Two Girls, An Angel, and The Fox

I laid down on the bed with a thud, my mind in a daze. My head hurt, my brain was fuzzy and I couldn't really think.

Did I throw up?

Broken images appeared in my mind. Images of young children playing together in an open field next to a giant castle. I was there with them in that clearing, running around—my long reddish-brown hair swaying in the wind, as happy as I could be.

A memory?

No that couldn't be right. I must have been dreaming.

There were many of us, children that lived at the castle. The castle of the Dragon King. It was in the land of three suns. A world that had seven moons. A magical place full of mythical creatures, anthropomorphic beings, and even people.

Among those that had lived in the castle, my twin and I only had a few close friends. But they were the best in the world. There were nine of us, some children of royalty and some of the servants. Some were girls, some were boys. We'd practically spend every waking moment together.

The two older kids of the group—A girl that had teeth like a vampire and a boy with angel wings, would often watch us, at the request of the adults. To make sure we didn't get into too much trouble.

I couldn't remember their names, but I thought of them fondly.

Nothing could take the happiness that we shared away from us.

The lands outside were rampant with war and corruption, but we were kept safe by those castle walls.

More vivid images assaulted my mind. I could remember watching a child being dragged off to the dungeon with his family by guards for execution. His parents were convicted of treason. The King's daughter, the crown princess, and I were distraught. But there was nothing we could do.

I remembered seeing people being slaughtered in the capital streets as enemy militia tried to lay siege to the castle. The fallout was terrible for both sides. Many dead bodies littered the city streets. Civilians were even caught in the crossfire.

After witnessing that, I wished for something to change. I wished for a better world. A place where people didn't have to fight and die, like nothing. A place where people could always get their needs taken care of so war and destruction could be avoided.

I made a promise to my sister after that day.

I told Tiffany I'd do whatever I could to create that place.

That utopia.

The strange images left my mind, fading out slowly. I started to forget about the vivid memory-like dreams.

Coming to, I found myself back on the bed in a small room. I opened my eyes. My vision was still blurry and I couldn't feel my face. A teenage boy hovered over top of me. He was holding down my arms above my head.

What was going on?

I knew who he was. Timothy. My ex-boyfriend. I looked around the small room glancing at the wall filled with movie and band posters. We were in his room.

I remembered.

He was throwing a house party at night after the school football game. His parents weren't home for the weekend, so he'd have the huge house all to himself. Tiffany, her boyfriend Terra Eatos, and I decided to stop by on a whim. Somehow I had gotten myself into this mess.

I must have been drinking like an idiot.

Timothy leaned downward, his body pressing against mine. He smelled nice. His lips around my neck felt pleasant. But... something wasn't right.

"What happened?" I asked in a slurred voice.

Timothy ignored my questions as he continued to feel me up.

A spark of fear started to travel down my spine. I shifted my body attempting to roll away from him. "Stop it," I said, more urgently.

Timothy's grip tightened holding me in place.

"Relax."

I made a groan in complaint.

The smile on his face changed to a dissatisfied frown.

"Come on Mercy," he urged. "You still like me don't you?"

I was confused by his question. My head was still fuzzy. Didn't he break up with me? I closed my eyes. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that I still had feelings for him.

"Y-yes," I said, the words escaping my lips before I could hold them back.

Timothy smirked, pleased with my answer.

He proceeded to move his face downward in an attempt to kiss me. He immediately stopped as the door to his room was busted open. Tiffany quickly walked in with an angry expression on her face. Terra was not far behind.

Tiffany rocked the same low braided pigtail look I did, but wore a darker outfit compared to me, composed of a black off-shoulder tee and low cut pixie shorts. Terra wore a tight hoodie with jeans. Terra looked very feminine and his long brown hair did nothing to alleviate that fact. He was often mistaken for a girl before people heard him speak.

Timothy quickly stood up and backed away as my sister ran to me.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" she shouted, giving Timothy a glare that could kill.

"I was just—" Timothy started, trying to explain himself while approaching us.

"Terra!" she said.

Terra immediately moved to intercept Timothy, grabbing his arm to hold him back.

Timothy tsked. "Are you fucking serious?" he asked in a loud voice, clearly annoyed.

"Back off, and stop moving," Terra said, holding a struggling Timothy from moving away. "This? What you're doing here? It's not cool."

Timothy rolled his eyes, his lips widened into a smirk. "We were just having a little fun," he said offhandedly.

Tiffany frowned and made a sound akin to a snarl. "Bullshit! You tried to fucking rape my sister!"

Timothy shook his head in exasperation. His body seemed tenser than a moment before. Terra still didn't let him go, his silverish eyes were trained on him.

"What the hell are you even talking about? She agreed to come up here with me and one thing led to another," Timothy said. "We wouldn't even be in this position if she didn't want it."

"She's fucking drunk, you fuckhead," Tiffany said. "She's practically passed out here!"

Tiffany shook her head. "I should have expected this from a fuckboy like you. I don't know what Mercy sees in you."

"Look alright, I'll back off. We're all pretty buzzed. A bad judgment call. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"No shit, rapist," Tiffany muttered with a glare.

"Oh fuck off, Tiffany," Timothy said, his calm facade cracking. "Always starting some bullshit."

"Believe me, I'm finishing it too."

Timothy laughed. It didn't sound nice. He glanced at Terra still keeping him away from us. Timothy finally shrugged off Terra's hand. Terra must've loosened his grip.

"What?" Timothy asked. "You gonna fight me too, pretty boy?"

Terra gave him a look then shook his head. "Nah," he said quietly.

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Timothy chuckled. "Wow. Not gonna fight your girlfriend's battles for once? I'm surprised. You're not as whipped as I thought."

Terra scoffed. "Anyone of us could kick your ass. Even Mercy when she gets better."

Timothy frowned and gave him a sour look. "I'm sure," he said dryly.

He shouldered past Terra, walking to the doorway of his room. Loud music could be heard blasting from downstairs as he creaked open the door. "You can let Mercy rest in my bed. I need to get back to the party before those guys run out of control. See you guys downstairs," he paused. "Or not."

He left.

Terra watched him go. A hard fist connected with his shoulder.

Terra flinched away from Tiffany after she hit him.

"Why didn't you punch him?" she asked.

One side of Terra's lips quirked upward. "I thought you were gonna do it."

"Yeah, I would have if you did. We could have beaten him up together. It would be a good bonding experience for our relationship."

Terra laughed.

There was a moment of silence as they glanced at me in a pitiful semi-conscious state.

"I want to kill him," Tiffany murmured. "I wanna fuck him up."

"Things might end up pretty badly if we did do that to him," Terra said. "Especially, in his own home."

"Yeah. I know. I'm just venting."

I stirred. Tiffany and Terra automatically focused their attention on me.

"...You guys," I muttered.

"Hey there, Ems," Tiffany said softly, cupping the side of my face with a warm hand. "How do you feel?"

oOo

We had left the party earlier, none of us wanting to spend more time at Timothy's place. Terra had gone home, while Tiffany insisted we walk home alone since our house was pretty close by. We had to figure out a way to sneak in the house without our parents noticing. No big deal, right?

I rubbed my forehead with a hand as we walked down the empty sidewalk. It still hurt. I still had a throbbing headache. My sister had gently explained what happened. Thoughts of Timothy and my relationship with him came to the forefront of my mind.

Did he still have feelings for me? I thought he was trying to get with Ashley. It seemed like it from how he was flirting with her at the party, how he looked at me from across the room to make sure I could see him.

What he did—trying to force himself on me while I was out of it... I had felt violated.

It was stupid to let myself be so vulnerable around him, especially since I knew I hadn't gotten over him. It was stupid for us to go to the house party in the first place.

"You alright?" Tiffany asks, pulling me out of my depressive thoughts.

I paused for a moment before shaking my head. "I'm fine."

We continue to walk down the dark neighborhood street. "I hope Mom and Dad haven't figured out we've been out the whole night."

"You worry too much."

"Really? You know how they’re always up late."

"We'll sneak in the same way we got out, through the basement cellar door. We can wait for them to go to sleep if they're still bumbling around the living room."

"And if they wake up while we're going upstairs?"

Tiffany sighed in exasperation. "Don't worry about it. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"If you say so—"

My voice stopped abruptly as I saw a light flashing in the air. I gasped. A comet, bright and golden traveled through the air at an incomprehensible speed. Heading straight for us.

Before the ball of flame hit the ground, Tiffany had sense enough to pull me out of the way. We both hit the deck, trying to shield ourselves from the explosion as the fiery ball collided with the earth.

Silence.

I opened my eyes then looked at my sister lying on the grass next to me.

"Tiff—Are you alright!?" I asked, worried.

Tiffany got up sat up slowly, and I inwardly let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't hurt.

"The fuck was that?" she asked, glancing at me before looking at the huge crater that appeared in the middle of the sidewalk.

I shook my head. I had no idea what happened.

Tiffany stood up and cautiously began the approach the crater full of white smoke, her low knee boots clacking against the pavement. I wanted to tell her to stay back, to tell her it was dangerous. But I knew Tiffany wouldn't listen and curiosity had gotten the best of me as well. She always had a habit of dragging me along with her.

Our eyes widened as we stood on the edge of the hole in the ground. I recoiled backward in shock, while Tiffany stood still in amazement.

Someone was in there!

In the center of the crater was the naked body of a man, unconscious. A person with nine tails extruding from his lower back and fox-like ears on his head. His face was covered by his hair. Hair extravagantly long and thick that led all the way down his backside reaching his tails. He was bleeding profusely, but I couldn't tell from where.

"...What the hell?" I whispered.

"Yeah." Tiffany murmured in agreement.

Whoever this guy was—was he a hallowed? He wasn't a normal human, that was for sure.

"Ems!"

Tiffany nudged my arm and pointed for me to look upward. I did as she directed, my eyes squinting at four balls of light heading our direction. The balls of light swiftly flew toward us as they grew in size.

It was then when I could see them clearly that I realized they were also capes like the fox-man laying on the ground by our feet. Hallowed that had actively used their powers in public.

The four glowing figures paused a few feet above us, floating in the air. They looked like angelic knights, two men, and two women. They each wore beautiful golden and silver armor. Three of them had pairs of metal protected golden wings and knight-like helmets. The one in front who I assumed was the leader had a pair of three wings and had two horns extending from her helmet on both sides. Her armor was completely golden. Futuristic visors had covered each of their faces.

Both Tiffany and I looked at them in awe.

The leader floated toward us. The visor around her face disappeared, her mask and helmet disintegrated into thin air—revealing inhuman golden eyes and long blonde hair.

"Step away from the Valterian," the angel woman commanded.

I heard her and I was sure Tiffany did as well, but we couldn't move. Our bodies were frozen with fear. I could feel the sweat roll down my neck as I faced the angel woman's stern, judging gaze of contempt.

What in the world had we gotten ourselves into?

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