Separation

The dance.

The song.

The fire.

The light.

Together.

The memories.

The truth.

Of what was, what is, and what will be.

A further understanding.

The endings of awakening.

The connection almost complete.

Bodies.

Spirits.

Calling.

But it would have to go unanswered.

For now.

Ivy sighed, her eyes opening to be greeted by crimson below her. She smiled as calloused, warm hands abandoned her waist and engulfed her cheeks.

What a beautiful way to wake.

To be welcomed by the sun.

To bask in its love.

Its glory.

“Will you be okay?” Zero asked, voice quiet in the still darkness, the first trace of light just starting to seep through the window.

“I will.” She lowered herself, pressing her lips to his before tucking her head under his chin, fingers tracing his collarbones while his rested on the small of her back. “But I’m not the one you should be worried about.” She played with the pressure that she pushed against the devil’s body, feeling the hardness of the bone and softness of the flesh. The sensation of his skin against hers.

How long had it been since the last time?

How long would they have this time?

This life would be different.

It already was.

They just had to continue to trust the ones they had chosen.

It had worked thus far.

Zero kissed the top of her head. “You can go back to sleep.”

They had already been asleep for so long.

Waiting.

“No,” Ivy sighed. Delicate hands took his face as his larger ones found their way up her back and through her hair, enticing her closer. “I just want to stay with you.” Lips claimed each other and refused to shy away.

It wasn’t enough though.

She wanted it all.

Everything.

To be whole once more.

But she would take what she could get for now.

The rest would have to wait.

As they had already done for so very long.

What was a little longer going to hurt?

The morning would flood into the room, pouring over the furniture and floors. Gracing the two entangled bodies in its early warmth. The peace and serenity of their union near perfection.

But perfection is ever fleeting.

The crash of a door across the hall would disturb their connection, startling Ivy into shooting straight up with a frightened squeak and snapping her attention towards the source of the sound. A haphazard string of curses and peculiar thudding weren’t exactly positive signs for how the day would proceed, but there would be no avoiding it now.

The tirade had begun.

“I guess it’s time we go,” Zero grumbled lightly as his hands fell from the girl’s hips and to his side, tired of always being interrupted.

“It would seem so,” Ivy agreed as she crawled away and made her way out of bed before quickly changing out of her nightgown and into a long and flowy floral dress.

She opened the door and entered the hallway, finding Sakura still present, dragging a semi-conscious Ren by one leg across the floor, his wings spread wide under him, collecting every speck of dust underneath him. The girl gasped and rushed over, falling to her knees beside the distressed man. “What happened, Ren?! Are you okay?!” She had never seen the angel like this before, so pale and sickly, practically on death’s door. Her heart sank at the thought of there being something mortally wrong with him, and she gingerly cradled his ashen cheeks in her palms. “Can you speak?”

“Don’t fucking talk to him! Don’t even look at him!” the demon snapped, jerking the leg violently, pulling him along in short spurts. “He did this to himself and he’s gonna suck it up and be a man!”

Ren whimpered, making his suffering known, his hand reaching out for salvation and finding the back of the girl’s neck and drawing her closer. He couldn’t even crack open his eyes to look her, and his voice weakly trembled, “Little One, my sweet, most precious treasure, I’m gonna need you to bring Papa that medicine you made in the den. Now. Hurry.”

“The analgesic? What’s wrong? Where are you hurt? Sakura! Put him down! Please!” Her distress was only growing, and she could no longer hold back the flood of tears. She had always envisioned the man as indestructible, and to see him in such a sorry state had her on the edge of hysterics.

“Yeah. That stuff. I’m gonna need you to dump the whole thing in my mouth.”

Her eyes went wide in horror at the thought. “Ren! That’ll kill you instantly!”

“Good,” he groaned, eyes closing tighter. “I hope it does. I’m already halfway there. Just let me die.”

“Fuck you!” The woman tightened her grip and pulled with a new found vengeance, forcing the girl to scurry across the floor after the man. “You’re not getting out of this that easily! You can die after we kill the parasite but not a moment sooner!”

“Please stop!” Ivy begged, wrapping her arms around Ren and sobbing onto his forehead. “Can’t you see he’s in pain?! What if he’s dying?!”

Another tug. “He’s faking it!”

“He’s not! He’s…”

The women froze, distracted by a disquieting stamping from down the hall before Zero emerged from the room and strode towards them, his boot knocking stiffly into the man’s side once reaching him.

Ren curled into himself in agony. “What the fuck?! Why would you do that?”

“Get up,” the boy demanded, void of emotion as he glowered at the man. “Quit being dramatic. You’re embarrassing yourself.” This wasn’t the first time the devil had dealt with the angel being hung over. In the past, he would just leave the man be to sleep it off and ignore his whining for special treatment for a condition he created all on his own. But Zero was tired of taking the higher road, and if Ren was going to ruin his peace, then he would ruin his.

The man covered his pounding head with his arms. “You don’t understand. This wasn’t ale or whiskey. This was wine. I’m dying. For real this time!”

“I don’t care what it was.” Zero gave him another sturdy kick. “If you can’t handle it, then I’ll take Sakura, and you can die alone right there on the floor. Don’t give him anything. Let him suffer,” he told Ivy as he took her hand and helped her up before leading the concerned girl away while she apologized profusely to the man she was forced to abandon.

The demon dropped the angel’s leg and followed after the pair. “That works for me. Let’s eat and get out of here.”

Ren was left to teeter on the brink of death alone, struggling with the consequences of his actions. Things had been going so well, too. But he had gotten too confident, too sure of himself, let his guard down. And now everything was falling apart and the constant throbbing in his brain and queasiness in his body was making it nearly impossible for him to come up with a new plan of action.

He was just going to have to wing it.

Hope for the best.

The man pushed himself up onto unsteady feet and began the long journey of determining where exactly he was, and where the others had disappeared off to. He wandered through room after room, circling back and ending up where he just was, as if the manor had a mind of its own and didn’t want him to escape its elegant and lush confines. But his perseverance paid off after what felt like eons when he finally clomped his way into the dining room, finding the four others sitting at one end of a needlessly long dining table finishing their breakfast.

Ren poured himself into the chair next to Sakura, his body failing to keep itself up any longer as he slouched onto the polished tabletop.

Charlotte wrinkled her nose and sat back in her chair, as if the man were infectious. “What happened to you?” It wasn’t a question that only pertained to his current state, rather to who he was as a whole. The man was a shock to her system, appearing completely different now than he had while in The Guard. Despite knowing and working with him for four years, it was like having a complete stranger in her home.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Leave me alone,” he gruffed, hiding his head under his arms.

The demon sighed and made the man a plate of exquisite samples that she had never seen or even heard of before and pushed it against his face. “Eat,” she demanded. “Get your shit together, and let’s go.”

“You’re planning on taking him to kill the parasite?” the blonde angel asked. She couldn’t imagine the man going any further than he had already gone. She was surprised he had even gotten this far.

Sakura glared at the man as he began to slide food across the plate and into his mouth. “He better. Otherwise, Zero and Ivy can permanently move in, and he can go live in the hole by himself.”

Ren chewed and swallowed his meal at snail’s pace, one ocean eye on the angry vixen. “What happened to the nice you from last night? I liked her. She loved me. Worshiped the ground I walk on. Bring her back. I miss her.”

“She’s not coming back until you deliver on what you promised.”

The man pushed himself up to sitting as straight as he could manage. “Fine. But she better be extra sweet when she shows up. Treat me like the alpha king I am.”

“We’ll see about that.” Sakura turned to the boy and girl, her demeanor softening. “Are you two about ready?”

Zero nodded as Ivy looked hesitantly between the two women. “If it’s okay,” she asked both for permission, “I’d like to stay here. I don’t like watching things die.”

Charlotte gazed at the girl, interested in her new guest. “That’s fine with me. I could use the company.”

Sakura looked between Ren and Zero, the angel concentrating a little too hard on keeping what he was eating in his stomach to notice much else while the devil looked unconcerned with the request. She ignored the man and focused on the boy, silently seeking his input while crimson seemed to encourage her approval. “If that’s what you want.” She turned and peered carefully at the girl, gauging her behavior. “And it’s okay with Charlotte.”

Ivy smiled sweetly at them. “Thank you.”

“And are you staying with her?” the vixen asked the devil.

“No, I’ll go with you,” he stated plainly, his mind already made up.

Sakura blinked rapidly, trying to understand what exactly was going on. The two were basically attached at the hip. Sometimes they’d separate long enough to do a short task on their own or with either Ren or herself, but this was unfamiliar territory. Though the two angels may know each other, Charlotte was just barely an acquaintance to the rest of them. Why Ivy would want to stay and why Zero wouldn’t, the woman couldn’t put her finger on.

The two were always so strange.

But who was she to make their decisions for them?

“Alright.” She slowly pushed her chair from the table, waiting for one of the two to change their minds.” I guess we should get going then…” When neither spoke up, she turned her attention to the blonde woman. “Thank you for the meal. Do you need help cleaning up?”

The angel shook her head gently, her eyes falling on Ren who was leaning back in his chair, head tilted towards the ceiling and eyes closed tight, while his lips moved in a silent pep talk to himself. “Don’t worry about it. I think you already have enough going on.”

“Okay then.” Sakura got to her feet as the devil and fae did the same. “Let’s go.” She started out of the room, Zero and Ivy following, before calling back to the angel. “Now, Ren!”

“Fuck,” he grumbled, forcing himself to stand, barely managing to drag his lumbering body after them.

“Good luck,” Charlotte called after them, not quite convinced that they were the hope that The Kingdom so desperately needed.

“Fuck!” Ren’s voice echoed through the halls.

Three-fourths of the group made it out of the front door: two in the midst of their goodbye ritual— speaking softly to one another as their lips joined and hands danced across the others’ skin— while the third sighed and tapped her toe waiting for the fourth to finally join. When he did, the third groaned loudly at the sight of him.

“Forgetting something?” Sakura snapped.

It took the man several moments before it clicked. “Shit!” he cursed and went back into the manor, returning shortly with his sword now on his back.

The woman sighed.

She should have smothered him when she had the chance.

Saved them all the trouble.

Ivy pulled away from Zero and stepped back towards the home. “Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back.” She stared anxiously at the ground, her body swaying lightly, before going to Sakura and taking her face in her hands, pulling her down, and kissing her forehead. “I love you.” Misty violet reached towards emerald, her voice so small. “So, so much. Please come back with Zero.”

The woman laughed and kissed her cheek. “Well, I’m not just gonna leave him out there, and I love you so, so much. We’ll be back soon, so don’t worry.” She turned, walking away and nodding at the men to follow, of which only Zero complied.

“I’m not giving you any of that analgesic,” the girl declared with a determined pout and suspicious glare. “So don’t even ask again.”

An unsatisfied groan rumbled from the man while he rubbed his hands against his face. “When did you become so cruel?” His arms fell and opened themselves to the fae as he smiled at her. “Come here, Little One.” She went to the angel and enclosed herself in his embrace. “I don’t like you staying here,” he muttered. “You should come with us. Charlotte may seem nice to you now, but a snake is always a snake. There’s no changing its scales.”

“I’m not afraid of snakes.” Ivy pulled away, peering into the concern in the angel’s eyes. “You’ve taught me how to take care of myself. I can do it. Promise.”

Ren nodded slowly, reluctantly taking the girl at her word. “Alright. Just be mindful of what you do and say.” He paused, his tongue clicking. “You wanna take my dagger to stab her, just in case?”

Her lips pursed. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“You wanna take it to stab her, just because?”

“Ren!”

“Okay. Okay.” The man put his hands up in defeat. “It was just an offer.” He leaned over, kissing the girl’s cheek. “Always remember, you’re vicious and take shit from no one.”

Ivy nodded and returned the kiss. “I am.” She watched the man leave to join the other two and they made their way down the road and out of sight. She breathed in deeply, expelling it quickly before heading back inside.

Nothing in life was ever certain.

Too many variables.

Too many chances for things to change.

Too many paths for the future to take.

She would just have to have faith.

And let things fall as they may.