Daystar (40 page)

Raphael grinned and skipped to his side.
 
“I will help!”

Helion looked her over.
 
“You know what I am trying to do?”

“Totally of course, it’s obvious, right guys?”
 
She looked back at everyone and they stared at her blankly.
 
Raphael shrugged.
 
“Maybe not.”
 
She put a foot to his stomach.
 
“Ready when you are.”

Helion nodded.
 
“Go!”
 
Raphael pulled, Helion ran.
 
He stretched, lit up white and red, and split.
 
Helion fell to the ground panting.
 
Raphael lurched and the twin slipped from her grip.

Belial cartwheeled and hit Andy square in the chest, knocking him over.
 
Helion leapt to his feet and ran after her.
 

Belial grinned at Andy through her blonde hair.
 
“Hi, Andrealphus!”

Andy stared in utter shock.
 
“Be—Be—Belial, but you are, you—”

Helion lifted her off Andy and spoke rapidly, “She was
sick
, but she is better now.
 
Isn’t that right, Andy?”

Belial bounced from foot to foot and nodded.
 
“Heli says I have been asleep for a really, really long time!”

Andy met Helion’s eyes.
 
He knew what Helion had done.
 
Andy flashed a forced smile at Belial.
 
“That’s right.”

“Yeah!”
 
Belial grinned.
 
“I missed everyone so much!”

Dahlia and Lucifer walked around Helion and looked her over.
 
She was a younger, livelier, carefree Belial.
 

Dahlia smiled.
 
“Belial!”

“Ladriam!”
 
Belial leapt into her arms.
 
“Oh wait, Helion says you are going by Dahlia now.
 
I am sorry!”

Dahlia shook her head.
 
“No worries, either name is fine for you.”

Lucifer patted Belial on the head.
 
“Do you feel better, Belial?”

“Much better!
 
I felt really super groggy when I was talking with Helion and I had bad dreams, but I am better now.”
 
She opened her wings.
 
They were gray and silver.
 
She looked to Dahlia.
 
“Helion says I am your Archangel now, is that true?”

“Yes, of metal.”

Belial danced from foot to foot.
 
“That is so wonderful!
 
Helion is too!”

Helion’s wings were a mix of black and translucent feathers.
 
His halos faded in and out of view.
 
He nodded to Dahlia.
 
“Not sure why.
 
Sorry Lucifer, side effect.”

Lucifer shrugged.
 
“It is better this way.
 
You two are stronger when together.
 
Selaphiel will take your place.”

Selaphiel dipped his head and smiled slightly.
 
“Thank you.”

Raphael licked Selaphiel’s cheek.
 
“See!”

Belial ran at Furcas.
 
“Your hair is short!
 
Your wings are sparkly!”

Dahlia took Helion’s hand and spoke to him, “You are sure about this with her?”
 
Behind them, Belial jumped onto Berith’s shoulders and met Apple for the first time.

Helion nodded.
 
“She is innocence again.”
 
He looked at Andy.
 
“
She
chose this.
 
She would not come back otherwise.”

Dahlia watched Belial.
 
“What exactly has been done?”

“Belial purged what was left of Uriel, his legacy is gone, and she is free of him.”
 
Helion took Andy’s hand.
 
“Are you all right?”

Andy frowned but nodded.
 
“I do not know what to feel.”
 
He looked at Belial.
 
“I am beyond elated to see her, but—”

Helion gripped Andy’s shoulder.
 
“She came back to be with you and to have her own second chance at love and life.”

Andy gaped.
 
“But I—”

Helion hugged him and spoke into his ear, “She always loved you, Andy.
 
What prevented her was Uriel, not a lack of feelings for you.”
 
He pulled back.
 
“She is as she was before he hurt her.
 
You have a second chance too.”

“She is so young.”

Paimon and Furcas padded over with Jegudiel and Bean in tow.
 
Furcas pointed to his chest.
 
“So was I.”

Bean giggled.
 
“And Mommy kicked the shit—”

Furcas cupped a hand over Bean’s mouth.
 
“You have your second chance, Andy.
 
Don’t waste it by talking through it again.”

Paimon punched Andy in the shoulder.
 
“Just be a good man and everything will be fine.
 
It’s about time you lost your virginity.”

Andy balked.
 
“But I know the truth.
 
How am I supposed to relate to her?”

Jegudiel grinned at him.
 
“All you need is love.”

Bean bit Jegudiel’s neck.
 
“Lurve!”

Jegudiel coughed and staggered.
 
“Bad, Bean!”
 
Furcas grabbed Bean and tugged.

Whitney hugged Helion, unable to let him go.
 
She spoke through his hair, “Andy, come on.
 
She’s Belial, just the softer, younger side.”

Andy trembled.
 
“She has forgotten our time together.”

Helion nodded.
 
“Forgotten the pain, the shame, the rage, the deaths.
 
She has forgotten what it is like to have lost hope, to be terrified of her shadow.
 
She is no longer plagued with Uriel’s urges.
 
What she chooses to do now is her own.
 
But she is not a child, Andy.
 
Do not make the mistake of treating her like one.”

Berith tossed Belial in the air.
 
She screamed in happiness all the way up into the air and all the way back down.
 
She saw Andy.
 
“Andrealphus, jump with me!
 
You can go higher!”

Andy waved to her.
 
“Be right there.”
 
He frowned.
 
“This does not feel right you guys.”

Dahlia tapped his head.
 
“Up here perhaps.”

Lucifer tapped his chest.
 
“What do you feel here?”

“I love her, but—”

“No buts.”
 
Lucifer eyed him.
 
“Did you love her before Uriel took her?”

“Yes!”

“You wanted to be with her then, you desired her then?”

“Yes, but we were both young!
 
We didn’t know any better.”
 
He looked as Belial flipped in the air.
 
“Sex was innocent then, we would have discovered it together.
 
We would be making a choice with the same level of information”

Dahlia smiled at Andy.
 
“You still have not discovered it, so I do not see what has changed.”

Andy shook his head.
 
“I feel as if I would be taking advantage of her.
 
She would not choose this if she was the same as before.”

Helion frowned.
 
“She
did
choose this, Andy.
 
Belial with full-knowledge, full-experience chose this, she chose
you
.
 
She wanted to be with you as it should have been.
 
She did not want to be with you, and have that tainted with memories of Uriel.
 
You are her first and only love, as it was before, as it is again.”

“But it is not the truth!”

“It is, Andy.”

Raphael ducked in.
 
“I wiped my memories of stuff I did in Heaven, but I don’t feel it is not truthful, I just choose not to remember.
 
Just because something happens, why does that have to define you?
 
She doesn’t want it to define her, good for her!”

Dahlia nodded.
 
“I too have made the memories of my prison faded things.
 
I do not allow them to rule over me.”

Belial’s laughter rang out across the plain.
 
Andy watched her soar, his heart pounded.
 
His hands shook.
 
“I still...”

Dahlia patted Andy on the back.
 
“You might not have a choice in what comes next, just keep that in mind.
 
She is probably still headstrong regardless of what she remembers.”

Dahlia and Lucifer took to the air and flew towards Eden.
 
Raphael and Selaphiel broke off towards the shield to take first watch.
 
The other groups left shortly after and Andy was left on the ground.

Berith hugged Belial and set her down.
 
He and Apple headed towards the wilderness, seeking to roam for a time.

Andy’s heart raced.
 
Things were happening too fast for him to cope with.
 
He felt dizzy.
 
He sat down.
 
Belial flipped over to his side and flopped down.
 
She smiled.
 
“Andrealphus, Helion said you could show me around this new place.
 
It is different looking.”

“Yeah?”
 
He nodded.
 
“All right, what would you like to see first?”

Belial kissed him.

Andy put his hands to her shoulders, then took them off and held them in the air, not sure what to do with them.
 
He broke the kiss.
 
“Uhm, Belial?”

“Yes, Andrealphus?”
 
She linked her arm with his.

Andy looked at their arms.
 
His hands trembled as he took her hand in his.
 
“I, uhm, well.”

Belial blinked her large blue eyes at him.
 
“Andrealphus, you are turning red!”
 
She poked his cheek, pushing him onto his back.
 
She leaned over him.
 
“Why are you pink?”

Andy tried not to look at her naked body.
 
“Well.”

“Is it because you like me?”
 
She smiled.

“Like you?”
 
Andy’s voice cracked.

“I love you, Andrealphus.”

Andy closed his eyes.
 
He pressed his hands into his eyes.
 
“I don’t know what to do right now.
 
I am seriously confused.”

Belial put her head on his shoulder.
 
“I am sorry.
 
Helion told me that I have missed things, that there are things that I do not remember.
 
Do you not love me like you used to?”

“No,
I do!
”

“Then why do you not want to kiss me?”
 
She touched her lips.
 
“Are you with someone else?”

Andy shook his head.
 
“No, no, not at all.
 
That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

He sighed.
 
“I…just.
 
I need some time.
 
Can we not talk about this now?”
 
He rolled to his feet.
 
“Let me show you around.”
 
He held his hand out to her and she took it, a frown painted her features.

Andy walked her into the woods, pointing out plants and animals.
 
He went over the non-violent bits of their shared history.
 
Hours slipped by as they wandered, making paths of their own in the dense forest.
 
The sun went down and the light on the trees turned silver as the moon came out.
 

She skipped along at his side, content to listen, asking questions when she did not understand something.
 
Belial looked at her feet as they stepped into a forest clearing.
 
She scrunched her toes in the grass.
 
“Shoes you say?”

“You love shoes.”
 
Andy smiled.
 
“You had more shoes than any reasonable creature should.
 
You love purses too.”

“I love you.”
 
She looked up at him, her eyes hesitant.