I had no clue what had just happened.

All I knew was that my heart felt devastatingly empty and there was a pressure on my chest, preventing me from breathing. I could feel myself losing the grip on the reality of the present day at hand, emotions of anger, regret, and ultimate sadness smearing themselves in my brain. 

They say when you feel something bad will happen, everything flashes before your eyes. That was very true because, in the split second that I had after she pushed me out of the way, all of our moments came running through my mind, right in front of my eyes as if I was watching a movie of some sorts. The moment that we met, the first time we got caught by one of the demon cops, the first time she reprimanded me for doing something so reckless, the time we cried in each other's arms because we missed our parents and we weren't sure how to go on. 

All of those moments really mattered, but they didn't prepare me for this final one.

I didn't know what to do or what to say as I stared at her lifeless body, seeing that stupid smile on her face as if she was content with everything. No. Fuck you, Jade! You don't get to die and be happy! You don't get to leave me behind! You promised, how fucking dare you break a promise!?

But deep down inside, I knew her like the back of my hand. She meant it when she said she would protect me. She was always like that, even when we were 14 going on 15. Despite those nasty ass rules that were put in place, she always managed to make me feel as if she deeply cared about me. Related to me or not, she was the sister I never had, and I knew my parents saw her like so. We shared a bond so beautiful, Avery had to feel left out sometimes. It wasn't that, but when you share so many memories, a home, secrets, tears, it was really hard not to grow on each other.

"Troy, now is not the time to forget where you are!"

I shut my eyes, my cheeks with hot tears as I wept, my hands stained with crimson. "No..." I whispered, unable to think clearly. "Jade, wake up. Stop fucking playing with me, man," I sniffled, shaking her body softly. She always had a knack for joking around like that. Despite her hardass behavior, she was really down to earth and humorous.

"I know it hurts, but you have to keep going!"

Did I really have to though? I mean, I didn't have much to live for. Sure, I had Avery who was waiting for me along with my parents to get back safely. I had Maddox who may or may not have been dead already and this mission was pointless.

But I didn't have Jade.

Jade was the one who made these last four years bearable despite her helicopter parenting. She made me the strongest and I knew that I could take on anything if it meant that she was safe and out of harm's way. That was the key to everything. No, it wasn't the fact that she took her last breath, telling me that she loved me. The worst thing of all was that I would have to go on and remember her last words, miss her so terribly, feeling as if a piece of me was missing. "God damn you!" There was no bite to my voice, I had to admit. She knew I was the worst when it came to moving on about things. I could never, would never move on.

So how did she expect me go on?

"Troy," I could hear Nya speaking to me as she spoke through my ear, an imaginary hand touching my shoulder as if it was soothing me. "I know you're in pain, but do not let her death be in vain." I could feel Jade's body being moved from off my lap and all I could see was her blood. Her blood because she died protecting me. 

"She would not want you sitting here, open and defenseless," She was right, but the irrational part of me took over as I stood up, rage surging through me like alcohol. "How the fuck would you know, Nya?!" I screeched, knowing that she could see me from where she was standing. "You weren't her best friend. You weren't her brother. For fuck's sake, you have no idea what she went through because your dumb ass lord did what he did!" I was lashing out, Nya could sense it and she didn't say anything, making me feel more of an asshole than I already was.

"I just can't stand to see her leaving..." My voice cracked as fire broke out among the crowd of clash. I couldn't see anything as I stumbled forward, eyes racking amidst the blaze. I heard a sigh as the demon walked over to me, her whitish-blue eyes mulled over with sadness and grief. "I know," She stood next to me, holding my shoulder as I bawled my entire heart out, wishing that I could rewind time. 

"Make that anger useful," Nya shook me, trying to bring me to my senses. "We can come back and retrieve Jade, but don't you dare let her death be in vain," She gave me a stern glare and I knew she wasn't the right-hand woman of Maddox Kane for nothing. "You can mourn her after you are off the battlefield but right now, the stakes are high so please, do it for Jade," She said and I took a deep breath, kissing Jade's cold forehead goodbye before wiping my helmet and my face. 

She was right. Jade would kick my ass seven ways to hell if she knew I was standing here while everyone else was fighting for a cause. 

No matter how much I couldn't take it, I had to keep on going.

Nya moved Jade's body under the tree so that it could remain hidden and I promised that I would come back for her. I had to. I reached down and picked up the knife that I had dug into the ground, cracking my neck. "These angels are going to wish they hadn't fucked with us," I growled venomously, marching forward to snatch the neck of an angel with said knife, kicking him in the knee. He let out a cry as he slammed into the white grass and I ran forward, ducking as another swung towards me. 

I pressed a button on my helmet, a laser beam shooting through his stomach and I moved it up, burning a line upward as the sizzle of skin burning filled the air. 

Almost all of the angels were dead and we were moving in closer to the white pillars of the castle. "I'm in, Taen," A soft voice spoke through my earpiece and I knew that it was Xani. "Good. Lay low. We're almost to the entrance," Hannah and Natanya slashed their way through the pack of rabid angels that were charging towards our troop, making our jobs less hard.

Nya and I were standing side by side as Hannah burned through the silver gate of the entrance, allowing us to walk along the path. We were so close, silver blood staining the ground as we stepped over the bodies of dead angels. The sight would have repulsed me, but then I remembered my own best friend died in my arms because of these angels and I stepped even harder on their skulls.

The excitement, the adrenaline, the anticipation coursed through my veins like I just shot up some good heroin as we neared the actual palace doors. "Guys, I have a feeling that they're waiting to ambush us," I warned among the earpiece to the other demon troops. "That's fine, we're behind you as well as the rest of the other troops," I heard Pazul speak and I turned around to see the whole squad with their game faces on.

"Kylar and Josef, are you in?" I questioned softly, enticing a grunt in response. "Yes. Ready when  you are," They said as I took a step onto the stairs, barrier intact and face hidden. There was no need for the demons to remain hidden anymore as they knew we were here. The question became: how many of the angels were beyond this door?

Well, only one way to find out.

 Jexan came to stand next to me as I kicked open both doors of steel (it felt like steel), the doors smacking against the walls with a thud. "So where is the motherfucker responsible?" I growled, my voice echoing loudly as sheer and blinding white greeted me. The sight of angels aiming their hands at us as they stood guard among the massively large foyer of the castle, a chandelier hanging over us. "My, was the entrance really necessary?"

I turned my helmet-covered face to the rich, exotic and unusually dark voice to the top of the stairs, where the diamond-encrusted throne sat. There stood an extremely tall man, rival with Maddox's height, with white and silver hair, a white beard, tan skin that looked utterly pale at the moment with white eyes and a sneer upon those crusty dusty lips.

Tion Vandenrei was one ugly motherfucker.

I could tell this was him from the jump as we stormed inside of the castle, seeing the man of the hour behind dozens of angels for his protection. We were all on guard, holding our breath as we stared holes into Tion, watching as he stood with no immediate fear written on him. He seemed cocky as if he had already had a checkmate in sight. He didn't seem to be deterred and I realized as I watched him, why.

To the right of him was a very long and wide test tube with a green liquid flowing around in it as it was connected to the wall behind him. Tion turned with a mocking smirk, pointing to the person inside of the tube and my heart fell through the ground. "Is this who you came here for, hm?" He raised a brow. "He's just as good as dead," I clenched my hands, seeing that Maddox was fully unconscious, shirtless with weird tribal shark teeth pattern tattoos decorating the left side of his torso. He didn't appear to be breathing and he looked as if he had gotten bigger, in weight and in height. His hair was a lot longer than it was and I wasn't sure if that was normal.

"It's admirable that you came all this way, killing my people for such a pathetic fallen angel," Tion sneered, contempt drew on his tongue and I fought the urge to step forward, Nya keeping a firm grip on my arm. King or not, he had no fucking right talking about him like that. He was just a piece of shit who had an odd fascination with my demon lord.

"Remember, you cannot let your cover be blown," Jexan communicated with me via ear and I sighed, knowing of our plan that he was to pretend to be me if the situation came up. "But even if you retrieve him, he can only be revived by the essence of the one he loves and as far as I'm concerned," Tion came to walk down the steps slowly, his ego bigger than his beard. 

"No one loves him."

I took several deep breaths, reminding myself of the mission. This fucker didn't know what he was talking about and when I got the chance, I was going to torture him for as much as I could. How would he know who didn't love Maddox? It seemed to me as if he was the one who wanted to be loved, not that anyone would. Mission or not, I would be damned if I let someone talk crap about my baby.

"Xani, when you can, I want you to push over that tube as hard as you can," If my gut was telling me right, the tube was made of glass and the liquid inside was keeping Maddox from being alive. If I was going to do this, I was going to do this right.

"Sorry, sir," I bit mockingly, taking a step forward. "But that man in that tube belongs to me," I pointed to the tube and Tion narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out who I was. "And it would be so nice if you would hand him over, killing yourself in the process," I sweetly muttered, ignoring the distressed calls of Nya and Jexan. Sometimes, I do things according to plan. Other times, I do what I want.

That was just the Troy Morelli™ charm. 

It seemed that Tion didn't like someone giving him their ass to kiss because, within a millisecond, the angels were screeching, attacking like rapid dogs. Bingo. The demons charged forward, using their combat style to twist and rip the heads of the demons off. I killed a few on my way towards Tion, seeing a look of fear in his eyes.

Hm, maybe he thought they would've used their regular style of fighting. Nah, not with me with them. 

Tion began screaming some ancient and unknown language to the angels, probably realizing that they were indeed losing. I had to keep him distracted as Xani, Remi and Kylar were cloaked off, standing behind the test tube. Tion couldn't see them, but I had to make sure all he saw was me or even Jexan and Nya. "You sweet son of a bitch," I growled lowly, feeling such wrath forming in the pit of my stomach as I slowly stalked towards him. 

"We got this," Jexan and Nya stood in front of me. "He doesn't know about you, Troy. Don't reveal it now," I heard a hiss and I nodded, crouching low to run around the midst of fighting. Nya and Tion began to engage in a battle, no angel there to cover him. It had become the demon's turf now and he didn't seem to be fazed, probably because he had the trump card we needed.

Then all of a sudden, a loud crash filled the air. 

I heard the sound of glass clinking as the green liquid splashed everyone, a large body tumbling to the stairs. This was my chance. This was now. Now or never.

"You two, subdue him," I motioned to Nya and Jexan and I began running over to where Maddox's body laid. I had no clue what I was gonna do, but I was gonna do it. Now. "NO!" I heard Tion screech madly and the sound of clinking filled the air, a pair of mercury handcuffs, courtesy of Hannah, around his wrist. Like the pathetic king he was, having his civilians die for him, he stumbled to his knees.

"A weakness of my father's is that he becomes defenseless when in the presence of mercury."

Thank you, Hannah. I paid no mind to the dripping liquid as I crouched down, panicking over what to do. "He said something about essence of the one he loves and reviving and all that shit," I breathed heavily, unable to cope with seeing him lifeless. First Jade and now him. I couldn't deal. "He means your blood, Taen," Kylar murmured before going to kill some angels. The paradise of Eden was pathetic.

"Oh," I had Xani watch my back as I took a piece of broken glass from the tube and scraped my finger, watching the blood drip through Maddox's parted lips. "If you don't wake your ass up," I whispered, my hand shaking at the slow loss of adrenaline. His body was cold to the touch and I had to shut my eyes as I clutched his cheek, willing myself not to cry.

I could feel the mark on my neck burning and all of a sudden, a loud cough pierced the air as the demon lord of all demons, fallen angel, the Maddox Kane opened those eyes, licking his lips. He looked around bewilderedly, probably surprised because he hadn't expected to wake up. He furrowed those brows, eyeballs darting around until they landed on me, widening farther than an asshole.

"Y-you're here," He stared at me, those white eyes turning back to the beautiful gold that they always were as he clutched my hand that was on his face, a relieved and grateful smile breaching his face. There were no words that could fully captivate the feeling of how happy, how rejuvenated I felt seeing him after all this time.

"Maddox, you fucking punk," I smacked the shit out of him, finding satisfaction in seeing that cheek turn red as he stared at me as if I was on some serious drugs. "I'd chew your ass out right now, but you just wait until we get home. You're gonna wish you hadn't fucked with me," I growled and I could see him gulp as he stared at me sheepishly. "Now get your ass up," I watched as his body began to glow with a blue light, emitting from his frame. "We got a war to win," I helped him as we turned to stare at Tion, a gameplan already in mind.

I could feel the heat from my lover's body as he held a hand on my waist, already assessing the situation for a counterattack. The advantage was in our hands for the taking and all we had to was kill this son of a bitch.

But I knew it then.

Even if Maddox was alive, I still felt hopelessly empty.