Chapter Text
It was that day again. Reaping day, yeah, it’s something awfully familiar to the lot of you but Michael isn’t the most creative archangel around. Well, he did take everything from that book rule by rule. No one’s questioned it— well, no one has succeeded in doing so at least. Everyone and anyone who ever did was either killed on sight or sent into the games. You’d think angels were kind and guardians to their father’s creations, they weren’t. They’re worse than some monsters.
I let the sun chariot run later than usual, it wasn’t really a wonderful day to let the sun shine but I had to. It’s my job as the goddess of the sun, if I didn’t do my job then Michael would never let me hear the end of it. And yes, pagan deities still exist despite there being an ‘almighty’ or at least there used to be one. God disappeared a decade ago and now Michael rules the universe with an iron hand. And suddenly, pagan deities were useful again. Well, mostly they were created to shift the blame away from the almighty back in the day, but now Michael uses them all to do things he couldn’t. He wasn’t all powerful like his father anyway.
“Chloe?” I gave the door a gentle knock. “Di ka pa ba magaayos?”
There wasn’t a response, there never was. I opened the door a crack, only to see her still lying in bed and turned towards the wall. I knew she wasn’t asleep, Chloe never needed sleep anyway. She was an archangel for god’s sake. Literally one of the oldest beings on this plane, formerly the queen of hell.
A deep sigh escaped my lips, shaking my head as I decided to shut the door. It was frustrating she keeps doing this on Reaping Day, this was the third year now. I couldn’t keep doing this for a third time, I’m almost sure Michael is tired of the excuses. This time for sure there was going to be punishment.
I linger outside our room for a moment, undecided if I was going to drag her out of that bed just to get her to show up and meet her tributes. She was a mentor. She should be the one showing up for them, not me. I’m just a survivor, just like the rest of them. Finally, I headed off towards the phone and decided to call my older sister, Astrid, out of frustration.
“Ayaw na naman?” She inquired, yes she knew by now.
“Hindi ko na alam anong gagawin dito, ate.”
“Chi, you know what happened.”
“Dalawang taon na. She’s literally Death, alam niya na mangyayari yun at mangyayari.”
“Malachi,” my sister’s voice was stern. “Why do you act like you didn’t see her as your daughter once?”
That stupid question caught me off guard. That kid wasn’t theirs but yes, she felt like a daughter to Chloe and me. It’s just in a world like this things just happen and we have to live with that.
“Nangyayari lang talaga yun, alam mo yun.” I said, dismissively. There was a long pause, Astrid remained silent. She was waiting. “I lost my wife that day too.”
“Chi. . .”
“I know grief.” Astrid knew that well. Anyone who knows me, knew that very well. “But I never once used that as an excuse to forget about the people I care about.”
My sister remained quiet. I took it as a point she didn’t want to argue at this time of the morning, after all she and Sage had their own set of tributes to take care of. Astrid had a better way of managing poor souls who know they have no chance of winning. But then again, a lot of the time her tributes were jaded humans who have given up. Chloe’s were almost always kids, it was the cruelest punishment her brother could even sentence her to for who knows when.
“Nag sabi na ba sayo si Jinx?” Inquired Astrid.
“Nang ano?” I hadn’t heard from that sister of mine in a while. I see her often on TV, on the nightly news or sometimes on her weekend talk show when I feel like it.
“Nakakuha siya ng mensahe mula kay Maude.”
Maude, our sister who had ‘disappeared’ at least eight years ago. To be fair, she didn’t really disappear. She just went under the radar to become a rebel with Grady. They’ve been trying to take down the Legion since then but came to no avail yet. I don’t think they could ever do something as such, they lack the resources. She would however pop in from time to time, checking in on them. But her visits always came with trouble or an attempt to get us to join her.
“Ano na naman yan?” I questioned. “Gagawa na naman siya ng eksena tapos lahat tayo damay?”
“Malachi, you know all this is wrong. The fact that the games have been going on for ten years, all these humans dying because they’re inferior to the supernatural. Someone has to do something.”
“Alam kong mali, pero Ate, pagod na ko. Every war we fought, I’m the one who gets the worst of it. Goddess of healing but I can’t seem to heal the eye I lost years ago. Hindi siya patas, oo. Pero paano naman ako? Gusto ko naman mabuhay ng hindi ako yung laging ginagawang punching bag.”
It was selfish, yes. But was it too much to ask to live in peace? I’ve given up everything for everyone else, wasn’t it time for me to put myself first? Couldn’t I just keep my head down this time?
“Eh paano kung this time it will work?”
“Edi kayo na.”
“Chi, alam kong naging rason ako bakit malaki yung hinanakit mo ngayon pero kahit na hindi ka naman tumi—”
I ended the call. She’s going to give me a hard time the next time we see each other. That is if I even choose to show myself to her. I wasn’t going to stop her from conniving with Maude, they can do whatever they want. As for me, I’ll stay here away from the trouble.
My reflection on the mirror wasn’t the most pleasing, it never really was to begin with. The damage done to me became more and more evident through the years. I removed my eye patch and put on my glasses just to keep the illusion that I wasn’t scarred. That I was still whole. Even if it was a little thing, it helped cover up some things.
Getting to the train station wasn’t too much of a problem. Being goddess did have some perks in terms of travelling, though she enjoyed walks and rides better. This was just an event she wanted to be over with already, maybe she could avoid getting flagged by legionnaires. However, the moment she got to the platform the angels, Uriel and Raziel were already there. Two of Michael’s most vicious caddies.
“Malachi Morningstar,” said Uriel. “You’re not the one who’s supposed to be here.”
“Kalma,” it wasn’t going to work. I know that. “Dadating yun. Tawagan ko lang, o.”
I took out my phone and called Chloe. She wasn’t going to pick up, she never picks up. Not anymore. I gave an awkward smile towards the angels but they weren’t really impressed by what I was doing. The call failed and I tried again, just as much as I could to stall. Perhaps maybe I never should have showed up but that only entailed something worse for me, specifically. I was their only true way to really hurt Chloe after all.
“You can stop embarrassing yourself.” Raziel warned.
A resigned sigh escaped my lips as I pulled my phone away from my ear. I gazed between the two angels, looking for even a slight crack in their facades that maybe I can talk my way out of this. But nothing, they were already headstrong about this. In the back of my mind, I prayed to my own wife— I know she could hear it. She’s an archangel after all, she can hear anyone who prayed to her. It was a last ditch effort, really. But no one came, nothing even remotely like flames consuming the foes before me. I was alone, just like I had always been.