Hey there might not be any art for a few chapters, I'm like right in the middle of moving houses.

When everything stops being crazy I'll get back on my grind😘

Aria's POV

I woke up to an unfamiliar, but very welcome feeling.

Burying my nose further into the soft fluff, I breathed in deeply. Angel always smells like vanilla roses...

He squeezed me slightly, and then grumbled something that I couldn't quite understand.

It was then I realized that we fell sleep in Alastor's bed last night. Shit. Shit, he's gonna be so pissed off.

I sat up slightly, "Angel...wake up, we gotta get you outta here before Al sees that you slept in his bed..." I whispered to him, and he groaned and covered his eyes with one arm.

With another arm he lazily pointed behind me.

"Smls s' ova de'r..." he mumbled tiredly, making me turn around quickly.

Confusion was the first emotion that passed through my brain. He was passed out in his rocking chair, his head rested on his fist.

There was an open book laying in his lap, about halfway read.

My initial confusion melted away and I pushed my hair back before smiling softly.

"Oh, you big softie..." I murmured, sliding my legs out from under the covers. I was currently wearing one of his black T shirts, it came down to cover just around my mid thigh.

It was more of a dress on me.

I walked over to him, and gently I replaced his fist with my hand, holding his head up as I grabbed the book with my other hand.

Keeping his page, I closed the book and put it on the small table next to the chair. Using my now free hand, I placed it against his cheek and gently rubbed my thumbs over his face.

"Baby, wake up..." I hummed softly, and he pulled in a quick air intake, his eyes squeezing tightly for a second.

Then his eyes opened barely, taking just a second to focus on me before they opened wider.

He picked his head up out of my palm, and looked around, squinting slightly.

His eyes settled on the door leading to the balcony, observing for a moment. The light color of the sky must've told him what he needed to know.

"Good morning, my love," he said, then stretched, wincing.

"Remind me next time to just kick the spider out of my bed..." he grumbled and I giggled. My fingers ran through his hair, gently detangling.

"Will do...it was very nice of you to let him sleep in here, by the way," I said and he blushed, hiding it with a small cough and swiftly turning his head to the side.

"Nonsense...I...you were asleep, is all, I didn't want to disturb you," he said and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure thing," I kissed his cheek, "tough guy", I added and his teeth grit slightly.

Glancing over my shoulder I saw Angel who had fallen back to sleep. I went to go back over to the bed, but there was the feeling of something grabbing my wrist before I could get two feet.

I turned and saw Alastor looking up at me with an expression on his face that was just a little bit uneasy.

"Let him sleep, dear...uh...can I speak with you? Alone..." he said quietly, and I furrowed my eyebrows, giving him a small smile.

He doesn't normally act like this...so whatever he's going to talk with me about is probably serious.

"Yea...yea, of course," I answered as he stood from his chair. He placed his hand in the middle of my back and gently lead me towards the balcony, opening the door and letting me out.

After following, he shut the door quietly.

I turned around to face him, "so, what did you—" my words cut off, the smile on my face slowly disappearing when I saw that he wasn't smiling...

His hands stayed behind his back, and he looked up into my eyes. His lips parted like he was going to talk before he closed them again and shut his eyes, sighing.

Walking over to me, he took my hands in his and lowered to his knees so that I was looking down at him.

"My only desire in this world...is to keep you safe, my love..." he started, looking up at me, "I can't do that here...but there's a place we can go that he won't be able to get to you..." he said softly, rubbing his thumbs over my knuckles.

"But we're going to have to leave..."

The look he was giving me was telling me we weren't just moving down the street.

"W-where...?" I asked, and he kept rubbing his thumbs over my knuckles and the tops of my hands.

"Deep into the southern edge of the pentagram..." he said, his tone gentle, "Charlie has a home there that can keep you safe...just until I can figure this out, sweetheart..."

An ache formed in my chest, and I glanced towards the room.

Leave...all my friends? But if it would keep them safe...

"How far away is that?" I asked him, "when would we be back?"

He shook his head, "it's about a 5 hour drive...deep in the forest, away from the city. As for when we would be returning I..." he hesitated and sighed, "I don't know...I need to find him...but my top priority is keeping you safe..."

He looked up at me and squeezed my hands, "do you understand?"

I stared down at him for a moment and then looked away and nodded.

"I do...I understand..." I sighed and then shut my eyes and nodded again, "if you think that's best, then I trust you."

The breath he let out was completely relieved and when I opened my eyes he was once again smiling.

This caused a smile to rise to my lips, despite the heavy feeling in my chest at this new development.

"I'll figure this out as soon as I can..." he said, standing back up before pulling me into a hug, "I promise...hopefully it won't even feel like any time at all..."

He pulled away and bent down slightly to be more eye level with me, brushing his thumbs over my cheeks, "our friends will be right here waiting for us...they love you, and they'll understand why we have to go," he said softly and I nodded, holding up my weak smile.

"Yea..." I whispered and then he kissed me softly, and brushed my ears back.

After looking over my face for a moment longer, he touched my cheek lovingly and caressed it before he kissed my forehead and then stepped back.

"I need to go make a few preparations...get everything sorted...you can do whatever you need to do. We're going to be leaving as soon as possible," he said, and then went to leave.

I stayed on the balcony, and he paused.

He grabbed my hand and tugged slightly, "come on inside, dear..." he said gently and I looked over at him, but shook my head.

"I'm going to stay here for a minute..." I said quietly, and he held onto my fingers for a moment longer before letting them slip away from his grip.

He nodded, his smile relaxing slightly.

"Ok..."

The reluctant answer showed his worry, but I was grateful that he still trusts me enough to let me have my moment of silence.

After he had slipped back inside, keeping the door cracked just slightly behind him, I sighed and let my smile fall.

I brought my hands up over my arms, giving myself a loose hug before I turned and looked out over the city.

This view wasn't nearly as magnificent as the one from the roof of a building. For a moment...I felt at peace up on that building.

Standing in the eye of the storm, looking up at the blue sky above before I was covered with a raging storm.

But still it was a view nonetheless...

One that I was going to miss.

Something dripped down my cheek and I blinked in surprise, but that only caused more liquid to fall.

I brought my hand up to my face, feeling the wetness on my cheeks gathering at my fingers as more tears dripped from my lashes.

My lip trembled as I tried to hold in the emotions.

Weakness is what got me into this mess.

But it seems being weak is all I'm good for recently.

I put my fist into my mouth and stifled the little sobs, shutting my eyes tightly to try and dry out the tears.

I shook my head whimpering softly, but gasped when I felt arms slip around my waist and squeeze me.

Then two more.

Then a pair wrapped around my leg followed by wings wrapping around all of us.

I blinked and looked around me, seeing Charlie and Angel at my sides. Niffty was on my leg, and Husk had us all wrapped up.

One more pair of arms wrapped around me loosely and I was surprised to see Vaggie.

There was only one person missing.

I kept my arms wrapped up around Charlie and Angel's, turning to face the balcony door.

There he stood, leaning against the doorframe with a gentle...very human...smile on his face.

"Peu d'amour...don't tell me you thought I was just going to leave you here alone...to cry by yourself..." he said, and more tears filled my eyes as all my friends hugged me goodbye.

"We all love you, honey..." Charlie said softly, and that was followed by soft echoes of something similar.

"You're not the worst, kid..." husk grumbled and I sniffled and chuckled.

"Thanks..." I said, looking around at all of them.

Once again I met Alastor's eyes as he watched from the doorway, and I smiled.

As long as I stay with him, I'll be safe...

And as long as I stay away...

They'll all be safe.