Chapter 1

The day the world ended wasn't one of sunshine or warmth, but of gloom and cold. A deep, heavy chill had settled over the town of London, leaving the students at Saint Luke's Academy tightly bundled up against the late autumn chill while they lingered outside in the courtyard during lunch.

A group of teenagers, four in total, chatted happily despite the dull and windy day. They were discussing the future, specifically the future that would happen after the graduation that was approaching quickly.

"I am just so fucking ready to graduate man!" Star exclaimed, tugging her thrift store heavy jacket closer around her shoulders. "Then, I can do my worldwide adventuring!"

Beside her, a young boy with shaggy-looking brown hair glanced up from his Gameboy to raise an eyebrow. "You really convinced your parents to let you take off for a year to travel?"

"Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised, Marcus? I can be persuasive."

"I'm not surprised," Marcus assured her, "I'm just shocked that they allowed you the freedom to move about the world, causing chaos wherever you go."

"Well, I did have to get my grades up." Star elbowed the girl dressed in a heavy, tan trench coat with a smirk on her face. "Thanks to this loveable nerd, I was able to pass everything with a solid 'A', even maths!"

"You're going to have to add my guardians in there, as well, Star. Especially Mr. Fell. He's the one that has all those books on history."

"Yeah, I know! I wonder how he was able to get his hand on a first-edition of fucking Galileo! Like who the hell is selling a first-edition of fucking Galileo's studies?"

"I think he's had that for a while." The young lady muttered, her green eyes looking off to distance in thought. Another breeze blew by, blowing the thick braid that was tied behind her back. She shivered.

Star smiled. "Well, tell him thanks anyway, Hope."

Hope smiled in agreement. She turned towards Marcus. "What are your plans for life after graduation?"
"I'm going to school in the States." Marcus answered.

"I thought you said that your parents weren't going to be able to send you to school?"

"I won a scholarship to go to the best film school in America!"

Star chuckled. "Don't forget about us little people when your rubbing shoulders with the big names out there!"

Beside Star, her girlfriend chuckled silently before signing, There's supposed to be some filming around London.

Hope perked up. "Oh! Yeah! I remember seeing something about that in the newspaper."

"Of course, you of all people saw that in the newspaper." Marcus chuckled. He gained a thoughtful expression. "Isn't the guy to played in Doctor Who gonna be in that movie? What's his name again?"

"The guy with the big ears?"

Marcus shook his head. "Nah. He kinda looks like your other dad."

"Mr. Crowley?"

Star perked up as though she had made a breakthrough. "Holy shit! How did I not see that before!? Oh, I can't, for the life of me, remember his name!"

"I think it's David."

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure." Hope shrugged. "It's David…. something or other."

"I'm sure I'll think of it when I'm in the middle of a test and my last brain cell is running on all cylinders."

The group all laughed at that. Hope sighed, feeling more content than she had in months. And considering that her summer was filled with dealing with supernatural beings, including trying to assassinate the Devil, school was like a walk in St. James's Park. Although the lack of presence from both Heaven and Hell had given her and her guardians both cause to be on guard and on edge, Hope was going to enjoy the last year of school with her friends.

RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG

All the students who had decided to eat outside in the chilly air gathered up their things to move back inside the school. Hope sighed, relishing the fresh cold air before packing up the little metal lunch box that her angelic guardian had gifted her last year and hooking it onto her arm. She followed her friends back inside, watching from the back with an expression of contented sadness.

While she would remain ageless, the same throughout the coming years, her human friends would grow up, move on with their life, get jobs, start families and eventually pass on from this mortal coil.

Sometimes, it would seem that Hope would forget that she was being of ethereal origins, and trick herself into thinking that she herself was indeed a normal human teenager.

Often times, though, the mortality of her friends looming over them, and not her, would hit her straight in the face and it would be difficult to do anything.

But despite the gloomy atmosphere of the day, it appeared that her mentality on her friendships was not affecting her as much.

"So…. what subject are you in right now, Hope?" Star asked, the question bringing her out of her morbid thoughts.

"I am in History right now."

"Ah that's right." Star waved goodbye to her girlfriend and Marcus as they had lockers further down the hallway, while hers and Hope's were right next to each other's. "You've got Mister Delser! Good ole Delsy!"

"He's actually pretty good." Hope opened her locker and placing her lunch-pail inside. She closed the door, leaning on the lockers as she glanced down at Star. "Kind of reminds me of Mr. Fell."

"Except, and this is no offense to your dad, Mr. Delser rides a badass motorcycle."

"I thought you liked girls."

Star shrugged as she stood. "Hey, I can appreciate a good-looking dude on a bike, same as the next straight girl."

Hope giggled before biding her friend goodbye for the time being, taking large strides in order to return to the classroom in time before the final bell. She did, sliding into her seat and finishing the thought she was writing on the notebook page. However, as she was doodling, a strange chill ran down her spine, raking slowly like sharp fingernails raking down her back. The room seemed to disappear, leaving her floating in the dark void. She struggled to breath, gasping for air for a few moments. Her ears rang with a high-pitched noise that blocked everything out, except for the thundering of her heart. Hope felt weightless, unable to center herself as she fought for air.

A hand touched her shoulder gently, causing sensation to return at full force.

Hope blinked, taking a gasping breath and coughing as she fought to get her heart going again. Her straight spine gave out like a overcooked noodle, falling forward and dropping her pencil.

"Hope?"

It would take half-a-second for the fact that her name had been called, and the fact that a hand on her shoulder kept her from faceplanting onto her desk didn't register in her brain until the hand shook her a little bit. -

Her eyes lifted upward and saw Mr. Delser standing over her, looking concerned.

"Are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

Hope blinked away the rest of the fog that had settled down over her mind for the brief…...she glanced at the clock on the wall and nearly started.

She was like that for three whole minutes?!

Hope groaned as her head exploded in pain. Something dribbled from her nose.

"Hope? Can you hear me?"

The Messenger shook her head as she cradled it in her hands.

"Alright, everyone get back to your desks. Now!" There was some scuttling around them, some chairs scratching the floor as the students took their seats. Hope cracked open her eyes to see Mr. Delser turn back to her and gently say, "Can you stand on your own?"

"I…." Hope swallowed as she suddenly felt her stomach tighten nauseatingly. "I…..don't think so….."

"Okay. Okay. Mr. Williams, can you escort Ms. Fell to the nurse's office? And come straight back as soon as you're done."

"Yes sir."

"Hope? Mr. Williams is going to take you to the nurse's office, okay? I'll have your things sent up at the end of class." He pressed something soft to her nose. "Here. Hold this to your nose, so you don't bleed all over your uniform."

Hope nodded, feeling a little woozy and nauseous. She felt herself being lifted to her feet, her legs wobbly and wanting to give out. But a semi-strong grip kept her on her feet, and guided her towards the door. She briefly heard Mr. Delser attempt to regain the class's attention, trying to get them to refocus on the lesson at hand, but it all went quiet as soon as the door was shut. The two teens walked down the hallway in near silence, until they arrived at the front office.

The secretary glanced up with a bored expression, until she caught sight of Hope's pale face and the bloodied handkerchief pressed against her nose.

"Oh, my goodness! Is she okay?" The secretary asked, as she left her spot behind the desk to help the young man escort her into the room.

"Don't know." The student answered. "We were just sitting in class and then suddenly, Hope started to shake, and acting like she couldn't breathe. She went pale really quickly and her lips turned blue. Looked like she was having a seizure."

"Okay…let's set her on the cot here."

They did, laying her down with a pillow propping her up, keeping her head upward. Hope blinked several times, trying to get her brain to work on processing the different environment she was in at the moment. It felt that with each moment that she tried to think, her brain was going to explode. So, she just sank back into the pillow, letting sweet numbness take over, and then eventually oblivion.