Project Angel
Pairing: Demon x Angel
Word count: 2464
Warnings: light angst, sorry for any typo.
A/N: This is a chapter of a book (work in progress) that I'm making at the moment. I just really liked this scene and decided to post it, hence why no proper build up or title, but I still hope you enjoy it
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Lucien had been bickering with her all afternoon, making her lose focus on the book every other second. Even separated by the chasm between them, the Demon could make himself heard just fine, making Selene wonder why she kept up with it when she knew she wouldn't be able to focus on what she was doing.
“C’mon, princess, stop being such a stick in the mud, it’s not like that book is more interesting than me.” he teased, a smirk on his lips.
“Stop it Lucien, I’m trying to read.”
“That book isn’t even that good, what's the point of killing the villain if his plan is still going to be finished by someone else?” she huffed at this, lowering he book to glare at Lucien.
“The point is to try and see how the heroes save the world, when the one they thought was the villain is no longer present.”
“They are all self-entitled heroes, most of them don't even know what they’re doing with their lives.”
“None of us do, that’s what living is. We’re supposed to find our place in the world.” she had closed her book at that point, and moved closer to the chasm to be able to better look at Lucien when explaining her point of view.
“We don't find our place in the world, princess, we’re forced into it, we’re born with someone else’s purpose already imprinted onto us. There's no such thing as free will.” his teeth were grinding, muscles tense, thinking of all his father's expectations of him. The way he had been raised to wage a war he had no interest in a constant though on his mind.
“I believe there is. We’re not what others want us to be. We create who we are, our own image.”
“That’s not how the world works on this side. We’re not all little angels or entitled princesses like yourself.” he was starting to feel bitter; she had no idea of the hardships he had endured growing up, of what Demons went through. All Angels had it easy, in a place where everything was handed out to them, while Demons had to fight every day for survival.
Selene could feel anger bubbling up inside her; her cheeks were getting hotter by the minute, with light pink rosacea appearing on her skin. She stopped closer to the edge, to make her voice better heard across the chasm.
"I'm not an entitled princess!" she says, planting her feet a bit harder on the floor, "You, however! Just because your father rules over Hell, you think you have the right to treat me like one of your lackeys! You think I don't know hardship? Look at me! I can't fly, but I still need to make everything here work for me. Do you think it's easy being the only Angel that can't fly? When I can barely access half the places because they're too high for me to climb? Or having to refuse invitations from my friends because they want to go somewhere I can't even dream of getting to? Why do you think I spend my days here alone? It isn't easy to keep friends when you can't do anything with them! You're the entitled…" all of a sudden she feels the ground beneath her give away, a whoosh of cold hair travelling across her entire body, making her lose her footing and fall.
A scream echoes across the ravine, making all the feathers on Lucien's wings to puff up. His eyes widen, and for a moment, he freezes. He runs to the edge without a second thought, lunging himself into the black abyss, his heart hammering hard on his chest while blood rushed through his ears at a deafening speed.
Selene felt lighter than ever, but at the same time, the ball in the pit of her stomach only tightened the faster she fell. She opened her good wing, spreading it out to try and slow herself, but that only made her plunge faster into the darkness in a zigzag pattern, making her roll over and face the sky in her struggle to keep upright. Her wings were unable to move due to the air drag, some of her feathers being ripped in the process, floating slowly above her. Her vision was blurred by the tears floating in her eyes.
She had no idea how long she had been falling for, but it seemed forever, 'the ground must be getting closer by now,' the only thing on her mind. She closed her eyes tightly and hugged herself, waiting for the pain to come and be done with. She would never see her parent again, feel their warm hug around her, or laugh with her friends. Or see Lucien's stupid grin on his face whenever he was teasing her. She never thought she'd missed the Demon, but he'd been a constant in her life lately, and it seems she had gotten used to him despite everything.
Selene was making up her mind, getting ready for the end, but… That pain never came. The next thing she felt was a strong body hitting hers, making them barrel roll in the air before decreasing their speed, stopping altogether after a while, and hovering in the air. She slowly opened one of her eyes and looked up, seeing Lucien holding her tightly against his chest, black feathery wings descending them slowly to the ground of the chasm.
‘So I hadn’t been that far from being mush on the ground after all,’ she thinks. Once his feet hit the ground, he kneels with her, putting her shaking body firmly on the ground in front of him, but taking longer to let go, keeping her to his chest like he couldn’t believe that she was safe yet. His mind was racing, his heart even more so. He couldn't believe what had just happened. She had been there one second, and gone the next.
“Hum… Lucien? You can let go now. I can’t breathe with you squeezing me.” she mumbled into his chest, but he only grabbed her tighter and closer to him, shaking his head no. His eyes were stinging, and all he could do was breathe her in, her lavender and sunshine smell reassuring him that she was still in his arms. She was shaking so much it almost felt like a rattle in his chest. It took him a moment longer to understand that the shaking he felt was coming from his entire body instead.
“Are you... Are you crying?” she asked tentatively.
“No. I don't cry!” but the continuous shaking of his body, and the strained way his voice sounded, told her otherwise. She slowly freed her hand from between their chests and reached upwards to his cheek, cupping it gently and making him look at her. The unspilled tears she saw at the corners of his eyes made her chest tighten. Why was he crying over her?
“I’m okay now. Thanks to you. You can let go.”
“I… please let me stay like this a bit longer?” his voice was barely a whisper choking out of his parted lips, but hearing him say ‘please’ for the first time since she met him made Selene smile up at him warmly. And so she snuggled closer to him, arms circling his torso to pull him closer to her, his warm body a welcoming sensation she didn’t want to lose so soon.
She didn’t know how long it had been, but once her legs started to cramp up from the position they were in, she began making her discomfort known by wriggling around a bit, getting a chuckle out of Lucien, who ended up getting up and helping her to her feet. Selene patted her dress, filled with dirt and dust from the bottom of the chasm and then looked up. It was a long way to the top of it, and she tentatively looked up at Lucien.
“Are you okay to carry me up to the top?” She didn’t want to burden him with it. But without him to carry her out, she would stand no chance of getting out on her own.
“Of course I am, princess.” He reached down, put his arm around her back and underneath her legs and hoisted her up, not letting her take a moment to understand what he was doing and making her let out a squeak before she managed to compose herself once again.
“You could have warned me before.” she said, annoyed at him, but deep down she knew it was mostly just the fact of how easily he had picked her up into his arms, making her flustered.
“And lose this cute response from you? Never.” he chuckled at her once he noticed her cheeks start to pink up again, while she tried hiding her pout into his chest.
She could feel him crouch a bit before taking off into the sky, his black and golden tipped feathers dancing around them while they soared into the sky above. His arms flexed underneath her, cradling her into his body while the cold air whooshed past them the faster they flew upwards.
She had never really had a good flying experience, but here, in the safety of Lucien’s arms, she discovered that she quite liked it. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, she imagined this moment would last forever. That nothing would ever ruin this moment for her. But all too soon, she could feel Lucien slow down and gently lower her to her feet on the ground near her tree, far away from the chasm’s edge. “Let’s not have a repeat of that again, okay?” he was now looking her over, fingers itching from losing their hold on her.
“Well, I for once quite liked this gentler side of yours, you know?”
“Tell that to no one.”
“And who am I going to tell? I’m in a place I shouldn’t be, talking to a Demon I shouldn’t be talking to. They would take what is left of my wings. Worse, I would be thrown out and cast down to earth in a heartbeat. ” Selene’s sentence started with a teasing tone, but the more she spoke, the more realisation dawned on her of her current actions and their repercussions.
“Don’t worry your pretty little mind about it, princess, if you don’t tell them, I won’t either.”
“That’s… actually comforting, in a way.” The sunset light was making his usually dark eyes seem lighter, and almost like they were glistening, making Selene lose herself looking at them. Lucien was slowly getting closer to her, making her hold her breath when his hand reached up to her face.
And then Selene came to her senses, remembering that she shouldn’t really be doing this, taking a step back and watching Lucien’s hand fall slowly to his side and his gaze turning down, dejectedly.
“I really need to go.” she goes to pick up her discarded book and rushes past Lucien, not looking back.
