Author: Seraph of Enigma
Challenger: Lily Windwave
In the Arms of the Angel
"No, I finished that paper last week."
"Ugh, seriously? I was kinda hoping to bounce ideas off you. Hugo's riding me like, um, something that rides people hard when they're being lazy."
Seraph rolled her brown eyes, "Geez, Adam. How many times are you gonna have me bail you out?"
The taller Portal Master bat his thickly lined eyes at his fellow Portal Master of Life and brushed a lock of currently flame red hair out of his eyes. "Because you love me? Because we're friends?"
The blonde laughed, "That wasn't a real answer. Lily's still workin' on hers I hear. Why don't you go join her? She thinks you don't like her."
"I thought she didn't like me!" Adam said as he stood up straight.
Seraph put her hands up, "I broke the ice, go me! Seriously, go join her. I think she went out to the trainin' grounds to write. Don't give me that look, sittin' in the stands is a wonderful place to hide and be left alone."
Adam's eyes brightened, "Now I know your hiding spot!" he sang, purposely off-key.
"Just go, shoo!" the older Portal Master waved him off after she handed him his stack of papers and tome back. "Ah! No buts, protests or procrastinatin'! Away with ye!"
It took a while to get Adam going but once he turned the hall Seraph raced off in the other direction. Trigger Happy had sent a summons request for her. It sounded urgent and she had never heard the gremlin so emotional before so Seraph felt as if he would be disappointed the longer she made him wait.
"And you nag me for running in the halls!" sandy haired Airy, Portal Master of Air called as Seraph blew past her.
"Maybe she's got a hot date?" pale blonde Jane, Portal Master of Tech, snickered.
Airy made a face, "I don't want to think about that."
"Sorry!" Seraph called back at last before she turned another corner.
The library wasn't really any of the Portal Masters' favorite place. Seraph didn't mind it so much though. She could find quiet there when she wanted it. But then again everyone knew she retreated to her office there so her quiet never lasted long. All of the Portal Masters had an office in the library. Hugo would drop off bookkeeping or other such tasks for them on their desks. Some were better than others at keeping up with their additional tasks. Seraph liked to tackle hers as soon as she got them.
She wasn't heading to her office for work or to hide at the moment though. Trigger Happy had wanted to meet there. Seraph was confused when she arrived and the door was shut. Carefully she opened it and noticed movement behind her desk. The chair moved and an orange furry head with cream coloring on his face peered above the desk's surface at Seraph with bright yellow eyes. Those same yellow eyes held tremendous sadness and the evidence of tears stained his furry cheeks.
"Trigg," Seraph said softly as she shut the door behind her. "Oh sweetheart, what's wrong?"
The gremlin shifted and paper rustled. He slid a slightly crinkled and tear sprinkled sheet across the mahogany surface of Seraph's desk. "This came today," his voice cracked and fell to a near whisper. He wasn't in the chair; he was standing between the desk and it for some reason.
The Portal Master extended one hand to help him up onto her desk while the other took the paper. She took a seat right on the desk and was surprised when Trigger Happy curled up by her side after he slipped up under her arm. "Dear Arkadiy Trimus," Seraph read aloud.
"My real name," the gremlin whispered.
The Portal Master picked up where she left off, "We send our sincerest condolences over the loss of your mother," the woman paused. "Oh Trigg! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed with a crack in her voice. The gremlin quivered against her as a fresh wave of sobs shook his diminutive frame. Seraph decided not to read the rest of it and set the letter down on the other side of her. She leaned down to hug the little body tight. "Bless your heart," she murmured to Trigger Happy right before she sniffed. She knew she was a sap, she'd never met his mother but tears burned at her eyes anyway and she felt her face crinkle with her sense of empathy.
Seraph silently held the gremlin as he cried. Slowly his sobs grew softer and he didn't tremble as much. At last he squeezed her arm and prompted her to sit up. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know who else to go to. It just felt so strange. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know who else to talk to."
The Portal Master leaned back over the desk and contorted herself so she could dig through a drawer. When she sat back up she had a box of tissues in hand. She held the box out for the little gremlin and he gratefully took one. "Forgive me for askin' this. Why did your father not come to tell you?"
Trigger Happy scrubbed at his nose after he blew it but left his eyes heavy with crystal tears. "Dad died before I became a Skylander. I don't have any brothers or sisters. My extended family, we'll… we're gremlins. We're not really that close once people get married and have families of their own." He accepted the hand Seraph laid on his head to rub at his ears. It was a reflex for her and Trigger Happy had always teased her about petting him like a dog but honestly he enjoyed the attention. "Tomorrow I have to go back," he choked and stopped talking for a few moments. "I have… I have to go home and see to the house and belongings."
"Would you like some company?" Seraph offered. She stopped rubbing between his ears and leaned back so she could see him.
Trigger Happy turned puffy yellow eyes up at the human. "You would help me? I'm sorry; I didn't mean that I came here to ask for you to. I just needed someone to talk to." He finally rubbed at his eyes.
"Of course I'll help you," Seraph replied as she slid off the desk and walked around it to sit in the chair. She had to look up at him now that he was seated on the desk. "You don't have to go through it alone, Trigg. We're all here for you."
The barest of smiles crept into his expression. "Thank you, Seraph. I appreciate that." He hid his face behind his three fingered hands a moment later with a groan. "Oh Light, the arrangements for her… final rest." The gremlin lost it again and began to shiver with another round of sobs. The chair rolled back and again he felt the woman's arms slide around him. Trigger Happy gratefully buried his face in her shoulder and enjoyed her warmth. For just a moment it felt like he was a child again in his mother's arms. But Seraph wasn't his mother and her embrace wasn't quite the same. It was still comforting and safe but different.
"We'll get everythin' taken care of," she promised.
We. The gremlin focused on. She hadn't said that he would manage it. She had said they would. Trigger Happy shuddered again but not entirely from grief. All at once he felt so guilty for letting his thoughts drift from his mother.
Of course Seraph would help him; the gremlin already knew she would. That was the type of person she was and that's why he crushed on her as badly as he did.
"Hey, how you holdin' up?" Seraph asked quietly.
Trigger Happy hadn't even realized he had been holding his breath. She was stroking his back gently and his thoughts had drifted. "Managing," he sighed. The gremlin hugged her tighter and sniffled a few more times. As much as he crushed on her nothing would ever come from it. She belonged to another. "Thank you for helping me."
"Of course. You know you can talk to me about anythin'."
Trigger Happy's ears quivered. "Yeah." No, not anything. But everything that he could get away with at least. "I think I'm going to go let Eon know I'll be taking a leave." Reluctantly the gremlin pulled away from Seraph.
"Call me if you need me," Seraph said to the Skylander as he hopped off the desk to the floor.
Trigger Happy looked up, his eyes barely saw over the top of the desk. "Of course." If only things had been different. Trigger Happy envied the one that had caught her eye.
Note from Seraph: Honestly I didn't have such a sad idea in mind when I was challenged. I just so happened to write this one the same day Robin Williams died and it sort of turned out as you just read. Trigger Happy's one of my favorite characters though so don't take it that I didn't like the challenge. Just, real life events affected it.
