Category: Darksiders I & II
Rating: M
Couples: Azrael/Abaddon
Warnings: AU, Disturbing Imagery
Chapter:26
Copyright: Characters & places © By Appropriate Copyright-holder, Plot & OC´s © by me
Author's Note: Guest-chapter by fellow writer Mask-of-Dakla
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While looking calm to the outside world, inwardly Azrael cursed his bad luck: of all days the Circle of Mages wanted to schedule a meeting, it had to be today; what was also the day that Zeruch would attend school for the first time. And to make matters worse, the meeting would commence early in the morn, thus giving Azrael little time to spend with his son (that word still made him smile of happiness) and help him acclimatise with his new situation. But, why should he feel nervous about leaving Zeruch behind for class? His writing-skill was now at the same level as most of his peers, though he was still slightly slower with reading out loud. He didn't hide any more when being introduced to new people; on the other hand he remained very shy with strangers and stayed close to his caretakers. And what if Zeruch couldn't connect with his classmates and visa versa? And...
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Azrael tried to find his inner calm again. He was worrying too much about this. Looking at his son, who was fluttering beside and around him (seems Naya'il's fondness of doing the loop-the-loop was rubbing off), Azrael couldn't help to feel his pride and love welling up for the boy. The child came very far in a short amount of time.
A large dome of frosted glass, with a ring of lower buildings surrounding it, rose up from the distance like a calm glittering beacon.
"Look Zeruch, there is your school"
Azrael smiled at seeing his son's eyes turning bigger at the sight; he'd even nearly forgot to flap his wings, making him dip lower in air before hastely resuming flying.
"Wow. My school is shiny and sparkley!" Zeruch answered in awe, still staring at the enormous structure.
"Yes it is, my child."
Chuckling, Azrael gently guided his son further towards the school. Landing near the entrance, he held out his hand so Zeruch could grasp it. Once the small hand of the Nephilim slid into his own larger but slender one, Azrael headed in the direction of the class rooms.
While walking through the portico, Zeruch stared at the courtyard where a few angelic children were fluttering around. Azrael searched the other side, reading the scriptures near the class-doors. Once he found the correct class-room, he knocked a few times and entered.
"Greetings Archangel Azrael, you are early today." A graceful angel clad in calming light green robes, stood up from her desk.
"Greetings Lady Hahlii and yes, I had to bring Zeruch early today. There is an appointment I unfortunate couldn't delay. I hope it is not too of an inconvenience?" Azrael felt Zeruch grasping harder at his hand.
Lady Hahlii smiled while giving a light bow. "Not at all and this must be young Zeruch." She looked at the boy clutching the elder angel.
"Zeruch, this Lady Hahlii; she will be your teacher."
"Hello Lady Hahlii." Zeruch answered in a soft voice and waved shyly at the lady.
Kneeling down so she was more at the child's height, Lady Hahlii smiled in encouragement at him. "Nervous for your first day at school?"
"Only a teensy tiny bit." The boy showed a small space between his index finger and thumb.
With a small laugh, the teacher stood up again and gestured at the room; "I'm happy to hear that. Now Zeruch, since you are so early you may choose where you want to sit and put there your bag. I'm sure you want to explore the playground."
Zeruch beamed at both of the adults and hopped further inside the room.
"I assume you know some of the details of Zeruch's circumstances?" Azrael enquired half glancing at his son placing his bag on one of the desk in the back near a stained glassed window.
"I have been informed, Archangel Azrael. If there's any major concern, I'll send someone for you. "
"Thank you Lady Hahlii." Catching a hopping Zeruch, Azrael lifted him up and embraced him. "Have a good day, my son and remember: if there is anything wrong, tell it to your teacher."
"I will daddy, good luck with your meeting." Zeruch mumbled while squeezing back, making sure he was careful. Daddy was less sturdy compared to Uncle.
"Thank you; I will need it." The Archangel put down his child and waved him goodbye when Zeruch dashed towards the playground. After saying his farewell to Lady Hahlii, Azrael headed in great haste to his blasted meeting.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Zeruch flew high up towards the ceiling, curious how the frosted glass looked like from up-close. Once he was near enough, he then noticed that the glass wasn't just frosted, but had meticulous engraving of different drawings of angels. Even though the faces were left vague, the wings and robes were very detailed. To the child's surprise some of the angels had more wings than the usual two. There were even ones with six wings! Amazed, Zeruch tried to touch the engravings but before he could touch them, was as if a force gently pushed his hand away from the glass. The child frowned and tried again: still no luck.
"HEY ZERUCH!"
In shock, Zeruch shot up and would have slammed his head on the ceiling, if that same force didn't cushion him.
"Oops sorry, Zeruch!" Naya'il giggled, "What are you looking at?"
"Pictures of angels, but I can't touch them. Look!" The young Nephilim demonstrated what he meant.
The young angel tilted her head, studying the glass; "Momma told me they charmed it so we will not smack against it. Papa said he is not sure to protect us or the glass, but he want bet on the glass; then momma hit him on the shoulder."
For some reason, that sounded quite familiar to Zeruch. "Already got a desk?"
"Not yet! Where is yours, so I can sit besides you!" Naya'il asked enthusiastically.
"Come on, I'll race yah!" He nosedived towards the class-rooms.
With an indigent 'Hey! Not fair!', the girl raced with the boy back down. After finding and claiming a desk for Naya'il and waving her parents goodbye, she and Zeruch played around in the courtyard.
They were in a middle of a loop-the-loop contest, when an older angelic child bumped hard against Zeruch. Still flying away from her friend chasing her, she yelled an apology towards the two smaller and disgruntled kids.
Grumbling, Zeruch rubbed his side. It didn't really hurt much but was still annoying to be thrown off like that. When he took a good look around the playground, he noticed it was fuller now; Children cheered and flitted all around him, and a pair of grown-up flying idly while observing the fast fluttering youngsters. Zeruch began to feel somewhat stifled: so much was happening at once, it made him feel overwhelmed.
"Is something wrong, Zeruch?" Naya'il asked in worry, when she noticed him gliding down to the ground.
"It's too much…" Zeruch waved around him, trying to explain his discomfort.
Even though she didn't really understand him, she did promise her parents to look after him and help him around. "Want to go back class?"
Zeruch nodded at her, so they both headed back to the class-room. After greeting the teacher again (and explaining it was too much outside for Zeruch), they sat down at their desk.
"You can go back outside if you wanna." He felt a bit guilty that he had cut their play-time short.
She grinned back at the remorseful boy and while rummaging in her bag, Naya'il replied merrily. "It's okay. Would be no fun without you. Want to draw?" She pulled out a book where she always drew and coloured.
"Sure!"
They managed to draw some angels from dome engravings before a low gong resonated through the school. With many rustling of feather and loud voices, the children began to flood inside the room. Lady Hahlii gently began to herd the young ones to their appropriate desks.
Zeruch shrank a bit in his seat: though it wasn't too bad, it was once again somewhat overwhelming. He kind of missed to be able to hide behind his father or uncle. It always helped him to calm down.
While the teacher was busy in the front of the class helping some kids, near Naya'il's and Zeruch's desk an argument broke out between four angels. They all couldn't agree were to sit and soon began to shove each other. One of them shoved a tad too hard, thus making one fall down on the floor. The grounded one bawled; so shocked of the other crying, that the rest burst into tears creating a choir of wailing.
"You hear that?" 'Stwife' suddenly asked. Gathering his younger brother in his arms, he swiftly headed towards the sounds there were now filling the silence. It sounded like screams…
"The camp!" The child pointed, one arm clutching his bunny. Several tents were burning!
A series of curses left the elder's mouth. "Listen to me, you gotta…" He turned to his sibling, moving to put him down. Said sibling would never know what he wanted to say: blood splattered him when something pierced the elder.
Steel stopped mere inches in front of his terrified face. His brother groaned, gritting his teeth when whoever wielded the blade twisted it and pulled it back smoothly. He fell, barely missing his little sibling.
"Stwife!".
"Zeruch!"
Blinking to clear his eyes, Zeruch then noticed he was hiding under his desk. Both his arms and wings wrapped around him, he trembled at the memory of that day.
Small poke at his wing caught his attention. Naya'il peered down in worry at her friend. "Are you okay?"
"I…I…"
"What's going on? Why is he under the desk?" A child butted in; curious at the strange behaviour of his fellow classmate, he looked under the desk and studied Zeruch. "Why are his eyes so weird?"
"Go away! Not your business!" Naya'il snapped at the other.
"Hee~y."
"Naya'il don't be rude and Jeduthun, please return to your seat." A stern voice of the teacher interrupted them. After dealing with four crying children, she was visibly not in the mood for any other argument. Once the other child hurried back to his seat, Lady Hahlii smoothed out her frown and knelt down towards Zeruch. "What happened, Zeruch?"
Still huddled into himself, the blue-eyed child mumbled: "Their crying… I remembered when I… when brother …"
"It's alright, Zeruch. I understand." Lady Hahlii said smoothly, "Do you want me to send out for Archangel Azrael?"
At first Zeruch wanted to yes, but just he wanted to answer her, began to hesitate. He knew that Azrael was a very busy man and needed to work hard at Spiral. And that he was stressed out about the meeting. His father tried to delay it, but some of the higher ranked Scholars protested against it. Even though Daddy would most likely immediately cancel the meeting to pick him up, he didn't want to get him in trouble with the others. No, he is a big boy now and must become strong! And the way to become that, he needed to finish school. He promised that to Daddy!
"No, tis okay. Don't send for him. "
Raising her eyebrows, Lady Hahlii pressed carefully on, "Zeruch, I'm sure Archangel Azrael wouldn't mind to come by."
"No, I wanna my first day school and finish school and learns to fight demons!" Zeruch looked steadfast at his teacher. He must do this!
Seeing the child, despite of him still trembling, filling up with determination, Lady Hahlii sighed: "If you are very sure about that, then I will not call for your warden. Are you calmed down enough to sit correctly at your desk?"
Zeruch wasn't ready to leave his safety spot yet. Noticing him hesitating, the teacher gently told him to take his time and once he was ready, to sit back at his desk again.
Once Lady Hahlii left to tend with the other children, Zeruch heard, "Psst, psst. Do you want Avis?" Naya'il held up the bird-plushie, having pulled out of the boy's bag. "Yes, please." He reached out and snuggled with his toy. For some reason, he felt calmer holding him.
Within an hour, Zeruch joined the class without too much trouble.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Lady Hahlii sighed after seeing off the last child with their parent leave the class-room. What a day. First days tend to be difficult; getting the children (and sometimes even their parents) used to the daily school wasn't the easiest of tasks. And unfortunately, her day wasn't done yet. She needed to prepare a report to The Circle.
In normal situations, The Circle only needed a report from the teacher about their class once every few weeks, but now it was different: Azrael's ward, the orphan, would join for school.
After the horrible disaster of finding a dewinged angelic child at the demons and not being able to locate the said child's family, the both public and The Circle were even more horrified that there were no records of the orphan and his late family. Every child that is born to the angels would be recorded in The Book of Life, at least it was supposed to be. It was as if whole line of that child didn't even exist. Some angels theorised that the child could come from the more downtrodden of the White City. They do tend go under the sight of most of the City, but still not such an extent to be essentially to become non-existent!
In shock and horrified at the idea that demons could easily slaughter and kidnap angels without others noticing their disappearance, The Circle decided to send out delegates to register all from highest to the lowest of casts. This mistake mustn't be repeated ever again! Still zealous to fixing this mess, The Circle ordered Lady Hahlii to carefully observe the orphan.
All and all, the child did quite well in class after his panic-attack. There were the physical differences (slight more bulk compared to the others and of course the blue eyes) and some of the behaviour ones. He was bit too quickly overwhelmed in crowded places, but that wasn't what made the teacher worried: it was his reaction when panicking. Angelic children incline to fly everywhere when they panic until they can latch themselves to an adult, just as their instinct dictated. Zeruch did the very opposite: he crawled basically into a hole and curl up to a tight ball. She never witnessed this behaviour in an angelic child. Also of multiple children crying triggered a flashback to his capture and death of his family.
Lady Hahlii sighed one more time; The Circle wouldn't like this news.