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There’s a quiet stillness about the place as the sun dawns on London, colouring the sky in soft yellows and oranges. Big Ben tolls five times, distant yet resonating, and Ani manages to smile when bird around the great clocktower flies away in alarm.
It’s a beautiful place to die.
It’s a pity, almost, that they should go out like this. As a child, they dreamed of defeating monsters and winning battles, demons falling before their sword, but the monsters and the demons won this time and they’re going to fall by their own sword, in the most literal way.
The rooftop edge is a few metres away. All it would take was a step or two, and then they would be falling and then it would be dark.
“Just like falling asleep, right?” Ani muses, though it is but a whisper. They dare not be louder or they’ll be found out. “It’ll be over soon…”
They shiver slightly, as goosebumps rise on their skin. Really, bringing a jacket would have been smart, but then again, it isn’t like they’d be colder much longer; unless, of course, one can feel the cold even in death.
“I should hurry up.”
It’s hard, though. The task is daunting.
A step, and another, and another, and they stand upon the very edge of the building. It would be so easy from here to jump, it barely needed to be a jump, a gust of wind can push them over the edge. And yet, they hesitate.
Daring to glance down, they see an empty street, both road and pavement deserted this early in the morning. It’s only a small street, how long would it take someone to find their body, they wonder, how long until someone found them collapsed on the street? Would there be blood?
They shake their head, rather forcefully. “Stop being a coward and jump.”
“Please don’t.”
Ani lets out a sharp exhale, but doesn’t move. Their eyes stay fixed on the ground below and their heart beats too fast. They don’t know who the voice belongs to, and they’re scared. They don’t want to be talked out of it when they’re scheduled to die in a year anyway.
“I need to do this.”
There’s a heartbroken laugh.
“You don’t. You’re scared, please step away from the edge. Whatever it is you’re running from, this isn’t going to help.” His voice is smooth and comforting, and Ani dearly wants to listen, but they force themselves not to. They’’’ only try again later if they don’t do it now.
“Please leave me alone,” Ani whispers, barely audible despite the surrounding silence. Footsteps sound carefully and slowly, coming closer and closer. A few more steps and he’ll be close enough to grab Ani, so they take a breath and take a step forwards, chasing the abyss, just as a warm hand closes around their wrist and holds tight.
“Let me go.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
They’re balanced precariously, the only thing keeping them from the fall the stranger’s hand. Time slows. Ani stares, down and down. And slowly, slowly a tear falls down their face, and they start trembling and let themselves be pulled away from the ledge, to the relative safety of the middle of the rooftop and the warmth of the stranger’s arms.
The stranger pulls them close to his chest as they sob, loudly and violently, shaking, broken apologies passing through their lips as a hand cards through their hair and he quietly reassures them. Despite his comforting demeanor, Ani can hear his heartbeat with their head pressed into his chest, and it’s quite possibly faster than theirs.
At least a quarter hour passes before Ani stops crying and they manage to think more coherently, and it’s only then that they look to their mystery saviour, and notice the soft golden wings cradling them gently.
“You’re an angel,” they breath in shock, not daring let their voice raise louder than a whisper, as if the angel might depart at the noise and leave them alone on the rooftop. They don’t want to jump anymore. They still might.
An expression of surprise crosses the angle’s face briefly, before he smiles. “If you want me to be,” he says, chuckling lightly when Ani runs their hands through the delicate feathers, though he eventually withdraws his wings, making Ani blush at how they’ve been acting.
“I’m sorry,” they stammer out, taking a step back from the angel’s embrace, and wringing their hands together. They feel guilty, almost, for what they were about to do, and guiltier still that the urge is still there. The angel seems to catch on to this when Ani glances back, checking how far they are from the edge. The distance is enough that they wouldn’t manage to get there before being stops, and the thought reassures them.
There is quiet, for a while, wherein neither party speaks a word, though true silence is impossible as the day starts, and the distant sounds of cars and pedestrians become audible.
“Could I know your name?” the angel asks, and then, “mine is Dream.”
“Just Dream? No last name?” Suddenly, a feeling of foolishness floods Ani - who are they to question an angel, much less one who’s just saved their life?
The angel chuckles, looking away, unoffended by Ani’s comment. His smile turns almost melancholic. “I do have a last name, but it’s rather ridiculous - I chose it when I was… much younger, for my brother and myself, I chose Von Licht.”
It takes Ani only a few moments to remember vaguely the german lessons they’ve had in the past, and it does seem a little amusing for it to be the surname of an angel. “Of light? It fits.”
“Perhaps. I still haven’t managed to learn your name, however.”
“Ani Gautier.”
“Ani Gautier… a beautiful name.”
Their name seems rather dull in comparison to Dream’s, but when he says it, as if trying it out on his tongue, it sounds beautiful as he claims it to be.
“Would it be alright if we continued our conversation elsewhere?” Dream asks, as the atmosphere began to get louder and the wind picked up. “It’s not terribly pleasant to be in the cold, and I can assure you I’ll bring you back here, should you want to return.”
A sense of childish excitement and adventure fills them at the thought of their angel, their saviour, Dream, whisking them away, possibly never to come back, if his words are any indication.
“Yes, that would be nice.”
Dream takes their hand, and with a flash of golden light they are gone, and the city rumbles on, busy and bustling, unaware of the events that occurred that morning, as Big Ben tolled five times, and an angel and a human met.