Guardian

1. Burned

I was in a dark place. I wasn't used to the dark. I thrived in the light. It was quiet as well. I could hear my wings flutter, as if they too were confused by the change. I listened but I couldn't hear anyone.

"Hello?" I called out my voice echoing. Had I been alive, my heart would have been beating wildly out of rhythm. I hadn't had a beating heart in over a thousand years. I was an Angel and not just any Angel, I scoffed, I was a Guardian Angel. I saw a light flicker at the end of the dark place. I walked towards it with a satisfied smile.

"Father, I thought this was a mistake, I…" The two faces that I saw coming towards me were not welcome. My wings stiffened, and an icy numbness rushed over my body.

"Expecting someone else?" The blonde man's façade I saw right through. His kind smile, brilliant blue eyes; I saw the sinister soul lurking beneath that mask.

"What are you doing here Gabriel? Where am I?" I look between the two winged men and they exchange a glance. The darker haired man speaks.

"Arthur, are you aware the line that you have crossed, as a Guardian?"

"No, enlighten me, Michael," I sneer crossing my arms, "I have been a Guardian ever since my own human death a long time ago. Not once have I ever crossed any lines. What say you about this time?" I narrow my eyes and a pressing feeling in the pit of my stomach lurches. I know what I have done…and I do not regret it.

"The boy, when he was seven and in that accident, Arthur you did that proper thing, you saved him, watched over him, because he didn't have a choice then. Tonight, the boy had a choice. He chose to forsake the gift of life our Father has granted him, and attempted to end it. Arthur, he wanted to die, I saw his choice in his mind. I was there, I saw what you did. I cannot deny what I have seen; therefore, Father has seen your hand in it. You altered the boy's free will, altered his ability to live a life and meet heaven in the end, or end it early…and burn…" Michael's voice was heavy in my chest. The thought of that young man burning, for an eternity, because of his pain, loneliness, sadness, I hung my head, no…His radiance, his love of life, his purity, needed to be preserved and live another day. No one knew him as I did.

"I did what I thought was best."

"You thought wrong," Gabriel growled, "Now, we have been charged with your punishment."

"My-My punishment?!" I was confused. I saved the lad I was supposed to watch out for since he was born…he was charged to me.

"You altered the choice he made, Arthur, and Father has always been away of you envy of humans. Do you so quickly forget who else fell from grace due to his arrogance and envy?" Gabriel was looming over me, the power of an Arc Angel, divine, never born human, always had been…it was intimidating, but I held my head high.

"What is that punishment? I shall take it in full, for Father deems it to be, so I shall heed his word."

"You are to be sent to Earth, as a human." Gabriel's words were like lead and then they sunk deep, weighing me down. This was a punishment? My ultimate and deepest, darkest desire was going to be granted? To find comfort and a home in heaven only wanting to back to the hell that was Earth? I was a twisted being in deed. I swallow hard.

"Is this, punishment?"

"That is not all…" Michael's face is emotionless. No, I knew better…of course there was more…a price to be paid or a lesson to be learned. I knew Father better than that, and in that moment, I knew he knew me better than I knew myself.

"You are to have your wings, burned and every time hereafter that you save that boy from his own idiotic choices, you shall have your wings burned again." Gabriel's face hid a smile.

"You will not have wings on Earth, yet you will see them in your reflection, reminding you who you truly are. As such, a Guardian walking among the humans, you will lose feathers for every lifesaving deed you accomplish, should, at the end of the six months of you on Earth lose all of your feathers, well," Michael's eyes grew sad, "You shall meet me again."

"So, there is no winning, no gain on my part," I realized what was happening, "I will go to Earth and live a lie for half a year only to possibly die again. What say you! Father!" I looked around violently for him, to hear his words instead of theirs. I begin to shake at the thought of my wings being burned from my body.

"So, what happens if I have not lost all of my feathers at the end of the six months? Do I have the chance, to…" I let my voice fade knowing Father didn't answer that type of prayer. To die is to live, to live, is to die. I had my walk in the sun, and now I was a Guardian, I should be happy to walk among the living and feel what they feel and share what they share for six months, but, I was envious of them. In my envy, I lusted for more, I became greedy for more. All of my human vices coming to light through the two virtuous faces before me. Gabriel, the Messenger and Michael, the Angel of Death, both divine, standing before me, a mere mortal compared to them.

"If you, have found your destiny, your true purpose as a human, and still have your feathers, Father will allow you to live the rest of your human life as such, a human," Gabriel crossed his arms and his wings pinched back as if scoffing.

"Really? He'll let me…live out my life as a human?" My green eyes widened and a smile crossed my usually serious mouth.

"There is a price, just remember that…for if you gain life as a human…you shall no longer be that boys Guardian," Michael warned me. I barely heard him.

"Are you ready?" Gabriel opened a door to more darkness.

"Yes, I am ready," I swallowed hard and fluttered my wings thinking this was my last moment with them. The two things that I had accepted so readily, I was about to lose. I stepped into the darkness and I was silent. I wandered further in until I heard the strike of a match and a flame lit in the center. That flame spread like wild fire through the room surrounding me, snaking around as if it were alive, knowing its target. My breathing picked up and I was shocked to hear a faint heartbeat in the distance. I closed my eyes slowly and sank down to my knees.

"Our father…who art in heaven…" I felt the flames lick the tips of my feathers and I squeezed my eyes shut, "hallowed be thy name…They kingdom come…Thy will be done – ARGHHHHH!" The flames had consumed the graceful white wings with flecks of gold that I had called mine for hundreds of years. I felt the searing pain as the fire ate, tore, and killed connecting flesh from my back and sent an agony up and down my spine. I felt a burning in my chest and I couldn't breathe. I gasped for air…what was this? The air in my lungs felt stale and dry…I gasped and choked. The faint sound of a heartbeat's steady pulse came back, only it was in my head, I felt it in my core. A hot sensation began to swirl through my once frozen veins. I was burning everywhere.

"OH GOD! PLEASE! FORGIVE ME!" All this pain, all for saving one innocent boys' life? He hadn't known the choice he was making was the wrong one. I saved him!

"I didn't know! I saved him! I vowed to always be there, and protect him!" My fists slammed into the ground. "Father, I had too, I had too. I've watched him since he was a boy…I couldn't let him just…" I felt wetness on my cheeks and I gasped; tears. My hands went to my face and felt the liquid falling from my eyes…knowing you were human, emotions, and being able to express those emotions. I was crying.

"You have a chance…to make a choice…" A hushed voice encircled me as my wings fell away and disappeared. I felt my body lift and suddenly I was thrown down a vortex of the night sky. I had to focus on something. I had to stop the feeling of encroaching death, the end. And I saw him. I saw his smile, his eyes…My eyes shot open and I was surrounded by blue, such a pure blue…I felt my body crash with the waves of the strongest ocean and I struggled to reach those eyes, choking on the salt water as I swam as hard as I could. I was drowning…drowning in his blue eyes.

As soon as it began, it ended. I gasped for air as I shot up coughing. I looked at both of my hands and flexed each finger. I could feel my body needing every breath of air, and the sound of my heart beating again was music to my ears.

"I'm…alive…" I stood slowly from the grassy hill that overlooked a small brook. I walked down to the water and looked down and saw my reflection. A young man, about seventeen or eighteen stared back at me, wild blonde hair, brilliant green eyes, a serious expression, thick eyebrows, pale skin, a lean body…but what got me was the clothing selection. He was dressed in black pants, red sneakers (Converse I believe they are called), and a tight fitting v-neck t-shirt that had a Union Jack printing across the front. What really set me off was the left ear piercing and my lip piercing on the lower right side of my lip. I played with it for a while, wondering why Father would send me back as one of the "misfits". My wings were there, just as Gabriel and Michael had said. A faint burning was slowly receding in my back, but that painful memory would replay in my head forever.

I suddenly realized where I was. I was behind my charges luxurious estate and I was standing in the spot he normally came to visit every day after school. I felt my eyes widen and my heart thudded.

"Hey…" I heard a voice. My heart stopped and I turned to face the voice. I stared right into those pools of blue I had so very long wished could see me.

"Who are you?" He asked cocking his head to one side and glaring at me. That smile was so far from his lips, and had been for so long, how could I win it back? I gulped and remembered my reflection. Shit…he couldn't get to close…wait – did I just…swear?

"I asked ya punk, who are you?" He strode up closer and all I could do was see an opening in bushes that surrounded his home. I glanced up at him again to find him gaining ground, and I ran. I ran as fast as I could away from him. I tore through the bushes and down the street only stopping once when I was sure that he wasn't going to follow. I leaned over my knees and panted. A laugh rose in my throat and people looked at me as if I were crazy. He had seen me…he had noticed me. I stared walking again, though I had no idea where too.

"He saw me…" I whispered to myself a feeling in my chest spreading through my body I never had experienced before, "Alfred F. Jones…saw me."