Cecilia knew before she even opened her eyes that she was handcuffed. Perhaps it was a little pathetic to already know that before she'd even opened her eyes that she was handcuffed to something but in her defense, it was hard to ignore the cold metal that was wrapped around her small wrist. It wasn't like this was an uncommon occurrence either, as unfortunate as that sounds. She knew the feeling of a handcuff when she came into contact with it. Which had to be why it wasn't surprising when she opened her eyes to find that yes, indeed, her right wrist was entrapped by the cruel metal.
To her shock, it wasn't a bar that she was handcuffed to. It was a girl.
An Angel.
Cecilia recoiled instantly, inching away from the sleeping girl because while she might not feed into the stigma that a Demon and an Angel shouldn't be together, mostly because it was stupid, but the idea that she had no knowledge as to why she was handcuffed to this particular Angel, let alone, no idea who she was, was enough to convince her of only the worst things. Her wings fluttered, flapping uneasily in the air, as Cecilia forced herself into a sitting position the best she could without waking the other girl.
The ground was cold and hard, concrete was the worst to wake up on. Cecilia scanned the room for any sort of clues as to what was happening but all she found were shelves and shelves of stocked goods. Some sort of warehouse if she had to guess. It was a terribly inconvenient way to wake up. Even less of a place that she would have willingly brought someone, especially handcuffed. It couldn't have been some sort of drunken dare. She didn't have a hangover. She would have remembered something like that.
The Angel groaned, wings twitched and beat against the ground gently. Cecilia shifted, almost too worried to move because she was sure that if she did, something would go wrong and she'd be the blame once again. While she could be the one to blame, there wasn't any evidence to support that claim. In fact, if anything, Cecilia had even more evidence to blame the Angel. It was clearly not her own fault. And if it couldn't be her, it had to be the only other person around. That was typically how logic works.
The Angel was certainly interesting. She had short blonde hair cut close to her face in a pixie cut that continued to slide down her forehead and into her eyes. Two wings lay under her in what was bound to be an uncomfortable position, but they shone a pure white against the gray and dirtied concert. Her clothes were rather simple as if she'd taken a look at the modern, twenty-first-century teenager and bought the most similar-looking outfit she could find. Her hands curled against the ground repeatedly, slim fingers opening and shutting over and over for a reason Cecilia was unsure about. She was a pretty thing, at least while she was asleep, and she turned fitfully as if the dull pain in her back had suddenly become too much.
Cecilia was positive that the Angel would have slept longer but the chain connecting them rattled and it startled the girl awake. She shot up, frantic and quite the opposite of Cecilia herself, glancing around the warehouse in a panic. Her wings shot out and Cecilia's own came around her quickly, vailing her in a sheet of black feathers before she could be hurt.
"What... what did you do?" The girl spat after a minute. Cecilia uncurled her wings enough to peek out and was met with the harsh glare only an Angel could give. Now, this? This wasn't right. Cecilia had already gone through the mental checklist and concluded that this situation occurred through no fault of her own. In fact, she was so sure that she could only conclude that it had to be the other's.
"Very funny," Cecilia chuckled, forcing herself to laugh and opening her wings back up the rest of the way. "You angels think you're so clever, don't you? It was a great joke, waking up in the middle of a warehouse with no knowledge of how I got here, but you can cut the gig now. You had your fun." The Angel sputtered, crystal blue eyes widening, and she pulled on the chain connecting them as if to test if it worked.
"You think this is funny? Of course, you would blame me! Demons never take responsibility for their actions. Just get me out of this thing," The girl spat. Cecilia scoffed. Lovely thing, ain't she? She would love to learn where she learned her manners. Clearly, she was very well-versed in them if she was placing all the blame onto Cecilia.
"Why do you just assume that I did this?" Cecilia laughed. "You think I enjoy being casually chained to a stranger? News flash, Sherlock. This isn't my idea of an ideal weekend. Cut the shit and unlock these handcuffs now! Joke's over!"
The girl opened her mouth to respond but froze and it was at that moment that Cecilia started to understand it too.
"If you didn't do this..." Cecilia started.
"I didn't," The girl shot back.
"Okay, you prick. If you didn't do it and I didn't do it, then someone else put us in this situation," Cecilia finished, resting back on her heels. The girl scoffed, shaking her head and staring off to the side like the walls and mountains of toilet paper and cheap, plastic tasting cereal was far more important than she was.
"You're lying," The girl insisted. It was Cecilia's turn to sputter, heat rising to her cheeks before she could even understand what was going on. Her stomach turned uncomfortably and her wings betrayed her, fluttering nervously despite her best attempts to hide it. "See, you're getting flustered. That's proof that you're lying. You've had your fun. Just get us out of this thing now. Glad to see you've gotten your enjoyment for the next five minutes, you sadistic freak."
"Hold on before you start spewing shit," Cecilia exclaimed. "No! Why, out of everything I could be doing right now, why would I want to be handcuffed to you? Of all the things I could possibly want to do, why the hell would it be handcuffed to you? You talk a lot for someone without much common sense. Give me a break! You clearly don't understand shit about what's going on here." The angel scoffed and shook her head again.
"Then how else did we end up in this situation? If you're not the one to do this," The girl pointed out as if she'd just solved Blue's Clues. Cecilia felt the heat rise to her cheeks but this time, it wasn't nerves. Her stomach churned again, like the wind smacking against the sea, and emotion too close to rage filled her brain.
"Why do you just automatically assume that I'm the one to do this?" Cecilia snapped. "You honestly think that I have something to do with this? You really think I thought to myself, 'Oh, I know what will be fun. Handcuffing myself to a bigot. That'll really put a spin on my evening.' Why would I willingly handcuff myself to a person who so clearly hates my entire being? Explain that one to me, Sherlock."
It was the Angel's turn to gape. She sputtered over her words as if looking for anything that could disprove the words but came up empty-handed. Cecilia smirked to herself, knowing that her victory would have to be short-lived if this handcuff became a long-term arrangement, and glanced around the warehouse again. She brushed her black curls over her shoulder and her left-wing moved out of her view to get a better grasp of the room. The second she turned her head, however, the chain between the two of them was yanked on and Cecilia had to throw open her wings in order to prevent herself from toppling to the ground. The Angel sat here with a small smirk that Cecilia really just wanted to punch right off of her.
"What the hell, you bitch?!" Cecilia screeched. She pushed herself back up, chain clattering on the ground, and did her best to rise up from the ground, only to realize that she couldn't get very far without the help from the other girl. "What is your deal?"
"You're clearly in denial here!" The Angel shot back, just as sharp and digging just as deep. "You want to talk to me about a 'deal'? Stop being so stand-off-ish and just get this whole thing over with!" Cecilia was about to bite out a complaint, maybe even comment on the idea of having to be stuck like this for a good long while, she would honestly just rather not exist, but then a slip of paper caught her eye. On the crates just behind the Angel, folded into a cute triangle, and the way her name was spelled out so carefully and beautifully, Cecilia could have mistaken it for a place card for a fancy dinner.
The Angel noticed her hesitance and turned her head to follow her gaze. "What? What do you see?" Cecilia saw her get up out of the corner of her eye. She swore she heard the question. But only one thought was running through her mind.
Please let this be some elaborate, cruel prank from the twins.
"That, dumbass, would be a note," Cecilia muttered. With the Angel up, she had a lot more leeway and was able to scoop up the note quickly before the girl even had a chance to grab it. The huff in her ear felt far away and Cecilia could feel her heart beating in her throat as she maneuvered the card open with her clammy hands. A prank from the twins would be nice. Perhaps Ev had just gotten bored and managed to convince her sister to get into some trouble with her. Regardless, Cecilia was really holding that the card did not contain what she thought it did.
"Let me see what the note says," The girl complained. Cecilia shrugged her off as she backed away, unfolding the last bit of the note and single-handedly ruining all hope she had left.
Cecilia,
By the time you read this, I'll be long gone. I hope this note finds you well, although I had been with you only a short time before, so I know you are. You now have a slight dilemma, don't you? This is an Angel girl named Maisie Lark. She hasn't ever stepped foot into the 'real world', as you're so fond of calling it, until recently. She has a bit of a tongue on her, as all of us here have come to notice, but I'm sure it's nothing too different from your own.
Attempting to break the lock is useless, as is attempting to unlock it yourself. It's demon metal so I know you are more than aware of how it functions. I have the key. When you are ready, you are more than welcome to come to pay me a visit. Come back and I have no problems with letting Miss Lark go. She's rather snippy and opinionated but she's useless to me. Although, perhaps you could tame her down a bit. Or maybe she'll tame you down. Who knows how this'll end.
You've decided to act like a dog so now I'm treating you like one. Too eager for the world and complete disregarding of the rules. It's like that puppy I owned a few years ago. Remember how it would always run away and it would have to be brought back? We're in that stage now. I've extended the olive branch. Maisie's your motive. I'm sure you're more than excited to get rid of her.
Come find me when you're ready. Wait long enough and I'll make the choice for you.
I'll be waiting.
With love,
Ezekiel
Perfect. Absolutely wonderful. Cecilia was positive her hands were shaking and the note crumbled around the edges her hands had been holding it with. The Angel, Maisie, apparently, attempted to read over her shoulder once she realized that Cecilia would not be answering any of her questions, but Cecilia was not taking any of those risks. This was all some sort of elaborate prank by the twins, right? It had to be. Cecilia did not want to turn this into a spectical. She crumpled the note in her hands and shoved it into her left pocket in her flowey, black skirt.
"What was that for?" Maisie asked, more confused than annoyed. "What is so important on that note that I don't get to see it?" Cecilia took a deep breath in, recentered herself, and glanced up confidently.
"It didn't have your name on it," Cecilia replied with a roll of her eyes. The best she could muster in a time like this. "When the note has your name on it, feel free to hide it from me as well. My name is Cecilia Star. I'm a Demon, as I'm sure you have been able to decipher. If I'm stuck with you, I suppose you should get a name for a face. And you are?" Better to play dumb, not let Maisie know about the note. It had to be a false alarm, the twins looking to give Cecilia a heart attack while they had their baby supernatural fun. No one could blame them. They were practically infants when it came to this world. Cecilia was sure she'd pull a joke similar if she had been given the change.
But Ezekiel... would they really pull a joke like that?
The Angel took her time replying. She was really getting on Cecilia's nerves. Constantly shouting, constantly blaming, constantly taking her damn time to answer. "I'm Maisie. Maisie Lark. There isn't much to say about me. I would think it was rather obvious." Cecilia wanted to scream that no, it wasn't. She wanted to know why Maisie was acting so damn Specist, wouldn't step any closer to her, acted like she had the plague. She wanted answers.
Cecilia wanted out of this situation. The out only seemed to have one exit and she really didn't want to take it.
Maybe the plague wasn't too bad.
"How are we supposed to get out of this?" Maisie asked. She raised her arm up, shaking the chain between them. Cecilia took her time replying this time. She glanced around the warehouse once more, looking for the door. "I'm not seeing any way out."
"There's a garage door over there," Cecilia pointed out. She gestured to the far wall to her left side, thankful she didn't have to try to navigate her whole body around to try to use her right. "Where there's a garage door, there's always another door to go with it. I'm sure that'll be our out."
"What's a garage door?" Maisie asked and Cecilia started to pull her in that direction. Cecilia actually scoffed, rolling her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, and continued forward.
"How do you not know what a garage door is? They've been around for at least a century." It was definitely an overestimate but Cecilia wasn't one for facts and dates. She never had been. Apparently, Maisie wasn't one to keep up with human culture and technologies because the garage door fascinated her more than it should by literally any standards to exist. Not even Vampires who'd been in hiding were as surprised by the door as Maisie was.
That was a complete lie. Cecilia really shouldn't lie to herself like that. She really just needed to give Maisie some slack. The girl was already going through enough.
"How are we supposed to get this off?" Maisie asked. Already she was less hostile, which worked out well for Cecilia. She would really prefer to not have to shout for the rest of the short time they would be chained together.
There was a crowbar sitting by the exit of the warehouse and Cecilia scooped it up. "We can try to pry the cuffs off or at least break the chain." It wouldn't work. This was demon metal. It would never take a genius to figure that one out but Cecilia was really hoping this was a prank. Besides, Maisie didn't know that demon metal couldn't be broken. She was clueless. And the more clueless Maisie was, the easier it was to put off the inevitable.
"Let's give it a shot," Maisie agreed. "I want out of this and as far away from you as possible." That comment would have stung, if Cecilia wasn't so fed up with this whole situation already. Instead, she just shrugged her shoulders and set to work. Predicably, the chain didn't break, but Cecilia wasn't expecting much from it anyway.
"We can try the twins," Cecilia sighed, reaching into her pocket to search for her phone, only to realize that it was also missing. With a grunt of frustration, she turned to the door. "Well, I suspect they're behind this." They weren't but she could pretend. "They could probably get this off. I don't think I could spend another two minutes handcuffed to you." Maisie hummed agreement and pushed open the door to the warehouse.
"I cannot wait to get far away from you," Maisie responded.
The sun was bright but Cecilia was just glad to see that they weren't far from society. It might be awkward to walk with someone handcuffed to her right hand but she could probably get away with it and hope that the mesh would cover it up. This whole game was ridiculous. She didn't want to play. She hated the idea of Ezekiel pulling this whole elaborate joke on her, simply for the sake of a laugh. And of all people, of all the angels, he picked Maisie. He knew Maisie would get on her nerves. He knew that Cecilia would hate her. This was planned. This was intentional. Ezekiel knew exactly what he was doing.
Pretending was a gamble that Cecilia was willing to play. She'd stay handcuffed to Maisie for the rest of her life if she had too. Just as long as she didn't have to go face to face with Ezekiel once again.
"Give me your hand," Cecilia said, holding her right hand out for Maisie to take. Maisie's face twisted into one of disgust and she pulled her hand away.
"Ew, no. I don't want to hold your hand," Maisie commented.
On second thought, the rest of her life might be torture.
"If people see we're handcuffed, they're going to be suspicious," Cecilia hissed. She held her hand out more insistantly. "Take my damn hand. The mesh can only hide so much if you let it." Hesitantly, Maisie's fingers reached for her own, like each centimeter was torture. Cecilia knew that the angel/demon hatred was strong amongst most of their kind but she had truly forgotten how awful it could be. She didn't believe in the stigma, because why would she hate someone simply based on their species, and she had people around her who agreed, but sometimes she forgot how the real world worked.
"Who are the twins?" Maisie finally asked, wrapping her hand awkwardly around Cecilia's own.
Cecilia allowed herself to smirk for the first time since she'd woken up. "Hopefully, they make you want to leave forever."