21.

I ran and ran for what felt like an eternity as my tears kept falling, blurring the world around me.

*She's gone! She's freaking gone!*

My mind kept screaming in utter despair, barely even realizing when I had arrived to our apartment building, and with a hard shove to the entrance door after I had punched in the safety code I sprinted all the way upstairs, almost taking the front door with me as I barged inside, desperately looking at the boys.

"She's gone!" I weakly cried as my teary gaze darted to Ricky, fastly making my way straight towards him.

"What? What do you-"

"She's gone! I couldn't find her!" I cried out loud as I grabbed onto his shirt, letting out a few sobs and whimpers as I struggled to control myself and tell him what happened.

"I-I don't know what happened, w-we were just chasing each other when I got taken by surprise by one of those little shits and when I managed to escape and search for her she wasn't there anymore!"

I watched as his features quickly morphed from confusion to utter shock, painfully stabbing at my heart as I couldn't help but feel so guilty...

It was my fault. She was gone because of me. I was the one who refused to have one of the boys accompany us to our walk.

"I don't-" I broke into another sob, lastly letting go of his shirt as I fell onto my knees, too damn guilt-ridden to even dare look him in the eyes anymore as I let my tears fall.

"I'm so sorry! Oh my god I'm so stupid!"

I loudly sobbed, wincing as I suddenly felt Ricky's arms around me, holding me so tightly as I cried my soul out.

"Wait here," My head jerked to the side as I heard Azrael say that, watching him spread those beautiful ebony wings as his attention averted to Raphael.

"Raph, come on,"

And after watching Raph spread his wings as well they simply disappeared into thin air, leaving us sitting there all confused for a few long moments until they suddenly re-materialized out of nowhere, making us both jerk in our spots.

"It wasn't them. We can't feel her aura anymore," Azrael said as he firstly looked at Lucifer, who had been silently pacing around from a while ago before lastly averting his brooding gaze to us.

"Whoever has her either used a powerful witch to cloak her presence or..." Raph trailed off, immediately hearing Azrael's disapproving reply,

"No. I should've felt it. She didn't die,"

"Something happened to her soul but she didn't die."



**




I winced in pain as I readjusted my sitting position on the floor, feeling the numbness in my butt and the soreness in my bones. I've been crying for the most part of the night, all alone in my room since the boys were outside, still searching for her as I prayed that she was at least alive and well and that we would find her somehow, eventually.

I would never forgive myself if something happened to her...

I just wanted to have a few hours alone with my best friend, and look where that got us...

I got assaulted by that weirdo and she got freaking kidnapped by God-knows who!

I broke into another sob as I reminisced those moments, failing to hear when the door had opened.

I squinted as a brighter light than the small lamp I had on peeked through the opening, blinking a few times as it swiftly disappeared, noticing the pair of army boots stopping right in front of me, moments before he took a seat on the floor right next to me, giving me a mild and sympathetic smile before lightly shaking his head at my unsaid question.

Blowing out a sad and hopeless sigh, my first instinct was to just storm outside, but I remembered her last words.

*...You could just stop running away from him...*

So after a sniffle, I wiped the remaining wetness off of my cheeks with the back of my hand, finally daring to turn to the side and look up into those midnight blue eyes.

"So...Y-you can feel if she dies?" I lightly winced at the sound of that question and my own scratchy voice.

"Of course I can. Archangel of Death here, remember?" He pointed towards his chest with a one-sided smile.

"Y-yeah but..."

"She's your best friend, hence she's an important soul so...yeah. If something happens to her soul I will definitely feel it," He easily explained before I could even think about what I was going to ask, making me feel a little bit weirded-out.

Not to mention that I did think it sounded kinda harsh. She was important only because she was my best friend?

*And what a “good” friend I am...*

I bit back at myself, feeling those hot tears pooling in my eyes once again as I lowered my gaze to my lap, burdened by my guilt.

"Come. Let’s go,” I felt his gentle touch over my shoulder, noticing he had already gotten up from his previously sitting position as I rose my sight to look up at him.

“What?”

"Come on. Let's go," He beckoned me as he took my hand in his palm, helping me raise my numbed body into a standing position.

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked, mildly alarmed as he pulled me closer, noticing his wings stretching at his sides before they wrapped around me at the same time his arms did.

"To soothe your soul.”