A/N: Hihi! So, next chapter...not as rough as the ones before it, believe it or not. You might say, there's even more fluff than angst this time :)
So, I've got a headcanon about the whole true-vessels thing that I bring up in this one. Angels identify each other by Grace, that's how they recognize each other even in a vessel, right? Well, to me, it's kinda like each Grace has its own resonance, or frequency if we consider Angel Radio, and each soul has its own resonance/frequency. A true vessel is a Human whose soul's frequency matches the frequency of the Angel's Grace ^_^
Shoutouts to: parimalik, monkeygirl77, 1Corinthians 1313, Lyryenn, Diane279 and Kathy! Thanks so much for the reviews! xoxo RebeccaGuan2, I hope your exams went ok. Diane279, sorry I interrupted your homework ;) monkeygirl77, got a little more mystery for ya!
Enjoy!
Michael fought the urge to shift impatiently as Raphael examined his wings. Equally strong was the urge to bristle under his brother's scrutiny.
"They are healed," Raphael pronounced, at last and stepped back. "I am glad to see how quickly you have recovered."
Michael grunted in reply.
I'm sure you are, Brother. Wouldn't want to learn you'd supported the wrong elder, now would you?
He flapped experimentally. The muscles were cramped from lack of use and he grimaced as they pinched painfully.
"Be careful," Raphael scolded.
Michael shot him a warning glare. "I'm fine."
"Of course," Raphael conceded after a tense moment of silence and strode from the aerie.
Michael snarled at his back and opened his wings as far as he could. He hissed as his freshly healed wings burned under the stretch, and then he let them fall so that they hung down his back like a cape. The freedom was refreshing and his feathers fluffed in relief.
He stepped out and took flight, setting an easy pace for himself, feeling each bend and stretch. He sighed in relief when his freshly healed wings fell in perfect sync with the others. After a brief moment of discomfort, the muscles eased and the movements became more powerful. He soared to the edge of Heaven and landed, casting a sharp glance over the Angels at work.
The frame of the Cage was complete and work had begun on the walls. Thousands of Angels were at the forges, assisting the smiths with this monumental task. Thousands of others were creating the seals that would lock the Cage, six hundred to be precise. Once inside, the Morningstar would never break free.
Michael intended to make certain of that.
He flew back to his aerie, sealed it with a pulse of Grace and strode to the large chest on the opposite side of the room. Plunging his hand beneath the clothing and other personal items it held, he withdrew a gleaming spearhead. The silver-blue tip sang softly as he pulled it free and the light glinted off the keen edges. After a score of attempts at the forge, he had finally succeeded in crafting the weapon he wanted. The wooden shaft lay with it and the unfinished sigils glowed a fierce blue at his touch. Even incomplete, the weapon hummed with dangerous power.
Michael sat cross-legged in the floor and began carving the sigils into the wood once more, fusing his Grace into every smooth, exact line.
"Father may want you in that cage, Lucifer," he spoke with soft vehemence as he continued carving the sigils, "but he never said in what condition you should enter it."
The trees rushed by him, blurred by his speed and the very air collapsed to allow him passage. Eliyon abruptly tucked his wings close and curled his knees to his chest, dropping to the ground only to launch himself back the way he came. Castiel was right behind him.
Balthazar suddenly appeared on his right and Eliyon flattened his wings to his back. His friend sailed over him, his hand just missing Eliyon's shirt. Eliyon opened his wings once more and surged forward, the stones marking the finish line coming in sight. He landed all at once, his feet digging furrows in the ground and Castiel landed right beside him a second later. The black-winged Fledgling's eyes were bright and his chest was heaving from the exertion.
"I…utterly…despise…you both…right now," Balthazar staggered to a stop and folded double, clutching his middle as he struggled to breathe.
"Are you alright?" Eliyon asked in concern.
"Oh, don't pretend like you care!" Balthazar wheezed and dropped to the grass. "You aren't even tired!"
Castiel looked at Eliyon and his eyes widened. His friend was barely ruffled by their race. Then, he looked back at Balthazar. "Why are you so out of breath?"
Gabriel stood leaned against a tree, laughing quietly at the argument that followed Castiel's question. Balthazar's wings flared indignantly and Eliyon stepped between his friends to mediate the dispute.
The giant redwoods surrounded them—giant by Earth standards, that is—and the air was crisp. The Fledglings would be leaving their Caretakers soon and be put in one of the barracks to begin their training as warriors. As a special treat, Gabriel decided to take the trio to Earth one last time before they were no longer Fledglings. They'd seen the ocean, the desert and Eliyon's personal favorite, the forest. Now, it was time for the educational part of the trip.
"Hey, kiddos!" Gabriel called. "Time to move on!"
"Coming!" Eliyon replied and started walking toward the Archangel. Castiel shot him a curious look but Gabriel saw the gratitude in Balthazar's eyes. Just because the Fledgling was sneakiest, it didn't mean he was the fittest.
"Where are we going?" Castiel asked.
"Got something for you to see," Gabriel told them. "You alright?" he asked Balthazar.
Balthazar nodded and tried to school his features into an expression of nonchalance.
Gabriel's mouth quirked into a knowing smile and he took them out of the forest. They still were getting better at flying in the Ether but they still kept a tight grip on him. The ocean flew by beneath them and he stopped on a rock ledge. A small city spread out before them and the resonance of a thousand souls sang against their Graces.
"There are so many of them!" Eliyon exclaimed and Gabriel looked at him a little guiltily. The last time Eliyon had been to Earth, he'd watched the first two Humans leave Eden. Everything that happened after that was something he'd rather forget.
"Are these, Humans?" Castiel asked.
"Yeah, these are Humans," Gabriel answered. "Come on, we'll get a closer look. They can't see us."
They landed in the center of the city. The Humans crowded together in the space, looking at various items sitting on the tables.
"Why can't they see us?" Castiel asked with a thoughtful frown.
"Well, it would kill them if they did," Gabriel replied. "We're beings of divine power," he elaborated when he saw the Fledgling's horrified expression. "We may be solid to each other, but if we cross to the physical plane, we're nothing but Grace and power."
"So, we can't cross over?" Castiel asked disappointedly.
"We can, we just have to have a vessel," Gabriel told him. "A Human has to carry us."
Castiel was staring hard at Gabriel, then back at the Humans, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Alright, it's like this," Gabriel knelt beside him. "You see that light glowing in them? That's their soul. Angels have Grace, Humans have souls. That soul has to have a body. Now, when they die, their bodies stay here and their souls go to Heaven."
Or Hell.
"For us, it's kind of the opposite. We can't really exist in this place without a physical body. But, we leave our bodies behind in Heaven and exist only as Grace on Earth."
Castiel's eyes widened with sudden comprehension. "Oh! How do we know which ones can carry us?"
"Well, they all can," Gabriel began, "but there are certain ones that are actually supposed to. They're stronger, so they can handle the strain easier. Do you feel that?" He opened his Grace slightly and the Fledglings followed his example. He chuckled at their startled expressions when they felt the resonance of the souls. Eliyon, on the other hand, didn't seemed surprised at all.
Right, he encountered the first two. Souls are nothing new to him.
"Can they connect with each other like we do?" Castiel asked.
Balthazar was scuffing his foot against the ground, trying and failing to appear uninterested. Eliyon wandered a few steps away, watching a little boy in a red robe that crept away from his mother every time she turned her back.
"No, but they can talk to us," Gabriel replied. "A Human that's your true vessel will be able to talk to you."
"How do we know it it's a true vessel?" Balthazar asked.
Gabriel didn't answer immediately and paid close attention to the three Fledglings.
Wait for it…
"Hey, I found one that's…different," Castiel announced, puzzled.
"Different how?" Gabriel asked with a knowing grin.
"I don't know," Castiel cocked his head to one side, trying to find this perplexing Human in the crowd. "It…feels…like me."
Gabriel nodded. "That soul's resonance matches the resonance of your Grace. Congratulations, kiddo! You just found a true vessel!"
Castiel's blue eyes practically glowed with excitement.
"I think I found one too," Balthazar said thoughtfully.
Suddenly, the crowd began to shift nervously and a few people began to panic as a group of men on horses came galloping into the market. A little boy stood in their path and though his red clothing made him easy to see, the men paid no attention and the horses were coming too quickly for him to move.
"NO!" a woman shrieked and dove away from the vendor's stall, her arms fully outstretched and too far from her son to save him.
Eliyon slammed into the boy, knocking him to the other side of the street with teeth rattling force. As the boy lay there gasping breath, Eliyon looked back to see Gabriel, Castiel and Balthazar staring at him in shock and, in Castiel's case, horror.
"Eliyon! You don't have a vessel!" he cried.
"What happened to his wings?!" Balthazar demanded, paling at the sight, or lack thereof.
Gabriel never looked away from his Fledgling, almost as though he was afraid Eliyon would vanish if he so much as blinked.
Eliyon turned back to the boy, who was now crying. "Are you alright?"
The boy nodded but didn't get the chance to reply before his mother appeared and smothered him in an overjoyed embrace. Eliyon took advantage of the distraction and stepped back into the Ether. His wings shimmered and reappeared and Balthazar instantly grabbed them, moving them this way and that, poking the feathers and bending the joints.
"Stop that!" Eliyon cried in exasperation, pulling his wings away.
"Where'd they go?" Balthazar asked fearfully. "When you crossed over, where were they?"
"They were still there," Eliyon told him.
"I couldn't see them!" Balthazar insisted. "So, where were they?"
"They were still there," Gabriel assured them.
Balthazar looked up at him apprehensively, then nodded, simply trusting that Gabriel had seen them when he couldn't. The thought that Gabriel wouldn't know something never crossed his mind. His trust in the Archangel's absoluteness was so complete, he missed the baffled look on Gabriel's face as he studied Eliyon's wings, as well as the way he brushed his hand along the tip of one to reassure himself that they were there and intact.
"Well, that's enough adventure for one day," he said, forcing a lightness in his tone that he didn't really feel. "Let's go home."
Eliyon nodded and Castiel and Balthazar were too shaken to protest the way they normally would have. Gabriel took hold of them and flew back to Heaven.
"I'll see you tonight, kiddo," he promised Eliyon.
Eliyon nodded gratefully but without the excitement he'd once displayed where Gabriel was concerned. Gabriel knew he had no one to blame but himself, after he'd flared on the Fledgling, he felt lucky that Eliyon even wanted to be around him. Ever since that night Eliyon had called out from his nightmare, the rift between them had been mending slowly. Their Graces were connected once again, but Gabriel could tell that it wasn't complete on Eliyon's part, that he was keeping part of himself held back where before, he'd been completely open and…vulnerable.
He's growing up. I broke that trust and made him grow up.
Still, after that night, Gabriel had started taking Eliyon back his aerie to sleep and returning him to the garden in the morning. Michael didn't know, of course, but it wasn't like Gabriel was actually breaking his word. He was leaving Eliyon in the garden with the other Fledglings, after all.
"Gabriel?" Eliyon called as the Archangel turned to leave.
"Yeah, kiddo?" He hated hearing the hesitancy in the Fledgling's voice.
"When we were on Earth," Eliyon began, "and Castiel and Balthazar found their true vessels…"
"Yeah?" Gabriel prompted when Eliyon didn't finish.
"I couldn't find mine."
Gabriel's heart lurched at the despondency in Eliyon's voice. "They're probably in a different area, kiddo. Next time we go, we'll look around, alright?"
Eliyon nodded eagerly and even managed a small smile, though he knew it'd be pointless. When his friends found their vessels in the town and he didn't, he'd stretched his Grace throughout the Ether, searching out all the souls that were on Earth now. While there weren't that many, considering how large Earth was, there was still a lot, thousands of them and none of them had resonated back to him.
He hadn't found his vessel, because he didn't have one.