T H I R T Y - E I G H T
What Time Is It?

March 2, 2018

Rain pattered against the hood of the sleek black car angrily, bullet-like sounds echoing about the dense space. The Mercedes Benz sped through the heavy rainfall at dangerous speeds, tires crying everytime a turn was made.

No normal person would risk speeding so quickly through this thicket of rain; however, normal people also had the risk of dying if an accident happened. Balthazar, Alexius, and I didn't need to worry about that, death was not a worry lurking around the corner anytime soon.

Steam leaked from my mouth falling across the passenger's window as fog. Once my breath on the window made a big enough space to draw a picture, I used my index finger to draw odd random doodles. Lips tugging up in a smile, I watched with amusement as the doodles came to life before my very eyes, dancing and swaying across the window, the fog moving with each shape.

My smile soon fell replaced with a small cringe at seeing the state my nails were. I really had to stop biting them, they were becoming nothing but nubs at this point.

Within the recess of my mind, a sharp sense of worry suddenly stabbed at my brain. Dropping my hand, I waved my fingers making the images freeze in there dancing.

"Alexius," I cooed gently, turning to the back seat with a reassuring smile. "I can hear the worry in your thoughts from here, take a breath, it'll all be good."

Alexius sat in the back fiddling his thumbs, eyes focused on nothing in particular. I stayed looking at him for a good few seconds until he finally took notice of me staring. "I'm sorry, what?" He pulled an earbud from his ear, myself turning back around to face the front with a small huff.

Balthazar laughed as he drove, looking through the rearview mirror at Alexius. "Don't worry, with what I hear about Crowley going soft these days, your father's sure to love you."

The crossroads demon; Crowley, also known as Alexius's biological father. For the past few months, I had been talking Alexius into finally meeting his father. Alexius was adamant on following his mother's wish of him never associating with Crowley, but I was able to convince him otherwise.

Now, after Balthazar pulled a few strings, he was able to get Crowley to agree to meet at some random Chinese restaurant all the way on 32 Street.

It had been just over two years since the whole Tom Riddle fiasco. I won't lie, it took time to heal from that, I didn't think being away from Tom could affect me so bad.

At first, it felt like someone physically ripped my heart out, and I mean that in the most literal way possible. I had to check a few times to make sure it was still inside my chest beating.

I've learned to block out the pain in recent months, now it just felt like a constant dull throb, annoying but bearable.

After the months it took to finally get back on my feet, I decided that I didn't care much if my existence stayed a secret. Let all of Heaven and Hell come for me, I dare them, they wouldn't get within fifteen feet of me before I blew them sky-high.

Despite being a Nephilim, I was still an eighteen-year-old going onto nineteen with a job at White Castle who spends the rest of my day huddled in my bed watching Netflix, you could say life was pretty boring.

Going to meet a crossroads demon at Shanghai Cuisine on 32 Street was about the most exciting thing that had happened since Hogwarts. I hadn't even thought of time-travel since then, deciding being anti-social was all around better.

Eyeing Alexius's shaggy brown hair; which was longer than it had ever been, I shrugged. "Listen, dude..." I started, kicking my feet up on the dashboard much to Balthazar's disapproval. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, just be yourself."

I yelped when Balthazar smacked my legs off the dashboard. Chuckling, Alexius took out his headphones shoving them in the depths of his pocket along with his phone.

Reaching over, Alexius played with the short pink strands of my hair. "What can I do to convince you to come inside and meet Crowley with me?" He tried the puppy gaze making me roll my eyes.

"Nothing, Balthazar and I will go in for the polite introduction, but then you're on your own. I have a date with Thirteen Reasons Why when I get home." Both Balthazar and Alexius scowled at my answer.

"You really need to get out more, go on a hot date or something." I snickered at Alexius's suggestion.

"Nah," I waved him off, watching the water slide easily down the outside of the window. "I'm good just sitting in my room fantasizing about a mass murderer." Balthazar and Alexius shared an uncomfortable look knowing who I was referring to, Balthazar finally shaking his head with a long sigh.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go to Hogwarts, look where you are now." The tires of the Mercedes squelched as Balthazar parked in a parking spot just in front of Shanghai Cuisine.

Alexius groaned, dramatically flinging himself back in the seat. "I can't do this!" He hollered, covering his face.

"Oh yes, you can. C'mon." I pulled my hoodie up over my hair, stepping out into the rain.

Slamming the door shut behind me, Balthazar, Alexius, and I scurried inside the Chinese restaurant. It was a small restaurant and by no means busy, only about five other customers in total, all of which were eating at tables.

Thankfully, the air was much warmer in here than outside. Gold and red splattered the walls, cheap blood-colored tile floors and plastic that was painted silver for the chairs, an authentic Americanized Chinese restaurant at its finest.

My hand moved under my chin as I studied the multiple Chinese paintings, one in particular catching my eye. Was that Mulan?

"我也操你的女儿!" I turned at the Chinese language, seeing one female Asian waitress and another male Asian waiter screaming at each other the back.

[I also fuck your daughter!]

Their hands moved quickly, both gesturing to random parts of their bodies as they spoke. Raising my brows, not understanding anything they were saying, I drew my attention to the hostess who looked to be Filipino.

"Hello!" She cheered with a thick accent, waving eagerly. "Table fo' free'?" She questioned, beginning to pick up three menus until Balthazar politely shook his head.

"No, we're just meeting someone-" He was cut off by the sound of shoes hitting the tile and a gruff English accent.

The sound of the English accent sent a chill of memories surging down my spine, something which I strategically covered up with a curious expression. Spinning around, the three of us came face to face with a sharp-looking male wearing a black suit along with a midnight trenchcoat.

He wasn't particularly tall, nor was he short, around average height. The man must have been in his late forties, a scruffy beard along with brown tufts of hair emerging from his head. So this was the demon Crowley, Alexius's father.

Looking at it from afar, you could the similarities between the two, though I was assuming Alexius got the majority of his looks from his mother.

"Hello, Balthazar." Crowley delivered a sarcastic smile, hands resting in his trench coat pockets as he stopped in front of us. "Last I checked, you were supposed to be dead, I thought Castiel killed you," Balthazar smirked, tapping his nose.

"Exactly, the point was to keep everyone believing I'm dead. Stay out of the drama with Heaven and Hell." Balthazar's patience was wearing thin, it was obvious him Crowley didn't necessarily see eye to eye.

Perhaps it was the angel and demon thing.

Taking a step back, Balthazar motioned to Alexius and I. "This is my niece, Gabriel's daughter; Pandora Claire." Crowley looked me over with slight contempt before making a 'hmph' sound.

"You're the Nephilim that's got the entirety of the Supernatural world in a twist right now, you should be careful. There are two rather annoying hunters and an angel on the scope for you, they think you might be able to help with Lucifer's son." Crowley met my eyes for barely a second.

Lucifer, another issue of the matter. You see, Lucifer decided to pull a Gabriel once he escaped from Hell and knocked some chick up. Now, for the first time in history, there would be two arch-angel Nephilim's running amock.

Because of how rare this occurrence is, many were searching for me in hopes that I might be able to shine some light on what Lucifer's child will become. Rumor has it the pregnant mother is staying with Sam and Dean Winchester, two hunters that I hadn't yet met, but were known to be quite annoying.

"Yeah, everybody's trying to kill everybody, what's new?" I scoffed, motioning to Alexius. "This here is your son; Alexius."

Alexius who was shifting nervously immediately held out his hand with an almost frightened-looking smile.

"Hi." He awkwardly shook hands with Crowley, Crowley taking the time to study him in slight wonder.

"Hmm," Crowley hummed, releasing his hand. "I do wish you had tried to find me sooner." The demon said almost sadly, nodding his head toward a table to the side. "I got us a table, let's talk."

"I'll see you later, bro." I winked at Alexius, Balthazar waving bye as we left them.

Making our way back out into the rain, I screeched as I slipped in a puddle of water falling on my ass. Balthazar burst out in obnoxious laughter clutching his stomach as he pointed to me, the both of us quickly getting soaked to the bone.

"Shut up, it's not that funny." I got off the ground, ignoring his cackles as we ran to the car.

***

Elegant spindle like fingers gently threaded through my hair, soft petal lips placing feathery kisses across my jawline and down the exposed flesh of my neck. The warm summer air breezed past us causing my dress to rustle; above us, the sky was a burst of fiery oranges and magnificent purples.

"Mmm," I hummed, spinning around to face the person holding me against them. "I love you."

Tom smirked down at me, not the smirk he usually used on people, but a smirk reserved only for me. A smirk that almost looked like a half-smile and yet it meant more than a smile. It was a look that told me despite everything, he loved me too.

"I know." He kissed me gently, our lips moving sweetly together. "And I love you." He pulled back, resting his forehead against mine, hands delicately handling my hips.

Draping my arms over his shoulders, my voice rang out whimsically in tune to the song Rhiannon.

"Rhiannon rings like
a bell through the
night, and wouldn't
you love to love her."

Our forms swayed along to my tune, Tom's glaring blue irises staring intensely into my own.

Leaning down so his lips were in line with my ear, he whispered a single phrase. "Wake up." A butterfly kiss was left on the bridge of my ear.

***

A melody of tears streamed down my cheeks, small whimpers leaving my mouth. Two years ago, I had nightmares about my father, I didn't have those anymore. I only had dreams, sometimes even memories.

However, all those wonderfully dazzling dreams consisted of someone who was forever lost. Someone whom I may never again get to touch. The dreams taunted me with something that could never be, and it hurt. It hurt so terribly that I wished for the nightmares back, I could handle the nightmares about my father it, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could handle dreams about Tom.

How much longer could I last until I finally broke?

~~~

Ha
    Ha
         Ha.

Hi, I'm back! I know I am so sorry about the long wait, but it's finally out. Let me give you guys the short story about why this took so long. Basically, as soon as I finished part ii, I made the mistake of watching Doctor Who and was immediately sucked into that fandom. (Still not out of it.)

I have no clue how it happened, but suddenly instead of writing part iii for Celestial Soul, I'm writing the first chapter of a Doctor Who fanfiction. (It was Doctor #11 in case any Doctor Who fans were wondering.)

Well, yeah, that happened and before I know it three months have passed and that story is finished! Like I full on finished a forty-eight chapter fanfiction before I've even started on part iii of this story. So, really sorry about that.

As soon as I finished that story which was two days ago, I took a short two-hour break and then went back to this one. Well for me right now, it was finished two days ago, but by the time I post this, it's been about threek weeks.

In hindsight, I feel like it was good that a took that break from writing Celestial Soul because I feel like my ideas for this story are now a lot brighter and fingers crossed that my writing has improved a bit.

Anyway, any fans of Doctor Who, please, please go check out that fanfiction; it's called Hellfire, it's literally fully completed and just sitting there, so... yeah! Not going to lie, I think I may have accidentally had the protagonist's personality for Hellfire mirroring Pandora's a little too much. Oops? Oh well, what are you going to do!

Like always, thank you all so much for reading, it truly makes me happy, I hope you enjoy the final part to Celestial Soul!