Oblivion - M83

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"They will be in there for days." Cam said to me almost three hours later but I wasn't paying attention. My gaze hadn't left the entrance. I paced the floor for the fiftieth time aware of the various amount of inquisitive eyes on me.

"Perses and Helena are trying to convince them I can just sense it." Jackson drawled.

"Alexis..."

I searched the entrance way again before turning my gaze to Kimberly. "Hm?"

"You're angry." She said. I sent her an obvious look. "Don't worry. Whatever the Elder's decide-"

"Won't be to any of our advantage." I said catching Elizabeth's eye. "I'll be staying here. And you'll all go back to earth and look after everyone, you hear?"

"Alex-"

"Look, Cameron." I faced him. "I want you to go back as well. You got me here. I'm so thankful I can barely begin to express it. I will stay here for however long they want me here. Just keep me updated."

Kim looked at me. "A few months... could be-"

"Years, I know. But I won't have a choice. If I stay I'll be able to quicken his tribunal. And then you can sort out earth and these dam- dang Cacodemon's. I'll do what I can here."

No one spoke as they watched me. My gaze caught Bonnie's and I was aware of the tears streaming down her face. She'd heard every word.

Minutes went by, hours went by and soon enough we were aware the day was coming to a close. The day began to run into a darker twilight. Hours here I realised felt like an eternity. Although I said hours passed it felt more like days.

People dispersed from the Keep slowly. Cameron, Kimberly and Jackson were sat against the stone steps with their eyes closed.

And when I turned back to the crowd only Bonnie, Joseph, and Elizabeth remained. Where was Tristan anyhow...

Joseph approached me and the memories of him resurfaced. Joseph was a perfect man, and he saw the future. He'd been around when I grew up but barely. He'd helped me during my change but left as soon as it was over. 

"I knew this would happen," He murmured in his deep authoritative familiar voice. "The day we left I knew."

"And yet you didn't tell me." I said.

"If I told you, right now wouldn't have or be happening." His grey eyes were so loving and familiar I had to stop myself from falling into his warm fatherly embrace as he wrapped his arms around me.. "You've seen him, you know he's safe."

"I know he's being used and abused. How could they use him as a guard? And with our trial?"

"They use prisoners as guards because it gives them something to do. They'd be in there for eternity otherwise. And Zircah probably used Gabriel to spite you, you know you two bickered like mad." He leaned back and brushed my blonde hair away from my face. "You're blonde?"

"I dyed it in the Unnamed Realm for Cassiel's Ball."

"I'm afraid we weren't able to attend but apparently a Daughter of Light was chosen to dance with Cassiel. Hm?" He smiled knowingly.

It was like them leaving never happened. Elizabeth slowly came forward, the woman I'd known as a second mother smiled hesitantly at me before joining her husband. The two of them explained that Maryanne had truly tried her hardest to get me here and now I realised that I wasn't really surprised. Maryanne and I had gained a trust beyond the years we'd developed. 

Bonnie lay her hand on top of my arm. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive. You need to go back to Jayden before time slips by completely. And earth needs its protectors."

After another hour Liz, Joseph and Bonnie left the Keep. I sat beside Cam and shut my eyes aware of the voices coming in and out of the narrow hall. Some were speaking Enochian others in English or other languages like Arabic or Greek. And soon enough sleep claimed me.

**

I felt his presence before I opened my eyes. I glanced down the long walkway to the entrance of the keep and saw him. He was strolling in as if it were nothing; as if walking into this Keep with no guards or an escort was the easiest thing in the world.

I glanced at Cam sleeping beside me before standing and walking to him. His smile was the first thing I saw. And then his bright blue eyes and his longish hair. His bare chest, his mark on his shoulder... God, it was like seeing the sun for the first time in years.

As we stopped in front of each other I realised now how this really was happening. I was in front of him after two and a half long torturous years without him. 

And my hands were bound together by the friggin' platinum bands.

"I can unlock them if you want me to. They taught me how."

And then again I noticed the platinum bands on his forearm's wrists and ankles. The one from his neck removed.

Hearing his deep vibrating voice... It made my heart literally stutter. Everything about him seemed unreal. He seemed unreal. This whole scene seemed... Unreal.

Was this happening? Were they playing a trick on me?

"They're not." Gabriel said and I choked on a small sob. He'd read my mind. "Shh." His arms encircled me into his embrace and that's when I finally broke.

I broke into the pieces I'd been holding together since he'd left in 2011. Each piece I'd kept glued together with my hard persona, my non-sleeping, Goddess of Power persona. Each of those pieces fell into Gabriel's arms. 

I cried two and a half years worth of tears. I tried yanking on my bands wanting to feel his skin, his warm familiar skin. He pulled back abruptly, fiddled with the bands and they unhooked. And just like that I threw my arms around his neck and crumbled again.

I felt his face in the crook of my neck. His hands trailing into the two holes in the shirt to touch the skin of my back. His heart beat erratically against mine and at that moment I knew this was happening.

I thought maybe the Elder's would put me to the test, place his projection in front of me to see how uncontrolled I was around him. 

But no, he was somehow here, holding me, touching me...

After a long moment of regaining my composure and sniffling, I leaned back and held his face within my palms, running my thumbs over his rough cheekbones. "How are you here?" 

"I usually have this hour to roam the grounds. The guard is a friend of mine and let me in." He murmured. Gabriel's eyes darted from my hair to my face but then back to my hair. He grimaced slightly but then smirked. Oh, that smirk. "Why on earth are you blonde?"

I laughed on a sob. "The Islands in the Unnamed Realm. I dyed it for Cassiel Sith's Ball. Didn't you see my blonde hair when I was a projection in front of you?"

"No in my eyes you were dark hai- wait." He blinked incredulously. "You went where?"

"We'll have time to discuss that later. But... Gabriel, I can't... I'm touching you. Speaking to you. I want to make this last forever. What if I don't ever get this-"

"You will. We will. We won't be separated again I promise."

"You can't promise that. Not after my trial." His callous fingers skimmed along my jaw igniting a feeling inside of me that hadn't been lit in years. "We're here together," My eyes closed on their own accord when his lips, his soft gentle lips, feathered a kiss over my forehead. "How long before the Elder's come?"

I watched as his blue eyes liquified completely, his gaze lingering on my mouth before meeting my eye. "I'll tell you after I kiss you." And before I could comprehend or wrap my mind around it, his lips had captured mine. 

We were so hesitant at first, as if not believing the other were there. At first his mouth moved gently over mine not risking a deeper kiss. But then his hands snaked over my hips and his tongue, very smoothly swept over my bottom lip. I gladly sunk into him and the kiss with the same amount of passion and fervour as him.

A sigh of pure pleasure escaped my lips before I could help it as I clung to him for dear life. I was aware the bands were tightening but I honestly couldn't care. Not even as I slid my hands into his dark hair and tugged him closer. Although technically we hadn't aged he seemed so obviously older. His touch felt mature, his caress one of a man in need of a woman, his kiss hungry and starved as he feasted on my mouth. 

"This is illegal here," He murmured before plunging his tongue into my mouth in a kiss so possessive I had to lean into him for support. "Lust is a sin."

"Is love?" 

He pecked my lips one last time before leaning back with a smile. "If it includes lust." His fingers skimmed across my cheek. "I have a message."

The smile from my face dropped and I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

"Don't get defensive. It's still me. The Elder's are resting they'll resume tomorrow that's why they haven't come yet. I have someone for you to meet."

I couldn't say I didn't trust him because I did. But I was wary and confused. 

"Come," He took my hand. "I'll show you."

Slowly I followed him down the walkway glancing at the rest of them sleeping by the step. The guards at the entranceway glared at me before Gabriel said, "Helena requested her."

My eyes widened. Helena? 

The guards unsure at first slowly moved to allow us to pass. I let Gabriel lead me out of the Keep. If this was a trick...

"It's not." He said as he turned to me. My gaze landed on the cross necklace I'd gotten him for Christmas all those years ago and I slowly relaxed. "Helena wanted to wait until everyone was sleeping."

"How can I trust her?"

He smiled and squeezed my hand. "You'll see."

We weaved into the building quietly and he led me into several rooms. Angels glanced at me curiously nodding their heads toward me before resuming their activities. Men in robes mumbled my name, bowing toward me. 

"They love you, you know." Gabriel mumbled next to my ear and I smiled at the man taking my empty hand in his to press a kiss to it. "You're a God in their eyes. A saviour."

"A saviour?" I squeezed his hand. "I ruined earth."

"You've saved lives. Earth was Elijah and Grigori's fault." His lips fanned across my temple after the man walked away. "Look at me."

I turned my eyes to his bright blue ones.

"You may not remember your first decision but that first one created what everyone is today. Those six days God created the earth you were there. You helped Him decide. Don't worry about the minor angels, okay? Come on. Helena's in the library." 

I let my fingers trail up his strong arm, the veins on his arms creating ridges over his skin. I was aware of the way he was glancing at me as we walked. It was odd being with him again. It felt dreamlike. He stopped in front of a pair of double doors and knocked before opening both of them. 

The library was almost similar to the one in town except there was probably only five floors in this one.

"Helena?" He called. "She's here."

A woman, a breathtaking woman, leaned over the railing from the third floor. She looked young, maybe only a decade older than me. Her hair a glossy white, her mouth full and red and her pale eyes sparkling with happiness. Her lips curved upwards into a smile. Without a word she climbed down the staircases and stopped a few feet from us.

"Thank you Gabriel." She purred in a voice as beautiful as music. 

"Would you like me to leave?"

"No, stay. You haven't seen her in years. It's only fair." Her gaze landed on me and I tilted my head toward her. "Come, why don't you sit with me hm? I know you don't remember much about me because of the Fall."

"Not much no." I mumbled following her to a table and chairs. 

"Well, I am Helena." She spoke in Enochian. "A God of Greek as is Perses. Greek Mythology, do you know much of it?"

"Bits and pieces from high school."

A smiled tugged at her lips before she offered me the seat opposite another. I sat down and watched as she settled in front of me. Gabriel lay a hand on my shoulder before wandering to the floor above.

"You have not changed very much. Aside from your... Intriguing hair colour."

"Oh, I had to dye it for-"

"Cassiel's Ball. I was aware. In fact I was watching. I have been since you passed the Unnamed Realm."

My eyebrow's furrowed. "How..."

Helena leaned forward. "Genevieve is a very close friend of mine, Lonsa."

Slowly everything began to make sense. How Maryanne, formally Genevieve, was able to find a 'loop hole' to the Angelic World. How easy it was to get past and through the Unnamed Realm. Well, mildly easy. It would have been ten times easier without the Cacodemon's. 

"You told her how I could get here."

"That angel has been asking me for a long time to grant you access here. I have no power into allowing angels here, only Zircah does. I simply nudged her and slipped the idea of the door into her mind. Cameron is a Scholar. A royal? Not in a sense but out of a long line of archangels he is important. I'm aware you were curious of that."

Her hand moved over the table and opened. "Would you like to remember?"

I stared down at her hand as I asked, "Remember?"

"Whatever you wish to remember, I will show you."

From the second floor of the library Gabriel peaked over the edge with a curious look. He sent me a small smile before turning his gaze to Helena. "She wouldn't know what to ask for."

"Hm, it is a loaded request." Slowly she started to retract her hand but I grabbed it. 

"Show me us." I whispered. 

A beautiful smile lit her face. 

And then memories of Helena and me flooded to my mind before the Fall. Memories of Helena and I walking hand in hand on the new Earth before Adam and Eve. My hair as white and as long as hers, my skin still as pale as it is now. Her stopping me as if I were a child and moving the hair from my face pressing motherly kisses to my forehead and cheeks. 

Other memories of Perses and me on the Fifth Day where God created the creatures within the seas and of the Fourth Day where the seasons were created. We stood on land watching and waiting. Smiling and discussing. The handsome man with perfect cheekbones, tight white curls and rich coffee skin pressed a kiss to my forehead just as Helena did.

Flashes of my laughter with them both filled my vision; flashes of the two of them sharing their love for me. 

I suddenly blinked back into reality, the love and trust for the woman in front of me swelling my heart into a balloon. Tears I couldn't control streamed down my face. I hadn't seen this woman in... Centuries. 

A hand skimmed across the back of my neck in a caress and I turned my head up. Perses stood above me with a smile his intricate mark on the wrist on his other hand.

I looked down at Helena's and my hand trying to control the onslaught of emotions. 

"Lonsa," The male above me murmured in a voice as pure and sweet as honey. "We are trying our hardest for you."

"Zircah refuses to to relent." Helena squeezed my hand. "But we are weighing him down with what we can."

"The best we can do is keep you both here," Perses glanced up at Gabriel. "For as little time as possible." The back of his knuckles skimmed down my cheek. "We can't do much else, angel."

Angel... "You used to call me that."

"I did." His bow shaped lips curved into a beautiful smile. A smile that would probably cause human's to faint at the mere sight of it. "You were my innocent angel."

"Innocent." I sighed. "I'm sorry I'm not..."

"This is you. A part of you. Helena and I love everything there is of you and always will. Except," He fingered a lock of my hair. "I'm unsure of this hair colour. Your dark hair is better."

"I'll wash it out as soon as I get the chance."

"Yes, we can offer you a bath before you return to the Keep. The rest of your friends can as well. Gabriel, I asked you to bring Cameron."

I stood with Helena and turned to Gabriel who was clenching his teeth at the side.

Ah. I had completely forgotten about what happened at the beach. I blocked my thoughts quickly aware Gabriel was now eyeing me.

"I'd forgotten." He said softly. 

"Never mind. I shall talk to him later. Lonny, please bathe. We will be able to remove your bands whilst you bathe but unfortunately we... Will have to put them back on."

"That's fine. Thank you." 

"You're very welcome." She smiled raising her hands to cup my cheeks. "Isaiah will show you the bathing room. Gabriel will follow." Helena stepped forward and pressed a hesitant kiss on top of my head. And before she could move away I pulled her in for a hug. Her hands ran over my back before she moved back and smiled lovingly. "You've become a fine angel. Go. We will have another chance to talk."

Perses once again skimmed his knuckles against my cheek before Gabriel joined us. He smiled at them both and led me out of the library. A man, obviously Isaiah, bowed to us and started in the opposite direction we came from.

"Why didn't you get Cameron?"

He stole a glance but only replied with, "We'll talk about it."

**

I let my gaze run over my arms. The platinum bands had left dark imprints. I once again tried scrubbing them off with the cloth Isaiah had provided me with but nothing happened. 

The dye had come out after an intense wash from one of the helping servient angels named Fey. She looked new, and judging by the way she'd stared at my long black hair she was.

The baths were huge here, surrounded by tiles of rock that were designed specifically for these healing waters. 

I dipped my head underneath and leaned back. 

"We should talk now."

I looked beside me, Gabriel sat on the ground beside my head. The waters were cloudy, not that I would have minded him seeing me this way. His bands were taken off as well and the exact same imprints were left.

"Hasn't your hour been up yet?"

"An hour here feels like almost ten earth hours. I have a while left."

I nodded lifting my arm to look at the imprints. "What are these."

"Reminder's. These marks will be here for a while. It's to show the angels we've been and survived Bastille."

"Another mark to bear." I mumbled letting my arm fall into the waters. 

"I see your hair is back to black."

"Better?"

"Much." He smirked but as quickly as his smile came it went away. Although unshaven with shaggier hair and a curve to his full lips that said he was older than his years, the look in his bright blue eyes transported me back to when we were eighteen in this life. When all of this was just a myth and legend. 

"What?" I asked quietly. "What're you thinking?"

His gaze wasn't on me but it seemed he was staring at a spec against the tiled ground. "Tell me how Cameron came into this."

"Maryanne said we needed him to get through the door."

"The door to the Angelic World." He confirmed.

I began to explain everything. Beginning with what earth was like now and how our old friends knew exactly what we were. I told him how Cameron had disappeared without any contact. I told him how I hadn't forgiven him straight away on that, I told him briefly about Kimberly became an angel and I explained everything that happened in the Unnamed Realm including the Cacodemon's.

"Aavan had said they were hired by someone. I still don't know who. But that's behind us at the moment."

Gabriel had watched me carefully as I explained. He uncrossed his legs and leaned toward me, the tarnished cross necklace hanging suspended between us. "What happened here?"

"Here?"

"That day you arrived here. What happened?"

I sat straighter in the bath and stared down at the water. "Cameron had... Previously told me of my past lives. My human lives before I turned into what I was. Before I went through the change."

Gabriel seemed confused at first but then I registered the change in the way he sat. His body tensed and his jaw visibly ticked. "Your past lives? Your reincarnated lives?"

I nodded slowly.

"He told you of, for example, Antonia?"

I looked away.

"Abel, Allegra?"

"Yes."

I didn't need to look at him to feel his anger. "He made you remember them all." It wasn't an assumption or question it was a statement. "What about your first life. Your first ever reincarnated life. Did he make you remember that? Above the Heath on the shores of Heaven?"

"Gabe..."

"He made you remember your feelings for him. He worked this to his advantage."

"I know."

"He kissed you."

I shut my eyes. And before I could reply Fey returned with a robe. She shooed Gabriel away and I didn't dare cast him a glance. After dressing and returning the bands on my wrists and forearms, Fey bowed and left the dressing quarters. 

Gabriel entered not even three minutes after. "And you kissed him back." He murmured as he entered, his penetrating gaze never wavering.

I didn't deny, nor did I confirm it. But I didn't need to confirm because it was completely obvious.

Gabriel entered with his steal bands already replaced over his ankles, wrists and forearms. He strolled toward me slowly, and for the first time I couldn't read the expression in his eyes. I didn't know what to make of the unreadable emotion.

"There's one thing I cannot... Let's say blame you for. The one thing being Cameron planting his little seeds within your mind of your past lives. The lives he spent with you. He confused you and the emotions were too much."

I tensed and waited for the 'however.'

"But," Close enough. "You still came here, nonetheless, twenty four angelic hours later intending to free me. Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"You love him. And you love me." He said he a defiant voice. "That much is clear and if you dare deny it, Alexis so help me God."

Cassiel was right. I was going to hurt them both. And I'd already proven that with Cameron. 'The truth hurts,' Cassiel had said. 'But so do lies.'

I took a deep breath and stood from the chair I was sitting on. "Fine. I love him." I admitted. "But my love for him, isn't a love to embrace. I love Cameron with a different part of my heart. He helped me breathe in places where I couldn't. I am a selfish woman. And I explained this to him. I've explained I can't love him the way he wants me to." I met him half way. "But you, Gabriel. I love you with my entire body, soul and heart. You're the one that takes my breath away. If I didn't love you I wouldn't have risked my life left, right and centre to find you. I wouldn't have travelled the ends of the earth to free you." I didn't dare touch him as I stopped in front of him. "You are the man I travelled across worlds to get to. Wouldn't I have settled for Cameron otherwise? Wait for your tribunal which could have taken another one hundred years whilst Cameron spent it with me? If I didn't love you wouldn't I have left you?"

Gabriel watched me carefully. I wasn't sure what he was feeling. I didn't know what he was thinking because he'd blocked me out completely. I'd expected this I wasn't naive enough to believe he would forgive me.

"Love seems to be thrown around a lot now days." He murmured his gaze never leaving mine. 

My shoulders tensed before dropping. "It's a battlefield."

"A war." He stepped back from me and I slowly shut my eyes, the pain emitting through my chest almost as unbearable as when he'd left the first time. "Fey said she would take you back to the Keep."

"What? Where are you going?" 

"To my chores. I have other things to do." 

I watched him, defeated, walked toward the large wooden doors and mumbled, "What now?"

His back was to me. The lines on his back where his wings would expand from emerged memories of my fingers skimming along them. 

He glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow. Once your sentence has been said, we will talk more thoroughly. If we get the chance."

**

"Lonsa, Goddess of Power, the archangel of God, our Decider and bountiful messenger, we have reached a verdict."

I stood in front of The Elder's the following morning. Cameron, Kimberly and Jackson stood beside Axel and Leo beside the steps where the Elder's sat. The audience for my trial was astounding. The Keep was filled to the brim. Even as I looked above angels hovered and sat at the edges of the building watching. 

I glared at my wrists bound together by the platinum bands and then toward the man standing not far from me. Gabriel eyes were on The Elder's. He hadn't looked at me once.

"Speak your oath to God.

My oath? I glanced at Helena tensing before she nodded her head to me.

"Um," Ah hell. 

My oath... Dear Lord give me- ah, well strength if you can.

And then slowly it came to me. 

"I will do my duty to protect the Realm as God created it. I will Decide on not what is good or evil but what is right. I am a servant to God and will do what is commanded of me. For as this oath is spoken it binds my soul to the lost souls of Heaven and the sons, daughters, messengers and... Elder's... within it."

The mark on my wrist burnt to a bright red before darkening to its original black. I grunted as my wings burst from my back and through the holes of my shirt. The black of the wings contrasted against the whites of everything and everyone in the room. Murmurs sounded around the Keep and within my head.

Zircah smiled before standing with the rest of the Elder's. "We sentence you to one month, 30 days, here, in the Angelic World. You will do as commanded, learning, watching and attending what is required of you. Your friends, including Cameron, will return to earth. And Bonnie," His gaze landed on her. "You will return as well. As for you Gabriel, we have taken into account Lonsa's request for your tribunal. It will take place 30 days from now once her sentence is complete. You won't need to stay in Bastille. The platinum bands on your forearms however remain on you both. As punishment." Zircah cast me one last look before retreating behind the stone chairs. Helena and Perses sent me a nod before following him out.

30 days.

Here. In Heaven. From what Gabriel said, one hour is ten on earth. And from the top of my head my heart dropped into my gut at the amount of time that was.

For every day that passes here at least ten pass on earth... My eyes closed.

I'll be here for just over 300 earth days. 

I watched as the bands from my wrists unclipped and dropped with a clink to the hard ground. The shouts of protest from Cameron and the rest were deafening. But I didn't dare open my eyes at the sound of the guards rushing toward them and restraining them.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. In a way the relief on Gabriel's face was what I'd been hoping and praying for. But the look of pure anger on Cameron's...

Was not.

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