The Fallen Angel

Chapter 19: Revelation

Shamelessly bitter.

And we were talking about the girl who I had seen at her every low point in her life.

"I took my punishment because I deserved it for what I had done. I was supposed to be demoted from a low level angel and sent to the Realm of Darkness to repent for eternity. That's what the High Council had determined to be my fate. I guess they wanted to make an example out of me." She shrugged, as if her mouth hadn't just said the most gruesome thing I've ever heard.

They were going to do what to her?

I felt my hand starting to shake. My other one slickly covered it up, but I saw Angelo take notice of the movement from the corner of my eyes.

"That's how I was going to go down in history for a moment's weakness," she sighed then her disheartened expression found a little lightness to it. "I knew who Angelo was - the entire heaven did because of how special he is. What I didn't know was about the complications he had caused for falling for a human. At that time, nothing that didn't concern the level below the highest one of the three triads would reach a lower being. Nobody knew of his involvement with a human except royal or important officials. But after the war, everything about what happened reached a few ears, including my own."

Her gaze was skittish and she bit down onto her fingernails, looking as if she didn't know where to go from there.

"I had asked of the High Council to show some mercy and suppress her as a mortal instead of eternal damnation." Angelo spoke from his spot on the bed, coming to her aid.

He was powerful enough to interfere with such a decision?

Genie nodded eagerly. "He promised that if I were to help watch over his beloved when he found her again, I wouldn't have to go to the Realm of Darkness."

Cold sweat coated my forehead as I realized where this was headed.

"That's you, B." She said softly. "He made me become your best friend since we were young as soon as he found your location. After a while, he wasn't sure if you were the one he was looking for despite all the facts pointing to you. You had reincarnated so differently you see. You're practically the total opposite of yourself from the past. Or at least that's what I've gathered from his countless paintings."

"So what you're saying is that you're not..." My lips trembled. "You're not my best friend? That it's all been a lie?"

"No, no, no! You are my best friend! You are the kindest human I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. It made me become one of you, not such a terrible thing after all."

I chuckled darkly. "Only because you were left with no other choice but eternal damnation?"

Her mouth dropped open. "Isabelle..."

"Fuck," I groaned, feeling my head starting to pound at the way she called me. "Don't call my name."

"B-"

"I said don't call my name!" I screeched, my anger finally bursting through. "Don't act like you know me! All this time you've been using me to get out of your sinful mess. You've been living by a script for twenty-four years, and goddamn, you played it so well. I'm actually contemplating whether I should bow down at your feet because of how impressed I am."

Her lips made a thin line. "I admit that I had no other choice. That the idea of coming here as a mortal was revolting for someone who used to oversee you all, but after getting to know you I had a different perspective. As clichè as it sounds, I learnt not to judge a book by its cover. That you humans have a deeper meaning to every choice as well as the mistakes you make."