Aria

"I can't believe we're doing this," Caspian muttered. "I can't believe I'm doing this. . ." 

I gave him a sympathetic smile and squeezed his hand tightly. His shoulders were bunched up with nerves, and he tapped his hand against his thigh in a jittery, uneasy rhythm. I couldn't imagine how he must feel, having to go back to the place he had been unfairly condemned from.

"Hey, Sweet Cheeks, there's one more thing before we go: I need you to drink this," Will told me, holding up a vial with a translucent blue liquid inside.

I frowned. "What is it?"

"It will put you into a death-like state. It's the only way you'll be allowed Upstairs," he explained.

"Oh, yeah, right," I nodded, taking the bottle.

"I should warn you both right now," Will warned. "Upon arrival Upstairs, your wings will automatically open. It's a bit of a strange sensation, but nothing to worry about. Also, Ria, on that note, while in the Upstairs, you're going to have honorary wings, because you technically already earned and received them."

I grinned. "Really? I'm going to get my wings back?"

Will nodded. I brought the vial to my lips and gulped it back, trying but failing not to cringe at the bitter taste. Immediately, my head began to spin and my entire body became lighter. I gulped and shook my head slightly, blinking a few times.

"Sorry, it's a bit strong," Will grimaced.

Caspian wrapped an arm tightly around my waist, keeping me upright.

"One last thing I need to mention before we head up," Will added. "All of the lingering effects of your Blood-Tie will also intensify in the Upstairs. There's even a good chance that your psychic tether will come back."

I exchanged a look with Caspian, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance. 

"Alright, let's head out," Will jumped in. "Your parents will have no memory of you coming to visit and believe instead that you're on an exchange program and that they won't be able to reach you for a while. It's not exactly a lie."

Will was nothing like how he used to be. Long gone was the boy I had known in high school. This new Will was much more like the Guardian. He'd been dead for two years now, and the change was very noticeable. He made an amazing guardian angel, however.

With a brilliant white flash engulfing us, I felt my feet lift off of the ground. My stomach lurched slightly, and I had a momentary sensation of weightlessness before the ground solidified beneath me once more. For the first few seconds, I couldn't see anything as my eyes tried to adjust the brighter-than-normal lighting of the Upstairs.

"Lovely, you brought my good friend Caspian Saunders with you. Oh, and little Aria Semble. Isn't this a quant little reunion?"

I frowned as images finally began to dance before my eyes. 

"Oh my goodness." I whispered, my choice of words a habit that I had picked up in high school.

"Christian Hawkings? What the hell is he doing here?" Caspian groaned.

As my vision cleared, I found that sure enough, before us stood Christian Hawkings, the Hunter from Hollowdale who had been killed two years ago by Jon, the psychotic Vampyre.

Christian shook his head disapprovingly at Caspian. "Poor choice of words in a place like this, Saunders. You may want to watch your mouth in the future."

"Seriously, how is he here?" I questioned, turning to Will.

Will shrugged. "He got to come Upstairs. Then, when he was given the choice that everyone who comes here is given, he chose to stay in the Upstairs, try to earn his wings, and then dedicate his life to protecting the living. He wants to specialize in the Human Protection from Supernaturals Unit, just like I do. I'm sure you can guess why."

"Once a Hunter, always a Hunter," I muttered to myself.

"I see you still haven't earned your wings, though. It's been, what, two years? You're doing really well, Christian," Caspian jeered.

I smacked him on the arm.

Stop being so mean.

Caspian's eyes widened. "I heard you! Our connection is back! Will was right, Aria."

I grinned.

Say something back! I encouraged.

Caspian frowned. "I already did."

I frowned as well. "Really? I can't hear you. Is it only one way?"

"I'm still trying. Do you not hear me at all?" Caspian asked.

I shook my head. I could sense him. I knew the connection was there, but apparently, it was only a one-way street.

"That sucks," he sighed.

His wings flapped slightly for a moment, their rustling feathers making his agitation clear. It had been a while since I had seen his wings, and I had to take a moment to admire their dark beauty. The midnight black colour of each feather reflected the ethereal light surrounding us, and it stood out like a sore thumb. Everyone else, including myself, had pure, white, snowy wings, and his contrasted ours so drastically. Caspian gave me a smile- which I could tell he was using to try to mask his disappointment- and took my hand in his own.

"Jeez, Aria. Your skin is freezing," he exclaimed as soon as he touched me.

"What did you expect? She is in a death state, remember?" Will reminded us.

Caspian rubbed his hand on mine. "It's still mildly concerning."

Will just shrugged. It reminded me yet again how different he was now than before. There was a time when, although he didn't necessarily do it in the right way, he would protect me against even the smallest of things, including being cold.

"Alright, come on. I want you guys to meet the rest of the team. We have an entire army sided with us, but this team that the two of you are now part of is our secret weapon," Will told us as he led us out of the room and down a hall. 

I wondered what the room we had just exited was, but I didn't have time to ask because I was so focused on trying to keep up with Will and not knock into anything with my wings.

"Secret weapon? What's so special about us that you wanted to make us part of a secret team?" Caspian questioned.

"You both have. . . lingering powers from your encounter with Jon. Aria, as you learned when you broke the Blood-Tie, any ordinary human can perform Magyk if they do it properly, but after your encounter with Jon last year and your death, your ability to use Magyk is more potent- especially against other supernatural beings. Caspian, although the Guardian took away almost all of your curse, he allowed you to keep your wings. With black wings, and inside knowledge of the Vampyre world, you are the perfect undercover agent," Will told us.

I frowned. I don't know how I feel about you having to go undercover. What if you get discovered?

Caspian gave me a reassuring smile. "I guess I'll just have to make sure I'm not."

I hit him. "Seriously, Cas, I can't lose you."

"The two of you disgust me," Christian popped in. 

"Why are you still here?" Caspian shot back.

Christian grinned. "I'm part of the special ops team too. Surprise."

I scrunched up my nose it distaste. "Wonderful."

Will led the three of us into a room on the left. It was quite large, with long, full-length windows that covered one entire side of the room but, just like every other window in the building, didn't actually show anything except a bright white light. I almost wanted to roll my eyes at how stereotypical it was. There was a large table set up in the middle of the room that looked as if it was made of some sort of hardened, silver tinted liquid. It wasn't exactly glass, but it wasn't silver either. It was somewhere in-between. There were three other people sitting around the table. One was a middle-aged woman with short-cropped red hair. She was thin and wiry and looked like she was made of steel. Another was a young boy with light brown hair and hazel eyes that looked almost yellow. The third was an older man with grey hair and thick rimmed glasses. He was thin and slightly hunched, but he had a dimpled smile that made me think that he must have been good-looking when he was younger.

"Aria, Cas, meet the team," Will introduced us. "This is Carmen, James and Axel."

The red-headed woman, Carmen, looked up at me with her icy grey eyes. "These are the final two members? She's a human and he is. . . disgusting."

I frowned and reached for Caspian, taking his hand within my own.

"I must admit, though I don't agree with how Carmen said it, I am curious as to what talents these two have to offer," Axel said, the very subtle hint of a Russian accent in his voice.

The little boy, James, just blinked up at us through his hair.

"As much as I wish the opposite, I must be honest and inform you, Carmen, that despite what he is, we are lucky to have Caspian Saunders on our team," Christian jumped in. "Same with Aria."

"Thank you, Christian. That was almost nice," I muttered.

"I won't trust him until James says I can," Carmen barked in response.

I frowned. She wouldn't trust the word of an ex-Hunter, but she would trust the word of a little boy? James nodded solemnly and then stood up, making his way over to Caspian and I. Without a word, he held his hand out to Caspian.

Will took ahold of my arm and pulled me away from Caspian. "You may want to let go of Caspian's hand, Ria. You don't want to get pulled into this, trust me."

I slowly let go of Caspian's hand, feeling nervous. What would I not want to be pulled into?

James took Caspian's hand. His eyes became completely hazel-yellow, and he took a sharp breath in. The room began to fill with the sound of anguished cries, of crowds of people spitting insults such as 'beast' and 'unholy', of the heartbreaking sound of broken sobs. I squeezed Will's arm as I looked around the room, searching for the source of the noise. It grew louder and louder, and I wanted to cover my ears. James shook as Caspian fell to his knees.

"Cas," I cried. 

My voice was swallowed up in the noise, like trying to yell into a strong wind. Will held me back. 

Then, the noise stopped and everything became completely still. James let go of Caspian's hand and his eyes returned to normal, except that now they were filled with tears. One large tear rolled down his face and got caught on his lip.

"He's one of us," James said, the tear drop falling from his lip and hitting the floor.

Carmen nodded and turned her gaze away. After a moment of standing in shock, I rushed over to Caspian's side.

"Cas, are you okay?" I asked, kneeling down beside him.

"I have great respect for you, Caspian Saunders," James interrupted before Caspian could reply. "You could have given up and turned your back on the world a long time ago. You almost did before meeting Aria Semble. Thank you for choosing the light even though the light never did right by you."

"It did in the end, though," Caspian responded. "It gave me Aria."

James paused for a moment. "Perhaps."

With that, he gave a small bow and then exited the room.

"He's going to rest," Will explained. "Obviously, that took a lot out of him."

"What just happened?" I questioned.

Will motioned for Caspian and I to come sit down at the table and we obliged.

"James has the power to experience the pain that others have gone through. It's actually more of a curse, really. At ten years old, he lost his father. His mother was broke, and his family was starving and homeless. He stole some bread from a baker in town. Unfortunately for him, the baker practiced Magyk and decided to curse James for stealing. He tried to curse James to suffer in eternal pain, but Magyk is hard and unless you're very specific with what you say, it can backfire. James does suffer from 'a curse of eternal pain', if you count being able to- with one touch- feel and absorb all of the pain that someone else has ever gone through, and then inflict it on another person in a crippling form."

I took a shuddering breath in. I couldn't help but feel bad for James. He'd just been trying to help his family.

"How did he end up here?" I questioned.

"The Guardian came down and offered to help him. He said that he was willing to give James training so that he could learn to use his power for good, but it would mean leaving his family and coming to the Upstairs. James consented on the condition that the Guardian makes sure that his family is always well fed and taken care of. He's been here ever since," Will replied.

Caspian turned to Axel and Carmen. "What about you two?

Axel grinned his dimpled, mischievous grin. "Magyk was what got me too. I was a soldier in a war that happened so long ago that the history books have all but forgotten it. My platoon leader practiced. He decided to try to use Magyk to make me into a super-soldier, give our side an advantage. Sufficed to say, it didn't work. The Guardian offered me the same deal, if I came Upstairs, he would teach me how to use my powers without hurting innocent people."

I could see in his eyes when he said "hurting innocent people" that it was something that he had done multiple times before the Guardian came to save him, and that he was ashamed and sickened by what he had done.

"I'm so sorry, Axel," I told him. 

His smile softened into a benevolent one. "It is no fault of yours. Thank you, though."

"I suppose that I should also share my story, seeing that we are now a team. I was a young woman when it started. A teenager, actually. A boy named Kellan Greylan moved into town. He was dark, mysterious, disobedient, and so sarcastic that it was sometimes cruel, but I didn't care if he was bordering on mean; he was everything my parents despised, and the perfect way to rebel against them. Also, I saw the good in him. People told me that I was crazy, especially as the years went on and he seemed to get worse, but I trusted him, and I saw a good, gentle side to him that no one else got to see. I thought that I could be the one to change him, the one to get him off of his path of destruction. It was my blind trust that got me in the end. Kellan was so much farther down his destructive path than I or anyone else had thought. He had upset some very powerful people, some very dangerous people. He was being hunted down. I was with him when the three men busted down the front door of his apartment and stormed in. There was a fight. In the end, the leader had his men holding knives at the throats of both me and Kellan. Kellan managed to overpower the man who was on him and made his way towards the door. The leader told him, 'if you run, we will kill your girlfriend in your place.' I didn't even panic. I trusted him so much, was so sure that he would never leave me. He didn't even look back as he ran. I screamed. Not because I was afraid, but because the breaking of my heart was too much for me to bear. The leader shrugged, letting out a laugh. Then, he slit my throat himself. I received my wings as soon as I reached the Upstairs. The Guardian also gifted me with a special power, though. He gave me the ability to protect and to heal. I can create unbreakable force fields, and heal nearly any injury. I was too trusting in life, and I had no protection in my hour of greatest need. Now, at least I have the ability to protect others."

I wanted to say something, express how sorry I was about the fate that had befallen her. I didn't know what to say, though. I opened my mouth. . . and then closed again when I realized that everyone was staring at Caspian and I expectantly.

"You've all shared your stories. You would like us to share ours in return," Caspian guessed.

Carmen just raised a single eyebrow. Caspian gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and then took charge of the story.

"I was once a Guardian Angel too. After my ship sank and me and the rest of my crew sank, with me trying to save their lives up until the very end, I was given my wings. Some of the other members of my crew were offered their wings, but they decided instead to move on into Rest. I accepted my wings happily, and took my responsibilities seriously. . . a little too seriously. When another angel, Jonathan, got himself into trouble- claiming that he had been so blinded by love that he had killed the woman of his dreams just to be with her- I took pity and took the blame for him. I thought I had to protect everyone, and I couldn't even really blame him for what he had done, because although he had gone about it in completely the wrong way, what he did, he did out of love. I ended up getting cast down because I took the blame for what Jonathan had done. For the first while, I tried to fight it, tried desperately to keep my good nature and help people despite the curse that had been put upon me. After a while, however, I started into a darker time in my life, no longer able to fight the dark nature of my curse as I once had. One night, I was stumbling around Hollowdale, blind with hunger- I would go for weeks, refusing to eat because the prospect of drinking human blood horrified me, but at the same time was all I could think about and all I truly wanted- and I found myself on one of the front lawns of one of the houses there. To my surprise, a few moments later, this beautiful dark haired girl came speeding up the front lawn toward me. That's how I met Aria."

I blushed, deciding that that was a good point to pick up the story. "I was being an idiot and I was out after dark even though everyone in Hollowdale knows that you shouldn't be, and I bumped into Caspian who just so happened to be standing on my front lawn. He came up to me and he bit me, but he didn't drain me. It's a good thing that happened too because that was what formed the Blood-Tie between us. After we became tied, we started becoming closer and closer. We had a mental connection and everything. Then, we discovered that if we were apart from each other for too long, we would become sick. That's how I first became interested in Magyk. After finding one of my Grandmother's spell books, we were able to figure out how to break that part of the Blood-Tie, allowing us to be apart from each other. Then, Jonathan showed up. He had been cast down from heaven and had decided that his first order of business should be to try to mess Caspian's life up even further because he had had so much fun with it the first time. Jonathan killed Christian for trying to help me, and then made Will into his slave. In the end, he ended up killing me when I stepped in to save Caspian from him, and that is how I earned my wings. Using my new powers and the help of the Guardian, I stopped Jonathan. Unfortunately, I was still dead, though. I would have had to have come back to the Upstairs, while Caspian stayed cast out for eternity. We never would have been able to be together. That was when Will stepped in. He took my place in the Upstairs, offering his life in place of mine. That was how he earned his wings. Then, the Guardian took the curse off of Caspian, while still allowing him to keep his wings. The only down side was that he couldn't turn them white again. So, that's the story of Christian, Will, Caspian and me."

Carmen blinked at me, and then turned to Caspian.

"I apologize for judging you so harshly to begin with," she told him.

Caspian gave her his signature smirk. "It's no problem. I'm used to it by now anyways."

I shook my head. I couldn't believe it had already been two years since everything with Jonathan had taken place. I also couldn't believe that the Guardian was really gone, that someone had kidnapped him.

Will leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "Now that we have gotten to know each other, I suggest that we discuss the situation at hand."

"How bad is it?" Caspian questioned.

Will grimaced. "It's bad."

Christian let out a sigh. "I'll get James back. We should have everyone here for this."

~~~~~

Wow! So, It's been way more than two years since I first wrote Guardian Angel by now, but if you count the edits I made, it's technically only been a few days since I finished it! I am so excited for this sequel and have so many plans! Hope you enjoyed the multiple updates in one day, and I'll see y'all soon!

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-Chelsea