Violet entered her lab with all her bruises healed, but her clothes were torn and covered in blood. She wandered the place doggedly, then allowed herself to slam onto a wall with her shoulder and slowly slid to the floor.

Even alone, Violet felt the need to hide her face as she sniveled at her failure. She accepted her body’s request to let out tears but denied the request to blubber, no matter how powerful the urge was. Sobbing in front of Ezequias like a preschooler was enough showing of weakness for the entire year.

She wiped her tears and punched the wall until her knuckles bled and internalized her screams, pondering if she should’ve shared everything with Ezequias. But he was in no mood to listen. He didn’t even believe her when she declared he loved him…

Violet shuddered, and her chest ached like never before, having a violent mental battle with herself to get rid of the thought. It was a cruel joke. Being the master of the mind, and yet there she was, losing to her own. The mental image she’d cling onto to keep herself motivated—her and Ezequias, together, stopping the angels and their hellish actions—began to blur.

It was becoming less of a possible future and more of a fantasy.

Violet cried noisily and then started to punish herself for punching herself on the thigh. How the hell are you going to beat them if you cry over something like this? He doesn’t love you back, it’s fine! You can do it on your own! Don’t be weak! You can’t be weak!

Her consciousness’s critical voice wasn’t effective today. The more it demanded her to deny weakness, the more the urge grew to head over to her favorite ice cream shop in Winterberry and buy a bulk of Jen & Jenny’s biggest tubs.

And then find a quiet place somewhere. Where she could watch the seasons of Hospital General de Anita she had missed over the years as she would gobble the ice cream and update her list of favorite flavors.

Violet smiled sadly and looked over to the empty hospital bed.

It took a while for her to realize it wasn’t supposed to be empty. She sprung up and searched the room in a panic. Only then did she notice the draft in the room and looked over at the large window that even she forgot she was there sometimes. It was opened.

She stepped out into the coastal-decorated patio furnished chicly, and the view was obscured by gray-pink clouds. They were either high in the sky or in a Realm that lacked creativity.

Rachel was in her hospital gown, standing as still as a statue while barefoot in front of the patio’s railing. Her ash blonde curls had been released from their crown braid.

“Rachel… you’re up…” Violet said but could only see her from behind, focusing on her supermodel-worthy neck. “you shouldn’t be—”

“Hello, Violet,” Rachel said in a sharp voice without turning around.

“You’re not speaking Enochian anymore.” Violet slowed her pace as she got closer. “Are you okay?”

“Actually, I’m not, Violet. How could you deprive me of such a blessing?”

Violet halted and was standing just a few feet away from Rachel, but it felt like they were universes apart. She could sense that her Mana had changed into something powerful… something dangerous. “Rachel… you don’t understand,” she said, trying to get through to her. “I don’t know what Irin told you, but she tricked you!—”

“I asked for this, and you willingly tried to take it away from me. The blessing I earned. Now tell me….” Rachel turned around, revealing her golden-gray, sparkling eyes, and held up her hand—a gold, old-fashioned balance scale appeared over it. “How is that fair?”

Violet chose her words carefully. “Rachel… there is a lot of power coursing through your soul right now. I know it’s overwhelming, but you need to calm down—“

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN.”

Violet dropped to her knees. Whoever was talking back to her merely wore the face of Rachel Abery, drowning the original within her with an exorbitant amount of soul energy. As Violet tried to get up—

“I prohibit you from standing up while in my presence,” Rachel ordered, and a group of gray fireballs formed a ring behind her as the scale glowed.

Despite this, Violet tried to anyway and immediately regretted it.

Her eyeballs caught on fire.

“Do not defy what is just,” Rachel said sternly, watching Violet scream and writhe to her eyeballs melting and spill from her sockets like magma further burning away her cheeks. “I can feel… everything. You seem to be suffering from a broken heart, unfortunately, that does not excuse you from your crimes, Violet.”

Now eyeless, Violet urged while on her knees, “Rachel, this isn’t you! Whatever angel essence Irin fused within you is messing with your head. You have to fight it!”

“I’ve never felt more lucid in my life. I am Rachel of Irin’s Archangels, and you are a heathen that needs to be exterminated but also… in times’ past… a beloved friend of mine.” Rachel approached Violet and put her hand over her head.

Violet’s eyes returned, and her charred cheeks had been healed.

“I show thou clemency. However, the next time you show your face before me...” Rachel stepped back, made the scales disappear, and sprouted out her massive 3 pairs of wings. “I’ll treat you like the impure, Tainted trash you are.” Her wings were horrifically beautiful, with their defined golden-gray color and tiny eyes dotted all over them. They outsized Rachel’s body by a large margin, but somehow it still looked graceful.

The wings folded, covering her like a cocoon leaving only a small space for her eyes to look through. She took to the skies in a powerful thrust and vanished into the clouds.

Violet tried to look for her in the nimbus.

A week later, well after Christmas break was over. School was back in session, forcing kids to memorize mathematical formulas in the freezing cold.

The gang held their belated holiday party at the Infirmary.

In the waiting room, festive lights covered the white stone walls, a wreath was put over the colorful three-faced sun tapestry that hung over the golden wood altar, and a large, overly-decorated Christmas tree sat in the center of the room.

Upbeat music played from the multiple Bluetooth stereos sprawled around the waiting room, and a feast of Christmas-time snacks filled the trestle table and drinks.

Zeke was on his feet with a cup of eggnog in his hand, cozy in a red cardigan and plaid pants, and had a Santa beard clipped onto his face. He stopped by the carved sofa where Ugo (with his regular goofy face once again) and Nananiel were seated, each with a cup of eggnog.

Zeke eavesdropped on the two.

“Wait, so you’re telling me Julio murdered his father, who was actually his father’s twin, who happens to be Anita’s long-lost uncle?” An invested Ugo said to Nananiel.

“That’s exactly what I am saying, Ugo,” Nananiel, wearing his Burger Queen uniform, answered and reached for a snowflake-shaped cookie on the table.

Ugo, in his striped crewneck sweater, adjusted his Santa hat and finished his eggnog. “Daaang… this show sounds amazing! I kinda wished you didn’t spoil me so much about it though…”

“What’re you talking about? Everything I told you is just from the first episode!”

Ugo gasped.

Zeke walked away, smiling and shaking his head. He moseyed over to the timber counter near the doorless arched frame with even more snacks sprawled on it.

AJ towered over Aida, looking like a mother teaching her daughter as she passionately shared her healthy cooking techniques.

“Oh, does Winterberry have Japanese shops?” Aida asked as she looked up at AJ as if she was painting on the ceiling. The Infirmary’s new Geneticist wore a reindeer sweater and plaid shirt combo.

“I actually bought the momotaro tomato seeds online and grew them in my garden,” AJ said in her closed wool jacket.

Aida’s kitsune ears popped from the top of her head as she blurted, “You have gardening skills, as well?” She pushed her ears down, chagrined. “Sorry, I got excited.

AJ laughed. “No, worries.”

Aida raised her hands, and her pointy ears vanished. “You know, gardening and cooking are extremely useful abilities for a doctor of the supernatural to have. Some foods in the Human Realm can increase Mana and even Mana gauges if made in a certain way. If you applied your understanding of nutrition to otherworldly foods, you could become a force to be reckoned with.”

AJ blushed and cowered. “You really think so…?” She smiled shyly.

“Yeah!” Suddenly, Aida turned to Zeke. “Hi, Dr. Rosario.”

“Oh, um!” Zeke said, startled. “Did you know I was here the entire time?”

“I can smell you, stupid,” Aida said, smiling and tapping her nose. “And I’ve already dedicated to memory.”

“Right…” Zeke looked around. “Have any of you seen Naomi or Wade around?” He looked over at AJ, but she was in no position to talk as she was hunched over and now at the same eye level as Aida, covering her red face.

Aida pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “I remember seeing them go down the hall?”

“Together?” Zeke said, his parental instincts going haywire. He sped past the doorless arched frame and approached the door to Naomi’s room (formerly her patient room).

He let himself in and found Naomi and Wade seated on the white carpet. The former patient room had now been tweaked to look more like a teenage girl's bedroom, thanks to some generous donations by the gang. Everybody put money together to buy things for the room, aided with the money Naomi earned from working at Heath's sports bar.

It had a black, white, and blush pink color palette with a well-made bed and multiple pillows at the end. A student desk and chair to the side and posters on the wall with vague inspirational quotes.

Wade was wearing his dirty Healer’s Garb as usual and had some Christmas glitter sprinkled on his cap. He held up a white feather in his hand and a lighter under it. “The high you can get from just inhaling a smoked angel feather is incredible, trust me.”

“Come on, man!” Zeke shouted, throwing his hands into the air.

“Did I do something wrong?” Naomi asked. She had a white knit sweater and black skirt on, sitting on the floor with her legs closed in front and knees bent towards the side, in an S-shaped position. “Everybody said he was one of the good Healers, and he told me he wanted to show me something so—”

“Did he give you anything? Like drugs?”

Naomi shook her head. “No.”

“But I was going to,” Wade said and produced a handful of colored pills.

“Dude!”

“They’re harmless!” Wade yelled, and then his eyes popped out when he looked back at the pills. “No, wait…” he picked up a red pill. “This one would’ve definitely killed her.”

“Okay, everybody out!” Zeke ordered.

The two got up and walked towards the door. Zeke glared at Wade as he walked past, and Naomi stopped to play with Zeke’s snow-white beard as she giggled and then carried on.

As Zeke returned to the waiting room, Wade plopped onto the unoccupied sofa and was later joined by Aida.

Aida pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I can’t get a hold of Aka,” she said.

“Probably had some deity business to attend to,” Wade said, patting her gently on the shoulder. “He’ll be back.”

“It’d be nice if we could find some of Yaalon’s family….” Zeke lamented.

“We should toast to that guy,” Ugo said, raising his eggnog. “He wanted to do good, and we’re going to continue that crusade for him.”

“Hell yeah!” AJ said and then awkwardly glanced at Nananiel.

Everybody made sure they had a full cup of eggnog and joined the center.

“For Yaalon,” Zeke said, somberly.

The cups clinked, everybody chugged down the sweet drink, and the dancing came.

With a clump of the chilled beverage taking its time to slide down his throat, Zeke felt something else that kept him from turning his brain off entirely for the party. He slinked away from the group and walked past the arched frame.

His heart pounded madly as he plodded down the empty hallway, and then there it was…

A burning figure in a black cloak with a zombified face and the top of its head missing. It looked to have been cleaved off. Its eyes were dark green dots in a pool of demonic yellow, the same color as the flames surrounding it. Zeke believed it to be a human man at some point.

The figure smiled and said in its dead voice. “See you soon, Ezequias Rosario.”

A burning hole appeared under it, dropping out of the hallway.

The worst part of it all. Zeke clearly understood what it meant… and who that was.

-END-