Without a second thought I leapt over the edge. Plummeting down to the earth ahead of me were two figures but what was I supposed to do? I grunted in pain as I let my wings furl out behind me and flapped madly but even then Kristy was still too far and Nathan farther still. I could hear the screams and cries of the humans below but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything other than saving them.
Save Kristy. I blinked at the sound of Nathan’s voice in my head.
I’ll save you both! I argued.
No.
I let out a scream of frustration as I let my body shift. I released the phoenix and damned the consequences. It took me seconds to reach Kristy and I grabbed her in my claws and held her protectively while I used all my strength to reach Nathan but the heartbreaking realization struck me as I saw the ground speeding closer.
Arabel, I love you. His voice was in my head again and I felt a roaring screech rip through my chest shattering the glass windows next to us. Then I watched as his body crumbled against the ground and felt as if my own world was crumbling around me. I was going to fast to stop so I spun around quickly pulling Kristy to my chest and wrapping my wings around us both as the impact of the ground shook my entire body and cracked the earth beneath me.
“Arabel!” I heard Ronan screaming but couldn’t focus as I unwrapped my wings and released Kristy who took one look at me before running to safety behind the perimeter. I changed back to my normal form and half ran, half crawled, to Nathan’s body. His eyes were closed and there was blood splattered outwards from his body. I grabbed his face which was unscathed and my tears poured out onto his skin.
“No!” I choked, “Nathan no. Don’t leave me alone. Not when I finally found you.” I gasped for air as the sobs tore through my chest, my heart felt like it was either going to explode or rip to pieces. How? How could I have missed it. The emotion that I always saw in his eyes that I didn’t understand. The strange warmth that engulfed me when I was around him. I told him that guardians didn’t understand the concept of love but was I so blind that I didn’t recognize it myself until he uttered those last words to me. I leaned my forehead against his chest feeling my body writhe with sobs. Feeling my Phoenix grieving alongside me.
Nathan. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I whimpered, unable to open my mouth and say the words aloud
I felt the ground shake from Ciaran landing next to me. I heard his cackling but I didn’t care. I held Nathan’s body and watered the earth with my tears.
Am I destined to be truly alone when I finally found you. My thoughts went wild as I thought about the memories of the short time we spent together. I only had a few short weeks. Two thousand years to find the person I was destined to be with and I only got to be with him for a few weeks. Was the world that cruel? Was the life of a guardian meant to be a solitary one? With no warning I threw my head back and screamed a guttural scream then sent the birds flocking to the skies. Wind whipped past me and shook the buildings while the sky darkened with my anger.
Guardian! I heard the voice on my head but I ignored it.
Guardian! It repeated. Then it was interrupted but Ciaran's snide laughter.
“Do you care so much to lose him?” his voice made my insides churn. “Then let me send you with him.” I waited for the impact of his sword again, but it didn’t come
Arabel. Ronan's voice broke through my dark thoughts and I turned around to find him standing between me and Ciaran, his sword blocking Ciaran's.
“So the brother lives?” Ciaran hissed and Ronan responded with and unearthly growl and a slash of his sword tha clipped Ciaran's arm.
A string of curses echoed in the air as I remained kneeling staring at them clashing swords.
“Look around you Arabel.” Ciaran yelled while defending himself against Ronan.
“Look at how the guardians are treated. Only a fellow guardian came to your aide. Yet you lost your love to save one of their own and here you are… alone.”
“NO SHE IS NOT!” Kristy’s voice tore through the din just as a group of police officers and soldiers ran in front of me, shielding me with anti-riot shields and aiming their pistols at Ciaran. His face contorted in a sneer as he realized what was happening as I myself stared in awe at the barricade in front of me. Then in a crouch a woman approaches me. She has blonde hair that droops to her shoulders and a tired expression on her face and I immediately recognize Nathan’s police captain. She holds my gaze with unflinching blue eyes as she crouches down next to Nathan’s body while avoiding looking at it.
“Did he tell you to save the girl?” she asked simply and I opened my mouth but the words would not come out and her lips twitched and trembled in response. Then she closed her eyes and exhaled.
“He messaged me earlier.” She said and I was surprised.
“You’re the guardian. And this is your fight.” She said in even tones, “so finish it. Do not blame yourself for the sacrifices made by those who believe in you.”
Arabel!? Ciarans scream echoed in my mind and I turned to him just in time to see the rage in his face. He thought I was going to be abandoned by the humans and I couldn’t blame him. It had happened before. But I recognized the men and women in front of me, thousands of years I spent among them, recognizing their open hearts and as I thought back over my brief time with Nathan I knew that I could never come to hate them as Ciaran did. Perhaps Ciaran also saw this realization in my eyes, because his face contorted in fury and he took a step forward.
“If they shall not step away then let them all burn.” He snarled and a wall of flame began bursting in a straight line towards the officers in front of me, but they still didn’t flinch as I stared at their backs.
Get up and fight! A voice that felt very familiar and yet unknown exploded in my mind. But it was unnecessary, I had already decided that I would be ending the fight. I pressed my hands to the ground and pushed myself to a standing position, ignoring the burning pain in my chest. At this point the flames had formed a circle around us, the circle getting smaller and smaller. I saw the sweat droplets form on the men and women in the barricade in front of me and smiled at their resilience. Ronan stood straight, his gaze on me but his sword still defensively in front of him
Do you need my sword? He asked and I shook my head the fire was slowly getting closer but it had no intention of touching us. I looked to Ciaran and saw the anger in his eyes and understood, it was refusing to listen to him. So I make my way in front of the barricade and extend my wings. With one powerful thrust the flames are extinguish and a warm breeze of relief washes across my face.
“You’ve gotten weak.” I say towards Ciaran and he sneered in response.
“Yet you couldn’t stop me.” He said and I narrowed my eyes.
“I held back because of what we once were.” I said slowly then glance at the crumpled body behind me and feel a fresh wave of anger and grief envelope me as I turn back to Ciaran.
“I have nothing holding me back now.” As the words left my mouth I launched myself off the ground, feeling the concrete crack under the pressure. I change into a falcon and speed towards him then at the last second change back and land a punch with all my strength. Although he blocks it with his arm the grunt of strain he lets out alerts me to just how much he had weakened, so my next blow made contact with his spleen and he growls in pain as he jumps away from me. But I don’t give him a chance I touch the ground with my knuckles and the road splits down the middle and hardened spike of rock bursts out and catching him in the shoulder. As he cries out in pain and tries to pull away but I don’t relent, sending blow after blow.
Ronan, get the officers… and Nathan’s body, out of here. I reach out to my brother and feel his confirmation. Knowing that he would get them out of the blast zone filled me with release as I launch myself towards Ciaran again. He threw up a feeble wall of fire between us as if that would stop me I let out a derisive laugh as I simply burst through it and land a left hook in his jaw sending him crashing to the ground. I hear the curses streaming out of his mouth and brace myself as he lunges towards me and tackles me to the ground. I felt him land a few blows of his own, most effective, the one to my injury and I cough and sputter blood while I hear the concerned gasps of the onlookers surrounding us. I struggle to get out from underneath him and jump to my feet while stepping back.
“Change.” I command him and he sneers at me in defiance. I spin around and land a kick in his chest and as he stumbles backwards dark looming black wings spread out behind him. I charge towards him again and he jumps in the air but I follow just as he shifts into his phoenix form and I see the full depth of how much has changed. His body was molting and rotting, feathers falling in disgusting clumps to the ground his wings covered with bald patches and a gut wrenching odor wafted off of him. He lets out a sickening screech and I follow after him releasing my own phoenix. Our bodies collided, the sound of the impact sounded like thunder rumbling as we struggled and clawed against each other. I felt new gashes being torn into me but in turn add some to his body as well. But when my vision begins to blur I knew I wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
Wings. The mysteriously familiar voice returned and I looked at Ciaran's wings, destroy the bond, destroy the guardian. Suddenly a moment of clarity crossed me and I understand exactly what I needed to do. I twist out of his grip and thrust my wings furiously in order to have the advantage of hovering over him. I grab his wings in my talons and together we plummet down to the ground below.
NO! he screeches in my mind but I ignore him as I tighten my talons into the meat of his wings, drawing blood. Pinned beneath me I sink my curved beak into his rotting flesh and ignore the stench. He screams out in frustration and pain but I don’t relent and instead pull his wing back with all my strength until I hear the sickening pop and tearing of flesh while he screeches in pain and anger. After letting one completely detached wing fall to the ground I grab the other and do the same and as soon as this wing breaks his body phases underneath me leaving a naked and broken Ciaran. A hot wind whips at my face as if thanking me then disappearing. I change back into my form, my clothes already staining in blood.
“You are no longer a guardian,” I exhale heavily, “you will spend the rest of your life as that which you’ve come to hate, human.” I expected him to glare at me but it was almost as if a look of peace filled his eyes. He couldn’t move or fight any longer and he exhaled tiredly as he closed his eyes. I frowned in confusion but said nothing more as I turned to leave but in that moment it was as if all the pain and pressure that had been on my shoulders came crashing down and I fell to my knees and cough up blood. My entire body felt as if it was on fire, similar to the time Nathan kissed me and I felt a wave of grief on top of it all.
“Arabel!” I hear my name and see Sam and Dane running towards me. I look all around myself and see the damage that we had done. The earth and ground broken and damaged, windows shattered, I no longer see Nathan’s body and a wave of sobs wreck through my body as I stare up to at the sky. I feel the wind at my face whispering and the I feel the ground vibrating beneath me. I closed my eyes.
Let me do one last thing. I whisper in my mind before pressing my palms to the earth below. Sam and Dane froze as the ground began to rumble and shift. Concrete re-fused itself to the ground over freshly molded earth. Glass blew into piles by the wind to be easier to sweep up later. Everything save the windows was back to the way it had been; the windows would have to be replaced by man. With one final exhale I let my body fall and felt the impact of the ground beneath me before my world went black and I felt a burning heat surround me.
A world without Nathan was no world I wanted to be in.
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