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"You can't open your eyes."
"I know," Jo replies, squeezing her eyes shut.
"I mean it, Jo. A single glimpse is all it would take."
"Anna, I know what I'm getting into," Jo snaps. She knows that Anna is just trying to be cautious, but Jo isn't stupid. She knows what will happen if she looks directly at Anna's wings, her real wings, not just the shadows of them that she can project at will. Since Jo likes having both of her eyes firmly in her sockets, she isn't going to look, no matter how curious she is. "C'mon. I'm ready."
"Okay," Anna says quietly, squeezing Jo's hand tightly. Seconds later, the temperature spikes, and even with her eyes closed, Jo can see the piercing white light that floods the space.
"This is too much," Anna says, still gripping Jo's hand. "You're going to get hurt, I-"
"Just a few seconds," Jo says firmly, trying to ignore the pain flaring at her temples. Anna doesn't hesitate; she pulls Jo to her feet and presses Jo's hand against-
Her wings.
Jo is actually touching her wings.
Before she can really move her hand, before she can even really determine what Anna's wings feel like, the light vanishes from the room in one fell swoop, and Anna releases Jo's hand.
"That's enough for now."
"Fine," Jo replies, opening her sore eyes. "But we're doing that again sometime." Anna gnaws on her lip for a moment before she sighs and nods.
"Okay."
&.
They try again two days later.
This time, Jo sticks it out long enough to actually feel Anna's wings.
There's no feathers covering them; instead, it's like touching skin covered in a thin layer of warm water. Certain spots give slightly underneath her fingers; in others, she's met with protruding pieces of bone. Some of the bone spurs end smoothly, while others culminate in jagged shards. Some spots are textured with what feel like burns, while in others, there are holes that feel deep enough to swallow Jo's entire hand.
When she traces her finger along the rim of one of those holes, Anna shudders deeply and retreats. The room plummets into darkness, and Jo opens her eyes, wincing at the pain filling her entire head.
"What was that?" she asks, scooting forward on the edge of the bed so that she's closer to Anna. "What were those wounds?" Anna sighs sadly and raises a hand to her shoulder, like she can still feel the wings.
For all Jo knows, she can.
"Heaven has been at war for millennia," she answers. "We've all sustained battle scars, at one point or another."
"Yeah, well," Jo says, taking Anna's hand and sliding it underneath the hem of her shirt to an old bullet wound on her stomach, "angels definitely don't have a monopoly on that."
"I only wish that we did," Anna murmurs, before pulling Jo into a kiss that feels like a silent apology.
Jo does her best to return the sentiment.