“Do you want to learn how to fly, Little One?”

Ivy looked up at Ren as he walked beside her, her face lighting up at the offer. How long had she admired his wings and those of the angels in Golden City? Watched as they effortlessly took to the skies? Dreamed the same for herself?

But now, it was no longer a dream.

“I do!” her willingness came out a high pitch gasp.

Ren grinned, just as excited, and grabbed at the dark fabric concealing the fae. “Alright, take off your cloak.”

“Are you insane?! We’re on the road,” Sakura griped at the man as she pulled the cloak back down and slapped his hand away. “What if someone sees her? Or you for that matter? You’re just asking for trouble.”

He waved her off, unconcerned. “We’ve hardly seen anyone all day. Stop worrying so much. If it’s that big of a deal, let’s call it a day and set up camp a ways off the road. No one will see her then. It’ll be fine.”

The woman looked past the trees and into the sky. After three days they had made it out of the flats of farmland and into more vegetative areas. They were currently trekking through a long stretch of maples and oaks, but she could see the sun had only started making its way from the middle of the sky. “It’s barely midday. We still have plenty of time before we need to stop for the night. We should try to cover as much ground as we can while there’s still light.”

“You’re just chomping at the bit to get to Hollis, aren’t you? Are you really that excited to see Maggie?” The angel’s arm snaked around the woman, fingers pressing lightly into her hip and drawing her close as his voice lowered. “Or is it because you can’t wait to get me home? In our bed. Alone. How forward of you. But what about the children? Where will they go? Outside in the cold? That’s awful. Have you no shame?” He leaned towards her, whispering, “Okay, I’ll allow it.”

“Get the fuck off me! What is wrong with you?” She quickly escaped the man’s clutches and veered off the path and into the trees. “Whatever! Fine! We’re camping here tonight. Are you happy?”

Ren chuckled at the easy victory as Ivy looked up at him, exasperated.

“You really shouldn’t tease her like that,” she chided the angel.

“I did that all for you, Little One,” he claimed merrily as they followed after the demon. “Now she won’t get in the way, and we can practice in peace.”

The girl wasn’t so convinced that that was the man’s only reason, but she had no interest in arguing over his motives.

They found a decent clearing far from the road and Ivy removed her cloak, turning it into the tent for that night. She fluttered her wings quickly, relieved to have them free once more and not weighed down by the thick fabric.

Ren went behind the girl, intently examining where the wings entered her body, prodding his fingers against her skin to feel the bones and muscles underneath before turning his attention to the delicate wings, tracing along them and apply varying amounts of pressure throughout. When satisfied, he walked back around, removing his sword and baldric before taking off his shirt as he crouched down facing away from her.

“Your movements will need to be quicker and constant,” he informed while he flexed and relaxed his shoulder blades, showing the fae the movement. “It’ll be slight constrictions, it shouldn’t be much effort, but you’ll have to maintain it the entire time you’re in the air. If you stop, you’ll drop. At least for now while you’re learning. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to glide with enough speed.” The angel stood and moved away, pulling off his bracelet to allow ebony wings to sprout and beat softly.

Ivy stared at the large, full wings and then back at her own, light and elegant. She started to have doubts that flying would be possible. “It seems like it would be easier to fly with wings like yours. I don’t see how mine will be able to lift me.”

Ren turned to her and gave her an encouraging smile. “A butterfly can fly just as well as a bird. You’ll be in the air in no time. You just gotta stop doubting yourself and do it.”

The girl nodded and began testing the speed of her flutters, starting slow and progressing carefully. Soon, she could feel her feet lift slightly from the ground and her excitement pushed her wings faster, making her quickly shoot several meters into the air. She panicked and her wings froze, dropping her instantly as Ren caught her flailing body before it could hit the ground.

“It’s okay.” He set her back down and took both of her hands in his. “I’m right here. I’m not gonna let you fall. You got this, you’ll figure it out, trust me. Try again.”

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Ivy wasn’t so sure, but she began again, her wings sometimes moving too slow, sometimes too fast. She held onto the angel’s hands as she flew up and down and sometimes sideways, pushing and pulling him along with her. By the time Sakura and Zero had finished making supper, Ivy was able to hover about a meter from the ground and land on her feet with relative ease without assistance.

The man looked at her, impressed that despite her reservations, the girl was taking to flight much quicker than either of them had anticipated. “See. You’re getting it. You’re a natural.”

“How long did it take you to learn?” Ivy asked as she landed and then lifted herself back off of the earth, reaching for his hand to steady her as she made an attempt to spin around him.

“What do you mean?” Ren grinned, following the fae. “I’m still learning.”

“It’s true. He’s still trying to figure it out.” Sakura laughed. “Remember when you flew into the house so hard that it broke that window? How old were you then? Fifteen? That was hilarious.”

The man joined in her laughter. “Yeah, it was. Remember when I accidentally dropped you in that tree?”

The woman’s merriment died away and she glared at the angel. “That wasn’t an accident! You did that shit on purpose. You didn’t even drop me. You threw me!”

“Yep,” he spoke to the demon but winked at the girl. “When I accidentally dropped you in that tree. You were not happy about it.”

“That’s because it was a hundred-foot pine!” She picked up a stick and threw it at him, hitting him in the leg. “And you left me there! I had to climb down!”

“That’s not true,” the man argued. “It was much taller than that.” He laughed harder as another stick hit his side and the woman cursed at him.

“How old were you when you learned to fly?” The girl asked while she tried to slowly twirl in place on her own.

He went quiet as he thought about it. “About seven or eight, I think.”

Ivy was surprised by the answer, “That old? I thought angels would learn sooner than that.” She had seen young angel children in Golden City flying around the beach and at gardens, many of them considerably younger than Ren had been when he had learned.

“Most angels do, like when they learn to walk and talk. But I’ve had this bracelet on pretty much since birth, and I wasn’t allowed to remove it. It was accidentally pulled off once, and that caused some trouble. The first time I took it off myself was because Sakura wouldn’t leave me alone to see my wings and to fly with her. We got in some trouble for it, but that never stopped her from bitching about it constantly, and I always ended up giving in. After a while, Raz just stopped caring as long as I was at home.”

The girl spun to face the devil, thrilled at the prospect of flying with another. “I could fly with you! Since, you know, you can’t.”

Zero didn’t look so enthused. “That’s alright. You don’t need to.”

“But it’ll be fun!”

“I’d rather not.”

Ivy pouted at him, disappointed. “Why?”

The boy looked down at his meal, speaking quietly, a hint of dread in his tone. “I don’t like flying.”

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just playing hard to get,” Ren cooed to the devil as he walked towards him, arms opened, grin overtaking his face. “He loves it. He’s an angel, after all. It’s in his blood. Come on, let’s go play your favorite game.”

Zero’s head snapped up as his hand clutched the hilt of his katana, crimson narrowing in warning. “No.”

The angel tilted his head as his grin grew. “Oh, that’s a real, mean, serious look you have there. Are you planning on stabbing me, boy?”

“I am, and I’ll make it hurt as much as possible,” the devil’s voice eerily calm despite the trepidation in his eyes.

He dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand and a scowl. “You’ve changed. You used to be so much fun, but now you’re just moody and defiant all the time. I don’t know what your problem is, but I didn’t raise you to be like this.” He turned to the demon, his arms inviting a new guest. “You, on the other hand, I know you want to. Come here.”

Sakura glanced up at the man, her lips scrunching sideways as she considered the offer for a moment. Without a word, she quickly stuffed the remainder of her meal into her mouth before bounding to the man, flinging her arms around his shoulders as his wrapped around her waist and they launched into the air.

Ivy watched as they became a small dot before disappearing altogether. She went to Zero and sat next to him. “What game is he talking about?”

“He’s going to drop her,” he told the girl as he released the hilt before passing her a bowl and returning to his meal, relieved to still be on solid ground.

She looked back into the sky, shocked. “From way up there?”

The boy nodded, well aware of what was transpiring beyond what they could see. “Yeah. He’ll take her up to where the air is so thin you can barely breathe, and then he’ll drop her before catching her right before she hits the ground. Sometimes, he sneaks up behind me and does it. Says it’s his favorite game, and that him and Sakura used to play it all the time. I hate it. It makes me sick.”

“Oh,” her voice small, not knowing exactly what else to say. She wanted to learn how to fly, but she didn’t want to fall. Hopefully, Ren wouldn’t ever do the same thing to her.

Hopefully…

Ren...

Ivy turned to Zero, completely fear stricken. “Do you think…”

“No,” he answered confidently, taking another bite. “If it had ever been so much as a possible interesting option to him, then he would already have done it. And he would have faced the consequences.”

“Consequences?”

“Sakura.”

The girl nodded, relieved with the knowledge that she was safe.

Zero looked up towards the sky. “It should be about now.”

Within seconds, they watched as the man and woman became visible, their bodies plummeting, the sound of her giggles and enraptured screams cutting through the air. The pair fell past the trees at the far end of the clearing before ebony engulfed red, dirt and rocks shooting around from the force of Ren’s wings as the two erupted back into the sky to do it all over again.

“I see why it makes you sick.” Ivy stared into the endless blue. “It looks terrifying.”

Zero went back to his supper, having witnessed the game long enough. “It is.”

“Well,” She chirped with a smile. “At least they’re enjoying themselves. They certainly were made for each other.”