Tristis Nox: Blood Angel

Tristis! I have been looking everywhere for you! Why did you not tell---- Tristis? Tris what is wrong?” I could hear him inch closer to me, but stopped when I started whispering.
“What would you do if you found out I fell from grace?”
“What are you talking about? “
“What if I told you I killed hundreds, no thousands of innocent people?”
“Tris, you are not making sense. I know you better than anyone else and I know you could never do that.”
“I’m not holy anymore, Vatēs.” I knew he was taking me seriously now for I never used his real name. “I’m still a Finis, I can still feel my powers but I’ve changed Vay. I think they changed me, I think I’m no longer a holy angel I think I’m a fallen.”
“A what? I’ve never heard of an angel not choosing to be a fall---“ He was rendered speechless when I turned around and tears of blood spilled from my eyes. “Tris.” He stared at me in shock before enveloping me into a hug.
“No!” I tried to push him away. “No, Vay, I’ll corrupt you. And… and I don’t want that!”
Vatēs took my chin and in a serious tone said, “If you have fallen or half fallen or whatever then I have too. We are a team Tris and there is nothing anyone can do about it.” He pulled me into another hug and I finally broke down and cried. My bloody tears slowly dying my friends silver tunic red.
I woke the next morning as the sun started to rise. I looked over at my friend and flinched at his dark red shoulder and the small circles that dotted his shirt. “I’m sorry.” I whispered pulling some sheets over him, and then I walked over to my mirror again. Pinkish streaks lined my cheeks and I poured some water into a bowl and started cleaning my face. After cleaning up I took a deep breath and extended my large, beautiful wings. What came out should not have surprised me, but nonetheless I still was shocked. My once brilliant white wings were now ruby red. My mouth dropped open and I moved away from my reflects a bit, but before I went far my temper flared. Within a second I picked up the pitcher on the vanity stand and hurled it at the mirror causing it to shatter into thousands of broken useless pieces.
At this outburst Vatēs catapulted up. “What’s going on?!” the first thing he saw was the broken glass all over the place. “Tristis why did you….” But trailed off when I turned around.
“They messed with the wrong angel, Vay. They are going to regret the day they had Tristis Nox kill innocent people.” I spread my wings as far as they would go and looked down at a shard of glass to see my eyes literally swirling. *That’s new, my emotions are shown through my eyes. They move like Vay’s.*Ruby I then looked up at a scared and confused Vatēs. “The council wants a fallen angel; well they are going to get one pissed off fallen.”
I retracted my wings, turned and started for the door. “Let’s go Vay, I have to leave Lexicon NOW.” With that I whipped open the door and marched out. I heard Vay scramble out of bed and run to keep up. Without even caring who saw me, I went to the closest window, jumped out, and released my wings to soar to Hope Lake. I heard Vay call after me, but I did not care and kept a fast pace until I reached my destination. I landed and skidded to the edge of the water as Vay gently touched ground.
“What are you doing? What if someone saw you?” Anger and concern was evident in his voice.
“I don’t care Vay, to be honest I don’t really care. The council can make up some lie to why my wings are red, it’s not like I’m gunna be here much longer.”
“Nonetheless Tristis, you cannot be careless.”
“It’s who I am, Vay. I’ve always done what feels right to me, why should I change just because it’s weird that my wings are… are red.” I stumbled over my wing color because even to me it did not feel quite right.
“This is why you are always in trouble.”
“You wanna leave me too? It’s okay if you do, I won’t hold you against it. I know I’m a difficult person to be with and am always causing you problems. You’re the only partner who never gets time off because I’m always on a mission and that won’t change as long as I’m chained to these people.”
“What are you saying, Tristis? You know I do not care about having time off as long as you are okay.”
“Well it bothers me! It’s entirely my fault that you can’t have a normal life to hang with friends or sleep in every once in a while or read a book for fun!” I turned to face him. “Here’s your chance Vatēs to leave and not look back. Here’s your chance at freedom and no more chains to weigh you down. No more having to meet with the council every other day to make sure I don’t screw up again. Here’s your last chance to go and be free.”
“What the hell are you talking about Tristis! I have been with you for hundreds, thousands of years now, why would I want to leave now?” By now he was only inches from me and looking into my eyes. That is when he took a step back, “Tristis, what are you thinking?”
“Do you really want to know?” Determination radiated off of me.
He looked me in the eyes again and his face hardened. “Yes.”
“You’re not gunna like it and it’ll be more trouble if they find out you know.”
“Tell me.”
“Here’s your last chance to get away ignorant and not be stained with my corruption.” Vatēs remained silent and never broke eye contact with me. “Fine. I’m going to rebel and give the council hell. The next mission I’m given I’m not going to cleanse.”
Vatēs took a deep breath and said, “You’ve already tried this Tristis, if you are caught again you will be executed or imprisoned.”
A smirk slowed crept onto my face, “That’s the beauty of it Vatēs I won’t buckle this time. I know the pain and I’m dozen times over older; I can take the pain. But if this plan is to work I’m going to need your help.”
This time Vatēs broke eye contact and looked out over the water. “Tris, I- I do not know if I can go along with this plan. Anything else I would jump in without any rebuttal, but this…” he shook his head and trailed off.
“Why? Why are you doubting this?”
“It is not the plan. With the look in your eye I can tell no matter how much pain you are going to be in you will not destroy the world you are assigned.”
“Then what?”
He looked up and sadness filled his eyes, “If you go along with this plan I can’t be with you. The last time… the last time still haunts me. Seeing you wither in so much pain and your screaming still won’t leave me. I cannot see you go through that again; I felt so useless and I could not ease your pain at all.” Vatēs’ speech got faster as he went along until he was covering his ears and bent over. “I can’t stop it. Please stop the screaming.” He whispered the last part as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“VAY!” I ran over to him and hugged him. “Shhhh, it’s okay Vay it’s over. I’m not screaming anymore.” Eventually he stopped and hugged back.
“Sorry.” He said even quieter.
“It’s okay, I never realized how bad that memory could be for you. And you don’t have to be with me I have another job I want you to do.” He looked up at me with a cocked eyebrow. “I need you to play dumb to what I am doing and erase the world I am on. I also need you to alter everything about this mission: from what planet I am on to everything I am doing down there. If I can pull this off my next planet will become my home base of operation. With my planet erased I am going to disappear off the grid and I need you to go along with everything they say. You have to make them believe that you are on their side. Can you do that for me? I know I’m asking a lot—“
“Stop Tris, you should know by now I would do anything for you. So yes I will go along with this plan of yours, but it is going to be difficult. I am going to need time to alter everything especially since it is you and a mission.”
“I know, you have until my markings are white. Now here’s the plan so far…”