Everyday Feels Like A War

Ashley smiled weakly, watching the little girl twirl and sing, beams of light chasing away all the fear and darkness. The light washed over him like sunshine, warm and safe. In a movement like a sunrise, the room was filled with that beautiful light. When the light finally faded, he saw Andy there, skin rosy and eyes alive again. He ran to him and hugged him tight. "Andy!" He breathed, equal parts relieved and shocked. He lived..
Andy looked around. "Ashley?! But where's Kat?" He asked, blue eyes wide.
Ashley buried his face in his neck. "She's- she's gone..." without a trace she was just.. gone. For a moment, Ashley thought it had been a dream.
Andy turned to the small girl. "Cassie? What happened?"
"She went poof." The little girl shrugged, making a matching hand gesture. She skipped over. "Hi, Mr. Andy."
Andy sat up, wincing. "Cassie... Let's get out of here." Ashley helped him stand and pick Cassie up, leaving the dark hall.


The months went by slower than they ever had before, or at least that's how it felt- to both Andy and Ashley. Ashley went back to living alone again, obviously, but saying it was difficult to adjust was an extreme understatement. He was so lonely with Kat by his side, honestly. She was psychotic, not to mention the fucking Devil, but she was still the closest he had had to a real relationship. Could he even call it real?
Kat was using him purely to get to Andy; to kill him. Or was it to kill both of them? If Kat killed Andy... would she have spared Ashley? With a loud groan, Ashley rolled over on his bed, burying his face into his pillow. This was giving him a headache...
Ashley thought that, maybe, Andy would at least keep in touch with him, but he didn't. After they got back from Hell, Andy went completely off the grid. No texts. No calls. Nothing. The other guys had no idea what he was doing, either, and Ashley was worried, to say the least.
When he saw that Andy hadn't tweeted anything in about two months, he got concerned enough to finally go check on him. Andy was the one that kept the fans up to date with what was happening with the band, and for him to just totally drop off like that. What was the deal? So, after a while of debating, he got some shoes on and drove over to Andy's place.
Nothing seemed out of place, except for the unlocked door. But other than that everything looked to be in order... Since there was no response to his knocking, he opened the door.
"Andy? You here, bud?" Ashley said awkwardly. He felt weird just walking in without an invitation. "The door was unlocked and your car is here, so I thought I'd come and-" He stopped, seeing the young singer in the living room, slumped against the wall. Andy's hair was long over due for a hair cut, snarled and dreaded as it hung in his eyes, covering his face. All the shades were drawn closed and there was absolutely no lighting aside from what peeked in from the edges of the curtains.
"Andy... Holy shit, man. Are you okay?" Ashley frowned, walking over and sitting by him. "Hello?" He snapped his fingers.
Andy lifted his head slowly. "Hey." He croaked, looking away again. Ashley caught a long enough glimpse of his face to understand the situation.
You know when soldiers come home from war and people say that you can see the pain in their eyes? That's what it was with Andy. Except Ashley knew he had literally been to Hell and back. The once bright blue eyes were now a dull, dark blue. The color of the sky before a thunder storm. His plump lips were chapped and dry, his cheeks were sunken in; Andy looked ill. Both mentally and physically. He looked so drained. But why? Shouldn't he be happy that Ashley was safe; that it was all over? Kat couldn't hurt him or anyone he loved now.
Holy shit. That was it.
Andy had killed his sister to save him... That had only just sunk in.
"Andy... Is this-"
"She's dead." Andy cut him off, but it wasn't harsh or snappy. It sounded like he was admitting it to himself, but it also sounded like he'd said it more than once. "I can't believe I killed her."
Ashley sighed, looking at his lap. "Look, Andy, I know how this must feel-"
"No, you don't." Andy whimpered from behind his hair. "She was my big sister. You've never killed someone you cared about."
Ashley stared at him. "But she-"
Once again, he was cut short.
"You didn't know her before she was like that..." He shook his head and looked at the ceiling. Andy's hair tumbled from his face, exposing his face more. Ashley could see that he had clearly been crying for who knows how long.
"Tell me about her, then." Ashley whispered finally. Andy didn't look at him, but he smiled ever so slightly.
"I used to call her Kitty Kat when we were kids... She always hated it, too. I was kind of surprised to see that she named herself Kat this time around." He laughed dryly.
"What was her real name?"
Andy was silent for a minute. "Angele. Ironic, right?" He whispered. "She could always change how she looked, who she was. But she never really did it until we were older."
"Wait- I'm confused."
"I can't remember if I told you or not... but she could make herself whoever she wanted. So, whenever she took another soul, she would change herself just to mess around with me. It made her harder to track." he sighed. "But- Yeah. Up until she left, she was always just my big sis... It's extremely complicated."
"Oh..." Ashley frowned, processing the new information about his, now dead, ex girlfriend. Wow, that was weird to say.
"We used to play hide'n'seek a lot, though. Down here in the mortal world... I always hid really bad and she'd pretend to walk by. I remember one time, she- I was hiding under a park bench and I sneezed right as she walked past me. She acted like she didn't hear it and it made me think I was the king of hide'n'seek. I really wasn't, but she always played along."
Ashley smiled sadly. "Sounds like fun..."
"It was, it.. really was. She was a great sister. I remember the day she left, too." Andy frowned, looking down again.
"Don't think about it..." Ashley sighed. "How are your wings?" He asked, changing the topics, hopefully. Andy looked at him, as if confused for a minute before catching what he meant.
"Oh! My wings- right. Um... Not bad... Healing..." He said awkwardly.
"Can I see them?" Ashley whispered. Andy bit his lip, standing up slowly. From the sounds of the popping joints, Ashley assumed Andy had been slumped in that position for quite a while. He didn't mention it, though. Andy took a deep breath and winced as he pushed the ash colored wings out. Ashley smiled and stood up.
"Beautiful." He murmured. "So now that I finally got you stand up, lets get out of here. You need to see the sun." Ashley joked. Andy smiled faintly and held his hand out.
"I know just the place." He whispered with a sad, yet fond smile.
Ashley furrowed his brow and took his hand slowly. Before he could get a word out, Andy had tugged him out to the backyard and left the ground, his enormous wings flapping behind him. Ashley watched in awe, mesmerized. He held on tight, eyes closed now and arms around Andy's neck. Andy chuckled, holding him securely.
"You're okay, Ash." he reassured, looking ahead as he went above the clouds. Ashley opened an eye and gasped.
It was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was as bright and warm as ever, and the sky was as blue as it could be. Andy took a deep breath of the refreshing air, stopping to hover. Ashley looked at him.
"Is this where you wanted to go?" He asked curiously.
"No. But it's nice, isn't it?" Andy breathed. Ashley nodded and looked around again as Andy dove through the clouds again. Ashley squeaked in surprise and tensed as he pulled up abruptly, flying steadily again. "Sorry, had to liven this up a bit." he teased. Ashley glared at him, only making Andy laugh again.
After another few minutes, Andy landed on a hill that had a single tree. It looked to be old, very large and brittle looking. There was nothing around them except grass and weeds...
"Andy? Why are we here?" Ashley frowned, looking around. Andy cleared his throat.
"This.. is where Kat took me when she taught me how to fight." He said softly, touching the extremely old marks on the tree from the countless times Andy's first sword got stuck in the tree.
"This isn't fair!" the little blonde haired boy whined, tugging at the handle of the old blade. The girl, who was only two years older than her younger brother, swung her legs from the branch she sat on. "You keep cheating!"
"Do not." She stuck her tongue out and hopped down to help him. "You're just slow." She tugged the sword out with ease. "And weak."
Andy's jaw dropped. "I am not!"
"Are too!" She teased and ran down the hill. Andy dropped his weapon and ran after her, jumping on her back. "Hey! Andrew, get off of me!"
"No, Kitty Kat." He cooed. Angele narrowed her emerald eyes.
She pushed her wings out, shoving Andy to the ground and sending him tumbling down the hill. Andy stopped himself and glared, taking the dagger that she was originally going to get and running off with it. Her face paled.
"Hey- Andy! Get back here!" She shrieked, running after himm.
"No!" He giggled, hiding in the tall grass, listening to his sister groan in frustration.
"Give it back, you rat!" She pouted. "Andy? Andy! C'mon! I'm sorry!"
Andy snickered behind his hand, crawling deeper into the grass as she looked for him.
"Andy!"
Ashley waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Andy! Earth to Andy!" he said for the thousandth time. Andy jolted back into reality, his face saddening. "Dude, are you okay?"
"Um.. yeah." He whispered softly, looking up in the tree and seeing the spot where they had carved 'Kitty Kat and Rat.' "She called me Rat, y'know."
"Why?"
"Cause I was one." He chuckled, looking away. "I can't lie, we were horrible to each other in the best way possible. That and my hair looked like such a rats nest..." Andy shook his head and walked around to the other side of the tree, smiling faintly. "I planted flowers here for her."
Ashley followed and looked at the lilacs that were blossoming under the tree. On the base of the tree, it looked like Andy had carved something. He knelt down to look and frowned.
Angele
January 7, 2015
Andy was staring at the carvings, almost critiquing his work.
"Is this-"
Andy nodded. "Yeah, it's.. a grave. Kinda. Just without the body..." He said awkwardly. "Sorry- is this weird? I know it's not normal to take someone to a grave on a date-"
"Wait- did you say date?" Ashley stared at him, standing up again.
Andy blushed faintly and walked closer to him. "Right, I kinda... I kinda want to ask you out. If- If that's okay, fuck I should have thought this through- Sorry, um, let me try this again, but- I'll take you somewhere-"
He was cut off as Ashley pressed his lips to the corner of his mouth. Andy stopped, moving to catch his lips and kiss him.
"You... are such a dork." Ashley breathed between kisses. "And you're all mine."
Andy wrapped his arms around Ashley's waist, pulling him close.
"Finally." Andy whispered.

Notes

A/N: THE END!!!! wow, that was quite the journey, wasn't it? My friend and I started this... in January or December, I think. But that aside, it is finally finished, and I would love to thank all of you who read this as it was being written, or are reading this after this is published<3 Please comment, vote and, if you'd like, check out the other stories I have! I currently have three with this same co-writer (love you bae<3) (Blood Stains on the Stage (currently on hold, sorry), Game Over, and What's It Like To Be a Ghost?) one with a DIFFERENT co-writer (The Fever Becomes My Home), and one I'm doing all on my own (Wolf). I would LOVE it if you would check those out if you haven't already! Alright, I'll stop rambling now. Thank you guys so much! And who knows....
there might even be a sequel ;) We'll see...