Chapter Text
Lute landed a firm kick to Vaggie's torso, knocking her to the lobby's floor. Vaggie grimaced as she could feel her bruised ribs throbbing with each breath. She couldn't let the adrenaline fade now, not when Lute had about the same amount of energy as when they started.
Unfortunately, Lute was above her before she could even begin to get up. Her ponytail was pulled hard, hurting her scalp and pulling her head back. A sinister voice she knew all too well began whispering in her ear.
“You always were weak.”
A shiver ran down her spine. She couldn't let Lute get the best of her again. She had to fight, no matter the cost. She desperately reached for her spear, lightly moaning in exhaustion as Lute retrieved it for herself.
She couldn't even blink before a searing white hot pain blossomed in her lower back. Her legs buzzed with a burning, staticy feeling as she was pinned. She let out a pained scream, whimpering as she was left immobilized by her own spear rooted deep in her back.
The lobby blurred around her as her ears began to ring, but it didn't block the following taunt of her attacker. “So, I'll spare you the pain of seeing your demon bitch die.”
She couldn't let herself be stopped. If she let Lute win, if she let her get away again, Charlie would be in danger. Charlie would be killed. Her empty eye throbbed as a painful reminder.
She saw the alleyway, she saw her missing eye in a puddle of ichor, she saw it being stabbed, forever ruined. She saw the silhouettes of her confidant and mentor forsake her. She felt the agony of having her wings ripped from the seams.
All. Over. Again.
She was going to die. Charlie was going to die. Her heart was trying to escape with how fast it was beating. They were going to die.
I need to live.
She was going to die.
I need to live.
Her wings sprouted from the scars on her back, feathered appendages ripping through her uniform and knocking Lute in the face, causing her to stumble back.
For a second, Lute stood askance, inherently baffled. “Wha-...how did…?”
Vaggie let out a noise animalistic in nature. Her eye burned as she pushed herself up and wheeled on the exorcist responsible for the mental anguish she'd felt for years on end. She snarled as nothing but pure instinct flowed through her veins.
She flapped her wings, rocketing herself towards the lieutenant in a fury. Lute was taken aback by the sudden animosity, unable to stop Vaggie from tackling her to the ground. Vaggie socked her in the face hard enough to crack the mask, making it glitch, disrupting her vision.
Lute gagged as she felt a firm grip around her throat, only squeezing tighter with every second. She tried to pry the hand off as another punch landed, this time breaking part of the mask, exposing her cheek. She kicked Vaggie's legs in hopes of stunning her, but the fallen exorcist was unfazed, putting all of her strength into her arms and torso to hold herself up.
Vaggie fought the tears forming in her eye as her lower half seared in agony. Her spear was still embedded deep, and she suppressed the urge to vomit as she felt her spinal cord grate against it.
She eyed the blurry lobby around her, knowing she couldn't overpower Lute for much longer. The scaffolding was damaged, one hit away from crumbling...
She strangled Lute even tighter, ignoring the hands clawing at her wrist. She held firm, before shooting off like a missile towards the weakened foundation, with her rival still in her grasp. Her wings may be newer, and her muscles may be out of practice, but her memory was still sharp. She knew how to fly in combat.
She remained in the air, and used her momentum to throw Lute into the wreckage with a growl. Lute yelped as she was suddenly pinned.
Vaggie hastily ripped her spear out, groaning as she could feel tissue and skin rip apart. Her legs dangled helplessly as she flew forward and sliced the shaky railing, causing rubble to fall from above and rain down upon the exorcist below her.
Lute screamed as she was crushed, trying to shield herself with her arm, to no avail. Dust sprouted as the rubble settled around her.
Vaggie touched down, ignoring the numbness in her toes. The second she reached the ground, it was like a bolt of lightning sparked through her lower half, trailing all the way up to the large gash that tore through her spine. She fell to the ground with a yelp as her nerves lit ablaze in debilitating agony.
Through her own ragged breathing and the ringing in her ears, she could hear a light groan coming from a few feet away. Lute was still alive, and possibly getting back up.
Her fist clenched tightly around the spear still in her hand. Her other dug her nails into the tattered floor, leaving noticeable indents. Her teeth clenched as she bit her tongue to possibly stave off the pain in her back.
Numbness was spreading to her knees, and the burning tingle in her nerves was beginning to fade. She needed to get up, before the adrenaline faded. And it was fading fast.
She heard a scream from far above. A pained and helpless, yet familiar scream. A fire ignited in her chest as adrenaline spiked again in full force. Charlie was in trouble. Charlie needed her.
She didn't spare Lute another glance as she flew up to the roof, hoping to reach Charlie before it was too late…
Lute scowled as she watched the traitor fly away without a second glance. She didn't even bother to finish the fight? She just ran away like a pussy? What could possibly be more important than her?
Insulting.
She wasn't letting that little bitch get away again. She was going to make sure that she killed her for being the rat that she was.
Hatred burned in her core. She pulled away from the concrete crushing her arm, grimacing as she felt it dislocate. She didn't relent however. She was getting out of this mess, at any cost.
Her tendons ripped apart, and she let out a mighty scream as her crushed appendage was ripped straight from her body, her shoulder spurting with blood. She took off, dead set on killing her adversary.
Vaggie could barely see as she reached the roof of the hotel. Her vision was far too blurred. Her chest heaved with the effort it was taking to stay awake and not let the pain consume her. She fought the spots forming in her vision. She needed to get to Charlie.
Adam had Charlie suspended in the air via a chokehold. Her limbs buzzed with anxiety and dread. She needed to stop him. She needed to save Charlie, before Adam took away the one good thing left in her life.
She only managed a few feet before being brutally tackled out of the sky by a blazing force. They tumbled across the roof. Through the blur and dizziness, she could see Lute, exposed face twisted in fury. She pushed down the subconscious fear in her chest. She needed to get to Charlie.
“CHARLIE!”
A hand clamped down around her throat, which was beginning to feel raw from all the screaming she'd done. She choked, spitting out a bit of blood.
She couldn't kick Lute away no matter how hard she tried. She could barely kick at all. Lute must've been pinning her legs down. Why else couldn't she move them?
Lute loosened her grip, which left Vaggie confused. Why was she stopping? The offending exorcist was looking towards Charlie and Adam, shock written on her pale face. Vaggie followed her glance, her own gaze widening as she saw none other but the king himself.
Lucifer had joined the fight.
The hotel was falling, that much she was sure of.
She felt a certain weightlessness she hadn't experienced in quite some time: Free falling. The feeling of having the wind rushing across her face and in her hair and feathers. It was a wonderful feeling when she was in Heaven. She would swoop down among the clouds, shooting like a missile, before halting her momentum at the last second for a safe landing. It was a fun feeling…
When she wasn't falling to her death.
The ground approached rapidly as she fell among the shattered pieces of the hotel. Lute was somewhere else now, as was Charlie. Hopefully Charlie was okay. Hopefully Lute wasn't hurting her.
...Hopefully the ground was softer than it looked.
…
…oh…
…Oh she was falling, falling.
"Adrenaline is a hell of a drug,” is what Adam used to say on rough days. Days that were filled with nothing but bruised knuckles and tight muscles. “When it kicks in, you can do fuckin’ anything!”
Adrenaline…
Falling.
Falling fast.
Oh...
Oh, shit.
Her wings spread to their full length, halting her plummet 10 feet above the ground. Her heart thundered in her ears as she caught her breath. That could've been…really bad.
She looked around. The hotel was in shambles, nothing but piles of nearly unrecognizable rubble. The hotel…the home she and Charlie had made for themselves was…gone.
She couldn't see anyone. She heard a commotion a ways away; the battle was still going on. Her hands were empty. She must've lost her spear when she was tussling with Lute.
Lute…
Charlie…
She needed to get to them quickly. She touched down to run, her upper back beginning to majorly ache along with the gaping gash in her lower back. She knew how to fly, but she hadn't done so for this long in years. The scars were beginning to prickle in bursts of sharp, mild pain. Fighting on foot for a bit wouldn't hurt. She folded her wings as she lowered herself.
The second she stood on the ground, the static electric shock returned. It reverberated through her legs, painfully igniting the nerves. It spread from her toes to her lower back, centering where she could feel the large gash.
She fell to the dirty ground yet again, the raging fire in her nerves the most debilitating she ever felt. This was miles worse than her phantom pain. Even on the stormiest of days where she was essentially bedridden from how bad the pain in her back and eye was. This was a thousand times worse than it had ever been.
She managed to flip onto her back, despite her legs feeling rather uncooperative. She was probably slipping into shock from nearly falling to her death. That's probably why her legs felt so numb now that the pain in them had faded. Her back was still on fire, though.
She let herself catch her breath. Given her shaking limbs and stabbing pain in her lower back, she wasn't in the best condition to fight. She'd give herself a few seconds before getting up to rejoin the fray.
She made an attempt to bend her knees, only for her legs to be unresponsive. That was weird. She was a bit more calm, now. The red sky above was no longer blurred like a watercolor painting; she could easily make out Heaven's glow among the deep crimson. Her heart was at a fairly regular pace, and she could breath just fine. She was definitely lucid, not in shock, so why was her lower half entirely numb?
She sat up ever so slightly, grimacing as a spike of sharp pain ran across her spine. She glanced at her motionless legs, willing them to move. Her efforts were met with nothing. That was…really weird. Why couldn't she move them? Sure, she knew from experience that back pain made it difficult to walk, sometimes even move, but never impossible.
Her arms were trembling from the effort. The spots began to return to her vision as she could feel herself losing more and more blood by the minute. It was leaking out of her nose and mouth, as well as the cuts on her cheek. Not to mention the gashes she had sustained on her arms and legs. And of course…her back.
Her arms gave in, making her lay fully on the ground. She tried to curl her limbs, to no avail. Why couldn't she move?
Move, dammit!
Why couldn't she fucking move? What was wrong with her stupid legs? Why couldn't she feel them?
She couldn't feel her legs…
…no…
No it couldn't be…
“No!” She tried to get up, crawling on her arms as her legs lazily dragged behind. Her lower back erupted with every attempt to control them. “No no no no nonononono.”
This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening. This couldn't…
“No…” the tears returned without her consent, beginning to fall and mix with the blood on her cheek. Her breathing became uneven, each breath agitating where her spine had been split.
She couldn't feel her legs…
She heard footsteps approaching. She could barely see through the blur and the spots. The approaching figure began running closer once it had spotted her. Was that Lute? Was she finally coming to kill her?
“Vaggie!” The figure knelt down and put a hand on her face. They had a mane of blond hair, sharp horns protruding from their temples, a tail that was gently resting on her, and rosy red spots on her cheeks. They were sobbing, large eyes bubbling with tears and fangs wringing with high pitched wails. It was…
“Char…” she whimpered. Her body was suspended as Charlie held her in her arms, causing her to grimace. “...it hurts…”
She couldn't feel her legs…
Vaggie sobbed, overwhelmed on all fronts. Charlie sobbed with her as she held her closer, alarmed at how much blood was pooling below them. Vaggie needed serious help.
Vaggie could feel herself fading. She ground her teeth as the adrenaline entirely faded, maximizing the pain tenfold. She felt nauseous and faint, fighting the urge to puke all over Charlie. She whimpered as she gripped Charlie's shirt in a vice grip.
“It's okay…” Charlie promised, mostly to soothe Vaggie, but to soothe herself as well. “You'll be okay…”
The last thing Vaggie felt was a tender kiss to her temple, before finally passing out.