Wendy's wings rustled nervously behind her as she made her way through heaven's archangel quarters.
Jet had come to her with an urgent summons. By an archangel! The ones that hold command over the ordinary angels like Wendy.
Before she could ask why in heaven an archangel would want to see her, Jet had flown off into the distance, already on his way to deliver another message.
All of heaven was radiant with its puffy clouds, blue sky, and golden lights, but something about the archangel quarters just radiated power and holiness.
Wendy reached her destination, hesitating at the doorway.
"Come in young one. Hesitation benefits no one." A presence inside said. Voice gentle but firm, soothing yet terrifying.
Steeling herself, Wendy did as she was told.
Suddenly she understood why the archangel quarter radiated power, because the archangels themselves radiated power.
In front of her was none other than Erza. The fiercest angel warrior of all, one of those that had been created at the dawn of time.
Angelic power rolled off her in waves, seeming to hush everything around them. Wendy's own feeble grace curled around in her. From fear or excitement she wasn't sure, but there was definitely a strong reaction.
Besides her overwhelming presence, one more thing separated archangels from the rest. She had not one, but two pairs of glorious scarlet red wings.
No one else had feathers in such a deep red color. This was indeed Erza, the scarlet warrior legends spoke of.
Erza quirked a smile, amusement mixing into the air.
Wendy then realized how long her mouth had been wide open. She quickly shut it and dropped to her knees.
"No need to kneel, for I am not the creator." She shook her scarlet head, scarlet red that perfectly matched her wings. "I only carry out the Light's great plan. Rise, Wendy."
Erza knew her name!
Wendy rose, trying not to tremble in the wake that was the scarlet warrior.
"I understand that your mentor, Grandeeney fell from grace."
Wendy went deathly still. Her head pounding and her fists clenching at the reminder. Her grace crying out in despair.
Wendy still remembered the day.
The day when she was told Grandeeney had fell.
"Do you know why?" Erza asked.
"What?" The world stopped, stopped and started again. Her mind whirled back to that day.
When Wendy had been told of the travesty she'd fallen to her hands and knees, cried, grieved for days as she wondered where her mentor was, and what she should do with the emptiness Grandeeney's absence left. Wendy had never thought to ask why Heaven had cast her mentor out, because Heaven wasn't to be questioned. It was all knowing.
Erza's dark eyes twinkled, dark eyes that knew something she didn't.
Wendy wanted to demand information, to grab the archangel by the shoulders and shake the answers out of her, but she didn't. This was an archangel, respected by all but the one who created them. She could crush Wendy in an instant.
"I know you love Grandeeney. But what I have to say next will test how deep that love goes." Erza put a hand on her chest, over the heart. "Ask yourself: what would you do for her."
"Anything." Wendy didn't have to think. "I would do anything to see her again."
"There was an angel I loved, who also fell from Heaven. His name was Jellal."
"Jellal." Wendy squeaked, voice several octaves higher than normal. Every angel knew of Jellal, and if his sin. The sin of killing one of his brethren.
How could someone as pure and righteous as Erza love a wicked thing like Jellal? To take up your sword against another angel, it was unthinkable. And so, so wrong.
"Jellal now goes by Mystogan. He walks the earth in a never ending journey. He cannot fly, for his wings are in tatters. Left on earth, to long for what he once was forever. That is his penance."
Wendy didn't know when she started shaking, only that she couldn't stop. Her very being screamed and rebelled at the thought of that being Grandeeney: cast out and discarded like a broken child's toy.
"Jellal committed the ultimate sin, but he is not hateful towards heaven. He loves his brother and sisters." Erza's paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Even if they no longer love him." Was it her imagination or did Erza look... pained. The Archangel's wings drooped and her eyes, they swam with such sadness it knocked the breath out of the young angel. "So he keeps track of any that have fallen, and tries to help them."
Wendy's eyes widened into saucers, her stomach dropping through the clouds as she realized, "Jellal knows where Grandeeney is!"
The look now on Erza's face confirmed it. For the first time in weeks, Wendy felt something like... hope. A small ember amidst an ocean of despair.
Suddenly the archangel's expression changed, more serious. Erza stood straighter, towering over Wendy. No longer the pained angel, but a warrior who's been through battle after battle and survived. "But if you do this, heaven may very well cast you out. You will fall. Are you willing to risk it all?"
Wendy looked up at her superior, taking a deep breath and forcing her own spine to straighten. "I'm willing."
Erza rested a hand on her shoulder. Gone was the mighty warrior before, exchanged for something more maternal. It reminded her so much of Grandeeney that it hurt. "Good."
"Though your wings may be small. Your heart is long and wide." Wendy watched as the archangel reached into her navy and white robes. Pulling out a piece of paper with something scribbled on it. Then Erza lifted up something from around her neck. She pressed both of the items it into the young angel's hands. "Take this. Find Jellal and give it to him."
Wendy opened her hand, looking down at the thing that wasn't the piece of paper. It was a necklace.
Strung through black twine was a wooden circle. Like the ring of a tree trunk. The smooth wood was interrupted by a bandage wrapped around the bottom half of it.
Question upon question's popped into Wendy's head as she examined it. Why put a bandage on a necklace? Why make it out of wood and not silver or gold?
It was strange but Wendy wasn't about to question an Archangel. The necklace was simple, yet it seemed to hold an important weight to it.
"Go, find your own happiness down on earth." Erza smiled, bittersweet. "Do what I could not."
Before Wendy could ask what she meant, Erza started to chant. Ancient biblical words that had golden grace wrapping around the two angels. A spell to send Wendy to earth.
Just as she was about to disappear, Wendy looked up at the Erza with teary eyes, lips mouthing the words her voice could not speak, thank you.
The last thing Wendy saw was scarlet red and the Archangel's smile, then she was falling through the sky.
Like an asteroid that hurtled at speeds faster than the winds Wendy neared the land, and then she crashed into the ground.
Wendy was now one of the fallen.
The angel sat up, rubbing her pounding head. The first thing she reached for were her wings. They were still in tact. The light blue feathers were a little dirty, but the whatever spell Erza had cast on her had saved them from further harm.
Wendy again whispered her thanks to the Archangel. She knew Erza would hear. Any angel could hear a prayer if it was addressed to them.
Wendy stood up, brushing the charred dirt off her legs. She looked up out of the crater. Then panic gripped her.
A darkness blacker than the night over took her senses.
The angel went into a defensive position, arms raised and feet braced on the ground as she desperately tried to recall her combat lessons.
Unfortunately, Wendy had always been more interested in healing then fighting. She wanted to be like what Grandeeney had been: an angel that went to earth to grant small miracles by healing sick human children, and who brought light and healing to fight the dark brokenness that loomed over humans ever since they were tricked by the first snake.
Then the dark shadows materialized; into grinning demons.
A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter! I enjoyed writing this! And yes, before you can ask, Chelia will be appearing in the next chapter. Get ready for some first interaction content!
