Lovely [The Unedited Version]

Chapter 10

They leaned over the blueprints of the Institute and thought. In Lovely’s mind it was a waste of time, but Raven insisted that it was necessary. She already knew what to do: break in and get the other’s out, then deal with Morpheus.

“As I see it,” started Rose, “We need to enter through the main entrance.”

“That is probably the worst idea you’ve had.”

“Not really.” She pointed to the other entrances/exits as she spoke about them. “We can’t go through here- it’s too small and we wouldn’t be able to get in fast enough or out for that matter. And we can’t go in through the delivery entrance because they’ll expect that and will have it trapped. There are only two windows and those lead into Morpheus’ office, which I assure you is highly protected. Therefore, the only safe place to enter would be through the main gates during the day because they are not trapped because everyone goes through them and we could trick the security guards.”

“I’m all for It.” said Lovely. “We can make it look like we’re Dispatches coming back in- half of us could pretend to be the experimentalists and the other half could be, you know, us.”

Raven nodded slowly. “That might work, but what happens if we get caught?”

“Worst case scenario; we get caught and tortured to death. Best case, we get everyone out and seriously injure Morpheus.” said Rose brightly.

“And we would be doing this when?”

“ASAP.”

“So about two weeks?”

“Mmhm. Probably on a Monday morning because everyone will be tired. I never understood that! Why don’t humans like Mondays? They’re great!”

Raven looked at her incredulously and Lovely had to stifle her laughter. “You like Mondays? How is that possible?”

“It’s the most refreshing day!” There ensued an argument about which was better, the weekend or the weekdays.

After about twenty minutes and breathless from laughter Lovely announced that she was going to leave unless something useful got done. That she was laughing bothered Lovely: she had never laughed before, she had never had a chance to. And now she wondered if she should laugh- why should she feign happiness when there were still innocent creatures still in the Institute.

Raven and Rose glared daggers at each other, but they were able to remain clam through out the remainder of the meeting. The three of them managed to sketch out a plan to invade the Institute in two weeks. They would tell the others the plan during dinner and if the others had anything to add, they would have to come to one of them. The meeting ended on a high note, with the decision to meet again in three days.

Lovely wandered back to her room and plopped down on the bed sighing. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept on something this comfortable. She snuggled in close and eventually dropped off into sleep.

+++++++++++++++++

The shadows were after her again, but this time they were yelling as they converged on her. She could only hear them screaming “Kill kill” and “Forever” and she cried out to what ever God there was to save her. No one came to lift her out of this fiery pit. She was damned and she was going to die here. Suffocated under the mass of writhing shadows.

A hand appeared in her peripheral vision; a hand as pale as her’s with pale silver veins looping around it. “Take my hand.” Said a voice.

She did and the person pulled her free of the shadows, lifting her up until they were flying through the air. She still clung to the person’s hand and looking up saw that he had wings, but they were different from her own: his were black and leathery. They looked as though they belonged to a Pterodactyl.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The man looked down at her and she screamed- where his eyes should have been there were only black pits and his mouth was a thin white line.  “You already know who I am.”

“No I don’t!” She cried, “I’ve never seen you in my life!”

“Just because you haven’t seen me doesn’t mean you don’t know me.”

And she cried because she did know him, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

+++++++++++++++++

Lovely awoke with tears on her face, she must have actually cried. Suddenly the door burst open with a bang and a pink haired girl flew in.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” she said in a rush.

“Nothing! Why did you think something happened?”

“I heard you scream.”

“It was just a bad dream.” said Lovely slumping back on the pillows. She pushed a strand of white hair out of her eyes and surveyed the girl. “Who are you?”

“Oh me? I’m Seraphim, but just call me Sera.”

“That is an interesting name. How did you come by that?” asked Lovely.

“I don’t know- I thought it sounded cool.” She shrugged her hoddie-clad shoulders.

“You do know what it means right?”

“Yeah. The first of nine orders of angels; it’s also the plural of seraph. And what’s your name?”

“Lovely.”

“That’s a lovely name.” Seraphim said smiling.

They sat for a moment in awkward silence. “So, Lovely, I hear you have a plan to invade the Institute?”

“Yeah- we’re going to announce it tonight.”

“Oh, well, in that case you’d better hurry up. Dinner’s almost started.” Seraphim turned to leave and added, “Oh yeah, you might want to change into something more presentable. Those sweats are not working for you.”

“Says the one in the hoddie.” muttered Lovely.

Sera went over to look in Lovely’s drawer and let out a high pitched squeal. “You barely have any clothing! Tomorrow I am taking you shopping and we are getting you some nice clothes. Here, “ she said tossing Lovely a red dress, “Put thin\s on.”

Rolling her eyes Lovely slipped the thing on, it fit perfectly and the red looked fantastic with her hair. Lovely looked back at Sera and sighed: she looked perfect in her hoddie and ripped jeans. Inwardly, she screamed at herself for envying Seraphim’s perfection, but in the back corner of her mind Lovely still thought about it.

“Alright Lovely! Let’s get down to dinner so you can make your big announcement.”  And taking Lovely’s arm in her own, they walked down to the dinner hall.