Well... {18}

Disorientation was an understatement. He felt as if his head were expanding and his body being crushed by the pressure.

What sort of alcohol did he drink to get into a state like this?

He groaned, arms spreading feebly to his surroundings, hoping for a slight bearing on his situation. Lifting the stupendous sheets from him, his eyes travelled to his right; the single bed dipped with his weight, arm holding him up. He wore yesterday's attire, internally facepalming at his idiocy.

He wasn't the only one.

Laying still in his uni clothes as unconscious as ever, Jax was sprawled against his bed, one leg dangling over the edge and a hand squashing his face while he slept like a log.

Sight for sore eyes.

Lev held back the eye-roll, leaning over with a strain and nudged sleeping beauty.

"Idiot, get up" he choked, throat also sore from what he could assume would be the alcohol. Jax's body moved but no sound escaped his lips.

Lev groaned, shifting his weight as he swung his heavy legs off the bed, sitting up and facing the dreaded curtains. He ran a hand through his knotty hair, the strands ripped from his scalp trying to untangle himself.

He sighed deeply; wishing the darkness would stay a little longer for his eyes to fully adjust, but alas, it could not. Lev sluggishly pushed the curtains open, the light streaming in from their student room, even at 4 stories high.

Hearing a moan behind him, a cry for the light to delete itself, Lev laughed, "Morning drunkard, what time did we get in last night?"

Jax exhaled, breathier than he realised, "Don't know and don't care..." he turned on his side, face furrowed like a vampire allergic in his attempt to block the sun while he crammed his head into his arms, "Just let me sleep dude"

It wasn't like Lev to get this drunk, nor Jax, yet here they were, stomach's nauseated and heads spinning.

His limbs felt double in weight as he hailed his body out from the bed, stretching lazily.

What day was it?

Reaching for his phone, he glanced at the clock, wincing at the brightness but soon widening as he took in the time.

It was the second day of term... and they were late.

~

It had had taken her so long to reach the place she needed after her many detours, that the serenity of night had flourished into day, with the sun peaking overhead and the environment picking up around her.

The air was chilled and fresh, her breath icy as she puffed out in front, her hair swaying with the light pace she maintained.

Skye glanced down the road, her legs begging for a break. She smiled once her eyes came across a window four stories high... they would get one.

Due to her frequent visits, Skye knew this place like the back of her hand, knew it so because she had always come here to watch over Lev leaving in the mornings.

The banister to enter the student block came into view, its metallic shine bright against the morning rays; the stairs leading up to the elevated ground floor as tough as ever.

The aged exterior standing strong was a welcoming sight to the tired angel beaming at her navigation skills.

After everything, it was the one familiarity she could hold onto, some form of normality once her world was twisted, chucked, and thrown upside down.

So Skye slowed her pace, the feeling of Lev nearby a comfort... he was safe.

She checked her phone, the time springing at her command. Surprisingly, he appeared to have slept in, which had been purposeful. It was a necessary evil set by Evangeline, to maintain the façade of getting totally wasted.

She sucked in a breath, straightening her spine as she sat by the stairwell leading up the block of student rooms. It was identical to hers, but entirely on the other side of campus.

Her hair flew into her face from the gentle morning breeze, and her coat hugged her warmly, but it could not hide the tiredness in her sapphire eyes.

To her dismay she had received strange looks as the clock ticked by, someone even asking her if she had been locked out of her room, to which she shook her head and laughed, reassuring them that she was where she had to be.

She also realised that what she was doing from an outside perspective looked... creepy, but it was for his safety after all that went down. She didn't have a choice, and they didn't know the full picture.

Resting her head against her palm, she fluttered her eyes closed and leant against the railing. She was exhausted, her human body draining.

~

"Jax, get your ass out now, we're late" Lev swore, racing to get dressed without collapsing from dizziness. He fumbled, stumbled and almost tripped over a few items. "Jax! Are you deaf?"

He paused his scrambling, catching his breath while rocking the corpse of his dead roommate. "You're not doing yourself any favours by moping around"

Jax felt the wrestling hands on his arms violently shaking him awake, and it was doing nothing for his emerging headache that pounded at his skull. He hissed, "Asshole, can you stop"

He did just that. But Jax made no sign of thanking his assaulter. He mumbled, "Let me sleep"

"What part of 'no' do you not understand"

Jax sighed, "All of it-"

Lev huffed.

Jax added, "-And if we're late, might as well take the day day off"

Lev pushed out a breath, pinching his nose, "Not happening, now, get up, or I'll expose your ass to the lecturer and tell him exactly why you thought it would be a good idea to skive"

Jax turned to him as far as his neck would allow, eyes closed and mouth frowning, "You wouldn't..." he grumbled, voice low.

Lev raised an eyebrow, leaning down to whisper in his ear and scare the poor boy senseless, "Try me"

"Fuck you Lev" he swore under his breath, lifting his droopy body from the bed. "You really are a dick"

Lev laughed, swallowing a paracetamol and downing a bottle of water left by his bedside. He cringed at the soreness, tipping his head back as he felt the pill scratch his throat.

After a second to collect his bearings, he chucked the spare pill to Jax who made no effort to move. Instead, he rubbed his sour eyes and threw an arm behind him to search for the tablet that had plodded into the crease of the bed.

~

Yawning for the ninth time, Skye glanced at her phone once again, somehow hoping the more she stared, the faster it traversed. However, it wasn't too long after that her eyes finally won, pulling her eyelids shut and loosing consciousness, her mind floating within a bed of clouds.

Except it wasn't anything like a bed of clouds.

She couldn't breath. But she could see, and nothing else.

It was her crown, the discarded piece of divinity that was placed above her head, adorning her the guardian.

It burned; radiant and exploding like a ball of yarn, perched between her fingertips. Its power burrowed into her veins, travelling through the cracked skin un-able to handle its magnitude. Such a cruel feeling for such a pure entity assigned with protection....

It was excruciating. The unaltered light emanating was blinding, yet she could see nothing else.

It was swallowing her whole, her soul surrendering to its command, its fury.... its twisted, tampered fury that whispered "I'm waiting..."

Skye awoke with a scream, her hands palpitating against her chest. The person crouched over her dipped back, saving themselves from a nasty bruise.

Reality came back swiftly and she became aware.

Skye immediately went to apologise, but broke mid-sentence when she looked up.

It was Lev with a panicked face leaning back, and Jax laughing against the door, his arms folded across his creased shirt.

Her cheeks dusted pink at the embarrassment, her heart somehow speeding backup for as long as those forested eyes remained on her.

Don't. Screw. This. Up.