Taliyah’s origin: Cemetery angels 💐🧚🏽‍♀️

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Cemetery angels”. Gacha Club character designs are underneath my forum titled “My character designs<33[2]”. Enjoy!*

In the 1800s, in the town of Ashelain, there was a family who lived in a manor high on a hill, as though they wanted to be as far away from everyone as they possibly could, haunting the town like the looming shadow it was.

The family was none other than the Marwood family and they only ever came out during starlit nights, looking for children to sacrifice to the Starlit Angels, beings made entirely out of stars that would come into the Marwood’s house and burn the children alive. One could hear the screams of the unlucky children and if one lived near the Marwood house, like the Cresswell family, then one would be able to see the pale-blue light flash of the stars burning into their victims. It was said that the Marwoods sacrificed the town children to the Starlit Angels so that their own kids would not die and it was the reason that many children were told to stay home during nights when the stars shone the brightest.

But eleven year old Taliyah Cresswell knew that there was one Marwood called Gehenna, a girl who was her age, who never went out during starry nights, a girl who Taliyah saw through the windows, walking all by herself, just like a mournful ghost.

Maybe Taliyah read too many fairytale books, but she didn’t think it was fair that Gehenna was all alone. Perhaps she only wanted a friend, somebody to connect with deeply. If she didn’t go out like the rest of the Marwoods, so maybe she was different. Maybe she wasn’t like her family.

That was why one star-struck night, Taliyah had crept out of the house through a downstairs window and walked over to the rose bush of the Marwood garden, admiring the dew-dropped rose petals and rustling the branches so that Gehenna would come out and see her from the window, so that she would talk to Taliyah, so-

“What are you doing here?! Don’t you know what happens at this kind of night?! You should be home!” Gehenna cried out, standing above Taliyah, who sat amongst the flowers, looking up at Gehenna in her gray dress tied by a black dress, Gehenna’s black curls framing her light brown face beautifully, like that of a Princess, her dark brown eyes wide in fear and anxiety.

“I do know, but I also want to know more about you! Aren’t you lonely in that mansion? Don’t you want to talk to somebody your age? I mean, I know about the history, but you still deserve a friend, right?” Taliyah asked, for maybe a talk with Gehenna would help her realize how silly she was for spending all her time inside.

Gehenna still didn’t budge, looking at Taliyah as though she were crazy, a hint of slight concern in her eyes. Yes, she knew why Gehenna would be worried, but it wasn’t like Taliyah would go inside the manor and besides, didn’t she want someone to talk to? Taliyah knew what it was like to be incredibly lonely, as she had no one but her parents and her parents weren’t as good as someone her age, so why couldn’t Gehenna see how similar they were and talk to her for a bit?

“You must be Gehenna Marwood, the only Marwood who doesn’t go out and hunt for children. I’m Taliyah and I would like to be your friend, if it’s okay with you.” Taliyah said, extending her hand out towards Gehenna. She didn’t want to force Gehenna, but it would have been nice to bond with someone like her, to get a closer connection like the girls in the stories she read, to-

Gehenna smiled and accepted Taliyah’s hand, joining her in the bushes.

Taliyah knew that she was lonely! She knew it and because Gehenna accepted her hand, she wouldn’t be lonely anymore! The both of them wouldn’t be lonely anymore!

Wasn’t that amazing?

………………………………………………………………………………………

Taliyah would visit Gehenna every night, every year, whenever she could. As the years went on, Taliyah found that they weren’t too different from one another. They both loved Princesses and the idea to live in a world entirely of magic, to explore more of the world, and to find all things that sparkled like gems. The two of them would talk about their favorite fairytales and pretend to be Princesses themselves. On those nights, Gehenna didn’t seem like a Marwood, but just another girl who wanted to love as deeply and abundantly as the heroines of her fairytales did, to love in a place that wasn’t so desolate and abandoned.

Taliyah understood that feeling. She understood that feeling of being so hopelessly alone, for even with her loving parents, she still felt disconnected from others and talking to people did not come naturally to her, for everyone was so and toys full of their own judgements, so quick to discard the fables of their childhood in favor of what was “right and proper”.

But talking to Gehenna felt as natural as breathing, for Gehenna never thought Taliyah strange for wanting to play games and pretend to be something that she had no hope of ever being. It was that about Gehenna that made Taliyah’s love for Gehenna grow, for they were two lonely souls who had connected with each other, and their families had no idea about it. It was just the two of them, just their special secret to hold to their hearts.

They had still met in the garden, even at sixteen years old, still playing the wonderfully childish games of being Princesses, Gehenna having taken to calling Taliyah “Tessa”, and Taliyah’s heart soaring higher whenever she called Taliyah that, along with if Gehenna ever smiled wide, her cloudy dark eyes lighting up with life. For all of the years that they saw each other, Taliyah not only saw a beautiful girl, but a beautiful soul beneath, a soul that wanted to help the children that were sacrificed, a soul who didn’t think that she did enough, and a soul that also held onto hope, just like Taliyah.

To call Gehenna a friend had begun to feel too weak, too meaningless, to Taliyah, but again, there was always the chance that Gehenna didn’t feel the same way, that they may not speak to each other once they grew up, so Taliyah kept her feelings to herself, for it was much safer to imagine something more between the two of them and admire Gehenna quietly than to let her feelings come tumbling out and have an already close-knit friendship ruined.

One night, as Gehenna and Taliyah were in the rose bush, Gehenna’s seven year old sister, Briena, who Gehenna had sometimes mentioned in passing, had gone outside to the garden because she had seen the bushes rustling from the parlor room windows as she was bringing a cup of water to her room and had found the girls in the rose bushes, talking to each other of their lives and their dreams as sweetly as they always did.

After Gehenna introduced Briena to Taliyah, she told her that Taliyah was a “special person” and that she was “not allowed” to tell their parents anything about Taliyah. Taliyah knew that it was because Gehenna was afraid of Taliyah getting hurt by them, but she wished that it weren’t the case, that more of them were loving. Maybe they were and Gehenna didn’t know that.

But Briena had smiled and nodded, whispering:

“Okay then. I think she’s very pretty, by the way. Like a Princess.”

To which, Gehenna had turned towards Taliyah with a soft, nearly heart-melting smile and said:

“I wholeheartedly agree. She is beautiful inside and out, very much like a Princess.”

It was most likely just Gehenna being nice, but it was enough for Taliyah to absorb those words deep into her soul, to think of the gentleness of how Gehenna spoke, the kindness in Gehenna’s face, and the very words that she said.

In moments like those, Taliyah couldn’t help but think that it would have been nice if they could both get away from the evil of the Starlit Angels and live together as dreaming, daring Princesses. Maybe they couldn’t be “real” Princesses, but they would be like the fairytale Princesses in heart, in spirit.

Taliyah wasn’t sure it would ever happen, though, so she had settled with imagining it in times where she felt so desolately cold and alone.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Them seeing each other had become something that was needed, something that they could not imagine living out, for they were each other’s glowing light in what would seem to be a cruel world ahead. They hoped that they would continue to see each other as women and perhaps do more than meet in the rose bush, but neither knew if growing up would alter them completely, so they didn’t speak much on the future and tried their best to focus on the present, to hold onto the positives.

There was one star-sprinkled night where Taliyah did not see Gehenna, only for her to see a flash of pale-blue light coming from the windows and hearing a child scream, then, she understood that she had unfortunately arrived right at the time a child was being sacrificed. Gehenna had once told her that it was a rule in her family that all Marwoods witness the sacrifices, even her and Briena. Taliyah had asked if it disturbed them both and Gehenna had said that it scared her, but that Briena was conditioned by their parents into believing that the children were going to a magical, happy place and that their screams was just the result of shock being from the “sheer unimaginable magnificence” of the experience. She had not put two and two together that the children were actually dying and she didn’t seem to want to.

So, with a heavy heart and tears in her eyes, Taliyah left.

She returned for the next night, though, waiting in the lightly pink-dusted rose bushes for Gehenna, hoping that she could cheer Gehenna up, that-

“I’m sorry I wasn’t around last night. I…my sister was taken.” Gehenna said.

Gehenna was wearing a muted purple gown with a sapphire necklace around her neck. Her dark eyes were ridden with tears and when she slumped next to Taliyah and brought her knees up to her chest, curling herself up as she did so, Taliyah felt her whole heart breaking as what she heard and saw the other night, along with Gehenna’s words, merged together in her mind.

“Taken?! You mean, they TOOK her?!” Taliyah cried out, terror swarming her mind as she thought of Briena being so violently burned away and sorrow in her heart as she thought of how Gehenna had to watch.

Weren’t they not supposed to take a Marwood? Why did they take Briena, then? Didn’t they have any heart? Didn’t they have any love?

“I tried to stop it, but they held me down…made me watch…I tried, but…maybe I didn’t try hard enough. Maybe I should have fought more. Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe…maybe…”

Gehenna couldn’t speak anymore and so, she had started to cry, her whole body shaking with sobs.

But really, how could Gehenna think that any of it was her fault, when Taliyah had never once thought to break into the house and save the children? She believed that Gehenna tried her best, so why hadn’t Taliyah? There was only one reason and that reason was fear. Underneath the joy of seeing Gehenna, there was a lingering, looming presence of fright at the thought of being caught in the Marwood’s sacrifice ritual, laced with the idea that it was impossible to do anything to help the kids.

Watching Gehenna cry, Taliyah had started to feel the overwhelming cloud of guilt inside her of having not done more, even if it would have cost Taliyah her life. For all her dreams of being a hero, why hadn’t she thought to be the heroic one?

“No, no. It’s not your fault. It never WAS your fault, okay? You tried your best, what more could you have done? If anything, I should have at least broken into the house and tried to help the children escape. Who cared if they found me? I was too much of a coward to even-“

“Don’t you DARE say that, Taliyah. It was right of you not to come over. I don’t think I would have been able to handle it if they took you, if they snatched you away. It wasn’t your responsibility to save them. It was mine, all mine. All of this is…it’s my fault. All of it.” Gehenna said sharply, her dark eyes holding a kind of intensity that looked as though it was meant for those she loved and cared for with her whole heart, her whole being, the kind of glare that said: Don’t you ever think that you are a monster.

It was something that Taliyah was not sure she knew how to reply to, because for one thing, Gehenna might have been giving Taliyah too much grace for not stepping in, but for another, maybe they both wouldn’t have had been able to do anything. After all, what would the two of them be against Gehenna’s whole family and who-knew-how-old sacrifice tradition. It was a depressing thought, but Taliyah could only see the two of them dying and then nothing changing.

Maybe it wasn’t any of their faults. Maybe, sometimes, there were evil things that were greater than them, that would stand as long as it could to continue its corruption and maybe, if they both left Ashelain as adults, together, then they could have a more effective plan to stop the madness. Maybe, if they were older and disconnected from the troubles, they could think of better ways to save the children. There was only so much sixteen year olds could do, after all.

But one thing was clear to Taliyah in that moment: Gehenna could not blame herself. She had tried to stop it, she must have had many conversations with her family and who knew what else? The point was, Gehenna was a good person, and Taliyah desperately needed her to know that, because it’d completely destroy and damage her heart into nothingness if Gehenna carried the burden of something that was never, ever, her fault.

“You could never be as horrible as them, Gehenna, because I know you. I know how much you care. I know how big your heart is. I know that you’ve tried and that you’re still trying now. You’re a good person in a bad situation. I know you and for that, I love you, much more deeply than I ever could as a friend. You don’t have to feel the same way, I just want you to know that there’s always going to be someone out there who has you in their heart no matter what happens.” Taliyah said, all the words tumbling out of her lips, wondering if she had made the wrong choice of speaking, if Gehenna was offended, if-

“Oh, it’s a relief to know that you love me as deeply as I love you! Maybe we can run away together and search the world for solutions! There’s got to be hope for those children! If you can love someone as wretched as me then maybe the Starlit Angels can be ended! Tessa, your words have opened the doors to roads of rainbow iridescence, the kind of cheer only found in fairytales! And here I sat, only moments ago thinking that I would never feel any kind of joy ever again…but first, a kiss? For our love and all the good things that we’ll do together?” Gehenna asked, her dark brown eyes sparkling earnestly, her smile wide.

Her words sounded genuine, her words had weight to them and she had uncurled herself, sitting up and looking right at Taliyah. Taliyah couldn’t believe what Gehenna had responded with, couldn’t believe that it was true, but in that moment, in that instance, it felt as real as it could ever be, so Taliyah nodded and then, the both of them leaned in closer…closer…and still, clo-

“What are you two doing?! Who is this girl, one of the unenlightened townspeople? Gehenna, you can’t kiss anyone who lives here! They’re only good for sacrifices!” A woman cried out.

Taliyah felt herself being roughly pulled away, thorns piercing her skin and bringing holes to her dress. The thorns had dug deep into her flesh, but what hurt more was seeing the tears rim up in Gehenna’s eyes, the look of absolute petrification clouding her face.

“Mother, you can’t take her away! I love her, I really do and I…I’d never be happy again if you took her! And if you are cold enough not to care that I love her, then consider this: She’s too old to be sacrificed! She’s a girl of sixteen! You wouldn’t give away a sixteen year old, would you? I lo…Please, mother, let her go. Don’t give her away.” Gehenna pleaded.

Taliyah tried to run away, to run back into the rose bush and scoop Gehenna up into a hug, but Gehenna’s mother held on tight and so, Taliyah watched as Gehenna got further and further…

“We’ll talk about this later. Come on, Aurelius. The Starlit Angels are waiting.” The woman said, her words like a blade that marked an end, jagged and unforgiving.

Taliyah could see that there was a man standing at the end of the garden, closer to the house, watching it unfold, a man whom Taliyah took to be Gehenna’s father. He joined the woman when she got closer to the house and so, away they all went.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Taliyah was only let go when they went into the parlor room and put her underneath the window where the moonlight hit. She tried to run away, but it was as if there was an invisible barrier that was keeping her trapped, that wouldn’t let her go. She could see Gehenna’s parents watching her and her extended family, for Gehenna had told that the entire Marwood family came to visit on starlit nights. She could also see that Gehenna was being held back by a woman, a woman whom Taliyah guessed to be Gehenna’s Aunt, from how she looked both old and young, from how it seemed impossible for her to be anybody else towards Gehenna.

Gehenna’s eyes were covered in tears, her mouth opened into a scream and Taliyah tried, oh she tried, so, so hard to reach out to her, but she could not move from her spot and then-

Three pale blue silhouettes, somewhat humanoid, rained down from the moonlit window, burning through Taliyah’s flesh, clouding her vision with a muddied, washed-out blue-toned light. All she could hear was the fire of the stars burning her up and her own screams. Or was it Gehenna? Maybe they were both screaming.

Yet as she burned, she wished that Gehenna didn’t have to see her like that, that it wouldn’t have had to happen and that she could have spent more time as her Tessa.

Why couldn’t they have had more time together? Why did Gehenna’s parents have to find them that one night?

If only Gehenna’s parents hadn’t found them, then they would have done so much more. Taliyah hoped that Gehenna would at least keep all the good memories close to her heart so that the pain of what happened wouldn’t hurt so much. Gehenna didn’t deserve to feel like such an awful creature, Gehenna’s heart was much too pure and whole for that.

As the burns of the stars began to crawl faster and faster throughout her body, Taliyah thought with tears running down her eyes: Wasn’t this such a horrid way to end our fairytale?