Fly Me Away

I asked Neil what was happening every now and then, but he wasn’t much help to me. Always, “he’s talking with the demons,” or, “I’m sorry, he’s out of range.” I got nervous whenever he said the latter.

Neil rose to his feet and I turned my head away quickly; I was getting tired of seeing him stand around without a shirt on, he was certainly no Jackson. I let the issue go due to concerns for my own safety. If wearing a shirt hampered his super powers or whatever, I wasn’t going to complain about it.

“Jackson is coming,” he announced, “and at high speed. Stay behind me Margaret.”

Thank goodness, I was getting frustrated. Quietly and obediently, I shuffled until I was sitting directly behind Neil. I knew how quickly angels could go, and if Neil thought Jackson was speeding, then I definitely didn’t want to get in his way.

The valley was silent while I waited, I couldn’t even hear birds chirping. My heart was hammering, so I planned what I would do when he finally came to collect me, hoping that the thought would calm me down. It was nothing much, just a hurried hug and maybe a kiss if I was lucky, then I wanted him to get me the heck out of here. Pip and I also need to be reunited. Neil told me that she was perfectly safe whenever I asked, but insisted on keeping everything else to himself.

There was an eardrum breaking smash against the earth and I threw my arms across my face. Rocks, no boulders, and a piece or everything else in the immediate area came hurling towards us. Neil spread his pearl white wings and took the brunt of the damage, not flinching, not even surprised by whatever had just happened in front of him.

The commotion didn’t take long to settle, and when silence took over, I peered past Neil’s black pants. Relief washed over me when I saw Jackson there, wings spread, crouching close to the earth and being as beautiful as ever. He wasn’t looking at me; he was staring intently away from us. Once more dust had cleared, and I managed to get a better look at him, I gasped in horror. He didn’t look good. I saw blood and I didn’t even think he bled. I didn’t ever want to think about that, and I never ever in a million years wanted to see that—

Without thinking, I leapt to my feet and started running over to him with everything I had. It wasn’t much, but I’d put enough power into my sprint to move without Neil stopping it happening.

Jackson’s head snapped up to look at me, and in that ten seconds it took me to get to him, I saw a barrage of emotions, most of which resembled surprised. When I drew closer he rose up, still in his crouch and held his arm open for me.

There was no feeling quite like being in his arms again after an ordeal like that one, but I quickly put aside my own liberation and twisted around to get a look at him. Jackson’s hair was the messiest I’d ever seen it, and his forehead had a light sheen of sweat. His eyes were still slightly wide with surprise, but he looked sterner now as my fingers hovered over a large gash on his left cheek bone. His blood was so bright, almost orange looking, but was still sickeningly red as it trickled across his skin and hit the earth like tar.

“Hello,” he whispered, managing an out of place smile.

I frowned deeply, screwing my nose up and holding back the sad, angry tears that were threatening to spill. I put my hand in his hair, and ran it along the mostly unhurt side of his face, wincing when I felt any damage. I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“Don’t stress,” he hushed against my skin.

It was inevitable though. I pulled away and continued to assess his injuries in a worried fashion – a matching gash and a bruise on his neck, his lip slightly torn, and a slice along his collar bone – but I was distracted by the lack of eye contact. He was staring behind me, a very unusual emotion on his face; a mix between angry, warning, and pleading.

My heart rate spiked when I figured out who was there, I didn’t have to look to know. I nestled myself closer and down by Jackson’s side, then I turned around and saw him.

The king of the demons, Claude, was kneeling on the earth not ten meters away. The only thing that brought me comfort was the fact that Claude looked a lot worse off than Jackson. There was no blood, which led me to believe that demons simply did not bleed, but he looked battered and tired, and his expensive clothes were torn…no, scorched. The sleeve of his robe was burnt completely off, revealing a surprisingly muscular white arm which was perch before him while he crouched; he held the other arm next to his stomach as if it had been damaged.

I thought of that time at Jackson’s house, the first real encounter I had with a demon, and that bright white fire I saw sprang to mind. That was what Jackson had used to ‘dispose’ of the monster we encountered that night. It must have been less effective against their king, considering he was still here, but it did do a number to his outfit.

Nobody did anything for a long time; we were all just waiting for somebody to speak. Neil hadn’t budged from his place to our right, his wings were still ajar and he still looked to be bracing himself. Claude’s expression was blank, it was absolutely impossible to guess what he was thinking, or predict what he was about to do. I was grateful for Jackson’s arm around me, infusing me with enough calm thoughts to help me see clearly and assess the situation.

Slowly and shakily, Claude rose to his feet.

“I may be the king of—” he coughed and his good arm quickly shot out to hold his injured one. He tried to straighten up all the way, but couldn’t. he was in a bad way, “….but I do have the ability to love, and I deserve to be loved in return.”

I hadn’t realized how tensed up Jackson was until that moment, when he completely relaxed and dropped to his knees, letting out a breath and taking me with him.

“You’re leaving,” Jackson stated.

Claude looked away, gazing over at a mountain range in the distance. He squinted, the bright overcast sky hurting his eyes, “I fell in love once, and only once. I have never forgotten her. I just wanted her back.”

He staggered back a step, then proceeded to turn away from us agonizingly slowly. I noticed the small trail at the bottom of his robe was burn off as he took another step away in a movement that looked very painful to him.

I felt sorry for him. Almost.

“I’m not her,” I added quietly.

He stopped trying to walk and paused for a moment, “I see that now.”

He lifted his head and turned back to look at us both on the ground. He seemed genuine for the first time, and he smiled ever so slightly at me. I would even go as far as to say he looked….pleasant.

“I am a very unique demon, just like your angel here is unique to his race. Perhaps he is the king of angels?” Claude shrugged and laughed humorlessly, “God forbid there was such a thing, though even I could not defeat him so…..”

I looked back at Jackson who did not return my gaze. He was intent on watching Claude move, not letting me see what he himself thought of the demon kings suggestion.

“He would be a strong Ally. Perhaps I should have taken him up on his offer.”

My head whipped back to Claude, who was half turned to us now. He was smirking, staring at Jackson, daring him to stop him before he said anything.

But Claude continued before he got the chance, “He asked me to keep coming after you Maggie, your angel did—”

“—don’t do that,” Jackson growled in warning. I cowered against his side, feeling like I was in the middle of a battle still.

The demon king scoffed, a hint of his previous demeanor returning. He ignored Jackson and continued to speak, looking straight at me now, “He offered me his services after you pass away, however soon that may be, as long as I gave him a reason to stay with you in the mean time... he really does have no regard for any rules. Or was he just desperate?”

I froze. Jackson would never do that, he must have been bluffing. But then again…. if Claude kept trying to pursue me, if he kept sending his henchman after me, then I would still need protecting. I would still need my guardian angel. The consequence of that though… I couldn’t imagine Jackson as a bad guy. It would never happen.

“Don’t fret young girl, I declined,” Claude announced, holding his head higher now, “If I do not get to keep my woman, neither does he.”

This felt like a knife hitting my stomach. I dropped my head and squeezed me eyes shut for a moment; hoping that everybody was wrong about Jackson leaving was become more futile as time went on.

“Maggie.”

I opened my eyes at the sound of Jackson's low voice, and to him giving me a little shake. The second I saw that Claude was gone I was consumed by overwhelming relief.

All over.

Within seconds, I’d thrown my arms around Jackson’s neck, being careful not to graze anything that looking injured. He returned my hug and lifted my up with him as he stood.

“The demon king…” he murmured, sounding tired, but also relieved, “there is a reason he’s the king. We really do need him to maintain somewhat of an order over on the other side. He understands, he can be considerate when he needs to be.”

I let go, but left my hands on his biceps, then ran them along his arms. There were too many bruises for my liking and I frowned, my eyes targeting that gash on his face again, “He was trying to kidnap me…..and kill you.”

“Neither of which I would ever let him do. We all make bad decisions when we are in love.”

Then I got lucky and he kissed me, desperately, as if this whole time, he was absolutely positive he would lose me until now. I was lost between how happy I felt, and how worried I knew was about to become. I would never let him see this however, and I returned his kiss with maximum gusto until it became an embarrassing PDA and I thought of Neil standing near us. I broke away just for a moment to check, but he wasn’t there anymore.

“He’s gone now,” Jackson murmured against my lips, kissing me again, “We won’t see him again.”

I stopped him, confused, “why did he leave?”

Jackson sighed and released me from his embrace. He ran a hand through his already a shambles hair, “I’m sure you heard Claude tell you that unspeakable thing that I asked him to do for me. I don't know what I was thinking, but Neil is only so tolerant, and that was where he drew the line. He wants nothing to do with this anymore.”

I nodded – even I could understand where he was coming from, he wanted nothing to do with it from the beginning, but he stuck through it anyway. It was all over now, and I really was grateful for his help. I wiped my nose.

“Come on, I’ll take you to Pip.”

Pip was so far away, way way way over on the other side of the dense forest. Thankfully, Jackson’s flying was much more tolerable than Neils and he even used the time it took to get there to give me the rundown, including all the little details I’d missed. The wind was fierce, so he spoke right beside my ear as we skimmed the tree tops, and I enjoyed the close proximity a little too much, managing to steal the odd kiss to his amusement.

Pip and I were supposed to be moved to the clearing together, but their plans didn’t quite work out. The demons lost track of Neil too quickly and they all went after Pip instead, thinking they would meet up with me eventually. This was good, as Pirro had the power to take down the lot of them with ease and Neil didn’t, but I still felt sick at the thought.

Pip witnessed all of this, while I sat anxiously doing nothing. She must have been horrified.

Jackson said that the only real flaw in the execution happened when Claude placed that irresistible prize in his head, making 80% of the demons stay behind to try and kill him instead of coming after me. With Claude leading the majority of the demons in an attack on Jackson, he inevitably got hurt, but help did arrive. The nymphs were the heroes, half of them staying with Pip, and the other half making a near impenetrable wall around Jackson, which left the demons with no choice but to run towards the only angel left – Pirro. That was the end of them.

I say near impenetrable, as there was one demon who got through it, and who continued to duel with Jackson until he was forced out of the forest….

When we finally landed, Pip was standing against a tree by herself, making patterns in the ground with her foot. Jackson’s feet made no sound when he touched down and Pip didn’t notice us until my footsteps against the dry leaves gave us away. She looked shaken up, but was damn happy to see us.

We sat in the dirt for a while, enjoying being together again, and I listened while Jackson repeated most of the story he’d just told me for Pip’s sake.

But most importantly, be sat together to discuss our next step.

“Why don’t we get Pirro and Neil to help?” Pip asked, “Make Neil out to be the kidnapper, then stage a bear attack or something so they don’t put him in jail?”

It sounded like a good plan to me, but Jackson had informed us that Pirro disappeared about the same time as Neil had.

He shook his head, “Pirro and Neil aren’t sure whether to trust me anymore, after I failed to except the greatest treaty ever offered to us, then I offered my soul to the lord of the underworld.”

Pip cringed, “yeah, I suppose that’s fair….so does that mean Pirro isn’t coming back?”

“Yes. You’re safe now Pip, there’s no need.”

Fear prickled right down to my finger tips as the thought of Jackson leaving sprang to mind, but I managed to push it away. Pip and I couldn’t figure this out by ourselves, we still needed him, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“Is there some kind of memory wipe option? I don’t know, that’s what they do in movies,” I suggested.

Jackson took a big breath in then let it out, “that is the usual fix, believe it or not. Nymphs are extremely useful and are used to erase memories in situations like this, but it’s gotten too big now. There is absolutely no way I could assemble enough nymphs to wipe the entire country’s memory.”

Pip jumped, “The whole country?!”

“Yes. When Neil and I went back to town yesterday, I was forced to stay hidden. There are posters, television commercials, police investigations, billboards, you name it. Maggie, your Mother is even worried about me. I stood outside the grocery store reading a description of myself on the glass.”

Jackson smiled at that, never actually having anybody who would do that for him until her….or me. But his eyes were still distressed. I reached out and slipped my fingers between his.

“Are you guys in love yet?” Pip asked bluntly, eyeing our intertwined hands.

I didn’t want to say it, and it looked like Jackson didn’t really want to either; announcing it would only make it harder, not easier. We locked eyes a moment later and he smiled knowingly; I couldn’t help but look down at the ground shyly. I did love him.

“About time,” Pip muttered.

A nymph suddenly appeared before us. She looked identical to the others, yet there was only one. For some strange reason, I picked this one to be the one who had sat with me be the fire yesterday – the one who had warned me of Jackson’s future departure. The one who, technically, brought us together last night.

“There is a way,” she said, her voice a smooth whisper.

Pip and I looked to her expectantly, but Jackson frowned and stood upright in a movement that made us flinch.

“What are you?” he demanded, moving in front of us protectively.

“You know what I am.”

And with that, groups of nymphs began gathering around us, hundreds of them gliding in from different directions. I leapt over until I was holding onto Pip and we watched in awe as the area filled with translucent white women. It was a loud beautiful scene, and I couldn’t believe that they were all going to pitch in and help us.

But that good feeling was short lived. Jackson had never stopped glaring at that one nymph, his body ridged and his hands clenched. I could see his jaw moving, he was speaking to her, but I couldn’t hear a thing over the whispering and giggling of the masses.

He nodded at her, and then turned back to us.

“We’re going back,” he announced, “These nymphs are going to take care of everything.”

It was hard to hear him over the nymphs, so we stood up as he continued.

“I’ll take you both to your houses. As far as everyone knows, you have been at home, and attending school as usual.”

“Wow this is amazing…” Pip said, bewildered. I could hardly believe it myself, there would be no explaining, no questions asked, nothing. It didn’t seem real.

Pip jumped up and down with delight – she had expressed her desire for a hot shower and a bag of chips to me more than once since yesterday. I couldn’t imagine being out here for that long myself, and I knew she had it a lot worse off than me, but I was looking forward to going back just as much. The only thing I didn’t want to see was my Mom worried, and the nymphs were about to take care of that for me.

But something was off about Jackson that I couldn’t pin point. It could have been the way he said he was taking us to our houses, with no mention of where he himself was going. I prayed that he was going to come and be at my house with me, pretending that we’d been sitting at home watching a movie together, since I didn’t have time to ask.

Once the nymphs whisked off to alter the worlds memory, Jackson looked nothing but unhappy as he grabbed the two of us in each arm.

Still, I prayed.