Maya picked Ethan up on her back and walked towards his apartment. "You aren't heavy at all for a man, prez! Tell me your secret diet!" She stood in front of the apartment's door. "Is this it? 6556?" She asked as she looked at the door. He nodded. "What's the password?"
"The same number," He said. He seemed completely wasted.

"Dumb" She opened the door and walked inside "Wow!" She said as she looked at the mess "My house is the same after any breakup or after some makeup disaster!" She moved towards the bedroom and lay him on the bed.

She removed his wet shirt and threw it aside. He slept instantly. "It's so hot and suffocating here!" She opened the balcony door. "Much better" She removed her wet one piece and wore one of Ethan's shirt from his wardrobe. She looked at the lower section of the cupboard and found a woman's clothes.
"Prez! You're living with a girl!?" She exclaimed "And still your house is so dirty! You both must be lazy or she must be a diva." She buttoned her shirt and slept next to him.

"I'm sleeping beside a hot man after such a long time." She covered her smirk and got into the blanket. Lucus stood on the Tokyo Tower and looked at Vivian's Antabulam and then into his watch. "The time's coming near." The rain fell on his cheeks as he looked at the Antabulam.

"I messed up again," He said and Fate walked towards him "I don't want to kill more people. Can't we just stop everything?" He asked and Fate patted his shoulder.
"People die and leave behind memories which kill living people. Why can't mortals love only one person? Things would be so less complicated that way" He said. She gently took the Antabulam from him.

"Fate--"
"Death can't intervene, but Fate can." Her cheeks were wet too. Lucus smiled and looked at her "Will you?"
"I'm tired of seeing you this way. It hurts me when you're hurt"
"Are you crying?" He asked. The clouds rumbled and lightning covered the sky. She gave him a strong hit on his head with the book "Death is weeping over the death. What's there not to cry about?"

He hugged her tightly "We are all angels, yet we are so differen.t"

"You can't kill and I won't hesitate to," Fate said and moved away "Know it-- I'm a bitch so the ending won't be happy for everyone but the procedure would be painful for all" She flew up and he smiled at her.

"Quit crying!" He shouted at her "It's the rain"
"Yeah right. The rain doesn't taste salty" He licked his lips. She pressed her hands on her cheeks and blushed. "Those who make you cry, need to face me! I'll fix this mess you've created now." She flew up with full speed.

"I know you'll make it right, Fate. You always do--Every time I mess up. That's how strong you are." He stared at the sky "It surely is coming down a lot" Fate flew towards Ethan and Vivian's apartment. Vivian walked towards the terrace and stood in the rain with a knife in her hands.

"Lost the ability to die..." She said to herself "Lost my humanity, lost my career, my voice, lost the one I loved and lost myself in the strive of finding a better me." She slit the knife on her wrist. It felt as if it was burning as the rain fell on the wound.

The wound healed rapidly, leaving behind a scar. She slit it again "Remember Ethan, you asked me if I was happy. I said I was but you know what-- I lied" She slit her wrist again "I'm not happy. Because I lost. Where did I go wrong? I was so sure I could handle everything and here I am-- cutting myself!" She made another slit on her wrist and another and another and another.

"It isn't even hurting anymore!" She threw away the knife and looked at her healed wrist. Her life has turned so fabricated-- She was living for others while the people who really cared were dying. Her breath got heavier and difficult to inhale and exhale. She started wheezing and held her neck.

She felt an uneasiness within her body. Like something was trapped inside and was pushing her. The gravity around her seemed to inculcate this terror inside her. She didn't know the source but all her mind to tell her was just to keep breathing because if she'd stop-- Even for a second-- She is going to die.

It was a panic attack-- A very minor one. She fell on the floor and scraped her nails on it as the rain fell over her.

"Please Ethan help me. Come take me away from all this pain I just can't breathe. I feel like I've the right to tell you love you. Fate, why are you making me suffer so much?"

"Don't say that," Fate stood behind her. Vivian turned back and looked at her. She got up slowly "You wanted to die-- You wished for it and you died. Then you wished to become an angel-- and you did. You wished to be free-- You did become free. You wished for this career-- And you're flourishing.

So why are you still crying?"

"Because I'm not happy!" Vivian shouted.
"You didn't wish for happiness. You only get what you ask to us angels." Vivian calmed down and looked at Fate.

She opened Vivian's Antabulam "Did you even bother with your duties?" She asked. Vivian looked down "In the end, you couldn't be a good wife, a good angel, or a good person. Vivian Hiomi, no I ask you. What do you have? And

Are you happy with it?"

"I can't unlove him. I tried to move away but I just couldn't. It hurts when he's not around"
"I told you-- Angels are stubborn creatures. Once we love someone, we love them thick and through and if we hate them, we hate them thick and through. Now you get what I mean?"

She looked down at her feet and thought for a while. She realised something and looked up "How much life did he lose?" Vivian asked. Fate smirked "Finally, I was waiting for it" She threw Vivian's Antabulam at her and Vivian caught it "See for yourself"

Vivian slowly opened the book. Surprisingly, the book wasn't wet in the rain. The pages were dry. She looked inside in while flipping the pages. There were so many names in it but not Ethan's" She took a sigh of relief. "But...Why didn't I hear the bells of the book?" She asked "Death took it with him. He has been doing his duties and yours together. Just so that you could make your second life worth it."

Fate leaned towards her and flipped the last page of writings "Was it worth it?" She smirked. Vivian looked at it with surprise. Her eyes were about to pop out.

In cursive, old calligraphy, it read

××××××××××××××××××××××××××
《E T H A N E V A G A N Z A 》:《29》
《T O K Y O: J A P A N》
《C A U S E O F D E A T H 》
○ WINTER ANGEL OF DEATH ○
××××××××××××××××××××××××××

"If you could give your life to someone else, would it be worth living?" Fate asked.
"NO!" Vivian shouted and tore away the page. "NO! NO! NO!" She shouted as she tore it into smaller pieces. Her heart began hurting as if it was being stabbed. She cried harder because of the physical and emotional pain she was going through.

"You didn't take death seriously, so don't expect more" Fate said as Ethan's name appeared on the following page she had torn "It's a divine cause, you can't just tear it away. It's inevitable"

"No! Ethan can't die. He can't! I can't live if he's no more!" Vivian cried.
"But you are living," Fate looked at Vivian.
"This isn't life. I need you to save him. Kill me instead, save him."

"That's not how it works."
"If he dies, then I will too,"
"You can't die. Angels don't have that gift with them. That's a mortal thing."
"What can I do now?" Vivian asked.

"You can't die in someone else's stead. And don't cry over someone who'll be dead because of your careless and selfish behaviour! He's a victim you've created."
"Why didn't Lucus tell me?"
"He has been kind towards you," Fate looked away.
"Why?! I never asked for his kindness either! Then why did he show me kindness--"

"There's a reason behind that."
"What is it?!"
"You are different. You are special"
"How am I different from all the other angels?" Vivian asked as she grabbed Fate's shirt.

"Angels are born by death. You were an angel born by birth."

"...I don't get it"

"You have inherited his blood," Fate looked into her eyes and grabbed her hands away from her shirt "Your hair. That's the colour of the family of death. You are one of them"

- To be continued

Fate
My Heart Hates Me