Disclaimer: I do not own anything created by the amazing Sherrilyn Kenyon; I just like popping into her universe and wreaking havoc, mayhem, and chaos. :)

Embracing Adversity

Chapter 2: The Kids are Alright

The kid really did have to crane her neck to an almost painful degree just to see his face, Acheron mused dryly. At her fullest height, she barely reached his elbow… He sighed, forcing himself to remain focused as he was reminded of why she was staring up at him from so far down with those trusting brown eyes full of questions. "That angel, Azriel, your guardian…" Ash began, and the small spark of fear he could see growing in those eyes almost made him regret having to tell her the actual news. "He was hit by something demonic, and not even the archangel who was with the two of you knew what. Or how to heal it. They took him home, and, for reasons I am beginning to seriously question, left you with me."

For a moment, the girl was fine, breathing calmly as she digested this information. And then, as suddenly as a strike of lightning, the world spun out from under her, and through the uncontrollable shaking and hyperventilating and the bile rising in her throat, she felt two hands on her shoulders steadying her as they eased her to the ground. It did nothing to halt the racing thoughts that kept whispering insistently that she'd gotten her guardian angel—and, she realized suddenly, best friend—killed. It was all she could do to keep the tears at bay, and she wanted to scream until her throat was bleeding, though she was a little worried that if she opened her mouth she'd lose a lunch she hadn't eaten.

"Put your head between your knees. If you puke on these boots, I really might kill you," commanded the deep voice above her. She did as it said, focusing on the soothing lilt of the barely discernable Atlantean accent and not on the panic and terror threatening to overwhelm her.

Once she was able to breathe without seeing spots or gagging, she peeked up timidly. "Sorry… for… for causing so much trouble…" she squeaked shyly, quickly looking back down.

There was an almost inaudible growl of frustration, and she heard him take a step back. "It's… not your fault…" came the reluctant reply, and cautiously, Mara peeked up at him. She stayed quiet, unsure of what to say and afraid to say anything else stupid that might upset the god further. The silence stretched out awkwardly, only to be broken on the edges of uncomfortable by a sudden, explosive, and stunningly amplified sneeze. The sheer reverberation of sound bouncing through the alleyway was enough to startle Acheron, and an unbidden pang of sympathy squirmed through his armor as a wave of pain rushed over the girl. He wouldn't be at all surprised if that sneeze hadn't given her whiplash. Wordlessly, he materialized a handkerchief and passed it to her. She got out the first syllable of a thank you before another sneeze erupted, and he was taken aback to see a few sparks leaping from her fingertips and dancing along the edges of the cloth. One of them caught with a whoosh, and the handkerchief went up like flash paper in a rush of blue flame.

For a moment, neither Ash nor Mara could tell who was more stunned, though the girl's reaction alarmed the Atlantean more than her haywire electrokinetics. A strangled, whimpering sob slipped through her shock, instantly followed by a flood of tears. His first thought was that she'd been burned, but he saw no obvious injury—only an odd glow shining weakly beneath one of her sleeves— and still the tears continued. "What's wrong?" he asked gently, crouching in front of her. If anything, this seemed to make her more upset, and her lip wobbled before she wailed and buried her face in her sleeves. "Hey…"

"E-everything…!" came the muffled cry. "…M-mostly me…" The words were faltering and broken with sobs that made it difficult to understand, but the sentiment behind them was hard to miss. "I-it's all my f-fault…! I'm so stupid… I-I got s-so upset about that dumb fight with my roommate… and if I-I hadn't… hadn't whined to Z s-so much he… he would never have brought me here and gotten hurt and you wouldn't be stuck dealing with me and I'm sorry…!" She spoke quickly now, looking up without really seeing. "All I ever do is mess up, and then everybody has to fix all my mistakes because I'm too stupid to do anything right and all I can do is screw up, bother everyone, and waste oxygen that could've been breathed by someone better! I'm like a flu virus!" Mara cried in a soft rush of jumbled emotions, hiccupping sobs, self-loathing and a high-grade fever. "I AM a flu virus!" She fell back into her sleeves, curling in on herself and wailing mutedly. "My hair hurts…"

"Hair doesn't have nerve endings, dingus." Mara looked up with a sniffle, and what she saw surprised her enough to halt the tears. A few feet away stood an archangel, glowing a gentle green and supporting a heavily bandaged Azriel. "And having the flu does not make you the flu. You are not a virus. Sometimes I wonder if you're a vegetable, but you are not a single-celled organism. And what? I'm gone for all of twenty minutes and you have a meltdown? Who was it who was saying just the other day that she could handle her own shit?" While most people would be at least mildly offended by this, Mara instead smiled weakly, wiping her eyes as a few relieved tears trickled out.

"Shut up, Z," she replied automatically, though without any of the usual bite the words carried. She forced herself to her feet and pulled her guardian angel into a bear hug, hiding her face against the bandages that made her heart hurt. A moment later, though, she retuned to her normal self, pulling away and slapping his arm lightly as she glared up at him. "And don't you EVER scare me like that again! The next time you come that close to getting your stupid ass killed, I will drag you back to consciousness and kill you myself! With a spoon!"

"That's SO scary, coming from a teeny girl who can't sneeze without falling over," Azriel replied dryly, smirking.

"Alright, children, play nice," the archangel cut in with no small amount of exasperation.

"She started it," Azriel replied immediately, earning himself another glare.

"Did not," Mara shot back, the picture of maturity.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it! Now both of you sit down and shut up before I kick both your asses."

"You've been spending too much time with Michael," Azriel muttered quietly, doing his best to seat himself without assistance and failing. At his wince, Mara moved to help, but wasn't in much better shape herself, and almost took both angels down when she blue spots began dancing in front of her eyes and she wobbled dangerously. Another pair of hands eased the two invalids to the ground, and Ash got a nod of thanks, a sleepy smile, and a small bow by way of gratitude.

The archangel straightened and offered a hand to the Atlantean. "Thank you for all your help, and please accept my apologies for any inconveniences they may have caused."

"You say that like all the inconveniences are our fault," Mara observed with a stern glower that was slowly replaced with guilt as she was leveled a Look. "Ok, so most of them are, but not, you know, ALL of them…"

"… Need I remind you of the incident in Wutai…?"

Instantly, the girl's cheeks flamed. "Point taken. Shutting up."

"Not that the Wutai Fiasco wasn't hilarious, but shouldn't we include Tall-dark-and-confused in the conversation?" Azriel noted with a nod toward Acheron.

"Then stop interrupting me," came the reply, with a slight roll of the eyes. "Again, I apologize… and truly regret having to ask this of you, but we have no other options…" The archangel fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing down at the two beside him, who were mercifully silent. Curiosity was occasionally more effective than duct tape.

"You need me to babysit," Ash said, less than pleased, but no longer surprised.

The archangel winced guiltily. "More or less… Azriel is still the only one able to transport the girl to other planes, and is in no condition to do so at the moment. For a quick recovery, he must return home, and she cannot accompany us. We will, of course, see to it that she has all that she needs while here, but, well… we need someone who can act as a proper guardian…"

Ash was silent as he thought about this. While he was being given time to actually answer now, and had a chance to say no, there was a soft kind of feeling there that made him pause. There was a rather likely chance that— even if only for a few days, should he take on the task of looking after this girl—one thing or another would go wrong, and the potential for horrificness at stake here was daunting, to say the least. But there was something about the kid that stuck with him, that wiggled in through his defenses and poked at his soul, and it was something that seemed too innocent to ignore. He glanced down at her, where she sat with her arms wrapped around one of the angel's, cheek pressed against his shoulder and looking up him with a look he could read without even trying. There was a hefty amount of fear, worry, and pain, and he could almost see the walls going up as she braced herself for rejection, but behind it all there was a spark of hope that was firmly rooted in an unwavering trust that astonished Acheron.

What the hell. He'd done much more dangerous things before and lived to not think about them. "Alright. I'll do it…"

"Don't forget to make him sign the waver," Azriel whispered loudly.

"He's joking!" the archangel quickly countered with a glare at the miscreant angel.

"…Thank you…" the girl murmured faintly, and when Ash looked back down at her, he saw awe and respect in her eyes; he found preferred those over tears.

The screech of tires announced Kyrian's arrival, and with a sudden rush of wind, the angels vanished. Mara fell sideways as her support vanished, and looked just as surprised at the hasty exit as Acheron as she pushed herself back up to sitting upright. Throat tight, she lifted the feather resting beside her, bedraggled and stained with something dark and red. She forced through the roiling emotions bombarding her, taking the opportunity to compose herself as Ash greeted Kyrian and explained the situation. Wiping the stray tears away as he finished, she pulled herself up slowly, leaning on the wall behind her as her body rebelled. She ignored it and turned to face two people she'd never expected to meet, stomping down the bubble of nervous laughter threatening to escape as the word 'hero' ran through her mind.

"You look like you've had a hell of a night, kid," Kyrian remarked as he looked her over where she swayed. She laughed softly, in agreement and something like relief, only for the tears to come rushing back again. "That bad, huh?"

Sniffling and nodding as she wiped at her eyes, Mara looked up at the last people she wanted to have a breakdown in front of. Though, she reminded herself doggedly, at least she hadn't given herself a concussion… this time.

A/N: Yay, editing! Now I don't have to gag every time I read this story. Chapter three shall be edited soon, also, have no fear! And also, until then, please ignore any inconsistencies. They are being addressed post haste.