T W E N T Y - N I N E
North Garden's Dawn

WE TOOK MUCH longer than I had first anticipated. The first few steps of climbing up these steep steps weren't too challenging. After all, I was not anywhere near severely unfit and I had taken up a good few sports back when my life was normal. However, once we had made it up a good number of steps, things started to change.

Since this wasn't a typical building's fire escape stairway, there weren't any signs at each level to checkpoint how much of a distance we had actually already conquered. The staircases seemed never-ending, only leading upward continuously as if time was not a factor.

"You might feel a little queasy since the time zones of Heaven and Paradise are drastically different," Dimitri had warned a few hours ago. His warning had been tucked away at the back of my mind but it recently surfaced again when I felt a lurch in my stomach and a pounding sensation in my head.

My hand pressed itself onto the stone wall for support, upper body lurching forward as I halted in my steps. All three of my other companions were walking in front of me, their steps haggard and obviously filled with tire but nowhere near stopping just yet.

"Addison?" Minnie asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern as she ran back down the steps to reach me. Pressing a hand to my shoulder as a sign of support, she leaned slightly down. "Are you alright?"

"How long have we been climbing?" I asked, legs wobbling and chest heaving with my pants. "Not that I want to whine but it feels like forever."

"Heaven is at the top of the stairs, Addison. You can't expect to reach the top of the mountain with just a few measly steps," came Fabian's unmistakable sarcastic reply.

As much as I wanted to look up and glare at him, I could barely even raise my head up properly. I could feel the contents of my stomach - most likely the disgusting potion I drank earlier - churning uncomfortably.

There was a long pause, none of us muttering a single word as silence filled the air that surrounded us. Minnie's hand continuously ran up and down my back, her way of attempting to soothe me and to some extent it did. For one thing, I did not feel as though I wanted to vomit the contents - or lack thereof - of my stomach out for everyone to see anymore. My throat still felt dry and my limbs were aching with weariness and exhaustion but these were all but a few factors that I had to grit my teeth down had and deal with.

There were more pressing matters at hand and I would not be put to a stop by such skin-deep problems.

Dimitri was the first to break the silence, his deep husky voice piercing through the air and echoing down the stairway. "We should be there soon enough." For a second, the light that came from the burning torch disappeared and we were plunged into darkness. As an instinct, I looked up in surprise only to see a soft faint golden glow coming from up above. "I can see the light of day from here. Maybe about a few more flights of steps."

The light of the fire did not return after that. Dimitri placed the burnt piece of wood down onto the ground, careful not to let it topple down the steps and create an echo of the noise. He maneuvered past Fabian with ease, jogging down the steps before reaching me. Almost automatically, Minnie backed away and allowed Dimitri to stand beside me, who placed an arm under my knee and the other around my ribs. In one swift movement, I was carried up in the air in the bridal style, my legs swinging around as I stretched my arms to loop around Dimitri's neck for dear life.

Wordlessly, Dimitri started to make his way back up again, only this time with me in his arms.

"Won't you get tired? There's still quite a bit of distance." I bit down on my bottom lip, examining the stretch of stairs that we still had to conquer before reaching the top. The slick stone tiles that made up the stairway had a varying height, making it very obvious that it was built long before modern civilization. "These steps aren't that easy to conquer, much less with someone in your arms."

Dimitri's steely gray eyes immediately flitted over to mine, gazing at me with an unexplainable softness. He seemed to be almost breaking out into a grin and yet managed to hold back, his lips crooked instead. "I am willing to walk across different realms for the rest of eternity if I can have you in my arms. This is nothing."

My lips parted slightly, sucking in a quick breath through my teeth due to my surprise. "How charming you are," I smiled. "You will be breaking thousands of hearts with that sentence, you know?"

"All I care is yours. I don't want those other hearts. They will find someone else that would be able to mend them one day but only you hold the power to mend mine."

As cheesy as the sentence was, I couldn't help myself but break out into a full-blown grin. My lips stretched upward, a laugh eliciting from my throat as I lightly traced a hand over the small faint scar just underneath Dimitri's left eye. His breath hitched when my finger made contact with his skin, the scar, which was a shade lighter than his actual skin tone, seemingly more prominent now that I was in such close proximity with him.

"I remember the first time I noticed this," I commented absentmindedly, tracing the jagged line again and again. "It was at the carnival and you were a dick back then. I was so scared for my life and isn't it funny how that is exactly the way I am now? It seems as though after all this time I've only ever gotten back to square one. Fighting time to save my own life as I know it, defeating a greater evil that liked games a little too much, and Lucius betraying me again and again. I am so tired of this cycle."

Dimitri's tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip, almost an action in which he wasn't aware he was doing. "Things happen because there are lessons to be learned. We just have to figure out what before the consequences catch up to us."

"I hope we won't be too late." I nodded in agreement, hand returning to rest on Dimitri's hard chest.

"Guys!" Minnie's excited voice broke me out of my little reverie, causing me to turn over to face her and Fabian, whom which are both a few steps ahead of us. "We finally made it!"

When we finally made it near the top, I got Dimitri to put me back down on the ground. With slightly wobbling steps and a heart filled with renewed vigor, I hurried up the last few steps to catch up with Minnie. We were behind an alcove of trees, lush greenery surrounding us as I caught a whiff of the delighting scent of assorted flowers. The exit of the stairway was hidden behind tall trees and shrubs that hid the forgotten staircase and I pushed through the flora only to emerge in a beautiful garden with a view that overlooked the edge of Heaven.

"Wow," I gasped, taking a quick glance at the surroundings to see if there were any angels in sight. Thankfully, this garden seemed to be rather deserted. "This view is breathtaking."

I had meant each and every word I said. For one thing, the garden was filled with an assortment of flowers but the most prominent type happened to be Dimitri's favorite-chrysanthemums. They came in all sorts of beautiful colors and the garden seemed to be a rainbow in its own right. A little down south from where we stood, I could see the thundering waterfall known as Heaven's Falls. It wasn't too far away but it most certainly justified the distance that we had conquered to reach the very top.

The sun was just rising. A new dawn was approaching us, drenching the skies in a bright shade of pinks. The darkness of the night from before melted away, allowing a way for the entrance of the much brighter colors of the spectrum. Like an orchestra, the different warm hues of orange, bright golden yellow, and dazzling fuchsia pink created the palette for the dawn, the glimmering sunlight glazing the grounds of Heaven as I allowed myself to relish in the beautiful start to a new day.

Sadly, I was once again reminded that although the new day was a new hope for people all across the world in different realms, it could also be the last sunrise I'll ever see as Addison Pilediah.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I could feel Dimitri's presence behind me even before he spoke. He rested a hand on the curve of my waist, drawing me closer to him. "I missed this."

"It is called 'Heaven' for a reason." I nodded, eyes unable to tear away from the astonishing view.

"The North Garden had always been the one with the best view. It overlooked the edge of Heaven and allowed us to see beyond our restrictions of the borders. I think that was why we never really had the same mindset as the other angels."

I turned around, shocked. "The North Garden was your home before you fell? This very place?"

"Yes and not exactly." Dimitri smiled fondly but I could see the hidden bits of melancholy within that grin. "We stayed in huts when we needed to rest but this was where we worked and spent most of our time."

"We had our fun." All of a sudden, Fabian stepped in, his eyes cold and hard as he stared blankly into the distance. "Those times seem so long ago that I am starting to wonder if they even really happened or is it just my imagination playing tricks on me. Then I remember that even monsters can emerge from angels."

The three of us were plunged into silence. The two men that accompanied me were not speaking most likely due to their trip down memory lane. I, on the other hand, could not bring myself to speak up. I could never understand their pain and longing. After all, their people betrayed them and created them as I know them now-monsters, in their own words.

"We have a better place now." Once again, Dimitri was the first to speak. His smile that he wore was strained and forced but it delivered what it should. "And now we have to fight to keep that place as we know it. Heaven is a part of our past and Hell our future. We shouldn't give up what we have just to chase dreams that originate from our memories. Remaining in the past will only stop us from progressing. After all, Heaven isn't as we know it anymore. It is corrupted."

Fabian turned at his heel, eyes tearing away from the now dazzling sun that was hung up in the sky. He looked at Dimitri dead in the eye, blinking just once with his hands tucked into his pockets. "I know," was all he said before he started to walk away to where Minnie stood, not looking back.

"Come on." I patted Dimitri's arm, already beginning to walk to where the other two were. "We need to get to Lucifer and I swear I will be the one to dig a knife right through his flesh to get the blood we need."

With that, I jogged over to where Fabian and Minnie were. The both of them had already started their way through the thick growth and were maneuvering towards where Lucifer most likely resided. When I reached them, I clutched tightly onto Minnie's hand with her turning back to offer me an encouraging smile. Somehow, I couldn't find the will to smile back.

My heart was pounding painfully in my ribcage and I knew that the end to whatever power struggle we had was near. Today, one will die and it would either be the fallen angel of light or it would be me

[A/N]:

[Lucius] readers might recognize the North Garden as the place that Lucius first met the brothers.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Until next time.

xx aurora