33.

**Daya**



Cold...

An icy coldness wrapped around my entire body, feeling my jaw slightly quivering as all my senses gradually resurfaced back to reality.
My wet lashes fluttered a few times before finally adjusting to the poor lighting surrounding me, hearing liquid lightly splashing around me as my limbs jerked, soon enough noticing the reddened water engulfing my completely bare body.

The shedding process!

My entire body jerked once again, tightly gripping against the bathtub’s edge as I struggled to rise my still weakened frame from the freezing ruby water, lightly wobbling as I finally managed to stand, only to suddenly feel myself losing balance as a rather loud rumble vibrated throughout the entire house.

“AZRAEL STOP!”

My eyes widened as I quickly recognized the source of that audibly anguished voice, with shaky limbs forcing myself to step out of the deeply colored water.

Leaving a pinkish trail on the otherwise pristine white tiled floor, I weakly made my way towards the cabinets under the sink and threw a bathrobe on before exiting the bathroom.

Only the moment I set foot inside the adjoining room, my lips escaped a small gasp, shocked to notice the considerably large gap in the exact same place the balcony previously was.

Holy gods.

A loud, thunderous growl reached my ears, my eyes widening as I could clearly recognize that specific animalistic sound, my still sore feet carrying me straight towards the enormous hole, just in time to notice the chaotic scene beneath me.

There they were, the majestic demigod that was my brother and the absolutely terrifying Archangel of Death, engaged in a violent battle in the stunned presence of the other occupants of this house.

Completely petrified, I only blinked a few times in response before my attention unwillingly darted towards a shaking and visibly scared Blake, soon to be comforted by her said brother, quickly covering her -confusingly enough- half-naked body.

“Blake!”

I could clearly hear the worry in the intimidating man’s tone as he sought for an explanation from her, soon enough, for the millionth time finding myself roughly crushed by that torturing pain as those damned words left her quivering lips.

"The Sin...It was the Sin...”

No...

How-

“You!” I instinctually jumped in my spot, all my previous thoughts momentarily forgotten, startled by the blatantly accusing tone belonging to none other than my own father. My gaze immediately darted straight to where he was standing, watching him angrily stomp his way right over to Raphael, mere seconds before roughly grabbing the front of his shirt.

“I thought I told you to STAY AWAY FROM HER!” His utterly terrifying tone gradually increased in volume by the end of his sentence, finding myself lightly shivering in sheer fright as for the first time, I could actually see his inner demon clawing its way out.

Deep red replaced that stormy grey in his eyes, shaking me to the core as with an unnatural growl he violently attacked his own brother, barely giving him the time to fight back -or even defend himself for that matter- between his powerful blows.

No...

Small tears trailed their way down my cold cheeks, deep hurt and guilt consuming me completely as I watched the horrifying chaos unfolding right beneath my eyes.

A chaos I created. A chaos only I could stop.

Completely ignoring the still present ache in my body, I took a forceful leap, my bare feet graciously landing in the cold dampened grass, letting out a shaky breath before loudly crying out,

“Stop!”

Like suddenly restrained by an invisible force they all abruptly stilled, eerily silence surrounding us now as I took a deep breath and looked around me, gathering my courage before hesitantly taking a step closer to the barely scratched Archangel of Death, still holding the front of my brother’s fur-covered neck in a firm grip.

“Why are you hurting him?” I demanded, my voice wavering a little bit as I defiantly stared him right in the eye, struggling to push down my way too obvious fear of him.
Those midnight cold blue eyes held my own for a few moments, something completely indecipherable flickering within them before they abruptly shifted somewhere past me, soon enough noticing the object of his undivided attention.

Blake.

“Look, whatever happened, it wasn’t Rem’s fault! It’s mine! Didn’t you hear? It’s mine!” My still shaking voice rose a little bit as I felt so desperate to make him understand, a lonely tear quickly making its way down my cheek as that guilt feeling kept clawing at my very soul, only to suddenly feel a warm hand wrapping around my upper arm, no longer after my father’s pain-filled voice reaching my ears,

“Daya...”

Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I drew in a shallow breath before roughly yanking my arm away from his grasp as that last exchange of words between him and Raphael suddenly flashed before my mind’s eye.

“And you! Have you got no shame?” My anger only rose as I swiftly turned to face him, watching him blankly stare at me for a few moments, visibly taken aback by my so unexpected reaction.

“How can you pretend to be so righteous when your own thoughts are not even pure?”

He only blinked a few times in response, visible shock marring his features whilst he simply stood there, watching me.

“How can you even look your brother in the eye, with no remorse whatsoever?” I practically screamed at him, blinking back tears as I took a glance back towards the intimidating archangel, just in time to notice the equally shocked expression plastered all over his features, also faintly hearing a small gasp in the background.

“Daya, I-”

“No,” I harshly silenced the fallen archangel standing so close to me, coldly gazing into his stormy grey eyes as I so venomously spat out,

“Raphael may be evil, but at least he’s true to his own feelings.”

Visible hurt shimmered in my father’s stormy gaze, rendered utterly speechless as I stared back at him, before my gaze shifted to the evil fallen in question, silently taking in his roughly beaten-up appearance as those dark, haunting eyes watched me that whole time with such intensity.

I did this...It’s my fault.

My eyes then darted to the young, half-angel girl still lightly shaking, even though she was safely cradled in her brother’s embrace, feeling a dark pit settling deep within my chest as those tears kept only flowing, making me feel even more determined to end it all, for once.

End the pain, the torment.

Stop the chaos.

With one last sorrow-filled glance, I then turned back towards the First Reaper, with the back of my hand wiping the wetness off my cheeks before taking a bold step closer, and with a firm tone I finally told him,

“I want you to do it.”

“No! Azrael, don’t you dare!”

My bare foot abruptly froze mid-step, feeling my unnatural heart so painfully constricting inside my chest at the sound of my father’s audibly shaking voice, fear and desperation almost tangible in his pleading words.

Too late, father...Too late...

Feeling tiny tears threatening to slip I forcibly swallowed the giant lump almost crushing my throat, taking a deep breath to gather every single ounce of courage left inside of me before turning around to face him, battling with myself to keep a calm, composed expression as the words finally came out,

“I am truly sorry, father, but you are in no position to make any demands. Not anymore.”

I hesitated for just a moment, only to watch those stormy grey eyes become so glassy with unshed tears, the huge lump once again pressing against my windpipe rather forcing me to turn back around as fast as possible, desperate to steer myself away from that image.

“Daya!”

I abruptly took a halt once again, this time turning to look at the half-archangel child, noticing how she had already moved a few steps closer, those red-rimmed doe eyes watching me almost pleadingly as she so softly said,

“You know you don’t have to do this...”

I warmly gazed at her for a few fleeting moments, giving her a small, rather saddened smile before quietly replying,

“Yes I do. I don’t want to hurt you guys any more than I already did...”

My gaze trailed after those words to every single one of them, once again taking in the horrendous scene surrounding me, breaking my heart into million pieces as it kept only reminding me...that I did this.

I did this.

I tore them apart.

I did this.

“I created this chaos...” My thoughts finally flew out my mouth, forcibly swallowing the small sob threatening to escape my lips before taking a deep breath, averting my attention back to my soon-to-be executioner as I rather quietly said,

“Which is why I have to stop it.”

Those haunting midnight eyes held my own as I once again slowly started to advance straight towards him, for once not even feeling a single ounce of fear.

Taking a firm halt right in front of the mighty Archangel of Death I boldly rose my sight to peer at his deceivingly handsome face, taking slow, calm breaths as he intently gazed down upon me, noticing how that muscle ticked in his strong jaw as his deep voice reached my ears,

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Blinking back small tears, I only spared my brother’s visibly shook beast form a single glance before quietly nodding in agreement, not long after that quickly hearing the Archangel’s firm response,

“Okay...I’ll do it.”

“You sick, heartless MONSTER!”

My eyes suddenly went wide at the sound of that feminine voice shouting so angrily, quickly noticing how the Reaper before me now blankly stared somewhere past me, soon enough facing the object of his undivided attention as I turned around.

A small gasp flew out my mouth as I watched Blake relentlessly throw punch after punch, slap after slap between her labored breaths, letting out a loud sob as she so desperately cried out,

“Why?”

“Why won’t you help her?”

The fallen monster before her silently took her every blow, something so intense swirling inside those charcoal eyes as he stared down upon her, all of us now staring completely shocked by her so sudden outburst.

Sob after sob, hit after hit my heart clenched so painfully inside my chest as she loudly wailed, uselessly fighting for something completely unattainable...

My salvation...

“Why won’t you let me give this back to you?” She screamed, shoving the inside of her right wrist straight towards his face, for some reason only now starting to wonder why would she claim to be the keeper of his grace...

“Why?”

“Why?”

My mind still revolved around that specific thought between her loud cries and wails, feeling so lost within the confinement of my own mind with no escape whatsoever until something so unexpected happened.

Like suddenly being possessed by a demonic force his hands wrapped so tightly around her fragile upper arms, with wide eyes watching how he harshly yanked her closer to his chest, a livid look glinting in his dark eyes as he practically roared at her,

“BECAUSE I WON’T LET MYSELF FEEL ANYTHING FOR YOU! EVER AGAIN!”

Holy gods...
I blinked a few times, completely stunned as I watched them stare at each other for a few fleeting moments, their harsh breathing mixing in the eerily silence before he simply disappeared into thin air, leaving her sitting on the cold ground, drowning in her own tears.