forum It's Not What We Expected (OxO Closed)

Started November 12, 2019 by @Oakiin

tune

Nathaniel bit his lip at the pain, shaking harder at the uncomfortable feeling of his arteries and veins and tendons trying to knit themselves together. Soon after Bal pulled away, Nathaniel collapsed onto the leaves again.

"Oh sh-" Bal followed him, crouching in the leaves and gently prodding him. "Are you…alive?"

Nathaniel didn't respond, his face drained of color and his eyes closed. Though he was unresponsive, the shaky rise and fall of his chest told Bal that he was, at the very least, alive.

Bal breathed a sigh of relief, then half-picked up the angel and awkwardly dragged him into the shelter of the cedar. It was much warmer there with the two of them hidden under the low branches.
Hopefully he'll wake up again soon, Bal worried. He'd done his best, and he could only hope it would be enough.

Nathaniel huddled closer to him in his unconscious state, still shivering. After about ten minutes, he finally started to come to. He blinked his eyes open and blearily looked up at the demon. He was too disoriented to be afraid at the moment.

Bal, who had already been exhausted before trying to heal an angel, had started to doze, unaware that the angel had woken up.

He couldn't bother caring who this was or that he could easily be killed. He was freezing, and hell if he wasn't going to try and get warm. He could always pretend to be asleep if Bal noticed, anyways. Nathaniel curled closer to Bal, tucked under the other's arm for warmth.

The motion woke Bal, and he looked over at the angel before giving him a prod.
"Hey, you awake?" he hissed. "Don't lie, either, because there are still a lot of questions I have for you."
He didn't add that he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to, he didn't want to be seen as weak.

"Mmmmmm…" Nathaniel groaned softly, reluctantly opening his eyes to look up at Bal again. His coppery cloud of hair fell into his eyes a bit, and in this position, he lost any amount of intimidation he might've had before. He was just small and helpless at this point.

"Come on," Bal said, prodding him again. He didn't feel threatened, and that was relief enough, but he now needed to make sure this angel would survive.
"I can tell you're awake," he said, taking a 50/50 shot of a guess. "I'm not going to hurt you," he added, softening his tone a little.

Nathaniel turned his eyes up to Bal, the blue caught by the cold light for a moment. His crooked wings hung limp on the ground behind him, and he seemed both curious and uneasy. He wished he were any condition to protect himself so the demon wouldn't think he was so useless and weak, but he could barely move at the moment. Looking into Bal's eyes, though, he felt sort of strange… good strange, he thought, but it was still quite a weird feeling.

Bal shifted uncomfortably under the angel's gaze, trying to ignore the strange feeling coming over him. He put it down to how awful he must look: deep shadows under his eyes from not sleeping for days on end, scratches covering his face and hands, his hair messy and tangled.
At least my wings are safely out of sight, he thought to himself grimly. Even though this angel's wings were similarly crippled, he couldn't bring himself to show his own.
"What's your name?" he settled for asking instead.

"I… N-Nathaniel…" He replied quietly. Honestly, Bal's disheveled appearance had a sort of rugged charm to it that strangely drew Nathaniel in. Nathaniel's own hair seemed unkempt, and there were smudges of dirt and blood on his hands and cheeks. His crooked wings had feathers sticking out at awkward angles at the moment, while they were usually kept as neat as possible. Nevertheless, Nathaniel still seemed to be trying to preserve some of his dignity.

"Balimaus," he muttered in response. He looked the angel over, realizing they both had seen better days and shook his head slightly.
"Where did you get that injury?" he asked shortly, glancing away.

"Mm… bit." He said weakly, laying his head back down on Bal's shoulder. "Small dragon or something of the like… pretty sure I've got a broken rib or two."

Bal looked down in surprise. "Dragon?" He shook his head. "I heard a rumor they were escaping Hell. I wonder what the humans think. Can't you heal yourself? Most angels can."
He said that last part hesitantly, not wanting to offend. He didn't know that much about angels, and didn't really want to make assumptions.

"Uh…" Nathaniel glanced back at his crumpled wings. "I think I tend to heal generally faster than humans, but not necessarily better…" He crossed his arms tightly over his chest, still shivering quite a bit. He winced as he pressed against the broken ribs.

(aayyy, I'm back, thanks so much for waiting for me!)

"Oh," Bal said, sitting back slightly. He fell silent, not sure what else to say. This was the first angel who hadn't turned him away in anger or denial. It was weird to be having a conversation like this after so long; he hadn't even seen any demons in a while. He looked away, keeping his face blank. Was this angel the supposed one? He had no idea, and had even less idea how he felt about that idea. This whole situation was beyond frustrating.

(No problem!)
Nathaniel lay his head back on Bal's shoulder with a soft sigh, looking exhausted and weak even after sleeping. "I-I'm sorry…" He murmured weakly. "I'm sure this wasn't what you were hoping to find when you walked into the forest yesterday."

(Thanks! ^^)

Bal shrugged, looking away in embarrassment. "Not sure what I was hoping for," he muttered darkly. "Not sure what there is to hope for anymore."

"Hey… It's not like that." Nathaniel looked up at Bal again. "There's plenty to hope for. There's… uh… love! And… and adventure! And freedom! …Right?"

"Really," Bal said flatly. "That does sound like something an angel would say."
He didn't mean for the words to come out as sharply as they did, and he winced, cursing himself internally. Just because he was feeling down, didn't mean he wanted to push a way a potential friend.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

Nathaniel winced a bit at Bal's reply. "No, no… It's fine. I'm just being naive." He sighed softly. "I mean, I know deep down that there's little hope left, but part of me wants to pretend that there is something to hope for. Life is quite a drag otherwise."

Bal supposed he was right, but didn't voice the thought. He shook is head.
"Well, you said it," he said. "Since that stupid Call, we do have one thing to look forward to. Love." He said the word mockingly, looking away in disgust.
If truth were to be told, he was more frightened by the prospect than he was angry at it. Love didn't exist in Hell, and he'd forgotten long, long ago what it was like to be loved. It was as foreign to him as Heaven.