EVABELLE

A hand on Evabelle's injured shoulder, brought her blenching awake.

"Sorry," Shaundee's voice whispered in the gloom.

"Is everything okay?" Evabelle mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Pushing herself up from her blanket on the floor of the side room, she squinted to see the others still sleeping under the pile of blankets behind the first door, after the long, exhausting day.

Lucis wasn't there. He hadn't returned.

She turned to Shaundee, who was just a crouched silhouette. "What's wrong?"

"We've found him." Shaundee put a hand on Evabelle's wrist. "You told us you wanted us to get you when we did."

Evabelle just about asked who, but then her brain snapped back into place. "CJ? Really?" Suddenly, feeling much more alert, she rolled her aching body up and followed Shaundee back out into the main room, with Calandra still sitting at the head of the table.

"He's alive." Was the first thing the serious mage said. Her eyes were closed and the powerful green aura around her had dimmed somewhat, but Evabelle could still feel the electrical buzz in the air.

Evabelle sat beside her. "How is he?"

Calandra screwed up her face in what looked like annoyance. "He's a moron, that's what--" She stopped abruptly, her expression faltering. "He's scared. He doesn't believe it's me. He thinks I'm Etheldreda messing around inside his head."

Evabelle let out a breath and looked down at her hands.

Calandra hissed. "Gah! He just won't listen to me."

"Can you see where he is?" Evabelle asked.

Calandra shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. And just as I suspected, there's magical forces surrounding the area preventing me knowing his precise location. I'm only centering on his aura. It's all I can make out." Her body shivered and Shaundee stepped around her daughter, until she stood behind her. The older woman rested a hand on Calandra's shoulder and murmured something, causing a pale purple hue to meld in with Calandra's green.

"Can you connect to him?" Evabelle asked Shaundee.

"No, I'm just lending a bit of my strength. The connection is long distance. And as she said, she's filtering through Etheldreda's protective spells."

"If you're connected to CJ, does that mean that Etheldreda's not wearing him like a puppet right now?"

Calandra nodded. "He's alone. I wouldn't dare be trying to communicate with him if she was using him. She'd sense me right away. So if I need to contact him again, I'll be able to find him fast, but I'll have to flash in to make sure he's not being controlled." She banged her fist down on the table, startling Evabelle. "Listen to me! Come on!" She shouted.

"He still doesn't believe it's you," Evabelle guessed her frustration.

Calandra sighed. "No. Etheldreda's poisoned him so much, I don't know if I'll ever get him to understand."

The meager food that Evabelle had managed to swallow earlier, revolved in her stomach. "There has to be a way to get through to him." She pushed up from her chair. "Could I speak to him?"

Shaundee shook her head. "It doesn't work like that."

"Couldn't I at least try?" Evabelle paced over beside Calandra and lifted her hand. She could feel the heat radiating off the mage as though she had a fever. An idea had occurred to Evabelle. "Hold on, I'll be right back." She withdrew and treaded back to the room where the others slept.

Carefully, Evabelle eased over Aza's lightly snoring form and over to the boys on the other side. Del was a silent sleeper, but she saw the slow inhale and exhale as his blanket rose and fell. She couldn't take a feather from him. He was still pretty weak, though he wouldn't dare admit that, but he needed as much strength as he could get.

Evabelle glanced over to Faux, and nearly cried out in alarm. His eyes were open, staring up at the ceiling, unmoving. The soft glow falling in from the main room, cast eerie shadows across his face, however it was the oddly empty look on him that spooked her most. He could have been dead, if those blank eyes didn't move and land on her. He blinked and light filled the voids. "Evabelle?" He mouthed, tilting his head.

Evabelle crouched down next to him and whispered. "What are you doing awake? You should be sleeping."

Faux smiled. "Have you met me, love? I am a transcendent being that has no need for mortal require...irements." He stumbled over the word as he stifled a yawn.

Evabelle shook her head. "You know better, Seren."

Faux blinked. "You just called me Seren."

"I've noticed people refer to you as such, when you're being an idiot."

Faux nodded. "That's fair. Now, what are you doing awake?"

Evabelle took a deep breath. "Could I use a feather?"

"That definitely didn't answer my question," Faux raised an eyebrow. "You've only added to my curiosity."

"We've found CJ," Evabelle replied. "But we're having some trouble and I just want to try something; to see if I can reach out to him."

"Intriguing, an experiment." He quietly clapped his hands together. "I shall join you and--"

Evabelle shook her head. "No, you don't. You just heard me. Don't be an idiot. You must sleep."

Faux rolled his eyes but plucked one of his feathers and started to hand it to the girl. However, he paused before she could take it. "Fine, as you say, your majesty. But I have one last question. If I had been asleep when you came in, you would have just stolen one, wouldn't you? It's a bad habit, missy." He tickled her nose with the feather, and Evabelle hurriedly snatched it.

"Thank you and yes, I would have. Now, go to sleep." Evabelle stood and mazed herself out again, knowing full well that he probably wasn't going to listen to her.

Evabelle eased the door shut behind her and ran back to the two mages at the head of the table. With Faux's feather in hand, she pressed it to Calandra's temple.

Calandra's eyes flashed open and Evabelle saw her pupils flickering. "What are you doing?"

"I have to talk to him,"

"You can't," Calandra snapped. "It's imposs--"

Evabelle closed her eyes and reached in and found the golden fire she used when she would heal, and pushed it out to feed into Calandra's power. The feather in her hand warmed under her hands, matching the temperature rolling off the woman in the chair. A light flashed through her eyelids and the feeling of the fluffy cotton vanished and so did all her sense of space and sensation in one sudden whirlwind strike. It was as though she had become the wind and was spiraling in darkness.

And then it stopped.

She wasn't aware of her body. She didn't know if she was standing or lying down. She was still aware of emotions. She knew if she could feel her heart, it'd be racing. What the heck had just happened?

But then she heard something, or felt something, or sensed...someone. It was like hearing him breathing, or feeling his body heat near her, or sensed his soul mingling with hers.

"CJ!"

Fear washed over Evabelle, almost overwhelming her back. His presence recoiled at her exclamation.

Calandra's voice floated in the void. "He senses you!"

"But I can't hear his thoughts," Evabelle whispered. But she'd definitely felt something. Something she didn't like at all.

"That's okay," Calandra replied. "Just hold on."

Evabelle didn't know what to do. "Can he hear me?"

"No, but he knows you're here too."

The fear slowly slipped away and instead, an intense feeling of relief flooded into its place, so much that it normally would have brought Evabelle to her knees if she'd been aware if her knees.

"He knows it's the real you," Calandra said.

"What does that mean?" Evabelle asked. She didn't like the implication of what she'd said, but Calandra didn't answer.

"He's listening now," Calandra breathed out. After a few more moments she said. "He doesn't know where he is. But he suspects somewhere underground with a lot of tunnels, but he says that only because he hasn't seen any windows, and there's a lot of winding hallways. It's also cold."

Evabelle's heart sank. "He doesn't know," she repeated to herself, then refocused. "Is Thom with him?"

A bitter sensation of sinking despair rode over Evabelle like a tide. Her own fear mixed into it at CJ's desolation. Evabelle almost cried out. She knew it had been her question that had brought on the shift.

"Yes, not in the same room, but he knows where he is," Calandra murmured, as though chilled. She must have felt the emotional decline too.

Evabelle desperately wanted to ask if CJ knew if Thom was okay, but she stopped herself. The agonizing impression of drowning in misery was abating, but it haunted Evabelle, since it had all risen from bringing up her little brother. She didn't think she could take the answer just then. Calandra's answer implied that Thom was alive, and that was all Evabelle could accept for now.

Evabelle instead asked Calandra to tell him what they'd learned about breaking the familiar bond.

"He doesn't believe it. He thinks it's too good to be true," Calandra spoke.

It is, CJ. Evabelle thought and willed it to somehow reach him. We're going to get you out. You just have to help us. You can break yourself free.

"He knows where the mark is," Calandra cut through Evabelle's concentration.

"What?"

"He knows where the familiar's leash mark is. So all we have to do is find him, hurt him, while he's being controlled, enough to break out of her spell, and he should be able to sever it."

Calandra sighed and Evabelle could feel the mage's aggravation in the darkness too. She understood the feeling. "This isn't going to easy, since I still don't know where he is."

"Do you have any kind of idea?" Evabelle asked.

"West. I'd say far west."

Okay, well that was something. They could, at the very least, split the U.S. in half. And far west implied they could narrow it down a little further. But still it was a lot of ground. And underground, by the sounds of it.

"I think that's all we're going to get for now," Calandra said. "I'm going to break the connection, but I'll now be able to find him again easily." She went silent, and Evabelle waited to be pulled out of this black oblivion world, but before she was, another feeling that was not her own, engulfed her. This was something that was directed at her. It was piercing like an arrow, painful and raw.

Remorse.

Unbridled shame and regret. An agonizing feeling of guilt rammed Evabelle with rampant force. And words drifted softly inside her head. Thoughts that had a voice, that was not hers.

I'm so sorry.

A vacuum sucked Evabelle back through the tunnels of confusion and flung her out into the real world again, where she found herself kneeling on the floor of the conference room, blinking down at her shaking hands.

A bead of water slipped off of her cheek and splashed down onto the ground in front of her.

Confusedly, she raised her hand up and wiped a the stream of tears flooding down from her eyes.

Shaundee was suddenly squatting beside her. "Are you alright? That was incredible. You actually melded with them, sort of. But then you just collapsed. Are you okay?" She said all this very fast.

Evabelle nodded, but that was a lie.

With Shaundee's help, she got back up to her feet and looked at Calandra, who was staring back at her a little dumbfounded, which might have made Evabelle laugh, if it wasn't so serious. "We have to find them. We can't wait any longer. We have to find them now."

Calandra's open mouth pressed tight together. "What do you think we've been trying to do?"

Evabelle breathed out slow. "You got more than I did while reading his mind, and you felt it all too."

Calandra closed her eyes and bowed her head. "You're right. We need to get them out, now."

* * * * *

Helpless. Utterly helpless.

Evabelle sat at the table the next day, watching Shaundee scribble down names of western sanctuaries and lairs, as Max's voice named them off. He was in the library at the Sanctuary, reading them from one of the books.

Calandra stared down into the little handheld mirror, nodding as she told him of other books that had names of some more hidden places that held some potential.

The two mage women then discussed over which ones could be overruled. Then they repeated the cycle.

Evabelle, Aza, Del, and Faux all sat around them, not being able to do a single thing.

Lucis hadn't come back.

Aza banged her head on the table. "I wish I'd brought a deck of cards or something."

Calandra glanced up. "I told you that you didn't need to come."

"Yeah, you told us so." Aza moaned in agreement. "Why don't we just go back now? You said you could connect back with him any time, now that you've got the aura link, right? I wouldn't mind reading from one of these books, myself even. Or I could practice with my gun!" She sat up again at the thought.

Evabelle felt the same way. She had helped get CJ to listen to them, so her coming her was not wasted, but now she wasn't doing anything. All she was left to do was stew. Stew in fear for her brother and CJ. Stew in the gigantic mess, that was her love life. Stew in worry of where Lucis was at all. Stew in how she was supposed to keep a level head through it all and be a leader as everything fell apart around her.

"Calandra needs time to rest," Shaundee said. "And for that matter so do I. We've both worked ourselves out. We should be good to leave tomorrow morning, but for now, just let it be."

The two of them had admittedly been up for hours. They should be sleeping now, but they knew more about the sanctuaries. And now with Evabelle's insistence, they were still working their tale ends off.

Aza sighed and dragged her feet over to the food door and opened it up. It was more of just a jam-packed pantry, but it worked just fine. "Oooh, pudding," Aza said, with a far lower tone of excitement than one should have when discovering pudding. "Who wants one?"

No one said anything.

"Come on. Someone wants a pudding. No one's had breakfast." Aza looked at Del, who's chin rested on his hand. His eyes were closed. "Think fast!" She chucked the pudding cup straight at his face.

A hand suddenly swiped out and caught it, but it wasn't Del's.

Faux pulled the pudding to him. "Are there any spoons back there,"

"Hey! I was trying to hit him," Aza put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, but you were doing it all wrong." Faux shook his head wisely. "To do it properly, you must tear it partially open and throw it, just so, so it lands with the open side squelching against his cute little nose."

Aza nodded. "Oh, right, I totally forgot."

A part of Evabelle was happy they the two of them were trying to lighten the mood, but at the same time, it was grating. She pushed back from her chair and stood. "I'm going to go for a walk," she announced.

Everyone stared at her. "It's really stormy out there." Shaundee warned.

"I get the impression that there's never a time it isn't." Evabelle started her way to the stairs. "I just need to clear my head. I need some time to myself." She added when she saw Aza take a step toward her.

Her friend rocked back but nodded. She sat down and slid a spoon over to Faux.

Evabelle ascended the stairs and reached out for the door. The chatter of her friends rang in her ears, but there was one voice that was silent. Their eyes, now open, burning holes into her back as she thrust herself out into the bitter tempest.

Evabelle wrapped her arms around herself as the sudden gusts sent a trail of goosebumps down her spine. The temperature had definitely dropped since the last time she'd been out there. She pushed her hair behind her ears and determinedly forced herself forward.

She circled around the wide gully, heading away from the road and further on into the infinite field of forever.

Though, it was no longer night, the sky still seemed dark. It was darker than yesterday and the clouds circled, ever more menacing.

Evabelle staggered and stumbled her way, mostly blind, since her hair decided not to stay put. But she didn't need to see. She wasn't really using her eyes in that moment, as her brain was primarily focused on what was going on inside her head.

Lucis, Thom, CJ, Thom, Lucis, CJ, Thom, Lucis. Those three names rained over her. Their faces, their smiles, the lights in their eyes, all slipping away from her. The feelings of horror and desolation so potent, that rolled off CJ in the dark void. The apology that had come from him and what it insinuated made her whole body tremble harder in the wind.

Lucis screaming when she tried to get near him. He was falling to pieces right in front of her eyes. He was gone and she didn't know where. What if he never came back?

That thought tripped Evabelle, and brought her down to her knees again. The pain from the bruises he had scored her with, sent jolts of pain searing her all the way up. She choked on the sob that she pushed back. Inhaling slowly, she shoved the thought away. They would figure this out. They would figure it all out. Evabelle eased herself over and laid down on her back. It also twinged where Lucis's arms had embraced her tight, but she ignored it.

The grass whipped at her face and she put up a hand to block the tiny adversaries. Something soft tickled her fingers and she withdrew it enough for her to see a swaying dandelion, still with more than half the seeds attached. She reached out to touch it again, but the wind switched directions and the small puffball swished in the opposite direction, the rest of the tiny feathery seeds scatting into the ever darkening sky.

The sky where Evabelle could see a beautiful bird, off in the distance, braving the hurricane. It soared under the unrelenting rage that brewed in the heavens. It spread its enormous wings and glided through the turbulent air without a speck of trouble. When it flapped its wings, it surged forward. Its strength was truly incredible.

As the animal drew nearer and nearer to Evabelle, she saw that it was not a bird.

It was a boy.

But Evabelle knew that from the moment she saw it. It was a boy with bright blue eyes and hair as gold as day. It was a boy, who was strong and gentle, playful and adventurous. It was a boy with a laugh like music and smile like dawn. It was a boy who put everyone before himself. It was a boy who locked away part of his soul, so that his heart wouldn't hurt anyone.

Finally the bird circled right above the girl in the grass. She hadn't moved. She lay, overwhelmed in relief that she thought she might cry. She smiled up at Lucis, who's face seemed darker by the swirling gray clouds.

"Evabelle,"

Evabelle jumped at the voice that had come from just a few feet to her left. She turned her head and saw Del, standing there, the wind whirling his dark hair all around his face. He wasn't looking at Evabelle. His face was turned upwards, toward his brother.

"Del?" Evabelle blinked.

"Evabelle, you need to go, now," he said it softly, but Evabelle still heard the slow, clarity of his words. "Go back to the others,"

Evabelle shook her head and propped herself up on her elbows. "I don't un--"

A laugh. A laugh that was not musical, rang out from above. Evabelle swapped her attention back up to Lucis and saw him roll around in the air, the sound coming from him so sour and harsh. "Oh, look at this!" Lucis's voice full of a terrible glee. "The great oracle has come to save the princess," He glared down at Del. "Too bad, little brother's got a broken wing."

Evabelle's heart plummeted down like a rock. She shook her head, her mouth gaping open. "No, this can't be--"

A buffet of air hit Evabelle as Del launched himself up to meet Lucis.

Evabelle sprang to her feet and watched in complete helpless horror as it was all she could do.

"Lucis," Del started once he was level.

Lucis laughed again. "You just had to prove how strong you are. You just have to prove you're not weak." He grabbed the front of Del's shirt and pulled him close, whose flapping was clearly off. "But you know you can't,"

"You're not thinking, clearly." Del pushed back from Lucis's hold. "Listen to me. You need space. You need to go and--" He was cut off as Lucis shook him roughly, the injured black wing trembled like an leaf about to break off from its branch.

"No, I am thinking clearly. I can see everything so much better than I ever have." Lucis hissed. "My entire life I've run away from the man in the mirror." He shook his head. "No not running away. I've been constantly painting over the reflection, creating someone that doesn't exist."

Del grabbed Lucis's arm. "Lucis--"

"It's grueling having to think through every single action." Lucis didn't let the darker Anahalian speak. "It's arduous work having to suck in every dream I've ever had to be the perfect man. My entire life I've given myself to everyone else. To you, Del. I sacrificed everything for you, and for that," He turned his head to look down at her, and Evabelle saw his eyes, his completely black eyes. His mouth twitched, the dark swirling eyes dancing with a ferocious hunger that made her heart stutter in her chest.

Del tried to say something again, which snapped Lucis's attention back. The fairer man snatched Del's long hair and yanked it, making the darker brother grunt. "You, Del. Weak, pathetic, crying, broken child." He tugged again and flung Del's head to the side as he released his dark mane. "I took care of you while I had to suck it all up, and be the man."

"I know," Del breathed. "You did. You took care of me. You did everything for me. I owe more than I can ever repay, but Lucis please,"

"Please what?" Lucis snapped. "Push down this? Push down who I really am?"

"This isn't who you are!" Del's voice rose.

Lucis threw back his head and laughed again. A sound that continued to cripple Evabelle's insides. Her eyes were burning. Her mouth moved, but she was as helpless as ever. The entire scene right out of a horror show.

It was almost as if she'd seen it before.

"Evabelle," Lucis's call shocked the girl on the ground. "You said you saw a wall in my eyes. You said I had locked my soul away in a cage. Don't you think it's time I let it free?"

Evabelle shook her head. "L-Lucis, this isn't what I meant. This--"

"This is what's behind that wall. This is me!" Lucis growled. "This is that reality. That's what you said. I was your reality. Well, guess what, sweetheart, this is the true reality."

"No!" Evabelle clenched her fists. "This isn't it!"

Lucis let go of Del and turned his full attention to her. "I think it's time we finally dance, princess. A real dance. And trust me, you'll hear music." He arced his great white wings up, with the smoky clouds as a backdrop, and dove.

Del spun and caught at the light feathers and hauled him back, only for Lucis to whirl and bring his fist crashing into his brother's jaw.

The darker man spiraled back and dropped several feet. He shook himself and slaved back up, only to be struck again. Lucis flew down to him and brought his hand around again, but Del brought up an arm and blocked it.

Lucis tutted. "You said you owe me everything, Del. Doesn't that mean you should take these. Take your medicine, little brother. Take the hits that I took." He jerked his head to the side, showing off the shiner he'd received from Faux the day before.

"Stop it, please!" Evabelle screamed up to the boys, her whole body shaking, her vision shimmering with tears. Icy threads spread over and sunk into her skin. Again, there was something so terribly familiar about this. But she'd never seen Lucis like this...had she?

Dandelions dancing around her head, watching a flying boy circle around her. Another boy watching the other, that then flew up to meet him.

It was a dream. It was foggy. It was from a time where all her dreams vanished once she woke, but now this. This stirred the images from her mind from another lifetime ago.

A storm had swirled in. Their screaming, fighting, blow after to blow.

Now the fair angel swung endlessly at the dark knight, who could barely keep up with the onslaught. "Lucis, I'm so sorry," Del's voice cracked and Evabelle shrunk at that. "I'm sorry, brother, please,"

"Stop saying that, you pathetic excuse. Fight back you, coward!"

Del's hands turned to fists too, but he didn't hit Lucis. He continued to dodge around clumsily with his battered wing, but still kept himself between Evabelle and his brother. "I'm not a coward."

Lucis found an opening and threw his hands forward and wrapped them around Del's throat. "I know you better than anyone else, so I know what you are."

This image was so deathly paralleled in Evabelle's mind. Her head whirred through it, trying to see the dream clearly, but then the end of it broke through. Lucis's monster hand plunging through Del's chest, straight through his heart, killing him.

"LUCIS!" Evabelle screeched. She had to get his attention. She had to get him away from Del. "Lucis, listen to me!"

"Don't worry, Evabelle," Lucis's gaze flickered to her, but quickly went back to his current prey. "You'll get your turn."

Evabelle tore her gaze away and looked around the flatlands as if she would see some kind of help. She was too far from the others to reach them in time. There was nothing. Nothing for her. She didn't have her wings...

Evabelle closed her eyes tight. She needed them. She couldn't let what she knew was bound to happen, if she didn't do something. "My wings," She whispered to herself. "I need them back."

Prickling started bouncing off her spine, building and climbing, until she felt a burning fire, inflame across her whole back. She clenched her teeth. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.

The snapping of bones, hammers smashing her flesh, burning, gouging agony, twisted her nerves into knots. Evabelle screamed and fell to her knees. Her head had that familiar sense of splitting open. The white pain rippled before her eyes again, this time it had a sort of shape. It was a face that was split in a cruel smile. It was saying something, but she couldn't hear it. Her own words "I'm nothing. I'm useless. I'm nothing." Blared in its place.

Evabelle gasped in a great lungful of air and blinked through heavily watering eyes. She was back from her torture bout, but as she reached her hand to her back, she knew they weren't there. She let out a frustrated cry and looked up to see Del clinging flaccidly to his brother, his wings barely keeping him airborne, while Lucis gripped the front of his shirt again.

"You're wrong," Del rasped, his hand tightening briefly on Lucis's shoulder.

"About what?" Lucis drawled.

"I didn't come to save her," his head lolled to the other side. "I came to save you."

That seemed to actually affect Lucis slightly. He paused and stared silently at his defeated brother. However he did recover. "Save me from what? From freedom? From living without an infinite weight crushing me down?"

"From losing."

Lucis's sneer turned into a furious glower. And Evabelle's breath was sucked away as she saw him reached behind Del, grabbed the shuddering wing, and tear it clean off his back in a great arc of blood. He let it drop to the earth, just feet away from the petrified Evabelle.

She couldn't. She just couldn't.

Del didn't make a sound. His body just fell limp in Lucis's arms and the boy with the demon heart let his brother's body drag them both down.

Evabelle's autopilot kicked in and she ran out of the way, ducking and turning away. She covered her ears and shut her eyes, but she felt the impact through her entire system. Shakily, she lowered her arms. She didn't want to turn, but she did to see the full display of her nightmare in real time.

Lucis knelt over his brother, staring down in silence. The blonde head jerked. He brought up his hands that were covered in blood and stared at them. They started to shake. Then he lowered them back and stared again at Del. He moved as if to push the dark hair out of his eyes, to touch his face in a very different way than he had been, but he stopped a few inches away and pulled back.

"No. This isn't. No." His voice shook too. "No! NO!" He pounded his fists into the dirt. "Gah!" He brought his hands up to his head and pressed the heels into his temples, smearing them with his brother's blood. "NO!"

Lucis's head slowly rose and blue eyes looked back at gold, both sets were wide in terror and shock.

The dream. He had reached out and begged her to help him. In response, Evabelle had withdrawn in disdain, but she wouldn't this time. Evabelle resolved to not run away from him. She was going to take his hand and do everything she could.

Silently, the two of them stared at one another. There was a slight shake of Lucis's head, the blue eyes reddening at the corners as tears formed. He staggered to his feet and backed away from them both, still shaking his head. His mouth moved, but no comprehensible word was uttered before he turned and again leapt up and flew into the chaos.

Evabelle stumbled, the unsaid words emptying her. Her eyes flickered down to the dark form, and sucked in a knifing breath. She ran forward and skidded to her knees beside him.

His eyes were closed. His skin was pale as chalk, save for the mottling bruised from his brother's fists.

She pressed her tremoring fingers to his throat and her other hand hovered near his mouth.

There was no heartbeat.

He wasn't breathing.

The wings were the strength and the weakness of the Anahalian. They were hard to injure, but when they did so...

In the dream he had stabbed him straight through the heart. To the Anahalians the wings were like another heart. Tear them off, it was like ripping out the heart.

"Del," Evabelle whispered. "You can't do this. You can't," Tears streamed down her cheeks. "H-humans lose arms and legs and survive, but just t-tear of one w-wing and your just d-done?" She shook her head hard. "You're not going that easy," She pushed the body over and saw the gaping hole. Bloody bone protruded through the drenched fabric of his shirt. The ground around them was already soaked. "No, you hear me? No!" Evabelle's sight was almost completely blurred out now by the tears that just kept coming. She pushed herself up and marched over to the dark wing and curled her fingers into the black feathers and heaved it back to him, while it left its own crimson trail.

Along the way, she scooped up one of the feathers that had fallen from the brawl in the sky. It was white.

"What am I supposed to tell the others? What do I tell Aza? Well, I'm not telling them you're d-dead. You understand me?"

She found the place where the bones connected and gracelessly pushed it around until they touched. Then she slowly, lowered herself back down, still holding the wing up in one arm that shook under the weight, and pressed the other hand to his spine, at the broken area there. She glanced at the other intact wing. "It's only half. Half your heart, but I'll p-put it back. I'll put it back, okay?" Her voice quavered so badly that, even if he could hear her, he wouldn't be able to translate through the hysterics.

Evabelle took several deep breaths to settle her tone. "Je lucerna mea va zoivis tu Delaney Mendax," she barely managed, but each time she repeated it, it came out clearer and with more fervor. She pushed her golden light out, but there was no place for it to go. There was no purple fire for it to feed into. There was nothing there. She grit her teeth and repeated the spell. The feather glowed gold, but it didn't shift into violet like it was supposed to. "NO! I said no!" Evabelle hunched down so that her nose rubbed in his feathers. She shut her eyes, tears squeezing out and trailing into the cleaved wing. "Y-you said that you were here to save h-him from losing. You wanted to save him from losing himself...himself a-and me. You knew it would b-break him. But he can't lose you either. If you're gone, Lucis will never be Lucis. If you r-really want to save him, he can't lose you!"

She screamed the healing spell and poured everything into it. The golden light from Lucis's feather exploded in front of her eyes, blinding her and it was as though she was again in that void where she'd felt CJ. Everything was gone save for the sensation of emotion and energy that revved around her. Gold was everywhere she turned, except...

A faint sliver of violet smoke. A wisp, gliding further and further away. "No!" Evabelle flung the golden forward and entrapped it all inside. It was like catching air in her hands. She could feel it slipping away. "You're not allowed to leave!" Evabelle screamed, and poured more and more out, encircling it further in her light until a tether snapped and she was suddenly flung back into her body with such a force it knocked her sideways, so that her head landed with a thud, in the blood soaked mud.

The last thing she saw was purple.

~(A/N: That's honestly one of the shortest chapter's in either Angel Wings or Demon Heart. As you can see, this one's only going to be one part, so sorry if you like the split chapters, but I figured this one was an all in one. I probably could have combined this chapter with the next one, because I think that one might be a little short too, but I knew that this was where this one needed to end.

Because it's so short, I also didn't follow the schedule as you can see. I really am awful at them.

...So the demon heart is corrupting Lucis fast, now. Evabelle broke down his wall, and now he's barely keeping it together. He killed...he murdered...nope I just can't say it.

As always, I want to hear your thoughts on everything. We finally contacted CJ. He's alive! There was a bit of a question of whether or not he was at the end of chapter 17. He's still suffering under Etheldreda and the Mistress. But they still don't know where CJ and Thom are.

And now there's this freaking chapter.

So was anyone reminded of Evabelle's dream from book one with the two flying boys, before it was mentioned here? Did you sense it? My goal was to trigger it before I brought it up in the narrative. This was obviously a little different than the dream. They didn't turn into Annihilators in this chapter, and the place was already in the middle of a storm, and of course Lucis didn't ask Evabelle for help. But the dream, while having many literal parallels, was also obviously very symbolic. A perfect day with a perfect boy, turning sour. The peace destroyed by the storm or plague of the Annihilator curse, the rain representing the virus, or the literal liquid that they injected Tru and other Anahalians with. There's the part where Evabelle feels herself ascending up to join Lucis, but is suddenly yanked back down, unexplainably --- And in this chapter we saw her try to get her wings and fail, again :( Obviously, I've already drawn the parallel between the heart and the wings and how they're same. So, even though, in the dream Lucis stabs Del through the heart, it's still just as deadly to rip off a wing.

I hope the emotion shown through, especially poor Evabelle as she cries to save Del. It got me emotional, writing her like this. She's become a lot stronger than at the beginning of the books, but this little show and all that she witnessed has rocked her to her core. It rocked me a little too.

What do you think is going to happen? What do you think everyone is going to do now? How do you personally feel about Lucis after this?

..................

As promised, from the last chapter's challenge, here's my list of my least favorite kiss, all the way up to my favorite!

7.) The Mistress & CJ kiss - It is, in my opinion, the sickest and most messed up of the kisses. It's completely without consent and it is purely to manipulate and torture CJ, who's already been through so much.

6.) The Aza & CJ/Etheldreda kiss - Again it's for torture. It's just toying with both CJ and Aza which is so wrong.

5.) The Mistress & Averno kiss - They're both so evil and corrupt. Plus it's so gross.

4.) Del and Aza fever kiss - I loved writing this scene. It was so hot and passionate, but the fact that it was kind of wrong for Aza to really do what she did, and then the fact that Del was talking about someone that was not Aza just hurts :(

3.) Kai and Saya kiss - This is such a heartbreaking one. I love Kai soooo much, so giving him this small moment was so important. The way he describes as feeling truly alive again is so crushing. We need more on Saya, I know. Since I'm the author, I do know more about her and Kai's past relationship.

2.) Lucis and Evabelle windstorm kiss - This one was so freaking needed. It had just been stretched out for far too long, so having it finally happen was both amazing and devastating, considering its ending. It was so out of character with both of them, being angry and almost a little violent. It exposes them in a way we haven't seen that is both enlightening but maybe a little concerning. Either way it was wild and intense for certain.

1.) Del and Aza rain kiss - This is number one for me because it was really the first big kiss scene I've written. Perhaps it's kind of like nostalgia. In all honesty, it's probably not the best written of all the kisses. It's probably pretty sloppy. I'm going to go back and fix it up. But it still was such a big milestone for the characters and the book itself. It was a bursting moment for both Del and Aza that shattered something that they didn't even realize was there. It may be a little cliché with it being in the rain during a fight, but it was still such a big moment for me and them and I seriously love it so much!

***Sadly, there is no challenge for this week, but I do feel bad for this cliffhanger, so I'm going to be nice and publish the next chapter this Sunday!

Anyway sorry if there's a lot of mistakes in this one. I was really excited to get it up. I've been on a bit of a writing high and have been getting a ton done. It's been amazing!! And heads up, we're getting close to the end people. There's just a few more chapters. I hope you're ready!

Thank you as always! And I love every single one of you!! :D)~