~ Sweet Serenity ~
Author: Cotton Cloud
Rating: T
Pairings: Raffryn!
Warning for reader: Some cussing ahead…
Summary: It's up there lol
Disclaimer: The Penryn and the End of Days series belongs to the amazing Susan Ee. Not me.
A/N: At the bottom of this fic.
Penryn
I hate Mondays.
No, I don't think you understand the extent of my hate for this particular day of the week. When I say hate, I mean hate. I mean I absolutely loathe with burning passion at this day God supposedly created. If God even exists, of course.
Why do I hate Mondays?
Well, it's because something bad tends to happen to me. For example, I spill coffee on my carpet. I snap a feather. I forget to bring my documents to weekly meetings etc. etc. and etc.
But all of the above pales in comparison to what I'm being asked to do by Gabriel the Messenger. I'm being asked to go to high school – Palo Alto's high school, to be precise.
YES. YOU HEARD ME. FRICKIN' HIGH SCHOOL.
And that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that I have to go to that putrid place with Archangel Raphael, who is the bane of my existence.
How the heck did this happen? Well…
Whenever I get days off from my war duties, I tend to be in a very good mood. Which is understandable, because I never get days off. I think the last time I got a day off was maybe around 196 days ago. Could've been 195 but what do I know?
I wake up with a massive grin stuck on my face, and for once I don't give a damn that it's Monday. Today is my free day, and I'm so looking forward to my day of relaxation.
Pushing myself out of my comfy warm bed with the shit eating grin still glued onto my face, I stumble into my kitchen and through half closed lids fumble around my cluttered cupboard for a mug to pour my coffee in. I'm slightly disappointed to find out that I still have to stand on my tiptoes to reach into my cupboard. You'd think after a few millennia I would at least grow a centimeter or two but nooo I just had to stay at my pathetic height of five foot nothing.
It's 9:38am when I get a message on my phone from Gabriel.
'Archangel Penryn' the message reads. 'Your presence is requested at Heaven's Gate for an emergency conference, details about the conference will be given later. Please arrive promptly at 1:00pm.'
What. The. Fuck.
At that moment, I feel like my whole world had crashed down. I can feel my smile start to turn upside down and my legs wobbling unsteadily. I begin to feel dizzy, and I swear my vision blacken––
Ok haha who the hell am I kidding. I'm not that melodramatic.
But seriously. I'm devastated. It is MY free day! Why do I have to go to a stupid conference that probably isn't even that important? Why does the conference have to be today of all days?
I knew I shouldn't have thought that this Monday would be good. Mondays suck and that's that. I totally jinxed myself before.
Grumbling, I drain my mug of coffee and drag myself to my wardrobe to find something more presentable to wear to the 'emergency conference' instead of my blue and white cloud pajamas. Believe me, if I could skip this conference I would but Gabriel would probably fly to my house and force me to go to the meeting under duress. Not that it's ever happened to me, of course.
I open the doors and pick out a white blouse with a cute bow at the collar and thigh length black pencil skirt. I also decide that black leggings and white flats will go with my outfit nicely so I take the said articles of clothing off their hooks and shove them on.
As I look at my reflection in the dusty full-length mirror hanging on the wall, I thought my outfit looked pretty presentable – until a sudden thought occurred to me. This is a conference at Heaven's Gate of all places. This is the place where Gabriel supposedly gets his orders from God and basically, the entryway to Heaven. In other words, it's a pretty damn important place. I'm pretty sure that a lot of other Archangels other than myself will be attending this conference, so my outfit probably looks a tad bit casual.
After thinking about this for a while, I start to trawl through my wardrobe, looking for shoes that look somewhat more formal than flats. My gaze settles on a pair of 5-inch heels that were a gift to me from my friend Angelica. I had never worn them before because the first time I looked at them, I knew at once that they belonged at the back of my wardrobe.
Taking off the comfortable flats with obvious reluctance, I scowl at the white heels in disgust while putting them on. One, these hurt like a bitch to wear. Two, I won't be able to run for shit in them and three, I'm probably going to end up with a sprained ankle at the end of the day. But they look good, and I guess this is where the saying 'beauty is pain' applies. I take them off for now to wear later because no way in hell am I going to walk more than what is required in these death traps disguised as shoes.
My outfit is done, so now for my facial appearance. I start to tackle my brown mass of knots with a hairbrush. It's not an easy task, and I swear my hairbrush is screaming with pain as I drag it through my unbelievable tangles. I decide that a simple braid over my right shoulder will be suitable for today and after I'm done with my hair, I smear on some make–up, quickly brush my teeth, grab my Angel sword Pooky Bear (don't ask about the name. It's a long story) and I'm good to go!
This is all simple routine for me. I mean, after millennia of doing the same thing before every single Archangel meeting, I swear I can do this with my eyes closed. Actually, that's not a bad idea. I should try someday.
After I finish getting ready, I walk back into my kitchen with my heels in one hand and grab a large breakfast muffin and an apple to eat for breakfast. I quickly chomp down the food with speed that could rival a paper shredder and head to the lounge, where I start to prepare for flight.
You see, to make things easier for us angels, most of us have a skylight set in our ceiling, except that this 'skylight' doesn't have glass. So technically, it cannot be called a window. It's basically a hole in the ceiling. A very stylish hole in the ceiling.
I ruffle out my wings that are still a little bit flat from sleep and start to stretch. I like my wings. Right now pure white wings are all the rage but I prefer my white with little brown speckles on the primaries any day. The brown compliments my hair and eyes anyway.
With a whoosh, I take off into the crisp morning air.
I love flying. I think it's the best part of being an angel. Whenever I look down at Earth and see the fragile little humans with their wingless backs I feel great sympathy for them. How boooring it must be. Having to stay on the ground for your whole entire life.
Spinning and twirling in the air to dodge some early morning fliers, my natural sense of direction takes me on the way to Heaven's Gate. The wind is quite strong today, so I'm really glad I braided my hair before otherwise it'd be whipping into my face. My left hand has a tight grip on my heels and sword. It would be extremely awkward if I dropped them.
Closing my eyes, I relish the feeling of the wind tossing my hair about, the swishing sound of my wings beating and the painful impact of what I think is someone's body colliding with mine.
Wait. What the hell? Did I just say painful impact?
Oh I did all right. The force of the unknown object slamming into my body makes me unintentionally fly back a couple of metres and to steady myself I have to hurriedly flap my wings like a flustered chicken. Definitely not one of my best moments.
Who the hell would smack into me? There are flight lanes that every single angel instinctively follows. And it's common knowledge in Heaven anyone who messes with Archangel Penryn, the Glory of God will get their ass whopped.
This person was going to pay––
Oh. Hellooo there.
It turns out that I was right about a body being smashed into mine. What I did not think to consider was that it was a male angel that did it. And that he is hot. So hot that he takes my breath away. His skin is a light caramel colour, and his hair is as dark as night. What really grabs my attention the most are his eyes, though. Such a unique shade of dark cerulean, they make me think of the sky. What ruins the image of his Adonis like beauty is the frosty glare marring his features.
"Excuse me" he husks. "Get out of my way."
Um. Ok then. My first impression of this guy is turning from awe to pure disgust.
I glare at him. "Uh. You're excused. And to the best of my knowledge, I was here minding my own business until you decided to come and knock me out of the sky with your fat ass body."
Ok so. That last part wasn't exactly accurate. I seriously need to think of better insults. This angel certainly does not have a bad physique. He has quite the opposite, in fact. Even though he is wearing a tailored suit that looks pretty expensive, I can clearly see the lines of his muscles through his clothing and his broad shoulders, only accentuated by the suit. I'll bet that an amazing set of abs lies underneath that jacket too.
The sad thing is that we both know what I said isn't true. And unfortunately the angel has caught me basically undressing him with my eyes. His glare turns into a mocking grin.
"Oh my. Checking out strangers now are we? That's not very polite."
OH HE DID JUST NOT.
Right now, I swear my facial complexion rivals the hue of a cherry tomato. I have never felt this amount of rage in a very, very long time. I consider staying here and teaching him a lesson, but then I remember that I need to be at the conference as soon as possible, otherwise Gabriel will lecture me about the importance of time management for years.
"Holy sweet MOTHER OF JESUS you are one pompous dickhead! I'm not going to argue with you any longer because I have somewhere where I need to be, but just know that if this were a different day, I would have smacked your ass into oblivion." I practically scream all of this at him.
The angel has a look of distaste on his beautiful face. "You have a really foul mouth, you know that?"
"What I do know is that I really do not need your input about me right now. So if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving now." And with that, I fly off past him in a huff. What an annoying personality! I hope I never see him again.
Little did I know, life isn't always that simple.
I land maybe a 3 minute walk away from the conference building. Reason is because my landing isn't very up to scratch. I would get someone to teach me, but my pride won't let me.
Slipping on my heels, I begin to walk to the conference building.
I only trip over three times and stumble twice. I'm so proud of myself. Maybe, just maybe I've started get better at walking with heel––
OUCH.
I trip over a crack in the pavement.
Ok. Maybe I still need a little more practice.
I finally arrive in front of the conference building. It looms in front of me like a giant, imposing with it's Grecian style pillars and marble steps. It seems very quiet here, and for a split second I wonder if I'm at the wrong place.
Meh. Everyone is probably already inside. I shrug it off and start climbing the accursed steps. Screw Gabriel and his extravagance. I knew I should have been the one in charge of designing buildings at Heaven's Gate but nooo he just had to argue with me to get designing privileges with that pighead of his for 6 years. Even I don't have the patience to argue over a building for that long and I seriously regret my choices now.
I finally make it inside and my earlier thoughts were correct. There is absolutely no one inside. The building is so silent; the only sound I hear is the click clack of my high heels on the tiled floor.
What the hell? If this is some kind of early April fools joke I swear I will pulverise Gabriel until no one recognises him as Messenger anymore.
After a couple minutes of aimless looking around, I hear a voice.
"Oiii Ryn–ryn! Over here!"
I'd recognise that stupid voice anywhere. I locate where the sound came from, march up to the voice's owner, grab his neatly ironed suit jacket and slam my forehead to his. Hard enough it would probably give a normal human concussion.
"What, in God's name made you decide to summon me here at such an ungodly hour? I thought you knew it was MY FREE DAY! Do you know how upset I am right now? Are you sorry? You'd better be sorry" I practically spit this at his face.
Gabriel whimpers in fear. "Ryn–ryn, I'm soo sorry. And that hurt!"
Yes. That was Gabriel, the great Archangel and Messenger. Not many people know this, but in my opinion he is actually the softest and cutest angel in Heaven. Well. If you can call a ripped five foot nine man cute. With blond curls framing his sculpted face, baby blue eyes behind a pair of spectacles and natural pure white wings floating behind him, he is the epitome of an angel. Or more accurately, ideal angel that humans visualise. Don't get me wrong, Gabriel may be cute, but he can also be scary when he wants to be. He isn't Messenger for nothing.
I sigh and let go of his jacket. "Just get to the point and tell me what you want. The sooner this is over and done with the better."
A huge smile forms on Gabriel's face. "I knew you wouldn't stay mad at me!" I roll my eyes at him but I let out a small smile of my own. He's right. I think of Gabriel as my kid brother, even though he's a couple hundred years older than me.
The smile drops from Gabriel's face, and I immediately know he is getting into speaking mode. I swear his personality changes every second. One minute he's as mature as a 3 year old and another minute he is ready to lead a legion of angels into war.
"Alright Penryn, so you're probably wondering why the heck (Gabriel doesn't swear) there is no one here except you and me." I nod. "I only called you and another angel that's a close friend of mine here because I got a message about an abnormal nephilim being sighted on Earth. Unlike normal nephilim, it's actually associating with humans. I'm not sure why it's doing that, and I do not know what it's motives are but I do know that this is a very annoying problem and the nephilim needs to be dispatched immediately. You and Raphael are the only angels I trust enough to give this task to."
Oh… so that explains the empty building. For some reason, I feel honoured that Gabriel trusts me enough to give me a task as big as this. Though if you tell him I said this, I will personally hunt you down and flay you alive.
"What are my orders?"
"Your order is to go undercover to Earth, where you will pose as a high school student with Raphael to try and locate the nephilim. I'm not sure what it looks like, but I know it's acting as a human in a high school called Palo Alto's. You will then eliminate the nephilim as soon as possible and return."
"WHAAAAAT!"
Ok let me explain. I'm not freaking out about the 'go to Earth' part. I've been to Earth many times to kill nephilim and complete all sorts of jobs there. I'm freaking out about the 'go to high school part.' I'm a freaking archangel for God's sake! I have better things to do than pose as a silly high school girl! And the fact that I have to go with this 'Raphael' character that I don't even know just adds onto the stupidity of this whole order.
"Are you serious? Can't you go?" I'm really glad the building is empty right now. If someone saw me whining to the Messenger it would pretty much destroy my dignity.
Gabriel laughs loudly, as if he is enjoying my agitation. "You know I can't, Ryn–ryn. Everyone will start questioning where I am and that would just blow the whole thing."
That little punk. I swear I'll kill him someday.
I think Gabriel sees the murderous intent in my eyes. Or the fact I look like I'm about to commit a homicide because he immediately stops laughing and backs away slowly, like he's calming down an angry dog before he runs away.
Suddenly, his terrified expression fades and a huge smile lights his face. "Raphael!" He exclaims, with a voice filled with both joy and relief. I hear the thud of someone landing behind me and the tell tale swish of wings folding.
I turn around to see who this 'Raphael' character is. I've had a lot of bad surprises today but this one absolutely, utterly floors me.
Striking blue eyes lock onto brown. I gasp.
"YOU!"
A/N: Sup beautiful people! It's Cotton Cloud here! This is my first fic and it would be much appreciated if you guys could review and tell me what you think of my story (be kind please :) I'm noob) I read Angelfall last year and when I saw the pitifully small fanfiction archive I knew at once I had to write at least one story for it! I've been reading fanfiction for 4 years now so I'm really excited to finally write and post something!
If you haven't noticed already, in this fic Penryn is an archangel. I wanted to write a story where Penryn was an angel so she could freely be with Raffe but I also wanted to write a high school story (I'm a sucker for clichés ok. Don't judge) so I thought. I KNOW! Why not combine them! So BOOM. Sweet Serenity was born!
The action will start in the next chapter! This chapter was basically introducing Penryn and setting the scene (if you get what I mean). My goal is to try not use any OCs (so far I've only made up Penryn's friend Angelica. But she's not even going to appear in a lot of this story) and try to keep all characters in character. I really do not like stories filled with OCs and outrageously OOC characters so yeah. Gonna try not to do that.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you guys read the next chapter! (Well. When I finish writing it) :P