Fallen Angels

The cell was new when I came in. Empty except for the bed, desk, chair and bookshelf, all on different sides of the room. I remembered how they pushed me in, and locked the door shut behind me, not even bothering to remove the handcuffs around my wrists, pinning my arms behind me. I staggered over to the chair, and hit the handcuffs against its leg, breaking them way too easily. I scoffed and hung the handcuffs over the arm of the chair, and stared around the dungeon where I would spend the next hundred years.

I sat on the chair, playing with the handcuffs hanging off the arm, when I heard a bang and multiple guards shuffling. They were bringing in a new prisoner. Small muffled shouts came from the other side of the door. They were high-pitched, I assumed the new prisoner was frightened. 

My door unlocked and opened just enough to shove them in. 

“You have a roommate.” One of the guards said, before closing and locking the door again.

“Lucky me.” I grumbled, getting out of my chair to look at the person on the floor. 

They kneeled in the middle of the room, their arms pinned back by handcuffs just like mine were. I walked over to them, and kneeled on the ground, eyeing the handcuffs. I fiddled with the little bolts, before jamming them with a pencil left on the floor. They came off easily. I hung them on the chair, next to the other ones.

I reached my hand out towards the newcomer, and they grabbed it, standing up. “Welcome to the den of fallen angels, darling. I’m Phoenix. And you are…?” I greeted them. 

They eyed me suspiciously. “Echo.” They muttered, rubbing their arms, looking around the room.

Their silver hair fell around their shoulders like a waterfall, looking a lot more angelic than my red pixie cut, and their purple eyes glowed softly, whereas my brown eyes lost their glow decades ago. 

They stared around at the room in wonder. It used to be a blank cell, but over the years I’ve revised it. The angels may have taken away my magic, but they can’t take away technology, Especially if they don’t know I have it. I’ve added more to the place, covering it in lavish cushions, hanging lights around and adding a carpet. It may just be code, but it still makes for a comfortable space. 

“Make yourself at home, doll. We have paper and pencil at the desk, books, and countless pillows and cushions.” 

“…how did you get all this?” Echo asked quietly, touching papers and cushions, before settling down on the chair. I sat on the desk, leaning against stacks of paper. 

“I made it. Advanced technology can do wonderful things.”

Echo stared at the pillow on their lap, poking it, seeming fascinated that it was so real. “I’ve never seen technology like this before.” 

“That’s because it only exists in the midworld. I met a group of elves there, and Their technology is super advanced. It all comes from this tablet. All you need to do is draw out the basic design, and upload it. It takes longer depending on the size of the item. It can also make calls, track people, and save documents.” 

Echo stared at the tablet in awe. “So can you really make anything?” They asked, tapping the screen to see how it worked. I shifted it away from them.

“Well, almost. Everything it makes is an illusion. Really all it is, is complex webs of code. If I try to make food, it will create it visually, but it isn’t really edible.” I paused, looking around the room. “It’s getting late, we should probably sleep.”

Echo looked towards the bed across the room, covered in cushions and blankets.

“There’s only one bed, though.” 

“Well, we can share, then.” I replied. “It’s huge, and there’s plenty of pillows and cushions to go around.” 

We both got onto separate sides of the bed, and kept to ourselves for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow marks year 100. I’ll be getting out of here soon enough, now that I have an accomplice.

I woke up to a beam of light hitting my eyes, just like any other morning. It came through the window across the room, but recently it’s been filtered by a plant I put above there, for aesthetic purposes, and to keep me from waking up just at sunrise. Echo was standing next to the window, poking at the vines coming down from the window. They jumped when they saw me. 

“Oh, h-hey. Goodmorning.” They greeted me. 

“Good morning, darling.” I said back. They looked intimidated. “Breakfast should be dropped off in about an hour.” 

I looked in the mirror sitting next to the bed, smoothing out my hair and tidying my outfit. It’s stayed sane for the past 100 years, just dirty and slightly ripped, nothing I can’t deal with. 

An hour later, as promised, breakfast was dropped off. Echo and I sat across from each other, picking on the bits they gave us.

“So, tell me about yourself. Who was your leader?” I inquired.

Each angel was assigned a leader, another angel who would teach them and guide them until they were fully grown.

“I had Raziel. We were pretty close, but I doubt he would care for me now…” Echo responded, trailing off and looking down. They looked back up, softness in their eyes. “What about you?” They asked, taking a bite of their bread. 

“Well, first I had Abbadon, but when he… left… I got Azrael. They were pretty close to each other, Azrael was devastated when he fell, I don’t know what she would feel about me.” I paused, and an awkward silence stretched between us. “But enough about me. Why were you named Echo?” 

Echo’s cheeks slightly flushed, but they answered the question. “Mostly because I wouldn’t talk much, I would only answer people’s questions, or repeat what they told me to understand it.” They laughed. “This is the most I’ve said in a while. What about you? What inspired the name Phoenix?” 

“It was kind of a nickname that hung around, people would call me that because of my red hair or fiery nature.” 

“Well, I think it’s kinda cool.” 

I smiled, and paused. 

“So, why are you… here?” I said cautiously.

Echo hesitated. “I- I don’t remember much. I was attacked. And my wings were stolen from me. I fell to earth, and I trusted the wrong person. They double-crossed me and handed me over to the high one. He sent me down here.” They looked down, looking hurt. “What will they do to us? They can’t possibly keep us here for eternity…” They gazed at me. I looked back at them, determination in my eyes. 

“I don’t know, but we’re not going to stick around to find out.” 

They stared at me. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean, we’re getting out of here, and I have a plan.”

After going over the plan for about a week, Echo and I were ready. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to work, and after that we’ll have a place to stay, and I had to get rid of all the items I put in here originally, but I planned on putting them back where we’re going to stay next. 

Being an actor, I was the main player. The first step was to get the attention of the guard, and Echo would knock them out. 

As one of the guards walked by, I screamed. 

The guard came over to the room, looking through the slot in the door. “What happened?” She asked, bored. 

“I- I saw something in the corner of the room! I think it was magic… maybe someone is trying to come in, or maybe Echo’s magic wasn’t fully removed!” I exclaimed, making a big scene of my new discovery. The guard rolled her eyes, and looked back at us, and I punched her, in between her eyes. 

“Ow! What the- ” She exclaimed. She turned around, and Echo stuck their hand out the slot, punching her in the back of her head, knocking her out. The apprentice guard who’s been standing by, stared at us, and came at us through the slot with his sword. I grabbed the tip of the handle, and pushed it back, sending him toppling over to the ground. More guards came, but as they approached, something came from behind them, hitting them and knocking some of them out. The others turned around and attacked their mysterious traitor, but they were no match for him, and eventually all of them fell over, unconscious. 

A hooded figure descended down the stairs, his black wings brushing the floor behind him. He approached the door, and looked through the slot. I recognized him immediately. My plan had worked.

“Hey kid, missed me already or something?” He said.

“Abbadon.” Echo said in a hushed voice. 

“Who’s this?” Abbadon asked me. 

“This is Echo,” I responded. “They helped with the plan, and helped in our part of the attack as well.” 

He looked over to Echo, and they moved behind me. “Hello, Echo.” Abbadon said. “Nice work.” 

“H- hi.” They stammered.

“Nice, you met each other. Could you get us out of here now?” I directed my tone towards Abbadon. He grinned. 

“Not so fast.” He replied.

“What? But we made a deal. If you got us out of here, then we would help you overthrow the high one!” I exclaimed.

“And how could you possibly do that? You’re just fallen angels after all.” 

He made a flick of his hand, and a sharp pain came out of my back, I cried out and fell to the ground. It felt as if something was trying to come out of me. I looked to my left, and saw Echo was experiencing the same thing.

The pain started at my shoulder blades and came down to the center of my spine. And as soon as it started, it finished. I panted, and stood back up, looking behind me towards my back. There were two holes in my shirt where the pain was strongest, and coming out of those holes were smooth, black wings. 

“There. You’re more than fallen angels now.”

I looked towards Echo, who was staring at their new wings in awe. They grinned. 

I placed my hands on the door, and it vibrated with electric currency, before it crashed down. I stepped on it, and walked out of the room for the first time in a century. 

Somewhere nearby, radio music was playing. I felt it course through my body like energy, filling my fingers and my toes. 

Finally, I found euphoria.