Chapter Text
The next moment the whole world went upside down. Where there had been ground, was now sky and the other way round. It took less than a second before Ai realized he was falling. The reality really slapped him in the face; when he snapped out of it, it was already too late.
The little angel let out a terrified cry. The sudden weightless state of his body made his blood run cold and his head scatter. He was falling from terribly high; the height only was enough to turn his stomach, yet alone the speed. There was no time to think, no time to inhale, and Ai could feel panic invading his lungs and cells a bit more every second.
Thin air divided when he plummeted through the scene. The tremendous speed messed up his head so eventually he wasn’t sure where he was heading, as everything winded around him so blurred. The landscape escaped him, and made it hard to locate –he couldn’t tell what was waiting down there.
Fortunately and in spite of his confusion, the solution occurred him. His wings! Ai felt like an infant, too young of a baby bird on its first flight. Why he hadn’t understood earlier: by opening his wings, he would maybe soften the landing, if not prevent it altogether.
The angel tried to slowly slide his wings open against his sides, avoiding sudden movements. His fate was now completely up to him. Unfortunately, the wind grabbed his wings –and sent him spinning, tangling the feathers tightly to each other. As a lump of white fluff and terror, the angel spun through the air, perfectly out of control. And the thought struck him hard that now, the situation was beyond remedy: in all truth he would crash soon.
Wrapping his arms tightly around his body, Ai let out a whimper and slammed his eyes shut. The landing wasn't more than a few seconds away, and every second the ground came menacingly closer. His fate was approaching him inevitably, and so it did, until it was so close he would've been able to touch it.
To the rest of the world the fall appeared soundless, muted like most of the most beautiful scenes. The angel came down like a shooting star, and maybe someone's wish came true in that moment.
He crashed.
There definitely were some gods on the angel’s side, because the landing didn’t outcome deadly. A brief moment of silence occurred, then some coughs and finally a furious gasp for breath.
Ai whined in pain. He was lying on his back, stuck on something that appeared to be a hedgerow.
He stayed like that for a while. The series of events just didn’t make any sense, no matter from which angle he studied them. For about a minute ago he had been home, peacefully, the blessed grass of the Heaven under his feet. Now, he found himself in situation he would never have been able to predict.
The angel tried to lift himself up warily, branches scratching his skin. Feeling his limbs move was definitely a pleasant surprise, as Ai had assured it to be the end of his. At any rate, it had been a very close call.
Hesitating, the angel moved to meet the view that opened around him.
A labyrinth. It took him a moment to understand what he was seeing, for he hadn’t met a similar system ever before. The puzzle unfolded further than he could see, in every direction. It appeared dark and unapproachable, and the angel felt a cold shiver in his spine.
Ai shook his head trying to shed the uneasy feeling off his skin, and turned to focus on freeing himself. His wings were crushed deep into the thicket, and therefore they had to be dug out with care, feather by feather. Slipping his feet over the edge, he let out a small "ouch" when hitting the ground. Pain shuddered his body, and the angel pirouetted clumsily in order to find out the injuries. Some bruises and many minor scratches here and there was found.
Ai gently untangled his wings, and rocking them gently back and forth, tested them out. A relieved smile creeped in the corners of his mouth, as he found them sound, but it soon fell secondary. The lone wind prickled his skin, when the angel turned nervously to meet the face of the unknown.
Leaving some stray feathers behind, he took first timid step.
The labyrinth.
That enormous scheme was something his mind couldn't quite make accounts with: full of dead ends, dark aisles, corner after corner. It felt like his feet never stopped walking; there never was anything else to see, because after every turn there was always a new corner, a same-looking corridor, a new shadowy aisle... Furthermore, the world looked exactly the same no matter where he roamed, like it had just suddenly cloned itself, and he found nothing to break the illusion of equality.
Ai couldn't comprehend where he was coming from, or where he was heading. The labyrinth included no landmarks he could have associate his location with. Above all, he highly doubted if staying on the map really mattered there; as there wasn’t anything to aspire to.
The further he roamed, the more desperate he felt. The illogicality of that world was driving him to his limits, and the lack of sleep and safety didn’t help the matter. The angel was covered entirely with pale sand and dust; his bare feet were bleeding with every step. Its soft flesh wasn't accustomed to walking on such a craggy path.
It had been days. Days of pointless wandering, isolation and wasted tears. Ai didn't want to give up, but his surroundings left him with no other solutions. He missed home: the heaven was there, so near yet so far, and the little angel found the inaccessibility very frustrating. The grey sky of every day offered no comfort, not when the angel threw his hands in the air, nor when he silently wished to be taken back there.
The scariest thing was probably the loneliness. Being a sociable little angel he was, the isolation was cutting it close with his sanity. He was lost and afraid, and having at least somebody to share those feelings would have made it better. He didn't even miss home all that much than he missed a friend, who would hold his hand through this journey, and maybe tell him it was all about to get better...
He was exhausted.
Hugging his knees, the angel sat in the corner of his prison. Keen eyes measured the injuries on his hands –the palms were plastered with small scratches, as well as his knees and elbows. It was all due to his attempts to climb the fence, to certify that there was nothing else to see except the same old infinity.
His whole body ached; even his wings, which he had used to reckon as his number one strength, were running out of energy with alarming pace. He was so tired, tired of it all –The millions and millions of questions he wanted to ask were left hanging in the air, as there was no one to answer him. Nothing made sense in that bizarre setting. When the unfamiliarity creeped back to him alongside the evening, he let his mind wander back home.
His friends were probably wondering where he had gone. Ai amused himself with imagining the panic –his friends were really ones to make a big fuss about everything! A warm, fuzzy feeling filled him every time he thought about them; his friends were always a lot of fun.
It was about then, when the thought first occurred him; the realization that he might never see them again.
And then came the tears –familiarly filling his eyes, choosing the same old routes, streaming down his cheeks like they were used to –Ai was always known to be a cry baby, he couldn’t help it.
Ai tried to get back on his feet. It was pretty gawky, his face baffled and wings fluffed up like that. The angel took time to rub the hot tears off his eyes, ashamed of himself and his flushed cheeks. Wobbling, he staggered forward slowly and unsteadily. He was determined to show his friends he wasn’t as weak as what he had been called, build fragile or not.
Continuing the journey, his feet brought him mindlessly, corner after corner. Still wiping off the water from his cheeks, he noticed something odd. It was a sound –the only sounds in the labyrinth were the occasional blasts of wind, but that was something different. Ai suspected his lonely brain was sending him hallucinations, but the blink of hope had already sent his hopeful heart flying –nothing could protect it from sinking anymore.
The angel lifted his gaze to meet whatever there was, and it felt like the time stopped in that moment.
A tall figure was standing on the edge of the bench. A man, his clothes dark and hair a vibrant shade of red, as sharp as his eyes. He had wings, too, but they were the most frightful ones Ai had ever seen. There wasn’t any feathers, only exposed bones, skin and nasty-looking spikes, the same color than his horns.
Ai couldn’t get his eyes off of the creature. He felt like he had been cursed, feet rooted onto the ground to inhibit any will of escape. Even if the moment only lasted for a second, it felt like the whole eternity for him. There was no sound; except the loud beating of Ai’s heart.
The demon turned his eyes on him.
The gaze of those piercing red eyes was so powerful it took all the air from Ai’s lungs. The eye contact made him his possession. And the realization, that the demon had seen him, made everything cold; in Ai’s head, the whole scene instantly froze. There was nothing to be done, so he turned his heels and ran away.
Ai kept on running for a while, regardless of his bleeding soles, and as he did, everything melted.
A demon.
Although Ai had never seen one in his own eyes, he immediately recognized the creature based on the stories he had heard. They weren't nice stories, and he really wanted to shake the thought off his head, but the image of the creature was burnt indelibly to the back of his mind. It kicked his heart to overdrive, until he felt panicked to almost suffocating.
The angel flew from both the demon and the horrifying thoughts. The worst feeling was the growing consciousness, the mortifying realization that he wouldn’t be safe in the labyrinth. Who knows how many demons it included after all? It was like adding insult to the injury. Frustrated tears started burning the corner of his eyes again, but he tried to swallow the feelings of betrayal.
Ai stopped to lean on the bench, trembling, panting. His body couldn’t take it any longer.
Deep in anxious thoughts, the angel waited for his breath to stabilize. In the pace of his burning lungs wheezing, he tried to keep himself collected –to distinguish real life from nightmare, right then was an excessive task. It made him accept other abnormalities without questioning.
Namely even his senses numbed to the edge of falling apart, he still managed to catch a hint of something familiar. Ai noticed the direction he had took was an unusual one, and the note lit up his curiosity anew. The angel then traced the sign further, like following a white rabbit; and all the way in the far end, located an entrance.
The gentle wind welcomed the shattered one. It brought the calming odour of the flowers, lakes and grass. Like enchanted, Ai made his way to the glowing entry.
The vision of the garden overloaded all of his senses; for a moment, he was sure he was either dead or asleep. But the feeling of the soft grass under his feet was undoubtedly real, its softness like a beautiful lie.
The angel lingered over the small lake, the oak, and the flower field. His paradise was small, but so was he, so it suited him just right. Although he was sure he was dreaming, he couldn't care less. The garden was like an answer to all of his prayers, a rescue to his aching body.
Ai let the warm wind lull him into the blessed dream. He watched calmly as it caught some petals and brought them over to the lake, and was taken aback of how something so simple was able to make him feel so much happiness. The sweet wind caressed his wings, and it wasn’t until then when he noticed how tired he really was. He had been holding his breath unconsciously, and when he finally was able to let it go, he felt all the pain and anxiety fall off of his shoulders.
The angel allowed his knees to fail, and landed on the soft greenness. He felt endlessly happy, and could finally sink into sleep, finally safe and in peace.
After that, there was only soft breathing, and the presence of the other, much taller and covered in darkness.