halo 'n horns [klance au]

37. Fallen Angel

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Lance

"He told you that?" Mom looked at me, eyebrows furrowed. I'd just gotten back from the Midworld and I was still a bit shaken up from my encounter with Mister. I knew that I'd been bold, but whether or not that had been a good decision, I didn't know yet.

Mom sighed, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger anxiously. We were seated in the living room of The House across from each other on opposite sofas. Mom was wearing a flowy, yellow sundress and she had her hair pulled back away from her face, a sign of anxiety.

I quoted the king again: "' He's infuriatingly insistent about completing the Trials'."

Mom put her head in her hands. "The poor baby. He must have read the prophecy."

"He talked about that too. What's the prophecy?"

She sighed. "It's something that a witch wrote when Keith was born. It has to do with you and Keith, darling, along with the Twins, Adam, and Matt. Your brothers learned about it when they were with the Twins, but I've never read it myself."

"What about Keith and I?"

"Keith was prophesied to be some kind of... 'bridge' to the Upperworld, and you to the Underworld. I'm not entirely sure, though."

"So Keith and I were supposed to be together from the start?"

Mom shrugged, which was very un-Mom-like. "Maybe." I could tell that she didn't exactly love the idea of Keith and I being soulmates or whatnot.

I shook my head as if to clear it and refocused. "So, what are the Trials?"

Mom winced. "I don't know much. They're a set of challenges that the witch created, a sort of test."

"And if Keith passes the test...?"

"He..." Mom frowned. "God, it's been years. I think he regains something. I think he's able to feel something, but I can't remember..." She looked strained, so I put a hand over hers.

"It's okay, Mama, don't worry."

Mom leaned back, sighing. "I'm sorry, Lance. It's been too long."

I smiled ruefully. My mother was gorgeous, but her worried face aged her. I stood and stretched, yawning. "It's getting late, anyway, so I think I'm gonna head to bed."

Mom nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea. I'll see you in the morning, darling."

I kissed her on the cheek before heading upstairs. My room in The House was small and simple, but I loved it. It was themed like the beach with pale blue walls and sandy yellow trim. My bed was small and close to the floor with a soft quilt thrown over it. On the other side of the room, there was a large window seat that looked over the lawn.

Outside, I could see kids running around with sparklers, weaving around picnic blankets and baskets, laughing excitedly as their little wings flapped frantically to keep up. I smiled gently at my siblings. They would never know the pain of loving someone who couldn't love them back, or at least I hoped they wouldn't.

And yet, I wouldn't take any of it back.

I wouldn't take back meeting Keith in the rain. Nor would I take back our first night in that stupid barn. The trip to Seattle, the car rides, my broken nose, afternoons on the beach. It had been awkward and strange and beautiful. It was easily the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life but it had felt natural the whole way through.

I closed my door behind me and leaned against it, sighing heavily. Scattered around my room where little snippets from the beach- seashells here, a seagull feather there, a conch shell and a ship in a bottle. I adored the ocean.

Humming a slow, sweet waltz, I picked my clothes up off the floor from the night before and cleaned up other knick-knacks and books that were scattered around. I'd just finished up cleaning when a knock came at my door.

"Come in," I called absently, surveying my now-clean room.

I turned to see Adam opening my door, his brown hair messy and with tired eyes. "Lance," he greeted, walking over to my bed to sit down.

"Hey, Adam. What's up?" I sat down next to my brother, concerned.

"I hope you know that I never intended to eavesdrop, but I was in the kitchen when you and Mom were talking and I heard... well, I heard everything."

I thought about this for a second. "It's not like it's a secret or anything, Adam. It's fine if you heard."

My brother looked at me with a grimace, "But I know what the Trials are, Lance. I know what Keith is going to regain."

Brown eyes met my blue and Adam pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well?" I asked nervously.

"When Shiro and I were together, he told me that, if he wanted to, he could regain his heart. You remember how Keith didn't have a heartbeat?"

I nodded. It was eerie. "They have hearts, but they don't beat. And some weird kind of chemistry-biological-bullshit-thing about devils is that, because they don't have beating hearts, they can't love."

Adam continued, looking down at the floor. "Shiro told me that, in order to regain his heartbeat and, by that, his ability to love, he'd have to pass the Trials. I don't know the whole story, but it's a life-or-death situation when you take them. If you pass, you can love, if you fail, you die."

I tensed, the reality of the situation sinking into my skin. Keith was going to risk his life to restart his heart? For me? Adam sighed. "If Keith passes, he'll have to live in the Midworld for the rest of his life- his body won't be able to handle the atmosphere of the Underworld for more than a few days."

I stood up, raking a hand through my hair. "I have to stop him. He can't throw away his life for me."

Adam stood too, putting his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Matt and I have already talked about this. We knew that you'd want to go after him, but neither of us think it's a good idea. You know the risk of going down there, Lance."

"No more than three days," I whispered. Any more than that and I would lose my halo, promptly reducing my being to fully mortal.

Adam nodded solemnly. "Are you going to leave?"

I was already looking around my room for my satchel, packing small necessities inside it, changing into a more suitable outfit of a loose, white button-down and black jeans that were ripped at the knees. As I dressed, Adam worked on opening a portal.

Portals were what we, as angels, used to look down at the Midworld. They were little windows that we observed from, and, if need be, we could step through them to the destination we were looking at.

Angels never opened up portals to the Underworld, though. Partially because we didn't need to- that was Mister's domain and Mom knew that he didn't like his work to be meddled with, and also because it was terrifying for an angel.

The place was full of death and sadness- such things were unheard of in the Upperworld. But Adam was slowly opening a glowing window in the center of the room. Through it, I could see a long, dark hallway that looked to be made of stone.

Adam gave me a small, encouraging smile. "Find Keith and get out of there, Lance. The Underworld was not made for angels."

I nodded once, eyes set. "I'll be back before three days is up, I promise."

"You'd better be," Adam muttered. He hesitated, then tilted his head to the side. "Tell Shiro I said 'hi'."

I shot my brother a crooked grin. "Absolutely." And with that, I stepped through the portal.  

...

ahhhhahaha im sorry im kind of giving you sad, slow angst rn- everything will pick up again next chapter, i promise. 

qotd: what do you think of leakira? yknow the huge klance au thing? if you don't know what i'm talking about, look it up^^ i need your opinions though ;))))

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