Fallen from Grace

Chapter VII

Eleanora lay sleeping in her bed as she had been out for quite some time the previous day. It end up that they had spent nearly five hours at Walmart, getting him everything that he needed from there. After lunch, they didn't have time to go check out some furniture or buy him clothes as it was getting pretty late. So they decided to continue their shopping sprees the next day.

Eleanora had it all planned out. She'd wake up at 8, have a nice breakfast in peace, get ready and then go to the store with Apollyon by 10. They'd buy him clothes, shoes, and other necessities from there, and it would be a lengthy process, but they should be done by 4 p.m maximum. After the clothes, they'd go to Ikea and pick out furniture for his apartment, then by the time they'd be done with that, it would be dinner time. So they would have dinner outside and then head back home.

Yeah...that was the plan.

Only if it had worked out the way she wanted to.

Instead of waking up at 8, as she had hoped for, she was woken up by jumping on her bed. Cracking open an eye, she made out a blurry figure jumping. Groaning, she buried her face in the pillow.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" He sang while jumping.

"Shut up!" Eleanora yelled back at him as he stopped jumping and sat on her bed with a bounce. "What do you want?!"

"Come on! Wake up!" He urged. "I want to take you somewhere."

"Apollyon..." She groaned in annoyance. "The sun isn't even up and you want me to do what now?"

"I want you to..." He trailed as he stood at the foot of her bed, grabbing hold of her feet and pulling her off it as she shrieked in fright. "Get up and get dressed. We're going out."

"Go to hell!" Eleanora yelled at him angrily from her place on the cold wooden floor.

"Been there." He spoke smugly. "The Devil didn't like me and spat me out. Oh wait! I am the Devil!"

Eleanor glared at him as the excitement on his face vanished into thin air, almost as if though it were a facade. "Hey, it's not my fault that friends go out for late night 'adventures'. I am just holding my end of the bargain. After all I'm-"

"-Bound by contract!" Eleanora spoke through gritted teeth "I know!"

Standing up from the floor, she dusted off her plaid pajamas before making her inside her washroom, locking the door behind her as Apollyon looked at her back in confusion. Had he said something wrong?

Eleanora stood leaning against her washroom door, trying hard not to let the tears fall as she wondered what she had gotten herself into? Her only friend is the freaking Devil and is only tolerating her because he is bound by contract. Eleanora was sure that if he could, he would have left her a long time ago. He couldn't feel the things she felt and he couldn't see the things she saw. He was a fallen angel and just stuck with her because he was bound by contract.

Wiping away the tears, she washed her face before getting changed. Soon she stepped out in denim jeans with multiple layers beneath her woolen sweater. Pulling on her snowboots, she wrapped her scarf around her neck before wearing her beanie and gloves, followed by her fluffy winter jacket. Sniffling she turned towards Apollyon, who stood leaning against her window.

"Let's go." She spoke monotonously while grabbing her phone.

"You don't seem too excited." He noted.

"If you want to go, then let's go." She spoke in exasperation. "I'm ready, so you don't have to wait any longer."

He seemed like he wanted to contradict her statement, but thought better of it. He stuffed his hands into his famous leather jacket's pockets as he looked down at his laced biker boots. "I hope you don't mind walking?"

"Whatever." She muttered under her breath as she made her way out her room than the apartment, slamming the door shut in his face as she knew that he was going to apparate to the entrance.

As she stepped into the freezing cold of the Canadian October air, she knew that it was only going to get worse in the coming months. She blew out a breath as it fogged up in front of her. Looking up she noticed Apollyon standing in front of her a few feet away. She shivered as she noticed the inadequate clothes he was wearing. Simple dark wash denim jeans with a graphite gray full sleeved shirt and his leather jacket.

"Poor Anthony." She muttered under her breath as she knew that Apollyon didn't feel the cold. "Where to?"

He gestured towards their left as they started to walk in that direction. They walked in silence as Eleanora tried hard to prevent herself from chattering her teeth as she stuffed her hands deeper into her pocket. It was October, and the cold was nothing compared to what was coming, but she felt colder than most.

"Where are we going?" She asked, trying hard to not let the quiver in her voice be heard.

"There is a place not far from here that has a nice view of the sunrise." Apollyon admitted. "I thought we could go and check it out."

"You do realize that you can see the sunrise from the top of the apartment complex, right?" She inquired with narrowed eyes as she came to a halt a few steps away from him.

"I know." He nodded. "But it is more clearer from the hill." Eleanora closed her eyes and tilted her head back as she looked at the dark sky that loomed over them.

"A sunrise from the hill." She chuckled humorously to herself and shook her head at herself. Without saying anything she started to make her way ahead again. Walking silently beside Apollyon, who was once more looking around them at the silent street at 3 a.m in the morning.

They soon arrived at the hill that Apollyon had mentioned. They trekked up, and the early morning exercise had Eleanora feeling warm again. After a while they made it to the top of the hill as there was a solitary bench beneath a large withering apple tree that had a view of their town.

Breathing out a labored breath, Eleanora stood with her hands on her hips as she tried to calm her breathing. Now she remembered why she preferred flat running over sloping tracks, it was hard work. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was only time until it did. Eleanora sat down on the bench after dusting away the stray leaves while Apollyon chose to lean against the apple tree beneath which she sat.

"What happens to you if you break a deal?" Eleanora inquired as she watched the sky lighten bit by bit.

"To me?" He confirmed as he looked out at the horizon. "Well, nothing major can happen to me. I can't be killed and if I break a deal, then I get weakened temporarily, other than that nothing else."

"Why? Do you want to get rid of me?" He asked jokingly.

"Yes." She turned away from the sky and looked down at her feet. "I feel like I am being unfair with you. You never wanted this, and I did. Friendship isn't created by deals, and it most definitely isn't 'bound by contract'. If I want to be your friend, then it's the right way. Not like this."

Apollyon looked at her silently. He would never understand humans, and especially not the white haired ones.

"So, how do I break the deal?" She inquired while sniffling, her eyes glassy with tears.

"There is one thing that I haven't told you." He spoke softly. "If you break the deal, your soul will be returned to you. But you will have no memory of me whatsoever."

"And...I don't want you to forget me." He whispered softly, looking down at his feet, a habit he picked up from Anthony. "I can deal with the others forgetting me, but not with you forgetting me. You are the only human in the world who would sell their soul to become the Devil's friend. The Devil, Eleanora. King of Hell. Betrayer of Heaven. Rebel."

"You were an angel." She retaliated in defiance. "An Angel of Heaven. An Archangel of God!"

"I was! Past tense." Apollyon contradicted. "I've become soft towards you humans. The last deal I made with a human was in 1492. And I have been down in Hell since then. I was so tired of that place, the constant torturing of souls, I was tired of it all. Even if I was bitter towards the humans, it didn't mean that I didn't want to get out of my prison."

"Since I rebelled against Heaven, I am not allowed to walk on Earth without a purpose." He spoke even softer now. "I just wanted to get out of there, and you were my way to."

"I just wish...I wish that circumstances were different, Eleanora."

But now...Now I wish that I was human and you and I met at a grocery store. I wish I asked you for your number and you wrote it down on my arm. I wish we could go on our first date and talk about ourselves. I wish we could kiss on the front porch of your house. I wish we could watch a movie for our second date and snuggle while watching it. I wish I could invite you inside. I wish I'd wake up next to you every single day of my life. I wish we could be together like humans are allowed to. I wish we hadn't met due to a deal. I wish I didn't have to chose your safety over my life. I wish...I wish circumstances were different.