T W E N T Y - S E V E N
Tears of an Angel

"I'm gonna give you a bunch reasons why you should date me!" I groaned at Alexius's terrible singing skills, watching him drive Balthazar's Mercedes.

"Reason number one: I'm super hot!
Reason number two: She's super not!
Reason number three: I'm all you got and all you got is someone hot!" He sang loudly, dancing in the drivers seat causing the car to swerve.

"Please stop." I dramatically covered my ears from the sound of what could only be described as Alexius screeching. "What are you even singing?"

Alexius only shrugged in response, smirking in my direction. "Let's be honest though, that's probably how you are with Tom." He snickered, causing me to glare fiercely.

Ever since he learned of this whole Tom being my soul-bounder thing, he has been literally trying to plan our wedding and honeymoon. In fact, he got Balthazar on his side and now they're doing it together.

"I am not." I crossed my arms huffing. "You are blowing this way out of proportion, Alexius." My face held a tight scowl.

"Yeah right." He let out a loud laugh. "You're probably all like, 'Tom I love you so much, please make love to me'!" He shouted in a high-pitched voice, making a sad attempt at mocking me.

"Excuse me?" My eyebrows furrowed, "That is not how it is at all. He's more like, 'Lightly, if you don't stop; I'll give you a detention'." I mocked Tom in an overly low-pitched voice, making Alexius burst out in laughter.

He shook his head watching the road. "If he thinks you were bad last year," He whistled with a chuckle, looking to me a gleam in his eye. "Wait till he see's the both of us together."

It was true, Alexius and I had a tenancy to rile each other up. The two of us calmed from our laughing fit, watching the traffic of New York city work its way around us.

"Seriously though," Alexius began making a right turn toward the New York city bank. "Tom and you should totally go on a cruise for your honeymoon." He chuckled, at me bringing the palms of my hands from my face.

"You know what," I huffed, turning to look at the back seat where two duffel bags and machine guns were sitting. "Maybe we should talk about how we're about to rob this bank."

Okay, freeze. You're probably wondering right about now how this escalated so quick. Well, let me explain. Long story short, Alexius is running out of money. Now, an occurrence like this isn't too uncommon. I would say about once a year, Alexius would begin running low on money; something he hated.

However, in order to solve this problem Alexius and I used our heritage to our advantage. With him being an Antichrist and me a Nephilim it was not hard at all to rob a bank blind and get away with it. Sometimes we simply teleported into the vault and took the money without anyone noticing until it was too late, other times we made a more entertaining approach and scared people until they gave us the money. Though, we never killed innocent civilians; just shook them up a bit.

Alexius tapped the wheel as we turned into the parking lot of the bank, putting it into park. "We keep the car running, we can't be longer than five minutes or we'll get caught by the cops and forced to teleport away. Once both bags are full of cash we get the fuck out of there." I nodded, looking at the entrance of the bank.

"And what about the cameras, we're going to need to screw with them." I told him, making Alexius nod.

"That's you, the second we step out of these doors; blast those cameras to hell. Last thing we need on our hands is a clear image of us." He stated, turning around grabbing the guns.

"Here." He handed me one of the machine guns.

I grabbed it nodding, leaning down and pulling out two hats and ski masks. "Just for extra precaution." I told him, handing him the mask.

He shrugged putting on the mask, and pulling the hat over his brown locks.

"Let's do this." His voice was muffled, as he handed me one of the duffel bags.

With a smirk, we got out of the running car heading inside the building; our features completely covered. As soon as we were out of the car every single camera on the property exploded courtesy of me. Throwing the door open, I walked in, Alexius directly behind. Bringing my arm in the air with the machine gun, I began firing off bullets.

Screams echoed around as bullets rained down, people getting low to the ground. "Anyone makes one move to leave, you're dead!" I shouted an empty threat, casually walking to one of the many banker windows.

A woman was standing inside shaking, a terrified expression plastered on her face. "Hello." I stated in an overly friendly tone. placing my duffel bag on the counter. "I would like to a make withdraw." I pointed the barrel of my gun in between her eyes, making her let out a small sob.

I almost felt bad for how much I was scaring her. But then again, I wasn't actually going to shoot her. I saw Alexius doing the same thing to the window behind me. I patiently whistled a small tune, while she filled my bag to the brink with money.

"Thirty seconds!" Alexius called at me, me taking the cash-filled bag from the worker giving her a thankful nod.

"Thank you," I paused reading her name tag. "Angie." I smiled, before running with Alexius out the doors.

"Sweet, I think this is the most money we've ever gotten!" He said in glee, throwing the duffel bag and guns in the back seat.

I sighed jumping into the passenger side, Alexius going to the driver's seat with a grin. Pulling off the ski mask leaving the hat in place, I smiled at my brother. "Get us out of here." With that sentence he pressed the gas, the tires squealing as the Mercedes lurched forward.

As soon as we were on the road, cars honked as we cut them. Alexius wasted no time in pulling off his ski mask, replacing it with his sun glasses turning the ball cap backwards.

"Pandora." He called, looking in the rear view mirror.

Turning around I saw we were being trailed by a police car, with little to no hesitation I broke all of his tires making the officer's car come to a complete halt.

"Sorry!" I called at him in a sing-song voice, the officer only putting his middle finger up in reply. "Asshole New Yorkers." I huffed in dismay, slightly surprised at the lack of officers trailing us.

Alexius being the ever-quick driver he is was fast to get us back into the parking garage of Balthazar and I's condo complex. The elevator ride up to the penthouse was silent, me holding the guns and Alexius holding the two money-filled duffel bags.

As as the elevator doors opened, I jumped and Alexius flat out screamed at the sight of my uncle standing there arms crossed in nothing but a bathrobe. Alexius continued screaming until he was cut off by the look Balthazar gave him.

"Hey uncle Balthazar." I tried hiding both the huge machine guns behind my back, but was quite unsuccessful in it.

"Are you serious right now!" He threw his hands up grabbing both us pulling us out of the elevator, and into the living room. "You robbed a bank! I told you last time, you do not just rob banks when you start running low on money!" He yelled, me dropping the guns harshly to the ground as he pushed me on the couch.

Alexius was forced to drop his bags as well, as he too was pushed to the couch. "You do it all the time when you need money!" I scowled, making his head turn to me faster than I've ever seen him move.

"Yes, but I teleport into the vault and collect it calmly. They don't even notice until a few days after it's gone!" He yelled, face beat-red in anger at the both us.

I sighed in defeat, sitting back in the couch. Balthazar then turned to my seventeen year old friend. "And you," He accusingly pointed to Alexius. "Are obviously too irresponsible to live by yourself with these stunts! You're living with me from now on!" He yelled, making Alexius look down nodding, not wanting to argue with the usually laid back angel.

A news report happening on the television caught our attention. It was a helicopter flying over the bank we just robbed, and police surrounding it. Civilians and workers who looked shaken up were being escorted out, making me feel slightly guilty.

"LOOK AT THIS!" Balthazar screamed, turning up the volume to the television. "THE BOTH OF YOU ARE GROUNDED! GO TO YOUR ROOMS!" he pointed up the stairs, his screams ricocheting off the walls.

Alexius was over so often he had his own room with us, but now that he was living with us it would seem that it truly was his room. The two of us didn't even bother running upstairs, wanting to get away as fast as possible we both teleported our separate ways to our rooms.

I landed on my bed with a thump, shaking my head letting out a breath.

~

"Pandora!" Alexius exclaimed in a whispered shout, excitedly teleporting into my room.

With a sigh, I shut my laptop spinning my office chair around to face him. I rose a brow, leaning back into the chair crossing my arms. Alexius knew very well that we were both grounded and weren't suppose to see each other except for meals. Other than that and using the restroom, Balthazar kept us locked in our rooms still extremely angry about the whole robbery issue. It had been like this for the past week.

"Yes," I said, resting my chin on my hand; pursing my lips. "You do realize if Balthazar catches us, we're probably going to die?" I questioned, raising a brow making him smirk.

"Oh well," He dramatically fell across my bed, smirking at me. "I can't spend fourth of July without my sister now can I?" Alexius sighed, making me smile.

In a cat-like fashion, I was standing from my chair and shoving my boots on. "So, where are we going?" I questioned, tying the ties to my boots.

"How about a small little get together in Alabama?" Alexius jumped off my bed, a smirk adorning his face.

"Alabama? Huh," I stood, finishing off my tied boots. "Sounds interesting enough." I said, holding out my arm, which Alexius happily took.

"Balthazar is going to kill us when he finds out." Alexius chuckled, making me shrug.

"Oh well." And with that a golden mass of chaos overtook our vision, and warmth spread throughout our bodies.

It lasted for just a few minutes before we were stood in the middle of a tiny trailer park, filled with happy people of the south. Looking around I saw children running about; sparklers in hand, adults sat by the camp fires telling stories of the past.

I smiled at the little festival, enjoying the southern feel it gave away. Alexius himself was born in Louisiana, and was a native to south. It was interesting because alike to me naturally having a New York accent, Alexius himself had a sort of southern drawl about his words, but he usually hid it.

"Come on, let's go!" Alexius pulled me away, going to someone who was giving away sparklers.

Taking the sparklers from the man with a thank you, we twirled them watching in amazement at their beauty. We hung around the little festival for hours, playing with the little kids for some parts of it, other parts were spent with the adults listening to them sing songs of the past.

It wasn't until the sun had set completely, that Alexius and I had taken American flags and sat out at the picnic tables waiting for the firework show to begin. It started all at once; amazing in all its glory. People cheered as the colorful explosives lit the night sky, lighting it up. Shouts for the birth of America made there way across the festival, adults howling with patriotism and children cheering with glee.

The show of fireworks went on for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. I waved the flag in my hands hollering with respect for the grand country I lived in, Alexius doing the same. With one last huge bang, the show of colors and sound was over leaving nothing but smoke and black in its wake.

Alexius turned to me with a bright grin, shaking his head in laughter. "That was great!" He exclaimed, the other people running around packing up their kids as the festival was now over.

"Best fourth of July ever." I agreed, looking around at the smoke filled sky. "Though Balthazar may never let us walk outside again once we get back." I sighed, making Alexius pout in acknowledgment.

"Hey," He started a bright smile on his face. "You know how he is on holidays, maybe he didn't even notice." It was true, usually on whatever holiday Balthazar would be at some strip joint getting it on with the workers.

It was a real possibility that he didn't even notice our missing forms.

However, a sudden thought occurred to me. Hogwarts started back up in about two months, and I wanted to go see Tom in the orphanage as a child once more. I felt as though this may help me to understand his complex character.

Turning to Alexius, I expressed a look of determination. "You go back, I'll be there shortly after." Alexius looked exasperated, but before he could respond I had hurled myself into the oceans of time.

~

Tom Riddle was a small orphan child at the tender age of six. He was an odd one to say the least, a child who barely ever showed emotion as most would describe. He was a handsome boy, with carved aristocratic looks that surely did not belong in such a dingy orphanage.

It was because of these looks that Tom Riddle had been constantly picked on and both physically and verbally abused by the other children. The adults not liking his expression of emotions had all silently decided to neglect him, only stepping in when the physical abuse became life-threatening.

Tom Riddle let out small whimpers of pain occasionally when being beaten, but never would shed a single tear or show that he was hurt mentally in anyway. It was only when he was alone in his room that he would let his emotions show, often crying himself to sleep begging for his father to come and pick him up, or even for one of those nice couples looking for a son to adopt him.

However, it was in the recent days that Tom had began praying to God of all beings sobbing to the high-power for him to send an angel to his side. Or anything to help him for that matter. Anything to show him mercy or dare he say love.

It had been that past day, when Tom finally had enough. The boys ganged up on him outside as per usual, beating him until he lay whimpering covering his face on the ground; flinching with each kick that was delivered.

It was only when a certain blow was delivered by the biggest bully there; Billy Stubbs, that Tom had screamed out in pain for the first time ever. And with magic every single boy was sent flying away from him, landing harshly on their bottoms.

"Tom's a demon! Get away from him, he's crazy!" Billy shouted, stumbling to his feet running away from the little six year old boy.

The other bullies followed after, not wanting to be around what they could describe as the evil kid. Tom watched, his usually blank expression flashing momentarily to one of hurt. Tom knew odd occurrences often happened around him, considering he talked to the garden snakes almost everyday. They were his only friends.

Sometimes if he focused hard enough, the little boy was able to make his favorite book levitate. However, nothing this drastic had ever happened, he was never able to defend himself against the other boys as he was only one person and they were many.

Despite not having any friends, Tom always considered the woman from his dreams his friend. Woman wasn't the correct term though, more like teenager. He dreamed of her often, hearing her musical melody running among his mind. He could never hear the actual words just heard the soft humming of the song.

He saw her through what usually was a sort of blurred image. He could see her caramel hair and the soft features that adorned her. However, mostly it was the eyes. The rich golden irises, like someone melted down only the purest of golds and placed them straight into her eyes. They glowed and shimmered with happiness as she looked down at him, rocking him in his infant form singing him softly to sleep.

At first, Tom believed she was only a figment of his imagination. That was until he overheard Mrs. Cole talking about a teenager named Mary who had apparently stopped by the orphanage when he was only a few months old and was able to soothe him like no other.

According to her Mary was only there for an hour, being able to get him to sleep and disappearing straight after. Tom could remember his infant form screaming for hours on end, wishing for her return to hold him once more.

Though, based on the way they described her; she had hazel eyes, not gold. And so often the young boy sat alone on his bed wondering why he always saw her with golden irises?

I had teleported into the orphanage late that night, as every single person was asleep. I hadn't even bothered changing out of my shirt and jeans as I only planned for Tom to see me, and after that I would wipe his mind of ever seeing me.

Slowly, I made my way upstairs the wooden steps creaking as I did so. I looked around the clean, but run down orphanage in disdain; sad for all the orphans who lived here. The thirties was most definitely not the best time to be an orphan, especially with the war going on.

As soon as I made it up all the steps, I was shocked when my hearing picked up on a small male child's voice coming from the last door at the very end of the hall. It may have been much higher-pitched, but I knew all too well that I was hearing Tom Marvolo Riddle's accented voice.

Making my way to his door, I listened to what he was saying. "Please, please; let my father come get me and if that can't happen will you at least send me an angel? Or perhaps Mary? Mary would do just fine, please just help me." His little voice ended in a desperate plea, making my insides churn in sadness for the boy.

Though, I was surprised he remembered me as Mary. Plastering a bright smile on my face, I gripped the door handle pushing it open. Tom's head snapped to mine in shock, before his eyes widened in astonishment.

Looking to him now, he was a skinny child; skinny but handsome. Dark hair aligned his face and blue irises bore into my own. However, it was the bruises on his body that caught my attention and made me almost lose my temper. I almost went and set the little bastards who did this to my soul-bounder on fire.

"Mary!" His voice exclaimed, a smile lighting up his features.

"Hey baby boy." The nickname was odd on my tongue, but I liked it for the little boy who looked sweeter than could be. "You called for an angel?"

I was taken by surprise when the tiny Tom ran up to me, hugging my waist like there was no tomorrow. He buried his face in my stomach, letting tears slip out sobs falling from his mouth. "I mi-missed you so much!" He cried, making my own eyes tear up.

Refusing to let any fall, I hugged him back running my fingers through his hair. "Shhh," I hushed him, wiping the tears from his face. "It's alright now. I'm here." I picked him up, lying him down on his bed.

Tom clutched onto my arm, eyes pleading with me to lie down with him. Giving in, the two of us cuddled on his tiny bed; him clutching me refusing to let go. As Tom sobbed into my chest, hugging me I forced myself into doing what needed to be done.

With a small breath which sounded like a sob, my fingers coiled around Tom's head erasing his memories of me. It would lessen the pain of not having me here with him. His eyes lit up golden alike to my own, as my grace ran through his head; shoving the memories down so far he couldn't reach them.

"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night, and wouldn't you love to love her?" I sang, as Tom's eyes closed in a dreamless sleep, my eyes fading back to hazel upon burying Tom's memories of us.

Staying with Tom's sleeping form for just a few more minutes, I kissed his forehead. "I'll see you soon, my Tommy." I whispered in his ear, before disappearing on the spot.

And like that Tom Marvolo Riddle was left alone once again. His thoughts of Pandora Claire to be forgotten for many years to come.

~
THIS IS THE CONCLUSION OF PART i
~