They led me to Cupids Cove. I didn't understand the purpose of it, but I didn't fight back. They kept a slow and even pace, words thrown around as we rose into the sky. I kept low, staying near the grass where I could see Casper jump up to follow me. I did know that Seth kept a low eye on me. All of them looked at me with concern.
It could be the cut on my cheek. It stayed there, printed on my face, but the pain was long gone. I didn't realize how much it would affect Rory out of everyone. The redhead always had me in their eyes; the fear and quiver in their wings made me gulp at the show of anxiety.
I wouldn't have to feel it for much longer since Cupids Cove appeared prominently in front of us. We dropped to the ground, and Capser wagged his tail excitedly at us. I looked around, feeling my wings stiffen as I pulled them tightly against my back.
Cupids came out and greeted us as they started walking off. Some sat in the grass, braiding each other's hair or sleeping. I don't remember Cupids Cove being this peaceful.
The others seemed to know where they were headed; it appeared they wanted to go to the same place we visited last time. I could sense the tension in Bridget's muscles as she walked beside me. The angel shifted slightly, but she maintained a strong expression on her face.
We must be going to see Orwell then, and I was correct.
The cupid with the hood was sitting on the window sill like last time, Brick and Rue lay below him while hugging each other. I saw the cupid's wings ruffle up when they saw us walk over. Orwell stuck his hand out, waving us over with a sparkling smile.
"Hey angels," Rue sat up from leaning into Brick, moving over so that we could sit beside them. I moved over away from them so that Casper had room to rest his head in my lap, Bridget sat on the sill, her shoulder lightly bumping into Orwell. "You guys actually came! We hope you're feeling nice today!"
"We heard what happened to you.." Brick turned to me, his hand slightly running through Rue's hair. "You're okay, right?"
"I am," I felt my body stiffen. How did they know about it? Did someone tell them?
"That's good to hear," Rue fell back into Brick's arm, snuggling up to his neck with a giggle.
"Blegh," Rory shook their head, shutting their eyes. "Please don't burn my eyes with that!"
"You're overreacting!" Seth nudged them.
"Don't act like you wouldn't do the same~" Brick made a motion between Rory and Seth, causing the blonde to make a choked sound.
Rory laughed, jumping over to wrap their arms around Seth's neck, the blonde groaned and pushed away. "You right, you right."
"Let me go!"
Bridget rolled her eyes, giggling lightly while she watched Seth and Rory. Orwell moved slightly over. I watched silently as he slowly moved his hand over to her. He looked red and unsure, his wings slightly shaking from behind him. I encouraged him to just go for it, to just do it.
Rory turned and took the blonde with them. They bumped into the sill, which made Bridget jump back and away. That caused Orwell to jump and move his hand as well.
I grumbled, glaring at the two roughhousing like children.
"Okay, okay, we get it, you lovebirds." I rolled my eyes at them, slowly curling my legs and making Casper move slightly. After they were back on the ground, he went back to set his head on my thighs.
Seth pushed away from the redhead, turning to me with a challenging look. "Right, and what about you?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "What was that with the Warrior Angels?"
"Wait what?" Rue jumped back up, her eyes wide with the mention.
"Oh yeah," Rory looked at me, a smirk on their lips. "This little thing decided to challenge Arden to a one-on-one to prove she can join the Warrior Angels."
"You what!?" Rue's smile was wide, her eyes almost popping out.
"Oh my Heaven, you did what??" Brick scooted forward, his eyes almost bulging.
I glared at the two smirking to themselves. There was no point in lying, but I knew they wanted a reason why I did it. But to be honest, I didn't exactly have a reason.
I just did it.
"Are you a Warrior Angel now?" Rue was looking at me with big eyes, her hair draping over her shoulder. "That would be so awesome! You could protect us and keep us safe and fight!"
"Are you missing the point where she challenges Arden to a one-on-one?" Bridget cut into the conversation. Rue looked at her and made a face, sitting back into Brick, who was now leaning against the wall.
"That's not the best thing to do if you want her to like you. "Orwell told me.
I shrugged, "I wasn't trying to make her like me.. I just did it."
"But why though?" Rory scooted closer, pushing past Seth who groaned. "Why suddenly jump to them? Why do you want to be a Warrior Angel all of a sudden?"
Everyone was watching me. I knew I needed to say something, but there were no words, no explanations to offer. My only reason for my actions was simply that I wanted to. That in itself felt like a poor justification. If I was going to say anything, it had better be meaningful.
Since I had nothing good to say, I shrugged my shoulders and lowered my head. Rory began to bicker, the others joining in on all different sides and complaining about me or something else. I didn't bother to listen, I had nothing to say or to justify. I continued stroking Caspers's head, running my hand in a smooth motion as my eyes followed his fur under my finger.
My mind traveled off. Their voices began to dim, and my eyes slightly blurred. It was sort of hard to focus. There was a dull pounding in my head that was distracting my thoughts. But my thoughts were empty right now?
I was going somewhere else, I wasn't actually here right now.. this wasn't real…
"Oh, so you like Rocky, huh?" The familiar voice belonged to Dawson, who stood above me while I sat on the gravel. A fluffy head resting in my lap. Dawson's soft, calm breathing lulled me, soothing my racing heart.
I looked down to my lap, watching the snoozing german shepherd lay on my legs. I stroked him, smiling down at the dog. "I guess he likes me. I was just out here taking my break and he shows up."
Dawson squatted down to pet the shepherd. "He seems to like you and decided to spend his break with you."
I stretched my arms out, letting out a sigh. "I finished my drills quickly and went to the K9 unit to sit and relax. He came up to me, and here we are," my hand lifted to his head where Dawson's hand was. "It's a lot quieter over here than with the others."
"Yeah, we don't have a lot of K9s. Only one unit on our team."
My hand slowly went close to his own, the dog snoozing silently as our hands came closer and closer. "Rocky is one of the oldest ones here. He is very chill," Rocky huffed out as Dawson giggled. "Yes you are~"
I giggled as the lieutenant sat down on the gravel beside me. Leaning against the fence behind me, I felt the sun glaring down on us. My baggy camo pants suddenly felt stuffy and hot, and my tank top wasn't much help in keeping the annoying sun off my skin.
I shunned away, sighing out with annoyance. Dawson looked over to me, taking the cap from his head and placing it on mine. I glanced back at him.
"The sun pissing you off? Wear that, it will keep it away." He turned away, looking off in the distance where the groups continued to train and pass out breaks.
I touched the hat on my head. The green camo pattern that usually covered Dawson's hair was now on my head. The officer looked so nice without it on. The sun glazing down at his tan, lean skin made me feel more hot.
I swiped sweat from my brow, turning my head away so the man couldn't see my red face. I heard him laugh a bit, continuing to talk about the drills everyone was doing as I dozed off in my own head. It felt weird, having him sit so close to me, his body just inches from my own I could just-
"Does it hurt..?"
A touch pulled me from my thoughts. The touch was gentle, only slightly sliding down my cheek a small sting was felt. I pulled away, shooting my eyes over to Dawson-
But it wasn't him... what?
I was back in Cupids Cove, Casper was in my lap and the touch came from Rue. The cupid retracted her hand to my cheek, where I forgot about the cut I had; she was looking slightly concerned after I flinched away. But I thought it was Dawson, I was just with him, what happened-
"Sorry… It looks kinda red.." Rue scratched her head, leaning back into Brick.
"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt." Everyone just looked back at me, the same expression plastered on all of their faces. They looked concerned, scared, and maybe even a little taken aback. It's not like it's my fault that I can feel pain..
Why can I feel pain…?
I didn't like the eyes, the looks they gave me, the same feeling over and over. After the silence of me bushing away, the others turned back to each other to talk amongst themselves. It was until Seth stood up to stretch his wings that the others and I stood up as well.
"Let's chat again at the next party!" Rory waved goodbye as we exited the Cove from the window. I caught the eyes of Orwell and Bridget, the ongoing urge that looked between the two.
I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. I was trapped in my head with my thoughts.
"Erh..." I couldn't tell if the pain dulling my senses came from my scar or my head. Were my memories doing more harm, or was the cut seeping into my senses enough to cause pain?
Whatever it was, it was annoying.
"Vienna?"
"I'm fine." I turned away from Seth's concerning touch. The blonde looked taken aback by my response. "I just need to rest, sorry."
"That's alright." He looked back away, his wings slightly slanted as the sun came up through the thin layer of clouds. He looked up at it, letting the cherry leaves flutter across his face. "We are here if you need anything. Alright?"
I let out a small giggle, keeping my eyes down before nodding my head. "I know."
"Where are you guys going?" Rory made it over to us, Bridget just behind them with a small blush. "Want to go to Pup's Cove together?"
"I'm gonna go and rest a bit, hopefully heal up.."
Rory turned to me, their smile dropping. "Oh.. okay!" They grabbed Seth, pulling the blonde to their side. "Let's go then loser!"
"Stop pulling-!"
They took off in the sky, leaving Casper and me on the ground to look off. I waited and waved them goodbye until they were out of sight. I looked down at the happy dog, his face lighting up when he looked at me. "Come on."
The pup jumped up, his tail swirling around as I lifted into the air. I kept low to the ground, making sure Casper could watch and follow me forward. It was not until we left and were near the trees that I motioned for him to follow. He tilted his head, confused at my gesturing.
"Come! Come up!"
He barked, looking around with mild concern and fear. I folded my wings to glide back down to him, hovering above the air. I motion for him to jump up. He did, flapping his wings until he was in the air with me.
"Good boy, now come and follow me." Instead of going back to Angels Cove, I traveled farther into the trees, dodging around the branches and low-hanging leaves while Casper followed close behind.
His wings flapped wildly, he was finding it difficult to travel in the trees, but he kept up with my pace. I knew where I was going and where I wanted to go. Though the reason was lost in my mind, I just didn't want to sleep.
Every time I do something, something comes and takes over my mind. I could feel a barrier keeping me in one place, but it felt suffocating. I wanted to do my own thing, make my own choices, and not be followed. But that hindering of hope and desperate clinging stayed close in my mind. I wanted to see her, but I knew better.
As the trees cleared out, I went lower and lower until it opened up to the large space. I drifted to the ground as Casper went off into the open clearing to fly around. My feet landed in the grass and after looking up, I met eyes with a smirk from a familiar angel.
"Oh, you actually came back."
"Of course I did," I walked over to her, seeing the other Warrior Angels watch with uncertainty as I made my way in front of the warrior. "Didn't think I would?"
"Honestly, no. Seemed I scared you off."
"I'm not scared of you." My voice hardened, eyes boring into her narrowed ones.
Her smirk only grew; it seemed that my sudden hostility intrigued her more than intimidated her. "I can see that," she said. She turned around, her large wings curling slightly to rest closer to her armored back. A Warrior Angel with pink dreads came over to hand Arden a stack of armor pieces. It appeared small in the tall angel's hands as she turned and thrust it into mine. I stumbled a bit to keep hold of all the parts. When my eyes met hers again, she gave me a deadpan look.
"What? You will need armor if you want to be with us and fight."
"I didn't need any when I fought you." I moved them away, my eyes quirked slightly. "Neither did you.."
"That wasn't training, nor was it any serious fighting." She chuckled. "It was more like playing. Play fighting with no serious damage done, so I didn't need any armor. Now go put it on."
I couldn't tell if she was making fun of me or being serious. Either way, I grumbled to myself before turning away. "Fine.."
She smirked at my words. "Good girl."