Love My Angel of Death

Posted on Wed Feb 16th, 2022 @ 12:24am by Watch Leader Frederick Hollywood

Mission: The Factions
Location: Florida
Timeline: 2030's

The old man was in his chair outside on the porch. It smelled of old smoke and cigars. Less people smoked out here than when he was younger, but they changed the ashtrays less because of that. Through his long white matted hair the frail man could see the television light through the window when the pain shot through him. It felt like an elephant had sat on his chest and his breath would only come in gurgles.As he took one final breath so many thoughts raced through his mind. Would he see his loved ones again? Was it all a big joke?

The woman walked through the sliding glass door behind him. The nurse that was supposed to be keeping an eye on him had stepped away for a break to call her husband. When she put her small hand on the old man’s shoulder he suddenly reached for her and looked up.

With a strange smile on his face she remembered from long ago he said. “I was hoping they would send you.”

At that moment Aryel’s world began to crumble.

-----

As Aryel hopped and skipped down the street she laughed and giggled in her usual way greeting the denizens of The City of Brass. The small air elemental was looking for her friends. She was hoping to go see what the tiny earth elementals had been up to. Sometimes Aryel and her friends would play small tricks on them. Like making things move near them. They did this with the best of intentions believing it gave them something to contemplate on other than standing guard for all eternity.

Suddenly The Golden Child could hear a voice cry out from down the road just a ways. “Aryel! Aryel!” When the darker haired imp Wyndi came to a stop just in front of Aryel she could not contain her excitement. She held out a golden scroll. “You got the job Aryel! You get to go to Earth!”

Aryel cracked open the scroll case and read quickly. It had been so long since she had asked to work with the Celestials that she believed her request had been denied or maybe she just wasn’t needed. She was hoping to try and get out and see the world and maybe move up a bit in power so that someday she could be remembered for something. The scroll informed her that she was to watch over a young boy. In further detail, the message explained she would be the boy's first friend. Aryel smiled then showed Wyndi her best friend the letter.

“Will you be gone long?” The bronzed skin mephit made an almost comical pouting face.

Aryel wasn’t sure at all. One imagined a job like that could last a long time.

-----

The Celestials had given Aryel an apartment just across the parking lot from the boy she was supposed to meet. The idea was her parents would never be home. The story there would be that they worked long hours. She had been given a human form. One quite fitting for the early seventies anyway. Her room was filled with all the things a girl her age would want from a castle doll house to a giant stuffed bear. They also assured her that if she needed something it would likely be in the house but as she wouldn’t need much most of that was for her charges sake.

When she stepped outside early Saturday morning she saw a golden haired boy looking at her. She recognized him from the picture they had shown her but he caught her a bit off guard because of the way he looked her over and the strange lights in his eyes.

The small blonde boy put his hands on his head and asked. “Hello, who are you?” His voice was filled with warmth.

Aryel smiled back at him and put her hands on her hips. Not really sure what to do with them at that moment. “My name is Aryel what’s yours?”

“Frederick...” The boy leaned a bit to one side. “So you are watching cartoons or something?”

Aryel turned around to see what Frederick was looking at. That moving picture box they had told her about was turned on and some sort of moving artwork was showing. “Yea I guess I am!” She said cheerfully and also took the hint. “Would you like to come in and watch with me, Frederick?”

As they watched The Superfriends, Aryel learned just how much young Frederick loved his super heroes. He would talk about them during the commercials in great detail. He even had some sort of pecking order in his head.

During one of those commercials he had gotten up while talking and after finding out the young girl hadn’t eaten breakfast. He poured two bowls of cereal for them and put them out on the coffee table. “Wow, your parents really bought some fancy cereal.”

“I do love all the bits of colored rice. Your Mother doesn’t buy this kind?” She wondered why they had put out a kind he didn’t know.

“Oh no. She only buys the good for you kind. If I am lucky she gets granola sometimes or makes pancakes. This is really yummy though.” He ate the cereal like it was a high dollar steak. Savoring the flavors and sugar.

Aryel laughed. “If you want sometime I can make pancakes for you. Sometimes I put bananas in them.” In hindsight making pancakes in the human world was far harder and more messy than she had planned.

Frederick nodded his hair bouncing around a bit. “Sure that would be great!” Frederick always loved to eat. So the idea of pancakes really did sound great.

When the cartoons finished in the afternoon Aryel asked, “So what should we do now?”

Frederick thought for a moment. “Do you have any toys or games?”

The little blonde girl took his hand and led him to her room and opened the door.

Frederick’s hazel eyes lit up and he smiled when he saw the biggest stuffed animal he had ever seen. “Oh my god! That is so huge! It is the size of a real bear!” After a moment he looked around the fantasy land and finally looked back at his new friend with a smile. Then he ran over to the bear and patted it on the head with a wild look in his eye. “So Princess Aryel, this is your trusty steed.” Then he held out his arms. “He will take you all through the kingdom and defend you from evil doers.” Then the boy pointed at the castle. “We live in the magic castle of course. It is filled with all kinds of secrets and magic, but outside of it are grave dangers that your bear will have to defend us from.”

Aryel had never heard anyone talk quite like that. The strangest part was for some reason she could see the things he was telling her about. Herself, dressed as a princess. Him, being a brave knight. The bear, her mount to go about the kingdom with.

This is how she spent every day with him from that point onwards. Days bled into weeks and they would spend most of that time alone in the house. Sometimes they would just sit in the closet. Like they had been trapped by strange creatures. Having to ration food and heat and even light to stay alive. In a way for Aryel it was like being back in The City of Brass. She felt like being around Frederick was like being at the doorway to strange worlds. It was lovely. In fact he seemed like the best friend she could ever hope for.

Until the day came when he leaned over and kissed her gently and told her how much he loved her. Aryel had never known love in the way humans thought of it, but Frederick took her hand and squeezed it. He whispered, “Will you be my princess forever and ever Aryel?” She wanted to be his princess so very much. She even nodded to him when he asked, but there was another feeling that was plaguing her. A feeling she could only call dread.

Aryel found out quickly that night what that ill feeling was about. The Celestials took her away from her little home and told her that she had broken some kind of rule for guardians. Something about not falling in love with charges. They wiped parts of her memory and his.

In Frederick’s case he would never forget the little girl from down the lane with her champion “Ursa Major.” He would never remember until the day he died the first time what her name had been.

-----

“You remember me don’t you?” Frederick squeezed the blonde woman’s hand. “You look exactly the same as the last time I saw you.” His old tired eyes searched hers trying to find a common ground.

What did this man see in her? She was just supposed to take him to the afterlife and be done with it. Suddenly Aryel remembered her time working as a healer for The City of Brass.

-----

Working as a healer for The Celestials had its ups and downs, but for the most part Aryel liked it because she normally got to help people. Quite often it was to save someone's life who somehow had tempted fate.

When they pushed the gurney into the ambulance Aryel could see this guy was in real rough shape. His skin was very pale and he was sweating so hard it was showing through a black shirt. He looked at her. She could tell he wasn’t long for this world, but that was what she was there for. With a little push from her, he would have just enough strength to make it through the day.

Just as she reached for him to start healing the man’s heart he took her hand in both his and sat up a little looking her right in the eye. “You are very beautiful you know and thank you for being here.” There was something horrible in the way he said it. Like deep down in the tone of his voice. “Also your hand feels very warm.” It was also like he knew that could have been his last day. She asked him in a voice that to the sick man sounded like the voice of an angel, “So can you say your name for me?”

“Frederick Hollywood.”

------

“You do remember I can see it.” The old man holding her hand in a warm embrace took a breath. Frederick had only pieced it together himself as his life had flashed before his eyes and he could see how many times the blonde girl had floated in and out of his life.

Aryel felt sad and guilty that they had missed a lifetime together. Worse yet by the look on Frederick’s face she was guessing something terrible had been done to him. It felt so bad to her that she didn’t dare ask. Worse yet she could see something else on his face. Something that might even keep him from moving on in the right direction. “What is the matter? The race is over now Fred, you can come home.”

He told her about all of his regrets and dreams. To him the world had always seemed filled with an infinite amount of things he wanted to do but never could.

Aryel knew there were special circumstances just for moments just like this. “What if you had one more day? Would that help?”

Before he could answer they both heard a loud booming voice from on high. “Granted!”

The creature of air felt a sudden change inside herself and just hoped she wouldn’t lose her friend again.

-----

Aryel woke up and looked about the strange forest and looked over at the man laying next to her. “How did you say I got here Frederick?”

“Oh, that’s easy. I summoned you.”