Why Does the Angel Weep?

Obviously I don't own anything. Also thank you to my friend Niamh for helping me come up with some of the ideas in this story!

Chapter 1

I didn't want him to see me.

I wasn't even really supposed to be in his house, but I noticed from outside he had a library, and I was too interested not to check it out. My parents thought I was in the Human Dimension to try and find someone to bind to, and unfortunately for me their lifelong wish was granted. They'd no longer be the Angels with a daughter without a human, something that's frowned upon by all Angels no matter what their background. At least maybe they'd be impressed with me, but I was so late in being bound to a human it was unlikely. Of course when I told them I was going to leave out the part it was completely accidental.

I had entered the house through the backdoor, and gingerly made my way upstairs to where I had seen the library from the front. At first glance it looked like there were no humans in the house, but I should have checked more carefully before going any further. I was just touching the spines of one of the books when I heard the library door creak open and felt myself lock into place for the first time.

The process of locking had been described to me so many times, but it was totally unlike what I expected. It was as if I was an outsider looking in on what my body was doing, and I had no control of what I was doing. My hands immediately flew up to cover my face and I could feel my body altering itself and hardening, so all I could do was stand with my back turned to the person that had entered the room, motionless. At this point I was incredibly annoyed at myself at allowing myself to be seen, but I was distracted by the ragged breathing of the human that had entered the room.

They called out to me, but of course I couldn't answer.

"Hello?" Their voice confirmed to me it was a male human, and quite a young as well. "Is anyone there?"

I wanted to tell him I was so sorry for what was going to happen, but I couldn't do anything until he blinked. That was when I would be unlocked, and free to move around until he opened his eyes again. Time passes slower for Angels than it does for humans, so I would be able to do almost anything before I was locked again. There was no telling how long I'd be unlocked for; it could be weeks, months, or even years. It depended on how much energy the human had, and how strong the binding was. If he possessed a lot of energy it would only be a couple of weeks I was unlocked for, no matter how strong I was. This was my first binding, so I imagined I'd be pretty weak.

The man hadn't blinked yet, but I figured he would pretty soon. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him, coming into a room to find a statue of an angel, but he must have been pretty terrified. If the roles were reversed I know I would have. Then again it depended on what he knew already about my race, but I'm not sure knowing his fate would comfort him at all.

Suddenly I felt all the tension flow out of me, and I realised I must have unlocked. I slowly turned around to face the man I was bound to and the man I would ultimately kill.

He was quite young as I thought, probably around twenty four in human years, but that made it all the worse. His hair was a light brown colour and stuck up at the front, with a stray lock falling down over his face. His eyes were closed obviously, but I wished I could see what colour they were, just so I could see what he was really like. Humans believe that eyes are portals to the soul, something us Angels could never understand with our stone, unmoving eyes.

I realised I cared a lot for this man that I did not know at all, and never really would. Up until he looked at me he had a whole life of his own and I was going to take it away. I wished he wouldn't have to see me in my stone form, but that's the only side to Angels humans ever get to see. To him I will be the stone monster that took away his life, but to me he will be the living, breathing man that didn't deserve to die.

I couldn't stand being in the library anymore with the person I was going to kill, so I muttered the dimension transporter code under my breath and closed my eyes, and when I opened them I was back in transport room in the Angel dimension. Around me other Angels were coming and going so I decided to get home quickly before I ran into someone I knew. I gave a nod to the dimension manager that was recording who had been and went, and breathed in a big breath of the familiar Angel Dimension air as I stepped outside. The air in our dimension was cleaner as the humans had polluted theirs' beyond repair, but there was something I liked about the griminess of the human air. This wasn't a view many shared with me.

As I made my way home I thought of all the differences between the Angel Dimension and the Human one, and I wish I could say there were none.

The Angel Dimension and the Human Dimension were parallel, so they started off exactly the same, but the different inhabitants of both dimensions changed that very quickly. The Angels devoted themselves to annihilation. The Humans devoted themselves to survival. The main purpose for any Angel was to kill. The method used to kill is usually to send the victims back in time, and then feed off the energy of the life they would have had had it not been for the angel. A particularly strong Angel didn't even have to do this though; it would just kill victims by violence. Humans are a stark contrast indeed to this. They value knowledge and creativity; not suffering and cruelty. They preserve this knowledge and creativity through literature and books; once an Angel is finished with a victim it finds another one. My admiration for the human race is a totally foreign concept to most Angels, so it's something I keep to myself. The others do think it's a little odd I've never been bound to a human before, but I try to just laugh their comments off.

I arrived back at my house to see my parents waiting anxiously outside.

"Agate, why have you been so long?" My mother asked with a look of concern on her face. I hated it when she used my name, it just reminded me of the stone creature Angels become. Most of us are named after types of stone, metal or jewels, as if the fact we are forced to kill innocent people doesn't remind us enough of what we really are. Then again, most Angels don't care. They become as hard and emotionless as the monsters they turn into. They don't seem to realise we're not too different from the Humans, and if they did they probably wouldn't care.

"I was in the Human Dimension like I told you I was going to be," I replied and opened the door.

"And?" My mother persisted expectantly.

I paused a little before answering. "I was bound."

She shrieked and hugged me, but I shrugged her off so she hugged my father instead.

"We knew this day would come," my father said, grinning. "Of course," he continued, "We expected it to come a little sooner."

I tried to get past my parents into my room, but my mother wouldn't stop talking.

"So do you remember how binding works? Do you want me to explain it?"

"No, I remember how it works."

"I'll explain it to you anyway!"

I sighed. "Go on then."

"So now you're bound to this human you're dedicated to them. When they open their eyes again you'll automatically appear in the Human Dimension in stone form again. Don't worry it won't hurt, you'll just be a little disorientated. Then when they blink again, you can come back here to us and everything starts again! Each time you return to the Human Dimension you'll be a little closer to the human you're bound to, until finally you you'll be close enough that when they blink again you can kill them. Exciting, isn't it?"

"Very," I grumbled and push past her into my room. I collapse onto my bed and close my eyes, and wish that it was me in the man I'm bound to's place.