"Sweep the building," Naomi, Angel of the Lord ordered. She and a small garrison had infiltrated the extensive government building. "There are humans hiding here still. Flesh them out and gather them for questioning, kill any that pose a threat. Kill the demons, but I want their bodies. I will not lose another one of you this night." She was an immovable tree in the midst of the chaos of the battle, not a hair out of place. The picture of a professional.
The latest Apocalypse was fully underway and she was leading a mission herself against a collection of demons that had inserted themselves into the governments of some of the most powerful countries in the world. Great Britain included.
The angel garrison was working against wards and against demons with anti-angel intelligence. More than one angel had been banished or killed there already, by human and demon nonetheless. Naomi had no inclination to deal with nonsense. The job needed to get done and she was calling the shots. Everyone here would die if necessary, the demon leader needed to be slain at any cost. The information he possessed was beyond dangerous to their cause.
Human casualties were nothing new. Everything she did was for the greater good, these were decisions that rulers had to make. She regretted it privately, but could not show remorse. There were seven billion humans after all. Losing one or even a dozen wasn't the end of the world.
In the human world, God had granted one special sign. A faded black and white world would suddenly be alive with color once a person's soulmate had been found. Every person had a soulmate. Everyone had their other half, someone who made them whole and complete. Some found each other in childhood, others spent a lifetime looking. It was normal. A fact of existence.
Angels didn't see in color when they occupied human vessels. In their true form, they saw the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma rays to ultra low frequency waves. But in a human vessel, all was in shades of black, white, and grey. Over the centuries, there were some angels that had been suddenly blessed with the ability through finding a human. They had fled Heaven. Or been killed. It was treason. To be intimately connected to human was to abandon Heaven. Angels perceived colors in other ways, divine ways that left the world in black and white through their vessel's eyes. They didn't need to see color. It was a human thing, a gift for God's favorite but weakest sentient creatures.
Naomi loved color when she was out of her vessel, she loved the way one hue shifted into the next and the way colors painted the stars in the universe. She could lose herself in it, and had….before everything fell. Before she'd been turned into a monster for Heaven's sake. Now she never spent time out of the vessel amongst the stars. There wasn't time.
Those thoughts quickly vanished as Ion, her assistant, came towards her. She stood with eyes fixed on the quivering humans huddled in the corner of the room as he spoke, relaying information quietly. She nodded when he was done. "Bring him here," she ordered softly, catching the eye of a defiant brunette woman.
Ion nodded to Adriel, who in turn left the room. The angel arrived with another, and in between them they were escorting a tall human, dressed in a pristine three-piece suit. He looked to be in his mid-forties, and there was a haughty defiant expression on his angular face that came with the less than gentle treatment. He was a leader, an intelligent one, and it was obvious he was not going to be quivering in the corner with the other humans.
It wasn't a sudden realization for Naomi. The world didn't suddenly burst into dramatic swirls of color. It was slow, because it had waited for thousands of years to happen. First it was the sharp blue of his eyes. Then the soft pale pink of his lips. The rich dark brown of his hair. The red of his tie, a silky red that she just wanted to run her hand over. Naomi's breath caught in her throat and she braced herself on the desk she stood next to.
His eyes were fixed on hers, and she was overwhelmed with the thoughts that she picked up from his mind. Thoughts of her, deductions he called them. And the colors he took in with keen eyes. Eyes she wanted to drown in. She couldn't look away.
The rest of the world slid right into place around the man. Rich chestnut wood, red carpet, blue books, gold handles, pinks and blues and yellows of clothing, many shades of skin color. Naomi was blown away by it. It's beauty was beyond description.
"Name?" She asked only a beat later. It was not a demand but rather a question.
He straightened himself up just a bit taller, left hand fidgeting next to his leg. But his eyes didn't leave hers. "Mycroft Holmes."
"You will stay with me."
Adriel raised a brow, crossing her arms over her petite vessel. "But-"
"But nothing," Naomi interrupted. "Check the rest of the humans to find the mole, and then send them home, Mr Holmes is staying with me."
"Why? What do you want him for?" This time a human spoke. The defiant brunette. It wasn't a difficult leap to assume Naomi might hurt Mycroft, even if it was very much the opposite. She just didn't want to let anyone in on this new development. It was to be her undoing.
"Anthea," Mycroft dissuaded her from further argument with naught but her name. He made eye contact; the brunette relented and kept her mouth closed.
"Adriel, Ion, please see to these humans. The rest of your garrison is searching for Balam as we speak, it shouldn't be long now." Naomi put a hand on Mycroft's back to guide him to the door again. "I need to question this one in private."
She didn't leave room for an argument against her decision and swept out of the conference room with Mycroft. Once they were in the hallway and had entered the next empty room, she put her hand on his chest and backed him against the wood paneled wall with more force than she should have used. She closed the door with a snap of her fingers, fiery blue eyes fixed on the man. This human who'd caused her world to cascade into colors. She was afraid. "What happened?" She demanded, but her voice gave her emotions away. "What just happened to me? To us?"
Mycroft made just the smallest protest to being manhandled, but couldn't fight back. He stared her down, courageous before a very real threat. "I believe we are…soulmates, as the process goes." He reached up to see if he could gently push her away from him. She didn't budge so his hands dropped again. "I'd simply assumed I did not have one. Or that they'd died. It's not something I've thought about in quite some time. Work took precedence."
Naomi struggled through her thoughts, her fears, and the fact that this human…this beautiful man was her soulmate. That she had a soulmate. She relaxed her pressure on his chest, but didn't remove her hand. "I understand, I'm familiar with the…phenomenon." She smoothed her hand over his chest, straightening out wrinkles on his pinstriped suit. "It's unheard of for angels, it's treason and viewed as the greatest weakness. We…we pay a steep price if found."
"And you're concerned about that now, of course. You can trust your secret to be safe, I have no desire to hurt you." Mycroft still didn't move, standing completely still as if waiting for her to make a decision.
She hesitated as she made a decision, intense blue eyes never turning away from him. "And I promise to keep you safe. You will not be harmed on account of me."
"I appreciate that. I still don't know your name," he prompted. His gentleness noticeably contrasted her severe behavior.
That very fact softened her even more. Naomi's expression smoothed out into an almost pleasant one as she introduced herself. "My name is Naomi."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Naomi," Mycroft reached up for her hand again. This time she let it be moved and he held her hand in his. Gentle. Understanding.
If only he knew who she was and what she had done. Maybe he wouldn't be so gentle. Maybe he would run away. Then again, Naomi was certain she was not a closed book to him. They were both leaders from the background. Both carried weight on their shoulders. Both burdened with difficult decisions.
Was it any wonder they were meant to be soulmates?
She was hyper-aware of their entwined fingers, his heartbeat, the way his chest rose and fell, but she zeroed in on something else. They were the same height with the heels she wore and it would be so easy to give in. She couldn't resist. Tipping her head to the side, she closed the distance and pressed her lips against his. Kissing was a human thing, one that meant love and affection. She'd been eager to try it.
He tasted of black tea with a hint of mint. His lips were soft and it seemed just as inexperienced as hers were. But they both learned from each other. Quickly and with little hesitation, they kissed each other back. His free hand slipped to cup the back of her head, where hers gently touched his face. She moulded her body to his, still pressing him against the wall.
When they broke the contact, they rested their foreheads together, breaths mingling between them as the weight of what had transpired settled again.
"I'll find you again," Naomi said. Her eyes were still closed. The world of color made no difference now that she'd found a human worth every moment of the ten thousand years of waiting.
"I hope you do, I'm quite eager to get to know you." Mycroft's voice was husky and quiet.
"Not to mention that kiss was quit enjoyable."
"More enjoyable than I anticipated one could be," Mycroft said, the corners of his lips pulling into a smile.
Naomi pulled away to let him off of the wall again, clasping his hand with no intention of letting go just yet. Not until she had to.
It'd be soon, she couldn't keep him here in this dangerous place, but she wanted to look at him again. Red, pink, dark brown, blue. "I'm going to send you home. I'm going to finish my work here. As soon as I can, I will meet you. But if you need anything, or I don't show, pray for me by name. I'll find you."
Mycroft looked completely smitten with her already, but she couldn't quite read his expression in full. He brought her hand up to kiss the back of it. "I look forward to seeing you again, Naomi. But I will not keep you from your work. Come when you have time."
"Count on it." Naomi wanted to just abandon everyone and take him away from here. Settle in his home and learn everything there was to know about him. She felt as if she could spend a thousand years completing that mission. But things to do. Heaven to protect. And with a smile that was her promise of return, she sent Mycroft Holmes, her human soulmate, home.