Part 2


"Persephone, don't," I heard Alex snap from a distance. Why was he so far away? Where had he gone? My mind felt like trying to walk through syrup - everything was coming to me in dribs and drabs, taking its time before my brain could register it. Everything but my sight; All I could see was the hollow depths of her black eyes.
"Is that a warning I hear in your voice, Alexander?" I wanted to see him. To check he was still here, and wasn't just leaving me with this woman. He better not be. The was something cold about her, underneath all her outward loveliness. Persephone... Where had I heard that name before?
"No, your grace. I merely request you stop playing with her, as it is imperative that I speak with you in all seriousness. I have important news," He sounded slightly exasperated, as if she liked to make people address her extra politely just for the hell of it. I wanted to be able to pay proper attention to this news he was talking about, the way he bigged it up appealing to my natural nosiness. I didn't like that I couldn't see where he was either. Like an addict in need of a fix, it was suddenly vital that I see his face. "Thank you." He said when I broke free of her trance, and staggered back a few steps, reeling from what felt like my mind being thrown back into my head.
Persephone was eyeing me curiously, her eyes now just a smokey black. "Oh I didn't release her," She said absently, her focus still on me. Finally she turned to Alex, who had come over to steady my now swaying form. "I expect this is what you have come to talk to me about." She waved an elegant hand in my direction.
"Your grace it doesn't make sense. Aurora isn't showing the usual signs. Spirits like her shouldn't be able to effect their surroundings at all as they simply move through them. Yet when I got to her she was attempting to move objects, able to hold on to them. And then.." He trailed off, looking uncertain.
"Go on," She ordered. Her face was neutral, holding no expression.
"Well, then she managed to.. to stop a man from getting to a young girl. Not directly, but her energy called to the people looking for the girl, and they managed to stop him just in time. But Aurora made it happen. She called them there I know it."
"Interesting..." Persephone tapped her nose in thought. "A soul with some tricks up her sleeve."
"But that isn't even possible." Alex sputtered, having gotten himself worked up while describing the scene with the man. He didn't seem angry, just confused and frustrated at his own confusion. Something told me Alex wasn't often caught off guard. "Is it?" He prompted, when she didn't reply.
"Alexander I don't see what you're making such a fuss about, I would have thought you of all people would have known." She smiled kindly to soften her words. "Look at her, for goodness sake! She's glowing!"
"Yes, but-"
"Alexander. She's glowing, just like you." Just like him? But he was some preternaturally gorgeous glowing creature, and I was... me. And I couldn't even remember who I was - Alex had told me my full name, after that girl had called me Rori. "You just told me all the traits. She willed someone to take action, for something or someone to stop that man, and something happened. She could touch objects her hand should have passed through. You tell me what that means."
"Impossible."
"Nothings impossible, Alexander, you're a testament to that." She turned to me, "He's an Angel you know," She winked at me. I decided it was best not to comment on that. My brain already had so much to take in.
"But she's... she's... I've watched her, Persephone. I've watched over her since the day she was born. During her life she never showed signs of incredible goodness, didn't conduct acts of pure kindness," He glanced at me and shrugged, "No offence - you're only human."
"Ah, but here she is. How is that I wonder?" She tilted her head to the side, a smile playing on her lips. "Hmm? Maybe her life was cut off before such acts could be performed?" Her look turned sharp then, and Alex looked momentarily ashamed.
"Perhaps..." He grudgingly conceded.
"Alexander," Her eyes softened, "She is not merely a spirit. I am sure of that. She is too strong for that. She is strong even for your kind. I saw it, when I drew her mind into my own." Talk about devouring someone with your eyes. "I of all people, deity or not, should be able to recognise a simple spirit." She scoffed. Alex didn't reply, as he chewed over what she'd said. I'd given up trying to understand what they were talking about a while back.
"So, what does that make me?" I hesitantly asked, suddenly shy of speaking up in this room of echoes.
"Why, an angel of course!" She proclaimed cheerfully. "Oh Alexander how wonderful would it be if she turned out to be your partner?!" She clasped her hands the her chest in excitement.
"No, no I don't think that's possible-"
"Oh when did you get so pessimistic? Why ever not?" She seemed put out at his lack of enthusiasm in her idea.
"Well typically partners come from Pure Angels," He glanced at me, saw my confusion at the term and briefly explained, "One is considered a Pure Angel when they are born into this life, not through a promising human life cut short by death."
"Yes but anomalies have been known to occur." She challenged. Alex opened his mouth to retort, then seemed to think better of it and shut it again.
"I'm sorry but what do you mean by 'Partners'?" I made quote marks with my fingers. "You don't mean, like, married-partners, do you?"
Persephone let out a laugh that sounded like bells. "Oh dear child, no not at all. Think of it more as.. Business partners. Archangels have a fated partner, usually but not always," She cast a pointed look at Alex, "They find this partner in another Archangel. One of 'Pure' lineage. This partner will complete them, and as a team they would be at their absolute best when fighting the battle for good." She concluded with an eager nod. "Of course I am not on either side, good or evil. I am a goddess of neutral grounds... Like Switzerland." She seemed pleased with her own analogy of it.
"Whoa, okay, a lot of information there." I raked a hand through my hair again, a habit I had while aggravated or confused. "Seriously, the most complicated dream I have ever had."
She let out a surprised bark of laughter. Instead of incredulity, like Alex, she gave me a look bordering on pity.
"Not this again..." Alex sighed.
"My dear, can you remember anything about your life before this 'dream'?" She copied my gesture of quotation marks in the air.
"I remember getting ready this morning," I said, unsure if that's what she meant.
"Just as I thought. You must have had a traumatic death." She nodded to herself, as if confirming some lone-held suspicion.
"You have no idea." Alex muttered rudely. I glared at him for a second before returning my gaze to her.
"Like in human life, when one experiences something too traumatic to deal with, the mind often blanks it out, erases it. Evasion survival tactics." Her eyes were sympathetic as she explained. "So as you passed on into this life from your last, your death must have been so traumatic that the you that stands before me just blanked it out." She looked at me for a moment, then sat up straight on the edge of her recliner. It instantly morphed into a gold throne, the back reached a good two feet higher than her head. She reached out her arms to me, beckoning me over. "I'm so sorry I have to do this, Aurora."
"Do what?" I asked, anxiety pricking my spine as Alex gently eased me forward towards her. I took the hint, and walked the short distance til I was standing just before the platform. She reached her hands across, so that they hovered either side of my head.
"Show you your death," She said sorrowfully. She placed two fingers on both of my temples. My vision blacked out suddenly, and then I saw.
That's when I died a second time.