Axel's pov

"Axel." I hear Emily call my name right before her legs give out.

"Shit." I mutter under my breath and quickly catch her before she splits her head open, and carry her bridal style into the cave.

Thankfully we were at the end of the path so the rocky earth transformed into luscious green grass.

I glance down at the angel between my arms. My heart aches as I see she's supporting a frown on her face even in her unconscious state.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am the cause of her sadness.

I gently lay her down on the soft grass next to the waterfall, and sit next to her.

I check her pulse to make sure she's breathing and let out a sigh of relief when she is.

I know that I'm supposed to raise a person's leg above heart level so I do just that.

A few seconds after I do that Emily's eyes shoot open, she sits upright and takes a deep breath.

"Woah slow dowm Emily, you could get dizzy again." I say and place my hand on her back.

"What happened? How long was I out?" She asks as she messages her temples.

"3 days." I say nonchalantly.

"Wait what?!" She snaps her head to the left and looks at me in horror.

"Ouch! I shouldn't have done that." She whisperes and touches her neck.

"Relax, I'm kidding. You were only out for two minutes." I chuckle, finding her horror filled eyes cute.

"Don't do that!" She smacks my chest lightly and giggles with me.

I gazed at her calm and cheerful state, oh what I would give to be able to hear her laughter anytime my heart desired.

To see her forehead faintly crease, and her nose scrunch up. She has such a beautiful laugh.

It was a laughter that I could feel in my lungs, so hard that it took my breath away.

The lack of oxygen didn't matter. All the anguish of the past few days melted like snowballs in a microwave.

This laughter created a small vacation, a blessed relief from all the distress that shoved its way into my brain. The tightness in my chest faded away, and the muscles in my neck relaxed.

She caught me staring at her. Affection and mirth danced in her hazel eyes making them sparkle under the radiant moonlight.

She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks away. It is then that I notice a blush tinting her cheeks.

"You were going to tell me something?" She coughs lightly and asks, easing the tension between us.

"Uh... yeah." I scratch my head and look up at the starlit sky.

A few seconds later I take a deep breath and look at her.

This is an alien feeling for me. I've never had the urge or felt the need to apologize to anyone before.

Before her...

I hesitate, but then take her small hands into mine, circling my thumb over the top of her hands and looking deeply into her eyes, wanting her to see how sorry I truly feel.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Emily. I wasn't planning on telling Catherine about our kiss, but fuck, she made me." I look down, embarrassed.

"I want you to know that the kiss we shared was the best one I've ever had, the taste of your sweet intoxicating lips still linger on mine. All I want to do is reach out and taste them again, only then will I be able to satisfy my growing addiction." I whisper, the words coming out of my mouth shock me, but nonetheless I continue.

"I came back to America to find my mother. The only relative I had here is my grandfather." I pause.

"When I asked her about my mother, her eyes glazed over with tears, and I knew I wasn't going to like her answer."  I sigh and start picking the grass, wanting to do anything but look at Emily's now saddened eyes.

"Sh- she told me that my mother was involved in a drunk driving accident." I scoff and chuckle darkly.

"Her ass of a boyfriend was behind the wheel, drunk. She didn't make it... neither of them did."

"Grams told me she died when she was 30 years old, so young..." I breathe out, tears blurring my vision.

"I asked her where she was buried, so I could go visit her, but Grams didn't know... She's starting to suffer from memory loss, I'm surprised she even remembers me." I trail off.

I feel Emily place her soft hand on my cheek, and tilt my face towards her.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me this, it's okay." She shakes her head, with tears running down her cheeks.

"No, I have to. I owe it to you." I say and wipe her tears with my thumbs.

"So I set out to find out where my mother was buried. I searched high and low, every graveyard and cemetery you can think of, but to no avail." A tear escapes my eye, rolling slowly down my cheek, as if taunting me.

"Just when I was about to give up, fed up with having to deal with the constant failure at my every attempt, I was paired up with Catherine Jones for a math project." I say.

I notice Emily's breath hitched in her throat as I finish my sentence, but I decide to ignore it, wanting to efficiently convey my jumbled up thoughts without disruption.

"Everything was normal, she was just as bitchy as I anticipate her to be, but our conversation about math and numbers diverged and she brought up my mother, and told me she knew her." My hands ball into fists at my side.

Yet the softness of Emily's palm and the slow rythm of her hand circling my back calmed me down.

"I didn't believe her at first. How would she know my mother? But she started telling me details and names of family members only those close to us would know." I sigh.

"Turns out my mother's boyfriend was her uncle, and that she grew up around my mother. How could someone who was around such a selfless woman grow up to become so entitled and cruel?" I spit out.

"Sometimes it's just in your character, it's a part of you, and no matter what you do you can't tame it." Emily spoke up softly for the first time after a while of silently encouraging me to continue with her eyes.

"I guess so." I say, my brows furrowed and my lips twitching, wanting to burst out a string of profanity.

"She told me she knew where my mother was buried, and that my uncle and her were buried together." Another tear escapes my eye.

Emily slowly wipes off my cheek and gives me a small smile.

"She told me she would tell me where my mother was buried. But on one condition." I whisper my voice cracking at the end.