Chapter 20

sorry, guys!

i know that Chapter 20 got glitches, so I redid the chapter

here  you go! :)

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We walked through never-ending passageways, and down trillions of stairs, but the look on Ariel's face as he stared straight ahead told me not to complain– or talk in general. He wasn't blinking whenever I turned to look at him and the only sound that came off of him was the sound of his shoes hitting the floor.

I couldn't even hear his breathing.

Wait. Do angels even have to breathe?

As I was thinking about that Ariel opened a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere and held it open so that I could walk in first. Cautiously, I looked over to the bright light that filled the opening and stepped in, automatically feeling myself relax and smile– comfort and calmness taking over my senses.

Once my eyes adjusted to this place I looked around the perimeter, jaw dropping at it's beauty.

The grass was a bright, rich green and was growing several different types of bright-colored flowers. There was a small, but definitely beautiful, waterfall to my right and a little lake right in front of it– the water so clean that it had a vibrant blue color and detailed reflections of whatever was above it . There weren't any bugs from what I could see, but there were little bunnies and squirrels here and there, bouncing and walking around slowly with no care in the world.

This place looked so unreal. It was nothing like on Earth. If I was at a regular park or something and a squirrel or bunny saw me it would run for it's life, a survival instinct. But these guys just... stared at me. Not scared or worried at all.

"Where are we?" I asked in amazement, looking over to him with excited eyes. He looked a little upset as he looked into the distance, but as soon as he turned to glance at me a softened look took over his face and he sighed- a weird emotion crossing his face.

"You have no idea how beautiful you look," Ariel said to me with a smile, making heat trail up my body from embarrassment.

"Thanks, I guess," I murmured as I looked down, just to realize I had a different outfit on. I held back a gasp as I looked at the beautiful gown. It was floor-length and flowy, going only over one shoulder- leaving the other shoulder bare. Kind of like an early Roman Empire dress, but the white was so bright and pale that it gave off a shine, almost blinding me. I lifted my dress, to see that I was barefoot- my legs flawless, no dirt what-so-ever on them.

Giving Ariel a quick grin I ran over to where the spring was and tilted my head over to look at my face. I was left speechless.

I never thought my face could look so naturally beautiful and innocent. My dark brown hair was spilling over my shoulders, curls looking like they took hours to make. I had a beautiful hair pin comb attached above my right ear, leaving my face open to look at. My brown eyes looked bright and full of excitement, literally glittering in the reflection of the water. My lips had a light pink pigment that look surprisingly natural, and my skin was a little bit more tan than it normally was.

Needless to say, I felt like a princess. And I never wanted to leave this place or this look again.

"What happened to me?" I said quietly, feeling Ariel's presence right behind me.

"You how when you turn into a demon you have claws and fangs? Well, this is basically what you would look like as an angel. I thought you would want to know," he murmured, sounding slightly apprehensive.

"Thank you," I whispered as I looked at myself, feeling genuinely confident in my skin for the first time in forever. I, for once out of these couple weeks, didn't feel like a murderer or a monster. I didn't want to scratch at myself until I bled, because of who I've become. I felt like I still had some good in me.

And I loved every second of it.

"You don't have to thank me," he chuckle, making my heart spin in a circle from how alluring the chuckle sounded. Throwing the feeling out of my head, I stood up and turned to look at him– looking at his feet, because I was unable to look at his eyes.

He was barefoot too, and I could tell he also wasn't wearing the same clothes he was from the bedroom we were in. From what I could tell, he had white, satin pants that were loose like my dress. As I looked up to see his face I also noticed that he grew a couple feet, and he didn't have a shirt on.

I am completely okay with the last statement. Him not having a shirt was fine by me.

But, literally, as soon as I saw his face my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I almost passed out. My body shook harshly– like I was having a seizure– and I shut my eyes, body tumbling towards the ground seconds after. Ariel instantly threw his arms over me and held me to his chest so I couldn't fall, slowly bringing my body up so that I wouldn't get light-headed.

"Are you okay?" he said in a worried tone, speaking softly. I mentally thanked him for being quiet. My ears were suddenly really sensitive and I would've cried from pain if he spoke louder. "I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" he asked quietly, making me shake my head.

'GET AWAY FROM HIM, DUMBASS! HE'S EATING YOU ALIVE! STOP LETTING HIM TOUCH YOU! KILL HIM!' the demons started screeching, making a tear slip from how much it hurt my ears– teeth clenching.

"Michelle?" Ariel whispered as he put his soft hand on my forearm, making the demons scream in my ears, echoing in my head painfully.

"Ma-Make it st-stop, Ariel. Please," I sobbed, tears pouring out of my eyes like a never-ending storm. "I don't know what to do, and it h-hur-rts–"

"Shhh, shhhh, it's okay," he murmured, kissing my knuckles as he started to whisper to himself.

'Facere desinat! Facere desinat!'  the demons started to cry out in my head as I tried to force myself not to cry out from the pain their voices were giving me.

'Please, God, I know I'm not necessarily the most innocent person at this point, but my faith is still with you. Please, just give me the strength to either get rid of them, or get rid of them for me,' I thought to myself helplessly, hoping he would get my message.

"Opprimere daemonum in eam sibi recedendum Deus,"  he finally said, his voice echoing through the field. After he spoke those words the demons started to whimper, before they eventually stopped screaming.

My head still throbbed as I tried to calm the tears down and relax, teeth hurting from how hard I clamped them together when they were screaming.

"My life sucks," I muttered unconsciously as Ariel moved in to hug me. I hugged him back and tucked my face into his chest, too scared to look at his face again. "Why did this have to happen to me?"

"Shhhh," he replied, giving me a little back rub as I relaxed myself into his hold. "It's okay. It'll be okay, I promise. We'll get through this together," I said soothingly, kissing the top of my head gently.

We stayed that for a long time; his lips on my head as we hugged each other firmly, like we were each other's life support. It made me feel safe, relaxed, calm.

I absolutely loved it.

Until my curiosity ruined the moment.

"So, what are you?" I asked as I kept my hold on him. "I mean, what type of angel?"

"I'm an the angel of nature," he said, I could sense a smile on his face. "I care for the earth, the sky, water, fire, and wind; and I also take care for animals and plants."

"That's sweet," I murmured in reply as I got the courage to look at his face again. This time, when I looked up at him, I didn't faint.

But I could've from how beautiful he looked.

"You're hot," I blurted out accidentally, making him burst out in laughter.

'He has a wonderful voice,' I thought to myself as I listened to his laughter with rosy cheeks and a small, embarrassed smile.

"Why, thank you," he replied when he was done laughing. "But I would be lying if I said I was the 'hottest' out of everyone here," he added with a dimpled smile, making me snort and choke on my own spit.

"No... no... no," I said through my coughing fit as Ariel looked at me with concern and worry, patting my back.

"My goodness, are you alright?" Ariel said after a while of me coughing.

"Y-Yeah, I'm... I'm f-fine," I stuttered as I coughed for a final time, feeling a hell of a lot more humiliated then a couple minutes ago.

What's going on with me?

"Are you sure," he said nervously, looking into my eyes to see if I was lying. "I could go get you water, or br-"

"I'm fine. It's okay. Thank you," I said quietly, making him stare at me for a couple seconds before sighing and nodding.

"No problem," he responded, lightly grabbing my hand in his– feeling a surge of something like lightning go through me as soon as our hands touched. I loved that feeling.

Wait.

"Ariel?" I said, making him look away from the waterfall and over to me. "Are you my guardian angel?" I asked, making him give me a big grin.

"Yes, I am," he stated as he shrunk back to a normal, human's size. "How'd you know?"

"I didn't," I answered honestly, wanting to laugh at his confused reaction. "I just asked because I remembered you and Samael having a stare-down around twenty minutes ago."

"Samael," he repeated, a protective look crossing his face as soon as he said it. "I have a very bad feeling about him. Ever since he fell he's been cruel, reckless, and breaking rules that were made before we were even created."

"What?" I asked in a slightly taken-aback way, thinking back to when he tried to help me calm down from the old-lady-dying phase I went through.

Though, he did  take me to a bar and let me have alcohol.

And that is  illegal.

And he was  acting like a jerk the day before, sending me to a different country and locking me in someone's basement.

But then he did also save me by throwing me a weapon so I defend myself against those disgusting hellhounds.

I'm kind of on the fence with that asshole.

"Don't act so surprised," he stated blandly. I could tell that he was offended by comment, but he hid his emotions very well.

"I'm not surprised, it's just..." I trailed off, trying to find the right words to say as I closed my eyes. I sighed after half a minute of nothing but silence being my answer.

"I don't want to argue with you, Michelle," he sighed out as he ruffled his hair, making me open my eyes and look at him with a guilty expression.

I didn't want to start a fight.

"I'm sorry," I said softly, making him quickly shake his head and gently grab a hold of my biceps.

"No. You have nothing to be sorry for. I shouldn't have talked about him like that. I should be apologizing," he said quickly, making me notice that he didn't like seeing me upset.

"No, they're your opinions and things that you remember and have seen. I should respect it, and except what you told me," I said without even thinking, thanking my mom for teaching me manners.

"No, Michelle, seriously," he said with a forced smile. Seeing that neither of us wanted to continue this conversation, we both looked around the field, searching for a topic.

One instantly tumbled out of my mouth.

"So... where exactly are we?" I asked slowly, a chuckle coming out of my mouth.

"We're in Heaven," Ariel answered simply, making me jump in shock and spin my head back towards him, surprised I didn't get whiplash.

"I'M ALLOWED IN HEAVEN!" I exclaim happily as more of a statement than a question, beaming brightly. "Oh, my gosh! You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. No! Idea!"

"Actually, I think I'm starting to get an idea," he laughed out, staring at me as I bounced around like a little girl and took in everything around me with more detailed observations. I felt so relieved. So... amazed.

"Thank you, thank you so much for letting me come here," I blurted out, making him grin at me and shake his head.

"It's seriously no problem, you need to stop thanking me. I'd do anything for you," he said, looking at me with these intense eyes that made my heart stop. I could tell that he wasn't kidding about what he said. He would really do anything for me.

We stood there, again, in silence, but this time it was the comforting type of silence– where we stand across from each other with giddy grins and relaxed stances. There wasn't a need for a conversation this time. All that was needed was the closeness and the bond we had.

God, I sound like some soapy romantic.

Eww.

"You seriously are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on," he said bluntly, eyes widening in shock after he said it, like he didn't mean to say that out loud. I snorted and held my breath, trying to hold back the laughter.

"And you are the handsomest guy I've ever laid eyes on," I said in reply with a crooked smile, meaning every word I said.

I seriously don't think anyone could get hotter than him.

"You seriously shouldn't have said that," he whispered softly, a hint of pink reaching his neck as he looked down.

"Wh-"

"Come on, let's go back to the room," he said slowly, looking like his mind was completely somewhere else.

"Okay?" I said as more of a question, but not commenting on the trance-like look he had.

Without even thinking he lifted his left hand up and a big, white door appeared– quickly coming out of the ground. As soon as the door was completely out of the ground, Ariel opened the door and held it out wide. "Ladies first," he said as he held it, putting a hand on my lower back to lead me through the door.

But as soon as he touched me, I felt really weird. Electricity went through me, but this time it felt nice. Warm and comforting.

It also made me want to bring him closer to me, touch more of me. Not in a sex-crazed way, but in a hold-me-close-and-never-let-me-go type of way. And the difference between the feeling I felt with him and the feeling I felt with Samael?

Samael used the souls to do that to me.

Ariel doesn't even look like he's noticing this shit.

Ariel isn't toying with me.