Lead {17}

A memory of fire. A memory of flame. Lev...

Why was everything so hard to recall?

The close call, death- that she could remember... the fear of fate having him in its claws... almost crushing him.

Oh gods...

It was because of her. All of it. Her.

Skye was so intently focused on the breathing bringing her to her knees that she didn't hear the door creak open. Or the person who rushed through it, hearing the commotion, the frightful stir.

The moment their eyes caught sight of the quivering angel, Evangeline panicked. Was she still hurt?

"Skye!" Evangeline chucked herself across the room, the bed springing at her touch. She was sleeping soundly before... why the sudden change?

She was warm, warmed by the jacket hugging her work attire she had yet to change out of, but stopped at a sudden gust of low temperature. Its presence shocked her, the hairs on her body standing in retaliation to maintain the heat that seeped from her bones. Was the window open?

Recoiling from the proximity, a chill lingered closer with each step she took, like a pair of cold fingers trailing the length of her spine. It was unnatural, something beyond her. She thought back to the feeling, remembering the shudder that had lurched over her in that shop when the feather spoke to her in a vicious moment. Her eyes clicked, the flash of recognition. Fate. It was here. It was watching. Had it a new target? "Skye?" She breathed, tilting her head in concern to see the angel with her head drooped toward the floor, as if in invitation for it to swallow her whole.

Having landed a few feet from her, Evangeline sub-consciously surveyed Skye's fresh knees digging into the carpeted floor of the dorm room. "Are you alright?" She puffed.

She clearly was not.

She continued to stare. "I heard something and came running, you're not hurt are you?"

Silence. An eerie silence.

"Whatever it is, know everything is ok Skye... it was all sorted..." Evangeline gulped, hating the fact that she couldn't do anything to ease Skye's aching mind, her words entrapped by a void with no meaning.. "I'm here to look after you Skye... talk to me please"

"Why am I subject to this? Why do things have to be so cruel?" It was just above a whisper.

Evangeline could only run her hands through her hair, eyebags underlining her eyes that deepened with each inward sigh. "I- I don't really know how to answer that, but I wish I could- believe me"

Basking in the coldness gaining on them like a race, Evangeline tried to ignore its overbearing presence while a feeling unsettling -ironically- settled in the base of her stomach...

Thoughts swirled with nothing more than wanting to comfort... but an invisible, delicate hand held the instinct back in warning. Almost like a swift whisper in the howling winds telling her no.

Evangeline shuddered under its icy breath. "Whatever will happen, whatever has happened, we can get through it Skye, you just need to talk to me" Her words were not sinking in, being pushed back in waves as it reflected back at her; the truth a scary thought. She was still un-certain as to why Skye was acting this way, her mind running wild with plausible thoughts.

A murmur through a face consumed by dread, Skye's voice was low, "Lev..." Her arms visibly shook, drawing in Evangeline whose concern showed immensely. "What about him Skye... what is it that you need?"

She moved an inch forward. The invisible hand tugged, but Evangeline shook of the bitter feeling and plucked up the nerve; crouching quickly, and offering a warmth to Skye. "Tell me"

Skye titled her head to her, still hung with fear, before dropping it against her chest- almost like surrender.

So there they remained, silent and paused while Skye came to terms with the world around her, clutching the feather in the frustration. Pulling tighter on the feathered remains, her head jarred with force, a grit of the teeth displaying a discomfort as a stinging shot up her neck into the base of her head. Skye released a minimal wince.

As if losing hold over her body, it dropped lightly, regaining control soon after. A hand left the feather, cupping her head to soothe an incoming ache.

Swaddled in the warmth, Skye whispered, "I- I need to be with him"

Keeping her in safe arms, Evangeline lulled, "He's perfectly safe, Heka is watching over him as we speak- nothing will happen to him I promise you"

A lie. A lesser of evils. Truthfully, she hadn't the foggiest clue where Heka now stood to watch. She hoped it wouldn't be far. Not with an overhanging sense of dread working it's way through her. Fate. It just wouldn't leave them room to breath would it?

Does everything have to be ordained by it?

The room was still, and Skye tensed under the hug. As comforting as it was, she needed space, needed to clear her tricked mind. Her resolve was strong- and when it came to Lev, there was no halting it.

So breaking free from Evangeline's clutches, Skye shakily lifted herself using the bed as a stabiliser. "Even if that's the case, I need to see him, I need to know everything that happened"

"Wait.. what do you mean 'that happened?' Don't you remember?"

Skye glanced to her through glossy eyes, the canvas of stars outside hidden behind the curtains drowning them in darkness.

Again, that cold crept in.

"No"

Evangeline stood back.

"I only remember brief things" she pointed to her eyes, her face lifetimes away from smiling, "I don't even remember why I had cried, and every time I try they all hurt..."

Evangeline swore to herself, eyes shutting in anger. "So you don't recall the flames? Lev..."

"No- I remember those..." She cut in, needing to clarify with a sombre tone. "But I didn't remember Elementa's passing until I saw the feather..."

Said feather gleamed under the darkness, its white colour having transpired to that of the elemental colours. It was both saddening and hopeful to look at.

Evangeline was lost for words, breathing solidly. Someone had tampered with the fallen angels memory... who in the hell would dare cross that line? "So you are telling me that your memories were fragmented, pulled to the back of your mind, only to recall key moments once eyeing that feather"

Skye nodded, her eyes the gateway to frustration. "That's what I can only assume Evangeline"

Almost in mockery she felt the bitterness laugh by her ears. Hypocrisy- oh how she despised it.. and if- IF it was fate's doing that led Skye to have fragmented memories, then their intervention was the definition of it.

But another part of her, the part that had carried Skye to her room hated the fact that she hadn't sensed the tampering.

Evangeline lifted her hand to her face, surveying the whitening clench as her fists balled together in annoyance.

"Skye, listen to me very carefully, what do you remember, and what don't you?"

"I remember enough to know that Lev needs my help" she whispered, a tone shaken. "I don't care about the risks- his life is in peril, there are other things after him I can feel it"

Evangeline swallowed, straightening her spine while pulling back the corner of the curtain. Nightfall. Perhaps at Dawn but no where near daybreak. This was stupid of her, but she couldn't stop herself before the words were out in the open. "I can take you to him, but first, you have to tell me what you know"

"I could say the same for you Evangeline"

The curtain turned heavy in her palm, her eyes turning, "what do you mean?"

Skye stretched her arm to Evangeline, the feather clutched in her fingers pulsing a wave of elemental energy. "It told me everything, that Lev's energy is now intertwined with my sister's, that there are others out there beyond what I had imagined and that those in the shadows are now coming into the light"

A beat of silence. "Skye.. you have to understand I was sworn to secrecy-"

"-I don't care"

Rarely, had she ever heard that tone from Skye, that ancient commanding voice that held millenniums of wisdom. The cold feather in response to the one outstretched to her shivered. "Well, if you know about that, then you know the damage it will cause if you are near him again"

That she did. But did she care?

Skye faced away, her clothing like a dragged weight.

"I know that the energy humming inside this feather, much like the one around your neck is the remainder of her life force- her spirit, and I can sense that a part of that is missing, intertwined within Lev himself"

Evangeline stopped breathing.

"Its what allows him to walk, to open his eyes and smell the groggy air every morning- without it, he'd be dead, lying with the flowers and joining the divine spirit"

Closing her gaping mouth, Evangeline took a step back, "How do you know all this?"

Skye turned, her lips releasing a shaky sigh as her legs stabilised. Her eyes dipped to the feather laid in her hand. "She showed me"

"What?"

Snagging back the feather, she brushed the hair from her face, new tear stains highlighted. "When you hugged me, the feather was close to my heart, and it struck something through me, an image and a voice, telling me the things I needed."

"How is that possible?" Evangeline straightened, "I-is she still alive?"

She knew her question was a mistake the moment it left her lips, drawing a wince from a wound not yet healed. "No... s-she is... gone"

It had hurt for her to say those words, a grave punch to the gut but she soldiered on, speaking with as much conviction as she could muster beneath her saddening facade. "But her energy still remains, a guiding force"

It was truly incredible. "An angel cannot be destroyed, or die, but transform"

Suddenly, that feather that had felt like a dead weight beneath her neck held so much more speciality, deserving of a pedestal.

"Does that mean..."

"Yes..." she answered with a sigh, "All that remain to guard heavens gate are 6 archangels, 2 have fallen and 1 is useless" Evangeline listened instinctively, her lips moved to speak but retracted.

"Which is why the chaos that is ensuing is far greater than the trouble caused with Lev by my side, safe from harms way"

Lev... of course, her entire life revolved around him. Evangeline couldn't help the frowning of her eyebrows as she gazed upon Skye. It just felt like a broken record, no matter what she did, or would do, it was never enough to warn her from the dangers.

In a moment of madness, Evangeline raised her voice slightly. "But don't you get it? This change of fate, however small has created a rift, allowing others who have previously been contained to wonder back in now that destiny has changed its course"

Skye huffed in response, her demeanour was off- had something changed? Regretting her tone, she spoke normally, "Skye, listen to me, this isn't like you"

"You're right Evangeline" she breathed, facing the angel headstrong, sapphire eyes shimmering, "This isn't like me, but then you didn't exist when I lost Deidre did you? I was born into a world alone, scared, utterly and mind-numbingly dazed... I have lived for longer than time itself, so please do not tell me what is, and what is not like me"

Stumbling over her words, Evangeline raised a cautious hand, "Skye... you're scaring me, what's gotten into you?"

Pulling in the feather, Skye stared blankly, "I have been kind and naïve for far too long"

Evangeline could've sworn a flicker of energy swirled in her eyes... but with Skye's gift drained from her as punishment by the divine, that wasn't possible.

"I thought I could be a better me, for a better world..." she trudged carefully around the room, "I tried so hard to compress my old ways, to grow into something new, warmer, kinder, but after a century of turmoil, it's no longer possible."

The air was thick with an ancient malice, the chill forthcoming once again. What was happening?

Spying a hanger against the door drooping clean, newly purchased clothes, Skye smiled.

A black polo neck, a long cream trench coat accompanied by feint tartan trousers cuffed at the end. To top of the look were new trainers in the place of her old ones: discarded by the angel behind her.

She pointed to the clothes, her tone still prominent, "Your doing I presume?"

Evangeline deadpanned. "Yes, they were to be ready for you to awake for the next day..."

Evangeline couldn't hide her fear...

Old self? Suppressing? Watching Skye move with an elegant grace, she thought back to the tales made out as legends of the battles fought above, and of the guardian angel who possessed a gift that no being could trifle with. Of course, meeting Skye in person made those legends foolish, how could someone so sweet be the bringer of such power and destruction?

But that point was still valid, Skye was much older, had faced things long forgotten... and after everything, that was one thing Evangeline always forgot or let slip; that that resilient face had been burdened with conflicted emotions, that those eyes had seen things she could only hear off in fairytales...

Perhaps... she didn't know Skye as well as she thought she had.

Already changed, Skye hastily hooked the feather around her neck, mimicking that of Evangeline. She sighed a sigh of grievance, "I know you don't understand, and I don't expect you too... I may seem cruel, but trust me, I'm not- when it comes to those I care for, I do what is necessary, and if it means unlocking a part of me I wished to keep hidden, then so be it"

Evangeline stepped forward. She felt like she was in a loosing battle, a bloodbath where her outcome grew shakier every second; loosing Skye in the process. She tried to rein in that fear, hone in on that last leg that held her by a tightrope. "Let me help you, I'm not afraid" a novice's words. "Please Skye, I want to help! You know that"

Skye's breath stuttered. With a clear conscience she stated, "I have a history, one that I have made others forget, and I will not divulge anything that could ruin the few ties I have here on earth"

She didn't want Evangeline to think of her any less- didn't want that bond to be broken by the truth that had shadowed her her entire life.

And so in a max dash, Skye was through the door.

Her heartbeat was frantic, scared by what had ensued. Only moments ago did Evangeline comfort a crying angel, to being frightened vividly seconds after...

Skye didn't understand it either, her mind calming and slipping back into her usual state of concern and worry for her human. Lev.

Something had played in her mind, something else had been shown to her when she touched the feather, and it was that of fate dealing its hand.

Now, all she'd have to do is play.

And if in acknowledgement of her awareness, did the bitter air turn sour against her skin once she ventured outside; tickling her ears while it whispered in mockery.

It would comply.