Titus and Abraxos were the two that were assigned to the two of them when they went out together to make their deliveries, they had been somewhat behind watching mindfully for anyone who could mean them harm, and admittedly, they fell lax in their guarding when they had flown for a food four minutes and nothing came out to them. So, they turned from guarding the shoreline of the massive sitting cliffs that over stood the rumbling sea underneath, to converse with one another instead.

Their only warning of something wrong was the scream from the fledgling. She had been riding in the messengers arms over the tumultuous sea, and they watched as something soared through the messengers wing and sent them tumbling down for the sea below.

Titus separated from his side to try and gather up the targeted messenger and their fledgling, catapulting himself into the water to try and catch them before they could fall deeper then he would be able to swim. The current was strong, like hands tugging him one direction though he desired to go another, the waves crashed harshly overhead, as he came back up for breath before he dove back under the waves in search for their wards. He cursed himself as he did, had they not gone lax in their guard this would not have happened to them, when he couldn't spot messenger or fledgling, no matter how deep he dove under the waves, he knew that trouble was afoot.

He reached out of the water, spreading his wings as far as they would go, and lifted himself from the churning waves of the unruly sea.

Abraxos returned to his side, holding one by the back of the collar, hands shackled together to null his grace, Titus's eyes widened.

"Sorath?"

…

She knew as soon as they began to fall that her friend as injured, and despite that injury, as they hit the water, he pulled her closer to him. They would not be separated, he refused it to happen, and they floated with the current towards the rocky cliff side. His hand scraped against jagged sea stone, snarled stone edging, but he caught them on the side of a sea cave.

Climbing out of the flooding entrance, back where the water was only at his ankles, for the time being and set his small friend down. Akeelah was as limp as a doll, having swallowed all that water when they first landed and the shock had hit her, but he remembered enough of his medical training from the Healer to start compressions to her chest, leaning in to listen to the gurgle of water as air refused to go in but tried to come out.

He uttered a quick apology, and dug his finger into her throat, the fledgling gagged immediately and he helped to turn her on her side when she vomited up the water that was clogging her throat. Tears mixed with the salty sea water, and her breakfast and lunch spilled with the water onto the rocky floor they lay on, he helped her back up when the water seemed to be emptied, though he knew she was far from being okay. There was still so much that could go on, they needed to get back to the Healer in Heaven for more aid, and the cave they took refuge in was quickly beginning to fill up with water as the rolling tide raised higher and higher.

It gathered at their necks, and he curled her close to him again, and with her limpness she came easily enough, "I need you to take as deep a breath as you can for me, okay?" she nodded sluggishly, her soaked braids brushing against his chin, the water circled around her mouth and was rising ever quicker, "Now!"

There was a quick intake of breath, from both of them, and he dove under the water just as a final wave completely drowned the small pocket of air they had.

…

"I could tear your grace out!"

They all backed away from the enraged archangel, the viceroy being restrained by three of his Powers, the Healer and Messenger stood behind their own Captains, but it left the eldest Power free to do as he pleased. They all knew how fond he was of the fledgling in question and the missing messenger, and thus, none of them stopped him from rushing forward and punching the angel that had been brought to them in the face with as much strength as he could muster.

It cracked his nose in two, the jaw bones on either side snapping completely, and bruising already began to form under his eyes from the severity of the impact, though the Power paid it no mind as he grabbed him roughly by the collar and yanked him forward, pulling him nearly from his feet completely from how much taller he was over the angel in his grasp, "You'd better hope, for your safety, that they return unharmed."

…

Zaveriel gasped for breath as they finally surfaced above the rolling waves, only to have another crash over his head, his friend didn't gasp as he did, hanging limply from his arms, and thus he gave her a harsh squeeze and more water spilled from her in a strangled gasp just as another wave opened over them.

He flinched as he spread his damaged wing, spread it wide around him, and lifted them from the waves in one mighty swoop. They hovered dangerously for a moment, dipping slightly enough that the waves crashed over his feet, water dripped from every surface of them; wings, hair, clothes, feet, faces, arms, legs, everywhere. He grimaced, taking another deep breath, and gave another great swoop of his wings.

The messenger bit back cries as he built up speed and bulleted into the sky, cutting through the astral planes, and cut into the reality that their home was built in. It was like seeing something so beautiful for the first time, that he would admit without shame that he had cried a bit at seeing it, though whether be from the relief that they had managed to get home despite it all or the pain in his injured wing that beat fiercely none would be able to decipher.

They landed in a loud clap on the stone veranda around the gates, their wet clothes flapping loudly against the fine stone, the guards rushed forward to see whom it was, and their eyes widened. It had nearly been a day since they had last been seen and they rushed forward to attempt and lend a hand. The messenger beat them away, growling lowly, and hovering over his unconsciously fledgling friend, and they immediately backed away.

Though the messenger at their feet was as lighthearted as they came, his temper could be explosive if pushed beyond that point, and he was close to it as they stood.

He grit his teeth and lifted himself to his feet, his wings dragging behind him uselessly and weighted from their soaked feathers, he bent one last time to lift the limp fledgling in his arms, and she hung there like a rag doll.

"Let us pass?"

They nodded immediately, stepping to the side to allow them entry, watching as the messenger walked limping with every step passed them and down the steps to the Axis. People milled about, not noticing the pair of them, not until he snapped at them all to move. The snap, loud as it was, the commotion, drew everyone from their nooks and crannies, Father and Aunt stepped from the Throne room, the Messenger from his Aerie, the Commander and his soldiers from the training fields, and the Healer from is infirmary.

They all watched mesmerized as the messenger walked down the cleared Axis, stumbling from the adrenaline beginning to wear off, and falling to his knees. Akeelah rolled from his arms as he fell to the hard stone, smacking the ground with a loud wet flap, and rolling to lay limply on her side. He saw darkness enclosing on him, as the pain in his wing became unbearable, and all he remembers seeing is the worried face of his Father looming over him, and then the sudden feeling of being weightless as he's lifted, and then nothing.

Nothing but cruel darkness.