Chapter Thirteen
Ariel
The first thing Ariel became aware of when the world cleared once more was the noise. It was loud. But it was a kind of loud that didn't stop. She had never once in her existence been in a place quite like this. The noise was never-ending. Car horns were constantly going off. Engines roared as they drove down the streets. It was just an endless cycle.
The second thing she was made aware of was the hand in hers. Rough and calloused from hard days, it gripped her own, refusing to let go. It kept her grounded, kept her from drowning in all of the unknown factors that were trying to destroy her. Inside of her it seemed as if there was a sea. A sea of uncertainties, of confusion, of doubt. A sea of all her fears wrapped up into one. The sea was violent, constantly trying to consume her to the point of no return. But then he was there. Where he came from she didn't know. She couldn't. Out of nowhere he had dropped into her life. He saved her. Acting like an anchor of sorts, a barrier between her and the attacks that came against her.
She turned to him then, compelled by a feeling she couldn't pinpoint. It was strong. So strong the she almost couldn't resist the urge to lean in closer to him. To rest her face against his neck, to just let the noise of the world around her slip away. Almost was the key word. She steeled herself, her will. She shook off whatever fog had clouded her mind for those few moments. Even if she couldn't bring herself to pull her hand away for, his, she couldn't let herself get lost. She wouldn't. No matter how much her body wanted her to. It wasn't safe. She'd lost any trust she had once had for the males of her species.
He would only let her down. She wouldn't give him the chance to do so.
"Welcome to New York Ariel, the city that never sleeps," with his announcement she brought herself fully back to focus on the world around her.
She allowed herself to look around, to take in her surroundings for the first time since they had appeared in this place. The portal they had jumped through had led them to a dark alley that was clearly abandoned. Nothing could be seen but an empty cardboard box laying collapsed and abandoned paired with a beat up garbage dumpster. There was no sign of life.
Outside of the alley, however, the world was teeming with life.
Raziel, who still hasn't released my hand from his grip, pulls me along with him to the opening of the alley.
"Where will we find this Haniel?"
"Haniel is quite an oddity when it comes to a Fallen. Most Fallen angels, so accustomed to the serenity of Heaven, choose calmer locations to settle in. Not Haniel however. He seems to thrive off of the noise, the chaos that accompanies a city like this. And so, he decided to settle right in the center of said chaos.
"Does the noise hurt?" Considering that she had never been in such chaos, she had to know.
"Not particularly. Although it will overwhelm your senses at first. But for me it was never more than an uncomfortable feeling. I can't say how it will affect you, it could be different. I'll help you through it don't worry."
What would it do to her? Even as an angel she never had very many dealings in the bigger cities. Her gift had been nature centered. Therefore there had never been any reason for her to go to a place like this. A place that as so... manmade.
Nodding her head she steadied herself for whatever reaction her body, her senses would have.
"Very well then, let's get on with it."
With an indecipherable smile on his face, Raziel continues their forward march into the chaos.
She braced herself, expecting all of her senses to go wacky all at once. But she was surprised to find that wasn't what had happened.
Yes, everything went a little chaotic for a minute, but considering the city they were in that didn't surprise her. But after that brief moment; that split second when every sound, every scent, every movement hit her senses all at once something else happened. Breathing through her overwhelmed senses, she focused, her subconscious tuned into a seemingly different wavelength. And it did it without her help. All of a sudden, where before, there had been chaos and unending noise, now, now her senses had seemingly put her in a tunnel vision state. All of the activity around her faded and in its place was a single heartbeat.
That wouldn't have mattered much to her and she would have simply put it off as being an odd occurrence if it hadn't been for the fact that said heart was currently beating at a rate way to fast to be a normal happy go lucky situation.
Something was wrong.
Ariel turned to Raziel intent on finding out what she was hearing. And why.
"Raziel, do you hear that?"
He looked at her with an odd expression on his face, his head tilted to the side.
"Hear what? There is a lot that I could be hearing."
Ariel shook her head in frustration and she focused back on that sound; the heart was still near to exploding. She tried to tune into it even more. She had find out what, or who, it was.
As she closed her eyes and mentally pushed in the direction she thought she was hearing the heart she found that it became clearer, more concrete, and as it became so, she could hear sounds of a struggle along with it. Grunting, crying. She heard a mumbled "no" and her body shot into action.
She took off, sprinting across the street. She didn't know exactly where she was going but her mind, some instinct of hers, wouldn't allow her to stop. She couldn't ignore this. She couldn't, she wouldn't act like it wasn't happening.
"Ariel!"
She kept her focus on that heart beat. It was one in a million, but she had to find that one. She had no other choice.
"Ariel! Where the hell are you going?" That was Raziel.
She couldn't stop though, she had to keep going.
It was as if something had taken over her brain. She was still there yes, but something else had the wheel. She slowed her pace a bit, needing to pinpoint a more exact location.
If she had been able to pick up on it, the heartbeat had to be close by. Closing her eyes she let herself focus on the heartbeat, blocking out all else.
Where are you, where are you?
There! It was coming from a few blocks away, straight ahead of her.
And so with that knowledge, she took off. She raced down the sidewalk and across the streets. It was as if she was in a tunnel and nothing mattered except reaching the entrance at the end.
She was vaguely aware of Raziel running after her. He had stopped yelling after her and had now commenced to muttering obscenities under his breath. So stuck in the pull, the urge to find the source of the heartbeat, she completely disregarded Raziel. Her consciousness was held captive by the sensation, and without hesitation, she surrendered to it.
With that surrender, her senses focused and she was able to see what seemed to be a trail of smoke, a vapor. It throbbed unnaturally with light in the dimness of the city night. Without a moment's hesitation, she followed it. Down the side of the street she ran. At this intersection, she turned right and at that one, she ran straight across dodging vehicles as she went. A chorus of horns and yelled obscenities followed in her wake. She didn't seem to care however. She had found herself on a mission and nothing could convince her to stop.
She didn't know how long she ran. It seemed like hours but in reality, it was probably simply a few minutes. And suddenly she turned a corner and stopped in her tracks.
The scene she saw shocked her into stillness. A woman had been forced down. She was being held to the ground by a man that was twice her size. Despite that fact, despite the fear clearly saturating the air, the girl wasn't going meekly. She struggled, she struggled as if her life depended on it. And it very well might Ariel decided.
The girl was fighting as best she could. Her arms flailed, attempting to get a hit in.Her legs moved. Clearly she was trying to get one beneath the man and kick him in a place that would hurt enough to give her a chance at escaping.
Just as the man grabbed the girls wrists in his hand and raised them above her head, effectively stilling her attempts at escaping, Ariel pushed herself into action.
Refusing to allow the scene she was witnessing to trigger anything, she dashed forward determined to do something, anything to save the girl from her attacker. When she reached the tangled pair she grinned the man by the neckline of his shirt and yanked hard. Luckily, as an angel she had been blessed with extra strength. And, even as a Fallen she had maintained a portion of said strength. Apparently that portion was enough because the man came away from his victim. With her help of course.
Now sprawled out on the same ground he had forced the poor girl onto, he stared up at her in horror. Clearly he was upset that someone had interrupted his fun.
Well too bad, she really didn't care how he felt.
In that moment, she felt something fill her. It started in her soul and spread through all of her until she was consumed with it. It was something hot, something vengeful. And without remembering making a conscious decision to, she kicked the quivering and confused man right where his family jewels were. A whimpering sound left his lips and he curled onto his side, cupping his groin. But she wasn't done. She kneeled down next to him and punched him in the nose. Once, twice.
Filled with a righteous anger, she moved to stand and kick him again and nearly succeeded. But Raziel had caught up to her and he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her away from the man. She struggled against his hold, she had to make this pay. He had hurt an innocent and he deserved to feel the pain he had inflicted.
"Shh," Raziel crooned into her ear. "Calm down love. Just breathe."
"I can't! He deserves what is coming to him. He deserves it!" I continue to attempt to free myself of Raziel's hold. I had to do this.
"I couldn't agree more, trust me. But you must let me deal with this for now. Look at the girl," he directed my gaze to her. She had risen to a sitting position, her knees drawn up against her body. She was shaking her wide eyes riveted on the scene unfolding in front of her.
"She needs the gentleness of you. A woman, but more importantly, the angel of protection, and that is you." He looked me in the eyes, as if searching my soul. And I was suddenly trapped in those depths, pulled in, made vulnerable. It seemed as if in that moment he saw all the way through to my soul. Suddenly breaking the gaze he directed his eyes back to the girl. "Go to her. Comfort her as only you can."
Breathing in, I released the anger swirling in my veins and allowed the calmness of my nature to override that heat that had overwhelmed me.
Walking to the girl where she was huddled on the dirty concrete I steeled myself for what I had to do. Channeling my calm, I lowered myself to my knees in front of the young woman. I allowed myself to drown in that feeling of serenity as I leaned into her.
"Hello," I greeted her as softly as I could, not wanting to startle her any more than she already was.
She shrunk back from me just the tiniest bit, her eyes widely searching my person, trying to determine whether I was worthy of even a fraction of her trust.
"Wh-who are you?" Her voice was whisper soft and had a tremble to it. She was clearly trying to be brave and Ariel found herself admiring the human girl for that fact.
"I am Ariel."
Her trembling increased as her gaze remained fixed on me, uncertainty evident in her eyes. As she stared tears began to pool in her eyes and spill down her dirt-smudged cheeks.
What was she doing? She didn't even know if she could still do this. What if after all that had happened she could no longer give the comfort she was made to give. What if she could no longer do what she had been created to do? If not, she would be worthless. She knew it.
"Shh. All will be ok child. I promise you," But even if she couldn't do it, she had to try. And so Ariel reached out a hand and laid it gently against the girl's cheek. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on infusing a sense of calmness into the young woman's consciousness. She located the fear and panic in her and began to overpower those negative emotions with the feeling that all was ok now.
Peace. That was what she gave the girl. She took away the panic and breathed into the girl a breath of calm.
Opening her eyes Ariel saw that this girl had now closed her own eyes as she took deep, steady breaths, her face the epitome of serenity.
"There now love, all is well. Just breathe."
The victim's eyes suddenly snapped open, fixing onto Ariel's own.
"You saved me," her voice was soft but held no hint of a tremble now. Ariel's powers seemed to have accomplished that.
"Yes she did," this came from Raziel as he joined Ariel where she was still kneeling. He spared her a brief glance and Ariel thought that she saw admiration in that short moment when his eyes had scanned her.
"W-why?" The girl was still wracked with full body trembles, causing her words to shake.
And if that wasn't the question Ariel needed to ask. Why? She knew why, she just wasn't sure she wanted to dwell on the reason. Not now, maybe never.
"You needed help and so I helped you," if only it was that simple. "Now hush now, all is ok. You are safe and that man will never hurt you again."
At the mention of her attacker the woman's eyes went wide as she strained to see behind the two angels.
Raziel gently turned her face away and back to face them, wanting to protect her from what she would see.
"You don't need to see, just know it is over and you're safe."
The girl shook her head, denying what he was saying.
"No, I have to see. I have to know. I have t-to know that he won't be coming after me. I need it, the peace of mind."
Raziel continued to protest what she was trying to say, not believing it was in her best interest not to see whatever he had done. But in that moment Ariel found herself in complete agreement with the young girl. She wished she could see her own attacker's vacant eyes staring back at her. If only. Then maybe she could have her own peace of mind.
She felt herself beginning to go down a path she didn't want to take. Quickly, she shut herself off, refusing to think of what had happened. It wouldn't get her anywhere.
"Let her," she whispered immediately cutting off Raziel's arguing. He turned to study her, eyes inquiring. She turned away, not wanting him to see the emotions hiding in her depths.
"Why?" Just one word. One question.
It was a question she couldn't answer.
"Just let her."
There was a pregnant silence then before a softly murmured, "very well."
He moved aside then, clearing the way so the girl could clearly view what he had done. From the outside the man appeared almost unharmed, save from the blood on his face from Ariel's punches, he seemed unharmed. There was just vacant eyes staring, wide open as if he had seen something terrifying right before he had died. The wet spot between his eyes confirmed this observation of Ariel. And suddenly she knew what had killed him.
She turned incredulous eyes to stare at Raziel.
"What happened to him?" This came from the girl as she stared wide eyed at her attacker.
Raziel simply shrugged, "The shock of being caught must have caused a heart attack. Before I knew it he was gone."
Shaking her head she turned her back on the body. Her body shook as she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. "It's over." The whisper seemed to be more for herself than any of the bystanders.
Tears still fell down her cheeks as she turned to face Raziel and I.
"Th-thank you. You saved me. Thank you so much."
Ariel said nothing, simply nodding her head in acknowledgment.
Raziel walked up to the girl, "we couldn't leave a hurting soul be. We had to do what we could to help you."
In agreement Ariel walked forward until she stood by Raziel's side. Placing her hand on his forearm she confirmed what he had said.
"We would have been going against our nature if we had ignored what was happening here."
Raziel had clearly decided it was time to get down to business.
"Now, there is something you should know. I am different then other... people you know. I have special abilities and one of them i have is the ability to alter memories. I can take the memory of this attack from your memories. You will hold no recollection of it. No memories, no flashbacks, and no trauma. I can make it all go away for good. I can do this, but it will be your choice."
The girl slowly nodded as she took in all that Raziel had said. She looked down at her feet, "You can truly do it?"
"I can," Raziel confirmed.
A few moments passed as the girl seemed to consider her options. On one hand, if she would remember all that had happened, she would no doubt suffer through the aftermaths of such a traumatic event. On the other hand, if she was made to forget it all, life would go on as if nothing had ever happened. Normalcy would remain intact.
Ariel thought that the choice was obvious.
Finally coming to a decision the girl raised her gaze to meet Raziel's. "I don't want to forget."
Clearly shocked but attempting to hide it, Raziel simply nodded his head respectfully.
"Very well, I will respect your decision. However I must add, you are not to mention to anyone anything suspicious you may have witnessed tonight. I will need your word on that fact."
Head nodding vigorously the girl agreed, "I will not. What happened tonight will not get out. Not the true story."
Looking between Raziel and Ariel, her eyes were filled to the brim with gratitude. "Thank you so much for what you did here, I will be eternally grateful."
And with a final look, she turned and left the alley and what had happened in it behind her.
AN~
*hides behind my couch expecting to be on the recieves end of bullets.
I'm so sorry for this. I said I would update like what? 4 or 5 months ago? Imma just say that life kind of blew up from crazyness. My sister had a baby so I've been adjusting to the #auntielife. I moved back in with my parents moved to a different job location. I've now decided to move back out of my parents house and get a second job. That's just the shortened version. Life is a trip let me tell you.
On the bright side! This chapter is on record as my longest ever. It's over 3000 words long with me... what?!?! I kept writing and just never found a stopping point. I actually had to decide to stop it where I did and put the rest that I wanted to write in the next chapter. So after almost 2 months of working on this chapter. Starting and stopping. We have it!
So enjoy my loves, let me know what you think.
Love you all!!
Alayna💕