My Fallen Angel

Andy sneezed, and grimaced, grabbing a tissue quickly. He and CC were both sick after changing continents, and CC was currently sleeping off his cold medicine in the top half of the double decker bus.
It was so cool!
It had a set of stairs that led to the bunks, where most of the guys had to hunch because they were so tall, and the downstairs was a nicely sized kitchenette and sitting area.
The coat hangers rattling constantly were pretty annoying, and I think Andy and I had taken all of them we could find off the rack and dropped them in the floor so we could sleep.
I looked at Ashley where he hunched over his laptop, mumbling incoherently under his breath; the plane had seemed to lessen his temper, but he was still mostly ignoring me in favor of his electronics.
I sighed, bored.
I didn't know what to do with myself anymore.
Cronus glanced at me where he sat at the table, sitting calmly and lost in his own thoughts. He didn't seem to be bothered to sit there with nothing to do for several hours, where I was restless.
I got to my feet and headed upstairs, Ash not even glancing up from his laptop.
It bothered me he was upset over a sentence I didn't even finish.
I sighed, letting my fingers trail over the coat rack as I headed to my bunk, deciding I could probably take a nap until we reached the venue where they would all be so busy.
I opened the door, and heard a grunt as it whammed into someone.
"Oh goodness! I'm sorry!" I gasped, seeing I'd opened the door into Andy; when had he come up here?
"Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"
"I'm fine," he muttered, taking a step back. "Don't worry about it."
I hesitated, but nodded, seeing I hadn't permanently damaged him in any way.
"I thought you were downstairs," I frowned at him.
"I needed more tissues," he sighed, lifting up the box of Kleenex. "We're gonna have to stop and get more before the week is up."
"I'm sorry you feel so bad," I sighed. "Give it a couple weeks to pass."
I hoped he got the flu.
Like the worst case of flu he could possibly get where he could still sing just feel miserable the rest of the time.
Then he would know how I felt, and would continue to feel until I either came to terms with it or knew the truth.
And Andy couldn't give me the truth.
I withheld another sigh as I shuffled past him, just wanting to lay down.
"Did you get a tattoo?"
"What?"
"A... Nevermind, it must've just been the light," Andy rubbed his eyes. "I thought I saw some black lines on your throat."
"Oh," I frowned. "No, I'm... I don't have any."
"Yeah," he mumbled, sniffling quickly. He left the bunks and headed downstairs, his head cold getting the best of him I believe.
I shrugged, then stepped to the back bunks, my stuff piled in the floor everywhere where I'd dropped it a couple days ago; I kept meaning to clean it up, it just never happened.
I glanced at the mirror, and stiffened, shoving my hair off my neck.
What?
What was that?
My veins were showing through my skin, completely black like I was infected or something.
What was going on?
"ASHLEY!"

Ashlandil
Why was it so fucking hard to set up a trust fund for a kid you didn't want anyone to know was yours?
I grumbled under my breath as I transferred some money into it, rubbing my jaw where I needed to shave, irritated.
I just wanted to make sure it had something to take care of it when it got old enough to handle its own money, to think its dad had cared some before he'd unfortunately passed away in that tragic car crash before its birth.
I snorted, half seeing Andy stagger down the steps with a new box of tissues clutched to his sick chest, his eyes bloodshot from his cold; this wasn't anything new, him and CC usually got sick.
I stifled a yawn.
This was such a long trip.
"ASHLEY!"
My head jerked, and my laptop fell into the floor as I shot to my feet and up the stairs.
"Kenali?" I demanded, running toward her, her screech sounding fearful.
She half-turned from the mirror she was facing, looking frightened, and I grabbed her arms, forcing her to face me.
"What is it?" I demanded, not seeing her hurt; my heart was thundering in my chest in panic, I'd thought she'd been in danger. "What's wro ---?"
My throat closed as I saw the veins in her neck.
Shit.
"What's wrong with me?" she whimpered, covering them with her hand. "Why are they like that?"
Fuck.
Oh fuck.
I cleared my throat, moving her hand out of the way so I could see them better; so far they were contained to her neck, so that was a plus.
I'd seen one guy where it had progressed all over his body.
"It's okay," I told her quickly, stroking her hair. "It happens sometimes."
"What is it?" she sniffled, her eyes welling with tears.
"It happens when you first go dark," I muttered, pulling her into the safety of my arms, her fingers so cold I could feel them through the material of my shirt. "It happens to all of us the first time, it'll go away."
God don't you do this, I thought, rocking her back and forth against my shoulder, shhing her gently as she sobbed.
Kenali wasn't a fool, she knew it was something bad.
"Ash? Kenna?" CC rolled groggily from his bunk, his voice nasally as we woke him up. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Don't worry about it," I told him, reaching behind me for the door handle without looking back. "We just need some privacy."
I let the door swing shut in his face.
God, please don't do this, not to her.
Not when she's been so good through all of this.
I pressed my lips into her hair with a shaky breath, forcing my body to calm down and not show her how fearful I was.
The other angel with the condition had spontaneously bursted into sand after so long.
I wasn't lying, it did happen to all of us the first couple times; it had encompassed all the veins in my back and shoulders after I'd killed Geneva, and it had gone away. It was the darkness trying to regulate itself in your body.
I hadn't expected it to get to her after just turning once, no matter how powerful it had been.
I crushed her against me, listening to her sniffles.
She would be okay so long as her body was strong enough to hold both light and dark.
Seraphine had darkened easily, I don't believe the black veins had even affected her much.
But Kenali was so light-hearted...
"Kenali," I murmured, keeping a gentle stroking of her skin. "I have to explain some things to you, and you're not going to like them."
"What?" she asked, clinging against me, and I sighed.
This wasn't going to end well.
"It happens to all of us, the black veins, but... You're gonna have to do some things to balance out the light and dark in you."
"Like what?" she hesitated, pulling away from me.
I winced.
"You're gonna have to break all ten commandments."
"WHAT?"
It was only going to get worse from here, I sighed.

Notes