by ice. There was a man inside of it.

"What do we do?" Caleb asked.

"It looks like...that angel from before," Sevor commented.

"Do we kill it?" Slade queried.

Peaches appeared beside me and triggered a violent reaction from Slade. My position garnered Peaches' full attention and without second thoughts, he gathered me in his arms.

"Oh so now you're here! Where were you when everything was in shits?!"

Peaches gave Slade a blank stare before saying:

"Collecting souls. It has proven to be difficult when I don't have my scythe."

"Peaches, will you help him?" I asked the reaper.

Peaches sighed once he looked up and realized what was falling.

"Do I have to?"

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A/N: I tried to come up with a rhythm to that song haha.

Oyasuminasai means Good Night.