p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 24.48px;" "Meg," Dean said in /br / "Exactly," Arcadia agreed./p
hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: #cccccc; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 24.48px;" /
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 24.48px;"br / "Hello Meg," Lucifer said, a small, slightly evil smile lingering on his face as he stood and rubbed his cheek. Meg walked back to the door and started laughing before she turned around again. The animosity between them seemed to be gone as Lucifer started laughing /br / Arcadia backed up to the wall again, shocked that this entire story was real. She had always thought that it was possible, but never like this...br /br / "Glad to see Lilith's work turned out well," Meg said, a similar smile arriving as she walked closer. "Who's the meatsuit," she asked, nodding at /br / "Just someone who the Winchester tried to go to for help," Lucifer said with a shrug, ignoring Arcadia. "We should get someone for her. He poured out that damn sob story to her before I could take back control."br /br / Meg sized Arcadia up and Arcadia met her gaze with a hostile glare. Meg seemed a little surprised, but kept looking her over. "Maybe Row for her," she mused, stepping closer to Arcadia. "She's been begging to get topside for a while now." Then Meg's eyes widened and she stepped back a few /br / "What is it?" he asked, looking very irritated. "Why aren't you calling Rowena up?"br /br / "May I be blunt?" Meg asked /br / He gestured with a hand for her to go /br / "How can you be so blind," Meg asked, sounding irritated. She almost seemed furious, but about his /br / "What are you talking about?" Lucifer asked, starting to look pissed /br / "Don't you know who this is?" Meg asked, pointing at /br / "Um, can I-" Arcadia said, but Sam cut her with a wave of his hand. As in cut her voice /br / "No, I don't know anything more than what Sam knows," Lucifer said, starting to freak Arcadia out even more than he had /br / "I am shocked that you can't see the Grace," Meg snapped, pointing at Arcadia again and gesturing at her whole /br / Lucifer turned to face Arcadia and he stared at her, looking confused, but focused on trying to see this 'Grace'. As his eyes traveled across her body, searching for the 'Grace', his eyes seemed to soften and become almost caring. Then, after the search, his eyes hardened. He had never even looked up at her face the whole /br / "I can't see it," he pronounced curtly. "Call Rowena."br /br / "You asshole," Meg muttered, walking over to Arcadia and raising one hand next to her head. "Look here," she directed. "And then tell me what you think."br /br / Slowly, Lucifer made eye contact with Arcadia and he must have seen something different, because his eyes were filled with genuine shock and that what seemed to be /br / "You," he said quietly, darkly, like a threat. Lucifer turned away from Arcadia and headed for the door. Lucifer paused the doorway, not looking back at them. "Meg, take her to the stronghold. Put a guard on her. No one is to talk to her until I return."br /br / Meg bowed her head in agreement and with was sounded like a rustling of feathers, Lucifer vanished. Meg turned to Arcadia with a small smile. "Well then Sophia, let's get you to the stronghold," she said /br / "No, I'm not Sophia," Arcadia told her, slowly walking over to get her shoes. "I'm Arcadia."br /br / "Really?" Mag asked, seeming genuinely confused, then shrugged and began heading for the door. "Grab only a few things, we can get you anything you might need after we get to the stronghold."br /br / Arcadia nodded and grabbed her purse and slid on a pair of flip-flops rather than a pair of sneakers. Meg was waiting at the door and held out her hand to Arcadia. Seeing the look on Arcadia's face, Meg began explaining. "I can transport myself and only one person a short distance. Sometimes it works. Well, almost never, but Luci is lending me some power."br /br / "Sometimes it works?" Arcadia asked /br / "Usually," Meg corrected, forcefully taking her hand. "Hold on tight," she warned, smiling wickedly at Arcadia and pushing off from the ground. Arcadia couldn't help but shriek as they were lifted off the ground and then landed with a small thump in front of a large, dilapidated building. Two men were standing the front doors and snapped to attention when they noticed Meg. br /br / "Did you find him?" the one on the right asked, ignoring Arcadia for a moment before letting his gaze go right over her and back to /br / "Yeah, ended up in the suburbs of Detroit," Meg explained, stepping forward and pulling Arcadia with her. "He wants this one"-she shoved Arcadia forward but still held her arm-"locked up without talking to anyone until he gets back."br /br / The man who hadn't spoken watched Arcadia quietly, then blinked and revealed pitch black eyes. Arcadia jumped and the man started laughing as he blinked again and returned them to normal. "Afraid of the dark, are we?" he asked her /br / "Knock it off, Richard," Meg snapped, surprising Arcadia. She had never expected that Meg of all people would stand up for her. "You know that the boss wants her to be sane when he sees her again."br /br / "But it gets so boring standing guard," Richard complained, rolling his eyes a bit. "You know you like to mess with humans when you get the chance."br /br / "Yes, but I don't violate the head honcho's rules," Meg retorted, walking past them and to the main door, trailing Arcadia behind her. She flicked her hand and opened the door, not stopping her pace as they entered the /br / Inside, it looked like a military planning base that was about the size of half a football field, filled with people talking quietly over maps and dioramas of various places. Almost as soon as Meg entered, the tension in the room seemed to rise and she seemed to be more in her own element as they moved to the center of the huge /br / "Hey, I'm going to be right back," Meg said in Arcadia's ear loudly, trying to be heard over several arguments that had just started up. "Don't move!" Before Arcadia could reply, Meg had vanished into the crowd, forcing her way over to a tight knit group that was talking so softly that there was no way they could hear each other. br /br / Waiting for Meg soon became dull, and Arcadia began to listen in on the arguments, trying to piece together the discussions over the yelling and arguing of everyone else. The loudest and easiest to hear discussion was from the back wall of the room, where an enormous map of the world was spread out and major cities were covered in red push pins. A crowd of about ten people were gathered around it, talking loudly about the best cities in the world that would create the most panic. As far as Arcadia could tell, the number one places that seemed to be on the table for the discussion were Moscow and Washington D.C., but the person putting forward the argument for London was making a compelling case. She kept listening in, smiling to herself whenever a good point was brought up and cringing when someone walked into a trap set by the other debaters. Arcadia was so absorbed in the conversation that she didn't even notice Meg making her way through the crowd again until Meg grabbed her arm to get her /br / "Hey, meatsuit," she said in greeting, looking a bit rushed and frustrated. "We gotta go."br /br / "Hey, Meg," she asked, turning to face Meg properly. "What is this place?"br /br / "It's our base of operations," Meg explained shortly, grabbing her wrist and starting to walk back through the crowd. "Your room is ready and I'm not going to wait."br /br / "Okay," Arcadia said, letting herself be pulled through the crowd by Meg. She stumbled only once or twice, but kept up fairly well, earning a look of praise from Meg when they reached the steps on the other side of the room. br /br / "Go to the top," she instructed, letting go of Arcadia and crossing her arms over her chest. "Your temporary room is the locked door at the end of the hallway. Here's the key," Meg said, uncrossing her arms to reach into her jacket pocket and fish out a standard house key and hand it to Arcadia. "Go in there, lock the door and don't come out of there at all. No matter what you hear."br /br / "What if I have to go to the bathroom or if I'm hungry," Arcadia pointed out, putting the key in her pocket and stepping up onto the first step. br /br / "There's a stocked fridge and a nice bathroom," Meg assured her. "And yes, you can sleep on the couch if you have to. I'll be down here, and you aren't allowed to talk to anyone, so if something happens, just scream as loud as you can and maybe I'll pop in to check on you."br /br / "Um, thanks," Arcadia said, rolling her eyes and heading up the stairs. None of the doors she passed when she started down the hallway were open and no noise could be heard from within as she passed. All of the doors were painted a light green, a stark contrast from the door at the end of the hallway, which was just the dark wood, almost a mahogany. She pulled out the key and unlocked the brass handle, letting herself inside. Once the door closed behind her, she locked it again and walked further /br / The room was a fairly nice office with a great view over the city. A large, fancy desk with a desktop computer and a potted plant The couch was in the middle of the room and the fridge Meg mentioned was a mini one that acted as an end table. Stepping around it and going to the window, she watched the skyline, trying to pin point where they were. The building was only two stories, so they had to be on a / br / "But there aren't any hills in Detroit," Arcadia muttered, peering out the window more as she tried to figure out what was going on. "How does this work..."br /br / "That's a spell," a male voice she didn't recognize said behind her making her turn around /br / A tall man with darker skin, seeming to be Hispanic, and wearing a casual suit was suddenly sitting on the couch. "Hello Arcadia," he greeted with a smile and a /br / "Um, who are you?" Arcadia asked. "And how did you get in here? I locked the door after me."br /br / "Doors have no meaning to Guardians," the man said simply, watching her. br /br / "Guardians?" Arcadia asked, not moving from her position by the /br / "You humans have always known about us, but by a different name," he said, crossing a knee over the other and resting his clasped palms on it as he watched her. "You call us Guardian Angels, set out to ensure normal people's safety. However, we are supposed to protect only the destined vessels and those who small lives have greater meaning."br /br / "Okay..." Arcadia said, confused. "Sam mentioned something about a vessel..."br /br / "We do not protect vessels of the damned," the man said with a small eye roll. "To protect him was to further the apocalypse."br /br / "Okay, so you're saying that I'm a vessel?" Arcadia said, having a feeling that she was /br / "Yes," the man agreed, still watching her with that same peaceful smile. "And I have been assigned by my garrison to watch over you in your endeavors."br / br / "Like a military garrison?" Arcadia asked, thinking that that was what it /br / "Yes, but we watch over the Earth and the humans on it," he /br / "Won't Lucifer know that you're here?" she asked, glancing around the .br /br / "No, I have protection against him from his brother, Zaphkiel," the man said, not even /br / "Who are you?" Arcadia /br / "I am Phanuel, an angel of the lord," the man said. "I am known as 'he who understands what is revealed'."br /br / "Nice," Arcadia said, trying to be casual and make some chatting conversation. "Is it alright that I call you Phan?"br /br / "If you wish," Phanuel said. "But this vessel's name is Will if you would prefer that."br /br / "Now, there are a few things we need to discuss," Phanuel said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a scroll before she could reply. With a flourish and a flick of the wrist, the scroll unrolled to a paper about three feet long and covered in swirling /br / "These are the rules of my help and guardianship," Phanuel said, turning it around and starting to read it aloud. "I can only guard you and help you with your permission," he read, glancing up at her for her nod, which she gave. "I can only appear to you and you only, no one else can see me besides you."br /br / "Cool with that," Arcadia /br / He glanced at Arcadia, but shrugged and went on. "I can follow you at will, but will not invade your privacy during the following moments: bathing, use of the restroom, dressing yourself, fornication-"br /br / Arcadia cut him off there with a wince and a nod. "Just skip that part please," she asked, wondering what the hell came after that on the /br / "I will be allowed to heal any wound at your permission," he /br / "That's good."br /br / "Fine. I am able to move into defense against any figure who you believe is going to harm you mentally, physically, and emotionally," Phanuel said, reading further down the list. "No matter who they may be."br /br / "Alright," Arcadia /br / "And I am to stop any form of self-harm or attempt to remove yourself from the Earth in whatever way I see fit at the time," Phanuel finished. "Including, but not limited to, resurrection, healing, and temporary possession."br /br / "I agree to it all," Arcadia said with a shrug and walked over to take the paper from him. "Uh, do you have a pen?" she asked Phanuel when she saw a line at the bottom for her to sign / br / "This is not the kind of contract that can be signed in ink," he said, almost /br / "Oh."br /br / "Hand please," Phanuel said, holding out his hand to /br / Arcadia stepped closer to him and put her hand in his. It was warm, unlike the cold she had expected, a warm like a big hug and she glanced from the hand to Phanuel as he pulled out a small knife that was wickedly /br / "A blood contract?" Arcadia asked in surprise, trying to pull her hand /br / But Phanuel's grip was strong and he took the knife in his other hand, looking for the point to cut with the look of a surgeon. Arcadia looked away and clenched her teeth and shut her eyes in preparation for the cut. For a moment, she thought he had already done it and she just hadn't felt anything, but when a red hot pain streaked up her arm, she knew. She couldn't help but gasp and when Phanuel handed her the contract, she could barely lift her hand to the paper to press the cut to it to sign /br / After a few seconds, Phanuel pulled her hand away and placed his hand over the cut on her hand, closing his eyes and starting to hum. A light white light shined between his fingers and the pain began to subside in her hand. When the light died and he pulled his hand away, her hand was back to normal with no sign of a scar. br /br / "Wow, thanks," Arcadia said, tracing her finger over the place where it used to /br / "It was a simple trick," Phanuel said with a shrug as he stood. "All angels can preform such a meager task."br /br / Arcadia took a step back and looked at Phan with a new respect. Phan brushed his hands together and smiled at her as he rolled up the scroll that was now smeared with her blood. br /br / "I must be off," he said, throwing the scroll in the air and snapping his fingers. The scroll vanished and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I can feel your captor coming and he doesn't take too well to angels. Which is quite ironic, considering what he is."br /br / "When can you be back," Arcadia asked, watching Phan /br / "As soon as you call," he told her, smiling slightly. "And now, I bid you adieu." A small noise like fabric rippling in a breeze crossed the room and Phanuel /br / And not a moment too /br / Within a minute of the guardian angel vanishing, a familiar face appeared, standing in the doorway and looking like he had just come back from hell./p
hr style="border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: #cccccc; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 24.48px;" /
p style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 24.48px;"br / "Hello Meg," Lucifer said, a small, slightly evil smile lingering on his face as he stood and rubbed his cheek. Meg walked back to the door and started laughing before she turned around again. The animosity between them seemed to be gone as Lucifer started laughing /br / Arcadia backed up to the wall again, shocked that this entire story was real. She had always thought that it was possible, but never like this...br /br / "Glad to see Lilith's work turned out well," Meg said, a similar smile arriving as she walked closer. "Who's the meatsuit," she asked, nodding at /br / "Just someone who the Winchester tried to go to for help," Lucifer said with a shrug, ignoring Arcadia. "We should get someone for her. He poured out that damn sob story to her before I could take back control."br /br / Meg sized Arcadia up and Arcadia met her gaze with a hostile glare. Meg seemed a little surprised, but kept looking her over. "Maybe Row for her," she mused, stepping closer to Arcadia. "She's been begging to get topside for a while now." Then Meg's eyes widened and she stepped back a few /br / "What is it?" he asked, looking very irritated. "Why aren't you calling Rowena up?"br /br / "May I be blunt?" Meg asked /br / He gestured with a hand for her to go /br / "How can you be so blind," Meg asked, sounding irritated. She almost seemed furious, but about his /br / "What are you talking about?" Lucifer asked, starting to look pissed /br / "Don't you know who this is?" Meg asked, pointing at /br / "Um, can I-" Arcadia said, but Sam cut her with a wave of his hand. As in cut her voice /br / "No, I don't know anything more than what Sam knows," Lucifer said, starting to freak Arcadia out even more than he had /br / "I am shocked that you can't see the Grace," Meg snapped, pointing at Arcadia again and gesturing at her whole /br / Lucifer turned to face Arcadia and he stared at her, looking confused, but focused on trying to see this 'Grace'. As his eyes traveled across her body, searching for the 'Grace', his eyes seemed to soften and become almost caring. Then, after the search, his eyes hardened. He had never even looked up at her face the whole /br / "I can't see it," he pronounced curtly. "Call Rowena."br /br / "You asshole," Meg muttered, walking over to Arcadia and raising one hand next to her head. "Look here," she directed. "And then tell me what you think."br /br / Slowly, Lucifer made eye contact with Arcadia and he must have seen something different, because his eyes were filled with genuine shock and that what seemed to be /br / "You," he said quietly, darkly, like a threat. Lucifer turned away from Arcadia and headed for the door. Lucifer paused the doorway, not looking back at them. "Meg, take her to the stronghold. Put a guard on her. No one is to talk to her until I return."br /br / Meg bowed her head in agreement and with was sounded like a rustling of feathers, Lucifer vanished. Meg turned to Arcadia with a small smile. "Well then Sophia, let's get you to the stronghold," she said /br / "No, I'm not Sophia," Arcadia told her, slowly walking over to get her shoes. "I'm Arcadia."br /br / "Really?" Mag asked, seeming genuinely confused, then shrugged and began heading for the door. "Grab only a few things, we can get you anything you might need after we get to the stronghold."br /br / Arcadia nodded and grabbed her purse and slid on a pair of flip-flops rather than a pair of sneakers. Meg was waiting at the door and held out her hand to Arcadia. Seeing the look on Arcadia's face, Meg began explaining. "I can transport myself and only one person a short distance. Sometimes it works. Well, almost never, but Luci is lending me some power."br /br / "Sometimes it works?" Arcadia asked /br / "Usually," Meg corrected, forcefully taking her hand. "Hold on tight," she warned, smiling wickedly at Arcadia and pushing off from the ground. Arcadia couldn't help but shriek as they were lifted off the ground and then landed with a small thump in front of a large, dilapidated building. Two men were standing the front doors and snapped to attention when they noticed Meg. br /br / "Did you find him?" the one on the right asked, ignoring Arcadia for a moment before letting his gaze go right over her and back to /br / "Yeah, ended up in the suburbs of Detroit," Meg explained, stepping forward and pulling Arcadia with her. "He wants this one"-she shoved Arcadia forward but still held her arm-"locked up without talking to anyone until he gets back."br /br / The man who hadn't spoken watched Arcadia quietly, then blinked and revealed pitch black eyes. Arcadia jumped and the man started laughing as he blinked again and returned them to normal. "Afraid of the dark, are we?" he asked her /br / "Knock it off, Richard," Meg snapped, surprising Arcadia. She had never expected that Meg of all people would stand up for her. "You know that the boss wants her to be sane when he sees her again."br /br / "But it gets so boring standing guard," Richard complained, rolling his eyes a bit. "You know you like to mess with humans when you get the chance."br /br / "Yes, but I don't violate the head honcho's rules," Meg retorted, walking past them and to the main door, trailing Arcadia behind her. She flicked her hand and opened the door, not stopping her pace as they entered the /br / Inside, it looked like a military planning base that was about the size of half a football field, filled with people talking quietly over maps and dioramas of various places. Almost as soon as Meg entered, the tension in the room seemed to rise and she seemed to be more in her own element as they moved to the center of the huge /br / "Hey, I'm going to be right back," Meg said in Arcadia's ear loudly, trying to be heard over several arguments that had just started up. "Don't move!" Before Arcadia could reply, Meg had vanished into the crowd, forcing her way over to a tight knit group that was talking so softly that there was no way they could hear each other. br /br / Waiting for Meg soon became dull, and Arcadia began to listen in on the arguments, trying to piece together the discussions over the yelling and arguing of everyone else. The loudest and easiest to hear discussion was from the back wall of the room, where an enormous map of the world was spread out and major cities were covered in red push pins. A crowd of about ten people were gathered around it, talking loudly about the best cities in the world that would create the most panic. As far as Arcadia could tell, the number one places that seemed to be on the table for the discussion were Moscow and Washington D.C., but the person putting forward the argument for London was making a compelling case. She kept listening in, smiling to herself whenever a good point was brought up and cringing when someone walked into a trap set by the other debaters. Arcadia was so absorbed in the conversation that she didn't even notice Meg making her way through the crowd again until Meg grabbed her arm to get her /br / "Hey, meatsuit," she said in greeting, looking a bit rushed and frustrated. "We gotta go."br /br / "Hey, Meg," she asked, turning to face Meg properly. "What is this place?"br /br / "It's our base of operations," Meg explained shortly, grabbing her wrist and starting to walk back through the crowd. "Your room is ready and I'm not going to wait."br /br / "Okay," Arcadia said, letting herself be pulled through the crowd by Meg. She stumbled only once or twice, but kept up fairly well, earning a look of praise from Meg when they reached the steps on the other side of the room. br /br / "Go to the top," she instructed, letting go of Arcadia and crossing her arms over her chest. "Your temporary room is the locked door at the end of the hallway. Here's the key," Meg said, uncrossing her arms to reach into her jacket pocket and fish out a standard house key and hand it to Arcadia. "Go in there, lock the door and don't come out of there at all. No matter what you hear."br /br / "What if I have to go to the bathroom or if I'm hungry," Arcadia pointed out, putting the key in her pocket and stepping up onto the first step. br /br / "There's a stocked fridge and a nice bathroom," Meg assured her. "And yes, you can sleep on the couch if you have to. I'll be down here, and you aren't allowed to talk to anyone, so if something happens, just scream as loud as you can and maybe I'll pop in to check on you."br /br / "Um, thanks," Arcadia said, rolling her eyes and heading up the stairs. None of the doors she passed when she started down the hallway were open and no noise could be heard from within as she passed. All of the doors were painted a light green, a stark contrast from the door at the end of the hallway, which was just the dark wood, almost a mahogany. She pulled out the key and unlocked the brass handle, letting herself inside. Once the door closed behind her, she locked it again and walked further /br / The room was a fairly nice office with a great view over the city. A large, fancy desk with a desktop computer and a potted plant The couch was in the middle of the room and the fridge Meg mentioned was a mini one that acted as an end table. Stepping around it and going to the window, she watched the skyline, trying to pin point where they were. The building was only two stories, so they had to be on a / br / "But there aren't any hills in Detroit," Arcadia muttered, peering out the window more as she tried to figure out what was going on. "How does this work..."br /br / "That's a spell," a male voice she didn't recognize said behind her making her turn around /br / A tall man with darker skin, seeming to be Hispanic, and wearing a casual suit was suddenly sitting on the couch. "Hello Arcadia," he greeted with a smile and a /br / "Um, who are you?" Arcadia asked. "And how did you get in here? I locked the door after me."br /br / "Doors have no meaning to Guardians," the man said simply, watching her. br /br / "Guardians?" Arcadia asked, not moving from her position by the /br / "You humans have always known about us, but by a different name," he said, crossing a knee over the other and resting his clasped palms on it as he watched her. "You call us Guardian Angels, set out to ensure normal people's safety. However, we are supposed to protect only the destined vessels and those who small lives have greater meaning."br /br / "Okay..." Arcadia said, confused. "Sam mentioned something about a vessel..."br /br / "We do not protect vessels of the damned," the man said with a small eye roll. "To protect him was to further the apocalypse."br /br / "Okay, so you're saying that I'm a vessel?" Arcadia said, having a feeling that she was /br / "Yes," the man agreed, still watching her with that same peaceful smile. "And I have been assigned by my garrison to watch over you in your endeavors."br / br / "Like a military garrison?" Arcadia asked, thinking that that was what it /br / "Yes, but we watch over the Earth and the humans on it," he /br / "Won't Lucifer know that you're here?" she asked, glancing around the .br /br / "No, I have protection against him from his brother, Zaphkiel," the man said, not even /br / "Who are you?" Arcadia /br / "I am Phanuel, an angel of the lord," the man said. "I am known as 'he who understands what is revealed'."br /br / "Nice," Arcadia said, trying to be casual and make some chatting conversation. "Is it alright that I call you Phan?"br /br / "If you wish," Phanuel said. "But this vessel's name is Will if you would prefer that."br /br / "Now, there are a few things we need to discuss," Phanuel said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a scroll before she could reply. With a flourish and a flick of the wrist, the scroll unrolled to a paper about three feet long and covered in swirling /br / "These are the rules of my help and guardianship," Phanuel said, turning it around and starting to read it aloud. "I can only guard you and help you with your permission," he read, glancing up at her for her nod, which she gave. "I can only appear to you and you only, no one else can see me besides you."br /br / "Cool with that," Arcadia /br / He glanced at Arcadia, but shrugged and went on. "I can follow you at will, but will not invade your privacy during the following moments: bathing, use of the restroom, dressing yourself, fornication-"br /br / Arcadia cut him off there with a wince and a nod. "Just skip that part please," she asked, wondering what the hell came after that on the /br / "I will be allowed to heal any wound at your permission," he /br / "That's good."br /br / "Fine. I am able to move into defense against any figure who you believe is going to harm you mentally, physically, and emotionally," Phanuel said, reading further down the list. "No matter who they may be."br /br / "Alright," Arcadia /br / "And I am to stop any form of self-harm or attempt to remove yourself from the Earth in whatever way I see fit at the time," Phanuel finished. "Including, but not limited to, resurrection, healing, and temporary possession."br /br / "I agree to it all," Arcadia said with a shrug and walked over to take the paper from him. "Uh, do you have a pen?" she asked Phanuel when she saw a line at the bottom for her to sign / br / "This is not the kind of contract that can be signed in ink," he said, almost /br / "Oh."br /br / "Hand please," Phanuel said, holding out his hand to /br / Arcadia stepped closer to him and put her hand in his. It was warm, unlike the cold she had expected, a warm like a big hug and she glanced from the hand to Phanuel as he pulled out a small knife that was wickedly /br / "A blood contract?" Arcadia asked in surprise, trying to pull her hand /br / But Phanuel's grip was strong and he took the knife in his other hand, looking for the point to cut with the look of a surgeon. Arcadia looked away and clenched her teeth and shut her eyes in preparation for the cut. For a moment, she thought he had already done it and she just hadn't felt anything, but when a red hot pain streaked up her arm, she knew. She couldn't help but gasp and when Phanuel handed her the contract, she could barely lift her hand to the paper to press the cut to it to sign /br / After a few seconds, Phanuel pulled her hand away and placed his hand over the cut on her hand, closing his eyes and starting to hum. A light white light shined between his fingers and the pain began to subside in her hand. When the light died and he pulled his hand away, her hand was back to normal with no sign of a scar. br /br / "Wow, thanks," Arcadia said, tracing her finger over the place where it used to /br / "It was a simple trick," Phanuel said with a shrug as he stood. "All angels can preform such a meager task."br /br / Arcadia took a step back and looked at Phan with a new respect. Phan brushed his hands together and smiled at her as he rolled up the scroll that was now smeared with her blood. br /br / "I must be off," he said, throwing the scroll in the air and snapping his fingers. The scroll vanished and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I can feel your captor coming and he doesn't take too well to angels. Which is quite ironic, considering what he is."br /br / "When can you be back," Arcadia asked, watching Phan /br / "As soon as you call," he told her, smiling slightly. "And now, I bid you adieu." A small noise like fabric rippling in a breeze crossed the room and Phanuel /br / And not a moment too /br / Within a minute of the guardian angel vanishing, a familiar face appeared, standing in the doorway and looking like he had just come back from hell./p