TW: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE
"AGENT EVANS?"
"Ah, Mr. Falcon," the man on the line says, "How do you do?"
Axel snorts. "Posh motherfucker. What's good, Thomas?"
"Yeah, fuck you too, little shit," TJ's voice says, and even though he can't see him, he can tell that he's rolling his eyes. "I told you not to call me that."
"Cry about it."
"Asshole," comes his reply, before the shuffling of papers is heard. "How have you been, mate?"
"Same old," Axel shrugs, sitting down on his bed, "Going on missions, nearly dying-"
"Nearly what?"
"Oh," Axel pauses, looking down at his abdomen. It hadn't hurt at all ever since he got off that bed when he woke up.
He suspected that was Stella's doing.
"I didn't tell you? I got shot-"
"You what?"
"Thomas, notice how you keep saying the word 'what'," Axel says exasperatedly, "It's almost like you can't hear what I'm saying- is there something wrong with your phone?"
"Is there something wrong with you?" TJ says sounding astonished, "When did you get shot? And who?"
"It's...." Axel narrows his eyes at the ceiling trying to figure out how to respond to the question, "... a long story."
"I'd say I have time, but I really don't," comes a grumble from the other end of the line, "I'm actually calling for business."
"Oh?" Axel frowns at the sudden change in his tone, "What's wrong?"
"I need to ask you a couple of questions," TJ says, and Axel knows that specific tone- is the tone agents use while questioning potential suspects. What was this about?
"You mind telling me where you were last night?"
Axel's eyebrows furrow. "I was on a mission."
"You were?" TJ sounds a little skeptical, "At the hotel Ad Meliora? With a woman?"
"Yes," though Axel's a tiny bit peeved by the fact that he knows that, he doesn't question it, "We were undercover. We had men on our tail."
"Right," TJ trails off, and the sound of paper shuffling muffles the silence until he speaks again, "Could you ID the woman with you for me?"
"Her name is Stella."
"....is that all?"
"All that I can tell you, yes," Axel clears his throat uncomfortably, "she's... temporarily on the team and she's uh... under witness protection. Can't say much according to the contract."
"I see," TJ responds stiffly.
All this talk about the Ad Meliora Hotel reminded him of the anxiety and the paranoia he had about returning there- because of its sudden inclusion in the plan altogether.
What TJ says next, only confirms it.
"There was an explosion at Ad Meliora an hour or so ago."
"A what?" Axel's eyes widen in surprise and horror. "What the fuck- anyone hurt?"
While he was concerned about the people who were possibly hurt, he couldn't help but think of what he was doing an hour or so ago.
They were in the air debating whether they'd be returning to the hotel or HQ.
If they had chosen to return to the hotel... things wouldn't have looked good for any of them.
"Seven injured, none dead," TJ says slowly, "It wasn't that big of an explosion, but it was in a closed room. It would have been critically dangerous for anyone in the room, but fortunately, the room was empty."
"A closed room?" Axel's frowns a little at that, "Did you get the room number? See who it was booked under?"
"Yes, that's where you come in," TJ sighs wearily on the line,
"The room was booked under a Matteo Bernardi."
Axel's breath gets caught in his throat. "What?"
"Yeah," TJ sighs again, "They showed us the camera footage of 'Matteo Bernardi' and I was able to ID you from it. You want to tell me what's up?"
"We stayed the night there, that's all," Axel explains, hating the troubled feeling that had made a reappearance, "to throw people off our tail. Going to the hotel wasn't even a part of the plan initially, but my Boss-"
He pauses.
"Axe?"
His boss.
He wasn't the one who planned anything related to the hotel- being a part of the plan. He wasn't the one who had bags, commodities and weapons packed- already sent to a room that was booked in his alias' name. He wasn't the one who had everything ready.
Corban had done all that.
It didn't sit right with him at the beginning either. Why would he do all that? Was the explosion something to do with him?
"Uh, hello? You there?"
"Yeah," Axel coughs, swallowing, "Sorry, I was just thinking. I- no, TJ I had nothing to do with the explosion. Neither did Stella. You have my word."
"Hmm," he muses from the other end, "Alright. Thanks then, I'll look into it."
"Sure," Axel nods, "Is that all?"
"Yes, that should be it," there's more shuffling on TJ's end, "And oh, before I forget- I just sent this month's files over to you a couple of minutes ago. You should have received them."
A sad smile makes its way onto Axel's face at TJ's words.
"Right... thank you for that," he says slowly, hesitating before he can finally bring himself to ask. "How... How has... he been?"
"He's... been well," he can hear the small smile in TJ's voice when he says that. "Really, he has. The files have all you need about him for this month, anyway."
"Yeah... I-I know," Axel clears his throat, looking at the framed photograph on his bedside table. "It just sucks sometimes, y'know?"
"I do," TJ says sympathetically, "I truly do. But, hey- be well, alright? I'll catch you another time. Duty calls."
"Yeah," Axel nods, though he can't see him, "Thanks TJ. I'll see you around."
The line goes dead.
Axel sighs, leaning back into the headboard, as he tosses his phone aside.
He remembers the first time he met him, and how impressed he was, with what he was trying to do.
TJ Evans was a former police officer at the Richmond Police Department who quit on account of not being happy with how they delivered justice. Because of his skill set, however, he was requested at the FBI and continued to work for intelligence.
Higher up, he had done a lot to try and influence the working of justice systems, and he was recognized for it, even by the administration. He was a good man. Truly.
Remembering what TJ had said about this month's files, Axel reaches for his laptop- that was also a part of the small clutter on his bedside table.
For a single moment, his eyes linger on the photograph right next to it.
Two boys. One younger than the other. Both with similar features, and happy smiles on their faces.
He blinks, turning away from it, pushing away the momentary hurt that makes its way into his heart.
It takes him seconds to navigate his way through everything to find the files; ones that he received every month.
The ones about his little brother.
He gulps, as his mouse hovers over the screen- right above the file before he clicks on it.
L O A D I N G...
A report pops up first, but Axel only skims through the text- scrolling down until he comes across the pictures.
His pictures.
There's a pinch in his heart again, a reminder of the pain that was almost always there.
His little brother wasn't all that little anymore, that was certain.
While they did have similar features, his brother was leaner than he was, an inch or so shorter- and if they were to stand next to each other, as easy as it was to tell that they were brothers, it was also easy to tell that Axel was the older one.
The woman with him was beautiful too. Axel could tell why his brother had married her. He looked happy with her.
Especially now that he was going to be a father.
He smiles sadly, looking at the photos of both of them. His wife's baby bump was bigger than it had been last month, it seemed like her due date was nearing.
That meant he was going to be an uncle.
The thought makes him sadder than he already was.
"What are you looking at?"
His eyes lift to meet Stella's who was leaning against his room's doorframe, her eyes curious.
"Oh just..." Axel blinks back the stinging in his eyes, offering her a small smile, "Reports about my family, that's all. I didn't hear you at all, how long have you been standing there?"
"Not very long," she reassures him, the curious gleam in her eyes never fading, "Would you mind if I....?"
It takes Axel a second to understand what she's trying to ask before he nods.
"Sure," he nods, moving to give her room to sit next to him as he props his laptop up. She nods back, smiling at him as she takes timid steps until she's right next to him.
When he looks at her expectantly, she gives him a sheepish smile as she gently settles herself into the space next to him.
"Well," Axel glances at Stella from the corner of his eyes, before gesturing to the screen. "This is my brother. And that's his wife. Yeah."
She stays quiet.
When he glances at her again, the look on her face has him instantly confused. It's an expression he can't quite place, and it bothers him- because it is his brother they're looking at.
"What?" he says, hoping she didn't catch how defensive he sounded.
"This..." she murmurs, stretching her hand to touch the screen. "This is your brother?"
"Yes," Axel raises an eyebrow at her, confused at the expression on her face.
Unbeknownst to him, she wasn't looking at his brother.
She was looking at his wife.
How had she not realized before, that it was her?
"I know this woman," Stella murmurs, her finger tracing the woman's outline.
"You know her?" Axel repeats, and she can feel his inquisitive gaze burning the side of his face.
She did. This human had the blessing of an angel. Her blessing.
She remembers the day she acquainted herself with the little human almost as if it were yesterday.
"What are you doing?"
The girl gasps, whirling around- hiding the two things in her hands behind her back.
Bloodshot eyes meet her own, widening in fear as she backs herself into the sink.
"Who-Who are you?" she questions shakily, her eyes darting around the bathroom, "How did you get in here?"
Stella only eyes the girl in front of her, tilting one head to the side.
"You shouldn't be doing that, love," she says gently to the girl.
"You shouldn't be here," the girl retorts weakly, "Please-Please leave me alone- I just want everything to stop- p-please-" her eyes brim with tears and it makes Stella's heart ache for her- "p-please, I just- I'm just so tired, I know it'll be worth it-"
"It is never worth it," Stella tells her gently, taking another step forward towards her, but the terrified little earthling only backs herself further into the sink.
"But I'm- I'm tired," the girl shakes her head, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm so tired of-of everything. I want to be- to be happy again- I'm so tired of pretending that I am, p-please just let me-"
Stella takes another step closer until she's right in front of her. Slowly, so that she doesn't startle the human, she brings a hand up.
The human flinches anyway. It breaks Stella's heart all over again.
She doesn't move her hand away, however. She gently reaches forward towards the human's and slowly pulls the blade out of her grasp.
"Did you know," she says softly, "that your soul is almost pure light?"
"W-What?" despite her tear-stained face, the human looks at her wide-eyed, "Miss, what are you talking about?"
"Your soul is almost pure light," Stella repeats, as she stretches a hand out to hold the little earthling's hand, "and when humans have souls that are as pure as yours, there is a darkness that always tries to corrupt it."
"All these thoughts," Stella gently reaches forward to touch her forehead, "They're all darkness, trying to corrupt the light. You shouldn't listen to them."
"But h-how?" her voice cracks as another tear rolls down her cheek, "There's-There's nothing happy left in there- this is all I hear-"
"Then talk to me about them," Stella encourages, "We'll draw it all out, come on-"
While Stella was admittedly using some of her powers to make the human talk, she didn't regret it one bit.
Because ultimately, it drew out all the darkness that was trying to get to the girl.
The girl talked. She talked and talked and talked, and at the end, Stella had managed to extinguish all the darkness that was trying to mess with her head, as the little human sunk willingly into her embrace, sobs wracking her body.
She hadn't ever blessed a human because she had always waited for the right moment.
But now, as the girl cried in her arms, her mind was made.
"I, Angelus Stella, bless you with the strength to always find happiness," she murmurs into the air, gently placing a glowing hand on her hair, "I promise you, that while sadness is sometimes inevitable, in the life that follows, happiness will always come your way and all those who you surround yourself with."
The oblivious little earthling sniffles, looking up at her. "W-What did you say?"
"Nothing to worry your little mind about," Stella assures her with a smile, "You have my blessing and promise, that is all."
An angel's blessing lasts for lifetimes.
And an angel's promise cannot be broken.
"Stella?"
"Hmm?" her eyes are still on the human, and a smile begins to tug at the corner of her lips.
Happiness. The girl, a woman now- truly did look happy. As did her husband.
"How do you know her?" Axel repeats, as she finally turns to him.
"I-" for a second, Stella is taken aback by the intensity of his eyes- as she blinks, turning away from him.
Trying to figure out how to answer that question in a way that would evade the truth would be a waste of time.
She clears her throat, staring at the wall across her.
"She has my blessing. An angel's blessing."
A small breath leaves her body the moment the words tumble past her lips.
That was the first time she had directly admitted it in front of him.
A tiny part of her, surprisingly enough, was anxious for that revelation.
"She has a star-shaped birthmark, on her neck," she continues, when Axel doesn't say anything in response.
He stays quiet.
As the seconds pass, the restless anxiety only seems to be growing in her chest.
When she finally musters the courage to look him in the eye again, there's a look in those swirls of grey- that's both intense, curious, and soft- all at the same time.
The question he asks next is something that she truly didn't see coming.
"Why did you save me, Stella?"
She blinks.
"What-" she pulls a face, angling her body to face his, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He lifts a hand to her face, gently tucking a wayward curl of her hair behind her ear- the feel of his knuckles like a ghost on her skin, but she wills herself not to falter at that.
"Why did you save me?" his voice is a deep calming rumble, filling the silence that had fallen across the room, "I'm not a good man, Stella. I kill for a living-"
"You kill criminals," Stella gives him a look that's appalled, as if she's asking him if he's serious , "They're beacons of darkness on your planet, and you get rid of them-"
"I still kill," he murmurs, his eyes still gentle but inquisitive, "I take lives. No matter if they are bad ones, in some ways that makes me as bad as them. There have been greater men, who have done greater things that deserved to live. Why me?"
She pauses, leaning into the hand that was lingering near her face. His skin feels rough against her cheeks, but even as the rough pads of his thumbs gently stroke them, she doesn't seem to mind it.
"Because I'm the angel of the stars, Axel," she says softly, "why wouldn't I save you?"
The intensity of the expression on his face falters, as he looks between her eyes- almost as if he felt like he didn't hear her right the first time.
"Angel of the stars?" he repeats quietly, "Really?"
She nods gently.
"So," his expression melts into one of soft awe, "if the stars were a person, they'd be you?"
Stella smiles at him. "You could say that."
The awe in his expression only grows. The corners of his lips tilt upwards into a small, bashful smile- almost as if he couldn't believe she was real- like a little child, seeing something fascinating for the first time.
Soft eyes trace a gentle path across her face like they were trying to memorize each individual feature, leaving a tingling trail in their wake.
Her face had always been littered with freckles, and while they had always been an insecurity- the way his eyes were tracing each of them on her skin, as if they were a constellation of their own kind, in a galaxy of her own, made her love them more than ever.
When his eyes finally meet hers, the swirls of grey in them look at her as if she were more than just the few littered scars in the night skies- but as if he was seeing the stars again for the first time, in a cluster bigger than he had ever imagined.
And when he speaks, his voice soft, imploring and inviting, Stella simply can't refuse.
"Will you come with me? There's something I've been meaning to do."
Thank you for reading! Do vote and comment! :)
special attention to subtle details in all parts of the book is important.
that is all for today, be well xx