Viva la Revolution

Achebe cleaned the forehead wound first, wiping the blood away gently with a professional hand. “So, tell me. How did your friend get these wounds?”

Estella Fay leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. Saturn cradled me to his chest, occasionally stroking my hair.

If I had been in my own body, I would have exchanged a look with Nathaniel. We hadn't exactly said the truth when we were asked about it earlier. We could have just outright told the truth, seeing that we weren't trying to hide our abilities anymore.

There was just one little problem.

This group had mentioned being anti-government. Sure, it was a different government than the one I had become convinced Nathaniel had once been a part of, but Nathaniel had been exactly the kind of guy these guys would hate.

That also wasn't taking into account the fact that we were from a world where people went when they died, which meant that any of Nathaniel's enemies were ones that had deaths that likely were related to him.

"Well," I said, giving a smirk, "I'm not that well-liked of a person, and it really doesn't help that there's this one person that everyone keeps confusing me for."

Skull, Nathaniel said, you don't have to pretend like they were after you.

I shrugged.

"And if someone's after one member of our little group," I said, seemingly to everyone else in the room, "then they go for the whole group."

The comment was actually to Nathaniel. It was a reminder that if everyone here suddenly turned on him, they'd turn on me, too.

Saturn hissed. “We’ve all been there.”

Estella Fay nodded. “Some more than others, but yes.”

I frowned. “Commonplace here, really. Apologies that you were caught up in that mess.”

I shrugged again.

"It's not like they were your enemies," I said. "They're all mine."

Because, hey. At this point, they were mine, too. His enemies all recognized me at this point and hated me almost as much as they hated him. Killing me would be a good precursor to killing him in their eyes.

I thought for a moment, and then added, "And they're not even here."

Skull, Nathaniel said. Are you sure we should be sharing we're not from here?

"You're worrying about nothing, Natty boy," I said, nonchalantly. "They didn't draw the line at the shadow thing or the possession."

Saturn, Estella Fay and I all exchanged a glance as Achebe ignored the conversation and started bandaging Skull’s forehead.

Estella Fay dipped her toes in. “What exactly do you mean by that…?”

I studied the nonexistent dirt underneath my fingernails.

"Have you looked at our outfits?" I asked. I knew that they had; they had brought attention to my leather jacket earlier. "We're not from here."

I paused.

"Actually," I revised, "looking at Natty boy's probably doesn't help."

Nathaniel furrowed his brow. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I look more Victorian possessing you than I do possessing me," I said, "and I'm the one who's actually Victorian."

Nathaniel's cheeks burned red and hot, then. He made it all too easy. "They do not. They're just respectable clothes."

"They make you look like a prick," I replied, smirking.

Saturn, Estella Fay, and I all looked down at our clothes. Estella fidgeted with the skirt of her dress. “But… this is the Victorian era. I don’t… I’m confused by your meaning. Unless…”

She glanced at Nathaniel. “You’re implying that he’s not from this time.”

Saturn hummed. “Oh, Neptune would love that.”

"He's not," I confirmed. I gave a casual stretch.

Nathaniel frowned. "You're not, either."

"I was born during then," I said. "It counts. I even had the street urchin experience. Even if I wear modern clothes, I'm still more from this time."

I shrugged.

"Then again," I said, "this isn't really my time, either. It was a different Earth than this one. Same thing with Nathaniel's London."

Saturn nodded. “And that’s when you send Neptune into cardiac arrest. Yep.”

Estella Fay blinked. “Other world. Okay. A different London.” Her wings fluttered, sending her about a half foot in the air. “That’s… so normal. So common.”

Achebe shrugged. “Saturn’s from another world entirely. Parallel worlds… not so strange.”

I smirked.

"Oh," I said, "I haven't even brought up the fact that we're both-"

"Skull," Nathaniel said, exhaustion written across his face. "Whatever you're thinking, don't."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I innocently replied.

Nathaniel sighed.

"You're making my face do that expression you do when you're about to mess with people," Nathaniel said, hand on his forehead.

My smirk only grew.

"What I was going to say before Natty boy interrupted me," I said, ignoring him, "is that we're actually both dead."

Estella Fay laughed nervously, her wings still fluttering. “Well, Hev and I are angels. I think that’s in the same category. Angels and the dead?”

I shrugged. “Depends who you ask. I dropped most of the religion stuff once I… quit.”

She nodded. “Right. Right. So, maybe similar?”

"Angels?" Nathaniel repeated. The last time I checked, he wasn't that religious, but it probably held some weight to him. His afterlife hadn't been anything like mine.

Nathaniel had just awoken on Arium right after dying. I had sat in the Other Side for more than a century. The idea of angels didn't really faze me. I wasn't even sure I really believed in them. Not as some beings that resided over the dead.

"You're not angels," I scoffed. "You're just people with wings."

"That's what angels are," Nathaniel pointed out.

"And that's what a spirit is when they change their guise to look like one," I said, crossing my arms. Wings didn't mean anything. "It's not the same thing, Natty boy. I know death better than you do. If angels exist, I would have met them."

Nathaniel sighed. "We're on a different Earth."

I faltered. That was a good point.

Heliodor Everett shrugged. “We don’t just have wings.”

Estella Fay nodded, grinning. “We also have elemental powers! Hev is a fire alis, so he bends fire. I’m a light alis, so I bend light. And there’s a slew of others that bend other things!” She grinned.

Saturn nodded. “And there’s alis hybrids. Like Tempest Briar. Who does water and wind.”

"Which isn't angels," I pointed. "Angels are all..."

I faltered. I didn't really know.

"Did you ever go to church?" Nathaniel asked.

"Have you looked at me?" I replied. "I've never been. Not since I was a kid, and even then I don't remember it."

I tried not to think much about my days before Bickerstaff. Before the streets, too. It was a different kind of life, one that I honestly couldn't imagine myself living in now.

Estella Fay huffed. “Well, maybe we’re half angels. Descendants of the angels who took human wives. But the idea still counts.”

Saturn sighed. “Maybe you should lead with that. Half something is quite different from full something.”