15 | pisces

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"WHAT THE- STELLA?!"

Axel barely recognizes the terror in his voice, nearly dropping his phone as his eyes widen in sheer panic.

Before he knows it, his legs carry him towards the railing- the railing that she had just-

Something whooshes past him, just as he leans over the railing to see where she had jumped- making him lean back, startled. Something almost resembling a big bird, with magnificent wings and-

For the hundredth time in her presence, Axel finds his jaw-dropping.

Apart from the distinct sunshine gold of her hair, there was a different shade of gold that met his eyes, altogether. A shade that blended with feathers that were white as snow, a shade that glowed like rays of the sun,

A shade of gold, like ichor, only fit for the pair of gleaming wings resting on her shoulders.

An angel.

A real, heavenly being- standing, no flying- in front of his own eyes- with glorious wings flapping in the air and a hand extended in his direction to help.

"Come on," she whispers gently, but her words carry a hint of urgency.

"You-" Axel swallows the lump in his throat, which was suddenly dry for reasons that he couldn't tell, "You are an angel."

"That's very kind of you to say," Stella offers him a soft smile that's nearly teasing before glancing at the door behind him, that was seconds away from being torn off its hinges- the feathers on her wings ruffling in the light breeze.

"Come on," she urges, stretching her hand further towards him, "We need to get out of here- Bea's nearly on the roof-"

"You-" Axel stutters again, tucking his gun back in as his eyes rake her glowing figure in awe, "You're a real angel, I didn't- I didn't imagine it-"

"I know," she rushes out frantically, her eyes widening in a plea, "but we can talk about this later. Your life is in danger- come on Axel."

"I-"

"Oh, for the love of stars," she mutters angrily, before she reaches out, and curls her fingers around his wrist.

Axel inhales sharply, as a zing of energy runs down his spine.

This time, he knows he isn't something he conjured in his mind. Everything about her was real. Everything he remembered; wasn't something make-believe- because they were tingles of real energy, like electricity on his skin.

Gleaming green eyes hold his appalled grey ones firmly, but he can't seem to snap out of the whole revelation.

"Hold tight," she whispers, glancing back at the door for a split second, before turning her determined gaze upward.

He blinks. "Wh-?"

Without warning, she takes off, into the air.

Axel nearly lets out a very un-manly screech, as the ground beneath his feet disappears. His fingers wind around her wrist just as tight, looking at the ground below with wide eyes, as it seemed to get further and further away.

He half expects Stella to drop him, but she only soars upwards as if he were as light as a feather- her wings of white and gold, gleaming with every powerful flap. The wind whips through his hair and clothes, whistling in his ear, and the higher they get, the louder and closer do the helicopter blades sound.

Just as they near the roof of the tall building, the cold fingers around his wrist loosen their grip, and before a semblance of dread can make itself known, a gentle push has him tumbling onto the roof clumsily.

A pair of feet land next to him, as he rolls a couple of times before coming to a stop.

"You couldn't have landed gently?" he splutters, his mind still in its daze- clouded with disbelief.

"We don't have time," her voice mutters next to him.

The whirring of the helicopter sounds closer than ever, and as Axel lifts his head off the ground- he can see it hovering right above their heads.

"Come on," she says sharply, before cold fingers wrap around his wrist, tugging him along.

"Wh-" Axel sputters again, as he straightens, looking at Stella's back in shock, "What the- where did your wings go?!"

"Not now, Axel, run already-"

The sound of gunshots, that fills the air once more has him finally snapping to his senses, though the shock and disbelief in his mind linger.

His own warm hand wraps around hers, as he forces his feet to move and keep up with her running.

Their eyes meet Bea's wide ones behind the glass of the chopper that was now landing a few meters away from them, as she stares at them with a low hanging jaw.

"AM I TRIPPING," she yells, past the loud mechanical humming, "OR DID STELLA JUST HAVE A PAIR OF FUCKIN' WINGS?"

"OH, YOU BET SHE FUCKIN' DID," Axel assures her loudly with a sarcastic chuckle.

"HOW'D THEY DISAPPEAR THEN?" Bea exclaims, glancing at the woman- no, angel, beside him in shock, as they clamber onto the seats behind her.

"Fuck if I know," Axel glances at Stella, who was rolling her eyes at both of them, before he turns back to Bea, "Get us out of here-"

As if they hadn't already had enough bad luck, the door on the roof bursts open.

Kyrell Blackwood saunters right out, a gun in his hands, and a wickedly smug, victorious smirk on his face. Men begin to pile out onto the roof from behind him and his eyes gleam in challenge as he takes in the helicopter that was just about off the ground-

-and then, for the first time, he sees Bea.

The expression drops right off his face.

At the exact same moment, Bea whirls around from where she was facing Axel and Stella to face him.

Their eyes meet.

Kyrell's expression falters even more at that as his eyes widen and his hands still, while Bea herself freezes at the sight of him.

"Oh no," she whispers.

The men continue to flood out from behind him like ants, with their guns drawn- all pointing towards the helicopter, but Kyrell just stands there. Looking at her like he can't believe she's in front of his eyes.

Axel could tell by the way all of their arms tensed, and from the way they readied their feet in position- that they were going to be bombarded by bullets in seconds.

But the man standing in front of them, still staring at Bea like he wasn't sure if she was a figment of his imagination, raises a hand.

They can't hear what he says over all the noise, but even in the distance, they can read his lips.

Stand down.

His men spare him confused glances, but he still has their back to them, as he continues- with his eyes still on her.

Don't shoot.

Bea inhales sharply from in front of them.

"He-" her whisper sounds distraught, "He doesn't want to-to kill me?"

Those words are what make Axel snap out of it.

"Bea," he murmurs, "Bea- he's letting us go, get us the hell out of here- what are you waiting for?"

She doesn't respond.

"Bea!" he hisses again, leaning forward so that he can see the side of her face, "What are y-"

A tear slides down her cheek.

He pauses, the words dying down in the back of his throat- as his eyes widen.

His eyes find their way back to Kyrell, who still stands there- staring at the chopper they were in- with the same look of heartbreak on his face.

The men behind him, the ones he had ordered to hunt them down- now looked like they didn't know what to do either. Their eyes darted between each other, and their boss- who had now suddenly withdrawn an order that had only caused so much chaos already, for apparently no reason?

"Bea," this time, it's Stella who speaks, as she reaches forward to place a hand on her shoulder, "We need to get out of here."

Maybe it's something about her touch, or something about a zing of energy that travels through her fingertips and down Bea's spine- because, in a blink, the woman in front of them straightens, hastily brushing the tear of her face.

All traces of any expression on her face were wiped clean off as if they were never there in the first place. Her eyes harden, and she grits her teeth- curling her arms around the control so tight that her knuckles turn white.

Kyrell Blackwood moves to take a step forward, closer to them. They still couldn't seem to tell what he was trying to say, but it was obvious.

Beatrix?

Bea's expression hardens even more. Dragging her gaze away from him, her fingers moving rapidly, as she jabs at random buttons on the control.

The blades of the chopper begin to whir faster again, as it begins to hover over the ground- lifting off, once more.

And even as the men behind Kyrell Blackwood stare incredulously at him and at the three who were now escaping, he doesn't move an inch.

Only, his eyes follow the helicopter, as it takes off into the air, far, far away from him, carrying the woman that still owned his heart.

For the first few minutes in the air, no one says a word.

Axel still has his fingers intertwined with Stella's, and despite the cold tingles running up his arms- despite the fact that a part of his mind constantly reverted to the feeling of her lips against his, he can only stare at Bea's back hesitantly.

He remembered what it was like when she came back from the Blackwood Mission.

The team had retrieved her from the pinged location, and he had instantly known something was wrong when he saw the haunted expression on her face when they brought her back.

When they left, and she was alone with him, all it had taken was a single look at him.

Then, she had broken down in his arms.

That was the only time he had ever seen her cry.

He had always thought it was because she felt terrible about failing. He thought it was because she hated failure, and this was the only time she had ever been caught.

She had always told them all that there were no feelings on her side.

And he had always believed her.

Even though he was her best friend, and even though he should have seen through the lie.

"I'm not sure it is wise to return to HQ," Stella speaks up, breaking the silence, "They can track one of their own choppers, and in all likelihood, he has men following us right now. Maybe, we should land somewhere near the hotel we were staying at, instead?"

"The hotel?" Bea's voice sounds monotonous, as she glances back at them briefly, "Right, what was it called again?"

"Ad Meliora, if I'm not wrong," Stella murmurs, glancing down at the buildings and civilization below them.

"Ad Meliora?" Bea repeats, completely butchering the pronunciation, much to Stella's dissatisfaction, "Ah, the fancy-ass building over there?"

"That's the one," Stella confirms, eyeing the large building that towered around the ones that surrounded it. "Right, Axel?"

Axel doesn't respond.

She turns to him, to see a deep thoughtful frown on his face.

Apart from what had just happened with Bea, what had happened earlier with Kyrell Blackwood didn't refuse to leave his mind.

Yes, the feeling of Stella's body pressed against his lingered, but Axel forced it away- because something more pressing was right in front of them.

Someone had tipped him off. Someone had told him they weren't who he thought they were, and as far as anonymous went- Axel knew that it wasn't as anonymous as it was hoped to be.

The traitor was still trying to kill them.

For some reason, as the big hotel building drew closer and closer, something about landing there made Axel uncomfortable.

While he had initially dismissed the suspicion, it had crawled its way back into his mind, in light of what had happened less than an hour ago.

It was odd that the hotel room had been booked for them, along with all the necessary things kept ready, even though it was never mentioned in the plan- even as a back-up.

Maybe he was being paranoid about it and looking too much into it- but he couldn't seem to shake it off.

Something about it didn't sit right with him.

"No," he says finally after a few seconds of contemplation, "Bea, no- don't go to the hotel. We'll return to HQ."

Stella throws him a puzzled glance, her fingers tightening around his in silent disagreement. "Isn't that unsafe?"

"No," he says firmly, looking into her eyes- not allowing his gaze to wander downward, "It's very unlikely that men are tailing us, especially after we were practically allowed to escape. Even if they are, we'd be able to handle it better from HQ."

Stella offers him a thoughtful nod, clearly not buying his reason completely. Maybe he was hoping too much, or thinking too much about it- but for a moment, he was almost certain that her eyes flickered downward towards his lips before she turned away.

"Alright," Bea says absentmindedly and quite obliviously, gently veering the helicopter in the opposite direction, "And you should probably call Boss now and tell him we're on our way,"

"I have a feeling he's going to be really mad."

"How did you let this happen?"

"You've got to be more specific," Bea says, having reverted to her old self almost effortlessly, "How did we let an over-excited dog knock Stella over again, or-"

"Beatrix, shut up," Corban admonishes, with a glare before he turns to Axel.

"How about you tell me what exactly happened," he says with a pointed look, glancing at Stella, "something that's believable too if you don't mind."

"You don't believe that Stella's an angel?" Axel sputters, "Even when Bea said it too?"

Corban rolls his eyes, before smacking his forehead and dragging his hand down his face.

"Can you both be serious for one moment, so that we can figure out where we went wrong?" he hisses, "Bea, all the intel we used for this mission was based on your spy work. How come we weren't aware of the new security upgrades?"

Axel winces at how insensitive the question is, especially with the new knowledge about the whole situation that he possessed before he intervenes on her behalf.

"Blackwood said that those security upgrades were recent," he tells Corban, "so there was no way we could have known about it. It was after Bea's mission."

Corban's eyes narrow in suspicion, as he glances at Bea- who had decided to stay quiet. "Is that so?"

She nods.

"Hmm," Corban says before his eyes widen again, "And Gale? How did you manage to lose a whole person? An agent, nonetheless?!"

"Our... comms were intercepted," Bea mutters dejectedly, "That's when we knew something was wrong. I tried to reach out to Gale first, to see if the issue was on our end, but I couldn't get to him."

"So, she reached to me through my earpiece instead," Stella speaks for the first time, lifting her eyes from the happy dog at her feet- who refused to leave her side. Marli had knocked her over as soon as she had seen Stella, and even when she was told to get off, she stayed at Stella's heel the whole time, tail-wagging and all.

"As soon as she told us about it, Blackwood told us about the anonymous tip and about the signals he found," Stella looks back down at the dog, "We made it out after that."

"Hmm," Corban says again, before lifting an eyebrow, "And what's all this about you being an angel?"

"They're kind words," Stella says with an innocent smile, "Truly kind words, thank you Bea, and thank you, Axel, I really-"

"Oh, shut up," Bea rolls her eyes, leaning back into the couch- surprisingly calm about the whole revelation- in contrast to Axel, who was constantly glancing at her as if she were some divine being. "You're going to show us your wings again, right?"

"What's that supposed to m-"

The door creaking open, instantly has all of them pausing.

The person standing behind the door seems startled at the sudden attention, as he clears his throat, awkwardly.

"Winston?" Axel says finally, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looks at the young man.

Winston. Stella tilts her head surveying the human.

That was the nervous-looking man who had been setting up her resting quarters for her, wasn't it?

"Mr. Fal- Sir," Winston says, his eyes darting across the room nervously, "Sorry to- to disturb, Sir."

"You good, Winnie?" Bea calls from where she was curled onto the couch, "You look a little pale."

He looked a lot worse than a little pale, Stella thought to herself. He looked like he had just seen a ghost if anything.

"I'm- I'm alright, Miss," Winston clears his throat, "It's- It's just that a man just arrived, and he's-he's sitting in the room outside."

"Man?" instantly, the three of them straighten in caution.

Great. As if they hadn't been through enough already.

"Who's the guy?" Axel questions, his hand automatically going to the gun concealed in his coat, as a deep scowl makes its presence known on his face.

"I don't know," Winston mumbles, his eyes darting around the room, "He-He says he's here for Miss Stella."

Three pairs of confused eyes dart to Stella.

"For me?" Stella looks just as muddled as everyone else in the room. "Did he say who he was?"

Winston clears his throat once more, clearly uncomfortable under their gazes.

"Yes," he says, before swallowing,

"He says he is your brother."

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