Angel Fire (Book 2 Of Angel Trilogy)

Chapter 1| The New Life

Chapter 1| The New Life

Lucy's POV

THE SCISSORS WERE COLD AGAINST my neck.

I stood in the bathroom of our motel room with my eyes shut, trying not to notice how much I hated the sound of each metallic snip, or the odd, awful feeling of lightness that was slowly spreading its way across my head. Even though I knew how much we needed to do this— of course I did; it had been my idea in the first place— that didn't mean I had to enjoy it. Natsu wasn't enjoying it much, either. In fact, he probably hated this part most of all. But when I'd brought up the idea earlier that afternoon, he admitted he'd been thinking the same thing— and now the scissors didn't hesitate as he worked them. If I hadn't suggested this, he would have.

It was weird, though. . . both of us so eager to do something that neither of us actually wanted.

I heard Natsu put the scissors down on the bathroom counter. "Okay, I think I'm done." He sounded uncertain. Dreading what I was about to see, I opened my eyes and stared at myself in the mirror.

My once-long hair was now short. Very short. I don't even know how to describe it. Sort of a pixie cut, maybe, if the pixies had gone berserk with the scissors. (L/N: The haircut that Edolas Lucy did) And more than that, it was no longer blonde– it was a deep reddish-gold that made me think of autumn and bonfires. I'd thought it might go better with my skin tone than brown, but now. . . I swallowed. In the mirror, my brown eyes were wide and unsure.

I looked nothing like myself.

Natsu was staring, too. "Wow," he said. "That. . . makes a big difference."

I wanted to blurt out, You still think I'm beautiful, right? I bit the words back. "Still being beautiful" was not the point— not that I'd ever really thought I was, anyway; it was Natsu who thought that. But the important thing now was just staying alive.

In the bedroom, I could still hear the newscast that had been playing non-stop ever since we'd turned on the TV: "Police are searching urgently for the pair for questioning. . . Again, if you see them, do not approach them yourself, but call our special hotline. . . They are suspected to be armed and dangerous..."

I knew without looking that they were showing my sophomore school photo again— and that it was probably on every Church of Angels website in the world by now. So to be honest, changing my most noticeable feature hadn't exactly been a tough decision. At least no one knew what Natsu looked like. There was a police sketch, but it was laughably wrong: the security guard who'd been at the cathedral had remembered him as being about ten years older and fifty pounds heavier than he really was, bulging with muscle like a football player.

I couldn't take my eyes off the girl in the mirror. It was like a stranger had stolen my face. I reached for the red eyebrow pencil I'd asked Natsu to buy and traced it over my eyebrows. The effect was much more dramatic than I would have expected. Before, I barely even noticed my eyebrows when I looked at myself. Now they seemed to jump right out at me.

This was me, now.

Feeling oddly shaken, I put down the pencil and ran my fingers through what was left of my hair. Half of it spiked up, the other half flopped down. Someone, somewhere, might pay good money for a haircut like this— like the type of runway model who'd wear a garbage-bag dress held together with safety pins, maybe.

"I'm glad you don't want to be a hairdresser," I said to Natsu. "Because I don't think your work is very mainstream."

He smiled and touched the back of my neck; it felt weirdly vulnerable to have the skin there so exposed. "No one will recognize you, that's what's important," he said. "Christ, I almost wouldn't recognize you."

"Oh," I said. I didn't mean to sound quite so forlorn, but the thought of Natsu not recognizing me was just. . . wrong.

Catching my look, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and drew me close against his chest. The top of my head came up just past his chin. "Hey," he said, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. "We'll both get used to it. And you're still gorgeous; you know that, right? It's just different, that's all."

I let out a breath, relieved he hadn't stopped thinking that. Maybe it was petty, with everything else that was happening in the world— but so much had changed already, without changing how Natsu viewed me, too. I wanted that to stay the same, for ever. "Thanks," I said.

He propped his chin on top of my head, looking amused. "Well, it's sort of a no-brainer. You'd be gorgeous if you shaved all your hair off."

I laughed. "Let's not test that one, okay? I think this is radical enough for one day." I rested back against his chest, taking in his tousled dark hair and blue-grey eyes in the mirror. "Gorgeous" was actually the word I'd use to describe Natsu, not me. It still gave me a tingle like Christmas morning sometimes, to realize this boy I was so much in love with felt the same way about me.

Meanwhile, my hair had not stopped being very short. Or very red. I kept getting mini jolts of surprise every time I saw myself, like my mind hadn't caught up with what had happened yet.

"I wish there was some kind of dye we could use on your aura, too," said Natsu after a pause.

I nodded, rubbing his toned forearms. "I know. We'll just have to be really careful."

My aura— the energy force that surrounds every living thing— was silver and lavender; a distinct mix of angel and human. Any angel who spotted it would know instantly who I was: the only half-angel in the world, the one who'd tried to destroy them all. It was a risk that couldn't be avoided, though, unless we planned to go live in a cave somewhere.

"Anyway, hopefully people won't be trying to shoot me quite as often now," I said.

"That's the idea," he agreed. "Because, you know. . . I kind of want you to stick around for a while." His eyes flickered with memory, and I knew what he was thinking without trying, because I was thinking about the same thing. The worst day of both our lives: when he'd held me in his arms, just a day ago, and thought I had died. My arms tightened over his. The truth was, I had died. If Natsu hadn't been there to bring me back, I wouldn't be here now.

"That's what I have in mind," I said softly. The crystal teardrop pendant he'd given me sparkled in the light. "Sticking around with you for a very, very long while."

"Deal," said Natsu.

A/N: Alrighty that's the last update for today. I hope you enjoyed. And I'm pleased to welcome you all to the sequel of Angel Burn, because this story will give you the feels. This book has angst, thriller, romance, and much importantly. . . action-packed. I hope you enjoy this story! Please vote or comment! 

~Heartfilia92003 <3