Cradling his infant son, Jack shifted gently back and forth in an oak rocking chair as he stared at the soundless child.
“Is he supposed to be that quiet?” Jack whispered, turning to Ada for assurance as the woman dressed in the traditional robes of the Hoshido leaned on the nearby door frame observing Jack lovingly.
“The doctors say he's fine, he just doesn't really cry much,” Ada explained before noticing the blonde woman standing in the hallway. “You have a visitor honey.”
“I know,” Jack replied before reluctantly handing Ito off to Ada.
“I'll take Ito and Celeste out to see your grandma so you two can talk,” Ada said before flashing a look at Sahaqiel as she took her leave.
Jack waited until the front door closed, remaining motionless until the blonde woman retracted her wings to stand before Jack in the dimly lit nursery.
“We need to talk,” Sahaqiel said as Lilith manifested, boxing Jack in.
Jack inhaled, closing his eye for
“About what?” Jack replied casually, narrowing his gaze at the archangel. “That you abandoned me? That you had a body this entire time and not only did you lie to me, Selfia covered it up? How about the fact you used my hand to kill my sister? Or maybe we can talk about the fact that when my daughter and son awaken they'll be hounded for the rest of what little life they have?”
“Wow, just right off the cuff huh?” Lilith quipped.
Silence permeated the room that became heavy with tension.
“I’m sorry, Jack… you know I've only ever done what I've thought was best for you. Only ever-”
“I know,” Jack intervened, “Yet since I met you everyone I care about keeps dying or getting hurt. And no matter how strong I get its never enough. I always fail. Eleanor, Mike, Mai, Fujimaru, Itadori, Hoffman, Yun, Tyrah, Jena, Jill… the names keep piling up. How long until I lose you too? How long until I lose Ada, or Leona, Kamila, my children, and my home? How long until I have nothing?”
Jack pursed his lips and shook his head, “I am filled with such fear, so much hatred, I can see the thing I'm becoming and I just don't care. I've killed thousands, consigned them to fates worse than hell and I've reached the point where I'm doing all the things my enemies have done and I…”
A low chuckle escaped Jack's mouth, “I don't care...”
Sahaqiel didn't need to be one with Jack to understand his emotions.
The angel knelt down, taking Jack's hand into hers, feeling his skin upon her skin that sent a shiver down her spine. Yet she fought the impulse, choosing instead to look the young man in the eye.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“You haven't lost everything, you won't lose everything,” Sahaqiel promised before turning to Lilith. “It's time.”
At Sahaqiel’s command, Lilith suddenly produced an orb, a small flickering sphere of green and red that sent a pain arcing through Jack's body as his eyes registered the intangible ball.
“This, is why I had to leave, to give Lilith time to secure and place her in a coma safely,” Sahaqiel said as Jack stared at the sight of the wisp.
He didn't need an explanation to know what it was, he knew because he'd seen one before Lilith had awakened. It was a soul. Not as fractured and distorted as the thing known as Lilith, but a blackened mass with motes of light stuck upon it.
Jill's soul.
Jack chuckled, closing his eye for a moment as a maddened smirk settled on his face. Not exactly the reaction Sahaqiel had hoped but she continued on.
“Selfia… had been aware of your sister's whereabouts for a while. At least she had a sneaking suspicion when the Khloros began attacking her troops. It was all but confirmed when your cousin Lydia died to get us the intel. She consulted me the moment we entered the palace. Hence the house arrest. In that time we worked to figure out a plan in case of such an eventually,” Sahaqiel explained, “This is what we came up with.”
Jack hung his head low, his shoulders slumping, “So she lied about Lydis’s whereabouts too huh… the entire journey to the theocracy just a waste of time.”
“Please, Jack, please believe that if I had told you it would have endangered everything. That-”
“My pain was necessary? My suffering? Watching Mike die and my sister draw her last breath necessary to save the day?” Jack said bitterly. “You two conspired against my back, withheld information that hurt me. Am I supposed to be happy that my sister's soul was ripped from her chest and occupying the space you once sat? Am I supposed to be happy that the person I trusted the most kept me in the dark?”
Jack cocked his head sideways at the angel.
Instead of anger, hate, or annoyance, all Jack displayed was a silent cold calm.
“I did it for you, I knew you couldn’t hurt Jill, and it wasn't supposed to-” Sahaqiel said, her voice breaking as glimmers of liquid pooled in her eyes. Jack turned away, allowing the cold quiet to take the room once more, “Please say something.”
Jack’s jaw clenched, his brow furrowed as his hand clenched.
“I forgive you,” Jack sighed, rising to his feet. “I've known for the last five months. You aren't the only ones that can keep a secret.”
Shocked, Sahaqiel’s mouth hung open, the angel turning to face Lilith who shook her head.
“When? H-how?”
“My fight with Tarhanna. The first apostle I fought knocked me unconscious, forcing Lilith to pilot my body. In that time I noticed a new orb in my core, shards of things that shouldn't be there because Lilith was reformed. I knew then what had happened, but I turned away. Shutting my mind and doing my best to cement the feeling of my sister gone, to let it fuel the anger and propel me through my grief,” Jack said as he stared out of the window, his broad back turned to the angel as his eyes settled on the children playing beyond the wooden fence of his home. “But what does this change? In the end we're just pawns in the Black King’s palm. Even when we thought we had an upper hand, we still failed. The world is ending and everyone I love is threatened with fates worst than death. At the end of the day, your intent doesn't matter if we all lose.”
“We can't give up!” Sahaqiel shouted, rising to her feet to force Jack to face her. Yet the look on his face made her do a double take.
“Who said anything about giving up?” Jack said, his expression one contorted with such hatred even Lilith seemed to smile. “I will kill Micheal. There is no outcome that ends without him dead. But the question remains how? I've been a decoy for six months, Sahaqiel, it's time to show me what you've been doing with the time I bought you and Selfia.”