OTA

[whispersoflove]

Coby wasn't home, and hadn't left a note for him, so Anael was walking through the streets of London to get to Alcuin's home, enjoying the chill in the air, the way his breath fogged on the way out, the ebb and flow of love in the hearts around him. Hands in his jacket pockets, he paid no mind to the odd looks he occasionally received for wearing nothing but a denim jacket over a t-shirt in this weather.

It began as an itch in his back, a barely there scratch where his wings would be. He did not think much of it, only shifting his shoulders the way he normally did when the urge to let them out came over him. But then the itch burrowed deeper, and increasingly hotter, until it was more of a burn than anything else, and his lungs were alive with it.

He'd hurried into a side street with little foot traffic and leaned against a wall there, his breathing short and heavy. He tried to cloak himself, but he couldn't keep a hold on the miracle through the pain he was so unused to, and he collapsed to his knees as he heard words in a rough language that scraped against every fiber of his being, a language of Hell. His wings wouldn't come out and he folded to his side on the wet ground, seeing shadows on the other side of the street. They were all saying the words, out loud and right into his mind, and one of them came forward, a pair of boots stopping right in front of him. They pulled his t-shirt collar down and drew a symbol between his collarbones, their fingers red with - blood? The symbol felt like it was searing into his flesh. Anael cried out, physically as much as spiritually, praying out to God with all of his being.

The words ceased suddenly, pain abating slightly, and the dark figures dispersed as someone ran over to him.

Comments

[akatawitch]

It... ended up being a nicer conversation than Sunny had expected, though she didn't know if she really understood the difference between Anglican and Catholic at the end of it. But she nodded as though she had and, when she could do it naturally she excused herself, looked around a bit, and then joined Anael.

She did not pray. She hadn't prayed in years.

But now seemed like the time to ask, in a low voice, "What happened?"

[whispersoflove]

Anael lowered his hands and sat back on the bench, eyes opening to look at the altar at the front of the church. "I don't know who they were," he answered in a whisper. "But they used a language of Hell to bind me to this flesh. I'm stuck here, for now."

[akatawitch]

Sunny's eyes went enormous as she tried to grasp the implications of that, and all she really knew was that she certainly didn't--and probably couldn't--understand them all.

"Oh God," she whispered.

[whispersoflove]

"I have been praying to Them," Anael confirmed. "But it might be a trial I am to resolve on my own." A pause, and a slight frown. "Without Their help, anyway." He turned to Sunny then, and tugged down the hem of his t-shirt, so that she might see the mark. "Can you feel it? What it is they've done to me?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny had never seen a mark like that before, but it was almost as though she could hear it whispering to her, not unlike when she'd first encountered Nsibidi as a child. Curious fingers reached out to touch it gingerly...

And that was enough. She pulled her hand back with a hiss at the sheer evil in that mark. "Yes."

[whispersoflove]

Anael saw her reaction, but forced himself to ask, "I am sorry to ask you this, Sunny. But do you think there is any way you might help me... unmake it?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny bit her lip and considered that mark. "I don't know if I'm in the same league as something like this. I can try, though." She wished deeply in that moment for Orlu. Orlu could undo anything... or at least he always had.

But hadn't she sent Ekwensu back into the wilderness once? She wasn't a powerless child.

[whispersoflove]

"Thank you," Anael told her honestly. "But please be careful. I would not want it to taint you, Sunny."

[akatawitch]

"I know," she murmured, looking at the glyph again. "Do you know what it means?"

[whispersoflove]

"Would you take a picture of it and show me?" Anael asked. As it was, he could not see it himself, only feel it, and its hold on all of him.

[akatawitch]

Sunny pulled out her phone, took a picture of the glyph, and when satisfied that it was clear she showed it to him.

[whispersoflove]

Like most languages of Hell, this one was a distorsion of an Angelic glyph. As such, Anael could recognise it, if vaguely. "It looks like a glyph for unity, only... corrupted," he stated, fingers coming to rub over the mark, as if it might evaporate, or at the very least cleanse itself.

[akatawitch]

"Unity..." Sunny mused, considering the mark standing out angrily on Anael's skin. Unity corrupted.

She had an idea. She didn't think that it would work, but... "May I try something?"

[whispersoflove]

"If you think it's safe," Anael told her with a nod. He meant for her rather than him.

[akatawitch]

"I'm not sure, really," she said. "I don't know what it is I'm up against. But I suppose... what I'm really trying to do is find out. Make me stop if it hurts."

Sunny reached out a finger and traced a symbol of her own on top of the one on his collarbone, a Nsibidi word. Like all Nsibidi, it could be read in a few ways. The most common ones were 'unity' and more importantly 'love.'

She began chanting softly in Igbo, in effect trying to scrub out this mark with her own. But to her magical senses, it was like trying to move a brick wall. This was a magnitude of power that would take preparation and work.

And help.

[whispersoflove]

It did not hurt, on the contrary. While it did nothing to the glyph itself, it spread a warmth through Anael that was enough like his Grace that it helped, a lot. There was strength in her magic, and it invigorated him - until the discreet cough of the priest nearby, watching them with a slight frown, had him lean away from Sunny and rearrange his t-shirt as he got to his feet. "Sorry," he told the priest in a whisper, and held his hand out to Sunny so they would leave the church together.

[akatawitch]

Sunny refused to blush at realizing they'd been caught out, but at least her knife hadn't been out, but refusing only got her so far and her cheeks went pink as she got to her feet and took Anael's hand.

[whispersoflove]

"May God be with you," Anael told the priest with a kind smile, then turned to go with Sunny. "I'm sorry, I should've paid more attention," he apologised once they were outside, and out of earshot. "Your magic surprised me."

[akatawitch]

"Is that bad?" Sunny asked almost shyly. She honestly wasn't sure what that meant.

[whispersoflove]

"Not at all," Anael assured her, looking entirely better - by comparison - than he had just a short while ago. "No, it was... lovely. Warm and bright, like something loved and cherished."

[akatawitch]

Sunny's cheeks flushed bright pink. "Um. I'm glad I could help. If not exactly in the way I intended."

[whispersoflove]

"And I'm thankful," Anael replied with a warm smile. "Do you think there might be something to be done on your end?"

[akatawitch]

"I'm all right," she assured him almost reflexively. "But I don't know how to fix this."

[whispersoflove]

"Thank you, for trying," he told her, and squeezed her hand. "And for interrupting them."

[akatawitch]

Sunny ducked her head, lowering her eyes shyly. "You've been very good to me when I've needed you," she said. "I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't done anything."