Differences {15}

Suspended in the air, floating within the confinement's of the clouds, Skye's wings beat to the harmonious winds flying through them, a heavy sigh following while her own cold arms wrapped around her flowing attire.

The wings force was deafening against her ears, the silk adorning the rest of her body lazily hugging the angels curves.

It moved with the world around it, the light crown having crept forward, tilted on her blonde hair while her head hung down towards the ground.

Her vacant eyes hollowed over.

People, so many people oblivious to her presence as they forged new memories below.

They could not see her, they could not know of the pain that beat inside her, crushing the heart that kept her alive.

Each exhale was strenuous yet relieved a certain pressure that would soon boil over.

As prior to her state, she had witnessed something she never imagined, and now all she could feel was a vacant emptiness that allowed the harsh winter to seep through.

She had left. Not being able to bear the sight of an angel falling at the hands of their creator...

The more it mulled over before her very eyes the more she pushed the rising feelings back, too ominous to accept, to allow access to.

Staring blankly while her hair blew into her face, Skye did not register her sister approach, soaring toward her.

Slowing to a gentle float, Dara's great wings fell into line with Skye's, utterly silent; flapping in unison while hovering directly beside her.

An arm slithered between her own, gripping onto it for a stability beyond the physical.

Skye twitched at the advance.

Dara, her sister and the angel of wisdom spoke lowly, "We could remain in the cold for a millennia and yet never catch our deaths... but humans... they could be out for only minutes and would die from hypothermia"

Skye shut her eyes, pulling a strand behind her ear and swallowed a groan.

"Humans, if not attending to their needs, could perish... whereas we are not bound by such limits..."

Biting her lip to suppress the annoyance, Skye turned her head.

She released a shaky breath, "What are you getting at Dara? I am not in the mood for your riddles"

Greeting her as she turned was a warm face of tan skin, hair slick back and eyes you couldn't help but get lost in.

Her lips moved. "I am aware, sister" Dara hummed in return, adjusting her re-assuring hold on the guardian, "but this is not a riddle"

Skye twisted, pulling from her sisters warmth, "how do you fathom that?"

Dara huffed, not from annoyance but in sadness for her sister.

"Humans derive from us, from the high spirit, therefore we share similarities" Dara stated, her all-seeing eyes flickered, "but ultimately, they are human, and we are not- do not confuse that when dealing with troubling emotions such as grief"

Troubling emotions? Was she serious?

"You must remember that we are separate to humans, we do not carry their weaknesses" she gazed to a populated village below, the sound of their activity deaf to the wind, "so do not allow the select few weaknesses we do have consume you..."

Skye tried to smile but it couldn't reach her eyes. "Then as an original, I fail to meet such standards"

Dara shook her head, words being spoken for her in a way not intended.

"No" Gently placing a hand atop Skye's, feeling the icy flesh soften beneath, "we were given faults for a reason, and you have every right to feel anger toward the high spirit for the loss of our sister"

Skye's lips tightly seared against the words she wished to scream. How could Dara say such a thing? Acting as if... as if she were not also her lost sister...

"And what would you know of that?" She spat, her tone harsher than anticipated. Glaring back, Skye realised her mistake, tugging the anger, "All I'm saying... is how can you understand something you have no control over?"

Truly, Skye was frustrated, emotions being the one thing she struggled with- something that always took over in the heat of the moment.

A drawn out pause. And a deep sigh.

Staring directly at her, never hidden by the matted down hair was the answer her sister offered in return to her blatant question. Dara's gift; wisdom.

The eyes of legend, the white specs of a universe only accessible to the beholder of such a gift.

They saw all, all the laughter, love and enjoyment, nothing short of wondrous, but they also saw the trials and tribulations, the suffering and the cruelty.

But Skye was blind to all of it, and so Dara carried them alone- the only one emotion seeping through uncontrollable: guilt, tons of it.

"I had known this would happen..." Dara began her confession, her words dry against the wind, "It was inevitable"

That it was. But it still didn't make it any easier...

"I knew the moment she had called us, and when I glanced at you, I could feel your fear"

Skye held back the burning in her eyes, "I could never understand your gift." She trembled, "I always thought it a blessing, but really, it is a curse in disguise"

Dara smiled, one lacking sincerity, a mustered fake, "that it is sister, and what's worse is that fact that I cannot act upon what I see, but merely allow the world to roll the dice and play for itself..."

They both remained in silence, not an awkward silence, but one of knowing and acknowledgement; watching as the world passed them by.

"It didn't seem fair" Skye balled, clenching her teeth with a raspy breath. "All she wanted was love and affection, some sort of acceptance..."

She couldn't escape.

Dara sighed, her arms shaking slightly, "I know, we all do... we all feel neglected at times, we are creatures cabale of desire..." her words sunk, "it's only natural"

Skye faced her sister, the crown on her head not glimmering as it had before. Puffing out a frosty breath, Skye reached for the crown that sat atop her head, pulling it roughly like it were a disease.

She gripped it with her life, "if it's natural, why do we get punished for it?"

Her knuckles turned pale, the blood rushing elsewhere as she gripped it. "Why are we banished for following instinctual commands?"

"You saw how she acted Skye, you knew that Deidre wasn't Deidre anymore- not after her desire had taken over"

She was right...

And I was wrong.

But I was too selfish and naïve to admit my own faults there and then, or the fact that I was incapable of letting go.

Not when the feather laid to rest against my chest, hooked around my neck like a worm dangled for bait.

How could I let it happen? How could I have noticed the change in behaviour, in appearance as she turned colder each and every time Alex would leave us... yet pass it by?

So many regrets, so many duties... all bestowed to us from the start of our lives. It's all we ever knew, all we could understand- and if you could understand it, you'd trust it- follow it blindly even if it led you to a cliff or a crossroad...

It was told to us as a blessing, but in actuality it felt more like a trap, a heavy burden shoved onto us when the high spirit could no longer go on alone...

Was it selfish? Were we all pawns in a game larger than even the originals?

The ache was indescribable, boundless as I remained there mourning over the loss of a deception.

Deidre was the first, the first to ever fall past the material world, and become the original sin. But would she be the last?

Sighing deep in thought, Skye hesitantly relinquished the crown in her hand, the tendrils of light mixing with the falling sky; swearing to herself as she watched it fall.

No more secrecy, no more pain or misery, no. She would devote her existence to those she watched and guarded over until she too faded from the world...

And she would do it for her humans.

Tears released along with the crown that once placed a cuff over her. The now empty hand filled with the warmth and support of a sister as they floated there; the great wings not faltering or missing a single beat.