She Belongs To The Devil

He didn't feel Adeline's pain anymore. But rather than believing that his wife had stopped feeling altogether, he believed that she wasn't feeling the pain because she was healing.     

He kept on caressing Adeline's wet hair while humming the tune to the song that he had once sung for her. He wanted her to rest properly. He wanted her to heal completely.     

Agnes wanted to make Theodore believe that Adeline had already left them for good. But she couldn't bring herself to say a word to Theodore. And she couldn't keep on watching Theodore waiting for Adeline to open her eyes either.     

So Agnes got up from the fountain and ran to stand by the side of Arion. But her heart broke even further when she noticed a pool of water below Arion's head. He had been silently shedding his tears all along.     

Agnes flung her arms around Arion's neck and apologized to him while sobbing, "I'm so sorry, Arion… I couldn't…" she almost choked when she further said, "…save our Adeline."     

Arion inhaled sharply and he started to openly cry now. Adeline had been more like a friend to him rather than a master. She had taken care of him like he was her best friend. She had never left him alone after Theodore had gifted him to her.     

And now, she suddenly thought that she could leave him? That also forever? Arion was unable to accept it. The Adeline he knew would never be so selfish and so cruel. She would never leave everyone behind and move on to the afterlife alone.     

No. She would never.     

And Arion didn't feel the presence of a Grim Reaper in the room yet. So deep down, he still believed that Adeline was still fighting for her life. He knew she was not the one to give up so easily.     

Theodore abruptly stopped humming the tune and stopped caressing Adeline's hair.     

A light purple glow appeared around Adeline's neck.     

"No… no… not this…" Theodore now began to panic.     

The light purple glow began taking the shape of the necklace with the dragon pendant.     

"No… please… not this…" Theodore's heart shattered into a million pieces because he knew why the pendant had appeared on Adeline's neck.     

Theodore bit his lower lip and shook his head, still in denial that Adeline had died for real. "No, Adeline is not dead. She can't be. Not so soon."     

The garden suddenly lighted up. The specks of golden dust filled the garden.     

"No. No!" Theodore grabbed his hair with both of his hands and screamed in agony. And without even turning around, he shouted, "Why are you here, Azriel? Why?"     

Azriel was standing behind Theodore. He glanced at the lifeless body of Adeline and took a deep breath in. And he whispered sadly, "You know why."     

"No!" Theodore shouted again and angrily turned his head to look at his brother. And he screamed rudely, "Just go away!"     

"You know I can't do that," Azriel gave a sorry look to Theodore and pressed his lips together.     

He glanced at the dragon pendant around Adeline's neck which was now making humming noises and was being pulled towards him.     

Azriel held out his hand towards the pendant but Theodore jumped up and grabbed Azriel's wrist. He firmly pressed down his brother's hand and pleadingly said, "Please, Az, I will find some other way to revive Adeline. You don't have to do this."     

"There's no other way. And I cannot stop something which I already did in the past." Azriel gave a melancholic smile to his brother.     

A golden aura began to swirl around Azriel. And a faint purple aura was swirling around Adeline's body as well. It looked as if some kind of ritual had already begun.     

---     

[Flashback to when Theodore had gone to the Dragon Crypt to confront drunk Azriel. Chapter reference: 278]     

"I came here to ask you about the curse that you put on Adeline's pendant. I noticed that it was still active. Tell me what it does."     

"I can't tell you what it does. You don't need to know the detail."     

Theodore grabbed Azriel by the shoulder, "Either you tell me what it is, or you remove it."     

Azriel just threw Theodore's hand away from his shoulder and walked away.     

Theodore had enough of his drama. He grabbed Azriel's shoulder again and turned him around. Then he clenched his fist tightly and punched right in Azriel's face.     

"Don't you dare walk away without answering me!" Theodore snarled at Azriel.     

His face had already turned red with anger towards his brother. Though Azriel had apologized to him countless times for locking Adeline's memories about him, Theodore was still uncomfortable with the fact that Azriel was not fully honest.     

Theodore was unwilling to trust his brother unless he came clean about what that spell on Adeline's pendant was for.     

Azriel was still looking away with his lips shut tightly.     

Theodore grabbed Azriel by the collar and aggressively shook him and shouted, "Azriel! Don't give me the silent treatment! You know I despise it!"     

He pushed Azriel back and threatened him, "Tell me now or I am never going to speak to you ever again."     

Azriel took a deep breath in and ran his fingers across his golden hair. The bad blood between the two of them had been sorted out not too long ago. Theodore's presence in his life had made his life less lonely. And he was not ready to give up the companionship of his brother so soon.     

So he bent to Theodore's demand and finally spoke, "That spell in Adeline's pendant is my promise to her to..." Azriel nervously wiped the sweat from his upper lip.     

Theodore folded his arms and raised his brows, demanding Azriel to keep on speaking.     

Azriel inhaled deeply and blurted out, "The spell is my promise to grant my immortality to Adeline. In case of Adeline's death, the spell will activate itself and my lifeline will be transferred to Adeline."     

"Wh– You granted your immortality to Adeline?" Theodore furrowed his brows in disbelief. "How is it even possible? Only our father can grant immortality to the others. You cannot simply pass it on to others as you please."     

"If you had paid attention to our mother's teachings, then you would know that it is possible to share our life force." Azriel looked away from his brother's penetrative gaze.     

He clapped his hands together and turned around, "Now that you know what that spell was for… feel free to leave." He inched closer to his bed. And even when he didn't mean to say it, he added, "I want to be alone."     

But Theodore ran and stood in front of him. Worry lines had covered his forehead. And he asked after gathering some courage, "What will happen to you… when that happens to Adeline?"     

Theodore grabbed Azriel by his collar again and looked at his brother as if to make him change what he had said earlier. And he yammered, "If our mother taught us to share our life force with the others then why are you saying that you granted Adeline your immortality? Why aren't you saying that you shared some of your life force with her?"     

"Because I gave all of my life force to her! Happy now?" Azriel screamed back at Theodore. He rolled his eyes and slapped Theodore's hands away from him.     

He was about to go to bed but Theodore blocked his path again.     

Theodore's glassy gaze fixated on his brother's star-like eyes and he whispered, "Happy? Why would I be happy to hear that? Why would you sacrifice your immortality when you were so hell-bent on taking the revenge with me?"     

Theodore clenched his fists and gritted from between his teeth, "Or was this some sick revenge plan of yours? Did you want me to suffer till eternity by making Adeline live for eternity without remembering who I was? Was this some grand revenge plan of yours?"     

"Oh, Theo…" Azriel held his head with both of his hands and laughed in frustration. He ruffled his golden locks of hair and asked in a hurt voice, "How lowly do you think I am? Do you mistrust me that much?"     

"Then why else would you do it?" Theodore growled. This time his eyes were burning red with fury.     

"Because I heard you making the wish, Theodore." Azriel toned his voice down a little and said, "When I was locking Adeline's memories, I saw how much you wanted her to be in your life, forever. I saw how you went from being an antisocial psychopath to being this whole new you when you were with her."     

"And I granted that wish of yours. Now you can be with her for eternity." Azriel looked into his brother's eyes and said from the deepest corner of his heart, "This way, at least one of us will be happy. At least one of us can live with the love of our life…"     

Theodore felt a sharp sting in his heart upon hearing that confession from his brother. Though Azriel didn't directly say it, he could tell how lonely his brother must have been for him to want to end his own life like this.     

Theodore turned around from his brother to hide the tears that were glistening on his eye rims.     

He couldn't help but feel burdened as well as indebted. He didn't want to be happy at the expense of his brother's life.     

"Why did you have to be the bigger person, Azriel? Why couldn't you keep on being the petty rascal?"