Prompt: Fallen Angel AU - Part 1 (Taken from 30 Day Dark Fandom / OTP Writing Challenge)

Setting: Canon, except instead of being Zac's childhood best friend, Cam is an angel banished from heaven for his deviant, humorous behaviour, and who falls victim to the charms of a self-confident human/mermaid girl.

Rating: T

Pairings: Cam x Nixie

Warnings: Contains Cam being a cocky angel who falls for a resentful human, an overabundance of sass, and maybe some swearing, I'm not sure. Split into two halves because I wanted to get this finished today, but have ingested too much alcohol to write the rest of it sanely. Hopefully this first half is enough to keep you wanting and waiting for the second :)

Recommended Listening: Freedom - Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton (From the Django Unchained Official Soundtrack) - Trust me, this makes this ff so much better to read. This was edited to the film, and damn it just adds something. Nothing more satisfying than finding the perfect song for a ff :)

Fallen Angel AU

There are those who walk the path they are destined to, and then there are those who walk the one they chose. Cam? Cam was the latter, but for all the wrong reasons.

It all started up in heaven, when his attitude pissed off a whole host of angels. Apparently they didn't appreciate him talking back to his seniors, or playing pranks on his juniors, and as for his co-workers, they were sick of him cutting corners and slacking whilst they did all the work. Considering he was an angel, he hadn't been behaving in a very angelic manner.

Normally a bit of light deviant behaviour would be pardoned up in the land behind the big pearly gates, but Cam was under special surveillance. During his last mission down on earth, he'd ignited quite a few heavenly tempers by breeching the invisibility rule. He'd allowed a human to see him, and not only that but he'd talked to them. He found that humans made much better company than the frigidly stern angels he had to work with.

Combining his troublemaking upstairs and his flagrant disregard for the rules downstairs on earth, it was not surprising that he was brought before the Archangel Council. They were a grouping of seven, although within them there were 'The Big Three': Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They sat in identical thrones at the head of the Council hall, another two angels seated on each side, positioned in smaller but equally decorative thrones.

Escorted to the hall by two large, muscular angels, Cam was pushed into the room and the doors were shut behind him. "Angel Cam," Archangel Michael called out to him, gesturing for him to come forward, sat in the central throne, Gabriel and Raphael seated either side of him. All three looked equally refined, clothed in regal robes of white and silver, their hair bound back in elegant, formal styles. Michael, however, was the obvious leader, something about his square jaw, dark, serious eyes and muscle-bound body exuding unspoken authority, quelling even Cam into silence.

Trotting up before them obediently, Cam clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head respectfully. He might be a rebel by nature, but that didn't mean he was stupid; even he knew not to mess with the Archangels. Not if he planned on keeping his wings.

"You have demonstrated a repeated lack of respect for our way of life, Cam," Michael said, his voice sounding bored without being nasal, patronising him in a manner that inspired shame rather than resentment.

"Your trick with Angel Castiel was a step too far, we're afraid," Raphael said, his voice sharper, angry.

Gabriel countered with the good cop act. "You're hurting a lot of people like this, Cam. Surely you understand that we have to do something," Gabriel said gently, smiling warmly. He was petite with a childish face, unlike his brethren, but Cam had seen him in action. He could cut and gut a demon in two seconds flat. The sweet act was exactly that, an act.

"I've already apologised to Angel Castiel," Cam said, trying to keep his tone and manner polite. "It won't happen again."

"Yes, but it's happened before, hasn't it?" Michael said with a sigh, folding his hands in his lap.

"And we've no doubt that if we leave you like this, it will happen again," Raphael added, his narrowed eyes fixed on Cam. His scowl then turned up into a sly, satisfied smile and he raised his eyebrows. "So we're going to give you a lesson in humility."

"You're being sentenced to a karma contract on earth," Michael announced, interrupting some snide comment that Raphael was moving to say. Cam would have given Raphael a mocking smirk, were his face not frozen stiff by what Michael had just said.

"A karma contract?" He repeated. "A karma contract? Those are what you give to criminals, not pranksters!" His voice began to rise in volume, and he knew that were he to have any chance of escaping this he ought to lower it. His temper got the best of him though. "What, are you taking my wings too? Why don't you just fell me now and skip the foreplay?" He shouted, his face flushing in a mix of anger and humiliation.

"We're not taking your wings, Cam," Michael said with another strained sigh, beginning to show his own irritation.

"Not yet anyway," Raphael said, still smirking as he scrutinized the angel before him.

"You're just going to be blending in with the humans, not becoming one of them," Gabriel assured him further with another cute smile, which was complete with dimples in his cheeks.

"How large is the contract?" Cam asked cautiously, reigning in his temper to keep his voice calm and civil.

"Fifty deeds," Michael answered. "That's half the shortest criminal sentence. We respect that this is only a caution for your behaviour, not a criminal charge."

"Fifty deeds could still take years," Cam complained in a groan, running a hand back through his hair in frustration.

"Well, you'll have to practice being very angelic then, won't you?" Raphael said frostily, his smirk twisting up into a condescending smile.

With that, Cam was given his sentence, dismissed and then sent over to the Globe Room. That was where the overall observation of the earth was carried out, and also where from any angel could be teleported to any place at any time. Angels of all ranks and ages were gathered there, milling about in their elegant white robes, carrying out their duties.

The two bulky escort angels had returned to Cam's side, and they helped guide him over to the transportation deck. It looked welcoming enough, a simple circular platform constructed from a gold material, upon which he had to stand whilst everyone else worked their magic. The problem was that he'd never known just how much he loved heaven until he found it being taken away from him. He found himself overcome by a pang of heartache as he looked around at the cool, composed bustle of angelkind, and he could not imagine leaving them for anything.

"Come on Elijah, you know me. You know this isn't necessary. Surely you could talk to someone," Cam tried to reason with his attending teleportation officer. He knew Elijah to be a good-natured kid, young and inexperienced, but unfortunately that didn't make him naïve. He was sharp as a whip and had a deep perceptiveness that quickly saw through Cam's play.

"Sorry Cam, you've got your orders, we've got ours," Elijah apologised with a brief half-smile as he went over to the equipment beside the platform, turning the dials and switches this way and that. It was the kind of thing that Cam had never taken interest in before, but along with his sudden desperate love of his home, he was discovering that he wished he'd done so much more. Suddenly learning how to teleport people sounded fascinating. That was the sort of thing earth failed to offer.

"All you've got to do is fifty good deeds Cam," Elijah said more gently, clearly trying to comfort him. "You'll manage it in no time. I know you like playing tricks, but that doesn't mean you can't play nice."

"Playing nice is no fun," Cam muttered sourly through a pout, avoiding looking at Elijah as he spoke, knowing he was letting the younger angel's expectations down.

"This isn't meant to be fun Cam. You nearly got Castiel killed with your last piece of fun, remember?" Elijah reminded him with a previously hidden malice in his voice.

Falling silent, the pair ended their conversation there. Cam had already had his fair share of insults from the other angels, and he wasn't eager to acquire any more.

Once all the equipment was calibrated, Elijah stiffly informed Cam to keep still and relax. "Where are you sending me?" Cam asked awkwardly, avoiding the other angel's gaze.

"Australia," Elijah answered with equal discomfort, although he softened upon continuing. "I figured that sun and sand was your sort of thing."

"You guessed right. Thanks, Elijah," Cam said softly, giving him a wan smile before straightening and holding himself still, keeping his head facing centre forward.

"Here we go then," Elijah warned him, twisting a key in the control panel and igniting the process. Closing his eyes, Cam was overcome by a rushing wave of blissfully dizzying heat that seeped in through his muscles, easing them. His mind became disconnected from his body, only half-aware of it as he drowned in the warm, seductive glow that had enclosed him, sinking deeper and deeper and-

He opened his eyes to find himself stood on the shore of a crowded beach, the cool sting of the sea air biting his face and pulling him out of his temporary serenity. Children dotted the ocean in their multicoloured swimsuits whilst adults lounged on the sand, stretched out upon their towels. Out on the horizon the shaping of a volcanic island could be seen, oddly inviting. The buzz of conversation on the beach was drowned out by the squeals and shrieks of the young, and laughter rippled through the air as if it were infectious. Despite it all, however, Cam couldn't help but feel as though he had lost everything. He wasn't just here on a mission, able to return at anytime. He was stuck.

Fifty deeds sounded like an age's worth, and in the end Cam found himself bumming around in a café, sulking. It being the height of summer, the Ocean Café was overflowing with humans trying to quench their thirst, the sweltering heat inescapable. It seemed that the noise of human life was equally unavoidable, and Cam was convinced that his headache was going to kill him before he even got one good deed under his belt.

His mind had been on anything but romance when the girl came and sat at his table. There were no other seats free in the café, all the other tables filled, and so the chair positioned opposite Cam had been a hot commodity. With her drink ordered, the girl had spotted it and grabbed it in a heartbeat, less concerned with social propriety than most.

Staring at her incredulously, hoping his violated expression would scare her off, Cam met her eyes and said nothing, trying to will her to leave. Meeting his gaze unflinchingly, the girl simply scowled at him and then reclined back into her chair, lounging casually. She groaned shamelessly as she eased off her shoes and slumped back against her chair, stretching herself out like a cat settling itself down for a nap.

Pursing his lips, Cam refused to be the first to speak and crossed his arms over his chest, slipping further down into his sour mood. Unconcerned by his attitude, the girl waited patiently for her order and then lit up in delight when a lobster was delivered to their table, accompanied by a frothing strawberry milkshake.

With great gusto she dug in, devouring the lobster with a complete lack of propriety. Both amazed and appalled by her absence of manners, Cam watched on, struggling to remember to keep his mouth shut as she tore through the huge meal before her.

She noticed him watching, and after he refused to look away even after she'd glared at him, she set the poor, demolished sea creature down and swallowed. "Is there a problem?" She demanded confidently, no embarrassment showing in her voice. Cam barely heard her, still stunned from her display of unbridled gluttony. Eventually, however, he managed to compose himself well enough to speak.

"No, I'm just unused to witnessing such… unusual eating habits."

"Well, to each their own," the girl dismissed him with a casual shrug, tucking back into her meal. There was something almost hypnotic about the complete lack of inhibition she displayed as she polished off the lobster, finishing it in less than five minutes.

"What's your name?" Cam asked as the girl sipped at her smoothie, the finished lobster pushed aside. Glancing up at him, she examined Cam with piercing blue eyes for a moment before deciding to answer.

"Nixie," she informed him nonchalantly, keeping her lips around the straw as she spoke. "You?"

"Cam."

"Cool," Nixie said casually, shrugging disinterestedly as she returned to sipping her smoothie. She seemed so self-contained, so self-confident, that Cam couldn't help being taken with her.

"Hey Nixie," he said, leaning in across the table, a slow, sultry grin spreading across his lips, "do you happen to have any good deeds that need doing?"