Departure {20}

He sighed gently, the cold air surrounding them both like a frosted hug. For what was to come next, Skye didn't know, nor did the riddling presence of fate that trickled down her face tell her differently.

They were alone.

He spoke first.

"Thanks again for checking up on us Skye" his long coat rustled, "I know I didn't give off the best impression when we first met, so it means a lot"

Skye rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He cleared his throat, "Back in the café, when I walked up to you... you looked frightened"

"I did?"

Skye forgot how to breathe, her lips parting ever so slightly at the dread of remembrance. If only she could tell him why that was... why any of this had come to pass.

She supressed the urge.

"Your skin had paled like you saw a ghost and your fingers were trembling slightly..."

Oh gods..

A hand brushed through his hair, "I didn't want to come across scary, but by your reaction I think I did... I'm sorry for that"

Skye looked to him honestly, sighing heavily with the weight of a new lie on her tongue. She cursed herself for it, for the fact that Lev thought HE was the problem. He was anything but that, rather, a true gentleman who didn't hound her for her name or intrude on introduction. Even when not being human for long could she still understand that those qualities were rare.

Yet gazing upon his face through her side-eye did she notice the sadness lining it. A face similar to one of rejection. Did her distancing hurt him so badly?

Rushing to defend herself, with a clear throat she murmured, "No need to apologise, you didn't come across aggressive or frightening at all, it was me, I have a habit of being very cautious of meeting new people and was extremely hesitant" she swallowed, "I'm sorry you thought that way, truly, you were not at fault there"

She heard the breath of relief but didn't quite believe it.

"Even if that were to be true, I would like to formally re-introduce myself, this time coming across a bit better" he half-smiled, offering his hand out to her as if in repetition of the café. His face glinted with a new hope as he spoke gently, "My name is Lev Milos, it is a pleasure to meet you Skye"

Un-able to submerge the need, Skye took his introduction and reached for his hand with her own frozen one, "And I you, Lev Milos" she grinned, their skin coming into contact.

His hand was warm compared to hers, the brashness a comfort, but she couldn't hold it long enough to feel something; for Lev withdrew, nose scrunching at a surge of pain shot through his fingers into his minds eye.

Skye deadpanned, the absence of his palm chilling. She swallowed the guilt, the regret, the voice telling her like a broken record that she should not have done that.

Her hand lingered in the empty space.

What was done was done.

Coughing with the wind, Lev apologised, "I'm sorry Skye, I don't know what came over me…"

But she did. And she hoped that her eyes did not reveal it.

He shuffled with his fingers before akwardly asking, "Shall we get going then? We have a short walk ahead of us?"

Skye nodded, his touch now a foggy memory, watching as Lev trotted ahead and waved to Jax who sat snuggly in a bus seat. In his nature, Jax waved back like a lost child.

Gazing off at the departing bus, listening to the morning noise around her, and feel the clawing concrete at her shoes did she realise her place.

She did not belong here, not since her wings were clipped and her abilities dispelled. She had done this damage, imposed on a life she had no narrative in.

She shivered under a phantom breeze, it's chilling tone making her pull on her coat.

How could she fix this? Skye sighed, eyes focused on the crystallisation leave her lips.

Talking to him with nothing but lies… it wasn't right, it wasn't fair; he deserved better, they all did. No matter what she did he would always be in harms way, and she would have to live and breath knowing it was her mistake that caused it all.

The strain of thought was too much to bare, especially when she stood alone.

Once again, the scars ebbed at her, like waves at a shoreline, always reminding her of what could have been.

A voice called to her, "Skye! Come on or we won't make the afternoon lectures"

Her eyes directed to him, his voice an echo in her mind to save her.

She truly was helpless.

"Coming!" Skye called after him, finally moving her frost bitten legs.

The churning of smoke piped from the bus drove past them both, but not before Skye caught sight of something that sent her heart dropping.

Eyes sidelining, body turning, her voice screeched, "Jax!"

It fell into the silence of the wind.

Sat next to Jax on the bus, Skye's eyes could identify a being not seen in a millennia.

A Dybbuk, a fate-bound spirit of a long-dead sinner who, instead of receiving guidance from the angels that watched over them, fought in resistance against the angels to inhabit a body of another human.

Skye screamed, Lev running up bedside her in a flurry of confusion. "What's wrong!"

"Jax!"

Nothing stopped her legs from running after that bus, not even the cold climbing her limbs and causing an aching numbness. How was it getting colder?

Run. Faster. Get there now.

Lev was hot on her trail as she bolted into a sprint, the dybbuk grinning at her, and her eyes only.

It's hollow shell looked normal but it's aura… she could still see them?

Dismissing that she remained steadfast, the bus shrinking in the distance as she lacked behind.

No. No. No.

A cry from behind.

"Skye! What the hell is going on!?"

Lev.

Her hair whipped in front of her, lungs ready before she called out through any link she had remaining- if they hadn't been separated already.

"Evangeline!!!"

Lev clutched his ears, swearing at the intensity she let escape her.

-

Evangeline felt as if she was punched in the gut, but this surge came within, stretching into the bond…

It had not been severed?

Before Skye had been cast out, the way she would communicate with her angels was through bonds, or links that stretched from her. Through them she could command each angel, guide them, and speak with them.

But Evangeline hasn't felt her use the connection in years, Skye never finding the need for it-

Shit.

The strings tugged again and Evangeline almost lurched over.

Her wings ached from concealment and the cloth draped over her body in one fluid motion.

Help was on the way.