A/N: For any fandom blind readers who happen to stumble across this fic, all the background you really need to know is that the series is set in a world where angels, vampires and humans co-exist. It's ruled by ten archangels, a number that stays the same throughout time. The two main characters - Illium and Aodhan - are members of the Seven, the most trusted friends and lieutenants that the archangel Raphael has, and beyond that, have been best friends since they were children.

A/N 2:This piece is set during and just after Archangel's Legion - it was the scene between the two of them during the battle that gave me the idea for this. Enjoy! :)

The angels in the Refuge had wings in colours that the mortals, with their limited imagination, had never been able to conceive of. But even in such a place, where feathers of ever hue and shade coloured the sky, wings that looked like diamonds come to life were so unique that they could only belong to one angel.

As Raphael, himself just a regal flash of white on the horizon of the area that served as his stronghold in the Refuge, flew in, it was impossible to mistake whose broken body he cradled ever so gently in his arms. Illium watched the archangel he had given his loyalty to fly in with the destroyed shell of his best friend and in that moment, he had a blinding, heartbreaking moment of clarity.

It would be a lifetime before he would have the honour of truly being let into Aodhan's heart once again.

"Of all the times for you to choose to return to the world," he mused, "And you chose this one. It definitely suits you, returning to the public eye just as war brews on the horizon, that much I must admit. Still – why now? He wouldn't begrudge you if you asked to help Galen hold the Refuge instead of Venom."

A faint upturn of the lips, hidden within it the possibility of a smile so blinding that the angelstruck would weep to see it. "You were never so shy with your words, Bluebell, not when it was simply between us. Why don't you ask me what's really bothering you?"

"You always did know me too well," Illium sighed. "I suppose it was too much to ask that I'd manage to slip this one past you?"

"Illium…"

"Sorry," he replied, bright smile on his face, sounding completely unabashed at Aodhan's chiding tone, "It's just – who am I supposed to thank for bringing you back to us?"

"Once upon a time, you tried to explain your fascination with mortals to me, Illium. I didn't understand it at that time – but the Sire's Consort…I can finally see what you meant. She has a wisdom that I have not seen in angels who have lived for centuries, and-"

"I know," Illium replied, interrupting Aodhan just before the other angel ran out of words. It was a knowledge born of centuries of friendship, one that no other would have been able to notice. "I did warn you about her, Sparkle. She was never going to just let you curl up and lick your wounds."

Aodhan didn't reply as he took off, flying in the direction of the Tower – but with the smile on his face, there wasn't anything that Illium really needed to hear.

Once Aodhan had disappeared from his line of sight, Illium flew over to the Brooklyn Bridge, perching himself on one of the towering pillars. Of all the things he had expected when he started the game of catch over the sea, the angel with wings of sparkling diamond had not been one of them.

Aodhan had been content in his solitude for the past two centuries, the memory of the events that had so irrevocably destroyed him preventing him from seeking out any sort of contact with others. Even after he had first flown into New York with all intent to stay, Illium could never have imagined him letting loose enough to play a sport that could result in physical contact at any moment.

And yet, he had. He had willingly flown over the sea that bordered the city, allowing his existence to become public knowledge among the mortals, and even so many of the vampires who had never seen him before, only having heard whispers of the mysterious last member of Raphael's Seven.

Illium had always loved Elena, even when she had merely been a mortal hunter who had unbelievably wounded the only archangel he trusted. But knowing that she had started the process of Aodhan's return – in that moment, she almost inspired a greater loyalty from him than the Sire did.

"I'm sorry," Illium murmured, moving to shift aside from the angel beside him.

A soft whisper stopped him. "Illium." Aodhan's voice was unnaturally serious, even considering the situation they found themselves in. "It's okay. You don't need to move."

Startling gold eyes turned to stare at him, unbridled shock practically pouring out of every part of him. In that moment, the battle that was taking place on Manhattan's streets, the sound of Elena and Raphael behind them – everything faded away, his world shrinking to just the two of them.

"Aodhan?" he asked tentatively, unable to trust in what his ears had just heard.

"Just you," he replied, "Only you for now. I have to start from somewhere, but right now, there's no one else I can trust so much." In that moment, Aodhan looked breathtaking to Illium, breathtaking in a way that he had never seen before. To be the recipient of such precious, fragile trust…it rendered him utterly speechless.

And the slight sensation of his wing touching a wing of shimmering white diamonds – all in all, it was perhaps a good thing that they were in the middle of a war. Had it been any other day, he had no doubt that he would have just stood there for as long as Aodhan would have allowed him to, basking in the feel of touching his best friend after two centuries of unbreachable distance between them.

As much as he would have loved to spend time here, explore this slow regeneration of the relationship they had once shared, they still had a war to fight. So it was with one last glance towards Aodhan that Illium regretfully pulled his wing away Aodhan, preparing to fly back into the fray.

It was only after the war was over, Lijuan probably dead and an army of mythical angel-like beings suddenly at Raphael's command, that Illium allowed himself to breathe once again. He was finally free to have the conversation he and Aodhan had being ignoring for centuries.

Of course, the fact that the other angel had been nearly mortally wounded during the battle was a slight deterrent. He had seen Aodhan injured before – it was an inevitability, given how close the two of them were to an archangel – but it still made him flinch, seeing him with the gruesomely shattered wing and the slowly regrowing arm, along with seeing his neck heavily supported in order to help him heal from the near decapitation quicker. Despite all that Raphael had done to speed up his healing, it wasn't yet possible for the archangel to heal him outright. So it was in the Medica that Illium visited him as often as the rebuilding of New York allowed.

You've always been far too loyal for your own good, Aodhan whispered into his mind during one of his visits. I never did understand why you kept your belief in me, even when more knowledgeable angels had given me up for a lost cause.

"You know why as well as I do," Illium murmured in reply, let his fingers whisper over diamond-white wings for an infinitesimally tiny moment. "You've been my closest friend for as long as I can recall. And besides – I have only fallen in love with two beings in the half millennia I have been alive, Aodhan. One I lost to the harsh mercies of time and my own naïveté. The other…" he let his voice trail off, the implication clear.

At that, Aodhan allowed himself to smile. It was a small one, but it had been more than Illium had seen for the last century. I'm not yet ready to return to the world, Illium. At least, not in a capacity greater than what I've shown in the last few days in the Sire's territory. That moment in the Tower is all I can offer at the moment, and you, my dear Bluebell, deserve – and need – far more than that.

Illium could hear what Aodhan didn't say, the implied push for him to move on clear. But he wasn't one to be deterred so easily.

He bent down over the other angel's prone body, letting his lips reach as close to Aodhan's as was possibly without them touching. "When Raphael returned to the Refuge cradling your body," he whispered, "I knew that I wouldn't have the chance to have the friendship I once did with you for centuries. I knew what I felt even then, but I knew at that moment that a confession would have to wait until you were ready to face the world again. But I made a promise, even if there was no one to hear it. I swore that I would wait until the world ended for you, Sparkle. I've only waited two centuries – a few more years or decades is nothing."

And in a silent whisper across his mind, Illium allowed Aodhan to hear the confession he had kept close to his heart for so many long years, a truth so fragile that he wasn't ready to let it hover in the air between them yet.

I love you.

Slowly, Illium pulled away from Aodhan, making sure no one had seen the two angels in such a compromising position on a bed in the Medica. If Kier had caught them- A whisper across his mind broke through his thoughts.

I love you too, my Bluebell.

I hope you guys liked it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I did - this is my first time writing for this fandom, and I'd love feedback! :)