Anoka Minnesota, 1986

"Stop her! She's a thief!"

Brynn ducked into an alley, panting to catch her breath as she wished she had asked the nuns to take her into town more. It was as though St. Katherine's had been in another world, and now she was a fish out of water in this one. There was no Christian charity, there was no noble wisdom, there was only a seven-year-old out on the streets with no money and lousy thievery skills.

"Braelynn."

The poor child jumped about a foot in the air, turning on her heel to face the man that certainly hadn't been in the alley with her a minute ago. He looked strange, and not strange like the people she had seen since leaving the convent, though granted casual wear was a big step away from a robe and headdress.

No, this man had a robe as well, though it fit tighter than what the nuns wore and shimmered like metal. He had a stern face that reminded Brynn of Mother Superior just before she shut and locked the door to the shrine room.

"Braelynn." He spoke her name again, this time taking a step towards her which made her take a step back.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" she demanded.

"It does not matter -"

"Which way did she go?" a voice from the street shouted. The man sighed, as though the whole situation inconvenienced him. He laid a hand on Brynn's shoulder and the next thing she knew they were on top of the building they had previously been standing next to.

Brynn jumped away from the man, eyes wide like a deer in headlights. "How'd we get up here?!"

"Because I'm an Angel of the Lord."

The air froze. Brynn was certain the heat from the sun was no longer reaching the Earth. "You can't be!"

"Why not?"

"Because they don't exist! They're just stories the nuns used to tell!" Angels weren't real. Brynn had finally come to terms with that, why was this man showing up now?! Perhaps God had a twisted sense of humor.

"You do not have to believe me. You just have to listen."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do." The man said, giving her one of those looks she got when she misbehaved.

"I don't give a damn what you are! You're not the boss of me!"

"You need to listen to me." He said, not at all effected by her yelling.

"Why?"

"Because its important."

Brynn wanted to scream some more. She wanted to accuse this man of blasphemy. She wanted to run and return to her life on the streets.

She looked around her. For one thing, there wasn't an easy way to get off this roof; she'd have to jump down to the top floor of the fire escape. For another, she was on the roof where she had been down on the ground moments ago.

"Alright." She surrendered. "You've got my attention."

"Good." He nodded. "Why did you leave the convent?"

"They didn't want me." She shrugged. The man before her was claiming to be an angel, it didn't surprise her that he knew about the convent. "Said I was cursed by the devil."

"You think you are not?" he asked her with narrow eyes.

She shook her head. "The man with the yellow eyes isn't the devil. He just works for him."

"Which isn't any better."

"It's not the same. Devil would just kill me; the man with the yellow eyes needs me."

"You do not know my brother very well, do you?"

Ah yes, the devil was an angel, something so very easily forgotten. There were about a million different versions of why Lucifer had been cast down, but the most popular was his rebellion after God had created the humans.

"He's locked in Hell isn't he?"

"Because of my father, yes."

"The I'd wager you don't know him very well either."

"I know him better than most." There was something in his eyes when he said that, something that betrayed his otherwise stoney features. A hint of a long ago memory of a time that was missed, and…perhaps guilt?

Brynn rolled her eyes, not at all in the mood to get into another argument about biblical lore; she had left those behind with the convent. "You haven't told me why you're here."

"I'm here to watch over you."

She snorted, finding the idea quite laughable. "Me? What for?"

"Because it is what I was told to do." He said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"And you always do as your told? Because I've known you for ten minutes and I already have the impression you'd like to leave me to die in a gutter."

"I'd like to. Doesn't mean I will."

"Why not?"

"Because I will not disobey my father." Brynn couldn't help it. She laughed. Perhaps she was pressing her luck, but she couldn't bring herself to care. "What?" the angel demanded.

"You sound just like the nuns!" she said through her laughter. "'God is the great good! He can do no wrong! Praise him!'"

"The nuns are right!"

"If they were, you and I wouldn't be standing here."

"Oh?"

"If God's so good with a perfect plan for us all, then why's the man with the yellow eyes - hell why's the devil even an issue? By your logic, either there shouldn't be any evil in the world, or the big guy just likes to torture us." It was a question she had asked many times, but not one she'd ever received an answer to. She figured the lack of one spoke for itself.

"He has given us the gift of free will so that we can make our own lives. Whatever happens happens because of one's own stupidity. As for my brother and his creations? Those are not for my father to control. That is Lucifer's own doing."

He sounded very sure of himself, more so than the nuns ever had and that was saying something. Brynn imagined it was a wonderful luxury to have such unwavering faith, but it wouldn't do you any good if it was in the wrong thing.

"Whatever you say angel boy. See ya around, I'll be off using that free will thing you mentioned." she turned and headed to climb down the building's fire escape, jumping back when the angel appeared in front of her.

"Braelynn, you must not descend down that demon's path."

"Yeah, yeah. Blah blah devil, blah blah apocalypse." She waved him off, resisting the urge to shudder at the memory of the yellow eyed man's voice and what he had said to her. Apparently Lucifer was locked away in Hell and there were plenty of people who wanted him out. Her abilities were supposed to help with that. "I'm not stupid, I just couldn't stand that convent anymore."

He sighed. "Where will you go?"

"Don't know, don't care." she shrugged. "Seeing as my options are nuns that hate me or demon who wants me to lead a war, I'm kinda screwed no matter what."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?"

"I can help you."

"Again, known you for all of ten minutes and already know you hate me."

"I'm your guardian. Perhaps I could...make life at the convent better for you."

Brynn studied the man – angel – before her. In all the stories she had read, angels had always been painted these perfect beings. The man before her was not perfect. Sure, he stood tall, his expression was serious, and he had a sort of imposing presence that made the air around them tingle. But his eyes betrayed him. They were tired, unsure.

Lost.

"….You didn't tell me your name." She finally spoke, her voice much softer than it had been during the rest of their conversation.

"My name is Michael," He introduced himself. "I'm an archangel."

"Well my name's Brealynn, but you knew that. People call me Brynn."

He nodded. "Now, will you allow me to help you?"

"Drop the overly righteous act and I'm sure you and I can get along." She felt very daring, sassing an archangel. Oh, she had heard the stories about him, who hadn't? But again, the man before here did not match up to the stories, so she chose to base her opinion of him on him rather than his reputation.

"Act? That's just who I am-"

"Don't lie." she cut him off. "I've always been able to tell when someone's lying to me. Tell you what: don't assume I'm a lowly human, I won't assume you're a dick of an angel. Deal?" she held out a hand.

He sighed, but humored her, shaking her hand. "Deal."

Life at the convent remained the same; if the nuns had noticed her brief disappearance they never mentioned it. The yellow eyed man still haunted her dreams, and things still went flying when Brynn failed to keep a handle on her powers.

There was a new factor to her life now however: the archangel Michael.

It took quite a while, but eventually his stoney demur faded. He was significantly less threatening when he was more relaxed, especially when he smiled. Brynn discovered that though there were lines of conversation she should avoid, this was the answer she had been looking for. Like any child she was overly inquisitive, and Michael had plenty of stories to offer. He was actually hard to stop once you got him going, but Brynn soaked in all the new knowledge like a sponge.

Not to say the improvement was universal however. While she delighted in the angel's stories and in his smiles, she was still afraid of the man with the yellow eyes. She didn't mention him to Michael very often, having picked up the habit of keeping her mouth shut about her troubles, but there were times when she'd wake up screaming or crying from one of her nightmares and he'd suddenly be there. He never said anything, at least nothing that she understood. He'd sit with her on her bed, hold her while singing a lullaby in a language she did not recognize. That didn't take away from the beauty of it however; his voice would calm her and she'd fall back asleep to no dreams at all, a rare feat indeed. When she woke again, he was no longer there.

Though having an angel in her life gave many answers, it also brought about a million more questions. Brynn decided to ignore them however in favor of enjoying Michael's presence. The logical side of her knew she should ask why his father had assigned him as her guardian, why the yellow eyed demon thought she was going to play such a large role in the Apocalypse, and why she had her abilities in the first place. This all seemed far too serious however, and being a kid – albeit not a normal one – seemed like a far more appealing option.

Brynn was studying the book Michael had brought her from Heaven's library a few days before. The tome was very old, and she felt as though she ought to be wearing gloves while handling it, but so far it had held up. Only half of it was in English however, the other half was written in an odd jumble of symbols that she only knew were text because they lined up like letters would.

The half that was in English however told a beautiful story; one of a world God had created before Earth. It was called Pandora, and the creatures that lived there were entirely one with the nature around them. The drawings in the book depicted them as huge beings with blue skin. They had facial features, as well as arms and legs, but that seemed to be where the similarities between them and humans ended. Brynn wondered idly if the world still existed.

"Brynn." Michael's voice as well as the familiar sound of his wings as he appeared in her room broke into her thoughts.

She looked up from her book and returned the smile he was giving her. "Hello Michael."

"How are you?"

"I'm alright. You?"

"I'm well." He always stood a bit taller whenever she asked about him personally. He called himself the viceroy of Heaven, its leader. Brynn never said it out loud, but she always got the impression he was the type that took care of everything with no one paying any mind to him. "How have your nightmares been?" her smile quickly faded and this brought a frown to the angel's face and concern to his eyes. "Brynn?"

"…He's mad at me." She recounted last night's dream. "He usually is, but now he says if I don't come to him, he's coming for me himself."

It was true that the yellow eyed man wanted her as a willing participant in his plans, but his patience had been wearing thin. Several months ago he had been rather close to getting his wish, the scared little girl desperate for any sense of belonging, even if it was around people who had powers like her's and used them for bad. But after Brynn had met Michael his progress had gone out the window. The angel had always told her that she had a choice; in how she used her powers, in how she lead her life. She did not have to be bound to a horrible fate simply because of that demon's curse, and she clung to that like a lifeline. Lately however, it seemed as though the demon planned on taking away that choice.

"I will protect you." Her guardian assured instantly.

"How? You're not always here, you've got heaven to worry about. And if he finds me, I'm never gonna see you again." she said. The thought of loosing the only good thing that had happened to her since discovering her abilities was distressing enough to make them flare up, but Brynn pushed the feeling down.

"Do you trust me, Brynn?"

"Course."

"Give me your hands." She laid her small hands in his offered ones without hesitation, and every nerve ending she had was suddenly alive. The world around her warped and was replaced by an office with ancient looking furniture and white walls.

"Where are we?" Brynn looked around at the change of scenery as Michael dropped her hands and turned to look for something on the shelf against the wall.

"Heaven."

"Don't I have to be dead to be here?"

"Not with me."

"Cool." Mother Superior eat your heart out.

Michael found what he was looking for and turned back to her as he unrolled the scroll in his hands. "Now I need you to understand, this is very Arkane magic. We used to use it to hide ourselves in times of war. It'll keep you hidden from the demon."

"How's it work?" Brynn asked, slightly put off by the word 'Arkane', but her heart leapt to her thought at the thought of the yellow eyed man not being able to steal her away.

"Very delicately." He studied whatever was written on the scroll before looking up to meet her eyes. "Are you ready?"

Brynn nodded, despite the uncomfortable feeling itching up her spine. It still threw her for a loop to think that the most powerful angel of Heaven had been assigned as her guardian, let alone the fact that he existed at all. Add that to the fact that she was standing in an office somewhere in Heaven about to have an Arkane spell preformed on her and Brynn was left with a resounding case of culture shock.

Michael read the words off the scroll; they sounded like the language the lullaby he sang to her was in. Then there was a sharp pain that felt like someone was painting something on her arms with paint made of fire. She cried out and tugged down her sleeves to look at the offending marks: symbols that she was certain were the same language as the other half of her book

"Are you alright?" Michael asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Do these symbols mean it worked?" He nodded. "Then I'm good."

Her angel smiled softly and took her hand once more, flying them back to her room at St. Katherine's. He picked up the book that had been abandoned on her bed. "How are you enjoying your new reading material?"

"Well only half of its in English. But the half I can understand is fascinating."

"Good." He nodded.

"What's the other half written in?" she questioned curiously. If she was branded with the language now, she might as well know what it was.

"It's Enochian."

"What's that?"

"It's the language of the angels."

"So you can understand it?"

"Of course."

"Can you teach me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, looking surprised which wasn't an emotion she'd seen him express. "Really?"

She nodded. "I want to be able to understand the rest of the book. Plus, it's your language, and you already speak English so it's only fair that I take the time to learn Enochian."

He smiled softly. "Alright then."

Something seemed to unlock in the angel that day, as if Brynn had finally broken his walls. This brought a whole new bout of adventures, not only in learning Enochian – or attempting to rather – but also in trips to Heaven.

Though places as simple as the office, which she had learned was Michael's, offered the feeling of peace that came with the Holy City as a whole, there was a nearly endless world outside of it waiting to be explored.

She wasn't allowed in places like the personal heavens of the souls that had passed and come to their paradise. Nor was she allowed in the conference rooms where the angels received orders and made plans for whatever it was they were doing. Trips to Heaven were often limited to the Holy library, and occasionally the plains where the angels flew, not that Brynn was complaining.

The librarian angel certainly was however. Brynn supposed it must be rather jarring to find a human who had not passed on wandering about in Heaven.

"Who are you?" the angel demanded, his wings that reminded Brynn of coffee just after cream had been added arching up behind him.

"My name's Brynn." She informed, staring up at him. As she was barely eight years old she was used to people being bigger than her, but angels always managed to appear rather bigger despite the fact that they stood at the average height of an adult. Brynn had decided it was the wings. "What's yours?"

"Balthazar." The angel answered shortly. "What are you doing here little human?"

"Michael brought me to look at the books." The name of the archangel produced the small, but noticeable reaction it did in every angel Brynn had said it to. As the leader of Heaven, her guardian's name opened many doors in the domain. Still, Brynn worried over upsetting any angel whether they were under orders not to harm her or not. "Is that okay?"

"I suppose if Michael brought you here." There was that look again, the distain for her presence, only tolerated because Michael had ordered it so. "Just don't break anything."

"Yes sir." She nodded quickly. "Erm…I was reading the story of Moses. You wouldn't happen to know it?"

"Know it, I was there."

"Could you tell me about it?" Brynn said eagerly, before she could stop herself. Though Heaven's library held a far better record of history than anything on Earth, nothing compared to hearing the first-hand account of the angels that had been there.

A surprised look crossed Balthazar's face. "Why so interested?"

"I like stories." Brynn said simply. "And they always sound better first-hand."

The angel folded his arms and studied her a moment. Brynn knew that look, that was how angel looked at her soul, studying it as if critiquing its value. It made her feel uncomfortable, but the look faded quickly as Balthazar un-folded his arms to wave her to the side, motioning for her to make room on the bench she was sitting on. Brynn scooted over and allowed the angel to sit next to her, doing her very best not to stare as his wings stretched out behind them.

"So its like this…."

This was how Michael found her a few hours later after he had finished his archangel duties. At some point the conversation had turned from biblical lore to the origins of animals.

"What's so funny?" the archangel observed his charge and Heaven's librarian laughing on the bench next to one of the book cases.

"You are! Did you really stretch the giraffe's neck too far on accident?"

Michael's wings fluffed behind him indignantly while Balthazar looked rather sheepish. Michael's wings had always been Brynn's favorite. As an archangel he had three sets instead of one, and his feathers were a certain blend of blue and green that she could only compare to a driftwood fire; ever changing depending on how he moved them.

"It was one of the first creatures I designed. You should have seen Gabriel putting together the platypus."

Brynn lit up at the mention of the youngest archangel. From the stories she had heard of him he sounded like the most laid back, and most likely the angel most willing to spend time playing 'foolish' games with a child.

"Well I'm sure he's got plenty of stories about you? Where is he?"

The angel's easy moods leaving the air were palpable. Brynn's smile slipped from her face as she looked between them.

"He's gone." Michael said simply.

For all the stories he offered, Michael rarely mentioned his fellow archangels. There were four in total, Lucifer who was locked in hell and obviously a sore subject, Gabriel who was obviously the most easy going but who Brynn eventually discovered had fled Heaven not long after Lucifer's fall, Raphael who was Heaven's resident healer and cared very little for humans which was probably why Brynn had yet to meet him, and Michael himself Brynn's guardian angel.

Though trips to Heaven weren't as often as she would have liked, and she always returned to the convent before sunset – though she was certain time in Heaven ran differently than time on Earth – she began to pity the nuns she lived with. They understood so little, yet they thought themselves enlightened. They did not know that the angels they so adored were not as perfect and fearless as they thought they were. If anything, Brynn would dare to say they were just people with wings; flawed, afraid, and unsure. They were not spared from hardships any more than humans were, they simply lived long enough to learn to hide it better.

It was this thought that lead her to Mother Superior's room, a place she had not dared to go in years. She knocked firmly on the door, and waited for the 'Come in.' from inside.

"Mother Superior?" Brynn asked as she stepped into the room.

"Yes child, what is it?"

"I-I wanted to talk to you. About the angels."

"What of them?"

"They're real mam."

"Of course they are, foolish girl."

"No, I mean they're really real! I've seen them!"

This got the old woman's attention. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"The archangel, Michael, he's my guardian."

"Well, he guards us all. Even the accursed ones."

Brynn tried not to flinch at the word 'accursed.' "He's my guardian mam. He said his father assigned him to me." She smiled. "He's my best friend."

"You're close to blasphemy." Mother Superior's voice was growing cold.

"It's the truth mam! He took me to Heaven! I got to meet other angels!" she pulled up her sleeves. "Look! He gave me protection marks! Now the man with the yellow eyes can't find me! Everything's gonna be okay!"

Smack!

Brynn cried out and coward back, bringing a hand to her stinging cheek.

"You will not speak of God's holy soldier's this way!" Mother Superior snapped. "It is one thing to lie about what you are, but to lie about the sainted ones is a new level of sin, you accursed child! You should be ashamed of yourself!" she grabbed her wrist harshly and pulled her from the room. "You will go down into the shrine room, and you will not come out until God has forgiven you!"

"No Mother Superior! No! Please, I'll be good!"

Brynn thrashed and pulled as she was dragged down the hall. Crosses, paintings, even the rungs under the handle on the staircase flew out of their positions and in the direction of passerby. The nuns all jumped out of the way and kept their heads down as if they could not hear the cries of the child.

When she was finally let out of the shrine room, Brynn ran to her bedroom in tears, the door slamming itself shut. She cried into her pillow, once again wishing she were normal. She loved her angel friends, truly she did. She even loved the sisters at St. Katherine's and Mother Superior, but life would be so much easier if they were not a part of it. She felt guilty and selfish for it, but as she held tightly to her baby blanket she wished the person who had stitched her name in that purple thread had kept her with them and raised her as a normal child with birthdays instead of founding days. A mother and father instead of nuns and angels. Just a normal child, it had been her only wish for as long as she could remember.

Brynn had been taught to be grateful for what she had, but what she had was complicated and made little sense on a good day. Was a simple thing really so much to ask?

She sat up on her bed and wiped her eyes. One of her hands came down on the silver chain around her neck. Her St. Anthony medal. Brynn held it and ran her thumb over the image of the man holding the lost child. She turned it over and read the engraving for what had to be the hundredth time.

'To our little miracle'

A fresh set of tears blurring her vision, Brynn yanked the medal over her head and threw it at the wall.